Dr. Meg's Homemade Blueberry Juice.

You guys, this stuff is RAD.  It's rad both because it tastes good and because it's good FOR you!

In medical school, we received extensive education on herbal medicine. One of the great Naturopathic doctors who helped integrate the use of botanicals and primary care naturopathic medicine was Dr. Bill Mitchell. His case books tell great stories of people acheiving wellness through natural therapies. I've seen this first hand in my own practice, also, which is why I became a Naturopathic doctor in the first place!

This berry juice was one of Dr. Mitchell's passions. His family still carries on his legacy, and sells a great product. I've used that product personally and with patients, and it's delicious, but I knew I could make something easily at home and reap similar benefits.

Berries, mostly the blue and dark dark colored berries, contain anthyocyanodins. Anthocyanodins are potent antioxidants, and they have a great affinity for the vascular system. Men, young and old, should be on this berry concentrate daily. Women benefit the most after menopause, as their cardiovascular health risk increases.

Here's the recipe: get cooking! Be sure to read the whole recipe first before embarking.

Dr. Meg's Blueberry Juice.
     makes 1 quart jar + berry "compote" leftovers

8 pints organic blueberries
8 pints organic blackberries
^ I previously lived in Seattle, and had access to local farms, this equates to 2 flats of berries
1 cup filtered water
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions:
  1) Turn your slow cooker on to WARM setting, you want things to heat up for extraction of constituents, but not to "cook" the berries.
 2) Add all your berries to the pot, add water, and coconut oil. Replace lid.
 3) Simmer on warm for 48 hours, stirring occassionally, only about 3 times per day.
 4) When done, berries should look "shriveled" like you defrosted frozen blueberries, and the juice should nearly cover the berries and be dark blue in color.
 5) With a fine mesh strainer, gently scoop the berries out, and press-out juice lightly with the back of wooden spoot into a funnel that goes into a large 1 qt mason jar. Do this in batches. You will be left with about 1 qt of berry juice and berries.
 6) Store in the fridge. I like to eat the berry portion with breakfast (see my recipe for chia pudding) and then take shots of the juice OR add to a large portion of water and drink throughout the day.
 7) The berry juice is not very sweet, so it won't affect your blood sugar levels much.


Enjoy :)

Single Serving Protein Pancake.

FLUFFY

Hey everyone :) I know it's been a while, but this blog is no longer a tip top priority! Med school has me busy busy, along with all the typical life stuff that has to happen. Talk about a balancing act!

Today I bring you a recipe for a single serving pancake. I've been eyeing pancake recipes lately, especially the "single lady" ones, but I was never quite happy with the ingredients that were used, so I chose my own.

Banana slices hiding on the bottom, with greek yogurt and cooked strawberries and raspberries.

This pancake is everything I could ever want in a pancake :) It's fluffy, has a nice nutty flavor from the flaxseed, it's full of protein, and isn't too sweet, so it's easy to top it with things like a touch of maple syrup, butter or some yummy berries and yogurt.

The secret to success in this recipe is measuring the ingredients, and also using a non-stick pan. I know that non-stick pans are not at all the best choice health-wise, but there's really no alternative when you want to make some awesome pancakes.

Single Serving Protein Pancake.
    serves one or two

    15 grams / one serving of brown rice protein powder - I use Nutribiotic plain, you could use brown rice flour here also
    50 grams / ~1/2 one normal sized banana, mashed
    8 grams / 1 heaping Tbsp  ground brown flaxseed
    3 grams / 1 scant Tbsp  ground chia seed
    12 grams / ~1 tsp  runny honey
    2 eggs / about 100 grams  give or take depending on your egg size
    1 gram  baking soda (this is a very small amount)
    15 drops  vanilla extract (I used a dropper)
    pinch each: salt, ground cardamom

