Recipe: Carrot Spice Muffins with Lemon Icing (paleo + nut-free)

I’m so excited to be launching my TWO green banana flour recipe e-books in October that I’m giving you guys a taste test with this recipe!

Yesterday I whipped up a batch of Carrot Spice Muffins with Lemon Icing and they were so delicious. Clint enjoyed one after work and because they’re full of nutrients, they’re very filling so he could only fit one in. That’s amazing, Clint usually eats a lot!

So it’s good to know that they go a long way, which is handy when you’re spending a bit more cash on the ingredients, compared to conventional baking ingredients.

As with most of my recipes, this one is free from nuts as well as the usual inflammatory suspects like gluten, grains and dairy. But it’s not missing flavour, the most important element! I love that by using quality ingredients, just real food, and utilising herbs and spices, dishes can be full of flavour without compromising on health.

I won’t waffle on anymore, here’s the recipe for you…

CARROT SPICE MUFFINS WITH LEMON ICING

You’ll need:

Muffins:

1/2 cup green banana flour (buy some here)

1/4 cup coconut flour (buy some here)

1 tsp pure vanilla (paste, powder, bean)

1 tsp combination baking powder and bicarb soda (look for brands free from aluminium, gluten and rice)

1 tsp organic nutmeg

2 tsp organic cinnamon powder

2 tsp organic ginger powder

1 cup firmly packed grated organic carrot

2 tbsp raw honey

4 tbsp coconut oil (liquified)

2 pastured eggs

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

 

(FYI: organic herbs and spices make a huge difference when it comes to adding flavour!)

Icing:

(I recommend you purchase a stick blender for making the icing, or use a small bullet blender, but anything larger will make it difficult to achieve the desired consistency because the creamed coconut is so firm)

1 tbsp raw honey

3 tbsp creamed coconut (buy some here)

2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

 

To do:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and grease a muffin tray with a little coconut oil
2. Sift the flours and powders into a mixing bowl to remove lumps (important for the banana flour)
3. Add remaining muffin dry ingredients and stir
4. In a separate bowl add the wet ingredients and whisk then pour into other bowl and stir until the mixture is well combined
5. Spoon into the muffin tray, to the top of each section (that’s a decent serving size, but you can make them smaller or larger if you wish)
6. Bake in the oven for 20-30 mins, depending on your oven, until edges are brown and a skewer inserted in the middle to the bottom of one muffin comes out relatively dry
7. Turn onto a cooling rack and allow to cool down almost completely (a tad warm is fine)
8. For the icing add the creamed coconut, honey and lemon juice to the stick blender jug and use your stick blender on high speed to mix it thoroughly. Lift the stick blender up and down constantly and stop sometimes to scrap edges and to ensure all of the mixture is combined well. When it’s free from lumps it’s ready
9. Spread the icing on the cooled muffins, or use a piping tool to make a fancier appearance and texture
10. Then serve and gobble down! These muffins are best served fresh and with a slight warmness. If you do refrigerate these just take them out and let them sit on the bench for 30min – 1 hour before serving so they’re not too cold and firm. Enjoy!

Optional extras: if you do want to add nuts to this for crunch then walnuts and pecans would be nice. Also some natural organic sultanas/raisins would be a tasty and sweet addition.

Remember you can add more or less spices and honey depending on your taste, this recipe is not strict!

Note: the ingredient purchase links above are affiliate links, we only affiliate with products and companies we 100% trust and believe in.

Please let me know what you think 🙂

For a stack more green banana flour recipes pre-order the world’s first e-books using this amazing ingredient HERE !!

Cooking with Green Banana Flour

Cooking with Green Banana Flour

 

Aimee x

 

5 Things I’m Grateful For Today:

1. Using green banana flour to create really healthy and yummy dishes
2. The sun shining on this gorgeous Spring day
3. It’s the weekend tomorrow!
4. The country music song playing right now and Spotify
5. My little container garden doing really well right now

 

 

Advertisement

Recipe: Paleo Turkish Delight

Have you switched over to Paleo or generally cleaner eating and are missing certain ‘junk’ foods you used to eat regularly? Say, some particular chocolate bars? I sometimes do.

One of my old favourites was the Fry’s Turkish Delight! Or really good, authentic Turkish Delight pieces I’d find occasionally at cafe’s and foodie festivals/markets coated in sugar powder. <drool>

And would you agree a lot of Paleo/healthy swaps just don’t taste as good as the original version? I find it a lot; with breads and cakes, candy, all types of foods – often the taste or texture is off slightly, or even no where near. It’s not the end of the world of course, but it would be nice to get closer to the original version of some fave foods and memories.

Well.. I’m happy to announce my healthier version of Turkish Delight certainly comes very close to the Fry’s version I used to enjoy so much! Yay!

I’m giving you my recipe so you too can enjoy this yumminess, with both the way of coating it in chocolate (Paleo, or close to it, depending on what chocolate you use) like the Fry’s product, or in arrowroot (definitely Paleo) to replace the powdered sugar. Let me know what you think!

