Cuisine and Recipes Cuisines and Recipes from Around the World

November 12, 2013

Paleo Treats…Nom…Nom…Nom

While following the Paleo Diet involves avoiding processed sugars, grains, dairy, and legumes, that doesn’t mean that you can’t eat ANY treats any more.  Here we take a look at a few creative Paleo desserts and treats that will have you drooling in no time.

Paleo Chocolate Bark

From the blog Eat Drink Paleo comes an amazing recipe for chocolate bars that are completely Paleo.  The ingredients are simple, and so’s the preparation.  And in no time you’ll have your very own homemade chocolate that rivals some of the best on the market.  Take a look at the recipe.

Sunbutter Cookies

Here’s another great recipe from the Paleo blog So Let’s Hang Out.  This is a great recipe for cookies that are made primarily of nut butters.  She incorporates sunflower seed butter and almond butter with maple syrup as a sweetener.  These are terrific looking cookies.  Click here for the recipe.

Paleo Brownies

This recipe is a show stopper.  Incorporating of all things, sweet potatoes and olive oil, these brownies are unbelievably most and delicious.  You need to take a look at this blog just for the pictures.  Even if you don’t follow the Paleo diet, these things are ridiculous.  Brought to you by Eat Drink Paleo again.

Don’t Feel Like Baking?

Don’t feel like doing the baking yourself?  You’re not alone.  And you’re in luck.  Gourmet Paleo has started making packaged Paleo cookies that rival even traditional cookies.  These guys are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  With three flavors ranging from Chocolate Macadamia, Coconut Cranberry, and finally Pecan chocolate chip.  These aren’t your traditional diet cookies.  Loaded with good fats and tons of flavor, they will satisfy the most demanding sweet tooth.  You can also find their paleo chocolate chip cookies here, and another variety here.

And of course after you’ve eaten your way through all of these various desserts, it’s going to be time to get  your ass to the gym.  Of course the most popular workout for adherents of the Paleo diet it Crossfit.  And it’s a good thing.  So get your CrossFit gear and get to the gym to work off all these delicious treats.

October 22, 2013

More Useful Tips for the Kitchen

It’s getting to be that time of year in the Pacific Northwest when the sun starts to make it’s steady march southwards across the sky.  The leaves begin to fall, and the shadows get longer.

And in my kitchen that means the last 2 hours of daylight come streaming in unabated.

Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love natural light.  And with all the leaves changing color, you couldn’t ask for a more picturesque view from my kitchen window.  But with little in the way to block the light, it can become a bit overpowering.

So recently I investigated some options for blocking out the light to a comfortable degree during this time of day.  I guess I should say diffusing the light.  It’s far to beautiful to block it all out.

What I found while looking for drapes and shades surprised me.  We live in an older house with old windows and doors.  During the winter it gets downright cold here.  And our windows and doors do a very poor job of keeping this cold air out.

So I thought, why not look for some shades that will provide both light diffusion, and perhaps save on our energy bills at the same time?  So I looked into thermal shades.  I found a great website called www.roomdarkeningshadesguide.com.  Here I was able to pick from a bunch of different shades that were both effective at blocking out the light, and efficient in regards to energy savings.

It’s made a huge difference in my kitchen.  Now when it’s time for sunset, I just draw a light shade closed.  And in the winter time, the thermal layer can be drawn closed to help reduce heat transfer and skyrocketing heating bills.

All in all it’s a pretty sweet deal.  And I don’t lose my amazing view in the process.

 

October 5, 2013

Useful Kitchen Tools

Many of the articles on our website are related to food and recipes, but every now and then we like to talk about other things to do with the kitchen and cooking.  One of our favorite topics is kitchen tools, or gadgets as I like to call them.

Now there are literally thousands of gadgets out there for use in the kitchen.  From timers and scales to specialized tools for making poached eggs, you can pretty much find a tool for any task you need to perform in the kitchen.

I have to admit that I’m a bit of a minimalist when it comes to kitchen gadgets, but there are a few that I do find really handy.

Weights Instead of Measures

One of the first things I learned while working in a commercial bakery was that using volume is far more inconsistent than using weight.  Flour, for example, compresses over time.  That means that every time you scoop out a 1 cup measurement, you could be getting a different amount of flour.

Now baking isn’t exactly rocket science, but it is chemistry.  And if you want the same results each time you make something, you need to keep you measurements consistent.

In addition, using a scale allows you to work much faster.  You can just pour your ingredients into one bowl and measure them as you go.  No need to pull out a teaspoon, then a tablespoon, and a measuring cup… you catch my drift, right?

You’ll find yourself moving very quickly through recipes that might have taken you 1/3 more time.

Of course the first time you make a recipe with a scale, you’ll need to look up the weights of certain measurements.  But this can be don very quickly with sites such as allrecipes.com.  This page contains a conversion of measurements for dry goods such as flour and sugar from volume to weight.

This page from Pastryscoop.com shows the conversion for wet ingredients such as milk, cream, and others.

Once you switch over to measuring by weight, you’ll never go back.

Keeping Your Edge

Many people spend a fortune on their kitchen knives.  I know I’ve spent great deal on them over the years.  But how much time do you spend maintaining them?

The more you use your knife, the duller it becomes.  And the duller it becomes, the more dangerous it becomes.  This may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s true.  The duller your knife is, the harder you have to press to get it to cut through something, and the more likely it is to change directions in the middle of a cut and cut you instead of the veggies you were slicing.

Maintaining the edge on a knife isn’t terribly complicated.  There are plenty of tools out there you can use.  And they take practically no time at all.

We’ve all seen the honing steels used by professional chefs as they quickly work the blade to a razors edge.  Honing steels require a bit of practice, but they ensure that your blade is maintained, and it only takes a few seconds to perform.

Electric knife sharpeners have become very popular in recent years.  They too are very quick to use, and can be stowed away when you don’t need them.  Check out thebestknifesharpener.org to figure out which is the best for your kitchen and your particular knives.

In the future, we’ll talk about some more great tools to use in the kitchen.

October 4, 2013

Amazing Almond Butter Sweet Potato Brownies – Paleo, of Course

BrowniesOne blog I stumbled upon recently is Taylor Made It Paleo.  She’s got a whole bunch of recipes, but the one the caught my eye was the Almond Butter Sweet Potato Brownies.  Sweet potatoes and chocolate go together extremely well, and these have a very rustic look to them.  If you haven’t tried baking with almond butter, it gives a nice texture to paleo desserts.  Crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.

You could probably also substitute pumpkin for sweet potatoes since pumpkins are all over the place right now.

Without further ado, here’s the Almond Butter Sweet Potato Brownie recipe.

October 3, 2013

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Paleo Muffins from PaleOMG.com

pumpkin paleo muffins

If you haven’t spent any time reading Juli’s Paleo blog then  you are seriously missing out.  Not only does she come up with some absolutely AMAZING recipes, she’s also funny as hell.

Her recipes include everything from savory to sweet.  This one in particular is an amazing twist on pumpkin muffins.  Can you really ever get too much pumpkin in the fall?

Paleo Chocolate Chip Muffins – PaleOMG.com