Liver

I started eating liver a few months ago.  I wouldn’t touch the stuff as a kid.  I found that liver tastes excellent (yes, excellent!) when you a) season it and b) don’t overcook it.

If you are new to the idea of eating head-to-toe (eating the whole animal, not just the fancy parts) liver is a good organ to start with.  Basically you will want to coat it in generous amounts of salt and pepper all over.  Then I like to add either parsley or chives.

Liver

Place your desired fat in the frying pan (coconut oil, butter, olive oil etc.) and turn the heat to medium-low.  I cook the liver by flipping it once and making sure each side is browned and the middle is slightly medium-rear.  I find if you cook it too long the liver becomes tough.

Hopefully this helps you begin your head-to-toe eating adventure.  I’ve only gone as far as liver and bone marrow.  One of these days I’ll venture into heart and tongue.

Good luck,

Carol

DIY Toothpaste Recipe

I thought it would be neat to try to make my own toothpaste.  I didn’t have high hopes for a DIY toothpaste recipe.  I thought how clean could baking soda plus peppermint make my teeth?  I’ve made this recipe twice and stopped buying store bought toothpaste.   Here is my version from DIY Natural’s toothpaste recipe.  

I was surprised that the consistency of the paste stays the same.  I thought the water would evaporate.  This recipe is extremely frugal compared to my $7 natural tube of toothpaste.

DIY Toothpaste Recipe

Enjoy,

Carol

I wanted to let you know my book, Indulge: 70 Grain Free Desserts, is featured in the VGN Spring E-Book Bundle.  If you have been waiting to purchase my book now is the time to get it at a discounted price of $1.50.  In this bundle you get 30 books for $39.  I do not plan on putting my book in a bundle again this year.  Now is the time to purchase.

In this bundle you get:

- 6 Dessert Cookbooks!!!

- 8 Cookbooks

- 6 How-To Books including Skintervention!!!!

- 10 Navigating Health & Lifestyle Books

= 30 e-books at $1.50 each

Dessert Cookbooks:

• Grain-free Breads, Snacks & Desserts – Jill Tieman of Real Food Forager
• Grain-free Desserts – Jennifer McGruther of Nourished Kitchen
• Indulge and Heal: 40 Treats Without Grains, Dairy, Nuts and Refined Sugar – Lauren Geersten of Empowered Sustenance
• The Almond Flour Sweet Treats Cookbook – Stacey Duncan of Nourished For Free
• Indulge: 70 Grain-free Desserts – My cookbook!
• Afternoon Tea: Grain, Nut, Dairy and Refined Sugar-Free – Suzanne Perazzini of Strands of My Life

Cookbooks:

• Fast Paleo Top 100 of 2012 – James Gregory of Fast Paleo
• Awaken: 30+ Egg-Free and Grain-Free Breakfasts – Karen Sorenson of Living Low Carb One Day at a Time
• The Homemade Handbook – Lindsey Gremont of Homemade Mommy
• From Your Freezer To Your Family: Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes eCookbook – Stephanie Brandt Cornais of Mama & Baby Love
• Toadally Primal Smoothies – Todd Dosenberry of Primal Toad
• The Grain Free Lunch Box – Jolene Sloam of Yummy Inspirations
• Restocking the Pantry – Kresha Faber of Nourishing Joy
• Real Food 101 – Kendahl Millecam of Our Nourishing Roots

How-To Books:

• Skintervention – Liz Wolfe of Cave Girl Eats
• DIY Natural Household Cleaners – Matt & Betsy Jabs of DIY Natural
• Toxic Free: 70 Recipes for a Toxic-free Home – Robin Konie of Thank Your Body
• The Eczema Cure – Emily Bartlett of Holistic Squid
• Garden and Preservation Planner – Brenda Scott of Well Fed Homestead
• Real Food Ingredient Guide – Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Navigating Health and Lifestyle Books:

• Simple Natural Health – Nina Nelson of Shalmom Mama
• Nourishing Our Children – Sandrine Love of Nourishing Our Children
• Nourished Baby (Completely Revised) – Heather Dessinger of Mommypotamus
• Real Food Nutrition FOR KIDS! – Kristen Michaelis of Food Renegade
• The Nourished Metabolism – Elizabeth Walling of The Nourished Life
• Real Food For Real Life – Emily Benfit of Butter Believer
• Eat For Heat – Matt Stone of 180 Degree Health
• Diet Recovery 2 (Completely Revised) – Matt Stone of 180 Degree Health
• Your Custom Homestead – Jill Winger of The Prairie Homestead
• Get Your Fats Straight – Sarah Pope of The Healthy Home Economist

Now is your chance to take advantage of incredible savings!  This week only — get 30 e-books for $39!

That’s less than $1.50 per e-book — a savings of over 90%!

Download all 30 e-books now for this LOW price and read them at your leisure — on your Kindle, iPad, iPhone or computer.

Enjoy,

Carol

Primal Life Kit

There’s another bundle in town and I thought you might be interested in purchasing it.  This bundle was put together by my friend, Neely, and she is calling it the Primal Life Kit.

What’s The Primal Life Kit?

The people at PaleoPlan.com (aka Neely) have put together a really exciting opportunity for you! When you purchase the $39 Primal Life Kit, you get $485 worth of the most popular and life-changing Primal and Paleo products:

• 22 ebooks
• 2 meal plans
• 3 magazine subscriptions
• 2 fitness programs
• 1 short audio book
• and 8 discount codes

These educational and potentially life-changing Primal and Paleo products are being sold at more than 90% off their original retail value for one week only – April 2 through April 9! Included in this awesome bundle is a meal plan made by Primal Blueprint, a recipe ebook from Bill and Hayley over at PrimalPalate.com, a fitness program by Sarah Fragoso of Everyday Paleo, and a subscription to Paleo Magazine, among many other awesome products. All the ebooks are in pdf format, so you can read them on your computer or the e-reader of your choice.

Please see the full list of what you’ll get when you purchase this bundle below.

This $39 kit will give you all the tools you need to eat, cook, work out, and live Primally.

12 Recipe and Meal Planning eBooks

• Paleo Crock Pot: 25+ Beef, Pork, & Chicken Recipes by George Bryant and Abel James of CivilizedCavemanCooking.com ($2.99)
• 30-Day Intro to Paleo by Hayley Mason and Bill Staley of PrimalPalate.com (authors of Make It Paleo) ($15)
• Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat by Melissa Joulwan of TheClothesMakeTheGirl.com ($14.95)
• Fast Paleo Top 100: The Top 100 Paleo and Primal Recipes Shared with FastPaleo in 2012 + 4 bonus ebooks (below) by James Gregory and Ute Mitchell of FastPaleo.com ($14.97)
• Toadally Primal Smoothies by Primal Toad of PrimalToad.com ($5)
• Paleo Power Lunch: Easy, Filling, & Delicious Workday Meal Strategies by Stormy Sweitzer of maoomba.com ($27.50)
• The Paleo Breakfast Recipe Book: Over 100 Pages of Recipes by Suzanne Crawt of paleo.com.au ($17)
• Sow: Planting the Seeds for Health, Well Being, and a Superhero Life! by Joe Rignola of wellnesspunks.com

4 Autoimmune and PCOS eBooks

• 21-Day Paleo Cleanse: 3 Week Autoimmune Protocol Meal Plan by Neely Quinn of PaleoPlan.com ($25)
• Awaken: 30+ Egg-Free and Grain-Free Breakfasts by Karen Sorenson of lowcarboneday.com ($9.99)
• The Autoimmune Paleo Plan: A Revolutionary Protocol to Rapidly Decrease Inflammation and Balance Your Immune System by Anne Angelone of expandingqi.com ($4.99)
• PCOS Unlocked: The Manual by Stefani Ruper of paleoforwomen.com (special abridged 53 pages for this sale includes discount on remainder of her ebook) ($19)

Offer ends April 9!

