Chocolate Avocado Cookies

These cookies may be one of the healthiest cookies you ever have!

They are fill with some of the best super foods! 

Like...

Avocados, Raw Honey, Almond Flour, Dark Chocolate, Almond Butter, Eggs, and Cacao Powder. 

That's it!

The Y.S. ECO Bee Farms Raw Honey is the best and certainly is "Liquid Gold!" It's very important to get good, clean, healthy, unrefined honey. Raw honey is unheated, unpasteurized, and unprocessed...which leaves the honey filled with is incredible vitamins, minerals, living enzymes, amino acids, and fatty acids!  Have you ever heard of honey being called natures anti-viral and antibiotic medicine?  My kids really like this raw honey, which I buy at any health food store like Wholefoods, Good Earth, Sprouts, Natural Grocer, Amazon, and Vitacost. Here it is at Amazon.

Blanched Almond Flour is great too. This brand is specifically great because I have found it works great for baking. Way way better than Bob Mills or other almond flours. Blanched means the nuts were soaked and the skins were taken off. Soaking or blanching nuts is the best way to get the most nutrients out of them. The skins contains phytates and for some people, especially with sensitive guts can be hard to digest and irritate the digestive tract. I buy this blanched almond flour at most costco's. It's a bit pricey. But such a great option.

A lot of people know dark chocolate is a superfood! Milk chocolate tastes a lot sweeter, but has lots and lots of sugar and ingredients that cancel out all the good stuff. Dark chocolate is filled with awesome minerals and antioxidants that do great things for your body like lower cholesterol, improve brain function, make skin healthy, and make you feel better! What more could you ask for?! So go for that healthy dark chocolate.

As for the Avocados did you know they contain more potassium than a banana?! They are filled with INCREDIBLY good healthy fats and they help rebuild the nervous system. Healthy fats are VITAL during pregnancy. The baby fetus NEEDS healthy fats to develop their central nervous system and brain. So important! And avocados are the best around! So enjoy them in these cookies and fresh on salads, in your guacamole, and so much more!! I love love avocados.

As for the almond butter and eggs...find and almond butter with one ingredient ALMONDS! You can make your own almond butter in your own food processor at home. You can also get fresh almond butter at most health food stores where you push a button and it is ground up and put into the container in your hand. 

For the eggs, I always buy organic eggs. I would recommend ALWAYS buying organic and/or pastured eggs from your local farmer. They know what's up when it comes to producing healthy and happy chickens to make the best eggs. 

So after blending everything up in your food processor scoop them up and drop them on a baking sheet and enjoy the smell of chocolate! 

Chocolate Avocado Cookies

By Family Life Goals

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces raw organic unsweetened chocolate melted in 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil
• 1/2 organic avocado
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted organic almond butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 organic egg and one organic egg white
• 2 tablespoons organic cocoa or cacao powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons organic almond flour

Directions

1. Puree the avocado until it is very smooth.

2. Add all of the other ingredients one at a time and blend together until the batter is smooth.

3. Let the batter chill in the fridge for one hour.

4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

5. Place the batter on a cooking sheet in the shape of your cookies. Place in the oven.

6. Bake for 15-17 minutes

7. Let cool for 5 minutes.

*The darker the chocolate like the one I used makes the cookies very rich. Also, I will add less cacao powder because it added to its richness. You can use any chocolate you prefer. Dark chocolate blend with some fruits or peppermint would be pretty awesome! You can also do another healthy sugar like maple syrup, coconut sugar, and unrefined molasses, even dates. 

Enjoy!

Almond Flour Zucchini Bread

Against All Grain has some amazing Paleo recipes!

This Almond Flour Zucchini Bread is something that I can enjoy, yay!

I have found baking with almond flour can be difficult because the inside is usually moist and soggy. Danielle from Against All Grains suggests that the type of Almond Flour you use matters greatly..."You may not think the type of almond flour you use matters, but you will notice a huge difference once you try it. You breads will rise better and you will no longer have slightly soggy muffins. The consistency is the closest to white flour grain-free can get!" She recommends using Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour. From my experiences now I agree. Thankfully, our Costco carries this brand. It was $17 for a 3lb bag but, now it's $19. 

