Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

Don't you just love all things with pumpkin this time of year? We do. I'd been kicking around the idea of these Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars for a couple of weeks, and decided that this weekend it was going to become a moist, cinnamon-ny pumpkin reality. They are not too sweet. They are just right. They fill a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.  Make them yourself, and see if you don't agree with me.

I started with the crust. I stirred up the following ingredients in a big bowl:

3 cups almond meal ( I use unblanched)
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup + 1 TBSP coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup honey  (if you use raw honey, like I do, you will need to warm it a bit so it's a liquid)
1 TBSP + 1 tsp vanilla

I stirred this up with a wooden spoon and pressed it down in a 9 x 12 glass baking dish.
I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

                                         It looked like this. I let it cool some while I mixed up the Pumpkin Pie part.

I rinsed the big bowl, and put it to use again for the top layer with the following ingredients:

2 cans organic pumpkin puree
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs
1/2 cup raw honey, warmed to a liquid
1 cup organic coconut milk from a can

I mixed all this up with a wooden spoon and then poured it onto the top of the crust layer.

I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes.  I let it sit for a good while on a wire rack, to cool set up some before I tried to slice and serve it. (You should, too!)

I might have to make this for Thanksgiving, too, and Christmas!

Broiled Steak

You can really do justice to a grass fed steak if you broil it.

I took them out of the fridge and salted them with Cherry Wood Smoked Sea Salt (salttraders.com)  I let them sit for 15 minutes, to take the chill off of them.

Next, I turned on the broiler.

I rubbed coconut oil on my broiler pan. ( I cover the bottom part of it with foil - any way I can speed clean-up is a good thing, right?) Bacon fat is another delicious choice instead of the coconut oil.

I seasoned them with a little more of that amazing salt, (see why I call it "crack-salt?") freshly ground black pepper, and a little minced garlic.

I put them under the broiler for 4 minutes, took them out to flip them over, and broiled them 4 minutes on the other side.  (Thicker steaks OR how you like your steaks cooked will alter your broiling times.)

I took them out of the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes before we ate.
Delicious.
Easy.

Paleo American Persimmon Cake

Monica brought me persimmons from a neighbor's tree. How sweet is that?  I'd fed her a couple of paleo desserts lately and I'm glad I did. Monica knew I was wishing for some to experiment with...

You see, when I was little, I remember someone giving my mom some American Persimmons (although we called them Kentucky Persimmons) and she made a persimmon bread. It was so good that it stayed in my memory all these years!  But, now I know why my mom only made one.... they are a lot of trouble. But, my cake was so good, I might make it again soon!

So, we don't need to leave all the persimmons for the deer, raccoons, etc. We should gather them from the ground or shake the tree because they need to be VERY RIPE. If they aren't VERY RIPS, they will pucker your mouth for a long time, so don't be going for any firm ones. Even one of these in your batch can ruin all your work!

I went through what Monica brought me.

These were the ones that were great. They are puckery-ripe and heavy and full and mushy and almost too far gone. Their skin is tissue paper thin. They are blush pink and some places are almost blue-ish.

These are too far gone. They are about to                   These are astringent and awful. They are not ripe,

 ferment.                                                                      although they look the prettiest.



I found a really antique recipe for Persimmon Pudding, so I decided to try to "Paleo-ize" it and it turned out just amazing!  Here's what I did:

I don't have one of those hand-crank things like you would make sausage with, so I improvised. I put my strainer over the top of my Pampered Chef bowl and got busy.

This was messy and time-consuming. (but the came was worth it!) I peeled each little persimmon, taking the tissue paper thin skin off and then dropping them into the strainer. When I had a few peeled, I just smashed them with my hand against the strainer, and then got the persimmon pulp off on the outside of the strainer with a little spatula. It was sticky work and took a while to get 3/4 cup.

But, isn't it beautiful? Nothing else tastes like it in the whole world, and I think it puts Asian persimmons to shame.

I added the following wet ingredients to this 3/4 cup of persimmon pulp:

1/2 cup raw honey (warmed)
1  1/2 cups organic coconut milk (from a can) (If you REALLY want a decadent cake you could substitute Snowville Creamery Heavy Whipping Cream...)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs

I stirred this up and set it aside.
In a small bowl I mixed up the dry ingredients:

2/3 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

I mixed the dry into the wet ingredients. It looked like this:

I rubbed coconut oil on a square glass baking dish and poured the batter into the prepared dish. Then, I placed it in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then, I turned the oven down to 400 degrees and timed it for 25 more minutes. It set up and got nice and brown on top. My house smelled better than words can describe.... and that cake went faster than the eye can see!

