Paleo Coconut Blueberry Muffins

These are absolutely amazing.  What a treat!  I followed the recipe exactly but I think you could cut down on the honey to 3-4 TBS and it would still be just as good and plenty sweet. Enjoy!  Serve with scrambled eggs for a protein balanced breakfast!

1/2 cup Organic Coconut Flour
1/2 cup Organic Almond Flour
6 tablespoons Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, melted
1 cup unsweetened vanilla organic Almond Milk
6 Organic, Soy Free Eggs
6 tablespoons Raw Organic Honey
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon Organic Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract
1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
1 cup fresh organic blueberries

Mix eggs, oil, honey, salt, milk and extracts together.

Combine flour with baking powder and slowly mix wet and dry ingredients together.
Fold blueberries into batter.
Blueberries should be dry. If rinsed, dry them off before adding to batter.
Pour batter into greased muffin tins, fill 3/4 of the way up.  Batter will be very soupy, this is normal!
Bake at 400*F for 20 minutes (optional: at 10 minutes add coconut flakes on top of muffins).
Makes about 16 muffins.  

Delicious Date Balls

Lydia helped me make these today and they turned out so delicious.  They have no sugar and are a healthy 'sweet treat'.  I will get a picture up tomorrow.   Because of some recent personal health issues I have switched my style of eating (for life) to that which resembles the Paleo or Primal diets (Grain Free, Sugar Free, Low Carbohydrate, Dairy Free (except occasional cheese or cream).  This recipe is adapted slightly from Everyday Paleo recipe book. It's a great recipe book!

20 Organic Medjool dates, pits removed
1/2 cup Organic Raw Almond Butter
1/4 Organic Coconut Flour
2 TBS Organic unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 TBS Organic Cinnamon
Finley Shredded Unsweetened Organic Coconut Flakes.

In a blender or food processor process a few dates at a time until well chopped, then add all ingredients except coconut flakes and blend until smooth.  Roll into balls then roll in the coconut flakes to coat outside of the balls.  Enjoy!

SuperNatural Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

Cobbler filling:

·        4 cups peeled and sliced fresh organic peaches (blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds to remove the skins) or 2 cans of organic canned peaches

·        3/4 cup coconut crystals

·        1 teaspoon organic cinnamon

·        1 teaspoon organic vanilla

·        1 tablespoon organic sprouted whole wheat flour

·         

Cobbler crust:

·        1 cup organic sprouted whole wheat flour

·        1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder

·        1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda

·        3 tablespoons coconut crystals

·        4 tablespoons organic butter, cut into small pieces

·        2/3 cup organic buttermilk

·        1 tablespoon coconut crystals, for topping

·        Organic vanilla ice cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Generously butter a 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Place the sliced peaches in the dish and sprinkle with crystals, cinnamon, vanilla, and flour. Mix gently and spread evenly again. Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine all dry ingredients for cobbler crust in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers, to make the texture like coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir to form a soft dough.

Remove fruit from oven and drop rounded spoonfuls of dough on top. Sprinkle with last tablespoon of crystals and return to oven. Bake until fruit is bubbly and crust topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

Organic Muesli

Organic muesli is a staple in my home.  We buy it in 5lb bags a few times a year and my children eat muesli made with organic whole milk, pastured butter and maple syrup at least 2-3 times a week.  It is simply delicious and such a wholesome and nourishing breakfast.  I am scrapping the bottom of my 5lb bag and found this site that sells tons of different varieties as well as 2 that are 100% organic.   They just opened their store and are trying to get to 200 fans by this Sunday at 5pm.  If they make the goal they will extend a 50% off coupon to all the fans!  WOW!  I'd love to get a bunch of our delicious organic muesli for that price!  Please like the page and jump on this deal as well!  :)

http://www.mueslifusion.com/

How to Clean Your Oven....Naturally

I recently saw some youtube tutorials on cleaning your oven with baking soda so I decided to give it a try since I refuse to use toxic oven cleaners, and I desperately needed a natural solution!

