The Spunky Coconut

Snickerdoodles

2013-05-15T13:09:00.001-06:00

(photos and recipe courtesy of Slim Palate)

I'm in the "third trimester" of my fourth cookbook, feeling like, "I'm never doing this again!" (again). Then the book will be born, and I will be so elated that I will forget it all, and be ready to have another.

As I'm sure you've noticed I haven't been able to post any new recipes lately... because I don't have any :-) All of my time has been spent wrapping up Paleo Chocolate Lovers, which is due (pun intended) in just 2 weeks.

So I asked my friend Josh (see a photo of us in Austin HERE ) if I could share one of his recipes with you (thanks Josh!). It was really hard to decide. All of Josh's recipes and photos are amazing. And what's even more amazing is that Josh started his blog when he was just 16-years-old. If you aren't already a fan of his, take a minute to read his incredible story. Josh is such an inspiration to us all, and I'm so grateful for his friendship.

(photos and recipe courtesy of Slim Palate)

And without further ado, here are Josh's snickerdoodles, which he recently shared with some of his high school friends, who said they were amazing.
♥, Kelly

Snickerdoodles by Slim Palate

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
¼ cup coconut oil or butter (both variations work but the best tasting results were with butter of course)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt if using coconut oil
¾ teaspoon liquid stevia with ¼ cup almond milk or ½ cup honey (you may have to add more coconut flour if using honey see notes section)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
pinch of salt

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) In a medium bowl combine almond flour, coconut flour, salt and baking soda until well combined.
3) In a small bowl add egg, vanilla extract, coconut oil or butter, and liquid stevia plus almond milk or honey and whisk together.
4) Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until thoroughly incorporated and combined.
5) Roll dough into equal sized balls about an inch in diameter and place them on the baking sheet for now.
6) In a small ramekin or bowl place 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and roll each ball around in the cinnamon until completely coated and place back on the baking sheet evenly spaced apart with enough room for flattening them.
7) Dip either the bottom of a mason jar or cup with a rounded bottom into cinnamon and flatten each cookie about to about ½ inch thickness.
8) Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the center of the cookies are no longer completely soft and have a slight resistance to the touch.
9) Place on a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Notes: If you’re using honey you may need to add more coconut flour to have the dough thick enough to roll into balls. Just make it normally and if you need to add more simply add it by the tablespoon and incorporate it thoroughly until you can roll the dough into balls.

Cashew Cheese (full of probiotics) and a Savory Cheesecake for Mother's Day

2013-05-06T16:26:00.002-06:00

Today Elana and I were talking about fermented nut cheese and how much we love it. It got me thinking about my Savory Caprese Cheesecake. I haven't made it in far too long.

And I think it would be perfect to make for Mother's Day.

Like all of my recipes it's dairy-free, but you will never know the difference. To get my recipe click HERE.

You can also see our video of how to make this delicious nut cheese, full of probiotics:

Have a fantastic week!

♥, Kelly

Sweet Potato Noodles

2013-04-28T22:07:00.000-06:00

I posted this photo (above) on Instagram today, and a bunch of people were curious what it was and how to make it, so I thought I would write a quick explanation. These are sweet potato noodles. Not store-bought noodles that have sweet potato mixed with flour, but noodles literally made from spiralized sweet potato. I cook my sweet potato noodles in lard over about medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. It couldn't be faster or easier.

Since I don't have a sauce for you today I wanted to link to THIS recipe for sweet potato noodles, which I have been meaning to try for some time now. These noodles are made exactly the same way, they just use a different setting on the spiralizer (the difference between fettuccine and spaghetti).

Also, I have only ever sauteed my sweet potato noodles, but THIS soaking method is on my list of things to try.

I use one of my favorite tools to create these noodles in a matter of seconds: The Benriner Turning Slicer, which you can see in another one of my recipes HERE.

Below is one of my photos demonstrating how the spiralizer works:

I think a food processor with the julienne slicer setting would also work.

Meanwhile I'm a month away from my Paleo Chocolate Lovers deadline. If you've missed my teaser photos on Facebook, you can see them on Instagram HERE.

♥, Kelly

German Apple Pancakes & Caveman Feast

2013-04-20T10:18:00.000-06:00

I'm a fearlessly impulsive kind of person. When I decide to do something I do it right away, like when Ginger and I jumped on a plane last month to go to PFX, and like last night when I decided to buy Caveman Feast then immediately made this recipe. When I say we should do something my husband often jokes, "...Oh— you mean right now!"

In Austin I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with George, the author of Caveman Feast, but it doesn't take long to become a fan of his. George will tell you he's in a constant "state of happiness" and you can feel it when you're around him or reading his blog. It's contagious.

I tweeted George last night, as I looked through his book, that I am in awe of his meat recipes—I could really use help in that department. But I couldn't wait until I bought ingredients to try something, which is why I made his German Apple Pancakes this morning. However, I will be making a grocery list for those mouth-watering meat dishes.

(Click the recipe to see it larger.) This morning for some reason I couldn't find my ramekins (how cute are they in ramekins?!) so I used my 12 inch cast iron skillet. I put the skillet in the oven then turned on the heat (425 as George says). This way the cast iron got nice and hot while I made the apples and blended the batter.

If you use a cast iron skillet be sure to remember NOT to touch the hot skillet! Add 2 tbsp of coconut oil to the hot pan, pour in the batter, then top with the apples. Mine took about 18 minutes using this technique.

