chocolate orange muffins

A friend was dropping by, so to spoil her and give her energy for her long journey ahead, I decided to bake a batch of muffins.  Here is what I came up with:

2 1/2 cups of almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of dates (chopped)
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I used whittakers dark cocoa chopped into small chunks)
2 oranges, peeled and cut into chunks - try to remove most of the pith
1 egg
1/4 cup of oil (I used sunflower/canola oil, but if I'd had coconut oil, I would have used that)
1/4 cup of orange juice
1 tbs of honey

Preheat the oven to 200C
Prepare a muffin tin, with paper cases.
1. In a blender, mix together all the wet ingredients (oranges, egg, oil, orange juice & honey).
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add the wet to the dry and mix together. The general rule of thumb with muffins, is not to stir the mixture too much, just enough to bring it all together.
4.  Place in muffin tin and bake in the oven for around 15 mins.  As always with almond flour, keep an eye on it to check that you don't burn the tops. 

Sausage, leek and mushroom muffins

Experiments with sausage meat, bought me to these meat muffins (how the vegetarian has turned.....).

Ingredients:
10 sausages (I've been buying sausages, rather than sausage meat, as I know that they are free farmed, organic)
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic - finely chopped
1/2 leek - finely chopped.
1 large mushroom - finely chopped
10g cheddar cheese
2tbs almond flour
1 tbs parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.  Get a muffin tine ready, and line with paper cake cases.

2. Saute the leeks, mushrooms and garlic.  Season, as desired.
3. Release the sausage meat from the skins - I enjoy squeezing it all out! Add the worcestershire sauce, and get your hands in to squidge it all together.
4. Divide the sausage meat up - reserving 1/6 for covering the muffins at the end.  I then split the remaining meat into 12 balls and placed in each muffin case.  Try to create a well in the middle of each ball - wet fingers help with this.
5.  Spoon a teaspoon of your leek mixture into the middle of each muffin.  At this stage if you wish, also pop in a cube of the cheddar cheese.

6. Carefully bring the edges of each muffin together and use the spare sausage mixture to top off each muffin. 
7. Place in the oven for 30 - 40 mins.  After this stage, add the parmesan cheese and almond flour to the top of each muffin and pop under the grill to brown. Once removed from the oven, and cool to touch, peel off the muffin cases - I found that if I left them on, they stuck to the muffins.
Enjoy!

Tony's braised red cabbage

Red cabbage was a heap cheaper in the supermarket this week. So, a nice comforting winter favourite was in order.  This is a variation of a dish that I first had during a shared Sunday lunch at a good friend's house.  I'm not sure I've ever been able to replicate his dish! So, thanks for the inspiration Tony - this one's for you!
Ingredients
1/2 red cabbage thinly sliced
2 small onions thinly sliced
3 tbs honey
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 apples - peeled, cored and chopped into bite size pieces
3/4 cup of red wine
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 stick of cinnamon (about 5 cm ish)

1.  Fry the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the cabbage and stir fry for a further 3 minutes until the cabbage begins to show signs of breaking down.

I just love the beautiful bright colour of red cabbage

2. Add the honey and cook for another 2 minutes. 
3.  Add the red wine, cider vinegar, orange zest, cinnamon and apples. Cook for 20 mins.

Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory

I have been avidly watching the progress of Willies Wonky Chocolate factory and couldn't resist hunting it out on the internet.  I'm trying not to think too much about the carbon footprint attached to this lump of cacao that is now proudly sitting on my kitchen bench...Cacao beans from Nicaragua, that have been roasted in England and then headed to Wellington, New Zealand! Ouch...
Still, I am so excited at the prospect of coming up with some great recipes using this new ingredient.  Willie Harcourt-Cooze, is inspirational in his task of encouraging chefs and home cooks like myself, to experiment with cacao as an ingredient, not just in sweet-toothed delights, but savoury dishes too.
Check out his website for more details: Willie's Cacao

