Breakfast

When the weather gets cold and damp outside, I have an uncontrollable urge to bake. The oven warms my apartment a little, and the smell of nuts and spices just makes me feel cozier. This super quick, Spiced Coffee Cake is a simple, comforting baked good that can come together with just a few ingredients in less than 30 minutes to go with your morning coffee on a lazy Saturday morning.

This coffee cake is gluten-free, and the whole foods-based, but what I like about it is that the base for the cake is a small, 7 oz. package of creamed coconut. It is this specific brand, and I don’t really know that there is any other substitute out there. However, this small package of creamed coconut is usually only $3 at a nearby health food store, and it keeps just fine in the cabinet until you are ready to use it so I usually have a few on hand all the time.

If you order it online in a 6 pack, it comes out to be even less – only $2.40 per package! So for a gluten-free (basically paleo) baked good, it’s way more affordable to me than an almond butter-based baked good, which I like a lot. You can double the recipe, and it just takes a little longer to bake, but I have not tried tripling it, just FYI.

Quick Spiced Coffee Cake

Prep Time 5 Mins Cook Time 20 Mins Total Time 25

Author: Katy Servers: 4- 6 In Gredients

• 1 7oz. package of Let’s Do Organic Creamed Coconut
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup of coconut sugar (maple sugar or brown sugar would also work)
• ¼ teaspoon of sea salt
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon of chopped pecans (really any type of nuts are fine)
• 1 tablespoon of almond meal or almond flour
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter, ghee or coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350. Grease an 8×8 baking dish (or other small, a comparable baking dish of a different shape).
2. Remove the creamed coconut from its packaging and microwave for 30 seconds to soften slightly and mix together with a fork until all the oil and coconut is evenly mixed. You could also do this on the stove-top on low if you prefer not to use a microwave.
3. Mix together the creamed coconut, eggs, sugar, salt, spices, vanilla, and baking soda until combined, and pour into a dish.
4. Mix together the topping ingredients: almonds, pecans, almond meal, melted butter, and syrup, and evenly top the coffee cake.
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

*If there is a substitution available for any of these ingredients, I have listed it. Otherwise, if you are allergic to something or don’t like an ingredient, you are on your own to figure out a new way to make this, or maybe this isn’t the recipe for you.

I love a runny yolk. It’s like unadulterated custard….. mmmm (insert slightly sexual moan here). But I cannot stand a runny white. Gross times a million.

Eggs are delicate and can take years to learn how to cook them best. There are so many different ways to cook eggs, and probably just as many ways to screw them up.

Soft boiled eggs always seemed to elude me, even though I had tried many times. But the trick is to not boil them at all, but steam them in a simple vegetable steamer.

Soft Steamed Eggs

1. Boil a half inch of water in a covered sauce pan.
2. Once Boiling, place eggs in a steamer basket and place in the sauce pan, and recover with the lid.
3. Steam for 6 minutes and 45 seconds exactly.
4. Immediately place eggs in an ice water bath and swirl to cool rapidly.
5. As soon as you can handle the eggs, peel them quickly, but carefully.
6. At this point you can put them back in the steamer for another 15-30 seconds to rewarm if you want them hot.
7. Eat sprinkled with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

In the picture above, I served them over peppery arugula, with freshly made lardons. Lardons are the crispy bits that are the result of making your own lard by grinding fresh pastured pork fatback, then slowly rendering the lard in a dutch oven. Bacon bits would also be delicious. For more ways to eat and enjoy your Soft Steamed Eggs, check out my Instagram Feed.

I love a runny yolk. It’s like unadulterated custard….. mmmm (insert slightly sexual moan here). But I cannot stand a runny white. Gross times a million.

Eggs are delicate and can take years to learn how to cook them best. There are so many different ways to cook eggs, and probably just as many ways to screw them up.

Soft boiled eggs always seemed to elude me, even though I had tried many times. But the trick is to not boil them at all, but steam them in a simple vegetable steamer.

