Hello one and all!
   I'm sitting drinking my coffee and eating a piece of warm, chocolate chunk banana bread. I had a serious problem that consisted of me having one million over-ripe bananas in my freezer, threatening to start a revolt and take over my whole kitchen! O.k, well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but only slightly. 
   The truth is that I did have way too many bananas in my freezer, and I needed a banana something recipe to use some of them up. Preferably a large number of them! I have a paleo banana bread recipe already here, but it only calls for 1 cup of mashed banana, and that wasn't going to do! 
   Then I found the Civilized Caveman Cooking and his banana bread recipe and I was sold! 2 1/2 cups mashed banana? Hot dog, we have a wiener! Yikes, that looks more strange typed out than when I just say it out loud. No matter, enjoy the recipe!  Oh, I added chocolate chunks to it too, because, well, do I even need to explain why? 

Paleo Banana Chocolate Chunk Bread
From the Civilized Caveman Cooking. Find his recipe here


Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 Cups mashed, overripe bananas (about 4-6 bananas, depending on their size)
• 4 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Almond butter
• 1/4 Cup coconut oil
• 1/2 Cup coconut flour
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• 1 Tsp baking powder
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• Pinch o' salt
• 4 Oz dark, unsweetened chocolate, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, and lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan and line with parchment, leaving "handles" so you can pull the loaf out when it's done. 
2. In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract and nut butter until harmoniously combined
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Add the dry to the wet ingredients, and mix 'er up well. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. You may want to start checking the bread at around 50 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, but the middle isn't cooked, cover the loaf with tin foil and continue baking, checking it every 5 minutes, until it is baked through.
6. Once it's done, remove the loaf from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Once cool-ish (after about half an hour),  use your handles to pull the loaf out of the pan, then let it cool further on the cooling rack before slicing.

   I have made this loaf a few times, and to store it I cut it up, then stick it into an airtight container and put it into the freezer. My favourite way to eat it out of the freezer is to put it into the oven for 15 minutes or so (just on the rack, not on a baking sheet or anything), and let the outside get crisp while the inside get warm. Yumm-o.
   Anyway, I hope you all have a great Wednesday! I hope to bake and bake and bake today! That's the plan, at least. I need to get a workout in too, as well as do my usual things like tidying/cleaning, making dinner for the fam, and doing the chores at the barn. The whole day is in front of me, and I'm ready to go! Well, after one more cup of coffee.      

   I like going to our little local grocery store because they always have things marked down 50%. It's always for different reasons, but the reason matters not to me! I just love a discount! :)  
   A while back (I'm talking in the summer) they had Pillsbury Raspberry Turnovers on 50% off. I have literally never bought these before in my whole life, but at 50% off, I was interested enough to try!
   I stuck the boxes in my freezer, and waited for a time I wanted to make a breakfast for guests, or just for fun on a treat day. 
   When I finally decided to make them, I realized I actually didn't want to make them as turnovers, but would rather have a nice bun, like a cinnamon bun....minus the cinnamon, obviously.
   So, that's what I did. I made me some raspberry rolls, and (despite me not actually enjoying baked  fruit desserts) these turned out really nice, and somehow seemed nicer than a turnover, but that might just be something I'm telling myself because I want to believe it. These kept well too, sitting on the counter for 2 days, and tasting yummy up to the last day.    

Raspberry Rolls

Ingredients:

• 3 Boxes Raspberry Turnovers

Method: 

1. Line a 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350Degrees. You could do less boxes of the turnovers and make them in a pie plate instead, but the baking time will vary.
2. Follow the package directions to open and unroll the turnover pastry. You will want to do this on a lightly floured surface.
3. Gently seal together the seams so that you have one big rectangle of dough.  
4. Spread the raspberry filling onto the dough, leaving a 2 inch empty space at one of the wide sides of the dough.
5. Roll the dough up from the wide side (if you roll from the short side your roll will have too many layer and will never cook!) starting at the end with the filling that goes all the way, and finishing at the end where you left the 2 inch filling gap. 
6. Cut this long roll into 2 inch pieces, and place evenly into the prepared baking dish. 
7. Bake for 50-55 minutes and check to see how dark the edges are getting. If they are well browned, but the centre still looks "doughy", then gently cover in tin foil and continue to bake, checking every 5 minutes to see if the centre has cooked, up to 65-70 minutes.
8. Once cooked through, remove from  oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before squeezing the provided icing over the buns.

