Watermelon Margarita "Sno-cones"

Sorry kiddos, this one is for the adults. You see, one day my friend Clare and I were wandering the local Walgreens on Las Vegas Blvd looking for some tequila for margaritas. Clare exclaimed "Oh my! Coconut tequila?!" My thought: this could be really bad or really, really good. Just in case, we bought another plain silver tequila and we headed back to our hotel room.

Of course, we popped open the 1800 coconut tequila first. The smell? Heavenly. The taste... stupid good. We were sad to see the bottle empty and were wondering if Walgreen's did alcohol exchanges...

Once back home, Clare hunted that tequila down in the Los Angeles area within 6.2 seconds. I, on the other hand, would just keep an eye out every time I passed through an alcohol section. MONTHS LATER I finally decided to hop into my local Total Wine and there it was. Like a long lost liquid friend. Reunited. And it felt so good.

Now Clare is a genius in thinking up some off-the-wall recipe ideas and sometimes we'll rapid fire text back and forth and come up with some good ideas. This was a result of one of those texting sessions. It's so ridiculously easy I am sure the idea is somewhere out in the web-iverse, but you didn't find it there - you found it here.

Note: If you can't find the 1800 brand coconut tequila, I am sure any 100% agave silver/plato tequila would work just fine. But I don't have time to test an inferior recipe like that, so you're own your own. Oh, and for those crazy enough to make this without the tequila (why on earth??!), I imagine you could sub some sort of fruit juice. Again, I'm advising against it, because tequila is Paleo in my universe. I also won't guarantee the texture is the same.

Watermelon Margarita "Sno-cones"

1/2 seedless "personal size" watermelon (about 2 cups of watermelon flesh)
1/4 cup 1800 brand coconut tequila
Juice from 1/2 lime

Blend all of the above ingredients in a food processor blender. For quicker freezing, put in ice cube trays. But you can put in a freezer safe bowl, or heck, a freezer ziploc bag and wait until that stuff freezes up. When you're ready to serve, break it apart with a fork and it's like insta-sno-cone goodness without having to "shave" anything.

It's almost too easy, I know.

The best part (other than the tequila)? No sickly sweet syrup that ends up at the bottom of the cone as you eat plain ice at the top.

Fudgy Paleo Brownies (grain-free, date-sweetened)

Oh how I love dates. Before Paleo I don't think I had ever had one - they aren't very appetizing looking, but boy oh boy have they made making desserts awesome. I consider them along the lines of using honey or maple syrup, as all are better sugar options than cane sugar (in my opinion). BUT, they are STILL sugar! You can over-do these just as easily as you can cane-sugar and flour-filled brownies and I happen to think these taste better. So for a treat, go for it!

This recipe was only slightly changed from a recipe on Elana's Pantry.

Fudgy Date-Sweetened Paleo Brownies

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
14 Medjool dates, pits removed
6 large eggs
1 cup coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, pulse together almond flour, salt and baking soda. Add in the dark chocolate and then the dates. BE CAREFUL! My food processor went a rockin' and a rollin' with the addition of these two! Add in the eggs and coconut oil and process until everything is well incorporated. Transfer to a 8x8" baking dish and smooth the top with a spatula as the mixture will be very thick.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes - if you want super fudgy, take out when the center still comes out a little moist when you check with a toothpick - this is the way I prefer them!

Coco-Peppermint Patties (Paleo, 21-Day Sugar Detox Recipe)

In the Paleo-sphere I think us die-hard followers all have that one person who immensely helped and inspired us with the in's and out's of this lifestyle. For me, it's Diane Sanfilippo of Balanced Bites. I am not exactly sure how I ran across her page on Facebook, but it may have been because of her 21-Day Sugar Detox. Either way, I am glad that I did.

You see, I have a big sugar addiction. I thought it was just a FOOD addiction, but then I realized most of the foods I was over-consuming were sugar. Bread, pasta, baked sweets, chocolate, french fries, etc. Yes, all  basically sugar once it's eaten. I did the detox for the very first time about 6 months in of eating Paleo - January 2012. I was successful, but was out celebrating with good friends on the 21st day and did allow myself a glass of wine. Since then I have completed it a few more times and each time I am surprised at how much sugar STILL has a hold on me. It's everywhere. In everything. And even after a few weeks, once little taste of that sweet stuff and I am in a downward spiral. Basically, my life should be a sugar detox 24/7.

