Extreme Paleo Brownie
I made these brownies last night and I was meant to follow a sweet potato Paleo brownie recipe, but things kindof got side tracked. First of all, finding a sweet potato in Cabarete is a little harder than expected. I decided to opt for a Batata. Unfortunately I bought my Batata from Janet’s grocery store and after patiently baking it whole for 35 mins in the oven, I cut it open to find that it was rotten. How do you problem solve this one? Well you add avocado and a lot more almond flour. So bellow I’ll show you the recipe I was going to follow and then the recipe I ended up creating. All you need to know is that it turned out AMAZING! Sweet Potato Brownies Print Ingredients 1 sweet potato 3 eggs, whisked 1/4 cup Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, melted 1/3 cup raw honey 1/2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips 3 tablespoons Coconut Flour 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon pinch of salt Instructions Time to bake that sweet potato. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, use a fork to puncture holes all around it, then throw in the oven for 25-30 minutes. (I’m sure you could microwave it, but I like the ole fashioned way. I’m just so ole fashioned) Once your sweet potato is soft and cooked through, peel off the skin and mash it up in a bowl. And turn your oven down to 350 degrees. Now add your wet ingredients: coconut oil, honey, vanilla, and whisked eggs to the bowl and mix together. Then add your dry ingredients: coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips. Mix well to incorporate all that goodness. Pour into an 8×8 glass baking dish Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let rest to cool a bit. Eat those b*tches. Try not to eat them all in one sitting. Like what may have happened in my kitchen….oops. I got this recipe and many more amazing ones from: http://paleomg.com/sweet-potato-brownies/ Extreme Paleo Brownie © ½ avocado © 4 whisked eggs © ¼ cup of olive oil (probably unnecessary) © 1/3 cup of honey © ½ cup of chocolate chips © 1 ½ cup of cocoa powder © 1 cup of homemade ground almond/flax flour * (see recipe below) © 1 ½ tsp vanilla © ¼ tsp of cinnamon © Pinch of salt Instruction Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk eggs in one bowl and then add other wet ingredients. Mash avocado in a bowl then add to wet ingredients. In another bowl mix dry ingredients together then add to wet ingredients. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour in an 8×8 inch dish or casserole dish. Bake for 30-45 mins, it really depends on how moist you want it to be. I put my brownies in for about 30ish minutes and they came out soft and moist just how I like them. They weren’t very sweet, so I added a little honey on top at the end. Perfect with a nice cup of coffee. Hope you enjoy them! Almond Flax Flour Its not easy and cheap to find gluten free flour in the DR. You can find some in the neighbouring towns, but I figured I’d give it my best shot and see if I could make some on my own. Although my flour didn’t turn out exactly powder-like, it was still pretty amazing. Almonds Flax On medium heat toast two cups of raw almonds until skin starts to peel off 15 mins. Add flax seed at the end, if the stove is too hot, they will start popping Let cool for 15-20mins on the counter. Put in blender and pulse until you reach the consistency you are looking for.
Cabarete Coffee
Guests often ask us for recommendations for a good Dominican Organic Coffee. For us, we send people to the Cabarete Coffee Company. They are one of the only organic menu places in the Dominican Republic. Even though there is only a few organic items on the menu, it’s a good start. If you want to phone in your order for delivery, the phone number for Cab Coffee is 809-571-0919 The portions can be small, but the coffee is amazing, which is what we come for. Expect to pay double what you would normally pay for a coffee if you go for one of the premier coffees, but if you’re on vacation, who’s counting the coins? Another big plus for Cabarete Coffee company is that they deliver and they are open early in the morning. Their place is also a cool place to hang out and surf the web, as they have an air conditioned interior. If you want to get to Cabarete Coffee Company from eXtreme Cabarete, you have 2 options for walking. It’s about 1/2 a mile away from Kite Beach, along either the beach or the road. The road can be quite busy, so we often recommend to guests to take the beach route. If you walk along the road, it’s hard to miss, as there is a nice big road sign. Beware the oncoming traffic if you choose this route. If you ware walking along the beach, then it’s a big tricky to recognize the entrance to Cabarete Coffee, as the the path is kind of hidden. It’s located at the entrance of Nanny Estate, just past Punta Goleta for those who know Puta Beach and Kite Beach. For those that are new to the area, you walk along the beach past the point (which is where Ocean Point one is), and you come to Puta Beach. Walk along Puta Beach (which is definced by the big while development, called Punta Goleta). Just Past Punta Goleta you will see a cement structure that looks like it was once a beach front shop, but is now covered in sand. Beside that is a rock path that leads up to the back side of Nanny Estates. Once you walk kup that rock path, you will notice a road lined with Royal Palms – at the end of that road is Cab Coffee. Here are some photos to make it easier for you. And here is the path you walk down once you climb up the rocks from the road
Eating out on the Cheap – Restaurant Happy Hours in Cabarete
