Grain Free Almond Crackers

Almond Crackers

Coach Karen's via Trojan Competitor Ashley Sorvillo

ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1 egg white
1 pinch salt(that's it!)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together the almond flour, egg white, and salt until it forms a paste.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make sure you use parchment paper, because if you don't you'll end up chipping your crackers out of the pan. Place the dough in the middle and top with another piece of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin (or any other cylindrical instrument), roll out the dough as thin as you can get it. Try to make it take up the whole cookie sheet if you can. Super thin. I mean it!

Peel off the top layer of paper and score the dough with a knife into whatever size crackers you want. Bake in the 325 oven for 10 minutes and then check on the crackers. You are looking for them to color ever so slightly. A little color means crispy, but a lot of color means burned nut taste, which is no good. If the edges have started to color nicely, remove them to a plate and put the remaining crackers back in the oven. Keep doing this, checking every 5 minutes and removing the golden crackers, until finally they are all baked to perfection.

Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

You can make many variations on thee crackers by adding in different seasonings to the dough base. Go nuts! (hur hur)

How do I cook beets? by LBT

Beets are one of those veggies that looked yummy - sounded like a good idea - tasted great when I got them prepared elsewhere but.....I didn't really know to cook them.

Like with many veggies you can steam, roast, saute, etc. However this is my favorite way to prepare them.
Sweet Baked Beets:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Peel and cut beets into thin slices or 1 inch cubes - Save the greens you can cook them too!!
• Place in oven save dish with a drizzle of olive oil and a touch of salt and pepper
• Bake for 40-50 minutes. I usually check them at least once to "stir" them but that's probably just because I am anxious to have them :)

Bonus: saute the greens (cut off most of the red stem) with a bit of olive oil and garlic- Yummmmm.

Sweet Potatos and Brussels Sprouts - Heather Reed

Ingredients
brussels sprouts
one sweet potato
salt
pepper
cayenne-pepper
coconut oil

Cooking Directions
Preheat oven to 400
Cut the sweet potato into small slices
Cut Ends off brussels sprouts
coat bottom of pan with coconut oil
place sweet ptoatos and brussels sprouts in to pan and mix around in oil
add salt and pepper to taste and last but not least add a little cayenne pepper for that extra kick
Cook until sprouts are browned on outside

The sweet potato adds just the right amount of sweetness and now you have the perfect dish!

Cinnamon Bun Muffins

Cinnamon Bun Muffins

Elana's Pantry

Coach Karen

Cinnamon Topping
2 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp grapeseed oil

1.To make cinnamon topping, combine agave, cinnamon and oil in a small bowl
2.Set mixture aside

Muffin Mixture
1 cup blanched almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp celtic sea salt
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1.Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl
2.In a large bowl blend together oil, agave, eggs and vanilla
3.Blend dry ingredients into wet and scoop a scant ¼ cup at a time into lined muffin cups
4.Spoon topping onto muffins
5.Bake muffins for 8-12 minutes at 350°
6.Cool muffins for 2 hours



Makes 9 muffins

Butternut Squash Latkes and Gravlax

By: Coach Crystal Nelson

 

I tried a very Non-Paleo dish at Austin's own The Steeping Room that was Gravlax and Latkes.  Absolutely delicious!!  I started to think about how I could make this into a healthy version.  This is my plan for this weekend and I thought I would share it with all of you first. 

The Gravlax and Latkes dish at The Steeping Room was Fried Latkes (potatoes basically) topped with a dollop of sour cream which was topped with tea cured salmon and, finally, topped with a berry concoction.  It was truly delightful with a little bit of crunch, saltiness, creaminess, and sweetness.  However, I think this version could be KILLER!

Butternut Squash Latkes Topped with Smoked Salmon and Unsweetened Applesauce

Latkes (From Elana's Pantry)

4 cups butternut squash, peeled and grated
1 small onion, peeled and grated
3 eggs, whisked
grapeseed oil, for frying

1. In a large bowl make latke batter by mixing together squash, onion and eggs
2. Use your hands to form batter into 3 inch patties
3. In a large skillet, heat oil
4. Fry patties on each side over medium heat until golden brown and crispy
5. Remove latkes from pan and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil
6. Repeat Steps 2-4 until batter is used up

Finish by topping with a small slice of smoked salmon, or if you can find it or make it, tea cured salmon.

 

Add a small spoonful of unsweetened applesauce.  I think you could also do a berry mixture if you heated up raspberries and blackberries together and served on top.

 

It is a beautiful and tasty dish!  Sure to impress!

Goodness Bars by LBT

Goodness Bars:

• Throw 2 cups assorted nuts(i used brazil, almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds), 1/2 c finely ground unsweet coconut, 1/2 c flax meal, 1/2 c almond butter, and 8 dates all in food processor enough to grind it all up,
• Then add: 1 cup assorted dried fruit ( i used cherries, cranberries, mango, apple), coconut oil (melt 2 TB and add 1 TB unsweet cocoa), few squirts of agave nectar and grind til all spreadable
• Then spread in 8x8 dish and put in fridge for an hour.
• I then cut them up and freeze them individually.

