Sunrise Smoothie

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At the beginning of Quarantine Phase 1 I started incorporating ginger and turmeric into as many things as possible. I was super paranoid about boosting my immune system. At one point I bought a pineapple and then let it sit on the counter for a little too long. Since it was super ripe and I couldn’t eat it all at once, I froze a large majority of it. The next week I did the same thing with some mangoes. I thought they would be good in some sort of tropical smoothie or beverage. Since I was obsessed with ginger (still kind of am) I threw a bunch of smoothie ingredients together to make this super yummy tropical smoothie.

I called it the sunrise smoothie because of the color. The turmeric, mango, and pineapple give this smoothie a bright and cheery color. I started adding frozen cauliflower to make it a little thicker. It works just fine without the cauliflower and actually blends a little better. I have a Vitamix so usually I use the smoothie setting and then blend for a few more seconds on high (especially if I have added the cauliflower).

Sunrise Smoothie

  • Servings: 2-8 oz servings
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Prep Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 2 servings (8 ounce servings)

Ingredients:

1 banana

½ cup frozen Mango

½ cup frozen Pineapple

1/3 cup of frozen Cauliflower

1 tsp Turmeric powder

2 TBSP Hemp hearts

1 inch of Ginger

2 TBSP Flax meal

1 cup of Almond milk

1 scoop of Collagen

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend for 1 minute. If you have a Vitamix put it on the smoothie setting. Enjoy!

Raspberry Vanilla Smoothie Bowl W/Frozen Zucchini

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I really love adding frozen veggies to my smoothies and smoothie bowls. I got the idea for freezing zucchini and putting it in smoothies from the Instagram of Jessica Eats Real Food. She is an awesome Paleo food blogger and honestly I never knew what to do with the exploding amount of zucchini I get this time of year. I have so many raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries in my freezer, so smoothies are my current go to breakfast.

This smoothie bowl sneaks so many healthy things in, including frozen cauliflower and flax. I love to put fresh berries, my homemade granola, and coconut flakes on my smoothie bowls. You could add any topping of your desire and it would be delicious.

Raspberry Vanilla Smoothie Bowl W/ Frozen Zucchini

  • Servings: 2
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Blend Time: 50 seconds

1 Banana

1 Cup Raspberries

1/2 Cup Frozen Cauliflower Rice

1/2 Cup Frozen Zucchini

1 cup of Almond Milk

1 Scoop Collagen

1 TBSP Ground Flax

1 TSP Vanilla Extract

Directions:

  1. Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend for 50 seconds.
  2. Pour into 2 bowls and top with granola, fruit, coconut flakes, or nuts.

Gluten Free Cornmeal Sourdough Waffles

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Happy Friday! I have a waffle recipe ready to be made this weekend. Yeah I know, the name of this recipe is way to long. I promise you its a good one though. I had an abundance of cornmeal at my house and a sourdough starter that desperately needed to be fed and used and this recipe was the result. My only regret is that I didn’t make fried chicken to go with it.

This recipe needs to proof overnight since it uses sourdough. Trust me, proofing it overnight gives it so much fluffiness the next day when you cook it. The night before combine the Flour, Sourdough Starter, Milk, and Coconut sugar together. Cover it and leave it on your kitchen counter. The next morning it will have risen and be nice and bubbly.

Proofed Sourdough Mixture
Proofed mixture and all other ingredients

The next day once the mixture is proofed you will want to add the other ingredients. Another thing that makes these waffles super fluffy is beating the egg whites into stiff peaks. I am not going to lie, using an electric whisk to do this feels like cheating to me. Growing up my mom had this amazing metal egg beater with a wooden handle on it that we had to use to whisk egg whites. It was an arm workout, I actually think she still has it.

You will add the egg whites at the very end once all the other ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. The great thing about this recipe is that its pretty versatile. You can add what ever spices you want to give it a different flavor. I haven’t made it without cornmeal yet but will be working on some fun substitutions soon. With the onset of pumpkin season I am going to play around with adding pumpkin.

