The Paleo Pact

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Holiday Mint Cookies

These peppermint cookies are amazing and a perfect treat for the holidays! If you need to bring a treat to a holiday party consider these your go-to. You can also top these with Paleo frosting to make them more festive!

Ingredients

1/2 cup grass-fed butter
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 1⁄4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 tbsp. water
3 oz. Peppermint Tea, brewed
1/4 cup raw agave nectar (you can substitute for honey, we use agave for allergy reasons)
Arrowroot flour as a non-stick base for rolling

Recipe

Pre-heat the oven to 325° F.
Place foil or parchment paper sheets over your baking sheet. This will prevent your cookies from sticking.
Combine the tapioca flour, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt in a small bowl.
In a food processor (or using a large bowl and an electric hand mixer) beat the butter and sugar for approximately 2 minutes, or until fluffy.(keep your butter in the fridge until you’re ready to blend, cold butter makes the cookies easier to cut)
Brew 3 oz. of Peppermint Tea.
Add the dry ingredients, water, agave and tea to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until well combined.
Lightly dust arrowroot flour on a clean counter.
Using a rolling-pin, roll the cookie dough until 1/4 inch thick and then cut out your cookies using a cookie cutter. (If the dough is too soft place it back in the fridge until it hardens slightly.)
Place the cookies on your lined baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Giving these cookies enough time to cool is critical, if you serve them warm they tend to be a little crumbly. For more fantastic cookies take a look at our Giveaways page to see how you can get your free copy of Quick & Fantastic Paleo Cookies.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Cucumber Asian Salad

This salad is delicious and packed full of fiber. If you like pickled foods you’ll enjoy this a lot. I add this as a side for chicken dishes, but it’s also great for anything flavored with coconut aminos.

INGREDIENTS

2 – 3 large cucumbers, thinly sliced(you can use your food processor, they generally come with attachments to thinly slice)
1/2 bag shredded carrots (roughly 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 limes, juiced
3 – 4 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt

RECIPE

It a Tupperware container add cucumbers and carrots.
In a small bowl whisk together vinegar, water, lime juice, honey and salt.
Add liquid mixture to Tupperware.
Close Tupperware and shake to mix.
Place in fridge over night.

You can play with the portions here, some individuals like it more “vinegary” so they could add more vinegar to achieve this flavor. The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it work for you, it just takes a little adjustment to get everything going.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Cranberry Nut Cookies

December wouldn’t be complete without melt-in-your-mouth festive cookies, which is why we’ve got you covered with this Paleo version that is free of gluten and made with natural sugars, natural flours and grass-fed butter.

This recipe follows the base cookie recipe featured in our eBook, Quick & Fantastic Paleo Cookies, but works in the festive flavors of cranberries and almonds.

Cranberries boast high quantities of fiber, manganese and vitamin C and, together with almonds, make a tasty and nutritious treat.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup grass-fed butter, kept refrigerated
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1 ½ tablespoons honey or raw agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ tablespoons water
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened, dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Arrowroot flour as a non-stick base for rolling

RECIPE

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place foil or parchment paper sheets over your baking sheet to prevent your cookies from sticking.
Combine the tapioca flour, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt in a small bowl.
In a food processor (or using a large bowl and an electric hand mixer) beat the butter and sugar for approximately 2 minutes, or until fluffy.
Add the dry ingredients, water, agave and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until well combined.
Lightly dust arrowroot flour on a clean counter.
Place the cookie dough, cranberries and almonds on the dusted counter and combine them using your hands.

Once combined, using a rolling-pin, roll the cookie dough until 1/4 inch thick and then cut out your cookies using a cookie cutter.
(If ever the dough is too sticky to handle, simply add a small amount of arrowroot flour at a time until it becomes manageable.)
Place the cookies on your lined baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe makes about a dozen cookies.

