Jambalaya

 Jambalaya is one of those things that you pretty much need rice for.  I'd tried making a paleo jambalaya recipe, but without rice it was more like jambalaya soup.  So, I thought I'd have to give up this tasty Cajun dish, until I discovered that Jovial (who makes pasta noodles based on cassava flour) makes an orzo (pasta in the size and shape of rice grains).  It turns out that this does a pretty good job of soaking up the liquid, so I've started keeping a couple of boxes of their orzo on-hand.  (As always, any name brands, links, or other such information are only provided for informational purposes, and I do not receive any money or other consideration for such endorsements or mentions.)

Ingredients

• 1 to 2 pounds of cooked meat (I often use a mix of ham, chicken, and andouille sausage - I tried making it with shrimp, and it was good, but the leftovers were overwhelmingly "shrimpy")
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 3/4 cup diced green pepper (try to make the onion, celery, and green pepper pieces all about the same size)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small (14oz.) can crushed tomatoes (about a cup and a half)
• 3 to 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 box Jovial grain-free orzo
• 2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more or less, depending on how you like the heat)

Instructions

1. Make sure all your meat is cooked beforehand (unless you're using shrimp).
2. In a large pot, heat the cooking oil on medium heat.
3. Add the onion, celery, and green pepper and heat, stirring, until the onions are waxy/translucent and the other vegetables are "tender-crisp".
4. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds.
5. Add the crushed tomatoes, 2 cups of the broth, orzo, and spices.
6. Cook for 25 minutes, stirring every five minutes, and adding more broth as necessary.  If you're going to add shrimp, add it about 5-10 minutes before the end of this time.
7. Add the meat, stir in, and cook another 5 minutes or so.
8. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

This jambalaya should be fairly thick at the end.  Leftovers will thicken up in the fridge even more overnight.

Christmas Cake Part Two - The Main Event

Okay, we've made our candied orange peel.  We've resisted snacking on more than two or three (or four... or five...) pieces.  We're ready to make some Christmas cake!

Ingredients

• About 750 grams (1.5 pounds) assorted dried fruits - I used candied orange peel (diced), sultana raisins, Thompson raisins, yellow raisins, currants, prunes, dried cranberries (sweetened with apple juice), dried cherries, dried apricots, apple chips (smashed into crumbs), diced dried mango, and dried pineapple
• 175g coconut oil
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup orange juice plus 1/2 cup pineapple juice (you can substitute water for either/both, but you'll lose a bit of flavour)
• 1 jar St Dalfour no-added-sugar orange marmalade (or 200g of other NSA marmalade)
• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 3 eggs

Instructions

1. Combine all the dried fruit, the coconut oil, coconut sugar, juice/water, and marmalade in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring up to a simmer and keep it there for about 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool for 30 minutes.
2. While that's cooling, preheat the oven to 300F and line your springform cake tin with parchment paper.
3. Once the fruit mixture has cooled, mix in the almond flour, cinnamon, and ginger.  Then beat in your eggs.
4. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 60 to 80 minutes.  Mine was done at 70 minutes.
5. Leave to cool completely in the cake tin.

FYI, it seems this cake slices easier when fridge-cold.  At room temperature it's pretty crumbly.  But still tasty.

Christmas Cake Part One - Candied Orange Peel

We already make the Christmas Cake Muffins on a regular basis, and I find them very tasty indeed.  But, with the holiday season fast approaching, I wanted more...  But first, to make it authentic, I needed candied orange peel.

Fortunately, the Internet delivered, with this recipe which I will repeat here with my own notes.

