Everybody loves a good burger, right? But how do you make it AIP and Whole30? Sliders have been a very popular dish served in bars and restaurants for the last couple years and are perfect for your party as well. Only ours are completely Autoimmune Protocol compliant and Whole30 to boot!

Chef is also offering a delicious AIP “Ketchup” to serve with these sliders. There are no nightshades used in the making of this ketchup but the result is super tasty. It would be great for your favorite meatloaf recipe as well.

Lettuce Wrapped Burger Sliders with Bacon, Mushrooms, Onion & Tamarind Ketchup

Makes 16 burger sliders

• 2 lbs grass fed ground beef
• 1 Tbl. Granulated onion
• 1 Tbl. Granulated garlic
• 3 Tbl. Finely chopped parsley
• 1 Tbl. Sea salt
• 12 oz Package sugar free bacon
• 8 oz Sliced mushrooms
• 3 Medium onions, peeled and sliced very thin
• 1 Head green leaf or iceberg lettuce
• 4 T. Extra virgin olive oil

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl.  Form it into 16 equal sized slider patties. Set aside.

Cook bacon until crisp.  Remove bacon to drain and set aside.  Use bacon fat to caramelize onions, cooking over low heat and stirring frequently until golden brown.  In 2 Tbl. Olive oil, saute mushrooms until just done. Remove from heat.  

Tamarind Ketchup:

• 1 cup tamarind paste
• 1 T. fish sauce
• 2 T. coconut aminos
• 2 T. apple cider vinegar, organic
• 2 garlic cloves
• ¼ cup unsweetened pineapple juice

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and reduce until thick.

Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit

Mofongo is a common dish served all over the Caribbean. Typically all ingredients are mashed together with a mortar and pestle. That’s one piece of equipment we don’t have here at Paleo on the Go so we used our food processor. Fried to a crispy golden brown these little balls of deliciousness will be a hit at your family will love, or great for a party. You can make them up ahead of time and fry them just before serving.

Fun fact; Many Puerto Ricans stuff their turkeys at Thanksgiving with Mofongo, replacing the bread crumbs used when making a traditional stuffing. 

Mofongo Balls

Serves 16

• 2 cups avocado oil
• 3 green plantains 
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 6 oz pork rinds (cracklings)

Peel and cut the plantains into 1” chunks. Heat 2” of oil in a frying pan to 350F.  Fry the plantains until golden and tender about 5 minutes. Drain. Put plantains in a processor bowl, add garlic, add pork rinds and pulse until well combined. Shape the mixture into small balls and fry them again until crisp and golden. 

Cilantro Lime Sauce:

The Cilantro Lime Sauce is a simple yet versatile recipe. It compliments the Mofongo perfectly and can be used as a dip for crudite too!

• ½ cup Coconut cream
• 6 Tbl. Fresh cilantro chopped
• Zest and juice from one lime
• 1 Tbl. Extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp Sea salt

Place all ingredients in a small processor and puree until smooth.

Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit

Even if you say you don’t have any kitchen skills you can be successful and impress your friends with this recipe; because you know, bacon! Simple and elegant your guest will love these delicious appetizers. The best part is they can be made ahead of time and baked off just before serving.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

• 24 Stalks asparagus
• 12 Slices bacon, not thick cut, sliced lengthwise down the center to create thin strips
• 1 tsp. Granulated garlic

Set up a sheet tray with a wire rack above. Preheat oven to 400F. Cut tough ends off the asparagus and sprinkle with granulated garlic. Wrap the bacon in a spiral around each stalk, being careful not to overlap the bacon. Lay the stalks out on the rack and bake at 400 for 15 minutes, turn and bake for another 5-10 minutes until completely crisp.  

Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit

I absolutely love these. Carnitas is my favorite preparation for pork and this recipe is delicious. Reducing the cooking liquid then adding it to the chopped up carnitas is the key to incredible flavor. You can cook the meat and reduce the liquid a day or two before then reheat for service. This recipe is great for tacos too if you happen to have some Paleo AIP Tortillas from Paleo on the Go on hand. Oh and the Avocado Crema is another simple sauce that is great on so many things!

Loaded Tostones with Pulled Pork Carnitas and Avocado Crema

Makes 16 appetizers

Carnitas:

2 lb pork butt, cut into cubes

3 Tbl. Olive oil

¼ cup orange juice

2 T. lime juice

1 tsp. dry oregano

3 bay leaves

2 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup chicken stock

Season meat with salt and saute in instant pot until browned all over.  Add all of the other ingredients and close the lid. Set to high pressure for 70 minutes.  Let pressure release naturally. Remove pork to a cutting board and shred. Turn instant pot back to saute mode and reduce the juices down to 1/2 cup.  Add pork back to the pot and mix well to combine. Spread pork mixture out on a parchment lined sheet tray and bake at 450° for 5 minutes until browned and crispy.  Toss the meat with the reduced juices.

