Light and Fluffy Chocolate Cake

Happy Birthday to me......

I totally made my own birthday cake.  Is that pathetic?  I didn't trust anyone else to get it right.  Heck, the first time around, even I didn't get it right.  I Googled a recipe for 'light and fluffy' coconut flour chocolate cake.  And there were dozens out there, advertising how light and fluffy they were.  And they really just aren't.  We all know that, right?

.....Right?

We've all made those take-the-spit-right-out-of-your-mouth cakes, or those bricks that have the weight of brownies but none of the right mouth-feel.

And I made a gut bomb of my own the first time around.  Two, actually, because it was a double-layer cake and I wasted a whole 1 1/2 cups coconut flour, and 8 eggs in that monstrosity, and I let it sit wrapped overnight because 'that will make it more moist'.  But it didn't.  And I thought about feeding my family the cake because I'd already put so much effort into it, but I knew we'd all be very disappointed and they'd tell me it was good when it wasn't, and then they'd say they're just too full, and not really eat it.

I could have made a to-die-for flourless chocolate cake that we all love, but it wouldn't have been a birthday cake.  I really wanted birthday cake.  Light and fluffy 2-layer birthday cake.  Was I being a brat?  I mean, I hadn't eaten any kind of birthday cake in YEARS--not even non-paleo traditional cake.  I soooo wanted cake.

Look at the light fluffiness!

So I went on the internet and Googled some more.  And then I found a site that mentioned separating the eggs first.  But then didn't actually have any recipes on their site that actually used separated eggs. But that seemed so plausible.  It just made so much sense.  After all, THIS recipe that the Paleo Mom makes uses separated eggs to make to-die-for fish batter that tastes totally authentic and perfect, so why can't it also work in cake?  Too far of a leap, maybe?  I've used separated eggs in a lot of creations (though I haven't been posting them)--and it makes a HUGE difference in texture.  All I needed was to fix the texture of the cake.  I knew how to make the cake taste right, but it had to FEEL right, too.

And it did.  Totally worked.  In fact, if my family didn't know me, they would have thought it was normal birthday cake.  I'm not kidding.

And then I iced it with a peanut butter butter-creme icing.  Don't judge me.  I do not react to peanuts at all--and this IS supposed to be a treat, after all.  I used all-natural and organic.  You can use almond butter or any nut butter you want.

And so, despite my total lack of photography skills, here's the recipe.  Don't let the photography offend you.

Chocolate Layer Cake

2x 8" round cakes

Ingredients:

6 eggs, separated
4 Tbs canned pureed pumpkin *
4 Tbs butter, melted & cooled
1/2 c Truvia + 1/2 c unsweetened almond milk **
1 tsp baking soda + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c coconut flour (do not pack tight into measuring cup)
1/2 c cocoa powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease sides of 8" cake pans with coconut oil or butter.  Line bottom with parchment paper.

In first bowl, using a stand mixer or hand-mixer, whip egg whites until firm peaks form (the firmer, the better).

In second bowl, add egg yolks, pumpkin, butter, Truvia, almond milk, and vanilla.  In small cup or bowl, mix vinegar and soda to activate it, then add to wet mixture.  Mix well.  Add in coconut flour and cocoa powder and mix again.  Mixture will begin to thicken like wet cement, don't worry.   Now, add your egg whites into the wet mixture.  Blend carefully using the lowest setting on your mixer, try to blend only enough to barely mix together (too much mixing will deflate the egg whites so just barely get it mixed and no more than that)

Divide into 2 cake pans and tap on counter to help level out.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool fully in cake pans before inverting and icing.

Peanut Butter Icing

1/2 c butter, softened
1 c unsweetened natural peanut butter, or other nut butter
1/2 c coconut sugar
1/4 c Truvia
1 tsp vanilla
5 Tbs unsweetened almond milk, or as needed to thin

Blend all ingredients together.  Try to spread as much on the cake as you have the willpower to not eat right then and there.

* Pumpkin helps to keep the cake moist.  It will not flavour the cake at all, don't worry.  Apple sauce or pureed bananas will also work, but will change the flavour and texture slightly.

**Truvia is an artificial sweetener made from a blend of stevia leaf and erythritol (the only sugar alcohol that does not cause digestive distress).  It has roughly twice the sweetness of regular sugar or honey, and little to none of the bitterness that many artificial sweeteners have.  It has no effect on blood sugar/insulin levels.  Read more about sugar alcohols here.  If you choose to use honey instead, omit the almond milk and double the measurement to 1 cup honey or sugar.

The Divisiveness of Dairy

If you're afraid of butter, use cream.

Julia Child

I love you Julia Child, and I love a good food debate.

Photo courtesy of www.redorbit.com

A couple of weeks ago I was out at a paleo potluck and I mentioned that I was having some problematic health issues--extreme stress, extreme cravings and insatiable hunger, constant belly bloating, and accumulating belly fat.

Of course, my very astute paleo peeps immediately pointed out my coffee intake was excessive, and caffeine does drive up cortisol and stress the adrenal glands.  Fine.  I will cut back my coffee intake (and I will miss it sorely...)

But the next thing that came up was my dairy consumption.  What?  Nothing, and I really mean nothing, is as hotly debated as dairy in the paleo/primal health community.  

My friend is a strong supporter of Loren Cordain's work.  He sent me this article:

Dairy:  Milking it for All its Worth

The article is certainly thought-provoking.  Some interesting points on the insulinogenic nature of low-fat diary and even high-fat milk and yogurt.  I had heard of studies that showed an extreme response to not just GI but also other insulin markers.  I had not, however, given much thought to the connection between insulin response from the specific kinds of dairy I was consuming and the belly fat accumulation I am dealing with (which may be exacerbated by my elevated stress levels)--my current health issues seem to be an issue of several combined factors rather than a single food group in isolation causing issues (SIBO, maybe?).  You know how it is when you KNOW the science, but somehow fail to apply it to yourself?

Add caption

On a simple level, mammalian milk is full of naturally-occurring growth-like hormones meant to be fed to our infants to cause them to grow quickly--it is meant to "fatten" infants up as quickly as possible.   So why would we, as adults who don't need to be fattened up, want to consume it, right?

It's funny how divisive this diary thing is.  I mean, you've got Loren Cordain and Robb Wolf on one side, and Chris Kresser, Mark Sisson, and Stephen Guyenet on the other side.  They've all read the same research, and somehow come up with completely different interpretations.  It is all too easy to interpret the results of research in a way that reinforces any point you are trying to make.  Chris Kresser has suggested that lab results measuring chemical markers (measuring GI on a scale and its' corresponding insulin markers) do not always equal the response inside our bodies.  Perhaps we have mechanisms within our bodies that mitigate or even negate the insulin response, because alternate studies have shown that high-fat dairy can REDUCE heart disease and IMPROVE insulin sensitivity.  Totally the opposite of what Cordain has been saying.  It is important to understand how studies are done in isolation of other factors--looking at a specific component in milk as opposed to all the elements in milk at once, because often one thing cancels or neutralizes another in its whole form.

