Tag: almonds

Paleo Bread- No Grains or Gluten Here!

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Paleo. What the heck does this mean?

First off… let’s not get so hung up on the word Paleo. Basically, this is a type of ‘diet’ that focuses on eating more like our caveman ancestors. Focusing on wild game, grass fed meats, quality fat sources, such as coconut oil, grass fed butter, olive oil, avocados, etc. As for carbohydrate sources, grains are omitted and replaced by a small intake of fruit (yes, fruit is a carbohydrate source) and squashes and sweet potato.

Grains are pretty non-existent on a pale diet and quite honestly, I am all for that!!

Wheat, whole wheat, pasta, bread….are wreaking havoc on our brains and our waist lines! More on this in a later post.

Bread and Paleo don’t typically go together, but I’m all for breaking the rules! As with any ‘diet,’ there needs to be a little wriggle-room for you to enjoy your favourite foods. Plus, it’s so easy to ‘healthify’ just about any recipe.

So if you’re following a Paleo diet, you might be craving for a big hearty slice of bread. That’s where this recipe comes in.

It’s grain free and made primarily from almond flour!

It’s nutty texture is amazing. I love having a slice of this bread toasted with some almond butter, or as a side to my chilli toasted with some grass fed butter. Either way its delicious!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

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Paleo Bread

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups almond flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
4 large organic eggs
1 tbsp raw honey
3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 F. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, then add the honey and apple cider vinegar. Whisk to combine. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir together. Pour the batter in a well greased loaf pan (I greased mine with coconut oil). Bake the bread for 45 minutes, until bread is golden brown and a tooth pick comes out clean.

Easy peesy!

* Feel free to add some cinnamon or ground vanilla bean to sweeten to the dry ingredients.

* Or try a more savoury bread by adding in dried herbs such a thyme or rosemary.

 

Enjoy!

Health & Abundance,
Samantha 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

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Holiday Chocolate Bark with Almonds, Goji Berries and Crispy Rice

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Chocolate!

Did I say the magic word?

I think it’s safe to say that this time of year, a little extra chocolate gets consumed. Lot’s of baking is going on in my house for sure, and I’m definitely taste testing everything!

Sooo….if you’re gonna get to baking or making some chocolate bark, why not healthify it?

That’s just what I did with this recipe!

I added in some healthy fats and protein from almonds, some potent antioxidants and minerals from goji berries, and just for some extra crunch, I used a gluten free crispy rice cereal.

And let’s not forget about the actual chocolate! I highly suggest you purchase organic chocolate. You can even take it a step further and get organic RAW chocolate. Good quality chocolate will make all the difference in your bark!

So let’s get to the recipe!

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Ingredients:
2 bags of organic dark chocolate chips (you could also use 2 bags of Enjoy Life dairy free chocolate chips)
1/4 cup of raw almonds, chopped
1/4 cup goji berries, roughly chopped
1/4 cup gluten-free crisp brown rice cereal
Pinch of fine ground sea salt

Directions:

Prepare a baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. In a double boiler, melt chocolate over low heat. Add in 1 cup of chocolate chips at a time. Constantly stir the chocolate so it doesn’t burn and stick to the pot. Once chocolate is melted, add in all your ingredients and give your chocolate a nice stir to incorporate all ingredients. Slowly pour you chocolate into your baking dish. You may want to spread it out or flatten slightly. Transfer to the fridge and let site for about an hour, or until completely solid. Once bark is completely solid, you can break it up into pieces and store in an airtight container in your fridge. It will last for weeks! Unless of course you eat it all! 🙂

Enjoy!

To Your Health & Abundance,
Samantha 🙂

 

 

 

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How To Make Homemade Vanilla Sesame Almond Milk

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Mmm….Mmm….Almond Milk!

I promise you it’s delicious and way easier to make then you think!

It’s been years since I stopped drinking dairy, and let me tell you, my skin cleared up, allergies went away and my nose stopped running!

Yes…dairy can cause all of these issues. Dairy is quite mucus forming, which causes a ton of issues in our digestive tract. Plus, all that mucus (as gross as it sounds), affects our sinuses; hence why you may notice that once you quit drinking milk, you can actually breath better and don’t need to blow your nose so frequently!