Tostones:

• 3 green plantains peeled and cut into 1 “ chunks
• 2 cups avocado oil
• 3 tsp. sea salt

Heat oil in a saucepan.   Add plantain chunks. Simmer for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oil and cool.  Press the plantain chunks into disks using a heavy pan or a tortilla press.  Bring oil up to heat again until 360°. Carefully add the plantain disks to the oil and fry until golden brown.

Avocado Crema

• 1 ripe Haas avocado
• 1 T. coconut cream
• ½ tsp. sea salt
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. minced cilantro

Remove flesh from the skin of avocado and put it into a small food processor bowl.  Add the other ingredients and puree until smooth. 

To Assemble

Lay out the tostones, top with a spoonful of carnitas and a small dollop of crema. 

Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit

Kelly and Kasia’s Whole30 Journey

Kelly here; I’m still alive and still doing well! But man…is this thing over yet? 

In early January, we posted a blog about the start to our Whole30 journeys, and here we are near the end; the home stretch. Here’s a recap of how we survived and what our next steps are:

DAYS 8-10 – Is This Even Working?

Supposedly these are the “oh no my pants are tighter” days, but I don’t feel like that at all. Am I doing something wrong?

Favorite Food: POTG Hearty Beef Stew an honeydew

Cravings: I miss protein shakes

Sleep: Avg. 8 hours 12 minute of slumber

Epic Failure: None surprisingly

Lesson #8: Don’t let the freezer run out of ready to eat meals!

DAY 15 – Halfway There. That’s It?!

I feel good, but I’m so over this.

Favorite Foods:  Coffee. I’m back on the coffee after a long time without it. I’m loving the German Brats with Sauerkraut and Home Fried Potatoes

Cravings: Gummies

Sleep: 7 hours and 27 minutes and woke up feeling great

Epic Failure: None!

Lesson #10: Reading labels is exhausting and annoying, but necessary.

DAYS 20-22 – I Don’t Want to Play Anymore

Why isn’t this over yet? I feel like I can’t do this anymore. I’m sick of reading labels and limiting myself. It’s harder for me because I hate cooking with a passion. I’m eating a lot of Larabars and POTG meals and will most likely live on them for the next week. Day 21 is usually known as the “I am so over this” day so I’m in good company.

Favorite Foods: POTG Savory Breakfast Hash and Carrot Cake Larabars

Cravings: Gummies and Cheese, but not together.

Sleep: Avg. 7 hours and 5 minutes of beauty sleep, but I’m waking up really tired again.

Epic Failure: None!

Lesson #12: My bad attitude is making this worse than it is.  

DAY 26 – I’ve sooooo got this!

Went to the gym and three of my favorite guys that I work out with all told me I looked skinnier. I don’t notice anything really except that my clothes actually feel like I’m wearing them and not like they are wearing me. 

Favorite Foods: Coq Au Vin!!

Cravings: I just want a Reese’s

Sleep: 6 hours and 40 minutes – I went to bed so late!

Epic Failure: None.

Lesson #14: Chef Ann is a genius at making things AIP and Whole30 Approved. 

DAYS 27-29 – Home stretch.

I cannot wait to start reintroducing things. To be very honest, the first thing is going to be alcohol — before you judge me, the reason is because the Super Bowl is on Sunday and I love football and all the fun that comes with a good Super Bowl party. I will be eating before I go to make sure I don’t overdo the snacking and just make myself miserable.

Favorite Foods: Larabars in all the fruit flavors. OMG!

Cravings: Chocolate.

Sleep: 8 hours and 10 minutes on average.

Epic Failure: None…and I can’t believe it! 

Lesson #15: I can’t believe how the crap we put in all our food cuts the price down. I am in shock over how expensive eating like this is. No wonder most of America is unhealthy. I’m embarrassed about it to be very honest. How did our country get like this?

GROCERY BILL THUS FAR

$378.96 for the month…BUT I’ve also spent over $200 at Paleo On The Go for about 20 days of meals I didn’t want to make. It was worth every penny.

PALEO ON THE GO MEALS THAT HAVE SAVED ME ON THIS HALF OF THE JOURNEY

German Brats with Sauerkraut and Home Fried Potatoes

Coq Au Vin

Hearty Beef Stew

Pedersons Natural Farms Sugar Free Bacon

CONCLUSION: I feel absolutely amazing. 

Hello, it’s Kasia again. The past 3 weeks are just flying by and I can’t believe it is almost the end of January. How is this Whole30 challenge almost over?! I hope ya’ll are sticking in there. I would say things have been running smoothly, other than a few minor episodes of cravings which leads into binge eating apples and almond butter. It can be quite hard to feel sustained on this diet as you are not getting your regular carbs from rice or bread-like food (although I’ve been gluten-free for awhile, I always found a lot of Paleo bread/dessert options to keep me happy). But, with time, it gets a lot easier if you find some other options like fruit and potatoes! 

Anyways, here’s the continued breakdown of my Whole30 journey! Part 2, let’s go!