So, just to throw a wrench into things, here are some arguments contrary to Cordains' statements about dairy (that I emailed back to my anti-dairy friend):

https://chriskresser.com/the-truth-about-legumes-saturated-fats-and-vegetarian-diets 

(this is an awesome podcast with transcript he did after his tv show appearance on Dr Oz, explaining and defending what was said on the show), and:

https://chriskresser.com/dairy-food-of-the-gods-or-neolithic-agent-of-disease 

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.ca/2010/12/dairy-fat-and-diabetes.html#_jmp0_ 

If nothing else, these all suggest that dairy (the right kinds) are, at minimum, not as harmful as originally suggested.  In fact, most of the big paleo advocates do allow the consumption of butter--the amount of actual dairy that remains in butter is negligible (99% of it is milk fat, the other 1% is lactose and water combined) unless you are casein intolerant--then, rendered ghee is a reasonable solution and it is even more loved than grassfed butter.  

Photo courtesy of www.internet451.com

I agree with Chris that it all boils to your personal state of health, or the health of your gut.  If you are already insulin-sensitive, milk--particularly low-fat milk-- may exacerbate the issue.  Anyone with a damaged metabolism or damaged gut biome would be smart to avoid most dairy altogether.

On the other hand, I doubt that butter causes much trouble for anyone except the casein-intolerant (and has proven, in fact, to be protecting against obesity and heart disease, among other things).   I feel that aged cheese, which is low in lactose (the sugar that causes the insulin response), simply makes food taste better, and if eating a bit of cheese as garnish now and then allows us to otherwise stick with a paleo-type diet, then it is a reasonable thing to allow.  As long as it doesn't replace meat in a meal--it should remain a garnish only since it is not actually a complete source of animal-based protein.

Photo courtesy of Dairy Farmers of Canada

Perhaps under my current level of stress, with my cortisol and insulin response not functioning as well as they should, it is not such a bad idea to return to a paleo template in it's most black-and-white form.  In the last few days, having removed dairy from my diet, my body has been acting like I'm on some kind of sugar-cleanse, giving some validity to Cordains' view on dairy.  So maybe it really is a question of your current state of health.  Right now, in my current state, it is not a good thing to consume.  Perhaps, if I were at my goal weight and under substantially less stress, I could tolerate small amounts of cheese and yogurt again, but not so much right now. 

I do follow more of a paleo framework rather than the strict sense of the diet itself--don't we all do that nowadays?  The whole diet is only as good as the science behind it, and the science is changing every day (have you heard Chris's stance on legumes now?)  I am a firm believer in the N=1 style of testing every theory on your body since we all are a bit different.  I really appreciate how the paleo diet has evolved over these past few years, relaxing it's stance on many whole foods that it had previously banned (like the whole safe starches argument that suggests white potatoes and white rice might be better for the metabolism than most fruits due to how your body breaks down simple fructose--but that's another post).  That being said, the minute your health begins to decline again, a return to a strict paleo diet (and sometimes an even stricter auto-immune protocol) is the best bet until conditions clear up.

Here's Mark Sisson's view on dairy, with a tonne of links--more good reading if I got you thinking....

Chili Chicken--hakka-style

So I'm sitting in the kitchen at my work the other day, eating my leftovers for lunch, and my co-worker (my mentor, my Indian guru) says to me (with this really sly smile) "I make Chili Chicken last night".  She has a thick accent,so that's really what she said.  She knows she's said something to really hook me.  Chili Chicken--those are magic words.

She shows me the food in her container.  It LOOKS like hakka-region style Chili Chicken.  The very kind that haunted me, that was the bane of my existence after I switched to a paleo diet.  It was the one take-out food that could bring me to my knees-literally-because I could not say no to it, and I totally could not digest it.

"Taste it", she says.  "Iz ok, I use corn starch."  So I tasted it.  I love JP, love all the food she's had me taste, all the things she's taught me about traditional cooking, and I loved her Chili Chicken.  It had never even occurred to me that I could re-create such a dish.  Sure, I know how to make the chili-garlic green beans with shrimp that we've gotten there.  But Chili Chicken?  Oooooh yea!

Now, hakka-region style Chili Chicken is kerpow-hot.  It'll knock your socks off.  And it's full of those crazy, skinny little indian hot peppers--I think they use serrano.  Those little gems are not-so-hot in the mouth, but when they get to your belly, they burn their way back up the esophagus and then downwards, too, causing some people to have a little 'cleanse' after their first hakka experience.  I won't do that to you here, don't worry.  I couldn't even find serrano peppers around where I live, so I had to get creative and use jalapeno peppers, hot banana peppers, and sriracha sauce in place of the regular chili sauce.  Once cooked, jalapenos and banana peppers become quite mild.  Even my spice-hating kid didn't complain.  So if you can find the serrano peppers, experiment with one or two in the dish, along with the jalapenos.  If you DO use the serrano peppers, you might want to try using a mild chili-garlic sauce in place of the sriracha sauce, just for balance.  Or not.  Your choice.

Of course JP told me how to make the dish, but JP's instructions were something like this "Toss the chicken in starch and turmeric.  Then you make the sauce with soy sauce, hot sauce, garlic, cut up chilis and onions"...  And that was about all I could retain of what she said.  So I had to Google a recipe that sounded like what she told me.  Because I'm like that.

This is what I found at a website called Curry and Comfort.  I soooo have to stalk that website a little more later.  Anyhow....a few paleo and taste bud tweaks, and I arrived here:

Serves 6 if served with cauli-rice
Takes about 1/2 hour

Ingredients:

(Sauce)
2 Tbs tomato paste
3 Tbs tomato sauce
2 Tbs sriracha sauce*
4 Tbs gluten-free tamari sauce**
2 tsp coconut sugar***
1 1/2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

(For chicken)
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken (I used thigh meat)
2 Tbs tapioca starch or arrowroot powder
1 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 spanish onion, sliced
2 jalapeno peppers
2 banana peppers
2 serrano peppers, optional
pinch hot pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger

Method:

First, mix chicken, tapioca starch and turmeric, then set aside.  Then, mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside.  Heat up a large non-stick frypan (I like ceramic pans for this kind of stuff) to med-high.  In cooking oil of choice (I used coconut oil), fry up your chicken until no longer pink and crispy bits begin to form.  Set aside.  While chicken is cooking, seed and chop your peppers, slice your onions, dig out and prep your onions and ginger.  Once the chicken is out of the pan, add onions and peppers in and saute.  When onion is almost done, add ginger and garlic, cook 1 minute more.  Then, reduce heat to medium and add your sauce and simmer for 1-2 minutes.  Then add chicken back in and heat through.  taste and add salt and pepper as necessary.

