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My mom recently purchased some high quality almond flour from Anthony's Almonds after hearing about how good it was for baking, and because she is amazing she sent me a big bag of it. And boy were those people right about this almond flour for baking! 

It also perfectly coincided with the fact that when I was at Walmart last week, I saw that they had cinnamon chips. I know that these are not Paleo at all, but I love them so very much and the grocery stores never sell them (other than for Christmas I guess), so I just went for it and decided to use them in moderation. And one of my favorite baked goods in the world is cinnamon scones. So this provided the perfect opportunity to experiment with Paleo scones, which I had never made before.

This recipe can really be more of a base and you can make them into whatever type of scones you want. You could add dried fruit, nuts, different types of chocolate chips, or whatever else you can think of. Or you could just keep them plain and eat them with some juice sweetened jam. The possibilities are really endless.

Paleo Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Scones
*Yields 6 scones

Ingredients:
1/4 C butter, melted (or coconut oil for dairy free)
1/4 C honey
1 egg
1 T vanilla
2 C almond flour (if you can, order the good stuff from Anthony's Almonds)
2 T coconut flour
1 t baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 C dark chocolate chips (or desired mix-in)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet with coconut oil
2. In a small bowl, melt butter and stir in honey
3. Add egg and mix until combined
4. Mix in vanilla
5. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients
6. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well (it will form a doughy ball)
7. Add chocolate chips or other mix-ins and stir until combined
8. Dump dough onto a flat surface and form into a flat circle about 1/2 inch thick, and cut into 6 pie shaped pieces
9. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 17-20 minutes (depending on oven temperature)

Enjoy!


 
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I have found in Paleo baking that one of the keys to achieving perfect baked good consistency is almond butter. Almond butter is a truly incredible thing that serves as a game changer in your baking. I do not know the science behind it, but almond butter can really serve as almost a substitute for flour in your baking (not in a direct way of course, but it can allow you to eliminate flour without a direct substitute). 

These brownies are very simple and are quite delicious. I am still trying to tweak them to get the texture just right, but they are quite delicious, easy to make, and without too many hard to come by ingredients (other than the almond butter). 

Ingredients:
1/3 C almond butter (the best place to buy is at Trader Joe's)
1/3 C butter, melted
1/2 C honey
1 T Vanilla
2 eggs
1 t baking soda
1/2 C cocoa powder
1/2 C dark chocolate chips
Pinch of sea salt
Optional: 1 t pumpkin pie spice (to add a little fall flavor)

Directions:
1. Whisk together almond butter, butter, honey, and vanilla.
2. Whisk in eggs
3. Add baking soda, cocoa powder, and sea salt and whisk.
4. Mix in desired amount of chocolate chips 
5. Pour into greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

 
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I am continuing to celebrate the fall season with more pumpkin! I am still developing this recipe, but from what I have done so far it has been delicious. It is super moist (it almost reminds you of pumpkin pie in a loaf), and it is just scrumptious and tastes like fall in a loaf. :) 


It is also very versatile. The first time I made it was in this loaf form, but I have made the same recipe again but baked it in muffin tins (and added some chocolate chips). It makes a delicious breakfast bread, snack, or a dessert. 






Ingredients:
1/4 C butter, melted (sub 1/4 coconut oil for dairy free)
1/4 C almond butter
1/4 or 1/2 C honey (depending on how sweet you like things)
1 T vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 C almond flour
1/8 C coconut flour
1/4 C unsweetened coconut flakes
1 t baking soda
1 T pumpkin pie spice
pinch of sea salt (optional)
1/2 C chocolate chips (optional)

Ingredients for optional topping:
2 T butter (melted) (or coconut oil)
3 T unsweetened coconut flakes
handful of walnuts or pecans
1/2 t cinnamon 
bit of honey

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Combine butter, almond butter, honey, and vanilla.
3. Whisk in eggs until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
5. Mix in chocolate chips if desired.
6. Pour into greased loaf pan.
7. If you want the topping, just mix all the ingredients together and sprinkle on top of the loaf.
8. Bake at 325 for approximately 50-60 minutes (keep an eye on it in case of variant oven temperatures)

Enjoy!