Sometimes it is so nice to just follow someone else's recipe :-) I really enjoyed this, and I can't wait to make more! Almond Jalapeno Burgers, Breakfast Burritos, Pumpkin Chicken Chili, and Eggs Benedict Over Savory Waffles are at the top of my must-make list.

♥, Kelly

Relish: An illustrated food memoir by Lucy Knisley

2013-04-18T12:55:00.003-06:00

Hi all, it’s Andrew here with another book review.

Did you know that Kelly and I met in art school? We went to the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Kelly majored in photography, and I studied graphic design. (I love that these two things come together every day in the Spunky Coconut books and blog.)

While in school I knew of a couple students who drew serious comic books, but for the most part I had thought of “comics” as either superheroes or the funny pages. After joining Twitter a few years ago I stumbled upon the independent comic book community. The artists in this genre tell thoughtful and humorous stories in an illustrated form. One of the comic artists I follow is Lucy Knisley. Her newest book, Relish, was released earlier this month, and her publisher was nice enough to send me a copy to review.

Knisley’s Relish is a charming foodie-autobiography. Readers are treated to tales of childhood family dinners; bustling restaurant kitchens; work on her mother’s farm and catering business (where she brought coffee to a shivering Kate Hudson at Vanity Fair photo shoot!); culinary trips to Mexico, Japan, and Italy; and post-college cooking on her own. The stories are a meaningful mix of food and her relationships with parents and friends.

Lucy has a delightfully illustrated book tour schedule on her blog. For the next few days she’ll be in Portland, OR, then she’s off to Seattle. This review is coming in after most of the tour dates, but you can be sure that those bookstores still have copies for sale.

There are illustrated recipes too, and lots of them happen to be gluten-free!

—Andrew

Note to parents: I’d say this book is best for teens and older (not for little kids). There isn’t anything graphically shocking in here, but I should mention that one of her stories discusses how a fox killed one of her mom’s chickens, and another story pokes fun of her 15-year-old friend who bought nudie magazines in Mexico.

Banana Silver Dollar Coconut Flour Pancakes

2013-04-11T11:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I took a day off from work on my next cookbook. My friend Aran and I went to Lucille's in Longmont and caught up on all that has been going on in our lives over bacon, potatoes and eggs. Then the kids had some classes before we all went to Boulder to stop by Aran's book signing. While we were there we ran into our old neighbor, who we miss so much, and a friend of ours from Tyler, who also lives in Boulder now. It was so great. Then we spent the rest of the evening with Elana, and I was so glad that all I had eaten at Whole Foods was a (fab) green smoothie. Elana had all sorts of awesome Paleo salads and cookies. Everyone was laughing, playing, sharing stories and eating good food. I couldn't imagine a better day off.

This morning I wanted something light and easy for breakfast, and that's exactly what these yummy little silver dollar pancakes are. And now I must post this recipe and get back to business :-) Have a great weekend!

Banana Silver Dollar Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/3 cup mashed banana

1/4 cup almond milk

2 tbsp (22 g) coconut flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

pinch of ground cinnamon

Directions:

1) Puree all of the ingredients in the blender.

2) Add a little coconut oil to a large frying pan, preheated heated over low to medium heat.

3) Pour small "silver dollar" pancakes about 3 inches wide.

4) Flip when they are ready, and cook on the second side until done.

5) Add more coconut oil to the pan between batches.

Makes about 15 silver dollar (3 inch) pancakes.

Note: I don't think that these would work as regular sized pancakes.

♥, Kelly

UPDATES: These pancakes are not going to taste the same as my pancakes (and other recipes) that use a blend of flours. You could say that my family and I have developed a more minimal ingredient style with time, and the less we use, the less we mind :-) However, if you're game to try these, I want to point out two things:

1) Weight (grams) is more accurate than volume (cups). If your pancake batter is super runny (and perhaps you're using volume) then add another tablespoon or so of coconut flour (or try using weight instead).

2) In the directions it says "low to medium heat", and "cook until done". Unlike usual pancakes, these require lower heat so that the inside cooks before the outside burns. And they do take longer to cook than usual pancakes.

Gather, the Art of Paleo Entertaining, book review

2013-04-08T17:07:00.000-06:00

Just over a week ago at PaleoFX I got to meet and spend time with Bill and Hayley. We talked about our upcoming books (see mine here) and how diet had changed Ashley's life. A bunch of us went to see the bats, and ate some amazingly good food. Bill, who is an incredible photographer, took the sweetest photo of Ginger and I, plus some of her licking her plate clean at dinner.

Since Andy couldn't come with me to Austin I tried to explain to him what it was like being around Bill and Hayley. I said I could feel the love between them, which spills over into a love of what they do (so well).

When I got home from Austin I was so excited to find an advance copy of their new book Gather, the Art of Paleo Entertaining. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this book is, and how great the menu plans are for parties and special occasions.

It was difficult to choose a recipe to review. I was especially torn between the chapters A Night in Tuscany and Takeout Fake-out where General Tso's Chicken had my mouth watering.

I decided to make their pizza sauce and crust today, while it was sunny and 70 degrees outside, and the windows were all open. (Tonight it will snow 4 inches and tomorrow it will be 30 degrees. This is "spring" in the Front Range :-)

The pizza sauce and crust were a smash hit with everyone. They were simple, quick to make, and full of big flavors. Pre-baking the crust made the whole house smell amazing. Then I added their sauce and our toppings, put it in for another quick bake, and it was done.

