Apple Honey Upside-Down Cake

Dairy free, paleo apple honey upside-down cake is perfect for cool fall days.

Subtly spiced and not too sweet, it's great for breakfast or dessert!

The tradition of dipping apples in honey to celebrate Rosh Hashanah inspired me to bake this apple honey upside-down cake. Apples and honey represent the double dose of sweetness that's hoped for in the year ahead. I didn't get this post ready in time to share before the holiday, but this cake is an ideal dessert for anytime in the fall. Whether or not you celebrate Rosh Hashanah, everyone can use a little extra hint of sweetness as the air turns crisp and the nights begin to fall sooner.

I based this recipe on my lemon olive oil cake, which is a dessert I've made again and again for all sorts of occasions. This apple honey upside-down cake is the perfect fall twist on my go-to cake.

To make this cake, I poured copious amounts of honey into the bottom of a parchment-lined pan, and then arranged apple slices on top. Since the apples and honey are so sweet, I only used a tiny bit of sweetener in the cake batter itself, and included a few hints of savory flavors to balance things out. Using extra virgin olive oil instead of butter makes the cake dairy free and provides a complexity that keeps the cake from being pure, unadulterated sweetness. And ginger and cardamom, spices that play on both the sweet and savory teams, are a welcome change from the usual cinnamon.

Caramelized Salmon with Basil Chile Oil and Pickled Vegetables #30MinuteMondays

Broiled salmon, basil chile oil, and quick-pickled summer vegetables

 team up for a fast and fresh paleo dinner with tons of flavor.

As a recent salmon convert, I'm still a little bit surprised every time I bite into a piece of salmon and find that it's totally delicious. 

For so long the strange pink hue of salmon turned me off, but now I can't get enough. My favorite way to prepare salmon is under the broiler, where it cooks in less than ten minutes flat. I love how the top of the fish gets nicely browned and even a little bit crispy (especially here, with the help of a sprinkling of maple sugar) while the inside remains perfectly tender. This caramelized salmon is inspired by a recipe from Lindsay of Pinch of Yum and it's SO good.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Creamy Sesame Slaw #30MinuteMondays

Quick and easy grilled shrimp skewers, creamy sesame slaw, and ripe avocado get together to form the perfect paleo summertime meal.

I know it's been quiet on the blog this past week, but I'm back with another delicious and fast recipe for 30 Minute Mondays! You can grill or broil these shrimp skewers, and the vegetables don't need cooking. That means if you grill outdoors, you can avoid heating up your kitchen and still end up with a delicious and balanced meal. That's what summer is all about, right?

My fiancé and I have been down in Chattanooga for the past few days, checking out jobs, houses, and apartments. Even though I grew up in Boston, I've always felt like I'm a Southern girl at heart due to my mom's Texas roots and all the time I've spent down there, so I'm really excited that we're moving to Tennessee next month. I'm almost done with graduate school, and after we move I'll get to start my job as a speech-language pathologist working with kids of all ages (and of course, blogging in the evenings and on weekends). I can't wait!

Rainbow Salad with Grilled Chicken and Raspberry Walnut Dressing #30MinuteMondays

All the colors of the rainbow are represented in this quick paleo salad with a creamy, dairy-free raspberry walnut dressing.

I've been wanting to make a rainbow salad for a while now, but this seemed like an especially opportune moment. Summer produce is everywhere in all its resplendent hues, and more Americans are able to get married than ever before. Let's celebrate with this salad!

This healthy salad has pretty much all the colors of the rainbow (if you kind of merge indigo and violet together) plus pink. Pink is my favorite color and it's not really fair that it's not a part of the official rainbow, so I made sure it was included by making a nice pink dressing. Despite how creamy it looks, the dressing is dairy-free--the creaminess comes from the walnuts and shallots, and the color is thanks to the raspberries. It's inspired by the creamy shallot dressing from my pan-seared chicken, orange, and walnut salad, but this one's even better because it's pink.

Cashew Chia Cacao Nib Pudding

This cashew chia cacao nib pudding is paleo, gluten-free, and easily made vegan. It's also a snap to make and surprisingly satisfying!

