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Category Archives: Snack Food

Screw Spring, we have biscotti!

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by TheHDD in Coconut Flour, cookies, Desserts, Don't be afraid of your kitchen, Nut Flour, Paleo Recipes, recipes, Snack Food

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Tags

almond flour, biscotti, breakfast, coconut flour, desserts, good eatins, paleo, recipe, shredded coconut, simple foods

snow stormSo here it is: the first day of Spring.

We’re buried under five feet of snow.

You heard us right; five feet. Winter has dug its ugly claws into the frozen ground and is refusing to let go. We thought for sure we saw the last of it last week and you could hear an Atlantic Canada wide sigh of relief until Winter slapped us on our frostbitten cheeks and laughed in our faces.

It’s rather depressing. We sort of feel like mice in a scientist’s maze as we maneuver around the already narrow streets of Halifax. Add a  7 foot wall of plowed snow (if your street is lucky enough to have seen a plow) on either side of you and you understand why we feel like we’re mice in search of end of the race.

It does mean however, that we’ve been having some fun in the kitchen. Remember that dreaded fail of a mess we blogged about last week? A second attempt still rendered it fail-like though this time edible. It’s got to be too many “wet” ingredients in the mixture. More tweaking should result in a better end product and hopefully a recipe sooner rather than later…

The other thing we’ve been experimenting with is delicious biscotti. Nothing tastes better with your morning (and afternoon and evening) coffee than biscotti and since we can’t get outside to buy if from the local bakery/coffee shop we decided to see what we could come up with in our own kitchen.

The first batch was pretty good. Not as crunchy as we would like it and after following the recipe we found verbatim we decided to change it up a little and see if we could come up with a tastier batch!

biscotti 2 (2)

(Which we did!)

The recipe below is after we changed a few things up so you can either 1) follow as plan or 2) change it up again and make it your own. Think about your ingredients. Do you want it to be more chocolate-y (add dark chocolate chips)? Want it to be more nutty (add more almond slices or extract of almonds and take out the cocoa)? This is a good base recipe but by all means it’s not the only way to make biscotti!

Also, remember to break out the coffee pot because man they go good together!

Enjoy!

Paleo Coconut Almond Cocoa Biscotti

Ingredients:

  • 2 C Almond Flour
  • 1/4 C Coconut Flour
  • 1/2 C Shredded Coconut
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tbsp Cocoa
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1/2 C Honey
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1/4 C Slivered Almonds

Also: Parchment Paper, Medium Baking Sheet, Cooling Rack, Serrated Knife

Preheat Oven to 350F

In large mixing bowl combine almond flour, coconut flour, shredded coconut, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Mix well.

Add Honey and eggs and mix together. You’ll start to get a cookie dough like consistency. Fold in slivered almonds.

Cover baking sheet with parchment paper and split dough in half. Shape each half into log and bake for 20-25 minutes.

biscotti 3Take them out of the oven and transfer to cooling rack. On a side note, we noticed during the first baking time it started to “pull apart” or cracking a little. Not to worry. Once on the cooling rack gently press biscotti back to together. Let cool about 30 minutes to an hour or so (depending on how much free time you have!)

Reheat the oven to 300F.

Using the cooling rack as your measurement guide, cut width wise (across) into 3/4 inch slices and return to parchment lined baking sheet, cut side down. You can cut them length wise but the biscotti may be a little fragile while cutting and in our case the first batch fell apart much more easily (length wise) than the second batch (width wise).

Return to oven and allow to bake for 20-25 minutes (depending on how crunchy you like them). Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack.

Store in air tight container or just eat them all in one day (not that we know anything about that!)

biscotti 2

~Now that’s good eatin’ Folks!

 

A new year and a new recipe…

08 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by TheHDD in Don't be afraid of your kitchen, informing the community, Paleo Recipes, recipes, Snack Food, What you should know, What's in our kitchen

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cashews, dates, dontbeafraidofyourkitchen, dried cranberries, eat real food, good eatins, paleo, recipe, shredded coconut, simple foods, what's in our kitchen, you can't out exercise your diet

Holy crap you guys!

