Almond Butter Cups (Advanced Plan)

Okay...I will admit it!  Sometimes, people feel sorry for people like me!  I mean after all, (enter sarcasm)...eating healthy is hard.  Sometimes, my family and I have to endure eating things like these creamy, chocolaty, "died and went to heaven" Almond Butter Cups!  (*Again...lots of sarcasm).

You get past that feeling of deprivation, though.  It's just like anything else...you just eventually adapt!  (*And even more...well, you know...). We happen to have adapted very well. So well, that my son now has no problem taking these little cups of "heaven" to school in his lunch box.  (Okay...we didn't adapt at all...we love this food.)

And I have no problem letting him...because I know a little secret!  This almond butter cup has more nutrition than most kid's entire lunch.  His little brain needs things like this to help it run throughout the day.  (This part means exactly what it says.)

Truth be known...I don't think he ever really minded at all!


Almond Butter Cups (Advanced Plan)  
Free of: Gluten, Sugar, Chemicals, Toxins
Full of:  Good Fats, Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc, Iron, Fiber, Vitamin E and more!

Bottom Mixture:
1 Cup Almond Butter
8 oz Organic Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Xylitol (or to taste)
1 Teaspoon Organic Vanilla Extract (make sure not sweetened)
Pinch of sea salt
Stevia to taste

Top Mixture:
3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup Xylitol (or to taste)
2 tablespoons organic Coconut Oil
2 tablespoons organic Butter
Stevia to taste

Bottom Mixture:  Mix all ingredients in first list in mixer until smooth.  Place by spoonful in cupcake liners.  Flatten mixture with fingers or spoon.

Top Mixture:  Place all ingredients from second list in a saucepan.  Melt over low heat until smooth.  Pour over first mixture in cupcake liners.

Place in refrigerator or freezer until firm.

Blueberry Corn Muffins (Core Plan)

A few days ago I met a couple.  I won't say where or when.  You only need to know that I met them.  And that they were a very nice couple. However,  my first impression was that were incredibly mismatched. We talked for a bit, and a little more...then the picture began to come together for me.  Little by little...them being together began to make more sense. We all talked until ultimately I decided the two were made for each other.   They just "worked".

This happens with couples.  And this happens with food.

Yes, just like there are "odd little" couples...there are "odd little" recipes.  And this is one of them.

This recipe came to be when my son began begging me one Saturday morning for blueberry muffins.  I had yet to make gluten free, sugar free blueberry muffins but was determined to find something in my pantry that would pacify his craving.

I had a bag of organic corn meal and a bag of organic corn flour.  I also happened to have plenty of blueberries...so I said, "Eh...what the heck?"

I followed the recipe for Corn Bread on the back of the bag making the necessary changes to create a "Core Plan" Blueberry Muffin.

And what do you know... those "odd little" muffins just "worked".

Blueberry Corn Muffins (Core Plan)
Free of: Gluten, Sugar, Chemicals, GMO's
Full of: Antioxidants, Proteins, Good Fats, Vitamin C, Vitamin B1 and Folate

1 Cup Stone Ground Cornmeal (Organic, non-GMO only)
1 Cup Corn Flour (Organic, non-GMO only)
1 tsp Sea Salt
3 organic Free Range eggs
1/2 cup organic butter (raw where available) or E.V. coconut oil
2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp Xylitol
1 Cup Raw Milk
1 Cup organic Blueberries (please make sure only organic)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place all ingredients except blueberries in bowl of standing mixer.  Blend until smooth.  Fold in Blueberries with a mixing spoon.  Pour into paper muffin liners or grease muffin pan with coconut oil.  Place in oven and cook for 30 to 35 minutes.  The top of the muffins will be slightly browned and firm to the touch.

Why Raw Milk?

If you are asking yourself why I use raw cow's milk in all of my recipes...you would not be the first person to do so.  If you are put off by the thought of drinking raw, unhomogenized milk...you would not be the first.  If you have never heard of raw milk...you are definitely not the first.

I have hated milk my entire life.  Since I was a small child...as far as I was concerned it was not an option.  The texture alone was enough to do me in.  I would cook with it sometimes and that was about it.  

Then I began buying raw, unhomogenized, unpasteurized milk...and I became milk's biggest fan!

 

Imagine that when you drink a glass of milk, instead of tasting something that resembles white water depleted of nutrition and full of chemicals and hormones, you instead get a mouth-full of delicious, nutrient rich,  full of life, lusciously creamy milk!  The taste difference alone would have been enough to switch my entire family to raw milk.

But the taste had nothing to do with that decision!

