Remember when I asked you guys if you wanted a Valentine's treat or easy dinner ideas and you said "EASY DINNER IDEAS!" and then I posted some gorgeous beet brownie bowls which would have been perfect for Valentine's Day, but I didn't even get the post up until AFTER Valentine's Day?

*facepalm*

Clearly I've been a little distracted lately (Sourdough! Instant Pot yogurt! Surprise Valentine's Breakfast!) and super busy helping Steve figure out our new office (Chiropractic software training! Office furniture! Facebook ads! Branded pens that actually work!)

In my defense, I photographed a REALLY great dinner recipe the same day as these bowls, but for some reason I just wasn't happy with the photos. And I felt like the recipe needed a little tweaking. It's coming soon, though, I promise. And HINT: It's a sheet pan dinner. I love those.

And so do you, I think.

In the meantime, let's talk about these purple brownies and this gorgeous book by Julia Mueller over at The Roasted Root -- Paleo Power Bowls. This is Julia's third cookbook, and I think this one might be my favorite. I mean, look at that cover. STUNNING, no? All of the photography in her book is like this. I love it.

Throwing stuff into bowls and calling it a meal is one of my favorite things. I'm SO looking forward to getting some great ideas and recipes from Julia because she's the vegetable whisperer. Truly.

I made a big ol' list as I was flipping through Julia's book -- including Beef Massaman Curry, Za'atar Chicken Salad, Fall Harvest Salad with Maple Cinnamon Poppy Seed Cider Vinaigrette (!), and Slow Cooker Chicken, Kale, & Artichoke Soup.

Julia is very fond of beets (Understatement. The girl has a beet tattoo!), so I decided to try out her Superfood Beet Brownie Bowls and share the recipe with you.

I like beets. Sort of. Mostly in Borscht. Sometimes roasted. Sometimes I add a few spoonfuls of beet puree to make pancakes and waffles pink for my girls.

Julia makes me want to eat more beets. Especially in brownie form.

Did I tell you beet is my favorite color? That rich, bold purpley-pink makes my heart flutter. And it amazes me, STILL, that a color like that can be found in nature.

I mean, look at the parchment around these beet brownies. These aren't regular brownies with a couple spoonfuls of beet as a token healthy ingredient. There are a lot of beets in there. The batter is even purple and you whip it up in the blender!

My kids walked in as I was blending it and they thought I was making a smoothie.

The best thing is that they don't even taste like beets. (Face it, beets do taste like dirt sometimes. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this.)

Gorgeous, right? Especially with the chia seed pudding. Have you ever eaten chia pudding? It's super easy to make and most of my kids like it. The texture is sort of interesting and might not be your thing -- blending it at the very end makes it smoother, if that helps.

My 3-year-old calls it "cheetah pudding" which I think is the cutest thing ever. I think we'll call it that forever. Along with "Valentime's".

Even though Valentine's Day has passed, these bowls can still be a part of your life. Like on a Tuesday the week after Valentine's Day.

And go grab a copy of Paleo Power Bowls!

Superfood Beet Brownie Bowls

Yield: Makes about 6-8 bowls

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

These bowls are filled with superfoods like chia seed pudding, beet brownies (so good, guys), walnuts, blueberries, and dark chocolate. Make them for a healthier dessert or prep them the night before for a special breakfast.

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Ingredients

For the Brownies:

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• 3 small beets, cooked (see note)
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup creamy almond utter
• ½ cup coconut sugar (see note)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 Tablespoons raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
• 3 Tablespoons coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ⅔ cup vegan dark chocolate chips (or other 70% dark chocolate, chopped)

For serving:

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• Chia Seed Pudding (see note for recipe)
• Fresh blueberries
• Raw walnuts, chopped
• Hemp seeds & chia seeds (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and line an 8"x 8" square baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Add all ingredients for the brownies except the dark chocolate chips to a blender or food processor. Blend until well-combined. Note: you may need to stop the blender a couple of times to scrape the sides down. The batter will be thick.
3. Fold the dark chocolate chips into the batter, reserving some for sprinkling on top. Transfer brownie batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle with any remaining dark chocolate chips.
4. Bake on center rack of the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until brownies are firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow brownies to cool at least 30 minutes before cutting
5. Assemble the bowls by adding the desired amount of chia seed pudding, blueberries, and chopped walnuts to small dessert bowls. Stick a beet brownie on top and sprinkle with hemp seeds and chia seeds, if using.

