Paleo Mug Cake

What do you do when you are hungry and there are limited snacks at home ?  Both - the hubby and I - were bored and hungry on Friday evening after dinner.  Yeah.. we get hungry a lot after dinner.  Just do not know why. We could have double serving of dinner and still feel hungry after.

The first thing that came into my mind was : Mug Cake. We have a to go  recipe (<=click) for mug cake and loved it. But it called for the use of almond butter and we do not have almond butter at home.

I decided to google for a recipe that uses ingredients which I have at home. First on google list was this recipe from Delighted mum. I was skeptical as it does not use baking soda at all !

Desperate for snack.. I decided to give it a try( with a few changes) which was a good decision because this cake is so easy and soooo sooo good.

We have since make it twice and I cannot resist the temptation to make it again after writing this post :)

My adapted version:
Ingredients :

• 3 tbs of almond meal
• 3 tbs of cocoa powder
• 2 tbs of honey ( more if you like it sweet)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a microwave safe mug.
2. Microwave for 2 minute

~bel~

Paleo Coconut frosted banana muffin

Coconut frosted banana muffin

These are by far our favorite paleo muffins. I had some leftover coconut flakes from my boy's birthday and decided to add them to the banana muffins. Whaooo..The addition of coconut flakes to the plain old banana muffins a real winner.

I took the basic coconut bread recipe (<= Click)  from Paleo Plan and adapt it to make these muffins

My adapted version as follow :

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup + 1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
3-4 mashed banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup of coconut flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 cup of honey or any sweetener of choice. I used 1/2 cup swerve and 3 tablespoon of honey

Frosting:
Unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions:
1. Pre heat oven to 350F.
2. Combine together the coconut flour, salt and baking soda
3. Beat the eggs till frothy and slightly pale, add coconut oil, mashed banana and honey ( or any sweetener)
4. Fold in the coconut flour mix and coconut flakes
5. Scoop the batter to lined muffin pan.Sprinkle the batter with  unsweetened coconut flakes prior to putting in oven
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and serve

~bel~

Paleo Chocolate Banana Muffins

 

I have a love-hate relationship with the Texas weather. It was warm and nice last few days... oh yeah 80F in Jan yesterday. Pretty much in my short and flip flop. BUT urrggggg it turned cold last night. Down 20 degree to 60 ish today. 

So here I am at home... bundled up and hibernating. The cold weather just make me lazy and hungry all the time. But no snack at home.. opppsss  ! So I guess I have to make some. Chocolate banana muffin came popping into my head. So here we are... some yummy snack for hubby and me today. 

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil ( or any fats.. I have tried butter and canola oil.  )
1 cup of swerve or honey or any sweetener of choice ( I use swerve)
 ½ tsp sea salt
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3 mashed banana


Instructions
1 Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat eggs till forthy. About 3-5 minutes
3. Blend banana, oil and sweetener to eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, cocoa powder with baking powder.
5. Whisk this into the egg batter thoroughly, until there are no lumps.
6. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 250F for 25 minutes
7. Remove from pan and cool on rack

~bel~

Paleo Banana Muffins

 

I have to admit that it is hard to find good Paleo recipes for some sweets. They taste so different and not like the " real" thing without the flour and sugar. Its hard to find a good sugar substitute when it comes to baking. I have been baking with honey but decided to try natural sweetener recently. However, most natural sweetener has weird bitter aftertaste. I tried baking chocolate cupcake with stevia and ended up with super bitter cupcakes. I shared my experience with my friend Kristen and she told me Stevia and Chocolate are a NO NO. She told me to use stevia on non chocolate bake only and to use some honey to camouflage the weird bitter after taste. I tried baking a pumpkin bread with stevia and honey.. and urrrrrggggggggg the bitter after taste is still there.

I am so happy when I found Swerve . From what I read, it does not have a bitter after taste. I knew I have to try it ! It did not fail me. The muffins taste so awesome without the weird bitter after taste.

I adapted a  recipe from Maria Nutritious and Delicious Journal to make the banana muffins I substitute banana for pumpkins since we are not a great fan of pumpkins. 

A double thumb up recipe. And yes.. its fluffy and taste like the real thing. The hubby agreed that this is one of the best recipes. I guess it must be good since it passed the hubby's test :)

I do not eat much of my own bake since I do not have sweet tooth. But I ended up with 2 of these last night and one more this morning before my run. So Yummy.

Ingredients: ( My banana muffin version)
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
 ¼ tsp Celtic sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground pumpkins spice mix
 2 TBS Coconut Oil
½ cup Swerve ( or honey or other sweetener)
3 large eggs
3 medium mashed banana

Direction:
1. In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
2. Beat eggs in another bowl till frothy. Add coconut oil , swerve, eggs and pumpkin until smooth.
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry.
4. Grease or place paper liners in muffin tins. Spoon batter into the pan.
4. Bake at 325° for 30-40 minutes.

