Orange Cranberry Loaf

A tasty treat to help the week go by...

Recipe:

2 C almond meal
4 eggs
1/4 C coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 C maple syrup
juice and zest of 1 orange
1/2 C apple juice infused cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse the almond meal, coconut sugar and baking soda until smooth. Add in the eggs, maple syrup, orange zest and orange juice and pulse until the batter is well combined. Stir in the cranberries and pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy :)

Make way for Spring

Since Springtime has arrived, I found myself looking for ways to use up the jams I no longer needed, now that I could get fresh fruit at the markets. I decided to swirl some delicious, leftover Mulberry jam into a simple cake recipe.

Mulberry Cake:

2 C almond meal
4 eggs
1/4 C coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 C unsweetened, all-natural apple sauce
1/2 C maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces of your favorite jam (I used a jar of Mulberry jam)

In a food processor, pulse the almond meal, coconut sugar, and baking soda. Once the dry ingredients are well combined, pulse in the eggs, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. After these are well combined, pour the batter into a greased tart dish. Take a spoon and swirl the jam into the batter until you get the desired look. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes (until a toothpick comes out smooth) - Enjoy!

Key lime bright

I decided to welcome the warmer weather and signs of spring with some creamy key lime pie...with none of the cream.

 Recipe:

Crust -
1 C pitted dates
1 1/4 C raw almonds
1/2 walnuts
1 C shredded coconut
2 eggs

In a food processor, blend dates, almonds, walnuts and coconut. Once all the ingredients are blended, slowly pulse in the eggs until it creates a sticky dough. In a greased pie dish, push the dough evenly until it covers the pie dish. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the crust is cooked through and crispy.













Filling-
zest of 3 limes
juice of 3 limes (about 1/2 C of lime juice)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tbsps coconut flour
3 eggs
1 C coconut milk

In a large bowl, whisk the coconut milk, lime zest, lime juice, eggs and maple syrup. Sift the coconut flour and then slowly whisk in the coconut flour until its well combined. Pour the filling into the baked pie crust and put the entire pie back into the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Put in the fridge over night and then enjoy!

Cinnamon Swirl

While brainstorming which baked goods I should make this week, I came across many recipes for cinnamon swirl bread. While trying to making bread dough seemed a little daunting, I thought the idea might make a delicious muffin. So with a little of this and a little of that, I made some pretty delectable muffins that I can't wait to share with friends.

Recipe:
2 C almond meal
4 eggs
1/4 C coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp cinnamon
1 C unsweetened, all natural apple sauce
1/2 C maple syrup

In a small dish mix the cinnamon and 4 tablespoons of the coconut sugar. Keep this to the side while you mix the other ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, add the almond meal, baking soda, remaining coconut sugar (that you didn't put to the side with the cinnamon). Pulse the dry ingredients until they are well combined. Then, add in the eggs, apple sauce and maple syrup. Pulse until the mixture is smooth. Add in almost all of the cinnamon and coconut sugar mixture and with a spoon swirl the cinnamon into the batter, but don't fully combine. Spoon the mixture into your muffin tin and then sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the muffins. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Guilt-free Chocolate Muffins

Tonight I found myself in the mood for something chocolaty. So, with just a few ingredients from my fridge and pantry, I started up my food processor, warmed my oven and the result was quite delicious.

Recipe:

4 eggs
1 C almond meal
1/2 C + 2 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 C coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C unsweetened, all natural apple sauce
1/2 C maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse the almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda,  and cinnamon until smooth. Then, add in the vanilla extract, eggs, apple sauce and maple syrup until everything is well combined. Pour into the muffin tin and then bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

This little baking adventure really boosted my night and I hope it boosts yours too! I would have taken more pictures...but to be honest, they've all been eaten.

Sunday Biscuits

As a child from the south, I love biscuits. I remember as a kid, loving the smell buttermilk biscuits, as my mom baked them. After I stopped eating flour, I found making dough extremely difficult because the flour substitutes I used either made the dough too dry and the dough would break apart, or the dough would be too wet and never come together. Below is a success story that I was happy to have mastered just in time to enjoy on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Good crust on the outside and moist, crumbly biscuit inside.


Recipe:

2 C almond meal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 C all natural butter (at room temperature)
pinch of sea salt
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor pulse the almond meal, baking soda and sea salt until evenly blended. Add in the 1/4 C of all natural butter cut into small pieces and the eggs. Pulse the mixture slowly until the dough comes together. Roll out the dough and cut out biscuits. When you are handling the dough you need to work quickly because you don't want the butter to melt. Pop onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. In no time, your kitchen will begin to smell like a holiday morning.