And oh, my goodness - it's the little touches....when I opened it, look what was on the top:

chocolate berry tart

I wanted to create something special for a dessert when we had guests, that was both primal and not a 'compromise'.  I did my usual trawl through the internet and found various suggestions for pastry alternatives.  Using a combination of my own ideas and some inspiration from the wealth of sites out there, I came up with this.  Not strictly primal (and let alone Paleo - eek!)......but, a decadent luxury all the same!
Ingredients:
For the base:
1 1/2 cups of dates
1 1/2 cups of dessicated coconut (the finer the better)
1 1/2 cups of almond flour
225g butter (in small pieces)
1/2 cup water
For the filling:
handful of mixed berries (or just your favourites if you like - frozen are great for this)
1 tin of coconut cream (400ml)
1 block of dark chocolate (I like the highest % of cocoa I can find)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract (or a pod if you have one)
300ml cream

I used a 9"/23cm tart tin. 

Preheat the oven to 190C
1. Put the dates into a food processor and whizz up until they are chopped into small pieces.  Add the coconut, almond flour and butter and turn the blender back on.  At this stage you can gradually add the water.  It isn't going to make pastry as you know it, so as soon as it begins to come together then turn off the blender.  If your blender is small like mine, this may take two batches.
2. Take the base mixture out of the blender and press into your tart tin.  You will need to build up the sides if you wish to create the type of tart that can be filled.
3. Put into your preheated oven and bake for approximately 15mins.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, almond flour can cook quickly, so keep an eye on it.  The sides will brown quicker than the base, but don't worry too much about this.  When you take it out of the oven, it may appear 'cakey' and quite sponge like, but it will set as it cools.

I used a silicon tart case, that allows me to remove it, once the tart is fully cooled.

4. Leave to cool for a good hour.
5. Next to make the filling. Tip the tin of coconut cream into a pan, and break up the chocolate, reserving a couple of squares for decorating at the end. Keep on a low heat and stir until the chocolate is melted. Add the vanilla extract/seeds.
6.  Beat together your two egg yolks.  Remove the chocolate custard from the heat and using a ladle, add 1 ladle-ful into your eggs (this is tempering the eggs, to prevent them from scrambling!), beat well and then return this mixture back to the pan and continue to stir with a wooden spoon for a few minutes until the custard has thickened.
7. Scatter your berries onto your tart base and then pour over the custard. If you are lucky, you will have some to spare, so you can get stuck in to licking the spoon....and the pan....and the ladle....and anywhere you else you managed to spill it....
8.  Leave to cool.  I didn't put it in the fridge as I was wary of the base becoming soggy.

I chose quite big berries - consequently, quite a lumpy looking tart!!

9.  Whip the cream and carefully put on top - think banoffe pie!

10. Decorate with the chocolate you held back and DA - DA!! Chocolate tart! 

primal scotch eggs

One of the first things that I was brave enough to eat following years of vegetarianism was a scotch egg.  So, to make it more primally acceptable, I simply changed the breadcrumbs for almond flour and a bit of parmesan thrown in for good measure.

Ingredients:
4 eggs (hard boiled and cooled)
4 sausages
1 egg - beaten
30g almond flour
20g grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1tbs worcestershire sauce
 pepper to season

Turn the oven on the pre-heat to 190C
1. squeeze sausage meat out of the skin into a bowl, mush in the worcestershire sauce.
2. Mix together parmesan, almond flour, cayenne pepper and black pepper to season.
3. Get yourself organised for the next stage - sausage meat in one bowl (I divided it into 4 balls ready to go), beaten egg in another.
4. It helps to have wet hands to manipulate the sausage meat.  I found it easiest to flatten one of the sausage meat balls that I had into my hand and then formed the sausage meat around the egg. Dip into the beaten egg and then roll in the almond flour mix. It is best to rinse your hands after each egg.
5. Bake in the oven for 30 mins, or until golden brown.  Keep an eye on this as almond flour can burn quickly!

