All Natural Macaroons
G’s All Natural Macaroons When in doubt…bake goodies I’m a treat addict. Like most of you, one treat often turns into a waterfall of sugar intake. After much soul searching, I figured that I should just make treats that have a little health wedged into them. This way life’s balance is returned. This week I made homemade macaroons – the healthy kind. This recipe is particularly amazing because I have fresh and locally grown coconuts to work with. You’ve probably noticed that I often use coconut in my recipes like: my paleo almond coconut pie and my stovetop pumpkin pie. I like using coconut for a number of reasons. The flour is a great substitute for those who are gluten intolerant. It’s rich in protein, fibre, and good fats. It’s an excellent source of lauric acid which supports the immune system and promotes good skin health. Here are some other fast facts: This fruit is healthy for you because it contains lots of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids. It is a great source of essential fatty acids because it contains all of the omega fats – 3, 6, 7 and 9. Inside a coconut is a cavity filled with coconut water, which is sterile until opened. It mixes easily with blood, and was used during World War II in emergency transfusions Coconut milk has a fat content of 17% and can be used for baking and cooking. One cup of raw coconut contains 282.9 calories – Fat accounts for 224 of these calories, while carbohydrates account for 49.7 and protein for the remaining 9.2 of the calories. It also contains less sugar than meat from other fruits like oranges or apples. For this recipe, I bought a couple mature coconuts to shred for my macaroons, but I could have just bought dehydrated, shredded coconut from the grocery store. This recipe makes about 25 macaroons the size of golf balls. Ingredients: 4 cups of shredded coconut 7 egg whites 1 ½ Tablespoon of orange zest 1 tsp of salt 1/3 cup of honey ½ coconut flour Preheat oven at 325° C In a large bowl, whip egg whites until frothy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Drop big spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Make sure that balls are tight. Bake until golden – around 17 minutes. When done – eat and share.
Stovetop Thanksgiving
How to cook a thanksgiving dinner on the stovetop. This year I celebrated the American thanksgiving with the Extreme family. Maya, our architect and Zach, our trainer are both from the states. Since Monica and I didn’t get around to baking a feast of our own this October, we decided it was only appropriate to bake a feast for all of us. For a number of reasons, this Thanksgiving feast was going to be a unique challenge. Other than the fact that our ingredients were going to be slightly different due to the fact that we’re in the Dominican, Monica is doing the Wild Rose cleanse which prohibited her from eating certain foods and I am going through my own allergy discoveries that has forced me to cut out some basic food groups. So between the two of us, we had to cut out: Vinegar Gluten Added sugar Lactose Fermented products As you can imagine, this makes cooking a thanksgiving meal slightly more difficult. Oh, and did I mention that our oven didn’t work so that we had to make everything on the stovetop? Yah, that’s right. But in true Amazon fashion (Monica and I are known as Amazons) we saw these restrictions purely as fun challenges. Maya on the other hand, could eat anything and was surely not letting our food limitations stop her from having the true American Thanksgiving she’s grown to love and cherish. She still made a point to buy stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy. Because the oven didn’t work, I made a roast chicken and veggies in a soup pot, and pumpkin pie in a pan. I have to admit that I was little worried about how everything was going to turn out. Cooking a pumpkin pie without sugar, eggs or an oven sounded like a waste of ingredients. It was going to taste like poop. But I figured if Martha Stewart can make apple crumple in microwave while locked up in the slammer, I can make this pie turn out half decent. I started by searing the chicken before filling the pot with big chunks of veggies and chicken broth. I let it sit on the stove at a low temperature for at least two and half hours. When it was almost don’t, I started on the pie. The first step for the pie was pressing and cooking the pie crust mixture in a pan on the stove. Then I added the pumpkin pie mixture, put a pot lid on it and let it warm up for as long as I could without burning the bottom. When the chicken was finally ready, it was fall-off-the-bone-perfect! Because it was cooked in a broth, it was incredibly succulent and delicious. The vegetables were soft and flavourful, and after we finished eating the food on our plates, we all started eating out of the pot like a group of domesticated (starved) cats. When it came to dessert I cheated a little. I knew for fact that