Here are my results:                                           BEFORE:

                                                                        AFTER:

As you can see my results were fantastic.  I have to be honest this method is a bit messy but it does work great.   So how to do it?
Buy a big bag or box of baking soda & and a large spray bottle if you don't have one, use a scoop or measuring cup (1 cup size) to scoop the baking soda and sprinkle it onto the surface of your oven (I also did this to the inside of the oven door).  Apply very heavily to any soiled areas.   One down side to this is that if you have stains on the back, top or sides of your oven this isn't going to work too well for those spots.. since the baking soda cannot be placed heavily on those areas and be allowed to sit like that.  I was able to spray the walls then 'throw' some baking soda at them to give them a light coating.. which did take some off but they did not come entirely clean like the bottom of the oven.  So after you have laid the baking soda down then spray very heavily with water using your spray bottle.  You want the water to saturate the baking soda enough to make it a thick paste consistency.   Now leave it for at least 12 hours but up to 24 hours.  Check on it periodically and respray any spots that have begun to dry.  You want to keep that baking soda in a wet paste consistency throughout the process.  When your ready, just take a wet wash cloth and begin wiping up all the soda.  The crusted stains should just wipe right up, some spots that maybe didn't get as heavy of a coat of baking soda will need to be rubbed over it a few times but it should come right off as well.  I hope you all have as much luck with this as I did!  

Organic Baby Food Purees

Yum! There is just nothing that compares to organic fresh produce!  This is my stash from one of my resent shopping trips to the local health food store.  I love that they now carry fresh produce and such a nice variety.  They get fresh shipments in every Friday and I love seeing what new produce they have each week as it always changes.  It's a fun challenge to come up with recipes that revolve around what organic produce was availably that particular week.  I also order a lot of my main staples in bulk (by the case) from there which gets me a 10% discount.  Some of those items are organic whole plain yogurt, organic raw milk cheese, organic pastured butter, organic coconut milk, organic chicken nuggets, organic sprouted seven grain bread & brown rice tortillas.

As most of you know Jack still is without any "chewing teeth" he only just has front teeth still (with another front tooth on the way in).  So I do still have to modify some of our family meals for him by pureeing it in the blender or mashing it and I also make him fresh fruit and veggie purees each week which I add to his plain whole milk yogurt or just feed him as a side dish to a meal.

I just make what was organic and available that particular week.  Some weeks its sweet potato and apple, this week it was pears & butternut squash with cinnamon, in this photo we made a apple mango puree.

To make the purees I just simply peel and cut the fruit into large chunks, place them in my steamer pot and steam them with the lid on until they are tender.  I immediately dump the veggie/fruits in the blender and blend.  This is so fast and easy, from start to finish it takes about 15-20 minutes and afterward I can throw everything in the dishwasher.  I keep the purees in the fridge in an air tight 'green' plastic container, and I never make more than one puree at a time or freeze the purees.  I make them fresh and only make what we will use in the next 3 days.  Its so quick and easy to make them I just think why not just make them fresh and save room in my freezer, plus no need to thaw or worry about it going bad.

 Here is a 'Green' puree. Banana, avocado & kiwi!

Some other baby food combination ideas for purees:

Pear, Broccoli & Pea

Sweet Potato Apricot

Apple Mango Spinach

Banana Strawberry Kiwi

Carrot Sweet Potato & Apple

Pear Kiwi Raisin

Butternut Squash & Corn

Organic Turkey Chili

This is a delicious recipe! I am not really a fan of ground turkey but this chili is amazing!  The whole family really enjoys it.  Serve with all natural organic tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese.

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb Organic Ground Turkey
• 1 Jar or Can of Crushed or Strained Organic Tomatoes 
• 1 Can Organic Black Beans, drained
• 1 Can Organic Kidney Beans, drained
• 1 Can Organic Pinto Beans, drained
• 1 Can Organic Corn, drained-
• 2-3 Cloves of Organic Garlic, minced
• 1 Organic Onion, chopped
• 2 T. Organic Tomato Paste
• 2 T. Organic Agave Nectar
• Salt, Pepper, Cumin & Chili Powder, to Taste 

Brown the turkey in a large pot with the onions and garlic.  Add all other ingredients and simmer for 30-min to an hour.    Enjoy!  This recipe is my own rendition of one made by a friend of mine.  She has an awesome website with lots of recipes and information on gluten free natural cooking. http://flavorandfreedom.com/