Happy National Cookie Day!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Paleo Sausage and Fruit Stuffing

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all love stuffing, but being that the traditional recipes are filled with wheat flour and vegetable oils, stuffing doesn’t love us!

Luckily it’s not that hard to make a Paleo Stuffing and ensure you have a complete Thanksgiving meal this festive season, without sacrificing your health.

This Paleo Stuffing recipe pairs Paleo Rosemary Bread with Italian sausage and fresh fruit to achieve a taste sensation that adds flavor to any roast.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 pound Italian Sausage
2 whole apples or pears, cored and sliced
1/4 cup honey/raw agave nectar

+ 4 slices of Paleo Rosemary Bread

RECIPE

Using your hands, form the Italian sausage into small balls.
In a medium saute pan, melt the coconut oil over medium heat.
Add the sausage and cook for about 4 minutes, turning the sausage to ensure all sides gain even heat.

After 4 minutes, add the apple/pear slices to the pan and continue to cook for another few minutes.

While the meat and fruit combination cooks, break the slices of pre-made Paleo Rosemary Bread into pieces about the size of a dime.
Place the bread, meat and fruit in a mixing bowl. Add the honey/agave and stir.
The stuffing is now ready to either place inside a turkey or chicken before beginning a roast, or simply place in an oven-safe dish and bake it alone for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Enjoy this Paleo Stuffing with your festive meal and rejoice in knowing that not only is this recipe free of wheat and vegetable oils, it incorporates fruit, which helps your body to digest the amount of meat typically consumed during holiday meals.

Have a wonderful day filled with good food and gratitude,

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are a staple for almost every holiday dinner, don’t fear! You don’t have to give up mashed potatoes at your holiday dinner. I’ve figured out a simple recipe to make creamy, smooth sweet potato mashed potatoes. Just because you’re Paleo doesn’t mean you have to miss out on your holiday favorites.

INGREDIENTS

3 medium sweet potatoes
salt
3/4 cup coconut milk

RECIPE

Fill a pot with warm water, sprinkle with salt.
Place pot on high heat and bring to a boil.
Wash, peel and cube your sweet potatoes. 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch cubes work great but don’t get to worried about making them perfect.
Add sweet potatoes to water when it begins to boil.
Boil for 20-30 minutes or until you can poke a fork through the sweet potatoes.
Place sweet potatoes in a bowl and add coconut milk. (I recommend streaming the coconut milk in as you mix, you may find that you don’t need as much or maybe you need more. Judge it based on the consistency of mashed potatoes that you like.)
Using a hand mixer whip potatoes until smooth.

Nothing too scary here! It’s very similar to how you’d make non-paleo mashed potatoes, we’re just changing up the ingredients a little bit.

Here’s to never missing another holiday staple!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a slice of delicious pumpkin pie and a huge shoutout to You–our wonderful audience–we are eternally grateful for all your support!

Traditional Pumpkin Pie recipes use gluten crusts and often large dozes of refined-sugar and dairy, making this delightful treat rather Paleo-unfriendly.

Thankfully, Paleo Pumpkin Pie can be made at home using my Paleo Pie Crust recipe and an easy filling made with organic pumpkin puree and coconut milk.

This Thanksgiving it’s time to impress those guests…and I’d be willing to bet they won’t even know it’s Paleo!

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
1 can organic, pure pumpkin puree
½ cup coconut milk (canned and full fat)
½ cup honey/raw agave nectar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice*
1 pinch salt

RECIPE

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a food processor, pulse the eggs, pumpkin, coconut milk and honey/agave until well blended.
Add the spice and pulse for about another minute.
Pour the mixture into a baked Paleo Pie Crust and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour for the pie to set.

*Pumpkin Pie Spice can be purchased at a number of grocery stores, but can also be made from scratch by mixing equal parts cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. For this recipe (1/8 cup pumpkin pie spice) you would need 1/2 a tablespoon of each of those spices.

