Mostly Paleo Pumpkin pie sheet cake

I fell in love with this pumpkin pie sheet cake a few years ago but since going paleo I wanted to try to make it with some changes.  The original recipe is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and it is super delicious.  You'll never want to make pumpkin pie again.  True story.   I just changed some of her ingredients to make it paleo friendly.

*I wish I would have gotten a better picture but didn't think about it until I'd already cut it (and ate it).  Also I used a jelly roll pan.

Ingredients

Crust:
• 2/3 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1 1/2 cups cassava flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons grassfed butter (1 stick), melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg 

Filling:
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 honey
• 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 (12-ounce) can coconut milk (or 1 cup)
• whipped coconut cream for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven (too low and the crust will burn).
2. For the crust, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in the melted butter, vanilla and egg. Stir to combine (I use my hands at the end to combine the dough into a cohesive ball).
3. Press the dough into the bottom of a lightly greased 9X13-inch pan.
4. For the filling, you can use the same bowl that was used for the crust as long as there aren’t any large clumps of dough remaining in it. Whisk the eggs until light and creamy. Stir in the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and pumpkin. Whisk to combine. Stir in the coconut  milk or cream.
5. Pour the filling over the crust.
6. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Don't overbake or the crust will be too tough. **I only baked mine for 30-35 minutes.
7. Cool completely. Cut into squares and serve with sweetened whipped cream.

My Paleo Meatloaf

Meatloaf is just one of those easy meals that I make that my whole family likes.  Those type of meals are rare (ones that everyone likes).  I don't really measure things but I kind of just throw them in so this isn't an exact recipe.

Sunday lunch. Meatloaf, savory sweet potato mash and asparagus. #paleo

A photo posted by Gretchen (@extraordinaryordinarylife) on Mar 15, 2015 at 9:35am PDT

I use 2 pounds of grassfed beef or 1 pound of grassfed beef and 1 pound of ground venison.  To that I add 1/4 cup of almond flour, 1 beaten egg, a few teaspoons of Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion power, salt and pepper (I don't really measure them out).

Preheat oven to 425 and then mix all of the above.  Form it into a loaf and bake 45-50 minutes.  Then I mix 1/4 cup of organic ketchup (or if you want to make your own do it!) and 1 tablespoon of honey.  I take out the meatloaf and coat the top of it with the ketchup mixture and bake an additional 5-7 minutes.

Allow to cool and serve!  We rarely have leftovers.  You can also just leave out the almond flour if you have a nut allergy in your family.


 

My favorite sugar cookie recipe with awesome icing recipes and good tips too!

My cousin gave me these recipes and they are really good and the icing turns out nice and glossy.

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter (real butter, softened)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond exctract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Mix ingredients in mixer (or by hand if you want to work really hard).  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.  You can freeze it too.

Roll out dough (use lots of flour) and cut out cookies. 
****Here is a great tip for you - when you cut out your cookies stick them in the freezer for 10 minutes and then bake them.  It keeps your cookies from spreading and looking out fat and bloated.  In other words, they keep their shape better.
Bake at 350 for 9 minutes.

Tips:  Use cookie cutters that are about the size of your palm.  Use 2 - 1/4 inch dowel rods so your dough is even (see picture above).


Here are the icing recipes - there are two of them:

Cookie Icing

2 lbs. powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons of light corn syrup
2 teaspoons of vanilla
water (add just a little at a time until it is pourable)

- you can dip your cookies in this and scrap sides off and allow to harden (sprinkle with spinkles and such now) or you can use this as your "flood icing" after it is outlined with the Royal icing (recipe follows).

Royal Icing

2 lbs. powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons of meringue powder (find it at JoAnn's, Michael's or Hobby Lobby in the cake stuff)
water (slowly add) until its thick but pourable

Beat with a whisk or your mixture very fast for 5-10 minutes.

When you add the color - make sure you get really good food coloring to make really bright colors.  I used Wilton brand I believe.

I started to outline mine but had some younger helpers who wanted to go a little faster.  Again you can outline with royal icing and flood it using a toothpick with the other icing.

Here is the cookie icing that I just dipped (no outline) and yes it is the state of Missouri for you geography buffs.

Here is finished cookies (they are so gone by the way).

This is when I did it a few years ago with my cousins.

If you want to get really fancy you can buy these bags and labels from an office supply store and personalize them and print the labels out to give out the cookies in.

 Thank you to my cousin who gave me this recipe.  She is an awesome cake decorator too!

Pioneer Woman has a great tutorial but I found the bottles they used for the royal icing very tedious to work with and to clean!


 

Homemade Onion Powder

I had an abudance of onions.  I am lazy and don't always use real onions but I do use a lot of onion powder so I thought - I should totally dry these onions and make onion powder.

But the smell . . . was a tad overwhelming.

I thinly sliced many onions.  I had one red one in the bunch so the powder is a tish darker but whatever.


First I dried them on my $8 dehydrator that I bought at a garage sale years ago.

Then I put them in my food processor that my husband bought new a few years ago.  Are you loving knowing where I got all of my kitchen appliances from?

And I pressed the button that says "pulse".  I want to make sure you know exactly how to do this.

Until it was powdery, you know, for the powder.

Then I put it in the jar and labeled it onion powder because that is what it is.

 The end.

 

Fluffy Pancakes - a kid recipe

This week it is my son's turn to do a recipe.  He isn't quite as excited as my daughter about cooking but once he starts he likes it.

Fluffy Pancakes (from All Recipes)

Ingredients 

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 T white vinegar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 T. white sugar
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt1 egg
• 2 T. butter, melted
• cooking spray

Directions 

 Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".

 Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
 Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Mix the milk and vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add an egg.

Cut and melt your butter.

Add the dry ingredients.

Add the butter.

Stir with a whisk.

Here he is complaining about how his arm hurts so I suggest switching arms.

Now carefully pour the batter on the griddle.  We use a big cookie scoop to put the batter on the griddle.  And then carefully flip the pancakes without touching the griddle.

Then enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal Cups - a Kid Recipe

Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal Cups

Ingredients:

• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together.  Put in muffin cups and bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean.

How to:

First I set up a little baking section in the bottom of our lazy susan cabinet so they could reach things easily.  There is a bowl behind it with measuring cups too.

Set up your ingredients.

Read the recipe and start measuring.

 3 cups of quick cooking oats (I use old fashion)

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of milk

Measure 2 tablespoons of butter

Melt butter in a glass container (we used the microwave)

Add the melted butter.

Crack 2 eggs in the same container as the butter was in to make sure there are no shells.

Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.  And the teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
*For non-readers I make sure they know the difference between soda and powder.

 Measure out the peanut butter - we took a spoon to scoop out the peanut butter and smash it into our measuring cup.

We used the same spoon to scrape out the cup.

She started out using a whisk to stir but then quickly switched to a spatula - I let her choose and discover which was better on her own.

She put the silicone muffin liners in the muffin tins.

She scoops the batter out with a "big" scoop.  We talk about how to wipe the sides and bottom of it on the bowl so there isn't a big mess on the muffin tins.

We talked oven safety.  She made sure to stand to the side and keep everything away from the hot parts of the oven.

She stands far back and closes the oven door carefully.

She set the timer for 15 minutes.

She used an oven mit and very very carefully took the smaller pan out of the oven.  Mommy took the bigger one out.

We tested the doneness with a toothpick.  If it came out clean they were done.

We let them cook and then enjoyed a few and froze the rest!

**If you have a peanut allergy you can use sunbutter or you can pick a different baked oatmeal recipe.  There are many out there.

This recipe is from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.