My in-laws are in town this week so I wanted to have something sweet on hand for them to munch on if they were in the mood. Especially my father-in-law, who has a sweet tooth just like me. Ive really been into making cake mix cookie recipes lately because they are just so darn easy! I ran across this one and thought I would try it since it would be something a little different than just the usual chocolate chip cookie. They turned out pretty good and I was surprised with how moist they were. 

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies (www.sallybakingaddiction.com)

Ingredients

• 1 box ( 18.25 oz) strawberry cake mix
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and baking powder. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla by hand. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir to form a dough. Stir vigorously until all if the pockets of dry cake mix are gone. Gently mix in the chocolate chips.

Drops round balls of dough, about 2 tablespoons each, onto prepared baking sheet. Make sure the balls of dough are taller than they are wide.

Bake for 10 minutes - do not let the cookies get brown. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes, they will be very soft at first. As they cool, the tops may settle down. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Can store in an airtight container for up to one week.

Dan tried these before his parents arrived and said he thought these were the best cake mix cookies I had made so far. Plus they are pretty! Would be great cookies to make for V-day!

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This cake is what happens when you spend time drinking with a chef and say crazy things like “how would one go about making a gluten free cake with port, bacon and chocolate?” And said cooking expert is just wacky enough to take the question as a challenge, not only making it happen in a very tasty way but never once cocking an eye brow at the weird idea. So together Jacob, the chef with multiple “most unique” cooking titles and I threw together this chocolate bacon cake for the birthday party of our celiac friend Q. It was a big hit and a lot of fun to make. Two packages of bacon were cooked in the making of this delicious dessert.

The only problem with this cake is that it will conquer even the greatest sweet tooth. I highly recommend making it next time you need the most creative baked good possible, just remember to eat truffle sized amounts of it and have large amounts of chocolate and bacon loving friends around to help you conquer the cake. Its that rich and evilly tasty. Somehow the sweet flourless cake combines perfectly with the bittersweet salty bacon frosting. The powdered sugar makes it nearly perfect.

Oh did I mention this cake is out of this world but absolutely not something that follows the French diet at all? Yeah whoops. It was just so good I had to write about it anyway. It was a big hit.

FOR CAKE:

1/4 cup red wine reduction
1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

7 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Or invest in a 9-inch silicon pan which requires no greasing or lining.

To make a wine reduction pour most of a bottle of a decent red wine (something bold like tempranillo or syrah) into a saucepan over medium low heat. Keep on a gentle simmer until the liquid has reduced to a thick syrupy consistency.

Stir chocolate (I used half bittersweet and half semisweet), butter, wine reduction, and vanilla in heavy large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and 1 cup sugar in large bowl until thick and pale, and slowly dissolving ribbon forms when beaters are lifted, about 6 minutes. Fold 1/3 of egg mixture into lukewarm chocolate mixture. Fold remaining egg mixture into chocolate mixture.

Place prepared pan on baking sheet. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 55 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove sides of pan; transfer cake to platter. Remove parchment paper.

Original recipe from Epicurious.com with creative embellishments from Jacob.

FOR FROSTING:

4 ounces bacon fat (rendered from 1 package good quality bacon)
4 ounces 100% cacao dark chocolate
2 tablespoons heavy cream
powdered sugar for decoration

Use your preferred method for cooking bacon, setting aside rendered fat. While fat is warm run it through a sieve to strain out the ugly left over bacon pieces. Reserve cooked bacon for decorating the cake later.

In a small double boiler gently melt together 4 ounces of the bacon fat and 4 ounces of dark chocolate. When melted add heavy cream and stir to combine until homogeneous.. Allow mixture to return to almost room temperature at which point it will thicken enough to smooth over the cooled cake. Place in refrigerator until frosting is firm, about 20 minutes.

To make your own powdered sugar place about a 1/2 cup regular granulated sugar into the blender. It seems crazy but it works, dont try try to substitute the food processor for this it wont accomplish anything. You might need to agitate the sugar occasionally to get a uniform powder consistency.

I then used a damask stencil, placed it over the firmed frosting and sprinkled powder sugar over it. Using the left over bacon, chopped into small pieces I a framed the stencil decoration.