Ingredients

• A sauce pan of water
• Two navel oranges with thick skin (this also works well with lemon peel replacing part of the orange peel)
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup water

Instructions

1. Carefully score and remove the peel from the oranges in sections, then cut it all into thin strips about 0.5cm (1/4") wide.
2. Boil all of the peel in the saucepan full of water for at least twenty minutes.
3. Drain the peel well in a colander.
4. In a saucepan, combine one cup honey and one cup water.
5. Bring the honey/water mixture to a boil, stirring frequently to make sure they're well-mixed.
6. Reduce heat and boil for ten minutes, continuing to stir frequently.  You're making a syrup here, trying to boil off some of the water.  Be VERY careful not to splash any of this on you.
7. Add all of the orange peel to the hot syrup in the pan, mix well, reduce heat to low.
8. Simmer for about 45 minutes.  Stir occasionally, but more frequently as you near the end of the cooking time.  Keep a VERY close eye on it as it nears the end of the 45 minutes, it's easy to scorch it.
9. Remove to parchment paper to cool for 10 minutes.  Try to get the strips teased out into individual pieces, rather than having one big clump.

Now you can eat them as-is, dip them in melted chocolate, or use them in cooking.  Stay tuned for the recipe I used these in!

Chocolate pie

Ever since I was young, chocolate pie has been one of my favourite desserts.  Kind of hard to achieve that in paleo, right?  Well, maybe not...

A while back, I'd found a six-pack of canned coconut cream at our local Costco.  It sat in the pantry for a bit while I tried to figure out what to do with it, until I found this recipe.  I've tweaked it just a bit, and I use this pie crust rather than the one in the chocolate pie recipe - Mrs. Caveman said the result was like eating "chocolate pudding on shortbread", I just called it delicious.  I'm out of coconut cream now, I guess I need to make another Costco run soon!

Ingredients

• 2 x 13 ounce cans coconut cream (not coconut milk)
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp chocolate stevia
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• dash of salt

Instructions

1. Prepare a pie crust, bake it, and allow it to cool completely.
2. Open both cans of coconut cream, drain off the clear fluid (and discard), and put the coconut cream into a mixing bowl.
3. Cream the coconut cream well with a whisk.
4. Sift in the cocoa powder.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients, whisking well.
6. Transfer into the cooled pie crust.
7. Put the whole thing into the fridge for a couple of hours.
8. Serve.

Three notes:

1. For a touch of class, top with grated chocolate.

2. This is a pretty rich pie.  That's not a complaint, just a statement of fact.

3.  Keep the leftovers in the fridge, covered with foil so it doesn't dry out.

An Amazing Deep-dish Pizza!

Okay, not really paleo if you're putting cheese on it, but I promise not to judge...  Anyway, this turns out pretty amazing for a paleo deep-dish pizza, and I really recommend it!  Original recipe was here, I've just tweaked the instructions to make them (hopefully) clearer.

Ingredients

• 2 cups tapioca flour (tapioca starch)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp "Italian Seasoning Blend" dry herb mix
• 1 cup just-boiled water
• 1 Tbsp bacon grease or other high-smoke-point fat
• Whatever you want to put on your pizza...

Instructions

1. Place a 12-inch cast iron skillet in the oven on the middle rack.  Set the oven to preheat to 425F.  Once the oven has preheated, leave the skillet in the oven for at least 10 minutes.
2. While the oven is preheating, put a kettle on to boil (for the boiling water).
3. In a stand mixer or other suitable "implement of mass blending" (see note below) place the tapioca flour/starch, coconut flour, eggs, salt, "Italian Seasoning Blend", and olive oil.  Mix or blend until combined, then pour in the cup of just-boiled water while it continues to mix/blend.
4. Wait at least 10 minutes, basically until the oven is preheated and the skillet is good and hot.
5. Remove the skillet from the oven, add the tablespoon of fat, let it melt, and swirl it around in the pan to coat evenly.
6. Put the dough into the hot skillet (carefully!) - I use a spatula to spoon it in as "lumps" of dough, then smoosh/smooth them around until it's a fairly even layer coating the entire bottom of the pan, up to the side walls.
7. Place the skillet with the dough into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
8. Remove it from the oven, dress it, and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.  (I sometimes switch the oven to "broil" for the last couple of minutes, if the cheese isn't quite browned enough for my liking.)
9. Let it sit for ten minutes (because, well, lava-cheese!).
10. Eat!!!

Note: the dough gets pretty thick, do NOT use a wimpy mini blender or small food processor unit.  Go big or go home!

And hey, how about a picture?