To make your pancake:
  1)  Combine all ingredients into a bowl and whisk well, scraping off the sides with a spatula and getting everything incorporated. The only lumps present should be a little bit of mashed banana. The batter will appear thin, and shiny from the eggs, resist adding more dry ingredients.
  2)  Preheat your nonstick pan on medium-low heat (#4 on my stove, point at small hand on the 7 in 7 o'clock).
  3)  Pour batter onto the pan. Do two batches, or pour it all in for one pancake (this is what I do).  Cook on one side for about 5 minutes. Pancake is ready when there are some bubbles on top and you can see the edges are beginning to set. Work your rubber spatual around the edges of the pancake and also the bottom. One pancake requires one massive or two normal sized spatulas to flip it.
  4)  Flip pancake and wait another 1-2 minutes.
  5)  Remove pancake to a plate with banana slices already on it. Place pancake on top of sliced bananas. Drizzle with maple syrup or whatever is desired. I like to put some butter on top, berries and homemade yogurt. ENJOY!

My first attempt; not quite right but topped with yum!

Because someone will want the stats ;) Thanks to myfitnesspal.com

I hope you are staying both warm and well this holiday season :) Love to all my readers :)
Merry Christmas!

PS - And no, this recipe will not work if you substitute the egg for something else.

My Favorite Chia Pudding.

Most likely you've seen and heard about all the hype surrounding chia seeds. And most likely you've seen a gazillion recipes for "chia pudding." And... if you're like me, you wrinkle your nose and think sarcastically "really, how can THAT be good?!" Well this food craze wasn't going away, and I decided to stop being a baby and to stop saying "eww" inside my head when I hadn't even tried it. (You know that if you're a foodie, that's rule #1: Don't knock it till you try it). So I sucked it up and haphazardly threw some chia seeds in my smoothie bottle, poured in some vanilla, some this and that, enough liquid that looked appropriate, shook shook shook shook, and left it in the fridge to do it's thing.

Now I can easily say that the jokes on me people. The next morning, as I pulled the chia goo out of the fridge, I was skeptical. But I dipped my spoon in anyways and took a bite. My brain exploded. Holy cow how is this good?! This tapioca-like substance is SOOO not tapioca-like at all. I think I proceeded to eat half the batch I made right then and there. But then I showed restraint, because I knew I'd want some more yumminess later.

Ever since that fateful day, where I felt both like a Queen (hey hey, this girl tried chia pudding and LIKED it) and like a fool (this idiot waited too long to make omg-delicious-pudding), I've been experimenting with my own chia recipes. It is a little bit of a science and an art. You have to combine the right ratio of liquid to chia in order to get the right consistency. The right consistency may be firm after it has set overnight, or it maybe slightly more runny after setting overnight. But the best thing is, you can choose the texture of your pudding! See my tips after the recipe for getting this part right.

I've made this stuff with herbal coffee and coconut milk (divine), with coconut milk and vanilla (divine divine), and also with raw milk and vanilla. I like this recipe because it's the easiest of all, and it literally takes 1 minute to make. Have your roommate/partner/spouse come into the kitchen and time you. Real food doesn't have to take forever to make.

A couple notes, the quality of the liquid which you use as the base of your pudding makes the biggest difference here. In all the test-runs in my kitchen I've always used black chia seeds from my local Whole Foods or other awesome grocery store here in Seattle, so I can't speak for the other varieties of chia. But I do know that whatever milk you use DOES make an incredible difference. The milk I used here is non-canned Arroy-D coconut milk which comes in tetra packs. You can use other alternative milks, but it may make slightly different pudding. For instance, raw grass-fed milk has a much higher fat content than say rice and almond milks, so the end result has slight creaminess to it, and therefore milk alternatives like almond and rice probably will not. But really, this recipe is so versatile, and sure to please anyone in your family.

Someone obviously ate some already ;)

Classic Vanilla Chia Pudding.
     makes one quart mason jar

    1 qt  organic coconut milk, tetra-pak Arroy-D is my fav
    1/2 cup  whole organic black chia seeds
    1/2 tsp  vanilla extract
    15 drops  stevia clear liquid

To make your pudding:
  1)  Grab a clean mason jar with a tight fitting lid.
  2)  Add milk; add vanilla, add stevia
  3)  Pour your chia seeds into the jar.
  4)  Screw on lid and shake shake shake.
  5)  Put jar in fridge and go do something for 5 minutes. Come back, shake shake shake. Return to  fridge, come back a few minutes later. Shake, shake, shake. Repeat.
  6)  Let puddin' do it's thing and get all yummy overnight.