I used my pizza stone (put it in the oven while it came up to temp) and the crust had a nice crunch, while inside it stayed soft and so well seasoned. The sauce was equally delicious. We were all eating very happily.

♥, Kelly

PaleoFX 2013

2013-04-05T16:14:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday night my girls were getting ready for bed while I was scanning through Instagram. I noticed that a bunch of my blogging friends were together in a group “Where are you guys?” I commented. And, “Did my invite get lost in the mail? ;-)”

Turned out that it was a PaleoFX conference. I was so snug in my cookbook bubble (my deadline is fast approaching) that I didn’t even realize. D’oh!

But my amazing husband grabbed the laptop, bought me a ticket, booked me a hotel room, and told me I had to go. At 9:30 PM I ran to the store for supplies: eggs to hard boil, Applegate chicken, and almonds. I stayed up most of the night packing. (So happy I had just painted my toenails the day prior :-)

We set the alarm, woke the kids, got in the car, and drove to the airport. Ginger and I hopped on a little plane (Did I mention I get air sickness? Thank goodness for Rescue Remedy!) and we flew to Austin.

All I can say is that it was fun. Crazy and hectic, but FUN. Ginger had a blast too. She rode around on me, often surprising people when I hugged them hello and their hands met Ginger riding on my back. Oh yeah, sorry, there’s a baby back there! haha! But she was a hit, as you can imagine. At dinner the first night she literally licked her plate clean:

I got to meet so many amazing people in person who I’ve only ever known on this laptop here. Stacy and Matt, Joshua, Jenni and Ben, Hayley and Bill, Tammy, Sarah, Diane, Jill, and Danielle (who I did get to meet once before in Boulder!), my amazing publisher, just to name a few.

Joshua snapped this photo of us at the mother ship Whole Foods:

And Stacy snapped this one of me seeing my new cookbook cards for the first time at my publisher’s table:

As Erich pointed out, I was smiling the whole time!

If you're hungry for more photos, check out this great roundup HERE, and this great video HERE.

♥, Kelly

Baking With Coconut Flour Hangout Video

2013-04-01T08:18:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday Jeanette from Jeanette's Healthy Living invited me to my first Google + Hangout to talk about what I know best: Coconut!

Also with us was my good friend Lexie from Lexie's Kitchen, Sarah House from Bob's Red Mill, Carolyn from All Day I Dream About Food, Cara from Cara's Cravings, and Jane from The Heritage Cook.

I hope you enjoy the video! Links to my books (all using coconut flour) can be found under my family photo on the right side of my blog. And of course there are hundreds of recipes here on the blog that use all things coconut :-)

♥, Kelly

Happy Easter!

2013-03-31T15:56:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter! ♥, Kelly

Ashley's Progress

2013-03-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

As you may recall if you have been reading along here, last year was really hard for Ashley, and therefor for all of us. Autism gradually reared it's big bad ugly head over a period of months, until it was all we could do to make it through the day. Then my friend Tom at Nourishing Meals helped me find the cause—a supplement that contained wheat, which I had been giving to Ashley. Ugh.

I got rid of it, and almost immediately the fits vanished, and Ashley began to come back to us. However, she continued to be extremely constipated. We tried everything you can imagine, but nothing did any good. That's when we learned that you can be doing everything right with diet and supplements, but if you don't have adequate serotonin it won't matter.

So we started giving Ashley 5HTP. That helped right away. And the longer she takes it, the more regular she becomes. Who knew? Well, I'm sure some of you knew, and now we all do :-)

She's doing better than ever. Her speech has been much more detailed, and she's using vocabulary I didn't even know she had. Last week she said, "That's a shame," when she heard some sad news. My mouth fell open as you can imagine.

And after seeing her big sister get her hair cut two weeks ago she said that she wanted to go get her hair cut too. Check it out:

First real haircut EVER. This is a huge accomplishment. She LOVED it. And like her horseback riding, she was so proud.

Since I've been mentioning some of this on Facebook, lots of you have asked exactly what we're doing that's working so well. In addition to the 5HTP (and of course her diet!), Ashley is also taking tons of enzymes and probiotics. Tons. Then she's just taking all the things that she's always taken like essential fatty acids, B complex, zinc, D, glutathione support, cal/mag citrate, selenium, IntraMin and IntraKid.

Most recently Ashley's DAN doctor did THIS stool test, and I had to celebrate the day we got the results. Her pH was good, her friendly bacteria was good, and she didn't have any yeast or inflammation—it was a BIG deal for us :-)

♥, Kelly

UPDATE: A lot of you are asking about brands. Here are some that we use: We use Klaire Labs Ther-biotic Complete and HLC MindLinx (best to rotate probiotics once in a while), NOW Foods Krill oil (I open them for her and she takes it on a spoon), Klaire Vital-Zymes and Thorne 5HTP

The Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook

2013-03-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to tell you that my next cookbook is now available for
pre-order on Amazon!

The Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook includes 75 gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free recipes for the health-conscious chocolate lover. For breakfast, dessert and any time in-between you can have the occasional treat made with coconut and ground nut flours without breaking from your Paleo diet. Honey and coconut sugar are kept to a minimum by using small amounts of the herbal sweetener stevia in these nutrient-dense baked goods. Raw-inspired treats incorporate dates to thicken and sweeten.

