Category: Pescatarian + Eggs

Classic Homemade Deviled Eggs – Paleo

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Like many people, I love a good deviled egg. There is something about these little bites of heaven that is both kind of fancy, but very comforting at the same time.

They take a little time and care, but they are everybody’s favorite thing to eat at a party.

You can top them with just about anything from chives to smoked salmon, but I like paprika on my deviled eggs because it gives a little color and flare, with just a hint of spice.

Deviled eggs are best when they are made ahead of time so that they get a chance to get nice and cold in the fridge. You can store them in an airtight container and snack them if you get hungry, or make a big batch of them and bring them to an Easter party this weekend.

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Classic Homemade Deviled Eggs

Makes 4 deviled eggs (but you can easily scale this recipe up)

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 tbsp of mayo (I used an avocado oil mayo, but feel free to use your favorite mayo)

1/2 tsp yellow mustard

3/4 tsp water

Sprinkle of paprika for garnish

 

Instructions

1. Place your eggs in a pot and cover with about 3/4 – 1 inch of room temperature water. Cover and bring the pot to a boil over medium high heat. Take the pan off the heat, and set aside (keeping the lid on the pot) and set a timer for 12 minutes.

2. After 12 minutes, take a slotted spoon and transfer the eggs to a big bowl of ice water and let them sit for 20 minutes. Peel and slice the eggs in half. If the eggs still feel warm at this point, transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate until completely cool.

If the egg yolks are too warm when you mix them with the mayo, the filling for the deviled eggs will split, so you want the eggs to be nice and cold before you move on to the next step.

3. You can mash up the filling for the deviled eggs in a bowl with a fork, but the I find that the way to get the smoothest texture is to use a food processor. Add the cooked egg yolks, mayo, mustard and water to a food processor and blend until smooth (or mash together in a bowl with a fork, it will taste just as good).

If the food processor overmixes the filling and you see that the filling has separated, that’s ok. It’s an easy fix.

Add a few drops of water to a bowl with about about 1/4 – 1/2 tsp of the deviled egg filing. Mix together until smooth and it should become creamy and emulsified again. Keep whisking in little bit of the separated filling mixture into the emulsified filling (adding the occasional little bit of water if needed to get the mixture to become smooth again) until all the separated mixture has been whisked into the smooth mixture.

Don’t be afraid to adjust the taste of the filling to your liking. If you like a more spicy deviled egg, add a little more mustard (or use dijon mustard instead of yellow mustard if you want to live on the edge). If you like creamier and milder flavored deviled egg, add a little more mayo. It’s completely up to you, so make the deviled egg that you want to eat.

4. Spoon the filling into a ziploc bag and cut off a bit of one corner of the bag. Pipe the filling into the cooked egg whites and then sprinkle each deviled egg with a bit of paprika.

You can also skip piping the mixture and just spoon it into the cooked egg whites instead to give the deviled eggs a more friendly and comfortable kind of charm.

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However you make them, I’m sure that they will taste AMAZING.

Happy Easter!

fudgy chocolate frosting

The Fudgiest Sweet Potato Chocolate Frosting – Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free, Vegan

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

This fudgy chocolate frosting works great over my Chewy Sweet Potato or Adzuki Bean Brownies, and it’s delicious enough that you can eat it by itself with a spoon. It tastes better than any store brought chocolate frosting, and it’s refined sugar free and dairy free.

It’s stable enough of a frosting that you can pipe designs with it and give cupcakes or brownies a little extra joy and decoration if desired.

 

The Fudgiest Sweet Potato Chocolate Frosting

Makes 1 cup (enough for 1 batch of brownies)

Ingredients

4 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder (25g)

1/4 cup oat flour (27g)*

1/2 tbsp ground chia seed (about 2.5g)

level 1/4 tsp sea salt

 

1/4 cup water

level 1/4 cup mashed roasted sweet potato

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup + 1 tsp maple syrup

5 tbsp melted coconut oil

 

Notes – * I grind oats into oat flour using a blender. Don’t grind the oats in a food processor because the flour won’t be fine enough.

Any extra oat flour I don’t use in the recipe goes into an airtight container and I use it for another recipe.