Peach Cobbler

This recipe is based on Danielle Walker's Against All Grain, where it can be found in her Celebrations cookbook - I've only made a couple of tweaks.  My father has specifically requested we make this a time or two for family gatherings - I think he likes it.  We do too.

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1.5 to 2 bags frozen(*) peach slices (about 600g each, about 2 to 3 pounds total)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup cashew butter
• 1/4 cup arrowroot flour
• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp coconut flour
• 1/4 cup palm sugar (coconut sugar)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup canned coconut milk (shake well first)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375F
2. Put the coconut oil in a deep baking dish or dutch oven, and place it in the oven to heat up.
3. In a saucepan, combine the frozen peaches, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
4. Bring the peaches etc. to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cashew butter, arrowroot flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, and coconut milk.  Mix until well-combined.
6. When the peaches and spices have simmered for 10 minutes, take the baking dish out of the oven, and CAREFULLY pour the peach mixture in.  The coconut oil will be hot, so it will make quite a lot of noise and could splash up a bit -- use care in this step.
7. Once things have calmed down in the baking dish, spoon the batter over top, trying to get an even layer covering all of the peach mixture.
8. Bake for 40 minutes or so, until the top is nice and brown.
9. Serve warm.

(*) = I'm a huge fan of Alton Brown's.  He recommends using frozen peaches for this sort of thing, because the freezing process ruptures some of the cell walls and releases more juice during cooking.  I'd have to agree.

Low-carb Mac and Cheese (not Paleo though)

Disclosure: This post contains links to companies.  I do not receive money, or other consideration from these companies, and the links are provided for your convenience only.  These links should not be considered as endorsements of the linked companies or their products.

Hey, do you know about shirataki noodles?  Also known as yam noodles, these are zero-calorie, zero-carb noodles that have come on the market in the last few years.

At least one manufacturer, Miracle Noodles, has come out with ziti-style noodles.  (There might be more from other manufacturers; we buy ours from Low Carb Grocery.)

Anyway, it's been so cold lately that I got inspired to use the ziti-style noodles to make up a big batch of home-style macaroni and cheese, while keeping it as low-carb as possible.  It's not paleo because of the milk and cheese.  Here's how I did it.

Ingredients

• 3 slices thick-cut bacon (the thicker the better!) cut into "lardons"
• 4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) salted butter
• 4 Tbsp arrowroot powder
• 2 cups milk (I used 2% fat)
• 0.5 tsp white pepper
• 0.5 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp powdered mustard
• 1 egg yolk (optional)
• 6 packages ziti-style shirataki noodles
• 4 cups shredded cheese (you can use one of those packaged blends from the store, or shred a bunch yourself - mix it up with cheddar, Parmesan, mozzarella, Gruyere, Swiss, and so on), divided into two portions of two cups each

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.
2. Cook the bacon lardons and reserve them.  Keep the rendered fat for something else yummy - you won't need it for this recipe.
3. Drain the ziti-style shirataki noodles in your sink and rinse with cold water.  Then boil them for two minutes, and drain well.
4. In a sauce pan, melt the butter, and add the arrowroot powder to form a roux.  Cook the roux for a few seconds to let it brown up just a bit.
5. While constantly stirring the roux, add in the milk.
6. Heat the mixture, constantly stirring, until it thickens.  Stir in the white pepper, nutmeg, and powdered mustard.  (You've just made a bechamel sauce!)
7. (Optional step!)  If you want, you can add an egg yolk to further thicken it.  Mix up the egg yolk in a bowl, and stir in a bit of the bechamel sauce to warm it, then stir the whole thing back into the sauce.  (If you just dump the egg yolk into the hot sauce, you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your sauce...)  I've made this both ways, and it turns out fine with or without the yolk.
8. Add in 2 cups shredded cheese mixture, remove the sauce pan from the heat, and stir to combine.  (You don't want to keep heating the arrowroot mixture, or it will eventually, um, "unthicken".)
9. When the cheese is melted into the sauce, combine your cheesy sauce with the noodles and cooked bacon lardons and put the whole thing into an oven-safe dish, such as a 9x13 pan.
10. Smooth it out and top evenly with the rest of the shredded cheese.
11. Put it in the oven for 20 minutes.  If you want you can broil it for the last minute or so to crisp up the cheese on top, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!
12. I recommend you let it sit for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven - that cheese will be lava-hot!
13. Enjoy!

