Paleo Coconut Berry Parfait

June 19, 2013 by Nazanin Kovacs 6 Comments

I’m backkkkkkk! Did you miss me? Heheh I missed doing blog posts and actually I wasn’t even planning on putting this recipe up since I literally whipped it up in 2 minutes and thought to myself it’s not blog worthy so I just shared it quickly on my Instagram… but actually it is because it’s so delicious and I wanted to share it with my blog readers plus I also wanted to get back into the swing of blogging again!

Don’t worry I’m working on blog posts about my holiday and I’ll be sure to share lots of photos with you! The other thing I’m working on now is my entry for Paleo Magazine Readers’ Favorites Cookbook…. how AWESOME is that! I received the email about one of my recipes being chosen towards the end of May, but since my parents were here and then I was away on holiday I haven’t had a chance to complete all the details needed yet but will be working on that in the next few days and putting it all together! SUPER EXCITED about this! I just hope the photos I send through work out well!

In the mean time here’s today’s recipe. As I mentioned above you can whip this up in minutes as long as you have a couple of the ingredients prepared before hand (I’ll note these in the ingredients list).

Paleo Coconut Berry Parfait

Ingredients:

1 cup chilled coconut milk – taken from 1 can of full-fat coconut milk which has been shaken so the contents inside are mixed and left to chill in the fridge overnight or at least for a couple of hours.
1 tsp rose water.
1 tsp ground cinnamon.
1 Tbsp raw honey.
Mixed berries – I used a combination of cherries, blueberries and strawberries that I had previously cut up in a ziplock bag in the fridge. No measurements for this, just use however much you like.
Toasted cinnamon coconut flakes for topping – I almost always have these in the fridge, they are great to have on hand! Simply take a bag of coconut flakes and pour onto a lined baking tray. Spread out evenly and sprinkle with some cinnamon, mix to coat all the flakes with the cinnamon then bake at 180C/350F for about 6 minutes, they toast up quickly so keep an eye on them. I like mine nice and toasted but if you don’t give them less time. Let them cool out of the oven then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Method:

Pour 1 cup of chilled coconut milk into a mixing bowl and add in your rose water, honey and cinnamon. Mix well to combine.

In a small glass (like the one pictured above) place a layer of berries on the bottom. Pour over your coconut milk mixture.

At this point you can place the glass back in the fridge to chill for longer OR if you want to eat straightaway add another layer of berries on top then sprinkle on some of the toasted cinnamon coconut flakes and gobble it up! 🙂

*Alternative Method*

If you want to do something different, instead of shaking up the contents of your canned coconut milk you can leave it the fridge unmixed so that the thick creamy part pulls away from the liquid below (I usually leave the can in the fridge over night for this).

Remove the thick part of the coconut milk into a mixing bowl and keep the watery liquid part to use later in smoothies or drink straight up.

Add your rose water, cinnamon and raw honey to your thick coconut cream and whip it into a cream consistency (aka coconut whipped cream) and use this in between the layers of berries.

I know it’s such a simple recipe but it’s definitely worthy a try 🙂

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Paleo Horchata Jello

May 22, 2013 by Nazanin Kovacs 20 Comments

Last night we were headed for bed when I heard water dripping from the second bathroom. I thought maybe the tap hadn’t been closed properly or maybe it was the shower head. Nope neither of those… then I looked up and I saw water dripping from the ceiling from the light fixture! Mind you that light had gone out and we were and still are waiting for it to be replaced! So yeh now we have a bathroom ceiling that’s leaking and I’ve been on the phone all day trying to get someone to do something about it! It’s obviously coming from the apartment above us, I tried going to talk to them but no one seems to be home right now so I’m not sure what we’re going to do now! Oh and of course as you know my parents arrive tomorrow and I’m not sure how we’re going to use this bathroom now!

Anyway in yesterday’s post I said that I had worked on a dessert recipe and luckily it turned out GREAT! I was very happy with the result as was Joe. 🙂

So before I give you the recipe, let me tell you how it came about. I got the inspiration for this recipe from Instagram… I love IG, I always get inspired by the photos of food that show up on my stream. This particular recipe was inspired by a photo posted by Paleo Cupboard. She had posted a photo for Paleo Horchata… now I don’t know about you but I had no idea what Horchata was so of course I went off and Googled it. Turns out it’s a traditional drink made from either ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barely or tigernuts and is popular in places like Spain and Latin America.

Of course after reading that I still had no idea what it was exactly or how this Paleo version would taste but the photo looked so good that I thought I HAVE TO MAKE THIS! And I did and it was FANTASTIC! Then I thought I want to take this recipe and make it into something else… which I did and it turned into a DELICIOUS treat!

Paleo Horchata Jello

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

2 cups unsweetened almond milk (preferably homemade). I used a U.S cup measurement here which = 235ml. If you’re using a metric cup measurement it’s 250ml and then you’ll more than likely have to use more gelatin in the recipe.
1/4 cup raw honey.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top when set.
Pinch of ground nutmeg.
Pinch of ground cloves.
3 gelatin leaves or you can use powdered gelatin (I think 3 leaves = 1 Tbsp of powdered gelatin but you might have to re-check that). The best gelatin to use would be this one if you can get it.

