Dreamy and oh so creamy! Dairy free, Paleo coffee creamer

I've been meaning to blog about this creamer for quite some time, but now that I am embarking on a new sugar detox tomorrow, the timing is perfect! I don't remember where I got the recipe, as it was a long time ago, but probably off of Mark Daily's Apple or some other Paleo discussion forum. For me, my morning coffee is a really important part of my day, and dang it I wish I liked it black, but alas, bleh. I like it creamy with a slight coffee taste. This is super easy and makes the transition to being dairy free much easier. It only has 4 ingredients, one of which is optional:

 

Coconut milk, a pastured egg, coconut oil and vanilla

Buy full fat coconut milk and one with the highest amount of coconut milk actually in it. This one has 91% and only 9% water! You'd be shocked at how many have less than 70%, so read the label! I like to add the vanilla, I use Bourbon Vanilla powder. Tiny little vanilla beans in a jar. Delish.

Yes, there is a RAW egg in this recipe. I don't worry about salmonella. I get my eggs from the farm next door and this one came out of the chickens butt about 5 hours ago. So, if you trust your source, just use the raw egg. It helps keep the creamer creamy, so is kind of necessary to the recipe.

With the exception of the coconut oil, add everything to a blender or a container for your stick blender:

 

Aren't those vanilla beans lovely?

I used an immersion blender. Just stick it in and blend on high for about one minute. I use the same technique I use when making mayonnaise. Just hold the blender over the egg, pressed to the bottom of the container and blend until the eggy yellow spreads up to the top. Once your creamer is a lovely shade of lemon yellow, drizzle in your coconut oil and blend for another 30 seconds or so. That's it. Easy peasy.
Pour it into a jar for storage and put it in the fridge! After a few hours you'll be able to spoon it out. I've also used this as a frosting before. So, it's versatile.

Thick and creamy. Yum.

So, that's it! Easy dairy free coffee creamer. This will help ease the transition if you're detoxing or moving into a stricter Paleo lifestyle and it's really good for you. It should keep for at least 2 weeks in the fridge, but I can't promise that as it never lasts that long here. Try it out!!!

Dairy free, creamy goodness

Paleo Indian 'oh my GOD these are good' Meatballs

I am just going to come out and say it, this is one of my BEST recipes yet! Partly because it is actually MY recipe. Creating new, clever and unique foods is not so simple anymore with the plethora of food bloggers out here on the internets. Usually when I think of something to make, I google it and someone else has already done it, and because I am pretty lazy by nature, I just say 'huh, yea, I'll use their recipe'. But not tonight kids, not tonight.

I have been looking at make ahead paleo meals that I could freeze and have on hand for quick easy meals during the week and I found a recipe for paleo crockpot meatballs. I was going to make those, but then remembered that we had Bolognese just last night, and these meatballs were essentially the same thing, but bigger. So, there I was with 2 pounds of ground beef that I couldn't refreeze and I thought to myself, 'Indian food sounds good'. And then I jokingly said 'I can make Indian meatballs'. I had a good laugh, because stereotypes and stuff, but then sobered up and thought 'why couldn't I make Indian meatballs???'. So of course I googled 'Indian Meatballs' and a whole SLEW of recipes came up (dammit!!), but my wheels were turning already, so I briefly looked at one and saw all the nasty breadcrumbs, vegetable oil, and other non paleo ingredients and set out on my own. Join me, won't you?

Paleo Indian 'Oh my GOD these are good' Meatballs
For the meatballs:
2 pounds ground beef (grass fed, organic if possible, you know the drill)
2 large eggs
1 cup 'breadcrumbs'- recipe link below
1/2 can coconut milk
2-4 TBL of fresh minced ginger (to your taste)
Indian curry spices (again to taste)(what I used listed below)
dried onion flakes
dried minced garlic
handful of fresh coriander (cilantro)- chopped
handful of fresh parsley-chopped
sea salt
For the sauce:
1 large onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 boxes of chopped tomatoes
3 TBL tomato paste
4-6 TBL curry paste
2 cubes organic beef broth
1-2 TBL coconut oil
1 cup water
the other half of your can of coconut milk

Let's get started!