This is a dish you can throw in a casserole dish and set in the oven to keep warm until you make any side dish.  It stays warm well, it re-heats well.  I set mine aside in the oven at this point and made my Fried Cauliflower Rice, just omitted the pork (and broth cubes) and used it as a side dish.  Voila.  Try it.  I think you'll love it!

* you can use any asian-style chili sauce in this depending on your heat preferences and what you own
**you can use coconut aminos here, too
***you could soak two dates in boiling water, puree, and use them instead if you're avoiding all sugars

Chimi-what?? Roast Chicken with Chimichurri Sauce and Zesty Zucchini Salad--Recipes Reviewed

Chimichurri sauce.

It's just fun to say it.

Chimichurri sauce.

Have you tried it yet?  When I first read about it, the blogger insisted it went with EVERYTHING.

I know, I was doubtful, too.  And then I tried it.

And as the zingy fresh robust flavours filled my mouth...wow.  Yup.  That green goo will go with everything. You just have to try it.  I tired it slathered over simple baked chicken thighs, but I can see how this sauce will also go with grilled fish, or steak, or even eggs.  I'm amazed that it's not as well known as ketchup.  My spice-hating step-daughter called 'spicy without the heat'.  It just comes to life in your mouth.

So this recipe originally came from here at Zenbelly.  It makes a LOT of sauce, despite my picture.  Enough to cover about 8-10 chicken thighs.

Chimichurri Sauce

1 bunch fresh parsley, stems removed

1/4 c fresh oregano leaves
3/4 c olive oil (or more as needed)
2 gloves garlic
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 Tbs raw apple cider vinegar

Puree all in blender.  It won't fit in a magic bullet.

You can puree it smooth like Zenbelly did, or leave it a little thick like I did so it resembles pesto.

So...what goes with roasted meats slathered in crazy green sauce??

Well, this does.  With a little substitution, at least

Southern Zucchini Salad

Photo courtesy of  remcooks

4 medium green zucchini, chopped fine
1 yellow pepper, chopped fine
1/2 c onion, chopped
1/3 c olive oil
5-6 pickled jalapeno pepper rings, minced
2 tsp fresh garlic
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 c parmesan cheese (optional)
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

Mix, and let it sit for about half an hour to marinade flavours.

So there you go, something a little different, something that isn't just boring baked chicken and zucchini.

Are you following me on Pinterest yet?  You should check it out!  You'll see these recipes, and a kazillion other inspiring ideas on my boards......

Paleo Nachos with "Re-Fried Beans"

Is it just me or is the paleo-recipe world expanding at the speed of light?  I can't say enough how many awesome recipes and food ideas are out there nowadays--really smart ideas that make me wonder; why didn't I think of that?!

This is one of those things.

I did not think up this idea.  Any of these ideas.  I first saw it here.  And as soon as I saw it, I knew it would work--multiple ways.  So then I just went about the business of adapting the ideas I saw to work with what I had on-hand.

I used to think that nacho platters and re-friend beans were a thing of my past...

I mean, how can you replace nacho chips, right?

Rainbow peppers--sweet rainbow peppers.  That's right.  Because the chips are just a vessel to hold the chili, cheese, re-fried beans and guac.  Brilliant, right?  Yea, I'm not that brilliant.  But I know delicious when I taste it.

And yea, you did hear that right.  I said re-fried beans.  Only without beans.  Bean-less re-fried beans.  Sometimes you gotta throw all the food rules that you think you know right out the window.  Really, what is the dominant taste in re-fried beans? Certainly not the bean, again, that's just the vessel.  It's the right blend of seasoning and spice, and the stick-to-your-ribs creaminess.  Well, you can get that without the beans. Honest.  So lets start with re-fried beans.  I basically took 2 recipes and adapted it the way I wanted it (see them here and here)...

You will need:
1 small squash--butternut or delicata squash is best
1/2 onion
bacon grease for frying
1/2 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp juice from pickled jalapenos
a few pickled jalapeno rings, minced
a dash or two of cayenne
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 Tbs tomato paste

Cook your squash however you want--I cook mine in the microwave.  While that's cooking, whip out your magic bullet or food processor and finely mince your sun-dried tomatoes.  Chop your onions.  In the bacon grease, cook your onions and spices in the bacon grease until they begin to turn translucent.  Add dried tomatoes, tomato paste, jalapenos and juice and cook for another minute or two.  Transfer cooked squash and cooked onion and spice mixture to food processor or magic bullet and blend until smooth.  Chill--this will thicken in the fridge.

That's 7 small rainbow-coloured sweet peppers

Alright, now let's talk nachos.  Yes, you totally need a whole lot of rainbow peppers (about 6-7 for a cookie sheet, so do this when they're on sale, ok?).  And some leftover chili.  But in my house there's no such thing as leftover chili.  It just never happens.  Let me tell you a little secret--taco meat.  It makes totally fine nachos (and this recipe has the best blend of spices to taste just like that spice packet we're all used in the past....). To a pound (or 1 1/2 lbs) of ground beef, add spices, cook until no longer pink, then add 1/2 cup water and let simmer for a few minutes.  It will sauce up just like those spice packets do.  What, you want your taco meat a little more...chili-like?  How about adding a couple of tablespoons tomato paste and an equal part water at the tail end?  You're welcome.  It's really that easy.

Took 2 hands to get this beast in the oven...

Ok, so you made your re-fried beans, you made your taco meat.  You chopped peppers until your wrist hurt (I'm kidding--it takes about 5 minutes...).  Layer the nacho peppers on a cookie sheet with the meat mixture, then with grated cheese (if you do dairy) and green onions, and bake at 425 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.  Enjoy with guac, salsa, and plain full-fat yogurt.

And voila.  That's the re-fried beans up front.  I pigged out.  There's was Frank's Hot Sauce involved.

Chicken Divan

Do you remember, pre-paleo, that chicken and rice and broccoli and cheese casserole that called for a can of mushroom soup?

I do.

Don't you miss canned mushroom soup?  I do.

It was the canned mushroom soup that was the most troubling to replace, in my opinion.  I'm dreaming of a paleo-ified version of mushroom soup that can be made ahead of time, and frozen, so my teen can heat-and-serve it when she wants it.  I'm almost there.  Almost.  The "freezer-friendly" is the part that's holding me up.