If you’re making this recipe for someone who has celiac disease, use certified gluten free oats, as the oats from the bulk bins can sometimes be processed on the same equipment as wheat.

 

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and gently heat over a double boiler and stir until glossy.

If eating with brownies, spread the frosting onto the brownies while the frosting is still warm and glossy. If you frost the brownies while the frosting is still warm, then the frosting will stay glossy when it cools and sets.

If you want to use this frosting to pipe flowers or designs, then the frosting needs to cool to room temperature before you transfer it into a piping bag. You can make this frosting in advance if needed and keep it in the fridge, and either heat it very gently and quickly over a double boiler, or let it sit a room temperature until softened before piping.

 

The Best Chewy Sweet Potato (or Adzuki Bean) Brownies – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free, Vegan

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This is one of my best recipes.

These brownies are the brownies of dreams. They have a rich, deep chocolate flavor, but are not too dark or too sweet, and they taste like the best brownie you’ve ever had.

I came up with this recipe one day when I needed to use up some extra sweet potatoes that I had in the fridge. Somehow this recipe came together so quickly (and I worked perfectly the first time!), and taking the first bite of these brownies made my heart sing. I couldn’t believe how good they were, and they were vegan! And made from leftovers!

The cool thing about this recipe is that you can also make them with adzuki beans (if you have any leftover red bean soup).  They actually turn out slightly chewier when made with adzuki beans rather than sweet potatoes, but both kinds of brownies are fantastic.

With brownies, most people fall into two camps – chewy, or fudgy. These brownies are the perfect marriage between the two, because the actual brownies are wonderfully chewy, and the frosting is gloriously fudgy.

They don’t need the frosting, as they taste good enough without it, but a little frosting never hurt a good brownie.

 

The Best Chewy Sweet Potato (or Adzuki Bean) Brownies

Makes 9 brownies

Ingredients

1 tbsp ground chia seed (5g)

¼ cup + 1/8 cup hot water

 

1 cup of oat flour (90g)*

5 tbsp + 2 tsp cocoa powder (34g)

½ level tsp baking soda

½ level tsp + 1/8 tsp ground coffee (I used Starbucks Italian Roast Ground Coffee, which is also Fair Trade Certified, which makes it extra cool)

½ level tsp sea salt

 

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp of vanilla extract**

level ½ cup mashed roasted sweet potato (if using adzuki beans use ½ cup + 3 tbsp drained cooked beans instead of the sweet potato)

½ cup maple syrup

¼ cup + 1/8 cup melted coconut oil

 

Notes – for best results, please measure the dry ingredients by weight.

* I grind oats into oat flour using a blender. Don’t grind the oats in a food processor because the flour won’t be fine enough.

Any extra oat flour I don’t use in the recipe goes into an airtight container and I use it for another recipe.

If you’re making this recipe for someone who has celiac disease, use certified gluten free oats, as the oats from the bulk bins can sometimes be processed on the same equipment as wheat.

**If you run out of vanilla extract ( and it’s been the kind of day where you really need a brownie) have no fear, these brownies still taste amazing without it. So go forth, and bake with a light heart.

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Instructions

1. Stir together the ground chia seed and hot water. Let sit for 10 minutes until thickened.

2. Add the cocoa, oat flour, salt, coffee and baking soda into the food processor and give it a quick blend so that everything is well combined.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth.

4. Turn the oven to 350F and let the mixture sit in the food processor for 15 minutes. Then give it one final blend for about 30 seconds and then spoon the mixture into a glass 8×8 inch baking dish that you’ve oiled and floured with coconut oil (or a neutral oil like avocado oil) and a bit of oat flour.

Take a spatula and smooth the brownie batter out so that it’s sitting evenly in the baking dish.

5. Bake the brownies at 350F for 70-75 minutes until the brownies pull ¼ inch away from the pan on all sides.

Allow to cool completely (at least an hour for the best texture), frost with fudgy sweet potato chocolate frosting if desired, and then cut into 9 square pieces. Serve and enjoy!

I hope that you love these brownies as much as I do, and if you’re having a tough day, I hope that these brownies make it just a little bit better and brighter.  🙂

Apple Slices and Two Ingredient Caramel Dip – Paleo, Vegan, Refined Sugar Free

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When I’m feeling like I want a sweet snack in a flash, I make myself a plate of apple slices and caramel dip.