Recipes include: Chocolate Crepe Cake with Coconut Cream • White Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Biscotti • Homemade (dairy-free, low-glycemic) chocolate bars • Chocolate Swirl Cheese Danish Cake • Lava Cakes • Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies • White Chocolate Truffles • Molton Chocolate • Cherry Cordial Fudge and more.

This book also details the components of coconut, the importance of organic and fair trade chocolate, frequently asked questions about chocolate, and a side-by-side comparison of store-bought dark chocolate bars.

Why pre-order? When you pre-order on Amazon you are guaranteed the lowest price between now and when the book is released. And because this is a Victory Belt book (woohoo!) that means EVERY recipe has a full-page color photo to go with it.

A sample of photos from the book:

Chocolate Banana Pancakes with Fried Bananas

Chocolate Strawberry Clafoutis

Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Cranberry Orange Nut Bars

S'mores Cookie Parfaits

Chocolate Chip Meringue Cake

White Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie

You can also see in-progress photos uploaded constantly on my Instagram page HERE as well as on Facebook.

Thank you so much for supporting me!

♥, Kelly

Maple Sugar, by Tim Herd. A historical, botanical, DIY, cookbook

2013-03-18T12:36:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. It’s Kelly’s husband here with a sweet book review. My parents are from upstate New York, so I was raised with a taste for maple syrup. We never used that “maple flavored”corn syrup stuff on our pancakes, and we always preferred maple candy to anything Hershey’s makes. So, I was very interested to receive a review copy of this book from Storey Publishing. I ended up giving that copy to my mom for Christmas, and I bought another one for myself. This was two years ago. Now that late winter’s maple sugaring time has returned I thought I’d finally write a review. Maple Sugar by Tim Herd is a historical, botanical, do-it-yourself, cookbook in one well-designed package.

I love this old wood type design.

As a book designer myself I have to talk about the look of this book first. The design is really sharp. I was immediately impressed that the cover and chapters feature titles set in wood type. As this form of printing was popular in the nineteenth century, wood type’s use here compliments the long history of maple sugaring. What makes this design choice even more appropriate is the fact that these old printing blocks were usually made of maple wood. (Check out the website for the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum) The book is full color throughout, it has lots of photos, and the cover’s French flaps (folded like a dustjacket) make the book a little more special than the standard paperback.

There are lots of vintage maple syrup ads and packaging from the author’s collection.

The book starts with a history of maple syrup, discussing the Native Americans, the colonists, and the progression of preparation techniques up to present day. Chapters 3 and 4 describe the varieties of maple trees, their biology, life cycle, and the sweet sap they produce. The process of commercial maple syrup production is detailed in chapter 5, while chapter 6 offers advice on how to tap, produce, and package your own.

Includes botany lessons for seven different maple trees.

Lots of color photos.

The last chapter talks about how maple syrup can be used in cooking. There are twenty four recipes ranging from baked goods to meat dishes to desserts. Not surprisingly, the bread, muffins, and biscuits use wheat flour. But most of the other recipes could easily be made gluten-free.

—Andrew

How To Make Coconut Cream Tutorial

2013-03-12T14:25:00.000-06:00

Click the chalk board to see it larger.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this post! Here is how it happened. I started having trouble getting my canned full-fat Thai Kitchen coconut milk to separate. I have put at least a dozen cans in the fridge over the last year, sometimes leaving them in there for days, even turning down the temperature in the refrigerator, to no avail. I should pause the story for a second.

Wait, what is coconut cream? "Coconut cream" or "whipped coconut cream" is the thick cream at the top of a can of separated canned full-fat coconut milk (you can also make it yourself—instructions below). It's awesome stuff. You can use it any way you would use dairy whipped cream: On top of ice cream, on top of pie, as pie, in parfaits, all by itself... You get the idea. Back to the story...

So what's a dairy-free girl to do? Well, I took this opportunity to 1) Make homemade coconut cream from whole young coconuts, and 2) Search high and low for other brands of packaged coconut milk that might work. And I decided to only look for packaged brands that were gum-free and BPA-free. And I found two. Score!

Let's get right to the how-to! First lets start with the most expensive, most time consuming, most crazy delicious option. HOMEMADE. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

option 1

Homemade Coconut Cream

Whole young coconuts cost $4 each at the Whole Foods closest to me, and it took two and a half whole coconuts to get a cup of coconut cream, making it the most expensive option. However, what you also get is tons of coconut water, which is also crazy good for you and full of electrolytes. My coconuts had about a cup and three quarters of water in each. Mmm... But back to making the cream:

Directions:

1) Lay the fresh young white coconut on its side and carefully trim the pointy tip until some brown is showing, then position it right side up.

2) Put your left hand behind your back (or your right hand if you're left-handed). Why? This is just a safety measure. I don't want you accidentally ending up in the emergency room!

3) Using the heel of the knife strike the coconut on a 45 degree angle.

4) If the top doesn't open right away spin the coconut a little bit, put one hand behind your back, and strike it again using the heel of the knife on a 45 degree angle.

Note: I had to nearly make a circle of strikes before mine opened.

5) Pour the yummy coconut water into a large glass. I put mine in big mason jars. Store what you don't drink right away in the fridge.

Note: The water should be clear or slightly yellow. Pink or purple water means it's gone bad, and you shouldn't use it.

6) Next take a flexible silicone spatula and wedge it between the meat and the inside wall of the coconut, as seen below:

7) Run the flexible silicone spatula around in a circle, dislocating the coconut meat. When you finish it will look like this:

8) You can reach in and remove the coconut meat. Mine all came out in one piece.

