Chocolate chia puddings with caramelised banana

Found these chia puddings of taste.com.au and they were really easy to make. The caramelised banana was what made these super delicious though.

Ingredients
serves 4
60 ml chia seeds
270 ml coconut milk
2½ tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp water
60 ml rice malt syrup
1 tsp coconut oil
1 large banana, sliced
pinch of sea salt
shredded coconut, to serve

Put chia seeds, coconut milk, cocoa powder, water and 2 tbsp of the rice malt syrup in a blender and blend until almost completely smooth. Pour into 4 glasses (approximately 125 ml per serve) and place in the fridge to chill for about 2 hours.
Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the banana for approximately 30-60 seconds each side or until golden and caramelised. Remove from heat and sprinkle with sea salt. Drizzle with the remaining rice malt syrup and let cool for a couple of minutes.
Top the puddings with the banana and shredded coconut.

Smoked salmon and veggie frittata

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been a bit preoccupied with a little man that arrived in the beginning of August. I haven't really had time to make that many new things and the ones that I have made I haven't really had time to post about. Anyway, hopefully I'll have a little bit more time in the future to both cook, bake and post some recipes.

We had some smoked salmon in the fridge and I was thinking about what I could do with it other than have it for breakfast. So I decided to make a frittata for dinner. Result: delicious. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take a picture of it though. Next time :)

Ingredients
serves 3-4
8 eggs
100-150 g smoked salmon, diced
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
½ red capsicum, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 boiled potato, sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius. Sauté onion, capsicum and carrot in butter. Whisk eggs in a large bowl, add the salmon, cooked veggies, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into a oven proof frying pan (or greased glass baking dish) and press down the potato slices. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until middle of frittata is completely cooked through. Serve with a salad and some sour cream.

Paleo barbecue sauce

I wanted to make some pulled pork and most recipes had barbecue sauce in them so I decided to find a good recipe and make some sauce myself. Civilized caveman had a good recipe and I had all the ingredients at home. I only put in the chunks of the pineapple and not the juice since I wanted to save that for a drink later.

Ingredients
makes about 500 ml
1½ tomatoes, diced
½ onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
250-300 g tomato paste
120 ml beef stock
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
½ tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp paprika powder
½ tsp sea salt
½-1 tsp cayenne pepper (all depending on how hot you want it)
230 g can of diced pineapple (without added sugar and other additives)

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized pot and place it over medium heat while stirring frequently. Once the sauce starts to boil, reduce the heat to low. Cover and let it simmer for about 1 hour. Make sure to check it and stir it every now and again so that it doesn't burn. Once the simmering is done, place the sauce in a blender, food processor or use a hand mixer (this is what I did) and run until you have a smooth consistency.

Paleo muesli

Being pregnant makes you hungry, that's something pretty certain. And I'm especially hungry when I wake up in the morning and I don't always feel like eggs so I decided that muesli would be a good and easy thing to just grab in the morning together with some fruit and almond milk. I found this recipe on Paleo Cupboard. I didn't want it that sweet so I only used half the amount of honey. I think it might've turned out a bit crunchier if I used all the honey but I'm very happy with the result.

Ingredients
240 ml raw almonds
120 ml raw cashews
120 ml raw walnuts
60 ml raw pepitas/pumpkin seeds
60 ml raw sunflower seeds
60 ml unsweetened coconut flakes
60 ml coconut oil
120 ml honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
raisins/sultanas

Preheat the oven to 135 degrees Celsius. Place the almonds, cashews, walnuts and coconut flakes in a food processor and pulse a few times to break into smaller chunks. Put in a medium sized bowl together with the seeds.
Heat up the coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract in a pot on low heat  until completely combined. Add this to the seeds, nuts and coconut flakes and stir to coat.
Spread the muesli mixture evenly on a baking tray lined with baking paper and cook for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat, add the raisins and sprinkle with salt and mix around a bit. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes or until hardened. Then break apart and keep in a jar with a tight lid.