TURKISH DELIGHT

For the actual lolly you’ll need:

2 cups pomegranite juice (try to find one that’s organic or at least pure with nothing added)

2 tsbp rose water (check Asian stores and health food stores for this)

Raw honey to sweeten (quantity is up to you, with there being pomegranite juice in this recipe you may find you don’t wish to include honey at all)

4 tbsp pure grass-fed beef gelatin powder (grab some here)

The method:

1. Pour pomegranite juice into a saucepan on the stove withOUT turning the heat on
2. Gently sprinkle the gelatin powder over the surface of the juice, evenly
3. Let it sit for a couple of minutes so the gelatin granules absorb the liquid and soften, or “bloom”
4. Once softened turn the stove on to medium-high heat and use a whisk to stir until granules of gelatin have completely dissolved
5. Turn the heat off but while the liquid is still hot add honey if you’re using it, and rose water then stir to combine
6. Pour into a square or rectangle container, oven tray etc, something that’s flat and doesn’t have grooves or funny edges, so you can later on cut the set slice into squares or cubes. Or transfer liquid to a jug then pour into moulds. I used a long oven bread tin for mine which is non-stick and has flat sides and bottom, making it perfect for this type of recipe
7. Set in the fridge for a few hours until the mixture feels firm to touch
8. Gently remove from the mould/tray/container by pressing around the entire edge with your finger to seperate from the side of the container then turn upside down, hold close to your kitchen bench or chopping board then you should see the ‘jelly slice’ start to come out of the container. Watch it closely and guide it out as needed so it doesn’t break
9. Use a flat blade knife to cut to size (even-sized squares for example)

Now you have a basic Paleo Turkish Delight! Have a taste, do you get that nice, familar hit of rose water? It’s so good!

 

Here’s how you can create either a choc coated or powder coated version… 

Chocolate Coated

You’ll need:

1 block plain paleo/primal/healthy-as-possible chocolate (I used the new Coles brand 70% dark chocolate because it’s dairy and soy-free) melted

OR

Make your own chocolate using cacao butter, organic cocoa powder, raw honey to sweeten, pure vanilla and melted coconut oil

Method:

1. Let the chocolate mixture cool in a large container (large enough to get your hand into easily with some room to move around) but not to the point it’s becoming lumpy or re-setting then gently place Turkish Delight piece into the container to coat thinly with chocolate
2. Place each piece onto a sheet of baking paper that’s on a chilled board or flat plate of some kind that’s been in the fridge or freezer. This will help the underside of each piece set quicker and prevent you losing more chocolate coating than necessary on the baking paper!
3. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge (if it lasts that long!!)

This version may not be technically “Paleo” depending on the chocolate you use. Cane sugar isn’t classed as Paleo but I personally don’t mind consuming it occassionally. I’d rather use a chocolate that had coconut sugar though.

 

Powder Coated

You’ll need:

1/2 – 3/4 cup arrowroot powder

Optional: 1 tsp pure vanilla powder

Method:

1. Sprinkle half the arrowoot on a board or late plate
2. Gently place each piece of Turkish Delight on the board/plate then turn over. Use your fingers held out together and flat to pat each side to remove excess arrowroot leaving you with an even coating on each side. I find if you don’t try to pat the excess away and you coat each surface the taste overpowers the actual gummy; a thin layer on the top and bottom seems to be plenty
3. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge but keep in mind the moisture may absorb into the arrowroot, reducing it’s powdery-ness.

Now you have a version of Turkish Delight similar to that found in cafes and at markets with that classic and famililar powder coating!

You can probably store either in a container in the pantry, but keep in mind there is BEEF in there, it may not last long outside of the fridge before going ‘off’.

I hope you enjoy whichever version you make! Let me know how you go and what you think!

Oh and before I go, my message is never “you should eat strict Paleo all the time” because I certainly don’t! I believe we each need to find a happy balance with what we eat and how we live. So if you feel like having the ‘junk’ version of Turkish Delight.. then do it! Own it and enjoy it.

However, for those times you feel like a healthy option then now you have one 🙂

That’s all the wisdom I have for you for today..!

Aimee x

 

5 Things I’m Grateful for Today:

1. gelatin and how it helps me heal
2. getting sun today for over 30mins
3. a good catchup with Chris this morning
4. Eric Church songs
5. Spotting whales yesterday

Recipe: Chocolate Orange Biscuits

Last night I was in the mood for making some recipe ideas for my green banana flour ebook, but unfortunately I’d run out of eggs and since all the recipes I wanted to attempt needed eggs… I was kind of bummed (cue sad violin music). I really felt like cooking something, so I decided to throw together a few things and ended up making a really yummy batch of choc orange biccies! And with so few ingredients… that’s a huge win in my books!!

I really felt like cooking something, so I decided to throw together a few things and ended up making a really yummy batch of choc orange biccies! And with so few ingredients… that’s a huge win in my books!!

I didn’t use eggs, I didn’t use nuts, and what I did use was really basic stuff, so it’s a no-brainer I share this new recipe with you all!

