Easy Baked Apple Recipes

With Fall fast approaching, baked apple and pumpkin dishes are sounding so good to me right now! I decided to focus on apples first and have come up with a couple of delicious, easy and satisfying recipes for anyone doing a Whole30, eliminating sugar from their diet or just simply loves the comforting goodness, warm baked apples have to offer.

You don't need me to remind you all of the nutritional benefits of eating a whole food like apples right? I mean, you probably already know all about the terrific soluble fiber, vitamin A, iron and calcium that is present in baked apples...of course you do...whew, glad I don't have to explain :)

Baked Spice Apples with Coconut Cream

Serves 1

2 small baking apples (I used Granny Smith) sliced into 8 wedges each, preferably peeled (I did not peel mine, too lazy)
1 Tbsp of melted Ghee or butter (I used ghee)
1/2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie spice or Apple Pie spice (I used pumpkin pie spice)
pinch of sea salt
1 Tbsp of Coconut Cream* (or as much as you want)
Optional: chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Add your apple wedges to a 8x8 baking dish.

3. Drizzle melted ghee or butter over the apples.

4. Add Pumpkin Pie spice or Apple Pie spice and sea salt to the apples.

5. Stir apples together with the spices and ghee to coat.

6. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until for tender or as soft as you like.

7. Add baked apples to serving bowl, top with coconut cream and nuts if you are using.

8. Enjoy!

*To get coconut cream, put a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge for 24 hours (sometimes overnight is not long enough to harden the cream). Open can and scoop out with a spoon the white coconut cream that has solidified in the can. Whisk cream in a bowl till nice and creamy and smooth.

If you are not on a sugar detox of some sort and feel the apples themselves are not sweet enough for you, add a little maple syrup or raw honey before topping with the coconut cream.

Baked Cinnamon Apples and Wild Blueberries

Serves 1


2 small baking apples (I used Granny Smith) sliced into 8 wedges each, preferably peeled (I did not peel mine, too lazy)
1 Tbsp of melted Ghee or butter (I used ghee)
1/4 tsp (rounded) of Cinnamon
About 4 swipes on a rasp of whole nutmeg or a good pinch of powdered nutmeg.
1/4 Cup of frozen, wild blueberries (Trader Joe's has some), I'm sure regular blueberries will work just fine
pinch of salt
Optional: Coconut cream, nuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


2. Add your apple wedges and blueberries to a 8x8 baking dish.

3. Drizzle melted ghee or butter over the apples.

4. Add spices and salt to the apples and blueberries.

5. Stir with a spoon to coat fruit with spices and ghee.

6. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until for tender or as soft as you like.

7. Add baked fruit to a serving bowl and top with nuts or coconut cream or both.

8. Enjoy!

If you are not on a sugar detox of some sort and feel the apples themselves are not sweet enough for you, add a little maple syrup or raw honey before adding your toppings.

Other topping ideas are:

shredded coconut
yogurt
dried cherries
dried cranberries
raw honey
maple syrup
Caramel Sauce-homemade and without High Fructose Corn Syrup
Coconut Nectar
Brown Rice Syrup

Or you can make the Baked Apples a topping for:

Vanilla Ice Cream
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Porridge
Pork or other meat
Baked sweet potatoes

However you decide to eat these baked apples, I hope you find it yummy!

Steph

Coconut Macaroon Cookies

While perusing through Facebook the other day, I came across a post by Paleo Parents for Creamy Chocolate Chip Coconut Macaroons. The recipe looked very easy to make and only called for 5 ingredients and pretty healthy ingredients at that (ok, except the chocolate chips).  I'm not a huge macaroon fan, but Stacy and Matt's raving about these cookies made me decide to trust them and give the recipe a shot.

Wowie Zowie! They are so good, so buttery tasting, even though there is no butter! I now love macaroons!! Well these at least :)

I used Artisana Raw Coconut Butter instead of Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate (they are basically the same thing).

I did not have any course salt, so I used regular, granulated sea salt...I would only use a 1/2 tsp. next time as it was just a tad saltier than I would like.

Here is a link to another macaroon cookie recipe that inspired the Paleo Parents to make their cookie. Clean Macaroons with Coconut Strawberry Glaze, I have not made this version yet, but I'm pretty confidant, it will knock my socks off!


Some of you may be wondering why I am consuming sugar when I am supposed to be doing a Whole30. Well, I have decided, or I should say the perfectionist in me decided that I would rather start my Whole30 again at the first of the month instead of at the end of a month. So, Sat. Sept. 1st, I restart my Whole30 again. I have decided this time around not to do the Auto Immune Protocol, but a regular Whole30. I can always revert back to the AI Protocol if need be.

