Ariel's GF Cinnamon Bread

I get a craving for something sweet sometimes like any sugar-addicted human being, as we know. I’m a perfect example of those suckers they aim commercials toward. When I’m hungry, I want the first thing I see. I’ve learned self control, however, and I don’t just jump in the car for the nearest IHOP when I see their pancakes on TV. (Holla if you know that craving well) Anyway, I was on Pinterest while hungry, of course, because when am I not? Hungry. Not on Pinterest. I found a recipe for Cinnamon Bread, and it became all I wanted. The recipe seemed simple enough, but I decided I wanted to make it gluten free and refined sugar free. I will say I follow the Paleo Diet, then, in the same day, make something gluten free with brown rice flour or potato flour. Do what you gotta do!

(I always recommend reading through the whole recipe/blog first!)

Cinnamon Bread Recipe: (Makes 2 Loaves)

Batter

1 C Organic Butter, softened

1 C Coconut Palm Sugar

¾ - 1 C Honey

2 Organic Eggs

2 C Organic Milk

2 T Lemon Juice

4 C GF Flour (Namaste is what I used this time, normally I'm a Bob's Red Mill girl)

2 ¼ tsp Baking Soda

Cinnamon/Sugar Mixture

2/3 C Coconut Palm Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

Directions:

Cream together the butter, coconut palm sugar, honey, and eggs. Add the milk, flour, and baking soda. Set your oven for 325°. I like to both spray the loaf pans with cooking spray/rub with coconut oil AND put parchment paper down. I’ve made too many breads that I sprayed the pans with cooking spray, and it still wouldn’t come out of the pan without leaving parts of itself stuck inside. I will say, however, that this dough was SO THICK AND STICKY that it was extremely hard to spread over the parchment paper. This will not pour in the least. I had to use a spatula and a spoon to transfer and spread into the pan. I’m not sure if it’s the type of GF flour I used, which was the Namaste Brand from Costco, or what. Transfer ¼ of your batter into one greased loaf pan. Transfer another ¼ of your batter into the second grease loaf pan. In a separate bowl, mix together your coconut palm sugar and cinnamon. Once mixed, sprinkle 75% of your cinnamon sugar mixture over the tops of the batter in your two loaf pans. Add in your remaining batter into pans trying to keep them as even as possible. If you want to make sure they’re exactly even, you can use measuring cups in transferring your batter. With how sticky my batter was though, I didn’t really care at this point. I just wanted it to lay flat in the pan so I could get it in the stinkin’ oven! Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture over the tops of your batters. Then place in the oven for 50 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes in the pans. Be sure to keep an eye on your breads because different flours will bake slower and quicker than others. My Namaste brand gluten free flour baked for over 50 minutes, and I think it probably could have gone longer. With your mixture on top, it’s going to be hard to tell if your bread is done by just visually looking it. A good way to tell your bread is done is to stick a thermometer near the center and check to see if it measures 190°. You also want to make sure your thermometer/toothpick comes out clean and without batter.

Extra Diet Restriction Substitutes:

I’m sure there are variations to this as well. I didn’t try it with an egg substitute, but I’m sure you can. I think this would be a very easy recipe to trade milk for coconut milk. I used organic butter, but I’m sure you could swap that for coconut oil. It would probably be less sticky that way too! If you decide to use all honey keep this in mind.

No Diet Restrictions Substitutions:
If you just don’t care what’s in your bread. You can sub the coconut sugar and honey for 2 C of regular sugar. You’d also swap the Organic Milk and Lemon for 2 C Buttermilk. I didn't have buttermilk on hand, because who does, but, if you ever need a sub for buttermilk, you can add lemon or vinegar to normal milk and that works. If you change the sugar, up the baking temp to 350°, and take out the extra ¼ t of baking soda because the temp is lowered and baking soda increased when working with honey.

ENJOY!

~Ariel

 
 

Brownie I Can Actually Eat! (5 min brownie)

I know all of you are just on pins and needles shout-thinking, "It's been forever since you've posted!!" OK, not really. My mom's probably the only one who reads this. (Hey, mom.) But just in case, I have an update, and a recipe that had me jumping with excitement to share with you today.

I had a blood panel done to find out if I had food sensitivities. Let me just tell ya, it wasn't great. (Hence, me not posting in a while.) It pretty much turned my "healthy" diet onto it's head. I won't bore you with all the details of my life, but almonds and yeast were a 3. Yay for never eating baked things again! Or so I was thinking. 3 is terrible and a no go in my life. I'm trying to eliminate all of the sensitive foods (there are like 15 including the random "turkey") for about 12 weeks. Then, I'll try putting some of the lower ones back in. I have been dying without any form of sugar or chocolate. I've gotten pretty down thinking that I'll live a tasteless life forever. Little by little, with a lot of research, I've started to put some recipes together and figure out, yet again, a different healthy diet for me. This leads me to the recipe I want to share today!

