Chewy Donuts

Chewy Donuts

Ingredients:
1 maple bar doughnut
1 piece of bacon, cooked
white and black frosting

Place cooked piece of bacon diagonally over maple bar.

Using black and white frosting, decorate your Chewbacca doughnut according to the picture above.

Now your breakfast is outta this world!

This recipe has been Chewbacca approved.

Okay, so really this post is just to say, I have not forgotten my blog followers! I have just been extremely lazy about making posts. And by "extremely lazy" I mean ridiculously busy with my two sons and everything else life has thrown at me lately. But this post is my promise that more recipes are on the way in the following week!

Double Chocolate Paleo Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Frosting (And not-so-Paleo vegan chocolate sauce)

Double Chocolate Paleo Cupcakes

Ingredients:

6 eggs at room temp

½ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil, melted, plus extra for greasing pans

¼ cup coconut milk

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Place eggs, honey, oil, coconut milk, and vanilla in a food processor and process until fully combined.

Sift the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, then add to the wet ingredients. Process again until smooth. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips.

Grease cupcake tins or use cupcake liners. Spoon in batter. (Makes 12 cupcakes)

Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes.

Italian Meringue Frosting

Ingredients:

2 egg whites at room temp

1/3 cup honey

¼ teaspoon lemon juice

Small pinch of sea salt

Place honey in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, or use a hand mixer, and beat on high until soft peaks form. Add the lemon juice and salt and beat to combine.

With the beaters or mixer on medium, pour the boiling honey into the bowl in a slow, steady stream. Continue beating for 6-8minutes, until stiff peaks form and meringue is cool to the touch and has doubled in volume.

When cupcakes have completely cooled, top with Italian meringue frosting. Enjoy!

*Now for my not-so-paleo addition…

When I originally made the paleo cupcakes, I found them to be a bit dry. So to add more moisture and chocolaty goodness to them I made a vegan chocolate sauce and drizzled that on top of the cupcake before topping them off with frosting. Since the chocolate sauce recipe makes a lot of sauce, I had enough sauce to moisturize the cupcakes and make chocolate milk afterwards. ;)

If you choose to add the chocolate sauce to the cupcakes, I recommend poking the cupcakes with a fork a few times so that the chocolate sauce can soak into the holes and really help to add moisture to the cupcakes. 

**Drizzle the chocolate sauce onto the cupcakes while the sauce is still hot. Otherwise, as the sauce cools, it gets more pudding like and it makes it a lot harder to soak into the cupcakes.

Vegan Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 ½ tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup nondairy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add the sugar, flour, salt, and cocoa to a saucepan. Whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly before adding the milk and vanilla. Stir over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and drizzle over cupcakes (or mix with milk for chocolate milk!).

The cupcake and frosting recipes I got from "Against all Grain. Delectable paleo recipes to eat well & feel great" by Danielle Walker.

The vegan chocolate sauce recipe I got from "The Joy of Vegan Baking. The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. (This has been, by far, my favorite vegan cookbook! Every recipe in here has been a win so far!)

Banana "Ice Cream"

Banana “Ice Cream”

Ingredients:

4 bananas, just slightly overripe (brown spots good, completely black not so good)
2 tbsps creamy peanut butter (optional)
2 tsps cocoa powder (optional)

Peel the bananas and slice them up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick disks. Place the banana slices in the freezer for about an hour or until they are frozen solid. 

Put the frozen slices in a food processor and pulse. First they will start to resemble crumbs, but keep going. The bananas will soon turn into a frozen mush – at this point, start scraping the sides down (you will do this a lot). Or you could add a dash of milk since the liquid will help the blending. 

After a few minutes of stopping to scrape the sides down, the banana begins to blend into a creamy texture. When the bananas look like whipped ice cream, you can add the peanut butter and cocoa powder.

Straight out of the food processor, the ice cream is like soft serve. You can also freeze it for a firmer texture.

