Friday, November 1, 2013

Reese's Peanut Butter Bars


  • READY INABOUT hrs


































1 cup (2 sticks, has been successful with stick & half) butter or margarine, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons peanut butter



Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.


tips:

SO GOOD!!!! If you are a peanut butter/chocolate fanatic like me, then you will love this. I followed other reviewers suggestions to make the recipe easier by melting the peanut butter with butter, then mixing with graham crackers and powdered sugar. Also, chill the peanut butter base for 15 minutes before topping with chocolate mixture.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-bars-i/

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Kefir Soaked Sandwich Loaf

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/kefir-soaked-sandwich-loaf/

Kefir Soaked Sandwich Loaf

by Sarah TheHealthyHomeEconomist October 19, 2013
 383 2 445 52
Kefir soaked sandwich loaf
Editor’s Note: Real Food Con kicks off tomorrow (register here for free)but today is your LAST CHANCE to take advantage of the limited time Real Food Con Cookbook bonus when you order the early bird All-Access package — with instant lifetime access to all 22 video and audio presentations, over 200 pages of transcripts, and 7 HD cooking classes with accompanying follow-along recipe guide — at a special discounted price (50% off). 
The 123-page beautifully designed cookbook is jam-packed with 61 gluten- and dairy-free recipes from our Real Food friends, including Christa Orecchio, George Bryant, Amy Densmore, JJ Virgin, Cynthia Pasquella, Leanne Ely, and more.  Don’t miss out! 
…….
A few weeks ago, I posted on Facebook that I was trying a new soaked bread recipe. Quite a few of you commented or emailed asking for the recipe, but I wanted to get it just right first before sharing. Making traditionally prepared bread (as opposed to modern, difficult to digest yeasted breads) can be a bit tricky to master and no one wants to waste quality ingredients not to mention precious time on failed attempts!
To make a long story short, it took me a little trial and error to get the recipe to work, but the results are awesome(you can even slice the loaf for sandwiches!) so I thought I’d share for those of you who enjoy baking traditionally prepared bread for your family.
Please note that I have only used einkorn flour to make this loaf so if you want to try making it with another type of flour, it may take you a couple of tries to get it exactly right. My friend Cathi who shared this recipe with me uses spelt flour, so based on our joint experience, it should work the very first try with either einkorn or spelt.

What is Einkorn?

Never heard of einkorn? It is the purest and most ancient form of wheat available.  It is completely nonhybridized (my kids affectionately refer to it as “Jesus wheat”) as it only has 2 sets of chromosomes unlike all other types of wheat which are hybridized and have between 4 (emmer, kamut, durum) and 6 (spelt, modern wheat) sets. Moreoever, einkorn is very low in gluten and the gluten present is different structurally from modern gluten and quite easy to digest even for many who have sensitivity to modern gluten.  The truth is that not all wheat gluten is created equal!
The only downside to einkorn is that it is a low yield crop and hence rather pricey compared with hybridized wheat. However, if you don’t eat a ton of bread in your home anyway and really want to opt for the most digestible wheat flour available when you do bake, einkorn simply can’t be beat.
One other point of note: you must used raw kefir to soak the flour for this loaf.  The dough does not rise well if you soak using raw yogurt, clabbered raw milk or buttermilk.  It also does not work well with plain store bought kefir.
The reason? I don’t actually know for sure, but my guess is that raw kefir has many more strains of beneficial microbes compared with other fermented dairy products – up to as many as 30. In addition, raw kefir would have all the original enzymes from the raw milk intact. Pasteurized kefir would not have the same level of enzymatic activity as raw kefir. In addition, clabbered raw milk, buttermilk and raw yogurt would have far fewer probiotic strains than raw kefir.
Onward to the recipe!  I do hope you enjoy it – please let me know the various ways you end up trying it, different flours and whatnot!

