Strawberry rhubarb pie (Grain & refined sugar free!)

Happy summer! I’m loving these warmer days but in the midst of the end of school year crunch, I got a little off track on my food lifestyle. I’m going to spend the next month trying to get reset and away from refined sugars and grains. I’ve been missing home and thinking about summers with garden fresh rhubarb. People have been telling me it’s too hot in Mississippi for rhubarb to survive so I settled for store bought. I did a little research on grain free pie crusts and I attempted two different rhubarb recipes. As I experiment more and more with refined sugar free baking, I’m continually impressed with how little I miss the fake stuff. Hope you’ll give this pie a try! It’s a taste of my summers of yore that I can eat without a major sugar hangover.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ingredients Filling 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries 1/2 cup finely chopped rhubarb ( 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder Crust 2 cups blanched almond flour 1/4 teaspoon of salt 2 tablespoons ghee (or coconut oil) 1 egg Crumble 1/2 cup almond flour 1/8 cup coconut flour 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon ghee Directions Crust: Preheat oven to 350. Either with food processor or by hand, mix salt & almond flour until blended. Add melted & cooled ghee and egg and mix until forms a ball. Place in very lightly oiled pie dish and press into dish. Filling: Mix all ingredients in sauce pan over low heat. Stir occasionally until mixture thickens about 15 minutes. Pour filling into pressed pie crust. Crumble: Mix all ingredients together. Stir lightly until mixture is crumbly texture. If mixture is too moist, add small spoonfuls of almond flour until “crumbly.” Sprinkle mixture on top of filling. Bake pie for 10 minutes at 350 until edges are brown. Let it cool, if you can! The longer it cools the more the pie pieces will hold together. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Recently, I came upon a recipe over at The Kitchn for a very delicious looking Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread. This recipe looked amazing. I lusted after it. I drooled over it. I considered trading my firstborn child to the gods of processed sugars so that I could have just one bite.

Somehow, I resisted the siren song of that recipe and didn’t dive face first into all that sugar, but day after day, the thought of that recipe has haunted me. It calls to me. I dream about it. I want it. GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

I’m a firm believer that when cravings are that strong, you should give in to them… Preferably with a few swaps to make the choice a little bit healthier. In this spirit, I’ve been attempting to paleo-ify this recipe for the past two weeks. I’ve tried several different variations and had more kitchen mishaps than I’d like to admit (my sweet roommate has been so nice about trying each of these breads and telling me they weren’t awful, when, in fact, they really were the worst.) After much experimentation, though, I have a delicious and really not awful recipe to share with you! It is rich and chocolatey and moist (gross word, tasty results!) and full of sneaky vegetables. You can get away with eating a slice of this stuff for breakfast or with your afternoon coffee or for dessert. Even better news: this recipe comes together in 5 minutes in the blender. #winning

Give in to your cravings, friends, you won’t regret it!

What? I’m eating my veggies!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c Almond Flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 3 Eggs
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 Ripe Banana, mashed
• 1 c (1 small to medium) Zucchini (scrape out the seeds)
• 1/4 c Coconut Oil melted
• 1/3 c Cocoa Powder
• 2 tbsp Almond Butter
• 1/2 c Chopped Pecans or Walnuts (optional)
• 1/2 dark chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% cocoa, because that was the option available at my Kroger. If you can get a higher cocoa percentage or fewer additives, that would be better. Ideally, you just want cocoa powder, cocoa butter and a natural sweetener).

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and use parchment paper to line bread pan (or else grease the pan well with coconut oil).
2. Use a blender to grate the zucchini and banana.
3. Add in other wet ingredients and blend until well combined.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients (except chocolate chups and nuts). Mix in wet ingredients until well combined. Alternatively, you could jus add the dry ingredients straight to the blender. You have to watch for clumping (no one wants a clump of baking powder in their food), but I’ve done this and the bread was still delish.
5. Mix in chocolate chunks and nuts (if using).
6. Pour batter in greased pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Serve with a drizzle of honey, coconut whipped cream, raspberries and/or a dusting of cocoa powder, cinnamon and red pepper (sounds weird, tastes good), or just eat it plain!

Whole Celebrations

Confession. I’ve gone a little wild since I finished the Whole 30 — mostly in the category of sweets. To my utter amazement by the end of the thirty days, I was not craving the taste of desserts but rather the habit. It’s the joy that comes with a pastry at your favorite coffee shop on a blasé Wednesday or the decadence of dark chocolate with a glass of red wine at the end of a long day. I understand that the joy I feel in these moments is a direct result of my not yet beaten sugar addiction. So, in the three weeks following my whole 30, I slowly introduced certain foods like grains and dairy and frantically perused the internet for lower sugar, more natural versions of my favorite desserts and pastries. When I said going wild, I meant replacing the sugar in my baked goods with maple syrup and raw honey and spending a few too many extra bucks on 90 percent dark chocolate bars every time I go to the grocery. One of the best habits I’m building through this attempt at a less processed lifestyle is awareness and discipline. While before my splurges were coffee shop pastries or homemade sugar packed baked goods, I’m much more aware of the sugar and my definition of splurging is much more whole. I’ll continue to banish (or at least minimize) my sugar monsters but in the meantime, life is happening! There are so many things I want to celebrate, and I think we can find more whole ways to celebrate through food. Below is the recipe that emerged from looking at multiple dark chocolate and grain free cake recipes. I made it for a dear friend’s birthday and felt much personal satisfaction when she said, “I love how natural it tastes and it’s not so sugary like most cakes!”