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Find more clean eating ideas at CLEAN GREEN EATS by Candice Kumai

Over 100 clean eating recipes to improve your life!

Click here for details!!!!!!!!

Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan 113

Breakfast

Organic Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, Banana Slices and Scrambled Eggs with Organic Ketchup

Mid Morning Snack

Fresh Blackberries

Lunch

Toasted Tofu in Homemade Teriyaki Sauce Over Organic Quinoa

Afternoon Snack

Cucumber Slices, Egg White Haves, Craisins and Coconut Chips

Dinner

Green Onion, Egg and Mushroom Stir Fry

Its a simple clean eating dinner but its tasty. Get recipe at easy healthy dinner recipe.

Thanks for visiting todays Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan!

Hope you liked the choices above.

Happy Friday!

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I cracked five raw eggs on a pizza... gross right... no delicious! I have never really made homemade pizza before so I was pretty intimidated with doing it. Luckily, I have a husband who is a good cook and he helped coach me through this first time. After making it though I wondered why Dan and I ever get take out pizza. Hello... homemade is the way to go folks!

Breakfast Pizza (www.budgetbytes.com) $3.24

Ingredients

• Refrigerated pizza dough 
• ½ cup pizza sauce
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1 medium roma tomato
• 3 oz. ham
• 5 large eggs
• 2 sliced green onions
• 1 Tbsp corn meal
• 1 green pepper

If using frozen pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before stretching it into shape (it is much more cooperative at room temp). While the dough is thawing, slice the tomato, green onion, green pepper and dice the ham.

 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a perforated pizza pan with non-stick spray and sprinkle with corn meal. Stretch the dough into a pizza pan.

Top the pizza with sauce, half of the cheese, the tomatoes, ham, green onions, green peppers,eggs and the remaining half of the cheese (I used monterrey jack on the bottom and cheddar on the top). The eggs can either be placed on top whole and raw or pre-scrambled and sprinkled over top.

Bake the pizza for about 15 minutes at 450 degrees or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

This pizza was very good. Who would have thought eggs on a pizza??? Dan rated this meal a 4 out of 5 stars and Im excited to make my second homemade pizza ;)

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The fella and I love spicy food especially of the Indian variety but this recipe was something else.  He was actually pretty okay with it but I made the mistake of trying it for the first time while I was at work.  I wasnt expecting it to be that overly spicy because Im no wimp.  Boy was I wrong.  Gladly the lunch room was empty that day because this curry was so hot I was crying.  In a very good and happy way its just I dont exactly make a habit of sitting alone in public at work weeping over my food.  It gives people the wrong impression I guess.

This curry is so good it manages to both be very very hot and tasty at the same time.  So if youre not big on spice I would suggest making it with the least amount of chilies suggested in the recipe and it should have a nice bit of kick to it.  If you really want to challenge yourself go ahead and add all the chilies and be prepared to have a pleasant fire in your mouth. 

And dont be put off by the long list of ingredients, they are mostly spices that require no effort on your part other than tossing them in the pan so it is actually a really quick meal once the beans are cooked.  I even cheat by making my beans in the crockpot while Im at work so I can start cooking as soon as I get home.  With that short cut this very hot meal takes almost no effort.

So there you go all my friends that are fans of insanely hot food, give this a try and let me know if its hot enough for you.  If not Im scared of but impressed by your idea of spicy.

Extremely Spicy Bean Curry

1/2 cup of dried chickpeas
1/4 cup of dried kidney beans
1/4 cup of lentils (puy lentils or black lentils are best)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 generous teaspoon of black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoons of agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of turmeric
dash of cayenne
2 - 4 dried red chilies
1 large tomato, finely chopped

1 small clove garlic, minced
2 - 4 fresh red or green chilies, finely chopped

Rinse the chickpeas, kidney beans and lentils in a strainer. Soak overnight in enough water to cover. Drain, transfer to a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the beans are tender - roughly 1 hour.  Or put beans in crockpot covered in water at low heat for 6 hours.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, toss in the mustard seeds and cook until they begin to pop. Add the cumin seeds, ground cumin, agave nectar, salt, coriander, turmeric, cayenne and dried chilies. Stir quickly and add the tomatoes, garlic, and fresh chilies. Stir a few times and cook until the tomato is softened - roughly 5 minutes.