  I realize this is NOT a real recipe, only an idea for something you can do with something already made for you. I fully intend on making these again, only I will try with a homemade dough and a pure raspberry jam. I'll let you know how that real recipe goes. Pinky swear. 

   So, that's all for today.
   I've been more on and off with posting because we've have an irritating Apple bug that causes desktop Macs to not be able to connect to the internet via WiFi. So, all my photos are on the desktop, and even if I worked on a draft on the laptop I would't have any photos to use because I can't access them because the iCloud won't work properly...blah blah, blah. Anyway, my brilliant husband got a long Cat-5 cable (ethernet), and hooked our computer up to our router so that I have internet again! However, the cable (though it is long) isn't quite long enough and I have to drag the computer desk away from the wall and on a wacky angle to get the cord to reach! I'm o.k. with this though! Apple really should fix this bug, but in the meanwhile we have figured a way around it! 
   So, apologies for being absent, but I'm still here! :)  
   Happy Wednesday! 

   Alright, so, eating paleo means you cut out things like sugar, dairy and beans, but another thing you cut out is grains. I really didn't care much about that last one because I've never really been a huge grain lover. Well, I loooves me some grilled cheese, but that's not just regular toast or a sandwich; it exists all by itself as a delectable food, so, yup. 
   Anyway, not having bread and buns, etc., didn't bother me. But one day I had made some fantastic soup and thought, "....gee, something to dip into this would sure be swell" (o.k., maybe I didn't talk like that, but it makes a better story). So because the soup was ready before it was actually dinnertime I started to experiment. 
   Truth time: my first 2 attempts at some sort of "roll" were terrible. I threw them into our "chicken bowl" (aka-our compost-aka-what we feed our chickens!). :)  
   But, the second bun was better than the first, so I thought third time could be the charm, and it was! Oh it was!!! It was soft, but could hold it's own, and was just what my soup needed! So many exclamation marks in this post!!! Sorry!!!!! haha...oh man...
   I still don't crave bread and buns, but having a recipe to use when you do want it is awesome! I felt like eating a burger with my hands and not completely bun-free with a knife and fork, so I whipped a double batch of bun and it made my (grumpy, pre-period) day! Over share? My bad.   

The Amazing Paleo Bun

Ingredients: 

(This makes one bun with 1/2 inch pieces when sliced in half. Double recipe for a thicker bun as I did in the photos). I like a double bun for a burger, but just a single bun if I want something to dip into soup. :) 

• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
  
• 1 tablespoon almond flour
  
• Pinch salt
  

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1 tablespoon oil (melted coconut, olive oil or melted butter or ghee)
  
• 1 egg
• 1/2 Tbsp seasoning-Optional: if you're making this to toast for breakfast or just as a snack, add some cinnamon or nutmeg. Or, if making as a hamburger or sandwich bun, add some powdered garlic, onion, paprika, a spice blend, you get the idea.

Method:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Add the egg and oil, and mix 'er up!
3. Spray a 6 ounce ramekin with cooking spray (or with coconut oil using your fingers).
4. Pour the batter into the ramekin and microwave for 90 seconds. When I made 2 buns I just flipped the first bun out of the ramekin onto a cooling rack and re-used it to make the second bun. 
5. Um....there's really nothing else to do now but eat the bun! 

   The picture above shows how these buns are soft and flexible, and not crumbly and weird! 

   Well, I'm off! I'm feeling kinda lazy, but laziness is not an option today, unfortunately! (thumbs down). 
    I hope everyone has a good weekend!

xo

   I've got another recipe today featuring zucchini from my neighbours garden! :)  
   Chocolate zucchini muffins are nothing new, so if you're thinking, "eeewwwwww", you suck, and you've never tried it. You're just guessing it's gross because we treat zucchini as a vegetable, but in reality (botanically) it's  fruit. I know. Bonkers. So, what I'm saying is, if you're in doubt, think of this more as a chocolate and (insert another fruits' name here) muffin. 
   O.k? Let's get to it then!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 Cups almond meal
• 3/4 Cup tapioca flour/starch
• 3/4 Cup coconut flour
• 1/2 Cup cocoa
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Baking soda
• 5 Eggs
• ⅓ Cup honey or maple syrup
• ⅓ Cup milk (any kind'll do)
• 1/4 Cup melted coconut oil
• 1 1/2 Cups shredded zucchini
• 2 Ounces chopped unsweetened chocolate

Method: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees, and line a muffin tray with liners, or spray with cooking spray
2. Stir together all the dry ingredients in a bowl, and make a well in the centre 
   
