Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Freezer Fudge, Frozen Banana Cookie Crust Fruit Pie, and this week's dinner recipes

After Moroccan Chicken GFG is getting a little chickened out, which I'm sure happens to most of us fairly regularly.  So this week, I'll be trying out a couple non-chicken recipes.  Although TJ's did have boneless skinless chicken breast wayyyyyy on sale, which was awesome.  Tuesday, it's use what you have night, so I'll be defrosting some frozen orange roughy (which belongs to the slimehead family of fish, um gross?!) and cooking it gently with lemons and some leftover white wine from this weekend, maybe toss in a few capers, and the amazingly gorgeous french green beans I found at Trader Joe's.  Friday, I'm going to try cooking with fish sauce, something I've never cooked with before, so that will be interesting!  I was inspired by this recipe from August's Real Simple.  But we don't eat pork and not sure if I'll ever get around to picking up some chilies.

Example!  Not my pic.

Orange Roughy with White Wine, Lemons, and Capers
-1 lb orange roughy
-1/4 cup dry white wine, use what you got!
-1 teaspoon lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
-1 tablespoon capers
-1 tablespoon EVOO
-salt/pepper to taste

Marinate fish for 20 minutes in white wine and capers.  Heat oil to medium-high in saute pan and place marinated fish fillets in pan, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add marinade and cook 2 minutes then flip and season other side. Cook another 2 minutes, lower heat, then pour in white wine and caper marinade, lemon juice, and sprinkle with lemon zest.  Cook for a few more minutes to allow flavors to come together.  Serve with veggies!

Here is the Real Simple recipe, adapted by me:

Real Simple

 Thai Ground Turkey Salad with Peanuts

• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• 5 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 large jalapeño peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
•  1 head of romaine, chopped
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 medium carrots, coarsely grated
• 3/4 cup fresh mint leaves 
•  1 red pepper, sliced
•  1 cucumber, sliced
• 1/4 cup salted, roasted peanuts, chopped

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until no longer pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Add ¼ cup water, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce, and stir until liquid is evaporated.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the lime juice, peppers, and the remaining 4 tablespoons of fish sauce.
3. Divide the lettuce among bowls, top with the turkey mixture, onion, carrots, mint, and peanuts, and drizzle with the lime dressing. 

Today I'm having fun making dessert for dinner at our friends house tonight.  As usual Spoonful of Sugar Free served as an inspiration.  I will tinker with the recipe a bit, since it's actually raw, I'm not quite as concerned about ruining it with my tweaks as usual.  But it is very very simple!


Frozen Banana Cookie Crust Fruit Pie
-4 frozen bananas
-1 cup walnuts
-3 or 4 dried pitted dates
-2 tablespoons cocoa powder
-2 cups sliced berries (I have strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries)

Process/blend walnuts, dates, and cocoa powder until mixture is clumpy but well incorporated.  Transfer mixture to pie dish and spread out evenly with your hands, to form the pie crust, and freeze.  Blend frozen overripe bananas until creamy, adding a bit of vanilla or cinnamon if you desire.  Pour bananas into frozen pie crust, and return to freezer.  Thaw a bit before serving, then top with sliced berries!  You could also jazz up the filling anyway you want- with cocoa powder, unsweetened shredded coconut, or even some blended berries!  You could also drop in some chocolate shavings or chopped nuts.  Tons of different fun variations!  This pie is for kids too so I don't want to complicate it too much this time around.

This morning I also tried homemade nutella.  True to form, I did not follow the instructions.  I threw everything in the cuisinart and started blending, then realizing I was supposed to add ingredients in a specific order.  I don't really think it made a difference in the end, the result was realllly good, although I ended up adding a bit more salt.  It's also a bit too sweet for me so next time I'll halve the amount of sugar I used.  The recipe also says to toast and skin the nuts.  Well, I toasted them, and tried to skin them, but got sick of skinning them half-way through so just threw the rest in the bowl.  Eh, again, don't think it really mattered.  I think in the end it made a little more than a cup?  I transferred the mixture to a glass jar and stuck it in the fridge.  But that got me thinking, what a yummy freezer fudge flavor that would be!  So after S eats her half banana at lunch, I'll use the rest for a nutella fudge variation.  2T coconut butter, 2T hazelnut spread, 1T cocoa powder, half banana, and pinch of salt.  May need a teensy bit of sweetener.  Yum!

Homemade Nutella Freezer Fudge
-1/2 overripe banana
-2T coconut butter
-2T homemade chocolate hazelnut spread
-1T cocoa powder
-pinch of salt, touch of sweetener if necessary

Blend and freeze!

Today's experiments

I feel pretty successful about my two coconutty creations!  And I had fun doing them!


First, I tried Vegan Freezer Fudge!  YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I posted about it earlier in the week.  OMG how easy and delish!  Love it!

2 tablespoons coconut butter
2 tablespoons organic all natural peanut butter (no additives, peanuts only!)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 ripe banana, although mine wasn't too terribly ripe and it was more like 3/4 of a banana, baby S ate the first 1/4!
1/2 teaspoon sugar substitute
1/16th teaspoon salt

Blend everything until smooth in blender, then transfer to square tupperware and press until evenly layered, and freeze!  It is delish.  Seriously.  I'd like to try a vanilla version with no cocoa or PB and some vanilla extract.  Yum!  Easy and fun.  And no baking for me to screw up!

