Peppermint chocolate sticks

As previous post stated I've been trying to get more into the Christmas spirit and by baking things that reminds me of Christmas from when I was little I think I can achieve this. Yesterday I decided to make some delicious chocolate and mint sticks. Recipe taken from livinghealthywithchocolate.com

Ingredients
makes about 15 sticks
6 tbsp melted coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp almond butter
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp peppermint extract
pinch of salt
60 ml shredded coconut
60 ml pecans or walnuts

Stir together coconut oil, cocoa powder, almond butter, honey, vanilla, peppermint extract and salt in a large bowl. Heat up the mixture slowly over a pot of boiling water for about 5-10 minutes until mixture is completely combined.
Chop the pecans coarsely in a food processor. Add the nuts and coconut to the chocolate mixture and stir together. Pour into an ovenproof dish about 20 x 15 cm lined with baking paper.
Put it in the freezer and freeze until the chocolate has set. Cut into sticks. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Ginger bread cookies

It's Christmas season and I'm definitely missing Sweden. There are so many differences between Australia and Sweden around this time of year. Firstly it's of course the weather; it's very hard to get into the right Christmas mood when it's over 20 degrees and sunny outside. So I sort of miss the darkness and the cold but it's only for this time of year when that's the case. Also, the food is a lot different. I miss my Swedish Christmas treats. Luckily I have been able to find some Paleo versions of these Swedish treats. This one I found on recept.nu

Ingredients
makes about 25 cookies
200 ml almond flour
100 g butter
50 ml stevia
2 ml ground cloves
2 ml ground cardamon
2 ml cinnamon
1 tbsp psyllium husk
75 ml coconut flour
2 egg whites

Make the dough about a day before and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Melt the butter together with the stevia and spices. Add in the almond flour and psyllium husk. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to expand. Whisk the egg whites hard and carefully fold it into the rest of the dough. Add the coconut flour and mix to a firm dough. Shape into a roll and cover with cling wrap.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Flatten the dough by using a rolling pin and use cookie shapes to make cookies.
Put them on an oven try with baking paper and bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.

Carrot protein slices

I've made this recipe once before but I never put it up on the blog because the result wasn't that good. This time it turned out so much better. I love these! Perfect as a snack. The recipe is from paleomg.com. I used a slightly bigger dish than the recipe so I got 12 slices but they were much thinner and therefore I only cooked them in the oven for about 25 minutes. I also excluded the raisins because I'm not a huge fan.

Ingredients
makes about 8 slices
2 large carrots, finely shredded
160 ml almond butter
2 eggs
3 tbsp honey
35 grams of whey protein powder (vanilla flavoured or unflavoured)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla powder (exclude this if you're using vanilla protein powder)
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
120 ml raisins (optional)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Shred the carrots as thin as possible. Add them to a large bowl. Add in the almond butter and eggs and mix well. Then add honey, protein powder, cinnamon, vanilla, baking powder and salt and mix well again. If using raisins, fold them in now. Grease a 20 x 20 cm large baking dish with a bit of coconut oil, pour the cake batter in the dish and place in the oven for about 25-35 minutes (depending on thickness). The top of the cake should have a nice crust to it.
Take it out and let it cool slightly before slicing it up.

Chocolate coffee chia pudding

This is a super easy thing to either have as dessert or for breakfast instead of yoghurt or something like that. It's very easy to make and you can just make it the night before and it'll be all done the next morning. The recipe is from paleomg.com.

Ingredients
serves 2
120 ml brewed coffee, chilled
120 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp cocoa powder
60 ml chia seeds

Mix coffee, coconut milk, almond butter, vanilla, sweetener and cocoa powder together in a blender. Place the mixture in a large jar with lid and then add the chia seeds. Mix around with a spoon or put the lid on and shake the jar a couple of times. Place in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Enjoy!

Productive weekend

Actually, the header is a bit of a lie. Yesterday I wasn't productive at all so most of the things above I've actually made today. I've tried some new recipes and also made batches of some of my favourite recipes.

From left to right:
Cashew butter cookies - http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/cashew-butter-cookies.html
Crisp bread with seeds - http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/crisp-bread-with-seeds.html
Paleo bread rolls - http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/paleo-breadrolls.html
Spiced nuts - http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/spiced-nuts-2.html
Chocolate coffee chia pudding (recipe will be put up shortly)
Mint cookies - http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/mint-cookies.html

Paleo bread rolls

This is once again a recipe from undervarttak.blogspot.se. I just love their website. Since I'm Swedish it's a perfect place for me to find traditional Swedish things made Paleo. I'm gonna try some day soon to make their ginger bread cookies so that I won't miss Sweden too much over Christmas. Today however, I decided to make these sort of bread rolls which turned out alright. I wish they would've been a bit fluffier but I guess I'll have to work on that.

Ingredients
makes 6
300 ml almond flour
50 ml sunflower seeds
50 ml crushed linseed
1-2 tsp bread spices (I used caraway seeds, fennel seeds and cumin)
2 eggs
50 ml coconut milk
poppy seeds for decoration
coconut oil for the muffins tins

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk together the eggs and the coconut milk and pour this over the dry ingredients. Mix it all together to a soft and quite runny dough.
Grease six muffin tins with some coconut oil and fill them with the dough. Even them out with a wet spoon. Sprinkle on some poppy seeds on each roll. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Cashew butter cookies

These cookies looked so simple to make and seemed very tasty as well. Luckily they actually were as well. I found the recipe on kristensraw.com. Unfortunately mine didn't turn out quite as nice as hers though because for some reason I didn't pay attention when putting them on the sheet. I thought they would float out a bit more once the dough got warm in the oven. It doesn't really matter though, they still taste delicious.

Ingredients
makes 10 cookies
1 egg, room temperature
240 ml cashew butter
60 ml xylitol (or other sweetener)
½ tsp vanilla powder
2 pinches of salt
10 squares of Green & Blacks Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Beat all the ingredients except for the chocolate together with an electric hand mixer until completely combined. Use a tablespoon and scoop the cookie dough on to the baking tray.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Let the cookies cool a little bit then push one square of the chocolate on the top of each cookie.