 

CHOCOLATE ORANGE BISCUITS

You’ll need:

2 tbsp chia seed meal (chia seeds ground down well in a good blender)

2 tbsp arrowroot flour

1/4 cup organic desiccated coconut

2 tbsp coconut oil (liquified)

2 tbsp pure organic cocoa powder

1/4 cup pure coconut milk (I use Ayam)

2 tbsp honey

Fresh orange zest, or dehydrated orange peel, or orange essential oil – to your liking

Optional: 2-3 tsp cacao nibs for crunch

Note: this made 10 small biscuits, double quantities to make larger batch

Do this:

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celcius and line a baking tray with baking paper
2. Add all ingredients (apart from cacao nibs) to the blender or food processor and blitz until well combined and there are no lumps left. I used my blender because I had pieces of dehydrated orange skin I wanted to break down and I wanted the desiccated coconut and chia meal to break down as much as possible. You could just add all ingredients to a bowl to mix together with a spoon, if not using dried out orange skin pieces, the result may not be the same but it’s up to you. The blender took very little time and did a good job, so I suggest using one for this.
3. If including cacao nibs add them into the mixture now and stir through so they stay whole and crunchy
4. Use a teaspoon to place big dollops of the gooey chocolate mixture onto the baking tray, about a tablespoon’s worth of batter for each biscuit
5. You can keep them quite close together, about 2cm apart as the mixture will only spread a little while cooking. To ensure they stay fluffy don’t press down the mixture with the back of your spoon, just dollop it onto the paper, maybe tidy up the edges a little so they’re all neat and round, then bake them as is
6. Place in the oven and bake for around 10-15 mins
7. They really don’t take long to cook and actually cool down quickly because they’re not dense at all. They’ll be ready to munch on in no time!

These are great for school lunchboxes and after-school play dates because there’s no nuts present. Yet they’re so soft and moist.. wow!

Keep in mind though that some people with digestion issues can find arrowroot and chia meal heavy on the gut, but what I like about this recipe is it uses so little of each of those ingredients and they go such a long way that if you or your little one only has a couple of these they’re pretty filling because of the good fats, and there’s little chance of then being left bloated. But always listen to your body, the same ingredients for one person (paleo or not) don’t necessarily work well for the next.

Enjoy 🙂

Aimee x

 5 Things I’m Grateful for Today:

1. Creating these yummy biccies last night!
2. The sun out today
3. Playing outdoors
4. Chocolate
5. Holding fun cooking demo’s and all the great people I meet through them

Recipe: a Paleo dairy-free and nut-free cheese alternative

There are stacks of dairy-free ‘cheese’ recipes online and in books now. Some taste good and some taste nothing like cheese of course. Some are easy to make, some are really hard work.  Plus, most are made using nuts and not everyone can tolerate nuts well. Like me!

Most of my recipes are derived from a desire to create Paleo-friendly nut-free dishes for those who are allergic, don’t feel good eating many nuts, or just want nut-free alternatives. Especially important for school lunchboxes!

Last year I was introduced to an amazing dairy-free nut-free melting cheese recipe thanks to the legendary Aussie Paleo Chef (as known on Facebook, but just ‘Dan’ to us!) which goes brilliantly in Paleo burgers, in lasagne and on my chicken parmie recipe (in my soon-to-come Banana Flour e-book!!) and one of my fave recipes to teach people at private cooking workshops, always crediting back to the man himself of course!

If you’d like to grab his melting cheese recipe just download the Paleo Kitchen Creations e-book and enjoy the deliciousness!

So since learning that recipe, using it a lot and loving it.. I wanted to create a cheese that didn’t work only melted and could be spread onto crackers like regular animal milk-based cheese. One day I got creative in the kitchen and came up with a winner, using similar ingredients to Dan’s recipe, but slightly different. Of course though, me being me and not always organised in the kitchen, I didn’t write down the recipe as I went and couldn’t then remember the ingredients or method afterwards therefore I couldn’t replicate it so I could give it to you guys! Oh believe me, I tried! And failed… many times.

I’d almost given up but decided recently to have another crack.. and whad’ya know.. success!

I’ve finally created a spreadable cheese alternative recipe! I’ll be honest though, it doesn’t taste like real cheese, no cheese substitutes do. But, it’s a really healthy alternative and something interesting to include at dinner parties, as a snack, whenever you’d usually use cheese really.

Since it isn’t cheese and doesn’t taste exactly like cheese, let’s not call it “cheese”. Because that’s a fib after all! Instead, how ’bout we call it.. Cheezy Paleo Spread as it does have a likeness to cheese but it’s not the same as it, and that’s kinda cheezy I think! 😉

Ingredients you’ll need:

1/2 cup organic desiccated coconut

1/2 cup arrowroot flour

1 tbsp grass-fed pure beef gelatin powder (grab some via our affiliate link here)

2 tbsp spring/filtered water

1/2-1 tsp turmeric powder – depending on how yellow you want your cheez

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp Niulife creamed coconut (not coconut cream/milk, but dried coconut processed to become ‘creamy’)

Himalayan salt to taste

 

Kitchen bits you’ll need:

Good blender (high speed, bullet, or glass with decent power)

Whisk

Measuring spoons and cups

Round or square/rectangle container lined with baking paper or plastic wrap. Plastic wrap will probably allow for creases to appear around the edges of the cheez but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

 

Steps to follow:

1. In a small saucepan add 1 tbsp water and gently sprinkle gelatin powder evenly over the surface. Do not turn the stove on until the gelatin powder has absorbed some of the water and has ‘bloomed’.
2. Turn heat to medium and whisk the liquid so all gelatin granules have dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside
3. Add to the blender add all remaining ingredients then drizzle the gelatin water on top
4. Place the lid on the blender and blitz on high to break down the desiccated coconut and combine everything well. You can blitz until you reach a very smooth consistency or stop before it reaches that if you prefer the texture of some of the coconut remaining
5. As you’re blending feel free to add a smidge more water (as in 1 tsp at a time) in case the mixture is too thick and isn’t combining properly. This can depend on your blender. Basically, you’re after a well combined and thick mixture with no lumps of creamed coconut or arrowroot remaining
6. Once it’s to your liking use a silicon spatula or food processor scraper (food processor scrapers seem to work perfectly for getting around all the grooves in blenders!) to remove the mixture and transfer to the lined container
7. Gently tap the base of the container on a steady surface like a chopping board to help the mixture spread to the corners and settle evenly
8. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours to set
9. When it’s time to serve, take it out of the fridge, grab the plastic or paper to remove it all from the container then remove the paper/plastic so you’re left with a big chunk of yellow cheez
10. Serve on a platter with crackers spread out around, or cut to smaller sizes if you wish. Keep in mind on a really hot day outside the cheez may melt because of the coconut oil and gelatin but it will take a while to melt completely. Use a butter knife to spread onto crackers or slide carrot sticks into it. Easy!
11. Store in the fridge in an air-tight container or wrapped in plastic. It contains gelatin which is an animal product so it will spoil after a few days as with any animal product. The apple cider vinegar will help preserve it to an extent but if the smell or colour changes please discard it.

Enjoy!

The recipe for the Rosemary Crackers (in the image) will be in my Banana Flour e-book, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.. launching in February 2016, yay!

I hope you enjoy creating and eating this recipe, please do let me know what you think!

 

Here are some answers to some questions I may get after sharing this recipe:

• Why not use nutritional yeast? I have experimented with it many times and every time it leaves my stomach very bloated and gassy the next day. From what I’ve read about it, it’s so processed and unnatural in its useable state that it easily messes with digestion. And don’t we mostly go Paleo to improve gut health?! Feel free to use it if you can tolerate it well but remember it could have inflammatory effects. It would replace turmeric for the yellow effect but turmeric is so healthy!
• Why use gelatin? Pure gelatin is so healing (so it’s actually good for digestion!) and helps create the texture of this cheez
• Could I use other types of dried coconut? Yes but the larger the pieces the longer they’ll take to break down enough in the blender.

Let me know if you have any questions to add!

Thanks,

Aimee xx

 

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

1. Our long weekend away in NSW going to a family wedding, seeing new places and staying with amazing friends
2. The sun out today so I can get some Vitamin D!
3. Healthy recipe creating
4. All Dan’s wonderful advice and inspiration
5. You guys reading our blogs!

Recipe: Dreamy Creamy Triple Choc Chip Ice Blocks

It’s Summer, yay! And that, of course, means many hot days ahead, calling for cold food and drinks to cool us down.

So I have the perfect recipe for just that! And it’s a little decadent but super healthy at the same time… My Dreamy Creamy Triple Choc Chip Ice Blocks!

Sound good? Look good? Want to make them? Then here’s the recipe so you can do just that!

DREAMY CREAMY TRIPLE CHOC CHIP ICE BLOCKS

You’ll need these:

Ice blocks:

1.25 cups pure coconut milk

1/2 cup organic pure cocoa powder

1 cup organic banana, roughly chopped

1-2 tbsp raw honey

1 tbsp cacao nibs (plus extra for garnish)

Choc drizzle:

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp cacao butter

1 tbsp organic pure cocoa powder

1/2 tsp pure vanilla (powder, paste or beans)

2 tsp raw honey

(grab some of the ingredients for less than RRP in the Primal Pantry!)

Now do this:

Ice blocks:

1. Place all ingredients, apart from the cacao nibs, into a blender and blitz until you have a smooth consistency and there are no chunks of banana remaining
2. Stir in the cacao nibs
3. Pour mixture into ice block moulds (purchase from op shops, supermarkets, homewares stores etc)
4. Place in the fridge to set for a few hours

Choc drizzle:

1. Using the double boiler method melt the ingredients so there are no lumps of cacao butter remaining. The water can be simmering but doesn’t need to be at too high a temperature.
2. Once melted, remove from stove and allow mixture to cool down a little
3. Once the mixture has cooled down but is still runny, pour into zip-lock bag (cut the smallest of holes in one corner to make into a piping bag) or a proper piping bag
4. Place a large flat plate in the freezer
5. When the ice blocks have completely set remove them from their moulds and lie them down on the cold plate from the freezer (to prevent the ice blocks melting quickly) then grab the choc drizzle bag and pipe over the ice blocks however you like. Across-ways back and forth is easy and looks great. Sprinkle some cacao nibs over for garnish. The chocolate will set pretty quickly then you can serve the ice blocks!