Notes

About the beets: I cooked the beets in my Instant Pot by peeling and quartering them and cooking them on high pressure for 15 minutes (on the wire rack with a cup of water in the pot). I used a quick steam release to get them out, then I chopped them up. You can also chop them into 2-inch pieces and roast them on a foil-lined pan in a 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes. (Yes, beets take that long.) Either way you should have about 2 cups of loosely packed chopped beets. You could also substitute 1 ½ cups pumpkin or sweet potato puree and replace the almond butter with ⅓ cup of melted coconut oil.

About the sweetener: I used Lakanto golden monkfruit sweetener to lower the carbs. You could use any granulated sweetener here.

About the Chia Seed Pudding: To make the pudding, pour into a sealable jar (like a quart mason jar):  2 ½ cups unsweetened almond or coconut milk, 3 Tablespoons maple syrup (or other sweetener), ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch of sea salt, and ⅔ cup chia seeds. Seal the jar and shake vigorously until well-combined. Chill overnight or for at least 4 hours. You may have to whisk or shake it again to get rid of the large clumps before serving. Makes about 3 cups of pudding.

The post Superfood Beet Brownie Bowls appeared first on Perry's Plate.

I can't tell you how excited I am about these paleo cookies. AND the cookbook it came from. Normally I'm not a huge fan of paleo chocolate chip cookies because the texture is usually way off, which makes me sad -- particularly because chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.

This recipe is super, though -- a little goo on the inside with slightly crisp edges. And if cake-y cookies are what you like better, just leave them in the oven for a couple extra minutes.

AND if you're looking for low carb cookies, these are REALLY easy to adapt to be low carb. I even put the macros in the comment section of the recipe.

Before I dive into that recipe, I wanted to show you Michelle Smith's new cookbook, The Whole Smiths Good Food Cookbook. Do you follow Michelle's site, The Whole Smiths? Well, you should. Especially her Instagram account because she's funny and relatable and so down to earth.

I've known Michelle online for a long time, and she's one of my favorite people to follow. It was super fun to meet her in person when I went to the natural foods expo in L.A. last year. I could have chatted with her all night. #girlcrush

Her book is endorsed by Whole30, but not all of the recipes in the book are compliant -- it's designed to be a resource to take you through the Whole30 program and through the reintroduction phase afterward, along with clean recipes to use no matter what phase you're in.

Michelle shared these Chipotle-Lime Butternut Fries a while back and converted me to the butternut zig-zags at Trader Joe's.

(Have you had them? So, so good.)

This Roasted Eggplant Bake has my name allllll over it. It's grain-free, but with a gooey cheese topping. (That basically sums up my diet.)

I should show you the to-do list I've made from this book!

Not now, though. We've got to get talking about these soft and chewy cookies.

These cookies are so easy to make. And I like that it only makes a dozen. I used to roll my eyes at small batch baking because it just wasn't practical unless you had less than three people in your house.

Now I realize that a dozen cookies is perfect. One thing I've learned about myself is that my thoughts on how many cookies I eat is mainly about the dent I leave in the pile. If there are 3 dozen cookies, I could easily eat 6-7 in a day and no one would notice.

(I realize that I should be more focused on how I feel afterward and my health goals, but I haven't evolved that far yet when it comes to cookies.)

If there are only a dozen cookies with six people in the house, welllllll.....it keeps me from eating six. And I don't have to deal with multiple batches, so they all bake up on one pan.

I love that Michelle gave me another reason to pull out my Maldon sea salt flakes.

If I haven't convinced you to buy a box, then maybe this recipe will do it. You can also use it as a finishing salt for steaks or in Homemade Everything Bagel Seasoning or the Keto Chocolate Tahini Fat Bombs I posted recently. Or a million other ways. I love how delicate and light they are -- it's not like putting rock salt on your baked goods.

