Paleo and processed-sugar-free Walnut Date Muffins!

Dates are my new thing. They are a whole food that are rich in vitamins, potassium, calcium, manganese, copper and magnesium. Yes, they are rich in fructose as well, which as we know by now, is not good for us in large doses. So, while dates are a fantastic way to sweeten our sweet treats, we don't want to go too overboard. They are a prime example of the right way to eat sugar: when the sugar is a component of something that also has the nutritional value and fiber to balance it out in our bodies.

But come on, I mean, I'm no scientist, but I still say that eating a muffin sweetened with dates and honey is not even on the same playing field as downing a bowl of processed, disgusting sugar cereal, when gram for gram, the muffin probably has more sugar. It's plucked straight off a tree, for crying out loud, not processed in a factory!

So while I'm going for [processed] sugar-free treats, I thought I might as well go dairy-free and grain-free. Why not, especially when the end product is just as tasty as it would be if it had those things? So, let me present to you, Walnut Date Muffins! Sweetened with dates and honey, a nice crunch from walnuts, and a moist, delicate crumb from coconut flour! Honestly, it's having things like these around the house (instead of a pint of Ben and Jerry's in the freezer) that make cutting down on the sugar possible for me. When hunger strikes and its first impulse is "SUGAR" as it is for me, having a healthier alternative available is key!

You will need:
1 12-muffin pan (this recipe makes 10 muffins)
10 paper muffin liners

Ingredients:
6 pastured eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) coconut oil, room temperature
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) coconut milk, room temperature
6 tablespoons honey (I used raw buckwheat blossom honey which has a very strong grassy flavor)
1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
heaping 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup walnuts (soaked and toasted) **Set aside 10 of the prettiest walnuts to place on top of the muffins just before baking!

Note: It is important that everything be at room temperature before starting so that it blends together well.

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Get all your ingredients prepared: measure everything and chop your dates and walnuts.
3. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat together eggs, honey, coconut oil, and coconut milk.
4. In a separate bowl, combine sifted coconut flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add dry mixture to the wet and mix until combined.
6. By hand, with a rubber spatula, add dates and walnuts.
7. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill your lined muffin cups with enough batter to fill almost to the top.
8. Place a pretty walnut on top of each muffin, and sprinkle with just a touch of sea salt.
9. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until muffins are no longer gooey when pressed.
10. Remove muffins from pan and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before eating.

Store them in an airtight container at room temperature (if any make it past tonight). What a fantastic muffin to accompany your morning mug of chicken stock! And check out the inside:

It doesn't get more guilt-free than this! Give them a go and let me know how yours turn out!

Bone Stock + How to Roast a Chicken

Bone stock (or "broth") is known by many people as "Jewish penicillin". Bone stocks were a staple in peoples' diets back in the days when they raised their own animals, since they were left with so many inedible parts. Is it a coincidence that cancer was pretty much non-existent back then? This is an old-world tradition that is making a comeback because of all of the beneficial effects.

Stock is dense in nutrients, and rich in trace minerals such as magnesium and calcium as well as glycine – an amino acid that aids digestion and may help to assist in the healing of wounds and injuries. Chicken bone stock contains glucosamine and chondroiton – which are thought to help soften the pain and ease the degenerative effects of arthritis and joint pain. The minerals it contains are easily absorbed by the body. Stock is super rich in gelatin, which in the past has been used to treat intestinal disorders such as colitis and Chrohns' disease. Research has indicated that gelatin can be of use in the treatment of chronic disorders like anemia, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, and even cancer! Not to mention, stock is super simple to make and cheaper (and healthier!) than the store-bought kind!

I bring my stock with me in a jar to work, instead of having coffee in the morning. With the exception of the "hm, that's weird" looks I get from my co-workers, this practice really starts my day off right. I use it instead of water to cook my vegetables and grains, and it is the richest, tastiest base to the soups that I love to make. Honestly, incorporating stock into your diet is one of the best things you can do for your overall well-being.

We will be roasting a chicken, then using the bones (or "carcass", the technical term) to make the stock.

