Saturday, October 29, 2011

Pumpkin Swirl Paleo Brownies

I must warn you- Please do not eat more than one at a time- they are yummy but will spike your insulin level! :)

Ingredients:

Brownie Mixture:
I got this recipe from Paleo Mama and from my fellow Hoosier CrossFit friends!

Ingredients:
  • 16 oz of walnuts
  • 1 egg (free range)
  • 1 cup honey (I only used 1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 1 tbs pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 oz unsweetened dark chocolate chopped (I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips)
  • 2 T  olive oil
Directions:
  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
  • combine walnuts in a food processor (I added a tad of olive oil) and blend until it has the texture of almond butter
  • In a large bowl combine all ingredients (minus the chocolate chips) and mix until smooth
  • then stir in the chocolate chips
  • set aside
Pumpkin Mixture

Ingredients:
  • 1 can of pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup honey 
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 free range egg
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
Directions:
  • In a separate bowl from the brownie mixture combine all ingredients
  • mix until smooth
More Directions:
  • lightly grease a 9x13 cake pan
  • pour in the 3/4 of the brownie mixture into the pan and spread evenly
  • set aside the other 1/4
  • take heaping spoonfuls of the pumpkin mixture and place on top of the brownie mixture in the pan until all pumpkin mix is used
  • then add the rest of the brownie mix on top of the pumpkin (I put spoonfuls in the center of the pumpkin globs)
  • take a knife and run it side to side (length wise) through the mixture making the chocolate and the pumpkin swirl
  • bake for 30-45 minutes (I was a little iffy on the time because I was not sure how long it would take to cook all the way through- but I have a friend who tells me it's done when you can smell it- so follow your nose!) 
  • let cool and enjoy!

The "New" Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (dry measuring cup)
  • 1/3 cup honey (dry measuring cup)
  • 1/2 cup almond butter (dry measuring cup)
  • 1 t pure vanilla
  • 2 free range eggs
  • 1 cup enjoy life chocolate chips
Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • in a large bowl mix almond and coconut flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, vanilla and eggs
  • in a microwave safe bowl, combine coconut oil, honey and almond butter and heat for 45 seconds
  • pour liquid mixture into large bowl
  • mix ingredients together until smooth 
  • stir in chocolate chips
  • scoop spoonfuls of batter onto a cookie sheet and "smoosh" them a little
  • bake for 10-15 minutes

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Coco-late Bars

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup olive oil (dry measuring cup)
  • 1/2 cup honey (dry measuring cup)
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • 1 t pure vanilla
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 6 squares of Lindt 90% dark chocolate (chop up into fine pieces)
Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • in a large bowl mix all ingredients except coconut and chocolate
  • stir in coconut and 1/2 the chocolate you cut up
  • spread batter in a lightly greased (I used olive oil) brownie pan (or a 9in circle pan)
  • sprinkle leftover chocolate on top and coconut if you have any extra laying around! 
  • bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes
  • let cool and serve :)

Carson Weddle approved! (kid approved)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Paleo Zucchini Muffins

Paleo Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:
  • 3 zucchinis 
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil 
  • 1/2 cup almond butter
  • 2 t baking soda
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1 T vanilla
  • 1 t nutmeg
  • 2 t cinnamon 
  • 3 handfuls of walnuts
Directions:
  • preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • grate zucchinis in food processor
  • put zucchini mush, almond flour, sea salt, baking soda, eggs, coconut milk and vanilla in mixing bowl and stir
  • put almond butter and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 min 30 sec then combine with almond flour mixture
  • stir in walnuts
  • lightly grease large muffin tins
  • pour batter into muffin tins and bake for 30 minutes
  • let cool
Makes 7 large muffins 


Dad's version (with whip cream) not paleo!...cheating.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Apple-Pumpkin Bars

Apple- Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 7 apples (set 3 aside)
  • 2 T water
  • 1 can pumpkin
  • 2 T cinnamon
  • 1 t pure vanilla
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1 free range egg
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
Directions:
4 chopped apples + 2T water
  • preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  • take the core and seeds out of 4 apples
  • put them in the food processor with 2 T water and blend until there are no large chunks
  • add all ingredients into a mixing bowl (except the 3 apples you set aside) and mix until creamy
  • pour batter into a cake pan and spread evenely
  • chop up the other 3 apples into small chunks and spread on top of the batter
  • bake for 25 minutes
  • let cool
  • cut - Enjoy - and keep in the refrigerator (it just tastes better cool)

Sugar Sugar Sugar!!!!