Enjoy this healthy version of traditional Pumpkin Pie,

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Orange-Ginger Tilapia

Hi Everyone, We wanted to give you all a heads up that we’ve had to cancel our cooking Demo that was slotted for this Wednesday(11/12/2014) at the Natural Grocers in Littleton, CO. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you but we’re expecting a large snow storm that day and want to ensure everyone’s safety. Don’t worry though, we’ll be sharing the Paleo Thanksgiving recipes soon! In the mean time we hope this lovely tilapia dish will keep you warm.

Camilla & Melissa

This is one of my new go-to dishes during the work week. It takes about 15 minutes total between prep and cooking time, it also goes great with anything you make as a side dish. Tilapia is fairly inexpensive, so it’s a great alternative to some pricier fish options.

INGREDIENTS

2 tilapia fillets
1 orange, juiced
t tbsp avocado oil
2 tsp ginger, grated (fresh)
1 tsp salt

RECIPE

Place tilapia fillets in glass dish.
Marinade with orange juice, avocado oil, ginger and salt; cover, place in fridge and let sit. (I do this in the morning and cook it when I get home from work.)
Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
Remove glass dish from fridge, let dish come to room temperature.(You never want to heat glass to quickly as it can shatter.)
Place in oven and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until fish is flaky and white.
It’s that easy!

This dish is fast and easy, it is also very light. I’ve incorporated it into my weekly meals to help boost my fish intake and stay on track with my exercise/ diet goals.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Cranberry Almond Muffins

We just can’t get enough of cranberries this festive season!

Not only are they a great source of vitamin B-6, vitamin C, fiber and potassium, they add a bold festive color to food and have an unusually delicate balance of tart and sweet flavors.

The question has come up of where to find cranberries that are sugar-free. It’s a good question as it is a much harder task than it should be. Our secret is looking often at various stores and always reading the labels. The other all-time safe bet for sugar-free cranberries is Cherry Bay Orchards.

This Cranberry Almond Muffin recipe is one of my favorites. It is so easy to make and is both gluten-free and dairy-free.
Plus, these muffins freeze fantastically, so you can bake a batch and enjoy them all winter long…

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 shake salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon raw agave nectar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup unsweetened cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds

RECIPE

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Pulse the apricots in a food processor until finely chopped.
Add the coconut flour, coconut oil, salt, baking soda, eggs, honey/agave and vanilla extract and pulse until well combined.
Place the mixture into a mixing bowl and fold in the cranberries and almonds.

Scoop 2 tablespoons of the muffin mix into each large muffin paper liner and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a skewer poked through the center comes out clean.
This recipe makes about 10 muffins.

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Pork Stuffed Squash

It’s fall and we’re inundated with squash, from pumpkin patches to decorative pieces and extensive in-store displays. But the question always arises: what can be made of these fine looking vegetables?

This recipe is simple, delicious and plates gorgeously. It’s a fantastic dish to serve as a Halloween or Thanksgiving appetizer, or together with a salad as a healthy main course.

INGREDIENTS

1 Carnival squash, top cut off
1/4 cup sliced yams
1 teaspoon garlic
1 dozen raisins
1 teaspoon tallow (we love Fatworks grass-fed beef tallow)
1/4 pound pork, cut into thin, short strips
1 tablespoon red wine

RECIPE

In a small pot, bring the squash and yams to the boil and cook until tender.
Meanwhile, in a small sauté pan, melt the tallow over medium heat.
Add the pork strips and cook slowly until browned, before adding the wine.
Once the squash and yams are cooked, scoop the inners out of the squash (most of it will consist of pips).
In a small bowl, place any remaining squash flesh, along with the yams, garlic and raisins, and mix the ingredients together.
Stuff the squash with the yam-garlic-raisin mixture and then top with the wine-marinated pork.
Place the lid back on the squash (this not only looks great but helps to keep the dish warm) and enjoy while hot.

This festive recipe serves one.

Here’s to wishing you a very happy start to your fall festivities…

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!