Homemade Caramel

I have recently been introduced to coconut sugar and immediately went out and bought a bag of it. Coconut sugar is said to be one of the healthiest alternatives to sugar and it is made only from coconut. Now that I had the sugar, I had to begin to brainstorm what I could start making with it. Finally, I decided the first recipe I would try would be homemade caramel sauce. With only three ingredients, I made what I think is some pretty delicious caramel sauce. You can store for a rainy day, or even just a lazy Sunday, like today. Below are some snacks I made with my caramel sauce to cheer up my Sunday afternoon. Snacks included some sliced green apples and bananas with fresh whipped cream.

Recipe for caramel sauce:

1 Cup water
1 Cup coconut sugar
1/2 C heavy cream

Put the water and sugar into a sauce pan and stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Once it starts to boil stop stirring and let it bubble for about 5-7 minutes until the mixture starts to smoke a little (don't catch the kitchen on fire). Pull the mixture off the heat and pout in the heavy cream and stir until everything is evenly combined. As the mixture cools it will thicken to the gooey consistency you are used to seeing. You can store in the fridge and pour on whatever makes you happy.

Brownie Love

It has been a while since I have had a moist, fudgy brownie...it has actually been a while since I've had a brownie, period. Tonight I decided to change that and made these delicious brownies. I hope you give these a try and I hope they lift your spirits, like they lifted mine. No butter, no flour...little guilt and a happy tummy!

Ingredients:

1 16oz jar of almond butter
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 C maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a food processor, blend all the ingredients until smooth. Pour the batter into a 9x13 inch pan and bake for 30-40 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean). Cool and enjoy! (in our house the "cool" part is optional, but try to wait as long as you can)

Banana Bread

This banana bread recipe is one I love to make and eat up right out of the oven (ok -- I'd wait a few minutes to let it cool down). This banana makes a great, healthy breakfast or just a filling afternoon snack. It is a great way to use up any bananas that have started to go brown. When they begin to go brown, it just means they are going to make sweeter banana bread.

Ingredients

3 eggs

3 bananas

1/8 C honey

1/4 C plain apple sauce

1/8 C grapeseed oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 C Coconut Flour

1/2 C chopped Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Whisk the wet ingredients together until they are smooth. Sift the coconut flour to ensure there are no clumps. Slowly add in the dry ingredients in with the mixer on low. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Bake for 40-50 minutes. They are done when a knife comes out of them clean.

The joy of baking

A few years ago I found out that I had an auto immune disease, which was causing me all sorts of stomach woes. After years of trial and error I have found a way of eating that has really helped me keep up my energy, keep away my stomach woes and most importantly has helped me find one of my greatest loves, all natural baking.

One of my favorite recipes that I have developed is for jelly donut cupcakes. I hope you all give these a try and make someone else's tummy as happy as they have made mine.

Recipes:

Cupcake batter ingredients:

6 eggs

1 cup of applesauce

4 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 cup of honey

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup of coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Jam:

2 containers fresh raspberries (buy some extras to decorate the tops with)

2 tbsp maple syrup

Cook for 30 minutes until it starts to thicken - then refrigerate (it will continue to thicken when its in the fridge...usually takes another 30 minutes)

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix eggs, applesauce, grapeseed oil, honey, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift the coconut flour and baking soda. Once the egg, applesauce, oil honey and vanilla mixture is smooth, leave the mixer going and slowly add in the sifted coconut flour and baking soda. Once everything is mixed smoothly. Grease a cupcake tin and using a tablespoon, spoon one table spoon of batter, then two teaspoons of jam, then cover with once tablespoon of batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for about 20 minutes and then use the additional jam to ice the tops of the cupcakes and stick a raspberry on top and enjoy! :)

Chocobolo

One of my favorite activities, when I'm not at work, is to explore my neighborhood for places that offer simple food and a unique atmosphere.  The latest discovery I've made is the newest Portuguese coffee shop in my neighborhood, called Chocobolo. This unique little coffee shop offers authentic Portuguese pastries and a warm environment to come and sit for as long as you want. It is one of the few places I have been to where the staff never rushes you and actually welcomes you to sit for hours.

I now love spending a weekend afternoon at one of these little tables writing on my laptop, sipping their wonderful mochaccinos and observing passers by. This quaint cafe has now become part of my weekly routine.

Mirrors on the ceiling really open up the space

A little delicious bite I sometimes indulge in

Unique cork details & mirror table tops