Easy as that! I hope you enjoy these rich, creamy, chocolatey, healthy, delicious goodies over Summer 🙂

I sure enjoyed eating those 3 after I took photos! I had to.. they were melting, it was the hottest day we’d had in ages and it was a matter of life and mess! lol

To learn more paleo-friendly healthy, yummy, easy, affordable recipes feel free to contact me to organise a Private Paleo Cooking Workshop, or stay tuned on Primal E-News for upcoming cooking demo’s!

Aimee x

 

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

1. Yummy healthy Ice blocks on a hot Summer day!
2. Spending time out by a creek in the country yesterday and Clint catching 2 fish
3. Our talk at Nebo Organics tonight
4. New skills activity I learnt from Clint yesterday during our play session
5. The salt lamp in this office helping relax me as I work and study

 

Recipe: Paleo Vanilla Honey Custard

Clint is really loving my Fudgy Choc Brownies at the moment and one day while making them, recipe testing for my upcoming e-book, I decided to have another crack at making some custard to go with them.

 

My last attempt was a lumpy scrambled egg disaster so I kinda hadn’t been keen to try again since! But, I had a go, added plenty of vanilla and honey to give it a really nice flavour, and it turned out perfectly!Oh and I was a little gentler and more patient, that kinda helped!

I’ve tried it again a couple of times since, so I know it works and I’m excited to share my recipe with you guys!

 

HONEY VANILLA CUSTARD

 

You’ll need:

1 tin Ayam coconut milk (full-fat)

1-2 tbsp honey (depending on your taste)

3/4 tsp pure vanilla (I use Sunshine Vanilla black label, so good! Available here) or paste if you don’t want flecks of brown in the custard

1/2 tsp arrowroot powder

2 pastured egg yolks

 

Do this:

1. In a small-medium saucepan add the egg yolks and whisk well then set aside
2. Pour coconut milk into another small-medium saucepan and bring to a moderate heat slowly
3. Before the coconut bubbles/boils (it just needs to be warmed through), remove from the heat
4. One spoonful at a time add coconut milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Add bit by bit, not too fast, otherwise the eggs might curdle
5. Eventually you can add the remainder of the coconut milk with no problems
6. Place that saucepan onto the stove, using low-moderate heat, add the honey, vanilla and arrowroot. Continue to whisk well for a few minutes until mixture thickens up a bit. Be sure to scrape the edges of saucepan properly to prevent egg cooking too much on the bottom
7. It won’t become incredibly thick, unless you add more to thicken it with like arrowroot but I find too much stays a tad grainy which isn’t pleasant. You will see the mixture thicken up though and when it’s ready, remove from heat and pour into a serving cup/jug

TIP: IF you did happen to get some lumps/curdling happening on the bottom of the saucepan simply use a strainer to remove the lumps, easy fixed!

Serve over fudgy choc brownies like I did, with some ice cream, or drizzle over a paleo cake or pudding, or just drink it cos it’s so delicious on it’s own!!

“Why the egg yolks and not the eggs?” you ask. Well mum and I both don’t often eat whites because we’ve learnt the yolk is the healthiest part and often whites cause people to have egg allergies. So as often as I can I try to make foods without whites so mum and I can both enjoy them, and when I tried custard both ways I actually preferred yolk-only anyway as it seemed to create a better consistency. You can use the whole egg if you wish, but you’d only need to use 1 for this recipe.

Enjoy 🙂

Free from: dairy/gluten/grains/nuts/soy. Contains egg and coconut

Aimee x

 

5 Things I’m Grateful for Today:

1. Sitting in t he sun outside for ages today
2. The latest Outback magazine coming in the mail today
3. All the new native raspberry seedlings that have popped up recently
4. Country music
5. Blogging!

Recipes: Jelly + Jaffa Panna Cotta

The Sunshine Coast Real Food Festival on the weekend was fantastic! We were thrilled to be a stallholder and even more so that I was invited to do a Gelatin Cooking Demo as well. What an opportunity!

Yesterday I showed a group of about 40 people how to make Orange Juice Jelly, and Jaffa Panna Cotta – 2 of my favourite gelatin dishes.

Not only are they healing and nourishing for the body, but also easy and affordable to make  and delicious! What could be better?!

I promised the attendees I’d provide the recipes for these, so here they are…

JUICE JELLY

You’ll Need:

2 cups organic juice (pulp-free, or not if you want fruit/seed texture)

1-2 tbsp pure beef gelatin powder (depending on how wobbly or firm you want it)

Optional: raw honey or other healthy liquid sweetener (I love Hello Honey Australia honey, it’s beautiful!)

Do this:

1.  Pour juice into a medium-large saucepan sitting on the stove, but without turning the stove on

2. GENTLY and SLOWLY sprinkle gelatin powder, from the tablespoon, evenly over the surface of the juice

3. Let it soften for a couple of minutes until gelatin becomes translucent from absorbing the liquid. This process is called ‘blooming’. The thicker the liquid being used, the more of a ‘brainy’ effect will occur!