I pretty much feel that I owe my life to Jacqueline G., author of livin the crunchy life blog, for this brownie recipe. I get intense chocolate cravings and just could NOT find a recipe for ANY baked good that didn't have gluten, nuts, sugar, dairy, or eggs. The recipe that didn't have gluten used almond flour. The one that didn't use sugar had eggs. The one that didn't use any of the other things needed butter. I was losin' my cotton-picking, sensitive mind. THEN, I stumbled upon this heavenly recipe. AND, you make a single serving, in the microwave, in like 3 minutes. AND it's mother fluffin' delicious that even your children will eat.

One Minute Molten Chocolate Brownie (gluten/dairy/egg/nut free)

Ingredients:
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2-2 tbsp honey (I only use one)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp coconut flour
1/8 baking soda
Dash of salt
1-2 tbsp full-fat coconut milk (I just used 1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened SO coconut milk)
Chunk of baking chocolate or chocolate bar (optional- I don't use cause of the added sugar in chocolate)

Directions:

1. I added together all of the dry ingredients and mixed those together first.
2. Melt your coconut oil in your microwave safe mug/ramekin. (About 30 seconds for me)
3. Stir in honey and vanilla extract.
4. Mix in your pre-mixed dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. (yes it will be very thick)
5. Add milk a tablespoon at a time.
6. After mixing, allow to sit for a couple of seconds, so the coconut flour absorbs the liquid.
7. If you are adding a chocolate center, push that in the middle until covered with batter.
8. Microwave for 30 seconds, then 15 second intervals until the top is set.
(If you want a more cakey brownie, you can cook longer. However, this is made to be a little fudgey/gooey and eaten straight from the mug.)
9. Let sit for a couple minutes or you'll burn your tongue to oblivion.

If you want to make it in an oven (I see ya goody goody), she says to bake at 350-375 for 10-12 minutes. I haven't done this yet, but I'm sure it's tasty. Supposedly, it's also very good refrigerated for a couple hours and eaten later too, for those remarkable ones who can bake something and not eat it right away.

That's that! It's really easy, really quick, and really inexpensive. I love that I don't have to make a whole cake pan and watch the mold start to grow on it because I can't possibly eat it all in a week. Though, I won't lie to ya, I made 2 of these little mug beauties about an hour ago. I don't regret a thing.

Anyway, go check out her blog just because she saved my sweet tooth, and it looks like she has some other great recipes!

Enjoy!

~Ariel

Father's Day Cake

Does it have to be Father's Day to make this cake? Nope! It's just a chocolate cake that is not terrible for you! HA. This is my dad's favorite cake, and it's not even my recipe. I'm sharing with you a recipe from The Unrefined Kitchen. I call it Paleo Chocolate Cake.

If you haven't baked Paleo things, I'm not going to lie to you, you probably won't have these ingredients laying around your house. Take the ingredient list and hit up Whole Foods or somewhere else that has all these different flours that the cake calls for. You won't be disappointed. It's one of my favorite desserts.

A couple things I change in the recipe...
1. If I'm not making the frosting (dad doesn't want any frosting), then I add a little more honey to the batter.
2. That's actually all I change, but it's fun to have a number 2. ;)

Also.. seriously...let your cake cool COMPLETELY.

I am NOT the most patient person in the world. Naturally, I decided the cake was cooled "enough" and started putting the icing on. Um...HELLO, coconut oil melts extremely quick at low temperatures. Needless to say, I had a huge mess on my hands (pun intended) and was dabbing the cake with paper towels after I scraped the top of the cake clean. Learn from my mistakes.

My fatha also likes to go non paleo and put whipped cream from a can on top of it. Baby steps.

Chocolate Cake Cake Ingredients (for a 8″ round cake* about 1 1/2″ thick):
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup arrowroot
1/4 cup  almond flour
1/4 cup cacao powder or cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup honey
3 eggs
1/3 cup coconut oil or melted butter
2/3 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8″ round cake pan* with parchment paper.
2. Combine coconut flour, arrowroot, almond flour, cacao, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Add honey, eggs, coconut oil or melted butter, almond milk, lemon juice and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix well. (I use a stand mixer.)
4. Pour cake batter into parchment paper-lined cake pan*. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-22 minutes. Remove from oven when toothpick inserted comes out clean. Try not to overbake!
5. Cool completely and frost cake with chocolate frosting (below), if desired. You could also skip the frosting and serve with berries or Vanilla Coconut Cream Ice Cream.

