Stuffed Avocados

I’m venturing back into the paleo-ish world and y’all- it’s so much easier to be paleo now than it was 6 years ago. Publix has coconut aminos! Whattttt??? Plus all these dressings and marinades. I’m stoked!

Recent health struggles have reminded me that I can’t out-supplement a bad diet, so while I don’t plan to be as strict as I was back in 2013, I know my body functions best when I’m following Paleo principles. So this was dinner last night…

Spring mix greens and avocados (stuffed with mushrooms, onions, and garlic sautéed in pork lard) drizzled in paleo ranch. Roasted red peppers, grapes, and 2 fried eggs, over medium.

Simple. Fast. Yum.

Pumpkin Pie, Y’all! (and an awesome AIP pie crust)

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday to get our pumpkin. Last year, I discovered that I am a masterful pumpkin carver. Seriously. I am. Our jack-o-lantern had my daughter’s name for a mouth. I think I’m gonna have to dig up a picture to prove how awesome it was. Yes, yes I am.  Here it is.

Anyway, she’s been obsessed with having pumpkin pie ever since we got home from the pumpkin patch. So I decided to come up with a version that was delicious and compliant with the Autoimmune Paleo Protocol, so that we could enjoy it together.

One of my favorite new ingredients that I’m finding to be extremely versatile is the plantain. Green plantains make yummy chips or tostones, yellow ones are delicious baked or fried in coconut oil. Green plantains are a great binder for savory dishes, such as this recipe for AIP meatloaf. Super ripe, black plantains are great for sweet dishes, such as this AIP friendly pancake recipe. So when I was trying to decide what to use for the crust, and just happened to have an almost completely black plantain in the pantry, I knew I had to try it.

I’ve also been making a lot of homemade coconut milk using unsweetened dried coconut, and saving the “milked” coconut in the freezer. Today I blended some of that back in with a bit of coconut oil and honey to make a pretty close approximation of coconut butter. Mixing this “coconut butter” with the mashed plantain made a perfect pie crust. And Little Miss got to help! She’s a great plantain masher and crust spreader.

We baked the crust for 40 minutes in a 375 oven until it was brown and toasty. I love how the ridges left by spreading it with a fork toasted up, making it crispy and flaky, like a conventional pie crust.

Then we made and poured on this recipe for pumpkin pudding. It seemed a bit runny at first, but after chilling in the fridge overnight, the gelatin set and gave a nice, pumpkin pie texture.

Time to cut into it and see if it holds up like pumpkin pie… It does! Beautiful!

But something’s missing. I can’t pass up the chance to whip up some super-easy, wholesome chocolate sauce! Spoonful of carob powder and a splash of pure maple syrup, and…. Voila!

Right now, as I’m typing this, I’m having a big slice with a cup of tea. So perfect.

Here’s the recipe for the crust.

Ingredients:
1 super-duper ripe almost completely black plantain (blacker=sweeter)
1/4 cup coconut butter
2 tablespoons raw, local honey (this brand is ok, but local is always better)
Pinch of himilayan sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Directions:
Have the nearest toddler mash the plantain with a fork. You may need to help with the big chunks. They will want to use their hands. Let them. Then mix in the coconut butter, honey, and salt, continuing to mash the plantain to get it smoother and smoother. It doesn’t have to be completely smooth, just not totally lumpy.

Grease a pie plate with the coconut oil, then spread the crust mixture into the pan as evenly as possible, filling in any holes. Bake in a 375 oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and toasty.

Let the crust cool completely, meanwhile blend up this recipe for pumpkin pudding. Pour over the pie crust when it is completely cool. You will have some extra pudding leftover, so have some dishes available to put it in. I love these little plastic containers for pudding. They’re bpa-free, and perfectly sized for a single serving.  They remind me of the super convenient pudding cups at the grocery store. But by making your own, you can avoid the sugar, modified corn starch, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, sodium stearoyl lactylate, and artificial flavors. And that’s the one that doesn’t have any high fructose corn syrup or preservatives! Ugh. Disgusting.

Anyway, let the pie sit overnight in the fridge, and by morning, you’ll have a delicious, healthy pumpkin pie!  Yay!

Wednesday

Breakfast was a yummy avocado fruit bowl with pears, grapes, and hemp seeds.

I’d been reading my Clean Eating magazine and they had an article on homemade jellies and jams. They showed these jams on cheese and crackers. It looked delicious, so I satisfied the resulting craving with gf crackers (they do contain some milk fat as part of a butter flavoring, so it’ll be interesting to see if this causes any reactions), dairy free/soy free cheese, and grapes. Perfect!

I did a P90X workout today. Shoulders and arms, and ab ripper. Still slightly sore from Monday’s workout, so it felt good to get loosened up. And, for once, I was able to do the ab exercises without the extra 30 pounds of wiggling resistance that is usually climbing all over me as soon as I lay down on the yoga mat. She was preoccupied watching a fairy movie on my phone and didn’t even notice I was on the floor.

