All posts by Lauren Bolanos

Desserts

Mango Lime Popsicles with Chili Powder

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Mango Lime Popsicles with Chili Powder - Healing and Eating

Popsicles, also known as paletas, are traditionally a Latin American dessert made with fresh fruit. I’m a huge popsicle fan since they are so easy to make, and are a relatively healthier option for dessert. Another common snack, or dessert, are mangos sprinkled with chili powder. So I thought why not make it into a popsicle?

Now I don’t recommend you use any old chili powder, because I don’t think it would taste good, especially if it’s heavy on the powdered onion and garlic. I use Tajin Clasico Seasoning with Lime, which is used traditionally over fresh mango or jicama and can be found in Mexican groceries stores, or amazon. There is only dehydrated lime juice, sea salt, and chili peppers in this mix so you’re getting a great blend to eat with tropical fruit.

Mango Lime Popsicles with Chili Powder
 
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Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 1 can of light coconut milk
  • 16 oz bag of frozen mangos
  • juice of two limes
  • 1 tsp chili powder (tajin clasico seasoning with lime)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients together in a high speed blender or Vitamix.
  2. Then scoop into popsicles molds. This mixture is a bit too thick to pour.
  3. Then cover mold and add in popsicles stick and freeze overnight.
  4. Take them out the next day, by running mold under hot water.
  5. Then sprinkle chili powder over popsicles and let them melt for 3-5 minutes.
  6. Then pop them back into freezer so chili powder stays on popsicles. Then enjoy.

Appetizers

Chunky Guacamole Cucumber Bites

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Chunky Guacamole Cucumber Bites - Healing and Eating

This chunky guacamole tastes delicious on top of sliced cucumbers for a healthy paleo friendly appetizer or snack. It’s a bit heavy on the red onions, but I always add a ton to mine, since they are full of sulphur containing compounds as well as Vitamin C, B6, iron, folate, and potassium (1).

I  used cherry tomatoes, even though they can be annoying to chop, because they are a bit sweeter than the larger varieties. I also prefer persian cucumbers because you don’t have to worry about seeds and the skin is thin, so you can just slice and eat. Cucumbers are on the dirty dozen list, and since you are eating the skin, it’s best to buy organic (2).

Chunky Guacamole Cucumber Bites
 
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Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 2 avocados
  • ½ chopped jalapeno (2 tbsp)
  • juice from 1 lime
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp finely minced fresh cilantro
  • 3 chopped cherry tomatoes
  • ½ cup chopped red onions
  • (optional) 4 sliced cucumbers
Instructions
  1. Slice avocado in half and remove the pit.
  2. The slice across avocado and scoop to get slices of avocado.
  3. Then chop cherry tomatoes and add to bowl.
  4. Then mince cilantro and add to bowl.
  5. Chop a jalapeno in half and remove seeds. Then finely chop and add to bowl.
  6. Squeeze juice from one lime into bowl
  7. Then add sea salt to bowl and chopped red onions.
  8. Mix and serve guacamole.
  9. (Optional) slice cucumbers and spoon guacamole on top.

Sources:

  1. What’s New and Beneficial about Onions by Dr. Mercola
  2. Ten Tips for Saving Money on Groceries Pt 2 by The Rising Spoon
Snacks

Sliced and Salted Avocados

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Sliced and Salted Avocados - Healing and Eating

Sliced and salted avocados are one of my favorite sugar free snacks. You don’t have to cook this, so it’s as fast as fast food can get. Plus, you only need two ingredients – ripe avocados and sea salt. This snack works for practically any diet whether it’s AIP, vegan, paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and even sugar free. When I’m starving and wandering around my kitchen looking for snacks that aren’t there, this is usually my favorite option.

Sliced and Salted Avocados
 
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Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 1 avocado
  • ¼ tsp sea salt (or to taste)
Instructions
  1. Slice avocado in half.
  2. Remove the pit.
  3. Then slice across avocado for easier scooping.
  4. Sprinkle halves with sea salt and enjoy.