9) Repeat the process with two more white coconuts.

10) Add the meat from all three coconuts to the food processor fitted with the S blade.

11) Puree the coconut, scraping the sides periodically, until it is completely smooth and heavenly.

Makes just over 1 cup of cream.

But aren't coconuts dipped in poison for shipping? I had to ask this question myself, since I have only ever bought packaged coconut milk, and I too had heard the rumors. Coconuts are dipped in sodium metabisulfite, a preservative which does not penetrate the inside. Such a relief. See HERE.

What's my other option? You can also get really yummy coconut cream from Aroy-D and Natural Value coconut milk. Both are gum-free and BPA-free, which is why I am officially switching to these two brands. I bought mine on Amazon, but friends have told me you can buy these brands for less in Asian grocery stores like Pacific Ocean Market in Broomfield, CO. The costs listed on the chalk board (above) are based on the prices I got on Amazon.

option 2

Aroy-D and Natural Value coconut cream

how-to

For Aroy-D:

1) Open your package of Aroy-D and pour the milk into a large mixing bowl, then freeze it overnight, or until completely frozen.
2) Put the bowl of frozen milk on the counter and let it come to room temperature. This will take all day. Heating it won't work! Heating it will help it to emulsify again, and we need it separated.

Note: My Aroy-D did not arrive separated. If yours does then skip
steps 1 and 2.

3) Place a thin cloth napkin over another large mixing bowl and pour your thawed separated milk into the napkin.

4) Lift the napkin and squeeze some of the water out. Don't go crazy squeezing or your coconut cream will be too dry. Just remove most of the water.

5) You will be left with a little over two cups of cream (from one 33 oz package).

For Natural Value:

1) Place a thin cloth napkin over a large mixing bowl and pour the contents of the can over the napkin.

2) Lift the napkin and squeeze some of the water out. Don't go crazy squeezing or your coconut cream will be too dry. Just remove most of the water.

3) You will be left with almost one cup of cream (from one 13 oz can).

Note: All of my Natural Value cans have arrived partially separated, so I did not freeze them first like I did with the Aroy-D brand. If your cans are not separated at all then first follow steps 1 and 2 for making Aroy-D cream.

So from now on I will be using Aroy-D or Natural Value in ALL of my recipes, and I am updating my FAQ page to note that I have switched to these gum-free, BPA-Free brands. Use the blended liquid straight from the package in my recipes, unless otherwise specified.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.

Pizza Quiche

2013-03-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

I didn't set out to make a "pizza" quiche. I was just scrambling for ingredients, and an Italian theme emerged accidentally. In the pantry I grabbed black olives and sundried tomatoes. From the fridge I grabbed spinach and an onion. Oregano and garlic seemed to go with everything else, so I grabbed those too.

It wasn't until the quiche was baking that Ashley said, "I smell pizza!" And she was right. It did smell like pizza. So I say run with it—fill yours with your favorite pizza toppings.

Pizza Quiche

gluten-free, Paleo, dairy-free

Makes two quiche.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes (for the crust)

8 eggs

1 can full-fat coconut milk

1 onion, diced

2 handfuls spinach (I used frozen spinach, but I think fresh would also work)

heaping 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes

black olives (I get mine from Tropical Traditions)

1/2 tsp sea salt, plus a pinch for the sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Note: OR substitute the onions, spinach and olives with your favorite pizza toppings.

Directions:
1) Set the oven to 375 degrees.
2) Peel the sweet potatoes and slice thin.
3) Grease 2 dishes and arrange the sliced sweet potatoes across the bottom, overlapping slightly, for your crust. (see a photo of this here)
4) Season the sweet potato crust with sea salt and pepper. Set aside.
5) Saute the diced onion then divide it evenly between the two.
6) Add a handful of black olives and a handful of spinach to each (I used frozen spinach that was thawed then squeezed through a kitchen towel to remove as much water as possible).
7) In the blender puree the coconut milk and the sundried tomatoes.
8) Add the eggs, salt, garlic and oregano and puree again.
Note: the blended eggs will be nice and frothy.
9) Pour the egg mixture evenly over them and bake right away so it has as much air as possible.
10) Bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle.
11) Let them cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Note: They will deflate as they cool, but they will still taste nice and light.

♥, Kelly

Guest post & recipe review from Lillian's Test Kitchen

2013-03-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

The doughnut recipe in the video above is HERE.

(See below for the frosting recipe in the video above.)

My name is Lillian Medville and I’m allergic to gluten/grains, dairy, cane sugar, and soy. I’ve struggled with these four food allergies for years. It took me more or less six years to figure out that I had them, and then another 10 years to figure them all out.

But even once I figured them all out, managing myself around food didn’t really become any easier. Rather than a source of comfort and a social glue, food had become something that kept me apart from my friends and family. I always needed to have a special meal. And even with a special meal, I didn’t feel comfortable eating with everyone else, partially because it made my difference so obvious (which I wanted to avoid) and partially because by this point, after years of food being so complicated and punishing, I so much anxiety around food, that the experience was rarely enjoyable anyway. At a certain point (about three years ago) I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was tired of seeing food as the enemy. I was tired of feeling deprived, always being around food that I couldn’t eat and wanting what I shouldn’t have. And I was very tired of always getting sick. So I bit the bullet and started making my own food. I realized, that if I wanted to eat it, I’d have to make it. And that single thought changed everything.

