Paleo Nutella

You know when you really want nutella, and then you realize that it contains a bunch of non-Paleo ingredients: sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (milk) lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin: an artificial flavor (What is vanillin by the way?) Well here's the solution... No it doesn't fit into the Virgin Diet because of the maple syrup, but that's okay, because I didn't actually eat it today. It was yummy in my tummy.

Paleo Hazelnut Spread

1/3 cup ground hazelnuts/almond butter

1 Tbls maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbls cocoa powder

Mix the ingredients together and you're ready to eat. Enjoy on apples, Paleo crackers, or by itself if you're like me.

Pumpkin Blackberry Pancakes

I haven't been posting much lately because I haven't been doing much cooking (at least nothing new). Somehow, I managed to wake myself up this morning, and whip this together though. I'm pretty impressed with myself, because I rarely take the time to make breakfast. I normally just eat leftovers.

Pumpkin Blackberry Pancakes

1 Tbls coconut oil

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup almond flour

1/8 cup coconut flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup blackberries, cut into quarters

1. Heat 1 Tbls coconut oil over medium-low heat in a large pan.

2. Mix wet ingredients together, then mix in the dry ingredients.

3. Fold in the blackberries.

4. Transfer to hot pan by the heaping tablespoon full. (If you make each pancake too large, they'll just fall apart when you try to flip them.)

5. Cook for about 3 minutes per side. The pancakes are ready to flip when the edges of the pancake have turned a darker brown. Serve with maple syrup.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I gave it a try. I attempted another recipe of Paleo pumpkin chocolate chip bars. The results? It's a bit closer to the consistency (but it's not quite there) and the pumpkin flavor got a bit overwhelmed by the coconut sugar. I've never used coconut sugar before, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. So here's the recipe I created today. Again, it tastes good, but it's not exactly what I was aiming for.

Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars (#2)

1/2 cup walnut chunks

4 Medjool dates, pitted

1/4 cup almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 Tbls pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup melted ghee

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup almond butter

pinch of salt

3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Use coconut oil to grease a 8"x8" pan.

2. Put walnuts and Medjool dates into a food processor for a couple minutes (or until they almost form a paste)

3. Mix the almond flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt into the walnuts and dates.

4. In a separate bowl, use a hand mixer to mix the coconut sugar and melted ghee.

5. Once the sugar and ghee are combined, add the egg and vanilla. Mix in the pumpkin puree and almond butter.

6. Now mix the "dry" ingredients (everything from the food processor) into the "wet" ingredients.

7. Fold in the chocolate chips.

8. Transfer the mixture into the baking pan, and place in the oven.

9. Cook for 35-40 minutes. The sides of the pumpkin bars should pull away from the edges of the pan, and a toothpick entered into the center of the pan should come out clean. Let cool before slicing.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip bars last night. The non-Paleo kind. So tempting! My goal for this week(end) is to tweak my Paleo-ified version of it. I brought the pan into work, and it was cleaned out by noonish. Any some of my co-workers didn't even get any. Fortunately I have enough ingredients to make another batch. You're welcome, co-workers!

I really need to get back into good sleep habits. This morning, I either slept through a series of alarms or I partially woke up, turned off four alarms, and immediately fell back asleep.  My alarms are set at 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00, and sounds every 5 minutes if you don't turn it off. The first alarm to go off would be my sleep cycle alarm in the 4:30-5:00 range. The remaining alarms are on my phone. I finally woke up at 6:05 If I happened to sleep through all of the alarms (plus 5 minute reminder alarms), that would mean that my phone sounded 14 times this morning before I managed to rolled myself out of bed. I shuffled a few feet closer to the bathroom, and then dropped into 50 squats.

I'm doing a 30-day, 6000 squat challenge, meaning 200 squats per day. (Feel free to join in! Though you would need to catch up for a couple days.) Today was day two, and I'm 450 squats in. Unfortunately, I'm also already icing my knee. Though technically I started doing that yesterday evening. Maybe it's time to invest in a knee brace again. Each time I do a squat I can hear my knees creaking. It's a bit disconcerting. Anyways, to the good stuff...

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup cranberries
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
1 Tbls pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 Tbls maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Mix together wet ingredients (pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup).
3. Then stir in remaining ingredients. And spoon into coconut-oil greased muffin tin.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes,  until toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate

Yum! Pumpkin Hot Chocolate. How can you have Paleo hot chocolate? you ask. Well, I'm happy to help you there. And to incorporate one of my favorite foods: pumpkin. Here goes...

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate

1/2 cup + 2 Tbls coconut milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp pumpkin spice

2-3 Tbls cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbls maple syrup

1 pinch of salt

1. Combine the coconut milk and pumpkin puree in a small saucepan over medium heat.

2. Once the milk and puree are completely combined and warm, stir in the remaining ingredients.

3. Serve immediately. It's really thick.

If you don't drink it all immediately, then you can put the rest in the fridge and use it as pudding.  Yeah, that's what I did.