No...I switched my family based purely on the health benefits alone.  Raw milk seems to me to be something of a super-food.  It is full of "healing" properties.  It's nutrient density is through the roof.  It offers proteins and enzymes that are near impossible to find anywhere else.  Not to mention an over-abundance of vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and beneficial bacteria.

There is always the question of raw milk safety.  Do you know what I hear almost every time I tell someone I drink raw milk?  "That stuff will kill you!"  or "They invented pasteurization for a reason!" 

I will tell you, I have researched this topic to death.  My personal opinion is that the good so far outweighs the bad that there is no question as to which milk is more fit for drinking.  From what I have found anyone saying that raw milk is more dangerous than pasteurized has been severely misinformed.  For instance they do not take into account that quality raw milk has it's own God-designed system of sterilization.  They do not take into account that a steady diet of grass-fed raw milk boosts your immune system so much that worrying about the germs in it becomes laughable.  They do not take into consideration that all outbreaks of salmonella in the past few decades from milk were from pasteurized milk.

Remember, not all raw milk is the same.  Healthy, quality raw milk only comes from cows that are kept in clean organic green pastures...they eat only the grass they are on...they are never injected with hormones or chemicals...and they are tested regularly for superior health which in turn gives superior milk.

Please check out the following links for more in depth information on raw milk.

Alive-Fight the Pasteurization Myth 

Raw Milk Facts  

Dr. Mercola-Processing is the Problem

Also, feel free to visit the sight for Heritage Dairy Farms where my family and I buy the best milk we have ever tasted!

Heritage Dairy Farms-Raw Milk

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Balls (Advanced Plan)

Well...to be honest...there is not a lot to say about this recipe.  Mainly just that it should be a staple food in every God Food Kitchen!  (You know...just like bread used to be.)  I will post the base recipe here but please, please do me a favor and play around with it.  My friend, Sheila, loves adding cinnamon. I called her a genius when she did! You can add anything from fruit to spices...you can even eliminate the sweetener and vanilla, and add herbs and sea salt and you will have yourself little tiny personal cheese balls!  

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Balls (Advanced Plan)
Free of:  chemicals, hormones, sugar, and grain
Full of: good fat, calcium, folic acid, Omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, antioxidants

¼ lb walnuts

¼ lb pecans

Pinch of xylitol

Pinch of sea salt

3 -8oz pkgs organic cream cheese

¾ cups xylitol

5 drops stevia

1 Vanilla Bean

Strawberries-optional

Coconut oil to grease hands

Place nuts, pinch of xylitol and pinch of sea salt in food processor.  Process on high until it resembles graham cracker crumbs.

In a large bowl or standing mixer place Cream Cheese, Xylitol and Stevia.  Mix on high.  Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape Vanilla Bean with a knife.  Place Vanilla Bean in bowl with cream cheese mixture and mix on high until all ingredients are smooth.  If using standing mixer you might have to scrape sides in several times to assure that xylitol and stevia are distributed evenly.

Cover hands with Coconut oil.  Take cream cheese mixture and roll into balls the size of a doughnut hole.  Drop in nuts and cover.  Place all of the balls into a rectangle baking dish.  Cover and place in refrigerator until firm.  For a delicious frozen treat store these in your freezer instead.  Serve on platter with whole strawberries for color. Yeilds 24

Note:  You can use any nut that is on the healing diet…ie macadamia, hazelnuts, almonds etc.  These would also be great covered in toasted coconut flakes.

Frozen Chocolate Pudding (Advanced Plan)

 If you plan on eating healthy and you don't yet have an ice-cream maker, I highly recommend you get one ASAP.  Here is why.

Anything that has the potential to continue to get you off track, you will need a plan and an alternative for.  And from what I can tell...9 out of 10 people are tempted by ice-cream.

My ice-cream maker helps me with more cravings than just those for ice-cream.  If I'm craving Banana Cream Pie, for instance, banana ice-cream still does the trick.

Today it's chocolate pudding.  More specifically, the "Jello" Pudding Pops my dad bought me and my sisters when we were kids.  Good luck finding a legal chocolate pudding much less a "pudding pop"...it's not gonna happen.  So I made frozen chocolate pudding...reminiscent of those sticks of frozen chocolate pudding that every kid I knew loved with all of their hearts.

Frozen Chocolate Pudding (Advanced Plan)
Free of:  Sugar, Chemicals, Grain, Gluten
Full of: Antioxidants, Good Fats, Protein

1 Cup Xylitol
2/3 Cup Baking Cocoa (unsweetened and organic if possible )
1/4 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
2 cup raw cow's milk* 
2 cup organic coconut milk
4 large free range egg yolks slightly beaten
1 1/2 tbs vanilla (not sweetened)
*(Remember raw milk separates.  I like to try to make this after it has separated and use most of the thick cream off of the top for this recipe.)

