No Bake Pumpkin Pie Filling, sugar free, dairy free, gluten free, paleo

So today in Alberta it's snowing cats and dogs. And when I say snowing, I mean the sideways snow that gets into everything. E v e r y t h i n g. 
SO, on that note of course someone is throwing a dinner party tonight and of course I am making the dessert!
Interesting enough they were asking for one of my recipes, and as soon as I mentioned "Well, I could always bring a pie.." They of course humbly accepted the offer and no longer needed my recipe. :)
On that note, I have had two very delicious sugar pumpkins hanging out in my kitchen for 2 weeks. Pumpkin is no doubt one of the easiest foods to cook.
Now usually I would show you how I baked the pumpkin before turning it into a pie but I will save that tutorial for another time. As it will mean lots of pictures, and I definitely need to bake more pumpkin anyways. 
So today I wanted a change of pace. Instead of making a pumpkin pie, I settled on tarts. Why? Because they look pretty, I wanted a change and there is like 10 people going so it's much easier to bring 10 tarts.
I wasn't certain how my pie crust recipe would hold up to a pumpkin pie tart. The only time I have used them as tarts is when I make butter tarts. And they inevitably hold together from all the butter and honey in the filling. But a wet pumpkin pie filling? Not too sure.
Now I L O V E pumpkin pie. It's just barely sweet, spicy and so simple. Oh wait except for the 2 hours of baking time. I loathe the 30min  of 425 degrees and the 1 hour of 350 degrees. But among that, I detest the burnt crust around the edge that no matter how many layers upon layers of tinfoil I apply, IT STILL BURNS.
SO. I was thinking a non bake pumpkin pie filling.  Of course you can do the pumpkin custard idea and mix the pumpkin puree with mascarpone cheese and dollop it into tarts.
I didn't want to do that of course, mostly because my husband being lactose intolerant it's not fun to substitute things. Plus I didn't feel like hiking in the snow just to go get some goat cheese.
So of course, my idea was to use Gelatin. That's right, animal hooves are in your pumpkin pie! Better than corn syrup, and refined sugar. Gelatin is natural as long as it is organic. If you are opposed to Gelatin, feel free to use Agar Agar powder (not the flakes).
For the "whip cream" topping. Well I usually substitute coconut whip cream and still make the traditional dairy whip cream. Today, I decided to put the hate on all the dairy eaters and just make one cream. Cashew, cream with vanilla and cinnamon. 
I figured since everyone can eat it instead of having all the substitutes I just made it simple and made one. 

No Bake Pumpkin Pie Filling- Paleo, Grain Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Yield 1 pie or 18 tarts

2 C Pumpkin Puree (plain no additives or spices)
1/2 C Honey, or agave nectar
2 tsp Real Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Vietnamese Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Dry Ginger
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/8 tsp All spice

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. 

In a small sauce pan 1 package of Gelatin over 1/2 C goat milk, coconut milk. Let stand 1 minute. Slowly bring the milk up to a simmer over medium heat and stir constantly until the gelatin is dissolved. About 3 minutes. Let cool slightly. 

Pour the milk and gelatin into the pumpkin puree and process again until smooth. 

Pour into pie or tart crusts and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

*CAUTION - do not make the filling ahead of time and place in the fridge as it will set in the container and you will have to reheat it to deactivate the Gelatin. If you want to make the filling ahead of time, Omit the milk and gelatin on only add it when ready.

Tart Crusts

I used my double pie crust for the tart crust recipe. I just changed the steps to create tarts.

Prepare the Pie crust dough in a large mixing bowl. Increase the coconut flour up to 1/2 C as needed until dough is sticky and not wet. 