5 Informational and How-To eBooks

• The Wild Diet by Abel James of FatBurningMan.com ($17)
• 21 Life Lessons from Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb by Jimmy Moore of livinlavidalowcarb.com ($15)
• Primal Deliverance: How Paleo Saved My Life From Addiction by James Gregory of fastpaleo.com ($14.97)
• Primal Tightwad: Maximizing Your Health on a Minimal Budget by Carolyn Rush of PrimalTightwad.com ($14.95)
• Free The Animal: How to Lose Weight and Fat on the Paleo Diet by Richard Nikoley of FreeTheAnimal.com ($7.95)

2 Meal Plans

• Primal Blueprint Primal Meal Plan – 1 month subscription to weekly Primal meal plans, grocery shopping lists, and the accompanying recipes for just $.01 from Mark Sisson and primalblueprint.com ($9.99)
• 6-week Paleo Meal Plan – 1 free 6-Week Paleo Meal Plan from Paleoista, by Nell Stephenson (author of Paleoista: Gain Energy, Get Lean and Feel Fabulous with the Diet You Were Born to Eat and co-author of The Paleo Diet Cookbook) at paleoista.com.at paleoista.com ($59)

2 Fitness Programs

• Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo LifeFit fitness and nutrition training program – 1 month for $.01 from the author of Everyday Paleo and everydaypaleo.com ($20)
• The Obstacle Course Race Training Program ebook by Stew Smith, CSCS and former Navy SEAL at stewsmith.com ($16.99)

3 Magazines (Online Subscriptions)

• The Performance Menu: Journal of Health & Athletic Excellence – Free 1 year subscription (12 issues) and 1 year of back issues from catalystathletics.com ($70)
• Paleo Magazine – Free 6-month online subscription (3 issues) and access to all back issues ($29)
• Paleo Living Magazine – Free 3-month (4 issues) iPad subscription (no expiration) ($15.96)

2 Bonuses

• Paleo Moms Look Good Naked by Peggy Emch (theprimalparent.com) – Audio recording of a portion of this new paperback book spoken by the author (Free)
• The Modern No-Nonsense Guide to Paleo ebook by Alison Golden of (paleononpaleo.com) – Three ebook chapters on Paleo shopping, kitchens, & lunches from her new book (Free)

8 Discounts

• Kasandrinos Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 30% off Greek extra virgin olive oil from Tony Kasandrinos’ family farm until December 31st, 2013
• Bulletproof Coffee Kit – 20% off Monthly Bulletproof Coffee Kit (24 oz. of coffee and a 32-ounce bottle of MCT oil) from BulletProofExec.com (no expiration date) ($9.80 value)
• Primal Life Organics – 20% off organic, Paleo, gluten-free, vegan skincare products, hair care products, and deodorant until May 1st, 2013
• Amrap Nutrition Refuel Bars - Buy one 8-Count box of Refuel Bars on Amazon and get 1 box free until April 30, 2013 ($23.95 value)
• Optimum Performance Training – 15% off apparel, supplements, and online fitness training course until Dec 31, 2013
• Paleo On The Go – 10% off Paleo food delivered to your home from paleoonthego.com until May 1
• Squatty Potty – 15% off all products through April and 10% for the rest of 2013.
• Sport Journals – 20% off WODbooks (for recording your workouts) until May 11, 2013

Get all of this (retail value $485) for just $39.

Seriously.

Offer ends April 9!

That’s normally the price of just one or two of these products! After you purchase the kit, you’ll be sent an email with a link to all of the downloadable products, as well as the coupon codes for all of the discounted products.

NOTE: Due to the short duration of this sale, there will be no refunds. These products are downloadable ebooks, online magazine subscriptions, and discount codes. You will not be shipped any physical goods with your purchase of the Primal Life Kit. Please contact neely@paleoplan.com with any questions about the Primal Life Kit.