Drain off some of the water from the cooked beans and add the tomato mixture to the pot. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for another 10 - 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Garnish with the fresh parsley or cilantro.  

Original recipe from Lisas Kitchen blog. 

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The only thing sexier than this beautiful little molten pile of chocolate is the woman who wrote the recipe.  

Suzanne Pirret is what would happen if Nigella Lawson and a sultry sex writer got together and decided to write a book.  Shes my food writing hero.  She is hot and funny and totally engaging.  Not usually words one uses when describing a cookbook but this one is all those things and more.  Then again I suppose hotness its to be expected from someone wearing a form fitting white dress and 6 inch Louis Vuittons on the cover of a book called The Pleasure is All Mine.  Get your head out of the gutter, its a book full of fancy but easy recipes for one because eating alone is no reason not to treat yourself well.

Seeing as Ive been obsessed with this book as of late Ive already shared her recipes for TomYum Kung Soup and Lemongrass Steamed Fish.  But I wouldnt be able to live with myself if I didnt write about the best recipe in the entire book.  It of course involves chocolate and is insanely decadent.  That didnt stop me from making this luscious melty mouth filling treat over a dozen times last week in order to experiment with getting the sugar free version of the recipe perfect.  It was tough but I made it through.  This is the type of rigorous testing I suffer through just for my loyal blog readers.     

In the end I came up with a gluten and sugar free recipe that is so good I couldnt tell the difference between the one that had sugar and the one that didnt.  I have to warn you though Suzanne Pirret says this is a single serving treat, unless youre immune to high doses of sexy chocolate induced caffeination you might want to find someone to share it with.  Or not who am I kidding its too good to resist eating the whole damn thing.  

If you want to make the sugary version or need help figuring out how making this cake works check out this video for the recipe and watch Suzanne Pirret work her magic.  Someday Ill be the type of person coordinated enough to wear a designer dress and high heels while working with chocolate.  Or at least I can dream.

Chocolate Lave Cake

3 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate

1 tablespoon butter (soy butter also works nicely)

3 teaspoons fructose

1 egg

 1 tablespoon almond flour

1 dash sea salt

unsweetened cocoa powder

drizzle of agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.

In a small sauce pan over low heat very slowly melt the chocolate.  When chocolate starts to melt, briefly remove pot from heat and stir, then place back on heat to further melt.  Repeat the process until chocolate is completely melted and set aside to cool a bit.

Melt the butter in a small mixing bowl then whisk in fructose and egg until well combined.  Slowly begin to drizzle in the melted chocolate, whisking as you pour.  You want to add the warm chocolate a little at a time so it doesnt cook the raw egg.  The mixture should be very stiff and thick at this point, too dense to stir easily and that is the perfect texture.

Add in the flour and salt and stir once again briefly. 

Grease a small ramekin then sprinkle the inside with cocoa powder.   Tap the sides of the ramekin to remove any excess powder then pour the batter into it.  Bake for 9 minutes.  Dont over cook!  

When the cake is done cooking it should be firm on the outside but liquid on the inside.  If you tip the cake over a plate and it slides out its done.  Drizzle with agave nectar or top with ice cream to take an edge off the bitterness of the chocolate.

Modified to be sugar and gluten free from a Suzanne Pirret recipe in The Pleasure Is All Mine.

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I havent been posting much lately because I havent been eating much of interest.  

See the ridiculous thing is Im a foodie with serious food sensitivities.  Figuring out that gluten was causing me problems helped out my digestive issues a lot.  Getting rid of dairy made me feel a lot better too.  However there were still things that seemed to be causing me problems and even after keeping a food diary, seeing a nutritionist, an allergist and a gastroentrologist I still couldnt figure out what was making me ill.  Unwilling to "just live with it" as all but one of my doctors advised I decided to take the next step and go on an elimintation diet.

The people over at Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen had one that seemed reasonable so Im giving it a try.  Eating nothing but green smoothies for a couple days, giving up chocolate, coffee and alcohol and eating only the simplest of unseasoned foods has not been easy.  But after my body got over the initial shock I felt better than I ever had before.  If eating green salads and brown rice with lentils and nothing else was going to get rid of my unending digestive woes I was willing to do it.

