One of the toughest parts of transitioning to a grain free diet, for me has been finding treats that will satisfy all my senses.
I’ve found great tasting desserts but the texture is off. Or maybe the texture is perfect but the taste isn’t quite right.
I’ll admit it……I smell my food, and I would prefer that it’s a pleasant one, at least where my baked goods are concerned.
I think I’ve done it. I’m so excited to share this recipe with you. Not only is the taste on point the texture is the closest I’ve come to the old days before I stopped baking with grains…..EVER!
Plus I’m using possibly my most loved ingredient…the sweet potato!
Yep I can’t get enough of that sweet potato, I use it in all kinds of baking like these sweet potato biscuits or this sweet potato cornbread, and those sweet potato pancakes, I’ve even made sweet potato french toast!
But when I read that it could possibly slow aging and grow bigger Tatas, I was hooked. Actually I could care less about the aging, I just wanted some bigger Tatas
I consume no less than 3 sweet potatoes in a week, and haven’t I seen much change in the ladies but I’m staying persistent and hoping that all that sweet potato nutrition will stimulate this Tatas into a pre-breastfeeding position………anywhere North ↑ if you know what I mean.
I could talk about my childbearing lady parts all day but I’ll spare you the insecurities and get back to the food.
Specifically these delicious grain free cookie pies.
This recipe was no different from my traditional baked goods when it came to satisfying the family.
Kids loved them….
Husband (has no sweet tooth what so ever) loves them….
And basically we are back to fighting over the last bites. I mean I used to could eat my allergy friendly and grain free treats to myself. Not that I wanted to keep them to myself because they were pretty….. BAD.
If you have ever considered going grain free but hesitated due to your love of food running as deep as Moi, these may change the game for you! Seriously, these are a game changer.
I plan on making them over the holidays for the extended family while I lecture them on the dangers of our current food system, and how getting rid of processed foods and grains will change their life.
And if I’m not persuasive enough, I’ll just let the food do the talking.
A few simple ingredients and you’ve satisfied a raging sweet tooth with a nutritious treat.
Beat together sweet potato and brown sugar. Add the melted coconut oil and coconut butter.
Add sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Bring together the dry and wet ingredients.
Cover mix and let cool in refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F
When mix is cooled, form the cookies with hand. They do not rise or spread so form them into the exact shape you want.
Bake for 15- 20 minutes. 16 works best with my oven so just make sure you check on them at 15 minutes.
Now spread you grain free frosting (option 1) (option 2) all over the bottom of your cookies and make a sandwich…….
a cookie sandwich!
Tell me, is there anything healthy you plan on making over the holidays.
Or are your holidays the time to ball out and eat yourself into total oblivion?
Come on, tell me I won’t judge.
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When I started food blogging last year, I was dealing with some pretty bad eczema. I’ve suffered with eczema as a child which was treated with weekly steroid injections at the allergists. The injections worked and I’d built an immunity which let me go on for years eating everything under the sun without incidence.
Then suddenly during my second pregnancy, the Eczema had come back and with a vengeance. I switched to all natural and organic products, I stopped using perfume, I changed my sheets 4-5 times a week, I cleaned insistently, but nothing worked.
I was accustomed to Hydrocortizone creams, Benadryl, and some pretty intense prescription drugs courtesy of my Dermatologist becoming apart of my daily routine. Eventually I started evaluating internal changes I could make that may get rid of the Eczema as a whole instead of simply treating the symptoms. I tried everything including an awful apple cider vinegar mixed with baking soda concoction daily, yuck!
It had to be something I was eating. So I finally decided to go back to the allergists and low and behold I’m allergic to everything outside, inside, and worst inside my refrigerator. This was not an easy fix I was allergic to some of my favorite and most often prepared foods.
Let me just give you an idea, apples, watermelon,cantaloupe, strawberries, eggs, wheat, rice, corn,nuts, oats, barley, cottonseed, onions, garlic, green beans, and the list goes on. When I first learned I was in denial, I was upset, I was confused. I told myself “I have to enjoy life”, and if that meant enjoying these foods despite what the tests proved then so be it. I couldn’t even imagine having to get rid of these things.
