The Paleo Mama

Homegrown and Handmade

recipe

Paleo Birthday Cupcakes

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My 3 year old is turning 4 and requested cupcakes to share with some friends. Awww, how sweet, right?!?!!! NOT!!!!!!!!!! This Paleo mama sucks at Paleo baked goods. So, I’m smiling at my adorable, little princess and thinking, “CRAP…how in the world am I going to make cupcakes?” Aha! I have almond flour and I’m pretty good with it.

Wait, does no peanuts mean no almonds? Because, if we get technical, a peanut is a legume so if you are allergic to peanuts then you probably aren’t allergic to almonds…right? I wonder…and wonder…and reach out to my Facebook fans for help.

The winning verdict: use coconut flour and don’t play with almond fire! Which by the way is so contradictory.  So, let me get this right: you can’t bring nuts to school because someone in the class is allergic to it, but you can bring gluten-laden garbage? Not fair!

Anyways, I went with a vanilla cupcake, a chocolate ganache frosting, and pink sprinkles! The only thing not Paleo was the pink sprinkles! I think I did pretty darn good! And….her little friends gobbled it up!!!

Here’s the recipes that I used…

Very Vanilla Cupcakes (using coconut flour):

Cupcake Ingredients (makes 8 cupcakes):

(click here to view the recipe)

My opinion: I was SHOCKED how moist and delicious these cupcakes are. I was debating about using another recipe that didn’t have any oil but I remember how coconut oil just sucks up moisture and I wanted to make sure the cupcakes were moist. This recipe is a KEEPER!

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Chocolate Ganache Frosting

This ganache is delicious and you can sub coconut milk for the heavy cream. I did that the last time I made it. And the author of this recipe now has a AWESOME cookbook available with TONS of recipes!

Ganache Recipe:

(click here to be taken to the recipe)

…and all this I did for my little princess ON MY BIRTHDAY! Yes, today is my birthday. However, I do get to pick out where we are going to eat for lunch. I say Vinne Van Go Go’s Pizza and some beer (***runs and hides***)!!!

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Mama Jo’s Italian Meat Stuffing

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I grew up on Mama Jo’s stuffing! Mama Jo was just that…a second Mama to me growing up. She had that amazing Italian laugh that filled your heart with joy!

Mama Jo was the one responsible for cooking for all the major functions at my church growing up. Whenever I smelled food, Mama Jo was the one who was sweating behind the burner and cooking for the hundreds. Nothing she ever made was gross. I loved watching her move around in the kitchen; a dance that only a true cook had mastered.

My love for cooking, undoubtedly, came from watching Mama Jo.

Every Thanksgiving I knew that Mama Jo was going to bring over her unbelievable meat stuffing. I must have been Paleo-at-heart as a child because I never did like bread stuffing. My daddy loved putting cranberry sauce on top of this meat stuffing. This cranberry recipe looks delish and so does this one.

Mama Jo gave me permission to share her recipe. I hope you love it just as much as I do! It makes a big pot of stuffing, so plenty to share with a big group.

Mama Jo’s Italian Meat Stuffing (Primal)

3 1/2 lbs of ground beef

3/4lbs of ground sausage

1 bunch of celery hearts (chopped fine)

2 medium onions (chopped fine)

2 cups of parmesan cheese

1 cup of pine nuts

1/2 cup of parsley

salt and pepper

1/2 cup of butter

3 splashes of my secret ingredient Red Boat Fish Sauce OR 2 ts of garlic salt

Instructions:

Brown the ground beef and the sausage in a large pot (my dutch oven was perfect for this). When brown, remove the meat and drain.

Melt 1/2 cup of butter in the same pot. Saute the celery, onions, and garlic until soft and translucent.

Add the meat mixture and all the other ingredients. Please don’t skimp on the pine nuts! These are what make this recipe so awesome!

This is where you add the secret ingredient. This was the only thing I had to find a substitute for. The real recipe called for Accent which isn’t necessarily Paleo, so I had to research this a bit. Accent is a flavor enhancer, so I thought, YES! My Red Boat Fish Sauce is my favorite enhancer.

I add it to every meat dish I make and it doesn’t make it taste fishy. It gives the meat flavor more depth! I added about 3 quick splashes to this recipe. If you don’t have fish sauce, or the thought just grosses you out (although you really should give it a try!) you could just add a few teaspoons of garlic salt for added flavor.

Mix everything together very well and then bake until heated through.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving y’all!

Enjoying the stuffing with avocado!

Other recipes you might like:

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Spanish Burgers

Chile Pork Tacos

 

 

 

 

Albino Broccoli Soup

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We love albino broccoli in this house! There are so many things you can do with it! Broccoli’s little brother, cauliflower, is by far the most versatile vegetable that you can have in your house! You can make pizza crust, rice, mashed “potatoes” and so much more! Tonight I made my soup!

This is by far MY FAVORITE soup ever! I love this soup with meatballs. Tonight I am trying these Merguez meatballs from The Clothes Make the Girl, author of the amazing Well Fed cookbook. I usually make them with Arabic meatballs, which is a little different than the Merguez Meatballs.

I promise, the cauliflower tastes amazing in this recipe! It’s even more delicious if you use your own homemade bone stock! You can read my recipe for making stock here!

Albino Broccoli Soup

2 heads of cauliflower or 3 frozen bags, broken in florets

3 medium onions, diced

5 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup butter or Grassfed Organic Ghee 7.8 Oz

3 cups of stock (I prefer my homemade chicken stock, but you can use beef stock too)

2 teaspoons of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

Steam or boil cauliflower until tender. Drain and set aside.

Saute the onions and garlic in a pot over medium heat until tender.

Add cauliflower and stock to the pot. Mash with a potato masher or use a stick blender to puree the mixture to a consistency you prefer. I like mine a little chunky. If you don’t have a stick blender then you should use a blender to puree it.

Add salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings.

If primal, serve with a dollop of sour cream!