Crunchy kale chips

This is my first time attempting to make kale chips. Don't judge me :-) ha ha!

The first thing you'll need is some kale. I happen to be leaving from my mother's fridge (thank you mom) and found two nice large leaves.

Next you will want to cut the inner stems off of the leaves, because they are very tough, and do not make good chip like material.

Now you have to decide how large you would like your chips, and you begin to cut/tear the leaves into the appropriate sizes. Try to make sure each piece has a bit of the curly end of the leaves, because this helps to lift the leaf off the pan, creating a fluffier crispier chip.

I made mine roughly the size, and a little bit bigger.

Put a drizzle of grapeseed oil into your hand, roughly half a teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of oil. You could also use olive oil here, or for a flavor change, coconut oil or sesame oil. Yum! Sesame oil with a little garlic and ginger powder sprinkled on? I think this will have to be tried!

Use your hand to brush this oil well onto all of your leaves. I use the same motion as though I were mixing hamburger patties with my hands. You want to make sure all areas of the leaves have a light coating of the oil.

Be careful not to use too much oil though, or they will not get crispy in time. It will just weigh them down.

Line a pan with foil, for ease of cleaning, and to ensure your chips don't stick. I lightly oiled mine, but I do not think I would next time. This ended up being a little bit too much grease that way. Spread your leaves out so that they are not touching each other. If you are doing more than two leaves you may need a larger pan or you may need to use two pans. If the leaves are touching each other, they will just wilt and not get crispy. The moisture from The other leaf somehow prevents the leaves from drying out properly on the areas they are overlapped.

I just sprinkled mine with a little bit of sea salt since this was my first time. Then you turn your oven on broil, and put them in for about a minute and a half. You need to watch them very closely. Mine actually burned a little bit, because they were too close to the broiler.

Those burnt areas did not taste very good… anyway, flip the leaves over using tongs or your fingers (because they cool off quickly) and put it back in the oven on broil for another minute and a half to two minutes. Watch it the entire time. It's not very long, you can do it!

And voilà! There you have it! Kale chips.Yum!

Oh wait… They are gone.

Kale chips:

- 2 large leaves of kale, washed and well dried

- 1 tsp grape seed oil

-sea salt

De-stem your kale leaves, and cut into chip-sized pieces. toss with oil and arrange in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. (9X13)

Broil for 2 minutes, flip and broil another two minutes, watching the entire time to ensure your chips do not burn. 

Cool and enjoy!

Paleo gluten-free PB& honey cookies

I am preparing for a pretty intense workout program that has a limiting diet accompanying it. Therefore I am doing a bunch of baking for things I am able to eat during this diet! There's nothing special about this diet, it's just eating healthy natural foods instead of highly refined carbs and sugars and high unhealthy fatty foods etc.... A theory that has worked for me in the past is to provide myself with cheating snacks that stay within the guidelines of my diet. Otherwise I will cheat with foods that are way off course, get deflated, and likely just stop the food plan. 

I stopped a very healthy eating pattern when we had to move out of our home for renovations. we are practicing community living with both of our parents while they graciously provide us with a home. This means I do not have complete control over what I am being served for dinner. Although the food has been nutritious, I just found it less stressful not following an eating plan during the first few months, since my son was still quite a handful. Now that our life has settled down, and we have a bit more of a routine, this seems a bit more realistic. ... Plus I gained some weight, and need to get rid of that!

These cookies are agreeable to a number of different diets including: the Paleo diet, the gluten-free diet, ovo-vegetarian diet, and a natural eating plan. In fact, with full can of chickpeas and over a cup of natural almond butter, I would classify these cookies as protein and healthy carbs rather than a junk food. They do you have honey in them, so dont just think you can eat the whole batch with no consequences! Plus Honey, almond butter, and chickpeas are all quite calorie dense. It is important to watch that as well.

Anyway, here we go!

Yep! That is it! Vanilla, chickpeas, honey, almond butter, eggs, and you're healthy add-in choices. (you do not need to use natural almond butter if you do not have.  You can use whatever you have on hand. These cookies taste delicious with plain old sweetened peanut butter.) you can choose to use plain unsweetened peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or tahini. Macadamia butter is a bit too liquidy for these cookies. Sweetened nut butter will add a bit more sweetness to these cookies. That is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you plan to serve them to company. These cookies are just sweet enough for me without a sweetened nut butter. 