Post-workout treat was a glass of almond milk with stevia and 2 squares of dark chocolate with orange flavor. The chocolate contained some milk fat, but since there’s no milk protein, I don’t think that’ll be a problem with my elimination diet, but I’m going to keep an eye out for reactions. The chocolate also has artificial flavors. Don’t know how this slipped by me at the grocery store. I almost spit it out when I read that, but decided to consider it a treat and let it go. Hopefully my other healthy behaviors will balance it out.

And dinner was classic Italian. Spaghetti with meat sauce. Used pastured ground beef, canned tomatoes, frozen carrot and greens juicing pulp, herbs from the garden, and Himalayan sea salt.

And for the salad, plucked some leaves off of our Swiss chard plants from the garden. Plus chives and chopped basil, and a handful of store bought spinach. Can’t wait to get to the point where I can make a whole meal just from what’s growing in our back yard. Maybe next year…

Soooo, I was a little premature in declaring my husband naturally healed from his sickness. He took a turn for the worse tonight and ended up going to urgent care and being diagnosed with pneumonia. He’s now on strong antibiotics. I’m going to do what I can to support his immune system (probiotics) and minimize the negative impact of the medication. But pneumonia is way beyond my healing capabilities at this point. Praying for lots of healing rest and quick recovery.

Wednesday

Cinnamon rolls!!! Fantastic recipe from Nourishing Meals. Made with buckwheat flour. No gluten, no eggs, no soy, no dairy, no processed sugar. Topped it with their recipe for “cream cheese” frosting, made with sweet potatoes, applesauce, coconut oil, arrowroot, maple syrup, and vanilla. Crazy delicious. I made a double batch of the frosting to freeze for later.

Smoothie time. Kale, strawberries, tart cherry juice, almond milk, banana, hemp protein, and some probiotics (sneaking them in for my toddler).

Threw the leftover meatballs in the leftover soup and added some frozen greens. Stretched to feed 3 adults and a toddler with more leftovers for tomorrow.

Veggie sushi rolls. Spiralized jicama, shredded carrots, and julienned yellow peppers with the homemade salad dressing I made a few days ago. The dressing was way too garlicky the first day, but it has mellowed out now. Still has a garlicky bite to it, but much better.

Amazing gluten free, egg free bread recipe in Nourishing Meals. Farmhouse Seed Bread. All the gf bread recipes I’ve encountered have included TONS of eggs, so I was really excited to try this one. It’s super hearty, and will work nicely as a sandwich bread.

Drank the whole thing. So thirsty. Haven’t been juicing since I’ve been out of juiceable produce and stalling a grocery trip by trying to eat through what we have on hand. I’ve really missed it and have inadvertently been consuming less liquid. Gotta be careful with that. Hydration (with the right kind of liquids) is important to maintaining an alkaline pH.

Monday

Breakfast is an openfaced egg sandwich with gf bread, ghee, romaine, tomato, and sauerkraut. With pear slices and blueberries.

Lunch is gluten free, dairy free mac ‘n cheese. Loving this cheese sauce. Have quite a bit leftover. Thinking of adding some salsa or taco seasoning for nacho cheese. Mmmmmm- haven’t had cheese dip in foreverrrrrrr! (I used to LOVE cheese!)

Here’s the recipe from Nourishing Meals. Mine came out fine using brown rice flour instead of the sweet rice.

Getting low on laundry detergent, so it’s time to make a batch. Here’s the ingredients. I ended up doubling this recipe (but didn’t add more soap- 6 bars seemed like enough), and I always play around with essential oils- added lemongrass and lime to the original lavender for this one. I call that combo L3- it’s my home’s signature scent. For body care products or topical application, I typically use therapeutic grade oils. But for laundry (and most other household cleaning purposes) this jug of cheap oil saves us a lot of money. It’s supposedly 100% pure lavender oil, but the quality is obviously inferior.

Fels Naptha processed into itty bitty bits.

Dump all the boxes in and mix, mix, mix. This takes a while because you have to get everything incorporated. I put in the EOs at this point, too. I’ve found the easiest way to mix is just using my hands. That way, I can feel and break up any big clumps as I’m mixing.

My ginormous glass jar. I think it’s like 4 or 5 gallons or something. Huge!

And extra to share with family and friends (or to refill the ginormous jar).

Start to finish, this took me about half an hour. Not bad for a year’s worth of laundry detergent (depending on how much I give away). I originally started doing this to save money, but now I prefer this formula to anything else out there, regardless of cost. Conventional detergents just smell weird. Conventional fabric softeners smell horrific. We use vinegar if needed as a softener. Works great partnering with the sodas in the detergent, and rinses completely clean and fresh- no smell at all.

Just as my tastes are changing with my diet, my sense of smell has changed as we cut out more and more conventional products. What used to smell nice sometimes strikes me as toxic and chemical-ly these days.

A little orange-carrot juice to build up my immune system and eliminate those toxins…

Dinner was black bean tacos with my vegan cheese sauce (taco-fied with seasonings). De-lish!

Green juice to alkalize my system, give the good bacteria in my gut some yummy prebiotics, and assist my body’s detox efforts.