Perfect Paleo Meatball

What a busy couple of weeks it's been! I can't believe how fast October and November have flown by. Something about the dark freezing weather has got me craving Spaghetti and Meatballs, nothing like comfort food to warm the body up! Funny fact: I used to hate spaghetti with red sauce. I always asked my mom to put butter or alfredo on it when I was a kid. I don't know when that started to change but between high-school and college I started really enjoying a good home made Italian tomato sauce. So now with my healthy changes I switch to spaghetti squash instead of pasta and can still have my home made sauce and meatballs.

Meatballs have always been a tough one for me. I always tend to dry them out, or they don't taste fluffy enough. I read somewhere once that shredded carrots make it very juicy, so with that in mind I started coming up with a recipe that turned out to be the best meatballs I've ever made.

Recipe: Paleo Meatballs
1.5-2lb of ground beef (I got 85/15%)
1lb of ground italian sausage
1 carrot (shredded)
1 vidalia onion
Fresh Basil
1/2 c almond flour
2 eggs
3 cloves garlic
salt/pepper

Directions:In the food processor, I put a quartered onion, shredded carrot, garlic and handful of basil and blend until it was almost soup like. In a large bowl I add both the ground beef and italian sausage and start to incorporate it. To that I add the pureed onion/carrot/basil mixture, 2 eggs, salt and pepper. Once fully incorporated I added the almond flour mixed it in. Then I formed a bunch of golf ball sized meatballs! I decided to brown them first in a pan lightly seasoned with olive oil and then bake them in a pan for 25 min at 400 degrees. I put a little water at the bottom of the pan. I've hear a little wine could also enhance the flavor but I didn't have any. I finished them off by letting them sit in the sauce for another 10 minutes.

Served it on top of roasted spaghetti squash and some home made italian tomato sauce.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Parfait

The other night I went out to dinner to enjoy some sea food! As I always do when I get the menu, I go right to the dessert page on the back page to see what they have to offer. I don't know why I enjoy torturing myself! Anyway, I saw a picture of their limited time "Pumpkin pie in a Jar". It looked delicious! At that point my brain started racing as to how many different ways I could make it! I had an idea for a paleo version, and a primal version. The first thing I did was run to the grocery store to pick up my ingredients and went home to make this "Pumpkin Pie in a Jar".

Recipe: Paleo Pumpkin Pie Parfait

Ingredients

1 can pumpkin puree

3 can full fat coconut (2 in the fridge overnight)

Pumpkin Pie Spice (or cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)

Maple Syrup

Salt

1 c Almond Flour

For the "Crust"

Put the almond flour in a pan to toast the almonds. Once they begin turning golden brown I added a tablespoon of maple syrup to sweeten it and give it a more sticky texture. Then I pressed it into the bottom of my serving bowl. I kept a little left over to sprinkle over the top.

For the Pumpkin Mousse

In a food processor, take can of pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1-2 tbsp of Pumpkin pie spice mixture (depending on your taste..I added extra cinnamon) and the fat from 1 can of the full fat coconut milk, and add 1/2 cup of the non-refrigerated can of full fat coconut milk, and a dash of salt. Blend until smooth and creamy. If you would like it to be thicker you could always add avocado to it, but I felt the texture was perfect the way it was.

For the "Whipped Cream"

Using a blender or just a whisk, take the fat from the other can of refrigerated full fat coconut milk and 1/4 cup maple syrup (add more if you desire it to be more sweet). I added a little pumpkin pie spice to this as well. Put in the refrigerator to chill until you're ready to assemble.

Assembly: 

I chose to put the 'crust' at the bottom, pumpkin mousse in the middle and top it with whipped cream, then sprinkled some of the leftover crust and some cinnamon on the top. Though if you would like you could always do multiple layers!! It tasted great and was a wonderful dessert that was quick to prepare!

If you're more primal than paleo you could also replace the full fat coconut with GrassFed Heavy Cream. Either way...it tastes great!

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Parfait

-Kim