Paleo Strawberry Shortcake

Baking Partners: I couldn't wait anymore so I browsed a paleo recipe for the Shortcake Challenge :)

I used this as the basic recipe, and then of course, adapted it to fit my tastebuds and what I had in my pantry :) This was a single serving recipe, so I just made 2, one for me and one for my mum :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Red currant and chocolate pie

Redcurrant pie with chocolate is great with the afternoon coffee. The acidity from the redcurrants blends nicely with the sweet filling.
12-14 pieces

Pastry
150g butter
¾ dl granulated sugar
3 dl rolled oats
2 dl flour

Filling
1 ½ dl whipping cream
50g butter
1 ½ dl light syrup
½ dl granulated sugar
200g milk chocolate
2 dl ripe redcurrants

WHAT TO DO

Preheat oven to 200°C. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add sugar, oatmeal and flour. Mix into a dough.

Press it out into a pie dish, about 26 cm in diameter, preferably with a removable bottom. Pre-bake the pie crust in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool.

Bring cream, butter, syrup and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes, the mixture will begin to thicken. Remove the pan from the heat.

Break the chocolate into pieces and let it melt in the pan. Stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour chocolate mixture into pie shell and sprinkle with red currants. Let the pie cool in the fridge, preferably overnight. Serve preferably with whipped cream.

Didn't have the time to take a pic of the cake I made, so here is the one from the magazine where I found the recipe: tidningenhembakat.se

Paleo Meatloaf AND Paleo Pulled Chicken...

Hi there...

Yesterday I was surfing the Net in order to find some Paleo meals that I could make ahead of time and then put in the freezer - and I found Paleo Meatloaf... When I took the grounded beef out of the freezer I also found some whole chickens - so I took one of those out too...

Here is the recipe I used to make the Paleo Meatloaf ( with adjustments to what I could find in my pantry, of course :))

Paleo Meatloaf

When I was done, there was a lot of BBQ sauce left so I decided to use that with the chicken... I rubbed the chicken with the BBQ sauce (added juice from a lemon to freshen up the taste a bit) and put it in my Römertopf Mud pot (is it really called a Mud pot in English?). I then placed it in the COLD oven, put the timer on 1h 45min and the temperature 175°C.

Then I took it out of the oven, let it cool down a bit and took the meat and discarded the bones :)

Done

Easy Peasy - One BBQ sauce - 2 meals, sort of anyway :)

DIY - Infused water

Zero calories
A lot of taste (the taste of your preference)
Easy to make and adjust

What I'm talking about?

Infused water!

I think that ordinary plain water doesn't taste great so I searched the Net in order to find some ways to make me drink more water.

Time to do some experiments...

First I took a large jar and filled it with berries (raspberries, blueberries and blackberries the first time)
Filled up the jar with filtered water and put the jar in the fridge over night.

That's it

Drink up :) and don't forget to try different flavors!!!

The Berry water was wonderful, as was the cucumber-lemon water, ONLY watermelon was disgusting (to say the least). In the pic you can see my Green Tea-Lemon water and the start of what is going to be Apple-cinnamon water.

What kind of water have you made - good or bad?! Please let me know what I can't miss and what I easily can live without ;)

Link to where I found the Apple-Cinnamon "recipe": naturalcuresnotmedicine.com

Writing this post, trying to find where I found the inspiration to the other ones, I stumbled upon this: http://www.infusedwaterrecipes.com/

So far, the easiest and best vanilla "one-bowl" recipe I've tried

For those of you who know me, you know I've been trying desperately to find a "one-bowl" recipe w/ vanilla in stead of chocolate - and I think I've found it... The cupcakes didn't shrink in the paper cups, they didn't leak any grease - and that's perfect in my opinion :)

One bowl vanilla cupcakes

Next time I'll fill the cups half full (because I don't want to waste a lot from the top of the cupcakes when I'm using cupcake toppers)

When the cupcakes were done, I cut the top off, made a hole in the middle and filled the hole with mango puré. Added a generous amount of vanilla buttercream and placed the cupcake topper on top.

My son brought these cupcakes as a birthday gift - so we made some LEGO decorations :)

Kexchokladpaj i portionsform

Hittade en recept på Kexchokladpaj via Facebook - som jag tänkte jag skulle testa... Men jag använde lite större muffinsformar av aluminium och gjorde en portionsvariant i stället - och de som testat sa att det smakade bra :) serveras gärna med en klick grädde eller glass :)

Kexchokladpaj

DIY After Sun Cooling Spray

At least here, in the northern part of Sweden, it is HOT at the moment, so I'd like to share another DIY project I found browsing the Internet (Pinterest to be exact :))

After sun spray

Chocolate raspberry birthday cake :)

Hi there :) I usually have a lot of things I'd like to share with you but I often forget or remember when I'm in bed, ready for sleep (and NO, I won't get out of bed to write a blogpost) :D

Today there is a birthday cake - a fairly simple one, when it comes to making it and also the flavors are fairly simple and easy-going...