Frosting Ingredients (double or triple if you make two or three cakes):
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup softened butter
2-4 Tbsp. honey (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 Tbsp. cacao
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt

Frosting Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and whip together with electric mixer. (If the frosting is too runny due to liquified coconut oil, place in fridge for a short time and re-whip.)
2. Spread on cooled cake and enjoy!

*You can also make this in an 8×8 square pan. The baking time is slightly less.

And if you mess up, that's ok. I know the feeling of wasting time, effort, and money, and it sucks. To lift your spirits and make your day just a little funnier here is a picture of one of my terrible disasters after which I swore off baking:

Yeah, those are cookies.
You're welcome.

~Ariel

Quinoa Bowl Dinner

You’ll find in this blog that I’m all about quick and easy eating. I just happen to be all about being good to my body too. This next recipe is one of my favorite go-to meals because it’s healthy, high in protein and nutrition, fairly quick, and not to mention easy. (Can you tell I’m time efficient (cough) lazy!) ;)

I love meals that are all in one. You can also put it anything that you like! Personalized. Which I also love. I call this the Quinoa Bowl. If you haven’t heard of quinoa, you’re missing out. Read up on the benefits here. (It’s like rice except WAY healthier for you. You can even buy it at Target. I shop mostly at Whole Foods even though some say it’s too expensive. I appreciate that target is starting to supply healthier food, but I like supporting the store that’s been pioneering healthy lifestyles.)

I won’t be putting any measurements on this recipe because it really depends person to person on how much you want in your bowl. The overall cook time is maybe half an hour. It’s so fast and simple, but extremely tasty and filling.

Ingredients:

Quinoa

Coconut Oil (or butter)

Your choice of meat (I normally use 1/2lb grass fed beef)

Peppers (I use 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper)

Onion

Jalepenos

Spinach

Or whatever else you’d like in the bowl

Directions:

READ WHOLE THING FIRST

1: Chop up your peppers/onions/jalapenos and set aside (I use a jar of jalapenos when I don’t have any fresh ones on hand. If you’re using the jar kind, skip all the jalapeno steps and add them onto your bowl at the end)

2: Follow the directions on the box/bag of quinoa to cook it. Be careful on how much you use. One of the recipes I followed said 2 cups of cooked quinoa. I was over here like, “What am I a psychic??” I also doubled the recipe. Quinoa grows, ok? 4 cups of uncooked quinoa came out to about 3 weeks worth of quinoa. Once the water has gone down, you can add some seasonings to it. Taste test it as you go. Salt, pepper.

3: As the water for quinoa is boiling, get started on your meat. Like I said, I use grass fed beef because I like my meal to be a Taco Quinoa bowl. (I’ve also done it with chicken using coconut oil for the oil, and it’s delicious.) I season with salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, paprika, and some chili powder. 

4: Put some coconut oil in a pan and let it start to melt. Once it is melted, add in your pepper, onions, and jalapenos with some salt and pepper. You want to cook those until the onions are translucent and your peppers are at your desired crunchy/softness.

5. Once quinoa and peppers/onions/jalapenos are done cooking, dump your peppers/onions/jalapeno/coconut oil mixture into the pot that has your quinoa and mix them in.

6. Start layering your cooked ingredients in your bowl. I start with quinoa as the base. First layer I put Pepper/onion/jalapeno quinoa, then a layer of spinach, top it with beef, salsa, organic sour cream, tomatoes, feta, and then anything else you’d like!

Special Note:
If I'm out of quinoa, I make everything else and do healthy nachos using non-gmo xochitl chips. It's freakin' delicious. After the meat is cooked and the heat is turned off, I put some raw cheese that I've shredded on top and mix it in before the pan has lost all it's heat. (I've done this with just meat, cheese, salsa, and organic sour cream.)

Enjoy!

~Ariel

Ariel's Toothpaste Recipe

We use it every day, hopefully at least twice a day. Do we know what's actually in it? Toothpaste is the easiest thing to just make yourself. It takes about 5 minutes, which is pretty much the time it would take you inside the store to find a good one, let alone the drive there. I started making it myself 3 or so moths ago.

What I love about this recipe is, if you're reading this from your home right now, you have all the ingredients right there(Besides maybe the oils.) Keep in mind, these are salty ingredients. Yes, the toothpaste is salty.

