Strawberry Jam - Paleo, Whole 30

I got a bunch of strawberries on sale the other day, it's barely their season in California, but I guess my local awesome produce grocer got some in bulk and marked them down. Regardless, I bought 3 2 pound packages! I ate some of them with the family and 2 of them I wanted to make jam with.

When I was younger, my nana made awesome peach jam and for our wedding she gave me many jars as part of our present. It was really the only kind of homemade jam I was exposed to as a kid that I liked.

After meeting my husband I decided to make some jam for us from scratch, but didn't (still don't) have canning supplies, so we made freezer jam. And it became my jam. In both ways.

Freezer strawberry jam is so easy and super delicious, but it's often full of sugar and pectin. Those two ingredients do not mix with paleo or whole 30. And honestly, I don't know if whole 30 allows jam, regardless of how it's made. I'm of the mind set that it is the same concept as a nut butter. Tread lightly and don't make it a staple of your diet. Although almond butter and macadamia nut butters do get eaten more than once a week around here....sooooooo. rules. :-S

Moving on, here is how I made some BOMB jam without pectin or added sugars (not even honey, it's not cool on a whole 30)

Strawberry Jam

Whole 30 Compliant, Paleo

4 pounds strawberries

2 tbsp water

1.5 apples, peeling on but cored

1 cup washed white grapes, taste them before using and get super sweet ones for the natural sweetness

1/4 cup washed frozen cranberries (although I used about 1/3 cup but you'd probably find it pretty tart) 

juice of one lemon

Wash, hull, quarter the strawberries -removing major bad spots. Place into large sauce pot with the water, turn on medium low heat. Grate the apple into the pot directly, stir. Using a blender or food processor, puree the grapes and cranberries until as smooth as can be. Pour into the pot, stir. Bring to boil, then let simmer, stiring often. Mash berries with potato masher as they start to burst, be sure to scrape down the sides of pot. Cook on low for about an hour or so, the longer it cooks, the thicker it will be. Once you've reached a still runny, but pretty gel-ing state, pour into the prepared (aka cleaned and dries) jars or containers. Let cool, then freeze for up to 6 months, refridgerator for up to a month.

mine batch made "this" much

Serve over paleo baked goods (not on whole 30), use as a dip (I dip bananas in it!), mix with nut butters as a dip, eat plain, or use in sauces. I think the whole 30-ness of it depends on how you use it. Even cocao is allowed on whole 30 in the proper context.....

Paleo ABBC muffins

Have you heard of ABC bread (or muffins?)
I first saw a recipe for it from my bradley birth instructor 4.5 years ago when she was giving us suggestions on how to increase protein content (including through whole grains). I don't think I ever made that recipe but during our clean eating years I was a big fan of veggie muffins (see recipe on this blog and also this one on another blog that I cleaned up for us). Now that we are pretty paleo (like 90%), my favorite muffin had been one made with coconut flour, a ton of eggs, bananas, and dark chocolate chips.
Craving muffins this morning, but only having one banana.... I revisited this ABC bread idea. But added blueberries in as well for some sweetness and also because  had G was asking to make 'wheat berry muffins' as seen in a library book this week, Little Red Riding Hood - A Newfangled Prairie Tale by Lisa Campbell Ernst.

Paleo ABBC Muffins

makes 12, takes about 30 minutes total

• 1 ripe banana
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• dash vanilla
• .25 tsp baking soda
• .5 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/3 coconut oil, in between soft and melted (feel free to try another fat of your choice)
• dash salt
• 1 large carrot (or 2 smaller ones), grated
• 1 apple, grated (I cored mine but left the peel on)
• 3/4 - 1 cup frozen blueberries
• I did not use any added sweetners, but you're welcome to add some honey or maple or etc if you want them sweeter and don't mind adding them

Place ingredients EXCEPT the blueberries (I added the carrot and apple to mince them even smaller, but you can choose to add them in afterwards with the blueberries) in a mixing bowl and use immersion blender to mix ingredients well. Gently stir in blueberries. Divide between muffins cups (I use silicon ones and they didn't need any extra greasing). Bake at 400 degree for about 20 minutes, keep an eye on them in your own oven though.

They were a big hit over here, so enjoy and feel free to sub in and out ingredients as you like.

note; if you don't have an immersion blender. I recomend using a blender to get the base batter mixed and then you can stir in apple, carrots, and blueberries seperately.

Dairy Free Fruit Dip

TI used to make a yummy clean fruit dip using yogurt, almond butter, and honey, but since I try to be mostly paleo....I don't eat or buy plain greek yogurt. (I do still buy some of the little cups for the kids, it's a great source of calcium and protein for them to eat occasionally) .... And the other day I was craving some fruit with dip and didn't just want to use plain almond butter. I used what I know about bananas and immersion blender to create a great fruit dip that is paleo!! I dare say it's Whole 30, but may be considered a SWYPO food....

