Add chocolate chips, nuts, shredded coconut, fresh fruit; whatever your heart desires. Or just leave them plain and top with some grassfed butter.

Keep the heat to medium-low when frying up these babies, to ensure they cook through and don’t burn.

Feel free to share this image with anyone you think could use more simple recipes in their life!

I was good at sharing.

Before going mostly paleo, I LOVED cereal and always had several varieties in the pantry. I’ve never been into the sweet stuff, I can thank my Mom and my Cheerios habit for that. But I have always loved cereal as a snack, especially an after dinner one.

Since going mostly paleo, cereal has sadly vanished from my life. I know it’s for the best, since cereal has little to no nutritional value. And I’m glad that I no longer consider it a staple food item. We’re better off without it. Once in a while though, it’s a fun snack, and the homemade stuff is really a whole different thing than what you’ll find in a cardboard box. And of course this version is grain-free and made with just a handful of ingredients. 

This recipe is great as both a slightly sweet cereal or as cinnamon graham crackers. If you want it even less sweet than it is, just reduce the amount of maple syrup or sprinkle less coconut sugar on top.

Sweet Cinnamon Cereal

1 egg
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 T coconut oil, melted
1.5 cups almond flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch (or flour)
1 teaspoon coconut sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350˚
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, maple syrup and melted coconut oil
3. Add the tapioca starch and almond flour and stir to combine. 
4. Give the dough a couple of kneads so it’s well incorporated.
5. Turn the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and flatten a bit with your hands.
6. Place another piece of parchment on top and roll out with a rolling pin until it’s about 1/8 inch thick.
7. Remove the top piece of parchment and cut the dough into 1/4 inch squares for cereal, and about 4″x3″ for graham crackers. (You’re cutting lines, but not actually separating the dough, so it’s more like scoring than cutting.)
8. In a small bowl, combine the coconut sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle the dough with the mixture.
9. Slide the dough with the bottom parchment paper onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Turn down the oven to 325˚ and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cereal / crackers are crisp.
11. Allow to cool (walking away is highly recommended) and break apart at the score marks.

His birthday is a week from today, and it’s the big 4-0. I’ve made his birthday cake for the past 4 or 5 years, but haven’t had a tried and true recipe, so they’ve been different every year. The first year was a gluten-bomb, since I hadn’t yet eliminated the stuff from my life. 2012 was Elana’s recipe (with some substitutions for agave and grapeseed oil), and it was delicious. The years in between were likely some kind of transition from gluten bomb to grain-free. This year I decided to develop my own recipe with the grain-free flour combo I’ve come to love so much.

You might notice the lack of nuts and raisins in this cake. It’s not an accident. There are only a few things that upset Simon; nuts and raisins in his baked goods is one of them. He’s a lot like this little girl (okay, just about the raisins, he doesn’t wear polka dots):

Feel free to add them if you’d like. You might also notice that the frosting is not even close to being paleo. It’s frosting. There are lots of recipes for “cream cheese” frosting that use nuts or coconut in place of the cream cheese. But the main reason Simon likes carrot cake is the frosting, so I’m happy to make it legit for my Shmoopers. If you’d prefer to make a more paleo frosting (oxymoron alert) a quick google search will surely return lots of good results.

all of the ingredients

Carrot Cake

2 cups almond flour
3/4 cup arrowroot powder
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon cardomom
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 eggs, preferably pastured
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted, plus more for greasing pans
3 cups (packed) grated carrots (about 6 medium carrots)

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease 2 9 inch pans with coconut oil
2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk, or sift if you’d prefer. (almond flour through baking soda)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and add the maple syrup and melted coconut oil. Mix well and then stir in the carrots.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 24- 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.

   For cupcakes: Line a muffin tin with parchment liners and fill each one just about to the top. Bake for 22-26 minutes. 

I’m a horrible frosting maker.

There, you’ve been warned. If you’re confused as to why it’s on this blog, let me direct you to this post, explaining my food philosophy. And I promise that this is not a staple food in our lives, and I’m fine with consuming it once a year. (Okay, twice because I have to recipe test it before I can post the recipe)

The cane sugar that has been in my pantry has been there since we stopped putting it on our coffee back when we did the 21 Day Sugar Detox in December. I couldn’t stand to use actual confectioners sugar; so I did a little experiment and it worked: Organic, slightly less processed, unbleached sugar in a coffee grinder. Voila! powdered sugar.

