Monthly Archives: August 2017

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies

August 28, 2017
Sandra Shields, Healthy Food and Wellness Blogger, Health Coach, Balanced Living, Clean Beauty Consultant
2 comments
Baking, Baking With Coconut Flour, Coconut Flour, Cookies, Dairy Free, Farmhouse Molasses, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Healthier Baking, Jumbo Cookies, Molasses Cookies, No Refined Sugar, Paleo

Molasses has such an earthy, rich flavor, and it has vitamins and minerals in it unlike it’s refined sugar counterpart. I revamped this old family favorite to make it refined sugar free and grain free and bring you a bit of the old fashioned farmhouse feel. The flavor is outstanding in this soft cookie with cinnamon, ginger and cloves! I have tested it on 1-year-olds, teens, and my hubby and tweaked them four times before getting them how I wanted them.

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies made with Coconut Flour

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies – Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free, Paleo

Here is an article about some of the benefits of blackstrap molasses from Natural Living Ideas – 10 Blackstrap Molasses Benefits That Will Convince You To Get A Jar.

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies

Makes 7 – 8 Jumbo Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350º degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs

1/4 Cup of Blackstrap Molasses (I use this kind)

1/4 Cup of Pure Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup of Coconut Oil (soft but not melted)

1/2 Cup of Coconut Flour

1/2 Teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon of Cider Vinegar

1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon of Ginger

1/2 Teaspoon of Cloves

4 Teaspoons of Coconut Sugar for the tops of the Cookies

Directions:

In a large bowl with a hand held electric mixer, cream together the eggs and coconut oil. Add the molasses, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Beat until creamy and combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients except the coconut sugar. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Add the second half of the flour mixture and beat for one minute. Add the apple cider vinegar. This will activate the baking soda. Beat for approximately 30 seconds. Set the cookie dough aside for five minutes and grab the coconut sugar. This allows the coconut flour to absorb the wet ingredients. With a large muffin sized scoop or a 1/4 cup measure, scoop balls of cookie dough onto your parchment lined cookie sheets, spacing them three inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut sugar. With three fingers, gently press down on the cookies to flatten evenly. See photo below. The coconut sugar keeps the dough from sticking to your hands when you press, and it adds a nice crunch to the top.

Pressing Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies

Bake in your preheated oven for 13 to 15 Minutes just until set. If you over bake them, they will not be as moist as they could be, and who doesn’t like a moist cookie?

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies – Gluten Free, Grain Free

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the cookie sheets.

Farmhouse Jumbo Molasses Cookies – Dairy and Gluten Free Made with Coconut Flour

These keep at room temperature for three days, and they freeze exceptionally well!

Enjoy!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Chicken Pizza Paillards

Chicken Pizza Paillairds

Paillards is a French term for pounded or thinly sliced meat. Paillards are quick cooking and tender. For these Chicken Pizza Paillards, I used Primal Palate’s Super Gyro Seasoning Blend. It is my favorite gluten free seasoning blend of Himalayan pink salt oregano, marjoram, thyme, and garlic. This is a fabulous, juicy chicken dish! A quick tip I got from Rachel Ray, buy boneless chicken breasts in bulk for savings, and pound them into paillards and freeze between sheets of parchment. Then when you want to make a quick cooking chicken dinner, you can just pull the amount you want out of the freezer. They thaw very quickly!

Chicken Pizza Paillards

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Chicken Breasts

16 Oz. of White Button Mushrooms, Sliced

6 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Pizza Sauce (I used Muir Glen Organic which has no Sugar Added)

Fresh Basil, Chopped

3 Tablespoons of Aged Balsamic Vinegar (my favorite is 18 year old from Fustinis)

Super Gyro Seasoning Blend

Sea Salt

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350° degrees F. Pound the chicken breasts to about a half inch thick using a meat pounder, and cover the chicken with plastic wrap when pounding to prevent splatter. Slice the mushrooms, and add them to a cast iron skillet with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Sprinkle with a generous double pinch of sea salt, and cook over medium high heat for ten to fifteen minutes until nice and golden brown. When they are golden brown, add in 3 tablespoons of aged balsamic vinegar and cook until it has evaporated and infused into the mushrooms. Set aside.

