Gluten-free/ Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Or rather– the only cookies I’ve been eating for months now.

I cannot believe I haven’t posted this recipe because really, it’s the bees knees.

The flavor is right on, the texture is perfect, and they’re so easy to make. If you stock the ingredients regularly (you should if you have a paleo-friendly pantry) you can always have chocolate chip cookies on your plate in about 20 minutes, from beginning to end.

Chocolate Chili from ‘Well Fed’ by Melissa Joulwan

During the cold months in Texas (I laughed at that phrase), I love making soups and stews. One dish that is often requested ’round here is chili. I’d stopped making it for a while because it was such a bore. Probably just a notch above fast-food chili. Blech.

So, imagine my surprise when I opened up Melissa Joulwan’s “Well Fed” cookbook and find not just this amazing recipe for chili, but CHOCOLATE chili. No, it’s not some crazy Willy Wonka concoction. The chocolate just adds depth to the slightly acidic chili powder in the seasoning. It is such a delicious dish and worth every minute of simmering. Whatever you do, DON’T skimp on time. Let it simmer for the full two hours (!).  You will not regret it.

Meyer Lemon Semifreddo

The saying goes “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Phil Dunphy says “when life gives you lemonade, make lemons, life will be all like ‘whaaat?'” But I say, “when life gives you Meyer lemons, make something incredible.”*

This is essentially what semifreddo is. Neither ice cream, nor custard nor gelato, but a mousse. I LOVE CUSTARD, if you haven’t noticed yet.

Also, egg-based equals rich and fairly simple. This is one of the recipes you need to embrace and hold on to tightly. Make it on special occasions when you want to ‘wow’ without much fuss. The first time you make it you might be all “LOL, I don’t know what I’m doing.” That’s ok. I was, too. And I was making it for a dinner party. And my boys were running around the house like maniacs (so business as usual).

Meyer Lemon Semifreddo has to be my favorite of all time. I do love a good tiramisu, a rich brownie and of course, creme brulee, but this is the genius fusion of two flavors that don’t immediately go together. Cream and lemon– Meyer lemons. If you’ve never had a Meyer, you’re in for a treat. They are like the cuter, better tanned, smoother skinned, more complex sibling of the yellow lemons you see at the store. This fruit has a deeper, warmer color to it and the peel is smoother. You may think you can’t tell the difference, but if you were to make a side-by-side comparison of the two you’d know right away.

I don’t want to knock regular lemons. They are great for so many things! But Meyers were made for desserts. Their scent is subtly sweet, as is their flavor. The rind is intensely fragrant, with floral hints. The juice has a milder acidity than that of your run of the mill lemon but sweeter. Yes, a sweet lemon. If you had a sliding scale, limes being on one end (the most sour) and a sumo citrus (like a mandarin, but even sweeter), the Meyer would be found right before the mid-point. You can see I’ve put a great amount of thought into my ode to Meyer lemons. They do make me feel quite poetic. Want to woo me? Give me lemons.

Super-Lazy Beef Hash

This is what you get when you have a pound of hamburger in the fridge and don’t really want to make the usual. You take the few odds and ends that you have and you make magic. The secret to getting the best flavor out of the beef is using worcestershire sauce and apple cider vinegar. It brings out a bit of tang that rounds out the richness of the meat really well.

The vegetables I had on hand were bell peppers, sweet potatoes and baby spinach but remember, the key to this is lazyness. Don’t focus so much on the ingredients, just get the seasoning right. It turned out to be a really easy vehicle for getting vegetables into the meal without having to make a salad. And yes, blasphemy– no onions or fresh garlic because I was all out.

Yes, salads can be easy. But sometimes you just want magic in a skillet, you know?

Move over Hamburger Helper. Here comes Super Lazy Beef Hash. Well, as soon as it gets off the couch.

Creme Brûlee Pie

I am often on Pinterest seeking out new project to undertake or recipes to try. I pin lots of paleo recipes, but as a person who just likes to cook, I also pin things that are not necessarily “allowed”. Some things are better left as they are, like gelato. I love cookies and I’m not going to mess with them. They are a deity and should be respected as such.

Other things, such as this custard pie, can be modified with great results. My main modification that was diet specific to this recipe was changing the flour. The original recipe, by Mama Steph (ETX in the house!) calls for all purpose flour. I’ve been trying to stay away from it since the holidays and save for a few bites of General Tso’s Chicken here and there, I have been successful. I like using almond flour since it’s one of the nut meals that most resembles regular flour and because of it’s high protein content.

I also used grade B maple syrup instead of refined sugar and coconut sugar instead of turbinado for the topping. In the end, what you get is a perfectly delectable, not so guilt-inducing dessert that can be whipped up in a little over an hour (or 45 minutes if you’re like me and like your dessert to singe your lips off).

So as (the 10th) Dr. Who would say, “Alons-y Alonso!”

Reeeuhbs.

Or “Ribs” for all you not-Southerners.

I’ve mentioned before that my family eats primarily a paleo/ primal diet. It consists of lots of healthy fats, like coconut oil, avocado, pastured butter, animal fat, nuts, pastured/ humanely raised meats and lots and lots of vegetables. Not a lot of processed food here, meaning not a lot of meals in a box, grains or legumes. Dairy is accepted by some, but it should be whole and raw if possible. We stick to whole pastured milk for the kids and heavy cream for coffee. Ok, and some cheese. Just me though, since the dudes seem to do fine without it. You can get a lot more info about a Paleo diet on the Interwebs 🙂

This means we eat quite a bit of meat. It’s a big jump for us since we were vegetarian-teetering-on-vegan for about 2 years. And I won’t knock veganism because it taught me a great deal about food–real food– a clean diet, and developing a taste for unprocessed junk. If you ask me, I think what good nutrition comes down to is cutting all the processed stuff. It’s just so bad for your health and devoid of any nutrients that allow our bodies to function and repair. My two cents.

So, we closed that chapter in our dietary lives and moved on to the next. And here I am making ribs for my family tonight.

I LOVE RIBS. Almost more than life itself. And these ribs are not just knock-your-socks-off good, they’re also knock-your-socks-off easy. You down with that? I thought so.

Gelato for the masses!

I love making desserts. Any kind. Sure, I love to eat them, but not as much as I love the process of some good old, kitchen hocus pocus. It is particularly exciting for me to make new kinds of desserts, since I learn new techniques and I get to revel in the praise from my kids (side note: they would love it if I just poured sugar in a bowl and let them have at it, so there’s that).

But there’s always the satisfaction you get from making something on your own. So, instead of making some really fancy cookie or cake dessert for Christmas Eve dinner, I decided to treat everyone to some gelato.

OK, confession: I also had some egg yolks sitting in the fridge, looking at me with their lonely, yolky eyes every time I reached for something else. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything with a custard base.

I’ve made semifreddo before and that was surprisingly simple and refreshing. So, after doing some research and compiling a few basic recipes for gelato, I set out to make my own: vanilla bean gelato (notice a flavor trend?). And since I’m a hippie at heart, instead of using regular sugar, I used coconut sugar, which was a mistake but a happy one because in the end what I got was more of a coffee flavored gelato which was nothing short of amazing.