Despite only making it to day 21 on my last Whole30, I have been enjoying increased energy and creativity, which I have put to good use decluttering my house and rearranging some of the furniture in more pleasing positions. I do have more projects up my sleeve pending my husbands approval of course. I am excited to see what benefits I will reap, completing a whole 30 days!

Steph

Prosciutto Wrapped Dates

Since no sugar is allowed on the 21 Day Sugar Detox or the Whole30, I have been searching for sugar free bacon locally with out any luck at all. Online, you can purchase some from U.S. Wellness Meats, but we cannot afford that right now unfortunately.

While reading posts in the Whole30 Forum, someone mentioned they used prosciutto in place of bacon and that the ingredients were only pork and salt...perfect! The person mentioned that he purchased his from Trader Joe's, so the next time I was down there (I love Trader Joe's) I looked for it. They had a few different kinds of prosciutto, only one did not contain sugar, so please always read the ingredients, never assume. I ended up buying two packages, each pack contained 4oz and cost $5.90...yikes I know, but I was desperate lol. I later found the same brand of prosciutto (still be sure to check ingredients) at Costco, you get 12oz for $12.00, so you basically get 4oz free over there, a much better deal!

Anyhoo, the reason I was hoping to find some sugar free bacon or an acceptable substitute was to make these gorgeous, tasty beauties!

Prosciutto Wrapped Dates

Prosciutto Wrapped Dates


Package of Prosciutto
Dates- I prefer the caramel like flavor of deglet, but medjool will work great too.


If you were to use a whole 4oz package of prosciutto, you will need 14 dates. Each slice of prosciutto makes two wrapped dates.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

With a knife (regular of paring), gently press into the flesh of the dates. Then with your thumbs, pry the flesh open as gently as you can and remove the pit.

When all dates have been pitted, carefully remove a slice of prosciutto and gently tear in half with your hands. Then take one half and fold lengthwise. then wrap around the date. Don't worry about the prosciutto tearing while you are removing it, it happens all the time, you can still salvage it easily, just fold as best you can and wrap.

Lay on parchment covered baking sheet seem side down.

Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Let cool, then enjoy!


*If you are able to have dairy, stuff dates with feta cheese before wrapping.

**If you are able to have nuts, stuff dates with almonds, walnuts, or pecans before wrapping.

Here are some photos of me putting them together...

Here is a picture of the brand of prosciutto I used.

I got this package from Trader Joe's. The one from Costco is a two pack and looks a little different.

Some of you might be wondering why I am eating dates when I am trying to avoid sugar. Simple, dates are a whole, unprocessed food, perfectly fine to include in your Whole30 as long as you don't over do it. (Plus they are full of fiber, B vitamins, potassium, etc...)

These dates are perfect for taking on a hike or bike ride, they are little energy bundles! I hope you will give them a try, they are quite delicious!

Steph

Book Review and Giveaway of Practical Paleo By Diane Sanfilippo

This giveaway is now closed.

The winner of the Practical Paleo Book is: Eileen Lindsey!

"What is paleo? "Paleo" is short for Paleolithic, but the name is actually less important than the power of the overall approach.
While the term "Paleo" has gained traction in the mainstream media and on bookstore shelves everywhere due to the improved health of those who follow the lifestyle, you could call it "Primal", "Grain Free", "Real Food", "Whole Food", "Nutrient-Dense", or "Ancestral". Whatever name you choose, the "Paleo" way of eating is simple: Mimic our Ancestors, who suffered from fewer chronic diseases than modern populations." Diane Sanfilippo  Pg. 22 Practical Paleo 

I feel so honored that my humble blog was chosen to receive an advanced copy of Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo to review. I am so excited to share this book with you today, it truly is a treasure! I'm actually not really sure what to call this book, it's not just a book or a cookbook, it's both, wrapped up in a gorgeous, photo filled, information packed book! You know those authors who publish health books, then make you wait a year or more and publish a separate cookbook to go with their health book, well there is no waiting with this one, cookbook is included!

Her book is divided into three parts:

Part 1: The Why-Food and Your Body.

Part 2: Thirty Day Meal Plans

Part 3: Recipes

In part one, Diane explains the science behind the "Paleo" or as I like to call it the "Real Food" way of eating. She explains in detail and easy to understand terms why real food is best for our bodies. She includes colorful and extremely helpful guides and illustrations as well as many tips to help us when eating out or on an airplane or at a party.