Coconut Flour Dark Chocolate Fudgy Brownies

I am really loving using Starlene’s book, Baking with Coconut Flour, to convert regular recipes to coconut flour versions.  It is saving me batches and batches of testing recipe adjustments.  Earlier this week I made grain free herbed biscuits with Starlene’s method.  Today I’m testing her method on a sweeter recipe, brownies.

I searched my mother’s recipe box for a recipe to convert.  I found this brownie recipe called, One Bowl Brownies.  The original recipe is below.

Our Test Recipe

One Bowl Brownies

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (half of this is for the batter and half is for the icing)

¼ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

¼ tsp salt

½ cup + 2 tbsp chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

Using Starlene’s method I knew I needed to swap 1 cup of flour for ¼ cup of coconut flour.  Here’s an extra tip from my kitchen and one I use often.  You can make your own baker’s chocolate by using 3 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder + 1 tbsp of fat (butter, coconut oil…) for every ounce of baker’s chocolate required.  You’ll have to read Starlene’s books for the other ratios I used because I can’t spill all of her secrets.

Coconut Flour Dark Chocolate Fudgy Brownies

Converted Recipe:

12 ounces unsweetened baker’s chocolate = (3 tbsp * 12= 36, 1 tbsp fat * 12 = 12 fat) = 2.25 cups + ¾ cup  1 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa + ¼ cup + 2 tbsp fat

¼ cup extra virgin coconut oil

3/4 cup raw honey – you can use more if you are not used to something more low carb

2 eggs = 1 egg/ounce of coconut flour 2 eggs

1 cup flour = ¼ cup coconut flour =1.5 ounces

¼ tsp sea salt

½ cup + 2 tbsp chopped walnuts – I didn’t have any nuts so I used 1/2 cup of salted macadamia nuts, chopped

1 tsp vanilla

Results

I baked the first version, used baker’s chocolate and I followed the recipe’s baking time and which said 23-25 minutes.  The brownies were over baked at 23 minutes.  I decided not to make an icing.

I made another batch using my cocoa powder + fat to create baker’s chocolate, added one more egg and baked it for 20 minutes and it was perfect.  If you decide to make these using cocoa powder + fat instead of unsweetened baker’s chocolate please note that the batter will appear too dry but it is really not too dry.  You’ll have a hard time molding and smoothing it into a 8×8 glass dish but don’t worry too much.  You can smooth the top after it has finished baking for 20 minutes.

Coconut Flour Dark Chocolate Fudgy Brownies

Baking with Coconut Flour is on sale until March 31^st for $11 (That’s tomorrow!).  Grab it before the 40% off sale ends and the price jumps to $18.  You’ll love being able to convert your recipes so fast.  You’ll never feel deprived of baking recipes with Starlene’s book.  Go here to purchase Baking with Coconut Flour before the sale ends on March 31st.

Enjoy,

Carol

Grain Free Herbed Biscuits

My friend Starlene wrote this wonderful book called, Baking with Coconut Flour.  This book is amazing and will appeal to anyone who is an avid baker.  Baking with Coconut Flour walks you through the process of switching a regular recipe to a coconut flour version.  Coconut flour is like flour that has PMS all the time.  Coconut flour is notorious for creating baked goods that are too dense, too moist, too eggy, too brittle etc.  If you like to bake and are on a gluten free/grain free diet it is important to learn how to work with this annoying flour.

I put Starlene’s book to the test and decided to give my mom’s herbed biscuit recipe a coconut flour makeover.  Before you attempt giving your recipes a makeover you should read Starlene’s book from start to finish.  Think about and understand why she uses the ratios she uses and read through the tutorials she provides.  I did all of that and was ready to attempt my biscuit makeover.