January 8-15th – COMMITMENT

At this point, the required commitment to the Whole30 diet is sinking in. It is like “Oh wow I’m actually doing this and I can’t screw up.” I had a major feeling of being locked up. There was nowhere to go but to continue as mandated.

It definitely hits you the most when you go to the store and you see all the aisles of inedible food (according to Whole30). It gets even worse when you look at every single item closely and notice all the ingredients that are incompatible with your diet. All these illegal foods!! No bueno! But then again, I realized I started not wasting time at the store buying foods I didn’t need. I just focused on my top 5 staples (broccoli, carrots, chicken, blueberries, sparkling water) and got out. Talk about efficiency and money savings!

This week also led into a short day trip to Fort Lauderdale with my parents. I knew it would be extremely hard to find the necessary meals at restaurants, so I prepared some eggs, carrots and sweet potato for me to have in the car. That unfortunately did not last very long. I don’t know why but I eat a whole lot so food goes fast. Luckily, I found a pretty hipster restaurant down in Fort Lauderdale where you pick and choose what you would like in your salad bowl. A massive life saver. The only food failure I had during the trip were the gas station cashews. I kind of overlooked the ingredients initially but later found out they contained some illegal oils. Oops!

January 15-22 – TIRED OF THIS

This week was a bit of a trying time for me. I was kind of getting bored with the diet and I wanted food. I wanted food all the time- something heavy in the stomach, not just greens and protein all the time.

Mind you, I go to Crossfit about 5-6 times a week. Those 5-6 times are full of heavy weightlifting and intense cardio workouts. You also have to take into account I’m at the phase where I’m not a complete beginner. I can clean 135 lbs and deadlift 210 lbs. For example, I go through workouts doing about 150 wall balls and a 50 cal row. It takes quite the energy, so without the right amount of food I get massive cravings. It is not necessarily sugar cravings; it is more that I just want calories and to feel fulfilled.

It took me awhile to figure out how to fulfill my carb needs. Of course, blueberries and blackberries are always ideal because they are low in sugar but I never really felt completely satisfied with eating just those for carbs, but strangely enough I found that apples, especially Honeycrisps, really curb my appetite (along with some almond butter). I guess it’s just that you have to worry about all that fruit sugar, which in the end is not terrible if consistently exercising everyday. Of course, adding that daily apple (or maybe 2) with other low-sugar fruits and sweet potatoes is a must! For me, it is essential to ensure a carb is included with each meal.

Just a side note, I felt it necessary to test my limits this month and stay away from RX Bars or any kind of fruit bars for the carbs. I just wanted to see how far I could get without searching for a quick fix. I mainly wanted to focus on eating straight forward, whole foods throughout the diet and staying clear from anything snackish/sugary to feel optimal results. 

January 22-29 – OOPS

Woo! The final week of the Whole30 Challenge. Out of all the weeks, I felt the most in flow with the diet. No complaints really.

I started to realize the benefits of upholding the diet these past couple weeks. Specifically, the reduction of inflammation that I’ve been feeling. Although I did not lose weight, it is insanely crazy how slim my legs have gotten these past days. And then the change in mobility! For Crossfit, I’ve always had the hardest time reaching depth in my squat (which can make it hard for technical movements such as the overhead squat) and now I can sit in a squat position with ease. This is a tremendous help in developing my technique further and also for the overall health of my joints. Bad technique always means you are straining something else!

Now it is time to confess, I did eat something illegal over the weekend. I can explain. You see I am quite weak when it comes to abnormal burger toppings, so when I stumbled upon this cool restaurant in Mt Dora, FL (which is 2 hours away from home) I couldn’t walk away. Which in hindsight was not the best idea, but I excluded the gluten bun and only ate the burger with my illegal peanut butter, strawberry jam and maple bacon toppings. It still made me feel especially guilty…so I went for a mandatory 2 mile run afterwards. I did pay my dues!

My takeaway from this illegal food experience would be…don’t stress out too much. Sure, you want to put your best foot forward when you are on a diet but don’t overkill. If you are too OCD about staying in compliance, the diet will never be sustainable in the long run. That is something to keep in mind for myself as I do plan to keep up generally with the Whole30 rules after this month (might be introducing back rice, almond flour and maybe sweeteners ie. maple syrup). 

CONCLUSION

I love eating well! It is just amazing how much your body changes when you eat REAL and clean food. My teeth are super white, my inflammation is cut down and my energy levels are boosted. All great results! I wouldn’t mind going on with Whole30 for a while more. Hope you all plan to stay on the Whole30 diet as well!! Good health to you all!!

Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit

I’m Kelly and I work at Paleo On The Go. I decided to try a Whole30 because I’ve never done it and I felt like I should be practicing what I preach with all we are doing over here at POTG! Thank goodness for Kasia doing it with me…I need all the moral support I can get. I love to eat. And I love my candy drawer. 

Before you scan over my days 1-7, let me break down what you are reading and why. I normally eat a fairly decent diet and fall off the wagon with gummies or Reese’s regularly. I spend five days a week at the gym and I am trying to keep myself from developing the many health issues that run in my family. I’m a restless sleeper and I’m frequently tired, but I’ve been like that all my life. 