At this point Ive added in a few foods without any issues so I do have some variety in my diet.  So far I have sadly discovered citrus, cinnamon and parsnips are all problem foods for me.  So as this goes on Ill be healthier and feel great but my diet is getting more and more restricted.  In order to not let thoughts like that get me down I spent the afternoon plotting out a dessert that I could eat on this diet.  Something other than me peeling a mango and eating it like the crazy sweet-food starved person I am.  

Out of that I came up with this recipe for these vegan hypoallergenic rice crepes that fit with the strict parameters of the first phase of the elimination diet.  They are so amazing you would never guess they are missing things like eggs, dairy, wheat or sugar.  I went crazy and made some dairy free whipped cream as well since I was craving it but the crepes though simple are great without anything but your choice of fruit.  The fella and I enjoyed ours with blue berries while sitting out on the porch and enjoying the warm sunny evening.

Vegan Rice Flour Crepes 

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

2 tablespoons hot water

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon agave nectar

1 1/4 cup homemade rice milk

In a very small bowl mix the ground flax seeds with the hot water and mix well.  Allow mixture to sit undisturbed until it becomes very sticky.

In a medium bowl mix together the remaining ingredients until well incorporated then add in the flax seed mixture.. Your mixture will be very a little runny and gritty. 

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat and gently grease it with cooking spray. When the pan is at temperature add 1/4 a cup of the crepe mixture to the pan and agitate the pan to roll the mixture around the bottom making it as thin as possible. Cook the crepe for one minute then flip and cook for a 1 1/2 on the other side.

Repeat with the remaining mixture, being sure to stir the crepe batter before putting it in the pan as the heavy rice flour will quickly sink to the bottom of the bowl in the time it has taken you to make the preceding crepe.

Blueberry Filling

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 teaspoon agave nectar

Place both ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat and allow to simmer until the melting berries turn into a thin syrupy mixture.

Coconut Whipped Cream

1 14-can full fat coconut cream (the kind that separates out)

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon agave nectar

Place a metal bowl and the beaters for your electric mixer in the freezer.  Open the can of coconut milk and place in the refrigerator until the solid part of the coconut milk solidifies a bit more and is easier to skim out of the can.

After about 10 minutes remove the coconut milk from the fridge and place the solid mass floating on the top of the can in the frosty bowl that was in the freezer, leaving behind the liquid part of the coconut milk to use for other purposes.  Add the coconut oil and agave nectar to the coconut milk and return the bowl to the freezer until the mixture becomes mostly solid but not frozen through.  This will take awhile, probably between 30 to 90 minutes.  Check it often.

When the coconut mixture is stiff, begin beating the mixture with the cold electric beaters.  You will get both some soft peaks and some cold ice creamy textured bits during this process.  It wont exactly be "real" whipped cream but its so delicious it wont really matter.

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While getting ready to host a wine tasting party this upcoming weekend Ive been shuffling through all the bookmarked recipe ideas I have saved to see what weird and wonderful snacks to make. In the process Ive been finding recipes Ive been remiss in not yet posting.

I made these scones months ago for our house warming party. They were delicious. So delicious in fact no one even noticed they were gluten free which is a compliment when you can trick wheat eaters into making yummy noises over something sans flour. But shame on me for taking so long to tell you about them. They were easy, had a nice chewy consistency and took care of the scone craving I had at the time. Now that I rediscovered this recipe I might have to make them again tonight.

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Scones

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 chopped dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl mix almond flour, salt, and baking soda together. In a separate medium bowl mix the coconut oil, agave nectar, and eggs together until blended. Add cocoa powder to wet ingredients. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well. Briefly stir in dark chocolate.

Place 1/4 cup of batter onto parchment paper lined baking sheet or silicone baking mat. Repeat for each scone and space about one inch apart. Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until scones pass the clean toothpick test.

Original recipe from Celiac Chicks blog.