But meantime, do you know how to make a paleo-ified cream of mushroom soup?  At least a primal one? Boil regular mushrooms-and a few chopped dried mushrooms- in good beef broth for about 15 minutes, then add a bit of whole fat cream mixed with a bit of tapioca starch into it to thicken it at the end.  Seriously. That easy.  Who'da thunk it?

But as for paleo-ifying the casserole dish?  Nailed it.  One big happy comfort-food-fed family the night I made this.  And not too complex, either.

A couple of notes on this recipe--the dried mushrooms really intensify the mushroom-soup flavour.  I think they're critical to the recipe so don't skip this step.  As for the broth--home made beef bone broth makes the most authentic-tasting mushroom soup flavour, but who puts beef broth with chicken?  Apparently I do, but I understand if you want to use chicken broth here in this recipe.  If you do, you may want to add garlic powder and onion powder to the soup while you're simmering it for extra flavouring, and increase the dried mushroom amount a bit.

Feeds 5-6

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
1 lb chicken breast or thighs, de-boned and de-skinned
2 bunches broccoli--I like to peel and use the stems, too
1/2 pkg mushrooms, chopped fine
2-3 dried mushrooms, any flavour you like
1 c broth, any flavour (but beef is best)
1 c cheddar cheese, divided, optional
1 Tbs tapioca starch or arrowroot flour
1 Tbs butter, for onions
approx 1/4 - 1/3 c whipping cream or coconut milk
1 tsp butter and 1/4 c almond flour/meal for topping (optional)

Method:

Ok, prep everything--chop onion, mushrooms, broccoli and chicken.  Grate cheese, if using.  Grind your dried mushrooms with a food processor/coffee grinder/spice grinder, or chop finely if you don't own any of these.  Pull out a frypan and heat it on medium.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Butter a large casserole dish--or make things REALLY simple and use an oven-proof skillet.

Saute your onions in butter until they begin to turn translucent.  Add chicken, mushrooms, dried mushrooms and broth, cover and poach over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink--about 15 minutes to let mushrooms develop flavour.  While chicken is poaching, dissolve tapioca in about 1/4 c cream.  Add slowly to simmering chicken, stirring constantly as it thickens.  Add more cream if more liquid is needed, you want it to be about the thickness of cream soup.  Turn off the burner and add in half of your cheese.

Meanwhile, either microwave or steam your broccoli until just al-dente.  For mine, this meant 6 minutes in a microwave with a splash of water.  In a small bowl, mash together remaining butter, almond meal and cheddar.

Stir the cooked broccoli into the chicken mixture, then move it all into the buttered casserole dish.  Crumble your almond meal mixture over top.  Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes until bubbling through and golden ontop.

Creamy Dark Chocolate Fudge

As a kid, my grandma made fudge.  Now, maybe she wasn't Molly Homemaker--she made the kind that uses a can of sweetened condensed milk, a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, a splash of vanilla, and voila, awesomeness happened.

So, forgive me for this, but THAT is what I think homemade fudge should taste like.  I've tried a bunch of the paleo fudge recipes that are out there, and they rely on coconut oil as the base, or thickener, which, excuse me, does not make anything resembling what I remember fudge tasting like.  It makes for healthy snacking food, and is certainly a healthier choice than this recipe, but THAT AIN'T FUDGE!  

Note:  This recipe can be fed to non-paleo peeps who will never know that you made something healthier than traditional fudge.  And once you've made this version of sweetened condensed coconut milk, just imagine the possibilities that will follow......

Of course, the real issue was the sweetened, condensed milk.  Have you read about the Pottenger's Cats Study? Avoid that crap like it's the plague incarnate.  Seriously.  But google/pinterest search condensed coconut milk, and you'll see--the answer is OUT THERE!

So...  Replacing the sweetened condensed milk was the main change here, and just because we paleo-types like us some dark chocolate, I made this fudge into an 85% Dark Fudge.  You are welcome.

So here's what you do:  First make your own

Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

You will need
1 can full-fat coconut milk
1/4 c honey

Over high heat (I used the highest heat setting below MAX), combine coconut milk and honey, bring to a boil while stirring constantly and continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes.  You will see it begin to turn slightly light yellow and thicken.  The key is to keep stirring the whole time.

Now, while the condensed milk is still warm, even, you can move onto the fudge.

Creamy Dark Chocolate Fudge

You will need
approx 300g chocolate--I used 4 squares of unsweetened chocolate and 5 squares of semi-sweet chocolate
sweetened condensed coconut milk (recipe above)
1 tsp vanilla

Alright, so remove your condensed milk from the element and turn it down to medium-low, allowing the element to cool.  Take out an 8x8 dish and line it with waxed paper, making sure the paper comes up over the edges.  Measure out/weigh out your chocolate.

Put your pot of condensed milk back on the element and add your chocolate.  Stir constantly until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat, add vanilla, then immediately pour into prepared dish.  Smooth out and chill in fridge for 1 hour.  After the hour, remove the fudge from the pan and cut it up and move it into a storage container.  Keep this fudge in the fridge.  It should keep for up to 2 weeks, though we'd eaten all of ours within the first week.  (I'd cut mine into 1/2" cubes and only allowed us all to have 2-3 cubes after dinner each day....)

Try this with:

• added peppermint extract
• a but of sunbutter melted, then marbled through after pouring into the dish
• a bit of coconut butter melted, then marbled through after pouring into the dish
• toppings!  Go ahead, I challenge you to find organic honey-sweetened candy canes to crumble ontop!  They exist!

And remember, folks, this ain't health food, it's just healthier than the original non-paleo-ified versions.  

BBQ Chicken Enchiladas

I am in love with Mexican food.  Really, truly, deeply in love with it.  I clip and save recipes for Mexican foods that I can in no way ever eat--not just a few recipes, but rather, hordes of them.

And every now and then, I am tempted to convert them into a more paleo-appropriate version because very few of the Mexican foods I crave are in any way appropriate to eat.

This is just one attempt.  And yes, it IS delicious.  Or WAS delicious, because we ate it all up.