I decided to call this blog/web show Lillian's Test Kitchen, not only because it is an experiment in cooking (I make other people's recipes, like Kelly's incredible recipes here on The Spunky Coconut, for the first time ever, on camera), but also because it is an experiment in lots of things, from dealing with the emotional issues that come up with food and food allergies, to asking health questions I don’t know the answers to, to finding new unknown bands to feature on my fun mini episodes, to finding out if coconut sugar and honey are interchangeable in that pancake recipe. I'm just trying to be open to everything the world offers me as long as it doesn't make me unhappy and I'm not allergic to it. I have found the experience to be challenging, rewarding, humbling, and scary. But I guess that’s normal when the point is to try things for the first time and not know what I’m doing or what is going to happen next. And that, along with being healthy, and finding joy with food and life with dietary restrictions is what Lillian's Test Kitchen is all about. Now, lets have a good time and eat some frosting. :)

This frosting recipe was created by Kelly and it is so good. It's thick in a way that most dairy-free frosting isn't and it tastes like vanilla, honey, and coconut. So if you like those things, consider your day made. FYI: I have used both Tropical Traditions brand Coconut Cream Concentrate and Artisana brand Coconut Butter. Both came out totally delicious.

Vanilla Coconut Cream Frosting (Paleo, GAPS)

Recipe Type: Frosting

Author: Kelly from www.SpunkyCoconut.com

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

It's creamy, it's coconuty, vanilla-y, and honey-y. What more can you ask for?

Ingredients

1/2 cup melted Coconut Cream Concentrate
2 Tbsp Raw Honey
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
10 drops liquid Stevia (or more if you want it sweeter)
1/3 cup Water

Instructions

Mix the melted coconut cream concentrate, raw honey, vanilla extract, stevia, and water together with an electric hand mixer until it looks like frosting.
Eat.
If you put it in the fridge it will harden. Just FYI.

LOVElillian Follow Lillian on twitter, facebook, pinterest, youtube and never miss an episode. Get on the mailing list! -- www.LilliansTestKitchen.com

Creamy Green Citrus Smoothie

2013-02-26T12:50:00.002-07:00

I think I've said it a million times before, but I am obsessed with smoothies. I love that I can pack them with nutrition, and whip them up in just minutes. Plus they taste great!

This is the one I've been having lately. I like to put so much fresh ginger in it that my ears pop. That's right, my ears pop—no joke. Side note: I wouldn't put it in your smoothie, but you can get oil of oregano in capsules, and I highly recommend that if you've been wishing your ears would pop lately. I've heard that oil of oregano can deplete your good gut flora though, so after a round of it I always go crazy with the probiotics and homemade yogurt. But back to the smoothie...

I make these extra peppy by adding lemon and orange zest. Like the ginger, it's really up to you how much to use. Start with a teaspoon of each and go up from there. I add the hemp seeds for protein so I'm not hungry again five minutes later. You can't really taste the hemp with all the citrus.

Creamy Green Citrus Smoothie

Paleo, vegan

Ingredients:
1 grapefruit, peeled, seeds removed
3 small oranges, peeled, seeds removed
1 lemon, peeled, seeds removed
3 leaves of rainbow chard, washed, stems removed (substitute a handful of spinach if you can't get the chard)
1 to 2 inches fresh peeled ginger root (the more you put the spicier it will be)
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp orange zest

Directions: Puree everything in the blender. Taste and add more zest or ginger as desired.

♥, Kelly

Roasted Rainbow Carrots

2013-02-20T16:18:00.001-07:00

I'm a huge fan of Jamie Oliver. I'm a fan of him as a person, and as a cook. Last week I made a grain-free variation of his chocolate clafoutis for my upcoming book. Yum.

Tonight I made another dish inspired by Jamie, and it is so simple, you're going to love it. He used fresh garlic and thyme, which I didn't have, but the method is basically the same. You can see Jamie's recipe here. And if you don't already follow him on Instagram, you should. I love seeing his house and kids. Oh yes, and his food :-)

Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Ingredients:
2 bunches rainbow carrots (the dark ones above are purple, not burned)
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
garlic powder

Directions:
1) Set the oven to 400 degrees.
2) Cut the tops to about 1 inch and scrub the carrots well. Set them on a kitchen towel to dry.
3) When they are dry add them to a sheet. (You know I only use stainless because aluminum anywhere in the oven will transfer to your food as it cooks.)
4) Drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic (I like to go lighter on the garlic). Toss to coat.
5) Cover the top with another sheet turned upside down so that the carrots steam inside.
Note: This would also work in a dutch oven that has a lid, if you have one to fit the whole carrots.
6) Bake covered for 30 minutes.
Note: Some of my carrots were much thinner than the rest, so I held them back for the first 20 minutes of baking, then added them. Otherwise they would have been mush.
7) Remove the top and roast uncovered for about 20 minutes more.

♥, Kelly

Carrot, Kielbasa, & Fried Egg Cauli-Hash

2013-02-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

I am super busy working on the next cookbook every minute that I'm not busy being a mom. And that isn't very many minutes ;-) So meals have become a question of what can I make that's fast, satisfying, and most of all that everyone will actually eat. Hash is one of those things. Or is it Paleo fried rice? I don't know, but whatever you call it, it meets the criteria. I hope you and yours enjoy it too.

Carrot, Kielbasa, & Fried Egg Cauli-Hash

grain-free, Paleo, dairy-free

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

3 large whole carrots

6 eggs

1/2 of a Kielbasa

1/2 an onion

1 tbsp lard

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/8 to 1/4 tsp sea salt

1/8 to 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1) Put a third of the cauliflower in the food processor and puree until fine.