Roll the dough out between two piece of parchment paper until 1/4 inch thick. Remove top layer of parchment. Using a 3-4inch circle cutter cut the dough and slowly lift up each circle with a spatula. 
Place the circle of dough over a well greased muffin tin. Slowly press the the dough down to the bottom of each muffin cup.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool for 3-5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Whipped Cinnamon Cashew Cream


2 C soaked raw Cashews
1/2 C coconut milk, water, or goat milk
1/2 C melted coconut oil
1/4 C Honey
4 tsp real vanilla extract
4 dashes of cinnamon



Soak the cashews in a bowl, covered with water over night or for 4 hours. Drain and rinse.
Place the soaked cashews in a blender with the milk or water and puree until very smooth. Add more liquid as necessary. (If you are using a food processor or less powerful blender it may take up to 10 minutes of blending to achieve a smooth texture. Otherwise, strain the cashew puree through a fine mesh sieve before continuing).
Add vanilla, honey, cinnamon, and puree. While blender is running, pour in the melted coconut oil in a steady stream until emulsified. If you have trouble getting the cashew cream to thicken, add coconut flour 1-2 tbs.

Refrigerate until firm and set. 1-3 hours.

Banana "Cream" Pudding - Gluten Free, Grain Free, Sugar Free

Yes it's me! I did survive the Holidays!
I had originally planned to add some great holiday recipes to the list, but then I got distracted, got behind with orders, got behind in making gifts, got behind in making baking, and just really got behind.. sigh.
So I decided to save myself the stress and not worry about it. It also greatly helped me to chuck the delicious food in the freezer to save me from myself and indulging. 
SOOOO.. here I was today, wanting something new, fresh, chilled and easy. I ran through a bunch of my favorite books and got some ideas and then I landed upon a page dear to my heart. Banana Cream Pie, oh how I love thee:) 

Well, I didn't feel like making a crust, or going fancy with the gelatin and so I thought how delicious would it be to have the scrumptious banana cream all on it's own? 
I discovered that it's called Banana Pudding on Google lol. But I didn't want to use starch or flour.
The traditional Banana Cream Pie (before the days of processed Cool Whip and JELLO Instant Pudding Powder), Was a classic custard made with flour egg yolks and sugar. You of course can find a ton of Gluten Free Banana Cream filling recipes. You can also find Primal ones with almond butter that bake into a gooey center. 
I just picked a couple different recipes out of my books (as I usually do) and I figured that I would either end up with a pudding or a cold soup. Either way, I would eat it and learn. 

This delicious pudding is made from bananas with only a splash of agave to help thicken and Coconut Butter as the primary thickening agent. I did use egg yolks, but unless you use a lot more of them and stir in the classic half a cup of flour, it's hard to get a thick pudding.
I used three bananas for the filling that were prviously frozen, that I just thawed and mashed. You will get a great result using fresh bananas as long as they are black and ripe. If not I would suggest using a sweetener to taste. I loved the rustic texture of my hand stirred pudding, if you want it to be whipped and smooth, throw it in a food processor before refrigerating. You can use this pudding as a banana cream pie filling. Pre bake your crust or use a no bake (such as in my cheesecake recipe) and chill the pudding. Once chilled, place in the pie shell and freeze. Just top with Coconut Whip cream and slice.

I found this pudding to be stupid good, like soo good on my way down the stairs to go order more bananas I had to refill my bowl. It's like a banana cream pie without the pie or a banana bread without the bread, or a banana pancake without the pancake. Pile on those walnuts and chow down on this delicious chilly goodness. 
You could make it fancy and throw in some chocolate chips!
MMMMMmmmmmm.

Banana Cream Pudding - Gluten Free, Grain free, Sugar Free

This is for my mom who tried to make banana cream pie with an avocado :)

Topping:
Place in a small glass bowl:

1 sliced banana 
2 t lime juice

Place in refrigerator.

Pudding:
 In a saucepan over medium heat: 

1.5 C Organic milk, cashew milk or coconut milk
2 organic egg yolks
2 t real vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Stir constantly until bubbly and starting to thicken. 

Pour in 3 T warm and soft coconut butter**

Whisk continuously until pudding is thick and no coconut butter remains. Pour into a glass bowl on the side. 

