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A Passion for Paleo: Decadent Desserts That Won’t Derail Your Diet

The Paleo Diet has become more and more popular over the years, and for good reason. The basic tenet of the diet is that you eat as our ancestors did: meats, vegetables, and unprocessed foods. The upshot to this is that you tend to eat “cleaner” on the diet than normal, which helps cut out preservatives that may be unhealthy for you.

The Paleo Diet also has a somewhat undeserved reputation for not allowing you to eat many sweets. Sugar and some flours are cut out of your diet when you start Paleo, so if you have a sweet tooth, good desserts may be hard to come by. Fortunately, there are recipes out there that you can find and use to make decadent desserts for all occasions. Here are some great ones to try out.Paleo Dessert

These are just a few recipes you can enjoy on the Paleo Diet. There are more you can learn from PaleoHacks.

Cookie Dough Fudge

If you find yourself reaching for the cookie dough before you even give it a chance to bake, you’ll love this recipe. It uses cashews and cinnamon, so it’s nutritious as well as delicious.

What You’ll Need:

Eight tablespoons of ghee, three cups of raw cashews, 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil, ¼ cup coconut flour, ¼ cup melted raw honey, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon and one cup of chocolate chips.

Melt the ghee and grind the cashews into meal using a blender or a mortar and pestle. Drizzle the coconut oil into the meal and mix until it turns into a dough. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Place the finished dough in plastic wrap and put in the freezer to chill for about 20 minutes.

Fold the chocolate chips into the chilled dough and then spread it in a nine-by-five inch loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Place back into the freezer. In another 20 minutes, the fudge should be ready. Cut into 15 pieces and enjoy!

Coconut Ice Creamcoconut is Paleo Friendly

Although our ancient ancestors didn’t have the chance to make ice cream, you can still enjoy the chilled dessert when you’re on the Paleo Diet.

What You’ll Need:

An ice cream machine, two eggs, one teaspoon vanilla extract, two cans of organic coconut milk, ½ cup of maple syrup, ¼ cup of chocolate chips.

Combine the eggs, coconut milk, maple syrup and vanilla using a whisk or a blender. Using an electric blender will make it easier. Pour the combination into your ice cream maker and turn on for 20 minutes. Add the chocolate chips and turn the machine on again for another 10 minutes. Pour the mixture into airtight containers and place in the freezer for about three hours. Once the ice cream sets, enjoy as often as you want to.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

There’s always room for a great chocolate chunk cookie, even when you’re on a diet. Here’s a tasty recipe that’s easy to make.

What You’ll Need:

One egg, lightly beaten, one teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup coconut milk, ½ cup coconut sugar, one cup almond flour, ¼ cup coconut flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, three ounces of chocolate chunked, and sea salt to sprinkle.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, coconut oil, coconut sugar and vanilla extract. Then add almond flour, coconut flour and baking soda. Then, add the chocolate chunks and using a spoon or scoop, drop small balls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes in the oven and transfer finished cookies from cooking sheet to a wire rack to cool.

Angel Food Cake

You can bake cakes when you’re on the Paleo Diet! This is a recipe for a light angel food cake that’s good by itself or drizzled with fresh berries.

What You’ll Need:

Twelve large, room temperature eggs, one teaspoon fresh lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, one tablespoon vanilla extract, ¾ cup coconut or maple sugar, 1 ¼ cream of tartar, one cup arrowroot flour, 1 ½ cups cream, whipped.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place egg whites and lemon juice into a mixer and mix for 30 seconds, until foamy. Add the salt, cream of tartar and vanilla. Whip again until soft peaks begin to form.

Add the rest of the ingredients, sifting the flour, and transfer to an ungreased cake pan. Cook for 40 minutes or until a toothpick can be cleanly removed. Cool on a wire rack.

Eleanor Potter loves food, and creating new healthy recipes for her family is her weekend passion. She writes about food, healthy living and shares recipes around the web.




White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Dough Blondies #kidsinthekitchen

One of childhoods greatest pleasures might be eating raw cookie dough. The chunky creamy sweet scoop on your finger is so satisfying but so not safe for kids. That’s why we make an egg-free cookie dough and add it to things like White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Dough Blondies.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Dough Blondies #kidsinthekitchen
I don’ t know why I say we, I’ve actually never made these blondies, Sabreena makes them. This isn’t her recipe, it comes from The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook. We’ve had this for a couple years. IT’S AWESOME!

Thankfully Sabreena likes to bake because I’ve been slacking lately with sweet treats for the kids. These are always a big hit too.
Buy the cookbook from Amazon (affliate link). I won’t share the recipe here only because I hate to share the hard work put into a cookbook without getting permission. BUT I wouldn’t be surprised if you found a similar recipe on Lindsay’s blog, Love and Olive Oil. I promise you’ll love the cookbook if you get it, 150ish pages of COOKIE DOUGH ideas and recipes and inspiration.

Come join me and my co-hosts, Sarah of Play to Learn with Sarah, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together, enjoying it and learning something along the way.

You’ll find so many more ideas on the #KidsintheKitchen Pinterest Board.

Follow Melinda Babiak’s board #KidsintheKitchen on Pinterest.

