Making Banana Pancakes

I stumbled across a recipe for lemon basil cookies on Elana's Pantry website today and I got really excited. See, I recently started an "herb garden" if you can call having three plants in my kitchen window a "garden". I have Peppermint, Thai Basil, and German Thyme. I was all excited to use these herbs on my cooking. The trouble is that I don't use those herbs that often. Now I'm trying to figure out how many cups of water I can put mint in. Finding an unusual recipe to use basil make me excited to use my fresh thai basil. As a side note, this will be my first recipe I'm making from Elana's Pantry site. She always has these drool-worthy recipes posted, but I don't bake often (or when I do it's because I'm trying to come up with a recipe) so I'm super excited to try out one of her recipes tonight.

Lemon Basil Cookies from Elana's Pantry

Shortbread cookie dough...so yummy!

This recipe also has perfect timing since Book Club is this Friday. I started our club in January as part of my New Years Resolution to meet new people. While the club is going great (we have a meeting once a month and actually discuss the book!) the part of "meeting new people" didn't pan out so well. All the people in the club I already know. Not just recently know. I've known these people for years. We still have an awesome time when we meet so it's all good. We all bring snacks to our meetings but siting around watching everyone else eat delicious brownies sucks. Enter lemon basil cookies! They sound interesting and unique, I already have all the ingredients in my kitchen AND I get to use my Thai Basil. Sold. You'll have to go to the link to get the recipe, but I'm posting photos of the cookies I made. They went over okay at the book club. I think they work really well as a shortbread cookie since they are less sweet then other types of cookies. I would make these again with a little more lemon. 

Since blueberries are in season right now at the store I thought it would be fun to work off my Cinnamon Swirl Banana Cupcake recipe and make a simpler pancake recipe from it. I came up with this one and it's officially my favorite pancake recipe! It's perfect and they were delicious. This will probably be a staple weekend morning recipe. Enjoy!

Pancakes with Avocado Baked Eggs

Paleo Blueberry Pancakes 

1 Bananas mashed
2 eggs
1 T melted grass-fed butter (or coconut oil)
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar 
1/2 T Vanilla
1 T coconut flour
1 T Arrowroot flour
1/2 T cinnamon
1/4 t cloves
1/8 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t gluten free baking powder

1/2 C blueberries
1 T coconut oil for cooking






Blend banana, eggs, melted butter, vinegar and vanilla until smooth and runny (I use a food processor). 

In a small bowl sift coconut flour, arrowroot flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt, baking soda and baking powder together to break up any lumps in the flour. Blend dry ingredients into wet until well blended. Fold in blueberries.

Let the batter rest for 5 minutes while melting coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat. Spoon pancake batter into your desired sized pancakes. Flip after bubbles form on the surface. 

Ginger rubbed pork shoulder and running.

It's been an interesting start to my week so far. Husband talked me into running a 10K in September. I really don't mind running, but it kills my knees. I'm trying to up my exercise since I tend to do well for a few weeks and then kind of hit a lull. Maybe knowing I have to run 6.2 miles will motivate me to stay on track. As I guessed though, my left knee is killing me already. This may have been a bad idea and I've only gotten past day 1 of training. It's going to be a long 11 weeks.

So I have been a bad blogger for the past week. It really isn't easy to learn how to keep up with making and posting recipes. Last week was busy so I ended up making some of our staple items (burgers, roast chicken and veggies). I did, however, make this AMAZING Ginger Rubbed Pork Shoulder. I was surprised that it turned out so well since I just grabbed spices from my cabinet. I hope someone else tries it and lets me know if they like the recipe since it was super easy to make!

Spice rub on the roast

Ginger Rubbed Pork Shoulder

Ingredients

-Bone in pork shoulder roast

Spice Mix
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp white pepper

Sauce
- 1 Tbl coconut aminos
- 1/4 tsp fish sauce
- 1/2 Tbl toasted sesame oil

This recipe came about because I found this beautiful pork shoulder roast at the store this weekend and Husband loves Chinese food and nothing else mostly.

Directions
The night before cut cross lines across the entire roast to help the seasoning permeate the meat. Rub in the spice mixture all over the meat and then wrap the meat in plastic wrap. Let sit in the fridge overnight.
Place in the crock-pot with 1/4 cup water and a splash of coconut aminos. Cook for 10 hours on low. Slice roast and plate. Drizzle with the sauce on the plate to finish.

