Best Brownies

from the Hershey's 100th anniversary cookbook.

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup hershey's cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Bake at 350. Mix wet ingred first, then add dry. Put in 8x8 or 9x9 greased glass dish for 20-25 minutes. (I use 8x8 and it works great).

Note: I tried making this with 3/4 cup honey instead of sugar and it was totally ruined. It tasted weird and was cakey like I used applesauce instead of butter.
I've also made this gluten free/dairy free by using coconut oil instead of butter and bob's red mill gf flour blend for the flour. It was fantastic. I cooked it 20 minutes and it was at least as good as the original version.

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

http://kathdedon.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/homemade-honey-sweetened-vanilla-ice-cream/

My mother-in-law can't have sugar, so I like to make honey sweetened desserts when she comes for dinner. I made this one yesterday with my ice cream maker and it turned out well, except it had too much vanilla. I spilled some in when I measured the first teaspoon, but then put in less the 2nd teaspoon, so I'm not sure how much was in there. But next time I'd reduce to 1.5 tsp and see how it is.

Ketchup

I made some homemade ketchup that is fermented, based in a 3/4 recipe of this: http://nourishedkitchen.com/homemade-ketchup/ .  I would have used the recipe in Nourishing Traditions, but I didn't have fish sauce so went with the other.

I used maple syrup in the recipe. And I don't have raw apple cider vinegar, only regular, which is what I used.

I have used this twice. Once as a topping for meatloaf, which turned out very well. Meatloaf topping is nice when it is sweet, and I know some meatloaf toppings tell you to mix brown sugar with ketchup. I used straight homemade ketchup, and it was every bit as sweet.

The second time I used it was as regular dipping ketchup. And it was horrible! It is way too sweet. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but the maple syrup flavor made me sick due to how sweet it was. I definitely will not be using this for dipping, and probably won't make it again.

Mexican Chicken Lime Soup

http://marianutrition.blogspot.com/2011/10/mexican-chicken-lime-soup.html

This was really good. I also had sour cream with it. It was pretty spicy. I used 2 large chicken breasts, about 2 lbs. They were shredded.

Scotch Eggs

This is from a Paleo cookbook I recently purchased called Well Fed. Someone blogs about the recipe here: http://lowcarbcookery.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/scotch-eggs-from-well-fed/

Anyway, it is really good. I used almost all of a 3.75 oz bag of pork rinds. I probably coated them too thick, it is hard not to, so I was running out of the 2 oz and so crushed more. We each had one as the main course of dinner. It felt really fancy, and is a great way to have eggs be the star of the meal. David loved the pork rind. Non-paleo versions of this recipe on line use breadcrumbs instead of ground pork rind, but even if I had the choice I'm not sure i would use breadcrumbs after seeing how much David liked this.

Update: I am not loving the leftovers. It is too strong flavored for me. Maybe with another kind of meat or different seasonings, but as is it is not that appetizing to me. It would be better if the meat later was thinner, maybe with 3 oz ground meat per egg instead of 4.

Grain Free Porridge

Loosely based on http://www.thefitnessdish.com/?p=11957.

1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds
1 Tablespoon coconut flour
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil or grass-fed organic butter (put in at end)
1/3 of a very ripe large banana (or one whole small one), mashed/smashed

~ 1 cup whole milk

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (put in at end)

1 egg

cinnamon

few raisins and unsalted pepitas (good for texture, but optional)

So measure out first 3 ingredients into small saucepan. Add half the milk and stir on medium until it starts to cook. It will expand, but never really gets thick. Then add honey cinnamon, and banana. Add more milk, cooking a few more minutes. Beat egg separately and whisk into hot porridge. Don't let the heat be too high, this is making a sort of custard pudding by adding the egg. When it looks like the egg has thickened and cooked after a few minutes, you are done. Stir in butter, vanilla, raisins and pepitas.

Calamari Steaks

Based on http://www.food.com/recipe/calamari-steaks-81489. I tried to paleoize it by using almond flour and skipping bread crumbs. It was very strange. And dredging in almond flour never works very well. The calamari itself was really odd. I don't think I'll buy any again, even it if it is cheap like it was this week.