Happy fourth of July weekend! I made you a healthy dessert packed with superfoods: chia seeds, cacao nibs, honey, and cashews. Well, I am not totally sure that honey and cashews are superfoods, but they're not bad, right? I think this pudding would be a welcome change on a weekend when desserts are often pumped full of artificial colors and flavors. (Although, if you do need something naturally red, white, and blue, may I suggest my pico de gallo de frutas? Just use blueberries instead of kiwis.)

Since this pudding is a make-ahead dessert, it's perfect for having guests over. While you're out grilling lamb burgers and mixing drinks (agua fresca, perhaps?) these perfectly-sized treats will just be gelling in the fridge.

This was my first time using chia seeds and cacao nibs, and I loved them both. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the cacao nibs since they're unsweetened chocolate, but while I wouldn't necessarily eat a handful plain, they were perfect in this pudding. Some of the cacao nibs are blended with the cashew and chia base to deepen the chocolate flavors of the entire pudding, and some are sprinkled whole on top. This gives each bite of cashew chia pudding this craveworthy chocolatey crunch. It's so good!

Roasted Shrimp and Asparagus with Green Goddess Dressing #30MinuteMondays

Succulent roasted shrimp and asparagus are served with a tangy garlic scape green goddess dressing for an easy, 30-minute paleo dinner that's also Whole30-compliant.

I'm kind of mad at myself because I missed the boat on ramps this year. At the photography workshop I went to in May we ate them at almost every meal (there's a picture of them in this post), and when I got home I vowed to track some down so I could cook with them myself for the first time. However, I'm a lazy late-evening grocery shopper and there were never any ramps left. Before long, their short season had ended.

You'll be relieved to hear that I am NOT missing out on garlic scapes.

While ramps are their own kind of plant and are usually foraged wild (hence their limited availability), garlic scapes are the flowering stalks of garlic plants that farmers cut off so the plant's energy can be fully devoted to the bulb forming below. Garlic scapes are cool looking (see evidence above) and I like their name: it sounds like they've been trying to escape from the head of garlic, which is pretty much what they actually do.

Garlic scapes are milder than regular garlic with some fresher, grassier notes to their flavor--kind of like a cross between garlic, scallions, and chives. Here I used them to make a green goddess dressing with some fresh herbs and Primal Kitchen's avocado oil mayo, which I just tried for the first time. I'm not a mayo person at all so I don't foresee myself ever eating it straight up, but once some other flavors are mixed in to create a dressing or aioli, I can usually hop on board. (If you haven't seen garlic scapes at your local market, don't worry. You can substitute scallions and a clove of regular old garlic.)

Breakfast Casserole with Bacon, Sausage, Sweet Potato, and Kale

When I make a recipe, I always expect it to turn out great. Of course, sometimes it doesn't, but if I weren't expecting delicious results, why would I bother making the recipe at all?

On the other hand, sometimes there's a qualifier. I might say to myself, "These cookies will be great--for sugar-free cookies." Or in this case, "This will be wonderful--for a dairy-free breakfast casserole."

You may have already guessed that this recipe blew that qualifier right out of the water (especially since only recipes that are amazing without qualifiers end up on the blog at all!). This breakfast casserole is so delectable that I do not think anyone will notice or care that it's dairy free.

I found this recipe over at Susan's blog, Food.Baby.Life, which was my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal. Susan is a busy mom of three boys under age five, and still finds time to study, cook, and share delicious recipes on her blog! I, for one, am very impressed. Susan's recipe index includes a huge selection of allergy-friendly baked goods along with lots of family-friendly main dishes like this one.

Spiced Honey & Corn Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream (Gluten free, Paleo)

I wanted to make a fabulous end-of-summer, beginning-of-fall cupcake, and here it is!  These have corn kernels baked right in, and a batter laced with fall spices.  The frosting is my favorite part: butter and coconut cream are delicious together, with a little honey and maple sugar for sweetness.  I tested the frosting with and without butter, and it's great both ways.

Some people don't include corn in their paleo diet, so feel free to leave it out.  If you wanted to substitute something else, I bet these would also be delicious with little chunks of apple instead.  Let me know if you try it!

Oh, and do you love these parchment cupcake cups as much as I do?  I got the idea from this post on Alexandra's Kitchen.  They take a few minutes to make, but I love their rustic look.  The BEST part is that NONE of the cake crumbs stick to the paper!  And, the cup unfolds into a nice little placemat to put your cupcake on between bites.  You can also use parchment to line a loaf pan if you are making banana bread or something like that, and you don't even need to grease it.