Later on while S was napping I tried my hand at Pumpkin Spice Bread, adapted from like twelve different pumpkin break recipes I found.  All of them call for an enormous amount of eggs and I just can't do it.  It just seems gross to me.  So I finally settled on the following:

3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 flax eggs (2 T ground flax meal with 6 T water, blended well and then let sit for five minutes)
1/4 cup liquified coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar substitute
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350.  Blend flax eggs and combine with real eggs.  Pour in vanilla, coconut oil, and pumpkin puree, sugar substitute and stir.  Sift coconut flour, salt, baking soda, and spices in separate bowl and combine.  Pour in wet mixture, add walnuts, and stir, then transfer to greased loaf pan.  Bake 45-50 minutes. 

The end result is good, not sweet at all, but still getting used to the mousse-iness of coconut flour baked goods.  I wonder if anything can be done about that?  And also, I wish it would rise more.  I wonder if a bit more baking soda would help?  I think only further experimentation with more/less eggs and liquid will tell.  I have seen other blogs add chocolate chunks to pumpkin bread, but I remember last thanksgiving my aunt made a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake and the flavor combos did NOT sit right with me, or anyone else really, so I'm kind eh about trying that out.

This week, I'll be trying a few more items, like this one from Spunky Coconut that I'm excited about, with quite a few tweaks, of course. 

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars:

Add to bowl:

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup almond meal flour

1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

4 tbsp coconut oil, liquified

Combine and pour into lightly greased square baking dish.

Spread evenly.

Melt over lowest heat:

1/4 cup coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp sugar substitute

Combine and immediately remove from heat (so the chocolate doesn't burn).

Add to measuring cup:

3/4 cup coconut milk + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 2 tbsp sugar sub

Pour over crust.

Drop chocolate mixture (or chips if substituting) on top of crust and coconut milk.

Drop 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar-free raspberry jam like this:

Top with 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Refrigerate about 8 hours.

It solidifies from chilling.

We'll see how it goes with my many tweaks and substitutions!  Yikes!  The orig recipe calls for Quinoa flakes and stevia and ghee- no thanks!

Here are two other Grain-Free entrees I'll be trying this week:

Spicy Turkey Sausage with Flageolets and Cauliflower
1 lb spicy turkey sausage or kielbasa
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 can rinsed and drained Flageolet
1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets and blanched
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

Saute cut up turkey sausage, browning evenly.  Remove from pan and transfer to plate.  In same pan, adding coconut oil, saute onions for a few minutes until transparent, then add spices, then beans.  Cook for two minutes.  Add blanched cauliflower florets and cook 5-7 minutes.  When browned and cooked through, add turkey sausage to warm through.  Serve with arugula and lemon vinaigrette!

Coconut Flour Chicken Curry

• 1 whole chicken cut into 6-8 piece
• 3 Tablespoons coconut oil 
• 2 Tablespoons coconut flour 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon curry powder 
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup water 

Sauté garlic, onion, ginger, with coconut oil. Add the cut-up chicken, slightly brown the chicken. Add chicken stock, simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt, black pepper and curry powder. Cover the pan. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Dissolve coconut flour in 1/4 cup of water. Stir it into the pan. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

What else?  Well I'm excited that baby S is finally really embracing solid foods!  This morning she ate 1/4 of a banana with her oatmeal, and then at lunch ate cut up fruit pieces from a fruit cup!  So that is really great.  She is also way into cottage cheese, which is awesome.  And while I am not a fan of edamame or soy products in general due to their phytoestrogens (which flaxseed has as well?), she did enjoy some edamame last night at Oakwood.  Yay!  Next I want to try cooked broccoli and cauliflower.  

Have I mentioned my shortcut muesli yet?  It was pretty simple, although the flaxseed gives a somewhat odd smell and texture.  Now that I make flax eggs in baking all the time, the snot-like texture that flax gets when mixed with water is grossing me out, alas, I ate it!

This is sort of in-line with CCK's volume oatmeal, just in that I stole her trick of adding tons and tons of water.  

Lazy-ass Muesli

1/4 cup irish steel cut oats

2 tablespoons flax

2 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in bowl and put in refridge for 2 days.  Oats will increase in volume 250%!  I ate mine with 6 ounces of yogurt.  Adding some nuts would make it more nutritious, or some sliced berries.  Yes I am aware oats are a grain and no I will not be making a habit of this- but I felt like the extra protein, fiber, and good fats from this particular combination were worthwhile.  This is, I believe, gluten-free, just not grain-free.  The cool thing about my Lazy-ass Muesli is that because the oats grow so much, you can actually end up eating half of a serving and feeling like you just ate a ton, so the muesli itself ends up being only about 100 calories.  All that water it absorbs makes it quite filling!  

Ok S is tearing up the room and needs a bath, until next time grain-free groupies!

CCK's Vegan Fudge

Thanks http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/chocolate-covered-recipes/all-things-oatmeal/f-f-f-fudge/healthy-fudge-variations/ for the vegan fudge recipe!  I am going to try it once I get a few more overripe bananas! 

Here it is, with my own twist:

Vegan Peanut Butter Cocoa-nut Fudge
3 tablespoons coconut butter
1 tablespoon all natural peanut-butter, or almond butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/16th teaspoon salt
1/2 to one small banana, overripe
1 tablespoon sugar subsitute
add cocoa nibs or unsweetened choc shavings if desired

Combine all ingredients then pour into small tupperware container and put in fridge for a few hours, then slice.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Ok and here is one more thing I really want to try!  Thank you Spoonful of Sugar Free for the recipe! 

 Grain-Free Pumpkin Pancakes 

Ingredients

• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon coconut powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Heat skillet to medium heat and grease with coconut oil.  Drop batter by spoonfuls on skillet