The recipes in the photo are actually a low-carb keto friendly version (see recipe notes!). I swapped out the coconut sugar for granulated erythritol and used a 70% cacao Lily's Stevia-Sweetened Dark Chocolate Bar.

These came out to be just 3.1g net carbs per cookie. (As opposed to 11g per cookie using coconut sugar + Lily's chocolate.) You can find the rest of the nutrition info for the low-carb version in the recipe notes.

They also have the usual ingredients for a paleo or keto cookie recipe -- almond flour (or almond meal), coconut flour. And vanilla extract baking soda and salt, of course. If you're not eating low carb or following a keto diet, you could use a natural sweetener. Don't use a liquid sweetener like honey or maple syrup, though, or the texture will be way off.

One note, though. There IS butter in this. Some paleo peeps eat butter. Some don't. I haven't tried it with coconut oil, so I can't guarantee a good outcome. But if you need them to be dairy free, you could try palm shortening, which tends to act more like butter than coconut oil in recipes. 

Maybe peanut butter, too? I'm totally curious about a peanut butter version now that we're talking about making tweaks.

This is such a great recipe, guys. I can see all kinds of 

Give these a try and let me know what you think! Also, grab a copy of The Whole Smiths Good Food Cookbook. You'll love it.

If you're looking for more chocolate chip cookie-like treats, try these recipes, too!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabars -- Definitely not low carb, but they're only sweetened with dates and a little stevia if you use Lily's chocolate chips.

Paleo Cookie Dough Bites -- You don't even need to bake these! They're a fun little take on raw cookie dough -- without the eggs.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Fudge Bars -- Remember those oat cookie bars swirled with fudge? I made a grain-free, gluten free version that's naturally sweetened!

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

Yield: 12 cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

These are the best grain free or paleo chocolate chip cookies I've ever had! You can easily make them low-carb by following the adaptation in the notes below.

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Ingredients

Toggle ingredient group

• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea salt
• 5 tablespoons grass-fed butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup + 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup dark chocolate chunks
• A few pinches of sea salt flakes, for sprinkling (I highly recommend Maldon)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, combine the almond, coconut, and tapioca flours. Add the baking soda and pinch of salt. Whisk well.
3. In a separate medium sized bowl, beat the butter until softened and pale yellow with an electric mixer or a stand mixture fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sweetener and beat for about a minute longer.
4. Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula, mixing until well combined. Add the egg and mix thoroughly until a dough forms.
5. Stir in the chocolate chunks until just combined.
6. Spoon the dough onto the prepared baking sheet in 1 ½-2 tablespoonful mounds leaving a couple inches of space between each cookie. You should have 12 cookies.
7. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the baking sheet from the oven. If the cookies haven't flattened much, press the centers gently with a fork, then sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Return the cookies to the oven to cook for 3-5 more minutes until the edges of the cookies have turned golden brown.
8. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool a bit longer.

Notes

Nat's Notes:

1. Low-Carb/Keto adaptation: Use granulated erythritol or xylitol sweetener in place of the coconut sugar and use low-carb chocolate chips or chunks. I chopped an entire Lily's 70% chocolate bar, and it was a perfect amount. Nutritional info for low-carb option using erythritol + Lily's 2.8oz 70% bar: (1 cookie) 3.1g net carbs | 119 calories | 2.8g protein | 10.9g fat

2. The original recipe also called for 1 tablespoon of unsweetened almond milk, but after making it twice with the milk I found that they spread a lot more in the pan and were pretty gooey. Not a bad thing at all, but they didn't look like the ones in the cookbook or in this post. If I made them again, I'd add 2 teaspoons of almond milk.

3. If you need these to be completely dairy-free, replace the butter with palm shortening or half palm shortening/half coconut oil.

Disclosure: This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. Purchases made by using these links don’t cost you any extra and helps to keep my content free.

The post Best Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt + Low Carb Cookies appeared first on Perry's Plate.

Yeah, I know. The fifth chai recipe in just a few weeks. What can I say? I’m obsessed! When I made these paleo gingerbread waffles using my Homemade Chai Spice Blend, I was surprised how close it came to traditional gingerbread spices! You still get that familiar taste of ginger, cloves, and cinnamon with a little bit of something extra — that you can’t put your finger on, but you love it.