This is the easiest no cook caramel dip ever. This caramel dip tastes incredibly indulgent  and takes just seconds to make. Olive oil and maple syrup may sound like an unusual combination, but it tastes delicious, especially when combined with the sweet apple.

Apple Slices and Two Ingredient Caramel Dip

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients

1 fuji apple (or apple of choice, I like fuji apples because they are nice and sweet)

Caramel Dip

1 tbsp maple syrup

3/4 tsp – 1 tsp olive oil

 

Instructions

1. Wash and slice your apple, and place the apple slices on a plate. Spoon the maple syrup and olive oil onto the side of the plate, or into a small dish. Stir the maple syrup and olive oil together until well combined. Dip the apple slices into the caramel and enjoy!

 

 

Vegan Taiwanese or Chinese Sausage – “Xiang Chang”(香腸) / “Lap Chong” (臘腸)

vegan taiwanese-chinese sausage

This vegan Taiwanese / Chinese sausage is easy to make and tastes very similar to the real thing.

Spooned over noodles or a steaming bowl of rice, it’s happiness in a bowl.

Taiwanese and Chinese sausages can be found at Asian supermarkets, but I’ve never seen an organic one that’s free of added nitrates yet (here’s to hoping!). They taste amazing, and even though I’ve watched a YouTube video on how to make the sausages the traditional way, I haven’t actually made them myself yet.

This recipe is an easy way to get a similar flavor and texture without the hassle of making the sausage, or the nitrates from the store bought versions.

I used this recipe instead of real Chinese sausage when I made Turnip Cake for Lunar New Year and it worked great, so you can potentially swap this in for recipes that call for diced Taiwanese of Chinese sausage.

 

Vegan Taiwanese Sausage (香腸) or Chinese Sausage (臘腸)

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients

6 white or crimini mushrooms – cut into ¼ inch dice (about 1 ½ cups)

2 ½ tbsp. avocado oil (or any neutral flavored high heat oil)

¼ tsp + 1/8 tsp granulated garlic

¼ tsp + 1/8 tsp 5 spice powder

½ tsp organic red miso paste

2 – 2 ½ tsp maple syrup*

maybe a pinch of salt to taste (depending on how salty your miso is)

 

*Taiwanese sausage or “Xiang Chang”(香腸) is usually a little sweeter than the Chinese sausages or “Lap Chong” (臘腸), so if you’re looking for more of a Taiwanese sausage flavor, use the 2 1/2 tsp of maple, and 2 tsp of maple if your looking for more of a Chinese sausage flavor.

Instructions

1. Stir together the granulated garlic, 5 spice, miso, and maple syrup until smooth.

2. Make your pan non-stick. Add the oil and diced mushrooms to the pan and cook on medium high heat, stirring frequently, for 8-9 minutes until the mushrooms are golden brown around the edges.

3. Add the cooked mushrooms to the spice mix and stir until well combined. Give it a taste, adjust the seasoning to your liking.

You can also spoon this into romaine lettuce leaves (like vegan chicken lettuce wraps), or serve it over steamed rice or noodles.

However you eat it, I hope that you enjoy the recipe!

 

Note – This isn’t sponsored, but I just wanted to mention that the noodles that I used in the picture were Organic Edamame Spaghetti Noodles made by Explore Asian Authentic Cuisine (it looks like they may have changed the company’s name to “Explore Cuisine” now).

The only ingredients are water and soybeans and the noodles have a lovely flavor and texture and cook up in about 5 minutes are a good non-grain pasta alternative (if that’s something that you’re looking for). I used up the last of the box I had for this recipe (the box I had was from Costco, and they don’t carry the noodles anymore) but you can find the noodles online.

frozen lemons

What To Do With Leftover Lemons – How To Freeze Lemons

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Lemons tend to be expensive. A single organic lemon can cost in the neighborhood of $1.30 – $1.70 depending on the store, so it’s usually a cheaper option to buy the 2 lb bag of organic lemons for about $5 instead.