In the same sauce pan over medium heat:

3 mashed bananas
3 dashes of cinnamon
2 T butter or coconut oil
splash of real vanilla extract

Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes until banana is browned and heated through. Add the bananas to the custard and mix well together. For a smooth texture puree in a processor. For a chunky texture mix by hand.
Cover with plastic wrap. Place the plastic wrap all the way down into the bowl so it covers and sits on top of the top of the pudding. This will prevent a skin from forming. 
Chill in  the refrigerator for an hour or more until gelatinous.

Scoop into a bowl and place three chilled sliced bananas with lime juice on top, and sprinkle with chopped raw walnuts. 
Though the coconut butter was used I didn't taste in in the recipe so don't be afraid.

Delicious!!!!

** The coconut butter is used to thicken the pudding. If you don't have coconut butter, you could use cashew or almond butter. Using a nut butter though may change the taste and make it nutty. Otherwise you can sub in coconut flour or corn starch by the teaspoon until it's thick to your satisfaction. **

Using coconut butter to thicken is a great way without using starch or flour. It can be deceiving though as it will not start to show exactly how thick it is until the pudding cools. You will see an immediate thicken but it will become a pudding texture until after chilling versus a soup texture while it's hot.
If you use too much coconut butter you may end up with an ice cream texture you could eat frozen. yum!

Crisp Crumble Topping - Grain Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free

I found myself once again with a huge bag of fresh organic rhubarb ready to made into something delightful. 

I am not daring enough yet to try it as a soup or a stew. I have not come up with a recipe yet for a pie crust that follows the 17DD. 

The most recent one that I listed is my favorite and most up to date recipe so I am going to stick with that.

I suddenly was dreaming about the delicious strawberry rhubarb pie that I made a few weeks ago. The hot filling with cold vanilla cream is delicious!

I realized that I don't care if it's pie or not but the combination and the taste is what is the best. 

I had a thought that a crisp would be a good way to go. I knew I could figure out a way to make the topping without using anything I can't have. I was also glad not to have to make my kitchen all dirty making and rolling out pie crust. SO.. This is what I came up with.

A delicious crisp with a topping was crispy, golden brown, cinnamony and warm.

My only complaint is there will not be enough to last the week.

The best part about this topping is you could use it on absolutely any kind of crisp, or crumble you so desire. It will be a recipe that you can use as a substitute in any recipe needing a crumbly topping. I might actually get gutsy enough and try making it into a granola!

MMMmm I LOVE granola. Homemade granola is so good you could just shovel it in your mouth. But the oats always make it not very good for you if you shovel it in lol.

I also realized once trying it that it would work for a terrific substitute for graham cracker crumbs or a no bake graham cracker crust. 

First step, I made the topping. I wanted it to cool and dry out a tiny bit before adding it to the filling as I didn't want it to get soft.

6. Crumble Topping - grain free, gluten free, sugar free, low carb

In a large mixing bowl:

1/2 C blanched organic almond flour or ground almonds/nuts

1/2 C sliced blanched almonds or unsalted dry roasted pumpkin seeds

1/2 C sugar free vanilla/unsweetened whey powder

1/2 C xylitol with 1 t of organic mollases/breakfast syrup (for brown sugar taste)

                                                    or

           organic coconut palm sugar/ brown sugar sucralose blend

2 T cinnamon

In a separate bowl mix melted butter with vanilla and molasses(if using):

1/2 t vanilla powder or 1 t real vanilla extract

1/4 C plus 2 T melted butter or organic coconut oil/lard

Mix the dry ingredients and slowly stir in the melted butter stirring constantly until the mix begins to clump together and stick. It should look like coarse oat meal. If needed add more butter or coconut oil to until desired texture.

Set the bowl aside.

In order to make the filling 17DD compliant and starch and grain free you are going to have to use a fabulous alternative to traditional corn starch. Konjac powder. If you don't have this you can definitely substitute gelatin or regular tapioca starch.

I love how it's 0 calories, 0 carbohydrates and thickens 10 times stronger then corn starch. GREAT for diabetics or anyone wanting to avoid the regular high glycemic index of starches. 