WATCH OUT!! I blew out one food processor making these (it gets thick) so make sure you have a strong processor

Coconut Shrimp- Coach Alex

I am doing Coach Crystal Nelson's 21 Day Food Challenge and this is a recipe she suggested and I am glad she did.  I didn't have much time and didn't know what to cook.  While looking through the pantry I realized I had coconut flakes, Coconut oil, raw shrimp with tails and eggs.... Guess what... I can make COCONUT SHRIMP.  It was simple and quick.

Ingredients:

1 lb large shrimp, tail on peeled and deveined

1/3 cup coconut flour- I did it without because it was not on my challenge list and it worked fine.  I imagine it would stick a little better with the flour.

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 eggs 

2 cups coconut flakes -make sure to get these from bulk or organic no added ingredients (ehh hmm sugar)

1tbsp coconut oil

In a mixing bowl, stir together the coconut flour, salt, and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy.  In another bowl, pour the coconut flakes.  Taking one shrimp at a time, dry well with a paper towel and dredge each shrimp in the coconut flour mixture, dip into the egg whites and then roll into the coconut flakes.  Place in pan greased (with coconut oil) fry for about 10 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and the coconut flakes start to brown.

Enjoy!

Acorn Squash

Acorn Squash with Cranberry Apple Stuffing

Coach Karen
2 acorn squash
boiling water
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into ¼ inch pieces
½ cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (though if you can do dairy, butter works just as well)

1.Cut squash in half and with a spoon, remove pulp and seeds
2.In a large pyrex baking dish place squash cut-side down
3.Pour ¼-inch boiling water into pyrex dish (or use 1/4 inch room temperature apple juice for extra sweetness)
4.Place dish in oven and bake squash for 30 minutes at 350°
5.In a large bowl, combine apples, cranberries, cinnamon and grapeseed oil to make stuffing
6.Remove squash from the oven after 30 minutes
7.Turn halves over and stuff center of each squash half with apple mixture
8.Return to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or longer) until squash and apples are tender

Serves 4

Eggplant French Fries by JenC

When I am craving some Phil's Ice House sweet potato fries, I turn to the old eggplant. All you need is almond flour, olive oil, and one eggplant.

Directions: Cut the eggplant into small pieces

Dip pieces into a two egg mixture

Then flip over twice into almond flour

FRY! 

Tonight I paired it with chicken. To me, this is still a "treat." It has a lot of fat due to the oil used and the almond flour. I have this maybe once a month, great treat!

Great, Fast Dinner by JenC

I pulled a later shift tonight at LULU ( seasonal worker ) and I was pretty hungry on the way home. I frantically thought about what I already had cooked to put together. Fish! Perfect. I sautéed a link of nitrate/nitrite/gluten/casin free Applegate farms sausage with swiss chard and some left over tilapia I had in tupperware. 

Worked great together and was less than 8 minutes of cooking. 

Gotta Brag

I had bison steak, shrimp, and scallops last night for dinner. I am purely posting this because I want to brag about how good it tasted. 

Shrimp and scallops: I prepared with minced garlic, coconut oil, salt, and pepper. Its super easy to over cook scallops.  You know you did because it's like rubber trying to chew them. Cooked for 5 minutes total on medium high heat and done!

Easy quick leftovers lunch by JenC

This is a throw together I make when I have a lot of random food in the fridge. When I cook, I cook a lot. So I always have extra cooked protein laying around.

Chicken ( or any protein )
Greens
Strawberries
Figs
cucumbers
avocado

I heat up the chicken, and throw everything else together.

prep time: 5 minutes
eat time: 30 seconds

Crystal's Paleo Chili

The cold weather out makes me want to come home to a big bowl of chili.  This turned out delicious and really hit the spot.  It takes some time to cut everything, but it makes a really big batch that would easily feed a family of 4 for at least 2 meals.

Ingredients:

1 lb Sweet or Spicy Italian Sausage
2 lbs ground grassfed beef
1 Onion, chopped
1 Bell Pepper, chopped (I used red)
1 Large Yellow Squash, chopped
6 Carrots, diced
6 cloves of garlic
1 14 oz can organic diced tomatoes with juice (check the label)
16 oz organic chicken broth
4 Tb Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Pepper
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
4-5 Tb Chili Powder
2 Tb Dried Oregano
2 Tb Dried Basil
1 Tb Cumin

Directions:

Saute veggies in olive oil for 1-2 minutes, then add meat and brown.  Add all spices, tomatoes and broth and simmer for 35 minutes.  Taste and add more seasoning if desired.  Add sliced avocado and bon appetite!