Menu, week of Aug 25

Monday

• leftover buckwheat/oatmeal; raw milk
• burgers; pickles; fried pattypan squash
• slow-cooked chicken; carrots; sprouted rice

Tuesday

• leftover paleo pop tarts; hard-boiled eggs; milk
• leftover chicken/rice
• kids make sandwiches

Wednesday

• quiche; oranges; blueberry muffins; milk
• burgers etc
• sandwiches; pickles

Thursday

• chicken skins; eggs; oranges; milk
• leftover chicken breast with pattypan squash; avocado
• beef heart? baked butternut; frozen peas

Friday

• leftover quiche etc
• zucchini spaghetti
• loaded baked potatoes?

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Review – Paleo Lemon Brownies

I’ve been wanting to try these Lemon Brownies that I pinned a bazillion weeks ago and since I was already baking today I decided to go for it!  I made the recipe exactly as written except I did not mess with parchment paper (I just greased my pan) and I made my own lemon glaze.

My batter was more runny than the pictures on the Swiss Paleo version so I worried a little…however, when I took the pan out of my solar oven I was pleased to see that I had indeed succeeded at making brownies! :)

Verdict: A keeper!  My daughter, who is not fond of lemon, happily ate her entire brownie and declared it delicious.  The bars were very moist and had a nice lemon flavor.  This is a treat I will want to make again.

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Review: Very Vanilla Cupcakes (GAPS)

I am getting very low on almond flour right now so I’m trying a few new recipes that are based on other flours.  This coconut flour recipe from Comfy Belly looked like it might work for a blueberry muffin base so I made some Very Vanilla Cupcakes for breakfast this week.  I made the recipe exactly as written except I topped each cupcake with frozen blueberries instead of frosting (about 10 blueberries each) and I baked the cupcakes in my solar oven.  The recipe made a dozen small cupcakes.

Verdict: They were pretty tasty!  I’d make them again.  I realized after baking that I was only supposed to be making 8 cupcakes with this recipe, which explains why they were so small… :)  Next time I’d double the recipe for a batch of 16 and hopefully they will be as tall as regular cupcakes.  If I can get them to look like regular cupcakes, I can see myself topping them with a nice buttercream frosting and taking these to parties where I’d not likely be able to eat the other desserts.  Two thumbs up!

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Review: Paleo Raspberry Pop Tarts

I’m not dead! I know you were worried. I’ve just been super busy with summer stuff and when my kids visit their dad’s I generally don’t cook much at all. Now that we are getting back into the swing of the school year I’m hoping to try out a few new recipes per month and get back on track with menu planning.

Today I tried A Girl Worth Saving’s Paleo Raspberry Pop Tarts. I was low on bananas and wanted to double the recipe so I altered it a wee bit. Here’s what I did:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 1 small overripe banana, mashed
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 1 cup coconut flour

I mixed in the order listed until the mixture held together with about the texture of a traditional pie crust.  Then I rolled it out as described in the original recipe and used homemade blackberry jelly as the filling (about 1 tsp per pastry).  I made 10 palm-sized pop tarts.

We all split one just as a sample since I wanted to make sure we had enough for breakfast. :)   They held together pretty well.  I thought they were just a tad dry but I think regular poptarts tend to be dry too.  Perhaps a little more filling would fix that?  The dough was very easy to roll out and I wouldn’t want to add any extra moisture to that – I’d be worried about sticking when rolling it out and transferring it to the baking pan.  My daughter gave this recipe a 4.5 out of 5 stars (someone has been spending a little too much time on Amazon lately, heehee) and my son gave it 3 stars.  Then he said if you serve the pop tarts with milk he’d bump it up to a 5.1…so there you have it: a completely irrational rating system to help you decide whether these are worth making.  heehee

Verdict: I would make these again.  Using the jelly instead of cooking a separate filling made these a snap to whip together.  Keep in mind that tapioca starch is not GAPS legal!  My family has added several starches back into our diet on a rotational basis and these are an occasional treat that we would tolerate well.  I haven’t tried any substitutions other than those listed above but feel free to play around with the recipe yourself and see what you come up with!

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