I made this really simple because Husband isn't a fan of other flavors, but if this was just for me I would have added chopped onion into the crock-pot. I made cauli-rice for me and brown rice with veggies for Husband to go with this. It was a super simple meal and was amazing tasting!

I also forgot to take a photo of the end product, so I guess everyone will have to take my word for it that it was pretty. It was, I promise.

It's getting unusual in here

I don't normally bake treats (even those without sugar) since I lack the life skills necessary to stop after one serving. But since it's a holiday weekend (that would be the 4th of July if anyone wasn't aware) and Husband is really good about not eating junk food at home, I thought I would be nice and bake him something. I let him pick whatever he wanted and of course he chose cinnamon coffee cake (out of the box). He prefers box mixes to my homemade ones. Which is probably because I really don't think we even have wheat flour in our house right now...we might not even have sugar now that I think about it.

The problem is that I also enjoy baked goods, so I'm running interference and making myself Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins (with no added sweetener) so I'll have something yummy to eat as well. And lets face it, the holidays are meant for eating, right? I don't know a holiday that isn't centered around food. If you follow me on Pinterest, I have a board entitled "Paleo Treats: I shouldn't even have this board". Well sometimes I like treats, and that's what this board is for. I went through a bunch of recipes for muffins and banana breads and came up with this recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins. Since I don't bake often and I invented this recipe myself, here's hoping for the best!

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins (Paleo)
Batter:
2 Bananas mashed
2 eggs
1/4 cup cashew butter (or other nut butter)
2 T grass-fed butter (melted)
1 T Vanilla
2 T coconut flour
2 T Arrowroot flour
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t allspice
1/8 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t gluten free baking powder

Swirl:
1 Tb coconut oil melted
1/2 Tb cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix bananas, eggs, nut butter, melted butter and vanilla until bananas are runny with very few lumps. In a separate bowl combine coconut flour, arrowroot flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Slowly add dry mixture into wet ingredients making sure to break up any lumps in the coconut flour. Coconut flour is REALLY absorptive so let the batter sit for 5 minutes or so and it will thicken up.

Divide batter into 6 muffins. As a side note for anyone who bakes with regular flour, GF baked goods stick to everything when you bake them. So use those metal muffin liners or the silicone ones. Basic paper liners with stick to your muffins and then you end up with only like half a muffin when you try to take them out! Learned that the hard way a few times.

So the last step is to add the cinnamon swirl part. Melt coconut oil (or butter) and stir in cinnamon. Then drizzle on top of muffins and use a toothpick to make a swirl pattern on them.

Bake in the over for 15 to 20 minutes.

These were some of the best paleo muffins I have mede yet. I think the blend of coconut flour and arrowroot flour make these much more cake-like then ones I've made before. Since I don't eat sugar the bananas were enough to sweeten the batter, but you could always add in a little honey to up the sweetness. And I know a lot of people wont believe me, but since these muffins are the correct texture, you could pass these off as regular muffins. I promise :)

I apologize for the lack of photos for this recipe, I apparently wasn't in the mood to snap pics so I only have the one.

Zoodles and Pickles. Not together but that would be delicious.

Today I'm posting my recipe for Sesame Ginger Pork Zoodles (or fried rice for husband who has the palet of a toddler and will not try zoodles). We're also going to look at my pickles. Isn't that exciting? No? Just me then.

Check out my pickles! It's been a little over three days. I had to scrap off the scum that was forming on the top of the pickles. But don't worry, Alton Brown says that's ok! It's only kind of gross. Now I have to wait three more days. The anticipation!

Alton Brown's Pickle Recipe <--- In case you don't believe me about the scum.

On to dinner topic. Zoodles. Zoodles are one of my favorite basic evening food...mostly because I really like saying zoodles. It rolls right off the tongue and like a child, the more I say it the better the word gets.

So Zoodles are just noodles made out of zucchini or yellow squash. These are perfect this time of year because they are currently in season (which is why I have 6 in the crisper in my fridge from my CSA box). These are perfect as a substitue for pasta/noodles/or rice in most dishes. Husband loves Chinese food, so I make him rice with veggies and just use zoodles in my dishes. And in case anyone is wondering: yes, it gets a little exhausting cooking two meals most nights.

