my man's birthday and a bunch of paleo recipes

last week was my amazing husband's birthday. he unfortunately had to work a 12 hour day so i had to make sure that his short time with us in the morning was extra special. 

remember when i told you my hopes for 2012? a part of those hopes were doing a 21 day cleanse, and my sweet honey's birthday was right smack dab in the middle of that. we decided after the holidays were over that a cleanse for us would look like a Paleo template eating only poultry and no dairy cleanse. (we did allow ourselves green tea as a substitute for coffee, and also minimal eggs.) so i had to get a little creative with special birthday food. 

earlier that week i found a recipe for no-oat oatmeal. it is the bomb.com. i'm one of those people who could eat the same thing for breakfast everyday and there was a period in my life when i did, in fact, eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast. it lasted several YEARS. now that we are trying to adhere to a paleo template and also doing a cleanse, we haven't had oatmeal in a while. my husband loved it (he actually requested it for his birthday breakfast!). 

it was early, but he was excited for oatmeal! 

• {NO-OAT OATMEAL}
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 2 Tbs ground flax seed
• 1/2–1 tsp ground cinnamon
• dash of freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 Tbs almond butter
• 1 banana, mashed
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (add more if desired)
• 2 tsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 handful of fresh berries (optional)

1. Add walnuts, pecans, flax seed and spices to a food processor and pulse mixture to a course grain (make sure to stop before it is ground into a powder). Set aside.
2. Whisk together eggs and almond milk until the consistency thickens and becomes a loose custard.
3. Thoroughly blend the mashed banana and almond butter together and add it to the custard, mixing well.
4. Stir in the course nut mixture.
5. In a medium saucepan, warm the mixture on the stove until the “no-oatmeal” reaches the desired consistency; this should only take a few minutes. Stir frequently.
6. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds and berries on top. Add more almond milk if desired.

so good! go make it now. 

one of my husband's birthday traditions is to get a Mrs. Field's cookie cake....but all those traditions were shattered when we started the cleanse so i was on a mission to recreate a paleo version. 

dang. doesn't that look good. can't believe its paleo.

first, i had to make my own homemade paleo chocolate chips. here's the recipe:

{HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIPS}

1/2 cup cocoa powder

*1/2 cup coconut palm sugar 

1 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

1. i combined the first three ingredients in a double broiler and stirred frequently until combined and most of the sugar granules had melted. (i don't think they completely melt, at all) 
2. add the vanilla.
3. spread onto parchment paper lined 9x13 pan and refrigerate for an hour. 
4. coarsely chop. 

* might not be "paleo standard" so don't quote me on it. i have seen several paleo websites use it though

for the cookie dough i was inspired by this recipe, but changed a few things. i doubled the recipe, added my own chocolate chunks, and added an egg. here is my recipe below. 

{PALEO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CAKE}

2 1/2 cups finely ground blanched almond flour (i used Bob's Red Mill, against the original recipe's recommendation and it turned out great)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup raw agave nectar

1/4 cup grape seed oil (i couldn't find macadamia nut oil)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup homemade chocolate chunks

1 egg

1. heat oven to 325.
2. grease 9" round pan.
3. mix dry ingredients. 
4. in separate bowl mix wet ingredients. 
5. combine wet and dry. 
6. add chocolate chunks and pour into pan.  
7. bake for about 40 minutes, checking to make sure it's not turning to brown. if it turns to brown, cover with foil. don't worry if the center doesn't look set or if your knife inserted into center doesn't come out clean. i found that letting mine sit and cool finished the process and we ended up with a nice chewy cookie. 

let me just say... HOLY MOLY. this was freakin good. even my husband was happy and he's a super Mrs. Fields cookie cake snob! (and i mean that in the most loving way.... he won't eat any other cookie cake.)

so the birthday was a success, cleanse and all! 

i should be posting more recipes from the cleanse and info about it soon. it's been pretty awesome. we all feel great and think we're gonna stick pretty closely to this plan as a lifestyle change. 

more on that later. 

let me know if you try these recipes and how yours turned out!

love, 

tara

P.S. babe, i hope you had a great birthday and felt loved by your little family. we adore you and pray that God will bless us with a lifetime of your presence. to be joined with you on this journey through following God, serving His church, raising children, and honoring Him with our marriage is the greatest gift. i love you.