Dairy today ain’t what it was years ago! Our dairy contains tons of antibiotics and hormones. Plus, the feed given to cattle is full of Genetically Modified grains!

So….my suggestion….avoid it!

Make almond milk instead! It’s loaded with calcium, NOT mucus forming and can be used in place of milk for just about anything!

In my video below, I run you through my easy-peesy steps! You’ll be sipping homemade almond milk in no time!

My recipe is quite unique because I add sesame seeds. These gorgeous little seeds contain a ton of plant based calcium and other minerals. Sesame and almonds make the perfect match in this recipe!

httpv://youtu.be/neeRdpjhSGk

Vanilla Almond Sesame Milk

Ingredients:

¼ cup sesame seeds
1 cup raw unsalted almonds
1/3 tsp raw vanilla bean
Pinch of sea salt
1L of spring water

Directions:

Soak your almonds overnight. In the morning, drain and strain almonds under cold water (do not reuse the water the almonds were soaked in. Be sure to discard). Add almonds to your blender, along with sesame seeds and spring water. Blend well.

Pour blended milk into a ‘nut sac’ bag and strain through. Add the strained milk back to the blender. Add in vanilla and sea salt and blend again until well combined. Pour almond milk into a glass jug and store in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.

Enjoy! 🙂

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Delicious Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies!

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I LOVE baking!

I’m always tweaking recipes and up for the challenge to health-ify desserts!

I make these delicious flour less almond butter cookies (recipe here!) and they are a huge hit! So I thought I would take that same recipe and make brownies!

I made a few slight changes and it was a success! Yippee! PLUS, they are gluten free! How great is that?!

You can whip up these bad boys in no time, with very little mess in the kitchen! 😉

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Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies

 

Ingredients:

1 cup almond butter (I used chunky for the extra crunch)
1 organic egg
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp baking soda (aluminium free is BEST!)
1/3 cup of coconut sugar (organic cane sugar or sucanat would work well too)
½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 – 1/2 cup organic chocolate chips (you can get dairy free chips and make this recipe vegan!)

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a brownie pan with parchment paper. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips and pour batter into pan. NOTE – the batter did not completely fill the brownie pan. I used my fingers to press the batter down into the pan, making it quite flat. It ‘almost’ fit the pan, but not quite. This is ok! They still came out amazing! If you have a smaller pan (6×6), use that! Bake brownies for approx. 22-25 minutes. Cool brownies for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Simple, easy and super tasty!!
Enjoy!
Health & Abundance,
Samantha 🙂
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Almond Butter Cups & Cacao Coffee Frappuccino to Kick Start Your Week!

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Who doesn’t love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?!?! I mean…peanut butter and chocolate together…OH SO GOOD!! As much as I crave peanut butter and am tempted to dive into a Reese’s cup every now and then….I don’t!!! Instead, I make my Almond Butter Cups that are TENS times more nutritious and delicious! Peanuts, as yummy as they are, contain a mould called Aflatoxins. Unfortunately, these little nuts just aren’t as good for us as we may think. They are also highly allergenic, so I suggest you do your best to avoid them. Instead…eat almonds or have almond butter and make these divine treats! They are perfect for Halloween, especially if you have little ones with peanut allergies!

Almond Butter Cups

Ingredients
2 bags organic dark chocolate chips
1-2 cups organic raw or crunchy almond butter

Directions
Line a mini cupcake tray with baking cups. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat. Once melted pour 1-2 tsp of chocolate into cups, making sure to spread chocolate up the side of the cups ( I did this with the back of a spoon). Once all cups are filled, place tray in freezer for 5 minutes so chocolate can harden. Once frozen, place a dollop of almond butter into cups (flatten with finger) and pour remaining chocolate over top. Freeze for 10-12 minutes, or until cups have completely hardened.

Cacao Coffee Frappuccino
This is a delicious morning shake that will really give you a boost! I don’t recommend having coffee first thing in the morning, so you should start your day with warm water and lemon and/or an alkalizing fresh pressed veggie juice….then onto the coffee! This recipe came about when I had leftover organic coffee that I just didn’t want to waste, so into my shake it went! It was delicious!

Ingredients
1/2 cup chocolate coconut water (optional)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 heaping tbsp raw cacao powder
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Coffee (I used about 1 cup organic french pressed coffee)
2-3 ice cubes

Directions
Mix in blender until smooth

 

 

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