chocolate coconut whipped cream

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Here's another grain-free sweetener-free dessert that you can whip up in literally minutes. I typically have all of the ingredients that go into it on hand so it’s dead easy to make on the spur of the moment.

I always recommend teaming fruit with quality saturated fats to: (a) slow down the release of the fruit sugars to avoid insulin spikes and crashes; and (b) liberate the fat soluble vitamins and minerals in the fruit so that they can be better absorbed.

Many cultures world wide traditionally team fruit with saturated animal fat and/or protein. For example,  the English serve strawberries with cream, the Italians serve rockmelon with procuitto, and the Cypriots serve watermelon with Halumi cheese (what I grew up on) etc etc. These couplings did not happen by chance or simply because they taste good together. They are the result of  culinary wisdom passed down generation after generation.

So I am often thinking of different saturated fats to serve with fruit. Cheese is quick and easy but for something different and a little more decadent I came up with this concoction.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut cream (I like the Ayam brand as there is no added guar gum which is found in the organic brands. For more information on guar gum see note below)
2 tablespoons thick mud cream (eg Ivyhome brand)
1 tablespoon home made gelatinous beef stock (yes I try to squeeze this super food into everything whenever I can get away with it!)
2 teaspoons raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together with hand held blender. That's it. Done. As my 4 year old says "easy peasey, japanesey, lemon squeezy!).

Serve with fruit or eat as is for a decadent dessert. Dust with extra cinnamon powder if desired.

I make this recipe without the maple syrup if I serve it with fruit which is sweet enough especially for young children. If eating the whipped cream by itself you might want to add the maple syrup (or some other natural sweeter such as raw honey).

The addition of beef gelatin adds a thick mousse-like texture to the cream (as well as loads of nutrients). I promise that you wont taste the beef at all.  You could omit this if you don’t have beef stock on hand. If your cream mixture is too thick then simply thin with 1 tablespoon of whole milk. If using pouring (runny) cream then you wont need to add milk as it will be thin enough.

Note on Guar Gum:  guar gum is found in many canned organic coconut cream and coconut milk products. Guar gum is primarily the endosperm of guar beans. Beans (and legumes) have a variety of compounds in them that make them difficult to digest, especially for people with digestive problems (source: www.chriskresser.com). There are literally only a couple of canned products that I buy and canned Ayam coconut cream is one of them.

Enjoy!

Restaurant review- Peasants Feast

I recently bit the bullet and ventured out of the Eastern suburbs to Newtown to Peasants Feast. The owner is a clinical immunologist who has a well motivated nutritional philosophy.

On the whole I would recommend Peasant's Feast if (a) you want a cheap quick wholesome meal and are prepared to choose dishes wisely to avoid the ones with grain/legumes if, like me, they don't float your nutritional boat and (b) weren't fussed on the ambience of the place (i.e. its not the place you would take someone on your first date unless they dig dreadlocks. It is Newtown, after all).

Food type: I think the menu tried to be all things to all people- it had a lot of vegetarian dishes as well as traditional meat dishes. So I couldn't really work out whether I was in a vegetarian restaurant or a traditional wholefoods restaurant. A lot of the meat dishes contained grains (mostly the gluten free ones like rice, polenta, quinoa) or legumes (e.g. lentils) so once I eliminated those from my hit list the options were narrowed down to a few mains to select from. All ingredients are certified organic and filtered water is used. Meat source: meats are from grass-fed animals. Fats/oils: there is a total ban on processed oils and trans fats. Instead they use organic cold pressed olive oil and butter in their (low temperature) cooking. What we ordered:  Mixed Tapas for entree. Crispy Pork Belly, Lamb Shank, and Hot Pot Beef Stifado for mains. Taste and presentation: all delicious Food portions: good size Atmosphere:  grungy, small Price: approx $10-15 for an entree; $19 a main. Cheap as! Service: there was only 1 waiter who was (understandably) rushed off his feet and seemed borderline rude Value for money: thumbs up (putting aside atmosphere and service and focusing just on food) Large groups: I don't think they could accommodate large groups due to space constraints. Kid friendly: yes. Caution:  In their desserts they use the sugar-substitute Xylitol. Proponents of Xylitol tout it as being better than sugar as its has much fewer calories and a low glycemic index so it doesn't effect insulin levels in the same way that sugar does. When I looked into Xylitol a few years back when it became popular I came to the conclusion that I would not use or recommended it because it seemed to be too processed (it's produced by hydrogenation of xylose which converts the sugar into a primary alcohol.  Also, could something that white really be all that natural?!?).  Having said all that this didn't stop my partner and 2 kids exerting their dessert-lovin' (Xylitol be damned) prerogative to order 3 desserts which seemed to be scoffed down in a matter of minutes. If you are keen to go I would definitely make a reservation given how small the place is. Oh, its BYO (but if you foget to BYO, like we did, there's a bottles shop nearby).

