The Paleo Pact

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Pie-Mania

You may have noticed that we LOVE pie! So we can’t resist making traditional pie recipes Paleo-friendly to enjoy all holiday season long, without the guilt.

For quick and easy access to all our favorite Pie Recipes, here’s a Pie-Mania cheat sheet:

Pie-Mania

Paleo Pie Crust – gluten-free, grain-free pie crust.

Coconut Pie Crust – Paleo Pie crust designed for those with egg-allergies.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie – decadent homemade Pumpkin Pie from scratch.

Egg-free Pumpkin Pie – Pumpkin Pie created especially for those with egg-allergies.

Mango Key Lime Pie – a slightly sweet, slightly tart touch to the holidays.

Sweet Potato Pie – a slight twist on the Pumpkin Pie classic.

Christmas Pie – a Mince Pie inspired treat.

Berry Pie – an antioxidant rich dessert.

Apple Pie – an American favorite.

We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Seasonal Menu

Dinner party season is headed our way and we know how hard it can be to come up with a Paleo-friendly dinner selection that caters to even the most discerning guest.

So, to make your life easier, we’ve put together a 5 course Seasonal Menu, that you can follow entirely, or pick and choose from to make your own perfect Paleo dinner.

Let’s get started with the first course…simply click the links for each item below to be directed to the easy to follow recipe.

1st COURSE

Pear and Prosciutto Salad – This simple yet decadent salad option is a great light and tasty start to any dinner.

2nd COURSE

Bacon Wrapped Dates with Cashew “Cheese” – A guest post recipe that we adore, this appetizer is a great way to show off how traditional recipes can be adapted to become Paleo-friendly.

3rd COURSE

French Onion Soup – This soup is always a favorite and makes for a great introduction into the main course of a dinner serving.

4th COURSE

Apple Thyme Roast Chicken – A delicious main dish that’s complete with an apple stuffing and can be roasted alongside vegetables of your choice.

Cauliflower Mash – Roast this dish in the oven alongside the chicken and have a heathy substitute to traditional mashed potatoes.

5th COURSE

Sweet Potato Pie – A twist on the ever-popular Pumpkin Pie, this recipe is the perfect end to a seasonal dinner party.

Now that should impress your guests this holiday season!

Camilla Carboni

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Our Top 9 Holiday Recipes

No holiday would be complete without a favorite dish or meal. To help celebrate this year we’ve pulled our top 9 favorite recipes perfect for a holiday meal to share with you. These recipes are exactly what you need to serve the perfect paleo holiday meal.

Our top 8 favorite holiday recipes are…

Try serving up one of these dishes this holiday season and everyone will be happy.

Happy Holidays!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Our Top 5 Pie Recipes

Sometimes a treat is just what you need, especially during the holidays. So in honor of the holidays we’ve created a list of our five favorite pies based on recipes featured on our blog. So in no particular order because picking five was hard enough, here are our 5 favorite pies.

In addition to our favorite pies we also think they pair perfectly with our Paleo Pie Crust and Coconut Pie Crust recipes!

Happy Baking!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Egg-Free, Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is my favorite pie; in fact it’s basically my whole family’s favorite pie. When I set out to make an egg-free, paleo pumpkin pie I went through a few rounds of pies before I finally got it perfect. On my finally pie, the one where I knew I’d figured it out, I ate a slice before I went to bed convinced that it would be there for breakfast when I woke up.

It wasn’t. The culprit? My brother! I was not happy…he ate the whole pie while I was sleeping! Thankfully it was easy enough to whip up another one.

Here is a quick and easy recipe for egg-free, paleo pumpkin pie.

INGREDIENTS

15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons coconut sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk (remove the cream from the can first adding it to a measuring cup then add remaining liquid until you have 3/4 cups needed for the recipe)
1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoon tapioca flour
gelatin egg (1 tablespoon gelatin, 1/8 cup hot water)
1 pie crust (our coconut pie crust goes great with this)

RECIPE

In a food processor combine everything except the gelatin egg and pie crust.
Pour mixture in a saucepan and heat over low heat for 10 minutes. (you can expect to see an occasional bubble and steam but you do not want a stream of bubbles)
In a small bowl whisk together gelatin and hot water. (add gelatin to water quickly while whisking)
Add pumpkin mixture and gelatin egg to food processor, process until combined.
Pour mixture into pie crust and place into fridge.
Let set for 2 hours.
Serve when ready.

This pie is simple to make and after your first time or two you won’t even need to think about it. Not to mention that when I make this I only usually need to pick up pumpkin as I have everything else in my house, you probably have most of the ingredients too.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Mango Key Lime Pie

Pies are such a great treat but when you’re trying to make them paleo and cut out any refined sugars and processed additives it can seem impossible feat. Thankfully paleo pies are often easier to make than normal pies.