Date, banana and kahlua cake

Well, it makes a change from white russians by the dozen....but this all came about, as I didn't have any rum, for a rum and raisin planned treat.  After searching for some inspiration, I came up with this delicious cake.

Ingredients:
250g dates (stone removed, ready to eat)
2 bananas
200g raisins
200g sultanas
100g pecans (reserve some whole to decorate)
100g almond flour
25g flaxmeal flour
2 tsp mixed spice
2tsp baking powder
3tbs kahlua (or any similar dark liqueurs of your choice)
2 egg whites

Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.  Grease and line a loaf tin - or have a silicon one on standby.
1. Put the dates into a pan and cover with boiling water.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Drain into a jug and reserve the liquid.  Put the dates, 100ml of the date liquid and the bananas into a food processor and whizz.
2.  In a separate (largish) mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together - raisins, sultanas, 80g of the pecans - chopped, almond flour, flaxmeal, baking soda and mixed spice.
3.  Whisk the egg whites until the soft peak stage.
4. Mix together the date mix and the dry ingredients.  Fold this together with the egg whites.
5. Tip into your prepared loaf tin.  If you wish to, you can decorate the top with the whole pecans that you saved.  Or banana chips would be good too.  Cover with foil (this is to prevent the nuts and fruit from burning)
6. Bake for first 30mins covered and then remove cover.  Bake for a further 30mins - or until a skewer comes out clean.

This cake is rather tasty - although, it does a hint of 'Christmas pudding' about it.  I'd recommend serving with custard or a spoonful of whipped cream. Yum!
NB - I over cooked mine slightly, hence the addition of the silverfoil at the start of cooking!

Egg and Kumara Primal Pie

Another childhood favourite of our family was egg and potato pie - so with the simple replacement of potato for kumara, we had a comforting Winter meal.
Ingredients:
3 large orange kumara
small handful of chopped ham
4 eggs
handful of grated cheese (I try to only use good quality cheddar, organic if possible)
1 tbs butter
salt & pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C
2. Peel and chop the kumara into small chunks.  Boil for 10mins or until soft enough to mash.
3. Mash up the kumara and season with a tablespoon of butter and salt and pepper to taste. Stir through the chopped ham.
4. Lightly grease an oven-proof bowl.  Add the kumara mash to the bowl and make 4 wells in the top of the mash.  I like to use a fork to 'rough' up the top of the mash, to get those lovely crispy bits.
5. Crack one egg into each well (see photograph).  Add a sprinkling of grated cheese to the top.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 mins or until the top is golden and brown and the eggs are cooked to your liking.

Before baking in the oven

The finished product.

I served this with some lovely farm raised NZ sausages. Mmmmmmm! 

apple and ginger muffins

O.k, so I cheated a wee bit here....I had some crystallised ginger in my store cupboard, that needed using up - a very small amount, but I was pleased to have finally found something to do with it -rather than just eating it straight from the packet!   I had a hunt around the internet for muffin inspiration and thanks to a mixture of http://knitfitter.blogspot.com and a few others, I had my first muffin attempt.  I changed the recipe slightly from the original....I think next time I will add a banana to the mix, to make them a bit wetter...however, they are still rather tasty.

1 large apple, diced finely
1 cup of shredded cococnut
1 cup of almond flour
2 eggs
3 tsp of almond butter
1/4 cup of honey
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt

1. Heat the oven to 190c
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  The general rule with muffins is not to over mix.....
3. Fill muffin cases - it should make around 12.
4. Bake for 15 (ish) mins

And, if I do say so myself - A-MA-ZING!!!

