Healthier Nut Butter Cups

My daughter and I decided to make a healthier version of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups today. I found a recipe I liked a while back at Tessa the Domestic Diva's web site. She calls these Healthy Paleo "Peanut Butter" Cups.  I modified the original recipe some and we used almond butter and a little bit of peanut butter instead of sunflower seed butter as in the original recipe. These are very delicious but they need to harden in the freezer otherwise they are little bit too runny. Almond butter is little more runny than some other nut butters so you can use any nut butter you like if you want them more firm.  I don't mind keeping them in the freezer since it is warm here in California and it tastes great eating cool nut butter cups. We just let them defrost a little before we eat them. The original recipe also calls for 1/2 teaspoon vanilla but we forgot to put it in and I couldn't tell the difference.

What we used

• 1 cup nut butter. I used almond butter with a tiny bit peanut butter, but the original recipe calls for sunflower seed butter. 
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup honey. 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt. We used Pink Himalayan salt
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

How we made them

• We blended all the ingredients until smooth in a mixer. (Not the chocolate)
• We melted the chocolate in a water bath (we don't use a microwave)
• We put the melted chocolate in paper liner and brushed chocolate on the sides and put in the fridge to harden before we added the nut butter mix. We let the mixture harden some in the freezer before we added rest of the melted chocolate on top.

These nut butter cups are very delicious but they need to be eaten cold otherwise the filling is a little bit runny. You can experiment and add any nut butter, I used natural almond butter and it is more runny since it doesn't have hydrogenated oils in it. I will definitely make these nut butter cups again.

Oh, you might want to use smaller paper liners than what we used.  Natural nut butters are filling so these cups are big enough to split with two people. 

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Johanna is an aromatherapist and she is passionate about educating people about health, essential oils, real food, natural remedies, and nutrition so they make healthier choices in their lives. 

Follow Johanna on twitter and facebook for more health tips and information.

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A Simpe But Delicious Salad With a Powerful Dressing

My salads are very simple this time of the year since I slow cook meat, vegetables, herbs and spices so we get a lot of nutrients from the main dish. Since the main dish itself is a powerhouse of nutrients I'm happy to just add a few things to my salad. I love olives so I try to include olives as often as I can. Today before the main course  I just served a simple but delicious salad of greens, onion, goat cheese and olives.

I re-use my old bottles for my dressing.

I can't remember the last time that I bought a salad dressing. This is by far my favorite salad dressing and it is a very powerful dressing. I've learned this recipe from Tracy Holly from the Cory Holly Institute. It is full of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. According to Steven Horne, garlic is probably one of the most valuable natural alternative to antibiotics available. An anti-microbial and pungent compound called allicin is released when the garlic is crushed. Horne says garlic is anti-viral and as such is helpful for colds and congestion. He also says garlic is helpful in combating parasitic and fungal infections. Valnet wrote that lemon is a tonic for supporting the nervous and sympathetic nervous system. Lemon also counteracts the acidity and makes the stomach more alkaline. It also stimulates the action of the white blood corpuscles. It also has a tonic effect on the circulatory system.

Salad dressing ( I always double the recipe)

Mix in a glass jar:

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 juice from freshly squeezed lemon

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

6 cloves of freshly grated garlic

 Put the lid on the glass jar and shake. Taste it and if you want it more tart, add more lemon juice, and if you want it more oily, then add more olive oil. You can switch out the lemon juice with apple cider vinegar or or balsamic vinegar. You can also switch out the olive oil for flax seed oil.

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Johanna is an aromatherapist she is passionate about educating people about health, essential oils, real food, natural remedies, and nutrition so they make healthier choices in their lives. 
Follow Johanna on twitter and facebook for more health tips and information.

This post is linked to:
Make Your Own Monday Link-Up
Monday Mania
Ruth's Real Food 101 
Fat Tuesday 
Better Mom Mondays Link-Up 
Domestically Divine 
Traditional Tuesday
Healthy 2Day Wednesday 
Real Food Wednesday 
Allergy Free Wednesday 
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways 
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Freaky Friday
Friday Food
Seasonal Celebrations Sunday
Sunday School Blog Carnival

Delicious Berry Cups

We love berries in our family and we eat a lot more berries than fruit. Today was one of those gray and boring days, so we decided to make these tasty treats and eat them as dessert after lunch. Berries are highly nutritious and low in sugar. I have previously written that blueberries are superfood. Today we used a mixture of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

My oldest son decided to top his berry mixture with raw honey and unsweetened shredded coconut.

My daughter and my youngest son put almond butter, honey and shredded coconut on top of their berries.

I just added almond butter and shredded coconut on top of my berries.

