Coconut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

Hello paleo, gluten free, clean eating, vegan (ish) foodies!  It has been nearly six months since I last posted a recipe.  I was going through some pictures noticing that I was on quite a marathon with cooking!  With my busy schedule and travels, I haven't had a chance to post any new recipes.  I returned about a week and a half ago from a two week trip to Ecuador.  Wow! I was certainly inspired by the food there and will be working on Paleo-ifying some of the amazing food I ate while there.  Here's one example:

Caldo de Bola

This was an amazing soup with a plantain fritter sort of thing (bola) filled with shrimp in an amazing shrimp soup.  This is "Caldo de Bola con Camarón."  I will be trying to recreate a few things, in particular this caldo de bola, the many amazing ceviches I ate there, and my most favorite: Encebollado.  Stay posted for those attempts!

Well back to this particular recipe.  I had been without a fridge for over a week.  While on my travels, our fridge broke down.  I came back to an incredibly busy schedule due to facilitating a week long, all day workshop on inclusive teaching. Needless to say, I did not work on getting the fridge repaired or getting a new fridge for that whole week.  So, I come back from travels (I had been in Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Guatemala before Ecuador. Being away for so long I had to orient myself back to my home and my kitchen) and I had no idea where anything was, there were few ingredients, and we had no fridge!  With my husband in charge of the kitchen, even my vitamix lid was missing!  How can you lose that???!!! I am waiting for the replacement from Amazon.

Today, I made some ice tea (because I now have a fridge to store it).  Given that it's a very hot day today (90 degrees but the feel is like 100 due to humidity), I wanted a sweet treat without baking.  I wanted to use some coconut butter I still had, but didn't have a lot of other ingredients.  These cookies are now in the fridge as I wait for them to harden a bit.  However, I already ate one before going in the fridge and they are delicious!  So easy, no baking so ideal for those of you living in hot climates, and good for you! 

Just as a side note, also remember "fat doesn't make you fat!"  Coconut oil has medium chain triglycerides (MCFA), which is an important building block for all of our cells and can reduce cholesterol and heart disease.  Coconut oil can boost our immunity, kill bacteria and viruses, protect from degenerative diseases, and prevent osteoporosis.  Contrary to what some folks might think, the MCFAs are burned for energy and can stimulate your metabolism.  I know, it's hard to believe with how we have been socialized to fear fat.  Believe me, since I have lost my 42 pounds nearly 5 years ago, I have not put that weight back on, not even in Ecuador!  And I ate a lot!  My hypothesis is that I have managed to change my metabolism on a paleo diet.  Of course, this is total speculation based on an n of 1.  My own case study.  However, the benefits of coconut oil have been documented.  Here are two articles that discuss the health benefits of coconut oil. 

Helmer, J. (2007). Cook and beautify with coconut oil. Better Nutrition, 69(3), 40-42.  
Rubin, J. (2003). Extra Virgin Coconut Oil - the Good Saturated Fat. Total Health, 25(3), 30.

Just to offer some balance, medical doctors don't agree that coconut oil is as healthy as some claim it to be.  Of course, I don't really trust most mainstream medical doctors and always do my own research.  In truth, a lot more longitudinal studies could be done to better assess the health benefits or risks of coconut oil (most are short term - so even meta-analyses of studies are somewhat inconclusive).  You probably didn't need all that, but it's fun - I like to look up nutrition articles.

I almost forgot!!! The recipe:

1/2 cup of coconut butter (I used a bit of the vanilla cake flavor I had combined with a chocolate flavor I had).
1/3 cup of almond butter
1/4 cup of almond flour
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

All you do is mix all the ingredients in a bowl (I softened/melted the coconut butter)
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet
Use a Tablespoon to scoop the batter and make them into little balls
Place on the parchment paper and put in the fridge to cool!

All done!!  Have fun!! Enjoy!! Great activity to do with your kids!

