The Spunky Coconut

Friday, February 10, 2012

Cookie Dough Bites & The Healthy Gluten-Free Life cookbook review

Valentine's Day is just days away and I wanted to give my loved ones something sweet, but easy to make. I received a review copy of The Healthy Gluten-Free Life, and it inspired me to make cookie dough bites. Although I've already made two recipes from this cookbook and loved them, I decided to use my grain-free, refined-sugar free recipe for these cookie dough bites.

What I love most about this cookbook, beside all the great chicken and side dishes, is the photos. My husband, the book designer, and I disagree here. This is the second review cookbook we've been given by this publisher, and he thinks the size of the book is too big. But the size is exactly what I love about this book! (Lets just say I'm right ;-) The book is as big as a magazine but much thicker (like four magazines put together), and with beautiful mouth-watering full-page photos on every page. The photos make me swoon.

I've already made the Ginger Lime Chicken Bites & Coconut Chicken Strips, and they were yum-o. I haven't made any of the breads, but I'm sure that if you use gluten-free grains (we don't often eat gluten-free grains), these would be stellar. The English Muffins look amazing. Most of the desserts also use more gluten-free grains than we like to eat, but I'm more than happy to use this cookbook for the entrees and side dishes only —there are tons of them.

For the cookie dough bites pictured above, I used this cookie dough of mine, minus the chips. I froze the dough in small balls for a good eight hours or more. Then I melted this chocolate over a double boiler and rolled each frozen cookie dough ball in the melted chocolate.

Place the coated bites on parchment paper to dry, then store them in a container in the freezer.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Lime Pound Cake

Welcome to this virtual surprise baby shower for our dear friend, Amy! Unfortunately, we can't all be together to celebrate in person. So join us in sharing our recipes (full list of participants below), all dedicated to Amy and her baby boy.

I'm bringing lime pound cake with a cute homemade bunting to the party, but I've made this pound cake spunky-style :-) Like my inspiring friend, Amy, I can't resist the opportunity to make even pound cake healthier.

As a sour cream substitute and to give my pound cake density I've added half a cup of cashews pureed with lime juice. The majority of flour in this cake is healthy coconut flour. Coconut flour is 20 percent protein and 50 percent fiber. —That's more fiber than any other flour!

I've sweetened this pound cake with a combination of honey and stevia. By using stevia I'm able to keep the amount of honey to only 1/2 a cup —Other pound cakes call for 1.5 - 3 cups of sugar! Wow!

But when you sink your fork into this moist, rich, lime pound cake you wont believe how delicious it is. This is a recipe I've been working on for quite some time now, and it may be my new favorite!

I'm so happy for you guys, Amy! ♥, Kelly

Lime Pound Cake

Puree in a Magic Bullet or food processor:

1/2 cup lime juice (I use Santa Cruz, Organic Pure Lime Juice)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup cashew pieces

Puree for about five minutes, until completely smooth.

Add puree to a bowl.

Also add:

1/2 tsp vanilla liquid stevia

4 room temp eggs (cold eggs may harden the Earth Balance Buttery Spread)

1/3 cup full-fat coconut milk (I use Thai Kitchen because it is the richest. Note: Substitute Natural Value for gum-free.)

1/4 cup soy-free Earth Balance Buttery Spread, melted (ghee, coconut oil, or grapeseed oil would also probably work)

1/4 cup tapioca flour

2/3 cup coconut flour, sifted

1 tsp baking soda

Mix with electric mixer for about one minute.

Note: The batter may puff up at first. That's okay - it's the baking soda reacting with the lime juice.

Scoop batter into greased and floured bundt pan.

Note: I use this ceramic bundt pan. If yours isn't ceramic the baking time may be different.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Let the cake cool for about fifteen minutes, then go around all the edges with a butter knife before transferring to a plate or rack.

(For cupcakes: Bake in paper cups, nearly full, for about 22 minutes.)

Frosting or Glaze

Puree in Magic Bullet or food processor:

1/2 cup coconut milk (Note: Substitute Natural Value for gum-free.)

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 tsp lime zest

10 drops vanilla stevia (or more as desired)

Puree until smooth.

Add more coconut milk as needed to thin for glaze.

Add more coconut flour as needed to thicken for frosting.

Other friends participating:

Maggie, She Let Them Eat Cake

Hallie, Daily Bites

Alta, Tasty Eats At Home

Lexie, Lexie's Kitchen

Carol, Simply Gluten Free

Cara, Cara's Cravings

Cybele, Cybele Pascal

Ricki, Diet Dessert and Dogs

Alisa, Go Dairy Free

Jen, Gluten Free Life With Jen

Kim, Cook It Allergy Free

Miz Helen, Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Six Months Today

Today Ginger is six months old! I can't believe how the time has flown by since she came into our lives. We are so blessed.