Mix xylitol, cocoa and sea salt in a saucepan.  Gradually stir in milk and coconut milk.  Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture starts to bubble and boil.  Stir and boil for another minute.

Gradually stir 1 cup of the hot chocolate mixture into beaten egg yolks.  Stir back into hot mixture in saucepan stirring the whole time.  Boil and stir until slightly thickens .

Turn off heat and leave mixture to cool a bit before placing it in the ice-cream maker.  Mixture should be at least room temp before putting in the ice-cream maker.  (Sometimes I place the saucepan in the freezer just to make sure!)

K.I.S.S. Caprese Salad ( Advanced Plan)

This dish is perfectly delectable.

Some of you may look at this photo and ask "How can something so simple be 'delectable'?"

And my answer to you would be, "Because it's called 'Caprese' (said in my best Italian accent and accompanied with a very dramatic Italian-like hand motion)... and because it comes from Italy...silly."

You should know that this answer makes perfect sense in my head.  Why?  Because any recipe called "Caprese" and originating in  Italy (the region of Campania, specifically) would be deliciously delectable... no matter what it is...right?

Absolutely! 

As a matter of fact, this recipe is a perfect example of "keep it simple silly" cooking and eating. Often times less is more...especially when it comes to healthy food. And just in case you are a history buff, this salad is also referred to as "insalata tricolore", paying patriotic homage to the three colors of the Italian flag...thank you very much! 

Straightforward dishes like this allow you to really taste the food you are eating.  Fresh tomatoes, especially organic and homegrown, should have a very definitive flavor... all their own.  Mozzarella cheese, especially buffalo mozzarella, is undeniably in a class of it's own.  And fresh basil leaves never leave the palate dissatisfied.  Put them all together...and you have "Caprese". 

And boy will you be glad that you do!

Caprese Salad (Advanced Plan)
Free of: pesticides, chemicals, rancid fats, anything fake
Full of: Antioxidant, Vitamin K, good fats, Vitamin E, Magnesium

1 lb.organic tomatoes (my favorite are heirloom)
1/2 lbs raw mozzarella (buffalo if available)
Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp fresh organic basil leaves (chopped or whole)

Slice mozzarella into thin slices and place on bottom of serving dish. Skin tomatoes (I don't always do this) and slice them thinly and evenly.  Lay them on top of cheese arranged in whatever way you find most appealing.  Sometimes I stack them evenly and sometimes I stagger each layer.  Season with sea salt and pepper.  Drizzle tops with olive oil and vinegar.  Garnish with chopped or whole basil leaves.

Bon Appetit!

Spiced and Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Coconut Sorbet (Core Plan)

Oh my! Oh my my my!

A few weeks ago, I announced at work that I wanted to make a dessert with peaches, ginger and cinnamon.  To this my boss replied, "Who are they, you're friends?"   -Sigh!***

I didn't decide to add cardamom until I bought a bag of the fragrant spice a week later.  This may be the best recipe idea I will have for a year so I wanted to save it for an epic vacation dessert.  Yes, I needed to savor it in the perfect setting.


And so...I made this recipe last week on my vacation.  It was heavenly and decadent! And do you think I wrote down one single thing I did?  Ummm... NO!  So tonight, I got a redo. 

This is my new favorite dessert.  I love it with all of my heart.  It's my edible solace at the end of a long day.  The hot peaches are a perfect match for the cold sorbet...making it a sweet melty concoction that is...well, just irresistible.  You can make it in minutes if you have a fast ice-cream maker.  If not you can make the sorbet in any ice cream maker in advance.

Spiced and Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Coconut Sorbet (Core Plan)
Free of: Pesticides, Chemicals, Sugar, Gluten, Grain, Dairy
Full of:  Good Fat, Lauric Acid, Vitamin A, Fiber, Antioxidants

Sorbet:
1 Can Organic Coconut Milk
3/4 cup xylitol
1 tbs organic vanilla extract (pure, not sweetened)
1 vanilla bean (optional)
1/4 cup filtered water
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Grilled Peaches:
4 Organic Peaches (Cut in half and pitted)
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tbs ginger
1 tbs cardamom (optional)
Coconut Oil

Place all ingredients for the sorbet in your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer's instructions until the sorbet is the same consistency as ice cream.

Coat the flat side of the peaches with coconut oil.  Place peach halves on grill (medium heat) flat side down.  Grill for about 5 minutes or so until they become soft and juicy. Mix spices together in a bowl.  Put peaches in individual bowls and sprinkle with spices.  Scoop sorbet on top of peaches and serve immediately.