*Note: If you would like to make muffins rather than a loaf, just bake at the same temperature for around 20 or 30 minutes (But keep an eye on them--I don't remember the exact baking time). It will yield about 24 muffins (depending on your pan size--mine is kind of small-regular sized). 



 
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My family has never had many traditions. A few here and there, but overall not many. One tradition that lasted for years, however, was that every Saturday morning my awesome mom would make me chocolate chip pancakes. I really do not care for pancakes unless they include chocolate chips, and my love for chocolate chip pancakes has stayed strong to this day. 

I am therefore very pleased to have now discovered how to make genuinely tasty Paleo pancakes. I put a fall spin on these, adding some pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. I am loving the fall weather that has finally come to South Carolina, and I am trying to turn everything pumpkin these days. There is definitely a subtle banana flavor to these cakes, but it adds a nice sweetness, and who doesn't like a little banana with chocolate? This is also a perfect and easy use for those overripe bananas on the counter that nobody has eaten. The texture is the closest I have found to true pancakes, and they are a nice medium thickness (fluffy, but thin enough to not be too soft in the center). 


*Original recipe inspiration adapted from here.


Ingredients:
2 overripe bananas 
2 eggs
2-3 T almond butter
1-2 T coconut flour
1 t vanilla
1/2 or 1 t pumpkin pie spice (or a combination of cinnamon and other fall spices)
pinch of sea salt
butter (for the griddle)
toppings (dark chocolate chips, berries, nuts, etc.)

Directions:
1. Mash bananas with fork.
2. Add remaining ingredients and whisk until well blended (try to get all the banana chunks to disappear)
3. Heat griddle to about 325 degrees (or heat pan on medium to medium high heat) and butter liberally (they tend to stick a bit)
4. Spoon or pour batter onto griddle in medium sized pancakes, and top with chocolate chips, berries, or whatever you would like in your cakes (or leave them plain if that is what you prefer)
5. Cook for about 5 minutes or until bottom is browned and flip, cooking another 2 or 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

 
One of my favorite meals growing up has always been spaghetti. Not just any spaghetti, though--my mom's spaghetti. That woman makes the best spaghetti I have ever tasted in my life. I have never even thought to order spaghetti in a restaurant because I know that I would be disappointed, it simply will not measure up to my spaghetti standards. So, along with the many other things I learned from my mother, I also learned to make her spaghetti sauce (although I don't think I will ever make it quite as good as she does).

The problem came, however, when I no longer could eat noodles. I thought for quite a while that no noodles meant no spaghetti, but I was oh so wrong! I came up with this super duper easy and delicious Paleo substitution that, while it certainly will not fool you for noodles, will beautifully satisfy your Italian cravings. As long as you don't mind the taste of cabbage (although it is almost undetectable underneath the sauce) then this will definitely be an extremely easy, delicious, and cost-effective alternative to your typical spaghetti dinner.

Paleo Cabbage Spaghetti:
*yields approximately 6 servings*

Ingredients:
2 heads of cabbage
2 T butter

1lb ground beef
2 large cans (the really big ones) tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 T Italian seasoning
1 T Oregano
2 T Mrs. Dash seasoning blend
1 beef bouillon cube (Knorr brand)
1 T sugar (optional--if you don't mind a little sugar it helps to cut the acidity of the sauce)
Splash of cooking wine (optional)

Directions for Cabbage:


1. Cut up your cabbage. I am not an expert at this, so I am not sure if I have any good advice for how to do it, but I cut the bottom core part out of it, sliced it in half from the top (to create two mirror images), laid it on its now flat side and sliced into slivers. Basically you just want it in shapes that are vaguely reminiscent of a noodle.
2. Rinse cabbage and put in large pot, and fill with water (to about 3/4 of the way up the cabbage)
3. Add 2 T butter and cook on high heat until desired tenderness, approximately 30 minutes or so and drain excess water.