It’s 2015.

Well technically it’s already the 8th day of 2015 but the feeling of “where did the time go” is still with us as we bundle down for winter and start thinking about what 2015 will look like for the Healthy Dynamic Duo…

This is the time of the year when countless people resolve to “do it right“, “finally make those changes” or “make it stick for good” and if anyone knows about that feeling of a “a new year, a new me“ being replayed over and over again each year, only to fall (very) short of those seemingly out of reach goals it’s us.

You start out, fist pumping in the air, motivation bubbling over and a sense that no one or nothing can get in the way…

Then shit gets in the way.

Life. Relationships. Getting hit by a truck.

Maybe your motivation just peters out when you don’t get the results you want or that refrigerator of yours looks damn right boring with it’s contents when your local pub serves the “OMG THE BEST FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD EVERRRRRRRRRRRRR”.

It’s hard.

Wait. Let us rephrase that: IT’S REALLY FUCKING HARD.

So this post less about “oh here’s a recipe you can just whip up” (which you can in about 10 minutes) and more about giving you the freedom to take a deep breath, air your frustration and know that if anyone understands the frustration of weight loss, taking control of your life, and more importantly taking control of your fucking boring ass fridge it’s theHDD.

Over the course of a few posts we’re going to spend a little more time talking about what exactly is in our kitchen that helps keep food under control and tasting so damn amazing. Remember, we’re not rich ass fancy chefs with expensive equipment. We’re on a budget like most people. We buy in bulk. We make our dollar count while counting calories and breaking a sweat as often as possible.

(Don’t worry there is a recipe at the bottom if you want to skip all the mumbo jumbo)

Food Scale:

food scaleThis is imperative if you want a solid understanding on what exactly a serving size looks like. We don’t spend enough time looking at that little information square on the side of a box (and if you’re eating out of boxes a lot, that might be the first thing you want to change) telling us what a serving size truly is. A serving of cereal is NOT a bowl filled to the rim. It’s usually a 1/3 – 1/2 cup…seriously, who eats just a 1/2 cup of cereal in one sitting (especially if it has those tasty little marshmallow nuggets)?

We pretty much weigh everything. Even though our diet primarily follows a Paleo foundation and one of the stronger emphasis on this foundation is to NOT count calories, we still do. It’s more about logging food rather than counting calories. Making sure we’re getting enough protein, good fats (yes you should be eating your good fats) and good carbohydrates (and YES you should be eating good carbs), only happens when we know how much of a good thing we’re eating. It helps when putting together recipes and wanting to know how many calories (and the macro break down) per serving we’re eating.

It’s not a budget buster to buy a food scale. Our’s cost $20 and we use it all the time.

Food Processor

food processorOne of the most used pieces of equipment in our kitchen is this little beauty of a food processor. It’s done wonders for helping us put that instagram hashtag #dontbeafraidofyourkitchen to good use. No lie. It can feel like a bigger purchase money wise (we spent around $200) for ours but after breaking a few lesser quality processors with our almond butter (motors couldn’t take running that long), this kitchen aid has done nothing but stepped up our game in making delicious foods. Everything from the fore-mentioned almond butter (which we use in numerous recipes) to soups to Paleo treats (like the recipe below) to sweet potato hash (a weekend staple in our house). Half of our recipes probably call for the use of a food processor. Remember your kitchen is where 80% of the battle happens. Arm yourself with only the best weapons.

Okay let’s move on to the recipe. You’ll see how both the scale and the processor aided us in making these super easy and super tasty little treats.

Cashew Date Balls

Ingredients:

  • 6 oz Cashews (~510 cal)
  • 150 grams Dates (pitted) (~411 cal)
  • 2 Tbsp Unsweetened Shredded Coconut (~100 cal)
  • 1/4c Dried Cranberries (~68 cal)
  • 1 Tbsp Honey (~64 cal)

(Get a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper)

In food processor add the first four ingredients and pulse for about sixty seconds until all ingredients are minced finely and when you press between your fingers the ingredients stick together.