Part two contains the meal plans. She has 11 different ones to choose from depending on your health issues:

Autoimmune Conditions

Blood Sugar Regulation

Digestive Health

Thyroid Health

Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue

Neurological Health

Heart Health

Cancer Recovery

Athletic Performance

Fat Loss

Squeaky Clean Paleo

Each meal plan contains Diet and Lifestyle recommendations, nutritional supplements & herbs to consider, supportive nutrients & foods that contain them and then the meal plans themselves. I personally plan to implement the Autoimmune Conditions, Thyroid Health and Fat Loss meal plans for my particular health issues.

Part three is all about the recipes! She includes step by step picture tutorials on how to chop an onion, how to chop a pepper and how to chop anything. I have found them tremendously helpful and am now chopping more like a chef than a crazy lady :) She has recipes for salt blends and spice blends that are wonderful. She has really inspired me to break out of the salt and pepper only mold and start using more of the spices in my cabinet!

The very best part of the recipes is that they are fast and easy to prepare with short ingredient lists for most...just how I like it!! Also each recipe has a least one gorgeous photo for you to drool at, taken by the talented Bill Staley of The Food Lovers Kitchen. I must stress the fact that this book, from start to finish, is chock full of glossy, beautiful photos...no skimping on that. I don't know about you, but I love looking at photos when I'm reading a cookbook or book on food.

Here are some of the recipes I have made from Practical Paleo...

This was adapted from her recipe Chicken Wings, two ways...

First my husband could only find regular size drumsticks at Costco instead of the recommended drummettes (or you can use wings too of course). Secondly I decided to only make it one way lol. I doubled the recipe for the Pineapple Teriyaki wings and boy was I glad I did...they were finger licking good! I really appreciated that there was no actual teriyaki sauce called for in the recipe, the combination of ingredients give you a delicious, lightly sweet sauce to mimic the teriyaki flavor without the harmful soy and sugar.

Pumpkin Pancakes...

Thank you, thank you Diane for giving the option to use a banana as a sweetener for these yummy, nourishing pancakes! This is a picture of my son's plate with the whole shebang of butter and maple syrup on top. Mine was just plain with butter, but still quite sweet that I did not miss the maple syrup.

The next day when heating up the leftovers for my breakfast, I had a great idea...drizzle on coconut butter. Let me tell you, it is so good this way, very decadent, but without the guilt!

Citrus and herb whole roasted chicken...

This was one of our favorites, so simple, yet full of flavor! The picture above shows the lemon version which my family just woofed down so fast. I saw my oldest son (aka pickiest eater) spooning extra roasted carrots and onion on to his plate, the lemon gave them so much flavor.

OK, I have to admit I goofed the first time I made this recipe, I used oranges instead of lemon, (I actually loved the orange version better) but I had set the chicken, breast down in the baking dish and proceeded to season and roast it upside down...it was still delicious and I ate some of the skin anyway :)

Upside down Orange chicken...live and learn :)

Lemon rosemary broiled salmon...

Wowie zowie, this is our favorite recipe so far! We all wanted to eat the whole thing in one fell swoop, but thanks to my husband, the voice of reason, we ate half the first night then enjoyed the other half the next night.

Lemon rosemary broiled salmon with sauteed zucchini, onion and kale

When I am finished with my sugar detox, I will be trying this recipe for Flourless mocha-bacon brownies...sounds and looks so good!

In the back of the book, Diane has guides that can be torn out and put on your fridge to help you remember important information.

My favorite guide was the one to paleo foods, I can get in a rut eating the same veggies over and over again, this guide helps remind me there are many vegetables and protein sources to choose from!

I hope my review was able to give you a good idea of what you will be getting if you purchase this "Encyclopedia" of information. It will arm you with the knowledge and tools you need to attain radiant health, which is what many of us are searching for.

This book will be released tomorrow, Aug.7th 2012!

Now for the giveaway! A brand spanking new copy of Practical Paleo will be mailed to the winner's doorstep!

"Like" my facebook page, Reading Your lips

"Like" Balanced Bites facebook page (Diane's page)

Post a comment below stating you have done both of these. The contest will be closed on Aug. 19th 2012 and the winner will be chosen and announced Monday, Aug. 20th 2012

**Update, I've changed the contest end date to Aug. 19th 2012

Good luck!

Steph

Crispy Baked Drumsticks

It's now a week into my second 21 Day Sugar Detox and I am doing great, no more cravings at all now. The first week is always a bit tough, since there is usually withdrawal symptoms and of course the psychological part that needs to be overcome...replacing the bad habit or craving with something good (in my case herbal tea) or eliminating it all together.