This bread is also SCD, Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Definition from, www.scdlifestyle.com..."The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is a group of foods which are grain-free, sugar-free, starch-free, and unprocessed.  While removing many foods that are toxic and digestively harmful the diet remains natural, extremely nourishing and representative of what our ancestors ate." A diet which I'll be following more shortly in the future to improve the health of my digestive system.

AUTHOR: Danielle Walker - AgainstAllGrain.com
SERVES: 2 mini loaves

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup blanched almond flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 eggs, beaten
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup shredded, unpeeled zucchini

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Place the wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, then beat on medium for 1-2 minutes until frothy and fully combined. Add the zucchini and beat again just enough to incorporate.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients with the mixer running, until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated.
5. Spoon the batter into 2 mini loaf pans. You can also use this batter to make muffins.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the middle is set and a toothpick comes out clean.

*I can't have honey, so I use maple syrup or just a little more banana.

Yum!

Spaghetti w/ Zoodles

I love making my zucchini into "Zoodles"

It makes a great spaghetti

Just steam some veggies add your favorite spaghetti sauce

 Don't forget your favorite herbs and spices too

And whalla....

Enjoy!

 

Green Curry Basil Ono

I opened up my fridge to see what I had and I always says as long has you have veggies in the fridge and a plethora of spices and herbs the possibilities are endless!

I made up this dish for lunch quite quickly and it was so good!

I chopped up some garlic and onions.

I already had sliced green peppers in the fridge.

Added some S&P, Turmeric, dash of Cayenne

Sauteed/Steamed them.

Boiled my Shiratake Noodles (yam noodle).

Tossed in my leftover Ono (fish).

Added some green curry paste & Chicken Stock.

Added my noodles &

Fresh Thai Basil & Spearmint Leaves.

Let it simmer.

Drizzle Coconut Aminos over. 

(fermented coconut/soy sauce alt.)

"Zucchini Pesto Lasagna"

This recipe is found at Sandy's Allergy Free Recipes. 

I LOVE it! It's grain-free/dairy free/vegan.

Zucchini Pesto Lasagna with Cashew Cream (Gluten Free/ Dairy Free/ Vegan)

One batch of: Basil Pesto and a batch Cashew Cream (click on the links to get the recipe)

1 medium size zucchini- cut thin into ribbons

1 large onion- sliced

1 large size carrot- julienne

1 large pepper- sliced

1 Tbsp. coconut oil or olive oil

1 tsp. dried basil

In a medium frying pan, add oil, onion, carrot, and pepper. Saute for approximately ten minutes on medium low heat, stirring frequently. Stir in dried basil and take pan off heat when vegetables are soft.

To assemble lasagna use a 9″ by 13″ baking dish.

Start with 1-2 tablespoons of prepared pesto spread all over the bottom of the dish.

Then a single layer or zucchini ribbons.

Followed by 1/3 of sauteed vegetables.

Then 1/3 of your cashew cream.

And 1/3 of your pesto. Repeat each step two more times, ending with pesto.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until zucchini is fork tender, but not mushy.

***I changed mine up a bit by not adding the pepper or frying the veggies. I also added some other veggies to my liking. Instead, of frying my garlic/onions/carrot I steamed them in a little bit of water topped with a lid for 10 minutes. I also didn't use cashews for the cream, I only had macadamia nuts in my fridge. 

Here is how I assembled everything...

I used my Titan peeler to thinly slice the zucchini, which acts as the noodle, chopped my garlic and onions, and used my other titan peeler to julienne the carrots. Added a layer of Basil Pesto that I made in my Vita-mix to the bottom of your baking dish, then a layer of zucchini noodle, topped with the steamed garlic/onion/carrots, then layered with my creamy macadamia sauce that I also made in my Vita-mix, as well as the basil pesto sauce, next a layer of kale, followed by zucchini noodles. Repeat to the end. Then at the very top I spread my sliced Early Girl Tomatoes all over.

Enjoy with a green salad. 

This lasagna is super good!

Epecially on the 2nd day after all the flavors soak in.

Yum :)

Pizza & Cheezcake

 I absolutely love all the health foodie places here on the island! Maui Kombucha has some incredible kombocha and raw food creations. I was very curious about how this "Raw Pizza" would taste and oh my goodness it was so tasty!

 Nut and seed crust

Raw means it's still alive...no cooking. Also, it was vegan...no diary, no meat. And gluten/grain-free. Just what I needed!

Can't beat the goodness of raw pies!