Homemade Oreos

This is a Pintrest tested recipe from:

http://www.mykitchenaddiction.com/2012/02/homemade-oreos/

Homemade Oreos

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons half and half
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, whisked to remove any lumps

Begin by preparing the cookies.  Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well incorporated.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, beating on the lowest speed.  Continue to mix on the lowest setting until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
Divide the dough in half, and shape into two discs.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.  Set aside.

Taking only one portion of dough out of the refrigerator at a time, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll the dough to 1/8 – 1/4-inch thickness.  Use a cookie cutter (approximately 2 inches in diameter) to cut out cookies and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cooled, prepare the filling.  Combine the softened butter, half and half, vanilla, and salt and beat until combined.  The mixture may be a bit lumpy, but will come together.  Add the powdered sugar gradually, approximately 1/2 cup at a time, until the filling comes together.  It will be slightly stiffer than a cupcake frosting.


Transfer the filling to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.  Pipe the filling onto half of the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies to form cookie sandwiches.

Spicy Sausage Kale and Potato Soup

Spicy Sausage Kale and Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound spicy italian sausage (removed from casing)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
2 large bunches of kale, stemmed and chopped, about 4 overflowing handfuls
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 medium or 2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced
8 cups chicken broth or stock, 2 boxes
1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat a large heavy-duty pot over medium-high heat. Once the pot has heated through, add the sausage. Using a wooden spoon, begin to break up the sausage and allow it to cook, stirring occasionally, until it has fully browned. Remove the crisped sausage from the pot and transfer it to a plate or bowl. Set aside.

Lower the heat to medium, add the butter or oil and throw in the onions and garlic. Stir, scraping down the bottom of the pot picking up the browned bits of sausage with the back of a wooden spoon, and cook until soft and translucent about 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes, if using. Continue to sauté until the onions have caramelized. Add the chopped kale in batches, allowing it to wilt down as it cooks. It might seem like a lot of kale but it will cook down, just like spinach! Add the nutmeg and stir. Cook the kale for another 3 minutes until it has turned bright green and completely wilted down. Throw in the sliced potatoes and cooked sausage.

Pour in the chicken stock or broth and bring it up to a boil. Lower the heat and allow the soup to simmer until the potatoes are cooked tender and soft. Taste the soup for seasoning, at this point you may add more salt, pepper or red pepper flakes, if desired. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, stir in the heavy cream. 

Serve right away.

Pistachio Cake

Pistachio Cake

Cake Ingredients:

1 box vanilla cake mix

1 (3.4oz) box instant pistachio pudding

3 eggs

1 cup oil

1 cup milk

Green food coloring, 8 or more drops.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 (3.4oz) box instant pistachio pudding

½ cup milk

1 (8oz) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

Green food coloring, 5 or more drops.

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray a 9X13 baking dish with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine dry cake mix with dry instant pistachio pudding. Mix together until combined.

Add in eggs, oil, and milk. Stir just until combined.

Stir in green food coloring.

Pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven when inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

Put instant pistachio pudding into a mixing bowl. Add in ½ cup cold milk and stir until combined. Fold in thawed whipped topping. Add in a few drops of green food coloring.

Spread frosting over cooled cake.

Slice and serve.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken Breading:

3-5 chicken breast

salt and pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup canola oil

Rinse chicken, trim off fat or extras and then cut into 1 inch cubes. season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken into cornstarch and coat all the way and then into eggs. Heat oil in large skillet. Cook chicken until browned. Place in baking dish. 3 chicken breasts can be in a 9x9 but 5 chicken breasts fits better in a 9x13.

Sauce:

3/4 cups sugar

4 Tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup white distilled vinegar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Whisk until smooth. Then pour evenly over chicken. I also added in some fresh veggies (green beans, bell pepper, broccoli) and some pineapple chunks. Turn chicken and veggies so the sauce coats everything and then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. turn chicken and then cook for 15 more minutes.

Serve hot.