Well, to make a long story short it’s taken some time but I am slowly but surely off all grains, and most of the other allergens.
Garlic is one I’ll probably never give up, and regardless of my garlic obsession I’m seeing marked improvements in my skin, energy and overall health. I feel amazing. My body feels great, I’m having increased stamina, and my”mommy brain” is no longer a thing. I’m sleeping better and less cranky. Plus I’m losing weight.
Well I think I’m losing weight, I don’t get on a scale but my clothes are fitting just a little looser and all without really putting much effort elsewhere. So grains are no more apart of my life, which is kind of like a paleo/primal diet, but I’m not off dairy, and refined sugars as of yet. I always thought I would eventually be vegan at some point in life, but with soy and legume allergies this is nearly impossible.
Meat is my main source of protein and I can eat it to my heart’s content without my immune system going into overdrive. However, I am a conscious meat-eater, we buy grass-fed organic beef, and my poultry is free range and organic as well.
I’m changing the way I buy, prepare, eat and ultimately see my food. Still every now and then I just need a sweet treat besides a piece fruit, and this recipe is it!
I’ve seen tons of grain free cookie recipes that look pretty promising, unfortunately many use almond flour which is just another food my immune system has determined is harmful and will trigger an immediate histamine response. With a few experimental batches of these grain-free/nut-free cookies I finally reached the consistency and flavor I was going for.
It’s made with coconut flour which provides great nutrition, but it also lends a great coconut flavor that you can imagine is incredible in a chocolate chip cookies. These things are pretty close to the real deal. My kids (who are not grin free) ate them as if it was a traditional chocolate chip cookie, no complaints. Someone with a more mature palette may find the texture a bit of putting but not a total deal breaker, I promise.
Overall these cookies are a great substitute for the real thing!eciphttp://asoulfultwist.com/wp-content/uploads/Cookies-texture.jpgard
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Here in Central VA it’s been an entire WEEK of snow/ice/cold days, which meant the kids were out of school.
I’ve been managing the housework, meals, fun, and school work with ALL the little ones!
If I was to ever decide to homeschool this week was a good exercise in my patience and ability to be successful at that huge commitment.
As for their current school situation they attend public school.
They were attending a small but awesome Christian school that we all loved! However the financial burden of two private school tuition’s was felt and we ended up switching them to public school last year.
I have to say the transition was harder on us as the parents than on them. They asked about their old school and teachers but they also enjoyed the new school community they had become a part of.
A major concern was larger class size, which works fine for my son, as for his twin NaNa who has struggled with her health since being born Twin 2 at just 25 weeks gestation, the large classes can be a tad overwhelming for her!
She does need more attention and prompts when it comes to step-by-step tasks. She can get behind and completely forget what she’s supposed to be doing
NaNa’s main struggle area being math we have been working exclusively on math during her impromptu week out of school. I can’t have her getting behind.
And what better way t o get a girl hype about doing math than making treats.
She has been in the kitchen helping me prepare cookies, cupcakes, snacks, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I make her measure things out using the 1/4, 1/2 and 1/3 measuring cups, and she loves it!
She even made suggestions on ingredients and amounts, I make her add, subtract, multiply and divide, plus she is problem solving.
If it was too sweet to salty or bitter I made her give me suggestions on what could have been done different with amounts, less, or more.
We were discussing cookies, and she suggested chocolate, after I complained “we always make chocolate chip cookies” she quickly retorted “no…a chocolate no-chips cookie”!
And that’s what we made.
I call these Brownie cookies, they are very rich and soft and chewy!
They taste best with a tall glass of milk. Or enjoy them warm on top of a bowl of ice cream, even in this cold weather I still will enjoy a bowl of ice cream, especially when it involves a warm chocolate brownie cookie on top!
These chocolate chip cookies are made to knock you off your feet!