This recipe usually needs 3 Tablespoons of flour or corn starch. I used 1 tsp on Konjac and I found it to be exactly right. 

The only trouble with Konjac I find is if you add more before it has completely thickened you can pretty much turn anything into jello. lol. Watch your gravy turn into a jello mold, (don't laugh it happened to me ok). 

Konjac powder is also used to make Noodle and "rice". Of course don;t expect them to be the same as traditional pasta but they hold together like a regular noodle and do the job. They just don't taste like anything, konjac is tasteless. I am really beginning to love these noodles. I see lasagna in the future! it's 17DD friendly!!!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling - sugar free, starch free

Feel free to reduce the sweetness to what suits you best. I like it slightly tart if you want it sweet add the full 2 C equal to of sugar.

In a large bowl toss together well:

3 C chopped organic rhubarb

2 C sliced organic strawberries

1 t konjac powder or 3 T tapioca/arrowroot/corn starch (not 17DD compliant)

Mix the konjac well with the fruit until it is evenly spread to reduce any clumping.

Stir in:

1 T real lemon juice

1/4 C egg whites or 1 organic egg

1 1/2 C xylitol, stevia  or sucralose (any sweetener equal to of sugar)

Mix well until filling become sticky and well combined. Pour half of the filling into a grased 9x9 square baking dish. Stir your topping and using your hands drop crumbles of half of the topping over the filling.

Add the rest of the filling over the topping. Crumble remaining topping over the filling.

Cover with tin foil and bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to 400 degrees and bake uncovered for 20 minutes until rhubarb is tender and the topping darkens and becomes crisp.

Meet me back here tomorrow for pancakes!!!!!!! :)

Chocolate Lava Cake - Sugar free, flour less

I always have trouble with my chocolate cravings following cycle 1. I like chocolate, but since we don't buy sweetened chocolate anymore it's really not good alone by itself.

I love chocolate desserts, but not just melted chocolate gobbed onto fruit.

So, I was searching through my delicious grain free cookbooks and found a great option for a chocolate Lava Cake.

One of my most favorite desserts when we would go out for dinner was chocolate lava cake or toffee pudding.

Nothing is really more delicious in my book.

Of course the trick right now is to avoid any kind of starches or grains or flour. So luckily I was able to figure out a recipe for lava cake without any kind of flour whatsoever. 

If you have ever made a flour less chocolate cake I am sure this is very similar. 

The addition of whey powder causes them to puff up and be more cakey then traditional flour less cake.

They are only partially baked so the inside is soft and warm still like lava. The best part was they fell after baking and left a delicious hole in the center just waiting to be filled with something creamy. If you eat them directly out of the oven they will still be puffed up like the picture above. Thats how they looked right out of the oven. After about 10 minutes they looked more like this.

<---------------------------------------------------

I had this thought of coffee ice cream that I usually order and I figured I would be able to get the same flavor out of whip cream without added sugar. 

Ice cream is not allowed on 17DD and neither is caramel sauce right now.

So coffee whip cream!

It turned out fluffy, creamy and coffee delicious. I hope you use this as a great recipe to fall upon on any kind of diet as they are significantly low in carbs and delicious. This brings me to recipe number 5 out of 17. I hope your having as much fun as I am.

5. Chocolate Lava Cake - Grain free, sugar free, flour less

In a mixer whip together until creamy:

3/4 C melted butter/coconut oil

3 organic eggs

1/4 C egg whites or 2 egg white

1/4 C heavy cream/cashew milk/coconut milk

Blend dry ingredients together:

1/2 C xylitol, date sugar, or date syrup (my recipe) (palm sugar or sucralose may be substituted)

1/4 C unsweetened whey powder

1 t baking soda

splash organic apple cider vinegar

Slowly scoop dry ingredients into mixer bowl while spinning. 

Once well combined slowly pour in chocolate so that it doesn't seize.