When I work with natural nut butters, I always make it fresh or buy it from bulk barn because it is fresh and not separated. If there's one thing I truly hate, it is trying to stir up natural almond butter that has separated. It is like trying to mix oil into a rock. All of the hard bits settle to the bottom and the oil also it's on top. And as I try to stir, the oil just splashes everywhere making a mess. I also sometimes make my own nut butters and keep them in the fridge. This seems to help prevent separation, and helps them last longer. The fridge will also help prevent nut butters that you buy fresh from the bulk store from separating. 

This recipe will require a blender. As pictured above in a clockwise motion, start by putting your eggs, vanilla, and honey in the blender bottom. Next put your chickpeas in, followed by your nut butter. After blending it should resemble the fourth picture. 

Put the mixture into a bowl, and add your healthy add-ins. I always do at least half a cup of coconut, and half a cup of slivered almonds. For the other half cup, use whatever you like! For this batch I chose to use sunflower and pumpkin seeds. You could go even healthier and use Chia seeds ground flax seed brands or anything else you like. You could also add something a bit sweeter, such as cranberries or dark chocolate chips.

Stir it all up, and spoon it onto parchment lined cookie sheets by heaping teaspoonfuls. Bake at 350° for 14 to 15 minutes.

Voilà! Delicious nutritious snacks! I made about 66 cookies from this. Of course that's only 60 after I do my taste testing.  I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Paleo Gluten-Free PB & Honey cookies

1 can chickpeas (19 oz, drained and rinsed)

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups nut butter (any variety, natural or sweetened)

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup slivered almonds (or chopped nuts that match your nut butter)

1/2 cup healthy add-ins (seeds, fibers, dried fruit, dark chocolate etc...) I used pumpkin and sunflower seeds. 

Mix into blender in this order: eggs, vanilla, liquid honey, chickpeas, baking powder, and nut butter. Blend until smooth. Scrape into a mixing bowl and add coconut, almonds and healthy add-ins. Stir well. 

Spoon by heaping teaspoons full into parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350° For 14-15 minutes. Cool and enjoy. These freeze well. 

Paleo cinnamon muffins

I have fallen in love with a new blog called Elana's pantry. It is a paleo blog with awesome recipes that use simple ingredients. 

http://www.elanaspantry.com/cinnamon-bun-muffins/

I have tweaked this recipe in a few areas, however the original recipe is absolutely fantastic as well, and I highly reccomend the blog!

 

These are gluten-free Paleo cinnamon muffins. 

And these are the ingredients. Coconut flour, almond flour, ground flax, salt, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, coconut oil, and agave syrup or honey. A little tip, almond flour is also known as ground almonds. And you can buy it in the baking or spice aisle at superstore. If you plan on making this recipe legitimately gluten-free, you may choose not to do that. Then I would suggest buying products that are certified gluten-free. Especially spices and bulk baking products such as ground almonds carry a high likelihood of cross-contamination with other flours or spices that may contain gluten. I don't have celiac disease, so for my situation I am able to get the cheap stuff!

Anyway, start by combating your dry ingredients. I packed my almond flour slightly, and my coconut flour. Add your baking soda salt and flax meal to this. I did find the end results tasted a bit of baking  soda, however I do not know how baking powder would do in this recipe. I am not too well-versed in gluten-free flours to know if an adjustment like this would affect the leavening of these muffins. With regular flour it would not be an issue.

Next melt your coconut oil in a one cup measure, and add to it your agave nectar or honey. I chose to use agave nectar, because it has less of a flavor, and I have a huge bottle of it that I need to use up. Honey is actually quite a bit sweeter than agave nectar as well. I did find this recipe was not very sweet, so replacing agave with honey will not spoil the recipe. Personally, I enjoyed that these muffins are not terribly sweet, since I am generally a salty food person anyway. Don't worry these muffins are not salty, they are just not overly sweet. In fact they are quite healthy. They could actually count as a serving of protein rather than carbs considering the number of eggs and almonds inside of them.

Add your remaining wet ingredients to your coconut oil and sweetener, and mix well. Then add this wet mixture to your dry ingredients. You should have something that resembles cake batter.

Divide the mix into nine muffin cups. I lined mine with a parchment muffin cups from sobeys, however they really did not stick at all and I think any paper liners would do.

Next we will make the cinnamon sauce for topping the muffins. In the original recipe, she makes her syrup ahead of time. However I changed the oil to coconut oil to make it a bit healthier. When this sauce cools off, it becomes very sludge like from the coconut oil. Even when reheating it it maintained this consistency. When made fresh and warm the sauce was liquidy. So to save you the hardship of trying to split-up gooey booger sauce, make this sauce at the end not the beginning!

