Calorie Cycling

Check this out:http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Paleo Mom's Chewy Granola Bars

Here's a great recipe for granola bars, which I would definitely make again.  They need to be kept cold, or they tend to get crumbly, but they are packed full of protein: http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/01/recipe-paleo-and-vegan-chewy-granola.html
Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups Sliced Almonds
• 2 cups finely Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
• 1/3 cup Raw Sunflower Seeds
• 1/3 cup Raw Pepitas (Shelled Pumpkin Seeds)
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sesame Seeds
• ½ cup Blanched Almond Flour
• 1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
• ¼ cup unsweetened, natural Almond Butter
• ¼ cup Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• ¾ tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal
• 1½ Tbsp water
• ¾ cup Mini Chocolate Chips or your favorite chopped dried fruit (optional)

1.    Preheat oven to 325F.  Grease a 9”x13” baking pan with coconut oil.
2.    Mix ground flax seed with water and let sit for 3-4 minutes.
3.    Pulse pepitas in a food processor a couple of times to break up to the size of sunflower seeds.
4.    Add coconut oil, almond butter, honey and vanilla to flax goop and mix well.
5.    Add almond flour and baking soda and stir to combine.
6.    Add slivered almonds, shredded coconut, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and chocolate chips or dried fruit.  Stir to combine.
7.    Spoon batter into prepared baking pan.  Spread out and flatten well with your hand or the back of a spatula.
8.    Bake for 22-23 minutes, until golden brown.  They will puff up slightly while baking, so immediately after removing from the oven, flatten the bars with the back of a spatula (or something else heat resistant and flat).
9.    Let cool completely in pan before cutting into bars (I actually like to refrigerate before cutting).  Cut into bars (I usually get 18-20) and wrap individual bars in plastic wrap for easy travel (optional).  I prefer to store these in the refrigerator.

Paleo sites

Cruising Facebook I found this page of links to some familiar and some new and international sites: http://www.paleofeest.com/paleo-sites.html.

I don't really bake that often but...

I'm so intrigued by all the yummy recipes I've discovered and the smell of these cinnamon bun muffins baking is enough to take me back to my childhood days, when Mom would make double or even triple batches of cinnamon rolls, enough for everyone and the neighbors.  Of course, she used butter, white flour, white sugar - but lots of cinnamon.  This is the best I've found to satisfy my cinnamon roll longing:  Elana's pantry's cinnamon bun muffins.

The trick is the glob of cinnamon, honey and oil on top

Yum

Gluten Free Molasses Spice Cookies

I'm making a double batch of these molasses spice cookies so I can share some with my 3 year old neighbor, Eli, who is an excellent taste tester.  These he particularly loved and had asked for extras to take home to his parents.

Molasses Spice Cookies

1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup melted coconut oil
¼ cup molasses

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
Mix wet ingredients into dry
Roll into 3/4" balls then roll in sugar
Place on lined baking sheet and gently press

Bake at 350° for 8-12 minutes

Spiralized vegetables?

This is genius!  I've never heard of such a concept, but it sounds like a kitchen gadget that would be fun to use.  Using this spiral vegetable slicer, you make noodles out of just about any vegetable (zucchini, bell pepper, sweet potato - use your imagination) and use them in place of pasta.  This website is very informative and dedicated to spiralized recipes:
http://www.inspiralized.com/about

Another concept is to pulse the spiralized vegetables in a food processor to the size of rice: http://www.inspiralized.com.

What a great way to try some new recipes and get more vegetables into the day!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with coconut oil

In an effort to incorporate more coconut oil into our food,  I thought I'd experiment with the chocolate chip cookie recipe and change the ingredients.  Instead of grape seed oil, I used coconut oil (melted). Instead of agave or honey, I used some maple syrup and xylitol.  I added some protein powder to boost the protein content.

2 1/2 c Honeyville blanched almond flour
1 scoop pea protein powder, unflavored
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 c melted coconut oil
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c xylitol
1 c dark chocolate pieces
1/3 walnuts

Mix the dry, then mix the wet separately, then mix them together.  Bake 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes.  These need to cool completely before moving them from the baking sheet to a cookie rack, as they are very crumbly.

They taste great!  A tiny bit coconut-ty, but quite sweet with lots of flavor.  I think the xylitol and protein powder could be omitted and the maple syrup would provide enough sweetness.

Here's some recipes I might try from the Honeyville Farms blog with recipes featuring their blanched almond flour, including one for using the flour to make almond milk.