Roasted broccoli florets

We had a barbecue last night even though it was raining and a bit windy. Luckily it wasn't too bad when the meat was actually on the barbecue. I was trying to think of what we could have with the garlic and herb lamb and realized we had quite a bit of broccoli in the fridge. Instead of just boiling or steaming it like usual I decided to roast it in the oven. With some salt, pepper and various spices; it turned out to be a perfect side dish for the lamb.

Ingredients

serves 2-3

1 large broccoli head

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Cut the broccoli into smaller florets and place them on a large baking tray.

Mix together the oil, the spices and salt. Pour this over the broccoli and mix around. 

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until it's soft and a little bit browned.

Spiced nuts #2

Found another recipe for spiced nuts on themerrymakersisters.com and it was really easy to make. Perfect in front of the movie or as a party snack.

Ingredients
240 ml raw almonds
240 ml raw cashews
240 ml raw macadamias
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp ground chili
2 tsp paprika powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix around and make sure all the nuts get coated in the spices and oil. Transfer the nuts to the baking tray and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. Allow to cool before enjoying them.

Almost Paleo Chicken Tikka Masala

I got the recipe for this from againstallgrain.com. I love Tikka Masala so I wanted to give this a go. There seems to a lot of steps to this but to be honest it was quite easy, you just have to plan ahead a bit. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of this dish.

Ingredients
serves 4

Marinade:
500 g chicken thigh fillets, fat trimmed
120 ml plain Greek yoghurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ tbsp ginger, grated
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper

Cashew cream:
Soak 240 ml raw cashews in 720 ml boiling water for about 30 minutes. Drain the cashews but keep the water. Put the cashews in a blender together with 180 ml of the soaking water. Blend until smooth.

Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
½ onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp Garam masala spice mix
3/4 tsp chili powder
½ tsp paprika powder
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
500 ml crushed tomatoes or passata
1 tsp honey
180 ml cashew cream
120 ml unsweetened almond milk
3 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Make the marinade by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl. Make some shallow slices in the chicken and place them in a zip-lock bag. Pour the marinade over it and massage the marinade in the bag so that it covers all the chicken. Let it marinade for about 24-48 hours.
Remove the chicken from the bag and with a paper towel remove the majority of the marinade.  Place it on a oven tray lined with baking paper and cook under the grill in the oven for about 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the chicken thighs. It's supposed to be just cooked through and being a bit browned. Remove from the oven and cut into cubes.
In a large pot or pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until soft and slightly browned, about 6-8 minutes. Add the spices and stir together for about a minute.
Add the tomatoes and honey. Season with salt and pepper. Partially cover the pot and cook until the sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir every now and again to keep the sauce from sticking.
Add the almond milk and cashew cream and continue to cook over low heat for about 10 minutes more. Add the chicken and simmer until chicken is warm again. Lastly, sprinkle with coriander.
Serve with some cauliflower rice.

Salmon with broccolini and asparagus

This recipe is from againstallgrain.com. She has a very good website with very pretty photos and a mix of different recipes. This recipe was very simple and tasty.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
3-4 salmon fillets, boneless and skinless
3 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp coconut sugar or honey
1/4 tsp grated ginger
1/4 tsp crushed garlic

250 g broccolini, trimmed
250 g asparagus, cut into 5 cm pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt
pinch cracked pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, coconut sugar, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Place the salmon pieces on a baking dish and pour the marinade over fish. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes.
For the greens; add all the ingredients to a bowl and toss to coat. Spread the vegetables on a baking tray lined with baking paper and roast for 15-20 minutes.

Beef, sweet potato and parsnip gratin

I have made so many things lately but I just haven't had time to upload them and I've also forgotten to take photos. Last night I made a really tasty dish from undervarttak.blogspot.se. I mixed some parsnip in there together with the sweet potato since I really love the flavour of parsnip. Served it with some steamed broccoli because I thought it needed some greens. Result was deliciousness.

Ingredients
serves 4
1 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium sized parsnips, peeled and thinly sliced
500 g ground beef
1 red onion, finely diced
400 ml coconut milk
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ red chili, finely diced
1 tsp grated ginger
Parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Prepare the sweet potato and parsnip by peeling and slicing them.
Heat a large frying pan to medium heat and add some butter. Fry the onion for a couple of minutes. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Once browned, add the coconut milk, garlic, chili,ginger and parsley. Mix around and let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Add the sweet potato and parsnip and carefully mix around. Let it simmer again for a minute or two.
Pour into an ovenproof dish and cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes (depending on the thickness of the root vegetables). Enjoy with some steamed vegetables or a salad.

Paleo focaccia

So I've been craving bread for a couple of days now and I finally decided to make some bread without flour and found a recipe on undervarttak.blogspot.se. The result was much better than I expected actually, I didn't think it was going to be so fluffy which is definitely a good thing. Definitely something I'll make again when I'm craving bread of some sort.

Ingredients
makes 1 large flat bread
400 ml almond flour
50 ml coconut flour
100 ml psyllium husk
1 tbsp baking powder
1½ tsp salt
6 eggs
300 ml water
50 ml olive oil + extra for decoration
Sea salt
Fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together the eggs, water and 50 ml olive oil in another bowl. Once mixed completely, pour this over the dry ingredients and mix together until it's a soft dough. Let it sit for about 5 minutes so it gets a bit thicker.
Grease an oven tray with olive oil (I used one sized 25 x 30 cm).
Add the dough to the tray and flatten it evenly. Press with your finger to make small holes in the bread. Drizzle some olive oil over, then sprinkle the fresh rosemary and sea salt over the top as well.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until it has a golden colour and the test needle comes out clean. Enjoy!