Ingredients:

Place almond milk, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves into a small-medium saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir the mixture then leave it until it comes to a boil.

In the mean time place your gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water and let them the sit for 5 minutes.

Once the mixture in the saucepan has started to come to a boil you can turn it down to a low simmer.

Remove the gelatin leaves from the water and squeeze out any excess liquid. Place into the saucepan and stir to mix through.

Let this sit for about 2 minutes then remove from the heat and transfer the mixture into your desired container(s). I poured mine into two 5oz ramekins.

Place in the fridge until set. Once set remove from the fridge and sprinkle some more ground cinnamon on top. Enjoy!

Want to know more about how gelatin can improve your health and how to add it to your food? Check out ‘The Gelatin Secret’ below from Hollywood Homestead.

Paleo Pear Crumble

March 25, 2013 by Nazanin Kovacs 4 Comments

If you looked outside our living room window right now you would think it was the middle of Winter and not the beginning of Spring! There is snow EVERYWHERE and it has been FREEZING for the past few days! According to The Daily Mail this is the coldest March since 1963!

Apparently last year at this time temperatures reached to 22C/71F which is not even HOT, especially to an Aussie who is used to temperatures of 30+C/86+F… but I’ll tell you what that 22C sounds PERFECT right now! In fact anything over 10C/50F would make me happy right now… a statement I would have NEVER made back in Australia.

Since the weather’s been like this I haven’t really felt like doing much other than staying inside and keeping warm! Luckily The Healthy Life Summit is on, so I spent most of Sunday listening to the first day of podcasts and I’m currently listening to the second day of talks while typing out this blog post. So far the talks have been excellent! Who else has been listening?

Uhhhh well enough about the weather, it’s unfortunately one of those things that you can’t control but hopefully the sun will come out to play soon (fingers crossed). [Read more…]

Paleo Cinnamon Cardamom Pear Cake

March 22, 2013 by Nazanin Kovacs 17 Comments

There are times when I’ll be reading a book, browsing the net or doing some other usual every day task when all of a sudden I’ll get this voice niggling in my head saying ok I’ve got a recipe idea for you… I promise it’s not as crazy as it sounds!

It’s more like I’ll think of an ingredient and then all these other ingredients will come into my mind and I’ll think hmmmm what can I do with that and then BAM a recipe! Sometimes the translation between my brain and the final dish don’t always turn out how I’d imagined but most of the time things turn out GREAT!

Case in point this cake recipe I’m about to share with you. I was reading my book the other day and all I could think about were pears… no idea why but it just kept popping into my head, and then almond flour next and then all these other ingredients until finally I thought I NEED TO MAKE A CAKE!!!

And so I did… and it turned out bloody good! I just had a phone call from Joe at work telling me “I just had some of your cake it was delicious, you should have given me more”…. I WIN! And so does he because luckily I haven’t managed to gobble it all down myself so he’ll have some waiting for him tonight 🙂

Paleo Cinnamon Cardamom Pear Cake

Ingredients:

1-2 large pears slightly soft.
1.5 cups almond flour.
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted) + more for cooking the pears and greasing the cake pan.
2 large pastured eggs separated (at room temperature).
1/3 cup raw honey (melted).
2 tsp ground cinnamon.
1 tsp ground cardamom.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
1/4 tsp baking soda.
Pinch sea salt.
Pinch cream of tartar.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

Line a round cake pan (mine was 9 x 1.5in) with parchment paper and grease using a little melted coconut oil. Set aside.

Place a skillet on medium heat and add in about 1 Tbsp coconut oil. Peel your pear(s) and slice into even rounds. Add the sliced pear to the pan and cook on either side for a 1-2 minutes. Remove the pear slices to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.

In a medium-large mixing bowl sift in your almond flour, then add in your cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda and sea salt. Mix together and set aside.

In another bowl, using an electric beater, mix together your egg yolks, raw honey, coconut oil and vanilla extract.

Next take your egg whites and add in a pinch of cream of tartar. Using a whip attachment on your electric beater or stand mixer, whip the egg whites until you get soft peaks.

Now it’s time to put everything together. Add your egg yolk mixture into the bowl with the almond flour and spices and mix together.

Take a spatula and add in 1/3 of your egg white mixture and fold through. Do this another two times until all the egg white mixture is folded through. Remember to be gentle with this part as you want the cake to be soft and airy when it comes out.

Now layer your pear slices onto the bottom of the cake pan. Try to do it so that they overlap each other slightly.

Pour the cake batter on top of the layer of pears and using your spatula, spread the batter evenly over the top. You might think it’s not enough but trust me it will cover it!

Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes* or until a toothpick/fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before flipping the cake over.

ENJOY!

* I’ve noticed that my new oven bakes things very quickly! It doesn’t even require preheating, so I’m still trying to get the hang of it. Check on this cake after 25 minutes just to make sure you don’t over cook it… but of course yours might take a bit longer.

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