Pumpkin N'Oatmeal (paleo oatmeal)

If you live where I live, from January through March there's a real good chance you'll spend your time freezing your ass off.  There really is nothing better than a hot breakfast on cold mornings.  I found the original recipe on the Girl Meets Paleo blog and I changed it up a bit.  Hell, this shit is so good, I can eat it every day all year long!  The variations you can come up with make this delicious breakfast ever-changing.  It's also full of good fats & carbs and protein. This recipe makes enough for 5 servings. 

Put in a bowl:

•1 can of full fat coconut milk

•1 can of pumpkin 

•1 cup of ground flax or coconut flour or a combination of the two
•1/2 cup pure maple syrup or honey or a combination.  If you think you need more then go for it!

•OPTIONAL: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Vanilla, Chia seeds, Hemp seeds, frozen berries.  I put all of this in mine.  Put in however the fuck much you like.  If you don't like any of that shit then just leave it out!  It's your fucking party!  Put in what you like!

Mix the fuck out of that shit!  Get all the lumps out.

In a frying pan, toast in coconut oil:

•1 cup chopped tree nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds etc.) Pecans are my favorite nut for this!

•10 chopped Medjool dates

Once the nuts are browned, add 1/2 cup of flaked coconut.  A few seconds is all you really need. Coconut burns fast!  If you really wanna get funky, you can candify that son of a bitch!  As soon as you turn the heat off, pour some maple syrup and vanilla over that shit!  Stir it really good then let it sit and cool.  If you decide to do this, it's best to use a stainless steel frying pan.

Divide the pumpkin mixture between 5 containers, preferably glass. I use Ball pint size square jars. Top with nut/date mixture, cover, refrigerate.  I chuck in a handful of blueberries to each serving before I put it in the fridge.

When it's time to eat, crack one egg into a serving and mix that shit up good. Microwave it for 2-3 minutes. 

Cheers!  Angie

This recipe is an adaptation from Girl Meets Paleo. The original recipe can be found here:

https://girlmeetspaleo.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/pumpkin-noatmeal-paleo-oatmeal/

Creamy Caramel Sauce

Who doesn't love rich, ooey, gooey caramel?  This recipe is so simple that it's hard to believe it makes something with such depth of flavor!  The list of what you can drown in this is too long! Just use your imagination!  You can pour this shit over anything!

•1 can of full-fat coconut milk

•1 cup of coconut sugar

•1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

Put all 3 ingredients in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Bring all that good shit to a boil and let it roll for for 15 minutes. 

Watch it carefully because the minute you take your eyes off that fucker, you know it's gonna boil over!  You can stir it occasionally to keep it from sticking and burning. 

After 15 minutes, lower the heat and simmer for another 5 min. Remove caramel from heat and pour into a heat-proof glass bowl. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Store in the fridge. 

To reheat it, you can carefully nuke it or you can reheat it over the stove. If it seems too thick, add a little more coconut milk as you warm it up. 

Chocolate Pudding

A day off from teaching is a day that I get to spend doing a couple of my most favorite me-time things: cooking and lifting!  With the latter done early today, I had lots of time to make a mess in the kitchen (no joke here!) and ended up coming up with a paleo-worthy sweet treat.

The recipe is ridiculously easy and so damn good!  I'm not sure how much self control I'll have later on! 

Recipe makes 3ish cups

Ingredients:

•2 cups of water

•1/2 cup raw cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts

•1/4 cup raw cacao powder

•1/3 cup chia seeds

•10 Medjool dates pitted

•2 teaspoons Himalayan salt or Kalahari desert salt (sea salt is fine if you don't have the others but I prefer them because they have a stronger salt flavor)

•Cacao nibs, raw coconut flakes, coconut creme, date creme, fresh fruit, or whatever the hell else you want to throw on top. 

Put everything in a high-powered blender and let that fucker blend on high for 2-5 minutes. Yeah that may seem like a big gap in time but whatever kind of blender you have will determine how long this will take. If it seems really thick, add a little more water, maybe 1/8 of a cup at a time. Don't worry if it seems a little too watery because the Chia seeds will thicken it up. 

If you have a shit blender, you should put things in little at a time and you should probably chop the dates, otherwise they may get stuck. If you have a vitamix or similar, your pudding will warm up a bit but hey, that's ok!

When everything is blended and smooth, you can either put your pudding into 1/2 size glass bowls, dump it all into one larger glass bowl, or just put your face it it! 

Don't store this in metal because it will react and change the flavor. If it's a choice between plastic and metal, use the plastic and go get yourself some glass food containers!