4. Once all the gelatin seems to have softened turn the stove to a medium-high heat and grab a whisk or fork ready to stir and finish dissolving the gelatin granules as the liquid heats up

5. The gelatin won’t take long at all to finish dissolving. Once it has, remove saucepan from the heat and either pour through a strainer if you think you ended up with some clumps of gelatin, or straight into a container. If making jelly cups for a party, pour into those. If just making a batch of jelly to take serving sizes from later, pour into a large container (glass is  best)

6. Place in the fridge to set over a few hours. The smaller the container/s, the quicker the setting process will take, and it’ll depend on how cold your fridge is also.

7. If making jelly cups, pretty-them-up a bit by adding grated or diced fresh fruit and/or a dollop of pure Ayam coconut cream to the top as a garnish and for added flavour and texture

Jelly cups are perfect for school and work lunchboxes and jelly in general is a terrific snack or with part of a main meal. I actually have banana jelly for brekkie every morning along with an egg yolk and some grass-fed lamb or beef mince.

To make fruit jelly simply bloom the 1-2 tbsp to 2 tbsp water (instead of the juice as per recipe above) in a saucepan. Follow blooming and dissolving process then pour into a blender with fruit (banana works great) and set in the fridge as you normally would. Easy! Banana jelly does go brown in the fridge but the soft fluffy texture and taste are not compromised.

To make lollies: simply use 2 cups of liquid to 4 tbsp gelatin powder!

JAFFA PANNA COTTA

You’ll Need:

1 tsp – 1 tbsp pure beef gelatin powder (depending on how wobbly or firm you like your panna cotta)

400ml 100% pure coconut milk (or cream if you want a thicker, richer result. I use the Ayam brand)

2 tbsp pure organic cocoa powder

2-4 tbsp raw honey (depending on how sweet you want it) (I love Hello Honey Australia honey, it’s beautiful!)

Rind of 1 orange, keep some aside for garnish

½ tsp pure vanilla essence

Do this:

1. In a small or medium saucepan add 1 cup of coconut milk, orange rind, cocoa, honey and vanilla

2. Whisk to combine

3. Turn the heat off JUST BEFORE the mixture bubbles then leave there for the flavours to infuse

4. In a shallow container add the remaining coconut milk

5. Using a spoon to gently sprinkle the gelatin powder on top of the coconut milk, aim for an even layer completely covering the surface of the milk. This method is called ‘blooming’

6. Let the gelatin mixture rest for about 10 minutes. In this time the mixture on the stove would have infused

7. After 5-10 minutes, heat the mixture on the stove again being careful to not let it bubble, as with before

8. Remove it from the heat and whisk the gelatin mixture into the warmed mixture

9. Once it’s completely combined, pour through a strainer into a large container or individual serving containers then place in the fridge to set

10. It will take 2-3 hours to set depending on how cold your fridge is and size of panna cotta. Cups will take less time than one big container full.

11. Once it’s set, use a knife or spatula to scrape around the edges to make it easier to remove then turn the container/s upside down onto a serving plate until set panna cotta comes out. It has a jelly/pudding-like consistency so it should come out with no breakage if it’s set properly

Alternative you could serve it still in the containers

12. Garnish with remaining orange rind then serve!

There you go, 2 really healthy and easy sweet dishes for you to make and enjoy!

If you live on the Sunshine Coast feel free to grab some of the ingredients from our Primal Pantry catalogue – pretty much all are less than RRP and absolutely all are quality.

If you’d like to grab ALL of my gelatin recipes you can purchase the Sweet Goodness with Gelatin e-book, which contains everything I know about gelatin and all the sweet recipes you’ll ever need so you can make any recipe you come across online, and be creative with flavour combinations for the techniques you’ll learn.

The Paleo Kitchen Creations e-book Dan the Aussie Paleo Chef and I created together also has an amazing melting cheese recipe using gelatin and doesn’t contain any dairy or nuts. It’s incredible!

To learn to make loads of other healthy, easy and affordable paleo-friendly dishes book in for a private cooking workshop with me! They are always a lot of fun 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions about gelatin or paleo living in general feel free to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!

If you were at the demo yesterday.. thank you for coming and I hope you enjoyed it!

Aimee x

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

1.A fabulous weekend at the Real Food Festival

2.Educating people on the health benefits of gelatin

3.Primal Fitness Class on today, because I can’t wait to play!

4.Roast veggies because they’re just so easy and delicious

5.Forest play time

Recipe: Easy Paleo Honey No-Soy Chicken

At our last meetup on the weekend Clint and I took along a few paleo goodies for t he picnic, and the honey soy chicken I made was a huge success.

 

Especially with my little friend Lachy who has a lot of food allergies and often can’t eat much at meetup picnics. I always try to include something he can have and this time he scoffed down the chicken, with a big smile on his cute little face. So I thought I’d better get this super easy, tasty recipe up on the blog for more people to enjoy!