2) Transfer the pureed cauliflower to a bowl and repeat step 1 until all of the cauliflower is fine (and looks like rice).

3) Chop the carrots into one inch pieces and puree them in the food processor in three batches as well.

4) Finally chop the Kielbasa and onion into pieces and puree them in the food processor until fine.

5) Put a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet over almost medium heat.

6) Add the lard and coconut oil.

7) Pour the veggies and meat into the skillet.

8) Add the salt and garlic powder.

9) Use a spatula to give it a stir.

10) Cook for about ten minutes, stirring a few times.

11) Push the meat and veggies out to the sides, making a well in middle of the skillet.

12) Add a little extra oil if needed then crack the eggs into the well.

13) Scramble the eggs until they are almost done, then mix them with the meat and veggies to combine everything.

14) Serve.

♥, Kelly

P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered to test recipes for me! Sorry I haven't emailed any of you yet—I've been busting a move to meet my first deadline. I will email many of you ASAP!

How The Spunky Coconut Came to Be

2013-02-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Five and a half years ago we moved from Annapolis, Maryland to just outside Boulder, Colorado. We had no jobs waiting for us, and no family nearby. It was a total leap of faith. To pay for the move we sold one of our two cars, plus most of our furniture and belongings.

We moved into a teeny-tiny apartment. You can see the whole kitchen in this photo of Zoe. She is using the mixer on top of the stove because there was almost no counter space. I put up a bakers rack to hold my appliances, pots and pans.

Look at that smile on Zoe's face. We were tickled to be here.

Ashley was so little! She had just turned three.

At the playground a new friend of mine pressured me to, "start a blog." "A blog?" I said. "I don't know how to do that." "You can figure it out," she said confidently. "You can put your recipes there."

After several of these park days and my friend's relentless pressuring, I set my mind to doing it. I got Andy to help me figure out a name for my blog. We were listening to the band Hot Chip while throwing out ideas for the name of the blog. "Hot Chip is a cool name. You should do something like that: an adjective plus a food noun," Andy said. "I use a lot of coconut," I told him. "It could be something 'coconut'... What about 'funky coconut'?" "No," Andy said. "That sounds like it's rotten." "How about 'spunky coconut'?" I said. "Yeah, I like that!" Andy agreed. And that's how we got the name.

The first year I think I blogged a recipe every day …and no one knew. I didn't know how to reach people, how to get readers. But gradually I started networking, and people began finding my blog.

Then one day Andy said, "Don't you have enough recipes for a cookbook?" "A cookbook? I don't know," I said. We were still in our 800 square foot apartment, barely scraping by. "I guess so," I told him.

We bought a little duplex, moved in, and published our first cookbook. Andy made new clients, and about a year later we published another cookbook. Then we had another baby, and then another cookbook, and still more clients. With every year our businesses grew a little more.

Ashley has had her ups and downs, but she's doing awesome, and I never could have imagined that this would be our life (smiling as I say this). I get stressed once in a while, of course, but then I let it go. I know that everything is going to be okay. Why? I don't know. It just will be :-)

This song pretty much sums up how I feel most of the time.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." —Martin Luther King, Jr.

♥, Kelly

P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered to test recipes for me! Sorry I haven't emailed any of you yet—I've been busting a move to meet my first deadline. I will email many of you ASAP!

DIY Restaurant Menu Printing in 1914

2013-02-08T11:13:00.001-07:00

Paper place mat from the Tirolerland Inn, Jay, NY, 1953.

Hiya, foodie friends. It's me, Andrew, here with another one of my food archaeology posts. Last fall we visited the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. We were very interested to see their temporary exhibit, "Let's Eat! Adirondack Food Traditions". There were lots of cool objects in the collection, especially for a graphic designer like myself. The 1950s paper place mat from the Tirolerland Inn was pretty neat (check out that bear chasing the guy up the tree!). But my absolute favorite thing was a tabletop menu printer from 1915. In the days before Microsoft Word and a bazillion font choices, the staff of a turn-of-the-century kitchen could print custom menus on their restaurant's letterhead.

Excel tabletop menu printer, 1914.

Here's the text from the display:

Menu Printer
From the Delmarsh Inn, Inlet, NY
ca. 1914
70.31.1
Gift of James Meneilly, Jr.

It was important for historic Adirondack eating establishments to provide new offerings as often as possible to remain competitive. This menu printer allowed chefs to "keep the breakfast, dinner and supper cards set up and make only the necessary changes from day to day." If chefs could not find the exact words necessary for a menu, they could order more at 7.5 cents per word from the maker of the menu printer, the Excel Manufacturing Company.

In this word drawer you can see interesting menu items like "Tongue, Tripe, Truffle, Vanilla sauce, Vermicelli, Weakfish, Weiner, with Barley," etc. (This was behind glass, so I apologize for the blurry photo)

Steamboat ticket, 1896.

In the late 19th and early 20th century the Adirondack Mountains were a very popular vacation spot. Well-to-do residents of New York City would ride trains and steamboats north to beat the summer heat. Many owned their own mansion-size cabins—the Great Camps—while others stayed in the region's many hotels. If you have little girls in your family, you may be familiar with the American Girl novel, Samantha Saves the Day in which Samantha's family goes on such a vacation to an Adirondack lake (albeit a fictitious one).

