The beauty of flatbread is that there are no limits. You could choose to make a creamy garlic spiked chili avocado mash with smoky red wine chorizo like I did (it’s delicious I promise) or you could use this simple flatbread to soak up egg yolks, scoop hummus,slather with nut butter and apples, roll chicken and greens into a wrap. You know I could go on for at least 12 paragraphs about all the things you can do with a versatile grain free flatbread such as this. But I won’t, that would be annoying and your a lot smarter than that, I know you have your own 12 paragraphs of ideas.
Every culture has some variation of flatbread, scooping up saucy dishes with bread is synonymous with happy times. Aish Merahrah in Egypt, Bammy in Jamaica, Bannock in Native American culture, Bazlama in Turkey, Bhakri in Pakistan, Bing in China, Bolani in Afghanistan, Chapati and Naan in India, Farl in Scotland, Flatkaka in Iceland, Green Onion Cake in China, Himbasha and Injera in Ethiopia, Khanom bueang in Thailand and Cambodia, Lavash in Armenia, Lefse in Norway, Malooga in Yemen, Pane carasau in Italy and Sardinia, Pita in Greece,Qistibi in Tartarstan, Tortillas in Mexico, Tunnbröd in Sweden and Taftan in Iran. There is something innate within human beings that needs flatbread in its dietary spread. Before modern agriculture Native people made similar types of bread using acorns and other nuts and seeds growing wild. This paleo flatbread is akin to the latter, a higher protein more nutrient dense flatbread which will leave your human flatbread desires securely quelled. Soak up the goodness friends.
Now I want to tell you a short but beautiful story, since I’m certain you’ll have lots of time seeing as this flatbread recipe whips up so quickly. There is a village in Iran, where they sit at night and eat Taftan together by the fire. A mother and a father go off to work in the fields for the day, leaving their infant and young toddler with the neighbour girl to look after them. As they walk home from their day the young girl runs up to them, frantic, terrified. The little boy is missing, she was distracted by the baby and lost sight of him. He’s gone. Nowhere to be found. They turn the village upside down, inside out and everyone joins in the search. A day goes by and they haven’t found him yet, a sleepless night for the young parents. The next day they travel to the next village, everyone joins in their search, high and low they look. No boy, another night filled with despair. On the third day the father rounds up some men to go looking in the high mountains. The likelihood of a 16 month old baby getting so far from home is slim, but the will of a parent is impossible to break. They search every cave, every nook and cranny. Then they hear it, a faint whimper, a delicate weeping child, from deep within the cave. It smells of bear and they know it is a den, but they can hear the boy. The men enter, and they find the young boy nestled up against a mama bear, nursed and smelling of milk. Unharmed, the mother bear found the boy and fed him, protected him, and by some miracle the missing baby boy was safe and sound.A gentler universe than this one it seems, but it happened, only a few years back. I can only pray if my baby ever gets lost, that a mama bear will find him.
Inspired by the original paleo naan bread recipe at my heart beets.
3 Ingredient Paleo Flatbreads with Avocado and Chorizo
Author: Chantelle
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
Makes 2 large flatbreads or a bunch of wee ones
Ingredients
½ C tapioca flour
½ C finely ground almond flour
1 C coconut milk or raw milk
pinch of sea salt
oil or ghee for frying
2 avocados, mashed
glug of olive oil
pinch of salt
½ jalapeño chili, finely chopped
1 clove garlic,minced
a few strips of bell pepper
½ a chorizo sausage, finely sliced
Instructions
Heat a large frying pan and melt some ghee or other fat source, when the pan is nice and hot, add half the batter and spread it around by tilting the pan in all directions. Turning the heat to medium,let it get nice and bubbly and golden brown, flip and let it get golden on the other side.
Mash the avocados and mix in the olive oil,garlic,chili and salt.
Top the flatbreads with this mix and adorn with peppers and chorizo, you could also sprinkle some green onion or parsley, whatevers on hand.
Repeat with a million different topping/dipping variations.
So stoked on this Paleo Banana Bread with Pears and Honeyed Chocolate Sauce, for reals, it’s gluten and grain free, super moist and indulgently delicious. All I wanted today (and most days) was something rich and chocolately, warm and comforting, with a nice hot chai, and it doesn’t get much better than this banana bread folks. We have these two bountiful pear trees bordering our driveway, most of them are still unripe but one was ready, I wanted to make something special with the first pear of many to come. The bottom of the bread is caramelized gooey pears, which is surprisingly easy to achieve with a little coconut sugar and oil, the loaf pops right out, truly worthy of a pat on the back, a nice book and a cozy blanket. Monday moods.
