Raw Chocolate Ganache Pie

 

Someone shared a link to the recipe of Kelly Brozyna's Chocolate Pie + Graham Cracker Crust from NomNomPaleo's website on a friend's facebook page right before Valentine's Day and I knew I had to try it out.  We made it that weekend and fell in love! My husband has been requesting it again ever since we had it the first time.  I've only made it the original way and then tweaked it a little for our liking and tried the raspberry variation.  This is a recipe we'll be using over and over again and it's easy to change it up a little to add new flavors.  I think our next attempt will be at a "peanut butter chocolate" version using cashew butter.  I'll let you know how it turns out. 
The pie has a ganache type consistency and is super rich, dark, and creamy.  It is made with 100% compliant Whole30 ingredients, but it is NOT Whole30 approved- it is most definitely a dessert!  Still, I feel good about indulging every now and then with a dessert I know isn't loaded with crap. 
I hope you enjoy!

 

Raw Chocolate Ganache Pie
adapted from Kelly Brozyna's Chocolate Pie + Raw Graham Cracker Crust on Nomnonpaleo.com
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Crust
1 cup pecans
1/4 cup (about 4) pitted Medjool dates
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt

Filling
1 cup coconut cream (the solid cream part from a can of full fat coconut milk)1/2 cup (about 8) pitted Medjool dates
3 oz 100% cacao chocolate bar, melted
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a food processor, grind the crust ingredients until very fine and mixture sticks together.
Press into a pie dish or springform pan (I have made it in both) and set aside.

Heat coconut cream slightly by warming in microwave for 30 seconds.  Add filling ingredients into rinsed food processor or blender (I use my Blendtec twister jar for the filling) and puree for 1 minute or until mixture is smooth. With my twister jar I put it on a soup cycle.

Pour filling over crust and chill in fridge until set (about 1 hour).

Top with berries, whipped coconut cream, or ground nuts.

Enjoy!

Variations:

Raspberry Chocolate: Leave out cinnamon in crust.  Replace one of the teaspoons of vanilla extract with raspberry extract in the filling.  Top with fresh raspberries and whipped coconut cream.

Mint Chocolate: Leave out cinnamon in crust.  Add 3 drops peppermint essential oil to the filling.  Top with peppermint whipped coconut cream and chocolate shavings.

 

Spicy Cocktail Sauce

 

I was in the mood for some shrimp with cocktail sauce. I love the spicy cocktail sauce at The Melting Pot and their recipe is in their cookbook (which I definitely have).  I cleaned it up Whole30 style and I think it turned out pretty awesome.
I used Alanna's recipe for the ketchup (Planks, Love, and Guacamole), but added quite a bit more water to get the right consistency.  Use more or less horseradish to get the spiciness to your liking.  I like it spicy. :)
Hope you like it too!

Spicy Cocktail Sauce

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1 cup ketchup

1 tsp Coconut Aminos

2+ Tbsp horseradish

Juice of 1 lemon

Hot red pepper sauce to taste

Add everything in a bowl and whisk until combined.  Cover and chill until ready to use.

Creamy Paleo Dill Ranch

I may be the only one in the Paleo/Whole30 kingdom that gets a little weirded out at the thought of eating raw egg mayonnaise.  I know it shouldn't be a big deal, and I think that real homemade mayo tastes great, but it still weirds me out a little. 
When we came across this recipe in The Recipe Hacker, I was a bit skeptical that this would taste like ranch.  But man oh man, it is our new favorite sauce.  My husband loves it and requests it with just about everything.  It turned out a bit thicker than a mayo ranch, which kinda gives it a "green goddess dressing from the Melting Pot" kinda taste.  You can add more of the coconut liquid that you drain from the cream to get the desired consistency.  It's super creamy and I hope you love it as much as we do!

Creamy Paleo Dill Ranch

adapted from Diana Keuilian's recipe in The Recipe Hacker

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2 cans coconut milk, full fat

1 Tbsp dried dill

2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic salt

pinch of sea salt

pinch of black pepper

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar.

Chill the canned coconut milk in the fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours. Opening from the bottom, drain the liquid, reserving up to a half cup. Remove the cream and place into a food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse until ingredients combine. The ranch will be thick and creamy, much like a dip. Add reserved liquid to desired consistency. Let chill for at least 15 minutes before enjoying.

