I just love the combination of dates, walnuts and orange. I use them in salads, side dishes, and even to add a little life to my mains like chicken or halibut. Because of this apparent affinity to these ingredients, I often have all three taking up space in my rather modestly sized fridge. Another thing I often having lingering around and overflowing out of my cupboards and refrigerator drawers is a plethora of alternative fours...
Read moreGrain-Free Gingerbread
In North America, when we think of “gingerbread” we often think of people-shaped cookies with gumdrop buttons and icing sugar smiles. While these are more accurately referred to as “gingerbread men” the only thing they have in common with traditional gingerbread is that telltale spicy flavour profile. Classic gingerbread is just that, bread. Or perhaps more accurately, a loaf. Because of this, it is also known as gingerloaf, pain d'épices ("spice bread") in French, or lebkuchen (“loaf cake”) and pfefferkuchen ("pepper cake") in German. Whatever you call it, it’s damn tasty and wonderfully warming especially during the winter months when most mouths savour the spicy flavours of this delightfully dense folk food...
Read moreSpiced Sweet Potato Loaf
The fall baking frenzy has officially begun in the Whole Happy kitchen! To be quite honest, I bake a tonne all year round (if you haven’t already noticed, coming up with alternative baked good recipes is one of my favourite things to do), but there’s something special about baking during this season. Perhaps it’s the inherently warming and comforting nature of baked goods that lend so well so that cozy fall vibe. Perhaps spending time indoors when the whether gets colder and wetter doesn’t feel so bad when you have something sweet and aromatic wafting from the oven. Or perhaps it’s because autumnal produce lens so well to sweet treats like pumpkin spice muffins, apple cinnamon pudding, and spiced plum cake, and as I’m sure you can guess…sweet potato loaf...
Read moreLeftover Coffee Loaf
I’ve made chocolate cake with leftover coffee before, but wanted to make something a bit denser and loaf-like that would pair well with some melty butter and a warm beverage of sorts. Plus, I was missing the baking soda and a portion of the almond flour from my Chocolate Espresso Cake recipe and had some leftover coconut cream on hand that I was itching to use up...
Read moreManuka Honey Turmeric Lemon Tarts
Now, as you can probably imagine, the course was rather heavy in the dairy, gluten, and refined sugar department – all things that as you can see I often avoid with my Whole Happy recipes – so many of my old cooking school recipes have been recently adapted to suite my GF and DF amis, including this delightful tarte au citron creation below...
Read moreDark Cocoa Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Icing and a Praline Topping
Incredibly simple, and seriously decadent chocolate cupcakes. Perfect for birthday parties, baby and wedding showers, job promotions, or “just cuz” (I mean do we really need an excuse to eat cupcakes?), this recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, refined-sugar-free, and dead easy! Super moist, yet still perfectly buoyant...
Read moreLemon Blueberry Muffins
There’s just something so fresh and summery about blueberry and lemon. And this classic combo goes so beautifully in a big old fluffy muffin! But if that muffin makes you feel sick, tired, grumpy, and bloated, well all of a sudden blueberry and lemon doesn’t seem so “fresh," does it? Well, like all my recipes, I aim to find alternatives that satisfy various wellness considerations and dietary restrictions. This particular recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free for anyone avoiding those common allergens and irritators. And of course, like ALL the recipes on the Whole Happy blog, it’s 100% refined-sugar free. Best of all, it’s foolproof!..
Read moreGrain-Free Carrot Cake with Dairy-Free “Cream Cheese” Icing
As I write this, it’s both Easter and Passover. During Passover, Jewish people avoid foods that naturally “leaven” such as grains and legumes. And then there’s the association of Easter and springtime with rabbits and carrots. Plus a family member who can’t eat eggs and dairy, and then my own personal goal to avoid refined products in my cooking such as white sugar, while keeping it minimally blood sugar disruptive and as clean and natural as possible...
Read moreRecovery Cookies
Wanting to make some grain-free, dairy-free treats, that also worked to reduce inflammation and aid in tissue recovery from the wounds of the C-section, I constructed my client some anti-inflammatory recovery cookies, and man are they tasty! My client even mentioned to me that they were the perfect thing to munch on during those middle-of-the-night feedings when baby is needing a snack of his own...
Read moreFudgy Walnut Brownies
Presenting some seriously chocolaty, fudgy brownies with walnut pieces, chocolate chips, that are grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, high fat, moderate protein, and low carb. You can even throw in a scoop of collagen powder into the mix to give them even more protein, and that glorious tissue-reparative benefit of collagen...
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