Getting the texture right: Now I know that pudding is like brownies (cakey or fudgey?) and smoothies (thick or thin?), everyone has their own opinion about the perfect texture. This recipe features a pudding that holds together but is not either super firm or very runny. My advice? Start here. If you want the pudding a bit more thick, add a Tbsp of chia seeds and give it time to absorb into the liquid. After a few hours, if it's still too runny, add more, but please know that as this sits in the fridge it does get progressively (just slightly) less runny and a bit more firm as it continues to sit. If you like your puddings more runny, just add 1-2 Tbsp less chia, give it time to sit (4+ hours, overnight is best) and then see where you're at. Overall, very forgiving and you can adjust from there. But in general it's good to have a baseline recipe, and then you can easily switch up some of the ingredients to make it more interesting.

On a non-recipe note, I have been trying to enjoy my summer since it's post-basic science Boards! I am still in classes though, so even though I haven't been doing much studying (me need break) I haven't been sharing my new recipes with y'all. I've got a bunch of them on Notes on my iPhone, and I really need to get cracking, buckle down and make some of these babies and take photos of the yumminess and then share them with you!

Thanks for sticking around even though my posts are less regular as they used to be. Med school kind of re-prioritizes your life.
:)

Grain-free Unsweetened Paleo Banana Bread.

I've been wanting to share this recipe with y'all for too long. Banana bread is one of my all-time favorite things (which is no secret, see below for more banana-centric recipes), and for a long-time I've been elusively searching for and experimenting with the perfect-for-me banana bread recipe. Two years ago I created my delicious grain-free unsweetened primal pumpkin bread, and I love that recipe so much that I believed it had to be possible to morph it into a banana bread instead. After a few different tries, what I'm sharing with you now is a paleo banana bread recipe I am most proud of :)

Grain-free Unsweetened Paleo Banana Bread.
    makes one standard loaf

    1 cup  blanched almond flour
    1/2 cup  organic coconut flour
    3 happy eggs - mine were large
    1/2 cup  coconut oil - mine was soft
    1 1/2 cups  mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
    1 tsp  baking soda
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1 Tbsp  raw apple cider vinegar
    1 tsp  ground nutmeg
    1 Tbsp  cinnamon
    2 tsp  vanilla
    20 drops  clear stevia

To make your banana bread:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Pour all ingredients into a high speed blender (Vitamix!)
3) Blend briefly until incorporated.
4) Pour into a glass, standard loaf pan, that has been greased with coconut oil, and floured with coconut or almond flour.
5) Bake for about 20 minutes, check on the bread and maybe rotate the pan, and bake for another 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. Let bread cool in the pan, then carefully turn out and slice. Store it in the fridge, or the freezer! But most likely your family will gobble it up in no time!

And now, I invite you to explore my other banana lovin' recipes!

Banana Bread Muffins

Grain-free Zucchini Bread

Banownies

Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins

Almond Butter Banana Blueberry Muffins

Grain-free Post-surgery Banana Bread

Grain-free Almond Banana Waffles

Grain-free Unsweetened Banana Cake

My Original Banana Cake

Fruity Vegan Oatmeal Bake


Enjoy your banana bread. It's great spread with some almond or peanut butter or slathered with some juice-sweetened black raspberry jam :) YUM. Or even butter, if you're so inclined.

And I know the pictures aren't super great. It's been really hard to adjust to all the poor Seattle lighting!

Almond Butter Banana Blueberry Muffins.