That may sound like some psychological bull shit babble, but seriously I may be on to something, here.
Think about it, you can carefully sneak anywhere from 1 to 5 cookies into your hand, hiding said hand behind your back while you safely make your way out of the kitchen…
…past the family room unbeknownst to mother…
up the stairs…
ending at a quaint and tranquil spot behind your bed where you can enjoy the dang cookies without any JUDGEMENT or persistent inquiries to SHARE!
After writing that I realize I may have some issues, so lets just move on
Cookies are just so dang cute…
…and delicious!
I’ve been like this since childhood, it won’t change, cookies make me dance, literally and figuratively and this recipe may get you in a twerkin’ kind of mood as well.
These delicious cookies are nice and soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside and gets some extra bite with the addition of pecans and oats!
Here’s what you need!
1 cup flour
1/3 cup quick oats
¼ cup crushed pecans
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons butter
¾ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 eggs
1 tablespoon organic honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix together flour, baking soda, oats, crushed pecans and salt.
In a separate bowl cream butter, brown &granulated sugar, egg, and honey.
Add in dry ingredients than mix everything together.
Add vanilla extract and mix in chocolate chips.
Let cool in refrigerator up to an hour.
Pre-heat oven to 350°
Gather a small palm full of dough roll and flatten just a bit.
Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
It’s MLK day and I’m going to keep this REAL Short and even SWEETER!!
For MLK day the twins and I are planning what we’ve been doing the past 3 years, picking up trash of the side of the road! :/
Yep that’s what we do, and trust me some of these roads need it here in the capital city!
More importantly, I want them to remember this day as a day of honor and remembrance of how selfishly and bravely MLK served his country, and his people, and that it’s important, no matter how small or grand that we all serve!
So I’m hitting you with this Pecan Pie Recipe, because Pecan Pie was MLK favorite dessert and yes baby, it is celebration worthy!
I have been making this for years,
I remember thinking and guessing what could go into a pecan pie???!!!!
Coupled with the remnants that were my pantry and refrigerator at the time, I just put everything together and it turned out good, so I’ve been making it like this ever since.
It boasts a sweet and gooey inside and my favorite, a crunchy pecan top that takes the dang cake, or in this case the PIE!
This pie is so simple, I just mix everything up, pour it into my prepared pie shell, pop it in the oven and go on about my business!
What you’ll need……
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 cup light corn syrup
4 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter
3 eggs
1 Tablespoons of pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans (I used half in the picture but prefer chopped)
Mix the brown sugar, flour, and granulated sugar together.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Pour in prepared pie shell and bake at 35o° for 50 minutes or until center reaches 200°.
Let pie sit for at least one hour…and that’s pushing it, just be patient it’ll be worth the wait!
Pound cake is a comforting piece of sweetness that always reminds me of home. I love it homemade, there are certainly some delicious store-bought versions, but nothing really compares to homemade. This recipe has some added texture with the addition of cornmeal. If sweet cornbread was to marry to pound cake you would have this recipe, moist, buttery goodness.
Here’s what you need……
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup corn meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature
1/2 cup shortening butter flavored
3 cups sugar
5 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pre-heat oven to 350°
Prepare bundt pan, wipe down with shortening and add flour to coat pan.
Sift together, flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda.
Cream together room temperature butter, shortening, and sugar.
Using an electric mixer, add one egg at a time mixing well after each addition.
Mix in vanilla.
This is where you need to work fast.
Add half of the dry ingredient mix, to butter, sugar and eggs.
Mix well and add the cup of buttermilk mix well.
Now add the rest of the dry mix, wipe the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
Pour batter into bunt pan and bake for about 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
This is my favorite fall cake hands down point black period!
It’s an upside down cake with the apple being upside down and the cake being sweet potato.
Apple, spice and everything nice with some sweet potato is everything that this cake is made of.
I’m not going to talk your head off about it, here’s how you make one for yourself.