Primal cottage pie

Ingredients:

1kg beef mince
1 pint beef stock
1 onion
1 tin of tomatoes
1 large carrot
3 large flat brown mushrooms
2 tsp oregano (or mixed herbs)
seasoning
3 large kumara
1 knob of butter
1/2 cup of grated cheese

Heat the oven to 180c

1. chop the kumara into chunks and boil until cooked. Set aside.
2. Chop (dice) the onion and saute in a pan, with a little oil.  Add the mince and fry until browned.  Dice the carrot and mushrooms and add to the pan.
3.  Add the beef stock and tin of tomatoes.  Add the herbs and season if necessary.
4. Simmer for 20 - 30mins until the liquid has reduced.
5.  Mash the cooked kumara with a small (or large if you are like me!) knob of butter and seasoning.
6. Place the reduced mince mixture into an oven proof dish. Add the kumara mixture on top.  I like to fluff up the mixture with a fork and then sprinkle with grated cheese.
7. Bake for 45 mins or until golden brown on top.

This looked so tasty, when I got it out of the oven, that I totally forgot to photograph it! But, believe me, it was tasty mincey goodness!

Ice-cream!

Found this yummy ice-cream recipe tonight....

paleo coconut vanilla icecream


So tasty, I thought I would share it with you....eating it with some of gorgeous gluten-free chocolate cake we made last weekend.  Indulgence on a Winter's evening. 

Saturday...

Great morning at the gym, lifting, flipping, dragging odd objects....Followed by coffee in Wellington's Lamason....awesome!
lamason

egg fried rice

Cooking for one tonight, so wanted something quick and easy so I could get on with my night.  I took my inspiration from Kylie Kwong, on a program she was doing from Shanghai.  I have (of course) adapted it slightly - to fit what is in my cupboard!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tbsp soy sauce (fish sauce if you are following strict paleo diet)
1/2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 onion finely chopped (Spring onions would be better I think, but I had none of these!)
1 cup of finely chopped cauliflower (I whizz mine up in the food processor, until it is a crumbly texture)
1/3 cup of finely sliced cabbage.

optional - sliced and cooked chicken/duck/bacon or veggies  (I had bacon and tomatoes in the fridge, so in they went!)

1. Whizz up the cauliflower and briefly saute in a pan with a small amount of oil (I used coconut oil). Set aside.
2. Beat together eggs, soy sauce and ginger (I also added chilli flakes here).
3. Heat the oil in the pan and briefly saute the onions.
4. Add the egg mixture and fry - kind of like an omelette, folding over at the finish.
5. Add the 'rice' and fry together with the egg - break up the egg further and then add a splash of extra soy sauce.  Throw in the sliced cabbage and fry for a further 30 secs.
6. Add any extras that you want to throw in at this point and serve.

Paleo Pad-Thai

I'd love to be able to take claim for this! But, I can't - the credit goes to Health-Bent for that.  This is one of our favourite, quick snacks in the evening.  I mix it up a bit from the original recipe - adding different meats - or veggies.  Sometimes, replacing the zucchini noodles for thinly sliced white cabbage, which is a lot cheaper and just as tasty.
Highly recommended - yum, yum, yum. Thanks to Health-bent again - this certainly doesn't look or taste like dog food (although my dog, is totally eyeing up the duck jerky on your website!).

pad-thai

toad-in-the-hole

I am extremely excited about this, so much so, that I'm blogging it before it's even in the oven, let alone a success.....thanks to http://prettyinprimal.blogspot.com/ for the yorkshire recipe...I have adapted it slightly from Erin's original, but such a good inspiration to get me started.

Ingredients:
5 sausages
1/2 onion (sliced)
5 eggs
1/2 cup of cream (I haven't tried substituting milk, or a mix of milk and water, but will experiment and keep you posted)
1/3 melted butter
1/3 almond flour
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 200c.
2. Place sausages and sliced onion into the bottom of a pyrex dish and cook until sausages change colour.
3. Meanwhile beat all the ingredients in the batter mix together. I was bought up as a child with the notion that batter mix is best prepared hours before and left to stand.  I alas had no time for this today - tummy was calling. But I will do some experiments and see if it makes any difference with a paleo recipe.
4. Once the sausages are cooked, pour the batter into the dish and allow to cook until the knife comes out clean. Mine took approximately 45mins - but I did keep a close eye on it towards the end.

