Paleo Blueberry Recipes | The Ciccarellis

We've talked a bit about how we eat Paleo, basically no processed foods, like a "caveman". What this means in real life is that we eat a ton of fresh vegetables and fruits. We eat meat that hasn't been processed or marinated (we marinate on our own). We buy as much organic & local as we can. Breakfasts are a lot of eggs, egg & veggie casseroles, leftovers, and bacon - our favorite!

Items we've switched in 2013 to be even better Paleo eaters:

milk ---> coconut milk

peanut butter ---> almond butter

butter ---> bacon grease/coconut oil

pasta ---> zucchini or squash pasta

desserts ---> Paleo desserts

*If you're trying or going to try any of these changes just FYI, it takes a bit of getting used to! You have to like the taste of coconut, for one. Almond butter is a bit strange at first when you're used to peanut butter, but now we love it! We save the bacon grease in a jar from when we cook bacon and use it for most of our cooking, except when we use coconut oil or sometimes olive oil. The coconut oil comes in handy for baking, plus it gives the extra flavoring of coconut!

My mom (Susan) gave us a fantastic cookbook called Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo, where we get a lot of our recipes. One of the hardest things to switch and eat Paleo is dessert, but alas there are many ways to still enjoy a sweet treat! Below are 2 blueberry treats from this cookbook (a must read!).

 Blueberry Lemon Muffins

6 eggs

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract1/4 cup grade B maple syrup1 lemon, juice & zest1/2 cup coconut flour (hardest to find, try Whole Foods)1/2 teaspoon sea salt1/4 teaspoon baking soda1 cup fresh blueberriesPreheat oven to 350.Whisk the eggs, butter or coconut oil**, vanilla extract, maple syrup, lemon juice & zest together in a large bowl. Sift in the coconut flour, sea salt, and baking soda. Stir until well combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Scoop 1/4 cup batter into each lined muffin cup (natural parchment muffin papers work best for lining), and bake for 35-40 minutes.*We made mini muffins because we had the linings for them and just baked them for a bit less. Next time we will add more lemon!**If you're using coconut oil, melt it COMPLETELY, then stir it in last and QUICKLY sift in the dry ingredients and put it into the cups RAPIDLY. If not the coconut oil starts to harden back up (this happens really fast with coconut oil). It happened to us and we were disappointed because we thought they'd be ruined. We had to scoop out hard chunks of oil and try to get a bit in each cup. We probably had unevenly-oiled muffins but they all tasted great and turned out fine! (So if this happens don't worry.)Fresh Blueberry Crumble2 pints of fresh blueberriesJuice of 1 lemon1 cup almond meal/almond flour1/4 cup chopped walnuts/macadamia1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil2 tablespoons maple syrup1/4 teaspoon cinnamon2 pinches of sea saltPreheat oven to 375.Place blueberries in a 9 in. x 9 in. baking dish and squeeze the lemon over them. Toss slightly to coat. In a mixing bowl, combine the almond meal/flour, nuts, melted butter or coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Spread nut topping over blueberries and bake until fruit is bubbly and the topping is golden brown (approximately 30-40 minutes).

To see more from author Diane Sanfilippo go to her website balancedbites.com to find recipes, podcasts, and articles.

Enjoy!

~Erik & Marissa