 

Remember… my recipes are pretty much always really simple and easy, I’m not into overly fancy meals because often a lot of ingredients with a lot of processes involved in putting them together can  be confusing on the gut. So if you like my kinda view of cooking then you’ll like my recipes.. I hope 😉

 

HONEY NO-SOY CHICKEN

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

You’ll need:

2 x free-range chicken breasts

3 tbsp coconut amino (for nightshade-free I use Matakana range available here, but otherwise use Niulife or a similar brand)

2 tbsp local raw honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: crushed garlic, ginger

 
Do this:

For the time-poor folk…

1. Cut chicken into strips or cubes and place in a deep oven dish

2. Add the coconut amino, honey and salt/pepper

3. Get your hands in there and mix thoroughly so the sauce is coated evenly over the chicken

4. Place in the oven, uncovered, and set the timer for 20 minutes. Then at 20 minutes get the tongs or a large spoon and mix the chicken around so the inside raw pieces move to the outside and all chicken cooks properly

5. Place back in the oven for another 20 or so minutes or until all chicken is cooked through

6. There’ll be a lot of liquid at the end but I like using this as sauce for pouring over veggies as it can be placed in a container in the fridge and used later, or it can be simmered down on the stove right away to thicken up. Add some arrowroot to create a honey soy gravy

7. Store chicken in an airtight glass container in the fridge. It’s great served cold! If you include the liquid, you’ll find it’ll become jelly once refrigerated, yay!

Now for those with more time up their sleeves…

1. Follow steps 1-3 as above but then place in a container in the fridge for a few hours to marinate. This will infuse the flavours into the chicken more

2. Then cook and store as mentioned above

How easy is that!?!

It will go great sided with cauli rice, veggie mash or mixed into a salad
Enjoy 🙂

Aimee

 

5 Things I’n Grateful For Today:

1. A fun meetup at the Glasshouse Mountains and people enjoying my food

2. The 30 mins of magical #NakedSunTime I just got on the balcony

3. Wrestling Clint yesterday and finally getting him to the ground, woo!

4. My ‘Cowgirl’ mug cos it’s cool!

5. Country music

Recipe: Coconut Lime Curd Tart by Aussie Paleo Chef

Dan the Aussie Paleo Chef is a magician in the kitchen, that’s no secret, and he puts most of his amazing recipes up on his Facebook for all to see and re-create.

At our Paleo Camping Retreat on the weekend he mentioned one recipe in particular to our campers, and when I went to forward it onto them for him, I just  had to include it in a blog post so even more people can see it and give it a go.

I, for one, am definitely giving this one a go, and very soon!

Thanks Dan for your incredible kitchen creations, you’re my favourite paleo chef 😉

 

COCONUT & LIME CURD TART

 

Line a spring-form cake tin with non-stick baking paper and refrigerate

 

For the curd:

3 large eggs

180g raw honey or coconut syrup

Zest from 2.5 limes

180ml freshly squeezed lime juice

100g coconut oil

 

1. In a stainless bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, zest and juice

2. Place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and cook

3. Continually stir, or whisk, the custard gently to ensure the eggs don’t cook

4. As the custard warms add the coconut oil in 4 or 5 batches, allowing each addition to incorporate before adding another

5. Continue to cook and stir until the curd becomes very thick (if you have a thermometer between 70 and 75 degrees Celsius). Be patient and vigilant with this process (anywhere from 10-30mins) as the curd is the hero of the tart

This recipe is refreshing, sharp and tart and isn’t very sweet so if you prefer more sweetness add another 50g or honey or coconut syrup to the recipe.

 

For the tart base:

100g shredded coconut

60g almond meal

160g dried white mulberries (or another kind of dried fruit)

40g coconut oil

 

1. Place the coconut, almond meal and mulberries in a food processor and blend until ‘crumb’ like.

2. Add the coconut oil and blend to incorporate

3. Press the crumb mixture into the base of the prepared cake tin and refrigerate

 

To assemble:

Spoon the curd over the chilled base and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours

 

Serve and enjoy!

Hanging with some happy cattle, and a recipe for paleo slow cooked brisket

Healthy happy cattle make for happy healthy eaters of cattle!

Why? Think about it.. if animals are eating what they’re meant to be eating and are living a happy natural existence, people who eat them are receiving that health and happiness in some way because we’re eating what WE’RE meant to be eating!

Make sense?!

Clint and I are really passionate about connecting people to quality, ethical, sustainable, professional and genuine producers. This includes farmers who raise animals the way they’re meant to be raised.

In the time we’ve been hosting the Sunshine Coast Paleo/Primal/Real Food Meetup Group we’ve met some awesome paleo-friendly food and product producers. We’re probably not meant to have a favourite but we can’t help it, we do! lol

One of the nicest, most generous, educational and respectable producers we’ve come across is Farmer Susan of Eumundi Beef. She’s actually become a good friend of ours and we enjoy hanging out with her on the farm when we go there to collect our meat orders, often being treated to saying hello to new members of the clan such as brand new calves, new chickens and even a goose with a crooked neck who’s now part of their family! It’s a menagerie and we love it!

Farmer Susan raises a small herd of 100% grass-fed Murray / Angus cross cattle on her small sustainable property in Belli Park near Kenilworth. With a background in Biochemistry and having gone through major health challenges, she’s really passionate about raising healthy happy cattle to benefit her, her customers and the environment. She does it well too, her meat is delicious and her farm is a beautiful country oasis!

Like us, Susan wants to help provide education to consumers. So she’s only too happy to host farm tours on her property, showing people around and teaching them all things healthy grass, soil and cattle.

