Recap of the California State Fair Cooking Demo & Recipes
Look at that beautiful crowd! I want to thank all the people who came out to our cooking demo at the California State Fair. I realize many people were just passing through the kitchen and saw a place to sit down for a while, but there were a lot of people who stayed through our class, and many who actually new about Paleo, and wanted more information.
I was impressed there were a few couples in the crowd that showed up to see the demo because they already practice the Paleo/Primal diet/lifestyle. They were so nice to us (important because of my semi-stage fright/shyness), and it was fun to compare notes and results. It was a real encouragement to have like-minded people in the audience cheering us on!
Andy made a dish from last year, his ever-popular Bacon Wrapped Dates, which are simply three of the best ingredients you can find, bundled in a little package and secured with a toothpick. Pecan halves, Medjool dates and thick-cut premium (preferably applewood-smoked) bacon. Below is Andy making a tray to be baked in the oven (while we are actually doing the cooking demo) so some samples would be ready to be passed around before the end of the class.
We were supplied with pitted Medjool dates (along with the rest of our ingredients) this year thanks to Savemart. The pitted dates saved a step in prepping those trays, as Andy places half a pecan in place of the pit, and wraps the date in one half slice of thick cut bacon, then secures each piece with a toothpick.
After your tray looks like this, place in the oven at 400°F and bake for 12-15 minutes (start checking them when it gets close). The bacon should be cooked and browned.
For my part of the demo, I made this Paleo Mud Pie. Recipe is below:
Serves 30-40 people
Crust:
3 cups almond flour/almond meal
1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp cinnamon
Combine crust ingredients and spread on a large baking/jellyroll pan (you’ll want the pan to be at least 2″ deep).
Bake the crust for 20 mins at 375°F, or until you can smell the butter and the crust has turned golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare your filling:
For the Filling:
8 medium -10 large Avocados
1 cup honey (ohhh yeahhhh)
8 Tbs Almond butter (once again, ohhh yeahhh)
1 cup cocoa powder
3 Tbs instant coffee
1/4 cup hot water
2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
1-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Place the instant coffee in the hot water and allow to dissolve completely.
So, since there are a lot of ingredients quantity wise, you’ll want to split the recipe into half and then mix it all together in a big bowl. For instance: In a food processor, pureé the 4-5 avocados in a food processor, add 1/2 cup honey, 4 Tbs almond butter, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, then 1/2 the coffee mixture and 1 tsp vanilla. Transfer the mixture into one big bowl, then repeat with the remainder of the ingredients.
Then you’ll combine both chocolatey mixtures into one big bowl and stir together to incorporate fully. When the two mixtures are combined completely, spread them over the cooled crust, and then refrigerate the pie for 2-3 hours before serving.
To serve, sprinkle 1-2 cups chocolate chips over the pie. If you can get mini-chips, even better. I prefer the Enjoy Life brand because they are dairy free.
Paleo. Chocolatey. Mocha. Goodness.
The State Fair experience makes me want to do some local cooking demos/classes. Would anyone be willing to attend/pay for that sort of thing? Just curious. Leave me a note and tell me your thoughts!! xo
Pomegranate-Walnut Guacamole Recipe: Thanks, Rick Bayless!
Last night was the River City Rebels Running Club’s Christmas Party at Andy’s house (if you go to their site, he’s the hot guy in the blue hat kneeling on the right). 🙂 Anyway…according to the invitation, I was to bring an appetizer. I wanted to make something vegetarian/vegan friendly because quite a lot of people in the club don’t do meat. And last year, I made a salad with meat in it and didn’t report there was bacon–like, a lot of it–in there. Oopsy. So, to try and please the masses, I swiped this super festive guacamole recipe from Rick Bayless. He sent it out over twitter a few days ago. It was very well received by my teammates, so I thought I would share it with all of you. ¡Muy delicioso!
His tweet was simply this: “pomegranate-walnut guac: mash 3 avoc,3/4 c ch tstd walnut,1 ch rstd poblano,2T parsley,2T lime,1/2 ch wht onion. Salt. Garn: pomgrnt seeds” Well played!
I doubled the recipe, made it in 10 minutes. To save time, toast the walnuts in the oven as you are cutting/chopping. Then when you have everything all mashed up, they’ll be ready to go in (allow to cool first). Serve with plantain chips and fresh veggies!
This recipe also appears in Rick’s latest book. I’ll try to get my paws on a review copy and share some more stuff with you here…because since returning from Mexico, I can’t get enough Mexican food. Hanging on to happy memories and our time in Ixtapa!
I NEED YOUR VOTE BY JULY 8th!
Pretty please! If you have a Facebook account, you can help me win the California Avocado Commission’s avocado recipe contest.
This week, submitted my recipe for Hard Boiled Eggs with Avocado, Cumin, and Curry.
Of all the entries submitted, the CA Avocado Commission will choose the top 5 vote recipients, prepare those recipes and then determine the top 3 winners.
You can vote for me every 24 hours until July 8th! 🙂
To vote, please follow the link here. Don’t forget to share the link. There are a few entries with over 100 votes, so I really need some help on this one!
Thank you in advance!!
Southwestern-style Caprese Salad
This past weekend, I needed to make something to bring to a birthday party for a good friend of mine. Since Saturday was packed full of fun activities (including 7.5 miles of running, a tour of the Roush Residence hosted by Sac Mod, and a “wine-by” of Raley’s Grape Escape), I didn’t have a big block of time to spend on the dish. Still, I wanted to bring something that looked inviting and would stand out on a potluck table. Something that would look and taste like I spent more time than I did ;), and something light that would pair well with the hot weather.
So, I was looking on the Nugget Market website for some sort of direction, and this recipe emerged. Thank you, Nugget!!
Of course, I never follow a recipe exactly, so I changed up a few things. Also, it’s not completely Paleo since there is cheese in the dish, but cheese is my little cheat.
Here’s my version:
Southwestern Caprese
Ingredients:
2 Heirloom tomatoes, sliced
2 organic tomatoes, sliced
4 Tablespoons cilantro (finely chopped)
1/2 cup Casero cheese (crumbled like bleu cheese)
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbs olive oil
cracked black pepper
lime juice
When you are prepping the avocados, squeeze some lime juice over them after you slice them to prevent them from browning. To prepare the salad, pretend you are making a lasagna or moussaka. You will have enough ingredients to make two layers.
Layer the bottom of a 9×13 in. baking dish with both kinds of tomatoes and one of the sliced avocados, then drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil over the layer. Add half of the cilantro over that, followed by half of the cheese crumbles. Then sprinkle half of the cumin and then crack some pepper over that. You won’t need salt because the cheese will be salty enough to season the salad. Repeat the process to form the top layer.
Make this salad within a few hours before you plan to serve it, or right before you plan to serve it, if possible. Organic tomatoes and avocados taste amazing, but their lifespan is extremely short. 🙂
You can follow Nugget Market on twitter here and like them on Facebook here.
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