Love you all,

Leticia

Avocado Chocolate Bread

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cup avocado
3 TBS coconut oil (melted)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 TBS coconut cream
3 TBS raw honey
2 eggs
1/2 cup pecans
2 cups almond flour (I use honeyville almond flour or I purchase almond meal at Trader Joe's).
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup raw cacao
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips (you can either use Enjoy Life or Lily's Chocolates, I purchase these at Whole Foods and now I do a lot of my shopping at Thrive Market).  Lily's Chocolates are stevia sweetened, nonGMO, and gluten free.  Enjoy Life are dairy, nut, and soy free.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a food processor, pulse the avocado, coconut oil, vanilla extract, coconut cream, honey, and eggs. 
3. Now transfer that mixture to a bowl. 
4. Chop up the pecans and add them to the mixture.  
5. Add the almond flour, baking soda, cacao powder, salt, and chocolate chips. 
6. Combine ingredients gently. 
7. Prepare an 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 inch loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper, and spraying it with coconut oil. 
8. Spoon the batter into the pan.  
9. Top with chocolate chips.  
10. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.  

Paleo-ish Enchiladas Estilo Fresnillo

Making these was a big project, so when I want to make something like this, but don't have the time, I do prep in stages.  One day I diced the onion, made the chorizo, I boiled the water and soaked the chiles, and prepped the chicken.  On another day, I made the chile sauce and boiled the water for the cabbage leaves, and assembled them.  Then I had them in a baking pan ready to go into the oven when I was ready to "start" dinner so that they would be fresh out of the oven.  Making dinner meant I only had to put them in the oven and make the cauliflower rice as the side dish. 

Tortillas:
9-10 cabbage leaves

Chile Sauce:
8-10 dried chiles (I used what I had at home: a combination of anchos, guajillo, and red new mexico).  Being true to enchiladas fresnillo, the recommended chile is ancho. 
Water to boil and soak the chiles
 1/4 inch piece of cinammon bark
a pinch of cloves
1/8 tsp of dried oregano
1/8 tsp of dried thyme
1/8 tsp of dried marjoram
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1 TBS of sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup raw almonds, toasted (I used soaked)
sea salt to taste

Garnishes:
1/4 cup queso fresco (you can use more, I was just concerned about the calories).
1 medium white onion
1 avocado
3/4 sour cream
1 1/2 cup chorizo

Filling:
3 lbs of cooked chicken
5 cups of spinach
1 cup of mushrooms
cumin (1/2 to 1 tsp)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
olive oil (I used green chile infused olive oil because I have some in the house right now). 



Direction for the filling:
1. Boil the chicken
2. Shred the chicken, then saute with spices and add the spinach and mushrooms.

Directions for chile sauce
1. Soak the chiles for about 20 minutes.
2. Remove the seeds and the stem from the chiles by rinsing them.
3. Place the chiles in the blender with a cup of the water in which they were soaking.
4. Blend, add more liquid if needed (add the chicken broth).
5. Add the spices and blend.
6. Toast the sesame seeds and almonds.
7.  Add those to the blender.
8. Saute the sauce in a little bit of olive oil, adding more liquid if needed for your desired consistency.

Make the cabbage leaf "tortillas."
1. Boil a large pot of water.
2. Carfully remove the entire leaf one by one on the cabbage head
3. Blanch the cabbage leafs for about 1-2 minutes (I put in 4 at a time)

Assemble the enchiladas
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare the baking pan by spraying with olive oil spray
3. Dip the cabbage leaf in the sauce
4. Place on baking pan, fill, and roll.
5. If any sauce is left over, take it and spread it on the enchiladas so that you use all of it and they are generously covered with chile sauce.
6. Add the onion, chorizo, and cheese sprinkled on top.
7. Cover and bake for about 45 minutes. 
8. Serve with avocado, radishes, and sour cream

Mexican Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 TBS preferred fat (butter, coconut oil, or palm oil).  I used palm oil in this recipe because it helps give it that nice red/orange color.
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 cup of carrot, finely chopped
• 1 cauliflower head
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup chicken broth or water
• 1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions: 

• Melt butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Add onion, garlic, and carrot and cook until onions become translucent, around 5 minutes
• To rice the cauliflower, use the shred attachment in the food processor.  Add the cauliflower rice to the skillet and saute until rice starts to brown. About 5-10 minutes. 
• Add turmeric and sea salt, stir to combine
• Reduce heat to medium low and pour in the chicken broth or water and tomato paste. 
• Remove from heat and serve immediately

2 WW SP