Apple, Celery Root and Bacon Salad

I had no real idea what celery root was until it came in my veggie delivery box last week. I wasn't even sure which item in the box was celery root until I'd eliminated everything else and was left with something that looked a little strange. This is celery root also known as celeriac:


I'm not a fan of the flavor of raw celery, so I wasn't sure if I'd like celery root as it does have a mild celery flavor. But in this dish, the celery flavor isn't overpowering and it didn't detract from the other flavors at all. Once you add in the apple, bacon and dressing you have a very flavorful, tangy, sweet and sour salad that can be a side dish or a meal. Give this strange looking vegetable a try!

Apple, Celery Root and Bacon Salad
1 celery root, scrubbed, peeled and chopped
2 medium apples cored and chopped
1/3 C white or apple cider vinegar
1 t honey
2 t Dijon mustard
1 T chopped fresh parsley
4 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled

Mix all ingredients and let stand for at least 30 minutes before serving to let the flavors mingle.

Paleo/Primal Apple Cider Muffins

'Tis the season for apple cider! One of my favorite drinks during the holidays is Warm Mulled Apple Cider. For Thanksgiving Dinner the last few years I've pulled out the crock pot and filled it with apple cider and mulling spices and let it sit on Low most of the day. Young and old alike love a mug of this golden yumminess.

This morning when I got up, I was in the mood to make muffins, and once I looked into the fridge and saw the jug of apple cider, I knew just what kind to make. Apple Cider Muffins! I was also sadly lacking in my usual muffin starter of almond flour, so I used coconut flour instead. They turned out very apple-y and cinnamon-y and were a big hit with both small and large family members!

Apple Cider Muffins
1 C apple cider (I prefer organic unfiltered unpasteurized and local!)
3 apples
1/2 C coconut oil - melted
4 eggs - separated
1/4 C maple syrup
1 C coconut flour
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1 t baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Core, peel and dice apples saving peel to use. Separate eggs. In a blender add apple peels, apple cider, egg yolks and maple syrup. Blend until mostly smooth. In a small bowl, beat eggs to soft peaks and set aside. In a larger bowl, combine coconut flour and coconut oil; let sit for a few minutes allowing flour to absorb oil. Add blended mixture to coconut flour mixture then add cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and diced apples. Lastly fold egg whites into mixture. Scoop 1/4 cup of mixture into lined muffin tins. Bake for about 25 minutes or until muffin is slightly firm when you press on the top.

Paleo Dinner Menu

Looking to throw a paleo dinner party? I did just that over the weekend. We had a fabulous dinner that contained no grains, no dairy, no refined sugars, no legumes, no nightshade veggies and no citrus (an allergy of one of the attendees). We were all very well fed and had happy taste buds! :)

Grilled Pork Shoulder
1-2 lbs boneless or bone-in pork shoulder (do not remove the fat!)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper

Mix seasonings in a small bowl then sprinkle on pork then rub spices into the meat with your hands. Let the meat set for a few minutes to absorb flavors. Heat grill to medium high, then add meat and grill until meat's internal temperature is about 160F. Use a meat thermometer to tell temperature. Let rest for a minute or 2 before cutting.

Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C vinegar
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Remove tough stems from kale then chop into 2 inch pieces. In a bowl or a zip lock bag, combine olive oil, vinegar and salt. Add kale and massage oil mixture into kale. Place on cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for about 20 minutes or until kale is crispy.

Sauteed Carrots and Kale
1T bacon grease or coconut oil
2-3 C sliced carrots
small bunch of kale
salt and pepper to taste

Slice carrots into disks and chop kale into 1 inch pieces. Heat bacon grease or coconut oil in a skillet. Saute carrots until they start to get caramelized. Add Kale, cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes until carrots are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Apple Crumble
1 1/2 C almond flour
3 tsp cinnamon divided
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C coconut oil
2 Tbs maple syrup or honey
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 apples, peeled, cored then chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 C unsweetened apple sauce (I just blended my apple peelings with water to make this)

Directions:
1. In one bowl combine flour, nutmeg, salt and 1 tsp of cinnamon. In another bowl combine oil, syrup/honey and vanilla. You may need to warm the coconut oil until it’s a liquid.
2. Stir wet ingredients into dry to make the topping.
3. Place apples in a 1-2 qt glass dish then sprinkle them with remaining cinnamon. Pour apple sauce on top of apples.
4. Crumble topping over apples.

5. Cover and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. When filling is bubbling up around crisp, remove cover and bake for another 5-8 minutes until crisp is golden.

Coconut Ice Cream
2 Cans full fat coconut milk
1/2 C Honey
2 T vanilla

Mix all ingredients then pour into an ice cream maker. Follow directions for your ice cream maker to harden the mix.

We used one of these camping ice cream maker contraptions to make ours. We put the kids to work, kicking the ball around before dinner. By the time it was meal time we had ice cream ready.

Apple Pancakes

With the abundance of apples on my tree this year I'm putting apples in everything! I've made apple sauce, dried apples, apple cake, baked whole cored apples, taken apples to Scout functions, taken apples to Lego League functions, put them in my kids lunch boxes and traded them for zucchini! This morning while making the usual Sunday morning pancakes I decided to put them in those as well. I altered the recipe a bit to make up for apple vs. banana, but they turned out really great...and I got to use up a few more apples.

Apple Pancakes
6 Eggs
1 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 T vanilla
3 t cocoa powder
2.5 C Almond Flour
1/2 C milk (almond, coconut, cow's)
2 C apples

Combine all ingredients in a blender, mixing until well blended. Add milk by the Tablespoon if needed to blend completely. Heat a griddle to 300F. Pour batter from blender onto griddle forming 4 inch pancakes (pancakes much bigger than that will be hard to flip). Add any mix-ins such as shredded coconut, dark chocolate chips, chopped nuts at this time. Once bubbles form in the batter then break and the edges look dry, flip pancakes. Serve warm with pure maple syrup and fruit or the toppings of your choice!

Apple Cake

I have a nice old apple tree in my front yard. It's huge and produces 4 different apple varieties. Now, when I say it's huge, I really mean it. The span of its branches is probably 20 to 25 feet across, and the top is taller than any of our ladders. On some years when the weather has been too hot or too cold at just the wrong time of year we've gotten a poor yield that gave us maybe 20 lbs of apples...This is't one of those years. Every day I can go outside and collect at least a couple dozen apples. Some are smaller and have apple scab, but luckily this year we're getting many "perfect" apples. They are a good size, have unblemished skins and not a bug in sight.



So, what do you do when you've got so many apples? Well, today I made a ton of apple sauce to freeze, put apples in the kids' lunches, and made an apple cake...then Hubby brought in another arm-full of newly fallen apples. Oh, well. I won't complain about having too much of any kind of food. I'll just do my best to preserve it to eat later.

Apple Cake
1 C Coconut flour
1 C Coconut oil - melted
2 C Almond Flour
2 T cinnamon - yes that's tablespoons
1 t ground clove or nutmeg (I used cloves)
1/2 t salt
1/2 C maple syrup - room temp
6 eggs - room temp and separated
4 C peeled, cored and diced apples

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and bring all ingredients to room temperature (this is crucial for getting these ingredients to mix). In a large bowl, combine coconut oil, coconut flour, spices, almond flour, egg yolks and maple syrup. This mixture will be somewhat stiff. Gently mix in the diced apples. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold egg whites into apple mixture.
Pour batter into an 8x8 pan or lined muffin tins. Bake for about 30-40 minutes for 8x8 and about 20 minutes for muffins. Make sure the middle of cake is somewhat firm to the touch.