So I really want one of these to make my noodles, but I haven't gotten permission to buy another kitchen gadget yet. I'm working on it. I think the rule should be when husband expands his tattoos, I should get a kitchen gadget. Sounds like a compromise.

Noodle Maker

Sesame Ginger Pork Zoodles

2 zucchini or yellow squash (or mix and match)
1 T coconut oil
1/2 Lb ground pork
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger (or powdered if you don't have fresh)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
dash of Chinese Five Spice (optional)
dash of sea salt
2 T coconut amnios
1/4 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

So since I don't have a fancy noodle maker gadget, I use my julian peeler to make my squashes in to thin noodle-like strips. Hence forth known as Zoodles.

Melt coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Brown ground pork in the pan with ginger, garlic powder, Chinese five spice and salt. Once meat is almost cooked through, add in zoodles, coconut amnios and fish sauce and cook everything until the zoodles are soft (I like mine starting to get the soggy, so I cook mine longer). If you like zucchini not soft then cook a short amount of time, like 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and then add in the sesame oil and stir. Garnish with sesame seeds. Yummy.

This is one of our go to meals most weeks.

And yes, I did eat my dinner out of a giant plastic mixing bowl. I didn't want to dirty another dish. And it's classy.

Pickles and liver...but not together

On the weekend I try to cook an abundance of things to help last through the week= less work when I'm tired later on. I posted this weeks menu the other day and this morning I started one thing on my menu and then began Operation Pickles.

Superfood Sausage Meatballs...eerrr.... meat chunks? Yeah so I was feeling lazy this morning after my 8 am run to Whole Foods. You'll see what I mean.

Here is what I mixed up

Superfood Chunks

Yeah I know that title's gross but it's what I made

1 lb grass-fed ground beef
1 lb pastured ground pork
1 lb of chicken livers ((hence the superfood and I expect the grossoutness (yeah that's a new word) of other people)) <-- Double parenthesis? I think so.
Favorite sausage seasoning (mine is a blend of white pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, fennel seeds and salt). You can use any type of blend or just throw in like 1 tsp of all your favorite spices. You could easily make these Asian with garlic and ginger with some fish sauce or Mexican with cumin and chili powder. So many options!

All you do is puree the livers in a food processor with all the seasoning and then mix into the other 2 lbs of ground meat. Now, if you want to be all fancy you can make these into meatballs. I was feeling lazy, so I spread the mixture in a 9x11 pan. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees and cooked for about 40 minutes. After they cooled I cut them into squares and now I have lunch this week. Easy peasy.

Pickles

Now for my fun experiment! Fermenting my own pickles. There is an easier (faster) way to make pickles with vinegar but I'm going old school and used a salt/water solution and good old waiting to make mine. There are many many different ways to make pickles. But I used this plan from Mark's Daily Apple website

Mark's Daily Apple Pickles

This is also one of my favorite blogs to follow.
I tripled the recipe to make three jars of dill pickles and added thyme from my herb garden into one jar to see how that goes. Basically in 3-10 days I should have three jars of dill pickles. Exciting? I think so! Just don't tell Husband I'm fermenting things in the kitchen.

Welcome Back...me!

So I started this blog in January and then only made it like a week and a half before failing. Yea, New Years Resolution!!! But now I can put to use one of those life lessons: If at first you don't succeed... eat bacon. It makes everything better. That's a personal motto. Feel free to use it.

Over the past few months I've started a new job, moved apartments, traveled to Ireland and fallen off the Paleo wagon and gotten back on again and again. I honestly feel SOOO much better when I eat better. So I've been super focused on eating REAL food for a few weeks and decided to retry this whole blog thing since I'm starting a new project this weekend. I've also incidentally lost around 10 lbs since focusing on eating only real food over the past few weeks. So on the exciting agenda this weekend is making my own pickles the good old fashioned way (read: no vinegar). Old-school fermentation happening in my kitchen this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. Hey, I know a lot of people who go on and on about brewing home beer, so I think pickles deserve a shout out for being amazing. Also I needed something to use some of the herbs in my new garden before they die. And they will die. I'm not too good at plants. Unless it's Plants vs. Zombies and then I rock at plants.