What you’ll need, for the Apple Upside-Down Sweet Potato Cake!
The Cake
One Large sweet potato cooked mashed
1 ½ cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Upside-Down Apples
1 granny smith
1 red delicious
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon apple pie spice
Oil the bottom and sides of your cake pan.
Place a rounded parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.
Trace out a circle from the pan onto your parchment paper. Cut it out and put it at the bottom of the pan.
Peel and core the apples.
Thinly slice the apples and place at the bottom of the cake pan as neatly and in unison as possible. If you care about presentation!
I just want it to taste good, so I put them in the pan neatly not so fancy, just neat.
Mix up the brown sugar, apple pie spice, 6 Tablespoons of butter, and maple syrup!
Pour brown sugar mix over apples.
Set that aside for a hot second so you can work on the cake batter.
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg together.
Set aside.
I a separate bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and sweet potato.
Add eggs one at a time.
Add flour and buttermilk alternately to the sweet potato mix.
End with flour
Do not over mix.
Mix in Vanilla.
Now put cake batter over top of the apple and brown sugar mix.
Bake in oven at 400 for 15 minutes and then turn down to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes.
Check and make sure it’s done with a toothpick straight down the middle.
If toothpick is clean than its ready!
Let the cake cool in pan for at least 45 minutes.
Flip over on plate, remove parchment paper and serve warm….with some ice cream!
The sweet caramelized apples on top of the creamy and delicious sweet potato cake will make your day….I know I said this already but this needs to be enjoyed warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream…sometimes you have to say forget them fat thighs I want my cake and ice cream too!
The topping is so yum!
I forgot to add the ice cream, but don’t you make the same mistake!
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Bread pudding is not a dessert that everyone enjoys, my experience has been you either love it or leave it. I love it! I like it with raisins without, with peaches, apples chocolate and some sinfully sweet sometime gooey topping.
Bread pudding is like a po’ girl’s dessert, which may explain why I like it so much.
When it comes to last-minute and easy desert this is an obvious answer.
You don’t need a bunch of fancy ingredients; everything will be in your fridge.
The secret to great bread pudding is the moisture, you don’t want it too dry, it useless dry even if you try and add some sweet buttery Praline sauce, bread pudding is simply dead when it’s dry.
Hold on what am I saying, sweet buttery Praline sauce can certainly resurrect dry pudding, any desert for that matter.
Well there you have it! If you happen leave it in the oven to long, don’t fret just go ahead and make that sweet maple Praline sauce and all your sins will be forgiven.
Now let’s get to this simple dish.
I forgot to mention this recipe is specifically for two people, or you can be like me and eat them both…here’s how you do it, break up your bread, soak and let sit, when they ask you what you’re doing just say “oh nothing”!
When they go to bed pre-heat the oven pop in, get some sprinkles cause they make night feel like day, pop a scoop of ice cream on top….enjoy, and clean all your dishes so there not a trace of evidence, if by chance they get up to use the restroom and ask “what’s that lovely smell is” tell them you have a candle burning in the kitchen and swiftly shoo them back into bed. It works for friends and family too.
I love eating treats alone, I feel such a rush that you can only get after living a square life with a bunch of little babies and one workaholic husband for so long……yes my life is so normal I get enjoyment from the simplest of things like, sneaking around and making treats all for myself. So here’s all you need to make a treat for yourself, or make it romantic and get the boo-thang’ in on it. by the way are they still using boo thang’? Sometimes I feel so removed from society, kids will do it!
Here’s all you need.
1 day old Sub roll or 2 slices of sandwich bread
1 egg
2 Tablespoons melted butter
½ cup milk
½ cup sugar
½ tablespoon (quality vanilla extract)
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Break up the bread, and put into ramekins.
Mix up the cooled melted butter, milk, egg, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg.
Pour mixture over bread.
Put ramekins into the fridge and let sit for at least 20 minutes.
Pre heat oven to 375ᴼ Bake for 30 minutes.
Serve warm with a bit of ice cream and sprinkles….it’s that easy!