Now, you can make any kind of paleo-ified tortilla you want.  I've tried them all--thin omelettes, plantain tortillas, cauli-bread tortillas--but by far, the tortilla that Orleatha Smith at LvlHealth.com makes are THE BEST.  Her tortillas are one of the absolute best paleo-converted foods I've eaten to date--and one that helps me to stay away from corn and grains when these Mexican cravings hit.  The recipe I've linked to makes 4 tortillas--so I had to triple it.  If you've never made a tortilla from scratch before, and do not own a tortilla maker (I don't)--divide the dough into 4 balls and cover them with saran wrap to keep moist until you roll them.  Roll them between 2 pieces of parchment paper--remember to always work from the middle of the dough outward, just like pastry.  Loosen the top piece of paper, putting the top piece back on, flip and loosen the bottom paper, so that when you flip the whole thing into the frypan, it comes free without tearing apart.  There's a knack to it that you'll get quickly, trust me.  Fry them up and set them aside until it's time to assemble this dish.  If you're smart, you'll prep these on a Sunday and slide them into a ziplock bag and keep em in the fridge until you're ready for them.  If you're not inclined to make this recipe tripled, you could easily make one batch of the tortillas, dividing the dough into only 3 balls (making 3 larger tortillas) and bake up a bbq chicken enchilada pie, like my original Beef Enchilada Pie here, or you could double the tortilla recipe and make a bbq chicken lasagna casserole.  No one will judge you.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe I saw in Kraft, here.  They do take such nice pictures, don't they?

The recipe took me about 1 1/2 hours total.  That includes de-boning the chicken (and making me some cracklin's with the skin), making quick tomato sauce and bbq sauce, and tortilla-making time.  If you're tortillas are already assembled, it takes about 40 minutes.

Serves 5-6.

Here's what I did...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c tomato sauce (see cheat #1, below)
1/2 c bbq sauce (see quick recipe cheat #2, below)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken
2 green peppers
1 onion
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
12 paleo tortillas (here)
1 cup cheddar cheese, optional

plain yogurt, salsa, and guacamole for garnish

Method:

First, make your sauces (instructions below).  Debone and chop your chicken.   Chop your onion and green peppers.  Heat your large skillet to med-high and saute the onions in a bit of fat.  When the onions are translucent, add your chicken, spices, and both the sauces.  Turn the heat to medium and cover, poaching the chicken for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.  Stir in peppers and half the cheese, then set aside.

While your chicken is poaching, heat up a non-stick skillet (preferably ceramic) and cook up your tortillas, rolling the next one as the first one is cooking.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Pull out your lasagna dish.  Spoon a bit of the sauce from your chicken enchiladas into the bottom of the dish and spread it around.  Just a bit.  Now, ladle about one heaping spoonful into each tortilla, roll, and place seam-side down in the casserole dish, pushing them tight against each other as you go along.  If you have extra meat and filling when you're done assembling, spoon it around the tortillas.  Spoon any excess sauce overtop of the tortillas and spread it around.  Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in oven 15 minutes until heated through.

Serve with garnishes!

Cheat #1:  Don't have tomato sauce in your cupboard or tomatoes in your freezer?   Take 1 5-oz can of tomato paste, add 1 1/2 cans water, a couple of shakes garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano.  It will seem watery, but as you cook it, it will thicken quickly.

Cheat #2:  Easiest bbq sauce ever!  I saw this recipe on Practical Paleo, here, and can't get over how easy and tasty it is!  I basically took 1 can tomato paste and added an almost equal amount of balsamic vinegar to it, a few shakes garlic powder, onion powder, and chipotle powder, and threw it in the fridge (where it will thicken up quite a bit).  It makes roughly a cup worth, so you'll have some leftover to experiment with after this recipe.

Ham & Cheese Soup

See that bread?  Link at end of this post...

I seem to be on a real soup faze lately.   Just like how in the summer I could eat salad-with-meat for all 60 days of summer, and when it starts to get cold, I could eat pumpkin in every single meal and beverage for 60 days straight, I have now slid over into soup season.

Yea, I say there's a soup season.  It comes after pumpkin season and it may stick around for a while because around here winter can last from November to April.

So it is that I have an entire Pinterest Board dedicated to soups.  Not just MY soups, of course, but all kinds of hearty, filling paleo/primal friendly stick-to-your-ribs soups.  And if that isn't alone enough to satisfy you, I also have several paleo biscuit recipes throughout the boards.

This soup idea came after I'd boiled down a ham bone into a crazy-thickly jelled broth, then asked my helpful husband (cough, cough) to pour it into ice cube trays to freeze.  He did that, and when he ran out of ice cube trays, he poured a whopping 3-4 cups into a giant tupperware container and froze that, too.   What the heck does one do with such a large container of ham broth?  I mean, the ham cubes make great flavour-boosters, but several cups of it?  Ham soup, I say!

Now, typical ham and cheese soup is full of potatoes--and I'm not totally against potatoes, and you can totally use potatoes, but it just so happened that I had a bag full of sunchokes in my fridge (ever tried sunchokes?  See my note after the recipe).  I'm still using up all the odds and ends that came in my final CSA boxes.  I think I have enough radishes and beets to last an entire year now...

The creamy part of this cheese soup is a simple roux that gets thinned back down, it's so easy-peasy and yes, I DID use real cheese.  Not a lot.  But no milk or cream (you could totally use cream if you wanted to).  And you could probably get away with chicken stock if you needed to, too (but you'd have to add seasonings because it has a lot less flavour than ham broth)--but I wanted to use up some of my ham broth (which is the tastiest, I must insist) and leftover ham.  Because soup is all about using up leftovers, and basically making something from nothing.

Do not skip the roux.  Do not just add tapioca to the coconut milk to thicken this soup.  Browning the butter first makes a HUGE taste difference.  You CAN, however, skip the cheese and still have a pretty nice soup, just saying, but real cheese totally makes it awesome.  Imagine Swiss, or Gruyere cheese, even.

Alright, so here goes...

Ingredients:

2 cups ham broth
2 cups water
1 cup leftover ham, chopped
1/2 leek, rinsed and chopped -white part only- (or 1 medium onion)
2 stalks celery, chopped
3-4 sunchokes (peeled and cubed) or 1 medium potato
3 Tbs butter, divided
1/2 can full fat coconut milk (or full-fat real cream)
1 Tbs tapioca starch
1/2 c grated cheddar cheese, or cheese of choice

Method:

First, pull out a heavy-bottomed soup pot or dutch oven.  Heat to medium.  While it's heating, chop your leek, celery and ham, and peel and chop your sunchokes.  In pot, melt 1 Tbs butter and saute leek and celery until tender and leek is growing translucent.  Add your broth, water and sunchokes and bring to a boil.  Let it simmer until sunchokes are tender.

While that's simmering, make your roux--Heat a frypan over medium heat and add butter.  (Measure out coconut milk, cheese and tapioca, have it ready since this part goes fast) Let the butter sit in the pan, stirring occasionally, until it just barely begins to turn amber-brown.  Then, stirring constantly, sprinkle your tapioca starch in, and keep it moving in the pan.  It will immediately begin to thicken.  Be ready to thin i back down with the coconut milk, still stirring.  It will thicken A LOT.  You may want to remove it from heat halfway through to slow it down while you keep mixing it.  Remove from heat if you haven't already, and stir in your cheese.

