Paleo Rose Water Spiced Stewed Fruit

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Bowl of rose water stewed fruit

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend! We had some nice weather here so we tried to make the most of it and spent time outdoors. We also ended up visiting one of the shopping centres (malls) near our place since my phone has been acting up and needs to be replaced. Looking forward to getting my new phone since the screen on this one has been going a bit crazy!

Sunday night is also Downton Abbey night for us… I know this season hasn’t started up yet in the U.S. so I won’t say anything other than so far it’s been quiet interesting to say the least! Do you watch it?

Over the weekend I also made this little sweet treat… I made something similar earlier in the week but wasn’t 100% happy with the flavour so I had to make it again, you know to get it just right! 😉

What I love about this recipe is that there is no added sweetener… no honey, no coconut sugar etc, the sweetness comes from the fruit and from the spices I use. Stewed fruit is delicious and a welcome change at this time of year when just eating fruit cold may not be so appealing. You can eat this on its own or pair it with some eggs in the morning. It would also be a great accompaniment to some homemade coconut milk ice-cream if you wanted a really special treat! [Read more…]

Paleo Carrot Pancakes with Coconut Butter

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Paleo carrot pancakes with coconut butter

Here’s the GOOD news… we’ve found a new place to move into! BUT we can’t move in until early September so we’ll still be in this place for a bit longer but I we seriously can’t wait to move out of here! The new place is bigger, in a better location AND it’s not in an apartment block, it’s in a gated community with the houses attached to each other which means no more having to deal with people above us making noises all night! AND my FAVOURITE part of all is we will be living LITERALLY across the road from a castle! How cool is that! 🙂

I’m looking forward to seeing how the new kitchen works out… it’s always an adjustment when you move into a new place! By the way this will be our 6th move (including moving from Australia to America, then America to here) in 3 years so yes you can call me ‘The Moving Queen’ 😉

Anyway so this recipe I’m about to share with you is not very sweet at all, in fact the only thing that gives it some sweetness is the homemade coconut butter on top… don’t worry coconut butter is EASY to make! It could be sweeter depending on if you add sweetener to it which I didn’t, but other than that there’s no sweetener in these paleo carrot pancakes. [Read more…]

Paleo Sweet Potato Mousse

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Paleo sweet potato mousse

The sun is finally OUT! Trust me if you were here you’d be just as excited 😉 It’s still a little cold outside BUT I no longer have to wear my BIG PUFFY jacket and gloves and beanie when Joe and I go walking now. It’s funny how quickly you can get used to new conditions… if I was still living in Australia I would think this weather was FREEZING but after just a few months of being here that’s all changed.

Because of the nice change in weather we ended up doing a 7.8km/4.8mile walk on the weekend, we walked through one of the local parks and it was beautiful! I really should take some pictures one day. We also came across a sign for a charity walk taking place on the 19th of May, you get to decide how long you want to walk (3 miles, 6 miles or 12 miles). If we do it I think we’ll do the 6 mile walk!

Ohhh before I go on, I just want to tell you about a little change on my blog, I now have a Whole30 tab at the top of my homepage. I know a lot of people who are doing the program now so I thought I’d go through my recipes and put the Whole30 approved ones in one place. As you know from some of my previous posts I’m working on getting the sweet stuff out of my system right now, as well as some other stuff. [Read more…]

Paleo Cinnamon Cardamom Pear Cake

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Plate of paleo cinnamon and cardamom pear cake

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

Plate of paleo cinnamon and 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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