Thanksgiving Day in a Bowl - Paleo Style!

I set out to create my own paleo chicken pot pie.  What I ended up with tasted more like a Thanksgiving Day meal, all in one bowl!  So that is how the Thanksgiving Day in a Bowl was created.  It reminds me of my dad, who is notorious for mixing all the food on his plate into one big mix of food.  I started with Elana's Pantry pie crust and her Herbed Gravy.  I used honey in it, which of became MUCH sweeter when heated, this is where you get a mashed sweet potato casserole taste going on.  I know she has a more savory version, which I'll try another time.  I'll just get to my recipe!

CRUST (I did a bottom and top crust, so double this recipe if you are doing that)
1½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a small bowl, combine grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry
4. Pat dough into a 9 inch pie pan or 8x8 square pan

Herb Gravy (tweaked a little)
1 quart chicken stock
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
5 cloves garlic
2 TBs bacon fat
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
Pepper to taste
Splash of cream (optional)

1. In a medium saucepan, heat chicken stock, onions and garlic to a boil
2. Reduce heat and simmer until onions and garlic are soft, about 30 minutes
3. Pout bacon fat into saucepan
4. Blend stock-onion-drippings mixture in a blender until smooth
5. Place mixture back in saucepan and reheat, then season with salt, thyme and pepper

Assembling the Thanksgiving Day in a Bowl!

2-3 Cups Herb Gravy (recipe above)
1 Rotisserie Chicken, meat removed
1 cup of green beans
1 cup of cooked cauliflower
2 pie crusts (recipe above)

Star with the crust in your pie or square pan. 
Mix the gravy, meat, green beans and cauliflower in a bowl.  Then pour into the pie pan.
Use the other pie crust and place on top of the filling.
Bake at 325 for 15 minutes

Eat and enjoy!!

Paleo Honey Biscuits

I found another one of Elana's Pantry recipes that everyone just loves.  I make them once or twice a week, for breakfasts, snacks for the kids, etc.  Here is a link to her original recipe.  I use one more similar to one out of her recipe book called Drop Biscuits.  Here is how I make them:

2 1/2 C almond flour
1 tspn celtic sea salt
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/4 C butter or organic palm oil shortening
1/4 xylitol honey (or real honey - even tried a mix of both with great results)
1 eggs
1tspn lemon juice

Mix all the dry ingredients into one bowl.  Then whisk the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.  Using a 1/4 c measuring cup, scoop out the dough and put onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  I pushed mine down some to form the biscuit shape.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or untl nice golden brown.

Here is a picture of the first batch I made.  I pressed them too flat,  but they still tasted yummy!!

German Chocolate Cake

I found a recipe for a revised german chocolate cake on Elana's Pantry .  A lot of her recipes call for oils such as grapeseed which I don't eat.  I subbed coconut oil for it.  She also uses a lot of agave nectar which after eating this cake, I found out impacts my blood sugar too much.  It was like having a carb coma after eating it.  If I ever make this again, I'll have to use xylitol honey instead.  This cake tasted AMAZING, but like I said, it affected my blood sugar negatively.  The Vegan Chocolate Icing on the sides of this cake was soooo good!   I'll have to make it again without the agave nectar and see if its as good.

Paleo Taco Soup

Thanks to Pinterest, I found a recipe for Paleo Taco Soup.  It is a crock pot recipe so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It turned out so tastey!!  The whole family loved it.  My kids thought it was a little spicy, but it didn't keep them from eating it.  I'll dial down the spicy next time.  Here is a link to the recipe:  Fastpaleo/tacosoup

Paleo Spaghetti Soup

I was craving Spaghetti, but of course cannot have that being low carb/ paleo.  So I thought I'd just make a basic spaghetti meat sauce and it turned out really great!  Here is my recipe:

2 lbs of grass fed ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 small chopped bell pepper
4 chopped cloves of garlic
3 (8oz) cans of tomato sauce
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup Ideal
1/4 cup butter
2 tspns dried oregano
1/4 TBL dried basil
salt & pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef in a deep skillet along with onion and bell pepper and garlic.  Once the meat has browned, add in all other ingredients, bring to a boil and then put on low for about an hour.  YUM!

Sorry...again no picture.

Hannah's Favorite Paleo Stew

I threw this in the crock pot the other day so I'd have a pile of food to feed my kids and their friends.  I'll try to remember the amounts I used, but most of it was just winging it.  Hannah LOVED this stew and even ate it as left overs the next day!

2 lbs of chili meat
1 large onion
1 small green bell pepper
5 cloves of garlic
1 quart of beef broth
1 bag mixed veggies (brocoli, cauliflower & carrots)
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBL onion flakes
2 TBL garlic powder
1 TBL chili powder

Brown the meat on high heat along with onions.  Don't fully cook the meat, just brown the outside.  Dump all the meat and onions into the crock pot along with the grease.  Add the bell pepper, garlic, broth, frozen veggies and all the spices.  Turn it on low and cook for 5 or so hours.  YUM!!

Sorry...no picture! 

AWESOME Paleo Biscuits

I found a declicious Paleo Biscuit recipe yesterday.  Thank you Pinterest!  I made them last night and tested one out straight from the oven with some fresh melted butter (I know, not Paleo) and it was heavenly!  Once they cooled I put the rest in the fridge and warmed one up for breakfast this morning and it was just as good!  I found the recipe on http://paleorecipespaleomeal.blogspot.com/2012/08/paleo-biscuit-recipe.html

Here it is:

Paleo Biscuit Recipe

Makes 9 biscuits

Ingredients

- 6 egg whites

- 3/4 cup blanched almond flour

- 1/4 cup coconut flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

- ¼ cup almond milk

- 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil

- Before baking top each biscuit with almond butter (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

-Mix almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

- Pour in coconut oil and almond milk. Set aside

- In a medium bowl whisk egg whites until they are very frothy.