January Whole30

Hello again! We started another round of Whole30 this January are are currently on Day 9.  It's been good so far except for our SWYPOs the past few days.  I may have made some coconut milk berry ice cream, pumpkin pancakes, "candied" pecans, and berry hot chocolate the past few days.  But man, they were freaking awesome.  For me, Whole30 is about learning to make better choices, cleaner choices instead of the junk.  All foods were made with completely compliant ingredients, but they weren't exactly strict Whole30 protocol.  The way I see it, I'm planning on doing Whole30 until we get pregnant (which could be a looong time), and then as best as I can through the pregnancy.  Which means we're in this for the long haul.  So I don't really feel bad making and eating SWYPOs.  They are much better choices than the crap we previously ate.

I'm loving the growing instagram community of Whole30 and will try to post more recipes as I find some that I love.  Like the Creamy Paleo Ranch dip that is coming right up. 

 

Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada Sauce

 

 I have seen so many recipes for coconut shrimp floating around amongst instagram and pinterest and have been wanting to try them FOREVER.  Coconut shrimp is my favorite thing from Red Lobster and I am so happy that I can make them at HOME now and they are pretty dang good.  Plus, no temptation to eat a million of their cheddar garlic biscuits because who can resist those?!
If you don't like shrimp, you could use chicken, just be sure to cook longer! Coconut chicken nuggets with pina colada sauce sounds great too!
I combined a few recipes I found from the Allie Eats Whole instagram account, Paleomama.wordpress, and Popular Paleo.  Hope you love them as much as I do!

 Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada Sauce

Combined recipes from Allie Eats Whole instagram account, Paleomama.wordpress, and Popular Paleo

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1 lb peeled & deveined raw shrimp, rinsed and dried

¼  cup coconut flour

¼ cup arrowroot

½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 eggs, beaten

Salt, paprika, and garlic powder, ground ginger to taste (I just did a shake of each)

Coconut oil, to fry

¼ cup coconut cream

½ cup crushed pineapple

For the sauce:

Mix together coconut cream and pineapple until you get a smooth sauce.  Refrigerate for one hour (or while cooking the shrimp).

For the Shrimp:

Place coconut flour on a small plate.

Beat eggs in a small bowl and add seasonings.  

Combine arrowroot and shredded coconut in a bowl.

 

Set up a dredging station with your coconut flour, eggs, and shredded coconut/arrowroot mix.

Start by lightly coating the shrimp in the coconut flour, then in the egg, then in the shredded coconut.  Shake off excess coating.  Set on a plate until you’ve finished all of them.  Once they’re all coated, heat up a couple tablespoons of coconut oil in a frying pan.  Add shrimp a few at a time and flip when the tails turn pink—they should be golden brown.  Cook for another minute or so and serve with the sauce.

Enjoy!

To reheat, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place coconut shrimp on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Bake for 10 minutes or until hot.

Round 2 wrap up

I have been TERRIBLE posting about Round 2.  Apologies for that. 
Round 2 ended up not going as originally planned.  About half way through I applied for and accepted a job offer in a whirlwind of a few days.  It totally threw off my meal planning, meal prepping, and meal making for the rest of the 30 days.  So really it was more of a Whole14.  Since then we have been doing our best just to make sure we are even cooking at home.  Work ruins everything, my carefree mornings of The Price is Right, Just Dance, and Whole30.  But I am grateful that I got this job and am liking it so far (despite my strong feelings against going back to work). 
So sorry. 
We will be back on a HARD CORE Whole30 bandwagon starting in January. 
We'd start sooner, especially considering that it's basically doctor's orders for my newly discovered Hashimoto's and hypoglycemia, but it would be just too hard during the next month between Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner parties EVERY week, and then Christmas.  So January it is. 
I know that Whole30 is super important and I need to develop a lifelong habit of clean eating.  I'm not perfect, but I'm trying. 
In the mean time I'll try to post some of the recipes we've really enjoyed that are all Whole30 compliant.

Stay tuned!