And just to add insult to injury, I have to recommend that you use a cream cheese that has a stabilizer in it; I go with old school Philadelphia, even though I cringe at buying non organic dairy (once a year, deep breaths…)  I once tried it with an organic variety that didn’t have some kind of gum, and it separated, leaving me with a pool of liquid in the bottom of my mixer. Total bummer. Not to say that organic cream cheese won’t work, it probably will as long as it has the right stuff in it. I’m just scarred from my last attempt, and go with what works.

(almost) all of the ingredients

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

12 ounces softened cream cheese
6 ounces softened butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
pinch salt

1. Grind sugar in a coffee grinder until it’s a fine powder. You’ll have to do this in 2-3 batches.
2. Stir in the arrowroot.
3. Place the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl and beat on high for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl 2-3 times. 
4. Gradually add the sugar and arrowroot mixture and beat another few minutes until fluffy.
5. Add the maple syrup, vanilla and a pinch of salt and continue beating until well incorporated.

I know that as someone who is mostly paleo, I should be eating dinner for breakfast. I should abandon the notion that breakfast food should look different than the foods we eat for the rest of our meals. We are, after all, the only species who does that. It’s silly. I know.

But I’m not always in the mood for dinner for breakfast. And guess what happens if nothing in the house looks appetizing and I have to run out? That’s right; I don’t eat. And then I get hungry, and can’t find anything acceptable to eat, and then before I know it, it’s migraine city. Bad news.

I love the idea of the Morning Glory muffin for those days that eggs and bacon isn’t happening, and leftover beef stew doesn’t sound quite right at 7am. When I started looking at recipes to get a basic idea of what went into this iconic breakfast muffin, it occurred to me that while I like the idea of it, I don’t actually like it. We have a strict no raisins in baked goods rule in this house, and there’s no way I’m posting a recipe that features apples in April. It’s pretty much the opposite of apple season. That ruled out two of the essential ingredients, so I was on to something else. I decided to go tropical, while keeping the carrots that go into a traditional Morning Glory muffin.

These muffins are barely sweet, and are loaded with good fats and protein, so they’ll keep you going. Just promise me you’ll eat a well balanced lunch.

(almost) all of the ingredients

Tropical Breakfast Muffins

1.5 cups almond flour
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, plus more for the tops, if desired
1/2 cup chopped pecans, plus more for the tops, if desired
1 tablespoon orange zest (about 1 small orange)
1/2 cup very ripe mashed banana
1/2 cup grated carrots (about 2 small carrots)
1/2 cup minced pineapple (fresh is best, canned is okay)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with parchment liners.
2. Place the chopped pecans and coconut on a baking sheet and toast for about 5 minutes, until just golden.
3. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients; almond flour through pecans. Stir to combine.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients; orange zest through maple syrup.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine
6. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Top with additional coconut and pecans, if desired.
7. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they bounce back when you lightly push the top.
8. Allow to cool on a wire rack before eating.

First, let me just say that I think it is an excellent program, and I think that everyone should do it at least once, and ideally several times a year. Many people do a Whole 30 and it turns into a Whole Forever; they go strict paleo and never look back. That is awesome, and I tip my hat to those who do.

As for us, we had every intention of finishing what we started and making April a month of clean(er) eating and no drinking. Just like when we did The 21 Day Sugar Detox, we felt good about the fact that we were taking on the challenge together. The first week, I filled our fridge with food,  and we were ready to rock the Whole 30.

We made it 19 days.

I’m not going to make any excuses about why we stopped. We just kind of did. I don’t think you should follow our example, but I do think you should always go with your gut in regards to your health and happiness. For those of you who don’t eat with us on a regular basis (which is just about all of you), Simon and I eat really clean in general. Our house is 100% gluten-free. We buy a week’s worth of grass fed meat, pastured eggs, and organic fruits and vegetables at the farmers market every week. We (pft; I) cook at home for 99% of the meals we eat. Maybe 99.7%. Our “cheats” are heavy cream, grain-free baked goods, sushi rolls, and a drink now and then. Once in a while I’ll eat something totally off the rails like a gluten-free dessert that one of my baker friends made. That’s us. I’m happy with that. We will do this again, and finish it, and we will do more sugar detoxes too. But for now, we’ll stick with our happy healthy lifestyle that includes a little dairy, almond flour muffins, and tequila. None of this is meant to read as an excuse, I just feel the need to give you some background on us. And if you’re about to leave a nasty comment about how we failed at being paleo, please allow me to refer you to this article, which while not written by me, sums up my feelings on the matter quite nicely.