Measure out your coconut oil, agave nectar, cinnamon, and vanilla into a microwave safe bowl.

Heat until the coconut oil is melted, and mix thoroughly.

You can see how my sauce stayed in big gooey lumps because I waited until the sauce had cooled off to pour it over my muffins. Spoon this over your muffins while it is warm.

You may choose to take a toothpick to swirl the sauce into your muffins, however my gooey booger sauce would not mix very well. I just left it on top.

Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until they look like this. They should also pass the clean toothpick test. 

And that is it! Doesn't this look delicious? I ate three as soon as they came out of the oven ha ha! At least it was lunchtime, and they are actually quite healthy. Anyways, enjoy!

Paleo gluten-free cinnamon muffins

1 cup slightly packed almond flour

2 tbsp slightly packed coconut flour

2 tbsp flax meal

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)

1/4 cup coconut oil melted

1 tbsp vanilla

3 eggs

Glaze:

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp agave nectar (or honey)

1 tbsp coconut oil melted

Combine dry ingredients. Melt coconut oil and mix with wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and divide into 9 lined muffin tins. 

Melt second measure of coconut oil with cinnamon, vanilla, and agave. stir well and divide glaze equally onto nine muffins. If you desire, use a tooth pick to swirl the cinnamon through your muffins, however they will turn out fine if you leave the glaze on top as well. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. 

Mary did you know?

I realize this post is not food related, but I feel it is important, especially when planning for your future, to think about God. This time of year is no exception. This season, although it started as a pagan tradition, is a Christian holiday in North America. I am a Christian and I am not afraid to share my beliefs with the world. I wish you all a Merry Christmas instead of a happy holidays. If I wanted to wish you a happy Hanukkah I would have done so last month!

So with that being said, I would like to share a little lesson I learned at our Christmas eve service this year. Unfortunately this lesson really had nothing to do with what was spoken about in the service, but had everything to do with what God has been doing in my heart lately.

 I have started reading through the Bible. I have been reading since the end of October and I am already in the book of Job. It is very interesting to read through the Bible and read all of the Old Testament books with laws and demands from God upon his people. To be completely honest, I was actually angry at God when I first started reading all of the laws he expected the Jewish people to maintain on a regular basis in order to be with Him. I know it is a blasphemous thought, but I was actually thinking "God who do you think you are to demand all of this from these people?"  ...crazy right? But this is the world we live in. We think we are better than God. Well we are not. And once I wrapped my mind around this, my perspective of God and the Bible began to change. As I am reading through the Bible,I am feeling this sense of longing and yearning for Christ to come. I can feel God's impatience with his children as he gives them chance after chance to repent and come near to him.  It has really impacted my view of this Christmas season. In a sense I have viewed this season from a Judeo-Christian perspective.

 I also have a friend who comes from a Christian background who is married to a man of Jewish faith. I have had the privilege to wrestle with some of my questions about the Old Testament with her. All in all, it has been a very rewarding experience so far and I can't wait until I have reached the New Testament and everything starts to fall into place. Then, and only then, will I really get answers to my questions about the Old Testament. 

So that is part one of this story. The next part has to do with when Josiah was born and the crazy stuff we went through around that time. I won't go into too much detail, because it's on my personal blog "estranged normality" but basically my son came four weeks early after I spent 3 weeks on bed rest, and in and out of hospital for pre-eclampsia. Then we spent a week in hospital after his birth for various nicu issues. It was not fun. We lost out on 7 weeks of pregnancy. The time most people use to get themselves ready for a baby. We had no crib, no baby room, no car seat, no diapers or clothes... No blankets... Nothing. (Thank goodness for my sister in law and good friend!). We weren't prepared. And when Josiah did come (emergency c-section after 3 days of inductions) it took a good 24-48 hours for us to even really realize we had a child. Tired, exhausted and emotionally spent.... When we got home from the hospital I just cried and cried. Everyone else was more excited about our baby than I was. I was an over-tired, pre-epilepticaly high blood pressured, c-section recovering, Valium-taking wreck. I was not happy to be a parent. Not even a little bit. 

Well, as I sat in our Christmas Eve service, the band started playing a peppy randition of hark the herald angels sing. And I suddenly realized I wasn't ready. Spiritually, I mean I am only on the book of Job! It's not time for Christmas yet! And then I thought about mother Mary... Oh my goodness... This is the first year I have ever identified with her for real. She lost out on several nesting weeks because of a stupid census. She had to ride on a donkey while 8-9 months pregnant (we assume). She delivered in hay and crap with no medical staff, no doctor, no monitors, no one to check her baby's vitals.... No diapers or wipes or heated bed for baby... No pain killers....

