Pumpkin Almond Butter Fudge: A Paleo Treat for Fall Holidays

This fudge is an awesome sweet-tooth fixer for those of us who may be suffering from excessive salivation every time we walk by the Halloween candy display at the grocery store. What's even more awesome, it's good for you. No joke -- check out the ingredients. This creamy fudge has a soft texture, so I think this recipe would double well as a pumpkin pie filling. If you were to sub the honey with agave it would be vegan friendly as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup creamy almond butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh pureed pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Put all your ingredients in a small saucepan (I used a medium-sized pan, but small would have been better) and set the stove top on a low temperature. Once everybody gets melty, blend the mixture with your immersion blender until smooth and creamy. If you don't have an immersion blender, a food pro should work just as well. Pour the mixture into a small Pyrex or, like me, a small CorningWare brushed with a little coconut oil. Refrigerate for about half and hour. If you want it firmer, keep it in the freezer.

Sunday Funday

Paleo Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Chips

I don't have awesome pictures of this gluten-free treat because when something is really yummy photography takes a backseat. Seriously, how do foodographers do it?

Ingredients:
3 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon real salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw honey
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh pureed pumpkin
1 cup dark chocolate chips (60% cacao or higher)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9x13 inch cake pan with coconut oil.
Combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, and set your mixer to medium until all is well combined and all the dry ingredients are wet (this batter is on the thicker side). Fold in chocolate. Spread batter in the cake pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Asian Broccoli Salad

Broccoli salad, among many other things, seems to be a popular trend on the food-wide web. I first tried Whole Food's version of this salad in early March. I was about three weeks postpartum with my third child, so my mother-in-law was visiting for the week -- graciously taking my seven-year-old to school and entertaining my four-year-old while I got some much needed bonding time with my little lady. Mom-in-law really appreciates organic foods and healthy living, which is great because my husband and I have definitely gone chewy (I say chewy instead of crunchy because we're only soft-core health nuts). Anyway, a couple weeks after I had Whole Food's broccoli salad, I decided to try my own. Mom-in-law had sent me a couple of links to some other blogger's recipes, so that was a good starting point, but I thought going Asian with the flavors would be great. It was! I got the recipe out last night, and I'm still happy with it. Here it is:

Note: These are all approximations.

Broccoli Salad:

6 to 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 bunch broccoli

1 small onion, sliced and sautéed in bacon drippings

1 cup raisins

½ cup chopped pecans, toasted

Dressing:

(all approximations -- add more or less for desired taste)

1 cup mayo

4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon siracha

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon Penzey’s spice blend: shallots, onion, garlic, lemon peel, citric acid, chives, orange peel

Salt and pepper

　

Directions;

Fry bacon; remove from pan; sauté onions in bacon drippings. Make dressing. Combine all ingredients (including bacon fat) in a large bowl. Enjoy!

Asian Tuna Cakes

These tuna cakes fall under primal but not paleo because they contain teriyaki. Zach and I used to always do tuna melts as an easy Lenten lunch or dinner. But these cheese-less beauties pleasantly break the mold of our meat-abstaining tradition.

Some of the ingredients are approximations.

Ingredients:
2 small cans tuna, low sodium, packed in water
2 eggs
large dollop of spicy mustard
2 tablespoons teriyaki
2 tablespoons diced pickled jalapenos
2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sriracha
salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Spoon mixture into pan in the shape of four patties. Cook until browned on one side, flip and continue cooking on reverse side. Serve.

Plantain Chips and Roasted Tomatillo, Serrano Salsa

Giving up potato and tortilla chips is no big deal for paleo persons when you can have these tasty treats. A fresh plantain chip, still hot from the pan is hard to beat. The key to making the chips is using green plantains. Make a slit down the plantain and do a little wedging with your knife to get the firm peal loosened up.

Fried Plantain Chips:
Ingredients:
2 green plantains, pealed and sliced thin
1 tablespoon coconut oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a frying pan, heat coconut oil on medium. Fry sliced plantains until golden brown on both side; salt; pepper; serve.

Roasted Tomatillo and Serrano Salsa:
Ingredients:
1 large tomato, quartered
1 serrano pepper
1 head of garlic, pealed and separated
3 tomatilloes, husked
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. On a cookie sheet lined with foil, place tomato, whole serrano, whole garlic cloves, and whole tomatilloes; roast for approximately fifteen minutes. One roasted, removed stem from serrano. Put all ingredients into a bowl and blend with an immersion blender; or use a blender. Serve. Enjoy.

Paleo/Primal Pizza

I've seen various forums debating whether or not quinoa has a place in the paleo diet. But since I'm a foodie, I'm going to tend towards keeping as many ingredients on the menu as possible. And as long as someone more knowledgeable about the human body than myself is saying it's fine, I'm going to take that as a green light. Besides, quinoa is a complete protein. How can you beat that? Some people seem to have some issues digesting it, but if you don't, go for it!

The recipe for this crust is a variation of the pizza recipe I saw on a great paleo site: Paleo Diet Lifestyle.

Crust ingredients:
½ cup coconut flour
1 cup quinoa flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
4 eggs
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup coconut milk

Toppings:
Instead of cheese, we used onions sauteed in olive oil. Other toppings included homemade pork sausage, pepperoni, salami, arugula, olives, mushrooms, pepperoncinis and, of course, tomato sauce.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a standard cookie sheet or pizza pan with coconut oil. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a small bowl beat eggs and combine with other wet ingredients. Mix wet mixture into dry mixture until well combined. The consistency will remind you of cookie dough. Then, spread dough into the prepared pan. You may need to use your hands to get it evenly distributed in the pan. Bake crust for 15 minutes before topping it. After it has baked, top it, and return it to the oven until your topping are nicely toasted.

Paleo Friendly Chocolate Pudding

So my husband and I have been on an anthropologically interesting culinary adventure the past week. Not that we're actually eating food prepared the way our ancient ancestors did in the Paleolithic Period. I don't believe earliest man was eating pulled pork wrapped in butter lettuce, roast over pureed parsnip, or paneed fillet of flounder. But we have been adhering to the oh-so-popular Paleo Diet, and guess what? -- It seems to work. After an initial shakiness which could only be attributed to the loss of fast carbohydrates and sugars in our diets, we feel really good! Already we're leaner and have lost a few pounds; though, honestly, neither of us really needs to lose weight (and probably won't lose much), but we'd like to better condition ourselves.

For me, who loves to bake, it's been challenging to stay away from the flour and sugar and cocoa powder. But last night, I made dessert for the first time this week and got my chocolate fix. Here's the super easy recipe for a paleo-friendly treat.

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tbsp raw agave nectar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix it up. 

A better way to bag your groceries

The reusable grocery bag has become the trend in all food stores. Every bodega from Win Dixie to Whole Foods carries an Earth-friendly alternative to "paper or plastic?" But those fifty-cent bags don't always last so long or look so cute. Fortunately, the Internet has made the world a lot more accessible and a lot prettier. The chic shopper need look no further than etsy to find one-of-a-kind market bags to add a touch of fashionable finesse to your grocery-shopping experience. And let's not forget -- you'll be reducing your carbon footprint, as well!

Check out The Ruffled Rose! It's a new shop exclusively selling handmade market bags perfect for all your shopping needs!