Soft and gooey chocolate brownie

I've been trying to find recipes of food, snacks and sweets that are good to freeze so that when the baby comes we can always just go to the freezer because we probably won't have the energy or time to cook every night and we don't want to get take-out all the time. So I'm trying to prepare as much as possible while I'm not working. I found this recipe on paleogrubs.com and it's a super easy recipe with not that many ingredients and it's pretty much like a normal chocolate cake/brownie.

Ingredients
makes about 10 brownies/1 round cake
240 ml almond butter
80 ml maple syrup
1 egg
2 tbsp melted ghee
1 tsp vanilla
80 ml cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond butter, maple syrup, egg, ghee and vanilla. Stir in the cocoa powder and baking soda gently.
Pour the batter into a 22 cm baking pan (I used a round one).
Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the brownie is done, but still soft in the middle.
Let cool and enjoy by itself or with some berries and cream.

Slow cooker shredded chicken

Making dishes in a slow cooker is so easy. You just put everything in and let it do it's thing while you go ahead with your day as usual. You barely have to check it during the time at all. And the result for this dish was great; so happy with it. Thank you LivingLovingPaleo!

Ingredients

serves 3-4

about 900 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 medium onion, diced

1 capsicum, diced

2 medium tomatoes, diced (about 240 ml)

6 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

Add all of the ingredients to your slow cooker and stir well. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken with two forks.

I served ours with some sweet potato chips, coleslaw, cucumber, guacamole and ranch dressing.

Ranch dressing

Not quite the ranch dressing that I'm used to from home but this is quite a delicious dressing.

Ingredients
120 ml Paleo mayo
120 ml coconut milk
½ tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dill
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Cinnamon sugar cookies

I've looked at this recipe for a while now and been wanting to make them but didn't get around to it. I decided today was a good day to do some baking so I went ahead and made them. They really are delicious and super simple to make.

Ingredients
makes about 25 cookies
480 ml almond flour
120 ml coconut flour
120 ml coconut sugar (plus about 60 ml for rolling in)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
7 tbsp grass-fed butter, melted
60 ml maple syrup
1 egg, whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line an oven tray with baking paper.
Combine almond flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar (120 ml), cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Combine butter, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla extract in a another large mixing bowl.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet, mixing until they are all well combined.
Roll the dough into balls about 2,5 cm in diameter.
Roll each ball in the additional 60 ml coconut sugar to lightly cover.
Place on tray and press down lightly to flatten a little. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 12-14 minutes, there should to be a soft center.

Banana bread with chia seeds

Got in the mood to bake something easy and delicious yesterday and found this recipe. It turned out that I had all the ingredients at home so I decided to start baking. It turned out extremely well.

Ingredients
makes 1 loaf/serves 12
400 g ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
6 eggs
4-6 fresh pitted dates (depending on size)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
60 ml coconut oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
120 ml coconut flour
60 ml chia seed
2 tbsp protein powder - optional

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
Combine banana, dates, oil, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs and baking powder in a food processor and blend until creamy and combined. Add the coconut flour and chia seeds and mix through.
Rest for about 10 minutes to allow the chia seeds and coconut flour to expand.
Lightly oil one loaf tin and line with baking paper.
Add the batter to the tin. Decorate with some shredded coconut and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Bake for about 50-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre will come out dry.

Fish and tomato soup

This recipe is from a Swedish website tasteline.se. The original recipe has saffron in it but I'm not a huge fan of saffron so I skipped that and added some other ingredients as well. I was very happy with the result.