Directions for Sauce:


1. Brown ground beef in a large pot; when cooked, drain liquid from pot.
2. Add remaining ingredients and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes (or as long as you would like--the flavors will just continue to get better)

Serve with your favorite Italian side and enjoy!
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Chopped and rinsed cabbage.
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Cabbage noodles!
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Browned ground beef.
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And there you have it!
 
This past weekend my mom came to visit, and as if that was not exciting enough, she brought with her an entire cooler full of venison and grass fed beef! Since the majority of what we got is ground beef and ground venison, I started brainstorming some new ground beef recipes, and this was tonight's creation! The meatballs have a wonderful consistency (I have never been a big meatball or meatloaf eater, but I really could not tell that there were no breadcrumbs in this). The sauteed onions almost look like fettuccine noodles when you serve this, and it is an easy and delicious way to sneak in several different vegetables (and use some fresh herbs, too!)

I assume that these would also freeze quite well before cooking and would make a quick and easy last minute meal. If you try it, let me know how it worked!


Ingredients for Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef or venison
2 eggs
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese (go for the real stuff if you are able! I just had the kind in the can this time)
1/3 C almond meal (you can make your own by throwing some almonds in the food processor until finely ground, but if you want to buy some they have a super price at Trader Joe's)
3/4 C chopped fresh spinach
2 grated carrots
1/4 C chopped fresh basil leaves (I have a basil plant, but if you do not have access to fresh herbs you can just season to taste with dried basil, or your herb of choice)
1 T dried oregano (or fresh if you have it!)
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray (I covered my pan in foil first)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
Make tightly formed balls and place in pan
Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes to brown the meatballs
*Yields 24 meatballs

Ingredients for Onion Sauce:
3 T olive oil or butter (I used olive oil, but in retrospect I might have preferred butter for the sauce)
3 medium onions
1-2 tomatoes
1/8 C chopped fresh basil (again, if you do not have fresh just season with dried herbs to taste)
3 cloves garlic
Salt, pepper, and oregano (to taste)
1/2 C milk or cream (I am lactose intolerant, so I just used half and half, but if you would prefer milk I think it would work just as well)
1/3 C grated Parmesan

Directions:
Heat oil on medium high heat in frying pan
Add onions and saute until beginning to turn golden brown
Add tomatoes, basil, garlic, and salt, pepper, and oregano (to taste) and cook until tomatoes become slightly tender
Add cream and Parmesan and reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve sauce on top of meatballs. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!



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Saute onions
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Onion cream sauce
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Finished meatballs!
 
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*Photo taken by my wonderful husband and photographer, Jared Poulton.
Ever since I began eating Paleo about 6 months ago, I have been craving chocolate chip cookies. I had figured out how to recreate the majority of desserts in a Paleo friendly way, but I had never found a Paleo chocolate chip cookie that even came close to a true cookie--mostly they just tasted like almonds.

So, inspiration suddenly struck one day to try making cookies using shredded coconut to help with texture and lighten the amount of almond flour needed. And these were the result. If I ate these before I started Paleo, I probably would have been none the wiser. If you enjoy a soft and delicious chocolate chip cookie, you have found the right place!

Ingredients:
1/3 C butter
1/3 C almond butter
1/3 to 1/2 C honey (depending on how sweet you like them)
1 egg
1/2 T Vanilla
1 C unsweetened shredded coconut
2 T coconut flour
1/2 C almond flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 C chocolate chips
Sea salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two cookie sheets (I use coconut oil, but you could use cooking spray, as well).
2.Soften butter and mix with almond butter, honey, and vanilla.
3. Beat in egg
4. Add shredded coconut, coconut flour, almond flour, baking soda, and baking power.
5. Mix in chocolate chips.
6. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets--be sure to make them on the small side with plenty of space, as they will tend to spread. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake for about 8 minutes (but keep a close watch on them--they burn easily!) Makes around 24 cookies, depending on the size.

Enjoy!