this pie was going to taste like a science experiment gone wrong, so I decided to flambé some apples in some Brugal rum to throw on top. I was amazed to see that the crust was crispy! The pumpkin part wasn’t quite as solid as if it had been whisked with eggs and baked… but it was warm. Success? I was quite surprised when it didn’t taste like pumpkin ass, but simply a diabetic version of pumpkin puree with a nice toasty crust. Since only Monica wasn’t allowed to have any added sugar, we all added some maple syrup to our pie… or liquid gold as I like to call it. All in all, I think it was a total success. So much so that I’ve made three more chicken this way since Thanksgiving! Here are my recipes, enjoy: Stovetop Chicken: 2pd whole chicken with skin Carrots Onions Handful or garlic Potatoes Peppers 500ml to a liter of chicken stock 3 Tblp of coconut or olive oil to sear chicken Roughly cut up all veggies. Turn on stove to medium-high. In a large soup pot, put in oil and half the onions and garlic. Put in chicken and sear on all side: this means allow the chicken to get crispy on all sides. Add veggies and broth. Put a lid on top, turn to low and let sit for at least 2 hours. Periodically base the chicken with the broth. When chicken is nearly done, take off the lid and let the broth evaporate a little. Test chicken by seeing if the drumstick bone pulls off the chicken easily. Pumpkin Pie Crust 1 ½ cup of coconut flour 1 ½ cup of sunflower flour 1 Tblsp of vanilla ½ tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 2 Tblsp coconut oil ¼ cup of warm water Mix all ingredients together and firmly push into pan. On low-medium heat cook pie crust. Move pan around to make sure all sides are evenly cooked. Pumpkin Filling One large can of sugar-less pumpkin puree 1 ½ tsp of cinnamon 1-2 tsp vanilla ¼ tsp salt 1. Whisk all ingredients together and place in pie. Smooth out top and sprinkle raisins or nuts if you’d like. 2. Turn to low, place lid on top and leave until pumpkin filling is hot..warm..decent. Drunken Apples 1-2 apples 1/3 cup of rum Place apples with a bit of water in small pot on the stove and turn to medium. Let them boil a little bit. Add rum, then slightly tilt pot to the side and light with a lighter. Be careful not to put too much rum and burn your eyebrows. Serve pie while hot and add drunken apples on top, add maple syrup of honey as you wish. Bon appetite! A reminder: Cooking is very different than baking. Baking involves chemistry, while I follow my taste buds when I’m cooking. The measurements I use are estimates. Taste as you go along, and
Paleo Almond Coconut Pie
I wanted to make a paleo ice cream pie, so in true Paleo fashion, Monica and I spent an afternoon playing around with the idea of making a wheat and dairy free frozen-raw pie…froraw, a rafro, a zenraw? How would this amazing creation of goodness be created you ask? Well the masterpiece would be created in two parts. First, we would make the crust and freeze it. Next we would put in the filling and freeze it a second time. The glorious thing about making frozen pies is that you can pretty much say goodbye to unnecessary added fats, flours and fillers. Let’s start with what I mean by unnecessary fats. Butters and oil in any form generally contribute to the desserts flavour and moisture content. They make the brownies goowie and the whipped cream fluffy. Fats are generally used to cream with sugar to aerate the batter. If you check most of your recipes you’ll notice that they normally call for you to cream sugar with butter until fluffy. This, in addition to the chemical reaction you get from baking soda or whipping eggs will help rise your cakes or cookies. To return to our frozen pie, nothing needed to rise or bake, so very little fat was needed. Contrary to popular belief, you can make a delicious pie without flour. This is true even if you do decide to make a hot, baked pie. Because of the oil content in the nuts and seeds, after pressing the ground mixture into the pan and freezing it, we noticed that it was unnecessary to add any additional coconut flour for structure. *If I had decided to bake it in the oven, I would have mixed in an egg or two to get the solid effect we achieved from freezing. Finally no fillers!! The beauty of making your own food is knowing exactly what goes in it. I don’t know about you, but when I got shopping I read the ingredients on the side of the box to see what I’m potentially putting into my system. When I make a choice between two identical products, I always pick the one with the least amount of ingredients. Another trick: if you can’t pronounce it, don’t fucking eat it! Try that next time you buy canned coconut milk. I try to apply this philosophy when I bake or cook. If I can make something amazing with the least amount of ingredients, the happier I am. Baking with whole foods is the best thing for you and the planet. I’m not saying that baking soda or peppermint flavouring is bad