This means that I usually end up with a bag of lemons when I only needed 1 or 2 of them.

If you’re ever in this pinch and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your lemons before they go bad, then freezing them is a really good option.

I wash the lemons, then juice them and pour the lemon juice into an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop the lemon juice cubes into a zip top bag and stash them in your freezer until you’re ready to use them. The lemon juice cubes melt quickly and are a great way to always have lemon juice always on hand. I used an ice cube tray from daiso, which just happens to make smaller ice cubes, but a normal ice cube tray will work just as well.

I add the lemon juice cubes to tea, or to chicken soup with brown rice and quinoa, or quinoa tabbouleh.

You can freeze the lemon rinds as well in a separate zip top bag, and grate them from frozen on a microplane to add lemon zest to your dishes.

When I have a cold, I’ll toss a few of the frozen lemon rinds into a pot and boil them with some water, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, a tablespoon of coconut oil, and honey for a soothing tea.

However you use your frozen lemons, I hope that this trick brings you many happy lemony dishes!

Chocolate Banana Soft Serve Ice Cream – Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Vegan, Paleo

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When I think of chocolate desserts, I want something really decadent and rich, with a deep chocolatey flavor.

This Chocolate Banana Soft Serve Ice Cream definitely fits the bill. It’s super easy to make, and takes almost no time or effort. It’s so creamy and delicious, and it’s pretty incredible that blended up frozen bananas can turn into such an amazing treat!

When I was working on this recipe, I thought about the rich and creamy chocolate ice cream that would occasionally eat before I went dairy and refined sugar free.

I really tried to get a similar flavor with this recipe, so it does have more cocoa powder and vanilla extract than you would expect it to have, which gives the banana ice cream a similar flavor to the store bought chocolate ice creams of my younger days.

Banana ice cream also cuts down on food waste because it’s the perfect thing to make when you have overripe bananas that you don’t know what to do with. No need to throw them away! Just peel them, and freeze them, and you can have ice cream whenever you want. How cool is that?

You can also adjust the flavor of the ice cream to your liking really easily. If you want it a little sweeter (or if your bananas could have used a little more ripening before you froze them) you can add a little more maple syrup, or more cocoa if you want a deeper chocolate flavor.

However you make it, I hope that this ice cream brings a little more joy to your day.


Chocolate Banana Soft Serve Ice Cream

Makes 1 serving (about 3/4 cup)

Ingredients

1 thawed frozen banana

3 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder *

2 1/2 tbsp + 1 tsp maple syrup

2 tbsp + 2 tsp water

1 tsp vanilla extract

tiny tiny pinch of salt

 

*I didn’t use a heaped tbsp, just sort of slightly higher than a level tbsp. The cocoa powder that I used was the Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder.

Instructions

1. Cut the thawed banana into half inch slices with a paring knife. If the banana is too hard to cut, then let it thaw for another 5 minutes or so before trying to cut it again.

2. Add all the ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

If you want a firmer texture, you can spoon the mixture into a bowl and put it into a freezer for another 15-20 minutes.

For garnish, I just used a paring knife to shave pieces off a slightly thawed frozen strawberry. It gives it a nice color and a bit of little flair, and the strawberry flavor goes well with the banana and chocolate flavors of the ice cream.

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Happy Eating!

 

Shrimp Pad Thai

Weeknight Shrimp Pad Thai – Easy and Quick Recipe – Refined Sugar Free

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Pad Thai is the kind of dish that you love to eat, but are not quite sure how to make yourself.

At least that’s what I thought until I found a really easy recipe for pad thai on Goop.

What I really loved about the recipe from Night + Market on Goop was how simple the recipe was. I love pad thai, but most of the recipes that I found online had a lot of specialty ingredients that I would have to go a little out of the way to find.

I never attempted to make it myself before, but that recipe looked so easy, and with a few swaps, I knew that I could make a pad thai that would work with my dietary restrictions.

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This pad thai is made from ingredients that you can find at your local grocery store, and can be made in about half an hour. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Also great if you’re craving pad thai, but don’t live anywhere close to a Thai restaurant…

I used wild caught pink shrimp from Oregon (which I was able to find at my local supermarket in the display case at the seafood section, but I’ve also seen it sold at Costco as well). I only buy this kind of shrimp these days because it’s sustainably harvested, and also because it doesn’t contain any preservatives or ingredients that many other frozen shrimp are processed with.