Paleo chicken chow mein

I've never had chicken chow mein in a restaurant but I have a feeling that this dish is slightly lighter and maybe even tastier. The recipe is from Paleo Cupboard.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
SAUCE:
½ tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tbsp raw honey, melted
2 tsp sesame oil
5 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
dash crushed red pepper (or more if you like heat)
dash sea salt
dash ground black pepper
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tbsp fish sauce

PARSNIP NOODLES:
6 medium to large parsnips, peeled and julienned (or use spiral vegetable slicer to make into noodles)
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced into strips
2 tbsp macadamia oil or butter
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced into strips
1 yellow capsicum, thinly sliced into strips
3/4 cup chopped spring onions
Sea salt
Ground black pepper

To make the sauce, combine all of the sauce ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and whisk until combined. Set aside.
To make the parsnip noodles, Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Toss the julienned parsnips with the olive oil, sea salt and ground black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Lay the parsnips out flat on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until crispy, stirring a couple times.
While the parsnips are baking, season the chicken strips with sea salt and ground black pepper. Place a large skillet or large wok over medium-high heat and add the oil. Allow to get hot and then add the chicken, letting it sear for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add the onion and garlic to the pan (and some additional oil or fat if needed). Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the red and yellow bell peppers to the pan and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the green onions and the chicken to the pan and stir to combine.
Add the sauce and toss to coat. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, or until sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally.
Serve up the chicken sauce with the noodle.

Paleo Teriyaki beef stir-fry

Got this recipe from paleomg.com and it's very simple and really tasty.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
120 ml coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Sriracha
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp fish sauce
2 tbsp arrowroot powder, divided
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
1 broccoli head, cut into small florets
500 g flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
salt and pepper, to taste
chopped spring onions, to garnish

Place a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add coconut oil along with minced garlic and grated ginger. When garlic becomes fragrant, turn heat on low then add soy sauce. Be sure that the pan has cooled down a bit before to keep the soy sauce from splattering everywhere.
Once the soy sauce have been added, increase heat to medium-low and add honey, sriracha, sesame oil and fish sauce.
Bring sauce to a slow boil, then add 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder, 1 teaspoon at a time and whisking to incorporate into the sauce. Whisk each teaspoon in at a time.
Once sauce has become think, add capsicum, onion and broccoli to the sauce and coat in sauce. Let cook down for about 6-8 minutes or until onion is soft. After the vegetables have cooked through, use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetable and set aside in a bowl.
Increase heat to medium-high temperature and add thinly sliced flank steak to the pan. Cook steak on both sides for 2-3 minutes, until barely any pink remains. Add vegetables back into the pan and incorporate with the meat.
Since the meat will render some liquid, add the remaining tablespoons arrowroot powder into the mixture, teaspoon at a time, whisking the powder in with the mixture.
Serve with cauliflower rice and top stir fry off with chopped green onions

Creamy fish stew with bacon

We had this for dinner a couple of days ago and it turned out to be quite good. It sounds a bit strange maybe but the end result is good. The recipe is from undervarttak.blogspot.se

Ingredients
serves 2-3
500 g white fish, diced
125 g bacon, diced
400 ml coconut milk
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
200 ml chopped chives
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 capsicum, diced
1 onion, diced

Heat a frying pan and add the bacon. Fry for a few minutes then add the onion.
Whisk together the coconut milk and Dijon in a bowl and pour this over the fried bacon. Add the chives, mix together and let it boil for about 15 minutes until it has thickened a bit.
Add the fish and the capsicum and let it simmer together for another 4-5 minutes.
Put in the tomatoes, add them to the stew and let them get warm.

Chicken stir-fry with cashews and Thai basil

We had some Thai basil lying around from last week and I decided to make this recipe which I found on taste.com.au. It was very tasty indeed, not quite Paleo but I modified it a bit to make it a bit more Paleo.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
60 ml fresh lime juice
60 ml fish sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp cocotnut sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 large fresh red chilies, thinly sliced
5 spring onions, ends trimmed and cut into 6 cm lengths
1 stem lemon grass, trimmed an dbruised
120 ml raw cashews
600 g chicken tenderloins, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
1 bunch fresh Thai basil, leaves picked

Combine the lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a bowl.
Heat half the oil in a wok over high heat until just smoking. Add the onion, garlic, chili, spring onione and lemon grass. Stir-fry for 2 minutes or until the onion softens. Transfer to a large bowl.
Heat the remaining oil in the wok over high heat. Add the cashews. Stir-fry for 2 minutes or until golden. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to the bowl.
Add one third of the chicken to the wok. Stir-fry for 4 minutes or until just starting to brown. Transfer to the bowl. Repeat, in 2 more batches, with the remaining chicken, reheating the wok between batches. Return the chicken and onion mixture to the wok. Add the fish sauce mixture and pepper. Stir-fry for 2 minutes or until heated through. Remove from heat. Remove and discard the lemon grass. Stir in the basil.

Guide to a primal lifestyle

I've known about Paleo for a couple of years now but only now did I read these sort of 'guide lines' on Mark's Daily Apple. There are some valid points and it doesn't seem that hard, does it?

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/#axzz2i5iG4IMz

Paleo chocolate chip cookies

These cookies turned out great. Although I think I made them a bit too big so they didn't quite get that cookie crunch but the they're still delicious. The recipe was for 12 cookies but I only got 10 because I made them so big. The recipe is from The Food Lovers Kitchen.

Ingredients
makes 12 cookies
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
175 ml semisweet chocolate chips (I used 85% chocolate and chopped it up)
60 ml coconut oil
60 ml cup maple syrup
1 egg
350 ml almond flour

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.
In another mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
Melt the coconut oil and pour into the batter. Continue to blend until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips. On an oven tray lined with baking paper, drop balls of cookie dough, about a tablespoon in size. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Paleo taco pie

This is my second attempt to make this pie. The recipe is from undervarttak.blogspot.se but last time I thought it was a bit too wet so I made some adjustments and this time it turned out much better. I think this is definitely one of my new favourites; so much flavour and really easy to make.

