I could never be 100% paleo. Pretty much like I couldn’t be 100% vegetarian or vegan. I’m just one of those people who strongly believe that almost everything can be good in moderation unless there is some sort of medical condition going on. Since food is part of the simple pleasures of life, I don’t like to have constraints when it comes to be creative in my kitchen. Some days I’ll be vegan or vegetarian. Others, I’ll jump on a big juicy steak with baked and stuffed potatoes.
Every meals or snacks will be influenced by my mood and I will always follow these simple life’s food rules:
1- Try to eat a little bit of (almost) everything in moderation.
2- Try to always eat more vegetables, fruits, mushrooms than meat.
3- Prior fish to red meat. Choose tofu, tempeh and seitan over fish and meat.
4- Eat food that are alive, like kimchi, miso, tempeh, sprouts etc…
5- Drink lots of teas, everyday.
6- Make sure that in those daily teas there is at least 1 matcha tea and 1 mushroom infusion.
7- Stay Active, work out.
8- Everything is always better homemade, so make it!
Beside that I’m pretty loose. Eat what your heart desire, try to always choose a healthy, non fatty alternative to your munchies and push your boundaries, get out of your comfort zone to discover new tastes and textures. Don’t close your mind to other culinary cultures and jump in.
Although I do not like to have constraints when it comes to my personal foodie life, it’s still fun and challenging to create recipes that are following a certain regiment. Have you heard of the Paleo or Caveman diet? Here’s a little Wiki article if you are curious to learn about what it mean to be 100% Paleo.
The basics you need to remember; Dairy Free – Grain Free – Gluten Free and Legumes Free. All potatoes are a big no no but you can still eat some sweet potatoes sporadically. All soy products are off limits but miso is accepted because the fermentation will make the soy beans easier to digest. Flours made of Coconut and Almonds are your best friends, coconut oil and olive oil should be your preferred fat.
A good friend of mine have a condition that could be helped by becoming Paleo but I really don’t see him being able and/or wanting to follow all these rules. Just because I knew he was coming to dinner last Saturday, I decided to create an entire Paleo menu from scratch and today I’m presenting you the decadent dessert I made. Seriously, this is by far one of my favorite desserts ever. Paleo or not, I’ll be making another batch of these very soon and I know that you might just become addicted if you dare trying it.
For the people who likes very chewy, almost gooey brownies, these are for you! The soft texture of the carob brownie and the crunch of the nutty topping is really making these little bites fun to eat. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I’m enjoying eating it. …right now, as I’m writing
– INGREDIENTS –
Brownie:
3/4 cup of mashed bananas
1/3 cup of cane sugar
3-4 tablespoons of carob powder
1 egg
1 tablespoon of almond oil
3/4 cup of almond flour
Topping:
8 medjool dates, chopped
1/2 cup of almonds, chopped
1/4 cup of walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup of cachews, chopped
1/2 cup of Dried Goji Berries**
3/4 cup of coconut water
** also known as Wolfberry. Feel free to use dried Cranberries or Raisins if you cant find any Goji.
1- Pre-heat your oven at 350 and line a parchment paper, inside a 8×8 glass pirex. It doesn’t need to fit the oven dish perfectly, just make sure to leave some extra paper all around to help you to remove the cakey part out of the pan.
2- In a mixing bowl, whisk all the ingredients of the brownie part, starting with the mashed bananas and the sugar, carob, egg, etc..
3- Pour the brownie mixture in your pirex, and bake it for 25 minutes.
4- In a small sauce pan, gently heat (on low-medium) the dates and coconut water. Heat and Mix constantly till the dates become mushy and merge with the coconut water in to some sort of “creamy” texture. Add your chopped nut and dried goji berries at the end, mix well and remove from heat. Reserve.
5- Once the brownie is out of the oven, gently remove it out of the pirex by pulling on the extra paper that you left all around. Leave on a counter to cool down for at least 20 minutes and once you’re able to touch the cake with your hands, reshape the sides that were not perfect and make it a nice square. Transfer your cake in to a serving plate.
6- Time to spread your nutty topping on top of the brownie, use a spatula to spread it all nicely and even on top. Leave in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours before serving.
Enjoy!
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