Carole's Chocolate Pudding

This is a tasty dark-chocolate pudding.  A rather healthy version but you wont know it to taste it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups high quality coco powder
• 4 cups almond milk
• 2 tbs corn starch
• 1 hefty shot MCT oil
• 1 1/2 cup sugar substitute (1 cup powdered stevia and 1/2 cup zyletol)
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 2-3 dashes salt

Optional: 1-2 eggs

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Blend all ingredients in blender til smooth
2. Pour into large sauce pan over medium heat until it thickens a lot (about 5 min)
3. Pour into small cups
4. Cover with plastic wrap right away and put in refrigerator for a couple hours.

Favorite Recipe Links

Cashew Mayonaise
http://detoxinista.com/2013/05/spicy-cashew-mayo-raw-vegan/

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Paleo Peanut Butter (nut butter) Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is adapted from http://detoxinista.com/2012/02/flourless-peanut-butter-chip-cookies/
(A very excellent version to start from.)

Overall, I love this recipe... I basically added some almond flour to thicken it up somewhat, and used my personal blend of nut butter (home made from seeds and nuts) to suit my personal preferences.  It fluffed up better.

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy peanut butter (in my case - my nut butter blend of almonds, pecans, cashews and sunflower seeds)
1/3 cup honey
1 egg (fresh from my chickens)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3 TBS Almond flour

2 TBS Grass Fed Butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips (ghirardelli 60% chocolate)

Directions:

Preheat  oven to 350F. 

In a medium bowl, mix together the first five ingredients until a thick, gooey batter forms.  

Add in the almond flour to make less gooey.  

Cut in the butter with a couple butter knives.  Its ok to have tiny chunks in the batter.  Not quite as paleo friendly... but it makes them rise much better. (If you are strict paleo, you can skip the butter.)

Spread cookie sheet with a thin coat of cooking oil (grape seed oil if you can). Using a tablespoon, make round cookies in a cookie sheet are about 1/4 in thick and 1.5 inches in diameter.

Then add in the chocolate chips. 5 per cookie.  Push into the cookie, leaving part visible.

BAKE 10-12 minutes at 350F.  Should be browning on top some.

Cool for a couple minutes in cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

Papas Chicken Curry

This works with chicken... or lamb... or shrimp.   It depends on what you have available.


INGREDIENTS:

• 2 small onions (sweet yellow)
• One package basil (about a big handful)
• One can coconut milk
• 3-4 teaspoons curry paste (red, yellow or whatever)
• 1-2 handfuls whole string beans - fresh or frozen
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1/2 bell pepper
• Meat (chicken, lamb, or shrimp - enough for 3-4 people)
• 1-2 tablespoons chicken better-than-bullion 

SEASONINGS:

• Black pepper (1/2 tsp)
• 3 Bay Leaves
• Garlic powder (1/2 - 2 tsp - depends on your taste)
• cardamom (1/2 - 1 tsp)
• tumeric (1/2 - 1 tsp)
• crushed red pepper (1/2 tsp)

Cook the meat in separate fry pan - with the seasoning on it.  Set aside.  EXCEPTION: Shrimp - put in raw for last 4-5 minutes of cooking the whole dish... just til it turns pink.

Slice and cook the bell pepper, the onions, the sprig of rosemary, and the Bay Leaves in a fry-pan (with olive or grapeseed oil) for about 7-10 minutes - til the onions are really soft and somewhat caramelized.  Use a garlic press to mince the garlic and add to the pan.

Turn heat down to medium-low.  Add in can coconut milk, curry paste, and string beans.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add water and seasonings.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Add in meat and basil leaves.  Simmer for a few minutes.

Remove bay leaves, and stem for rosemary sprig.  (Many of the rosemary leaves will have fallen off.) Then serve.

Ideally - serve over RICE or over Rice Noodles.  

Grandma Kirsch 's Carrot Cake

This is a very tasty recipe passed down from my Great-Grandma Kirsch.  I know you will love it.  This is much healthier than the box cakes... and is VERY moist.  


CAKE:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup salad oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups finally grated carrots
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 # 2 can crushed (drained) pineapple (I used 20 oz  can and it turned out)
1 cup broken walnuts

Mix, bake at 350 for 1 1/4 hours


TOPPING: ORANGE SAUCE TOPPING:
1 (6 oz) frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup sugar

Bring to a boil and pour over hot cake,
      Let it stand 3 hours - overnight


[picture will come later... once I get to make one for me]

The perfect Spagetti and Meatballs

The perfect spaghetti always starts with the sauce. If I am short on time, I often doctor up a store bought sauce.  But once in a while I get the opportunity to make it fresh from scratch. And you can really taste the difference!

THE SAUCE:

Today I will show you how to make superb spaghetti sauce from scratch.


Ingredients:

• 8-10 Roma tomatoes
• 2 heirloom tomatoes (or other softer versions)
• 3 bay leaves
• Sprig of rosemary
• 6-10 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed with garlic press
• 1 minced medium white onion
• 1-3 tbs garlic powder
• 2 tbs salt
• 1 tbs pepper
• A few sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• a small bundle fresh basil finely chopped
• 1-2 freshly chopped green onions
• 2 mini bell peppers - or 1/4 large bell pepper
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 small can Tomato Paste (for the red color)

You start with putting the Roma tomatoes in a blender and dicing up the heirloom tomatoes. Put into big pot with other ingredients. raise to a boil on high, then simmer at a low boil for 3-5 hours. Stir every 10-15 minutes with a flat wooden spatula, scraping the bottom.  Taste every hour, and add any needed seasoning a cording to taste.