~bel~

Paleo Irish Soda Bread

 

The traditional Irish Soda Bread is made from just 4 ingredients - Flour, Baking Soda, salt and soured milk ( buttermilk). It is a simple bread that was baked daily to go with meals. 

The search for a good Paleo bread leads to this recipe from Elana's Pantry (<= click). I made a few modification to the recipe. I omitted the raisins and caraway seeds for the simple reason "If your "soda bread" has raisins, it's not "soda bread!  It's called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake"!  If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it's called "cake", not "bread."  All are tasty, but not traditional Irish Soda Bread!"

This is a real simple bread. Easy to bake and yet very tasty. The hubby and I agreed that this is probably the best paleo bread we ever bake.

Ingredients ( my adapted version)

2 ¾ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Direction
1. In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a smaller bowl combine eggs, agave and apple cider vinegar
3.  Mix wet ingredients into dry Place dough on a piece of parchment paper and form dough into a large, flat circle that is 8 inches across and 1 ½ inches tall
4.  Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half an inch deep in shape of a cross
5. Transfer dough and parchment to a baking sheet
6. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, then turn off oven and leave bread in for 10 more minutes.

~bel~

Paleo (Vegan) Chocolate Cookies with hint of Baileys

 

Its raining ! The hubby and I are both snuggled up at home.....both hungry and yet not wanting to drive out to get something to eat. 

I told the hubby that I want to bake something but do not know what. "Chocolate chip Cookies" came the answer.... and so this started the fanatic search for a cookie recipe. I found a double chocolate cookies recipe at Against All Grains and decided to adapt it to the ingredients I have at home.

I saw our bottle of Baileys sitting at the kitchen counter when I was mixing the ingredients and the thought creep into my head. " what do you think of Baileys in the cookies"... I asked the hubby. " Yeah.. why not" came the reply... and so Baileys was added to the dough :)

This is one of the better Paleo or vegan cookies recipes.. hint of Baileys is always good. It has the stamp of approval from the hubby... so it must be good:)

Ingredients( My adapted version)

2 cups blanched almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
 1/2 cup ghee or coconut oil , melted
 1/2 cup of honey (or similar sweetener of choice)
 2 tablespoon Baileys (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients ( except Baileys) and combined
5. Mixed in the Baileys ( if using)
 6. Use a small cookie dough scoop or form into 1/2 inch balls and place on a parchment paper (or Silpat) lined cookie sheet.
5.  Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
6. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing so they set – otherwise they will be too soft and may fall apart.

Paleo Ginger Bread Cake

I have to admit that I have not had ginger bread cake ( well, I do not have sweet tooth....So I hardly eat cakes) till a week ago when the hubby bought one from Starbucks. I took a bite and love it.. and so the search for Paleo version begins.

Googled " Paleo ginger spice bread" and the most often popped up recipe is this Paleo Ginger Bread Cake with Maple frosting ( <+ click). For some reason, the recipe does not appeal to me... so the search continues.

I saw this Honey Cake recipe from Elana's Pantry and decided to use it as a base for my own Paleo Ginger Bread Cake :)

Ingredients ( Adapted)
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 table spoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of ground ginger
1 tablespoon of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of pumpkin spice mix
1/2 cup of oil ( coconut or canola)
1/2 cup of honey ( or more if you like it sweet)
4 eggs


Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 8"x8" baking pan
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
3. Beat the eggs till pale yellow and frothy
4. Add in oil and honey to the eggs
5. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes

~enjoy~

Quick Paleo Bread

A great change from the usual eggs and bacon breakfast !

Woke up this morning and decided to google for some easy bread recipe for breakfast. Found a few version of mircowave bread. I am not a fan of mircowave bread so I decided to make my own bread in toaster oven.
 
This is a very easy 15 minutes recipe :

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup almond four
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
one tablespoon  of honey ( more or less to suit your own taste bud)

Direction:
1. Mix all the ingredients together. Stir well to make sure that the baking soda is well combined to prevent an after taste

2. Pour into a ceramic bowl or small baking dish that is deep as the bread will rise.

3. Bake in oven at 350F for 15 minutes or till center is set. ( I use toaster oven)
( Or mirowave for 2 minutes on high)

Variation notes: Add one small mashed banana for a quick banana bread.

~bel~

Chocolate banana walnut muffin

Chocolate Banana Walnut Muffin

Another variation using the base coconut bread recipe !