Here is the original recipe:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ cup cold salted butter, cubed
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ cup chopped fresh chives or green onions
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk

To apply Starlene’s rules I needed to switch ¼ cup of coconut flour for every 1 cup of wheat flour in the recipe.  That means the 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour is now ½ + 2 tbsp of coconut flour.  Then I proceeded to change the other ingredients according to Starlene’s rules.  It sounds like this is a lot of work but it really isn’t.

This is what my converted recipe looks like:

• ½ cup + 2 tbsp coconut flour = 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour  *Weight = 2.20 ounces + .55
• 2 tsp cream of tartar + 1 tsp baking soda = 4 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ cup cold salted butter, cubed
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ cup chopped fresh chives or green onions
• 3 eggs = 1 egg
• 1 cup milk  ½ cup

I felt the recipe was a success that needed one change!  The taste was good but the biscuit were a little fragile.  If you notice in the original recipe I needed to use one cup of milk.  I’ve found in my coconut flour baking experiences that liquid like milk, coconut milk, almond milk etc. added to coconut flour recipes creates a fragile baked good.

2^nd version – Converted recipe

Since the 1 cup of milk in the original recipe makes the coconut flour version too fragile I swapped ½ cup of milk for 2 eggs.  The thought behind this is 1 egg measured equals ¼ cup of liquid.  If I take out ½ cup of liquid I can switch it for ½ cup of eggs that are still liquid but eggs will provide extra structure.

• ½ cup + 2 tbsp coconut flour = 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour  *2.20 ounces + .55
• 2 tsp cream of tartar + 1 tsp baking soda = 4 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ cup cold salted butter, cubed
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ cup chopped fresh chives or green onions
• 5 eggs = 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk

You’ll also notice I left the recipe as a dairy version.  I did this on purpose.  First I wanted the butter taste for a biscuit and secondly it wasn’t fair to judge Starlene’s method by creating too many changes to the original recipe.  If you want a dairy free version, switch the milk for ½ cup of almond milk and use coconut oil or ghee instead of butter but I never tested this version and it would alter the taste significantly.  The first time I baked the grain free biscuits I used a flat baking sheet which resulted in the biscuits doubling in size but in width and not height.  For the 2nd version I used this mini loaf pan and mini loaf pan liners that kept the batter from spreading all over.

Grain Free Herbed Biscuits

Baking with Coconut Flour is on sale until March 31^st for $11.  Grab it before the 40% off sale ends and the price jumps to $18.  You’ll love being able to convert your recipes RIGHT the first time instead of wasting cartons and cartons of eggs experimenting.  Go here to purchase Baking with Coconut Flour before the sale ends on March 31st.

Enjoy,

Carol

Roasted Cornish Hen

When you’re single and cooking for one, you won’t roast a whole chicken that often.  It creates way too many leftovers (reminds me of the time I roasted a whole rabbit and duck, never again).  You can still get that “roasted chicken” experience with a Cornish hen (and it gives you practice for roasting a chicken when you are in a relationship!).  What’s nice about Cornish hens is that they come in a variety of sizes.  You can get the tiny one or the big and plump one that will last 3 meals (the perfect amount of leftovers).

Roasted Cornish Hen

Enjoy,

Carol

Fermented Spicy Garlic

How many of you are confident in your fermenting abilities?  I’m slowly getting there.  I still use Real Food Fermentation as my guide and I refer to other people’s recipes.  So far my fermenting adventures have resulted in one win and one moldy mess.

Beet Kvass, I’ll try you again another day.

Fermented Spicy Garlic

My father gave me some pickled garlic he bought.  I loved the taste.  The garlic was crunchy and spicy since it was pickled with hot peppers.  I recently saw this post by Oh Lardy, on how to ferment garlic.  I thought “I can do this!”  Fermenting can’t be that hard….ok, it’s hard.  I find it hard to get the hang of.

Fermented Spicy Garlic

I bought this huge bag of garlic thinking I would ferment it all….so glad I decided not to.

