Tag: paleo

Egg-free Paleo Donuts

My gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free life doesn’t leave any wiggle room for an early morning run to the local donut shop. Well, technically I could “run” there and back for some exercise…but I still wouldn’t be able to eat any of the fare. C’est la vie.

At best, these are reminiscent of a cake donut. (The best of which I ever had was at the summit of Pike’s Peak in Colorado, on a family vacation in the mid-’90s.) As all Paleo-people know, you’ve got to let go of those childhood ideals of sugary, gluteny baked goods…because no matter how many Danielle Walker cookbooks you buy (and I have them all), you’re never going to replicate Krispy Kreme.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe. This happy accident came about when I was experimenting with a muffin recipe…just channeling my inner kitchen Bob Ross!

(Makes 6 donuts)

Dry ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
A pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt (or whatever you’ve got)

Wet ingredients:
2 tablespoons raw, organic, local honey
1.5ish tablespoons organic maple syrup (more or less depending on your sweet tooth)
3/4 cup almond milk (coconut milk will work, too)
1.5 tablespoons flax oil
1 gelatin egg (for a VEGAN version, make a chia egg instead of using gelatin)
—(1 tablespoon grassfed gelatin mixed with 55ml water – mix briskly with fork as soon as the gelatin hits the water, otherwise it will congeal into a gummy glob – let the mixture sit for 5ish minutes to gel before adding it to the other wet ingredients)
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350, grease your donut pan.
Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix all wet ingredients in another bowl. (I use my immersion blender with the whisk attachment.)
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon or spatula — don’t use your mixer here.
Divide evenly among six donut cups (or whatever the proper term is for donut pans).
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

(Disclaimer: The other side of your donuts won’t be puffy and magical — they’ll be flat because egg-free baked goods don’t rise well. Just turn it over and stare at the pretty side.)

You’re on your own with the icing. I asked Asher if he wanted chocolate or vanilla icing, and he insisted that he didn’t want any icing. What three-year-old doesn’t want icing?! Heartbreaking, I know.

Paleo Pasta Casserole

 
After this morning’s failed attempts (yes, plural) at egg-free paleo pancakes, I needed a win in the kitchen. I got one! For the past week, I’ve been ignoring the eggplant and spaghetti squash in the pantry, hoping they’d just jump in the oven and prepare themselves. While this dinner didn’t Mary-Poppins itself into existence, it is definitely something worth doing again. This particular recipe is meatless, but that can easily be changed. Grassfed ground beef would make this perfectly paleo, but as it stands, this recipe is technically vegan. If you are neither paleo nor vegan, grab some mozzarella and go crazy! 
 
Ingredients:
1 medium/large eggplant
1 medium/large spaghetti squash
3 cups of raw spinach (more or less, depending on your taste, I used more)
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce (or make your own)
1/4 cup (approx.) olive oil (divided between squash & eggplant)
2 tbsps. sea salt (more or less, depending on your taste)
 
Pots & Pans & Such:
1 cake pan
1 cookie sheet
1 casserole dish
1 murder knife (for the thick-skinned spaghetti squash)
1 kinder, gentler knife (for the soft-skinned eggplant)
cutting board, fork, and spoon
 
Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
 
Use part of the olive oil to grease a cake pan AND a cookie sheet (or something with sides to contain the oil). Sprinkle sea salt in the bottom of both pans. The cake pan will roast the spaghetti squash, and the cookie sheet will roast the eggplant. 
 
Grab your ginormous knife and hack into that spaghetti squash; cut it in half lengthwise. Place spaghetti squash halves face-down into the oiled (and salted) cake pan. Bake for 35 minutes.
 
Once the spaghetti squash is in the oven, rinse eggplant and cut into 3/4″ slices. Line the oiled (and salted) cookie sheet with your slices, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt…unless you’ve had enough sea salt. I really like Celtic sea salt. A lot. Place the cookie sheet in the oven, along with the spaghetti squash, and roast for 20(ish) minutes.
 
While the squash and eggplant are in the oven, chop up your spinach (save time and effort by skipping this step). Using a spoon, spread marinara sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish. If you’re feeling carnivorous, this would be the time to toss the ground beef in a skillet.
 
Once the timer goes off, remove the veggies from the oven. Use a spoon to remove the seeds from the spaghetti squash, then use a fork to pull apart the “meat” of the squash. Shred it up to look like noodles.
 
Put the roasted eggplant pieces on top of the marinara sauce, then sprinkle with spinach. Layer with spaghetti squash, marinara, and spinach (maybe meat and/or cheese if you’re a rebel) until everything is in the casserole dish. Place the full casserole dish in the oven for 10 minutes to warm the spinach.
 
Dig in and ENJOY!