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Paleo Chocolate Cookies

In a baking mood.... bread or cookie ! Finally decided on cookies. I am really not good at baking cookies.. They often came out over baked.  And .. I over baked this one too. But it still taste pretty good. The BF had 4 pieces when he came back from work... so I guess it is good ;)

Adapted the recipe from Elana's pantry for this.  Instead of grapeseed flour, I added unsweetened cocoa powder. Also, I added walnut instead of chocolate chips.. for the basic reason that I do not believe that chocolate chips are Paleo ( even though some Paleo fanatic claimed it is )

(Modified version. Refer to Elana's pantry for the original recipe )
Ingredient:
2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoon of honey ( the BF feedback : 4 tablespoon would be awesome if you have sweet tooth)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Direction: 
1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry Form ½-inch 1-inch balls and press onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
4. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes
5. Cool and serve

~bel~

Paleo Chocolate Microwaved Mug Cake

 

This is one recipe which we discovered due to "desperate craving". We came back from dinner at a friend place and were both sitting on the couch.. craving for some treats. There were none at home :(

Google did not fail us that night.... googled and found numerous recipe for microwave chocolate cake. I randomly chose one and showed it to the BF. And Bingo... he was in the kitchen baking one.  I was skeptical at first as I am a firm believer that cakes need to be bake in proper oven.. mircowave does not do the job. I was wrong. The recipe was yummy that the BF has since made it 3 times.... and I am sure more in the near future

Ingredients
1 small ripe banana
1 1/2 Tablespoons almond butter(or any nut butter)
1 egg
2 heaping Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons sweetener(We used honey.. 2 table spoon or more)
Chocolate chips, walnuts, dried fruit, or other mix-ins(optional)

Direction

1. With a fork, mash the banana into a smooth puree.
2. Mix the almond butter, egg, cocoa powder, and extra sweetener if using into the banana puree until it forms an even batter.
3. Fold in any mix-ins into the batter that you’d like.
4.  Pour the batter into a mug or other microwave safe container.  Microwave on high for 2 and 1/2 minutes until the center is set. Carefully remove the mug from the microwave and enjoy hot, cold, or at room temperature.

~bel~

Gluten free, Soy Free, Dairy Free Paleo Fiendly Chocolate pound cake

I have been thinking chocolate for last few days but could not decide what to bake. We were on the way back from our practice run this morning  and I decided to create my own chocolate pound cake using the basic coconut bread recipe.

It turned out pretty yummy :)



Ingredients :
1/2 cup of coconut flour, sifted
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1 teaspoon of baking powder
5 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
11/2 tablespoon of honey
1/2 cup of canola oil
2 mashed banana


Direction
1. Combine the  first 3 ingredients in a bowl
2. Beat the eggs till frothy
3. Beat in oil, vanilla, honey, banana, and oil to the egg
4. Add in the dry ingredients
5. Pour into prepared pan and baked at 350 for 50 minutes

~bel~

Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free Paleo Friendly Energy Bar

The main challenge of being an athlete on Paleo is that most sports nutrition products are not Paleo friendly. We have been looking for a Paleo friendly energy bar. Lana bar is probably the only product which is Paleo friendly. However, we are not a fan of Lana.

The BF is doing a 60K race this weekend and requested for a Paleo Energy bar. I did some research but could find a recipe which I like.  Last resort....I decided to concoct my own recipe.  

It actually came out really good.... according to the BF :)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of silver almonds
1/2 cup of sunflower seed
1 cup of apricot
1/4 cup of almond meal
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of almond butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoon of honey ( more if you like it sweeter)
1 egg

Direction:
1. Chop the first 3 ingredients in a good processor till a course mixture
2. Combined the coconut oil, almond butter, vanilla and honey till a smooth mixture ( Tip: you may need to warm the coconut oil and almond butter to create a smooth consistency. Microwave for about 20-30 sec)
3. Combine the nut and fruit mixture to the coconut oil mixture
4. Fold in almond meal
5. Add the egg and combine
6. Bake in a 325 oven for 20-25 mins
7. Cool and cut into pieces.

Easy ... :)

~bel~

Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free.. Paleo Friendly Bread

I have been searching for a good bread recipe that works as sandwich bread. This recipe from Elana's pantry is probably the closest .. not exactly the same as the whole wheat bread but close enough.

It is easy to make this bread... 10 mins preparation time.. and 50 mins bake time...