Soft Steamed Eggs

1. Boil a half inch of water in a covered sauce pan.
2. Once Boiling, place eggs in a steamer basket and place in the sauce pan, and recover with the lid.
3. Steam for 6 minutes and 45 seconds exactly.
4. Immediately place eggs in an ice water bath and swirl to cool rapidly.
5. As soon as you can handle the eggs, peel them quickly, but carefully.
6. At this point you can put them back in the steamer for another 15-30 seconds to rewarm if you want them hot.
7. Eat sprinkled with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

In the picture above, I served them over peppery arugula, with freshly made lardons. Lardons are the crispy bits that are the result of making your own lard by grinding fresh pastured pork fatback, then slowly rendering the lard in a dutch oven. Bacon bits would also be delicious. For more ways to eat and enjoy your Soft Steamed Eggs,

Every Sunday I want pancakes. I almost never have the ingredients, and I’m also rarely successful in talking my husband into taking me to a local pancake house that has yummy gluten free waffles and pancakes. He says we don’t need pancakes every Sunday… And I suppose he’s right. But a couple weeks ago, I had just enough ingredients to make 8 almond meal pancakes.

I usually buy Almond Meal, instead of the more expensive and finer blanched almond flour, and I’ll tell you why. Yes, I know that the blanched almond flour is more superior – I’m not stupid. But most of the time you have to buy it in a three or five-pound bag, and if I have one around, I will bake and cook with it non-stop until it is gone. It’s good and has excellent baking abilities. I have no control when it comes to almond flour and almond meal. I love to eat it. But most flour, no matter what it is made from (wheat, coconut, hazelnut, whatever), isn’t really good for my digestion.

So although Almond Meal is grainier and of seemingly “lesser quality,” I usually buy that, and I buy it sparingly. I like the small, inexpensive bags you can buy at Trader Joe’s. But I’ll be honest, you could use any kind for this recipe. There will be slight differences, but guys, it’s pancakes… don’t overthink it. Grain-free pancakes are rarely like their grain-filled counterparts, but these are nutty, comforting, and delicious, even if they aren’t the exact same as the buttermilk pancakes of my childhood.

Almond Meal Pancakes.

• 1-3/4 cups Almond Meal (I used Trader Joe’s)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• coconut oil, lard, or ghee for cooking
• maple syrup and butter to serve

1. It’s simple – mix all the wet ingredients together, then whisk in all the dry. Add a bit more almond flour if you need to to get your favorite pancake consistency.
2. Heat your desired cooking fat (I used lard) in a cast-iron skillet or electric pancake griddle.
3. Now it is simple pancake cookery – ladle the batter on in 1/4 cup rounds, and wait until it bubbles to turn them.
4. I keep the cooked pancakes on a cookie sheet and let them stay warm in the oven at about 275 degrees. Serve with copious amounts of butter and syrup.

I’m behind on posting recipes. I have been cooking up a storm lately, and sometimes when that happens, I’m so into the food that all I have time to do is snap an Instagram photo before I devour my creations. I was actually feeling a little bad about it…

But then last week, Huffington Post named me in an article, “Ten Foodie Feeds I’m Ready to Devour.” I was named along with some truly talented people that I look up to and try to emulate, so if that is my 15 minutes of internet fame for my life, I’ll take it and be grateful!

I have been trying to curate a really good instagram feed. It only takes a few extra steps to make a good instagram post that looks delicious and beautiful at the same time, while telling a little bit of a story and best of all, that honors the food. There are plenty of people that snap a pic of what they are eating, and even though it may be wonderful… it doesn’t look appetizing at all. They post too often, in all sorts of artificial lighting, with bad pre-set instagram filters. I used to be one of those people, and while it was sort of fun to take a picture of everything I ate, I learned that not everything needs to be shared. Instead, only share the best, in natural light, with a little bit of styling, and keep it simple.

I want my Instagram feed to look like a magazine, and since I have spent this time and effort to make that happen, I’m going to share a series of recipes using just those photos to present them because I don’t have the time to re-cook, style and photograph them with my DSLR Fancy Camera. Sorry, but I’m too busy cooking more food for me and my husband, and I think you will still love these dishes, even if I don’t do a full photo shoot. 😉 Simply click on the pictures to take you to the full recipe for each one.

Soft Steamed Eggs

Almond Meal Pancakes

Roasted Winter Veggie Medley with Apples

Mustard Caper Vinaigrette

Everyday Veggie Hash

My Go-To Balsamic Vinaigrette

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Whole Roasted Carrots