Ingredients
serves 4-6
300 ml almond flour
50 ml sesame seeds
2 tbsp psyllium
1 tsp sea salt
40 g butter
1 egg

1 onion, diced
500 g mince meat
1 serve of taco seasoning
50 ml water
butter to fry in

3 eggs
100 ml coconut milk
150 ml salsa

Capsicum for decoration

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Mix the almond flour and sesame seeds in a food processor, using the knife blade. Add psyllium, salt, butter and egg. Mix again until it forms a dough. Press out the dough in a pie dish. Prick with a fork and pre-bake for about 10 minutes until it's golden brown.
Heat up a frying pan and once hot, fry the onion in some butter. Fry for a few minutes until it's softened slightly. Add the mince meat and let it get slightly brown. Add the taco seasoning and mix it around. Add the water and let it simmer together for a few minutes. Put the mince meat in the pie crust. Whisk together the eggs and the coconut milk. Add the salsa and mix in. Pour the egg mixture over the mince meat and decorate with the capsicum. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the pie has got a nice golden colour.

Mexican salsa

This is a very simple recipe for homemade salsa. Once again it's from undervarttak.blogspot.se

Ingredients
500 g crushed tomatoes
1 onion, finely diced
1-2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika powder
½-1 tsp ground cummin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and serve together with your tacos.

Taco seasoning

Simple recipe for a delicious taco seasoning which can be used for many things.

Ingredients

makes enough for about 500 g mince meat

1½ tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp ground cummin

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Mix it all together.

Creamy chorizo and fish

So I don't quite know what has happened with my memory. I decided yesterday to pick up a piece of cooked chicken and some broccoli at the supermarket on my way home because I didn't feel like cooking anything too hard. I went to the supermarket, started to walk home. After about 5 minutes I realised that I didn't buy any chicken or broccoli....*sigh*
So when I came home I just had to look to see what we had at home and I actually managed to make up something that was quite nice. Possibly a bit strange to many people but it worked.

Ingredients
serves 1-2
1 piece of white fish, diced
1 chorizo, peeled and sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 capsicum, diced
100 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp sambal oelek
salt and pepper

Heat a frying pan to medium heat and add a bit of butter. Add the chorizo and fry for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Set aside on a piece of paper towel. If you don't have enough grease in the pan from the chorizo, add some more butter, otherwise just add the onion. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the capsicum. Fry for another few minutes, add the fish and the sambal oelek. Fry together for a couple of minutes and then add the coconut milk. Let it simmer for a few minutes then add in the choizo and mix together. Serve with a side of greens.

Kale chips

This is one of our new favourites. Really easy to make and tastes delicious. Once again I've got the recipe from eatdrinkpaleo.com.au

Ingredients
serves 2
10 kale leaves (on a stalk)
1½ tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp ground coriander seeds
2/3 tsp ground cumin powder

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Tear the leaves away from the stalks and cut into 2-3 cm pieces with scissors or tear with your hands.
Wash and pat dry with some paper towel.
Toss kale leaves with olive oil, spices & sea salt. Scatter in a large oven tray and bake for 15 minutes tossing them around every 5 minutes to prevent burning and to make sure they dry out and roast evenly on all sides.

Paleo quiche

I got this recipe from eatdrinkpaleo.com.au. She has a really good 1 week Paleo meal plan where this recipe was included. I added some parma ham to our quiche, I think bacon would've been good as well.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
1 medium sweet potato, diced
1 brown onion, sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch of sea salt
6 eggs
¼ cup full fat cream
zest of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and pepper for seasoning
1-2 tbsp of pine nuts
butter for cooking

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a flat baking tray with coconut oil and scatter diced sweet potato. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove and turn the oven down to 180°C.

In a medium frying pan, sauté onion and capsicum in butter on medium heat for 15 minutes. After 10 minutes of cooking, add fresh thyme, garlic, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Whisk the eggs with cream and combine with the zest of lemon, a pinch of black pepper and a generous pinch of sea salt. Grease the bottom of a deep baking tray with coconut oil and line with baking paper, making sure the sides are covered. Assemble sweet potatoes and onion and red peppers mix evenly on the bottom. Pour whisked egg mix on top. Bake for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with pine nuts and some extra fresh thyme and bake for a further 10 minutes. Stand aside to cool and settle for 5 minutes before serving. Lift the sides of baking paper to remove the quiche to a cutting board.

Paleo crumble

This is one that I made when I was back in Sweden. My parents have a lot of rhubarb in their garden and rhubarb pie is one of my favourite desserts. I'm afraid I don't remember the rhubarb part of the recipe but normally you mix together the rhubarb with some sort of sweetener and potato starch or tapioca flour.

Ingredients
serves 4-6
2 tbsp coconut oil (you can also use butter)
150 ml shaved almonds
150 ml shredded coconut
150 ml almond flou
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until it becomes a crumbly dough. Distribute the dough over the fruit in the pie dish and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until it's got a golden colour.

Broccoli and bacon pie

I made a few Paleo things for the past month or so but I haven't had a chance to put them up due to holiday and no internet. Therefore I'm going to now catch up a bit and see whether I can remember the recipes....

The first one is a delicious Paleo broccoli and bacon pie, the recipe is from undervarttak.blogspot.se

Ingredients

serves 4-6

300 ml almond flour

50 ml sesame seeds

2 tbsp psyllium

1 tsp sea salt

40 g coconut oil

1 egg

1 head of fresh broccoli

150 g bacon

4 mushrooms, sliced

5 cherry tomatoes, halved

3 eggs

200 ml coconut milk

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Mix the almond flour and sesame seeds in a food processor, using the knife. Add psyllium, salt, coconut oil and egg. Mix again until it forms a dough. Press out the dough in a pie dish. Prick with a fork and pre-bake for about 10 minutes until it's golden brown.

Cut the broccoli to smaller florets and pre-boil for about 3-4 minutes. Put the sliced mushrooms on the bottom of the pie crust, cut the bacon to smaller pieces and add this to the crust. Add the broccoli florets and the cherry tomatoes. 