Ingredients

3 tsp- baking soda

1 1/2 tsp- sea salt, finely ground

2 tsp- coconut oil (You can do it without this, but it's better with)

2 splashes- hydrogen peroxide

3-5 drops- On Guard (Prevents AND heals cavities)

3-5 drops- Peppermint (Freshens breath)

(read about peppermint&on guard here)

Directions

1. Add all the ingredients together in a glass container (unless you don't plan on using any Essential Oils. Then whatever container you want is fine)

2. Mix altogether

3. Test it out

4. Adjust your oils accordingly

5. Enjoy!

I like this toothpaste, not only because it's better for you than store bought, but because it leaves my teeth feeling really CLEAN and WHITE. If I feel like it hasn't freshened my breath enough, I will take a drop of peppermint on my finger and run it around inside my mouth or ONE drop to a glass full of water. I made the mistake of doing more than one drop one time. I haven't done that again. (SPICY!) If you just don't want to buy essential oils for whatever reason, you can use this tooth paste without, then use mouthwash, careful to not swallow. Natural/Organic mouthwash is better obviously. Like this one. If you look at the ingredients though, you'll see they're just using essential oils. Probably not very good ones either. It's better just to bite the bullet, cut out the middle man, and buy you some essential oils. 

That's my toothpaste recipe! I use it every day! You can just double the recipe to make a double batch. I imagine it does have a "best by" date, however, so be careful. If you want to try a different recipe, this blog has some great ones http://modernsurvivalblog.com/health/13-homemade-toothpaste-recipes/.

Happy brushing! ;)

~Ariel

I only cook with oils, right?

I'm going to use this post early on to introduce you to Essential Oils, if you haven't been already. The reason is because I use Essential Oils in some of my recipes. So, rather than explain what they are and how you get them on every post with a recipe that calls for them, I'm going to do so in one big post.

My sister, Jessica, introduced me to Essential Oils a few months ago. There are many companies out there that you can buy them from, even Whole Foods carries them. However, I was blessed enough to start off learning about Essential Oils from the company called Doterra. The difference between Doterra and the other companies you can buy from is that, when you buy a bottle of their Essential Oils, that's all you're getting. You're not getting a million other synthetics that are added or other cheap oils to fill up the bottle that has one drop of severely processed leaf oil in it. If you're thinking, "Well that's all well and great, Ariel, but what the FLIP are Essential Oils?  Do I cook with them? Massage with them?" Well, yes, but it's much more. The following is a post from the Doterra website it's explaining just what Essential Oils are:

dōTERRA CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade* essential oils are pure, natural aromatic compounds carefully extracted from plants. They do not contain fillers or artificial ingredients that would dilute their active qualities. Proper extraction and quality control methods also ensure that dōTERRA essential oils are free of any contaminants such as pesticides or other chemical residues.

In addition to being pure and natural, dōTERRA essential oils are subjected to additional quality testing that ensures the correct composition of the active natural compounds found in each oil. Even though an essential oil may be pure, if the right species or part of a plant has not been used, or if the plant has not been grown in the right environment or harvested at the right time, or if it has not been distilled under the right conditions, the natural chemical makeup of the extraction will not provide as predictable and powerful a benefit. In some cases, the wrong plant harvested at the wrong time may result in an extract that contains harmful levels of some constituents.

dōTERRA^® essential oils are guaranteed to be pure, natural and free of synthetic compounds or contaminates. They are subjected to rigorous Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography testing to ensure extract composition and activity. dōTERRA pure essential oils represent the safest and most beneficial essential oils available today.

Equally stringent standards of safety and efficacy are applied to all of the dōTERRA Essential Wellness products. Guided by our Scientific Advisory Board and Health-Care Professional Committee, dōTERRA uses only top development and manufacturing partners who maintain GMP certification and enjoy industry reputation for superior innovation and quality work product. Each dōTERRA product is guaranteed to exceed customer satisfaction for quality and efficacy. (http://www.doterra.com/us/companyCPTGEssentialOils.php)

Hopefully that clears up what exactly Essential Oils means. (There's even more, better info here.)They are oils extracted from plants. The oils are so important to the plants that they even have these little protective spikes on them guarding their oils, which you can see when looking under a microscope (see here). Oils have amazing healing properties to, not only these plants, but our bodies. Because they are completely natural, found in nature, our body doesn't raise any blocks or guards when we put them on our skin or in our body. They have been used for years upon years. If you've read the Bible, you'll remember reading about such oils as Frankincense and Myrr. Unfortunately, as years passed and we started being able to mass produce, people wanted things quicker, cheaper, for less work. (Like it's easy to strip down plants and get bottles full of oil.sarcasm.) Thus, we have our booming pharmaceutical industry, leaving people sicker than when they first were sick.