I have decided to join a group of people doing a Whole30 starting Aug.1st. You can read about the program here, the information is free. However, they have a book out called It Starts With Food (I highly recommend you get it!!) that explains in detail the science behind the Whole30 and much more. I am convinced doing the Whole30 will increase my health and healing tremendously. I will be following the Autoimmune Disease recommendations to avoid eggs, nightshades, dairy, nuts, seeds, and NSAIDs.

I will not be weighing myself during the Whole30, but I will when I am done and I will take a picture of how I look after as well. I am going to use these pictures as my before pictures, since I pretty much look the same and weigh the same.

So, please wish me luck! I'll still be doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox, just morphing it into the Whole30 lol.

Now on to a delicious recipe!

Crispy Baked Drumsticks

24 drumsticks
1/3 C. Coconut oil* or butter melted and mixed with EVOO
sea salt
onion powder
rosemary
pepper

Preheat oven to 375.

Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Put drumsticks in a colander and rinse well and drain.

Lay drumsticks down on the parchment with the skin facing up.

Pour oil into a small bowl and using a pastry brush, liberally brush the oil onto the drumsticks (if you are using coconut oil and your chicken are fresh out of the fridge, the coconut oil will harden and create a shell on your chicken, don't worry it's perfectly fine)

Coat the drumsticks liberally with sea salt and onion powder. Then sprinkle on the rosemary and pepper.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 min. The skin will be browned, crispy and yummy...enjoy!

*I use cold pressed, flavorless coconut oil, I am not a fan of the strong coconut flavor in Extra Virgin on my foods.

Monday I will be doing a review of a book that I was privileged to receive an advanced copy of. I am so excited to share it with you all, I have been having a blast making recipes from this book and I have learned so much from it as well! Now stay tuned because I am going to be having a giveaway, some lucky winner will be mailed a free Practical Paleo book!

This book will be released Aug. 7th, 2012 and can be pre-ordered.

Have a wonderful week,

Steph

Coconut Caramel Rice Pudding Recipe

Sometimes I just get a craving for some rice pudding. I love the flavor, the texture, the creaminess of it all, it is comfort food for me. Maybe it reminds me of my Grandma Estes, she made the best food from scratch period.

This recipe is a healthier version of rice pudding but still creamy and delicious. You get healthier fats from the coconut milk and it won't spike your blood sugar like regular sugar does.

Surprisingly you cannot taste the flavor of coconut if you follow my recipe as is, however if you use less sugar or a different sugar, you may taste it.


Coconut Caramel Rice Pudding

3 Cups (packed) of cooked rice ( I used white basmati rice)
2  14 oz (or close) cans of full fat coconut milk
2/3 Cup of Coconut/Palm sugar*
pinch of salt or to taste
1 tsp of vanilla

In a medium size saucepan, add coconut milk, rice, sugar and salt. Cook on medium heat until rice pudding is almost as thick as you would like, take off the heat and let cool for 5 min. then add vanilla and mix well. Continue to let the pudding cool, it will thicken more as it cools.

When cool enough to eat, serve as is or with a dollop of whipped cream on top. Other topping ideas are...

Cherry sauce
Sauteed apples
walnuts
almonds
raisins

* You could use regular brown sugar in place of the coconut sugar, I would only use 1/2 Cup since coconut sugar is not as sweet as regular. For just Coconut Milk Rice Pudding, sub 1/2 Cup of regular white sugar in place of the coconut sugar.

Enjoy!

My next post will be about our adventures at the Sequoia National Park. Gorgeous Country!!

Steph

Baking Bacon

In case you were wondering why I have not posted about my progress on my second 21 Day Sugar Detox, well that is because I have postponed it till August. We have too much going on right now, we are preparing for our camping trips taking place this summer. I am trying new recipes, and figuring out what to bring for meals and snacks. So far I have some ideas...

1. Hobo meals
2. Omelet in a bag
3. Pancake mix, flours premixed in a bag with instructions on outside of bag
4. Oatmeal (gf oats of course) mixed with either some dry, organic milk or some protein powder (will have to test this out, I have some Sun Warrior Brown Rice Protein powder that I want to try), dried fruit and nuts, premixed in a bag with instructions also written on bag.

Quick, easy and cheap (but high quality) is the name of the game for me, if you have any other great ideas on what I can bring, please share!

Now on to Baking bacon!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know by now I like to make easy but nutritious meals. I'm not a fan of washing a lot of dishes either, so I try to find ways to minimize the use of dishes, utensils and bake wear that I use.

