Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry: Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free Recipes [A Cookbook]

A family-friendly collection of simple paleo recipes that emphasize protein and produce, from breakfasts to entrees to treats, from the popular gluten-free blogger of Elana's Pantry.

Whether you are looking to eliminate gluten, dairy, grains, or processed foods from your diet, Paleo cooking is the perfect solution for food allergy relief and better all-around health. Naturally based on the foods our Paleolithic ancestors ate for generations, the Paleo diet emphasizes meat and seafood, vegetables, fruit, and nuts.
 
Author and beloved food blogger Elana Amsterdam has been living grain free for over ten years; in Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry, Amsterdam offers up her streamlined techniques and recipes with minimal ingredients for busy cooks on the run. She transforms simple, classic family favorites such as pancakes and ice cream with Paleo-friendly ingredients like almond flour and coconut milk. Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry includes nearly 100 recipes featuring the Paleo mainstays of lean proteins and simple vegetable dishes, plus wholesome sweet treats—all free from grains, gluten, and dairy, and made with natural sweeteners.

Featured Recipe from Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry: Breakfast Sausage

I’ve modified Alton Brown’s recipe for classic breakfast sausage by increasing the sage and removing the refined sugar. For sausage with a milder flavor, reduce the amount of sage to 1 tablespoon. These sausages are perfect served with the Green Frittata (page 80) and Salsa Verde (page 89).

Makes 8 patties

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds organic ground pork or turkey
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, sage, rosemary, honey, salt, and pepper, using your hands to mix the ingredients thoroughly.

Using a 1/3-cup measuring cup, form the mixture into 8 patties, each about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the patties, turning them once and gently pressing them down to flatten, for 5 to 8 minutes per side, until golden brown and crispy. Transfer the patties to a paper towel–lined plate and serve.

Featured Recipe from Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry: Flourless Nut-Free Brownies

Makes 16 brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup Spectrum all-vegetable shortening
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with shortening.

In a medium saucepan over very low heat, melt the chocolate chips until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat, then mix in the shortening and coconut sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.

Let the brownies cool in the baking dish for 1 hour. Cut into 16 squares and serve.

Featured Recipe from Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry: Sesame Noodles

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 (12-ounce) package kelp noodles
• 1/4 cup roasted almond butter, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon ume plum vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions

Soak the kelp noodles in a bowl of hot water for 30 minutes. Drain the noodles and rinse thoroughly.

In a small bowl, whisk together the almond butter, sesame oil, vinegar, and honey. Add the noodles and toss to combine. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Food blogger Amsterdam's latest cookbook is aimed firmly at the growing Paleo diet market, noting that "a plant-based diet with small amounts of lean animal protein feel less inflated and more energetic." There is a wealth of options for those looking to eliminate gluten, diary, and grains—but be forewarned she also avoids tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant. Nevertheless the recipes are worth a try. She uses a great deal of coconut in various forms: coconut flour in Apricot Muffins, coconut oil in Paleo "Potato" Leek Soup—cauliflower replaces the potato, and coconut milk in a diary-free whipped cream. For those less keen on coconut, Amsterdam's Honey Lemon Chicken and Avocado Kale Salad will surely please. Unfortunately, all the recipes feel limited by the diet's strict protocols, so only the most restrictive eaters will find the bite worth the buy. (June)

“I have loved Elana’s recipes for some time now—especially her Paleo Bread, which is not only delicious but has the perfect consistency, too. So I’m thrilled to have an entire cookbook of her simple, tasty, and healing Paleo recipes—full of superfoods and wholesome ingredients—to explore.”  
—Dr. Frank Lipman, author of Revive

ELANA AMSTERDAM is the popular food blogger of Elana’s Pantry, where she shares gluten-free and Paleo recipes. She is the author of two previous cookbooks: The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook and Gluten-Free Cupcakes. She lives with her family in Boulder, Colorado. Visit www.elanaspantry.com.

Introduction
 
I’ve been eating grain-free for well over a decade, since 2001. While I am very focused on using the foods I eat to improve my health, my primary goal has been to bring people together around good food. For me, this means creating tasty dishes that appeal to everyone, not just those with dietary restrictions.
 
My friends say that when I’m trying to perfect a new recipe I am like a dog with a bone—I don’t stop until my recipe tastes like the classic dish that I aim to emulate, sometimes testing a recipe as many as thirty times until I get it just right.
 
Where does this drive come from? It stems from the love I have for my oldest son (now fourteen, diagnosed with celiac at age two) and my desire for him to have food that is delicious and enticing. In other words, I don’t want him to covet the food his friends eat. I want his friends to clamor for the food that I make­—and they do. When the boys bring their friends by the house, they all dig in to piles of homemade bagels with healthy spreads, high-protein cookies (made with almond flour), and wholesome ice cream made with coconut milk, hemp seeds, and honey. During sleepovers they raid my kitchen for a midnight snack—little do they know how nutritious the food they are “sneaking” is.
 
My culinary journey started with an Ayurvedic training that began in 1993. (Ayurveda, or the science of self-healing, is a five-thousand-year-old system that originated in India; it emphasizes balancing the body, mind, and spirit through diet, lifestyle, and exercise.) It became quite handy just a few years later in 1998, when I was diagnosed with celiac disease. Initially, I relied on the gluten-free diet; however, this did little to improve my digestion.
 
My husband, concerned about my continuing digestive distress, researched solutions and found the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). This diet was created by the brilliant Elaine Gottschall, with whom I later became friends via a series of long telephone conversations. In 2001 I began eating grain-free, and I have ever since.
 
In 2006, after several years of creativity in the kitchen, I started my blog, Elana’s Pantry, where I have a collection of more than seven hundred grain-free recipes.
 
In the meantime, the grain-free diet, for the most part now referred to as the Paleo (or ancestral) diet, has taken the culinary world by storm. Now, when I’m at book signings, all types of people tell me about their love of Paleo eating; many want to eat like a caveman.
 
As interest in the Paleo diet has grown, I’ve adapted many of its additional tenets, including eliminating legumes and dairy. I also avoid some nightshades (including tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant), which proponents of the Paleo diet say may possibly be detrimental to those with autoimmune conditions. Further, given the number of friends I have with nut allergies, I’ve drastically increased the number of nut-free recipes in this book.
 
As food allergies continue to increase, I am happy to cut out allergens while rising to the challenge of keeping favorite foods flavorfully in the picture. I hope you enjoy this new book and the evolution it has taken from my past work.

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Blueberry Coffee Cake
Serves 8
Sweetness: Medium
 
Slices of this blueberry coffee cake, which show off vibrant splashes of blue, will impress your guests at brunch. It also makes a lovely dessert.
 
Cake
2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
4 large eggs
1/4 cup Spectrum all-vegetable
shortening
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
Topping
1/4 cup Spectrum all-vegetable
shortening
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup blanched almond flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
 
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with shortening and dust with almond flour.
 
To make the cake, combine the almond flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, shortening, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined, then stir in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
 
To make the topping, cream together the shortening and coconut sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in the almond flour and cinnamon, then sprinkle the topping over the cake batter.
 
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cake cool in the pan for 1 hour, then serve.