3. Stir together the wet ingredients (including the shredded zucchini, but not the chopped chocolate...which isn't wet anyway...) in a separate bowl, then pour the mixture into the well of the dry ingredients
   
4. Use a wooden spoon to stir together the wet and dry ingredients just until they are combined
   
5. Add the chopped chocolate, and gently stir to combine
6. Scoop the muffin batter into the prepared cups, filling about ⅔ of the way up.
7. Bake for 17-22 minutes. Test for doneness at the 17 minute mark (by inserting a toothpick or knife in the centre of a muffin to see that it comes out clean), if it's not quite finished, bake longer, adding a minute or two more at a time. 
8. Once finished, remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes before pulling out of the pan and cooling on a rack.
9. Store un-eaten muffins in an airtight container in the fridge, or freeze. 

   I think I'm not getting enough (or good enough) sleep lately. I usually can sit down at the computer and write away, but a few times over the last few weeks I just sit here....staring.........then, I suddenly I snap out of it, and think, "was I thinking of something important? I can't remember, I'll sit here and think for a minute......"(staring).....I think you get the idea. 
   So, on that note.........

   Good morning to you. First of all, I'm from Canada, and that is indeed how we spell flavour here! O.k, I'm glad that's out of the way!
   We got back last night from a weekend away with just enough time to pack lunches, put away things from our travels, have a cup of tea and watch an episode of Bones. 
   The wedding we went to this weekend was such a refreshing event; not too traditional, but still beautiful and, most importantly, really reflected the people who were getting married and their tastes and true personalities. 
   At the reception they had a proper Irish céilí....which is basically like square dancing, except not always in a square...I don't know quite how to describe it except to say it was riotous and celtic, and great fun. So much fun.
   Anyway, let's talk about creamer. Store bought coffee cream should make you gag a bit when you read the ingredients...and if it doesn't make you gag a bit you need food therapy of some sort. Corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils should not be in coffee cream. They really shouldn't be in any food at all, but that's a whole different story. 
   So, my flavoured cream is truly a whole food idea, and it can be customized with whatever milk option you can drink, and to many, many flavours. 
    Get ready to be amazed.... :)  

Healthy Flavoured Creamer

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup cream, milk, or milk alternative (coconut, almond, soy, rice, etc.)
• 3-4 Tbsp loose leaf tea. You can also use a pre-made tea bag. 


(Make more or less depending on how much creamer you would generally use within a week)

Method:

1. Place your milk and loose leaf tea into a heavy bottomed saucepan, and gently stir to combine-read step 6 before adding the tea to the milk!
2. Turn the heat to medium, and bring the cream/milk/milk alternative to a gentle boil 
3. Turn the heat down slightly, and allow the mixture to simmer
4. Leave it like this (stirring every so often) for 10-20 minutes depending on how strong you want the flavour. I like it to be strong, and generally leave it for 20 minutes
5. Remove pot from heat, and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes.
6. Using a tea strainer, pour the milk into a container while leaving the loose tea caught in the strainer. Alternately, you could have put your loose leaf tea into a tea ball, or one of those tea bags that you stuff yourself. If you are still thinking...."um...I have none of those things....", then take a coffee filter, put your tea in there, and tie it up tight with kitchen twine, and, voila! A tea bag! I know, it's brilliant. Obviously these options need to happen at the beginning when your adding the tea to the milk.
7. Cool the mixture a few minutes more before putting it into the fridge (or use it hot right away in your coffee!)
8. Store the creamer in the fridge for a week at most. 

Some tips: You can add a few drops of honey or maple syrup to the steeping milk if you want it a little sweeter, you can also add extras like cinnamon, a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, or a pinch of cocoa powder. Perhaps don't add all those at once, but make some flavour combos that you think might work!  

   Can I just say that if you don't like cream in your coffee, you can make flavoured milk for your tea, or you can use a fruity tea to steeped with a milk alternative as a strait-up drink. I made the kids "strawberry milk" (almond milk steeped with strawberry tea), and they loooooved it! I have also steeped chai tea in my milk for a proper-ish chai tea latte.

   Well, dear people, that's all I have to say for now! I hope everyone has a fine monday!

   Alright, so I usually dislike baked fruit desserts. A lot. I think it's because the idea of eating hot squishy fruit is just not appealing, especially given the alternative-chocolate!!! Just sayin'. 
   But, this peach season here in Ontario, I've got the hot peach bug. Oh yeah, it's a real thing. It's this thing where you dream of all the ways you can make peaces into baked desserts for yourself. And I say "dessert" lightly because I have mostly been making these peach creations for my lunch.
   Anyway, this recipe is one of 4 that I have recently been  mucking around with, and I hope you get a chance to make it! This is not too sweet, but is just full of fantastic flavour. 

