Almond Paleo bread, that tastes more like a dessert!

Oh buggar! The first easy Paleo bread I do turns out to be addicting! Almond bread is a nutrient dense bread that tastes more like a coffee cake of sorts. It's didn't help I put some jam on top. I could of ate the whole thing. I am gad they are pretty small. The best part about the almond bread is one slice is VERY satisfying. Although it's scarf-able. I try to stick to one, or have it with a meal. That way I am not tempted to make a meal of it. 



This is a very simple bread. I was searching for a good go to that I can make with few ingredients. I always like a no brainer I can whip up in a pinch. Here I found "Savory Almond Flour Bread" from the Bombshell Blueprint. Maria Guadagno is a Holistic Health Coach, and Raw Food chef in NYC. See her link at the end of the page.

Ingredients
Almond Flour/Meal* (2 1/4 cups)
Ground Flax Seed (1/4 cup)
Salt (1/4 teaspoon)
Baking Soda (1-1/2 tsp.)
Eggs (3 large)
Honey (1 tbs.)
Apple Cider Vinegar (1 tbs.)

  
 One tip; make sure your Almond flour has no chunks in it. Almond flour is dense, and can stick together. My loaf came out a little flat. Next time I will run my flour through my coffee grinder. You want a very fine consistency.

Update: I have now done this a few times now. I have found that if you pop the honey and vinegar in the microwave for about 20 seconds it will blend better with the eggs. You really want to whip the eggs in with the honey and ACV too! My last loaf I used my hand mixer to really fluff up the eggs. That way I had more wet ingredient to add to the dry, and it was less dry and lumpy. The difference was night and day! I couldn't believe it was the same recipe. 

Instructions

1- Preheat oven to 300°F and use grease a  6.5 x 4" pan.

2- Combine the almond flour, flax seed, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.

3- In a separate medium bowl, whisk the eggs, and then add honey and apple cider vinegar.

4- Stir the wet ingredients into dry and mix only until combined.

5- Pour batter into a 6.5" x 4" loaf pan pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Recipe source. Thank You *Nom nom*

Oopsie Bread? What is the deal with low carb any way?

Two weeks ago it was lovely and warm. I cleaned up my garden in hopes of adding seedlings. But the last two weeks has been just a mess. Every Tuesday it dumps snow with no accumulation (except on grass), followed with freezing drizzle. On top of it I am just bored with food. Feeling uninspired. What's a girl to do?

 

Frosty budding tree in the back yard.

After staring at Pinterest I was still left 'bleh'. So then I started looking into low-carb diets, and Paleo way of eating. All very interesting, not looking for a life style change, but it has given me quite a few ideas. They all actually seem yummy!

 

One thing that caught my eye “Oopsie Bread” which is labeled LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat). The recipe did not have much about, or how-to. Just the recipe and a little blurb on whats good on them. Hmmm... I smell a challenge! So the baby was napping I thought; “Today is the day”. I am adding some thing “out of the recipe box!”

Oopsies
6–8 depending on size.

3 eggs
100 grams (3.5 ounces) of cream cheese
a pinch of salt
½ tablespoon fiberhusk / psyllium seed husks (can be excluded)
½ teaspoon baking powder (can be excluded)

First separate your eggs, whites in your mixing bowl, a yolks in the other.

Set aside your yolks.

Whip your egg whites until stiff, while adding salt.

While that is being whipped up in a frenzy add the rest of your ingredients to your yolks. I used the psyllium seed husks (yeah, actually had that on hand) and baking powder. It is noted that they are optional, and they add the more bread-like taste. Well I was aiming for bread, so it makes sense to me!

 

Add Cream cheese.

 

Add Psyllium Husk Powder and baking powder

After mixing, your whites should be ready.

Do the stiff test, go on, hold the bowl over your head.

 

Will it? Won't it? Only one way to find out!

Now fold in your whites to your other bowl. Be gentle, you want to keep the air in the whites.

Now plop some on to a lightly greased tray.

] 

Hmmm... foam?

There wasn't much direction about this part, so I was flying by the seat of my pants. I had no idea how the mix was going act. It was sort of a thick foam, I used a large plastic serving spoon it was about the right amount to make 6.

Now into the oven, 300 degrees, for about 25 minutes. Mine took 22 minutes. You want them to get golden brown on top. So at the 20 minute mark take a peek. It will smell lovely in your kitchen!

I let them cool on the tray for about 30 minutes (I was feeding the boy). Went to scoop them on to the rack and they felt like baked eggs. I was a little worried. But as the cooled they became more bread like.

 

Cooling on the tray. They are pretty soft, so let them sit for awhile.

 After the boy was fed,  it was now my turn! I didn't go high fat, I am not a LCHF pro yet. So I didn't butter my bread (it didn't need it). But keeping with the low-carb theme I added turkey and cucumber. 

 

Yummy with almond milk.

So how'd it taste? AWESOME! After I was done with that, I took the remaining cucumbers and put them on another, and then I had one plain. SO GOOD!!!!!! They become more bread-like as they sat, but they were also moist. They are soft and I can see using two of them for a fish burger, or as pita bread. Again I didn't go high fat, because the only cream cheese I had was fat free. The calorie count for one is about 74, if you make 6, the calorie count will change depending on the cream cheese you use.

Click here for another Oopsie! lunch or snack idea!

Double up! My favorite basic granola bars, and Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Chocolate chip and coconut, just addictive.

Lemon crinkle cookies have to be the funnest thing to make, and doubled up with my all time granola bar recipe it made for a fun day.

I wanted to start out easy, using my basic and best granola recipe . Since I found this one I really haven't  strayed. It's a fun one because you can switch out your mix ins and you can't mess it up. It's one of those recipes that I use as a base recipe when building my own. But with all my other granola bar posts it just wouldn't be right to not share my daughters favorite. I was having one of those days where I didn't make a mess, and I went back to back baking.

I started off with my granola bars. They are super easy and quick.

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup honey Or Agave

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

(optional) ¼ cup or more of any mix ins (Coconut, dried cranberries, raisins, nuts)

1 ¼ cups of cups of chocolate is a lot of chocolate BTW. Just thought I would add. You can play around with amounts too. I do ¾ cup chocolate and ½ cup of 'other'. No chocolate it always an option, because these are addictive, and you will at some point break down make more for the 10^th time but you will have to break the chocolate cycle (whew)!


Once every thing is mixed, add your choice of mix ins.

Whip your butter and honey in your mixer until nice and soft. Add oats, mix thoroughly, then add your flours, and baking soda. Mix again until blended. Once you have an nice mixture add your mix ins. Press your mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan for a thicker bar. What I like to do is use a cookie sheet and use a rolling pin dusted with flour to flatten them. As they cook they will rise slightly. Bake at 325, 25-30 until lightly browned around the edges. Thinner ones will be done sooner.

Use a powdered rolling pin to flatten if using a cookie sheet. I accidently used my larger pan here. I so wish I grabbed the smaller ones because I needed the big one for my lemon cookies. Go figure.



In the beginning I had a very bad habit of flipping them out of the pan way too soon. Every freaking time people, and I would just break them. My husband says: “If you have an urge to flip them wait 10 more minutes.” Damn him and his logic. So to feed my ancy-pants I cut them in the pan after a short cooling time, remove to a cooling rack to finish. That way you can chomp on them while the chocolate is all melty. See, why let them cool all the way right?!?


Still can't cut in a straight line.

Lemon crinkle cookies, easy. Get started while you're baking your granola! Go!

These are just divine, they are light, and airy, and I had a lot of fun making them. My favorite part was rolling the dough in the powdered sugar.

Ingredients

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1-½ cups flour
½ cup powdered sugar

Whoops over mixed, thats OK though!

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. 


• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.


• Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again.


• Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar.


• Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.


• Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate.


• Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar.


• Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies and cracked on top. 


• Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Once I coated my goo, I was able to pick it up and form my irregular ball... lol


I finally got some technique two trays in. I cupped the ball and rolled it. Not so irregular any more.

Lightly golden, perfect.

See where you have to just mix briefly, yeah I didn't see that. It's OK if you over mix. The batter won't ball up, but if you scoop it out and drop it into the powdered sugar it will do what you once after you coat it. 

Baking!

Enjoy! **Nom Nom**

Awesome Bread, no rise.

 This is my no rise go to bread for anything, and everything.  It's so versatile, you just don't need anything else. No. Really. I like to halve the batch and whip up personal pizzas that looks like brick oven stone pizza. *NOM NOM* It's also great for throwing some sandwich rolls together for the week.

For pizza I love to smear chopped garlic from a jar. It has to be from a jar in all its garlicky juices. I don't know why it's just better. It's an awesome pizza base because it's awesome bread, but recently I used it as  fake Indian Naan bread. I did the same thing as the pizza base with the garlic, added some butter, and consumed.





This is also the best bread to enjoy with some home made Crock Pot Apple Butter *NOM NOM*


I must warn you, bake a large batch, loaves tend to disappear before they have cooled. 

I have found the all white flour ones tend to disappear faster. So to slow us down on bread consumption I do half and half, white and whole wheat. Yeah, right. 

 

Use a pan, buns, or super free form!

Did I tell you my favorite part? As soon as you take it out of the oven paint with butter. It makes it shiny and the butta' just melts into all bread holes, and crevasses. 

Quick Bread, pizza base, Awesomeness.

2 ½ C warm water
6 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp oil
6 C flour (White, wheat, what ev! Mix it up go nuts.)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Stir water, yeast, sugar and oil together. Leave for 5 minutes until it becomes frothy on top. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Knead. Roll out if making a pizza base or shape for use as buns, or a loaf. Bake at 400 degrees  for 10-15 minutes for smaller batches of rolls or pizza base. My loaves generally take 20-25. I set a timer at 20 and eye ball it. 

Sexy Chicken! You dirty bird. And getting ready for the week!

I know, that was foul. Yeah, I went there. 

Every Sunday I prepare for the week. I like to get a whole chicken in the oven or crock, and bread made for the week. My husbands lunch staple it a rotisserie chicken sandwich. All home-made of course, along with his granola bar, and some other baked goodie. It seems a lot to do, but bread is super easy when you are using my quick bread, and in oven rotisserie.

It's all in the timing. I like to get the chicken in  first thing in the morning. That way it's said and done, and if I don't cook another thing all day... there's dinner done too!

 So you wonder why I call it Sexy chicken... well it's mainly how he went into the oven. I decided to remove all the skin for the hubby so I can get it super crispy all the way around.  Well, after I skinned the thing Mr. Chicken was a bit all over the place. Every time I put him in his pan his legs would flop open and over the sides. I didn't have any roasting tie to bind the legs and arms, but that's OK, it would have been a little too Shades Of Grey. There was still a lot of poking and rubbing to come. So the only way I could contain him  was pose him seductively like a man on a bear skin rug. Or Stan Lee on a couch. 

There you go. Stan Lee on couch.

It was a risk taking the skin off because you do run the risk of it being slightly drier. But the rotisserie rub created an all around crispy shell. Pretty cool. I prefer the skin on for a more sticky rotisserie taste.

Original recipe makes 2 whole (4 pound) chickens

Sticky Rotisserie Chicken

• 4 teaspoons salt


• 2 teaspoons paprika


• 1 teaspoon onion powder


• 1 teaspoon dried thyme


• 1 teaspoon white pepper


• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper


• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper


• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder


• 2 onions, quartered


• 2 (4 pound) whole chickens

Mix all your spices in a small bowl to make the rub. Wash and pat dry your chicken. Stuff your onions in the body cavity. Rub mix over entire body. Not you the chicken.  Place in roasting pan, bake at 250 degrees for 5 hours uncovered.

*Tip: The local grocery store actual prepares their chicken 24 hours ahead! Rub your mix on your chickens and place in an air tight plastic container over night in the refrigerator. The spices react with the skin to really create that super stickiness! *NOM NOM* 

If you did your chicken in the morning, you now have the afternoon to play,  make bread and treats.

The 'go to' bread I make is so diverse. It can be used for rolls and pizza dough :-) I use half of this recipe to make 2 pizzas. But to do sandwich rolls and pizza use full amounts.

• 2 ½ C warm water


• 6 Tbsp sugar


• 3 Tbsp yeast


• 2 Tbsp oil


• 6 C flour (can use white or whole wheal)


• 2 tsp salt


• 1 tsp baking powder

Stir water, yeast, sugar and oil together. Leave for 5 minutes until it becomes frothy on top. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Knead. Roll out if making a pizza base or shape for use as buns / bread / loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Keep your eye on it, times will differ for rolls and pizza dough. My pizza base took about 15 minutes. If you are making bread or rolls paint the tops with butter when they come out of the oven, delish!


Before it went into the oven I rubbed them down with chopped garlic.


The pizza bases came out so puffy, and the garlic looked delish! I am thinking Naan Bread!!!!


All done! I had a white pizza with chicken, and the hubby had a traditional pepperoni pizza.

Now you have had your lunch. *NOM NOM* If you are not in a coma, or have made a mess by now time to kick out the granola bars. A favorite in our house. I bought a dented can of pumpkin awhile back for 64 cents.  I figured now would be a great time to try it! I have never used canned pumpkin, or tasted, and I hate pumpkin pie. But pumpkin spice lattes are my crack... I know I'm an odd cookie huh? So searching around I found a few recipes, so as usual I smashed them all together to make this:

The are so fun to wrap up in wax paper to add to lunches.

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats


• 1 tsp. cinnamon


• 1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice


• 1/4 tsp. salt


• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree


• 1/3 cup agave nectar


• 3 tbsp. maple syrup (I did not have so I used some more agave, and added a tsp. of maple extract.)


• 1 tsp. vanilla


• 1/3 cup almonds, roughly chopped (I don't use nuts because I feed these to young ones)


• 1/3 chocolate chips, Dark chocolate is a wonderful complement


• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

I like to mix all my ingredients together BEFORE I add oats, nuts, chocolate, and cranberries. I like to use the whisk attachment on my mixer first. Really whip it up so it's blended and you have a nice glue for your bars! I change to the paddle attachment and fold in the oats, I do it slowly because I don't want my oats pulverized. Then slowly fold in your mix-in's . If you like your bars loaded with everything keep an eye on the mixture. Too dry and they wont stay as a bar. You can drizzle in more agave if needed.  Press into a greased baking pan, or glass dish. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until you have a golden crisp around the edges.  Let cool thoroughly then slice up in the pan, or flip onto the counter. I used a pizza slicer, works like a dream to cut!

♥Enjoy, you have goodies done for the week.♥

Damn You Nutella!

Damn you Nutella! Not cool! Why is there not a warning on you, why didn't some one warn me. Why isn't the FDA putting warnings on this. Is the cashier @Kroger negligent for my sugar induced coma. Will they pay for my rehab. I love hazelnuts, how dare you trick me.

I had to write this down quick all this has just derailed me. I was at the store picking up organic juices, and good things. I saw Kroger does their own Nutella yay! Now I can try it, maybe get my toddler to eat it on bananas. Well of course she will, it's crack!! We got home and smeared some on a banana. Went over nicely, all over the face, hair, arms, and now my two year old is hopped up before nap time. Greeaaaaaaaat. There was no nap that day.

Well stupid me, I did it again, thought I'd treat my toddler to having some pretzels dipped in Nutella... *sigh*. I am such a Nutella newb. Some how it exploded, and I am not talking about the kid. I had it down my shirt, and its on the lap top... I just .. I just can't remember what happened. I think I blacked out and went into Nutella shock. 

So now I must do good... I must use it in a recipe. Then it will be gone! You know whats funny.. after I came out of my coma I googled: Damn you Nutella. Good times, I am glad I am not alone.

There were a lot Nutella brownies, and butter cream  all this will not be helping my sugar shock. So I have taken something as EVIL as Nutella and made it nice again. Well long enough to use it, and get it out of your home:-)

This is the easiest recipe to do. I would replace the milk, use Soy, or almond, unsweetened, just to balance out the sweet.

Use a light whip, or soy whip. 

And marshmallows optional. But after comparing, marshmallows they seem more innocent now ;-)

My next adaption is of course make a granola bar! I am going to use one of my base recipes, and add Nutella, and flax seed to make my conscience lighter.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="487"] Perfectly NOT sugary! A great balance, and NOM NOM![/caption]

Here is my  recipe, along with options and mix in's:

• 2 cups old fashioned oat


• 1 3/4 cups of puffed BROWN rice (or just use 3 3/4 Cups of oats)


• 1/2 cup ground flax*


• 1 tsp of Cinnamon


• 1/2 cup wheat flour


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 2 large bananas (Use ones that are still a bit green, the starch hasn't turned to sugar yet)


• 1/4 Nutella, or store brand version


• 1/4 Agave light nectar* ( or honey, or maple syrup)


• 1tsp of Almond extract*


• 1/2 tsp of Vanilla*


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1 cup of banana chips lightly smashed


• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries*

Mix your dry ingredients, set aside. In a small pan melt your smashed bananas, agave, extracts and Nutella. Use medium low you don't want to burn your mixture. After a minute of a low simmer pour over your dry mixture. Use your mixer on low ( or fold in with spoon) until mixed.  Press into a greased pan of choice. Depending on how thick or thin you want them. Bake on 350 for 20-25 minute depending on thickness.  I did 9x9 glass, and it took 25 minutes, I am also in Colorado high and dry altitude cooking. You just want it slightly browned.  Let cool thoroughly. If you get the urge to flip it, wait 10 more minutes. Thats what my husband says. I have a bad habit of not wanting to wait and I flip the pan onto the rack causing my bars to break. It's a cheap excuse to just eat them.

* there's a lot of stars there for a reason. This recipe is so interchangeable depending on how sweet you want it.  Like I said I just came out of a guilty Nutella coma and had to rectify the situation! You can substitute any of your agave nectar for maple syrup, or honey, or use agave with maple extract instead of almond extract. You can use Vanilla extract only, or add it with maple. It's all yummy. I used almond because I just didn't want the sweet, and  used 1/2 of vanilla, I almost wished I did 1/2 of maple, next time! I also starred flax seed, you can also change this to the new super Chia Seed! Flax does add fat, but still amazing for you. It depends where you want to take it!  You can switch out cranberries for chocolate chips or any kind of nut. I just used what I had on hand. Go "nut's" :-)

For quick snacks you can use your banana chips and dunk in Nutella, place on parchment paper and let set in the refrigerator. It also works with just about everything. Avoid shoes, Cheetos, and already fudge covered cookies, I just don't recommend them no matter how bad you need a sugar rush! I will also be dunking lemon cookies, cinnamon graham crackers and pretzels. That way my toddler cant just suck it all off. 

I was hoping to find a support group, instead I get a Fan Club... No No No... that will not help!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="292"] This guy angered the Nutella nation... probably the best thing you could do with it :-)[/caption]