Soaked Kefir Sandwich Loaf

Ingredients
6 cups flour (freshly ground einkorn or spelt is recommended)
3 cups raw kefir
2 TBL melted coconut oil or grassfed butter
1.5 TBL sucanat or coconut sugar (low glycemic option)
1.5 tsp baking soda
Instructions
Mix 3 cups of flour and 3 cups of kefir well, cover with a clean cloth  and let sit on the kitchen counter for 12-24 hours. After soaking, the dough should be liquidy and very bubbly.
Add baking soda, sweetener, coconut oil or butter and 3 more cups of flour. Stick to 6 cups of flour and don’t add more even if tempted to do so based on consistency of the dough.
Mix well for 3-4 minutes.  The resulting dough should be soft and easily workable with your hands.
Divide loaf into 2 … put in 2 buttered loaf pans (these are what I use) or make 1 huge loaf with a single large loaf pan.
Let the pan(s) sit lightly covered with a clean cloth for another 12 hours on the kitchen counter.
Bake at 350 F (177 C) for 30 minutes for 2 loaves and 350 F (177 C) for 55 minutes for 1 loaf.
Once cooled, slice into sandwich slices. Enjoy immediately and refrigerate what will not be used up within 24 hours.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Flourless Brownies

http://www.homemademommy.net/2013/01/flourless-brownies.html

Flourless Brownies

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Flourless Brownies
As you know, I try to eat mostly grain free when it comes to desserts. We also do not use any refined sugars and really stick to mostly raw honey and maple syrup in our treats. I have tried a few different ‘grain-free’ brownie recipes and have been less than thrilled with the results. It turns out grain-free brownie recipes can be kind of tricky to get right. I find the coconut flour brownies to be hard to swallow (to dry!) and the almond flour ones don’t agree with me. This is why I haven’t posted a true brownie recipe yet on my blog.
I was so excited last week when I stumbled upon an amazing recipe for flourless brownies made with natural sweeteners in another fellow blogger, Ditch the Wheat’s cookbook, Indulge, which includes over 70 grain-free and paleo treat recipes. You heard that right…this is a completely flourless recipe – that means gluten-free, grain-free and almond and coconut flour free! The only ‘flour’ in these is the cocoa powder. These brownies are more than spot on. They are brilliant! These are going to be my go-to brownie recipe from now on!
Indulge is an amazing go-to grain-free cookbook. Right now, the book is 25% off.

Flourless Brownies

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). In a bowl, mix all the ingredients until velvety smooth (I used my Vitamix!). Pour into a parchment paper lined 8 x 4 loaf pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. The brownies will be soft in the middle at 30 minutes and have a slight jiggle. Leave the brownies for at least 5 hours before cutting and eating (I personally couldn’t wait that long and I put them in the fridge after about 15 min of cooling down time and then ate them about an hour later!).
This recipe makes 8 brownies.
*I now use 3/4 cups maple syrup (Grade B) in place of the palm sugar for a moist and gooey texture. Cooked for 30-35 minutes the center will appear to be uncooked but after cooling for a few hours (or in the fridge) it will settle and be more firm. The texture will be more like a molten chocolate cake.

Flourless Brownies
And best of all? There are more of these great grain-free and dairy-free recipes all with some pretty decadent photos in Ditch the Wheat’s e-book, Indulge!
With over 70 recipes for everything from dairy-free chocolate ganache to classic vanilla cake to grain-free pie crust, plus helpful information about substitutions and special ingredients, your gluten-free or grain-free cookbook library just wouldn’t be complete without this one!
- See more at: http://www.homemademommy.net/2013/01/flourless-brownies.html#sthash.m37bQ1sL.dpuf

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Cheesy-Cheese Garlic Biscuits (Grain-Free Red Lobster Biscuits)

http://satisfyingeats.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/cheesy-cheese-garlic-biscuits/

Cheesy-Cheese Garlic Biscuits (Grain-Free Red Lobster Biscuits)


