Grain Free Strawberry Ginger Scones

It's nice to have baked goods you can feel good about.  I served these along scrambled eggs for breakfast on a grumpy morning.  Mood always improves with food around here but it helps to have a treat :-). I used Zen Belly's scone dough base because I have yet to learn the alchemy of flour, fat, and binder ratios for baking. 

These are not dairy free but I used cold ghee that has been processed to be casein and lactose free. 

Ingredients
3/4 cup Cassava flour
1/4 cup Tapioca flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/4 cup coconut sugar
8 TBS cold ghee

2 eggs
1 TBS maple syrup
3-4 strawberries sliced

Method

Preheat your oven to 400 F.  Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and lightly grease. 

Place flours, baking soda, salt, ginger, coconut sugar, and ghee into a food processor and pulse until crumbly. 

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and maple syrup.  Add the flour mixture to the eggs and combine until a dough forms. Fold in the strawberries.  Form the dough into 6 equal size balls in your hand then place on baking sheet. Press down to flatten slightly.  

Bake for about 20 minutes until the edges begin to crisp and the middle is cooked through.  Eat straight out of the oven or cool on a wire rack. 

 

Ginger Orange Green Smoothie

I make smoothies a lot for breakfast. You can pack so many nutrient dense ingredients into them.  Here we get anti-inflammatory gingerols from the ginger, healthy satiating fat and potassium from the avocado, Vitamin C from the orange  -  your body needs vitamin C to make collagen btw, protein from the powder, magnesium from the kale, antioxidants from the seeds, minerals and essential amino acids from the bee pollen, and mineral mania from the spirulina.

Smoothies are very portable, so you could make one and keep it for a snack later in the day.  I rarely measure when I make them but just eye ball quantities. Smoothies are generally pretty forgiving. Here's what I put in this delicious one:

Ingredients

1/4 cup of ginger root infused water (left over from the beverage I made myself upon waking) If you don't have ginger water, then you can peel a fingernail bed size piece of ginger and put that in the blender w a little water.  Add more ginger if you want more of a kick. 
1/2 an avocado (makes it so creamy and delicious)
1 navel orange
2 scoops undentured whey powder or Vital Proteins collagen or 1 scoop of each (protein) 
1 cup of baby dino kale
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp flax seeds
1/4 tsp spirulina
1/4 teaspoon bee pollen
1/4-1/2 cup frozen strawberry mango mix

Method

Place everything in the blender and wiz until thick and creamy. Enjoy. 

Raspberry Chia Pudding

Chia pudding makes for a great snack or after dinner treat. 

If I'm using hemp or almond milk, I use milk I've made myself because making your own nut or seed milks is super easy, more economical, and there are no gut disrupting additives like carrageenan or inflammatory oils or other nasties you'll want to avoid.  If you buy store bought milk, I'd recommend looking at the ingredient label and find milks that are additive free. Three Trees is a good almond milk that is additive free.  I don't know of any additive free store bought hemp milks. Hemp milk tutorial coming soon. Stay tuned. Additive free plant milks will have the nut or seed of choice, water and maybe salt, vanilla extract etc.  You'll find additive free milks the refrigerated section.  For coconut milk, I use Natural Value brand.  It's organic and free of guar gum, which most coconut milks have. 

I love chia pudding made with all of the above milks, but if this is your first go with chia pudding, hemp milk may not be the milk to use first. It has a specific taste that not everyone favors on the first try. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups almond milk, light coconut milk, or hemp milk
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup chia seeds if using coconut or almond milk,  2/3 cup if using hemp milk
2-4 TBS  maple syrup depending on how sweet you want it
1 scoop Vital Proteins collagen powder

Method
Combine milk, raspberries, maple syrup and collagen in a blender and wiz until incorporated
Pour into a glass glass jar or a mixing bowl
Add chia seeds and stir (jar) or whisk (bowl) vigorously to incorporate seeds
Place in a glass storage jar or individual serving jars
Leave on counter for an hour and stir again to incorporate seeds
Place in fridge overnight or for several hours to set