Sweet Potato Hashbrowns

Sweet potato hashbrowns topped with a fried egg is my go-to and favorite Whole30 breakfast.  And they are as easy as 1, 2, 3!
If you could only buy one new tool for your kitchen during your Whole30, I would recommend buying a Salad Shooter.  They are not too pricy and it slices and grates, giving the perfect shreds for hashbrowns.  
Here are the guidelines to making crispy delicious sweet potato hashbrowns.

Sweet Potato Hashbrowns

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1. Peel  sweet potatoes, removing all outside skin.  
   
2. Grate or shred sweet potatoes.
   
3. Cook sweet potatoes in a heated skillet with coconut oil for about 20 minutes, turning halfway through, until crispy*.  Salt and pepper to taste.
   

*Giving your sweet potatoes plenty of room to cook will allow them to get crispy.  If your pan is too crowded, they will not crisp up. 

Depending on your skillet size and sweet potato amount, it will take about 20 minutes.  I’ll cover the sweet potatoes with a lid for the first 10 minutes and then leave them uncovered after flipping them halfway through.  If you're having a hard time getting them crispy, try adding more oil to your batch or less potatoes.  We usually shred enough for the week and store in a glass jar in the fridge until we're ready for more. 

Enjoy!

Canned Cinnamon Applesauce

Per request, here is my first recipe post for Round 2.
I don't know about you, but I don't love store bought applesauce.  The taste and texture are just not great to me.  But I love my mom's homemade slightly chunky canned cinnamon applesauce so I was super happy to be able to can some with her this fall, this time making a batch of Whole30 no sugar compliant just for me.  It was a lot easier than I thought and turned out great!  If you don't have canning equipment, just make a much smaller batch and keep in the refrigerator, eating immediately.  Golden Delicious apples are naturally sweet which makes them a great choice for an unsweetened applesauce.  You can mash the apples, use a blender, or the easiest way is with an immersion blender.  Hope you enjoy!

Canned Cinnamon Applesauce (Sugar Free)

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8 qts of peeled, cored, diced Golden Delicious apples

2 cups water

1 Tb. cinnamon (+/- to taste)

Fill 8 quart pot with apples and pour in water.

Bring to a boil and cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes.

Take off heat and blend until desired consistency.

Add cinnamon to taste.

Put pot of apples back on heat and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and fill jars, sealing tightly.

Process in a steam bath for 20 minutes.

Remove from canner and let cool for 24 hours before moving.

Makes 7 pints.

Enjoy!

Round 2

We have started Round 2 and are super excited to be back on Whole30.  This time around I will not be doing daily posts but I will try to post more recipes.  So stick around if you'd like some good food!

Happy Whole30!

Life After Whole30

Day 31 = weigh in day.
Results:
I lost 12 pounds and 1/2-2 inches just about everywhere.
Dustin lost 14 pounds and a few inches too.

We feel great! Seriously the easiest 12 pounds I've lost.  Never counted calories, points, portions, just ate when we were hungry and ate real whole delicious food. 

I'm already looking forward to our next round and implementing a lot more exercise in. 
I was much more conflicted about eating my yogurt for breakfast this morning and am not as excited for "normal" food as I was a week ago.
This next week we will be off Whole30 but I want to get back on for a few weeks starting next week.  I like this lifestyle and am happy with the results.
I still want that baby too.  I don't expect to get pregnant after one month of clean eating, so we will keep this up for a while.
We seriously loved this past month and our new relationship with food.  Let me know if you are going to start Whole30 and let me be your cheerleader!

Day 30

It's day 30.  The day 30 of Whole30.  The last day.  The finale.  Can you believe it's been a whole month? Me neither.  Let's take a look at how we closed this bad boy out. 

Breakfast was sweet potato hash browns with fried eggs and spiked monkey salad.

Lunch was a leftover Asian turkey burger, sweet potato fritter, pickle spears and Rainier cherries.

Dinner was crab cakes with smoked paprika mayo, roasted garlic artichokes, steamed baby carrots, and strawberry slices.