Please read this article I found from Everday Paleo! It is a great explanation of what happens to sugar and carbohydrates once they enter the body and WHY we don't want too much of either of these things! :) MODERATION PEOPLE!!


Sugar, Insulin Resistance, and Fat Loss – By Jason Seib

 
 
Be forewarned, I’m going to get a little scientific, but I promise I will do my best to make it all make sense in the end.
 
Today I’m going to attempt to help folks understand the basic biochemistry involved in fat storage and loss.  I said attempt because I am a geek and this stuff gets pretty geeky, and I said basic because nearly everything I type from here forward will be a huge oversimplification of the amazing biochemical symphony taking place in these processes.

Let’s pretend you have not heard of Everyday Paleo yet.  You are still “doing” diets instead of eating like a human.  Your head is still full of myth and fable grounded in anything but actual science.  Prior to Everyday Paleo, your typical day might have looked like this:

Oatmeal for breakfast.
Fat Free/Sugar Free Coffee-like Substance at your mid morning slump.
Subway sandwich for lunch because you want to be like Jared.
Bagel, granola, or other such processed carbs (or maybe another sugar-laden caffeinated beverage) to fight the afternoon slump.
Pasta or rice at dinner.
Something crunchy or sweet between 8 and 10 pm.

Carbohydrate is converted to glucose (blood sugar), so each one of these meals causes a nice bolus of glucose to enter your blood stream very quickly.  Your body closely regulates glucose to keep it within a safe range – not too high and not too low.  After you consume easily digestible carbohydrates like the ones on your daily menu above, your pancreas must secrete insulin to mitigate the resulting elevated glucose.  Insulin’s job is primarily to feed the glucose in your blood stream to hungry cells and then send the leftovers to the liver to be turned into triglycerides for storage in your fat cells.  Are you still with me?  Take a deep breath.  Maybe do a few squats.  Okay, let’s keep moving. We need to dig deeper.

The story so far:  carbs are eaten and broken down to glucose, insulin sends glucose to your cells to be used as energy or to the liver for a quick composition change so it can be stored as fat.

Moving on.  Since your Standard American Diet (SAD) is nowhere near natural because of all those processed carbs, glucose and insulin remain high throughout your day.  This can eventually lead to insulin resistance in those cells that use glucose as energy.  Insulin resistance is when insulin is ever present and its “I come bearing food” signal to the cells is reduced to a whisper and then finally ignored.  This means your pancreas must produce more insulin to get the same job done, and this in turn means that insulin is ever present in greater quantities.  If you have managed to make sense of all this so far, you can see that you are amassing more and more insulin in your blood stream.  I’m about to explain why this is a problem, but you might want to do a few more squats first.

Hyperinsulinemia, this state of elevated insulin you have created by this point, is bad.  Very bad.  Robb Wolf once suggested that you can Google hyperinsulinemia and any noninfectious disease that comes to mind and you will at least find strong correlations in more links than you would ever take the time to read.  When insulin hangs around too often, it also means you store a lot of fat and have trouble using fat as energy.  This is because insulin is your body’s primary storage hormone.  Here’s how it works (take another deep breath):

High levels of glucose in the blood stream are toxic, just ask a type 1 diabetic.  As I said above, your body devotes a lot of energy to keeping glucose within a fairly tight range.  This means glucose is used for energy before fatty acids because it can’t be allowed to hang out and cause problems.  You can only store a small amount of glucose (as glycogen), but a nearly unlimited amount of fat can be stored, much to the dismay of your buns and thighs.  This is why the liver converts the extra glucose to triglycerides and ships it off to be stored in the fat cells.

Okay, we have finally come to the point of this whole sermon.  At the fat cell, an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL) acts as the doorman, ushering fatty acids into the fat cells.  Inside the fat cell, another enzyme, hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), has the job of cleaving the first sulfide bond on the triglycerides and releasing fatty acids to be used as energy.  So LPL is working when you are storing fat and HSL is working when you are “burning” fat.  Here’s the rub – both of these enzymes are sensitive to the presence of insulin.  When insulin  is present, LPL is on duty and you are storing fat.  When insulin is gone, HSL is on duty and you are using your stored fat as energy.  If you understand the story so far, this process makes perfect sense.  

