Rachael Recipe: Vanilla Paleo/Primal Coffee Creamer

I have loved coffee, strong and sweet, for decades.  The sweeter, the better. I have been addicted to CoffeeMate French Vanilla Creamer for years.  Before that, I would take my coffee with half and half and a ton of sugar.  Bad me.

This past summer, when I started clean-eating, I was able to cut out everything in my diet that has corn syrup.  It was surprisingly easy to do so.  With one exception: my creamer. I tried going back to real cream or half and half in an attempt to be primal. Then I tried almond milk, and then coconut milk on separate occasions, with great disappointment. Neither did the trick by themselves. And don't get me started on using honey alone in coffee. UGH!

I really wanted to get past this last bit of evilness in my diet, and I scoped out recipes on the interwebz for coffee creamers that didn't use sugar or any sugar substitute, but was still sweet. I saw recipes using date paste (dates that have been run through a food processor to a paste-like consistency, natch), but the idea of that much work making a pitcher of creamer for a week made my lazy bones want to take a nap.  Besides, I am not that much of a date fan.

I've been using honey for a sweetener lately (not in my coffee, plain honey to sweeten my coffee just tasted gross) in general cooking, and over the months I realized that honey did not spike my blood sugar the way corn syrup, sugar, or sugar substitutes did.  Now, I cannot vouch that this is true for everyone, so if you are a diabetic, please check your glucose and monitor what honey does for you, personally.

Here's a recipe that I've come up with, that works for me. It's sweet, rich, and totally tames my urges for the unhealthy creamer I've been ingesting for years:

Paleo or Primal Vanilla Coffee Creamer

• One can of full fat coconut milk (shake can well before opening to re-distribute the cream into the water)
• Equal parta non-sweetened Almond Milk (I used the coconut can to measure)
• Honey, to taste (I have used 2 tablespoons up to 1/4 cup - I generally eyeball it and taste as I go)
• 2 teaspoons of Vanilla extract
• For extra richness, a heaping tablespoon of Coconut Cream Concentrate (optional)
•  1 heaping teaspoon of Cinnamon (optional) 

1. Throw it all into a saucepan and heat on the lowest setting of your stove, whisking constantly, until everything is melted and incorporated. Don't let it scorch on the bottom. Whisk!
2. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until cool. 
3. Shake or stir well before use.
4. Drink and enjoy!

Notes: 

1. The coconut cream concentrate is not necessary for this recipe to taste good, it  just adds a little bit of extra richness. It can also give a little bit of a grainy mouth feel, due to the finely shredded coconut bits in it, so some people might not care for it in a coffee creamer. If you don't have it, don't worry about it.

2. This recipe lasts in the fridge for about 4-5 days. After that it gets a slightly different taste, and while not bad, fresher is better, so don't make more than you can consume in that time frame.

3. If you are feeling adventurous, swapping the Cinnamon for Unsweetened Cocoa would be an excellent idea, just make sure to heat and whisk, as cocoa doesn't like to incorporate very well. An immersion blender would work well, too.

4. When I first started this particular venture, I worried that the ingredients in this would separate after being left in the fridge. However, this did not happen, I was, frankly, shocked at this. Just a shake or a stir was enough to get it all back together.  However, a friend of mine had suggested to freeze the finished product in ice cube trays, and use the cubes in your coffee.  It's a brilliant idea, but one I haven't tried yet.

Addendum:  I would normally attempt to take pictures, even though they would be lousy. However, at the time of writing this, I was using an unusual ingredient that turned out to be a bonus.  See, DaMan and I make our almond milk at home, because we prefer to use it unsweetened for cooking. The last time it was made, someone (I won't name names) accidentally made almond milk using toasted almonds. The result is an unappetizing looking product that was perfectly fine for use in coffee creamer. In fact it gave is a great toasted almond flavor that I played up with by using almond extract and cinnamon. YUM!

Recipe: Lacto-Fermented Pickles - Wicked Easy

Hey Folks!

I've been on a quest to make REALLY GOOD dill pickles.

I've done the canning thing, and I don't care what recipe you bring me, any pickle that is water-bath canned (meaning heated up to process) SUCKS.