- Fold the egg whites into mixture until well combined.

- Divide approximately 1/4 cup of dough onto the baking sheet

- Optional top each biscuit with dash of almond butter. (I did not do this step)

- Bake 15 to 18 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Serve warm or refrigerate.

 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (low carb, grain free, dairy free)

I decided I wanted something sweet tonight, so I thought I'd try to recreate a chocolate buttercream icing.  It turned out pretty good!

1/4 cup Organic Palm Oil Shorterning
1 1/2 C powdered Ideal
3 Tbs Cocoa Powder
1 tspn Vanilla
3 TBS Unsweet Vanilla Almond Milk

Blend all together in stand mixer until nice and creamy.  YUM!

Dairy Free Vanilla Coffee Creamer

Finding a replacement for heavy cream in my coffee as been a HUGE challenge.  I've been through all kinds of attempts.  I've finally found one I can enjoy.  Of course I can still taste a hint of the conconut flavor, which I can't stand, but it's not strong enough to bother me in this recipe.  I still plan on tweaking it some and see how it goes.  It reminds me of the Coldstone Creamer that I used to love so much :-)

2 cups of canned coconut milk
2 TBS of xylitol honey
2 TBS of xylitol maple syrup
1 TBS vanilla extract
1/4 C Ideal

Stir constantly over medium/low heat.  I waited until it was steaming and then turned off the fire, put the lid on the pan and let it sit for 30 minutes.  I then poured it into a mason jar and put it in the fridge.  I let it sit in the fridge overnight before I used it.

Sweet Tea!!

I'm definitely a southern girl...which means I LOVE my sweet tea.  I made a picture up tonight at a friend's house with Ideal and thought I'd post it.

Boil 1/2 gallon of water.  Once boiling, turn off fire and add 3 family size bags of tea and 1/4 tsp of baking soda.  Let brew for 15 minutes.  Then remove the bags and add 2 cups of Ideal and stir until disolved.  Pour into your pitcher and then add another 1/2 gallon of cold water.  Pour over ice in a glass and enjoy!!

Kalua Pig - Crockpot Style

My friend Chris sent me a link to this Kalua Pig recipe from Nom Nom Paleo's blog.  I decided to throw it in the crock pot last night, but didn't have the Hawaiian red salt, so I found some smoked sea salt that I used instead.  It takes 16 hours to cook, so be prepared to wait.  I don't think it smelled all that great when cooking, but it sure tasted good.  The kids really ate it up too!

Chocolate Icing Shots

In looking for other icing shots I ran across one from Chocolate Covered Katie.  It's dairy free and I used Ideal for the sugar in it, probably close to 3/4 of a cup.  In the end mine turned out more like pudding, it wasn't quite thick enough to be icing.  You could still taste a hint of coconut, which I don't care for, but this "pudding" was good.  The kids really liked it.  Here is Katie's recipe.

Icing Shots

So, it should be no shock that I have a sweet tooth.  I was craving something creamy and sweet, and I've recently decided to give up dairy, along with everything the sugar, grains and carbs that I've already given up.  I remembered when my aunt worked at a grocery store bakery decorating cakes, she told me they make the white icing with sugar and shortening.  I was at the store and found an organic shortening made with palm oil.  Palm oil is another great tropical oil like coconut oil, so I bought it thought I'd give it a shot.  I'd seen several "icing shot" recipes online and just whipped up my own sugar free, dairy free version.  It was YUMMY!!  The xylitol turned out too crunchy...maybe next time I'll blend it even longer and see if I can get it more powdery.

White-ish Icing

1/2 cup organic palm oil shortening
2 cups of Ideal (I put it in the magic bullet and blended it to make it "powdery")
1 tsp GF/Sugar Free Vanilla Extract (or any other of your choosing)
1/4 cup water

Put it all in the mixer and mix on low until it's all combined, then crank it up to high for 5 minutes...it will turn nice and fluffy by the end of it.  Then I spooned it into shot glasses and devoured it!!

Vanilla Coconut Flour Cookies

These cookies turned out pretty good.  It's an "add sweetness to taste" kinda of thing, and I did not add enough sweetness.  I also think they are a little plain, so next time I might drizzle some xylitol honey on them and toasted coconut, or maybe dip them in dark chocolate.  But its definitely a great base cookie. I got the recipe from The Prudent Wife website.

Low Carb Snickerdoodles

WOW...these are so GOOD!!  They are chewy and so good.  My kids loved them.  I made a few tweaks to the original recipe.  It's the Snickerdoodle recipe off of Urban Poser's blog.  These are grain free, egg free, gluten free and dairy free.  For the honey I used Nature's Hollow xylitol honey and for the sugar to mix with the cinnamon, I used Ideal.

Cashew Chicken - Crockpot Style

So, I tried some low carb chinese food again.  I was not really thrilled with it.  I'm not sure why so many of these recipes call for so much soy sauce.  It ends up tasting like "soy sauce chicken".  It was eaten, and no one refused it, but it won't be something I'll make again, unless I find a recpie with almost NO soy sauce in it.  Here is the link to the recipe if you want to try it out.  crock-pot-cashew-chicken