I’ve broken down a brief summary of how each day has been so far, my favorite foods, my failures, my lessons, and changes I’m seeing.

DAY 2 – Negative Nancy

Everything I read said that days two and three were like a hangover…I was dreading these days. On day two I woke up feeling great after sleeping like a log and ended the day the same way. I ate my crockpot masterpiece with some lettuce and guac for lunch and was completely satisfied. For dinner I really wasn’t hungry so I ate the last of my Collard Greens that I had left over with Bacon.  Then I overdosed on sweet cherries and pistachios.

• Favorite Foods: Sweet Cherries and Bacon
• Cravings: None!
• Sleep: 8 hours 10 minutes of bliss
• Epic Failure: I am officially addicted to raw nuts. I sat in bed and ate over 760 calories worth at 10PM. 760!
• Lesson #2: Sweet Cherries are one of the best things God invented.

DAY 4 – I Have So Much to Do…Don’t Mess Up!

OK, days four and five are the “kill all the things” days. I didn’t think about or attempt to kill any of the things and surprisingly still felt really, really great. However, my skin started its own detox. When I’m sick, I tend to break out on my face at the end of my sickness. It’s almost like that is how my body gets rid of toxins. I am very lucky that I almost never break out. But on day four, I woke up to five ripe zits and a lot of bumps on my face. Sweet.

• Favorite Foods: Pistachios and sweet cherries.
• Cravings: I want gummies!
• Sleep: 8 hours and 41 minutes of absolute slumber
• Epic Failure: None!

• Lesson #4: Seriously plan meals ahead of time so you aren’t freaking out. Thank goodness for POTG meals. I grabbed some Chicken Breakfast Sausage and Roast Brussels Sprouts for lunch and had my pesto chicken for dinner.

DAY 6 – OMG When Do I Get To Go Home?

Oh yes. The “I just want a nap” day is real. Very real. Seriously. I felt like I would basically lie, cheat, and steal for a glorious 10+ hours in my cozy bed. I’m even dozing off writing this. Send help.

Food for the day revolved around my daily morning banana, more of my pesto chicken dish, and one of the juiciest pears I’ve ever had. I also switched out the Turmeric Bone Broth for the Beef Bone Broth. So good!! For dinner I had the German Brats with Sauerkraut and Home Fried Potatoes. It has officially tied the Hearty Beef Stew for my go-to meals from POTG.

• Favorite Foods: POTG German Brats with Sauerkraut and Home Fried Potatoes. So satisfying!
• Cravings: Bubble Gum
• Sleep: 7 hours and 10 minutes of pretty great sleep, but I had to get up 90 minutes earlier than normal.
• Epic Failure: Skipped the gym because I was so tired. 
• Lesson #6: I have Chronic Active Epstein Barr. It’s rare and it sucks. My first sign of a flare-up is a sore throat and exhaustion. I already know what triggers it and it’s typically when I have too much sugar in my diet. Well, with all the fruit and that little bit of bad sugar in that protein bar, I woke up with a sore throat. My new snack is going to be celery. I love celery.

DAY 7 – Yep. Still tired. Where’s the Napping Pod?

Is it Saturday yet? No? OK fine. 

Started off day seven with my usual banana, but then lunch hit and yum! I had the Tom Kha Gai Soup and it was amazing! So satisfying and filling. I had a day of meetings and even though I was really exhausted, I got back to the gym. I’m committed to getting back into my five days a week. I always feel better when I get my physical activity on mentally draining days. It’s hard when I have no energy, but I always feel so much better when I’m done.

• Favorite Foods: Tom Kha Gai Soup
• Cravings: Coke from McDonald’s – even though I have like five in an entire year, this was my craving. Go figure.
• Sleep: 8 hours and 10 minutes – I can’t believe how much better my sleep quality has been!
• Epic Failure: May or may not have fallen asleep at my desk for a minute or five. Shhhh don’t tell my boss.  
• Lesson #7: Paleo On The Go Whole30 items are a saving grace. I will never take them for granted again! Whole30 Approved meals in my freezer have already saved me multiple times. 

Seven days down, 23 to go.

GROCERY BILL THUS FAR

$103.53 for 8 meals, fruit to snack on and nuts that I can’t eat. Insert the most extreme sad face ever. At this point, I’ve had to throw away one tub of raspberries for mold, one serving of my Enchilada Chicken because it had been in the refrigerator too long, and a banana that turned brown and soft. The rest of it is gone and I have to shop again on Day 8.

PALEO ON THE GO MEALS THAT HAVE SAVED ME THUS FAR

• Bone Broths: Golden Turmeric Broth and Grass Fed Beef Bone Broth
• German Brats with Sauerkraut and Home Fried Potatoes
• Tom Kha Gai Soup
• Hearty Beef Stew
• Bacon

Hello, it’s Kasia! I am the Customer Service Rep here at Paleo on the Go and I joined the Whole30 bandwagon for the month of January with Kelly. It definitely helps to have someone join in with you, making it way more legitimate with an accountability partner. I also would say I somewhat take this as a competition between me and Kelly to see who can stay away from sugar the longest. We both are sugar junkies!! May the strongest willed person win (pretty much me!