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It has been a hell of a day over here in my world so Im going to just let this fabulous chocolate treat speak for itself.  Long story short; its amazing and easy and I wish I had not already eaten it all so I could have some right now in my time of need.  Also please feel free to oo and aw over my new dessert plates.  Thats all.

Double Chocolate Flourless Torte

1 cup dark chocolate (4 one-ounce squares)
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Break up the squares of dark chocolate a little bit (I used unsweetened baking chocolate and still thought the recipe was too sweet) then place in food processor and pulse until coarsely ground.  Remove 1/2 of the ground chocolate for later. 

Add in almond flour, cocoa powder, and salt and combine for a couple more seconds in food processor.  Add eggs to food processor and pulse again, then add in agave, oil and orange zest.  Combine until smooth.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate pieces back to the mixture and stir briefly.

Transfer batter into a well greased 10 to 12 inch round pan.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until it passes the tooth pick test.

Adapted from a recipe on Elanas Pantry.

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This recipe lulled me into a false sense of security. It only has two ingredients it will be simple, right? Very very wrong. Those two ingredients tested my patience until I was swearing up a storm and very nearly gave up on it several times. Things were not improved by the fact I started making this at midnight the night before Easter. That is never a good idea and yet I make the mistake time and again. Apparently there is something about midnight that screams last minute baking.

There were plenty of other problems along the way. Unsweetened chocolate must mean something very different in France because Montignac keeps talking about unsweetened chocolate with different ranges of cocoa content. Here, at least in Madison, the only unsweetened chocolate is 100% cocoa baking chocolate which I am now going to assume has a very different texture than whatever Montignac was cooking with. It is also bitter requiring me to wing it and add fructose until the cake tasted edible. If youre using 100% cocoa chocolate youll want to keep tasting the cake mixture and adding fructose until it tastes sweet enough, and then add a little more.

The other problem with unsweetened American chocolate is there are no additives in it to thin out the chocolate so when I went to add the egg yolks to the warm chocolate I got a hunk of chocolate scrambled eggs. A dozen eggs and 2 boxes of chocolate in a blob of ineligibility that defiantly was not going to fold into the egg whites.

It was about then I started swearing, then I called for the fella who was smart enough to be hiding upstairs. I was on the verge of angry tears at wasting all this chocolate and the recipe making a fool of me. The fella just looked at me like I was crazy, which I was. His mere presence in the kitchen calmed me down enough think that adding milk might help with the solidified chocolate situation. That would have been fine except the milk was way curdled which only further fueled my rage, wondering why it was in the fridge so long past its due date. Thankfully I found some heavy cream and there was just enough to thin out to chocolate so that the egg whites could be folded in.

After all that drama I had no optimism left as I threw the cake into the pan and wondered what could possibly make it edible after only 8 minutes of cooking. Oddly enough it rose into a beautiful bake like dessert and popped easily out of the pan. The next day I melted more chocolate for the topping and was really excited to try it.

After dinner I took a warm knife to it, then I hacked at it with a fork, then I threatened to throw it against the wall. The topping on this cake would not crack. I had to use all my strength to break through which caused the cake to shatter into unattractive bits rather than allowing itself to be cut into wedges. My family went with the flow and gladly accepted odd shaped pieces of chocolate cake which continued to put up a fight on the plate, refusing to break apart.

It was worth the effort, the cake bit is very fluffy and delicious. The topping is yummy as well but impossible to break, I would suggest making the topping much thinner than the recipe calls for. We also didnt think it was sweet enough even with the addition of fructose so we drizzled agave nectar over our slices. Then it was perfect, it would be great with jam, fruit, maple syrup, anything to break up the pure chocolate.

This cake taught me that there really is such a thing as too much chocolate, believe it or not.

After eating it we were all drunk on it. 100% cocoa is not something to mess with especially when combined with a bottle of wine. It was LSD cake, we were out of our minds after one tiny piece each, giggling at nothing and talking about things not fit for polite company. Two nights in a row now I still havent slept well, its that powerful. I have years of over caffeination under my belt from surviving on nothing but coffee for 8 hour shift playing barista in busy cafes, and yet even that did not compare to the rush from the cake.

This cake needs a warning label. It is amazing but hallucinatory.