Dairy Free Paleo Fruit Dip

2 ripe bananas
1/3 to 1/2 almond butter
shake of cacao (okay, I used a few shakes)

toss all ingredients into a bowl and let your immersion blender do the work!! (or regular blender / food processor if you haven't jumped on board the immersion blender train of awesomeness)

Makes enough for 2-3 big servings

Clean Eating Chocolate Cookie Cake recipe

I have another chocolate chip cookie recipe on here, but I've been wanting to make some revisions to it....and I have confirmation class tonight so it was the perfect time to create a new clean eating recipe. I always bring my girls a treat (Sometimes it's pop corn, sometimes it's mandarin oranges, and some times it's a homemade treat!) and I've been talking about chocolate chip cookies for a while.

leaf and acorn shapes for Fall

My favorite kind of chocolate chip cookies are cut out of cookie cakes because they are all middle pieces! Here, I've cleaned up a cookie cake recipe for you but it could easily just be cookies if you plop them down by the tablespoon instead of patting out into a rectangle

Clean Eating Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

1 stick of butter, softened
1/4 c ground flax (best to grind fresh, I use a coffee grinder)
1/4 c molasses
1/3 c agave nectar
a little under 1/2 c honey
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
splash of vanilla
2.5 cups of white whole wheat flour (I started with 2 cups and then added more in as needed to stiffen dough a bit)
1/2 c oat flour (grind rolled oats using coffee grinder or processor, or buy already ground at store)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
about half a bag of dark chocolate chips (I used 60% from Ghirardelli)

Using stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and flax until really smooth. Add sweeteners and mix super well. Like creamy smooth! Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Beat again until combined. Mix the dry ingredients together and then dump carefully into the wet mixture. Mix on low speed until incorporated. I turned it on high for a few seconds to really get it mixed well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat, pat out the cookie dough into a rectangle or desired shape, keeping it about 3/8" thick throughout the whole shape. Bake for about 20 minutes until center is done. Cut with cookie cutters if desired, after cooled.

Clean Eating Pumpkin Dairy-Free Ice Cream Squares - Paleo recipe

A few months ago I made an awesome paleo chocolate chip cheesecake recipe and thus entered into my fascination with soaked cashews. Have you ever used soaked cashews? If not, you are missing out!

They basically can become a dairy base for a variety of desserts or cheese like dips...and it's clean and paleo!

Recently I wanted to make a pumpkin cheesecake using the soaked cashew method, but was pressed for time so it resulted in an ice-cream like dessert that I cut into squares. I personally would (and did) eat the 'batter' without waiting for it to freeze, but if you want the ice cream like feel, leave it in the freezer for a while.

Pumpkin "Ice Cream" Bars

.5 lb cashews, soaked for 8 hours, drained
1/2 - 3/4 c honey, depending on preferred sweetness
1/2 coconut oil, or grassfed butter if you are okay with that (which I totally am)
a few shakes of salt
a drizzle of vanilla
3/4 c pumpkin puree (from roasted pie pumpkin preferred)
1/4 - 1/3 c water to reach consistency

Place cashews in food processor and process until smooth, add remaining ingredients and process until combined well, using the water to help the batter reach a soft serve consistency. Spread into a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper, or a 9x9 dish for thicker bars. Place into freezer for several hours until frozen--Enjoy!

So far I have eaten them which some dark chocolate, gluten free chocolate cookies (Happy Family Best Friends), and all alone. My husband thinks peanut butter would go awesome with them and I think caramel would. Options are endless :-)

Clean Eating; Cauliflower Sweet Potato Butternut Squash Soup recipe

Earlier this year I got an immersion blender. It was actually free thanks to the-now-defunct-EcoBonus program. I collected points from buying things like Annie's Homegrown (now sold to General Mills), King Arthur Flour, and Seventh Generation. I redeemed them for a green kitchen aid stick blender. I mostly wanted it for a carrot soup recipe I haven't even made yet. It gets used a few times a month, so given the free cost....totally worth it!

I have most recently used it to make my latest soup recipe. I have created so many recipes over the past few months of non-blogging, but I've been to distracted by life to actually type them out. Lucky for you, I'm trying this re-branded blog and thus....here is my perfect fall soup recipe! And you guys....The name says it all.

Cauliflower Sweet Potato Butternut Squash Soup

1/2 onion, chopped

2-4 garlic cloves, depending on your love for garlic

1 medium butternut squash

1 large sweet potato or yam

1 good size head of cauliflower (a bag of frozen florets will work too)

 (organic is preferred for all above, not just because of chemicals and GMOs, but the taste is just better, but do what you can)

4 cups of clean chicken broth or stock (I make mine from crock pot roasted chickens, but if you must buy it, get a clean boxed kind)

2 cups of grassfed cream (you can also use full fat coconut milk for paleo approved but I think grassfed cream is close enough paleo)

2 cups of water (more or less to reach desired consistency)

salt and pepper to taste

a bit of cayenne if you want (I used several sprinkles and my kids didn't think anything of it)

First, wash and roast the sweet potato and butternut squash. I do this by cutting the potato in half and the squash in quarters lengthwise (scoop out seeds). I rub them with a little bit of olive oil and put them face down on a foil lined pan. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until fork tender. When they are done, start the broth boiling and add the onion, garlic, and cauliflower. While that boils, remove the skin from potato and squash. Once the cauliflower is nearing fork tender, add the squash and potato. Puree with immersion blender. (You can let it cool and use a stand blender if there's no immersion blender, but it's really not ideal since it's hot and probably too much for most blenders) Add cream and puree again to incorporate. Season to taste. Add water to loosen because at this point it's probably pretty thick. I added about 2.5 cups to make mine as soupy as we like it (and it was on the perfect side of rich and creamy).