Ingredients
serves 4
2 red onions
3-4 garlic cloves
½ red chili
2 carrots
1 capsicum
4 broccolini stalks
500 ml tomato passata
200 ml stock (I used beef because that's what I had at home)
400 ml water
1 bay leaf
400-500 g fish (I used 200 g salmon and 250 g white fish)
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

Slice the carrots and cut the capsicum and broccolini into bite-size pieces. Put aside for now.
Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic and chili. Heat up a large pot over medium heat and add some grease (I used ghee). Fry the onion, garlic and chili for a couple of minutes. Add the other veggies together with the passata, stock, water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
Cut the fish into smaller pieces and add this to the soup. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Chicken and bacon rice bowl

This recipe was very simple and quick for a weekday dinner. I found it on Paleomg.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
4 rashes of bacon, cut into smaller pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
4 chicken thigh fillets, skinless and boneless, chopped to bit-size pieces
3 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 small head of cauliflower, grated
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
avocado and spring onion to serve

Add pieces of bacon to a pot over medium heat and cook until crispy then remove and set aside on paper towel. Leave behind the bacon grease to cook the rest in.
Add garlic cloves, onion and chicken. Sprinkle with a bit of salt. Cook until chicken is almost cooked through. Then add your chopped tomatoes and cauliflower. Mix well. Add a good amount of salt then add chili powder and red pepper flakes. Mix well, place heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 10 minutes. When done simmering, mix in bacon pieces into the rice mixture.
Place in bowl, garnish with a bit of salt and pepper, avocado and spring onions.

Almond macaron

I had a craving for French macarons today but it's not something that we just have at home so I decided to make some myself and I also had a couple of egg whites in the fridge from making mayonnaise the other day that I wanted to do something with. Found this Paleo friendly recipe and gave it a go. I only made the top parts and no filling, but they are yummy to eat just as they are. I'm sure you can make them a bit prettier than mine as well I guess.

Ingredients
makes about 15

300 ml almond flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp lemon zest

2 egg whites

60 ml raw honey (I used rice malt syrup)

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

Mix cinnamon and lemon zest in a medium bowl.

Add honey and lemon juice and stir vigorously to blend thoroughly.

Beat egg whites and fold in to the mixture.

Add almond flour and mix thoroughly but carefully.

Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Use a teaspoon to scoop small portions of the batter onto the baking paper. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes.

Chocolate hazelnut cupcakes

I have found a new love for hazelnuts. They're just so delicious. I found this recipe on a Swedish blog and just had to try them because they sounded really tasty. They absolutely were!

Ingredients
makes 12
10 pitted dates
200 ml hazelnut flour
100 ml shredded coconut
50 ml melted coconut oil
4 tbsp cocoa
½ tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla powder
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil.
Mix dates, hazelnut flour and shredded coconut in a food processor. Pour in the melted coconut oil together with cocoa, vanilla powder and honey and mix again. Add the eggs and baking powder and mix until it's a smooth batter. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin trays and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. To get a sticky effect, keep them in the fridge for approximately 45 minutes before serving.

Served with coconut cream and strawberries

Mediterranean warm cauliflower salad

So I got inspiration for today's dinner from a couscous salad recipe but I decided to use cauliflower instead since we don't really eat couscous and I modified it in some other ways as well. I was a bit scared that it wouldn't work because cauliflower has quite a strong flavour but it worked really well and was quite delicious. Not the most protein dense meal but lots of veggies.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
½ cauliflower head
250 g cherry tomatoes
1 zucchini
½ red onion
2 garlic cloves
½ capsicum (I used green but any colour will do)
1 carrot
100 g salami
handful of fresh parsley
big handful of mixed leafy greens (I used spinach and rocket leaves)
bocconcini or mozzarella balls
black olives

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and put them on an oven tray. Drizzle on some olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
Grate the cauliflower in a food processor or by hand so it becomes small pieces, sort of rice size. Place in a heatproof dish, cover and put in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes. Grate the carrot.
Cut the zucchini in half moon pieces and the capsicum to cubes. Peel and chop the red onion and garlic. Heat a pan to medium heat and add some butter (or olive oil). Cook the zucchini, capsicum, onion and garlic for a few minutes. Finely chop the parsley, cut the salami to smaller pieces and add this to the pan. Fry for another couple of minutes. Add the cauliflower, grated carrot and the roasted tomatoes. Then add the mixed leafy greens and let it all get warm. Mix together the dressing and add this in.
Either mix in the cheese and olives or serve them on the side.