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake

11 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate (plus 6 more for topping)
10 large eggs, separated
4 tablespoons fructose
1 cup heavy cream (to thin out your chocolate if necessary)


Line the bottom of an 8 inch round pan with baking parchment. Heat the oven to 500.

Place a large glass or ceramic bowl over a saucepan of barely boiling water to create a double boiler. Break the 11 ounces of chocolate into smaller pieces and place in bowl. Stir occasionally until melted and smooth, about 10 minutes then remove from the pan and let cool at least 5 minutes. Taste the melted chocolate, depending on the cocoa content of your chocolate it may need to be sweetened. I added 2 tablespoons fructose.

Using a hand held electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. This will take a long time to accomplish, youre finished when you lift the beaters from the eggs and the peak you pull out of the mixer stays stiff.

In another bowl beat the egg yolks until they are well combined. Slowly add them to the melted chocolate. If the chocolate and egg yolk mixture is too stiff to stir easily or turns into a sold mass, add the heavy cream until it has a thick mouse like consistency. Add a couple tablespoons of beaten egg whites and stir to combine. Quickly and gently fold in the rest of the eggs whites until the mixture has a consistency of a soufflé or light mouse. Do not over mix.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the pan and bake for exactly 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes before placing in refrigerator covered for at least 12 hours.

To finish, turn cake over onto a flat work surface and remove from pan. Melt the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler. Add remaining 2 tablespoons fructose to sweeten if necessary. When fully melted pour a thin layer of chocolate over cake and refrigerator for 15 minutes. To serve dip a sharp knife in hot water and use to slice cake in very thin pieces.

Original recipe from Slim Forever the French Way.

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Roarke is changing daily and picking up new skills before our eyes. This week he started to show interest in different objects and grabbing them! 

My absolute favorite part of this video is when he smokes himself in the head! 

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This simple but flavorful sauce is a great addition to just about anything. Fish, chicken, veggies or pasta with the addition of a little Parmesan. When Im having a lazy menu making week I whip up a full recipe of this and use it to top a low maintenance piece of meat and then later in the week when I have zero time to cook I toss it over some pasta. Recipes like this keep me sane when Im working too much because the only thing worse than working two jobs is not eating well and trying to make it through the day.

Leek and Fennel Coulis

1/4 cup olive oil
2 leeks, white part and two inches of green part, chopped
1 fennel bulb, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup olive oil

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Saute leeks and fennel for 6-8 minutes until soft. Stir in thyme and spinach and cover skillet for 2-3 minutes until spinach is thoroughly wilted. Remove pan from heat and stir coconut milk into mixture

Transfer mixture to a food processor and puree on highest speed until smooth. While food processor is running on medium speed, slowly drizzle in olive oil.

Original recipe from Elanas Pantry blog.

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This is my attempt at modifying another recipe from the Lisas Kitchen blog to make it gluten and sugar free.  I was hoping to make it 100% Montignac friendly as well but I couldnt justify putting almond flour in something with a cup of peanut butter in it so I used brown rice flour instead.  That means this is a decent treat for dessert on the maintenance phase since it just has a hint of carby goodness in it instead of a refined flour.

My version isnt perfect as its a little dry so feel free to play around with the ingrediants and let me know if you could up with a different flour ratio.  Besides slightly dry baked goods are an excuse to have ice cream along side it and ice cream makes everything better.  And we all know how well peanut butter and chocolate go together so there really isnt anything else I should have to say to sell you on these yummy bars.

Peanut Butter Brownies with Chocolate Chips

7 tablespoons of melted vegan shortening (I used Earth Balance butter flavor spread)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (divided use)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
scant 3/4 cup chickpea flour
scant 1/2 cup brown rice flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate finely chopped (or 1/2 cup chocolate chips)

Grease an 8 inch square pan with shortening. Line with parchment paper, leaving some overlap. Grease the paper in the bottom of the pan with more shortening.

In a large bowl, combine the melted shortening, agave nectar and 1/2 cup of the peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gently beat in the flours, arrowroot, baking soda and cream of tartar. Stir in the chocolate and remaining peanut butter.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until it passes the tooth pick test.

Modified from a recipe on the Lisas Kitchen Blog.

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