Add honey and pulse for an additional 30 seconds.

We weighed out 20 gram portions for each serving and pressed into balls. Refrigerate on parchment lined cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes and then transfer to airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for easy popping access.

cashew date balls

Total servings: 20

Calories per serving: ~58

Fat (g): 2.6 Carbs (g): 8.5 Protein (g): 1.1

~Now that’s good eatin’ Folks!

 

Snowed in…(Homemade Larabars!)

09 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by TheHDD in Paleo Recipes, recipes, Snack Food

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

almonds, coconut oil, dates, dried cherries, good eatins, larabars, paleo, raisins, raw food, recipe, shredded coconut, simple foods, snack food

Like many of you out there, we are riding out the snow storm that has hit the US and Canada. Snowstorm “Nemo” has Tara looking out the window muttering “just keep snowing, just keep snowing”…and it seems that’s just what’s happening at the moment.

We’re taking full advantage of warmth of our apartment (except the crazy howling wind coming through the gap of the back door) to make almond butter, babaganoush and give our try at making homemade Larabars.

Here’s the thing about Larabars: We love them, but they are freaking expensive here in Halifax. In case you don’t believe us, here’s a picture to prove it…

in store larabar

$2.39 for barely a mouthful of Paleo snack-y goodness. Well if you know us, we are all about trying to recreate the things we love to eat in our own kitchen. It just so happen that through a Facebook conversation someone posted a link to this recipe and before either of us could finish reading the post we were off to the closest Bulk Barn to stock up on dried dates and fruits.

Below is the very basic of recipes. Once you get the hang of this one you will want to be more adventurous with whatever your tasty palate can come up with. Now here’s a little warning; if you are counting calories you may want to look for alternatives to the coconut oil or make smaller portions. The first time we made these, we made 5 servings using a well packed 1/4 measuring cup. That means they were around 300 calories each.

Now don’t go running off thinking you can’t enjoy these. You can and you will. This is a natural unprocessed snack that you’ve made with your own hands. Take pride in what you’ve created and if you must find alternatives just think about what will taste good and give it a go!

Enjoy!

Homemade Paleo Larabars

Ingredients:

  • 1 C Almonds
  • 1/2 C Dates
  • 1/2 C Raisins
  • 1/4 C Dried Cherries
  • 1/8 C Shredded Coconut
  • 1/8 C Coconut Oil (melted)

The Players

In food processor, pulse together almonds, dates and raisins until you get a sticky mixture (took about a good full minute). You know it’s right when you can grab a little and it shape it.

just the right amount of sticky

When you’ve got the desired consistency, add dried cherries and coconut to the mixture and continue to pulse (about 30-45 seconds).

add coconut and cherries

Once mixed thoroughly, drizzle melted coconut oil into the mixture and give it one final pulse (and by pulse I mean turn the processor on for about 30 seconds).

Now for the shaping! You will find it a little messy to shape by hand but it is doable. They may not come out as perfect little larabar shapes but really who cares. Like we said earlier we used a 1/4 measuring cup and they looked like this:

larabar

Because the mixture is sticky we used a knife to loosen up the sides so they would “pop” out more easily. The second time we made these we used a tiny bread pan and got a more square shape:

Place on non-stick surface and put in fridge for about 30 minutes.

Paleo Homemade Larabar

You can wrap in saran wrap or store in air tight container. They will last longer in the fridge but since there isn’t anything that needed refrigeration from the beginning you don’t need to put them in the fridge if you know you’ll be consuming over the next couple of days…

Just to give you a little idea of the cost effectiveness of making your own Larabars, we spent a total of about $20 for all the supplies and will have made about 25 of these tasty morsels…

That equates to about $.80 each.

Much better than $2.39

~Now thats good eatin’ folks!

Preparation is KEY! (Babaganoush & Roasted Beet Carrot Bacon Soup)

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by TheHDD in informing the community, Paleo Recipes, recipes, Snack Food, Soups

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

beets, carrots, eggplant, good eatins, information, paleo, recipe, simple foods, soups, vegetables

We all know that some days it’s harder than others to spend time in your kitchen.