Paleo butter chicken

We made this recipe for the first time a few weeks ago but I didn't get a chance to put the recipe up that time. We made it again tonight and it was just as tasty as last time. Thanks to myheartbeets.com we've found one of our new favourite dishes. We served this with some Paleo naan.

Ingredients
serves 4
Marinade
approximately 600 g chicken thighs (boneless and skinless), cut into smaller pieces
120 ml coconut cream
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ tsp Garam Masala
¼ tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Curry
2 tbsp ghee
1 onion, chopped
2,5 cm ginger, minced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, cut into thick matchsticks
100 g green beans, halved
450 ml tomato passata
200 ml coconut milk, full fat
1 tsp garam masala
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp coriander powder
salt and pepper to taste
fresh coriander for garnish

Place chicken pieces in a bowl and marinate with coconut cream and spices, set aside.
Add ghee to a pan on medium heat. Once ghee melts, add onions and cook until completely dark golden-brown but be careful not to burn them (this will take about 15-20 minutes).
Add ginger and garlic and saute for a few more minutes.
Add spices and let them fry off for a minute. Then add your chicken mixture and briefly stir-fry.
Add passata, carrot and beans, and cover your pan. Let everything simmer for about 12-15 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for another few minutes.
Garnish with coriander and serve with Paleo naan.

Paleo naan bread

Simple and delicious naan bread from myheartbeets.com to serve with your favourite Indian dishes.

Ingredients
makes 2
120 ml almond flour
120 ml tapioca flour
240 ml coconut milk, full fat
salt
ghee, to fry in

Mix all the ingredients together.
Heat a 24 cm nonstick pan over medium heat and grease with some ghee. Pour half the batter in the pan.
Once the batter fluffs up and looks firm/mostly cooked, flip it over to cook the other side; this can take some time so be patient.

Super simple and delicious coconut ice cream

Once again I got this recipe from Paleomg. I wanted to make some ice cream sandwiches with the cookies I made yesterday and I found that recipe. We modified the recipe slightly but they still turned out to be superdelicious and the ice cream by itself is really nice.

Ingredients
1 can full fat coconut milk (about 400 ml)
120 ml maple syrup
120 ml almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Place all ingredients for your ice cream in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk until completely mixed together, don't overheat. Then place in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until completely cooled.
Add mixture to your ice cream maker and turn on.
Once ice cream has thickened, eat straight away by itself or if using it for ice cream sandwiches; place it in a container and in the freezer to harden up a bit more before putting it on the cookies.

Soft and chewy spice cookies with molasses

I think Paleomg has some of the best dessert and treat recipes out there. This is the second time I try one of her cookie recipe and they turned out great.

Ingredients
makes about 18 cookies
2 eggs, whisked
240 ml almond butter
60 ml molasses
120 ml coconut sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
60 ml coconut flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour/arrowroot starch
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Mix eggs, almond butter and molasses in a large bowl.
In a medium sized bowl mix together coconut sugar, cinnamon, ginger, coconut flour, tapioca, baking soda and salt. Pour half of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix well. Then add the rest and mix until completely combined.
Line an oven tray with baking paper and scoop about tablespoon sized cookie dough drops on to the baking sheet. This should make about 18 cookies so you may need to use 2 oven trays.
Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies are firm on the top.

Roast vegetable soup with leftover roast chicken

Last night we had roast chicken for dinner. Since it's just the two of us we normally don't eat a whole chicken. So I found this great recipe from Against all grain which uses leftover roasted chicken in a soup. It was also super easy to make

Ingredients
serves 3-4
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, peeled and cubed
700 ml peeled and cubed butternut pumpkin (about 1/3 of a big one)
1 small onion, quartered
2 tbsp olive oil
1 liter chicken stock
leftover roasted chicken, shredded
½ red chili, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp dried parsley
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
240 ml water
480 ml baby spinach

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
Prepare all the vegetables and toss them in the olive oil (include the garlic cloves). Roast in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
While the veggies are in the oven, bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot. Add the chicken, chili, herbs, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes.
Add half the roasted veggies to the soup and place the other half in a blender together with 240 ml of water. Make sure to put all the onion pieces in the blender. Blend until you have a smooth puree.
Add the vegetable puree and spinach to the soup and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until the spinach is wilted and all of the soup is hot.

Chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel tart

I've been wanting to make this tart for a few weeks now but I just haven't had the energy to do it until now. It was definitely worth it. I'm so proud of the result. Don't think I've ever managed to make something so pretty. The recipe is originally from the Merrymaker sisters' book but I've used the one on EatDrinkPaleo. It wasn't actually even that difficult to make and I've forgotten how good hazelnuts are.

Ingredients
For the crust:
360 ml almond flour
240 ml raw hazelnuts
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted or soft
1 egg
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the caramel layer:
150 pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes)
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted or soft
1 tsp vanilla essence
240 ml coconut cream (coconut milk is fine too)
1 tsp sea salt

For the chocolate layer:
100 g coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp cacao powder
2 tbsp crushed nuts of your choice for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a tart tin (mine was 26 cm in diameter but smaller should work as well).
Begin with toasting the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Swirl around frequently so that they don't burn but get a nice brown colour on all sides. Remove and let cool for a few minutes.
Place the hazelnuts in a food processor and grind into a fine flour (should take about a minute). Add the almond flour, coconut oil, egg, maple syrup and vanilla. Process until the mixture comes together.
Scoop the mixture out and make it to a ball. Place it and flatten it with a rolling pin in between two sheets of baking paper. Roll out by starting from the middle and roll out to the sides in each direction until it's about a 3-5 mm thick. Peel the top layer of baking paper off and flip the base over the tart tin. It's quite delicate so be careful. Mine broke quite a bit so I had to fill in the gaps when it was in the tin but that worked fine as well. Make sure the area where the sides and base meet are filled properly, preferably they need to be a bit thicker. Place a round sheet of baking paper to cover the base of the crust and put on baking beads (I used uncooked rice since I don't own any baking beads). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, remove the baking paper with the beads or rice and bake for another 10 minutes or until it's golden brown. Set aside to cool in the tin.
For the caramel filling; Drain the water from the pitted dates. Place them in a food processor together with coconut oil and vanilla and process until the form a thick paste. Add the coconut cream and salt and process again until it's smooth (should take about a minute, scrapping down the sides as you go). Spread the caramel filling over the crust and place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.
For the chocolate layer; place coconut oil, honey and vanilla in a double boiler (a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water) and melt until combined. Add the cacao powder and whisk until it's smooth, probably only about 30 seconds, make sure not to overcook it. Take your base out of the freezer and pour the chocolate mixture over the caramel and spread with a spatula. Sprinkle with the crushed nuts and place in the freezer for another 5 minutes or so.

Serve with some whipped coconut cream or berries of your choice.
Leftovers can be stored covered in the fridge for about 5 days.

Chewy double chocolate cookies

This cookies are sooo good and easy to make. I wouldn't say they're healthy considering they have quite a lot of coconut sugar in them but compared to the alternatives in the store they are much better. I love Paleomg for putting up the recipe for these beauties.

Ingredients
makes about 13-15 cookies
240 ml thick almond butter (make sure it's not too oily)
240 ml coconut sugar
1 egg, whisked
120 ml unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
60-120 ml chopped dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
In a large bowl, mix together almond butter and coconut sugar using a large spoon. Then add the egg and mix again until well combined.
Add 60 ml cocoa powder at a time. It's probably easier to use your hands from now on since the batter is quick thick. Add all the cocoa powder and completely combine.
Then add baking soda, vanilla, salt and chopped chocolate. Combine until everything is well mixed.
Scoop out around 2 tablespoons of dough and make into a round ball. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper. This dough will create about 13-15 cookies that size.
Use a fork to press the cookies down just slightly. Don't press them down too much because they’ll come apart when they bake so be careful.
Place them into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let them cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing them from the baking paper as they can easily come apart when they're hot.
Enjoy!!