Fermenting 101 – don’t overdo it if you don’t know what you are doing.

Fermented Spicy Garlic

I stuck with the smallest jar size instead of my 1 litre jar.  I packed the garlic into the jar and added some hot peppers.  I had trouble after this part.  I guessed my way on how to ferment garlic using a salt brine.  The Real Food Fermentation book says to make a salt brine by using this ratio:

1 tsp of salt to every 1/3 cup of water + any fermenting insurance you have (which would be my sauerkraut juice I was saving).

I will warn you after a week some of my garlic turned blue.  Don’t panic!  Oh Lardy warned me this would happen and I’m so glad they did.  I would have freaked out.

Enjoy,

Carol

p.s. you will know if your fermenting experiment is working by seeing bubbles after a few days.  Also get the Real Food Fermentation book to help with your fermenting experiments.

Fermented Spicy Garlic

I got the scoop on a free online conference that I am really excited about and I feel you will be too.

This FREE online conference takes place March 24-30, 2013. Listen to 35 of your favorite health experts, authors, doctors, bloggers, farmers and activists from the comfort of your own couch!

The line-up of speakers is ridicules!

This is a sample:

Diane Sanfilippo, author of New York Times bestseller Practical Paleo – The 21-Day Sugar Detox

Bill Staley and Hayley Mason, authors of Make It Paleo – Make It Paleo

Julia Ross, author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure – Healing the Mind and Body with Food

Liz Wolfe of Cave Girl Eats – SKINTERVENTION

Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions – Feeding and Caring for Babies and Children

Chris Kresser – Chrono-Disruption: The Dark Side Of Artificial Light

Joel Salatin, Polyface Farms – Folks, This Ain’t Normal!

Kristin Canty, Director of Farmageddon – The Attack on American Farms

Click here to sign up now — it’s FREE!

Here’s what to expect on Day 1 of the conference:

Healthy Life Summit Day 1

Topics are divided into 5 groups:

• Healthy Eating
• Healthy Body
• Healthy Babies & Kids
• Healthy Living
• Healthy World

When you sign-up, you’ll get an email with log in information. Then come back on Sunday, March 24th and listen all week for free.

Each day’s presentations will only be streaming for free for 24 hours.

If you are unable to join us online the week of March 24th, you can order the entire Healthy Life Summit to listen anytime, anywhere. Click here to pre-order now and save 75%!

The presentations will also be available after the summit as a download package. The download package includes recordings of the entire 7 day online conference (35 interviews) and will be available in two formats:

• 35 audio recordings
• 35 video slide shows

If you don’t want to wait each day for the recordings to be free you can pre-order now until March 23rd, to get it for $49 (a 75% savings).  If you wait to order during the week of the summit, the price will increase to $79.  The price of the download package after the summit is over will be $199.

Don’t miss this opportunity.  Click here to sign up now — it’s FREE!

Spaghetti Squash Shrimp Pasta

You couldn’t get me to eat spaghetti as a kid.  If I did, I refused to eat it with tomato sauce and would instead angrily eat the plain noodles.  I’m happy those days are over.  Now I no longer have to suffer through family spaghetti nights.  I like experimenting and recently I made spaghetti squash.  I really loved it.  The spaghetti squash noodles don’t have that starchy taste the pasta noodles have.  I needed ways to eat the spaghetti squash and use up some homemade chicken broth.

A lot of people rant and rave about loving chicken broth.  I can’t stand it.  I made it thinking I would try out this bone broth thing and I diligently saved chicken bones for months.  I made the broth and I was like “that’s it?”  I didn’t like the smell of it and I couldn’t picture myself enjoying the broth a few times a day.  I was trying to get rid of it by sneaking it into as many recipes as possible.  Since then I have made beef bone broth and I love it!  I still haven’t been able to get my broth to gel….

Spaghetti Squash Tutorial

Use this tutorial on how to make spaghetti squash.

Enjoy,

Carol