Cake base:

One bowl chocolate cake - Martha Stewart knows her stuff, and there are a lot of recipes on her site I'd like to try :)

Raspberry mousse:

2dl of raspberry jam (preferably made by yourself)

3dl heavy whipping cream

2 tbs gelatin

2 Tbs cold water (at least here in Sweden you mix the gelatin w/ cold water, let it sit for a couple of minutes, heat the paste gently until it the mix melts and then whipping it into the raspberry-heavy cream mixture)

1.5dl frozen or partially frozen raspberries

Whip the heavy cream and the jam (ofc you can use what ever kind of berries you like) a couple of minutes - mix in the gelatin and the half frozen berries. When I use this mousse in a cake I directly pour it on the base and let it settle w/ the cake in the fridge when I'm done...

This cake had four layers of cake base and three layers of mousse.

I covered it w/ a chocolate cream cheese frosting

300 g cream cheese, softened

500 g confectioners' sugar

75 g butter, softened

15 ml vanilla extract

55 g unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbs chili powder (the non smokey one :))

Mix all the ingredients together, and let sit in the fridge a while. Taste and decide if you more chili or if it's enough - cover the cake with frosting and top it of with A LOT of fresh raspberries :)

ENJOY <3

A great way to start a new day. DIY

DIY vapour discs...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Baking soda

1/2 cup water

Eucalyptus essential oil

Rosemary essential oil

Peppermint essential oil

Cupcake liners

*Metal cupcake pan*

Mix water and baking soda 'til you've got a paste consistency - put the paste evenly in cupcake liners in a metal cupcake pan.

Let the discs dry - either on the kitchen counter or in the oven (225°C for 15-20 min). Then let them sit out and finish drying for about 4 hours (I usually let them finish drying over night). When they're totally dry I put 8-10 drops of each essential oil on the discs, if I'm giving them away or using them fairly soon. Otherwise I drop the oil on the discs when I'm about to hit the shower :)

I usually make smaller discs and when I take my shower I put 2 discs on the floor and let the water dissolve the disc while you shower...

Ofc you can use relaxing essential oils, like lavender, to use the discs before hittin' the sack ;)

ENJOY 

I bought the essential oils here 

DIY Date Paste, in Swedish dadelpasta

So, try and follow me on this one :) I saw a recipe of making my own protein shake (I love it when you can do stuff like that yourself so you can skip the nasty chemicals and "surprises" in food and drinks). That recipe required coconut milk (and there was a link to a recipe of making your own coconut milk) and that recipe called for date paste (and there was a link to date paste) - hence, I have to start w/ making the date paste :)

Do you follow? Protein Shake --> Coconut Milk --> Date Paste

The page where I found the recipe(s) also had a lot of tips for the different uses of date paste, so I'll just give you the link and you can help yourself with all the tips and variations if you please...

Date paste

I didn't take a photo of my can of date paste (didn't look that tasteful really) - so I took one from the page I linked to above - Green Thickies

Pep-talk

If you need a kick in the butt - read and understand <3

DIY Almond butter

I think that home made almond butter tastes better than the ones you get at the stores - so I usually (if I have the time, of course) make my own batch once in a while... Today I made one batch so I could try a recipe for a paleo bread that involved nut butter...

First of all I toasted (roasted?) approx. 2 cups of almonds, unblanched, and then my food processor did all the work - I let it run for about 13-15 minutes - until I got a smooth almond butter. Don't give up - have some patience ;). At the end I add a little sea salt to give it a more salty flavour (in my humble opinion that's better than the unsalty butter.

Pour it into a bowl, let it cool completely - and after that it's ready for whatever assignment you want it for ;)

Homemade gifts

Some time ago I stumbled across some great ideas @ Pinterest (oh no, really ;)). Anything you want to get inspired about, is on Pinterest :D

Now, to the real thing... My daughter attended a birthday party and didn't know what kind of gift she wanted to give her friend - so this idea popped up (again). I bought a frame, took a cheap and worn IKEA blanket, some elastic string, some hooks and a stapler and got going :)

When I was done me and my daughter headed down to the store and bought some hair accessories to fill the frame, wrapped everything into cellophane and put a bow on one end...

I've also made a frame to our hallway, where we hang the keys to our bikes and our sun glasses...

 

DIY Reed Diffusers...

I made my own reed diffuser to place under the kitchen sink (with the hope that it would smell a little bit nicer :))

I used a glass bottle with a narrow neck, Canola Oil as the carrier oil and a lot of drops with eucalyptus oil :)

This is the recipe I found - but of course I made my own alternations w/ what I had in the cupboards ;)