033
Better than Red Lobster Biscuits
Biscuits…. revisited!  I have made a COUPLE THOUSAND of these little jewels since I first posted this recipe over 1 year ago! These beauties were the #1 sellers at the Farmer’s Market and I would make 12-15 dozen twice a month and usually sold out!  Yeah, they are that good! People who didn’t even care about “Grain-Free” or “Low-Carb” LOVED these biscuits!  I say this recipe is a WINNER for everyone!!019044What can I say, like most southern girls, I love biscuits and I consider myself a biscuit expert!  I grew up in rural Georgia, Aline to be exact. We lived across the street from a sweet lady we called “Ms. PeeWee” and she made biscuits EVERYDAY!  She made a large fried biscuit out of buttermilk and bacon drippings that she prepared in a cast iron skillet. We called it a Hoe Cake.  It was so good. This is not Ms. PeeWee’s Hoe Cake but it is just as good! These biscuits actually remind me of those at Red Lobster, and I have been told by many they feel the same. All the flavor without any grains and low carbs!  I can eat these without going into a diabetic coma afterwards! (And I can have more than ONE!!)  Red Lobster Garlic Cheese Biscuits have 16 grams of carbs vs. the small version of my biscuits have 1 Net Carb!
The crunchy bottom crust!

About the recipe

MAKE extras!!!  These are great at any meal and freeze well!!  Pop them in your toaster to reheat!  Also, the key is using a good quality, sharp cheddar cheese.  Don’t buy the pre-shredded stuff.  Read the list of ingredients, there is more than cheese in the bag!! ;-( Also, if using heavy whipping cream, be sure it doesn’t contain carrageenan. And for sour cream, the only ingredient should be cream. If you can get cultured sour cream, even better!
This biscuit is not for those avoiding dairy. The more dairy I added, the better the biscuits tasted! lol  Be sure to finish them with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of parsley.  Delicious and B-E-A-UTIFUL!! I started using parchment paper when baking these biscuits because it was an easier clean up but you won’t have the golden brown bottoms. It is up to you. Either way, they will taste wonderful.  If you don’t use parchment paper, you will just need to use a sturdy spatula to remove the biscuits. SIZE doesn’t matter when making these biscuits.  I usually do make the medium size biscuits using this MEDIUM scoop.  Or you can use a small scoop to make more biscuits.  The small biscuits would be great for a party, sliced and stuffed with meat and cheese! I have used these as hamburger buns or for an egg and cheese biscuit!  Just give these babies a try!

NOTE: If you have made this recipe before, be sure to look at my notes.  I have changed the baking times and gave more specific instructions.

Baking Tip: Using a dark pan verses an aluminum or reflective pan will give your biscuits more rise. Variations: Add crumbled bacon and chives to the batter. 
Grain-Free Red Lobster Biscuits
Modified from the Satisfying Eats Cookbook
Makes about 9 small biscuits or 6 medium biscuits
1 small biscuit: 100 calories, 8 grams of Fat, 1 Net Carb & 3.5 grams of Protein
1/4 cup blanched almond flour (I use Honeyville)
2 tbsp coconut flour (I use either TT, Honeyville or Bob’s Red Mill)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 serving of Kal Stevia (yes, just a pinch or just omit it)
1/4 cup heavy cream (or pure sour cream, I use sour cream now)
1 egg, cold
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated (around 1 oz)
2 tbsp butter, softened (I used salted)
**Finish with Salted butter & dried or fresh parsley
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients. Then add remaining ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until well blended.  Use scoop to scoop out dough onto un-greased cookie sheet lined withparchment paper (or not, see notes above).  Space 2-3 inches a part. Bake for 13-15 minutes for small biscuits and 20 minutes for medium biscuits.  Once out of oven, smear a bit of salted butter and sprinkle with a little parsley. Best served warm.

Pumpkin cupcakes cream cheese frosting

Pumpkin cupcakes cream cheese frosting



BBQ shredded chicken


BBQ shredded chicken


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Gluten, Grain, and Garbage-Free Chick-fil-A Nuggets

http://thedomesticman.com/2012/12/27/gluten-grain-and-garbage-free-chick-fil-a-nuggets/

Gluten, Grain, and Garbage-Free Chick-fil-A Nuggets

27DEC

Over the past few weeks we’ve spent a fair amount of time out in town, shopping for gifts, and we have often found ourselves away from the house with no lunch plans. Chipotle is our emergency standby, but sometimes we’re tempted to grab Chick-fil-A since they’re everywhere (there are 30 of them within 20 miles of our house!). But as Melissa at Hunt.Gather.Love. points out, regardless of how you feel about Chick-fil-A’s stance on current social issues, the quality of their food alone should be enough to boycott the restaurant chain. For example, let’s take a look at the ingredients list for their nuggets:
100% natural whole breast filet, seasoning (salt, monosodium glutamate, sugar, spices, paprika), seasoned coater (enriched bleached flour [bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate, nonfat milk, leavening [baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate], spice, soybean oil, color [paprika]), milk wash (water, egg, nonfat milk), peanut oil (fully refined peanut oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness and Dimethylpolysiloxane an anti-foaming agent added).
So I set out to recreate these chicken nuggets, and most importantly, reduce the ingredients list of this dish from 30+ ingredients down to 10 with minimal compromise on taste.
You’ll Need:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup dill pickle juice
1 egg, mixed
2 tbsp buttermilk or cream
1/4 cup tapioca starch (potato or arrowroot starch okay)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp each salt and black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 dash ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup lard or coconut oil for frying
Step one: cut up your chicken into 1″ chunks. Place the chicken chunks in a ziplog bag and add the pickle juice; marinate in the fridge for an hour.
After an hour, open the bag and pour out any excess pickle juice. It doesn’t have to be perfectly drained, just not totally juicy. Add the egg (mix it first) and the buttermilk/cream, and mix together, then let sit for five minutes. Again, open the bag and pour out the excess liquid, if there is any. Texture is important at this point – the pieces should be wet but not swimming in a soup of pickle/egg/creamy goodness.
Prep your dry ingredients by stirring them all together.
Add the dry ingredients and mix them together in the bag, by a combination of shaking, rubbing, and pleading. It’ll take a few minutes, so this is a good time to warm up your skillet of lard/oil on medium heat.
Fry your chicken pieces, flipping every few minutes, until nice and golden brown. It should take about six to eight minutes per batch. Don’t overcrowd the skillet; it took me four batches to cook all two pounds of chicken. Drain the chicken pieces on paper towels as you cook the others, and keep them warm in the oven at 170 degrees.
That’s it! Serve with a dipping sauce like my barbecue sauce, or maybe some honey mustard.

sandwich rounds

sandwich rounds
sandwich rounds


Friday, August 16, 2013

Paleo Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (scd, paleo)

http://relishscd.blogspot.com/2013/02/paleo-pineapple-upside-down-cake-scd.html

Paleo Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (scd, paleo)


A basic version of this recipe can be found in Breaking the Vicious Cycle (by Elaine Gottschall). I put my own little twist on it, as usual and I have to say this is a refreshing treat. The ingredients are simple and in any paleo/scd person's pantry.

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
about 4 large round slices off of a whole fresh pineapple, plus 1/2 cup chopped pineapple is optional

Preheat the oven to 350
Mix the eggs, honey, coconut oil or butter, and vanilla. If you want to have pineapple in the cake as well as topping it also add 1/2 cup chopped pineapple. Add the almond flour, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well.

Line the bottom of a 9 inch circular baking dish or spring form pan with parchment paper (optional) and then grease the dish with more oil or butter.
Place the pineapple slices in the bottom of the dish.
Pour the batter over the pineapple slices and bake for 40-45 minutes. 
Let cool on a rack, then loosen the edges, flip over, and enjoy.

*inspired by the recipe over at The Almond Flower.