Grain-free Coconut flour Spice Cake.

Calling this recipe cake isn't really fair.  Calling this recipe bread isn't really fair either.  It is actually similar to both, but with the best parts of each.  Light and airy (bread), but sweet and satisfying (cake).  Remember when I promised you I'd post other versions of my lemon poppyseed cake?  Well, this is actually my original recipe, as I made first made a spicy version, but instead shared the lemon poppyseed recipe with you all before this version, since I hadn't taken proper pictures.

This recipe reminds me of gingerbread, but without all the heavieness or sugar content of a thick cake, as this is more light and airy; something that you can eat everyday.  It's great by itself for a snack, or on the side of a salad for paleo/primal friendly treat.  I like to make this on the weekend and slowly eat the pan down over the next two weeks. This would free great too!

Grain-free Coconut flour Spice Cake.
    makes one 9x13 pan

    1/3 cup  organic coconut oil - source
    2/3 cup  warm water
    6  happy eggs
    1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp (or 1/3 cup heaping)  organic coconut flour - source
    2 Tbsp  honey - mine was wildflower runny honey
    2 Tbsp  molasses
    1 tsp  baking soda
    1/4 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1 Tbsp  organic cinnamon
    3 Tbsp  ground ginger
    3 dashes  ground nutmeg
    2 dashes  ground gloves

To make your lovely simple spice cake:
   1.  Place coconut oil and warm water in a medium sized bowl, whisk vigorously for about 2 minutes or until white, glossy and homogenous (and no longer clumpy).
   2.  To the same bowl, add flour, and remaining ingredients. Whisk until incorporated.
   3.  Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan (I used coconut oil), and bake at 350 degrees non-convection for exactly 20 minutes.
   4.  Pull pan from the oven and place on a baking rack to cool. Transfer to the fridge to cool some more. Cut into squares when cool, and spread with your favorite filling. I used grass-fed butter! Yum! Tahini, peanut or cashew butter would go nicely with these too.

Other spices like cardamom and allspice would be great in this cake too!  Use your favorite warm spice combination :)

Meat + Egg Protein Bites.

I am finding that I have very little time for cooking now that I am in medical school, and I've been searching for easier and easier ways of eating home cooked real food that doesn't take a lot of time, or create a lot of dishes, which I will inevitably have to do myself.

One evening as an experiment (and since I was short on time), I took some grass-fed ground beef which I had defrosted, stuffed it into a mini muffin tin, and baked it. Turns out my experiment worked very well, and I decided to do it on a larger scale.  This time I used a normal sized muffin tin and cracked an egg on top - a definite success!

This is the what the underside looks like :)

This recipe is so easy because all you have to do is take your meat of choice, section it into a muffin tin, press down and bake! In less than a half hour you have easy bites of protein which can be conveniently topped on a salad, warmed with a side of veggies, or eaten quick and on the go. I seasoned mine with only a little bit of salt, but feel free to sprinkle on top whatever spice you fancy. Cheese and ketchup were my other experiments, which turned out great too! Please note - do not grease the muffin tins, there is enough fat in the meat and there will be no sticking. The meat actually shrinks away from the sides and will look like it's "swimming" in fat when you take them out of the oven. I really like this because you can so easily lift out each little bite / piece and place on a paper towel, and then discard (or save) the meat fat / tallow that has rendered out of the meat!

Meat + Egg Protein Bites.
    makes 1 dozen

    1 lb  grass-fed ground meat - I used pet burger 
    12  pastured happy eggs
    sprinkle unrefined sea salt
    spices - optional
    ketchup - optional
    cheese - optional

To make your protein bites:
  1.  Evenly section out beef between the holes of a normal sized muffin pan.
  2.  Press down with your fingers. Add optional spices or cheese.
  3.  Crack an egg on top. Sprinkle each with unrefined sea salt
  4.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees (don't believe mine is convection), for 25-30 minutes. Bites will be ready when eggs are cooked through. Remove from oven and promptly grab bites out of the tin with tongs, placing then on a paper towel drain. When cool, store in a glass container in the fridge for grabbing whenever you need some protein :) ENJOY!


Even though this idea is quite simple, they taste so good. It would be possible to make this with ground chicken, turkey or bison, but I would suggest greasing the sides of each muffin cup with olive oil first; these meats have very low fat content and therefore may stick.

 I hope you find these a useful addition to your food plans for busy weeks :)

Grain-free Lemon Poppy Seed Coconut Flour Cake.

It's a rather odd sounding title, isn't it?  This recipe was a spin off my primal gingerbread cake, as well as my grain-free waffle recipe.  I wanted a simple coconut flour-based grain-free baked good that I could whip up fast and was super easy.  So I experimented, and made this!  It was delicious on the first go! This cake has just the right amount of cakey-ness to satisfy my (occasional) bread cravings, but without being loaded with sugar or refined gluten-free grains.  It is also nut-free and Paleo!  My first version was a spiced flavor with lots of ginger and a touch of molasses, and my second (this version) was lemon poppy seed, but feel free to change spices and flavor extracts for a different taste.  I know I will be sharing several different versions as time allows me :)  This bread bakes thin in the pan, so I used two squares and spread some grass-fed butter in between both sides, to make little "sandwich" looking treats.  The whole batch lasted me nearly two weeks, and I was very happy to have something interesting (besides veggies) to nibble on at lunch time :)  It's also a great way to add some more coconut oil and grass-fed butter to your diet, which are rich in good for you saturated fats and fat-soluble activators, which our bodies, brains, and hearts desperately need!

Grain-free Lemon Poppy Seed Coconut Flour Cake.
    makes one 9x13 pan

    1/3 cup  organic coconut oil - source
    2/3 cup  warm water
    6  happy eggs
    1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp (or 1/3 cup heaping)  organic coconut flour - source
    1/4 cup  honey  - mine was wildflower runny honey
    1 tsp  baking soda
    1/2 tsp  organic lemon extract
    2 tsp  poppy seeds
    zest of one organic lemon

To make your lemon poppy cake:
   1.  Place coconut oil and warm water in a medium sized bowl, whisk vigorously for about 2 minutes or until white, glossy and homogenous (and no longer clumpy).
   2.  To the same bowl, add flour, and remaining ingredients. Whisk until incorporated.
   3.  Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan (I used coconut oil), and bake at 350 degrees non-convection for exactly 20 minutes.
   4.  Pull pan from the oven and place on a baking rack to cool. Transfer to the fridge to cool some more. Cut into squares when cool, and spread with your favorite filling. I used grass-fed butter! Yum! Sun-butter or cashew butter would go nicely with these too.

Spread something fun inside and enjoy :) PS-- Don't you love my plates! I found them last year at Sur La Table, and I absolutely love them! I'm so happy they survived the trek from Southern California to Seattle!