Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie Bowl (Paleo)

Hello all! It’s been a long time since my last post. For that, I apologize.

Clearly I am not good at keeping promises when it comes to posting.

In my defense though, cooking in Thailand ended up being more difficult than I originally thought. Between traveling on the weekends and teaching during the week, it was hard to find the energy to go to the grocery store and find the correct food items when they were all written in a foreign language. Not to mention, lugging everything back home in 100 + degree weather.

Interestingly, cooking in Thailand is more expensive than just going out to eat (a complete opposite from here in the United States). In fact, most Thai people eat out rather than make their own meals. You can read more about my experiences in Thailand here.

But, as of last week, I am back home in the United States! Meaning, back to home-cooked food.

One of the many things I already miss about Thailand is the fresh fruit. I can’t even describe the freshness… I would often go down the street to the fruit stand and have the fruit lady cut me up fresh pineapple/guava/papaya/coconut/cantaloupe. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff.

Sometimes, I would take the fruit back to my apartment and mash it up with a potato masher to make a fruit smoothie bowl.

And once, when I was visiting Pai in Northern Thailand, I had the most amazing smoothie bowl at a place called Bom Bowls:

Now that I am back home, I have my food processor to do the blending for me (a bit easier than using a potato masher…)

Luckily, I also had the foresight to bring home some hand-made coconut bowls from Thailand. Now I can pretend to be back in Thailand on a regular basis 🙂

Strawberry and Kiwi Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

1 banana, sliced and frozen

7 oz strawberries, sliced and frozen

1 kiwi (I kept the peel on)

1 handful of fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup almond milk (or coconut water or water)

2 tbsp almond butter

1-2 tbsp honey (optional)

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a strong food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth. Pour into bowls and top with a garnish of foods (sliced fruits, dried fruits, berries, oats, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)

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Banana Flour Chocolate Banana Muffins and A Farewell

Well, it’s currently 1:13am in the morning and in a few short hours I will be on my flight to Thailand! Words can’t even describe how I felt/feel/will feel. Sorry for the dramatics, but I think this year abroad is bound be a life-changer for me.

However this brings me to a topic that I am not too happy about… the future status of this blog. No worries, this blog will still be up for those who need some recipe ideas. I don’t plan to ever take it down. It’s cringe-worthy, yet kinda cool to go back and read my posts from 5 years ago. (Yes, 5!) In an odd way, this blog has been a record of my college years. For those of you who have followed this blog, a big shout out and thank you to you!

Unfortunately, I’ll be unable to continue this blog for long in Thailand as I will not have a kitchen in my new home 😦 So, for the next few weeks, I’ll post recipes I’ve been meaning to. After that, it’s only if I have the opportunity to cook.

If you would like to know about my adventures in Thailand, feel free to follow my new blog, Teach. Eat. Travel. Repeat. I would love to share my journey with you!

For my last post, I wanted to write about this awesome new flour I’ve discovered- banana flour! It’s grain-free, paleo, and no,  it does not make your food taste banana-y.

Well, for this recipe it does because I used the flour to make banana chocolate muffins. So good. I can’t even…

Eat one for me while I’m away! 😉

Banana Flour Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup banana flour

3 tbsp cacao powder 

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup mashed banana

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch stevia extract powder

1 egg

Optional- Chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together in a food processor. Pour batter into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before eating.

Sweet Potato Tater Tots (Paleo)

For the last few weeks, I’ve got to experience what it’s like to be a “hockey (goalie) mom” while nannying for a family. And goodness gracious, let me tell you, there’s a lot of lugging around bulky gear to a different arena each day. And wondering which rink you’re supposed to be at. And sitting in cold seats. And eavesdropping into other people’s conversation. And intaking all the scents coming from the concession stand and wishing there was actually something healthy there that I could eat.

Thus, my desire to make tater tots was born! Honestly, I’m impressed how these turned out! I was expecting a total fail since I just added ingredients as I went. But the end product has a crisp outside and soft inside. Score! (Hockey reference intended).

After making these, I would highly suggest waiting for the tots to COMPLETELY cool. The flavor intensifies. In fact, eating these on the second day made them taste the best 🙂   

Sweet Potato Tater Tots (Paleo)

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into thick coin slices

1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

1 tbsp hot sauce

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a baking pan with oil. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add in sweet potato. Let boil for 5 minutes. Afterwards, remove from the pot with a slotted spoon. Place into a food processor and pulse until the sweet potatoes are in small pieces and starting to turn into mash. Transfer potatoes into a bowl.

Place your cauliflower into the boiling water and also cook for 5 minutes. Afterwards, drain and transfer to a food processor. Pulse until you have cauliflower  rice. Measure out 1 cup of cauliflower rice and place in the bowl with the sweet potatoes (save the remaining cauliflower rice for another recipe!)

Stir in the hot sauce, garlic, salt, and egg to the bowl. Add in the flours and mix altogether. Let batter sit for 3 minutes to thicken. Using your hands, roll the batter into individual tater tots and place on the oiled baking sheet. Lightly salt your tater tots. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. Take out, flip over with a spatula, and bake for another 8 minutes. Let cool before eating (tastes best the longer you wait).

Sweet Potato Bread (Paleo)

This weekend we had our first snow storm of the season. Of course it couldn’t happen during the week for a snow day from school… but hey, that’s life.

Actually, it was pretty nice to be stuck inside. My brother and sister were visiting at the time, so we all got to bum around together, watch Westworld, and eat a bunch of food. And with the leftover roasted sweet potatoes, I was able to make some chocolate chip sweet potato bread today!

Sweet Potato Bread (Paleo)

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potato

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 tbsp honey

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tsp salt

pinch of stevia

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a bread pan with coconut oil. Combine all ingredients (except the chocolate chips) in a food processor and blend. Stir in chocolate chips and then spread batter into the bread pan. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Let cool before slicing. In my opinion, this bread tastes best the second day! 

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (Paleo)

Time for a holiday cookie recipe! Double chocolate chip, to be specific 🙂 I LOVE how the texture of this cookie turned out- normally when I work with coconut flour, I get a super soft, crumply cookie. This cookie, however, has a crispy-er outside with a soft inside. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut flour

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Pinch of stevia

1/2 cup applesauce

6 tbsp nut butter

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease 2 baking sheets with coconut oil.

In a food processor, combine the coconut flour, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and stevia. Pulse together. Add in the applesauce, peanut butter, vanilla extract, and egg and blend together. The batter should be dry- that’s okay! Stir in the chocolate chips.

Take a lump (about 2 tbsp) of dough, roll into a ball, place on the baking sheet, and press down gently. Repeat until all the dough is used up. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool before eating.