1. First, get yourself a healthy, happy, PASTURE-RAISED chicken. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees - we will blast it to give the skin some color, and after 10 minutes turn the oven down to 300 degrees (Pastured chickens tend to be tougher since they ran around a lot, so cooking it at a lower temperature will make it more tender).
2. Stuff its "rear" end full of aromatics, like onions, garlic, herbs, carrots, lemon, and celery.
3. Use your fingers to gently separate the skin from the meat, and stuff butter, herbs, and lemon slices under the skin, as well as plenty of salt and pepper.
4. Place the chicken, breast-side up, on a bed of vegetables in a cast iron skillet, or on a rack on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the skin with salt and pepper.
5. Tie the legs together using butcher's twine or unflavored dental floss.
6. Stick your probe thermometer (if you don't have one just cook it until the thigh is no longer pink when you cut into it) into the thigh, and put it in the oven. Again, we are blasting it at 400 for 10 minutes, then reducing the heat to 300 and cooking until done. It will take at least an hour, and you want it to read 160 degrees when you pull it from the oven (it will reach the proper chicken-cooking temp of 165 after you pull it out).

There you have it! What a beauty!

Cut off the legs and breasts, and use this delicious meat on its own, or shredded for soups, tacos, or any other application that calls for (perfectly seasoned, succulent) chicken. Also, find the wishbone. Making a wish on it is an old family tradition, and makes chicken-roasting extra fun!

Now you're left with the bones and we can get to our stock!

Collect aromatic vegetables, including the 3 basic vegetables for almost everything soup-related: carrots, celery, and onion (this mixture in French is called "mirepoix"). You can use garlic, herbs, old unused vegetables from the fridge, ends of onions and carrots you have saved in the freezer from previous meals. The stock is a fantastic way of cleaning out your fridge, within reason of course.

In a large pot, place the chicken bones and your vegetables and cover completely with water. Add a tablespoon or two of organic apple cider vinegar, as the acid helps to draw out minerals.

Bring to almost to a boil, skim off any "scum" that rises to the top, and turn the heat down. Here is the KEY: To make sure all of the gelatin and collagen in the bones remains in your stock, you want to simmer it on SUPER SUPER low heat, so low that a bubble only rises to the top every few seconds. I used to think that the harder my stock boiled, the more nutrients would come out of the bones. This is not the case! You want to make stock LOW and SLOW. I let mine simmer for 24-48 hours, covered, and by then, the bones are soft, and the stock, when cold, is a delightful bowl of chicken jell-o!

Using tongs, pull the bones and large vegetable chunks out of the pot and discard. Pour the remaining stock through a strainer into a large bowl, and place into the fridge to cool. My favorite part of making chicken stock is opening the fridge the next morning to see if it became gel!

Store in mason jars, and drink within 5 days. Make sure you make more before this batch runs out! If you're not in the mood for another roasted chicken, don't be shy of going to your local butcher and asking them for chicken bones. Chances are they have saved the necks, backs, and feet from chickens they have butchered and have them laying around in the freezer, so they will sell them to you super cheap! Cheers!

No-Bake Paleo and Grain-Free Orange Chocolate Tart

Sugar-Free Monday! Some of you might be wondering how it got its name. Well, once upon a time, a young blogger had a dream of starting a series called "Sugar-Free Saturday". It sounded so nice. But Saturday came, and that young blogger got too busy with life. "Well," she thought, "Sugar-Free Sunday sounds pretty good!" But alas, this was not meant to be after all, as other things came up. Thus, "Sugar-Free Monday" was born. Life is busy. Sometimes life hands you a chocolate bar on Sugar-Free Saturday and so you have Sugar-Free Monday instead.

For those of us trying to, one recipe at a time, do something sweet for ourselves that gets us one, tiny step closer to eating healthy, THIS is something I am excited to share. It uses whole foods, has so many good fats from seeds, nuts, avocado, and coconut oil, and also very little sweetener (we use whole dates for the crust and honey for the filling), and is a breeze to throw together in the food processor. There is no baking involved, really just gathering ingredients, blending them together, assembling, and freezing. This would be a great one to involve the kids in! It's fudge-y, just the right amount of sweet, and just the right amount of chocolate (a lot). You'll see.