Spicy meat soup

I really like soups, especially when it is getting a bit colder and darker outside around this time of the year. I however sometimes just feel like vegetable soup of some kind (i.e. pumpkin) whilst my other half wants some more protein in them. So I found this recipe on Under vart tak and decided to give it a try. I think we were both very happy with the result. I added some cauliflower to the recipe for some extra veggies.

Ingredients
serves 4
500 g mince meat
125 g bacon
1 onion
2 carrots
1/4 head of cauliflower
690 g tomato passata (or crushed tomatoes)
400 ml coconut milk
100 ml stock
2-3 garlic cloves
½ red chili
3 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt (or herbal salt)
pinch of black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper (or as much as you think you can handle)
handful of fresh parsley
handful of fresh basil
butter, olive or coconut oil to fry in

Peel and finely chop the onion.
Grate the carrot and the cauliflower with the big grater.
Fry the onion and other veggies in a big pot with your choice of grease.
Chop the bacon to small pieces and add these to the pot. Fry them for a few minutes.
Add the mince meat and let it all fry together until the mince meat is cooked through.
Finely chop the chili and crush the garlic and add this to the pot.
Add the tomato passata and the coconut milk.
Add the spices and mix around. Finally add the fresh herbs and let it all simmer for a few minutes until all the flavours are mixed through and the soup is hot.
Serve it with some nice Paleo focaccia

Roasted chicken with pumpkin and brussel sprouts

This dish was really simple and delicious...and completely Paleo. The recipe is from the Swedish website recept.nu

Ingredients
serves 2-3
600 g chicken thighs (preferably with skin)
1 butternut pumpkin
3 carrots
250 g brussel sprouts
3 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt and pepper
pesto to serve with

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
Peel and cut the pumpkin and carrots into wedges. Clean the brussel sprouts and cut them in half. Put the vegetables on an oven tray together with 2 tbsp olive oil and crush the garlic cloves over it. Mix it all together. Put the chicken thighs on the tray as well and sprinkle with some additional olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, after this time turn the heat down to 200 degrees and cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through. Serve with some home made pesto.

Raspberry mousse

Ok, so this is not Paleo but I've tried to make it at least a bit LCHF by replacing the sugar with some xylitol and not use as much since I think raspberries are quite sweet in themselves. The recipe is from tasteline.se.

Ingredients
serves 2
250 ml raspberries (+ some extra for decoration and texture)
1 tbsp xylitol
½ tbsp gelatin powder
150 ml cream

Put the raspberries in a pot and heat them up together with the stevia.
Press the raspberry sauce through a sieve so that you get a sort of purée.
Mix the gelatin in 1 tbsp of cold water to thicken and then mix this in with the raspberry purée.
Whisk the cream quite hard and fold in the raspberry purée and some whole raspberries in the cream.
Dish up in some cute bowls or glasses. Let stand in a cool place for a bit before serving. Decorate with some extra raspberries and maybe some grated chocolate.

Gluten free pizza

We tried this recipe for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it was really good. It's from the geniuses at Under Vårt Tak. These guys have so many good recipes. I want to make their pizza buns as well and when we come to picnic season again I'll definitely give them a go. You can make the pizza more Paleo by using coconut milk instead of regular cream and obviously skip the cheese as a topping. We made four times the recipe and got 2 almost regular sized pizzas.

Ingredients

makes 1 small pizza

1 egg

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cream (or coconut milk)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1½ tbsp psyllium husk

your choice of toppings

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Whisk egg and cream together with the olive oil and a bit of salt.

Season with the garlic powder, basil and oregano. 

Add psyllium husk and whisk together until combined. 