Gluten Free Corn Meal Sourdough Pancakes

  • Servings: 6
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Prep Time: 8-12 hours (rests overnight)

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

½ cup Sourdough Starter

2 Cups+ 2 TBSP (for next day) Unsweetened Plant Based Milk  (I prefer almond or oat)

1 TBSP Maple Syrup

2 Cups Gluten Free Flour

3 Eggs separated

1 cup Cornmeal

3 TBSP Melted Ghee (or Miyokos vegan butter)

1 TSP Baking Soda

1 TSP Salt

1 TSP vanilla

Optional Spices: Cinnamon, Cardamom, Nutmeg

Directions:

  1. The night before in a large bowl, add the sourdough starter, 2 cups of milk, maple syrup, and Gluten Free Flour.
  2. Mix to combine then cover and leave in a warm place.
  3. In the morning preheat your waffle iron.
  4. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites into stiff peaks.
  5. Add into the mixture egg yolks, corn meal, melted ghee, baking soda, salt, 2 tbsp milk and vanilla.
  6. Mix all the ingredients until combined.
  7. Add the egg whites mixing till they are incorporated. Make sure you do not over mix at this step because the egg whites help the waffles have volume.
  8. Using a ladle, ladle the mixture into your waffle maker and cook to waffle maker settings.
  9. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy.

Chia Pudding With Cashew Milk

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I know that there are a lot of chia pudding recipes out there. What makes mine different is I use homemade cashew milk. In this recipe I will share not only how to make a rich and creamy cashew milk, but also a decadent chia pudding. I have always been a big fan of tapioca pudding but when I discovered my lactose intolerance I couldn’t gorge on Cozy Shack tapioca anymore. I have tried vegan ones but they are very sugary and all that sugar gives me a belly ache. I have found that homemade chia pudding is the best substitute for me. A note about this recipe, if you choose not to use cashew milk then I recommend full fat coconut milk. When I used full fat coconut milk it had a similar consistency to the cashew milk, but obviously takes on a strong coconut taste. I found when I used almond milk this recipe did not thicken up all the way. If all you have is almond milk I recommend adding 2-3 more tablespoons of chia seeds.

Chia Pudding With Cashew Milk

  • Servings: 4
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Prep Time: 30 minutes

Set Time: 1 hour-overnight

Ingredients:

1 cup of raw Cashews

1 cup of Boiling Water

3 cups of Filtered Water

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 cup Chia Seeds

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 cup Homemade Cashew Milk (or full fat coconut milk)

1 TBSP Maple Syrup

Fruit of Choice (for topping)

Directions:

  1. Place raw cashews in a large bowl.
  2. Boil 1-1 1/2 cups water and pour boiling water over the cashews.
  3. Let the cashews sit for 20 minutes.
  4. When cashews have soaked, put them in a blender with 3 cups of filtered water, and vanilla. Blend the cashew mixture for 1 1/2 minutes. Your mixture should be smooth with no chunks at all.
  5. In a medium size bowl combine the chia seeds, a cup of cashew milk, vanilla, and maple syrup. Stir to combine.
  6. Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
  7. After 1 hour transfer the pudding into small personal size containers. I usually use 8 ounce mason jars.
  8. You can prepare chia parfaits now, leave the chia overnight, or eat it straight up.
  9. This lasts 3-4 days in the fridge.

Granola

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This is one of those recipes that uses oats. I am working on making a paleo version of this that does not include oats. This recipe came originally from my mom. She truly is the most amazing on the fly cook. She makes things up in her head and they taste delicious the first time. She gave me permission to post this recipe to my Instagram with credit to her, so here is your credit mom! Be careful of burning this recipe. My last batch didn’t “seem done” so I left it in the stove a little longer then it should have been in there.

For this recipe you want to combine the ingredients separately. First combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl together and mix it all up.

Mix up all the wet ingredients in a glass measuring cup or a bowl. You will pour the wet mix into the dry mix and stir until it is thoroughly combined. Another pro tip….use a big ass baking sheet. Like the biggest one you own. It is really crucial to have this spread out so that it is not super thick on the pan. The thicker it is the harder it is to cook properly. Part of my problem with the last time I cooked it was the bottom got kind of burnt and the top was perfect. If you don’t have a massive pan then just half the recipe or put it on two pans. Sometimes I do it on two pans just so that I can have a thinner layer. This also needs to cool for an extended period of time, it hardens up when it cools so don’t despair if it seems soft.

Granola

  • Servings: 6-8 cups
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By Heidi Engle (My Mama)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

 Servings: Makes 6-8 cups

Ingredients:

3-4 cups of GF oats

3-4 cups raw chopped nuts

1 cup raw coconut flakes

¼ cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup coconut oil or melted ghee

1/3 cup avocado oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamom

Optional: 2 tbsp nut butter

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a large pan with parchment paper. You may have to cook this in two batches.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  3. In a smaller bowl mix the oils, maple syrup, vanilla, and nut butter.
  4. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until coated.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes stirring every 15. You know it’s done when everything is browned and the coconut flakes are brown.

Berry Jam

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This recipe is not paleo because I use organic cane sugar in my jam. I have not successfully made jam that is sugar free. I have tried several times with honey, and though delicious the consistency is not right. If you have other jam recipes that are sugar free leave me a comment below or send me a message!