We love bacon, but after making it on the stove for years and hating all the splattery mess that goes with it, not to mention the stuck on bacon bits at the bottom of my cast iron skillet that I like to not have to soak and scrub if possible to maintain my nice seasoning on it. I decided there must be an easier way, so I researched online to see if anyone was baking bacon in the oven, and sure enough there were many blog posts on the subject. After reading several recipes, I got the gist of it and tried my hand at it and now I love it and will not make bacon any other way....well ok except when we are camping, I will use my skillet :)

I like Trader Joe's Apple Smoked, thick cut, nitrate free bacon and that is what I used, be aware that if you use a thinner bacon the time will be shorter so keep an eye on it while it's on the oven!

Baked Bacon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment, it is actually better to have your parchment be larger than the cookie sheet as it will make keeping your cookie sheet clean much easier.

Lay out your bacon side by side each other till you have filled the pan.

The package of Trader Joe's bacon is a rather small pack so I am able to bake it all at one time.

When oven is preheated, put your pan in and bake for 20-25 min. That is it...so easy and much less messy!

If you are using regular sliced bacon, I would bake for about 10 min. or so.

Wait till bacon fat is cool and solidified if you can, before gathering up the parchment corners and dumping in trash.

If you have more bacon than what can fit on one cookie sheet and you want to bake it all in one batch instead of waiting for the first to finish, line another cookie sheet with parchment like the first and lay the rest of your bacon down on it. Put both sheets on the oven, but half way through baking I would take the bottom sheet and switch it with the top one, to ensure more even cooking.

This method is what I have found to work for me, I hope it helps you in your future bacon endeavors!

Steph

Making Lacto fermented Vegetables

I have been making my own lacto fermented vegetables for several months now, it's so easy! I will admit that I have wanted to make them for a very long time, but was too intimidated to try it thinking I was going to poison my whole family as well as my self. Along comes Ali and Tom from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen with a blog post on how to easily make lacto fermented veggies, they even have a video for those who learn visually (me). After reading how easy it was, I decided to get brave and just do it. I enlisted my husband to watch the video with me and listen to all the instructions in case Tom covered information that was not explained in the blog post (it's all explained in the blog).  Next I purchased some wide mouth canning jars along with some plastic lids that go with them. Then I needed to determine what vegetables I was going to lacto ferment first. I chose carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, cauliflower and red onions. I made six jars full of different combinations of vegetables and set them in a 9 x13 cake pan (to catch any fluid that comes out) and into my pantry. I left them for seven days to get "ripe" since it was still chilly during that time of year (if the weather is hot, it may take less time). After seven days, Eric and I pulled out our jars and tentatively tasted some of the veggies and they tasted delicious, even Eric was impressed! His favorite vegetable combination is red onion, cucumber and bell peppers (red, yellow and orange) and has since started adding some red pepper flakes when he makes some for himself.

I love Bubbies brand sauerkraut from the health food store, but it is a bit pricey if you eat a lot of it and I do. So I decided to try my hand at making my own with this recipe from Healthy Green Kitchen. I liked how she adds an apple for a little sweetness and her beautiful picture just looked so appetizing. I ended up using a green  apple in mine and I have to say that although it came out very good, I cannot detect any sweetness, most likely due to the green apple and not a red one as she uses.

Next, I tried my hand at some coconut mayonnaise using a recipe from The Coconut Mama. Instead of using whey, I used liquid from my lacto fermented vegetables and it came out so good, even Eric loved it. The kids could not tell it was made from healthy ingredients and I did not tell them :)

Eric and I have been eating our lacto fermented vegetables with almost every meal, they are so good and just teaming with enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Here are some of the ways I like to enjoy them.

baked potato with some ghee and lacto fermented veggies, I'm drooling!

brown rice pasta with homemade sauerkraut, so good believe it or not. I love it mixed in with brown rice too!

It's safe to say, I eat them with anything, I've even topped a homemade vegetarian pizza (after it was cooked) with my precious vegetables. I plan to try making some lacto fermented ketchup next!

I can't say for sure that my health has benefited from eating this way, but my doctor just recently lowered my thyroid medication by 30mgs, so I am going to keep doing what I'm doing.

What do you think? Are you interested in trying your hand at making some? I'd love to hear about it!

Steph

Update: I wanted to add some links that will offer more information on lacto fermenting

Nourishing Days has a series of posts on Fermented Food for Beginners (this link will take you the last post on the series, but that post will have links to the ones before).

According to Food Renegade, there is 54 billion live bacteria in less than a half a teaspoon of lacto fermented sauerkraut...wow! You can read about it here.

Food Renegade's Raisin Chutney Recipe. I plan to try this one, it looks really good!

Cultures For Health has a compilation of lacto fermented condiment recipes, I'll be trying some of these!

This is just the tip of the ice burg, I hope you found these links helpful, I will update from time to time when I come across more great, informative articles.