My 5-year-old was home from school that day so I put her to work. I can’t believe how lanky she’s getting. Those arms, man. And it still surprises me how fair she is since I’m rather dark and my husband is a quarter Mexican with jet black hair and olive skin — the only blonde-haired, blue-eyed member of our family. Our little ball of recessive genes.

OK, don’t hate me for this, but splitting the eggs and whipping the egg whites separately is really the best option for waffles. If you REALLY don’t want to do it, you can just put them in whole, but I feel like the waffles are floppier that way and don’t have as much fluff.

Also, I can usually get an extra waffle or two out of the batch because whipped egg whites creates more volume in the batter.

I swear, I’ve been making waffles for most of my life and almost every batch will have at least one waffle that spills out the sides. *facepalm*

I don’t know why I keep overestimating my waffle iron’s capacity. We were gifted a Belgian waffle iron when we got married that lasted about a decade. When it died I replaced it with a traditional waffle iron. (this Cuisinart waffle iron which is inexpensive and gets the job done. I would love to spring for this double Belgian waffle iron, but…. storage space.)

It took me a while to get used to putting half as much batter in my new iron. Overfills ALL. THE. TIME. And a few years later I’m still doing it. Can anyone relate or am I just destined to have a crusty waffle iron my whole life?

Want to know a secret? Don't stack your waffles. It'll make them soggy faster.

Put them on a wire rack on a cookie sheet, and try not to overlap them too much. Then put them in your oven on the warming setting. It'll keep some of that fresh-from-the-iron crispness.

No, this isn't leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. (Our leftovers went the way of Paleo Orange Cranberry Bars. Twice.)

I actually bought more cranberries (At Costco. *Facepalm* Triple batch it is!) to make some paleo Wassailed Cranberry Sauce so I could put it on these waffles. It was a round about way of getting what I wanted, but it was worth it!

And now I have over a quart of extra cranberry sauce for something else. But if we're being honest here, it'll probably end up on a couple more batches of these paleo gingerbread waffles.

I mixed the cranberry sauce with some whipped coconut cream to make a creamy sweet-tart topping for my waffles. If you can handle some dairy, I highly recommend using real whipped cream.

A sprinkle of pomegranate arils was the perfect touch!

These waffles are on the sweet side because I was anticipating a more tart topping. If you decide to serve them with something sweeter you can hold back on the sweetener in the waffle batter.

Or not. #Christmastime

Chai Paleo Gingerbread Waffles with Pomegranate & Cranberry Cream

Yield: Makes 6 round waffles

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

These aren't ordinary paleo gingerbread waffles -- chai spice gives them a familiar flavor with a hint of something interesting. And cranberry cream? *Swoon*

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Ingredients

Toggle ingredient group

• 1 cup tapioca flour
• ½ cup blanched almond flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 1 Tablespoon Homemade Chai Spice Blend
• 6 Tablespoons coconut sugar or preferred dry sweetener
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ⅓ cup molasses
• ½ cup melted coconut oil
• 1 cup prepared cranberry sauce
• 1 cup coconut cream, whipped (see note)
• Arils from 1 large pomegranate

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, chai spice, coconut sugar, baking soda, and salt.
2. Separate the eggs, putting the yolks into the bowl with the dry mixture and the whites in a separate, smaller bowl. (Don't mix in the yolks quite yet.)
3. To that bowl, add 3 eggs, applesauce, molasses, almond flour, and coconut oil. Mix it together only after you have added all of the wet ingredients.
4. Whip the egg whites using an electric hand mixer until soft peaks form.
5. Add the whites to the batter and GENTLY fold them in using a rubber spatula, scraping from the bottom and folding the batter over. The batter will be fluffy and aerated when you're done.
6. Cook the waffles in a heated waffle iron sprayed with non-stick spray (I like coconut oil spray) according to the manufacturer's directions.
7. Clean off your beaters and then use your hand mixer again to whip the coconut cream, if it's hard. Beat until it's smooth and soft. Stir in the cranberry sauce and set it aside until ready to use.
8. Serve the waffles with a dollop of cranberry cream and a sprinkle of pomegranate arils.