If you don't know already, I will let you in on a secret. The secret to a delicious meatball is BREADCRUMBS. Something about those breadcrumbs makes the end product super moist and delectable. I was thinking of what I could sub, almond flour perhaps, when I suddenly remembered a batch of 'Ben's low carb Rye Bread' I had made a few weeks ago. This is a great paleo bread to use for sandwiches, toast, ect. So I cut a couple of slices and put it in my food processor and whipped it into bread crumbs. To these I added the coconut milk and set it aside to soak until I was ready for it:

 



'bread crumbs' soaking in coconut milk
 

Next, I combined the ground beef and spices. I know I was vague up top about ingredients and amounts, but really, whatever Indian spices you have on hand will do and some people like varying degrees of spice. I recommend against using a prepared curry paste as they are usually full of sugar and bad oils and I really recommend Penzey's for spices! They have hand mixed blends that are amazing! In my meatballs I used their Rogan Josh, Vindaloo, Cumin and Russian Sausage seasonings, liberally. I also added their freeze dried onions and garlic along with the ginger, coriander, parsley and sea salt. To this, I added the eggs and the breadcrumb mixture and dug my hands in and gave that meat a nice massage! I didn't take a picture of the big bowl of meat mixture. Sorry. When you are done and you have tasted it and are satisfied with the flavor, set it aside.

For the sauce, chop your onion and garlic and cook it over medium high heat in your coconut oil until it starts turning translucent. While they are cooking take 4-6 tablespoons of your curry powder and add some water to it to make a paste. Now add this paste to the onion and garlic and stir it all together. It will smell delicious. Add your tomatoes, tomato paste, water, beef stock cubes and stir til everything is incorporated and it's bubbling. Taste it. Adjust your spices as necessary.

Spicy sauce simmering (say it fast a lot of times)

 

Now it's time to make the meat balls. Just dig in and form balls with you hands:

 

 

 

and drop them into your tomato gravy one by one til the pot is full. Let everything bubble and get acquainted for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook them until finished, about 20 minutes I guess:

 

At this point, I started getting very excited. These bad boys smelled delicious and I couldn't wait to taste them. I recommend getting another pot and putting the meatballs you are going to eat NOW into it with the appropriate amount of gravy before adding the coconut milk. The coconut milk really finishes this off well, and if you add the small amount of coconut milk into the giant pan of meatballs and gravy, it'll get lost and disappear. Trust me on this. Add your coconut milk:

 

Stir until combined and keep it on low heat until you are ready to eat them:

I topped my meatballs with fresh picked rocket salad from Torstein's garden down the road and the spicy, peppery green really was a nice complement to the dish:

These are seriously good! The faux breadcrumbs made them moist. Not as moist as real breadcrumbs, but so much moister had I not used any. My non paleo family members loved them and had theirs with coconut rice and I think I said 'Oh my gosh, these are soooooo good' at least 12 times in the 25 minutes we sat at the table. I hope you try them because I know you will LOVE them and make a big batch, because these are great to portion out and freeze and grab and go during a busy week.

Indian Meatballs. I never would have guessed they would rock my world so hard! The clean plate speaks for itself!!!

 

Cheesy Sausage Balls- low carb and Primal

Sausage balls. They were a staple of holidays growing up. In my opinion, there is very little, in the way of comfort food, that can compete with those bad boys. A delicious combination of sausage (Jimmy Dean for me!), cheddar cheese and Bisquick. Heaven! But when you eliminate grains and go low carb, things like this quickly fall out of grace. 

On my last trip to Texas, I managed to smuggle 4 pounds of Jimmy Dean back to Norway with me and today sausage balls popped into my head. Coincidence? I think not. I started wondering if I could make them low carb, and since there are very few things us stalwart low carbers have not replicated sans carbs, I turned to Google. Sure enough, there were hundreds of hits!! Like I suspected, it's pretty much a sub of almond flour for the Bisquick. Easy peasy, off we go!!

Low Carb Sausage Balls

Preheat your oven to 375

1/2 pound breakfast sausage

5 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup almond flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

Red pepper flakes to taste

Get your ingredients ready:

Throw your cheese and sausage in a bowl and work it together, then add the almond meal, baking powder and red pepper. (Excuse the crappy pictures, it gets dark at 3pm this time of year, so I have no natural light!)

Now, grab a baking sheet, line it with parchment paper and start making sausage balls!!! I got 27 out of this batch:

Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes or so. The biggest difference I saw between the almond flour and the Bisquick was that more cheese leaked out during baking. But, I look at this as a bonus because not only do you get sausage balls, you're getting crispy baked cheese for FREE!!

As a professional low carber, I've come to accept the fact that there really is no substitute for flour and the magical things it can do. I miss it all the time, but it makes me sick, so I deal. So that being said, I didn't expect these to taste like the sausage balls of my fantastical imagination. But Y'ALL!! They totally did!! They are delicious and really give the carby ones a run for their money. Bake up a batch of these bad boys! It's some good eating! 

I promise you'll love them. In fact your non paleo/primal/low carb partner will love them. Take them to your holiday parties and trick all your carb loving friends! Good times ahead, folks! Let me know if you try them and what you think!