Berry cups are great snacks and you can make them any way you want.

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Johanna is an aromatherapist and she is passionate about educating people about health, essential oils, real food, natural remedies, and nutrition so they make healthier choices in their lives. 

Follow Johanna on twitter and facebook for more health tips and information.

This post is linked to:
Riverton Housewives Round Up, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Traditional Tuesdays, Make Your Own Monday Link-Up , Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways  Healthy 2Day Wednesdays , Allergy-Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, What's Cooking Wednesday , Gluten Free Wednesdays . This chick cooks, Freaky Friday, Allergy Friendly Lunch Box Love , Fight Back Friday , Friday Food , Foodie Friday , Seasonal Celebration Sunday , Sunday School , Domestically Divine, Homemaking Link Up, How to Tuesday, Eco-Kids Tuesday, The Gathering Spot

Are You Going to Attend the Paleo Summit?

Sean Croxton over at the Underground Wellness is hosting a Paleo Summit on February 26th- March 4th. My husband and I first came across Sean when he just started off several years ago. It is amazing to see what he has managed to accomplish since then.

This Paleo Summit is a great opportunity to learn more about the grain free Paleo/Primal Diet from great experts. There is a lot of talk online whether or not to eat grains, some people are getting as far as to ridiculing others of their way of eating. I see no reason why we should judge each others way of living healthy, after all we are all doing what we think is right for us. We have been grain free for quite a while now and I'm convinced this is the best way for our family. We have never felt better and we scan better than ever on our biofeedback machine.

I highly recommend that you tune into this summit and learn more about a grain free diet from these experts below. Check out the Paleo Summit Page to register and to learn about the other experts attending this summit.

Mark Sisson – Author, The Primal Blueprint Ancestral Living Defined 

 Mark Sisson kicks off The Paleo Summit by clearly defining paleo/primal living. Are grains safe to eat? Is dairy Paleo? Did your ancestors cut the saturated fat? Mark gives us the scoop.

Diane Sanfillipo – Author, Practical Paleo Practical Paleo Implementation

 Now that you know what to eat, the next step is putting it into practice. Diane explains what to expect from the Paleo Diet, how to overcome common obstacles, and the most effective ways to deal with the doubters.

Dr. Jack Kruse MD – NeurosurgeonLeptin Circadian Cycles

 Dr. Kruse uncovers how leptin resistance lies at the root of inflammation, obesity, and chronic disease. He also shares how he lost 133 pounds in a single year by correcting the “biological mismatches” that were once prevalent in his life.

Sarah Fragoso – Author, Everyday Paleo Paleo, Kids, and the Family 

Transitioning a family to a paleolithic diet can be challenging. Author, wife, and mother of three, Sarah Fragoso rolls out a practical, realistic strategy for having a Paleo family.

Dr. Thomas O’Bryan – Gluten Sensitivity ExpertThe Musculoskeletal Connection to Autoimmunity Disease 

The most basic Paleo Diet recommendation is the removal of gluten. But did you know that gluten sensitivity goes well beyond the digestive tract? Dr. O’Bryan reveals the latest research on how gluten consumption may lead to autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, and muscle pain without digestive symptoms.

Mat Lalonde, Ph.D. – Research Biochemist, Harvard University Invalid Inferences: An Organic Chemist’s Perspective on Paleo 

Are common Paleo claims as scientifically valid as we think they are? What does the research really say about antinutrients? Harvard biochemist Mat Lalonde expounds the importance of keeping the Paleo movement credible by ensuring that claims surrounding the diet are scientifically sound.

Nora Gedgaudas – Author, Primal Body-Primal MindSafe Starches: To Eat or Not to Eat?

 Safe starches have received their fair share of attention — and no shortage of controversy — in the Paleo blogosphere as of late. The Primal Body-Primal Mind outlines point-by-point why she believes the concept of safe starches is flawed.

Chris Kresser – Integrative Medicine Practitioner. An Update on Cholesterol 

The cholesterol hypothesis has its staunch proponents as well as its skeptics. So who’s right? Chris presents the latest research demonstrating why elevated cholesterol scores should not be dismissed by the skeptics. He also explains why a high cholesterol score is not always cause for a prescription.

Paul Chek – Founder, C.H.E.K. Institute Living Primal: Instinct Before Intellect

With so much research and history supporting Paleo principles, why do people have such a hard time living them? Paul explains how the social conditioning built into the educational system has suppressed our abilities to think for ourselves. He also details the six foundational principles of abundant health — nutrition, hydration, sleep, breathing, thinking, and movement.

 Let me know what you think about the Summit.