Incredibly rich chocolate buttercream frosting

I think I've come up with a frosting to accompany that orange cake recipe I published the other day.  A word of warning though - this is incredibly rich and decadent, and of course not exactly "hard core paleo" given that it's made with butter.  But the orange cake accompanies this frosting quite nicely, and I think I'll be looking for occasions to make this in the future.  The recipe is based off of this one, but I've altered the sweeteners a bit.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, salted
• 1/2 cup erythritol
• 1/2 cup "spoonable" stevia
• 2/3 cup good-quality cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp chocolate stevia liquid

Instructions

1. Cream the butter in a stand mixer (or use a bowl and a hand mixer).
2. Add in the erythritol, spoonable stevia, and cocoa powder, and combine well.
3. Add the almond milk slowly, making sure it's combined well with the mixture.
4. Blend in the vanilla extract and liquid stevia.
5. Ice your cake!

Orange Cake - Odd, yet delicious

I ran into this recipe for Orange Cake a while ago over on Elana's Pantry, and finally tried making it the other day.  It's very good, but cries out for a decent paleo chocolate icing to accompany it.  I'm researching options there...

Ingredients

• 2 small oranges, seedless variety
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 0.75 cups honey
• 2 cups almond flour
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Wash the oranges well, and remove the produce stickers if present.
2. Boil the oranges (yes, whole) in a pot full of water for about 90 minutes, until nice and soft, then let them cool.
3. Preheat an oven to 375F.
4. Process the oranges in a food processor until nice and smooth.
5. Gradually add all of the other ingredients, "pulsing" the food processor to combine.
6. Grease a 9 inch cake pan (okay, I used an 8 inch pan - still worked just fine).
7. Pour all the batter into the pan.
8. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the proverbial toothpick comes out clean.
9. Allow to cool for at least a couple of hours in the pan.
10. (Still to come) Ice your cake with a nice paleo chocolate frosting...

Sous vide apples

A slightly different treat today - I'm marrying one of the "new" cooking techniques (sous vide, literally "under vacuum") with the oldest diet on Earth!  I have a couple of different sous vide rigs - a Dorkfood DSV (that turns your crockpot into a sous vide rig) and an Anova immersion circulator.  (As usual, I receive NO compensation or dispensation from anyone I may link to - I paid for both of these, fair and square.)

Sous vide cooking is pretty simple, really - you put food and seasonings in a food-safe plastic bag, remove all of the air (or at least as much as you can), and immerse it in water that's at the temperature you want the food to be at and leave it there until it's at the correct temperature, through and through.

In this case, we're doing apple slices with cinnamon, butter, and honey - it goes great in a bowl on its own, but if you can find some paleo-friendly ice cream (I've had some coconut ice cream that wasn't bad), it would be AMAZING...

Ingredients

• Four apples (I use Granny Smith)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp honey (or use "spoonable stevia" or some other paleo-friendly sweetener)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Set your sous vide rig to 85C / 185F.
2. Peel, core, and section the apples.
3. Put all of the ingredients into a food-safe plastic pouch (like a Zip-loc(tm) bag) and shake well to distribute everything evenly.
4. Remove as much of the air as you can from the bag (one of the best ways to do this is to put the bag under water, *almost* to the lip, and then zip it closed) - or if you've got your own vacuum sealer, go nuts!  Try to make sure that the apple slices are in a single layer to help speed the cooking.
5. Immerse in the water bath and leave it there for 30 to 40 minutes.
6. Serve and enjoy!

Banana bread with chocolate chips

And our second banana-themed Christmas treat posting for the day comes courtesy of Danielle Walker over at Against All Grain again - this recipe is from her first cookbook, appropriately titled "Against All Grain - Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well and Feel Great".