And after that after the agony and humiliation of having her fiancé (who has never seen her naked) deliver her child (who is not his) in a culture where men were never in the room for baby deliveries... After holding God, trying to clean up baby God's tar-poop without diapers or wipes, no sleep, surrounded by filth, her own internal blood and water... Some shepherds come to say hello. ... The bible says she "pondered these things in her heart". I think that's code for "Mary kept her mouth shut because she wanted to say "go away you stupid shepherds! Can't you see I am in the worst place I have ever been!?!?"

"... Hark the herald angels sing.... Glory to the newborn king... The heavens rejoiced... And I bet Mary was crying... Joseph was probably as depressed as a young man could be, having not been able to prevent the current situation and humiliation on his fiancé. 

A merry Christmas indeed. Mary had no idea what it would all mean. She didnt know what would happen when she got pregnant. Her birth plans definitely didn't materialize how she expected. She never got to experience newlywed bliss with Joseph... Mary had no idea what "save us from our sins" would mean when she raised her sweet little boy.  

But one thing she did know: God is to be trusted and obeyed. And this she did well. And I think we all owe her a "thank you" whether you think "mother Mary" deserves a place in the church or not. 

Paleo Mini pumpkin pies!

Oh my goodness!! I was so pumped when I discovered this recipe on Pinterest that I had to try it right away!(Credit: 

http://thepaleomama.com/2013/09/pumpkin-pie-in-2-minutes/ ) I did alter it a bit though, especially in cooking time. 

This is all you need for the crust. Coconut, almond flour (aka ground almonds), coconut oil (or lard if you prefer, but coconut oil adds a lot of health to the recipe) and a pinch of coconut sugar (or brown sugar). Also make sure you are buying unsweetened coconut. Sweetened coconut is not only pointless but has way more calories and chemicals that don't help your body at all. 

I started by melting 1/2 a cup of coconut oil. (Keeping in mind that this is going to make six servings of pie)

I then began alternately adding tablespoons of coconut and ground almonds until I reached a stirable yet thick consistency. 

I used about 10 tbsp of each, coconut and almond flour. But depending on the coarseness of your coconut (mine is quite fine) you may need more or less of it. Start with eight tablespoons of each and work from there. 

Next I divided the mixture and pressed it into three ramekins. Then, if you want, sprinkle it with some coconut sugar. I think it needed this since the crust is not sweetened at all. When I would eat a piece of this pie, I could tell the crust wasn't sweet when I hadn't done this step. 

Next are your pie ingredients... Yup! That's seriously it!! No evaporated milk, or milk replacers necessary. Just goodness.

Measure out roughly 1/3 cup of honey (you can see I take measurements Farley loosely) and 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin purée. 

I like to combine the honey, pumpkin and 3 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice first before adding the eggs, since I use creamed honey. It's just easier that way. 

Next stir in your eggs. Your filling is done now!

Divide it between your three ramekins, and pop each one in the microwave for 3-5 minutes (until it isn't wet in the middle and feels a bit firmer to the touch)

Ta da!

But what pumpkin pie is complete without whip cream? Don't be fooled by the dairy free lifestyle. We can still indulge. 

To make coconut whip cream, you need to refrigerate a can of full fat coconut milk for at least 12 hours. (if I am in a hurry I do 1-2 hours in the freezer, but DONT forget about it!)

It should be very stiff...

When you open the can you will notice there are two parts. The cream and the water. If there aren't two parts to your coconut milk, then unfortunately you bought a cheaper can and it is mostly water. This only works with good quality coconut milk. (Tip: you shouldn't be able to hear the milk shake when you shake the can in the store. If you can, it's not premium stuff)

So scoop out the hard stuff and drain (save for smoothies) the liquid. 

Add whatever you would normally add to your whip cream: in my case, vanilla, sugar and pumpkin pie spice. You could omit the sugar or use stevia even. I wouldn't use a liquid sugar like maple syrup or honey though. 

Next you whip it with an electric mixer for 2-4 minutes until you are happy with the texture. It doesn't stiffen the way whip cream does, but stays more soft in texture. 

Top your pie and enjoy!

So tasty. I think it actually tastes better than store bought pies!

I like to store these in the freezer since I often have to bring. My own dessert to functions (being dairy and soy free) 

Cut each piece in half, top with whipped cream and put on a pan or container to freeze. Once frozen you can wrap it in Saran Wrap since the whip freezes solid. Then just take one out and unwrap it when you need it. Let it thaw on the counter or just microwave it for 12 seconds. 

