Paleo Friendly Smokey Roasted Potatoes with Wild Mushrooms & Bacon

Nowadays I try to cook quick, simple and delicious meals. For dinner today, we indulged in a delicious dish with 4 ingredients: Potatoes, Bacon, Mushrooms, and Smoked Salt.

Paleo Dinners: Golubtsy aka Stuffed Cabbage

Growing up, we had golubtsy, or stuffed cabbage, weekly. Golubtsy means "little pigeons" in Russian. I tried to find out why they are called that, but haven't been able to find anything conclusive. In most languages of the former USSR, the name for cabbage rolls translates to "little pigeons," so it must have some sort of culture significance. I'll update this post if I ever learn what it is.

Golubtsy are one of my favorite meals to this day. My mom's stuffed cabbage was always filled with delicious flavor, lamb, and lots of rice. I've created an a paleo version of her recipe that I wanted to share with you today. It makes for a delicious, filling dinner or lunch and is of course grain free.

Paleo Dinners: Easy Stuffed Sea Bass

I've been on a "it better be easy kick," meaning if I can't cook it in 35 minutes or less, I'm not attempting it. One of my favorite quick paleo meals is oven baked easy stuffed sea bass. I picked up a beautiful sea bass from Avendano's Market in San Francisco and stuffed it with carrots, celery and onions, squeezed a bit of lemon juice on it and drizzled it with some Italian olive oil and Voila! Dinner! Please excuse the craptastic photos, my DSLR was charging.

A Crafty Gourmet's Version of The Spunky Coconut' Persimmon Scones

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite bloggers, The Spunky Coconut posted an incredible recipe for Persimmon Scones. I'm a huge fan of persimmon, which is why I made a Vegan Persimmon & Cranberry Cheesecake for Thanksgiving. I'm also a fan of persimmon for all of its health benefits, specifically its ability to treat gastrointestinal inflammation and hemorrhoids. We've also been seeing a significant resolution in our daughter's "lung heat" since she's been eating more persimmons.

I decided to try making her Persimmon Scones, but since I'm avoiding almond flour right now, I decided to substitute sunflower seed flour. Also, the recipe seemed to call for a bit too much sugar for my taste so I reduced the sugar. Finally, I didn't have psyllium husk powder, so I used ground flax seeds. The scones or cookies, which ever you prefer, turned out very well, so I'm sharing the recipe with you! This recipe is vegan, grain-free, nut-free and paleo friendly.

The Spunky Coconuts Persimmon Scones 
(A Crafty Gourmet Remix)
Dry Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seed flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp vanilla liquid stevia

1 large ripe Hichaya or 2 ripe fuyu persimmons

Process:
1. In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients and then using a mixer add in wet ingredients. You can also use an "S" blade on your food processor to do this as well.

2. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out dough onto a sheet of parchment or Silpat mat and press down in the middle to create a little pool for the persimmon

3. Peel the persimmon and mash with fork to create a puree

4. Using a spoon, place puree into the dents in the scones

5. Bake for 12 minutes at 375 degrees

6. Let cookies rest for 10-15 minutes. The Spunky Coconut recommends you freeze them to let them harden.

7. Enjoy!

Coconut Cashew Bread: Paleo, Grain-Free, & Refined Sugar Free!

Today, I just had to make bread, Coconut Cashew Bread! I haven't had bread for a couple of months, since I've been grain free. I don't normally have bread cravings, but there were a few posts on my Facebook feed today that made my mouth water. I just couldn't resist! I had to bake bread.

Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing: Grain-Free & Dairy-Free

Can't eat stuffing because you're gluten-free, grain-free, carb-free, or paleo? No problem! I have a delicious stuffing that is guaranteed to satisfy. Made with cauliflower "rice" & giblets, my Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing is a delicious addition to any holiday table. It's also a great way to incorporate Turkey giblets into your meal.

Paleo Sandwich Wrap Recipe: How to Use Leftover Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce

Leftovers: that's the key to a good Thanksgiving! No matter how small or large the turkey, I usually end up with plenty of it to share with my family. But Thanksgiving turkey isn't the only part of the holiday meal that can be used in dishes in the days following Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving cranberry sauce can also be used for dishes that don't have turkey. Yesterday, I shared a great recipe for savory cranberry sauce and today I want to show you how you can use that sauce to make a delicious post thanksgiving, cranberry sauce filled Paleo sandwich wrap.