for you, but it can be the gateway drug to other fillers. Like sinister-table-salt, back-fat-butter or mucus-making-milk. It is completely possible to make amazing goodies without any of those products. Ok, now for la piece de resistance: Frozen Coconut Pie in an Almond-Sunflower Crust. As life changing as this recipe will be for most of you, I mostly hope that you can use this recipe as a blueprint for some of your own dessert brainstorming creations. The crust can be made with other nuts and seeds like walnuts or macadamias. If you don’t have any coconut meat handy, puree some peaches, berries or bananas. For those of you who aren’t paleo followers, make a filling with thick Greek yogurt or ice cream. As a challenge, try to keep you ingredient to a minimum. Frozen Coconut Pie in an Almond-Sunflower Crust Ingredients Crust 1 cup of almonds ¼ cup of sunflower seeds 1 ½ Tbsp coconut oil Toast almonds and seeds on medium heat for 15 to 20 mins. You want the almond skin to flake off. *You want to cook the almonds first to dry out any moisture. If you were to puree the almonds without cooking them, you’d make almond butter. Not a total loss, but not the objective. Stay focused young Jeti. Let cool for 30mins then puree in food processor until you reach the texture of cornmeal. Add in coconut oil, mix well then press into pie pan (create an even, flat surface so that there are no open holes/ pores for the filling to seep into). Place in freezer for an hour. *if you prefer a thicker crust, feel free to boost up the ingredients. Filling 1 ½ cup of pureed coconut meat from a fresh coconut 1 cup of almond milk 1/3 cup of coconut cream 1 cup of cut up papaya Puree coconut meat in the food processor. Then add almond milk and coconut cream. Pour into crust filling and papaya cubes. Place in freezer for at least two hours. By the time your forehead sweat makes you squint like a pirate, your pie should be ready. Cut yourself a nice big piece and appreciate how your body temperature starts drop. Yours truly, Genevieve
Organic Dominican Chocolate Bars and Almond Butter
The best organic chocolate and almond butter can offer a healthy snack at any time: It happened again. I woke up in a sweat and I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I tossed and turned, but nothing seemed to help. I started counting sheep… pointless. I started telling my body to relax and fall asleep…feet, ankles, calves…I got to my stomach and gave up. When I finally caved, I slid out of bed and made my way to my desk. It was still dark, but I knew exactly where it was. As if I had night vision, I reached into my desk and grabbed it. I unfolded the tinfoil wrapping, broke off a piece, and sat down for what would be a midnight foodgasm. The homemade 80% organic chocolate instantly started melting on my tongue and brought me into another world. I will admit now that I’m not proud of my addiction. Most of my pockets are littered with small pieces of tinfoil. I’ve even lying to my friends and family, “It’s just water weight!” but my defensive tone totally blows my cover. Zach taught me that “sharing is caring” but c’mon, this shit is primo gold! The best way for me to avoid this addiction is to only buy one bar and eat it as fast as I can. I haven’t always been like this, but since our good friend Maria started making organic chocolate at Taino Farm to sell, I’ve been hooked. In my defense, its better then eating a box of chocolate cookies or ice cream from Bon. Most health articles will say that dark chocolate is good for you… so that’s my justification. My favourite dessert is when Maria arrives with a fresh batch of organic almond butter AND dark chocolate…can someone say chocolate almond butter sandwich?? YES PLEASE! Both products are made with love and care. It’s not an easy process to accumulate all the ingredients, roast them to perfection, produce and package. We’ve trained up the farmers to help with the process, but Maria still does most of the work herself, including perfecting a chocolate recipe that even Willi Wonka would admire. As soon as she’s got a batch ready she brings it down to Extreme to sell. Maria has almond butter and chocolate ready for purchase most of the time, and the Extreme team staff is sure to let hotel guests and Cabarete locals know when it’s around. You can always make a custom order by emailing Genevieve@ecabarete.com. Prices 250RD – 80% organic chocolate bar 500RD – jar of organic almond butter Because we’re adamant at reducing and reusing, the prices might vary depending on what jars Maria is able to find and use for the nut butter. Prices might also change slightly for the chocolate if she decides to add nuts or fruit to the chocolate. So unleash your inner fat kid and give in to some healthy-guilty-pleasures. Because you only live once and there’s no better way to be decadent than doing so in a eco-friendly-locally-produced-oh-so-awesome kinda way. By Genevieve
Can you eat Paleo while traveling?