Whisk together eggs and coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Pour the egg mixture over the the bacon and vegetables in the pie crust. 

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the egg mixture is set.

Paleo waffles

Since it's a long weekend I decided to make something extra delicious for breakfast today other than the usual eggs and bacon. I got the recipe from Undervarttak.

Ingredients
makes 4-6 waffles
4 eggs
200 ml coconut milk
200 ml almond flour
1 1/3 tbsp psyllium
2 2/3 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp baking powder
2 pinches salt

Start heating up the waffle iron. Whisk the eggs and coconut milk until fluffy. Melt the coconut oil and add to the egg mixture. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients and whisk these into to the egg mixture.
Once the waffle iron is hot, brush it with some melted coconut oil and pour in enough mixture to cover the surface. Close the lid and cook until golden brown.
We served ours with some fresh fruit or berries, maple syrup and some shredded coconut.

Creamy chicken and zoodles

I got inspiration to this recipe from PaleOMG but I changed the recipe a little bit.

Ingredients
serves 2
2 large zucchinis, julienned
2-3 chicken thigh fillets, diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 small piece of cabbage, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1½ tbsp homemade mayo
2 tsp sriracha chili sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
butter for frying

Make noodles from zucchini using a julienne peeler or cut into thin strips. Place zoodles in a strainer or colander. Sprinkle noodles with salt, toss and let sit for 10-20 minutes to release liquid.
Drain water from zucchini and pat dry with paper towels. Heat butter over medium heat and add in the zucchini for a couple of minutes.
Prepare all you other ingredients. Fry the chicken in some butter together with some salt and pepper on medium-high heat, until browned and cooked through. Remove from pan and place in a separate bowl.
Add the onion, garlic, carrot and cabbage to that same pan and fry on the same heat until the onion is translucent. Add in the zucchini, mayo, sriracha sauce and parsley and mix around. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Nut crumbed fish with lime and coriander butter

We made this dish last night and it turned out to be incredibly tasty. I got the recipe for the butter from http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/ and the fish I came up with myself. We served it together with some steamed broccoli and green beans and put some butter on top of it all at the end. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it but you just have to believe me that it looked good too. Also, you'll probably have some chopped nuts left over after making it but then you can always use that for some other yummy recipe.

Ingredients
serves 4 
80 ml macadamias
160 ml walnuts
200 ml almonds
100 ml coconut flour
2 eggs
4 white fish fillets
100 g butter
2 tbsp coriander
zest and juice from 1 lime
butter for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Place the nuts together in a food processor and chop to your liking.
Beat the eggs lightly in a shallow bowl and place your chopped nuts and coconut flour on two separate plates. Firstly dust the fish fillets in the coconut flour, then dip it in the beaten eggs and lastly crumb it with the nut mixture. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side. Fry on medium heat for about 3 minutes each side or until golden.
Place 100 g butter together with the coriander, lime zest and lime juice in a food processor and process until completely mixed together. Season to taste with salt and pepper a mix again.

Brussel sprouts and bacon salad

Last night we decided to have a barbecue and it's always a question of what to have as a side dish. I bought the cook book from Eat Drink Paleo yesterday and found this recipe in it. Luckily both me and my other half love brussel sprouts so it was an easy decision.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
500g brusselssprouts, washed and halved
3 slices of bacon, diced and crispy fried
1–2 tbsp macadamia or coconut oil
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp hot mustard
½ lime, juice
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). Toss brussel sprouts in macadamia orcoconut oil and roast for 30 minutes, until crisped and browned. Stir half way through.
Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Add fresh cherry tomatoes and bacon to roasted brussel sprouts and toss together with the dressing. Serve in the same roasting tray or in a salad bowl.

Chicken fajitas

We're moving in about a week now so I'm trying to empty the freezer. I found this super easy chicken fajitas recipe and it turned out to be really tasty.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea salt (optional)
500 g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
1 tbsp coconut oil
½ red onion, sliced
2 red capsicums, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lime

In  a bowl, combine garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and salt. Toss chicken in mixture until fully coated and set aside.
Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add the coconut oil.
Saute the onion for 3 minutes, add chicken and continue to cook until chicken is almost fully cooked (about 10-15 minutes), stirring often.
Just before chicken is done, add the capsicum, lemon and lime juice. Stir and cook for 3 more minutes.
Serve with a salad and top with guacamole.

Banana and cashew butter brownies

Today I had an extremely unproductive day at work and I felt so unmotivated to do anything. So, I had a look on the internet for some recipes with cashew butter since I knew I had some at home and it's been there for quite a while and I wanted to finally use it. I found this recipe on http://www.cleanfoodcreativefitness.com

Ingredients
makes 8 pieces
80 ml cocoa powder
60 ml almond flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cashew butter
2 eggs
1 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla powder
2-4 tbsp cashew butter for decoration

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Combine your cocoa, almond flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
Using a hand mixer add in the ripe mashed banana, honey, 60 ml cashew butter and eggs.
Lastly mix in your vanilla.
Once blended pour into a greased 20x20 cm baking pan.
Drop your remaining cashew butter by the teaspoon on top of your batter. Use a knife to swirl into the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Garlic and lemon prawns with zoodles

I love zoodles (zucchini noodles) and I keep trying to find easy and delicious recipes to have it more often. This time I found a very easy recipe at fastpaleo.com but I changed the recipe a bit.

Ingredients
serves 2
2 medium zucchinis
12-15 large prawns, peeled and deveined
½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
Zest from one lemon
Juice from ½ lemon
½ avocado, mashed
pinch salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 cups baby spinach

Mix together olive oil, avocado, crushed garlic, lemon juice, zest, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.
Make noodles from zucchini using a julienne peeler or cut into thin strips. Place zoodles in a strainer or colander. Sprinkle noodles with salt, toss and let sit for 10-20 minutes to release liquid.
Drain water from zucchini and pat dry with paper towels. Heat butter over medium heat and have all your ingredients ready to go.