In general I am very obsessed with all things berry especially jam. I really only bake so that I can put jam on things. Last year I made this recipe with blackberries and ended up with over 35 jars of blackberry jam. As you can imagine we are very sick of blackberry so this year we did Strawberry! Strawberry jam is my husbands favorite and I can’t handle blackberries this year so it was a win-win for us.

Berry Jam

  • Servings: 11 half pint mason jars
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Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

 Servings: 11  ½ pint mason jars

This recipe would also work with raspberries, tayberries, or blackberries.

Ingredients:

6 2/3 cups of berries mashed

5 cups of sugar

7 ½ tablespoons of pectin (I use Ball brand)

11 glass ½ pint mason jars

11 new lids and rings 

Canning funnel

It is important to have your pectin and sugar pre- measured and in bowls before you start.

It is also important to wash your jars in hot water to sterilize before starting to cook, while you are cooking jam place the lids in a small pot of hot water on the stove, keep this at a simmer making sure it doesn’t boil.

Directions:

  1. Wash, cut, and place berries in a large bowl.
  2. Mash the berries so that there are no whole berries left (the more mashed the berries the less chunky the jam).
  3. Pour the berries into a large stockpot on the stove at medium heat.
  4. Mix 1 TBSP of pectin and 1TBSP of sugar to the berry mixture.
  5. After 3 minutes of constant stirring add the rest of the pectin.
  6. While constantly stirring bring the mixture to a rolling boil (this means that it boils even while you are stirring it).
  7. Add the rest of the sugar to the mixture and while constantly stirring bring back to a rolling boil.
  8. Once it reaches a rolling boil, boil for one minute and then take it off the heat.
  9. Using a canning funnel ladle the hot jam mixture into warm sanitized jars, wipe rim of jar with a towel, then using tongs remove a warm lid and ring from the water bath and screw on tight.
  10. Here is my Grandmas trick for sealing jars, just flip the jar upside down for 10 minutes. The boiling hot jam in the jar should seal the lid. Then flip it right side up and let it sit for 20 minutes. If any of the jars don’t seal eat those first.
  11.  Or you can use a standard canner.

Paleo Horchata

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I have spent the last several months during the lock down walking my neighborhood. During one of my walks in April I thought about what were some of my favorite things to drink on Cinco de Mayo that I could make a paleo version of. Horchata was the first thing that came to my mind! Last summer I ordered some Horchata at a restaurant forgetting that it has dairy in it and dairy poisoned myself. This version is not only dairy free but rice free as well. It takes over a day to make because you need to let the mixture sit overnight. I would recommend using a high powered blender because grinding nuts is not easy.

Paleo Horchata

  • Servings: about 3 cups
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Prep Time: 45 minutes

Rest Time: 8-12 hours

Servings: Makes about 750 ML or a little over 3 cups

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups raw cashews

½ cup chopped almonds

2 cinnamon sticks broken into chunks

4 cups of cold water

1 can coconut milk

3-4 tablespoons maple syrup (add 3 and then taste for sweetness)

Directions:

  1. Soak cashews in boiling water for 30 minutes.
  2. Put cashews, almonds, and cinnamon in the blender and blend on high for 60 seconds. This will make a thick paste.
  3. Add 2 cups of cold water and blend for 30 seconds.
  4.  Add a can of coconut milk, last 2 cups of water, and maple syrup.
  5. Stir a couple times to dislodge any of the almond and cashew paste that may be stuck to the bottom.
  6. Let this mixture sit in the fridge for 8-12 hours.
  7. When ready to drink strain the mixture through a mesh sieve or 2 layers of cheesecloth.
  8. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Sausage Egg Casserole

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This is my go to brunch recipe. In my family there are so many different dietary needs, so it’s crucial to find recipes everyone can eat. This recipe can be made into several variations interchanging vegetables, meat, and spices. This is my simple version of this recipe and at some point I will photograph and post other variations.

The key to making egg casseroles is to fully cook the vegetables and the meat ahead of time. No one likes biting into a casserole and getting a piece of raw onion….or at least not me. I find raw onions super disgusting though I love them cooked. I find that adding spices to the veggies and then just the salt and pepper to the eggs helps balance out the flavors. You could also cook the meat and veggies together to give the veggies extra flavor. If you are vegetarian then completely leave out the meat but add two more eggs. Honestly this recipe is so versatile and can be adapted so easily.