David did not eat any because he is very anti squid. So only I ate it. And the rating is mine.

Paleo Chocolate Cake in a mug

Yesterday was chocolate cake for breakfast day, and though we've had it on the calendar for many years have never actually managed to do it. Until yesterday.I made chocolate cake in a mug based on this: http://www.delightedmomma.com/2012/09/3-minute-chocolate-paleo-mug-cake.html

It was good. I halved the honey though, and I'm glad I did. It became drier with time, but was pretty good for a 3 minute paleo cake. It was the right sweetness for morning. Sweet, but not too sweet.

Green Bean Casserole from scratch

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/best-ever-green-bean-casserole-recipe/index.html

This was good, but I used arrowroot starch instead of flour and it made the onions stick together and bake strangely. It worked fine as a sauce thickener though. And I left out the panko. So that definitely brought this down a notch. David said it wasn't much better than the green beans plain, but I thought it was still fun and will try it again sometime, maybe without any flour coating the onions.

Quick Tiny Chocolate

1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted (or at least softened)
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp honey
a few pecans

Mix all except pecans until smooth, then stir in pecans. Use a very small dish. Put in freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Now you have a quick tiny chocolate.

Measurements are all approximate. I'm sure about the cocoa measurement, but everything else is a guess.

Serves 1!

Brussels Sprout Hash

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brussels-Sprout-Hash-with-Caramelized-Shallots-240411

David hates Brussels Sprouts. He said he would rate steamed brussels sprouts a 2. And he rated this dish a 3.5. So that is some progress. But as good as this was, it took forever to make (mostly because I didn't fully read the directions and didn't realize the extent of slicing involved. Also, I HATE peeling shallots. It takes forever and ever.

Next time I think I'll just do onions instead of shallots and chop the brussels sprouts really fast any which way and not do the careful cutting the way they want.

Sauerkraut

I used the fermented Sauerkraut recipe form the book Nourishing Traditions (which I totally dig), and it is reprinted here: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2008/02/homemade-sauerkraut.html

And I did make whey to use in this recipe and others as I describe in a post I'll make soon.

Anyway, the sauerkraut is yummy with pork or other meat/fish. We ate it with pork and it was great. I love the caraway seeds. David likes it too and he is a major sauerkraut fan (though he's never had fermented).
I chopped up one large head of cabbage (which yielded quite a lot) and ended up doubling the recipe to spread between two cans. You do need to pound the cabbage a bit as the recipe says. I used  my metal meat pounder.

Meatloaf with Liver

http://www.holisticsquid.com/nutrient-dense-meatloaf/

This was really good. I used 91/9 beef, pork sausage, and 1/4 lb liver (pureed), though I should have used more because I couldn't taste it at all. I'm glad I used leaner beef since there was plenty of fat in the sausage, and more might have been too rich.

I added some ketchup on top (lacto-fermented paleo for us) and some bacon (uncooked strips) on top. The bacon was a mistake since it didn't cook well, but the ketchup was a great addition.

Roasted Pork Loin

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-pork-loin/

This was really great. I had a 4 lb roast that was really thick, and it needed more like 1 and 3/4 hours to get to 150.  I also doubled the spices and it was really great. I wish I'd had people over to eat with us.

The wine sauce was a must as well, especially since we ate it with homemade sauerkraut (fermented) and the sauce gave the kraut a nice extra flavor.

Low-Carb Pizza Crust

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/pizza/r/deepdishpizza.htm

I made this as written but with only 4 eggs, based on recommendations in the comments. I also used shredded parmesan cheese for the entire cup mentioned in the recipe. I baked it 25 minutes and it was golden when I took it out. It turned out well. David said he liked it as well as the cauliflower, but the cauliflower was more crunchy. This was good, though you do need a fork for the middle pieces. The big plus was there was no cauliflower taste, if you want a change from it.

Also, this was not deep dish. It was pretty thin.