I served mine with a bit of shredded parm on top and a grilled ham and cheese on the side.

Chocolate zucchini cake, eat clean

Yes. I am a fan of all things containing chocolate and zucchini. Here's another clean eating recipe containing them both!

My in laws were in town last night and we were having an awesome clean grilled dinner, and I had a zucchini that was getting pretty old. I figured it wouldn't be that good grilled, so I decided to whip up a dessert with it. Enter this thrown together from several online ideas...

Triple Chocolate zucchini cake

Clean eating

1/2 cup softened butter, grassfed preferred

1/2 - 1 cup honey or agave (vary it depending on your sweetness preference, and I used a combination of the two), local preferred for honey

3 eggs

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, organic preferred

Dash vanilla if you want

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used half white whole wheat and red whole wheat)

1/2 tsp baking powder, aluminum free

1/2 tsp baking soda

Several dashes of salt

1/4 cup Dutch Cocoa

1/4 cup cocoa powder

A few dashes of ginger

1 medium zucchini, grated

1/3 - 1/2 cup milk depending on how dry the batter looks, grassfed preferred or almond/coconut milk

10 oz dark chocolate chips or enjoy life chips

Combine butter and honey with mixer. Add applesauce, vanilla and eggs; mix well. In another bowl preferably, mix dry ingredients together then add to wet and combine. Add zucchini and whip with mixer, this helps the batter be more wet from the moisture being pressed out of zucchini from fast mixing (my kitchen aid is a champ!) and cake batter like. Add the milk to get adequate moisture. I used 1/3 cup, but you'll just have to see what yours is like because the zucchini you have may be more or less moist than mine was. You want the batter to resemble a mix between regular and Greek yogurt-like consistency. Kind of firm but kind of runny. Definitely not soupy and definitely not bread battery.

Bake in preheated 350 oven about 20-25 minutes until set. At that point put the chocolate chips on top and put back into turned off oven for a few minutes until they melt. Remove and carefully spread chocolate evenly. It's nice to serve about 10 minutes later because then it's kind of like a lava cake but you can let the chocolate harden and serve it later on. Refrigerate leftovers. Can also mix in chocolate chips into to batter for an over the top treat!

Clean eating BBQ sauce

• Cook 12 oz clean bacon (nitrate free) and save 3 pieces (you can eat the rest!) and remove about 2 spoonfuls of the grease (leave the rest)
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 onion, minced
• 1 6 - 7 oz jar (or can) of tomato paste 
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp molasses
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (the cleaner the better)
• .66 cup water 
• .75 Tsp salt Salt
• .75 Tsp pepper

Instructions

After the bacon has been cooked and you've removed the two spoonfuls of grease, use the remaining grease to sautee the garlic and onion. 

Then add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

Turn the heat off and carefully use an immersion blender to make it smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender. Let the mixture cool and use a regular blender to combine into smooth sauce.

Keeps up to 2 weeks in the fridge. feel free to add some heat via hot sauce or peppers!

Eat Clean Pumpkin Cut Out Cookies Recipe

EDIT as of 11/17, I changed the recipe some to add healthy flax seed into the mix! 

One of my most favorites about Fall is pumpkin, specifically pumpkin cookies! My mom has a great recipe that I haven't seen elsewhere (though I haven't looked too hard), it's for roll out pumpkin cookies. I love it because the taste is not too sweet, with a great pumpkin taste. Oh, and if you don't feel like rolling them out, just make little balls :-)

Pumpkin!

Here, I've cleaned it up for you!

Clean Eating Pumpkin Cut Out Cookies

1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup softened butter
1/4 ground flax seeds (use a coffee grinder to freshly grind whole flax)
1 cup agave nectar (or honey)
2 tbsp molasses (not necessary, but gives it a good flavor)
1 egg
4-4.5 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp Pumpkin Spice
extra cinnamon to taste
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Cream the butter, flax, and honey/agave. Add pumpkin, mix well. Add egg. In a separate bowl, combine 4 cups of white whole wheat flour, salt, soda. Gradually mix into the wet ingredients. Add more flour if needed to stiffen the dough (I usually close 4.75 cups). Let it chill in the fridge for about 2-3 hours. Dust counter with flour as needed to roll dough out to 1/3" to 3/8" thickness. Cut out shapes. Bake on ungreased sheets for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

It's Halloween! Why not have pumpkin cookies for breakfast?