Paleo Peach Crumble

Ingredients

• 3 Ripe peaces, washed & sliced 
• 1 Tbsp tapioca flour (feel free to use regular flour, of just gluten free flour if you're not paleo)
• 2 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Allspice, if you have it

Topping:

• 6 Tbsp almond flour
• 3 Tbsp shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 Cup chopped nuts. I've used any and every kind, including a mix  of different nuts at once.
• Generous pinch of sea salt
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp Coconut oil, cool 

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven or bbq to 400 Degrees. In a medium bowl, gently toss the sliced peaces with the tapioca, honey, cinnamon and allspice.
2. In a separate smaller bowl, toss the almond meal, coconut, chopped nuts salt and cinnamon together. 
3. Add the cool coconut oil, and work it in with your hands, pinching the coconut oil, and taking handfuls of the mixture and rubbing it through your hands until you've made a bowl full of crumbs. If it's roasting hot in your house, do this job with a fork, two knives or a pastry cutter so you don't melt the coconut oil.
4. Dump the peach mixture into either four 8 ounce ramekins, two 16 ounce ramekins, or an 8x8 baking pan.
5. Sprinkle the topping over the peaches, and place into pre-heated oven until the top is golden, and the peaches are bubbling hot. For the 8 ounce ramekins, it should take about 15 minutes, for the 16 ounce ramekins it'll take about 25 minutes, and the 8x8 baking dish should be ready in around 30-35 minutes. 
6. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before eating. 

   Friday is here, and I hope everyone had a great week! We're off to a wedding down in Hamilton, and we're pretty excited about it! So, I hope whatever your plans are for the weekend (including if you have to work) that you  make it a good one.
   Amy-Lyn oouuut. 
   I'm a geek.  

   Good morning one and all. 
   Does anyone else have blue jays at their house? I have them here in abundance, and I really like to watch them fight over our bird feeders that hang here and there on our porch and in the trees.
   They squawk and fight, and dive and make a big show out of getting some seeds. They are noisy, they wake up the whole house, they've knocked down a few of my feeders, but I still really like having them here! They're pretty, and don't we (honestly) excuse more from pretty things? A rose with it's thorns, a bratty but beautiful child, Ikea furniture with it's crazy instructions and sometimes poor quality? You know it's true. 
   Anywho, onto muffin talk. I made these muffins for a breakfast with family over, and they were well received. My Dad said something like, "Uh huh", when I said, "these are paleo muffins Dad. They don't have any wheat, dairy, or sugar". But, let me tell you, a "uh huh" from my Dad (and the fact that he ate a few muffins...) means they passed some sort of test. :)  
   I've made them a few times, and even my kids like them. In fact, they enjoyed a few fresh ones as an after school snack yesterday. Nothing like a warm, good-for-you, but comfort food-ish snack to make a kid sit down and talk about their day a little. I did get a "uh huh" from one of my kids when I asked if they had a good day, but I'm starting to think (or hope) that this is just a reaction people have while eating these muffins because they are so delighted and taken by them that all their happy brains can say is, "uh huh"? Maybe? 
   Well, they are enjoyable, none the less!
   Uh huh.     

Paleo Lemon 
Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Lexi's Clean Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 3 tbsp tapioca starch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 Cup honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (but not hot)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (the juice from one fresh lemon)
• Zest from one lemon (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350, and prepare a muffin tray with liners.
2. In a small bowl mix together the wet ingredients and set aside. 
3. In a larger bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, making sure it's well blended
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix to combine
5. Fold in blueberries
6. Scoop (I use my 2 tbsp scoop, and have to use 2 scoops per muffin) or pour the batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the top.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the muffins have puffed, and the tops have a nice colour (or until a toothpick comes out clean).

   Well, alrighty. I hope this Wednesday is a good one! It really feels more like a Tuesday to me because Monday was the holiday, Tuesday they started school, so my inner calendar is just messed up. No matter, I shall make due. 

   Even though this hasn't been the coldest summer, I've still been using our bbq for anything and everything. Seriously, even if it's raining I will still use the bbq just out of stubbornness because it is the summer, and summer is for using the bbq, darn it! 
   Anyway, onto this 'pie'. It's really not a pie at all except that I made it in a pie plate. You really could make it in a casserole dish if you wanted, but that's totally up to you and if you prefer to eat food in a square or a triangle!