Thoughts on today:
This doesn't feel like the end.  And it shouldn't be! And it won't be! While we won't be doing a strict Whole30 forever, we have good habits in place that we will continue to use.  And lots of recipes that we love and will have frequently.  I still want to use good quality meat, organic produce, and stay away from processed food.  And sugar.  For the most part.  I don't want to be one of those people who says I eat super healthy ALL the time and the next thing you know, I'm shoving a doughnut in my face.   But that doesn't mean that I won't be eating an occasional sweet treat.
I won't say that doing Whole30 was super easy, but I also don't think it was that hard.  Giving up gluten for 2 months before starting this was a good start.  When I gave up gluten I was no where near ready to give up sugar or dairy.  But after a while, I knew that I could do Whole30 and while we weren't perfect, I feel like we did a pretty great job. 
We'll see how the transition to real life goes... and try to not go too crazy this weekend. :)

Day 29

Breakfast was steak and eggs with sauteed mushrooms, cashews, and strawberries.

Lunch was dijon chicken salad with cashews, pickle spears, and raspberries and peaches.

Dinner was Jaegerschnitzel (breaded pork cutlets with mushroom gravy), sweet potato fritters, steamed broccoli, and an Izze.

Thoughts on today:
It's strange fixing sweet potato hash browns tonight knowing that it's the last day tomorrow morning.  We feel great and have a good routine down. It still surprises us that even when we're super hungry, it doesn't take much to fill us up anymore.   I know things won't be exactly the same day 31 but I am excited to see how much weight we lost and to try out all the healthy habits we've gained. Maybe once this is over I will spend some time posting our favorite recipes we've had and favorite finds in our shopping. One more day!

The Final Countdown Meal Plan

ACK! Only 2 days left! Though we plan on continuing to eat this way most of the time, we will be taking a short week off to enjoy time with family and traveling.  We will try to continue making good choices, but dairy, grains, and sugar will be back in our lives this week.  Also pancakes. But good news, they will be paleo sweet potato pancakes that I SWYPO'd the other week.  Cuz that's how we roll.

Here's a look at the menu for the final countdown:

29. Pork chops, broccoli, and sweet potato fritters
30. Crab Cakes and roasted artichokes

And that's it my friends! But because I'm back in the good habit of meal planning, the rest of the week looks like this:

31. Sweet Potato Pancakes (yes, for dinner) with blueberries or cinnamon apples... or both
32. Pizza.  But homemade and gluten free. (Dustin has really missed pizza!)
33. Cinetopia 
34. Graduation
35. The Coast

Yikes, there will be a lot of temptation in there, but we will be strong for the final countdown and then do our best with this busy upcoming week and the places we're going!  Then we will probably pick up another round of Whole30 on a budget to make sure we keep this up as a new lifestyle.  And to get that baby.
Side note, yogurt will be back in my life this week and I'm kinda excited.  But this time, it's organic. :)

Day 28

The last day of Week 4!

Breakfast was an egg scramble with bacon and fresh tomato, half a grapefruit, and cashews with dried pineapple flowers.

 

 

 Lunch was leftover lemon pepper drumsticks with buffalo sauce and a side of broccoli and baby carrots.  And a cute little juicy doughnut peach for dessert. 

Every payday my boss brings in cookies for everyone and she's been bringing me in fruit instead.  This doughnut peach is from her.  She's the best.

 

During grocery shopping we got hungry so we had a Larabar for a snack.  That chocolate chip cookie smell in the produce section at Costco will kill me one of these times.  Our bakery is right next to the produce and the smell is intoxicating!

Dinner was Asian turkey burgers with lettuce and tomato, homemade sweet potato chips, and Rainier cherries.

Thoughts on today:
It's the end of week 4! Grocery shopping today was a little weird because we only have two days left of strict Whole30 and then we'll be incorporating dairy and grains (and sugar) back in.  So it was more of a normal shopping trip with yogurt and cheese in the mix with a lot of produce. BUT, we steered clear of processed food, especially junk food so we have made progress in the past 28 days!  This month really has flown by and I am a little scared for Whole30 to end but know that there is life after Whole30.  Two days left to be strong and to keep up good habits that will hopefully keep when we reach day 31.

Day 27

Breakfast was fried eggs and sliced strawberries and almonds in coconut milk.

Lunch was Italian sausage, baby carrots, and an apple with almond butter.

Dinner was lemon pepper drumsticks with buffalo sauce and sweet potato fries.

Thoughts on today: 
We are almost done! Which is great because posting daily is getting pretty old.  I'd much rather enjoy my free time spending with my honey.  Only a few days left! Staying strong until the end!