My mother introduced me to the idea of making muffins with almond butter after she had made some yummy muffins from one of our favorite bloggers, Megan, The Detoxinista. My sister in law is currently on a special diet and she was able to have these muffins; and she loved them! Both ladies spoke so highly of them that I knew I wanted to try making them myself. So the night before our family Christmas Eve celebration, I whipped some of these up, while making a few of my own changes ;)

I really like this recipe because it's so flavorful and so easy! It takes about 5 minutes to whip up, and about 20-25 minutes to bake, so within the hour you can have warm, cooled, ready to eat muffins for your friends and family! I highly suggest you wait for these muffins to cool. When they first come out of the oven the bottoms will feel a little "soggy" but they firm up as they cool. The texture of these muffins is fabulous!


Almond Butter Banana Blueberry Muffins.
     makes one dozen muffins
     inspired by this recipe

    1 cup  almond butter (mine was raw, but you can also use roasted, store-bought, or made at home)
    1/2 cup  mashed ripe banana (mine took 1 whole banana)
    1/4 cup (or even 2 Tbsp)  maple syrup (or runny honey)
    2  happy eggs
    1/2 tsp  baking soda
    1/4 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1 Tbsp  cinnamon
    1 cup  frozen blueberries

To make your muffins:
  1)  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, convection; line a muffin tin with paper liners.
  2)  In a large bowl, combine almond butter, banana, maple syrup, and eggs. Mix well. Add soda, salt, cinnamon, and mix again. Lastly, fold in the frozen blueberries. Do not overmix.
  3)  Using a 1/4 cup measuring scoop, transfer batter to muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven, and remove muffins when tops are slightly springy to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool more. Store in the fridge to keep for longer, or outside the fridge if eaten in 2-3 days.


These will freeze well also, and are a great "make ahead" option. They are also very portable, and will no doubt please a crowd. Kids and adults alike loved these muffins when I brought them to our Christmas Eve gathering. You can feel good about giving these muffins to your loved ones, as they are low in sugar, and high in fat and protein, which makes for a great snack, or side dish to eggs for breakfast.

Enjoy! I know I will be making these way more often from now on.

Grain-free Granola 2.0.

About a year ago I made some delicious grain-free cinnamon raisin granola for the first time. It was seriously delicious. So recently I went to go make some, and the search bar in my blog wasn't working... anyone else having this problem?!  So I ended up wingining it, trying to remember just what I did, and it came out great!  Even better than the first version if I do say so myself.

This grain-free granola is crunchy, toasty, and packed full of flavor!  Everyone in your family will love it, and they will all have a hard time believing that yeah, there are no oats in here!  You could even make a batch of this granola, put it in cute little jars, and give it away as Christmas gifts!  But everyone just might hound you for the recipe ;)  No worries, feel free to share!

PS - If cinnamon and raisins aren't your thing, try another spice combo, like cranberries and cardamom, or nutmeg and dried blueberries, or apricots and cloves! Feel free to switch it up to your liking.

These were filled to the tippy tippy top, BUT I ate some ;)

Grain-free Granola 2.0.
    makes 2 gallon sized mason jars full (even with extensive recipe sampling ;)
    * these ratios are generalized, really just throw all your favorite nuts combination in a large bowl; for instance, I didn't use cashews or peanuts, but feel free to use these if you wish

1/2 cup each:
    sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, whole macadamia nuts*, whole pecans, whole walnuts
1 cup each:
    pumpkin seeds, whole pecans, sliced almonds, raisins
1 cup each:
    ground macadamia nuts*, ground pistachios, ground walnuts
1-2 cups  organic coconut "chips" (largely flaked coconut)
1 cup  organic shredded coconut (small little shreds of coconut, not traditional sized flakes)
2  large eggs
1 - 2 Tbsp  cinnamon
1/3-1/2 cup  brown rice syrup
~1/4 cup  runny honey

To make your yummy granola:
  1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees; mine was non-convection.
  2.  Combine nuts, coconuts, cinnamon, brown rice syrup, and honey.  Mix together. Add in both eggs and stir well with a wooden spoon.
  4.  On two parchment paper lined baking sheets, spread the mixture evenly between two pans.
  5.  Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Watch it, uneven ovens may burn.  Stir well.  Bake another 10 minutes or so.  Stir.  Depending on your oven, you may need another a longer or shorter time. For me, it varies a little on every batch.
  6.  When done, remove from oven and let cool on pans. The granola will crisp up considerably as it cools and even more after you put it in jars and taste it the next day.