Sausage Egg Casserole

  • Servings: 6-8 people
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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6-8 people

Ingredients:

10 eggs

1 lb ground sausage

½ an Onion

2 cups of Kale chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Chop the onion and sauté in a skillet with olive oil.
  3. When the onions are translucent add the kale and chili flakes and cook until the kale is soft.
  4. When the Kale is cooked pour it into a bowl and set aside.  
  5. In the same skillet add the sausage and cook until very lightly browned.
  6. In a clean bowl, whisk the 10 eggs and then add the salt and pepper.
  7. Grease a 9×13 baking dish, pour vegetables and sausage into the glass baking dish.
  8. Top the vegetables with the whisked eggs and stir to combine.
  9. Place the casserole in the oven for 30 minutes. You will know it’s done when the edges are browned and the center does not jiggle when shaken.

Gluten Free Rhubarb Muffins

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I love all things rhubarb, always have, always will. I grew up with several large rhubarb plants in our yard and as a child was fed rhubarb pie, rhubarb sauce, and rhubarb muffins on the regular. This recipe idea came from an adaptation from this cookbook my mom has. I have to give her full credit for this recipe as she originally made it up. After trying her version of this recipe, I tweaked it a little bit so that it was also refined sugar free.

I have to tell you, my mom and I both love a good cookbook. Both of us collectively have at least 30. The thing is I usually can’t eat half the things in the recipes. Some times we try and adapt things and they turn out amazing. Other times it takes me 3-4 twists, redesigns or complete re-do’s before they are perfect. This was one of those recipes my mom saw in a cookbook and thought was a good idea. The original recipe contained lots of dairy, gluten, and lots of sugar so she just made up her own recipe.

The key to this recipe is coating the rhubarb in sugar first and letting it sit so that the sugar pulls out some of the moisture. Another tip for this recipe is make your own oat flour. I grind oats in my blender or food processor in order to make oat flour. These make a great snack or breakfast as they are super low in sugar (coconut sugar). These have also been a hit at several family brunches….alas the only type of brunch I am having these days.

Gluten Free Rhubarb Muffins

  • Servings: 12 muffins
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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Servings: Makes 12 muffins

This recipe was originally adapted from the cookbook Cooking from Scratch by PCC Community Markets

My mom and I love rhubarb and wanted to make this recipe but it was full of gluten and dairy. We made our own recipe instead!

Ingredients:

2 cups of rhubarb

¼ cup coconut sugar

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

6 tablespoons ghee/vegan butter room temperature

¼ cup coconut sugar

2 eggs

2 cups GF flour (we use Bob’s Redmill 1:1)

¼ oat flour

1 TBSP baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup Oat Milk

½ -1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Mix ¼ cup coconut sugar, ¼ teaspoon cardamom, and rhubarb together in a small bowl and set aside. In a small bowl beat room temperature butter and sugar to cream, beat the eggs into the sugar and butter mixture.
  3. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients and the last ¼ teaspoon of cardamom.
  4. Add the rhubarb to the dry mixture.
  5. To add the wet ingredients, alternate adding the oat milk and butter mixture stirring with each addition. Mix until combined.
  6. Add to muffin cups in a muffin tin. I recommend using liners for this recipe.
  7. Bake for 25 minutes (check with a toothpick to make sure they are done).
  8. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before eating

Paleo Dutch Baby

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This is the most nostalgic recipe for me (waffles are a runner up). I grew up with two special breakfast items, waffles and Dutch Baby’s. Honestly I have no idea where the Dutch Baby tradition came from as we have no Dutch lineage on either side of the family. My heritage is primarily German and Finnish with a little Welsh/Scottish mixed in there. This is one of those recipes that my great grandmother made, that then my mother started to make. When I stopped eating butter completely I went for years without a Dutch Baby. Then the day came when I discovered ghee and coconut flour and everything was right in the world.

What I have discovered about paleo baking is that starches such as Tapioca or Arrowroot flour give the recipe the spongy texture that gluten would. Coconut flour on its own doesn’t rise super well and can be dense. If you do not have Arrowroot powder, Tapioca powder will be a perfectly fine substitute ( it may not get as puffy).

I like to top mine with berries, Coconut Cult, and a little syrup.

Paleo Dutch Baby

  • Servings: 4
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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  20-24 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients:

¼ cup ghee/coconut oil

6 eggs

¾ cup coconut milk

¼ cup arrowroot powder

3 TBSP sifted coconut flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2.  Put the ghee/coconut oil in a cast iron skillet and put in the oven to melt.
  3. Blend the rest of the ingredients together to make a smooth batter. You can sift the coconut flour into the blender so that there are no flour lumps.
  4. Take the hot skillet out of the oven and pour the batter into the hot skillet.
  5. Place the skillet back into the oven and bake for 20-24 minutes.
  6. It is done when it has risen and is browned on the top.