Here’s a little background of my diet going into this Whole30 Challenge. I am a pretty clean eater (I try) and started watching what I ate about a year and a half ago when a natural doctor noted for the first time all my food sensitivities. I essentially started to just eat protein, green vegetables, almonds, and low sugar fruits. I for sure had major sugar cravings for the first four months of this and moving on to more recent times, started to be more lenient about the foods I ate…sometimes eating a chocolate (or multiple delicious treats) to satiate my deepest most inner needs. Good news is that I believe my screwing up taught me how valuable it is to sustain a clean diet and to take care of myself because when I slipped an illegal item down my throat, I sure felt terrible. My face would break out. I would get dizzy and just get really grumpy. My mind would not feel focused and alert. Just all the things you want to stay clear of!

Knowing how critical a clean diet is, I am just super glad to be back on track and eating all the Whole30 foods. I am also a Crossfit athlete, so seeing how it will improve my performance and recovery time will be a plus. 

Here are my comments for the first 7 days of upholding the Whole30 Challenge:

DAY 3-4   I NEED FOOD

Friday and Saturday are just the worst for me. It means that it’s time to get loose and chill out after a long work week. This laid back mentality can turn into some lackadaisical decisions when it comes to food choices. It also means I’m craving something and it’s only been two days. Dang it. 

I remember coming straight from Crossfit on Friday just ready to eat everything and anything I saw.  Luckily, I knew exactly what to do when I got into this type of state. I just needed to eat…eat a lot. Knowing I could not eat honey and rice cakes to fill me up, I went for the blueberries. I ate a carton of that…then found a banana…then some spoons of almond butter. Ok, I was set at that point and was glad I could stifle my cravings without eating anything illegal. I was safe and sound. Still in the game!!

It is pretty hard if you have not been on a diet before to know what stops your appetite. I just know fruit and large portions of it will do the job for me. Carbs always do the trick. Of course if you do not want to feel so heavy, carrots are another great option, baby carrots especially. They are easy to throw in a pot and heat up in seconds. You can eat a whole lot and not worry about the calories! I love juices too, with more greens of course to keep the sugar down!

DAY 6-7  SURVIVOR

I am in the zone with this diet. I do not feel tempted to cheat at this point. Even for my dad’s birthday, I blankly stared at a coconut pie for a full 30 minutes not eating one piece of it I tell you. Heck yeah!

My mind feels very focused at this point. I worked a whole lot Monday and Tuesday but could work through orders and customer messages seamlessly. I noticed my memory is a whole lot more effective and lucid. All plusses. 

The thing that I did not notice until Kelly brought it up was my tiredness. The last 2 mornings I found it very hard to get up and felt extremely wiped out by the end of the day. I do like that though because I usually have sleeping issues. I am a pretty hyper person and cannot shut off my mind at night. The natural feeling of tiredness is good for me in that case.

CONCLUSION

Love the way I am feeling and I am glad to be back on track! Let’s hope the next 3 weeks will be as easy as the first! We will be back in a couple weeks (Janurary 29) to fill you in on the end of our jouneys and give you tips and tricks for yours!

Kelly wants to be bad. Kasia is being good!

Moo Shu Pork Taco Kit

AIP or not, the holidays can be stressful and rushed. You are trying to prepare for guests, fun with the kids, holiday dinners, parties, school events, cookie exchanges, neighborhood gatherings, and so on.  

The best way to manage your holiday baking is to have a plan. Get your calendar out and mark off the dates where you are going to need to bring a dessert. Pencil in what you need, i.e. apple pie for party at Joe’s, two dozen cupcakes for elementary class party, cookie dough and decorations for nieces and nephews to roll out and bake.  Get your list prepared in date order and create a plan of attack.

The main goal:

Don’t Stress Out!

You do not want to be doing everything at the stress-filled last minute as people are arriving.  The main tip I can share for you is to bake ahead and freeze as much as possible. AIP baked goods freeze incredibly well. You will need to set aside some freezer space for this, but the time you save will be well worth it.

Examples of items that freeze well

• Drop cookies can be baked, cooled, and placed in freezer safe bags.  Just pull out and bring to room temperature when you are ready to serve.  
• Cupcakes and cake layers can be pre-baked, cooled and frozen.  Just make sure to wrap them very carefully and lay them flat on a cardboard round or tray so they don’t get damaged.  When you need them, pull them out and decorate them frozen. They will be soft and ready to eat within an hour or two.  
• Rolled cookies such as sugar or gingerbread or our new Carob Cookie Dough can be baked and frozen, laid out flat on trays and well wrapped with parchment in between to prevent breaking.  Pull them out and decorate on the day you need them. 
• Pies freeze well also.  Bake and completely cool your pies, double wrap and freeze.  Defrost overnight in the refrigerator the day before you need them.