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 4 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 0.5 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 0.5 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 0.25 cup almond flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 cup canned coconut milk
• 3 large ripe bananas
• 0.25 cup chocolate chips (again, Krisda brand is made with stevia)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Grease a loaf pan (8.5 x 4.5) and cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom.  Don't forget to put the parchment paper into the pan!  
3. Combine the coconut oil, eggs, honey, vanilla, and vinegar in a stand mixer and beat on high for 30 seconds.
4. Combine the coconut flour, almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt in another bowl, and then gradually add it to the liquid in the stand mixer while the beater is mixing.  Continue to mix until well-combined.
5. In yet another bowl, mash the coconut milk and bananas together until it's well-combined and sort of looks like baby food.
6. Add this coconut-banana concoction to the rest of the batter while the beater is on medium.  Continue mixing until well-combined.
7. Add in the chocolate chips and let it beat for a little longer until the chips are dispersed throughout the batter.
8. Dump the whole thing into your loaf pan and bake for around 40 to 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven, let it cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes, and then put on a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Squares

Okay, only got one post out yesterday rather than the promised two...  So let's see if we can get caught up today, with a pair of banana-themed recipes.  (Because nothing says "paleo" like bananas, right?)

First up, these chocolate banana squares!

Ingredients for Squares

• 2 large REALLY ripe bananas - more brown than yellow, ideally
• 0.5 cup crunchy-type almond butter
• 3 eggs
• 0.25 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 Tbsp coconut flour
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 0.25 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (Krisda brand is sweetened with stevia)

Ingredients for Topping

• 1 ounce dark chocolate (as always, the darker the better! 😊)
• 0.5 Tbsp palm shortening (or butter)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Grease a 9x13 pan with coconut oil (probably not the healthiest option, but I use the spray stuff)
3. Peel the bananas, and mush 'em up real good.
4. Combine the banana mush with the rest of the square ingredients, except the chocolate chips.  Mix well until it's a consistent batter.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips, mix thoroughly.
6. Dump the whole thing into your greased-up pan, and spread evenly in the pan
7. Bake for about 18 minutes.
8. Let cool, and cut into squares.
9. Put the squares side-by-side on a piece of parchment for this next bit.
10. Melt the topping ingredients together in the top of a double boiler, and mix well until thoroughly combined.
11. Drizzle the melted topping over the squares.
12. Let stand until the topping has hardened.

Cherry Bakewell Squares

Well, it didn't take too long to blow through my "a recipe every day" statement, did it?  So we'll post two today to try to catch up.  😀

First up, Cherry Bakewell squares.  I first discovered Cherry Bakewells in tart form during a trip to the UK about 10 years ago.  They're not, in my experience, particularly common in North America, although a "British Foods" store near me (which closed this year, sadly), used to sometimes get in the "Mister Kiplings" brand at this time of year.

This recipe does a good job of combining the sweet cherry jam center, almond topping, and a decent pastry, while still managing to remain paleo - and they disappear fast around here!

Ingredients - Jam

• 1 bag frozen cherries (about 600g)
• 0.5 cup water
• 0.25 cup honey
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot, mixed with just enough water to form a slurry

Instructions - Jam

1. Put everything but the arrowroot in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, and allow to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. When it's slightly thickened and somewhat syrupy, stir in the arrowroot slurry and it should thicken up even more very quickly.
3. Remove from heat and let cool.

Ingredients - Crust

• 1.5 cups almond flour
• 0.5 cup coconut flour, sifted to remove lumps
• a pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 0.25 cup coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp honey

Instructions - Crust

1. Preheat your oven to 325F.
2. Put a piece of parchment paper in an 8x8 baking pan so it comes over the top on all sides - it's how you'll lift the completed dessert from the pan.
3. Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour the dough into the parchment-lined pan and pat down evenly right into the corners.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.

Ingredients - Topping

• 1.75 cups almond flour
• 0.33 cup coconut oil, melted (but not too hot...)
• 0.33 cup honey
• 3 room-temperature eggs, lightly beaten
• sliced almonds

Instructions - Topping

1. Basically, combine everything into a bowl and stir well.

Instructions - Assembly

1. Remove that crust from the oven and make sure it's done.
2. Increase the oven temperature to 350F.
3. Pour the jam over the crust and spread it out evenly to cover the crust.
4. Pour the topping over the jam and carefully spread it out evenly to cover the jam, being careful not to stir things up too much.
5. Top with some sliced almonds.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Let it cool, lift out using the parchment paper, place it on a cutting board, and cut into squares.

