All posts by Lauren Bolanos

Breakfast

Pumpkin Waffles with Baked Bacon

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pumpkin-waffles

These pumpkin waffles are paleo friendly and perfect for fall. We served them with some baked bacon. Yes, you read that right. Baked bacon is my new favorite thing. We spread it out on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil and bake it for 12-15 minutes. Then, we move it to a dish with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. The bacon comes out pretty and flat, and it takes no time at all to cook or clean. Which means we’ve been eating a lot of bacon and eggs for breakfast … lunch and dinner. What can I say? Bacon is my candy and it’s almost Halloween 🙂

These paleo friendly pumpkin waffles taste amazing with some real maple syrup. The pumpkin taste is subtle, since we only used one cup of pumpkin puree. The waffles also contain cinnamon and are sweetened with wildflower honey. This breakfast is definitely a fall indulgence, even if it uses paleo friendly ingredients, but still totally worth the effort.

Pumpkin Waffles with Baked Bacon
 
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Serves: 8 waffles
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of almond flour
  • ¼ teaspoon of sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons of wildflower honey
  • ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1 cup of pumpkin puree
  • 1 package of bacon (8 oz)
Instructions
  1. Lay bacon on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil and bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees fairenheight.
  2. Mix together dry ingredients, almond flour, sea salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, in a large bowl. Then, set aside.
  3. Mix together wet ingredients, eggs, vanilla, honey, and pumpkin puree, in another bowl.
  4. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
  5. When bacon is done, transfer bacon to a dish with paper towels to soak up excess grease.
  6. Spoon waffle batter in to waffle maker ¼ cup per waffle. Follow directions according to your waffle maker.
  7. Serve baked bacon and pumpkin waffles with real maple syrup.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 4

Snacks

Roasted Pecan Butter with Apples

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Roasted Pecan Butter with Apples

Roasted pecan butter with apples is one of my favorite paleo and vegan friendly snacks, since it satisfies my sugar cravings without adding natural sweeteners. Although, maple syrup or honey would taste great with pecans.

The pecans blended very easily in the food processor. Pecans are soft with a lot of natural oil so you don’t need to add any additional oils to blend it up either. Just be patient with the food processor and mix often, maybe every minute or two, to get the pecans completely blended. I’ve made this with cashews before, and it took a lot more time, so pecans are a great beginner nut butter to try to make yourself.

I suggest roasting the raw unsalted pecans for 5 minutes ahead of time. This allows you to control the amount of salt, plus when I bought pecan butter already made at the farmer’s market, the vendor said the raw pecan butter went bad quickly in the fridge. So, either make sure you eat it within a couple days to a week, or roast it first, and it should last a bit longer. Honestly, between my husband and I, the pecan butter will be gone in a day, two at most.

Roasted Pecan Butter with Apples
 
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Ingredients
  • 4 cups of unsalted raw pecans
  • ¼ tsp of sea salt
  • 4 granny smith apples
Instructions
  1. Roast pecans on cookie sheet for five minutes at 350 degrees fairenheight.
  2. Then add, roasted pecans to food processor and blend. Mix often about every minute or so, to help pecans blend. This should take 10-15 minutes. Pecans are soft and have a lot of oil, so it shouldn't take that long.
  3. When it looks creamy, mix in sea salt.
  4. Slice apple and serve.
Notes
(optional) Add maple syrup, honey and/or cinnamon to the pecan butter.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 4-6

This recipe is featured on the Fast and Easy Paleo Link Party by Paleo Magazine.

Desserts

Steamed Apples with Cinnamon

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Steamed Apples - Healing and Eating

Steamed apples are a fall favorite of mine. They contain no added sugar and are paleo and vegan friendly. I love how easy these are to make, and they taste just like applesauce. I used organic fuji  apples, which turned a burnt orange color after I steamed them in the oven (like mini pumpkins!).  By adding just a little water to a baking dish, you can steam anything, plus, the cinnamon sticks infuse the water like an herbal tea. I used to make this growing up, with a microwave instead of an oven, and with spicy cinnamon candies instead of cinnamon sticks.

Either way, this recipe is perfect for the upcoming holidays. Don’t you just love apple season?

Steamed Apples with Cinnamon
 
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Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 2 fuji apples
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • ¾ cup of water
Instructions
  1. Add water to a baking dish, then core apples.
  2. Place apples in baking dish with water, then stick cinnamon sticks through the center.
  3. Place dish in oven set to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
  4. Let water in dish steam apples for an hour to an hour and a half, until apples are desired softness.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 2

Reviews

The Hormone Diet Review

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The Hormone Diet Review

I finally finished The Hormone Diet by Natash Turner, ND and although it’s a crazy long book, it’s filled with tons of great material and is still accessible to a reader without a science or medical background (such as myself). I do recommend that you browse through the book, and look through the index for what interests you the most. This information does not need to be read in order for it to be valuable. Her book encourages a low glycemic mediterranean style diet, which actually pushed me toward eating a paleo diet as a way of reducing my intake of sugar.