Contact details: 121A King Street,  Newtow, (02) 9516 5998, www.peasantsfeast.com.au

Have you been to Peasants Feast? What did you think? If you’ve been to a great restaurant lately where consideration is given to the source and processing of their food (esp meats and fats/oils), then I’d love to hear about it. Kali Orexi  (that’s Greek for Good Appetite)!!

Banana raspberry coconut pancake (grain-free, sweetener-free)

I have eggs for breakfast every morning cooked any which way. But this morning I had a hankering for something a little different....something more decadent with some sweetness.....something akin to a pancake without the dreaded gut-irritating nutrient-sapping flour........so this is what I concocted and it hit the spot......

Ingredients:

• Pastured eggs (allow 2-3 eggs per person depending on appetite)

• Home-made cream cheese OR store bought quark OR pouring cream OR mud cream - allow 1 tablespoon per person (optional)

• Banana, sliced (allow 1/2 banana per person)

• A couple of handfuls of fresh of frozen rasberries (I used frozen, unthawed)

• Flesh of 1 young coconut butter OR coconut oil for frying

Directions:

Turn on grill element in oven. Melt butter or coconut oil in frying pan. Beat eggs and cream cheese with hand held blender then add to frying pan. Add banana (I sliced it straight into egg mixture), raspberries and coconut slithers. Cook on gentle heat for approx 5 minutes so that the underside of the pancake is cooked then transfer to oven under grill element so that the top side cooks. This avoids trying to flip the pancake and making a big mess! It is ready when  the top is golden brown and the eggs are set. If mixture is still runny add back on stovetop to cook until set. If you have a sweet tooth you could drizzle a little maple syrup over the top when serving (though we didn't need to - the fruit alone is sweet enough for me).

This was teamed with a raw dark chocolate smoothie made by mixing the following with a hand held blender:

• Whole milk (1 cup per person)

• Home made kefir and/or yogurt (I like Alpine goats yogurt or Meredith's sheeps milk yogurt) - allow 1/4 cup per person

• Coconut water from 1 young coconut

• Raw cacao powder (1 teaspoon per person)

• Cinnamon powder (1/2 teaspoon per person)

• Vanilla powder (1/4 teaspoon per person)

• Home-made gelatinous beef stock (1 tablespoon per person) (I promise you won't taste the beef at all in the smoothie- it just adds thickness- like a real thickshake- and loads of nutrients)

I rarely measure anything - I tend to just thrown things together- so the above measurements are approximates.

A variation on the banana raspberry coconut pancake is a banana chocolate pancake as follows:

• Pastured eggs (allow 2-3 eggs per person depending on appetite)

• Home-made cream cheese OR store bought quark - allow 1 tablespoon per person (optional)

• Banana, sliced (allow 1/2 banana per person)

• Raw cacao powder

• Cinnamon powder

• Vanilla powder

• Butter OR coconut oil for frying

Cook as per pancake recipe above omitting the raspberries and coconut and adding a generous sprinkling of the 3 powders after you add the sliced banana. You can add a further dusting of  raw cacao powder prior to serving (guess who likes chocolate?!?).....

Using the egg mixture as the pancake base you can make whatever variations of the pancake recipe you like! Cool, hey?! The eggs provide much needed brain-loving saturated fat to slow down the release of the sugars contained in the fruit to avoid fluctuations in blood sugar levels with insulin spikes and crashes. The saturated fat in the egg yolks helps with the absorbtion of the fat-soluble vitamins and minerals in the fruit.

I hope you enjoy these creations as much as we did! Do you have a grain-free pancake recipe? If so please share it! I've tried using activated nut meal together with the beaten eggs but the mixture is more crumbly /coarse and less smooth than plain eggs (or eggs with cream).

Its a glorious day here in Sydney so I'm now making a beeline for Bronte beach for a vitamin D fix and some fun in the sun ....With love x