Key lime pies have always been a favorite of mine and when I decided to make my own paleo version I wanted to spice it up a little. I had mangos sitting around my house and thought, wouldn’t that be delicious. It was delicious and I’m happy I get to share it with you, here’s an easy recipe for mango, key lime pie.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup mango puree (roughly 1 ½ mangos blended in your food processor)
1/2 cup of blended avocado (ripe avocados work the best, it is roughly 1 avocado blended in your food processor until you have a creamy, smooth mixture)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice
3 tablespoons coconut sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk (scoop out the cream at the top of the can first then add the remaining liquid until you reach 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
rind 2 key limes, grated
2 teaspoons tapioca flour
gelatin eggs (1.5 tablespoon gelatin + 1/4 cup hot water)
1 pie crust (goes great with our coconut pie crust)

RECIPE

Mix all ingredients together in food processor, except gelatin eggs; until thoroughly combined.
Pour mixture into saucepan and heat over low heat for 10 minutes. You’ll see a bubble escape here or there, it should not be bubbling regularly.
In a bowl whisk together 1/4 cup warm water and 1.5 tablespoon gelatin until slightly frothy (sprinkle gelatin over water slowly when whisking).
Pour both mixtures back into processor and pulse until thoroughly combined.
Pour into pie crust, let cool and stick in fridge to set. This will take roughly 3 – 4 hours.
Slice and serve!

There are a lot of ingredients in this pie but it’s nutrition packed. Not to mention that it doesn’t take long to prepare at all, at the most you’re looking at roughly 30 – 40 minutes to prepare your pie. Then all you need to do is let it cool; it’s the best part about a no bake pie.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

Coconut Pie Crust

For anyone who’s made pie crust you know that it is a “specific” kind of task. You have to use the right ingredients; the right steps and you need to end up with the correct consistency at the end. Furthermore, when you think of making the traditional pie crust recipe into it’s paleo equivalent you may not know where to start because you literally need to replace all the ingredients with something different.

The following is an easy recipe for a paleo pie crust. What’s even better is you most likely already have the ingredients you’ll need. It requires a little more attention but even if you don’t have a ton of baking experience you’ll be able to handle it.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups of shredded coconut (just coconut, it should not be sweetened)
4 tablespoons coconut oil
4 tablespoons cashew butter (you can replace this if you’d prefer almond instead)
3 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt

RECIPE

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place coconut in food processor and process for a few minutes until shredded coconut looks almost like it has been grated.
Place processed coconut into a bowl and set aside.
In a small microwave safe bowl add coconut oil and cashew butter, place in the microwave for 30 seconds or until coconut oil has melted.
Add coconut oil and cashew mixture to the processed coconut; also add the honey and salt.
Mix together until thoroughly combined.

Press coconut mixture into pie dish forming a pie crust.

Place in oven and bake for roughly 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove and let cool before adding filling.

Note that sometimes the pie crust may fall down towards the bottom of the pie dish slightly during baking. If this happens it’s not a problem at all, simple use the back of a spoon to push the crust back into position. As the crust cools it will harden and maintain its intended shape.

Enjoy!

Melissa Van Dover
@melissavandover | melissavandover.com

PALEO Cleanse made the Amazon Best Seller list!

https://thepaleopact.com/paleocleanse/

Christmas Pie

Merry Christmas to You, our wonderful Paleo friends!

Since Christmas is a time to be thankful, we wanted to let you know just how grateful we are to you for sharing this journey to health with us. Your friendship, comments, advice and support are what keep us going and words can’t adequately express just how appreciative we are, Thank You.

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is different in every household. Mince Pies were a staple holiday treat throughout my childhood in South Africa. My boyfriend’s Italian heritage meant that family style pasta was a tradition at his family Christmas gatherings. What is your Christmas tradition? We would love to hear it! And have you been able to make that tradition Paleo?

A Taste of the Holidays

Since I left South Africa (over eight years ago now) I have craved Mince Pies. I’m not quite sure why they are not a huge hit here like they are back home, but I am determined to change that!

Mince Pies are not mincemeat pies–they are the traditional English Christmas treat with stewed fruit and festive spices–or in other words, pure deliciousness!

This year I couldn’t let another Christmas go by, so I put myself up to the challenge and not only did I make my first Mince Pie ever, I made it Paleo (and alcohol-free):

INGREDIENTS

Pie Filling

1/2 cup water
6 apples, cored and chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup unsweetened, dried cranberries
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup honey or raw agave nectar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup grass-fed butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pie Crust
+ Everything included in the Paleo Pie Crust recipe

RECIPE

In a medium pot or large sauté pan, bring all of the Pie Filling ingredients to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the filling is cooking, make the Paleo Pie Crust.
Once the Pie Crust has baked, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Let the pie filling mixture cool before scooping it into the baked Paleo Pie Crust.

Top the mixture with a thin crumbled layer of unbaked Paleo Pie Crust dough to ‘seal’ the pie.

Place it in the oven to bake for another 30 minutes.
Remove the pie from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Tip: The pie filling can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a few days, or frozen and used later when a Christmas Pie craving kicks in.

May this Christmas be your sweetest ever,

Camilla Carboni

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!