Edit: A picture!

Twelve(ish) days of Treats! A short(bread) introduction...

Christmas is coming, and it can be a tough time of the year to be paleo - so many wonderful treats, all laden with refined sugar and white flour, seemingly await you around every corner!  Well, I'm going to see if I can help you get through the season with your diet (relatively) intact - over the next ten days I'll be posting recipes for various seasonal treats.  And don't forget, I've previously posted this yummy recipe for Christmas muffins too!

These are still "treats" though - some of the recipes will use a fair amount of dried fruit and/or paleo friendly sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup, so they should still be eaten in moderation...

Now that that's been said, let's get baking!  Today we'll be making paleo "shortbread" cookies, courtesy of Danielle Walker (author of three "Against All Grains" cookbooks)

Ingredients

• 2.25 cups almond flour
• 0.25 cup arrowroot flour
• 0.25 tsp salt
• 0.25 cup maple syrup
• 0.5 cup palm shortening (I usually find mine at "Whole Foods" stores in the US, but can't seem to find a reliable source in Canada)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Combine the almond flour, arrowroot flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, and affix the paddle attachment to the mixer.
4. Add in the maple syrup and mix until well-combined.
5. Drop the palm shortening in one tablespoon at a time while the mixer is running, allowing each to combine fully before you drop in the next tablespoon-full.
6. Process until the dough forms a crumbly ball.
7. Roll the dough ball out between two sheets of parchment paper to 0.5 inches (about 1 cm) thickness.
8. Cut the rolled dough into 1" by 3" rectangles and place these rectangles on the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving a bit of space between each rectangle.  You can poke small holes in the top of each rectangle to make it look more like "real" shortbread if you want.
9. Bake for around 12 minutes, until the edges are looking nicely browned.
10. Allow to cool, and store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Review - Siete Foods tortillas

NOTE - As always, I have received no remuneration, compensation, or other considerations from the vendor(s) named herein.  I'm doing this all on my own, folks!

One of the minor inconveniences about paleo has always been the lack of a decent wrap or flatbread for fajitas and the like.  Julian Bakery makes(*) a coconut wrap but it tastes, well, like coconut.  And, since I do love a good fajita now and then (or more often, if I can get it), I'd been almost resigned to figuring out how to make my own (although most of the recipes out there look to be too "egg-y" for my liking).  Now, that's changed.

These aren't (as far as I know) available in Canada, but on a recent road trip to Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, we purchased four packages of Siete Foods' tortillas at the local Whole Foods - two each of the Almond Flour and the Cassava and Coconut.  We've now tried a package of each, and the verdict is: delicious!  We did find the Cassava and Coconut ones tear rather easily, and I think I prefer the taste of the Almond Flour ones by a thin margin, but both are entirely adequate for my purposes!  Two thumbs up!

* = Or maybe not any more?  I can't find the wraps listed on their web page now, although you can see "wraps" on the left menu of their main home page.

Pie crust

I'd previously posted this pumpkin pie recipe, but it was crustless because I wasn't happy with the crusts I'd tried, which were mostly based on almond flour and tended to be dry and not particularly pie-like.  Well that's changed - I made this crust this past weekend as part of my preparations for Canadian Thanksgiving, and it worked perfectly.  And, as a bonus, it's a "push crust", so you don't have to roll it out, just push it into the pan!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (although butter would probably also work!)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 3/4 cup coconut flour

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine everything but the coconut flour, and stir well with a fork until combined.
3. Stir in the coconut flour, and stir well until the dough is combined and holds together.
4. Gather the dough into a ball and push it into a 9" pie plate.  Prick it all over with a fork.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until it starts to brown.  (You may want to use a pie crust shield, both now and when you fill and bake the pie, so the edges don't get overly scorched.)
6. Fill your pie with pumpkin pie filling and bake as appropriate.  (It may take somewhat longer than the original recipe, closer to 40-45 minutes rather than the 30 minutes in the original recipe.)