Everyone likes to save a buck, so why not move your meal hours around a little bit and go for the restaurant happy hours. These are the restaurant hours with few people around, so they offer discounted meals and menus to attract tourists to come to the beach in Cabarete and eat. It’s great for families, as the meals are at kid friendly times for families to eat. Here is a quick list of the happy hours. Monday: LAX, Bar Typo Cool. A chill bar on the beach in Cabarete features 100RD Burger Voy Voy hosts Karaokee starting at 11:00pm Tuesday: Cabarete East hosts Taco Tuesday with all you can eat American style tacos. But beware of the drink menu, and to be honest, including transportation, it’s probably easier and cheaper just to go to Gorditos Wednesday: Cabaha hosts live music starting at 9.30pm with Ben and the Teachers from ISS Band Thursday: Aloha Bar hosts an all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet. The food is great, but the service is understandably slower. Kahuna Sports Bar hosts Karaokee Party OJO’s hosts Latin Night… this is the BIG one Thursday nights are for the ladies! Friday: Cruise the beach in Cabarete and look for the signs that offer happy hour between 6 and 7pm. Saturday: Cabarete goes off. The big night in Town. Sunday: Sunday Brunch is slammed at Claro’s Cafe with the lovely Sandy. Aquarium Place in Callejon de la Loma offers 2 for 1 pizza. Daily Happy Hours: Chichigua Restaurant at eXtreme offers happy hour between 4 and 6pm. Two for one rum drinks will carry you from kiting to dinner with a twist of lime and the wink of an eye. Mojoto Bar offers fantastic Mojoitos. They are 2 for 1 between 4 and 7pm. They also have great sandwiches and fresh Juice combos every day for 150 RD Onno’s Bar offers 2 for 1 cocktails from 5pm – 6pm LAX Daily Specials Beer 50RD & Chicken Wings 1/2 price 6pm – 7pm Mojito 2 for 1 & Tapas 2 for 1 Santo & Cuba Libres 2 for 1 @ Midnight Vodka-RedBull pitchers for 300RD And for those looking for nothing but trouble, head to the Blue Bar for a Cup of Rum for 75RD
Extreme Hotel’s Organic Farm
If you have been following some of the blogs here, you’ve probably read a little about eXtreme Hotel’s organic farm. The farm is called Taino Farms, after the native people of the island and it is located in the mountains of Los Brazos. The farm manager is big on using permaculture techniques and organic farming methods. There are no chemicals of any kind used at our farm. We try to use recycled materials or natural products wherever we can. We grow much of our produce vertically, rather than horizontally, maximizing the space we utalize. The produce from the farm augments the food we use in the kitchen at the hotel to produce fresh and healthy meals at our restaurant. As production increases, we will increasingly use fresh organic produce from the farm at the restaurant. It is our goal to eventually use only the organic produce from our farm to create delicious, wholesome meals in the restuarant. Additionally, we sell some produce and seedlings at the local Cabarete market on Saturdays from 10-2. Some of the produce we have includes different lettuce, spinach, bok choy, various tomatoes and cucmbers, different types of squash, garlic, herbs including lemongrass, basil and oregano. We also have various fruits including grapefruit, chinola, cherry, banana, starfruit and other local Dominican fruits. Some of these seedlings are also available for purchase at the market. The compost from the kitchen at eXtreme Hotel, along with several other restaurants in Cabarete are taken to the farm to provide natural fertilizer. Behind the farm is a beautiful river that flows down from the mountains. It is a cool and refreshing place to swim, with a sandy bottom. Tours are available from the hotel to the farm where you can learn about organic farming and permaculture, enjoy some lunch and take a refreshing swim in the river. Ask the staff at the hotel about the tour and they will be more than willing to set one up for you. This is a fun and educational eco-tour and a great way to spend a day, especially if there is not much wind for kiteboarding at the hotel. At eXtreme Hotel you will find a garden that implements many of the techniques and concepts that we use at the farm. Come check it out. If you see the farm manager working in the garden feel free to ask him any questions you may have. He is always willing to share his knowledge with others and is very animated regarding his work. Come see for yourself why eXtreme Hotel is the most unique and fun place on Kitebeach in Cabarete. For a personal touch and that little extra something, this is the place to be.
Mango Madness
It’s a national holiday today in the Dominican Republic so most people have the day off work. People from around the island are in Cabarete to take advantage of the three day weekend. On kite beach, the vacationers were enjoying the perfect weather for hanging out on the beach, warm and sunny with a light breeze. I saw games of volleyball, people snorkeling, families having picnics, kids playing in the waves, and every other beach activity you could think of. Fruit Smoothie’s are now an official part of the Extreme Hotel bar menu. We tested out several different recipes and came up with some great combinations. The Mango Madness was one of my favorites which has fresh mango’s, yogurt, and honey in it. The surf was small today, but still good enough to use a long board. Tommy and Andrew went surfing at Encuentro this afternoon. It was Andrew’s first time surfing since January so I’m sure his muscles will be a bit sore tomorrow. Deb got a new moto scooter and I took her out to teach her how to drive it. She also learned that there is no fuel gauge on the moto… and we ran out of gas out by El Rocon. It was easy enough though to push it to the main street. Right away a Dominican motoconcho driver stopped to help us and pushed us to the gas station.