Meals : 1.18. 2012 and a RECIPE!!

I'm a liar. Actually, I'm an idiot. Do you remember when I said anything made with almond flour is gross and nasty and there's no way I'm using it ever again? I WAS WRONG! A few days ago I stumbled across a ooey-gooey chocolately recipe that called for almond flour and it looked so yummy I was determined to give it another try. I went on Amazon and ordered two pounds of this amazingness and it arrived on my doorstep today. Most people with a healthy dose of self control would probably wait a day or two to give it a whirl but I was so desperate for a treat I jumped right into baking this afternoon. Since I didn't have any chocolate on hand, I had to make something else and came across a carrot cake recipe. After a few mistakes and the realization that I was missing some ingredients, I basically did my own thing and you know what? I made my OWN RECIPE! I'm an official foodie, you guys :)

This is what you would call a Paleo cheat treat. You're not exactly eating wheat and refined sugar but it's still a dessert, so...you know....moderation, people.

Carrot Cake Muffins
Yields 18 muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups blanched almond flour [BLANCHED!]
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
5 eggs
1/2 cup pure maple syrup [pure...not the mass produced Aunt Jemima kind]
1/4 cup [melted] coconut oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cup crushed pineapple

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. In a smaller bowl, mix together eggs, maple syrup, coconut oil, carrots, raisins and pineapple.

3. Incorporate wet ingredients into the dry mixture.

4. Grease muffin pans with coconut oil and fill 3/4 full with batter.

5. Bake approximately 20-25 minutes [you'll have to watch since I just go by the tooth pick test].

These are so yummy you COULD just eat them as is but if you're a glutton like me, you might just want to add a cream cheese frosting. I'm not gonna lie...this isn't totally my recipe. I slightly altered the cream cheese frosting from Make It Paleo.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz full fat cream cheese
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Blend well and frost muffins.

Yummy!!!



Again, you could practice some self control [unlike me] and frost these after the muffins cool. I clearly couldn't wait.

And now on to our weekly menu.

Wednesday: Garlic Pulled Pork and sauteed zucchini and yellow squash. Dude, this was so good. We made a 3 lbs pork shoulder and it didn't last to see another day.

Thursday: Stuffed peppers One of my faves. You get a ton of extra meat mixture with this recipe but that's cool with us.

Friday: leftovers

Saturday: Bun-less burgers and sweet potato fries

Sunday: Whole roasted chicken and Avocado, Tomato, Mozzarella salad. The Mozz clearly makes it non-paleo but watch me devour it! :)

To end, I'm excited to say I'm sooooo close to my pre-preg weight. Four pounds to go!