Long hours at work. Kids to shuttle from to and from one after school activity to another. Pets to walk, commutes to drive, finding time to break a sweat and trying spend a few quiet moments with the love of your life can leave very little time for opening cabinets, pulling out some pots and pans and whipping up a meal fit for a king…

We get it.

We also understand the importance of preparation for those days when you just can’t muster up the energy to do much of anything except throw yourself down on the couch, grab the remote and catch up on the latest episode of Big Bang Theory.

Granted, we’re lucky (at least that’s what we try to tell ourselves). Tara isn’t able to work legally yet as the paperwork sits on someone’s desk in Ottawa so there is *extra* time spent in the kitchen. But let’s not fool ourselves. Most of the meals we’ve posted here are made in under an hour and very little prep time except for making sure the meat is thawed in time to use and the knives are sharpened for practicing our knife skills.

Truth be told, we don’t always feel like cooking either. But we do like to be prepared.

Freezer full of goodness

This is our freezer full of soup.

We make soups in large batches so on those days we just can’t muster up the energy there is still something easy to grab instead of picking up the phone and ordering delivery.

We also usually have homemade babaganoush in the fridge to eat with veggies (or our one true addiction right now: Homemade pita chips from the Mediterranean grocery store down the street…we know, we know it’s not Paleo but we always preach a 95/5 ratio on our food foundation and holy crap those chips are amazing!)

Below are the recipes for babaganoush and Roasted Beet Carrot Bacon Soup. Make both and stock up your fridge/freezer so the next time you just don’t want to cook, you don’t have too!

Enjoy!

Babaganoush

Ingredients:

  • 2 Large Eggplants
  • Garlic – we used 4 cloves (add more or less depending on your tastes)
  • Juice from 1/2 Lemon
  • 2 tbsp Tahini
  • 3 tsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
  • 1 tsp Cumin

Preheat oven to 400F.

The players

To roast the eggplants, poke skin multiple times with fork then roast in oven for approximately 40 minutes. HINT: Every 10 minutes rotate eggplant so it roasts evenly on all 4 sides. After 40 minutes the eggplants should be nice and soft. Put in bowl of cold water to cool then peel skin from eggplant.

Dice eggplant and put in food processor or blender.

roasted eggplant

Add lemon, EVOO, cumin and tahini then pulse/blend until smooth.

Lemon EVOO

Cumin Tahini

This is best served cold so make sure it sits in the fridge for a bit before serving.

Babaganoush

Roasted Beet Carrot & Bacon Soup

Ingredients:

  • 6 – 8 Slices of Bacon
  • 3 – 4 Medium Beets
  • 6 – 8 Medium Carrots
  • 1 Onion
  • Garlic (we used 6 cloves)
  • 4 – 6 c of preferred liquid to cut soup (Chicken/Vegetable Broth, Almond Milk)
  • 2 – 3 Tbsp Minced Ginger
  • 1 – 2 tsp Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350F

The players

Wash beets and carrots and prepare for roasting. For the beets we washed then cut the skin off. For the carrots we just washed but left the skin. This is a personal preference. Toss in olive oil to lightly coat then roast in oven for approx 20 minutes.

Beets and Carrots!

After 20 minutes add onions/garlic and continue roasting until beets / carrots are soft (another 20 minutes or so).

beets, carrots, onions, garlic

While roasting cook bacon in frying pan until cooked to your preference, drain and set to the side. Warm your liquid in saucepan and add minced ginger.

Stock and ginger

When beets and carrots are roasted to perfection, in small batches blend with stock in food processor or blender. If you’re lucky and have a submersion blender you can just put everything together and blend to your desired texture.

ready to go!

To serve you can keep a few pieces of bacon out of soup and crumble on top or shred some carrot as topping. The color of the soup is pretty banging! So the carrot really pops.

Beet Carrot Bacon soup

The really cool thing about this soup is it’s pretty amazing served hot OR cold.

Now that’s good eatin’ folks!

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  • When in doubt…get the fuck in your kitchen (Paleo Chicken Carbonara)
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