This post is linked to:
Fat Tuesday

A Simple But Delicious Salsa

My husband and I are on the Paleo Diet, and it is a diet that does not include  grains, dairy, and legumes. I love salsa so I make it salsa several times a week. Tortilla chips are not included in our diet, but salsa tastes wonderfully on poached eggs, chicken, scrambled eggs, salad, fish, or on a steak. Don't you agree? We like spicy things in our family so I add more jalapenos then the recipe calls for.

Salsa
2 medium tomatoes cut into chunks
1/2 small onion
3 tablespoons canned chiles ( I use fresh jalapenos)
4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar (I use raw apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and whirled until pureed. I don't use salt, but if you do, season to taste with salt.

This makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Here is a sample of a breakfast in our house.  We also had left over dinner steak fried in coconut oil, poached eggs, and a handful of nuts to go with the fruit and vegetables.


This is linked to:
Monday Mania
Fat Tuesday 
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways 
Real Food Wednesday 
Simple Lives Thursday 
Fight Back Friday 
Sunday School Blog Carnival at I Butter Believer

The Amount of Sugar in Fruit

There is nothing that says that you should avoid fruit on the Paleo diet, but Cordain says in his new book, the Paleo Answer, that it is wise to avoid dried fruit and eat sparingly of the high sugar fruits if you're overweight and/or suffer from type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and abnormal blood lipids.

As you will see below, dried fruit is a lot higher in sugar than fresh fruit and should  be eaten in limited amount for most us. Fresh fruit is by far the best for us. Children are more active and don't need to limit their carbohydrate as much as adults. Just make sure that the dried fruit is unsweetened. Read the rest of the post on my Paleo Blog.

Paleo - An Anti-Cancer Diet?

Paleo is more than a diet, it is a lifestyle that means a more natural and minimalist approach to living. People eating the Paleo way clean up their diet by removing grains, sugar, legumes, and dairy and replace them with meat, fruit, and vegetables. The absence of packaged food means less exposure to toxins linked to cancer. This way of eating seems extreme by many, especially by people still promoting a high carbohydrate diet low in fat.

Loren Cordain states in his latest book, The Paleo Answer, that The Paleo Diet can greatly reduce your risk of getting cancer  due to the many nutritional elements that it contains. With the focus in the media about breast cancer it is interesting to note that lung cancer is responsible for almost twice as many deaths as breast cancer and prostate cancer. 

Loren Cordain states in his latest book, The Paleo Answer, that The Paleo Diet can greatly reduce your risk of getting cancer  due to the many nutritional elements that it contains. With the focus in the media about breast cancer it is interesting to note that lung cancer is responsible for almost twice as many deaths as breast cancer and prostate cancer. Lung cancer is highly preventable in most cases since almost all lung cancer is caused by smoking.  Doctors such as  Dr.Urquhart and Dr. Samuel Hutton both treated non westernized people and they discovered that cancer was non existent.  Other well known European diseases were also absent, they noted.  The natives immunity to cancer disappeared the more westernized they became over the years.  Dr. Schweitzer discovered the same thing when he arrived in Gabon in 1913, that he didn’t encounter any cases of cancer . He credited the absence of cancer to the difference in nutrition of the natives compared to the Europeans. He also noticed that cases of cancer occurred  the more the natives lived like the whites.

Loren Cordain agrees in his book that the absence of breast, colorectal, prostate and other cancers had everything to do with the natives’ diet in Gabon. 

According to Cordain, the Paleo Diet is a low glycemic index, low-glycemic load diet. I learned in Cordain’s book that a very recent meta analysis of ten studies and more than 575,000 subjects performed by Drs. Qin and Dong show that a high glycemic diet increases the risk for developing breast cancer. Anther meta analysis showed similar results.  As Robb Wolfe mentions in his book, The Paleo Solution, whole grains and refined grains both turn into sugar in the body.

Apart from the Paleo Diet’s low glycemic load, it is also rich in omega 3 fatty acids and low in omega 6 vegetable oils. Studies of animal models  and tissues of breast cancer show that omega 6 fatty acids stimulate cancer growth while omega 3 fatty acids inhibit it.

The Paleo Diet is milk and dairy free. As mentioned early on in the book, drinking milk boosts  blood concentrations of female hormones. Milk drinking will elevate blood estrogen levels and increase the risk for breast and ovarian cancer in women and increase the risk for prostate and testicular cancer in men. ( I will cover milk more in detail in a future post.)

The Paleo Diet is extremely high in fresh vegetables and fruit. These are Mother Nature’s best medicine. Meta analysis of population studies have shown that fresh vegetables and fruits indeed protect women from many cancers.

As you can see there are many benefits of eating the Paleo way.