A word on honey. Honey does have fructose, the molecule in sugar that is so difficult for our bodies to digest. However, honey is a whole food that has been available to humans through evolutionary history, and is still consumed in its natural form. Raw honey contains anti-oxidants, has been shown to reduce inflammation in some studies, and has medicinal properties when applied to the skin. It will still raise your blood sugar, but not nearly as much as processed sugar. So, while I wouldn't tell anyone to eat copious amounts of any sugar, honey is healthier alternative, especially since it hasn't been processed. Use organic honey: it means it came from bees that pollinated organic plants. There are some theories that a lot of the bees are dying off because when they pollinate pesticide-ridden flowers, they bring the pesticides back to their hive. Let's not support that practice.

Dates are also a great way to add sweetness directly from nature. Among other nutrients and benefits, dates come complete with the fiber necessary to digest the sugars they contain, much the same as eating a whole piece of fruit!

Here with go with our tart.

Gather the following ingredients:

1 8-inch fluted tart pan (any pan with a removable bottom will work)

Base:
1. 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2. 1 cup mixed seeds (I used sprouted almonds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds)
3. 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
4. 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) coconut oil
5. Pinch of sea salt

Filling:
1. 2 ripe avocados
2. 1/4 cup coconut oil
3. 1 tsp vanilla
4. Zest of one orange
5. 1/2 cup raw cocoa powder
6. 1/4 cup raw honey
7. Pinch of sea salt

In a food processor, grind the base ingredients until a sticky crumble forms. You want to blend long enough for the oils in the nuts and seeds to come out so the mixture will hold together when pressed. Pour this mixture into your tart/cake pan and use your fingers to press it into a tart shell. Place in freezer to set while you mix together the filling.

For the filling, in the same food processor that you just used (and rinsed out), combine all ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Spread layer over the base layer and place back into the freezer to set for one hour.

Use slices from the orange that you zested to decorate the top of the tart just before serving. If it will be in the freezer for longer than an hour, pull it out 5 to 10 minutes to warm up slightly before serving.

That's it! Once you have all of your ingredients, this can be thrown together in less than 15 minutes, and be ready in an hour. Easy and delicious, two of the things that make eating things that are good (or at least "better") for us so much more plausible!

Naughty Treats Makeover: Hamburgers!

Let's be honest. I'm not going to deny myself the occasional pint of ice cream or never touch a hamburger again in my life. I am only human, and as a food lover, sometimes the pleasure of having these naughty treats gets the better of me. And I'm okay with that. The trick is learning how to MAKE these things. No matter how hard you try, there is just no way to make a hamburger bun with your own two hands that has high-fructose corn syrup or soybean oil or MSG, unless you go to the Cancer Food Store and buy them specifically.

Are you already running your buns off trying to figure out how to decorate the nursery for that bun in the oven, or simply trying to find a moment of peace to breathe, let alone spending hours making hamburger buns*? Let's talk about how to make the grocery store work for us, and save the baking project for another day. Our purposes here are simply to avoid the drive-through. Drive-through burgers have no soul, not to mention they are full of chemicals, made with super sad cows, and have absolutely no nutritional value, meaning you won't even get any energy from them. No, thanks.

*They're actually pretty easy and though they take a few hours, it's not like you have to watch them the whole time. It's more the idea that is daunting! Here's a recipe for those of you that are feeling super ambitious!

So here we go with our makeover.

NO MORE DRIVE-THROUGH BURGERS.

1. Get buns from the store with the minimum number of "unpronounceable" words in their ingredient list. Or, for super hero points, make your own!
2. Get "grass fed" beef
3. Use organic vegetables - tomatoes, lettuce, onions
4. Use organic, chemical-free, and high-fructose-corn-syrup-free condiments

Voila! A "healthy" hamburger!

1. BUNS: These buns from Whole Foods are an excellent store-bought option:

"Sprouted" is always a good word when buying bread products, as it suggests that the producers understand the proper way to prepare grains and probably were more thoughtful than other producers with the other ingredients used. Still, always read the labels!

2. MEAT: Gotta be grass-fed and grass-finished. Oh goodness, if you've ever passed by a commercial feed lot where they "grow" regular, grain/corn-fed cows, it's enough to make you never want to eat it again (the SMELL). But let's go down the more positive route of why grass-fed is the only way to go. Grass-fed cows eat grass, which their bodies were made to digest, so the nasty side effects of digesting something they weren't meant to eat (grains and corn) are not an issue. Their meat has more Omega-3's. They were not given the hormones and anti-biotics that their commercial cousins were to keep them healthy in a filthy environment. Investing in grass-fed meat, especially going the extra mile to buy it directly from a farm, supports people that are raising cows much closer to the way nature intended, which means the meat is healthier.