We had to go to the court house today for a little ‘business’, apparently babies aren’t normally guests at such places since no change table was present anywhere. All the serious lawyers were ogling Mavi’s monkey pants, and he had plenty of smiles to share with all. What a gift children give to the world with their endless joy. The little one is starting to eat some solids, we’re taking a bit of an unconventional route and holding off on the grains and fruits. Instead, pastured egg yolks and grass-fed beef liver are the first foods. Quite the stretch from Pablem and other processed baby gruel. The reasoning behind this is that babies don’t produce amylase, the enzyme needed to break down all carbohydrates. Babes are much better equipped to digest protein and fat. At about 6 months they don’t have any iron stores left from when they were still inside momma, stealing all her iron for their journey outward. Liver is rich in iron and many vitamins, and the egg yolk from pastured chickens is high in healthy brain building cholesterol and lutein. I’m grateful to have this knowledge for our son, I’m sure at his age I was downing cheerios and goldfish, and I actually remember those vanilla baby cookies that one would just suck on until they disintegrated, yum?
Banana Bread with Pears and Honeyed Chocolate Sauce
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
For the banana bread
3 ripe bananas,mashed
2 eggs
1/4 C almond butter, raw or roasted
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 Tbs+1 tsp coconut oil,melted
2 Tbs coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C dark chocolate chips
1 ripe pear, thinly sliced
1/3 C coconut flour
For the chocolate sauce
2 Tbs coconut oil, melted
2 Tbs cacao powder
2 Tbs honey
pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F or 170C
Combine bananas,eggs,almond butter,vanilla, baking soda,sea salt, coconut oil and 1 Tbs coconut sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add coconut flour and baking soda until well incorporated, then proceed to mix in the chocolate chips.
In a loaf pan spread 1 tsp coconut oil on all sides until well coated and sprinkle a Tbs of coconut sugar over top, spread pear slices evenly over top.
Carefully pour the batter over top of the pear slices and smooth it all out.
Bake for 50 min. until a toothpick comes out clean.
Makes about 10 slices
For the chocolate sauce
Combine all ingredients and leave at room temperature to thicken. Stir well before pouring over your finished banana bread.
This salmon is ahhhh-mazing. It tastes way better than the candied salmon from the market loaded with weird preservatives and junk. Bourbon glaze is good with just about anything, I mean really, it’s syrupy liquor tainted goodness that you will want to douse everything in, yes, even salad. Maybe even brownies, if you leave out the savouries. The salmon is broiled to crispy perfection, and coated with a thick layer or glaze, some sesame seeds and greens onions, the whole marvellous dish comes together in under 30 minutes. That is, if you don’t nearly light your house on fire like I did, but at least we got to test the smoke alarm. J is a firefighter so while I frantically wave the door open and closed trying to do…something, he actually deals with the situation and I love him for it. My track record for starting fires is, ahem, not favourable. But J got over my negligence as soon as he took one bite into this melt in your mouth nom nom salmon.
It’s the time of year where the Kokanee salmon spawn, what a beautiful sight of red fish flowing in the river. A feast for the grizzlies and black bears of the region, not to mention the eagles and osprey. There are a few places around us to go and marvel at the fishies. This time of year is always challenging in that summer is over, you can feel the haze of endless sun dissipate. The shift occurs so rapidly you barely notice it until the tip of your nose is red and frozen and your little babies feet now need to be covered with a pair of woolies. And here we are, my favourite time of year, pumpkins, colours everywhere, calm acceptance that the sun still shines and the world is turning. You can expect more soups and roasted delights, comfort foods and pumpkin spice being churned out, especially once we get all settled in to our new nest.
Bourbon Glazed “Candied” Salmon goes great in a salad, I made a dressing with a Tbs. of the glaze, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and a touch of dijon mustard which was tantalizing. This recipe was inspired by the one at How Sweet Eats with a few little tweaks and a whole lot of extra smoke.
Oh you are going to love these morsels of ooey gooey comfort! They are so akin to my favourite childhood chocolate chip cookies that it sort of scares me. Because they’re not, these cookies are blow your mind grain free goodness, no weird hydrogenated oils or any of that nonsense. Simple to put together but very difficult waiting for them to cool. I shed a tear for my pops who’s doing a ketogenic/atkins diet and couldn’t indulge, his strength in resisting these babies is inspiring.
The original recipe is from Slim Palates Josh Weissman, he adds a touch of flaked sea salt to each cookie to really amp it up. The original recipe calls for raw almond butter, he says it adds to the caramelized effect. All I had was roasted almond butter so I used that and it turned out just lovely. Its up to you- either way these cookies are a hit and will find a permanent home in my cookie collection.
4 ounces dark chocolate coarsely chopped (I recommend 70-85% the actual cookie is fairly sweet so a darker chocolate contrasts best) or chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
Combine coconut or cane sugar with the almond butter until smooth, add baking soda,vanilla and salt.
In a separate bowl combine the egg and egg yolk, add to the almond butter mixture and combine until well incorporated.
Mix in the chocolate chunks.
Drop about 1-11/2 Tbs of the dough onto baking sheets, make sure to leave adequate space between cookies as they spread out quite a bit. 6 cookies per sheet works well, or you can do it in batches.