Cookie dough can be made ahead and frozen – or better yet, get it from us this year!  Pull it out and defrost overnight in the refrigerator the day before you need it. This can be particularly helpful if you want to have the kids rolling out cookies during the season, you can pull out a tub of dough and let them roll out, cut and decorate a few dozen with minimal effort. 

Keeping your pantry well stocked with AIP flours, fats, and sugars will make life easier so you aren’t scrambling around for cassava flour or raisins at the last moment.  If your local store doesn’t carry some of these items, they are widely available online.

Here is a list of suggested AIP baking pantry items

Maple syrup

Coconut sugar

Coconut manna

Coconut milk/cream

Pure vanilla extract or paste

Raisins

Tips and Tricks

Cake/cupcakes:  When baking cakes, line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment cut to the size of the bottom of the pan, then grease the sides of the pan.  When the cake is fully cooled, run a thin knife around the outer edges of the pan to loosen the cake and then invert a large plate over the top of the cake and flip the cake over onto the plate.  Remove the parchment. It’s a good idea to freeze the cake layers before frosting them as they are very delicate right out of the oven. For cupcakes, either line your cupcake pan with paper liners or use a silicone muffin pan.  If using silicone, it is way easier to pop the cupcakes out if you freeze them in the silicone pans first. Otherwise they tend to get damaged. 

Here are a few simple AIP recipes to help you get started.  You can switch them up to your own taste. Surf around on the net.  There are tons of awesome AIP bakers sharing their magic online. 

Basic Vanilla Cake/Cupcake

1 ½ cups tigernut flour

1 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 Tbl. vanilla extract

5 Tbl. avocado oil

1 cup water

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in another and add the wet to the dry and mix well to combine.  Line an 8” round pan with a circle of parchment then grease with coconut oil and spoon the batter into the pan.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.   

Frosting for cakes and cupcakes

1 cup palm shortening

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 T. vanilla extract

¼ cup arrowroot starch

1 T. coconut flour

¼ cup melted coconut oil

Put everything into the bowl of a processor and process until fluffy.  If you are piping it, you may want to refrigerate it for a few minutes to firm it up a little.  

AIP frosting can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.  You will need to take it out to soften a few hours ahead of time, or place it into your food processor and whip it for a few seconds to soften it up enough to pipe or spread.

Basic Rolled Cookie dough

2 cups Cassava flour, plus more for rolling 

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup non-hydrogenated palm shortening

3/4 cup maple syrup 

1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat shortening, maple syrup, and vanilla in a standard mixer or food processor.

In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

Add the dry to the wet and beat until just combined.

Transfer the dough a plastic container and refrigerate 3 hours before using.  Can also be frozen. If frozen, defrost overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Icing for cookies

1 cup of coconut butter (also called manna), softened in microwave until creamy

1 cups coconut cream

3/4 cups honey

1 T. vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined.  Don’t refrigerate or it will harden.  

AIP icing needs to be made when you are going to use it.  It is fast and easy to make as long as you have all of the ingredients on hand.

Some natural AIP friendly ways to color your icings and frostings 

Red/Pink:  natural beet powder, just add a teaspoon of the beet powder to a teaspoon of water and gradually add the paste to your icing until you like the color.

Yellow:  add a teaspoon of pure turmeric powder to a teaspoon of water and gradually add the paste to your icing until you like the color.

Green:  take a handful of fresh parsley and chop it finely.  Wrap it tightly in a piece of cheesecloth and wring it out really tight over a bowl until a few drops of juice come out. Add the juice gradually to your icing until you like the color.

Blue/purple:  take ¼ cup fresh or frozen blueberries and chop them up.  Wrap them tightly in a piece of cheesecloth and wring it out really tight over a bowl until a few drops of juice come out. Add the juice gradually to your icing until you like the color.

The more juice you have the darker your colors will be. If you have a juicer that may be beneficial in helping you create the desired colors.

Recommended Baking Equipment

Good quality food processor with large bowl

Good quality cookie sheets

Parchment paper

Rolling Pin

Cookie cutters

Piping bag with a few tips

Shaker with large holes to sprinkle flour evenly on surface for rolling cookies

Silicone muffin pans for cupcakes

Qt. sized Ziplock bags

Plastic wrap

9” Cake pans

9” Pie tins (disposable)

When baking cookies, it helps to line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.  This will prevent sticking and help the cookies to spread evenly. Your drop cookie dough should be cool, not warm, to avoid it spreading too much.  If you use a small ice cream scoop, you can get perfect uniform even rounds and then gently press down on top to flatten a little before baking. 

AIP baked goods generally need to be baked at a lower temperature than regular ones.  It is important to check items for burning and rotate your pans halfway through baking.  Use a toothpick or skewer to test the middle of your cakes to make sure they are baked through.