When sunchokes are tender, stir in your ham and cheese sauce.  Don't worry, as you stir it will mix in and become thick and smooth.  Do not boil at this point.

Voila!

Honestly, ham broth is so flavourful (and often salty) that I didn't need any spices whatsoever.  It was perfect.  I kid you not.

**So, what are sunchokes AKA Jerusalem Artichokes?...  They are not even related to artichokes.  The somewhat ginger-root-like knobby beige tubers, sometimes with a slightly pink tinge, have stark white flesh inside.  They are very low in starch, almost flavourless, and incredibly versatile.  Sunchokes can be eaten raw, something like jiicama--but where they really excel is boiled and mashed as a potato replacement--or at least, as an addition to potato to reduce the amount of starch.  Because sunchokes are VERY high in inulin--that "pre" biotic that they put in yogurt these days (and pretty much everything else) this high-fiber food can cause some (ahem) gas and bloating when your body isn't used to it.   Introduce it slowly to your diet (this soup is a relatively small amount).

Sunchokes can be grown right here in Ontario--and in fact, all over North America, even though most of us have never heard of them before.  They are not only rich in inulin, but also iron, potassium, phosphorus and vitamin C.  So don't be afraid of them.  I think you'll learn to love them.

And the bread?  That's a paleo sweet potato bread from Wholefood Simply.  She's got some great stuff on her site, so check her out!

Pumpkin Cake with Real Cream Cheese Icing

It's been a while, huh?

Yea, I know.  Summer came, and with it, a desire to be no where near my kitchen, so we totally ate as simply as we could.  Fast and easy, and frequently, only tried-and-true recipes.  I had no desire to create my own recipes--there are so, so many great paleo-friendly recipes out there these days!

But it was inevitable.  Seasons change, and so returned the desire to once again taste all the familiar comfort foods of my pre-paleo days, which means I've started to paleo-ify up recipes again.

Hey, it's Pumpkin Season!  Yes, that's a bona-fide season!  I swear!  Seriously, Google pumpkin recipes and you'll see--us pumpkin lovers cook with the stuff all season long.  Pumpkin goes with EVERYTHING!

Thanksgiving is almost here.  At least, for those of us in Canada, it is.  And in my family, everyone brings food to Thanksgiving dinner, almost pot-luck-style.  Whoever hosts it makes the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, squash, and sometimes even a pumpkin pie.  When we host it, that pumpkin pie is totally paleo, but we're not hosting it this time.  And it would be rude to bring an identical food item that is paleo-ified to compete with the host's food.  So...what is there left to bring?  Oh, sure, a green veg of some sort.  Or maybe a  sweet potato casserole (because I hate plain mashed squash--weird, right?  Totally contradicts my love of pumpkin....)

I make an awesome gingerbread cake, sure, and everyone loves it--but some variety is nice, you know?

So with pumpkin season here, I've been fantasizing about converting this old recipe clipping I have.  I think it came as a hand-out with my Good Food Box more than a decade ago.  It had a recipe for a microwave-cooked pumpkin cake that was just awesome.  I know, I know, microwave, right?  I do still use my microwave, and it's not likely I will stop anytime soon, so to those of you who feel that microwaves are unsafe, go ahead an bake this in the oven.  Don't ask me how, because I'm cooking mine in the microwave since it makes the cake soft and fluffy--maybe I'll try to bake it in the oven soon (probably at 350 degrees for 30 minutes would do just fine), but first I'm gonna try the microwave.  Life is hard enough already with all this eating grain-free, legume-free, processed-food-free, and refined-sugar-free. Sorry, but it's true.  A little dose of reality.  This is where I choose to draw the line.  My microwave is my friend.  Until I read enough to definitively say otherwise--because the info out there right now is completely contradictory so I'm not going to sweat it until then.

So, back to the cake!

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:

1 c pumpkin puree, either your own or canned pure pumpkin
1/4 c coconut flour
1/3 c coconut sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c melted butter or coconut oil
pinch salt
handfull raisins, optional

Method:

Mix all ingredients except raisins with standing mixer or hand-held electric mixer, making sure to break up all the coconut flour (that stuff doesn't dissolve easy in recipes).  Stir in raisins.  Spread in greased glass, microwave-safe 8x8 casserole pan (I greased with coconut oil).  Place a microwave-safe saucer or small plate upside-down in the microwave.  Place pan with batter ontop of saucer.  Microwave at 50% power for 8 minutes.  (If you don't have a turn-plate, turn it now), and return for another 5 minutes, again at 50% power.  You may need to cook it a bit longer--at 3 minute intervals--as microwaves vary.  I ended up baking mine for 20 minutes at half power, checking on it frequently.  It will still look a bit wet in the middle, but will be pulling away on the sides by now and will look cooked through if you look at the underside of the pan.  Let it cool completely.

This cake is nice as-is, (and my teen and my husband would gladly eat it plain) but I love a great cream-cheese icing with pumpkin.  Either way, remember that this is treat food, even if it is paleo-ified.

Simple Cream Cheese Icing:

4 oz (1/2 pkg) cream cheese
2 Tbs coconut milk
2 Tbs coconut sugar, to taste
dash vanilla

Whip cream cheese until fluffy, add all else, mix until combined.  Try not to eat it off the eggbeaters.


So let me finish with a small note on organic coconut sugar--I always try to add as little of any sweetener as I can when I create/alter any recipe.  Coconut sugar is, in my humble opinion, one of the best sweeteners out there to use.  Did you know that it causes only half the insulin response as white sugar, honey, or maple syrup?  And with an intensely sweet and caramel-like taste, I find you never need much.  Give it a try, if you haven't already.  It is becoming popular enough to find just about anywhere--you can even buy it at Costco (which is the best price I've found so far)

Let me know what you think!

Things I Do On My Stay-cation...

Last year I spent a week digging a hole.  Seriously.

So here's the newest project that I worked on finished.


I spent my stay-cation laying stonework on the front walkway and finished that seating area that I started last summer when I moved the entire garden and dug a huge hole in my front yard...  which I had started and then just kinda left that way for a year.  Yea, that project.  Finished it.

Nothing cooler than chairs on bricks in a hole...

I know, I know--a big hole in my front yard. For. a. year.  I am SUCH a great neighbor to have in the suburbs with all the perfect Stratford Wives-esque yards.  But don't worry, we put the furniture up on bricks in the hole, so from the street, it looked right.  For. a. year.

Lol, I know what you're thinking.

So anyhow, this blog isn't really about food today--so my talk about food will be brief(ish).

