Paleo Pad See Ew

I love Thai food, and my favorite dish to order is Pad See Ew.  It's kind of like Pad Thai's lesser-known but cooler little sister, and it's so good.  It's traditionally made with wide, flat rice noodles and dark sweet soy sauce, and often has broccoli, carrots, egg, and some sort of meat or tofu.  I'm not totally sure why, but I'm completely in love with wide, flat rice noodles.  They're just so big and chewy, and a great vehicle for soaking up whatever delicious sauce they're paired with.

This paleo version of pad see ew is made with homemade "noodles" that are actually tapioca crepes sliced into strips.  They work perfectly in this dish.  The texture is not exactly the same as the texture of rice noodles, but it's pretty close!  Coconut aminos and honey make a delicious paleo and gluten-free replacement for the dark sweet soy sauce.  

Paleo 3:2:1 Flour Blend (Gluten-free)

Are you as addicted to baking as I am?  Are you also, like me, trying to eat healthier food without spending all day and night in the kitchen?  This flour blend is for you.  When you bake grain-free, you can make delicious treats without all the guilt and gluten.  When I stay gluten-free, I have more energy and fewer tummy problems.  Even if you're not technically gluten-intolerant, you may still feel better without it!  I also guarantee your hips will thank you.  To save time in the kitchen, this flour blend creates a one-stop-shop for gluten-free baking: you measure once and get the benefits of three grain-free flours in precise balance with each other.  If you haven't tried baking without grains yet, whip up a batch of this flour blend!  Then start experimenting, and see who you can fool.  I bet you'll be hearing, "I can't believe this is gluten-free!" in no time.

I like to make my baked goods with a combination of almond flour, tapioca starch, and coconut flour. The almond flour lends flavor and richness, the tapioca starch adds lightness and helps with browning, and the coconut flour helps achieve a cake-like texture.  I've been experimenting with the best ratio for these three flours, and have settled upon 3:2:1--three parts almond flour, 2 parts tapioca starch, and 1 part coconut flour.  The next step is to sift the three flours together to make a blend, so that you only need to measure my flour once to make a recipe.  You can of course make any quantity of this flour blend by following the 3:2:1 ratio; the recipe below will make about four cups.

You can start by using this flour blend in these molten chocolate cakes--just use 6 tablespoons of the blend instead of the smaller quantities of each type of flour.  I also used this blend to make a delicious coffee cake this morning--stay tuned for that recipe later this week!  I'm experimenting with substituting this flour blend cup-for-cup for all-purpose flour in regular recipes, and will update this post to reflect which recipes I've had success with.  I can't guarantee that this will be an effective flour substitute in every case, but it's a great place to start.  If this blend works for you with a particular recipe, leave a comment with a link below so others can try it, too!

Update: I used this blend instead of all-purpose flour in this blondie recipe from Smitten Kitchen with great results!  I also used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly.

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.