Paleo Baking

I've mentioned before that I generally stick to a paleo-friendly diet. Not only is it a fantastic way to stay skinny without going to the gym, but it's also very PCOS friendly in that it keeps your glucose levels from spiking, thus supposedly helping the little ol' ovaries from reacting to too much glucose and producing too many follicles and clogging them up and preventing actual ovulation.

Not that sticking to this diet has helped me ovulate AT ALL, but whatevs, I actually believe it's a healthier way to eat REGARDLESS.

So whether I have PCOS or not, which I am STILL on the fence about, I find it helpful to stick to a paleo diet in my day to day life...most importantly when I am the one cooking. Eating out is a whole other ballgame in which all diet restrictions go out the window, thus we only eat out on the weekends!

That being said it's been hard to find ways to incorporate fall flavors like PUMPKIN into anything besides baking.

And baking paleo-style is a bit of a...challenge.

Luckily I stumbled upon this blog and I've spent the better part of a day baking my face off.

First up I made these lovely pumpkin bars, which are sweet, moist and just plain delicious. Especially for being carb free, gluten free, sugar free, wheat free etc!

Pumpkin Bars

½ cup pumpkin (acorn, butternut or other squash) puree

½ cup agave nectar

2 eggs

1 cup blanched almond flour

¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

1. In a food processor, combine pumpkin, agave and eggs and pulse for 2 minutes
   
2. Pulse dry ingredients into wet for a full minute, until well combined
3. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 inch Pyrex baking dish
   
4. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes
5. Serve

I don't own a food processor, so I just mixed it all by hand and since the flour is actually almond flour it doesn't really matter if it's a bit clumpy, it tastes delicious even if it's chunky because it's almonds...not flour, flour chunks are gross.

Anyway, I also threw in some chocolate chips because my husband is a chocolate fan and doesn't really think a dessert is a dessert without chocolate. My chips were 70% cocoa which means I had THE TINIEST BIT OF SUGAR IN THIS DESSERT but that was my own doing and was unnecessary. Either way, DELISH!

I also decided to make pumpkin bread, again using Elana's Pantry recipe:

Paleo Pumpkin Bread

• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
  
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ cup roasted pumpkin (I used canned)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• ¼ teaspoon stevia
• 3 eggs

1. In a food processor
   
   combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and spices
2. Add pumpkin, honey, stevia and eggs and pulse for 2 minutes
3. Scoop batter into a petite loaf pan
   
4. Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes
5. Cool for 1 hour
6. Serve

I didn't use the Stevia, because I don't like Stevia and again, turned out DELISH! It's sweet and cinnamony and YUMMY.

I was actually quite proud of myself that these both turned out. In the past my paleo baking has been a bit...meh. I tried using regular recipes and just substituting regular ingredients with paleo friendly ingredients and let me tell you...that doesn't work. And since I don't have the skill or the inclination to make up recipes that DO work myself I am beyond pleased to have found Elana's Pantry because then she can do all the hard work and I can just bake and enjoy!

Miscellany Wednesday

I know it's supposed to be Miscellany Monday...alliteration and all that jazz. But I'm feeling a little bit like bullet points are the way to go today.

So here goes.

* I just found this chocolate chip cookie recipe here, decided to try it and am now enjoying a delicious batch...so much so that I fear there will be no cookies left by the end of the day.

* For personal reasons that I will share in a few weeks, I have decided to not go to NYC for my birthday. This makes me very very sad, but I will be going in September to make up for it!

* Instead, for my birthday, I'm going up to Oregon to see the fam, where if nothing else I at least get to enjoy some summer weather which San Francisco is not providing.

* I fear that because we're so protective with our cats, ie. leaving them for 4 days to go to Oregon is KILLING me, that it's indicative of how we're going to be with our kids. I don't want to be an overprotective parent.

* San Francisco weather sucks.

* AM I REALLY TURNING 30 ON SATURDAY?

* I'm uber excited to be going to a wedding in the UK in October, just 2 months away!

* I just rediscovered how bad I am at keeping secrets. Someone told me something and I am DESPERATE to tell others...it's not even my secret to tell!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Nothing Says Valentine's Day Like Magnolia

Believe it or not I did this by accident.

I made cupcakes for our neighbors because Dom insisted it was the "neighborly" thing to do and just because they're my favorite I made Magnolia Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Coincidentally the lovely little red and white beauties were also perfect for Valentine's Day.

Magnolia Red Velvet Cupcakes w/Cream Cheese Frosting

The only thing I change is that I only put in 4 cups of powdered sugar in the frosting because 5 cups is just a bit too sweet for me.

Sorry this is a crap photo, but these are obviously beautiful little red treats of deliciousness.

If you've never been to Magnolia in NYC (specifically the one in the village) I highly recommend it. Make sure to get a Red Velvet Cupcake and Banana Pudding, YUM!!!

I miss NYC =(

$10 Pumpkin Puree

As I've said before I'm not a huge fan of cooking...but I kind of like baking. Every once in awhile I'll make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from scratch or some other ridiculously tedious homemade goody...just for kicks.

Two days ago I decided I wanted to make some sort of delicious treat with pumpkin. Now, I know it's not Thanksgiving time and thus pumpkin pie time, but it honestly never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to find pumpkin puree just because it wasn't holiday season.

Boy was I wrong.

I went to 6, yes 6! different grocery stores to find one stupid can of pumpkin puree. I apparently also didn't take into account the fact that perhaps Aussies don't covet the pumpkin pie the was Americans do...because I found the pumpkin puree in the "American" section of a fancy grocery store. Do they not make pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas? (And guess what else was in this section, Pop Tarts and Baconnaise, I've never seen a bottle of Baconnaise in my life, how is that American?)

Anyway, once I finally found my pumpkin puree after 2 days of searching I then discovered that it was $10! Ten Dollars for 1 goddamn can of pumpkin puree! ...but I paid it anyway and left with my pumpkin puree, after 2 days of searching I was going to make these cookies no matter the cost!

And just because I'm thinking of these right now, one

day I will do a proper linguistics post, but these are relevant Aussie speak:

I say can, they say TIN

I say cookie, they say BISCUIT

In the end, my cookies turned out absolutely delicious, i used this recipe with a few added spices because the review said they were a bit bland.

Yum! Don't they look like little nuggets of deliciousness? Yeah, I thought so.

And just because this amused me when I was in the grocery store. Rice Krispies are Rice Bubbles! Heehee