It's summertime here, and even though we've had the most insanely wet and rainy summer ever known, I still want a lot of free time to be outside enjoying the short hot season we get around here.  I want to be in the garden, or in the pool, or hiking in the woods and not tied to my kitchen home-making mayonnaise and almond flour from scratch and two-bite raw paleo brownies (though I would enjoy eating one...)  So I've been cooking very simple lately.  There haven't been any exciting recipes to post.

It's no secret that I have been getting a vegetable CSA box delivered to my front door every week (thank you Zephyr Organics), which I am absolutely loving it.  Because they only give you what is in-season at that moment, so far my CSA box at first had a lot of tender greens, but now we're getting into the more robust greens (kale, chard, turnip and mustard greens).  I expect as the season goes on, those greens will slowly be replaced with the orange vegetable kingdom and all kinds of root vegetables.  Ever since the boxes started arriving, my meals have been entirely planned around using up those veggies before the next box arrives.  It has been a game of extreme veggie gluttony to get through it all, and I've been loving it (has all that excess eating caused me to gain weight?  Hell no.  Green veggies will never do that no matter how many you eat--take THAT, my keto-friends!!).

So right now my fridge is bursting with fennel, zucchini, cauliflower, turnip greens, 2 pks snow peas, garlic scapes, parsley, swiss chard, purple kale, spinach, romaine, a regular leaf lettuce, and a package of radishes.  I have been drinking a ridiculous amount of green smoothies lately to get through all those leafy things. Every recipe is geared to using up more of those leafy green veggies.  At some point in the next few days, this will end up on my family's plates so that I might see the back of my fridge for an hour or two before the next CSA box arrives.  Ah, the problems I have....

Before:  Rotting wood and sagging stairs

So onto today's topic:  The walkway.  What was wrong with the old walkway?  Well, for starters there was no where to sit out front under all of our shady trees.  But more importantly, whoever did the original walkway decided to use pressure-treated 4x4 wooden posts, bolted to the original concrete stoop, to hold the stairs up.  Not a great long-term solution.  Wood rots, and stairs sag and slope.  The walkway was narrow, the step was narrow, and the stoop was so small that you couldn't swing the screen door open while more than one person was standing on the stoop.

It's funny what you find when you rip something apart.  Although it looked like it had been done professionally enough, upon ripping it apart I found all kinds of scraps of not-pressure-treated 2x4's that they'd shoved into small spaces here, there, and everywhere, to full holes where they'd mis-cut the wood.  C'mon people, pressure treated wood is the cheapest stuff you can put outside--scraps of leftover garbage pieces of 2x4 are JUST NOT APPROPRIATE!  Anyhooo...

Before--with some wood scraps.  They were everywhere. 

Ever laid stonework?  Whew, THAT was an entire week of heavy lifting.  (WOD, thy name be reno project!)  It poured rain all week, and I worked through most of it (and it was hot and humid the whole time--hello crazy hair).  That meant that the ka-jillions of buckets I hauled from driveway to walkway--in 20L metal pails--were full of not just limestone chips, but WET limestone chips, and when I was done with those, then there were buckets of soaking wet sand.  Followed by a thousand trips up and down the driveway for the actual cobblestones; 2, 3, 4 at a time, until my hands refused to hold them in a grip anymore.  And then some more sand.  This was a project we thought would take us about 4 days, but it took us 9 days and I didn't get any downtime whatsoever on my holiday, and returned to work needing a holiday from my holiday.  But it does look rather fabulous now, right?


So, some notes about this project...  We replaced the pressure-treated 4x4 framing around the garden and framing the whole thing--but chose to go with wood again because of the  cost.  The stones cost us about $1300, and that was enough money already.  I didn't want to go over $4/sq ft.  I'd found ugly stones at the Home Depot, that I was prepared to settle on,  but a trip to the local landscape supplier for limestone  and sand turned up a hundred stone choices that were a hundred times better quality for the same price.  The cobbles cost us $4.13/sq ft.  So there, always check out the local landscape supplier first.

For the new stairs, I ended up picking very large stacking stones (designed for building a stone wall), and matching giant capstones.  We laid cobbles under the stone wall so we could glue the stones into place, and back-fill them limestone.  They would have been fine dry-stacked, but we didn't want any shifting.  Ever.  So it's all glued down around the steps.  The whole walkway was sloped away from the house, both for drainage and to meet the driveway smoothly.  The seating area is sloped too, but less so.

Maybe next year's stay-cation will involve finally building that walkway from my new patio to the side gate.  You know, that place on your property where the grass never, ever grows anyways.  And maybe I'll add some more gardens, because no on can ever have enough gardens.  You know, my ex-husband used to always say that it was like living in the Brazilian Rainforest (his words, not mine) where every year, so many square feet of lawn disappear.  I think that my current (and final for-keeps) husband might agree.  I hate grass.  I tolerate it only because I believe it is a necessary evil of living in the suburbs, and to completely get rid of it would make me THAT house on the block.  Lawn-less yards can either go really well or really bad.  I don't want to be THAT house that went really bad that people whisper about and despise.  There are certain RULES to living in the burbs....


The worst irony about the reno project was that we received too much limestone and sand, and so even after finishing hauling all of that stuff, I still have to haul more to be able to park in my driveway again.  I've been filling new rubbermaid garbage bins and placing them around the side of the house--well, ok, I placed the bins, then hauled stone and sand by bucket-loads to those bins--and only stopped because I ran out of bins and places to put those bins.  Another paycheque later, and some more bins, and off I go again.  Its beginning to feel like it isn't ever going to end, but it will, and then I'll have a few minutes to turn to my gardens where I can dig some things up and move things around and generally get dirty because that's what I do best, and maybe, just maybe, if I can still stand up and walk, I might waddle around back to the pool for some sun, some reading, and some general floating around in circles--and there might even be a can of beer in my hand.  Or Perry.  Whatever the beer fairy brings me.

So if you need me, I'll be outside.

Come for a swim.

See you there.

Clam Chowder

Photo courtesy of thewellseasonedcook.blogspot.ca--sorry, loaned my camera to one of my teens...

I thought I hated clam chowder when I was younger.  Of course, I had only ever tasted the canned versions which were sweet and full of corn and red pepper chunks.  Ewww.

So of course, more than a decade ago now, when visiting a friend over a lunch hour and she offered me clam chowder I said "no thank-you" as politely as possible.  But she looked me square in the eye and called me out on it, saying, "That's because you've only ever had the canned soup kind of chowder.  That stuff is pure crap.  Try this,"  And I did, because she was my friend and I was a guest and all that, and....she was right.  Her chowder was creamy but not sweet, smooth and silky and did not have a hint of corn in it.  The secret, she swore, was bacon.  Yup.  She said that it helped to mask the texture of the clams, for those who weren't used to it's slight...chewiness.  I was sold.  And, she added, don't add the actual clams until the very end, or you'll get a lot more chewiness than you can handle.  Fair enough.  Don't need to tell me twice on that one.