Thanks so much to my artist friend, SarahKate for pampering me with henna, and taking our photos again! You can see the pregnancy photos she took of me here.

In other countries henna (which is a plant) has been used for thousands of years to temporarily decorate the body. Henna is best known for its use in marriage celebrations in India, but it is in North Africa that henna is used to celebrate child birth.

You can meet SarahKate yourself at Be Well Mama, and purchase her beautiful book here.

♥, Kelly

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Creamy Bok Choy With Dumplings

Ashley loves routine. She also loves going grocery shopping at Natural Grocers, pushing the cart, and saying "hi!" to everyone she sees (and I do mean everyone :-). And she loves her therapeutic horseback riding more than I can tell you. She talks about it constantly. "Tomorrow I have riding!" she tells everyone.

Zoe and I, on the other hand, are more of the spontaneous type. We do fine without a schedule. But to make Ashley happy, I've put a daytime routine into place. It goes something like this: Wake up, eat breakfast, practice yoga and martial arts (Zoe is taking a class), practice piano (another class to practice for), sing and listen to records, eat lunch, do Time4Learning (classes online), walk (Ginger and I) / bike (Zoe) / scooter (Ashley), have a snack, read, write, make dinner. (THESE are my new favorite homeschooling cards for Ashley for reading time. They're positively brilliant.)

And if Ginger is sound asleep, we often end up doing the walking/biking/scootering for two hours. Of course, when it's really windy, we don't do that at all, and we go to the library, museum or grocery store instead.

The girls are loving the routine, and I have to admit, I'm becoming a fan of it myself :-)

This afternoon when we got home from our walk/bike/scooter outing, our Door to Door Organics box had arrived. Woohoo! Inside, among other things, were six lovely baby bok choy. One of my absolute favorites. Here is what I've been making with them lately. Hope you enjoy.

Creamy Bok Choy With Dumplings

Chop about 4 cups of bok choy and wash well.

Set aside.

Add to pre-heated pot:

a little oil

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced celery

1 clove garlic, minced

Saute about five minutes.

Meanwhile, puree in the blender or food processor:

1/2 cup plain cashews

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 cups broth

Add the (washed and chopped) bok choy, and about one cup of the puree to the onions, celery and garlic.

Bring to simmer.

Put the lid on the pot, slightly cracked, and steam the bok choy in the liquids for about five minutes (until it has wilted down some).

Add the rest of the puree and:

1/4 tsp Herbs de Provence

1/2 tsp sea salt

Bring the liquids back to a simmer and drop in your dumplings.

Reduce to low and simmer with the lid on, slightly cracked, for about 20 minutes.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Chocolate chocolate ice cream sandwiches

The weather here has been very typical for winter in the Front Range: Warm then cold, warm then cold :-) Sunny almost every day with blue skies, and often windy. The girls and I like to take walks, and the only thing that sometimes stops us is when it's really really windy. But regardless of the weather, we like to eat ice cream, don't you?

I made these chocolate chocolate ice cream sandwiches using my chocolate biscotti recipe. I didn't change it at all, although I left out the mint extract, and baked them differently. You could keep the mint extract, and that would be yummy too.

For the cookies:

Add to a small bowl:
1/2 cup applesauce with no added sugar
1/4 - 1/2 tsp vanilla liquid stevia (depending on how sweet you want them)

2 tbsp white Chia Seed meal (I grind my seeds in a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet)
-you may be able to substitute an egg for the applesauce and chia, but I haven't tested it myself
Optional: 1/2 tsp mint extract
Mix with electric mixer.

In a separate bowl combine:
3 cups almond meal (I use Bob's)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar, which is low glycemic index
1 tsp baking soda

Combine the dry and wet ingredients with an electric mixer until the batter gets all sticky.

Scoop your dough onto unbleached parchment paper.

Flour the top if necessary and roll out the dough.

Cut 12 squares to make 6 cookies. Cookie cutters would work too (and the kids can pick their own shape).

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Cool the cookies then freeze them before adding the ice cream (this just makes them easier to assemble).

I used my own homemade chocolate ice cream from my book, but you could use store-bought too (like Tempt or Coconut Bliss).

Let the ice cream soften on the counter before assembling the sandwiches.

Eat right away or freeze for later.

A few notes on homemade frozen custard and ice cream:

If you've ever left your homemade ice cream in the freezer for more than a few hours, you know that it freezes really hard. It comes out looking like a block of ice. Don't worry :-) Leave it on the counter for 30 minutes or so, depending on the kind of ice cream and how deep the dish is. Custard takes less time to soften.

Store bought ice cream is softer straight from the freezer because commercial machines are capable of adding much more air to store bought ice cream. Also, many companies add lots of ingredients to prevent the ice cream from freezing.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.