Paleo Sweet Potato Casserole

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada.  I took this recipe to my family's dinner yesterday - and, to be clear, my family does NOT have a history of eating sweet potatoes.  However, this recipe was a huge hit, and my mother even said I'd be welcome to bring it again for Christmas dinner, so I'd consider it a success!

Ingredients

• 4 medium sweet potatoes, whole
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Prick the skins all over and roast the sweet potatoes in the oven about 45 minutes to an hour, until done.
3. Let the sweet potatoes cool.
4. Preheat the oven back to 350F.
5. Grease a 8" square (or similar) casserole dish with coconut oil.
6. Peel the sweet potatoes and mash them in a big bowl.
7. Add in the maple syrup, egg, spices, and salt.
8. Blend with a hand mixer until smooth.
9. Put the mixture into your greased baking dish and level out the top with a spatula or spoon.
10. Scatter the chopped nuts over top.
11. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until starting to look golden-brown around the edges.
12. Serve immediately, or you can refrigerate it overnight and reheat it the next day.
13. Dig in!

Credit where it's due, I found this originally at http://www.paleonewbie.com/paleo-sweet-potato-casserole/ 

Homemade cranberry sauce

I don't know why I've never done this before, but it tastes AMAZING.  I had a bit more than I needed for tomorrow's, so I just ate the extra out of a bowl after it cooled - and it's all I can do not to dig into the main batch that's currently gelling in the freezer.  Make it a day before for optimal results.

Ingredients

• 100 mL water
• 100 mL real maple syrup
• juice of one orange (I used a Valencia one, that's all the grocery store had)
• zest from the same orange (extract this BEFORE you juice it, of course)
• 1 x 12-ounce bag frozen cranberries (or use fresh - again, limited grocery store selection)

Instructions

1. Combine the water, maple syrup, and orange juice in a pot on the stove over medium heat, and bring it just to a simmer.
2. Add the cranberrries and zest and bring it back to a simmer.
3. Keep a close eye on it, stirring occasionally.  Soon the cranberries will start to "pop".
4. Once the cranberries are all done popping, simmer for a few more minutes, then remove from heat, place in an appropriate container, and refrigerate.

Unrolled Cabbage Rolls

I find this recipe very warming, a perfect choice for an autumn day.  It also makes lots, so invite a couple of friends over to share!

Ingredients

• Olive oil or other fat/oil suitable for cooking (bacon fat...?)
• 1.5 to 2 pounds (0.75 to 1kg) lean ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small cabbage, diced (or 1/2 a large cabbage, diced)
• 1 large (28 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. In a large pot, heat the oil and onions until the onions are waxy.
2. Add the garlic and saute another minute or so.
3. Add the ground beef and heat (stirring) until browned.
4. Combine the remaining ingredients in the pot.
5. Let simmer at least 30 minutes.

Product Review - Paleo Pizza Crust

I've previously posted my own recipe for meat-zza, and while it's pretty darn good, sometimes you want chewy-crust PIZZA.  Well, recently I was wandering through Low-Carb Grocery (*) up in Markham, and I ran across Paleo Pizza Crust Mix by Julian Bakery (*).  We've made it a few times now, and I have to admit - it's VERY close to wheat-flour-based pizza, at least in terms of texture and taste.

It's simple to make - add half a cup of water, mix well, roll out to a 14" crust, poke all over with a fork, bake for about 10 minutes, add your toppings, and bake again for about 12 more minutes.  Share and enjoy!  It's a bit high in carbohydrates if you're counting - 12 grams "net carbs" per 1/12 of the mix, but the carbs come from almond flour, arrowroot flour, and pumpkin powder, so they should be relatively innocuous.

My only complaint is that the raw dough is very sticky - so here's a work-around:  roll it out between two large sheets of parchment paper!

(*) = Note that I have not received any promotional consideration from either Low-Carb Grocery or Julian Bakery for this posting.