Paleo pumpkin pies:

Crust:

1/2 cup coconut oil

8-10 tbsp unsweetened coconut

8-10 tbsp ground almonds

1 pinch of coconut sugar (opt)

Pie:

1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée

1/3 cup honey

3 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3 eggs (free range are better)

Melt coconut oil, and alternately add almond meal and coconut until you get a soft oatmeal cookie dough-like texture. Divide and press into three ramekins. Sprinkle with coconut sugar if desired. 

Combine all ingredients for pie filling and divide into the three ramekins. Microwave each one on high for 3-5 minutes until the centre appears dry and firm. 

Top with coconut whip cream. 

Coconut whip cream:

1 premium can coconut milk-chilled

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp white sugar

Chill coconut milk well. scoop out the hard top layer and whip with remaining ingredients for 2-4 minutes. 

Nutritious re-fried beans

Okay so re-fried beans have this unfortunate and un-true reputation for being a sinful unhealthy snack...? Even the Canned stuff is just beans salt and water most of the time! ...of course I personally think the canned Refried beans smell like dog food... So NATURALLY I found me a winner of a recipe!

This recipe comes all the way from Mexico! ...okay, all the way from the little old Mexican lady who works at the little Mexican shop on henderson highway.... But she is legit! 

Curtis and I are huge Mexican fans. You would think my dairy free lifestyle wouldn't allow for that, but it's surprisingly easy and tasty to have Mexican without cheese or sour cream. My secret? These re-fried beans! They are so flavourful and creamy smooth that they easily replace the cheese. 

These were my ingredients. Peppers, garlic, onion, beans, oil and salt. 

Start by chopping up your veggies. 

Did you know there are male and female peppers? I learned this one from my uncle. Male peppers have three humps and females have four. 

Cut them open and the female peppers have more seeds than the male ones. (It's hard to tell with these cause these ones are very small and both don't have seeds really...). Female peppers are sweeter and better for eating raw and male peppers tend to stand up better for cooking. In my case these ones are both being cooked cause they are getting wrinkles... :)

I usually use one large or 1-2 small peppers, 1 medium onion and 2-4 garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky my mood is)

Chop the peppers about the same size as your onions. Nice and small. 

If you want to use some hot peppers to make it spicy, add them here. The little Old lady from the store told me that if you are using fresh peppers you need to use all fresh peppers. If using dried (like in enchilada sauce where you use dried ancho's) then you would use dried hot peppers too. The consistency this way makes a difference in the end flavour. 

Next put 1/4 cup of coconut oil in a pan and start frying (this is my personal reduction from 3/4 cup). In this batch I actually used canola oil because you really can taste the coconut oil in this recipe (which I love but my husband and extended family, not so much!). I often will make a batch of these and freeze portions for myself since my husband is a coconut oil hater... :) there are just some things you can't sneak it into. 

So use your preferred frying fat here. I hear grape seed oil is good for frying too (higher smoke point) but I haven't owned/experimented with it yet!

Fry it up till it's good and soft like this. You want your peppers well cooked and your onions clear. 

You can also add some sneaky ingredients here, just cook it in well.  Eg: I have put kale in these and my husband didn't notice other than the color (which I just told him I used a green pepper). Even after I told him it was in there, he liked them. You could easily incorporate spinach, zucchini, squash, etc...

Rinse and drain your beans and add them here. You can use any kind of beans. Usually I use black since that makes the nicest end color, however in this case I was out, so I used kidney beans which taste the same in the end, but give a lighter color, which can sometimes throw people off. 

Next add 3/4 cup of water to the pan and bring it to a simmer to heat it all up. 

Next just throw it all in your blender with a bit of rock salt and blend away!

You can eat these by the spoon full, use on quasidillas instead of cheese to hold things together, in burritos, enchiladas or my personal favorite, layer them with beans, beef (or bison), peppers, onions and a bit of cheese ---bake--- then top with tomatoes and shredded lettuce!! Yum!!! Serve with chips, pita wedges, or even over some Wild rice for supper!

Nutritious re-fried beans:

1 can black or kidney beans

1 med onion

1 large bell pepper (green tastes best)

2-4 cloves garlic

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup water

Dice your onion, garlic, and peppers. Fry in the oil until very soft. 

Rinse and drain the beans and add to the pan. Add the water and bring to a simmer to heat throug. 

Put everything into your blender with some salt, and blend until smooth. 

Use as desired.