Cherry Blondies & Homemade Almond Butter (Paleo, Gluten free)

These are so good!  Elana of Elana's Pantry is a total genius, because she figured out that almond butter, eggs, and honey will magically bake up into BLONDIES.  Yes!  Fudgy, delicious blondies.  When you read the recipe, you'll think there must be a mistake.  I am here to tell you there isn't!  Almonds prove themselves here once again as a miracle food.  I promise you will love these.  You don't even have to add cherries; you can just make them without for regular blondies.  And don't worry about the almond extract.  I was trying to play up the almond flavor a little, but it didn't really come through.  So you could leave it out, leave it in, or even try a full teaspoon if you want that little hint of marzipan flavor.

Brownie Batter Truffles (Gluten free, Paleo)

Yesterday I wanted brownies, but the thought of waiting for them to bake and then cool was disagreeable.  I thought about making brownie batter truffles instead.  Since there's no egg in this recipe, you can taste as you're making it and adjust the sweetness as desired.  If you're in a really big hurry, you can skip melting the chocolate and roll these in cocoa powder or shredded coconut.  You can get your brownie fix on pretty fast.

Crepes with Cherry Orange Syrup (Paleo, Gluten free)

On weekend mornings, I like to start the day with something a little bit special.  Eggs are great, but what I really want on a lazy Saturday morning is something sweet.  As you may have noticed, I have already made lots of paleo and gluten free pancakes.  So, I decided to give gluten free crepes a try.

Orange Ginger Chicken Thighs & Yu Hsiang Eggplant

Chicken thighs are my new favorite dinner.  They are easy to make, not very expensive, and very hard to overcook.  Since I'm paranoid about undercooking chicken, I like a cut that can stand up to my tendency to cook things a little bit too long.  Chicken thighs are also delicious, and the perfect size--not huge and dry like chicken breasts often are.

Figs & Pancetta

This simple appetizer is an amazing way to showcase some delicious figs.  I'd been wanting to wrap figs in prosciutto for a while now, but accidentally got slices of pancetta instead.  I think in my mind I'd filed them as being the same thing.  I did a little research and it seems like pancetta is thicker and less pliable, and cured with more spices than prosciutto.  You can use either one here--prosciutto would probably be easier to wrap around the figs, and you might not even need the toothpicks.

Banana Pecan Pancakes

More pancakes!  In case you missed it, I've already made three kinds: pancakes with blueberry compote, strawberry banana pancakes, and blueberry pancakes with a secret ingredient.  So, there's been no shortage of pancakes around here--but you can never have too many pancakes, right?

Banana Blueberry Muffins

I have been on a quest to make delicious paleo & gluten-free muffins, because I can't have eggs for breakfast every single day.  This is the third time I've tried, and I finally have what I want: a moist, sweet muffin with a beautiful domed top that is bursting with blueberries in every bite.  Best of all, these muffins taste like the real thing, not a gluten-free imitation.

Indochinese Chilli Chicken with Cauliflower Fried Rice

I LOVE Indian food.  Luckily for me, my mom's apartment is just blocks from Singh's Cafe, which has a fabulous lunch buffet every day of the week.  I go more than anyone should go anywhere, but I just love it so much.  One of the best parts of going to lunch buffet is that there is no waiting: you show up, you sit down (or not), and you go get your food!  I also love it because you can try some of everything.

Make Your Own Almond Milk

Do you drink coffee?  How do you take yours?  Have you ever had to switch the way you make your morning coffee?

Spicy Cocoa Chili

If you are going to eat paleo, you are going to need a lot of protein in your fridge.  Otherwise, you will be constantly cranky.

Cherry (Chocolate) Almond No-Churn Ice Cream

I am SO excited about this post.  This ice cream is ridiculously good, ridiculously healthy, and ridiculously simple, and I have made it three times since I invented it two days ago.  There are five ingredients, and you don't need an ice cream maker.  There are also NO sweeteners.  This is the stuff dreams are made of.  Well, my kind-of cheating whole30 dreams, at least.

Carnitas con huevo

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  I like to start with a hearty, hot, and delicious breakfast--no bowls of cereal, please.  Since I've started my whole30, I've made lots of great egg dishes, but now I'm having a problem.  I'm tired of eggs.