Turkey Burgers with Fresh Pineapple

Everyone needs another easy, healthy, quick dinner idea, right? Try this one. It's very tasty and you don't have to be a great cook, but your family might think you are!

These are the healthy turkey burgers.

 They were cooked in a skillet with coconut oil and sprinkled generously with sea salt, pepper, turmeric, and lots of smoked paprika. Then I turned the heat down to low.

The last thing was to take a fresh pineapple and cut it into big thick slices. I placed them on the turkey burgers and let them heat up. 
I served them on a bed of field greens and organic baby spinach. 
You could also just do an easy side dish, like my Paleo Broiled Asparagus.

And, dinner will be served, with no guilt at all. It's delicious, and easy enough to accomplish after work. 

Paleo Breakfast Sandwich

Cassie came up with this stack of amazing flavors. She made my Paleo Johnny Cakes.

 Then, she fried up some uncured bacon and laid it on paper towels.

Then, she made scrambled eggs.

Then, she sliced fresh tomato and stacked everything up. Yum!

Here's the Paleo Johnny Cakes recipe:

I stirred up the following ingredients in a bowl:

4 eggs, (out of the fridge a few minutes, so they aren't so cold)
1/4 cup coconut oil (tropicaltraditions.com is my favorite)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup organic coconut milk

I stirred it all up and it was thick....

 but if you think yours is too thick, add a little more coconut milk...
Next, I got my skillet heated up and added 2 heaping TBSP of coconut oil. (Bacon grease would be amazing, too)  I put four blobs of batter into the skillet at a time, over medium heat. I waited for the air bubbles to show before I flipped them over, tilting the skillet so there was coconut oil where I was about to put them.
                                                            See those little air bubbles?

I didn't transfer the photos, so if you want to check out how they should look, just put Paleo Johnny Cakes into the search box on this site. (top left corner)

We love these Johnny Cakes with my Paleo Apple Butter, too. 

Join the conversation on the Feeding Ger Sasser Facebook page and follow me, Dinah Houston, on Pinterest. 

Paleo Ham Steaks

These big ham steaks were begging me to take them out of the freezer. After thawing them overnight in the fridge, I put a big skillet on the stovetop and  added 2 TBSP coconut oil. I put it on medium high heat, and added the ham steaks. There were two big ovals, so I sliced them up some so it would all fit into the skillet. I added applewood smoked sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, 1 TBSP maple syrup, and two TBSP of brown mustard. I flipped them over after about 7 minutes and let them cook on the other side for a while.

I added 1/4 cup water to the skillet and flipped the ham steaks again. I put a lid on it and turned it down so that it could get tender.

OH, it was so good!!!!! It's easy. If you buy ham steaks that are already cooked, you won't need to cook it very long at all.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes. Love them. Sometimes I boil them in water on the stove, but they don't have that deep sweetness or that delicious texture that they have when they are baked in the oven. We should all do this more often.

Here's what I did to make them come out perfect:

I lined a baking sheet with foil.
I poked several holes in each organic sweet potato with a fork and put them on the baking sheet.
I placed them into a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. (This is until tender, so stick a fork in them and check. I buy big sweet potatoes, so if you are baking smaller ones, your baking time will be shorter.)

I slice them on top and everyone puts whatever they want on them. They are great as is, but I think that 1 tsp of pasture butter, smoked sea salt and freshly ground pepper is perfect. Pecans and real maple syrup is another favorite in our house, too.
Be creative.

This might seem like an awfully simple post, but I do have paleo people who are completely new to cooking at all, so sometimes simple things can be just what we need in our busy kitchens.

Roasted Buttercup Squash

This time of year is so beautiful. I love fall in Kentucky. I love the colors of the leaves turning on the trees on the hillside. I also love fall squash. I hope you track down and eat this type. You should buy one that feels heavy for its size.   This is buttercup squash, yes, butterCUP squash. It's dark in color and very sweet and dense. Yum!  It looks like this:

I cut the squash in half lengthwise. (so there's a right half and a left half)
I removed the seeds and stringy stuff.
I laid the squash in a baking dish with the cut side down and then added about 3/4 inch of water.

I placed the dish carefully into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. (I stuck a fork into it to be sure it was done. The size of the buttercup squash might change the baking time by 5 minutes either way)

I removed them from the oven and flipped them over. Now, I usually add:
 1 tsp pasture butter (KerryGold)
1 tsp real maple syrup
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
.....and then place them back into the oven for 10 more minutes.

But, last night I drizzled:
Organic Butter Infused Olive Oil
Maple Balsamic Vinegar

These 2 products are new to me and can be bought at flyingolive.com. The flavors are intense and wonderful!