4 oz unsweetened bakers chocolate or 1/2 C melted

Slowly pour the chocolate in a steady stream into the batter and beat for 1 minute.

Grease 6 ramekins or 6 large muffin cups with coconut oil.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes at 400 degrees until the center is still moving when you shake the ramekin.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Dollop with coffee whip cream just before serving.

Coffee Whipped Cream - sugar free

1 C of whipping cream

2 T strong coffee

1 t real vanilla extract

1 t stevia

2 T fresh ground coffee

Whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in coffee, vanilla and stevia. Sprinkle coffee grounds and fold in.

Dollop whip cream into centers of each lava cake. Eat while warm. Sprinkle with more coffee if so desired.

Tiramisu - Gluten Free, Grain Free, Sugar Free

I am having a dinner party tomorrow. Or I should say we are. One of my friends is coming over with her husband. We go out for lunch every couple weeks and this time I thought it would be nice to invite them over.
Now of course they are glutenous but I tell her constantly about my battle with recipe making, finding supplies and my sucess. So it is no mystery that we are grain free compared to them. However dinner is actually one of the easiest meals to host with friends that eat wheat without having them notice the difference.
I planned out our menu today and this is what I cam up with.


Honey baked chicken (agave, garlic and lemon sauce)
Steamed peas with parsley
Potato salad with bacon

Tiramisu for dessert

Rochelle will be bringing a side dish as well to add to the menu. It should be delicious I can hardly wait.
So this morning I started working on the potato salad as it alwasy tastes loads better the next day. Today I will be focusing on my dessert but I am going to share my potato salad aswell just because it was to die for yummy.
I usually only make potato salad in the summer because then you can get the good tasty potatos that either you grew or someone gave to you. However with SPUD potatos are always organic and local so I thought I would buy a bag.
We only eat potatos on ocassion. I used 4 large potatos or 1lb. I didnt peel them as the peel was tender and thin and so good for you it's a total waste of time and vitamins. I also can't hesitate the importance of using non hydrogenated mayonaise. Use real mayonaise but with olive oil or organic expeller pressed canola oil.

I use Hellmans Olive Oil Mayonaise. It has no hydrogenated oils or chemicals in it. I have found it available at every grocery store so you should be able to find it without any problems.
For the bacon I use organic thick cut bacon. DID YOU KNOW, I have not found a bacon (until I shopped organic) that didnt have GLUTEN in it? Have you ever thought to read the ingredients on a bacon package? That's actually something I never thought of doing until one of my books mentioned smoked meats such as bacon and ham being hard to find without bad things in them.
You need to avoid things like "Maltodextrin" "Sodiumglutomate" "Smoke flavor" "Maple flavor" "fructose" "Glucose""Cane juice".
None of those are actually natural or good for you. If you made the bacon at home you would NOT use any of those things. YOu probably wouldnt even know where to buy them or what they are used for.
Most bacon is given a sodium nitrate injection or bath, then processed into a package with "smoke and maple flavor". If bacon has been smoked it does not need smoke flavor.
PS smoke flavor and "liquid smoke" (which is compltely natural) are NOT th same thing. Any "flavors" are completely synthetic. They are produced by a chemical called an esther which tells your brain it tastes like smoke. It has nothing to do with smoke whatsoever.
SO, when I noticed SPUD had bacon I bought a pack and divided it right away and froze it. YES it is alot more expensive by double. But it doesnt have crap in it, and it lasts months as I only use about 4 pieces for breakfast between us on a weekend sometime.
I will say, it tastes just as DELICIOUS as the fake bacon but it doesnt shrink whatsoever. It is the exact same size coming out as going in.
Here is how I made the salad:

Potato Salad - Gluten Free, Non Hydrognated

1lb organic yellow boiled potatos washed and diced
1 T diced fresh dill or parsley
3 stems of leafy celery hearts minced
4 organic thick bacon slices fried crisp
1 T white vinegar
1 T bacon grease
sea salt and pepper to taste
dash of paprika


5 hard boiled eggs sliced
1 C olive oil mayonaise
1 T deli mustard
1 T pickle juice
1 T organic 1% milk


Cool potatos in cold water till room temperature. Add first set of ingredients and toss in a bowl. Let stand for 1-2 hours.
Fold in boiled eggs and dressing. Refrigerate overnight.

