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
 

Kale Pine Nut Tart

Here is the other recipe that ya'll wanted!  This was absolutely delicious!

Ingredients for the Crust:
1 1/2 cups of almond four
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBS dried rosemary
2 scallions
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (you can substitute a different fat)
1 TBS water

Instructions for Crust: 

• In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, rosemary, scallions
• In a smaller bowl, whisk oil and water 
• Stir in wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. 
• Press the dough into a 9 inch tart pan. 
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. 
• Remove from oven and let cool completely before filling. 

Ingredients for Filling: 
3 cups of chopped kale
1 small shallot
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 large eggs, whisked
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pine nuts

Instructions for Filling: 

• In a large pot with a steamer basket, wilt the kale over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until bright green. 
• Place the kale, shallot, and salt in a food processor and pulse. 
• Transfer kale mixture to a bowl and stir in eggs, cranberries, and pine nuts. 
• Pour the mixture into the crust. 
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned around the edges and cooked through. 
• Let the tart cool for 30 minutes and then serve. 

Salmon Frittata

Here is another favorite and quick meal!  This is one of the dishes that I made for my students.  Really, in the morning before class, I made two batches of this, the kale salad, and the apple cherry crumble.  All of those were super fast to whip up and stick in the oven while you shower or do other things.  The timer on the oven is my best friend!

So here it is:

Ingredients:
1 can of pink salmon
5 large eggs
2 small tomatoes
2 TBS fresh chives
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 TBS coconut flour
coconut oil for the pan (I usually use coconut oil spray).

Instructions: 
So simple!!!
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Chop tomatoes and chives.
3. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except coconut oil of course) and mix. 
4. Prepare a 9 x 9 baking dish by coating with coconut oil
5. Pour into the baking dish and bake for about 20-25 minutes until it is firm in the center.

Kale Avocado Salad

I can't believe I've never shared this recipe before! This has become a family favorite, usually present at all of our family functions.  It's also such a quick and easy salad to prepare when you are pressured for time.  I'm sorry I don't have pictures! 

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale, sliced into strips (or 1 bag of kale pre-cut like they sell at Trader Joe's).  I also find that Lacinato kale works great for this recipe - but any kale is fine.
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS lime juice
1 ripe avocado
1/2 tsp black peper
salt to taste

Instructions:

• In a large bowl,  combine kale, live oil, and lime juice.  Use your hands to massage the ingredients together. 
• Add the avocado into the salad with your hands until it's mashed and the kale is tender.  
• Add in the pepper and salt.  Toss to combine. 
• Serve!

Red Velvet Paleo Brownies

Hi there!

Because we eat so many vegetables at home, I often buy them in bulk at Costco.  During one of my last trips to Costco, I decided to buy beets in bulk.  Now, there's not much I had done with beets except juicing because they are awesome for recovery after intense runs.  So, beet juice is part of my pre-race ritual.  Anyway, so now that I found myself with way too many beets, what was I going to do with them.  I made salads, smoothies, ate them just as a side cooked with spices, made a paleoified version of Ukranian borscht.  So, the only thing I hadn't done, was make brownies!!!!My husband said, no way!  I don't like anything sweet with beets, I won't eat it!  Well, guess what, he's eaten half the batch of brownies and I just made them last night!  He also made sure there was no more batter left in the food processor container - scraped off every bit he could!  These really are fantastic! So here's what I did:

Ingredients:
1 bag of Lily's stevia sweetened chocolate chips
(you can also use Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips or Chunks)
about 1/2 cup of coconut oil or butter (100g - I weighed it)
about 4-5 small cooked beets (Total 1 2/3 cup)
3 eggs
1/2 cups of coconut sugar
1 1/2 cup of almond flour
2 TBS cocoa powder
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts for garnish on the top

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Prepare a 9 x 9 square baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper and spray with coconut oil.
3) Heat the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a pan over low heat until it melts.
4) Place beets in food processor and process to a puree.
5) Add the melted chocolate and coconut oil, vanilla, eggs, and blend again.
6) Add the sugar and almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, chili powder and process again until you have a smooth batter.
7) Pour into the prepared baking pan, sprinkle the walnuts on top, and bake for about 30 minutes.  I then turned the oven down to 325 and baked for another 15 minutes.  The middle took longer to bake and I didn't want to burn the edges. When you test to see if they are done, you will get a little bounciness when you touch the top like you might expect, but when you put something in the middle to test, it will come out a little gooey.  Don't worry, when it cools, it will become firm, but these are sooo moist!

Now these are just estimates at this point because I didn't measure exactly and it was the first time I made these. However, because several people requested the recipe, I am posting it here even though it's still experimental.  I will make them again this weekend and update the recipe if needed.

These made an excellent pre and post workout snack! 

Enjoy!!!