paleo Archives • Ant & Anise

Chewy Chocolate Coconut Macaroons {Gluten Free, Grain Free}

I’ve made 4 different batches of coconut macaroons in the past 3 weeks. April has been a whirlwind of coconut and eggs for me. Luckily, I’ve had a lot of tasters to help me share the eating part.

(Now if only my tasters could help with my chocolate drizzle technique… I’m sure they could, if I asked them. Or maybe they like the big blobs of chocolate on top.)

This coconut macaroon experimentation-turned-brief-obsession started out as a pre-Passover, pre-Easter way to welcome spring in the form of an egg-heavy, casual sweet nibble after dinner.

But tasting my first two coconut macaroon attempts side by side, I knew I’d be back in the kitchen, tweaking amounts of sugar and coconut until I arrived at chewy, coconutty perfection. And, yes, adding chocolate to them….

Green Beans and Asparagus with Tangy Parsley Sauce

The holidays, for me, don’t officially end until we’ve eaten up the Christmas baking. We’re almost there: Just a few savory gruyere-pecan shortbread cookies, spiced with cayenne pepper, left to eat.

Now that we’re back into regular schedules and reasons for celebrating the season are dwindling, I’m craving vegetables — especially green ones — more. Maybe it’s to make up for all that shortbread I savored, err… inhaled, this past month.

This recipe for green beans and asparagus with a tangy parsley sauce hits the spot….

Chocolate Covered Coconut Snowballs: Gluten & grain free holiday treats

I’m going to cut to the chase here.

Not just because it’s a few days before Christmas and I have yet to get all my shopping done. (Eek!) But if you want to make these in time for the big day, you need a few hours of serious focus. Most of that time is for dipping in chocolate and rolling in coconut.

What I wanted to do is improve upon Purdy’s snowballs. I don’t buy a lot of chocolate at Purdy’s but every so often, when I’m walking down South Granville or through Oakridge mall, I’ll pop in and buy a couple snowballs or coconut clusters to nibble on my walk….

Five-Spice Sweet Potato Purée

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here, and I’m thinking of turkey. More specifically, since Bob is in charge of roasting the turkey, I’m thinking about all the dishes that round out the dinner.

Like what to have as a before-dinner snack that won’t be too filling? Shall I stick with my tried-and-true Brussels sprouts with garlic and lemon or try something different? And oh yes, I need to get on with the cranberry relish today so tomorrow will be a little less hectic. Oh the things I daydream about.

Also, the gorgeous weather outside is making me want to go out and do something other than putter around in the kitchen. We won’t have many dry, sunny days left in the year, I know. It’s a great afternoon for a slow walk down South Granville street, with a stop for a cappuccino.

Okay, let’s cut to the chase then….

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Loaf

This week, when it came to baking, it was all about pumpkin. Maybe it’s because Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Or maybe it was because of all the Starbucks ads I’d seen lately for their Pumpkin Spice Latte. Online, delivered to my inbox, plastered on every Starbucks window I passed. (And there are Starbucks locations every few blocks here in Vancouver, or so it seems.)

I’ve definitely had pumpkin spice on the brain lately. But rather than spend $5 for a coffee, I thought a better way to work sweet spiciness into my life was through baking. (Surprise, surprise!)…

Chimichurri sauce

¡Olé!

With this gorgeous summer weather the last few weeks (can you believe it?) my tastes have turned to south of the border flavors. Specifically, chimichurri sauce.

I’ve seen chimichurri pop up on several menus lately and it’s a taste I love, tangy and vinaigrette-y.

Okay yes, it’s true, I do like some creamy sauces. In fact, Béarnaise is probably my most favorite sauce in the world, ever. If I get a chance to order it out, I do. (I’m also very lucky that Bob makes a great Béarnaise sauce too.)

But mostly, when it comes to sauces and dressings, I’m a vinaigrette kind of girl. And that’s vinaigrette on the side, too. Yup.

Chimichurri is one amazingly tangy fresh herb explosion. I’ve been thinking of it as pesto’s bad-ass cousin that goes great with a simple grilled steak (no surprise) but it really shines when the whole meal has a Latin twist, like with steak tacos.

I could be saying this because I’m on a bit of a taco kick right now. Bob and I recently got around to trying La Taqueria on Cambie, and we’re officially hooked. Also, lately we’ve also been catching up on a lot of episodes of Breaking Bad, which is filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

These tacos are far different from the ones I remember having as a kid. Mom would get a package of Old El Paso taco shells and we’d fill them with ground beef (probably seasoned with Old El Paso spice mix), tomato slices, shredded cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce.

And then, one or maybe two bites into it, the hard taco shell would explode into shards. The tomatoes would slide out the top and the ground beef would drip out the bottom, until all you were holding was a remnant of taco shell and a few shreds of cheese and lettuce. It was fun though. I mean come on, eating with your hands is always fun, right?

No, these are quite different tacos: Fresh, soft tortillas that don’t crumble. Steak instead of ground beef. And oh-so-tangy chimichurri sauce. They still are super messy, and leave us licking our fingers after every bite. A perfect summer dinner.

Aside from steak tacos, there are a lot of ways to use chimichurri sauce. Here are some ideas:

sauce for grilled meat, chicken or fish
sauce for grilled vegetables
dipping sauce for bread
spread for sandwiches, on its own or combined with mayo
sauce for pasta: reserve some cooking liquid from the pasta to thin it out a little

Chimichurri Sauce

Yield: 3/4 cup

There are a ton of variations on chimichurri sauce out there, but this is one I put together that we particularly liked. The cilantro and lime juice are less traditional, but go well with a Latin-themed meal. Feel free to substitute all parsley for the cilantro and use red wine vinegar for a more traditional chimichurri -- either way it still packs a punch!

Ingredients

1 cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh oregano leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar or fresh lime juice
kosher salt to taste

Instructions

In a food processor with the blade attachment, place the parsley, cilantro, oregano, garlic, shallot and chili pepper flakes and process until combined.
Scrape down the sides of the processor with a spatula, then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of vinegar/lime juice Process until combined.
Add a little salt and taste for seasoning. If you want a little more tang, add the other tablespoon of vinegar/lime juice. If you want a runnier sauce, add the other tablespoon of olive oil.
Pour sauce into a serving dish.

Notes

You can make this the day you're serving it, but it also keeps well in the fridge for about a week. We found the garlic flavor intensified after a few days.