If I were a better gardener and lived a little farther (further?) south I MIGHT have grown these heirloom tomatoes myself.
But I’m not and I don’t and I didn’t.
So, instead, what we have here are heirlooms I found at a standard grocery store and Costco. But let’s not turn up our noses shall we? Look how gorgeous.
The whole time I was taking these photographs I was pondering what to do with the heirloom tomatoes. We needed a side dish to go with our roasted chicken dinner. Tomato, cucumber and avocado salads are always a big hit around our house so I thought that might be nice.
But these tomatoes seemed to cry out for something a little different.
After all, they are special…and beautiful and, well, heirloomy.
Then I remembered I was in possession of another, rather unique, ingredient.
The 4th of July (Independence Day) celebration is coming up in a couple of days. For the last several years our church congregation has held a big barbecue dinner for members, family and friends. It is always a great time of fellowship and fun. The church provides the meat (barbecue ribs, burgers, hot dogs and sausages) and the members bring side dishes and desserts.
Paleo 4th of July Recipes!
In case you have been looking for some paleo 4th of July menu ideas, I thought it would be nice to highlight some of my personal favorites for summertime celebrations.
This year I will be taking a Kale and Avocado Salad just as I did last year. It was a big hit even with people who said they had never enjoyed kale. Avocado does that. It makes almost anything better IMHO. I will also be taking a Spicy Cilantro Lime Slaw. It is really colorful and has great crunch and just enough spice to give it a nice kick. It will go great with those ribs our minister will be cooking up!
For my husband’s birthday a few weeks ago I made him a Coconut Flour Paleo Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache Bacon Frosting. It was a big hit. (You could easily leave the bacon out of the Chocolate Ganache Frosting if you are less than thrilled about trying that seemingly crazy scheme.) Here’s a closer look at the cake after it was sliced. Sorry, but I can’t resist showing off my blue hydrangeas. I love hydrangeas!Back to the chocolate cake. Don’t you just want to dig in?!
In the chocolate ganache frosting post I promised to provide the recipe for the cake itself in the next entry. But I lost my notes! (Can you say ADHD?) I was about 90% sure of the ingredients but needed to make it again to validate the recipe.
Poor me.
This time I chose to make the coconut flour cake with a Coconut Honey Frosting. (Hydrangeas again)And because the layers were quite thick, I cut each one in half and made a four-layer paleo chocolate cake. The cake cooked up and tasted just like the other one so now I feel comfortable sharing the recipe. Whew!
But when I say crabby, I don’t mean curmudgeonly or cantankerous, although I’ve occasionally been accused of both.
I mean I love to eat crabs. Steamed crabs.
Serve’em up with some ice-cold beer on a picnic table covered with old newspaper and in my humble opinion, you’ve pretty much achieved Nirvana.
But that’s because I’m from Maryland, where steamed crabs are more than food – they’re a way of life. Marylanders have been gorging themselves on steamed crabs since the first settlers paddled up the Chesapeake Bay in 1634, and even before that if you consider Native American tribes like the Nanticoke and the Powhatan.
There was a time when hardly anyone outside of the Delmarva Peninsula – that’s where Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia all collide on the eastern side of the Chesapeake – ate much crabs, but that’s changed in recent years. It’s not hard to get a decent crab cake in most American cities nowadays, but steamed crabs? That’s a different story!
So whenever Lea and I visit my Mom & Dad on Maryland’s eastern shore, we make a point to have steamed crabs. Lea, a native Texan, had never had steamed crabs before she met me, but after 15 years of marriage she can tear into them with gusto! She also likes that eating steamed crabs fits in well with her lower-carb, paleo diet.
Now…a little bit about the crabs, themselves. The ones that we eat in Maryland are called Callinectes sappidus, which means “tasty beautiful swimmer” in Latin. But that’s a mouthful for a Marylander, so we just call them “Blue crabs,” which makes sense because before they get tossed in the pot they actually are…blue.
(Photo of Blue Crab previously posted is Copyright John T. Consoli)
We like to think of blue crabs as our own, but the truth is they’re found all the way from Nova Scotia down into the Gulf of Mexico and even as far south as Argentina! Good thing, too, because due to over-fishing, most of the crabs we eat are imported from Louisiana! No matter, they’re still blue crabs, and nobody does them like they’re done in Maryland…sorry, Virginia!
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Peter from the food and travel blog, Souvlaki for the Soul, about my recipe for Chocolate Paleo Snack Cake. He has a gluten-intolerant friend who had been craving chocolate cake. How many of us can relate to the chocolate cake craving?! Peter had done an internet search for … Read more
When I was a kid I remember my father taking our family out to dinner at a “fancy” restaurant in Dallas for a special occasion. The nature of the special occasion eludes me all these many years later but, oddly enough, I still remember the salad. Perhaps that is one mark of a true food lover. We reckon everything in terms of what we were eating at the time. The memorable salad marking that particular experience was dominated by Belgian style endive. (Pronounced “on-deeve”*) It is a vegetable I had not encountered prior to that day and it struck me as very exotic. Even though endive is not a food I have eaten regularly over the years I still associate it with high-caliber restaurants and recipes.