In a large nonstick, oven-safe skillet, add the last 3 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium high heat. Season your pounded chicken generously with Super Gyro Seasoning by Primal Palate on both sides. (A nice even coat. The amount depends on the surface area of your chicken. I like to be generous) Add the seasoned chicken to the hot skillet and cook for 4 minutes a side or until golden brown on each side. Now, pop the chicken into the oven for five minutes, or until the center of the chicken reaches 165° degrees. While the chicken is in the oven, heat up the pizza sauce.

Remove the chicken from the oven and top each breast with the hot pizza sauce, 1/4 of the mushrooms and sprinkle with chopped basil.

Enjoy!

Sandra

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Chicken Pizza Paillards

Peach Mango Sorbet

Peach Mango Sorbet - Paleo

The peaches are so good this year, and I have been finding ways to enjoy them almost every day while they are fresh and in season. One of the ways I have been eating them is by making a fresh sorbet with peaches and mango in my blender for instant sorbet. I peel and dice the fresh fruit and freeze it first. Find the full recipe below.

Peaches are packed with nutrition and soluable fiber and aid digestion. Here’s a great article on 18 Amazing Benefits of Peaches including skin health, vision, immune system and anti-aging properties. I added just 1 1/2 tablespoons of low glycemic coconut sugar to the recipe that serves three. It is important to buy organic peaches, because they are on the dirty dozen list.

Here’s the simple and delicious recipe for you to enjoy!

Peach Mango Sorbet

Ingredients:

2 Organic Peaches, Washed, Peeled, Diced and Frozen

1 Mango, Washed, Peeled, Diced and Frozen

1 Tablespoon of Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

1 1/2 Tablespoons of Coconut Sugar

Directions: Add all the ingredients to a high speed blender with a plunger (I used a Vitamix) and blend until thick and creamy. Serve immediately, or place the sorbet in a glass freezer dish and freeze for later. If you save it for later, remove the sorbet from the freezer and let it sit on the counter for ten to fifteen minutes to soften.

Enjoy your day!

Sandra

How I Save on Healthy Groceries at Thrive Market Online

beautiful-girl-eating-healthy-food

One of the things I hear often as a health coach is how expensive it is to eat healthy and organic good. It is true that the food isles are full of cheap food that is not good for our health but is easier on the pocketbook. I used to eat that way too, but I literally changed my life, health and energy by choosing to change my diet, because the cost down the road was going to be much greater than spending more of my budget on healthy food, plus I get to feel amazing now and hopefully prevent the diseases later that are afflicting so many people eating the SAD Diet (aka standard American diet).

I haven’t written a blog post about how I save money and feed myself, kids and husband delicious healthy food and afford the better household cleaners, skin care products and supplements. I shop at Thrive Market! It is a membership online health food store, and there are no strings to try it out. They let you shop and save 25% to 50% off retail for 30 days, like members, to try them out at no charge! That’s a lot of cold hard cash! If you like them, and they have thousands of products to choose from that I was buying all the time at the store, you can join for $59.95 a year, and believe me, you will save that in your first purchase if you have a couple people in your household, and in the first month if you are single. Thrive cuts out the middle man and they negotiate with the manufacturers so they can offer products to us cheaper than retail. I am on my second year of membership and have saved just under $1,500. each year! Wow!

Another thing I just love about Thrive is for every membership someone signs up for, they give one to a needy family for free. I also never pay shipping, because any purchase over $49. is free shipping.

Thrive has the brands I am always talking about here and so much more. It is an online grocery store, less the perishable items like fresh produce and meat, since they don’t ship cold things, except they will ice your chocolate bars in the hot months! My favorite chocolate bars (Alter Eco 85% Dark Chocolate) are $1.50 less at Thrive than my local store.

The link to check out Thrive is below. I hope you give them a try. They also have many items I can’t get unless I order online. Yesterday I saved $94.40 off retail and purchased items like coconut oil, coffee, laundry detergent, canned salmon, almond flour, coconut flour, coconut milk (the Thrive Brand is awesome!), olive oil, vanilla extract, 85% dark chocolate bars, Primal Kitchen’s Avocado Oil Mayo, back to school kids snacks, etc. I really love this company! The link is right below.

http://thrv.me/RWjucz

Thrive Market