Squash cake

This is a variation of zucchini bread that I decided to make because we bought some organic yellow squash at a farm stand. I had a hard time choosing between this recipe and a more traditional spiced zucchini bread. It was the fennel that caught my interest. The original recipe came from the Martha Stewart site where they have around 75 different ways to use zucchini.

Ingredients
1/2 cup lard, butter or coconut oil (or combination)
2 cups almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (grain-free)
2 medium organic yellow squashes
2 medium organic green zucchini
1 cup shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cups xylitol

1/4 tsp stevia extract
3 large organic pastured eggs
1 tsp organic pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp organic ground fennel

Directions

Melt your oil, lard or butter in the baking dish with the oven preheating at 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients except for the xylitol in a mixing bowl. Then take the xylitol, eggs, vanilla, and your melted oil and blend those in a blender or bullet. Mix the liquids with the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl to which you will add the squash once you have grated it with a box grater or shredded it in a food processor. Lastly, you will add the pistachios and pour into your dish to bake for about 45 minutes to an hour until the top is golden brown. If you have two loaf pans, it might be better to make 2 shallow loaves instead of one big casserole loaf, as I have done.

By the way, it is amazing! Considering that it is 75% veggie and egg, how can you go wrong eating a ton of this? The fennel flavor reminds me of the traditional italian pitzelles which use anise. I think next time I bake this I will add a hint of lemon in there too.

Coconut Coffee Hobnobs

This is a great primal and gluten/grain free dessert. I don't feel at all guilty about eating these...


Coconut Coffee Hobnobs

Dusting powder:
4 tbs unsweetened coconut finely processed
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp coconut flour
1 handful organic chocolate chips

Hobnobs:
12 large organic pitted dates
2 tbs brewed coffee
1/4 cup almond milk + 1 tbs
1 1/2 tbs coconut oil

3/4 cup whole almonds
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 tsp ground sea-salt
2 tsp coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup coconut flour set aside

For the dusting powder, chop all of the ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency and mix together. Set this aside.
For the hobnobs you need to mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients, then combine the two.
Blend the dates, coffee, almond milk and coconut oil in a food processor until it is smooth and buttery. Separately put the almonds (you can use another kind of nut, or several kinds), salt, coconut flour and cocoa powder in the processor to create the nut meal. After these two blends are mixed together, slowly add up to 1/4 cup of coconut flour until the mixture has the consistency of sticky pizza dough. Once it can be rolled into a ball a little bigger than an inch in size, drop it into your dusting mix and cover it completely.
Place all of the finished treats on a sheet and chill in the fridge until you just can't resist the temptation to eat one!
The recipe makes 12-15 hobnobs.

Gingerbread with Orange Cream Cheese

This was a special request for Thanksgiving that sounded something like, "Hey you need to come up with a recipe for gingerbread and orange cream cheese." My friend didn't actually think I was going to make it, and neither did I.  Damn I'm sure glad I did.
One thing about this recipe is that the almond does tend to overpower the ginger... so I had to up the ante about 1/4 tsp.  Make sure you taste the batter before you pour it and see if it still needs more. And try to stop yourself from sitting on the couch with a spoon and the bowl of cream cheese because it will tempt you.
This would be a great cupcake and frosting situation.  ... I'm thinking minis...

Gingerbread
10 pitted organic dates
1 organic orange (juiced)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 pastured eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder (Grain Free)
1/2 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tbs xylitol
1/8 tsp stevia extract
1/4 tsp organic cinnamon
1/8 tsp organic ground clove
1 1/4 tsp organic ground ginger
1 1/2 tbs coconut oil (lard or butter)
1/2 can organic full-fat coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 3/4 cups almond flour
pinch of sea salt


Directions
Put the dates in a bowl or container with the orange juice and vanilla extract and leave it at room temperature for about an hour. This is to soften them. When it looks like some of the liquid is disappearing, they are ready. Preheat the oven and put your oil (butter or lard) in a loaf pan and stick it in the oven to melt.  Add your spices, the eggs and stevia to the date mix and blend it all together until you have a nice smooth liquid. In a large mixing bowl put all the other dry ingredients together then add the blended date mix, coconut milk and melted oil. Mix with a hand mixer and taste it to check the sweetness and ginger. Pour the mix into the loaf pan (or cupcake molds) and bake in the middle of the oven at around 375 until there is some color on the top. Serve with delicious orange cream cheese.


Orange Cream Cheese
1 package organic cream cheese
4 tbs organic coconut milk
1/4 cup organic orange marmalade (I make my own - see below for substitution*)
pinch of organic ground ginger
1/8 tsp stevia extract


*If you can't get organic marmalade or one without sugar, you can take a whole orange and puree it, put the puree in a sauce pan with a tiny bit of liquid (water or fruit juice) and simmer it with a tbs of xylitol. Taste it for the level of sweetness you want but try to keep it a little tart. Once it seems to have reduced or thickened, let it cool.