Knowing my husband is a fan of the more bitter flavors, I decided to use endive to create a unique salad for him on Father’s Day. This salad combines crunchy, slightly bitter endive with refreshing watercress and spicy radishes. It’s topped with toasted walnuts and creamy goat cheese and dressed with an extra virgin olive oil and white balsamic vinaigrette. The sweetness of the white balsamic vinegar is a nice contrast to the bitter and spicy flavors of the vegetables.
It was the last full day of school for my two boys (yes, school ends late around here) Taking advantage of the time, I trekked into New York City for a little fun on my own. One of my stops was a bakery I first visited last summer: Babycakes NYC™. Found on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Babycakes Bakery serves
“all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. Rest assured, all sweeteners have been chosen responsibly and used sparingly. White sugar will never be found in our bakery, nor will we ever use toxic chemical sweeteners. Instead, most products are sweetened with agave nectar—a natural syrup from a cactus which is low on the glycemia index and often a safe alternative to most non-insulin dependant diabetics. Occasionally, unprocessed and unrefined sugar is used in certain goods, although sparingly.”
As someone with food allergies and intolerances, as well as some strong preferences, I greatly appreciate owner Erin McKenna’s vision. She set out to create a bakery that would serve, not a “vegan” cupcake, but a delicious cupcake that just happens to be vegan. I love that.
Let’s take a peek inside and learn a little more about Babycakes.
Okay, I know what you are thinking. There’s no way this is going to be good. Or, then again, maybe you have already tasted the wonders of the chocolate and bacon combination. My first taste was with a very expensive chocolate bar at Whole Foods: Mo’s Dark Bacon Bar.
Folks, it was good. Really good.
In my humble opinion, dark chocolate and crunchy bacon go great together. It reminds me of chocolate covered pretzels in the sense that it is a salty and sweet, crunchy taste sensation. I cannot eat pretzels so….why not add bacon?!
My husband, G, just had a birthday and I was trying to convince him to let me make him a paleo-friendly coconut flour birthday cake. He was reluctant because he, unlike me, is not crazy about coconut flour. To gain his acquiescence I suggested a chocolate cake. He was more interested. Then it occurred to me that I could make a chocolate frosting that included some bacon. So did he come around, you may ask?
Let’s just say I had him at “bacon”.
Here’s what I did to make the chocolate ganache bacon frosting:
I found some high quality 100% dark chocolate – there’s no sugar added, just cacao.
Just last week I posted a recipe for Paleo Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies. A salad or a healthy fish recipe would seem to be in order after that. Posting two dessert/treat recipes in a row seems overly indulgent. But I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with almond flour and this Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is the result. I can’t wait to share it because it turned out really well.
Types of Flour in this Paleo Cookie
Almond flour has a high fat content. Using it in recipes generally results in moist confections. This can be a good thing when making cakes but when it comes to cookies I prefer something a little more firm and possibly crunchy. To make this happen in a chocolate chip cookie recipe I decided to add some coconut flour. Coconut flour is the opposite of almond flour in the sense that it is very dry. A little bit goes a long way. I have been playing around with combining these two flours to get the optimal mix for a cookie. The result is a tender chocolate chip cookie that has a little bit of crunch around the edges. It’s paleo because it is grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and legume-free (I have actually seen cookie recipes that use bean flour!) These paleo chocolate chip cookies are even vegan.
This cookie is also non-political and loves puppies and little children. Basically, this is the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Here’s Nathaniel posing for me. This child really should be paid to be my model. He is always being asked to pose and does a great job. Someday he may command a hefty fee but for now I get away with giving him cookies for his hard work as my model.
I generally use coconut flour for Paleo dessert recipes because our oldest son, Benjamin, is allergic to nuts. But after hearing great things about it, I finally ordered some blanched almond flour. I started out to create paleo chocolate chip cookies but creativity got the best of me and I ended up with something a little different. I decided to make a Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie instead. And remembering how coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, something I learned when making the Chocolate Paleo Snack Cake, I also added a packet of Starbucks Via (instant coffee) to the cookie batter.
There’s enough of a resulting coffee flavor in the cookie that the word “mocha” seems appropriate to describe the coffee and chocolate combination.
It seems a little mean to bake these mocha chocolate chip cookies when Ben cannot eat them. But he was a good sport about it saying, “it’s okay, I’m used to it.” I’m not really sure what he meant by that since I go out of my way to ensure he can eat most of my recipes. But he let me off the hook so I won’t worry too much about it. He knows I’ll make him something tasty that he can eat a little later.
Update:
During subsequent allergy testing, we discovered Ben is not allergic to almonds. His allergist even told me I should feed him almonds or almond flour goods every so often to keep up his immunity.
Serve’em up with some ice-cold beer on a picnic table covered with old newspaper and in my humble opinion, you’ve pretty much achieved Nirvana.