All of this has nothing to do with the recipe in this post, except for the fact that Simon developed an uncanny addiction to pineapple during his Whole 19. So when I decided to make tacos the other night, it only made sense to make pineapple salsa.

all of the ingredients

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

1 ripe pineapple
1/2 an onion (2 thick round slices)
1 large jalapeño
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lime juice

1. Fire up your grill to medium-high.
2. Trim the pineapple: Lay the pineapple on it’s side and cut off the top and bottom. Stand it up on one end and cut downward, along the contour of the pineapple, removing the skin but leaving as much flesh as possible. Keeping it in this position, continue to cut off 1/2-3/4 inch slabs of fruit. They don’t have to be even, you’ll be dicing after they’re grilled.
3. Peel the onion and cut 2 thick slices out of the middle. (in the same direction you would cut off the top and bottom) Leave the rings intact. If you have a skewer handy, use it to hold the rings together to make for easier grilling; this way you won’t lose any onion through the grates.
4. Oil the grates of your grill, if necessary. (this is one of those times that there is no such thing as an oil that won’t smoke; it’s sort of the nature of grilling. I use coconut, and keep my grill as clean as possible so that I hardly have to oil it.) Place your pineapple slabs and onions on the grill and let them get nice and brown. It’s tough to give you an exact time here, because each grill is pretty different… Once they’ve got some good grill marks, flip them and repeat on the other side.
5. Remove the pineapple and onion to a plate and allow to cool until you can safely handle them.
6. Meanwhile, dice your cilantro and mince your jalapeño. Remove the seeds and membrane if you want your salsa to have just a bit of a kick, leave them in if you’re going for heat. Place in a medium mixing bowl.
7. Dice the pineapple and onion, and add to a bowl with the other ingredients (cumin, coriander, lime juice, and salt)
8. Stir to combine and chill.

What to do with your fresh, sweet and spicy pineapple salsa?

• Add it to your list of toppings for Taco Night.
• Make a Hawaiian burger with bacon, BBQ sauce and pineapple salsa.
• Have it with any grilled, seared, or roasted fish.

Nothing, apparently, and I’d rather go eat it as a side dish with a lamb leg steak. Instead, I give you some pictures:

Pesto, pre-blended

green garlic. It must be Spring

This recipe makes more pesto than you’ll need; keep the extra in the fridge and add it to eggs, roasted vegetables, or just about any meat.

all of the ingredients

Zoodles with Peas & Pesto

3 large zucchini
1/2 cup fresh peas (about 1/2 pound before they’re shelled)
2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup fresh basil. mint and green garlic pesto:
1 big bunch basil (2 cups leaves, packed)
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup good extra virgin olive oil
3 sprigs mint
2-4 tablespoons lemon juice, depending on how lemony you like it
thumb sized piece green garlic, sliced (1 clove garlic if you can’t get green garlic)
1 teaspoon salt

• Start by making your zoodles: Either with a spiral slicer or julienne peeler, make long spaghetti like noodles out of your zucchini. Place in a colander in the sink and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons salt. Mix well.
• Shell your peas and place in an bowl. Set aside.
• In a blender, add the remaining ingredients; basil, mint, walnuts, lemon juice, green garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and olive oil. Kick the blender on high. You’ll have to stop the blender a few times and mix the contents if you don’t have a Vita-Mix or equivalent blender. I don’t, and my cheap-0 Oster blender does just fine. (cough*MyBirthdayIsJuly1st*cough)
• Your zucchini noodles should have shrunken in size significantly by now, which means the salt has pulled out some of their liquid.
• Set a medium pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the zoodles and peas and blanch for one minute. Drain them well. You can use the same colander, but give it a rinse while the zoodles and peas are boiling, so it doesn’t make the dish too salty.
• Let cool for a couple of minutes before placing 1/4 cup of the pesto, zoodles and peas in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add more pesto to taste, if desired.

All that’s left to do is:

Dig in

…and twirl!

But I’m human. And I’m a human who cooks for a living and sometimes doesn’t feel like making dinner. I’m also a human who grew up in a place where there was no such thing as delivery anything, and at 30, moved to a place where there’s delivery everything. And that was something I enjoyed very much for a few short years. So once in a while, I have a little pity party about the fact that I can’t go online and check boxes next to the pictures of the food I would like to appear at my house in about 40 minutes.

I’ll admit it, I miss Thai delivery. But in all honesty: although slightly more time consuming, my chicken satay is better than takeout. And did I mention it’s peanut-free, 21 Day Sugar Detox friendly and Whole 30 friendly? I love you too.