Once the rosemary starts loosing half of its leaves in the pot, remove the sprig. (Takes about 1.5 hrs)

You do need a minimum of 3 hours simmering for optimum taste.  This may not be as "red looking" as your traditional spaghetti sauce.  But with all the fresh stuff... it is high on taste.

TURKEY MEATBALLS:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs ground turkey (Italian sausage flavor)
• 3/4 cup oatmeal
• 1 Egg
• 1 hefty squirt ketchup
• 1-2 sprigs fresh basil finely chopped (stem with leaves)
• 1 TBS pepper
• 3 TBS Italian seasoning
• 2 dashes of soy sauce (or liquid aminos acids)
• 1-2 cloves fresh garlic pressed with a garlic press
• 1/2 TBS garlic powder
• 1 TSP onion powder
• 1 - 1.5 TBS fennel coarse ground in a mortar and pestle (secret ingredient)
• A few dashes crushed red pepper
• Several dashes all purpose seasoning salt

Preheat oven 425 when you are about an hour from completing spaghetti sauce.

Mix all ingredients above together with your HANDS.  It gets blended best that way.

Make meatballs about 2 inches in diameter.  Put on cookie sheet - spaced about an inch apart.

Bake for about 35 - 40  minutes.  They should be stiff (not squishy) when you push on outside.  Feel free to cut one open to ensure it is cooked if you are uncertain.


NOODLES:

Start about half an hour before completing spaghetti sauce.

If you have the opportunity to make fresh noodles on top of this recipe, you will have something to serve in a five star restaurant... I haven't done that yet...   But for standard noodles, simply follow the instructions on the package.

The basics always start with a pot of water - brought to a boil.  Add a dash or two of olive oil. Add 1-2 tsp salt once it is boiling vigorously.

Add noodles.  Cook til desired softness.  Taste before removing.

CHEEZY BREAD:

How to make Potatoes Au Gratin from scratch

 This recipe is "from scratch" - no boxes, so you can control what ingredients you eat.

My wife and I are potato lovers... and she challenged me to make Potatoes Au Gratin... and oh.. not too much dairy this time.  But, but the sauce is mostly dairy - if you make it the regular way. The main substitution I made was using Almond Milk instead of regular milk, but had to make some other alterations to make sure it will thicken up properly.  You can also substitute half the regular cheese for a non-dairy (soy) cheese.

I will post the recipe I used... with the substitutions I used for Low Dairy in italics for those who are trying to do it with 50% the diary of the normal version...

This is a VERY TASTY version - and goes perfect with a ham and some steamed asparagus.   However, if you are on a date, I would consider some Chocolate-Mint ice cream for dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE PAN

• 4-6 baked potatoes (white or red... thinly sliced)
• 1/2 medium size onion (white or red)
• 1.5 Cups Cheddar Blend.  (Normally cheddar/jack but all cheddar is fine also.)  LOW DAIRY: substitute half the regular cheese for a soy cheese variety.

FOR THE SAUCE

• 3 cloves garlic (pressed with garlic press)
• 1 green onion (for color/flavor combo)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2-4 TBS flour (LOW DAIRY: You will need 4 to help thicken it)
• 1 TBS corn starch
• 1-2 eggs (LOW DAIRY: You will need 2 to help thicken it)
• 1 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt (or sour cream)  (LOW DAIRY: Substitute 1 can Coconut Milk for VERY low dairy)
• 2 1/2 Cups 2% milk (LOW DAIRY: 2 1/2 Cups Almond Milk instead)
• 2 TBS Butter (LOW DAIRY: 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS Coconut Oil with a splash of butter flavoring)

SPECIAL TOOLS:

• Garlic press
• 12" square/round metal or glass pan

STEPS

1) Preheat oven 425 degrees.

2) Slice the potatoes very thinly (about 1/8 inch thick) and layer in the pan.  They should overlap each other about 30-40%.

3) Add a thin layer of cheese over the potatoes, covering them mostly.

4) On top the cheese, put a layer of VERY thinly sliced onion circles.

5) Repeat layering so you have about 3 layers of potatoes (and 2 layers of onions and cheese).  If the top layer has less potatoes, its ok... but it has to end with potatoes (not onions).

6) Blend all the ingredients for the SAUCE with a wire whisk or a fork.  Pour over potatoes.   Help them get into the cracks of the potatoes by shaking the pan a bit... and using a spatula to carefully lift the bottom layer slightly to let sauce in.

7) Put a thick layer of cheese mix on the top.  This helps get a fine crust on top.

8) Bake in the oven for 30 minutes covered in TIN FOIL.  Then bake for  15-20 minutes uncovered.  It needs get real bubbly... while cooking and get brownish on top... but not too dark brown.  

9) Let the finished rest (sit around in your kitchen) for 10 minutes before serving.