Paleo No-Bake Carrot Cake

Written by Sereina April 19, 2013

I only remember having carrot cake a few time in my life, but for the past year I've been wanting to make one. It had been a long time and I still hadn't made it, so now that I'm dairy-free and not eating sugar I decided to look for a Paleo recipe. I found this on on Google and it is so good! It wasn't till I made it that I realized it was a no-bake recipe. There's no flour and it's sweetened with dates. And the frosting on it? It's made with cashews, yet it tastes so good.

Paleo No-Bake Carrot Cake
via Betty Rawker

Ingredients:

1 cup grated carrot

1 cup raw walnuts

1 cup (about 9) medjool dates, pitted

1 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice seasoning

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Frosting:
1 cup raw cashews
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon water
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Put the carrots in a Vitamix for food processor and mix until shredded. Scoop into a large bowl.

2. Puree 1 cup walnuts in the Vitamix for food processor  Add in mejool dates and then blend into a paste. Add to the bowl with the grated carrots.

3. Add the shredded coconut and stir/mash until combined.  Then add the vanilla, five spice, and walnuts, if using them. Mix until well incorporated.

4. Shape the carrot cake with your hands onto a plate. Chill in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.

5. Blend all of the frosting ingredients together in the Vitamix for food processor until smooth and combined. Add more water if needed. Chill in the fridge until the cake is done, then frost the cake.

Sereina Bakes Paleo Snickerdoodles

Written By Sereina April 17:

These cookies don't taste exactly like regular sinckerdoodles, but they're still really good! With the texture, we decided that they're like donut holes. They're really easy to make and the hardest part is letting them chill in the fridge for an hour. The nutmeg almost makes them taste like eggnog, so they'll be really good for the Christmas season too. Recipe found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of almond meal
• 1 tbs of coconut flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon + extra for rolling dough in
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well.
2. Cover the cookie dough and place in the fridge to chill for one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Roll the cookies into small balls and coat in cinnamon.
5. Use the bottom of a cup or jar to flatten them out.
6. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Jam: Beginners Edition

At the end of June, we went strawberry picking for the first time in quite a few years. Even though it was cloudy, it was fairly warm out and soon we were ready to leave, after we had picked 35lbs of berries!

Jam had been something that I thought would be neat to make, but always seemed a bit intimidating, because of all the boiling of the cans and lids, keeping them sterile, etc.. Another thing I didn't like was all the sugar that was used in the recipes. I always try to make my food low to no sugar or use something like honey or maple syrup instead. So after finding a recipe online with just four ingredients, plus it used honey instead of sugar, I decided to can some jam for the first time.

 Since I'd never made jam or done any kind of canning before, I didn't have any of the usual canning supplies (canning jar rack, canning funnel, jar lifter) other than 7 Kerr Mason Jars that my mom had.

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The first thing to do was wash all of the jars and lids. After they've been cleaned, they were placed in a large pot. Since I didn't have a canning rack, which goes in the bottom of the pot to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pot, I used a few old kitchen towels. I used one on the bottom and two or three around the edges and between the jars. The pot was then filled with water and boiled.

The jar lids (the flat parts, not the rings) went in a small pot of simmering water to sterilize. 

While the jars simmered, I made the jam, following the recipe. The strawberries are mashed to the desired chunky-ness, then the pectin was added.  There were several different types of pectin at the store, and the recipe didn't require a certian type, so I went with Classic Pectin.

Next the honey and lemon juice was added, then the jam was boiled.

Using two pairs of metal tongs, I removed the jars from the boiling water, filled them with the jam while leaving a little space at the top, and placed on the lid, using tongs to keep them sterile.

Once all the jars were filled, they were placed back into the water and boiled for ten minutes.

Then they were removed from the pot and set on the counter to cool. While they are cooling, the lids will pop once the lids are completely sealed.

And there you have it! Homemade jam, without sugar, and no special tools that you don't already have in your kitchen.

By Sereina

Daniel's Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Daniel has had an interest in helping out in the cooking for awhile now.  I have taken time here and there to show him around the kitchen, he's getting pretty good at helping clean up and making simple foods on his own.

When he asked for a grilled cheese sandwich it occurred to me that this is a perfect time to give him some new experience in the kitchen. We've always talked about being safe around the stove, but this is the first time he has got to use the stove himself.  He was a little concerned about being too close, which is good, but then we talked about how dangerous it is to be afraid of the stove. 

 We talked about how quick reactions can create problems, but that we need to be confident around the stove.  We talked about how the confidence comes with experience.  For example once he discovered where the heat level increased he was more comfortable putting the cheese on, and was even more comfortable with putting the top piece on.

I was flipped it for him this time, and then took it out with spatula without a word from me.  Unfortunately I took this picture for forgot to get a picture of the finished product, so I will just leave the rest up to your imagination.  He was very happy to have made his first grilled cheese sandwich mostly on his own.

Sereina's Banana Cake

For the Fourth of July, I made a banana cake with banana buttercream frosting. I used the golden cake recipe from Mark Bitman's cookbook, How To Cook Everything. I just added two mashed up bananas to the recipe. It turned out quite tasty!

 I added red (which ended up looking more like pink) and blue frosting, since it was Independence Day. I also made a couple of American flags for decoration.

By Sereina

Sereina's Orange Delicious Drink

One of my new favorite summer drinks is this orange delicious. I got the recipie from the Orange Aid, Good Eats episode. 
The recipie can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html (I didn't freeze the orange juice, but used ice and OJ instead.)

By 
Sereina