It took me a while to wrap my head around how I was going to make this one a little more healthy--that chowder I'd fallen in love with (and had converted the rest of my clam-chowder-hating family into loving) had both white potatoes and navy beans.  Let's just say there were some disappointing early attempts.

But the other day, when my CSA veggie box arrived with Jerusalem Artichokes, I finally had an idea...  This was going to work out after all.  And it did.  It was awesome.  (The box also included parsnips and fresh sage, so into this recipe they went...)

Ever cooked with Jerusalem Artichokes/sunchokes?  Me neither.  Never even seen them before this.  That's one of the things I love about getting a food box--you get things you have never cooked with, and you have to Google them just to know what you can do with them.

So I learned that sunchokes are related to sunflowers, that they are tubers (like potatoes are), that they can be eaten raw or cooked, peeled or unpeeled, that they are slightly sweet, mild-tasting, and waaay less starchy than potatoes.  They can be boiled and mashed, made into french fries, roasted, shredded and served in coleslaw or over salads.  But more importantly--they are full of the prebiotic inulin.  In plain English, that means that they can cause a bit of extra gas.  Yup.  So at first, a little can go a long way.  That is why I used a blend of sunchokes and cauliflower for the base of this soup.  If it weren't for that gassy side-effect, I'd say they were a perfect substitute for white potato for the starchy-carb-adverse population out there.  Don't let that one thing put you off trying them, though.  They are tasty little gnarly things.  And this is pretty awesome chowder.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped small
3-4 slices bacon
3 c chicken broth
1/2 c parsnips or carrots, chopped into coins
1/2 c onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cans baby clams
1 tsp ground celery seed
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs fresh sage (or 1 tsp dried)
1 c full-fat cream (can substitute coconut milk, but will effect flavour a bit)

Method:

First, chop all your veggies.  Open your can of clams.  Saute bacon until crispy.  Chop bacon into bits.

While bacon is frying, pull out your dutch oven or large heavy-bottom pot and heat it up over medium heat.  In fat of choice (I used butter), saute onions, parsnips, and celery.  When onion is translucent, transfer veggies to a plate and set aside.

Add broth and juice only from canned clams.  Add celery seed, garlic powder, and sage IF using dried sage.  Add sunchokes and cauliflower and bring to boil.  Simmer over medium heat until cauliflower and sunchokes are tender.

Use either an immersion blender to puree, or move carefully to a food processor and puree until smooth.  Return to pot, reduce heat to med-low.  Add sauteed veggies back into the pot now, add canned clams, bacon, fresh sage and cream.  Stirring frequently, heat through but do not let it come to a boil.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fermented Hot Honey Dills

I know, I know--crazy, right?  Hot and sweet.  In this case--hot peppers and honey.  Yes, they ARE fabulous together.  Especially with dill.  If you don't believe me, try it yourself.

My son keeps eating my pickles.  He doesn't know what I mean when I say "fermented".  All he knows is that they're home made, and more than a little bit spicy.  Which is good enough for me--as soon as I start to talk to my teens about beneficial bacteria and healthy gut flora, they get all grossed-out and think I've finally gone off the deep end into crazy-town.  So we'll keep that little secret to ourselves, ok?

Now, these pickles started out only a little bit spicy.  The taste is a little kick of heat at the tail end.  You could double the hot peppers in this--but be careful--the fermenting really brings out the heat in peppers, and the longer they sit in the  fridge after the initial fermentation  the hotter they become.  You might want to also increase the honey, to keep the flavour balanced.  Or not.  Up to you.

Making fermented pickles is one of the easiest things you can try to ferment.  An old pickle jar, some sea salt, a handful of spices and some cucumbers, and you're good-to-go.  It really is that easy.  I find that kosher pickles and these kinds of fermented pickles are never even close to as crunchy as, say, Bicks Pickles--you can  get SOME crunch in these pickles, but to get that store-bought pickle crunch, you'd need to add a chemical storm of ingredients, so this is the trade-off.  To get the fermented pickles as crunchy as possible, use the freshest cucumbers that you can find, slice off the blossom end of the pickle, soak in ice-water, and pickle them whole.  I don't mind my pickles just a tiny bit soft, so I sliced mine lengthwise before fermenting them.

So, for this recipe I used hot peppers that I'd already fermented several months ago.  I fermented them and then didn't have a clue what to do with them.  I meant to make sriracha sauce with them, eventually, but I didn't.  You don't have to use fermented peppers--any hot peppers  will do.  Using foods like the raw honey and fermented peppers in your pickle ferment will help act as a "starter", getting your pickles going faster, but even if you use regular peppers and regular honey, fermentation will still happen, so don't sweat it.  Pickles are pretty simple that way.  Just be patient and don't forget to taste them along the way.

Ingredients:

(for a 2L jar)

2 pkg pickling cucumbers
4 cups (1L) filtered water
3 Tbs fine sea salt
2 Tbs raw, unpasteurized honey
1 Tbs pickling spice
1/2 Tbs dried dill
3 hot peppers (I used fermented ones, but that's optional)
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar + extra for after fermentation (optional)
cabbage leaf or weight to hold down

Method:

Soak cucumbers in ice water for at least an hour.  This helps keep them crunchy after pickling.

Dissolve salt in filtered water.  Cut off both ends of cucumbers.  Slice lengthwise (or leave whole--up to you).  Add spices, hot peppers, honey, and vinegar to jar.  Arrange cucumbers in jar, packing tightly.  Pour water solution over top, making sure it covers everything.  Use cabbage leaf (or weight) to pin everything down under the saltwater solution.

Let sit on counter for 1 - 4 weeks to allow to ferment, tasting after about 5 days, until it reaches desired level of sour for your tastes.  Keep an eye out for mould.   If you are using fermented peppers, and raw honey, fermenting may go faster.  Mine only needed 6 days to reach the desired level of hot and sour that I like.

The longer they sit, the cloudier the water will turn.  They will become more sour, and more soft, the longer you let them sit.  I personally add a bit more vinegar--maybe 2 Tbs, after they're done fermenting and leave them in the fridge for 24 hours before eating.  It just adds a touch of that vinegary taste that I'm accustomed to with pickles.  They will still continue to develop flavour (spiciness and sourness) even after being moved into the fridge.

Refrigerate when done.  They should last 6 months to a year once they're in the fridge.