So I got a new cook book when I went down on my road trip to the USA. For me a new recipe book is like CHIRSTMAS. I know how many recipe books do you actually need? The thing is, when it comes to Grain Free cooking there is so many different methods and techniques beyond almond flour that I feel it's important to learn them all. Also I will try about half of the recipes in each book and maybe only like about 3 of them ALOT. lol.
I am pretty picky as I want it to taste good and not dissapointing and dry and deliberatley missing something.
Last weekend we ate cake. I decided this weekend I have made enough cake the last few months to still linger in my brain. So I flipped to a page in my recipe book and came across Tiramisu.
I have had it in the past but never actually liked it. I recognized though that I never really liked any of the things that they made for me so I thought hey I am certain I am able to make it better.
Of course there is the struggle with the lady fingers and then sugar in this type of dessert.
I did some searching and came up with a coconut flour "ladyfinger". Traditionally there was a spongecake used in place of the lady fingers.

Vanilla Sponge Ladyfingers - Gluten free, Grain Free, Sugar Free

In a mixer beat on high until very stiff:
5 egg whites
1 t cream of tartar
1 T agave nectar


In a seperate bowl in mixer beat on high untill thick and creamy:
5 egg yolks
1 t vanilla extract
3 T agave nectar


Sift together and set aside:
1/2 C coconut flour
1/2 t baking soda
3 T arrowroot


Fold the egg yolk cream into the stiff egg whites very gently. Slowly sift in the flour mixture delicately bunches at a time folding continuously avoiding any clumping together.
Once blended completely and smooth, preheat oven and prepare pan.

Place parchment paper in a cookie sheet. Use a cookie cutter or a glass goblet (the one you will use for your serving dish so the biscuit will fit inside) and trace with a non toxic pencil 8 circle patterns.

Using a spoon spread the batter evenly among the circles staying inside the lines.
Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes.
Let cool completely.

I placed the batter into the circles in order to make them fit in the goblet. If you are making this in a flat pan then you could make long strips or squares to fit in your pan. You could also leave it as one large piece but it will be more difficult to soak.

Once the lady fingers are cooled completely start to soak them. Make 1/3 C strong coffee or espresso and let cool. Add 3 T Kahlua or amaretto or brandy and stir.
Set ladyfingers in the coffee mixture and flip over every few minutes.

Tiramisu - Gluten Free, Grain Free, Sugar Free

Beat together in a mixing bowl:
1 Cup whipping cream
3 T agave nectar
1 t vanilla
1 t Kahlua

Beat together in a mixing bowl:
1 C Mascarpone cheese
1 t Kahlua

Beat together in a mixing bowl:
1 C Creme Fraiche or just use 2 C Mascarpone total
1 t Kahlua

Fold the Creme Fraiche and the Mascarpone mixture one at a time into the whipped cream very delicately. Taste. If it's not quite sweet enough add some stevia.

Take one soaked ladyfinger. Place it in the bottom of your goblet Scoop 1 inch of custard over the lady finger. Dust with unsweetened cocoa powder. Drop another lady finger, scoop 1 inch of custard over the lady finger and dust with unsweetened cocoa powder. Cut some dark chocolate curls and top.

Place in the refrigerator overnight or in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours until set and well chilled.
This of course can be made in a flat 9x13 pan. I didnt have a gorgeous triffle pan to delicatley layer and place on my counter top to admire. I had these lovely goblets from my bridal shower that I thought would be perfect. They turned out well.

I had just enough tiramisu left over to try it and it's quite lovely silky and light. It's between a mousse and a cheesecake. All that is missing I just need a leaf of green mint now to make them pretty. lol.