Add shrimp and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip the shrimp, cook for another 30 seconds, then add the zoodles. Toss a few times to coat. Add spinach, continue tossing gently and cook for a minute or two until zoodles are cooked to preference and shrimp is cooked through. Turn off the heat and mix in the avocado mixture.

Paleo mixed veggie lasagna

Eatdrinkpaleo.com.au is a great site living down here in Australia because it is an Australian site which means that the things she uses should be easy to find in the stores here. This recipe doesn't really have anything unusual in it and it certainly is delicious. We put some cheese on the top so it's not really Paleo but you can easily leave that out. The red wine in the meat sauce really makes it extra yummy.

Ingredients
serves 4
500 g grass-fed beef mince
1 onion, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
160 ml dry red wine
720 ml tomato passata (it’s basically a fresh tomato puree, comes in large jars or you can puree your own from scratch; diced canned tomatoes are fine, just process them into smoother consistency first)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil
2/3 tsp sweet paprika
2/3 tsp black pepper
1 +2/3 tsp sea salt
1 large parsnip, peeled and sliced into thin disks
1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced into disks (a little thicker than the parsnips, about 1/2 cm)
3 medium zucchinis, sliced vertically into thin ribbons
4 mushrooms, sliced
A handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
2-3 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
Butter and olive oil for cooking
Optional topping –  100 ml grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Peel and chop onion and garlic. Slice the eggplant and sprinkle with salt to let some of the moisture out, set aside in a bowl.
Heat a frying pan with 1 teaspoon of butter to high. Break beef mince into small pieces and fry on high heat until the colour changes from red to lightly brown. Break the meat apart as it tends to clump together during cooking. Stir frequently to make sure all mince pieces are fried evenly. This should take about 5-7 minutes.
Add red wine, chopped garlic, pepper, paprika and salt to cooking meat and fry for a further 3-4 minutes. Add tomato passata, bring to boil and turn the heat down to simmering temperature.
Heat another frying pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil to medium. Sauté chopped onion with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes. Add onion and the olive oil to cooked in to the mince sauce, stir through and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
While the sauce is cooking, peel and slice parsnip into thin disks. Drizzle the bottom of a large, deep baking tray with some olive oil. Place a layer of parsnip slices overlapping each other. Put in the oven to start cooking while we prepare the rest of ingredients.
Pre-slice mushrooms and zucchini.
For the eggplant layer, we need to slightly pre-cook the aubergine slices. Heat a large frying pan to medium high. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of butter. Add the first batch of eggplant slices making sure they don’t overlap. Fry on each side for 1-2 minutes, just to cook them slightly. Repeat oil, ghee and eggplant until all disks are pre-cooked.
By this stage, all of our ingredients should be ready. Take the baking tray out of the oven and start layering the lasagna in the following order: pre-cooked parsnips, ½ of tomato meat sauce, eggplant, basil, mushrooms, the rest of the meat sauce pressed down evenly, baby spinach, zucchini, drizzle of olive oil and some cracked black pepper. Cook in the oven at 180-190C for 35-40 minutes.
If adding grated cheese, take lasagna out at a 20 minute mark and add the cheese on top. Put back in the oven and turn it up to 200 degrees Celsius for a further 10-15 minutes.

Carrot bread

Ok, I must admit that I do miss bread and although I do have the real thing occasionally I've been searching for a relatively easy Paleo recipe so that I can have it a bit more often. So when I found this recipe on http://undervarttak.blogspot.se/ I was really happy. I was a bit scared when making it since the previous times I've tried to make Paleo versiouns of bread they've turned out really dense and not great tasting. I made this and not only was it really simple to make, it was also really tasty. Wish I could've taken a better photo for you but I'm afraid I'm not the best photographer.

Ingredients
makes about 12 pieces
400 ml almond meal
50 ml coconut flour
5 tbsp psyllium husk
50 ml crushed linseeds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp 'bread herbs' (I crushed some caraway seeds, fennel seeds and cumin together)
200 ml finely shredded carrot (approximately 2 small carrots)
6 eggs
200 ml water
olive or coconut oil to grease the pan

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Peel and shred the carrots finely. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, add the eggs and water and whip them together. Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients and mix together until it forms a dough. Lightly squeeze the liquid out of the carrots and mix these into the dough. Let the dough sit and expand for about 5 minutes.
Grease and ovenproof pan (approximately 20x30 cm big) with one of the oil.
Add the dough to the pan and push it down with your hand until it's evenly flat.
By using a fork make a dotted pattern in the bread.
Cook the bread in the oven for about 20 minutes and has got a nice light brown colour and your test stick comes out clean. Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool slightly.
Cut the bread into squares, break apart and let it cool completely on a rack.

Cauliflower fried rice

Who doesn't like a good fried rice? I certainly do, so I found this recipe on http://www.familyfreshmeals.com and it was super easy and really delicious. One of our new favourites. It's not quite Paleo but sometimes we do decide to "cheat".

Ingredients
serves 2-3
720 ml grated raw cauliflower (about ½ large head)
120 ml frozen peas
120 ml carrots, thinly sliced (1 large carrot)
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, diced
½ tbsp olive oil
2 eggs, scrambled
3 tbsp soy sauce

In a large pan, saute garlic and onions in olive oil on a medium/high heat, until onions become soft and transparent, about 2-3 minutes. Next add in peas, carrots and cook until carrots begin to soften and peas are heated through, about 3-4 minutes. Next stir in scrambled eggs, cauliflower and soy sauce. Cook stirring frequently for about 5-7 more minutes.

Fennel gratin with garlic and parsley

I like fennel and sometimes they have it on special in the supermarket and I buy one just because it's nice but I never really have a clue how to cook it. I found this recipe on http://undervarttak.blogspot.se and I decided to give it a go. It turned out to be quite tasty. We had ours with some roasted pork fillet and steamed broccoli.