The working conditions for people who catch, farm, and process shrimp around the world can also be very harsh and inhumane, so by purchasing domestically caught shrimp, I hope that I’m supporting more ethical working conditions for people who work in the shrimping industry.

You can find more information about Oregon Pink Shrimp here. This isn’t an affiliate link, just more info in case you’re curious about how the shrimp are caught.

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This type of shrimp is pretty inexpensive, at about $8 – $9 per lb, and it’s also just as tasty as the larger shrimp which makes it a good buy in my book. The amount of pink shrimp in this dish cost about $1, so while this pad thai feels very luxurious, it’s actually really budget friendly.

For more information on what to look for when buying shrimp, you can check out this article here.

About the fish sauce, I use the Red Boat brand fish sauce, because it’s only made from anchovies and salt (and therefore paleo, and refined sugar free). You can find it online, but I managed to find a bottle of the 500 ml (17 oz.) size for about $7 at my local Asian market, so it’s worth checking out your local Asian market if you have one nearby to see if they have it cheaper than online.

The noodles that I used were Fettuccini Style / Pad Thai noodles from Tinkyada which I found at my local grocery store. They weren’t organic, (but hey, it happens, you do the best you can). They were also on sale, which was definitely a plus, and the noodles worked great for this recipe.

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There is a decent amount of maple syrup in this recipe, so if you’re watching your sugar intake, this may not be a meal that you eat every night, but it is certainly a really amazing and tasty dinner to have as a treat every once in a while.

If you’re planning on eating a few sides along with this (like a salad, fruit, etc.) this recipe makes enough for 2 smaller servings, but if you’re just eating it by itself, then it’s really just enough for one person, especially if you’re really hungry.

I hope that you give the recipe a try! It’s so good, and you’ll be super proud that you made a dish that you once thought that you could only enjoy in restaurants.

 

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Weeknight Shrimp Pad Thai

Adapted from this recipe.

Makes 2 servings, or 1 larger serving for a very hungry person.

 

Ingredients

4-5 oz of dried brown rice noodles *

4 tbsp of maple syrup

2 tbsp of fish sauce

2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup of frozen pink shrimp

1-2 eggs (depending on how hungry you are)

2 green onions, thinly sliced

 

1 lime, cut into wedges for serving

 

* Note – If you hold the noodles between your thumb and forefinger, the circle that 4-5 oz. of noodles should make will be about the size of a quarter.

If you can get your hands on some bean sprouts, then definitely add those in too, as they add a nice crunch to the dish. I just couldn’t find any at my local grocery store, but the dish was still incredibly tasty.

 

Instructions

1. Make a skillet non-stick, and scramble your eggs. Tip the cooked eggs onto a plate and set aside.

2. Put the shrimp into a strainer and rinse under cool water. Place the shrimp into a medium size saucepan and cover them with about an inch of water. Bring the water to a boil and let the shrimp cook for a minute or two before draining. Set the shrimp aside.

The shrimp is already cooked, I just do this because it brings the shrimp up to temperature, but also kills off any potential pathogens that it may have picked up while it was sitting in the display case with raw fish.

3. Fill the medium saucepan with water and then cook your noodles. The directions for this package of noodles said to cook them for 10 -11 minutes, but I only cooked them for 6-7 minutes. You want to undercook your noodles a bit, as you’re going to finish cooking the noodles in the pad thai sauce. Drain the noodles and set aside.

4. Stir together the apple cider vinegar, fish sauce, and maple syrup. Add the sauce to the skillet along with the cooked noodles and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the noodles have absorbed all the sauce.

5. Add in the green onions, cooked eggs, and shrimp and stir them through the noodles, and continue to cook them for another 30 seconds or so until the eggs and shrimp are warmed through.

6. Spoon the noodles into a bowl (or two bowls) and serve with lime wedges, and a little bowl of red pepper flakes on the side.

 

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(I ate half of the pad thai before I realized that I had forgotten to photograph the lime wedges as well… Whoops. It was so good…)