Gluten-Free Healthy Anzac Biscuits

April 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The one thing that I have been looking forward to in Autumn and Winter is baking. Hot weather and hot ovens don’t make a great mix.

Anzac Day today has been particularly bad weather so of course it made sense to create a delicious almond meal Anzac Biscuit alternative. Lucky I found this Paleo recipe which I unhealthified a little to make it more Anzacy (not real words, I know).

Ingredients

  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/8 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup butter (or coconut oil)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon water

Directions

  1. Mix together almond meal, oats, shredded coconut and coconut sugar.
  2. Combine and heat honey and butter together.
  3. Mix the baking soda and water and pour it into the honey and butter mixture.
  4. Pour liquid into dry mixture and combine well.
  5. Cover and store in the fridge to soak.
  6. Once mixture has hardened use an ice cream scoop to make 15-20 cookie dough balls.
  7. Pre-heat oven to 120°C.
  8. Cover a baking tray with baking paper.
  9. Place the balls on the paper and squish flat with the (clean) palm of your hand.
  10. Pop in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

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Filed Under: Almost Primal Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Zucchini Slice

March 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

Zucchini slice is an old favourite of mine, but before making this one I hadn’t had it for years. My mum used to make this all the time with the giant zucchini’s from her veggie garden. It’s one of those quick and easy recipes that everyone should know for times when you want something fairly healthy without too much effort.

Ingredients

  • 3-4 medium zucchini’s, grated
  • 3-4 middle rashers of backon, diced (I prefer mine cooked beforehand so it goes crispy)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup self raising flour (I used half flour and half almond meal)
  • 1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
  • 1 cup grated cheese
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×9 baking dish with butter
  3. Grate all the zucchini and place in a large mixing bowl
  4. Whisk the eggs lightly and add to the grated zucchini, mix well
  5. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined
  6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until golden brown on top
  7. Allow to cool before serving
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Apricot and Blueberry Cobbler

March 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Apricots are one of my all time favourite fruits and this recipe would have to be the best apricot dessert I have found so far! I don’t make a lot of desserts and cakes because generally when I do, something goes wrong or I think I can add my own creative genius to the mix and it actually destroys it. I found this recipe on Chocolate & Zucchini and it looked so good I had to try it out myself. I’m pretty proud of myself too because I actually followed the recipe almost exactly.

Ingredients

Fruit:

  • 1 kilo fresh apricots (or equivalent canned if out of season)
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp tapioca
  • 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Dough:

  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 3/4 cup plain flour
  • 2 tbs sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on top (I use organic coconut sugar)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs orange juice
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 5 tbs unsalted butter, diced

Directions

  1.  Slice the apricots into quarters and place in a ceramic or glass dish and sprinkle with the sugar and tapioca. Toss the fruit around, cover and leave to sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180C

  1. In a medium bowl mix together the almond meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  2. Add the orange juice, yogurt and butter and combine roughly with a spoon, then use your fingers to combine the wet and dry ingredients
  3. Add the blueberries on top of the apricots
  4. Using a spoon dollop the dough onto the fruit so that small gaps remain
  5. Sprinkle sugar over the dough and then place in the oven
  6. Bake for 35-40 mins or until fruit is bubbly and the dough is golden brown

Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or yogurt.

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Banana Choc Chip Cake

February 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I know it doesn’t look very pretty, but this cake is to die for! If you like to try something that’s a bit different give this a go. It’s super easy to make and also doesn’t go overboard with the sugar.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups almond meal
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate (85% cocoa at least)
  • 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 9-inch cake pan with butter
  2. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients
  3. In a separate bowl melt the butter. Add the honey, eggs and vanilla extract to melted butter.
  4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and then fold in the banana and chocolate.
  5. Scoop the batter into the baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes
  6. Leave to cool for appox 1 hour before serving

For something different try serving a slice of cake warmed up with berries and cream, ice cream or yoghurt.

Filed Under: Almost Primal Recipes, Bad Goodness Tagged With: , , , ,

Tuna Patties with Crispy Bacon Roast Potatoes

November 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Tuna provides a great source of protein, and these yummy patties make for a delicious and filling meal. Usually I’d have these with a big salad rather than potatoes and steamed veggies, but this was my post-workout meal and my main meal for the day so decided to fill up on the carbs a bit. The original recipe uses salmon and coconut flour, and can be found in the Primal Blueprint Cookbook.