Don't give me that "alum" and "grape leaves" bull-crappy...if they get heated, they get soggy.

I hate soggy pickles.

Do you remember those old fashioned deli style pickles?  The ones that were in a crock on the top of a deli counter? I do.  Big, fat pickles that crunched, and were sour and garlicky, and your mouth would water just by looking at them?

Dang, I need a napkin.

Well, folks, the secret is out. Those really good, and CRUNCHY deli-style sour pickles were "lacto-fermented."  This means they are made the same way sauerkraut is made - but putting them into a brine of salt water and spices, covered and left to ferment for about a week.

I've made one successful batch, and before that a not so successful batch.This was partly because the recipe I used had the salt to water ratio too high, so I adjusted it the second time to much better results.

The other reason is because I, um, sort of forgot about them, and they sat in the brine for 3 weeks before I tasted them. So they were infinitely salty, and basically inedible.

Live and learn!

I printed out the recipe I used, but I didn't save the URL, so I can't give the author credit. I'm sorry.  If you happen on this recipe, and it's yours, please tell me and I will give you all the credit you deserve.

Sour Pickles

These are a favorite of many and a lot of people miss them when going on a Paleo diet, but the naturally lacto-fermented kind is perfectly healthy, curncy and sour. This version is flavoried with garlic and dill. Your garlic will too lacto-ferment and can be enjoyed afterwards as it will be packed with flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon (16 cups) picking cucumbers, unwaxed ( I didn't have a gallon of pickles, I just used what I had, which was probably 5-6 cups)
• 2 bunches of fresh dill (I didn't have any fresh, so I used dried, and way more, about 5-6 heads)
• 16 cloves garlic (I used about 8)
• 3T pickling spices (peppercorns, mustard seeds, bay leaves, cloves) (I used all but the cloves)
• 5 or 6 T of sea salt (I used 5)
•  12 cups of water (distilled if possible, but it's not necessary. I have city water, and they came out just fine)

Preparation

1. Soak the cucumbers in cold water for a few hours, then scrub them thoroughly to prevent any mold from forming during the fermentation process. (I also cut the tips off the cukes so that they wouldn't be bitter)
2. Place the cucumbers,  dill, garlic and spices in your fermentation jar and sprinkle a bit of sea salt as you go a long (I did not add any extra salt, only what was in the brine).
3. Prepare the brine of 5T of sea salt to 8 cups (I raised that to 12) of water, making sure to stir well to dissolve the salt and fill the fermentation jar with the brine so it covers the cucumbers.
4. cover the jar and place it in a warm spot in your kitchen and allow the cukes to ferment for 5 to 10 days.
5. A good way to know when it's ready is to taste it during the fermentation process. It's ready when you are satisfied with the taste.

Ok, so let's talk about a few things:

1. it's best to use a glass container or an old fashioned crock. Metal will interfere with the fermentation process. I did see (and will reference below) a YouTube video where the author used plastic containers, and he said his results were just fine. I'm not gonna get all up in your business about it. The important thing about the container you use is that you have to have a lid that covers well and makes the pickles stay under the water. In the olden days, hypothetical Grandma would put her pickles in a crock and cover it with a plate held down with a stone. I put mine in an old crock-pot crock and inverted the dome lid it came with to hold everything under the water. Worked like a charm.
2. Once the pickles taste the way you want them to taste ( and mine did after 3 days, so please test early and often), you can move them from your fermenting container to a smaller one with just enough brine to cover, and then refrigerate them.  This will slow the fermenting process, and keep your pickles from getting moooooooshy.
3. You cannot can these pickles. Well, I mean, you can, but that means heating them up, and they will get moooooooshy.  Just eat them.  And then make more.  Seriously. They are easy, healthy, and best of all TASTY! I took some into work with me last week, and got some pretty darn good reviews.
4. In my picture above, I also added some banana peppers to see if they tasted good lacto-fermented. they got bitter, so I'm not recommending them

 Here are a couple of YouTube Vids that I watched when I was coming to grips with purposefully fermenting food items that I was going to eat: