Be forewarned. These sea salt chocolate caramel candies are sinfully delicious!! They take 15 minutes to make from start to finish, and the recipe is super kid friendly. But I need to warn you that these “caramels” are totally addicting, but in a good way. …
My passion for foraging wild foods has also helped me to come around to the idea that eating crickets for protein is a totally natural thing to do. And after watching enough episodes of Naked and Afraid where people eat every little thing that moves to stay alive, the idea of eating dried ground up crickets started to seem pretty tame. So I reached out to the guys at Cricket Flours based in Portland Oregon for more info on their USA raised cricket flour. While adding crickets to the dinner plate is a relatively new concept in American cooking, many cultures around the world include crickets and other insects in their everyday diets….
I am so excited to share this Chocolate Fig Walnut Muffin from Megan Steven’s new cookbook “Eat Beautiful: Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, and Loving it” with you!
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This Chicken “Lo Mein” or “Subgum” Chow Mein is just as addicting and crave-worthy as the msg laden stuff I used to love as a child. And oh, I loved Chinese food as a kid. On the special occasion nights that we got take out my mom would have to go through the drive through for my little sister’s plain hamburger no sauce and fries and then dart across the street for my Chinese food special #5 that came with subgum chicken chow mein (or low mein), sweet and sour chicken, hot and sour soup, and egg rolls. It’s no wonder I have dedicated so much of my blog to recreating these Chinese food favorites, as they became my favorite “comfort foods” at such a young age. I now prefer my grain-free, paleo versions to the “fast food” served in many Chinese restaurants these days too! Let’s face it high quality pasture raised meats, organic veggies, and soy-free meals taste so much better and make ya feel better too.
If you are a fan of Chinese take-out and want to try my paleo, low carb versions, be sure to check out my recipes for: Sweet and Sour Chicken, Paleo Egg Rolls, and Hot and Sour Soup.
Make your own Low Carb + Paleo Chinese Dinner Special #5 with my recipes for Sweet and Sour Chicken, Paleo Egg Rolls, Hot and Sour Soup. and Chicken Chow Mein (below) ! …
This drink is my secret weapon to starting the day off right! I drink my home roasted “detox coffee” (recipe below) everyday and most mornings I make it into this frappucino drink. If you use 3 medjool dates to sweeten it then it can literally stand against the regular frappucino in flavor and consistency. But it also tastes amazing without any added sugar. If you add the optional cacao, then I suggest adding a sweetener to balance the bitter chocolate. This detox coffee has a natural sweetness in it so if you don’t add cacao you honestly don’t need to add sweetener of any kind. And I found with the added carob powder no sweetener was needed. I vary this drink recipe depending on how many calories I feel like I need to start the day. You can easily do a “bullet proof” version by adding in a Tablespoon of MCT oil, and using stevia to sweeten.
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How to harvest Wild Plum Pit “Nuts” and feature them in a delicious summer salad!
This salad reminds me of mountain range. It starts off with a peak of fresh summer lettuce greens tossed in a a floral vinaigrette made from cherry pits and white wine vinegar that seriously tastes like cherry blossoms, mix in sliced wild plums, crisp cucumber, radishes, wild huckleberries, toasted wild plum pit “nuts”, finally crumble on a little goat cheese to cascade down like snow. This is my theme salad for this summer. We eat variations of this salad many times a week….
I love using other fruits to replace tomatoes as it eliminates the need for adding extra sugars. When you read the label on a bottle of ketchup you will find: tomato paste, corn syrup or sugar, water, vinegar, dried onion, allspice, cloves. So I just cut out the tomatoes and added sugars and use plums in their place. The additional flavors of allspice and cloves bring it all home. I love using this ketchup as a dipping sauce for my kohlrabi fritters and cream puffs, and for my sesame chicken recipe. It also goes great over my bison meatloaf recipe.
I had to quit tomatoes 5 years ago while on the SCD intro diet when I experienced a ton of inflammation after having cut them out for a few weeks and later re-introducing them. Since then, I have been looking for the perfect ketchup replacement. Over the years I have come up with tomato-free Cherry BBQ Sauce, Huckleberry BBQ Sauce, and Strawberry Balsamic Pizza Sauce (all of these recipes are in my cookbook), and finally I can say I have a Ketchup that is just as good, and I think even better than the real thing! If you are looking for homemade mustard, mayo, and bbq sauces that are SCD, starch-free, and night-shade free, check out my cookbook.
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One of my favorite things about British Columbia Canada is that I was able to find kohlrabi in every market and grocery store I shopped in! And while visiting our neighbors to the north I got to enjoy some of the biggest and most delicious kohlrabi I have ever had in my life! I even stocked up our cooler full of kohlrabi to bring back home with us, which made for interesting conversation at the US Border when I had to declare my cooler full of kohlrabi. Made me wonder, how many other people are smuggling kohlrabi across the border!??
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Kohlrabi is pretty much my favorite veggie. I describe them tasting like a “German Potato” which means they have a richer taste yet can stand in for potatoes in many recipes, though not all. I love the way kohlrabi works in these fritters! The autoimmune disease I have makes my body really sensitive to starches, and I love how kohlrabi is super low in starch, and also low in carbs too. And it is so easy on my gut. I don’t do well with cauliflower at all unfortunately, so kohlrabi is my veggie of choice for paleo-tizing things like fritters, breakfast potatoes, etc. If you are looking for an even cheesier cream puff like fritter, check out my other recipe here.
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This recipe was inspired by our three day stay in Polebridge, Montana last week. Can I just tell you I loved everything about Polebridge! Tucked away in the northwest corner of Montana, just 22 miles south of the Canadian border, and on the western edge of Glacier National Park, you will find this great little gem of a town.
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The folks at Steve’s Paleo Goods sent me some super yummy samples to try last week. After trying the apple pie granola and maple mustard dressing, I instantly became a fan. This stuff is actually reall good!! These are the foods you dream of eating when on a road trip or airplane flight. Going forward I am definitely stocking some of their goodies in my pantry so I am always prepared for a last minute trip, or even a simple quick snack at home. Their is nothing worse then traveling all day and arriving somewhere exhausted and starving with zero options for foods that won’t make you feel sick, you know? Steve’s also has a great selection of paleo snacks like their jerky & dried fruit kits, a paleo krunch bacon bar, seriously awesome salad dressings and sauces, and more goodies.
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This has been by go-to donut recipe for a while now! And I never tire of it. Recently I changed it up by using Lankanto as the sweetener, but they taste just as amazing with honey if you’d rather use that.
For the past eight months I have been using erythritol in my diet on occasion, and I have had no bad reactions to it whatsoever. Is it too good to be true that I found a sweet tasting zero calorie sweetener with no side effects? We will have to wait and see! But so far 8 months in, I have no complaints. I have read it can cause IBS for some, so feel free to use any other sweetener you’d like in this recipe, including sweet divine honey or maple syrup. The Now Brand erythritol I buy is a fermented sugar alcohol made from Non-GMO corn.
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I can’t sing high enough praises for how much I appreciate having roasted dandelion root coffee (also referred to as tea) in my life! I have recently starting making my own fresh roasted dandelion coffee every day, and it is resonating with me so well! The dandelion coffee I am making is rich, full bodied, and has a natural sweetness with hints of caramel, without any sugars added. It doesn’t taste exactly like coffee, and that is okay, because I now like it so much more than coffee.
And here is how I got turned on to it. For the past few years I was a fan of Dandy Blend, which is a coffee substitute made with dandelion root, chicory, and a few other ingredients that are processed, freeze dried and turned into a powder that makes a pretty decent instant latte, without any actual coffee in it. But I had run out of Dandy Blend and thought maybe I finally would try making my own dandelion coffee. And oh my, was I missing out!! And while I liked the taste of Dandy Blend, I wasn’t experiencing any of the amazing health benefits like I get from roasting the root myself.
After my first glass of fresh roasted dandelion root coffee I was hooked. And I started to crave it! And I noticed that my body, mind and spirit were feeling especially energized after a week of drinking it. So I went on the internet to read more about this elixir I was making. And I found pages, and pages of stories, studies, and testimonies of extraordinary things that happened when people drank dandelion root tea! Initially I started drinking dandelion root coffee purely for the sake of having a tasty beverage as I can no longer tolerate coffee. I wasn’t expecting any added health benefits from my home brewed dandelion lattes. But I was experiencing benefits, no doubt about that! Below are just a few of the amazing things I have recently discovered about dandelion root tea!…
This granola is now my top favorite use for the leftover nut pulp you get after making a fresh batch of nut milk! The nut pulp creates a light and crunchy granola. It’s perfect for guilt free, grain free snacking. I sell high quality 100% nylon mesh bags, made here in the USA, on my website for $10 each (free shipping!) so you can make batch after batch of fresh almond, walnut, or hazelnut milk, and then also have an endless supply of nut pulp to make this granola. I love pure + simple recipes like this, where nothing goes to waste and the whole family can enjoy them.
This recipe was inspired by a photo Alicia took of the honey nut granola she made from a recipe in the cookbook, A Place to Start Without Sugar or Starch, which I haven’t actually read yet myself. She shared the photo in our Low/No Starch Diet for Ankylosing Spondylitis on Facebook. And I was like, awesome! A granola made from nut milk pulp! Brilliant. I created my own version below. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Feel free to use the pulp from any nuts. Almonds seem to yield the most pulp. You can also use walnut, hazelnut, or another nut that you prefer….
I have always enjoyed including this in my cooking & un-cooking classes, as it never ceases to amaze people. I also love chocolate, especially dark raw cacao when it forms a crunchy magic shell over my refreshing anti-oxidant loaded energizing desserts. Be sure to make this Instant Ice Cream so you can try out this Magic Shell!…