Again, "Fine and good, Ariel, but what the hay do I do with them?" 

Ev. Re. Thing.

Everything.

You know that saying, "There's an app for that?" Well, "There's an oil for that."

From 

..bruises, boils, acne, dandruff, cysts, cancer, endometriosis, ticks/fleas/spiders, bites, bumps, fat/cellulite, razor burn, toenail fungus, strep throat..

To

..toilet cleaner, laundry detergent, pet ailments, cooking spice, vitamins, shampoo, toothpaste..

Anything I have a problem with, I google "doterra oils *insert problem here*" and there's different oils and recipes I can try. Not to mention the wonderful, devoted oil community that there is who know leaps and bounds more than I do, always ready to share their experience, that I go to for help.

The oils have helped me with scar tissue/scar, head aches, sleep, pain when I nearly threw my back out and could barely walk, preventing sickness, and loads more I'm sure I don't even notice. They've done wonders for my sister, her family of 6, and hundreds of thousands of others.

I haven't been into the selling side of the Essential Oil business at all. I started for my own personal health with a membership so I could buy everything cheaper wholesale, the Physicians Kit, and the Lifelong Vitality Pack (vitamins). I haven't sold or tried selling oils. I'm not a salesman. I worked door to door for a roofing company not even selling anything and quit in a month realizing I was not born a salesman. I'm an introverted, don't leave my room, do everything in power not to make eye contact while walking, freak. I actually just started trying to sell this healthy mascara that I love, and it's driving me up the wall with stress because I despise the fake sounding nature of selling things. With that being said, if you do want to buy oils or become a "product consultant" (which if you're going to be buying oils I recommend because you get them cheaper and are apart of the rewards program getting free oils every month, even if you never sell one thing from Doterra) then you can follow this link. I really don't care if I even make a cent off of these oils. I have other ways of making my money without stressing myself out over becoming a salesman. I say everything that I've said because I believe that everyone should at least try oils before going straight for the doctor or urgent care next time they have a sniffle. Natural is better. Every time.

So, when you see a recipe on here that says "on guard, lemon, peppermint, lavender, etc" I'm talking about Essential Oils from Doterra, and you can get them from that website link that I posted.  

I think the next recipe I'm going to share is the toothpaste that I use! It has essential oils in it, so I figured I'd let you in on the loop first. Be on the lookout for my next recipe post! 

~Ariel

Ariel's Favorite Protein Shake (Choco-Peanut Protein Power)

I'm going to share my first recipe with you! I even came up with it on my own after testing out some other recipes!

There are a lot of protein shakes out there, but this is the best one I've made and tried, myself. Who out there loves Smoothie King? https://www.facebook.com/SmoothieKingCreveCoeur (What! What!) When I'm having a cheat day, I LOVE their Peanut Power Plus Chocolate. (I worked there for about 2 years, so I've had it plenty.) Well, I finally found a shake that tastes, to me, exactly like it, without all the not-so-great stuff in it! I despise the taste of chalky or thick gross protein powders, therefore what helps make this shake taste so good is the delicious protein powder that I buy. (Also, I have a really great blender.)

Choco-Peanut Protein Power

This recipe makes a full glass worth plus a little extra

(You can click on the ingredients to see which brands I used)

Ingredients-

1 cup- almond milk 

1 scoop- Maximized Living Perfect Protein Dutch Chocolate Powder

1/2- frozen banana (Peel before freezing. I keep frozen banana's at all times)

1 1/2 T- Peanut Butter (You could swap this for almond butter if you're paleo)

1/2 T- Raw Honey

1/2 T- Cocoa Powder

10- Ice Cubes

Directions

1: Place all ingredients in the blender + 5 ice cubes (I use the spear cubes, not crushed)

(I use this Ninja Blender)

2: Blend until you don't hear the chunks of ice cubes (About 30 seconds on my blender)

3: Add in the 5 remaining ice cubes

4: Blend until you don't hear the chunks of ice cubes (About 30 seconds on my blender)

5: Enjoy!

That's pretty much it! I find the ice cube and blending really important. If you want to skip those steps, I'm sure you can, but I like mine without a ton of ice chunks.

As you can see, I also added the exact brand of the ingredients that I use. I love this shake so much that I wouldn't switch out any of the brands I use. 

Now that I'm sufficiently hungry for this, I'm going to go make one. If you have any questions, comments, or compliments leave a comment below. See ya!

~Ariel