Paleo Granola

I feel terribly about this, but I have lost the original source for this recipe.  I have made this granola by the buckets since stumbling on to this recipe.  Depending on your taste or what you may be up for, I have included variations of things I have tried.  

Ingredients 

• 5 cups nuts and seeds (Slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, pecans, and sunflower seeds; you can use whatever you want, but make sure you use at least 2 – 3 cups slivered almonds, as these take the place of what is normally oats)
• 1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup or any other Paleo-approved sweetener)
• 1/3 cup Paleo-friendly oil (I always use coconut and highly recommend it)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Method

• Mix honey, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Let it cool. Spread the nuts and seeds out on a  baking sheet covered with parchment paper and pour the cooled honey mixture over the top. 
• Mix it around to get everything covered, and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. 
• Allow the pan to cool slightly and then put the mixture into a bowl. Mix in raisins and coconut.
• This makes a substantial amount.  Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dry place.  

Variations

• If I happen to be out of slivered almonds, I use shredded coconut and whole almonds. 
• I have used every nut imaginable.  I like to add pistachios for that little bit of salt.  
• I have tried every imaginable dried fruit with this.  Be careful about adding sugar though.  Most packaged dried fruit adds sugar.  If you have some bananas or pineapples about to go bad, try drying in a food dehydrator or in the oven.  
• Try using almond butter to thicken and make into granola bars.  I usually find these have to be refrigerated.  
• Go ahead, use some dark chocolate...  I am not judging.  

Pumpkin - Banana Bread

Everyone in this household is a pumpkin lover. From pumpkin spice latte's (totally not paleo-approved) to pumpkin pie (ok... not much love for pumpkin is paleo approved) we devour this time of year.  Earlier this week, I made a LOT of PaleoOMG's Pumpkin Pie Granola Parfait's and those were eaten up in just a few days.  So today, I began experimenting with adding pumpkin to other things.  Today I made some of Power Hungry's Paleo Almond Flour Muffins and a few changes to Health Bent's Paleo Banana Bread to include our fall favorite pumpkin.  Here is how I changed the recipe:

• Used 2 bananas instead of 3
• added 1 cup of canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp of raw honey
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• sprinkle of chopped almonds on top before baking

Delicious!

Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins

I had about half of a can of pumpkin leftover from a recent recipe I made and wanted to have a homemade snack on hand that was not hard boiled eggs.  I made a few additions to the original Paleo Almond Flour Muffins recipe.  Here is what I added:

• 2 shredded carrots
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup almonds

They turned out great and seem to satisfy my sweet tooth! 

Paleo Ice Cream

So this recipe was inspired by Dar.  Last week after "McGhee" we talked a bit about this blog and she asked me if I had ever made Paleo ice cream.  Anyway, Dar proceeded to tell me how easy and delicious it was.  She inspired me, and I went home and dug the frozen bananas from the freezer.  This is not only the simplest recipe I have ever made, but also simply delicious.  That night I had some strawberries that were going to go bad within a couple of days, so I added to the base and made strawberry Paleo ice cream.  I have since also made a Chunky Monkey version folding chopped walnuts and chopped 70% Caco baking chocolate.  NOT Paleo because all chocolate has sugar, even organic, dark, etc.  Read the labels, BUT still good for you.   

A little bit of a side story is I ran into Mrs. Brandy Mazzon at Baesler's that Friday and told her about it.  She kept repeating the ingredients back to me, sure she was missing something.  Nope, it is THAT easy.  

• Frozen bananas (I always have on hand because it seems I can't eat bananas fast enough, so I freeze very ripe bananas, unpeeled, for smoothies)
• Vanilla perhaps a teaspoon or two
• Almond butter - enough to give the mixture substance

Place frozen bananas in your food processor and process until smooth.  Add vanilla and enough almond butter to give the mixture substance.  

Paleo Candy Bars

Yes, candy bars.  This recipe came from the Paleo Plan and I first had this when our gym did a Paleo swap where we each made different meals and got together on Sunday evening to make our swaps.  We had enough participation where we had breakfast, lunch, and two snacks for five days.  It was a great way to initiate ourselves.  Sure, we spent a lot of time in our kitchens on Sunday, but you had most everything done for a week. 

3 tablespoons of coconut oil
1/4 cup of carob powder or cocoa powder
1/2 cup of ground nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts)
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tablespoon honey, more if desired for taste
Parchment paper

• Melt coconut with honey in saucepan until oil is melted then remove from heat
• Combine with remaining ingredients and pour onto baking sheet covered in parchment paper
• Once cooled, cut into squares or other form of choice
• Freeze or refrigerate until hard - you will need to store these in the refrigerator or freezer.
• TIP: make enough to keep in the freezer for a quick chocolate fix.