Wow!! I am so pleased with how this has turned out! It puffed up beautifully and the batter was delightful!

chicken wrapped in bacon

Tonight's dinner - and a recipe for Rob, who was the first person to officially eat a home cooked meal at our new kitchen bench!

Ingredients:

1 chicken thigh per person
2 slices of streaky bacon per person
1/2 leek per person
handful of cherry tomatoes per person
slice of feta per person


1.  Preheat the oven to 200c. Chop the leeks into rounds and throw in the cherry tomatoes.  Drizzle generously with olive oil and season well.  (You could add your own herbs and spices if you like here too)
2.  Open up the chicken thigh and stuff a generous slice of feta in (I just crammed in as much as I could!).
3.  Wrap each chicken thigh in bacon with the joining side on the underneath.
4.  Place on top of the leeks and tomatoes and pop in the oven.
5.  Cook for 20 - 30mins or until chicken is cooked through.
5.  I served mine with some homemade kumara wedges (Orange kumara, wedged and tossed in olive oil and whatever herbs and spices fell out the cupboard first) and some savoy cabbage briefly stir-fried with some bacon and garlic.

Saturday ...

Fantastic workout this morning - number 6 from the worlds...scaled for little old me, but I did it all (feeling v proud of myself!).  It's raining outside, so some tasty comfort food is in order.  Had a craving for 'bangers and mash', so found this real gem to replace the mash:
cauliflower and onion mash

Yum, what a treat, with some spicy sausages and big chunky brown mushrooms - I am a happy camper.

Sausage and leek stirfry

Yummy, yummy comfort food....
Ingredients (to serve 2):


4 sausages (I used pork, but I'm sure any variety would do)
4 rashers of smoky bacon
2 leeks - sliced
small bunch of asparagus - chopped into pieces
200g spinach 
125g cream cheese
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
seasoning to taste

1. Ok, so being relatively new to the meat world, I cut up the sausages and fried them (this may not be the best way to do this, but hey...it worked for me).  
2. Chop the bacon and add to the pan as the sausages are nearly cooked. 
3. Add the chopped leek and stir until cooked through. 
4. Add the asparagus and cream cheese - stir until the cream cheese is melted through (it may be worth warming it slightly first)
5. Add the spinach to the pan and stir until it loses it's crisp.
6. Season with chilli, cayenne pepper (we are chilli fiends so add as you desire), salt & pepper. 
7. Serve and enjoy! 

P.S - apologies for the terrible photography - this will be my goal I MUST TAKE GOOD PHOTOS OF MY FOOD!! 

A wee bit about me and my blog...

So, paleo - hmmmmmm....well, I've been eating demi-paleo (is that a thing!? - let's go with it) for a while now and I certainly feel the benefits in my health and fitness.  I began Paleo eating through my crossfit gym - MaD Crossfit as part of a 'new year, new you' challenge.  I offered some degree of resistance to begin with - "What about sandwiches? What about Pancake day? What about peanut butter?" But, before too long, I found myself enjoying the rewards that Paleo eating was offering me.  I probably should mention here that I am also in a transitional vegetarian phase - this initially did not make the change in diet easy.  However, although I have not completely relinquished my vegetarian principles, I am exploring the world of meat with fresh eyes - after 20 years of abstinence.  


This brings me on to my main purpose for the blog - by far and away my favourite part of Paleo eating is the hunt for recipes and the recipes that I have fun designing myself.  So, I thought why not blog it and share with others? I am by no means an expert on Paleo food and this is a really huge journey for me.


So, here goes, what follows is my first ever recipe post - hope you enjoy! Eek - I'm a bit nervous!