*My macadamia nuts were roasted and salted, so I did not add salt to the recipe. If you don't have any pre-salted nuts in your mixture and they are all raw, I suggest adding a teaspoon or two of salt, to your taste.

I cannot be held responsible for any granola-lovers who ingest too much granola during the making of this recipe. WARNING - This granola is dangerously good. Serve it straight out of the jar as a snack, with some cold raw milk or coconut milk in the morning like "cereal" or even on top of your favorite greek yogurt or ice cream. Or even a fruit parfait!  Use as you would any "regular" granola, but be aware that this granola is substantially more calorie dense, so you can eat way less and still feel just as satisfied ;)

Yum! Enjoy :)

Banana Bread Muffins.

Banana bread is one of my favorite things in this whole wide world. After being inspired by some banana macadamia nut muffins I made, I knew that I could make some banana bread muffins that were absolutely delicious! So that's what I did. They're also grain-free and gluten-free (and wicked tasty)!

These little muffins taste just like banana bread, but are more portable! They're also super easy to whip up too, which will be great for when I start classes again.

Banana Bread Muffins.
    makes 14 muffins

    2/3 cup  walnuts, chopped
    2/3 cup  unsweetened coconut flakes
    1 cup + 2 Tbsp  blanched almond flour
    ¼ cup  organic coconut flour - source
    3  ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
    2  eggs, room temperature
    1/4 cup  raw creamy honey
    1/3 cup  organic coconut oil, melted and cooled
    ¾ tsp  baking soda
    ½ tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1 tsp  coconut water vinegar or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
    1½ tsp  vanilla extract
    1½ tsp  cinnamon
    ½ tsp  freshly ground nutmeg
    toppings - optional

To make your banana bread muffins:
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees convection. Take out 2 muffin tins and place muffin liners inside.
  2. In a large bowl, add nuts, coconut, flours, baking soda, salt; mix to combine.
  3. To the same bowl, add eggs, bananas, honey, coconut oil, vinegar, vanilla; mix again to combine.
  4. Drop by tablespoons into the muffin tins. Fill 14 muffins full. *This will make 14 full sized muffins as long as there is no batter eaten in the process.
  5. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans at 20 minutes for best results. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Then move muffins to a cooling rack, which helps to firm up their bottoms. Enjoy!

I am such a fan of banana bread, I know I will be making these often! And they are sure to please a crowd, so try bringing them to parties and sharing with friends and family!!

Grain-free Blueberry Muffins 1.0.

I have loved all things blueberry for as long as I can remember. In fact, maybe I should ask my mom, as I am sure there was some point when I didn't like blueberries... but if there was a day, I don't want to remember!

August in New England means blueberries. Usually I get a bunch from some bushes we have on the land, but this year, either someone was picking them, or they just didn't have a good year, since I couldn't find nearly any! Lucky for us there are groceries stores that sell frozen blueberries and other farms to buy them from at the local farmers market!

These muffins were muffin #2 on my recent muffin kick. I am really excited about the flavor and 85% of the texture, but they seem to be a little on the crumbly side. I am going to work on this, and then edit the recipe, but I couldn't wait to share! They are just too delicious. The flavor is perfectly balanced.

Grain-free Blueberry Muffins 1.0.
    makes 18 muffins

    3/4 cup  organic coconut flour – sifted
    1/2 cup  blanched almond flour – sifted
    1/2 cup  raw honey
    1/2 cup  organic coconut oil, softened
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1/2 tsp  baking soda
    2  real eggs
    1 - 1½  cup  raw whole milk
    juice of half a lemon
    zest of one lemon
    1 cup  ground walnuts
    2 cup  frozen or fresh (large) blueberries
    sugar crystals for sprinkling - optional

To make your blueberry muffins:
  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees convection. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
  2.  In a large bowl, whisk coconut oil until glossy, white and homogenous. Add raw honey and whisk until combined. Add room temperature eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest.
  3.  Add coconut flour, almond flour, soda, salt and walnuts to wet ingredients, sifting the flours into the bowl. Combine with a spatula.
  4.  Add milk, and combine again. Gently fold in blueberries.
  5.  With a tablespoon, add batter to muffin tins until 3/4 full. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown on top. Let cool for a few minutes, then move muffins to a wire rack to cool.