Linky Rules, #kidsinthekitchen
#KidsintheKitchen Weekly Linky





Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

I have a love hate relationship with baking but it’s one of the few things that the kids can always help with. That is until I came across profiteroles. These are not a kid friendly recipe.

Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

The finished product though are a perfect kid friendly food. These bite size, dainty pastries are the just right vessel for anything you can imagine.   Of course my family goes towards the sweet side and filled them with whipped cream and fruit but I’d like to serve these stuffed with chicken salad or fried chicken pieces with cole slaw.Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

Making the profiterole dough isn’t hard per say but it takes planning and organization. I’m sure Sabreena could handle making this but I wouldn’t let the other two mess with it. I used this video from Martha Stewart as my guide.

Shaun and Shae decided to fill them with fruit and whipped cream. Shaun went to work on slicing the strawberries while Shae munch on the tops.  They each decided what to put in their own profiteroles and had a light and delicious snack.

Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

They loved them and the recipe made plenty so we’ll be filling them with ice cream and chocolate sauce over the weekend for dessert.

Fruit and Cream Filled Pastry Cups #kidsinthekitchen

The kids might not be involved in every step of a recipe but getting their participation on some of the process is just as good. Keeping them in the loop keeps them interested and that’s the whole point of #kidsinthekitchen.

Come join me and my co-hosts, Sarah of Play to Learn with Sarah, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together, enjoying it and learning something along the way.

You’ll find so many more ideas on the #KidsintheKitchen Pinterest Board.

Follow Melinda Babiak’s board #KidsintheKitchen on Pinterest.
Linky Rules, #kidsinthekitchen

#KidsintheKitchen Weekly Linky






Dessert Anyone?

Do you know what you’re getting for the kids and babies in your family for the holidays? Visit Land of Nod not just for toys and games but for furniture, organization idea and nursery décor. In fact I only knew about Land of Nod for their extensive nursery and baby gear selections. I always wanted to register there but their actual stores are in the Chicago area plus one in Seattle.

The Land of Nod is a leading catalog, web and retail company. In addition to specializing in exclusive children’s furniture, bedding, playrooms, and accessories,The Land of Nod also carries popular baby gear brands in strollers, car seats, clothing, toys, and much more.  The Land of Nod: You’ll find everything for your kid’s room from A to ZZZ.

This holiday season The Land of Nod is showing off some of their favorite products to the blog world. I got the chance to review the Two Tier Treat Tray. You all should now our obsession with playfood and the fact that Shae plays in her kitchen each day. The particular set is absolutely adorable and perfect for kids who play kitchen, store or tea party. My best friend’s kids play store every day; they turn their play kitchen into a bakery where they serve pizza and donuts. This dessert collection is going to be the perfect addition to their make believe store front.

two tier treat tray

sweet little cupcake

This set includes three cupcakes, three chocolate cookies, two vanilla cookies, two cake rolls, two slices of cake and three wafers. Best of all it is made with sustainable solid wood. The assembly literally takes 2 minutes; 2 bolts to put the tray together. Each piece is painted and decorated to be cute with realistic touches. I can’t wait to see those kids open this up.
holiday




Why Is Shaun A Block Head?

I love my son very very much but he is a block head. Shaun’s biggest problem is asking the same question multiple times. I think he feels if he keeps asking the answer will change in his favor but it doesn’t. It actually works quite the opposite and it actually gets Shaun into trouble.

A few weeks ago we told Shaun that we were no longer going to tolerate him asking the same questions over and over. We told Shaun that if we say No that the answer is No and there is no need for him to ask again. Last night he broke that rule by asking Melinda if he could eat his ice cream in the basement and she told him no so about thirty seconds later he asked me the same question. I told him to go to his room and he began to cry and I don’t mean a little cry I am talking a full blown wailing cry as if we told him he wasn’t able to have dessert for the rest of his life.

A few minutes later Shaun came downstairs and we told him he lost dessert for asking if he could eat it downstairs twice. That opened the flood gates again but this time we had the joy of the wailing cry but this time he added foot stomping and that pushed me over the edge so I sent him to bed for the night. It was only 7pm when I sent him to bed and trust me I felt soooooooo bad for sending him to bed but I need him to learn when we give him an answer that is it and there is no more need for a discussion.

Do you have similar situations with your children or are we the only ones?




Edwards Desserts Rewards Moms

We all know special moms; those moms that put everyone before them; those moms that juggle work, family, kids, household duties, meal times and everything in between. Edwards Desserts wants you to recognize and reward those moms with a chance to win a 1st class trip to Hollywood, CA.

Visit Edward’s Desserts Facebook page and nominate any mom you know to win this exciting and indulgent prize including round-trip airfare, five-star hotel accommodations and tickets to an exclusive red-carpet event, along with a supply of Edwards Singles desserts to indulge in all year long.

Any mom is eligible; loyal best friends, thoughtful aunts; loving grandmothers and of course old faithful mom. From now until April 23rd say thanks and nominate your most deserving “mom” for the chance to win the grand prize she has earned. Plus the first 5000 submissions will receive a valuable Edwards frozen dessert coupon.

This is NOT a sponsored post, the information has been provided to me by the company or representative of the company.