So coming up this week I'll be cooking the following menu for dinner incase anyone cares :)

Friday: Bangers and Cauli-mash (thanks to Ireland for this being my new favorite dish)
Saturday: Sausage and Squash Hash with eggs
Sunday: Sesame Beef Stir Fry
Monday: Italian stuffed zucchini boats
Tuesday: Roast Chicken
Wednesday: Sliders with avocado & BACON!
Thursday: BACON! wrapped chicken thighs

Lunches: Superfood Sausage Meatballs (warning: might contain a squeamish ingredient)

I'll be posting some of these recipes on the blog with photos through the weekend and week!

Goal: don't fail at blog

Day 9: Chili Round Deux

Well I haven't written for a few days, it's been a busy weekend...and I took a nap yesterday afternoon instead ha.

So yesterday evening was a little disappointing because we tracked all the way to the Roller Derby to find that it was SOLD OUT! Who knew they were so popular. So we'll try again when they have their next bout. And we'll get tickets ahead of time. Boo! But I still got to spend the evening chatting with two good friends and eating delicious green curry at Siam Square in Fountain Square. So all is well.

Today is my second Sunday cook up since I started blogging, so we'll be trying some new recipes and continuing my hunt for the perfect Paleo Chili!

I started off my morning with a hearty breakfast of Applegate farms bacon, eggs and browned sweet potatoes with cumin...delicious!

Today's cook-up:
Ultimate Paleo Chili
Slow-Cooker Italian Pork
Quiche as usual
roast veggies

Slow-Cooker Italian Pork:
Check out the recipe: Slow-Cooker Italian Pork by Melissa Joulwan.
I used a different cut of pork (loin instead of shoulder) since that's what they had on sale at the store.
I also didn't have anymore rosemary in my spice cabinet, so I subbed thyme and I threw in three pieces of bacon into the bottom of the slow cooker before I put in the pork. Other then that this should be a super easy recipe. It was pretty delicious but a little dry. The recipe says to pour out the liquid halfway through cooking so that you get a better crust on the outside, but I think that made the pork dryer. Next time I would leave the liquid in the pot for moister meat.

Mashed Cauliflower:
To make this dish I cut up a head of cauliflower into chunks and put in a pot and cover with water. Boil until you can pierce the cauliflower easily with a fork. Then I drain the liquid and put the cauliflower into a food processor with about 1 1/2 Tbs coconut oil with a little bit of salt, thyme and garlic powder. Blend until smooth.

Ultimate Paleo Chili:

I follow Robb Wolf's website (pretty big in the Paleo world) and they recently had a chili cook-off and posted the winning recipes. Chili Contest. This site has the links to all the recipes. I'm making Ultimate Paleo Chili submitted by Holly Gary because it seems like a basic recipe with a few twists! It has 1 1/2 Cups of coffee in it AND pumpkin pie spice! This made me very excited! The only change I made was I used 1 lb grass fed ground beef and 1 lb New Zealand ground lamb.

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean ground beef (good) or grass-fed ground 
beef (best)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 – 28oz can tomato pureé
1 – 14oz can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups coffee (substitute with broth if you prefer)
3T chili powder
2T cumin
1T oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning (substitute with 1tsp cinnamon + 1tsp nutmeg)
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
1 tsp sea salt + sprinkle
1 tsp pepper + sprinkle
1 T coconut oil

Instructions: Sauté onions and bell peppers in coconut oil over med-high heat in a large dutch oven or soup pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. About 5 minutes.

Add beef and garlic and cook until brown. About 7  minutes.

Add tomato pureé, tomato sauce, coffee and spices. Bring to a bowl, then reduce heat and simmer 1-2 hours.

Enjoy! Makes 6 large servings.

This was a great chili recipe...a little spicy which I like. I think that is because the chili powder I have is a lot spicier then my old chili powder so I forget and keep putting in extra like I used to. I think next time I might try to incorporate this chili recipe with the one I made last week with the butternut squash and cocoa powder. Lets see how much I can fit in my pot.

Oh and don't worry, I set the smoke alarm off again roasting veggies. Whenever I get a little confidence in my cooking skills I spend five minutes waving a towel at the smoke alarm.