Banana Flavored Milk [paleo, primal, raw]

I grew up loving banana flavored milk. Today I thought of it... hmm... my trial not bad I'll see if I can improve ;-)

Ingredients:

1 very ripe banana
1 cup combined of very chilled 1/2 C coconut milk and 1/2 C water. If you like very thick drink you can use whole one cup of coconut milk. (or 1 Cup almond milk)
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder or less if you don't prefer. This will give nice yellow color and great health benefits.
1/2 raw honey or to your taste (use maple syrup, if vegan)
a drop of pure vanilla (optional)

Instructions:

1. Put every think in a blender. Blend them to good consistency.
2. Enjoy!

Sweet Potatoes Brownies [Paleo, Primal, Grain-free, Gluten-free]

I have roasted sweet potatoes leftover from camping and, mentioned in previous blog, I overbought cocao powder... so I need to find the way use them both. I looked at many recipe and liked the one from PaleoOMG but I don't have all the ingredients in hand. I came up with my improvised recipe and it's great as well!**

I used leftover this morning, served with fruits. Who said no brownies for breakfast? It has eggs, butter, and other complex carbs!

Ingredients:
1 large cooked sweet potato (about 1½ cup)
3 eggs
¼ cup melted grass-fed butter (or coconut oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup organic coconut sugar ( use ⅓ cup of other liquid sweeteners)
3 tablespoons coconut flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocao powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Optional dark organic chocolate bark, shaved to garnish or melt with a hint of coconut oil or butter to top

Instructions:
1. Turn your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk eggs thoroughly and add melted butter/coconut oil, vanilla extract. Then mix together.
3. Add coconut sugar or other kind of sweetener you use. Mix well.
4. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix well to consistent texture.
5. Pour into an 8×8 glass baking dish
6. Bake for 30 -35 minutes.
7. Let it cool a little bit then top with dark chocolate sprinkle or chocolate sauce.
8. Enjoy!

** If you know me... I don’t cook with exact recipes... I cook what I have... so keep your pantry clean :)

Homemade Lemon-Lime Soda [Paleo/Primal, Fermented, Raw]

I use apple cider vinegar when I have sore throat. I know it has so many benefits so I try to think of the way to consume it other than putting in salad dressings. I saw my friend's post on Facebook Healthy Living By BUD and she made "healthy apple cider vinegar soda drink," and alternate fix for soda. though I don't care much for soda forever but this tastes pretty good. She simply uses water, ice cubes, vinegar, and raw honey and did high speed shaking but I didn't so mine contains no bubbles. So i would be helpful if you have mixer bottle.

Ingredients:

1 cup Coconut Water

1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar

1 teaspoon Lime Juice

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1/2 teaspoon Raw Honey (more if you'd like it sweeter)

pinch of salt

a few ice cubes

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredient in a bottle. (when I made it I just put in a cup and stirred so it didn't create much bubbles but tastes great!)

2. Use you all your triceps, biceps, arm flexors, and extensors, etc... to shake the mix as quick as possible.

3. Enjoy!

Quick Californian Seafood Stew [paleo/primal, gluten-free, dairy-free]

Today for lunch, I needed something quick but wanted a look-like full dish rather than a grab-and-go. So I know seafood thawed quickest. Looked at the vegetable drawer... I needed to use up a couple-week-old parsnip... and soup sounded good to me. Here is I came up with. It was only 15 minutes to cook other than a five minutes to chop things up and thaw the sea food.

Ingredients:

1 cup wild & sustainable seafood (or just shrimps or fish or anything)

1 cup of small-cube chopped vegetable (I used parsnip this time. it could be something that make nice broth like cauliflower, celery, or you can use broccoli stems)

1 cup of water (or seafood broth)

1-2 cloves garlic or garlic powder

1 shallots

1 Tablespoon (Red Boat or real and pure extract) fish sauce (Optional if don't use seafood stock or just all sea salt)

2 Tomatoes chopped in cubes (separate half for garnish)

1/2 avocado cubed

1/8 cup cilantro / coriander (I like to chop the stem and put in the broth while cooking. leave the leaves to garnish)

Sea salt to taste

1 small lime or to taste

1 teaspoon red crushed pepper or to your preference

Instructions:

1. Bring water or broth to boil.

2. Smash garlic and shallot and put in the boiling liquid.

3. Add sea salt or fish sauce or both.

4. Put in vegetable of your choice until it soften (about 10 minutes or longer depending on kinds of vegetables). Then use spoon or ladle to roughly smash the vegetable to make the soup thicken or hearty.

5. Put in tomatoes

6. After a few minute put in seafood. When it's cooked (do not over cook), turn off the stove and taste the soup. Add sea salt if you need to. Then squeeze lime in to your taste.

7. pour the soup in a bowl and garnish with cubed avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, and red crushed pepper.

8. Enjoy!

If you know me... I don’t cook with exact recipes... I cook what I have, local, seasonal... so keep your pantry clean :)

No-baked Brownie Bites [paleo/primal, raw]

This is my impromptu brownie. I went out shopping and bought cacao powder. When I got home I found out that I already had it. Well... I'll be cooking something cacao more...

I googled to find a paleo recipe but there are a tons out there. After I skimmed over about 10 of them... I don’t have all ingredients required so I improvised and came up with this recipe:

1/2 cup raw hazelnuts (blanched)
1 cup of soaked dates or 3/4 cup medjool  dates (I was out of medjool)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup raw cashew meal
1 cup raw cacao powder
2 Tablespoon raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of Himalayan salt

Optional: any crushed nuts or seeds to garnish

1. Put hazelnuts in a food processor and grind it
2. Put it dates and keep pulsing and mixing
3. Pour in almond & cashew meals, cacao powder, raw honey, vanilla extract.  Keep mixing.
4. Sprinkle the salt and mixing until it becomes doughy texture.
5. Spread in a nonstick pan and cut in squares or roll balls however you like.
6. Top the brownies with any choices if desire.
7. Let it sit in the fridge about 30 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

If you know me... I don’t cook with exact recipes... I cook what I have... so keep your pantry clean :)

Spinach with Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

What I love about strawberry is its aroma. This is simply delicious "Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette." My kids love this because of strawberries! It will go well with any pungent green vegetables like spinach, arugula, or any mix greens will do.

Ingredients:
1 pint strawberries: half chopped, half sliced to put in salad
2 Teaspoons raw honey (or to your taste)
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (or to your taste)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
a hint of salt & pepper if you'd like
2-3 cups of greens or one full plate!

Directions:
1. Mix greens with half a pint sliced strawberries. Put it aside.
2. Put half a pint of chopped strawberries in bowl and whisk in vinegar, raw honey, then extra-virgin olive oil. Season the dressing with salt and pepper if you'd prefer.
3. Pour the dressing on the salad evenly or mix it gently.
4. Enjoy!