Paleo Pumpkin Mug Cake

I know you were all waiting in anticipation of what I would do with the excess pumpkin pie mixture that I didn't bake in the oven. Easy... just mix yesterday's Paleo Pumpkin Pie leftovers with a couple tablespoons of coconut flour (or almond flour), and microwave for 2.5 minutes.

If you don't have leftovers, this is what you can use to make a Paleo Pumpkin Mug Cake

Paleo Pumpkin Mug Cake

3 Tbls pumpkin puree

3 Tbls coconut flour

1 egg

1/2 Tbls maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

pinch of salt

1. Mix together.

2. Microwave for 3 minutes... CAKE!!! Nom nom nom!

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

I told you I'm on a dessert kick...

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

2 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup + 1 Tbls cup maple syrup

2 Tbls pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. In a large bowl, blend ingredients together.

3. Fill six small (roughly 4") ramekins to 3/4 full. You may have some left over... I'll get to that in a tick (or in tomorrow's post - link to be provided soon). Alternatively, you can use a larger baking pan, but it won't look as adorable, and you'll have to adjust baking times.

4. Bake in the oven for 25-40 minutes. Check after 25 minutes to determine if it's done. When done, a toothpick will come out clean when inserted into the center. If not, check in 5 minute intervals until the dessert is done.

5. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve. It can be served with some coconut milk on top, or just plain. Yum.

After cooling and carting to work for a mid-afternoon snack

And OMG, this is good. I think my pumpkin cravings have returned. At least I'm prepared for Thanksgiving this year. Yes, my family has already started making plans... only four months in advance!

Sea Salt Almond Bark

Sea Salt Almond Bark

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate, broken in to pieces, or use chips if available
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbls coconut oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Heat the coconut oil and vanilla in a small pot over low heat.
2. Once the coconut oil has melted, stir in the chocolate pieces. Keep stirring until the chocolate has melted.
3. Stir in the almonds and 1/4 tsp sea salt.

4. Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on a baking pan. Use a spatula to transfer all of the chocolate mixture onto the paper. Spread out the chocolate until it's roughly the thickness you want.
5. Sprinkle the chocolate with another 1/4 tsp of sea salt.
6. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the freezer and break into pieces.

Chemo - Part 5 - Day 4

Today was a bit rougher than the past three. The nausea that is so often associated with chemo finally had a bit of an effect. It wasn't terrible, but feeling even the slightest bit nauseated isn't pleasant for anyone, and it's hard to watch someone you love feel bad, especially when there's nothing you can do to make it go away. Gingerale and Saltine crackers seem to work well for my family members for nausea though.

While we were at the doctor today, one of our family friends stopped by. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma 9 years ago and was told he wouldn't last for more than a few months. 9 years later, almost 70 years old, he's still proving them wrong. During all this time he has never gone into remission, in other words he has been undergoing chemo treatments for the past 9 years! He and his wife live on a farm, so he does a lot of work outdoors. He was telling us today that he's in the middle of building a new fence for his berry garden. They also raise horses, pigs, etc. I find his story of fighting cancer incredibly impressive.

The reason why I mention this is that the oncologist believes that the hairy cell leukemia (HCL) didn't have as much of an effect over the years because my family has been so active and healthy. Our family friend was the same way. Doctors didn't think that he would live for more than a few months, but he was in such good physical condition from years of physical activity in the form of manual labor on his farm, that he was able to outlive their diagnosis. How I interpret this is that YOU NEED TO WORKOUT. It is vital that you stay physically active and healthy. Your body will thank you for it.

Now for a subject change... the last time that I visited my parents, my mom had a bunch of bananas that she threw out because they had gotten too soft. I told her to freeze them next time so that I could use them for desserts. When I got back last weekend, I found 11 bananas in the freezer. So, what's a Paleo girl to do but make Paleo ice cream?

Paleo Ice Cream

2 frozen bananas, peeled
1 Tbls cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla

Peel the bananas and cut into smaller chunks. Place the frozen banana chunks into a food processor and run until smooth. Mix in the cocoa powder and vanilla. Voila! You have the easy Paleo version of ice cream. (Alternatively, if you had a ice cream maker you could make ice cream using coconut milk, however, I am lacking in that department.)

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Muffins


Bowl 1
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp cloves
Bowl 2
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
2 tbls coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla


Streusel
1/2 cup choppen pecans
1/4 cup almond flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbls coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Sift the ingredients of Bowl 1 together. Set aside. Put pumpkin puree into a bowl and mix in eggs, one at a time. Add honey, coconut oil, and vanilla, stirring well. Add in the dry ingredients, beating until no large lumps remain. Fill muffin tin 2/3 of the way and top with a spoonful of the Streusel mixture.

Bake 20-25 minutes.

YUMMMM!!!