Notes

Nat's Notes:

1. You can find canned coconut cream in some grocery stores or online. If you have trouble finding it, you can use the separated cream from 2-3 cans of chilled coconut milk.

2. If you put the cranberry cream in the fridge for a while before eating it will harden again. I recommend just letting it sit out if you plan on eating soon. Or prepping it immediately before eating.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Purchases made by using these links doesn’t cost you any extra and helps to keep my content free.

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The post Chai Paleo Gingerbread Waffles with Pomegranate & Cranberry Cream appeared first on Perry's Plate.

We eat a lot of pancakes around here. I'm always dying to play around with flavor combinations and make them more exciting, but my kids don't dig that. They like plain old pancakes with a little jam or fruit on top. Sometimes I beg them to let me put cinnamon in the batter, and sometimes they'll agree to it.

They're purists. What can I say?

Well, the other night I just did my own thing and told them I was going to "surprise" them with new pancakes. They looked at me suspiciously and went back to what they were doing.

Phew. Crisis averted. I just hoped they would turn out well because I don't make dinner twice.

Ya. We eat pancakes for dinner occasionally. I love brinner.

You know what else I love? When someone offers to send me something that I already use and love. Nielsen-Massey sent me this fun little kit of extracts and vanilla bean paste. I was already a huge fan of the vanilla bean paste, so I happily obliged.

I may have also done a happy dance.

That same week I noticed Meyer lemons were still at Costco, and I hadn't had my fix this season. Have you ever had Meyer lemons? They're a cross between a lemon and a mandarin so they're really tart, but have a warm, orange-y sweetness to them. They're heavenly.

I remembered some Blackberry Lemonade Ice Cream I made a while back with Meyer lemons that ended up tasting more like a dreamsicle than lemonade and suddenly I was craving something "dreamsicle" flavored.

I experimented a bit and ended up loving these. Since they were for dinner (and we rarely have pancakes leftover), I needed to take a photo, stat.

Thing is... my little blond shadow saw me setting up and made a beeline for the table.

I frantically started snapping photos knowing it was only a matter of seconds before a couple of little fingers would tear chunks out of those pancakes.

I told her not to touch it and know what? She had a surprising amount of restraint.

Yes, dear. Pancakes. I'm just as thrilled as you are.

And then it was over.

These were a huge hit with my picky little pancake eaters. I thought the clementine compote MADE these, but my kids didn't like it. They happily gobbled them up with a little honey on top.

*sigh*

If you've got pears in your fruit bowl, too, try these Gluten Free Buckwheat Pear Pancakes from Fearless Dining!

Paleo Dreamsicle Pancakes with Clementine-Vanilla Bean Compote

Yield: Makes about 20-22 pancakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

These paleo dreamsicle pancakes are laced with the sweet lemony-orange flavor of Meyer lemons and vanilla beans. It's like having a dreamsicle for breakfast!

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Ingredients

For the pancakes

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• 2 cups blanched almond flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
• 3 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk or plan full-fat yogurt
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• Vanilla stevia, to taste (I used ⅔ a dropper.)
• coconut oil, for frying pancakes

For the compote

Toggle ingredient group

• 6 clementines, peeled and diced
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla stevia
• Raw honey, for serving

Instructions

1. Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and the zest from all three lemons in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, applesauce, juice from TWO of the lemons, and 1 Tablespoon of the vanilla bean paste.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir to combine.
4. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and brush some coconut oil on the surface. I use a ¼ cup measuring cup to grab a dollops of pancake batter, place them on the pan, and spread them out a bit. The batter will be thicker than traditional pancake batter, so they need a little help spreading. For best results, cover the pan to allow pancakes to steam while they cook.
5. Cook until the edges look dry and the pancakes are golden brown. Flip and cook on the other side. Keep warm while you continue to cook in batches.
6. To make the compote, combine the clementine pieces, 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, and the juice from the remaining lemon in a small bowl.
7. Serve the compote over the pancakes and drizzle with honey.

Notes

Nat's Notes:

1. If you don't have vanilla bean paste, you can use 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in the batter and ¼ teaspoon in the compote.
2. If you can't find Meyer lemons, substitute one lemon and two clementines (juice and zest).

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The post Paleo Dreamsicle Pancakes appeared first on Perry's Plate.