Spinach & Bacon Hamburger Pie

Ingredients:

• 6-7 Pieces of bacon, cooked and diced
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 Tbsp each: garlic powder, paprika, dried mustard, and dried onion
  
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 Tbsp Franks Original Hot Sauce (or tomato paste)
• 1 Egg
  
• 2 Tbsp flax meal (or you could use almond meal. You could also use regular flour, if you're not paleo)
  
• 1 Cup spinach, thawed and drained, or fresh and well packed
  

As a "topping":

• 2 Eggs 
• 3 Tbsp milk (coconut, almond, or cows)

Method:

1. Heat bbq or oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray or use your fingers to rub some olive or coconut oil around.
2. In a large skillet, start to cook beef over medium heat.
3. As the meat is cooking, and all the spices. Work the seasonings into the meat as it browns and you finish cooking it.
4. Remove meat from the heat when it's fully cooked, and stir in the Franks (or tomato paste), egg, the meal (whichever kind you choose), the spinach, and the diced bacon. Scoop this mixture into your prepared pie plate.
5. In a small bowl, whisk the 2 eggs and milk until blended. Pour over the meat mixture in the pie plate.
6. Bake about 25-30 minutes or until it doesn't jiggle, and a knife inserted in center comes out clean
7. Let sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving

   It really is a pretty simple meal to make. I generally make 2 pies, because we can eat almost one whole pie for dinner, and then I slice the second pie and put it into he fridge because it makes great leftovers for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 
   Also, f.y.i., you can do all the prep on this ahead of time, then wrap it up tight and put it into the fridge until you're ready to put it into the oven or bbq. If you do this though, you'll need to put the pie into the bbq (or oven) as it warms because if you stick your cold glass pie plate into a hot anything it'll likely break! That would suck! So, you would just need to watch the cooking time a bit. 

   Well, that's it meat lovers! 
   I hope everyone has a great day!!! 

   One needs to get creative when they have hens that are great layers! I love having eggs at hand whenever I need them for a recipe, or to give away as a super random, hillbilly-style gift to bring to someone, but at some point you just need something 'different' (well, different, but still using eggs!)!
   This is made with sweet potato, but can easily be made with regular potato, and there is no milk products in here either, so you can add cheese or milk or cream if you wanna. 

   The last time I made this, I actually did half the pan with the recipe (and ingredients) above, and the other half with regular potatoes and cheese in the layers. The kids and my husband thought it was super tasty with the addition of cheese, and using regular potatoes.
   So, make it how you would like, and enjoy it!    

   These pancakes are a marvel! Gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, but really so good.
   When I first heard of them I thought, "yuk, sounds like a banana omelette!", but because I am me, I had to try them, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. Indeed indeed. 

2 Ingredient Pancakes

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder (optional, and obviously makes these not 2 ingredient anymore!) This just gives the pancakes a bit more poof (or puff, whichever you want to call it)
• A touch of oil or butter (for the pan)
  
• You can also add some cinnamon or vanilla if you want (again, making these not 2 ingredient anymore!)

Method:
 

1. Heat a skillet to medium high heat
2. In a small bowl mash the banana up with a fork.
   
3. Add the egg, and mix them well together (if you use some baking powder, add it now, and make sure it blends in really well!)
4. When the pan is hot, add roughly half of a 1/4 cup (about 2 tablespoons) of batter per pancake (don't overcrowd your pan), and when the bottom has set (that should only take 1 minute at the longest) flip 'em over and cook for another minute (or less)!

   So, this may gross some of you out, but the day I made these to take pics for the blog, some McDonalds coupons showed up in the mail. I saw a picture for their McGriddle (basically a pancake with syrup right in it, made into a breakfast sandwich), and it gave me fond memories. When I was pregnant with my first, I loved those darned nasty things!!! 
   Anyway, seeing the picture made me go, "...mmm, I kinda want something like that....but not really". During the week I eat 'clean'; just fruits and veggies, meats, nuts and seeds. But I thought, ya know, I'm going to try these pancakes as "bread" for a breakfast sandwich (well, I ate it for dinner...). All that to say that I made it, I ate it, I loved it! I added a splash of Franks Red Hot, and it was deee-lish! I didn't have any tomatoes (booo), but the egg, bacon, and lettuce were scrumptious! 

   So, that's all I've got to say about the 2 ingredient pancake! Oh wait, that's not true! These are great as leftovers (in an airtight container in the fridge), and make a great snack cold with some nut butter spread on 'em. 
   O.k, now I'm done!