Ingredients
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
 ¼ cup golden flaxseed meal
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
5 eggs
 ¼ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Direction:
1. Place almond flour, coconut flour, flax, salt and baking soda in a food processor
2. Pulse ingredients together
3. Pulse in eggs, oil, honey and vinegar
4. Pour batter into a greased 7.5" x 3.5" Magic Line Loaf Pan Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. ( I have to bake mine for 50 mins)
5.  Cool and serve

~bel~

Paleo Friendly Banana Blueberry Muffin

Banana Blueberry Muffin... using the basic coconut bread recipe as a base.. added 3 banana to the wet ingredients and folding in 1.5 cup of blueberry after adding the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients


~bel~

Paleo friendly banana muffin

A nice twist to the  banana bread recipe ! Bake it in muffins cups instead... :)

Paleo Friendly Banana Bread

A very flavorful banana bread. Love it !

I used the basic coconut bread recipe, added 3 mashed banana to the wet ingredient before folding in the dry ingredients !

So good !

~bel~

Paleo Chocolate Cake

I hate Chocolate ! I never have sweet tooth and never crave for chocolate. But I just love baking chocolate cake.

I saw this recipe at Elana's Pantry and has been waiting for an occasion where I could bake a chocolate cake ! Perfect opportunity came today when my running coach invite us for a BBQ at his place.... Oh yes ! Time to bake a chocolate cake !

A perfect Paleo chocolate cake... I think it taste good.

For the frosting, I used the recipe from Lifefoodjourney Site . I replaced the coconut oil with grapeseed oil and my frosting could not set...BIG OPPPSS! But it still looks good !

Chocolate Cake
¾ cup coconut flour, sifted
¼ cup cacao powder
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 eggs 1 cup grapeseed oil
1 ½ cups agave nectar(I use honey)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon orange zest(I omitted this)

Direction
1. In a small bowl combine flour, cacao, salt and baking soda
2. In a large bowl using an electric hand blender, blend eggs, oil, agave nectar, vanilla and orange zest
3. Add dry ingredients into large bowl and continue to blend
4. Oil (2) 9-inch cake pans and dust with coconut flour ( I used a single pan and bake it as a single layer cake)
5. Pour batter into pans and bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes
6, Remove from oven, allow to cool completely then remove from pans Frost and serve

For the Frosting
1 cup of cocoa powder
 3/4 cup of virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup of honey ( I used one cup of honey)
 dash or two of sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Direction
1. Gently melt the coconut oil in a saucepan (you don’t want to heat it, just melt it)
2. In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients and pulse until well combined.
3.  Scrape into a small bowl and place in the freezer or refrigerator until it has hardened to desired consistency.

Enjoy
~bel~

Paleo Coconut Bread

This is another version of bread made from coconut flour. The BF and I agreed that this is much better than bread made from almond flour. Its more flavorful. It iss a really easy recipe from Paleo Plan website

As like the previous post, this is really a small bread. I used a 8x3.7 inch loaf pan. I could not find a decent small pan and used the disposable aluminum pan which I got from HEB.

Also, it is important to whip the eggs till it is forthy. 

I really like this recipe. I think I am going to make this my base for other bread. Thinking of adding blueberry or strawberry next time :)

Direction
6 eggs
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil ( or any fats.. I have tried butter and canola oil. We prefer the butter version )
2 Tbs raw honey (optional) ( I use the regular honey)
½ tsp sea salt (optional)
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted 1 tsp baking powder

Instructions
1. Blend eggs, oil, honey, and salt together. Set aside.
2.  In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour with baking powder.
3.  Whisk this into the egg batter thoroughly, until there are no lumps.
4. Pour into greased 9x5x3 inch or smaller loaf pan and bake at 175C (350F) for 40 minutes.
5.  Remove from pan and cool on rack

~bel~

Non Gluten, Non Dairy, Non Soy Paleo Friendly Bread

Sandwich and Bread... can't remember the last time I had a sandwich since we started the Paleo diet ! I did the meal plan for this week ( the BF decided to take a break this week from meal planning)  and decided on French Toast for tomorrow.. which means we need bread !

After much research on the web, I finally decided to settle on Elana's Paleo Bread. She has two bread recipes on her site. Both looks good. I settled for this one as its the latest improved version:) This is an really easy recipe. 5 minutes preparation time and 30 mins bake time. Easy !

I can't wait for my french toast !

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
 ¾ cup arrowroot powder
¼ cup golden flaxseed meal
 ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
 ½ teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 teaspoon agave nectar ( I use honey)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar ( I use lemon juice)

Direction : 
1. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, arrowroot, flax meal, salt and baking soda
2. In a larger bowl, blend eggs 3-5 minutes until frothy Stir agave and vinegar into eggs
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet Pour Scoop batter into a well greased 7.5" x 3.5"  Loaf Pan
4. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean Cool and serve

Tips :
1. This make a small loaf. Best to use a small loaf pan so to give height
2. Use a cake mixer to whisk the eggs till frothy (3 to 5mins). This is crucial as we do not use baking powder or yeast.

~bel~