A turn-of-the-century postcard of Eight Lake (just outside town at Inlet, NY)

According to the Town of Inlet's official website the Delmarsh Inn (owned by the Delmarsh family) was built in 1921. So, I'm guessing the year of 1914 given on the museum display card is the printing press' production date. I wonder if the inn purchased it second-hand. Turn-of-the-century visitors from the city would have been used to full-color lithograph restaurant menus, but I'm sure they could forgive the Delmarsh's simply printed menu. They were on a rustic Adirondack getaway, after all.

Cheers, Andrew

P.S. If you are interested in the design history of American menus, then check out Menu Design In America, by Heimann, Heller, and Mariani. It's a massive coffee table style book full of gorgeous photos of menus from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century.

Zoe and Grandpa Jeff sitting in one of the museum's oversized Adirondack chairs, October, 2012.

Chorizo & Eggs with Avocado

2013-02-01T13:07:00.001-07:00

Everybody has a go-to meal, don't you think? Something that (pretty much) everyone in the family will eat, that you can whip up in a matter of minutes. Something that tastes great. My go-to meal changes with time, and as we get tired of it. Right now it's chorizo and eggs with avocado.

Sometimes I add some spinach or finely chopped sweet potatoes (to cook with the pepper and chorizo), and sometimes we have it over a slice of bread, but usually we just have it all by itself. I think of it as an inside-out omelette—Same ingredients, but way less work. And although it may look like breakfast, I don't think we've ever had it in the morning :-)

Chorizo & Eggs with Avocado

gluten-free, Paleo, dairy-free

Ingredients:

1 finely chopped green pepper

1 pound of chorizo sausage (I use Mulay's Natural from Natural Grocers)

7 eggs (or more as needed to serve your family)

1 to 2 ripe avocados

Instructions:

1) Set your oven to 375 degrees.

2) Saute the green pepper in a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet over low to medium heat for about five minutes.

3) Crumble your chorizo in next (remove the casing if it came in casing)

4) Saute until the chorizo is cooked through, about five minutes

5) Crack your eggs over the top (don't worry if some yolks break—maybe one of your kids prefers them that way? —one of mine does)

6) Bake for about ten minutes, or until the eggs are done the way you like.

Note: Make sure everyone knows that the skillet was in the oven and NOT to touch it (yea, I've done that—ouch!)

7) Top with sliced avocado.

♥, Kelly

My (un)health history.

2013-01-30T08:48:00.001-07:00

Today I share some of my heath issues, and how I overcame them. Click on over to my guest post on Paleo Parents to read about it. Have a great day!

♥, Kelly

My next cookbook!

2013-01-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

This crepe cake is the cover photo for my next cookbook, The Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook: 75 Gluten-Free Treats for Breakfast & Dessert, coming out this fall. I'm so excited!!! I decided to go with a publisher this time, and it had to be Victory Belt. I ♥ them. You will be able to see the designed cover on Amazon very soon, but in the meantime let me tell you some of the recipes included in the book:

• Chocolate Crepe Cake with Coconut Cream (above)
• Pistachio Date Freezer Candy (below)
• White Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Biscotti (also pictured below)
• Homemade Chocolate (Dairy-Free & Low-Glycemic)
• Mulled Wine Poached Pears with Ganache
• Toasted Coconut Cookies
• Iced Chai Cocoa
• Cherry Cordial Fudge

So I was wondering if any of you dears would be interested in testing a few recipes? To keep the recipes top-secret before publishing, you will need to sign a non-disclosure if you choose to test for me. As my way of saying thank you, I will send each tester a little gift. Just leave me your email address in the comments if you want to be a tester.

♥, Kelly

Coconut Milk Bread

2013-01-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this bread recipe for a year now. In case you're wondering, I did try using arrowroot in place of the psyllium and it didn't work as a loaf. At all. First of all I had to double the amount (twice as much arrowroot as psyllium), and it still didn't fully cook. Second, the texture was completely different. The arrowroot version (the part of the loaf that cooked through) was much more crumbly. I think it could be nice as a mock-cornbread, and that it might cook through if you made it in an 8 x 8 inch dish, but I haven't done that yet myself.

It was just so much better with the psyllium that I went back to using it. And we all adore this loaf of bread.

Part of the reason the loaf is this nice shape and size is because I use this glass bread pan. The bottom of the pan is narrower than most bread loaf pans, so you get a slightly taller loaf. Just make sure that your ingredients are room temperature so that the bread cooks evenly, and you're good to go.

Coconut Milk Bread

gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk, room temperature

4 whisked eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp honey

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups | 7.4 oz almond flour (I have used both Bob's and Honeyville in this recipe)

1/2 cup | 2.5 oz coconut flour, sifted to remove any lumps

2 tbsp psyllium husk POWDER

1 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1) Lay a piece of unbleached parchment paper across the bread loaf pan so that it goes down one of the long sides, across the bottom and back up the other long side.

NOTE: If you use a different bread loaf pan the cooking time may change.

2) Grease the two exposed glass ends of the dish. Set aside.

3) Add dry ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

4) Add wet ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer.

5) Add whisked dry ingredients to wet mixed ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer.

6) Using a flexible silicone spatula, scoop half of the batter into the prepared pan, and press it down firmly.

7) Add the rest of the batter to the dish using the flexible silicone spatula, and press down firmly again. (The top should be smooth and level when you're finished.)

8) Bake for about 1 hour.

9) Let the bread rest in the pan until cool.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.