1. I recently learned that you can make your own almond flour, simply using a coffee grinder!
Yep, that’s a $20 coffee grinder.
The almond flour it produces is nearly as smooth as the flour made using my Vitamix. The coffee grinder can only handle a 1/2 cup of almonds at a time, but it grinds them into flour in seconds!
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2. Of course, the Vitamix still comes in handy if you ruin your husband’s dinner.
Smoothies are an awesome back-up plan when an experimental dinner goes terribly, terribly wrong.
Smoothies, and these cookies, fix everything.
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3. Ever since our recent trip to New York, I’ve been hooked on raw aloe juice shots.
It’s a good thing they sell it by the bottle! I’ve been taking a shot or two each day, and feel more hydrated already. It doesn’t taste great, which is why I prefer the shot-method… at least it’s over quickly that way.
You can read more about the benefits of raw aloe here.
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4. I’ve found myself without a reusable bag on too many occasions this week.
I’m hoping this new bag will remedy that situation. It curls up into a little ball, to fit easily into your purse at all times!
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5. I love it when YOU all share recipes with me!
While visiting my favorite spa this weekend, one of my friends there told me about her adaptation of Paleo Pancakes–> and I made them the very next day! This nutrient-dense version was a total hit for Sunday brunch. Plus, they kept us satisfied for hours!
I’ll be sure to share this new variation soon.
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Reader Feedback: What are you up to this week? Any fun experiments in the kitchen you want to share?
I’ve been loving aloe t
Sorry Ive been loving aloe too. Tip: put it in cap and add lots vanilla Creme stevia and I actually crave not so good!!! Do you know they have an aloe with similar ingredients to candex too:)
I’ll have to check out those Paleo pancakes! They look really great! That is a great tip about making almond flour! If I ever run out, I know I’ll always have almonds on hand!
Definitely try the Paleo Pancakes. I will never make a “normal” pancake again. They’re so good!!
My husband is pretty flexible about what I make for dinner, but there’s no way I could get him to view a smoothie as a meal instead of simply a beverage.
Ha, Austin practically lives off of smoothies when I’m away traveling! It’s a good thing, since he doesn’t do much cooking…
I am always so reluctant to bake anything…I need to get out of the mindset that turning on the oven is a big commitment! I will need to wait a few days though, it’s going to be 103 today
I wonder if these would work in the toaster…now that’s doable!
Definitely too hot to bake!! I’ll share my ice cream recipe for you soon.
I love your paleo pancakes so yes please share the variation soon!
How much nut butter is ok to have in a day? I’ve had about a quarter cup of almond butter with about 4 cups of raw veggies and some steamed asparagus on my monster lunch salad and I made your peanut butter banana smoothie for breakfast. I also ate a trader joe’s dark chocolate lovers bar for lunch dessert. Lunch dessert!!! I also had a can of sardines as a snack…it’s the only animal product I eat…I’m allergic to dairy
I’m properly combining all the food.
I feel good. Full. Happy. Decadent. I roughly checked my calorie count for sanity and I’m at about 1500. Will probably add a few hundred more tonight at dinner. Am I being ridiculous? Can we really eat this way and be thin? If so, you are my hero.
All I can share with you is my experience, but yes, I’ve been at my very thinnest eating nearly a 1/4 cup worth of almond butter a day (often in the form of raw fudge!), along with banana “ice cream” and of course, lots of raw veggies! I think it’s all about context. If you’re eating nuts with plenty of hydrating veggies, in proper combinations, they won’t stick around in the way that they would if you were eating them with a heavy steak and potato dinner.
Okay, so this past week I modified your flourless pb choc chip blondies (since hubby isn’t a huge fan of honey taste), and after a couple of tries I think we have a new household favorite! Here’s what I did:
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup almond meal
I folded in 1/4 cup semi-sweet chips and about 3 oz chopped milk chocolate bar from TJ’s (another hubby preference! The things we do for them…)
mix it all up and follow same directions as your recipe (20 minutes at 350). Although, I think my oven runs a little hot, so I baked mine at 325. OH! and the second time around, I put foil around the pan to cover about 1 inch of the edges because they got a little too crisp (and the center didn’t bake as long as needed). This worked really well.
They turned out great! Yours are wonderful, too, of course–but mine have less honey taste and the almond meal makes it slightly cakier/less dense. They truly fool you into thinking you’re eating a blondie with real flour! Thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you for sharing your variation! It sounds wonderful!!
I found a recipe for pumpkin muffins that could use some tweeking but are delicious nonetheless.
1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter)
6 eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup honey (I used stevia and added about 1/4 cup more pumpkin to compensate for the honey substitute)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder (I used 1/2 tsp. baking soda with a good squeeze of lemon because it apparently activates the yeast to make your baked goods rise instead simply because I didn’t have any baking powder on hand)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of salt
- Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil/earthbalance margarine and heat oven to 400.
- Combine all wet ingredients and mix well in a large bowl.
- Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl and mix well then slowly add to the wet ingredients mixing well.
- Pour batter equally into muffin tray and bake for approx. 20 mins until golden and a toothpick can be poked through through the centre and comes out clean.
(Makes 12)
** Mine were really fluffy, I would probably make them with a tsp. of flax or add pumpkin seed protein powder for a heartier snack and to make them denser.
Also, chopped walnuts and/or dark chocolate chips would be a great addition for next time I think.
I can’t wait to try making some grain-free pumpkin muffins! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome, I hope you enjoy them! I made a batch of pumpkin cookies tonight that is pretty much that same recipe and I realized they’re probably fluffy because I used coconut flour and I’ll bet they’d be denser if you used almond flour. I don’t mind them fluffy but the main reason I use coconut flour is because my workplace is nut free and i wanted to take the muffins in for snacks but I’m sure they’d be delicious with almond flour too!
Ooooo I’m excited for the recipe! Also, thanks for sharing your tip about the almond flour! Good to know