Check out this awesome resource for finding local farms in your area for the BEST possible meat: EAT WILD

Or, visit your local Whole Foods Market. They have a really great rating system at their meat counter, and knowledegable people that can guide you to the best meat that they have, which is good enough!

3. VEGETABLES: Organics (not genetically modified, and free of pesticides) are always a good choice. However, if you're going to buy conventional vegetables, you are still a SUPER STAR for buying vegetables at all. Go, you! I always enjoy the traditional burger classics, but feel free to pile on any veggies that you like. Tomato, lettuce, cucumbers, onions (raw and cooked), mushrooms, etc.

4. CONDIMENTS. Homemade are best (remember when we made mayo and our fermented mustard? What a great time to use them! If you're going the store-bought route, again, just look for ingredients that are familiar and wholesome with no added chemicals or sugars.

And now that we have assembled ingredients that we have been thoughtful about and put real effort into eating, imagine how incredible it is going to taste and how accomplished you will feel! Not only did you avoid the drive-through, but you made an otherwise "naughty" food into something wholesome, delicious, and a special treat that you can feel super proud of on so many levels!

What a beaut!

Oatmeal-Raisin-Fig Cookies!

Sugar-Free Monday! It rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? You might be saying "I have a few other words that will roll off my tongue if you think I'm going a full day without sugar!" And I understand, sometimes I need a cookie when I'm grumpy, too.

Before I started my health and nutrition endeavor, I was a baker. Oo boy, I love my sugar. Frostings, ganaches, cakes, pies, puddings, brownies, tarts, ice creams... I could go on and on. If the sound of those words make your mouth water and you're asking yourself why I would torture you with saying a bunch of things that you can't have today, well, the good news is that you CAN have these things. They just need a little tweaking here and there, and we can make something that is much healthier than it normally is without sacrificing the taste.

When I say sugar, I mean "white" sugar and other refined sugars like high-fructose corn syrup. These sugars overload the liver which is unable to metabolize it, causing problems with cholesterol and heart disease. Sugar can cause insulin resistance which leads to type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. Sugar feeds cancer cells as well as the "bad" bacteria in your gut, depressing your immune system. It makes your blood sugar and hormones irregular. It causes an unnaturally large release of dopamine in the brain when eaten, making it extremely addictive, and also affects the neurotransmitters in the brain.

All of these things are not always enough to deter me from eating it anyway, because I don't always know where to turn when I NEED a sweet fix (hmm, addicted much?).

I recently picked up this fantastic book:

(The public library is a wonderful resource for cookbooks that are too expensive to buy!)

While many of the recipes are not perfect in that they still contain a touch of white sugar, that is easily remedied with the use of coconut sugar. Coconut sugar can be substituted in roughly the same amount, which makes it a really smart no-brainer, since coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than sugar (amongst other things, it doesn't cause the drastic spike in your blood sugar, so no crash)! It has more nutrients and has not been so highly processed.

Here is the recipe, slightly modified to suit our no-white-sugar purposes:

3/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
7 Tbsp coconut sugar
2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp maple syrup
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup dried figs, stems removed and chopped (you can use any dried fruit, just make sure it is unsweetened and doesn't have any nasty oils!)

Mix the dough using the basic cookie method:

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy
2. Add eggs, one by one, incorporating each thoroughly before adding the next, and scraping bowl between each
3. Add vanilla and maple syrup, stirring to combine
4. Mix dry ingredients (everything but the dried fruit) together in a separate bowl
5. Add dry to the wet, mixing just until combined (don't over mix!)
6. Add dried fruit last, mixing by hand or with the paddle just until they are mixed in
7. Allow dough to sit in the fridge for an hour before scooping
8. Scoop dough onto a silocone baking mat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until cookies are set and edges just turn crisp

If you shop somewhere that has a bulk section, you can buy only the amounts of ingredients that you need! Always use pastured butter, organic if possible!

It helps to measure everything out before you start!

Cream together butter and sugar first, then add eggs. Mixture should be creamy, light, and fluffy before adding the dry ingredients.