Even though you are not using raw eggs, it is still a good idea to refrain from eating raw cookie dough or cake batter.  You can get indigestion from uncooked flours. The frosting however, is perfectly safe!

All it takes is a little planning and prep and you can be successful at AIP Baking. Good Luck!

Following an AIP/Paleo diet can be a challenge at times, especially if you like to create in the kitchen. Do you like to bake and miss being able to enjoy your favorite recipes? Will your favorite cakes rise like when you could use wheat flour? Will your cookies taste the same? Recreating recipes that you love without wheat flour can be a challenge, but it’s something that you can do with a little research and perseverance. There are many different flours out there that are AIP compliant so we asked Chef Ann to break them down for you, as well as, give you some AIP baking tips that she has learned over the years.

Chef Ann Says: Any gluten free baking, including AIP, relies on the baker’s ability to combine gluten free flours in a blend that can mimic the attributes of wheat flour. AIP, being grain free as well as gluten free, creates a fairly good challenge.

The main flours used in AIP baking are as follows:  Cassava flour, Tapioca Starch, Coconut Flour, Tigernut Flour, and Arrowroot Starch.  There are still a few others out there that I haven’t yet tried like Plantain Flour, Water Chestnut Flour, and Sweet Potato Flour.  

Tigernut Flour

The “gluten free” worlds newest flour is Tigernut Flour. It isn’t a nut as the name implies but actually a small root found in Northern Africa and the Mediteranean that has been cultivated for centuries. It’s completely gluten-free and Paleo/AIP. It also packs a little more protein than other flours. It has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor which makes it a great choice to use for treats. Using it in desserts you can actually reduce the sugars because if its sweetness. It has helped us create incredible new baked goods like our Snickerdoodles and Peachberry Cobbler. 

Chef Ann Says: Tigernut flour is an extremely light weight, airy and high fiber flour which adds a lightness and crumb to baked goods.  It needs to be combined with other flours to bind it, otherwise baked goods will crumble away like dust. It is good to use in cakes, muffins, cookies and cobblers.  It is a very expensive flour and requires sifting, making it a bit more labor intensive as well. But the final results are worth the trouble and expense. It is brown, so anything you bake with tigernut flour will be brown in color.

Coconut Flour
Coconut flour is actually made from the meat of the coconut which has been dried and ground into powder form. It works well in baked goods, but anything you make with it will have a coconut flavor to it.
Chef Ann Says: Coconut flour is a heavy weight flour which absorbs a lot of moisture. It can dry out baked goods and make them very heavy. In my opinion, it should only be used as a small portion of your grain free blend. It will provide a crunch or crust effect. It does impart a strong coconut flavor as well, which is something to be aware of. I’d use it in a cookie that you wanted to be crisp, for scones, or as part of a breading. Two other positive attributes include it being high in protein and low in carbohydrates.

Tapioca Flour

Tapioca Flour or Tapioca Starch come from the Cassava Root (Yes, the same place that Cassava Flour comes from). It is different than Cassava Flour because it is just the starch of the Cassava Root. While it is often used in baking because it makes soft, tender cookies, cakes and bread, some people aren’t fond of the taste.

Chef Ann Says: Tapioca starch is similar to cornstarch in that it thickens and gelatinizes when heated.   Adding a percentage of tapioca starch to your recipes can be a gluten replacement, creating chewiness and a little stretch to doughs and batters as they rise.  Arrowroot can be used similarly, but I rarely do it because it has a strong chemical taste when you use it as a significant part of a baked good.

Cassava Flour
Unlike Tapioca Flour, Cassava Flour is simply the whole root, peeled dried and ground. It is often used in gluten free products because it is most like wheat flour. It has a very mild flavor and a soft and powdery texture. Some people feel fuller when eating baked goods containing more Cassava Four as it is very high in carbohydrates.

Chef Ann Says: Cassava flour works well in pie crusts, tortillas, pressed doughs and cookies. It tends to be heavy and dense when added to a recipe which makes it work well in these applications. You can use a traditional wheat flour recipe and substitute cassava flour and AIP compliant fat.

AIP Baking Tips From Chef Ann

One other thing to keep in mind when AIP baking, is that since you aren’t able to use eggs, grass fed beef gelatin can be a good substitute to bind cookies, breads, and cakes together.  You don’t need to bloom it, just add the dry gelatin to the dry ingredients before adding the wet. Doughs containing gelatin need to rest, so that the gelatin can absorb the moisture in the dough and “set.”  You’ll need to make most AIP doughs a little more wet than you want the finished result to be, and wrap and refrigerate them so that the flours and gelatin can absorb the moisture. Usually, you’ll have to take the dough out and temper it for a few hours so that it will be soft enough to be rolled, pressed or shaped.   

AIP/Paleo baking powder is made by mixing together a ratio of two parts cream of tartar and one part baking soda.  Then measure it out the same way you would regular baking powder. Often, a little organic apple cider vinegar will be added to the recipe along with the baking powder to activate it and give more rise to the batter. 