Bake for 10-12 minutes and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
3.2.1311
The past 2 weeks have been a veritable whirlwind whipping by. Seriously hard to believe it is September and the leaves are commencing their shift into auburn shades. I missed you all, the writing, the sharing, all that good stuff. Along with our transition into a new community, we’ve elevated our internet prowess to the high speed variety. Now I can actually have more than one window open at a time, hip pity hip hooray! Integration is slow and steady, smiling faces welcome us and the mountains here give you even more of a feeling of sitting in the palms of mother nature herself. Living in a small town seems to be more impact prone than a rustic woodland cabin but I am already seeing the opposite is the case. No more driving 20 minutes for a dollop of cream, now we can just go for a stroll. With a manageable amount of garden to tend, and a plethora of local producers around, I feel we’ve found a lifestyle that we can sustain. The blessings showered by my parents to help us make a little home were monumental and so appreciated. Thanks to my crafty dad we now have a hefty island to roll around to places with the best light for photographing all the gorgeous food we procure. I promise next summer we’ll have our sh!t together and you can actually have fun and go for some hikes and adventures!
This Almond sauce I make always makes everyone happy. It’s multi-purpose, I make a really similar sauce for my pad thai, but you could use this sauce for satay dipping sauce for skewers, salad dressing, stir-fry sauce, roasted sweet potato…My parents are visiting, so I toned down the hot chili spice and focused on creating a flavourful umami dish even the pickiest of eaters will love. I’m betting even kids would gobble down this sweet & sour almond chicken. Roasted sweet potatoes are the perfect side, they soak up all that luxurious sauce just perfectly.
As the move continues I realize how much stuff we have amassed in the past year, and just how much of it is unnecessary. It’s nice to have a well stocked kitchen, and I’m a sucker for cool gadgets and pretty things but I’m realizing I could fare pretty well with just my cast iron skillet and the vita-mix. Those are the two things I would bring to my desert island if it had electricity. And a stand up paddle board, those are rad, I really want one wide enough that you can do yoga on the water.
This meal is a cinch to whip up, it’s paleo friendly, but you’d never know.
½ tsp sambal chili sauce of ½ of a bird chili, seeds removed
1½ tsp lime juice
1 Tbs tamarind concentrate
2 Tbs honey or coconut sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 Tbs coconut aminos or tamari
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs tapioca starch (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
In a blender or food processor add almonds,coconut milk,garlic,chili,lime juice, tamarind,honey, fish sauce, coconut amino or tamari and rice wine vinegar and blend until smooth.
For a thicker more gravy like sauce, mix 1 Tbs tapioca starch with 1 Tbs cold water to form a paste and add this to your sauce.
Heat a skillet on high and add coconut oil, place chicken skin side down and lightly salt. Allow skin to get nice and crispy, about 3 minutes per side.
There are days when it rains and wontons call my name. It’s a craving I can’t resist, and I have yet to find a way to paleofy those thin delicate wonton wrappers. So be warned, unlike most of my recipes, this one is only paleo friendly if you skip the wonton wraps and make little meatballs of filling instead, which is still like a warm hug on a cold day. Our house got struck by lightning, I thought we were going to explode it was so loud and scary. We were about to run out the door when it happened. I’m convinced if we would’ve been outside at the time one of us would’ve been struck. Such an occasion of torrential downpour and a near zap from Thor is a definite occasion to indulge in these little pockets of flavour and texture.
We’re in the middle of our move, the house is chaos, have I mentioned that I hate moving. This is the 5th time in the last year and a half and it is decided that the next time we move it will be to our own land, to build our own earthship or something equally eco friendly and awesome. Thankfully my parents are here to help us, and give J and I ample reprieve from baby holding. We saw 2 baby moose on our way back from the new place yesterday, man they are beautiful creatures.
I really like my wonton soup infused with thai flavours of lemongrass,chilis and kaffir lime, the exceptional flavour makes up for the lack of MSG which lies in most restaurant wonton soups.
1 thai bird chili minced, or 1 tsp sambal chili sauce
1 tsp ground lemongrass or paste
2 kaffir lime leaves or 1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp fish sauce
1 Tbs coconut sugar or honey
2 tsp tamari or coconut aminos
For the broth
8 C chicken stock
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 thai bird chili minced, or 1 tsp sambal chili sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
a few handfuls fresh greens-kale,mustard,bok choi, chard...
For wontons
one package medium sized wonton wraps
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbs water
Instructions
For the filling
Add coconut oil to a hot skillet, sautee onion, garlic, ginger until onion is translucent.
Add pork or chicken, chili,lemongrass, kaffir lime,fish sauce,coconut sugar and tamari and cover on medium until pork is fully cooked- about 10 minutes.
Allow filling to cool somewhat before assembling the wontons.
For the broth
Add all ingredients aside from greens to a large pot and bring to a boil.
Assembly
Typically I make a row of wonton wrappers, add a tsp of filling to the centre of each, with a little pastry brush or my finger i use some of the egg yolk and water mix to create a glue around the perimeter, fold them into little diamond shapes and repeat until all the filling is used up.
Make sure to get all the air out when you fold the wraps and they will be less likely to explode.
When you have a sufficient amount of wontons made, approx. 40 you can start adding them to the boiling broth, they only need about 5 minutes to cook, lastly add the greens.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
The best gooey paleo chocolate chip cookies 