Use real nutmeg, the taste is noticably different and it is as simple as just grating it into the bowl of dry ingredients:

Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop cold dough and flatten each scoop slightly with the palm of your hand:

The cookies were delicious, had a nice chewy oatmeal cookie texture, and were slightly savory (I always enjoy my sweets a little on the salty side)!

Let me know how yours turned out! And feel free to bake these any day you like, or every day. They don't have sugar, so they're basically good for you :)

Oils!

The dangers of canola and other hydrogenated oils are a heated (you'll get the joke in a minute!) subject these days. There is so much misinformation out there! Those big-wigs in the food industry use words like "low fat" and "no cholesterol" and "organic" to trick us into thinking certain things are healthy. Well, organic poison doesn't have cholesterol or fat in it either, and I'm not about to fry up some vegetables in that, catch my meaning?

Personally, I had never heard of a "canola" plant, so I checked into it. Turns out, "canola" is actually a made up word! This oil, which is deceivingly advertised as being good for us, is made from something called the rape seed, which doesn't sound particularly appetizing. Rape seed is a huge cash crop from Canada, hence the "can", and then they added the "ola" to signify the oil part. They don't include any words to let us know that the oil is heated to levels at which the molecules break down, causing it to become rancid, or the fact that this rancid flavor is masked by deodorizers. Hmm, how convenient!

• Canola depletes vitamin E.
• Canola increases the rigidity of membranes, which can trigger degenerative diseases.
• Because of canola's high sulfur content, it goes rancid easily, which can exacerbate allergies and compound problems for people with bronchial or asthmatic issues.
• Human studies reveal canola causes an increase in lung cancers.
• Canola can shorten lifespan of animals and lower platelet count.
• Daily canola consumption can raise your triglycerides over 40 percent.
• Canola oil molds quickly and also inhibits enzyme function.
• It opens the door for free radicals, undermining natural antioxidants, and can be linked to increased incidence of many diseases.
• Canola contains erucic acid, which is a fatty acid used to make lubricants, cosmetics, nylon, and polyester. Delicious!

So, keep your eyes peeled on your food labels! Canola and other bad oils (soybean, corn, peanut, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed) are hiding in so many packaged foods, since they are cheap to produce. Now that you know, you can make new choices that seem small, but that add up over a long period of time!

Moving on to more positive things, here are some good (great, even!) oils to use in your diet:

1. Olive oil! It is a source of mono-unsaturated fat, which lowers cholesterol and decreases blood pressure. It is anti-inflammatory, and has been linked to lower cancer risk. This is an oil that is on the delicate side and can break down when heated, causing free-radicals in the body (which cause cancer). Remember olive oil = cold use. Choose extra-virgin when using it for everything that doesn't involve spinning it at a high velocity (which can cause bitterness) like hand-whisked salad dressings, a dip for fresh bread, and garnishing soups. Choose a light-tasting version if using it for things like mayonnaise or hummus.

2. Coconut oil! This oil is safe at high temperatures because it is a saturated fat (like butter, lard, and tallow) which means you don't have to worry about free-radicals when it's heated. It's a great oil for sauteing and baking. Go for the "extra virgin" stuff, which is not processed and contains the most nutrition. It can be used in place of "vegetable" or "canola" in most any baking project (just melt it first), and replace butter 1:1, since the saturated fat content is the same. Just be aware that it does impart a slight 'coconut-y' flavor, which I find quite pleasant. Coconut oil is good for the brain, it helps you burn fat, it is naturally anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anto-inflammatory, and it is converted to energy quickly. It's also a natural lotion, sun-screen, and hair deep-conditioner. It is so wonderful that it deserves its own post, so until I get to it, here's a great one for your reference.

3. Avocado oil! This oil can be used at high-temperatures and low, and is full of wonderful fats. It is good for your heart, and contains vitamin E which is good for your hair and skin. It has a mild nutty flavor which is hardly noticeable, so it is great to use in applications where you want don't want the flavor to come through too much.

With your pantry stocked with the above-mentioned oils, you can take on any food project your heart desires, while knowing you are making the best choices for your health and the health of your family! Love!

Questions? Stephanie is at Glow Fitness on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (436 W Bakerview Road Suite 103 in Bellingham, WA). Come in to chat about food, nutrition, and take a yoga class while you're at it!