Since we don’t use white sugar, coconut sugar can be an asset, but it does impart a darker color to the finished product that you may not want. In those cases, you can use maple syrup or honey and reduce other moisture in the recipe to accommodate the liquid sugars.

The Paleo Effect

You will need a good sense of humor and patience when baking AIP/Paleo.  Sometimes a recipe just won’t work. Even one you’ve made 100 times before.  I call this “the Paleo Effect.” The latest batch of flour may have a higher moisture content or be slightly coarser in grind.  Maybe the shortening was a little softer than usual. With practice, you can learn to compensate for the Paleo Effect and get good results in your baked goods.   

Happy Baking! – Chef Ann

Everyone has their own version of what is safe to eat, as well as how food should be stored at home. Lots of urban myths and familial practices are passed down from relatives. Are you one of those people who leave food sitting on the counter for days, munching off of it when hungry, oblivious to the microbacteria party going on inside those leftovers? Or are you hyper aware of food temps and refuse to eat food that has been left out, take leftovers or anything not immediately refrigerated?

Some people will leave food in the refrigerator or freezer for long periods of time and have no issue with eating something placed in the freezer long ago. If you don’t have the intestinal fortitude to deal with food that has been around for a while, or hasn’t been handled correctly, here are some of the best food safety practices in the home:

• Make sure that your refrigerator and freezer are set to the proper temperatures. The refrigerator temperature should be kept at or below 40°f, and your freezer should be set at 0°f. Maintaining your refrigerator/freezer at these temperatures will help your food last longer and stay safer.

• Perishable foods should never be left sitting on the kitchen counter to thaw for longer than 2 hours. After that point the center of the food may remain frozen, while the outer surface may enter the danger zone.

• The danger zone is the range of temperatures between 40° and 140°F, where bacteria multiply rapidly.

• Never use running hot water to thaw frozen food. The outside quickly gets into the danger zone while the inside takes longer to thaw.

• The best quick-thaw method is to use tepid water (tepid water is approximately 105°f). This is the best option when you have a small package of meat to thaw. Place the package in a bowl that your meat will fit in nicely. Place the bowl in the sink. Turn the water on and adjust the temp. Set the water at a fast drip and let it run over the frozen meat. This can take approximately 30 minutes for smaller cuts of meat. If you are trying to thaw a big roast you can use this method, just dont go over two hours. It is best to thaw large cuts of meat in the refrigerator.

• Yes, microwaves have a defrost setting, and you can get good results if you monitor carefully. But defrosting in the microwave can also dry the meat out. It also brings the food into the danger zone quickly so the meat must be cooked soon after defrosting. Truth be told, you’re not actually defrosting, but slowly cooking. This is why meat that is defrosted in the microwave can end up being dry.

It is safest to allow food to thaw in the refrigerator. Yes this takes time, but it is better to be safe than sorry. The meat that you are thawing never gets into the “danger zone” where bacteria begin to thrive. All it takes is some planning ahead.

Let’s Talk Dates

Do you ever get confused by all the dates printed on food products? Let’s get a few things straight:

• “Open Date” – This date uses a calendar date on a food product. The Open Date is not a safety date, instead, this label tells how long to display the product for sale at the store.
• “Best if Used By” (or Before) – This date is recommended for best flavor or quality. This is not a date to purchase by, nor is it an indication that the product is unsafe after this date.
• “Use By” – This date is the date recommended to use the product in order to have the best quality. This date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product. Even after the Use By date, a food should remain safe and wholesome if it has been properly stored and handled.
• “Expiration Date” – Did you know that the expiration dates on products doesn’t mean that they will be bad after that date? What it means is that the product quality will deteriorate after that point. Depending on how you handled it and if there was cross contamination it can remain safe to eat after that date.
• Closed or coded dates are packing numbers for use by the manufacturer.
• Packaged on, Manufactured on or Prepared on. Packaging dates are closely related to best before dates and are intended to give consumers an idea of how long a product will maintain its quality. These dates are used on food products with a shelf life of 90 days or less.

Sell by or Freeze by dates are other voluntary markings used in Canada specifically, and can help the consumer make decisions about purchasing and storing food.

So really it’s all about common sense, right? Don’t take a package of meat out of the freezer and leave it on the counter or in the sink to thaw. Despite the best of intentions the odds are that you are going to leave it sitting there too long. Yes it will be thawed when you finally remember hours later, but at what cost? We all lead busy lives. Because of that it is best to err on the side of caution and thaw your food in the refrigerator.  It just takes a little planning. That is really the only way to be sure that you are doing all you can

Turkey Talk

Ok, this one might be a hot button issue because of the size of a frozen turkey. Many people let it sit in the kitchen sink overnight to thaw. All we can say is, YIKES! The graphic below shows some really great information that will come in handy this Thanksgiving. You may or may not know this, but you can cook a turkey from frozen! You may have never considered it, because you know, stuffing. But since cutting gluten and bread out of an AIP diet is necessary, this could actually be done.