As with other grass-fed beef farmers we’ve met, Susan likes to think of herself more as a grass farmer than a cattle farmer! Isn’t that cool?!

In the hopes of connecting as many people as possible to as many good quality local food sources as possible we enjoy organising farm tour meetups. So a few weeks ago we held our second at the Eumundi Beef farm; a tour with Susan then a picnic afterwards. It was sensational!

We started by viewing the washing-machine-like biodynamic fertiliser producing machine, learning about what it does and seeing the healthy soil-textured final result.

 

Next we walked to one particular paddock that contains incredibly healthy soil and learning about the different layers and how long it took Susan to dig through the top soil when she first started her grass-fed farming adventure 5 years earlier. She said it took all day to dig through just that top layer! With her continual hard work and persistence it’s now the right depth and is working well for the sake of the pasture and the animals.

 

Then we were treated to feeding and patting the famous Eumundi Beef cattle themselves! The kids and adults alike always enjoy this part because it’s terrific to witness cattle looking so healthy and nourishing, munching away on the healthiest pasture possible, and to get up close with them, there’s really no better way to ‘meet your meat’.

And this time… there were a few cute fluffy little calves to see! Bonus!

 

Susan showed us around the different paddocks all at different stages of growth. She told us about the various plant species growing, which of those are pests and even explained to us the different lengths of grass which matters because cattle need to be put on pasture growing at a specific height. It was so fascinating!

On the way back to the homestead we met the local chickens and guinea fowl, including a breed of heritage chooks being raised for meat.

 

.. which, while we were all away, may have gotten into some of the biscuits left on the picnic table…! Sneaky little things! We suspect these few were the culprits…

Susan also had a group from Slow Food Noosa visiting for the tour, which was great to see. They had their own gathering after on the homestead deck, while our group picnicked under the gazebo enjoying lots of paleo tucker brought by our members, and stunning views of the property.

 

All of our meetup members brought delicious paleo-friendly foods to share around and we provided honeycomb and gelatin lollies, plus a slow cooked cut of Eumundi Beef brisket which was loved by all! I’d only ever slow cooked brisket once before and not with the flavouring I wanted to use for the meetup, so it was a total experiment and I’m stoked it was hugely successful! (see recipe below)

 

After the food was all gobbled up, Clint helped the kids burn off any excess energy left after the walk around the farm by playing some games on the open grassed area near the house. What prettier playground could they have asked for?!

There’s not a whole lot to be unhappy about when you’re out in the country, on a beautiful farm, surrounded by lovely people, eating great food, and watching the sun setting behind the gum trees. Bliss!

What a way to end a fantastic day!

 

Oh and we can’t forget the produce! Before we headed home a few of us grabbed some meat and bones. There’s not always a lot of stock available because it’s a small sustainable farm, but we grabbed what we could!

On certain packs, too, Susan includes a tag containing the heritage details on the beast you’re buying which is exceptionally cool. We love this and it’s just another aspect of such a respectable and ethical small local business.. the kind of business that should be promoted and supported.

So another successful farm tour meetup is done and dusted. We’re looking forward to organising another Bone Broth cooking workshop at the farm in the coming months, and to the next farm tour meetup next year sometime. Until then, be sure to get on Facebook and show your support to Susan and what she does by Liking her page, inviting your friends to Like it and maybe even check out her products sometime, either at the Farm Gate on Friday afternoons or at the Peregian Beach Markets. You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks to all our members who came along, we appreciate the support you show for our group and what we’re trying to do for the community. We love catching up with familiar faces and making new friends and we love hearing how much everyone enjoyed the event!

A big thanks also to friend and member Ross McNeil of Ross McNeil Photography who captured some of the above images on the day. And for bringing the yummiest cupcakes ever!!

And last but not least.. thanks to Farmer Susan for having us, for all of your amazing knowledge and passion, and for donating that sensational piece of grass-fed brisket!

 

Now for the recipe…

 

Aimee’s Paleo Slow Cooked Brisket

1.5-2 kg grass-fed brisket

1/2 cup coconut amino sauce or coconut or ‘not soy’ sauce (I use Matakana because they don’t contain nightshades. Available here)

3 tbsp organic All Spice powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Ghee, coconut oil, or fat to fry in

 

1. Cut the brisket into chunks small enough to place in the slow cooker but not too small. They should just fit width and length ways

2. Heat a large fry pan and add cooking fat

3. Place a chunk of brisket at a time on the pan and brown the edges. This seals in the juices and helps add flavour later

4. Once all brisket is browned, place in the slow cooker and pour over the All Spice and sauce. Ensure all surfaces of the meat are coated with the sauce mixture then place the lid on

5. Cook on low for around 12-15 hours so the meat becomes as tender as possible before eventually turning to mush

6. Remove from the slow cooker and allow to rest on a plate or board for 15-20 mins. Slice as desired and serve

7. Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge. But really, there’s not likely to be leftovers! 😉

 

ENJOY!!

Aimee

 

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

1. Farm tours and picnics at Eumundi Beef!

2. Delicious grass-fed beef from Susan’s farm

3. Pretty sunsets

4. All the lovely people I meet at these gatherings

5. Paleo chocolate cupcakes… <drool>