If you don't anticipate eating these within a week (stored in the refridgerator) then freeze them! They'll keep for about 6 months, that is, if you don't eat them sooner ;)

 

Grain-free Sweet Potato French Toast.

Growing up I have a lot of fond memories of my mom's cooking.  On the weekends, she would make a special breakfast for us, and my brother and I would get to choose between either pancakes, french toast, or waffles.  French toast was my brother's particular favorite.  It always came out the same, (tasty), and it was the faster of the three options for my mother to prepare, which always meant breakfast would be sooner!

To be honest I haven't had regular french toast in a long time. Last summer I spontaneously took some left over sweet potato, combined it with some eggs and warm spices, and this recipe was born! I didn't write it down, however, and this last year of medical school has stopped virtually all my recipe development time. Since I am free this summer, I have more time, and so one morning last week I spent time in the kitchen whipping this up! It feels good to be cooking again :)

If you're paleo, primal, grain-free or just wish to avoid unecessary carbs, this recipe is for you. It doesn't actually contain any bread, just some delicious orange sweet potatoes. The eggs and warm spices combine to make the french-toast taste. The texture isn't like bread, but it's moist and melts in your mouth!! Yum!

Grain-free Sweet Potato French Toast.
    makes one 9x13 pan

    1 Tbsp  cinnamon
    1/2 tsp  fresh ground nutmeg
    3 dashes  ground cloves
    1/4 tsp  black pepper
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    2 tsp  vanilla extract
    2 Tbsp  raw honey - source
    2 Tbsp  organic coconut oil, melted - source
    1/2 cup  organic raw milk
    6  happy pastured eggs

    3 large sweet potatoes, washed and peeled

    Toppings: (optional, choose your favorites!)
      pecans
      sunflower seeds
      coconut chips
      maple-cinnamon sugar - source

To make your french toast:
  1.  Wash and peel your sweet potatoes. Cut lengthwise in half, then cut each half into half moon shapes about a half inch thick. Arrange on a cookie sheet and roast at 425 degrees until just fork tender.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all spices, honey, oil, milk and eggs. Be sure coconut oil is not hot. Whisk until well combined and there are no lumps of spices or egg.
  3. Grease a 9x13 glass casserole dish with about 1 tablespoon of butter.
  4. Arrange pre-baked sweet potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Pour egg and spice mixture on top. Sprinkle with toppings of choice! I used pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut chips and a maple sugar-cinnamon mixture. Other good choices would be whole walnuts, shredded coconut, ground pecans, and raisins.
  5. Bake at 400 degrees convection, covered in foil, for a total of 45 minutes. At 30 minutes check to see how it's doing. For the last 5 minutes, remove foil. Let cool to set before serving warm with plain yogurt, thick greek yogurt or maple syrup. This will freeze very well and is also great for the next few days straight from the fridge. Enjoy!

This recipe would be a great brunch option, since you can easily make the sweet potatoes and egg mixture the day before and store it in the fridge. Then in the morning before guests arrive, grease the baking dish, add the sweet potatoes, pour in the egg mixture, add the toppings, and in an hour you'll have some delicious paleo french toast baked, cooled, and ready to be devoured! I'd serve it topped with your favorite greek yogurt and fresh blueberries or strawberries, with sizzling bacon on the side, and warm green tea in your mug!

I'd eat this up within a week after you make it, but then again I don't think that will be a problem :)

How To Make Peanut Butter More Nutritious.

