My (un)health history.

Today I share some of my heath issues, and how I overcame them. Click on over to my guest post on Paleo Parents to read about it. Have a great day!

♥, Kelly

My next cookbook!

This crepe cake is the cover photo for my next cookbook, The Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook: 75 Gluten-Free Treats for Breakfast & Dessert, coming out this fall. I'm so excited!!! I decided to go with a publisher this time, and it had to be Victory Belt. I ♥ them. You will be able to see the designed cover on Amazon very soon, but in the meantime let me tell you some of the recipes included in the book:

• Chocolate Crepe Cake with Coconut Cream (above)
• Pistachio Date Freezer Candy (below)
• White Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Biscotti (also pictured below)
• Homemade Chocolate (Dairy-Free & Low-Glycemic)
• Mulled Wine Poached Pears with Ganache
• Toasted Coconut Cookies
• Iced Chai Cocoa
• Cherry Cordial Fudge

So I was wondering if any of you dears would be interested in testing a few recipes? To keep the recipes top-secret before publishing, you will need to sign a non-disclosure if you choose to test for me. As my way of saying thank you, I will send each tester a little gift. Just leave me your email address in the comments if you want to be a tester.

♥, Kelly

Coconut Milk Bread

I have been working on this bread recipe for a year now. In case you're wondering, I did try using arrowroot in place of the psyllium and it didn't work as a loaf. At all. First of all I had to double the amount (twice as much arrowroot as psyllium), and it still didn't fully cook. Second, the texture was completely different. The arrowroot version (the part of the loaf that cooked through) was much more crumbly. I think it could be nice as a mock-cornbread, and that it might cook through if you made it in an 8 x 8 inch dish, but I haven't done that yet myself. 

It was just so much better with the psyllium that I went back to using it. And we all adore this loaf of bread.

Part of the reason the loaf is this nice shape and size is because I use this glass bread pan. The bottom of the pan is narrower than most bread loaf pans, so you get a slightly taller loaf. Just make sure that your ingredients are room temperature so that the bread cooks evenly, and you're good to go.

Coconut Milk Bread

gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk, room temperature

4 whisked eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp honey

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups | 7.4 oz almond flour (I have used both Bob's and Honeyville in this recipe)

1/2 cup | 2.5 oz coconut flour, sifted to remove any lumps

2 tbsp psyllium husk POWDER

1 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1) Lay a piece of unbleached parchment paper across the bread loaf pan so that it goes down one of the long sides, across the bottom and back up the other long side. 

NOTE: If you use a different bread loaf pan the cooking time may change.

2) Grease the two exposed glass ends of the dish. Set aside.

3) Add dry ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

4) Add wet ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer. 

5) Add whisked dry ingredients to wet mixed ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer.

6) Using a flexible silicone spatula, scoop half of the batter into the prepared pan, and press it down firmly.

7) Add the rest of the batter to the dish using the flexible silicone spatula, and press down firmly again. (The top should be smooth and level when you're finished.)

8) Bake for about 1 hour.

9) Let the bread rest in the pan until cool.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.

My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe

Hi everyone. It's Kelly's husband here, and I have a book review for you.  It's not a new book. It was first published in 2011, so it's not like I'm sharing big news after reading an advance copy. This is more of a "Hey, have you heard of this book? It's really good."

When the paperback of My Korean Deli came out last year I heard the author interviewed on the radio (you can listen online here). Ben Ryder Howe wrote a memoir about buying and running a New York deli. The compelling thing about the situation was this: a) he isn't Korean, and b) he had absolutely no experience running a store.

Howe was an editor at the literary magazine The Paris Review. He had married into a Korean family. His wife Gab wanted to help her mother open a store. They intended to to pitch in their money and time just long enough to get her started, but the Brooklyn deli quickly consumed their lives. It was a stressful situation, but Howe writes the story with a wry humor. Unpleasantness + time = funny.

The behind-the-scenes descriptions of the life of a deli were fascinating: choosing a location and inventory, dealing with pushy vendors and severe city officials, managing staff, coping with frustrating customers, and stressing about money. As a guy who works in publishing, I was really entertained by Ryder's chapters about his job at The Paris Review where he worked with the quirky George Plimpton. Central to the story is a the contrast between the author's WASPy reserved New England upbringing and his wife's immigrant Korean family. The dynamic is quite like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My Korean Deli is an entertaining read, including stories about family, business, and culture that can be both funny and serious.

—Andrew

P.S. You can read a book review on NPR's site, another on the New York Times, and read an interview with the author on The Gothamist.

Almond & Apricot "Cheese" Danish Cake

This cheese danish cake is based on my ooey gooey cake. And I think it's even better this way. I've made it a few times now with the apricot spread, and next I'm moving on to either raspberry or strawberry spread. I can't wait.

I have been dreaming of cheese danish for years, and I'm so thrilled to have this recipe now!

Almond & Apricot "Cheese" Danish Cake

grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free

Set oven to 325 degrees.

"Cream cheese" ingredients:

3/4 cup almond milk (I used unsweetened Silk brand almond milk)

1/2 cup cashews

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (I don't know if this recipe would set up and look the same with another oil)

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp psyllium husk powder 

1/8 tsp sea salt

Instructions:
Add the ingredients to the blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Set aside.

Dry Cake Ingredients:
2 cups Honeyville almond flour (add another 1/4 cup if you're using Bob's**)

1/4 cup arrowroot powder (tapioca would also work)

1 tsp baking powder (Grain-free Baking Powder Recipe)

1/2 tsp baking soda

Instructions:
Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Set aside.

Wet Cake Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (I don't know if this recipe would set up and look the same with another oil)

1/4 cup honey

1/8 tsp vanilla stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp psyllium husk powder 

Instructions:
1. Add the wet cake ingredients to the blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.
2. Scoop the wet cake ingredients (not the "cream cheese"!) onto the dry cake ingredients.

3. Mix with an electric mixer for about 10 seconds. Stop when it looks like a crumble for coffee cake, not like a solid mass of dough.

4. Add the cake crumble to a greased 11 x 8 inch baking dish (I believe it is a 2 qt dish). Spread evenly, but don't mash it down. NOTE: I think an 8 x 8 inch dish would work too.

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sliced almonds
9 oz  apricot fruit spread

Instructions:
1. Sprinkle 1/2 cup sliced almonds over the cake in the dish.

2. Pour the "cream cheese" topping over the almonds.

3. Warm 9oz of apricot fruit spread just slightly.

4. Pour the apricot fruit spread in diagonal lines across the "cream cheese."

5. Use a knife in a figure eight motion to swirl the apricot and cream cheese.

6. Sprinkle with another 2 tablespoons sliced almonds. 

Bake for about 25 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven the sides will be puffy and you might think it's not done in the middle, but after it cools completely (and you refrigerate it some) it will set up nicely. 

My husband loves it cold from the fridge, but I love it room temperature. The girls eat it no matter what :-)

Store in the fridge.

**Honeyville almond flour is more finely ground than Bob's Red Mill almond flour. Therefore a cup of Bob's is not always equal (weight) to a cup of Honeyville.

♥, Kelly

Other questions? See my FAQ page here.