Snacks

Pickled Carrots and Jalapeños

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Quick Pickled Carrots and Jalapeños

Instead of chips and dip, quick pickled carrots and jalapeños are an easy snack food to make for Cinco de Mayo, that’s paleo friendly. You can make it ahead of time in bulk, so you can enjoy your party, instead of slaving away in the kitchen. This recipe is pretty spicy, even though I only used one jalapeño, so if spicy food isn’t for you, you might to seriously reduce the amount of chopped jalapeños. The carrots are the best part anyway. I love pickled carrots!

Pickled Carrots and Jalapeños
 
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Serves: 16 oz
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of water
  • 2 cups of white vinegar
  • ½ cup of honey
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 3 grinds of fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1½ cups of chopped carrots
  • 1 cup of chopped red onions
  • 1 sliced jalapeño
Instructions
  1. Peel and chop carrots on a bias.
  2. Chop red onions and slice Jalapeño.
  3. Add chopped veggies to a saucepan with water, vinegar, honey, sea salt, black pepper, a bay leaf, and ground cumin.
  4. Bring everything to a boil, and let boil for 5 -10 minutes. 5 minutes for firmer vegetables.
  5. Then transfer to jars and fill with remaining brine.
  6. Refridgerate for at least 24 hours. Then enjoy.

Desserts

Cherry Rosemary and Lemon Sorbet

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Cherry Lemon and Rosemary Sorbet - Healing and Eating

If you love rosemary as much as I do, then you’ll love this delicious cherry rosemary and lemon sorbet. There is no sugar added or needed!  I used the frozen pitted cherries from Trader Joes. They are dark and sweet cherries, so you won’t get any tart flavor. I do like a bit a tartness, so I added half a lemon. Honestly, a little bit of lemon makes everything from dinner to dessert taste a tad fresher (and better!). Honestly, I was eating the frozen cherries plain, as in straight out of the bag, since they tasted so delicious.

I suggest waiting 10-15 minutes once it comes out of the freezer to make it easier to scoop. If you make a lot of ice cream or sorbet, I recommend the Tovolo Ice Cream Tub, which makes it easy to get beautiful scoops. The container is long and thin, which gives you more room to scoop your sorbet. Plus, they are BPA free. I also use the OXO Trigger Ice Cream Scoop, which easily releases the ice cream after you scoop it. Seriously, I don’t know why I waited so long to get this product. It’s been a godsend for food photos.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to my favorite Rosemarie! Hope you feel better! Wishing you well, while eating your namesake.

Cherry Rosemary and Lemon Sorbet
 
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Serves: 5-6
Ingredients
  • 16 oz (1 lb) bag of frozen pitted dark sweet cherries (from Trader Joes)
  • ½ tsp of fresh minced rosemary
  • juice from ½ a lemon
  • 1 cup of water
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients in a high speed blender. I used my Vitamix.
  2. Then, store in a container in the freezer. Preferably overnight.
  3. Before eating, defrost 10-15 minutes. Then scoop and serve.

Appetizers

Deviled Eggs

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Deviled Eggs - Healing and Eating

I’ve finally done a deviled eggs post! I feel like now I’m officially a paleo food blogger, since every paleo blogger or cookbook contains at least some version of a deviled egg recipe. I garnished mine with extra fine cornichons (aka french style gherkins). I also used my favorite Coconut Oil Mayo recipe, that also happens to contain olive oil and a good deal of lemon. Delish!

For boiling the eggs I followed this post, How to Make the Perfect Hard Boiled (Hard Cooked) Eggs by Getty Stewart. The only difference is that I like to crack mine on the side lengthwise, instead of on the wide end where the air sac is. I don’t know why but starting in the middle works better for me.

Deviled Eggs
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 6 hard boiled eggs
  • ¼ cup plus 1 tbsp of coconut oil mayo
  • ½ tsp djion mustard
  • a couple sprinkles of smoked paprika
  • 4-5 Extra fine Cornichons (aka french style Gherkins)
Instructions
  1. Cut hard boiled eggs lengthwise, and gently pop out yolk. Add yolk to a small bowl.
  2. In small bowl, add to yolks, coconut oil mayo, and dijon mustard.
  3. Mix ingredients together with a fork, then add to the pastry bag.
  4. Pipe mixture into egg white shell.
  5. Sprinkle smoked paprika over the top, then thinly slice cornichons and add two to deviled egg as a garnish.