Despite what a lot of people say, I think it's really tough to eat real food on a budget. Sure, real food costs SO MUCH less than processed foods, but for a girl like me that's only learned to shop for real food, I feel like I pay so much each week and month! Even though this happens, my philosophy is that I would rather pay for food now, and take care of my body, than I would to pay the doctor later.

A few weeks ago I had an extreme craving for peanut butter. I generally avoid the stuff since peanuts are a legume, and legumes should be soaked and cooked before eating like their cousin the bean family. Peanut butter in general is also very hard to digest for many people, and those of us who are allergic to soy can cross-react with peanuts. Peanut butter also contains a good amount of aflatoxin, a toxic substance in the mold created by specific microorganisms that grow on peanuts. Buying organic peanut butter is best for limiting your aflatoxin exposure, but doesn't negate it entirely.

I have been learning how to listen to my body, so I bought some peanut butter.  I think I went through 2 jars in the next two weeks before my cravings for it subsided. And then the addictive cravings started to happen, and because I know the difference between those two types of cravings, I started to cut back. As the weeks of my last quarter of medical school wore on, I still ate the peanut butter here and there, and even started making some peanut butter smoothies in my Vitamix (= mistake, they are so good!). But around the same time I noticed my digestion starting to get worse. Could it be the peanut butter? I did some experimenting and found that it was indeed causing my painful cramping and bloating. Clearly my body can only handle so much peanut butter.

But back to my real reason for this post. Bottom line is that real food costs money. There are several ways to help alleviate the expense, like buying in bulk, sharing with other people, buying meat one from source and freezing it, buying lots of a certain item when it's on sale, buying from farmers markets, and my favorite: always asking "do I really need this?" I find that 75% of the time the answer is no. At the end of the day, all I really need is some good quality protein, lots of veggies, and some fat. One thing that can help the food budget is making compromises where you're comfortable. For many, peanut butter can be a cheap and decent source of protein and fat. But how do you make it even more nutritious? That's where this post comes in.

When I was buying peanut butter a few weeks ago, I had the idea of pouring off the naturally separated peanut oil and replacing the peanut oil with good quality coconut oil. The results were easy and delicious! With each spoonful I knew I was getting some good quality MCT's from the coconut oil, which are great fuel source for the body and keeping your metabolism strong. Removing most of the peanut oil also decreased the amount of Omega-6 fatty acids that my body was getting. Having a low Om6/Om3 ratio in our bodies is vitally important for staying healthy.

To make your peanut butter more nutritious:
  1.  Buy your favorite natural creamy unsalted peanut butter, organic is best. Make sure that the oil has separated on the top. If not, try reaching to the back of the shelf and grabbing one that has separated.
  2.  At home, take the lid carefully off the jar and gently pour off the separated peanut oil. I like to tilt my jar around a few times to get as much off as possible.
  3.  With a large spoon, take about the same amount of coconut oil and stir it into your peanut butter. STIR well! These are fun, or do it by hand. If you don't like the taste of coconuts, you're seriously at the wrong blog, but nevertheless I will tell you that it does NOT make the peanut butter taste coconutty.
  4.  Lastly, add your favorite unrefined sea salt to the mix. Stir well again.
  5.  Sample some off the spoon/knife to double check that it is delicious. Some people like more or less salt.
  6.  Then stick your peanut butter in the refridgerator! It will solidify a little and will spread just like Jiff! But without all the gunk! As it sits out at room temperature on your spoon it will start to melt a little and be more runny. ENJOY!

 
If peanut butter isn't your thing, or if you prefer almond butter, try this with storebought almond butter!

If you'd rather make your own homemade nut butter, check out this cashew cookie butter recipe. Or use either storebought or homemade almond butter to make some cinnamon honey almond butter, or what I like to call CHAB. Which my mom is obsessed with and she calls me every so often saying "Guess what I made today! CHAB!"

One final note: Adam's brand peanut butter is the PNW's equivalent to Smuckers on the East Coast, or Laura Scudders down in California. I've liked these kinds before, so it was cool to learn it's all the same company. Kind of like Dreyer's ice cream vs Edy's ice cream on the West Coast vs East Coast.

Happy mixing!

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 :)