Success!
– mc

Grain-free dark chocolate cake

• 2 dark chocolate bars (90 percent cacao with >5g sugar)
• 1 stick of unsalted butter or 8 tablespoons of ghee
• 6 eggs
• 2/3 cup pure maple syrup or raw honey
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla
• 2 teaspoons coconut flour (lucky to find this at our Kroger! WOO!)
• 4 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup (SPECIAL DARK!) cocoa powder (I could only find Hershey’s in town)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon baking powder

*Some baking powder contains grain but I wasn’t able to determine if the brand available at my grocery store has any grain.  Perhaps this is a topic for a future blog post 🙂

Whipped chocolate buttercream frosting

• 2 sticks unsalted butter (Can use Earth Balance “whipped butter” for dairy free but I’m finding my body reacts to soy products)
• 2 tablespoons organic whipping cream (Leave out for DF)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup or 4 oz dark chocolate melted (90 percent cacao with >5g sugar)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or raw honey
• 1 cup powdered sugar (Leave out if you prefer but add more honey or maple syrup to taste)
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder (May need extra cocoa for fluffy texture if you leave out powdered sugar)

Steps for the cake

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Grease with coconut oil or olive oil. Melt the chocolate and butter on the stove stirring frequently to ensure chocolate doesn’t burn. Use a double  boiler if you can but if not just watch carefully! Let the mixture cool for 10-15 minutes before using. While chocolate cools, mix all dry ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, whip eggs and maple syrup vigorously (or use electric stand mixer) until the mixture is fluffy and light yellow – about 6-7 minutes. Add in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Gently fold in dry ingredients to chocolate mixture.

Divide batter into the prepared pans. Bake cakes for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool  for 15 minutes and then remove from pans to cool completely. If you need them to cool over night, leave them in the pans covered with saran wrap to seal moisture. Run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen and remove.

Steps for the whipped buttercream

Melt the chocolate and let it cool for 10 minutes. Whip the butter in a stand mixer or by hand for 5-6 minutes. Add the whipping cream and mix until light and fluffy. Keep mixing and add in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add maple syrup, sugar and cocoa powder and mix until fluffy. Frost your cake when it is cool or cold! Put frosting in between the two layers, then on top and last do the edges. If you run out of frosting, it looks just as lovely to simply frost middle and top. Decorate with anything you’ve got!

grain free dark chocolate cake

An Ode to Chia Pudding

MM here! As I was preparing meals for the week, I was really missing my old breakfast standby of overnight oats, so I decided to make some chia pudding for breakfast tomorrow.

What are chia seeds?

Chia seeds are tiny edible seeds that come from a plant in the mint family that is traditionally grown in Mexico. Chia seeds have gained a lot of popularity in recent years because they are so full of Omega-3 fatty acids, protein, fiber and anti-oxidants (you can read more about chia seeds from the experts over at WebMD). Chia seeds are not something I eat everyday, but I definitely enjoy a great chia pudding with breakfast now and again!

In the Mississippi Delta (and other such places), where do you get chia seeds?

When I first started buying chia seeds, I really had to hunt to find them and when I did find them somewhere, I would stock up. I had the best luck in the exotic foods aisle of TJ Maxx, and barring that I would buy from Amazon or sneak off to Whole Foods when my work trips would bring me to a big city. In the past six months, though, our local Kroger has beefed up their natural foods aisle and has started carrying chia seeds, which is wonderful (though sometimes I still buy my chia seeds at the TJ Maxx just out of loyalty).

Why would I want to eat this?

If you are new to chia seed pudding, don’t freak out and stay with me! Chia pudding has a texture sort of like tapioca and takes on the flavor of whatever you put in it. I usually make mine with vanilla extract, coconut milk and mango, which is pretty magical. Eating chia pudding is a fairly similar experience to eating one of those vanilla pudding cups that used to come in your school lunches in elementary school, but with zero chemicals and all the healthy sources of energy.

So, how do you make this magical pudding?

There are lots of recipes out there for chia pudding and if you are like me, you might feel a little bit overwhelmed as you try to sift through them all to find one that will be simple, Whole 30 compliant and still delicious. After some reading and some experimenting, I have learned that all chia puddings follow the same basic formula:

2 cups of liquid + 1/4 cup of chia seeds + flavor + time = magic

You can double that recipe, or halve it, but you have to keep the 4 parts liquid to 1 parts chia seed ratio right or you end up with not magic. VERY not magic.

A note on time: All of these recipes require at least an hour in the fridge for the magic to happen. I like to make mine on Sunday evenings and then it is ready to rumble the next morning when I have a case of the Mondays and am in need of a pick me up.

My favorite combinations:

I pretty much always make the same base:

2 c. coconut milk + 1/4 c chia seeds + 1 tsp vanilla extract

And then I mix in whatever sounds most appealing the next day: frozen mango; banana; sliced apples and cinnamon; pecans; shredded coconut; almond butter; coconut manna. THERE ARE SO MANY CHOICES. You really can’t go wrong, as long as you get that ratio right!

Doesn’t that look delish??