Ingredients

  • Large can of tuna in springwater
  • 3 spring onions thinly sliced
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup of almond meal
  • 1 Tsp paprika
  • Squeeze of lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup parsley
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 Tbsp Coconut oil for cooking

Directions

Crispy Bacon Roast Potatoes

  1. Preheat your oven to 225 C.
  2. Cook the bacon rashers until crispy, crumble into small pieces and set aside.
  3. Chop the potatoes into bite size pieces and place in a small pot with water and boil for 10 mins or until just soft.
  4. While the potatoes are boiling, drain the bacon fat from the pan onto a flat baking tray and add the butter. Place the tray in the oven so that the bacon fat/butter gets gets really hot.
  5. Drain the potatoes in a colander and shake them around a bit to roughen the surface. Make sure they’re completely dry.
  6. Pour the potatoes into the hot oil and toss them around a bit.
  7. Bake for 20-25  mins, turning the potatoes after about 15 mins.
  8. Sprinkle the bacon on top of the potatoes.

Tuna Patties

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Add extra almond meal if the mixture is too runny.
  3. Use your hands the roll the mixture into 6 even patties.
  4. Heat the coconut oil in large pan.
  5. Place the pattie balls into the hot oil and flatten with a spatula.
  6. Cook for 2-3 mins each side.

Serve with crispy roast potatoes and your choice of steamed veggies or a big fresh salad.

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Cajun Burgers Primal Style

November 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 

Cajun burgers with sweet potato fries and steamed vegetables.

I pride myself on making a mean burger. It’s one of my favourite things to cook on the BBQ and it’s even more enjoyable eating it.

I found this recipe about a year ago and since then it has been crowned the best burger yet by my friends and family.

It’s also super quick to make. It takes less then 30 minutes to get from start to cooked.

Ingredients

  • 500g grass-fed topside mince
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbsp Cajun spices
  • 3 spring onions
  • 3 Tbsp almond meal

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with hands well.
  2. Separate mixture into 6-9 large meat balls.
  3. Heat barbecue hot plate until it sizzles.
  4. Place meat balls on barbecue and squash flat into a burger shape.
  5. Cook for 4-5 minutes before flipping and repeating.

Check out those sweet as sweet potato fries in the picture above.

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Super Smoothie

November 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I love a good smoothie. While it’s best to try to avoid dairy (especially milk), when you need something to fill you up fast a smoothie is perfect. I have this after a workout if I know I’m not going to be able to eat for a while as it’ll keep me going for ages. I use lots of full-fat plain yoghurt and simply top up the liquid part with water instead of milk. Give these ingredients a go, then work on your creativity and experiment with new flavours.

 

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup of blueberries
  • 4 strawberries
  • 1 small banana or 1/2 large banana
  • 2 big spoons of plain full-fat yoghurt
  • 1 scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder
  • 1 big handful of baby spinach (you won’t be able to taste this)
  • 1 Tbs almond meal (optional)
  • 1 Tbs flaxseed meal (optional)
  • 1 cup water to top up liquids

Directions

  1. Chuck everything into your blender and whiz it up for about 30 seconds.
  2. Enjoy!

 

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Grain-Free Carrot Cake with Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Icing

November 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Some tasty carrot cake up close

Modified from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam. Apart from the cream cheese this recipe is completely Primal.

This cake is very filling so you won’t need a giant slice. It is so good that you could feed it to your most fussy relative without hearing a complaint. Just don’t tell them it’s healthy.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups Almond Meal
  • 2 tsp Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp All Spice
  • 1/4 cup Macadamia Oil (or butter)
  • 2 Tbsp Honey, heaped
  • 5 Eggs
  • 3 cups grated Carrot
  • 1 cup Raisins
  • 1 cup chopped Walnuts
  • 250g block Cream Cheese
  • 1-2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • 1 Tbsp Honey, heaped
  • 1/2 Lemon, squeezed

Directions:

Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C
  2. Grease two 9 inch round cake pans with butter
  3. In one bowl combine all of the dry ingredients (almond meal, sea salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice).
  4. In another bowl whisk together the wet ingredients (honey, grapeseed oil, eggs).
  5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.
  6. Fold in raisins, carrots and walnuts.
  7. Scoop the mixture evenly into the two cake pans.
  8. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
Icing:
  1. Combine butter, cream cheese, honey and lemon juice.
  2. Mix together well, you may need to leave it out for a while to soften.
  3. Spread over the top of the first cake and leave a dollop in the middle.
  4. Place the other cake on top like a sandwich. Use the rest of the icing on top.
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