Reducing sugar will prevent the release of excess insulin, which is a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Excess insulin has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. Reducing sugar will also help keep your liver healthy. Since the liver also controls the production and breakdown of different hormones including cortisol, an overburdened liver may cause hormonal problems. The liver also aids in detoxification, and toxins can cause hormonal imbalances as well. This book has tons of great advice and resources for detoxifying your home and work space.

Another thing I loved about this book, was her in-depth explanations of supplements and how it effects your different hormones. If you are considering taking a supplement to improve your hormonal health, I highly recommend you consult this book. Supplements are not regulated like prescriptions, and it’s important to get a quality product that is recommended by a doctor or naturopath. In her book, you can find both the brand names she recommends and the correct dosage.

In conclusion, I really liked this book as a comprehensive guide to understanding your hormones and how it relates to symptoms and disease. I was not a fan of the diet recommendations and recipes, but I did appreciate her explanations for avoiding sugar, alcohol, and caffeine. Check out The Hormone Diet by Natash Turner, ND if you are serious about your hormonal health. If your not serious, you should be. According to Turner, “Hormones are powerful chemcial messengers in the body, controlling everything from the reproductive system to mood, sleep, and appearance” They play an important role in metabolism and injury recovery, as well as many diseases related to aging including diabetes, osteoporosis, and heart disease. Excess estrogen (unnaturally found in our environment) has been linked to thyroid disease, obesity, and breast and prostate cancer. Just to name a few 🙂

Dinner

Slow Cooker Cincinnati Chili

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cincinnati-chili-v002

I love cincinnati chili, and I love my slow cooker, so that makes this recipe doubly lovable. You can eat this just as a plain bowl of chili, or you could put it over spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes or white rice. All these options are considered safer starches and will help you feel nice and full. I actually ate this with japanese sweet potatoes last night, since that’s all they had at Whole Foods. We don’t have that much fall produce in LA yet. It’s crazy hot here right now and and the weather keeps geting hotter and hotter. I wanted to do a cold weather recipe anyway, since pinterest has me craving fall classics. So, I decided to blast the AC while my slow cooker was heating up my apartment. It kind of worked.

Slow Cooker Cincinnati Chili - Healing and Eating

Anyway, I was really happy with way this recipe turned out. It made leftovers, which is always a good thing and it tasted delicious. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that spicy, so consider it a good base for a mild to medium chili, and add in extra cayenne pepper if you need to.

Slow Cooker Cincinnati Chili
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 2 white onions chopped
  • 2 tbsp chili powder (frontier blend)
  • ½ tsp of allspice
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tbsp of cacao powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp of paprika
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 3 cups of vegetable broth
  • 16 oz jar of tomato sauce (I used Amy's Organic Marinara)
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • (optional) ⅓ cup of scallions chopped
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
  1. Cook ground beef in olive oil until it is no longer pink. Then transfer to slow cooker.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients to slow cooker. Set it on high for 5 hours, or low for 7-8.
  3. (optional) garnish with chopped scallions.
Notes
Add more cayenne pepper to increase spicy flavor. It's currently a mild to medium chili.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 4-6

Sides

Chorizo with Chimichurri and Olives

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Chorizo and Chimichurri and Olives - Healing and Eating

You’ll think you’ve died and gone to Spain with this chorizo side dish. The olives and chimichurri dressing keep it light and fresh, while the chorizo makes this nice and spicy. I got the idea for this dish when I visited my family in New Jersey. There is an awesome restaurant called Fornos, in the Ironbound district, where there are tons of Spanish restaurants. It was an appetizer on the menu, but I ate it for dinner (with some gazpacho). Honestly, this dish is so versatile it would taste delicious hot or cold. So feel free to pack it up for a picnic or lunch and watch your friends and coworkers drool. It would also be great at a party with some toothpicks on the side. Who doesn’t appreciate some pastured pork with their olives?

If you can, find some locally sourced and pastured chorizo. I know it’s hard! My mom has a farmer who raises pastured pigs, so before I left New Jersey, we paid him a visit at the farmer’s market and stocked up on pig. If you follow along with this blog, you know I’ve done this before. And no I don’t ship it, but make my husband carry a bag of frozen meat through the airport. (To Shameer: thanks hun!!! Hope your dinner is worth it 🙂 )

 

Chorizo with Chimichurri and Olives
 
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Ingredients
  • .75 lbs of chorizo (3 links)
  • ¾ cup of pitted green olives
  • 1 tbsp of coconut oil
  • 1 cup of firmly packed flat leaf parsley (I included the stems since I'm lazy)
  • 2 tbsp of fresh oregano (no stems, not enough room in measuring spoon)
  • ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp of raw and fermented red wine vinegar (Eden Foods)
  • 3 cloves of pressed garlic
  • 1 tsp of sea salt
  • ¼ tsp of fresh ground black pepper
  • ¼ tsp of red pepper flakes
Instructions
  1. Saute chorizo in a large pan with coconut oil, about 9-12 minutes or until skin is brown. Cut through to make sure inside isn't pink.
  2. Mix with olives on a dish, set aside.
  3. In a food processor, mix parsley, oregano, olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt, garlic, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.
  4. Drizzle chimichurri over chorizo and olives, and serve hot or cold.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 2