Let the mixture sit and thicken for a few minutes. 

Spread the dough on an oven tray lined with baking paper.

Add your toppings of choice and cook in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes or until base seems cooked.

We topped our pizzas with tomato paste, bacon, cooked chicken, onion, capsicum, garlic and some mozzarella cheese.

Chocolate peppermint balls

This recipe is originally from The Merrymaker sisters and they have it labelled as a Christmas recipe. I agree that it is a bit Christmasy but considering I'm a huge fan of mint I decided to give them a try even though we're only in April now. The original recipe is without the chocolate coating but I decided to make it slightly fancier and coat them in some dark chocolate. If you want a 100% Paleo recipe you will have to skip that step. Also, you will need kitchen scales for this recipe.

Ingredients
makes about 15 (depending on the size of the balls)
200 g pitted dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 minutes)
200 g desiccated coconut
30 g raw cacao powder
50 g coconut oil
½ tsp peppermint extract (or 4-6 drops pure peppermint oil)
100 g dark chocolate (70% or over)

Soak and drain your dates.
Mix coconut oil and cacao in a food processor until fully combined. Add the dates, coconut and peppermint extract and mix together until you have a smooth paste. Roll to balls, the size that you want them to be. Put them on a tray lined with baking paper and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath and roll the balls in the melted chocolate until completely covered with chocolate. Put them back on the tray and once all are covered (or there's no chocolate left) put them back in the fridge until completely cool.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 10 days.

Sweet banana omelette

I haven't been very good with updating lately but we have actually made a few nice dishes in the past months. Last weekend we made this really delicious Paleo butter chicken with Paleo naan. It was extremely good but I forgot to take photos so I'm gonna have to post it next time we make it. Considering how good it was it won't take long before we make it again.

Anyway, previously I've made apple and cinnamon omelette for breakfast but I've found an even better sweet omelette; banana. I know it sounds a bit weird to people to make a sweet omelette but it's actually really good.

Ingredients
makes 1
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tsp coconut or almond milk
a handful almonds or walnuts, roughly chopped
½ banana
coconut oil for frying in

Whisk together eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and your choice of milk. Heat a frying pan and grease with coconut oil. Add your omelette mixture and cook on low heat. While this is cooking you can chop your nuts and mash your banana, then mix them together. Once the omelette is almost cooked on the top, flip it over for just a couple of minutes. Spread your banana and nut mixture to one side of the omelette and fold the other side over. Serve with some extra banana and some maple syrup.

Paleo jam filled cupcakes

This recipe is one of the best in a long time. So easy to make (especially if you have the jam already made) and they are super tasty. The recipe is once again from paleomg.com

Ingredients
makes about 10
2 medium bananas, mashed
180 ml nut butter (I used brazil, cashew and almond butter)
60 ml honey
3 medium eggs, whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml coconut flour
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
about 80 ml homemade raspberry blueberry jam (or other jam of choice)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add the nut butter, honey, eggs and vanilla extract and mix together.
Then add coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix well.
Grease and line a muffin pan, scoop a large spoonful of the muffin mixture into 9 cups, filling the cups about half way. Then use a small spoonful (a bit over 1 teaspoon) of the jam and put in the middle of each cup. Put the rest of the batter to cover each jam filled cup.
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before eating.

Paleo raspberry and blueberry jam

Found this recipe on paleomg.com and it is so delicious. I can eat it by the spoonful as a special treat but even better to put on some porridge in the morning or on some pancakes.

Ingredients
makes approx 250 g
480 ml frozen raspberries
240 ml fresh blueberries
160 ml honey
juice of 1 lemon

Place a saucepan over medium heat. Add the frozen raspberries to cook until they are heated up and the start to get juicy. Then add the blueberries, honey and lemon juice.
Mix and cook for about 5-7 minutes then reduce the heat and cook on low for another 15 minutes until everything has broken down into a well combined mixture. The longer you let it simmer on low the thicker your jam is going to be.