Ingredients
serves 4
500 g fennel
200 g leek
10 sundried tomatoes (not in oil)
2 garlic cloves
fresh parsley
salt and pepper
300 ml coconut milk
coconut oil to fry in

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Rinse and cut the leek into approximately 1 cm big pieces. Put some coconut oil in a pot and fry the leek slightly. Slice the fennel and the sundried tomatoes. Add the fennel and sundried tomatoes to the pot with the leek and mix around. Crush the garlic clove into the mixture. Add salt, pepper and parsley to taste. Mix around and let it fry for a couple of minutes. Add the coconut milk and simmer slowly for 5 minutes. Pour the mixture in an ovenproof dish and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Banana ice cream with almond butter

Once again I've got this delicious recipe from undervarttak.blogspot.se

Ingredients
serves 4
8 ripe bananas
4 tbsp coconut milk
3 tbsp almond butter

Prepare the bananas one day in advance by cutting them in pieces and putting them in the freezer.
Put the frozen banana pieces in your food processor and using the knife blades crush the bananas into small pieces. Add the coconut milk and blend together until it starts looking like ice cream. You might have to stop and push down the mixture from the sides. Add the almond butter and blend a bit more. Top with some roughly chopped almonds.

Chocolate mud balls

I am one of those weird people who is not a massive fan of chocolate. I do like it but put a fruity dessert and chocolate one and I will most likely choose the fruity one. That said, these chocolate mud balls are delicious. Found the recipe on fastpaleo.com

Ingredients

makes about 12

80 ml coconut flour

60 ml tapioca flour

80 ml unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt, fine

5 eggs

80 ml honey

60 ml coconut oil, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

300 g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease a 20x20 cm square baking pan with coconut oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine coconut flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sea salt, blend together well. 

Add eggs, honey, vanilla and coconut oil to flour mixture and using an electric hand mixer blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the baking pan and place on the center rack in oven. Bake 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Using a small circular cookie cutter or an ice cream scoop, scoop out cake pieces and place on baking paper. Put a bowl over a pot of boiling water, add the chocolate and melt it, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth. Dip the cake pieces into the chocolate using a fork. Make sure it's covered all over and place back on the baking paper. Cool in the refrigerator and allow to harden.

 

Easy salmon and potato bake

Found this recipe on a Swedish website called http://www.alltommat.se and thought it would be a perfect dinner for Friday night and it turned out to be extra perfect because with the massive cold I've caught I was really not feeling like standing over the stove or chopping lots of different things. This was super easy and didn't require too much preparation.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
500 g salmon fillets (without skin and bones)
600 g potatoes
1 onion
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil
2 tbsp of the oil from the tomatoes
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 garlic clove

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
Peel and cut the potatoes and onion in chunks. Put them on a big oven tray. Pour over 1 tbsp of the oil and mix around. Cook in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes.
Cut the salmon into big pieces and once the potatoes are done. Take them out and add the salmon to the tray. Season with salt and pepper and cook everything for another 10 minutes.
Roughly chop the sun-dried tomato and mix it with the other 1 tbsp of oil and the garlic clove.
Pour the tomato mix over the salmon and potatoes once done.
We served ours with some steamed broccoli and homemade aioli.

Creamy carrot soup

My spouse is not a huge fan of soups so I took the opportunity to make one when he wasn't home for dinner. It turned out pretty good even though I didn't follow the recipe fully. I got the recipe from undervarttak.blogspot.se and the original had 600-700 ml coconut milk but I thought that was a bit too much so I modified it a bit.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
7 carrots
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
½ red chili
400 ml coconut milk
100 ml beef stock
400 ml water
parsley
thyme
salt and pepper

Peel and chop the carrots and onion into small pieces. Peel the garlic cloves and crush them with a knife. Split and take the seeds out of the chili.
Pour the stock and water in a pot and add the carrots, onion, garlic and chili. Bring it to a boil and let it boil until the carrots are soft (time for this depends on how big you've cut the carrots).
Take off the heat and mix with a hand blender until it's a smooth puré. Add the coconut milk and mix a little bit more. Put back on the heat and add parsley, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Bring it to a boil so that it heats up. Serve with some crispy fried bacon on top.

Here served with crispy fried serrano ham and spring onion

Boeuf Bourguignon pie

We're huge fans of boeuf bourguignon so when I found this recipe on taste.com.au I was excited. It's not that much of a difference to just having potato mash and the stew together but the mash tastes better when it's been in the oven and got a bit a crunchy top. This is not a Paleo recipe but it's very tasty anyway.

Ingredients
serves 4
2 tbsp butter
800 g stewing beef, trimmed, cut into 2-3cm pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
½ tbsp dried thyme
4 slices flat pancetta, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
250 g mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
250 ml red wine
250 ml beef stock
2-3 bay leaves
1 kg mashing potatoes, chopped
30 g unsalted butter, melted
125 ml pure cream, heated
Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Heat 1 tbsp butter in a flameproof casserole over medium-high heat. In batches, add beef and cook, turning, for 3-4 minutes until browned. Remove and set aside.
Add remaining 1 tbsp butter to the pan, then add onion, thyme, pancetta and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion has softened. Add mushroom and cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in flour and cook for another minute. Add tomato paste and cook for a further 1 minute. Return beef to the pan with wine, stock and bay leaves. Season and bring to the boil, then remove from heat. Cover and cook in the oven for 1-1½ hour or until the meat is tender. Remove the lid and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Transfer beef mixture to a 1½ liter baking dish and let it cool.
Meanwhile, place potato in a saucepan of cold, salted water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until tender. Drain and pass through a ricer or mash until smooth. Stir through butter and cream and season.
Preheat the grill to medium-high.
Spread the mashed potato over the meat and use a fork to make a light indentation in the surface. Grill for 5 minutes or until golden. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Banana ice cream with crunchy almonds

We visited my sister-in-law and she had Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook 'It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great'. In there we found a recipe for banana ice cream which we never got a chance to make when we were up there. So we looked up the recipe and made it last night. The result was really good. We put in some coconut sugar when we toasted the almonds in order to get that extra crunch and it was really tasty.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
4 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
60 ml almonds, finely chopped
1 tsp coconut sugar
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp maple syrup, divided
½ tsp sea salt
120 ml unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Place banana slices in a single layer on a plate or tray lined with baking paper; put in the freezer for at least 3 hours. Put the almonds in a frying pan and toast by themselves for a little bit. Add the sugar and mix around until it's melted. Put the almonds in a bowl, add 2 tsp maple syrup and the salt.
In a food processor, pulse frozen banana slices, almond milk, vanilla and the remaining 2 tbsp syrup, scraping down the sides as necessary, until the mixture is the texture of soft-serve ice cream. Spoon into bowls; sprinkle with the crunchy almond mixture.