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I first made this blackberry jam to go with my sweet potato biscuits, but it goes great on traditional biscuits as well. It is sweet and tangy and jazz’s up almost any Carb you like to enjoy for breakfast or brunch. It super simple and easy too! So here it goes….
2 cups frozen black berries
1 cup dark brown sugar (not packed)
1 teaspoon corn starch
Put frozen berries and brown sugar in small sauce pan.
Turn stove to medium high. Bring mixture to boil. When everything is melted together, vigorously whisk in corn starch.
Let boil for about 20 more minutes. Carefully stirring in between. Turn heat off let cool. Pour jelly in small dish and serve.
As it cool it get much thicker, enjoy any way you like, it’s really good. But I love it with these sweet potato biscuits! Subscribe with email for updates and fun recipes!
]]>I’ll admit it, I grew up on can biscuits, and I liked them the Pillsbury ones that is, unfortunately every once in a while my mother would sneak some store brand canned biscuits up in there and I’m not sure how they were made but I’m certain milk and butter were not a part of the equation.
As a new wife, I wanted to wow my husband and I started a mission, operation homemade biscuits if you will. It was top secret, I didn’t want him to know, I was messing up biscuits left and right and with all the butter, cream and specialized flour, I threw away a fortune! I’m being a bit dramatic but there was food wasted. Finally I had figured out a method and a mixture that was superb. I got faster and nicer with each biscuit batch turned out.
So after being able to turn out the tastiest biscuits ever, I decided to challenge myself a bit more and I started to create the best sweet potato biscuit around.
When I first made these they came out dense so I played with the ingredients a bit but nothing worked. Finally I considered it may be the technique, and I was right.
I was using warm to room temperature potatoes and it was melting the butter which is what you don’t want. The butter and shortening should stay cold at all times.
What I had to do was put the smashed sweet potatoes, butter and shortening in the freezer together and get it all cold. I put all ingredients into the food processor and pulse everything together. I have heavy hands and over mixing can cause tough biscuits and you do not want tough biscuits, you want a light and fluffy biscuit so here’s how you get 10!
1 small sweet potato
3 Tablespoon butter
5 Tablespoon shortening
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)
¼ cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425ᴼ
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and nutmeg (optional) nutmeg is completely optional. They turn out superb without it.
In a separate bowl cut up butter, shortening, and mashed sweet potato. Put this mixture in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.
Take out of freezer and put your entire dry ingredient along with the cold butter, potato, and shortening mixture into the food proce
Pulse until everything comes together.
Lightly flour your work surface.
Lightly flour a small bowl.
Put biscuit mix into the floured bowl.
Very gently mix in the milk.
Dust hands with flour.
With a very light touch mix everything and roll out biscuits onto floured surface into a rectangle.
Fold over and lightly pat out into about a half an inch square. It should look like this.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut out round biscuits or cut them into squares, I cut mine into squares because reworking the leftover dough from circles is not a good idea.
Lightly spray pan with non-stick spray.
Place biscuits close but not touching and bake for 13 minutes.
Take out slather some butter or make some of this sweet and tangy blackberry jam.
Here it goes one more time…
Preheat oven to 425ᴼ
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and nutmeg (optional) nutmeg is completely optional. They turn out superb without it.
In a separate bowl cut up butter, shortening, and mashed sweet potato. Put this mixture in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.
Take out of freezer and put your entire dry ingredient along with the fat and sweet potato mix.
Pulse until everything comes together.
Lightly flour your work surface.
Lightly flour a small bowl.
Put biscuit mix into the floured bowl.
Very gently mix in the milk.
Dust hands with flour.
With a very light touch mix everything and roll out biscuits onto floured surface into a rectangle.
Fold over and lightly pat out into about a half an inch square.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut out round biscuits or cut them into squares, I cut mine into squares because reworking the leftover dough from circles is not a good idea.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until tops are brown.
If you have any questions ask them in the comments section I will help you get through this the best way I can!
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