The good news?! Diane is putting out another book and this one is dedicated to The 21-Day Sugar Detox! Her first one is New York Times bestseller (I think 19 weeks at the time of this posting?!) Practical Paleo - this is the book I tell people to get when they are starting out. It explains everything in simple terms, gives a ton of meal plans and recipes and being a lover of all things design, the layout is awesome. Can we say lamb dolmas? I dream about those things.

So go pre-order her new book, order her last one if you haven't and head on over to her Facebook pages (here and here) and show her some love.

Now on to the recipe - the ingredients marked with asterisks are my suggestions if you are not on the detox. I haven't made them with any sweetener, so you are on your own if you try my suggestions. As I made them, they are definitely NOT sweet to the average person. Just warning you!

Coco-Peppermint Patties

1/2 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup extra-virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tsp peppermint extract
1-2 tsp pure stevia extract* (omit for 21DSD)
4 oz unsweetened chocolate (use equivalent Enjoy Life chocolate chips if not on The 21DSD)

Just barely melt the coconut butter and coconut oil (you just dont want it rock hard) and then put in a food processor and blend well. Add in the peppermint extract and stevia (if you're using it) and blend again. Pour in the shredded coconut and pulse a couple of times to make sure it's evenly distributed.

I used a mini cheesecake pan** and poured the mixture so about 1/2" tall in each cup. Put the pan in the freezer until hardened.

Once the patties are hardened, heat up the chocolate/chocolate chips in the microwave - only heat 30-45 seconds at a time to make sure not to burn the chocolate, stirring each time. Once melted, dip each patty into the chocolate and put on a flat baking sheet or plate covered in wax paper. Put the peppermint patties in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate - and then enjoy!

If you make them as above, with the sweeteners, please let me know how it came out!

**a mini cheesecake pan has bottoms that come out so you can just push from the bottom of the pan and it will release the patty once hardened - alternatively you could use candy molds or put the bowl with the mixture in the refrigerator, stirring now and then, until you have a consistency you can roll into balls and flatten into the desired shape

Sea Salt Caramel Macaroons - Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Egg-free

In the past week I've been keeping a note on my iPhone of various recipes I want to make a bit cleaner. Some are recipes I use to make in my pre-Paleo days, others are recipes I've seen online that I want to re-vamp and some, like the one below, are just something I heard of and thought - I have GOT to figure out a way to make that!

There have been many posts on Facebook lately about Hail Merry macaroons. While they sound fabulous, my eyes didn't light up until someone mentioned CARAMEL SEA SALT macaroons. Oh my. Sea salt is just about the best spice that has happened to chocolate and caramel. I HAD to try to make these babies. So I did. The Urban Poser has been on a macaroon kick lately, so I admit I stole her recipe as a base.

Sea Salt Caramel Macaroons
Makes 10

For the caramel
1 cup blonde coconut/palm sugar
1/4 cup water
6 tbsp pastured butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup canned, full fat coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Combine the coconut sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk to combine. Continue to cook, whisking regularly, for about 4-5 minutes. Add the butter and continue to whisk. You should begin to notice the mixture thickening and producing large bubbles. This is the part where you just need to eyeball its doneness (I didn't bother with a candy thermometer). Once it seems to have thickened up quite a bit, add the coconut milk and sea salt and continue to whisk for several minutes. Once you feel it has thickened to melted honey consistency, remove from the heat. Don't worry, if it doesn't seem to thicken up to the consistency of honey at room temperature, you can put it back over the heat and cook for several more minutes. This part just takes patience - but the reward is TOTALLY worth it!

For the macaroons
3/4 cup blanched almond flour
1 1/2 cups  unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1/4 cup sea salt caramel
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
unsweetened chocolate (optional)

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees (according to The Urban Poser you are more drying out the macaroons than cooking them).

Combine the almond flour and coconut in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the slightly cooled caramel, coconut oil and vanilla. Once combined, add to the almond flour/coconut bowl and mix well. This part is easier done by hand to make sure everything is fully incorporated. Use a small cookie scoop (about 1 tbsp size) to firmly pack in the mixture and then release onto a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Cook for approximately 50-60 minutes, but keep an eye on them to make sure they aren't browning (lower the heat slightly if they are). Once done, remove from the oven and let cool. Optional: melt unsweetened chocolate (the macaroons are sweet enough!) and dip the bottoms into it - use the extra caramel to drizzle on top!

If you make these, let me know what you think!