Mint cookies

For the people who know me, they would most likely know that I'm a huge, huge fan of everything with mint. So when I browsed through http://fastpaleo.com on Friday picking out what I was going to make over the weekend, I was very excited when I found the recipe for these mint cookies. Sure they're not mint slices but then again these are not packed with processed sugar.

Ingredients
makes about 12
240 ml walnuts
240 ml pitted dates
240 ml shredded coconut
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 tbsp maple syrup
100 g 70% dark chocolate

Put the walnuts in a food processor and chop until a fine meal is made. Add the dates to the food processor until they are all chopped finely.Add the remaining ingredients and mix until it's all combined.

Roll in to balls and flatten into biscuits. Place on a lined baking tray and put in the freezer for 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes, melt the chocolate in a small but deep bowl. Using a fork dip the biscuits into the chocolate and put back on the tray. Put back in the freezer until the chocolate is set. Store in the fridge.

Carrot, spinach and bacon breakfast hash

Sometimes I feel like our breakfasts don't have enough veggies so I found this recipe on http://taylormadeitpaleo.com and thought it could be nice to make on a Saturday morning with some avocado on the side for some healthy fat. I swapped the sweet potato for carrot since that's what I had at home.

Ingredients

serves 2

4 slices of bacon, diced

2 small carrots, grated

2 big handfuls of spinach

½ onion, finely chopped

4 eggs

salt & pepper to taste

Add bacon to a frying pan greased with coconut oil over medium heat.

After the bacon has cooked for a minute or two, add carrots, spinach, onion, salt, and pepper mixing frequently. When the bacon is almost cooked through, add your eggs and cook to your preference.

Chocolate balls

So I've made similar things previously, well at least they look the same. I got the recipe for these of http://undervarttak.blogspot.se. The original recipe says it makes 30-35 balls but I must have made really big ones or something because I only got 20 balls. I guess it doesn't really matter. They're prefect to have in the freezer for those moments when you just feel like something sweet.

Ingredients
makes 20 medium sixed balls
200 g dates
100 ml walnuts
100 ml almonds
100 ml pecans
100 ml pumpkin seeds
100 ml desiccated coconut (+ a bit extra to roll the balls in)
4 tbsp raw cocoa
1 tbsp cinnamon
80 ml coconut oil
1 tbsp coffee

Chop the nuts and pumpkin seeds in a food processor. Put them away.
Mix the the dates and the shredded coconut in the food processor.
Add in the nut mix to the food processor together with the cocoa and cinnamon.
Add the coconut oil and the coffee until you have a smooth mixture.
Make little balls and roll them in desiccated coconut.

Rhubarb crumble

So this rhubarb crumble turned out pretty well. It was maybe a bit too sour but with the cream it was definitely very tasty. I found the recipe for the crumble mixture on http://recipes.sparkpeople.com

Ingredients
serves 3-4
500 g rhubarb
2 tsp honey
1 tsp arrowroot powder

2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 large egg
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
475 ml almond flour



Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Take the skin off the rhubarb and cut into 2 cm big pieces. Put them in a bowl and add the honey and arrowroot powder. Let sit for a few minutes.
Mix together the egg, coconut oil, cinnamon and almond flour.
Put the rhubarb on the bottom of an oven proof dish and add the crumble on top. Drizzle some honey on top of the crumble and cook in the oven for about 35 minutes.

Serve with some whipped cream with vanilla

Un-lazy Sunday

Today I've been cooking up a storm. Making porridge for next weeks mornings, making crisp bread just because it's so good and nice to have around when you feel like a savory snack. And I've also made chocolate balls, perfect to have in the freezer when you feel like something sweet. And I also made a rhubarb crumble because I love rhubarb and it was on special at the supermarket this week. Now I'm just waiting for the beef that's roasting in the oven and some nice roasted beets with that. Lots of yumminess today...

Raw sticky chocolate cake

Recipe from http://undervarttak.blogspot.se
Am really happy with the result of this. We served ours with some whipped coconut cream. The original recipe has hazelnuts in it but I didn't have any at home so I used a mix of pecans and walnuts instead.

Ingredients
250 ml hazelnuts
150 ml almond flour
5 large pitted dates
100 ml brewed cold coffee
50 ml raw cocoa
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 pinch of salt
shredded coconut for the dish and a bit to put on top

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor until its a creamy mixture.
Put a bit of shredded coconut on the bottom of your dish. Add in the mixture and spread out to an even cake. Let the cake sit in the fridge for a few hours. Serve with your favourite toppings.

Salmon and brussel sprout gratin

Once again I've got this recipe from http://undervarttak.blogspot.se. I think I'll be making quite a few other recipes from this website/blog this weekend. They have so many good ones.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
500 g salmon fillets
500 g fresh brussel sprouts
2 garlic cloves
1 lemon
50 ml chopped parsley
100 ml coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
Clean, half and pre-boil the brussel sprouts for about 4 minutes.
Pour out the water and pour a little bit of olive oil on them. Crush the garlic over the sprouts and mix around. Add in the parsley, salt and pepper and mix.
Get the skin of the salmon fillets and cut into cubes. Add the salmon to the brussel sprouts and carefully mix around. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon.
Pout everything into an ovenproof dish and pour over the coconut milk.
Cook in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.