Directions
Whip the cream cheese and coconut milk together in a bowl and add the other ingredients while you mix. Check the taste as you go, adding more marmalade or sweetener as you desire. It is not supposed to be an overpowering orange flavor... it is more of a hint. Smother on a piece of gingerbread and welcome to heaven.

Primal Apple Crumble

Tis the season... of apples! Apples baking makes me not just think of, but feel like fall, Halloween; leaves rustling in the wind and bundling up next to a window with something sweet. Just to have that warm smell in the house, I came up with this recipe and was extremely thankful for the whim.

Primal Apple Crumble
6 organic apples cored and sliced (you can use any variety)
1 tbsp xylitol
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lard, butter or coconut oil


Directions
Heat the oven to your usual baking temp (mine is about 400 degrees) and put a casserole dish in with the tablespoon of lard, butter, or coconut oil until it melts and you can coat the dish. Throw in the apple slices tossed with the cinnamon and sweetener. This gives the apples a head start while you put together the crumble topping.


Crumble Topping
1 2/3 cups almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp baking powder (Grain Free)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup xylitol
1/8 tsp pure stevia extract
1 pinch of sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp lard, butter or coconut oil
1 pastured egg


Directions
Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl making sure to break up any clumps of coconut flour or other ingredients. Use a pastry dough blender to mix in the wet ingredients until you have a crumble that is the same consistency of our quiche crust. This means it is a loose crumble but still sticks together when pressed. Take the apples out of the oven and with a spatula flatten them or move them around until you have a reasonably flat surface for the topping. Pour the crumble on and move it around to cover the entire apple filling, pressing just enough to have it stick together. Put it back in the oven until the topping becomes a little browned (at least 20 minutes). I know when stuff is just about done the good-ol'-fashioned way... when I can smell it. When apple cinnamon starts wafting through the house, it probably only has another 5 minutes or so.

Serve it hot or cold, with ice-cream or custard, whip cream or créme fraiche. You could even add some whole walnuts in with the apples or chopped into the topping. It is an addictive way to use the abundant fruit this season. I will probably make this for my non-primal family for Thanksgiving (win them over with sweets that aren't bad for you).  Enjoy!

Quiche

This recipe is mainly for the crust.  Once you have this part down you can make any kind of quiche imaginable.  In fact, you can take all of the savory elements out of the crust recipe and replace them with sweet ones to make the perfect crust for a tart!

*UPDATE - I have made this crust many times for sweet and savory dishes having omitted the ground flax seed. It works just as well with 3 cups of almond flour or 2 cups almond flour and 1 of coconut flour. This should simplify things a bit on the supply end of things. I also use this for pies and anything that needs a crust.

Quiche crust

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1 1/2 cups fresh ground golden flax seed 

10 or more roasted garlic cloves (I roast my own)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup cold water

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp of seasoning of your choice (I used a little cayenne, onion powder, and an organic mixed seasoning)

1/2 tsp arrowroot or tapioca starch

*If you eat dairy, definitely throw some parmesan cheese in there!

**If you are making tart crust use 2 to 1 ratio almond to coconut flour.  Use lard or coconut oil instead of olive oil; sweeten with stevia extract or xylitol (both is better); cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and vanilla extract to season; lower the amount of salt to a pinch or two.

Directions

Mix all of your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl with a whisk to make sure it is evenly distributed.  Crush or chop the garlic cloves and add to the dry mix with the olive oil and water.  Use a pastry dough blender (a food processor works just as well) to mix the ingredients until you have an evenly moist pile of crumbles.  Dump the crumbles into a pre-greased baking dish and begin kneading them down into an even layer all the way up the sides.  I usually bake it for about 5 minutes before I fill it.

And there is your crust!

Now for filling the quiche.  I use bacon almost every time because I can sauté all of my veggies in the bacon grease to really get the flavor in everything.  I did this with red onion, spinach and fresh parsley this time and if I were eating dairy right now you can bet there would be cheese!

Once all of your veggies and extras are spread evenly around in the crust, you can pour an egg mixture over the entire thing almost up to the top of the sides. For this size quiche I used 1 1/2 dozen eggs, however, if I were eating dairy I would have used a dozen eggs, a cup or so of organic heavy cream and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.  Cream cheese or goat cheese is definitely a wise choice. 

Don't forget to season this egg mixture too!  Use about 1/2 tsp or more of sea salt and maybe a pinch of some of the seasonings you used in your crust.

Once the egg mixture is poured over everything it will go in the oven until everything has a little brown color on it and a toothpick comes out clean.  I usually bake on or around 400 degrees because I have no patience.  Just remember, I am baking at 10,000 feet and I am constantly checking the progress of what I am cooking.  Generally, when you start to smell what you are baking, it is time for it to come out of the oven or pretty close to it.