Since we know that glucose can’t be allowed to hang out and it must be used first, we also know that there is no reason to access stored fat in the presence of glucose and, therefore, insulin.  When insulin is in the blood stream, the message is clear – you have glucose to take care of before you use your stored fat.  Now it’s easy to see why hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are a problem.  They keep you in fat storage mode, without the ability to access your stored fat for energy, for plenty of time to make you plump and squishy.

Please don’t misunderstand, I am not trying to paint carbohydrates and insulin as villains.  They are a normal and natural part of human nutrition and biochemistry. What is not normal is our mass consumption of processed carbohydrates, both in unnatural forms and in never ending supply regardless of season.  A solid paleo diet, along with proper exercise, will make you healthier and leaner by giving you back insulin sensitivity and helping you re-adapt to using your stored fat as energy so your fat cells can go back to being the batteries they are suppose to be instead of the warehouses they have become.

If you don’t completely hate me by now, stay tuned for how all this correlates to cravings.

Go forth and be awesome.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Paleo Pumpkin "Goodness" Bars

I had no clue what to call this creation of deliciousness so my friends at Hoosier CrossFit came up with "Pumpkin Goodness" without even having a taste! I promise this is well worth making!

Tom Ross (dad) approved and Carson Weddle (kid) approved!!

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1 t pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 t cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 can pumpkin puree (the small can)
  • 1 t pure vanilla
  • 2 free range eggs
    • Set aside:
      • 2 handfuls of walnuts
      • 3 handfuls of pecans 
Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  • put coconut oil and honey in a microwave save bowl and heat for 30 seconds
  • mix all ingredients together (except the nuts you have set aside) until smooth
  • pour batter into a 9'' circle pan 
  • put your nuts in a food processor and pulse 5 times (nuts should be chunky) <--- (that's what she said)
  • sprinkle nuts on top of the batter
  • bake for 20 minutes
  • let cool and store in the refrigerator for a few hours (or eat right away if you're THAT hungry ) :)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Paleo Potluck Cookie

A few weeks ago I had just a little bit of a few ingredients and made it into a potluck cookie! I don't have a picture but they are quite delicious!

Ingredients:
  • 2cups almond flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 bananas
  • 1 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 T vanilla
  • 1 1/2 T cinnamon 
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup enjoy life chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped pecans (I threw mine in the food processor)
  • 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
Directions:
  • combine everything except the raisins, chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer
  • then stir in the rest of the ingredients
  • drop spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet
  • bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes 
** This made a ton of cookies for me so I froze them - and I liked them way better frozen! :) ENJOY!! 

Friday, October 7, 2011

Paleo BBQ Sauce

So I can't remember where I found the original recipe- but this is my version! :)

Paleo BBQ Sauce
  • 1 small can of organic tomato paste
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 1/2 onion (diced- I threw it in the food processor)
  • 2T mustard (I get Annie's)
  • 2T apple cider vinegar
  • 1 T olive oil
  • pinch of sea salt (optional)
  • 2T chili powder

Directions:
  • dice onion
  • combine all ingredients in a sauce pan on low heat
  • simmer for 10- 15 minutes - stir frequently
You can store the sauce in a container or use right away :)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Sausage and Zucchini Muffins (via: The CaveGirl dish)

I found this recipe (the cavegirl dish) and thought it would be a perfect "go-to" for breakfast for all you people in the morning that are in a hurry- you could totally make it the night before and heat it up! YUM!

Sausage and Zucchini Muffins
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1/2 cup grapeseed oil (I would use olive oil if you don't have this on hand)
2-3 tbsp honey (optional)
3 cups grated zucchini (drain excess liquid) (I'm guessing 2 zucchinis- I would throw them in the food processor)
1 andouille sausage (pre-cook and dice)

Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk in the eggs, oil, honey, and zucchini. Pour into lined or pre-greased muffin tins, drop in the diced sausage, and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool before serving. Store in the fridge and eat cold or reheated for breakfast or as a snack.