You can of course make this wrap with leftover thanksgiving turkey or any uncured meat of your liking, but I'm using US Wellness Meats Liverwurst! I got to try this stuff at the Weston A. Price Foundation Conference last weekend in Santa Clara, CA. Made with grass fed beef organ meat, like liver, heart, and kidney, this Liverwurst is one of the most delicious uncured "meats" I've tried in a long time. Organ meats are very high in B12 and other B Vitamins, which I wrote about last week and are a great way to get these vitamins into your diet.

For the wrap, you can use any gluten-free wrap of your choosing, but I'm using Pure Wraps from Improveat. This is the most innovative wrap product I've seen on the market in a while. You can use it for spring rolls, paleo wraps, wontons, burritos and whatever else you can think of. They are raw, allergen free and a great way to get more brain powering coconut into your diet!

Leftover Cranberry Sauce & Liverwurst Paleo Wrap
1 Pure Wrap
2 tbsp Thanksgiving Savory Cranberry Sauce
3 oz Liverwurst
1/4 cup butternut squash puree
1 romaine or butter lettuce leaf


1. Place wraps on the dry surface

Grain Free Paleo Grapeskin (Wine) Crackers & And a Winner is Announced!

Over the last week, my arthritic pain came back and I've been really trying to look into my diet for some clues as to what's brought it on. I thought long and hard and I've decided that most likely the issue is my allergy to dairy. After doing some research, I found that the alpha S1 casein protein has been shown to cause joint pain. Also, I noticed that the pain came back after I worked out rigorously at my first Crossfit class. Which made me think about lactic acid, which causes you to feel sore. Lactic acid build-up is why masseuses tell you to drink water after a massage. Lactic acid is also present in dairy products. I read an interesting article that mentioned that when you eat high levels of glucose, you tax the liver and it can't process all the lactic acid released as part of the glucose metabolism process. The acids in turn activate histamines which causes an inflammatory response.

I have to admit with all of my resent baking and experimenting, I've been eating a lot of unrefined sugar, significantly more than in the recent months.The hardest part is that I don't want to give it up! I love baking and I'm enjoying all the sweet treats. This whole pain thing sucks, but it's a work in progress and I am determined to get to the bottom of it. I'm going to talk to my doctor about testing for lactic acid levels in my blood to see if my hypothesis is correct. Stay tuned.

Another downfall of mine is dried fruit. A prune is a whole plum. When was the last time you ate 10 whole plums? Well I can easily eat 10 prunes in a sitting without even thinking about it! All I can do is continue being mindful and trying to control my unrefined sugar intake and be proud that my refined sugar intake in minimal. But I'm only human and can only manage so much. I've been cooking nightly to make sure that I have enough food to take to work the following day.

Cooking has been wonderful creative outlet that has helped me deal with the anxiety I get when my pain returns. Last night, I was super creative! A couple of weeks ago, a local company, Whole Vine, sent me some flour to try. This isn't just any flour, it's Grapeskin Flour! Grapeskin flour is incredibly interesting for another of reasons:

1. It has a very high antioxidant content
2. It's a creative way to utilize skins and seeds left over from the wine making process
3. It has a delicious nutty, tart taste

I decided to try using the flour in a cracker recipe I've been experimenting with. I used the Cabernet Savingnon variety in the recipe. This flour is quite dark and made the cracker very dark, but made me feel like I was eating chocolate! The flavor is rich, nutty, and slightly tart. This recipe is Grain Free, Paleo Friendly & Vegan.

Grain Free Grapeskin (Wine) Crackers
Ingredients
1 cup Almond Flour
1/2 Coconut Flour
1/4 cup Whole Vine Cabernet Sauvignon Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tsp of Herbs de Provence
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of water

Process:
1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl using either a mixer or your hands

2. Once all ingredients are mixed well, split into 4 equal balls

3. Place a ball of dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to be about 1/8mm using a rolling pin

4. Brush a little olive oil onto the dough and sprinkle with a tsp of herbs

5. Carefully place parchment paper onto a baking sheet

6. I cut out some circles before I baked the cracker using a bottle top. You can do that or break off pieces once baked

7. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes

8. Serve with Hemp Seed Tabbouleh (come back for the recipe tomorrow)

9. Enjoy!


And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for! Marilyn, you are the winner. Please email me your contact info and I will get the prize pack shipped to you!