Ok, so this was my first attempt to travel while sticking to a strict diet. It was not easy, but I tried to make it easier for myself by bringing plenty of food and water with me to avoid eating the heads off of any flight attendants or other travelers. Before catching the plane, I gave myself some time to head to the grocery store. I bought two bananas, two apples, two oranges, one cucumber, a bag of mixed nuts, 200 grams of smoked turkey, a 70% cocoa chocolate bar and some cheese. Now, I know that cheese and chocolate aren’t technically part of the caveman diet, but I figured with the amount of traveling I was going to do, I’d rather have something of good quality to cure my cravings than have to resort to eating McShatmypants. I love buying cucumbers to bring me with because they’re refreshing, they taste great on their own, and you can easily break off a piece and enjoy it anywhere. It also packs well, goes with most food and is a cooling or alkaline food. Alkaline foods are good for our system because we tend to be too acidic which can cause a number of health issues. This will be explained further in another post, but feel free to check out this site: http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/heaty.html In addition to having a backpack full of snacks, I always make sure that I have a bottle of water with me. Hydration, especially when traveling is always very important! Did you hear that? VERY IMPORTANT! It helps with jetlag, nausea, dry skin, brain power, and much, much more. When the flight attendant comes around with beverages, don’t be a dumbass and get a coke, do yourself a favour and get WATER! Worst case scenario, I allow myself a couple exceptions if morale is low. If I haven’t had the opportunity to eat very much fruit and veggies for some reason, I’ll get a tomato juice. If I’m freezing cold because the plane is too cheap to give me a free blanket, I’ll have some green tea (no milk or sugar), and if I’m craving the awesome cold carbonation feeling in my belly, then I’ll have some soda water with some lime. If you didn’t get around to going to the grocery store before heading to the airport, there are a few paleo items you can purchase at the airport. Now in all honesty, it is nearly impossible to follow a true paleo diet when trying to survive the no-mans-land that airports can be, but this is what I was able to find: Beef Jerky Fruit Nuts Salads with meat Keep in mind that some, if not all of these foods will be somewhat processed to a certain point. If you’re like me, you’re going to be on a tight budget so instead of buying 15 bags of almonds, you’ll just spend $10 and get trail mix. Yes I know that peanuts and M&M’s are not paleo, but throw me a bone here. In my opinion, as long as I stay away from grains, processed foods like chips and candy, and sugary beverages I’m happy. I’m ok falling a little off course to avoid falling off the wagon completely. I’m bending the rules to satisfy my needs, stay nourished and be happy. This is your life, your body and your diet, it doesn’t matter what you write down in your food journal because your body will register everything even if you don’t. If you end up eating something shitty because you felt like you had to, feel shitty about it for a little bit, register how it made your body feel… then move on. Make your next food decision be one that you’re proud of. At the end of this week I will be taking a train from Montreal to New York. I’ll do my best to hit up the grocery store before I go and check out what’s available at the train station. Til’ next time amigos!
Chickpea Veggie Bread
Hey guys, so my last creation: the Almond Flour Pineapple Right-Side-Up Cake was an exciting success. Although it didn’t ‘upside down’ itself, the flavour was still delicious. You might have noticed by now that most of the recipes have very low fat content, this is obviously excellent for those of you who are trying to watch your waist line. It important to keep in mind when baking with very little or no amounts of fat, one still needs to add the ‘moist maker’. In my past recipes, I’ve either used grated carrot or avocado. You can also use yogurt, apple sauce or, as for my next recipe: grated zucchini. In addition, most of these creations will call for large amounts of eggs. This as well will keep your baked good moist. The trick is to discover the right balance of baking power and/or soda to make sure that your treat rises. This is a constant challenge, and I’m always working with recipes I find to strike the right balance between moist and fluffy. Ok, so for this lovely Chickpea Veggie Bread I decided to make my own flour. Chickpea Flour Dehydrated Chickpeas Heavy duty blender Pour no more than a cup and half in the blender and start by pulsing the blender. Eventually when the chickpea breaks down more, you can leave it on until you reach a powder like substance. If you smell burning at any time STOP! Chickpea Veggie Bread 2 – 2 ½ cups of chickpea flour 1 Tblsp Baking Power 1 Tblsp Baking Soda 1 tsp of salt 7 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup of shredded carrot ½ cup cubed avocado ½ cup cubed cheese (your favourite) ¼ cup honey 2 Tblsp butter melted Preheat oven at 350 degree. In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients. In a smaller ball whisk eggs, then add in vanilla and honey. Pour wet ingredients in the large dry ingredient bowl. Mix loosely, don’t worry if there are still some dry patches. Add in avocado and cheese. DO NOT OVERMIX! Once all ingredients are combined, pour into a 9×9 inch pan or casserole dish. Put in oven for approximately 40 mins. When the top is browned and there is a certain firmness when you push down on the top, it’s ready! This bread has the consistency of corn bread. Feel free to be creative with different cheeses, herbs, onions, peppers or even dates or raisins. You can add more honey if you’d like to make it more of a sweet snack, or just lather the jam on top when it comes out of the oven! Bon appetite !