Better Than Take Out

Straight grillin’

These skewers are great either warm or cold, making them perfect party food.

All of the Ingredients

Thai Chicken Skewers with Peanut-Free Satay Sauce

1.5 – 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast *
1/2 cup coconut aminos
2/3 cup unsweetened natural almond butter, divided
1/2 cup lime juice
1 handful fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 cup (or as needed) water or chicken stock, preferably homemade

you’ll also need bamboo or metal skewers

• If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least one hour before threading the chicken on them.
• Cut the chicken into one inch wide strips. ** Place in a glass dish large enough to fit the chicken and marinade.
• In a blender, combine coconut aminos, garlic, ginger, lime juice, curry powder, cilantro, and 2 tablespoons of the almond butter. Blend until smooth.
• Pour all but 2 tablespoons of the marinade over the chicken, reserving the remainder for the sauce. Allow the chicken to marinade for one hour, at room temperature. (much longer you’ll have chicken ceviche because of all the lime juice)
• In a small saucepan, combine the reserved marinade, reserved almond butter, and coconut milk. Heat on medium low heat for about 5 minutes. You just want the flavors to marry, and mellow out some of the rawness of the lime juice. If it gets too thick, add some liquid. Set aside to cool.
• After the chicken has marinated for an hour, turn your grill on medium-high heat. Once hot, grill the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through, with the top down. If it’s sticking, it’s probably not ready to turn.
• Serve the skewers with the sauce and garnish with cilantro, if desired.

* Boneless skinless chicken breast is rarely my first choice, but is what tastes best with this recipe
** If serving this at a party as finger food, use short skewers and bite sized strips of chicken

Some of you may already know that I’ve been a bit obsessed with getting on The Food Network show Chopped. If you haven’t seen it, the premise is this: 4 chefs compete to make impressive dishes from the mystery basket ingredients they’re given. Each round, one chef is “chopped” until there is only one standing. The winner wins $10,000 and the title of Chopped Champion. While the prize money would be great to put into the Zenbelly Kitchen fund, I really want to get on Chopped to represent the paleo community, and show the world that people who choose a paleo or grain-free lifestyle eat truly incredible food. It’s time we do away with the belief that eating this way is restrictive or missing something.

I know that I would be a great competitor on this show, and have a lot of experience making delicious dishes out of seemingly impossible ingredients. In fact, it’s pretty much my specialty!

Since Chopped receives a lot of applications, I’m asking for your help in getting their attention: I’ve started a Facebook page, and would love if you could take a second and go “like” it, and share it with your friends if you feel so inclined. The more people who like the page, the more clear the message that we want to see some paleo representation on Chopped!

Thanks in advance, everyone. And I can’t tell you how humbled I am that you visit this blog and try my recipes. I appreciate every one of you!

Cheers,
Simone

In my house, snow days meant biscuits. My mom is a 4th grade teacher, so if we had a snow day, so did she. I’m not sure there’s a snow day on the books that didn’t include her in the kitchen making biscuits when my brother and I groggily shuffled in.

I had it on my list for this week to perfect my biscuit recipe, so when I woke up Wednesday morning to the sound of falling rain, I knew it was the day to do it. Living in San Francisco, it wouldn’t make sense to wait for a snow day.

While I can’t say I miss the snow, with the exception of the first magical one of the season, I obviously miss biscuits. Because duh, biscuits are awesome. They’re versatile too. This recipe is a perfect cake for your strawberry shortcake, a replacement for rolls at Easter or Thanksgiving, or for breakfast with scrambled eggs and bacon jam. Of course warm from the oven with a slathering of grass fed butter isn’t so bad, either.

not bad at all.

all of the ingredients

course crumbs

The dough is sticky, but can be dropped on parchment and shaped into rustic drop biscuits.

They’ll come out of the oven looking like this. And smelling like heaven.

Rainy Day Biscuits

2.5 cups almond flour
3/4 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) cold butter, preferably grass-fed
2 tablespoons honey
2 eggs, preferably pastured
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, arrowroot, salt and baking soda. Combine with a whisk.
• Cut the butter into 4-5 pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or 2 knives. You’ll want the result to look like coarse crumbs, no larger than pea sized.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the honey and eggs.
• Gently mix into the dry ingredients, but try not to over mix. You want it just to come together.
• Drop the batter onto your prepared sheet with a large spoon. It helps to dampen your hands to shape them a bit- the dough is sticky. This recipe makes 6 large biscuits. (If you make smaller ones, adjust your cooking time accordingly)
• Bake for about 15 minutes, but give them a peek after 10.