Avocado Key Lime Pie Or Healthy Citrus Cheese Cake

My Avocado Key Lime Pie dessert always gets me lots of attention, once you make it yourself it’ll get you a lot of attention, as well. This ketogenic-esq, dairy free, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo, whole food and most importantly delicious recipe is something we can all agree on. The only problem with this rich, flavorful, and delightfully textured recipe is what to call it, “avocado key lime pie” or “citrus cheese cake”. I mean, no -one really cares what you call it when the recipe tastes this good while being guilt free. 

I recommend using a food processor for this no-bake recipe. Both the filling and crust are made by blending ingredients together. A blender or emersion blender might work in a pinch but you are really going to want a food processor to save you time and ease.

For the pie crust, particularly, you’ll need extra leverage to power through blending the nuts to get to an almost nut-butter consistency. Below I left a link for my favorite food processor for home kitchens. A small, simple design from Hamilton Beach. I use my Hamilton Beach food processor for tons of different kitchen chores, chopping veggies and making nut-butters are my primary reasons.

Hamilton Beach 8 cup food processor

If nuts are something that you’re allergic to or perhaps you just don’t have the time to spend on this slightly tricky crust. If thats a concern of your consider just serving the filling as an avocado mousse. I’ve served the filling on it’s own many times and it’s always a crowd pleaser. Served in bowls an avocado mousse is great on its own or try these Popsicle Trays . A perfect whole food dessert option for kids. 

Timing avocados right is more of an impossible art then a science. The ripeness of your avocados will make a big difference in the final product. Whoops did I add to your avocado ripeness anxiety? Just take solace in knowing when you have a ripe avocado, you can peel and store them in a zip lock freezer bag. Avocados can be stored in the freezer for a few weeks before you need to use them in recipes. Smoothies or this amazing keto diet friendly dessert work great with pre-frozen avocados. Which gives you plenty of time to collect the rest of the ingredients or wait for the perfect event to unveil your healthy amazing dessert. 

When you master this recipe your cooking prowess will be known throughout the land. So when you take pictures for instagram, please send a little shout out to your boy @Lazy_Bachelor_Nutrition. Without further ado here is this wonderful, rich, flavorful, whole food, low carb recipe that I promised you.

Avoid this Serving Mishap

Shaping the pie crust while preventing it from sticking to the pie pan, can be tricky. Dust the pie pan with coconut flour to avoid the struggle captured in this picture. .

Avocado Key Lime Pie

Ingredients 

Crust

1 cup almonds

1/3 cup cashews

3/4 cup fine coconut flakes (1/2 cup coconut flour)

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Filling

3 avocados, roughly 2 cups

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup lime juice 

Zest of one lime (optional)

1/3 cup maple syrup

Start with the crust, blend dry ingredients (almonds, cashews, coconut, salt) in food processor until thoroughly mixed and broken down. Add wet ingredients (vanilla extract, maple syrup, coconut oil) and blend to a soft slightly moist texture. 

In a 12" pie pan dusted with coconut flour form the crust into it’s shape. Use a rolling pin to before putting in the pie pan to make an consistent and thin crust. Leave in freezer while you work on the filling. 

Wipe food processor clean and prepare ingredients for pie filling. Add all filling ingredients into the processor and blend, till a consistent texture. Pour filling in pie tray and place back in freezer for at least 1 hour or overnight but not much longer. 

For extra lime flavor zest one lime peel over the top of the pie before freezing. Don’t skip this step if you can avoid it. The lime zest will dial up the citrus flavor to eleven.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Pumpkin Soup

After my Thanksgiving day webinar on how to eat clean I had a great response from everyone who had gotten my clean cooking for thanksgiving guide and took the class.  Really I can’t say enough for all the support I’ve gotten for LaBonté Nutrition and Wellness, thank you thank you, thank you everyone.

If you didn’t get to take the class don’t worry we’ll have a new ones coming soon, just sign up for the email newsletter and you’ll be prevue to everything new that comes out.

Enough talk here is my favorite recipe from my thanksgiving guide.  It was my favorite because yes it is super taste but also my whole family gobbled it up without out even realizing how healthy it is for them.  I made a bunch extra, so that their would be plenty leftover for myself It keeps really well as leftovers.  I will heat the soup up with a couple pieces of turkey to make it a full meal in a bowl, will all the macro nutrients I need.

My pumpkin soup recipe calls for mirepoix.  Mirepoix is are traditional ingredients in French cooking that are used in lots of stocks, soups and sauces.

Ingredients  

1. Mirepoix

2 large, onions chopped (eye ball that your onions should match both the carrots and celery together)

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

2. 1 medium size pumpkin or 2 smaller pumpkins (~2 cups pumpkin puree)

3. 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

4. 2 cups of bone broth, (I use organic chicken stock from the carton but if you make your own even better)

5. 1 cup heavy cream (sub whole fat organic Coconut milk for added health benefits)

6. 1/4 teaspoon of each of black pepper, allspice or cinnamon and nutmeg.

Depending on the bone broth you should salt to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F line cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut off the top of the pumpkin and then halve. Use a sharp spoon to scrape out all of the seeds and strings (save seeds in a ziplock bag for roasting).
3. Brush the flesh with warmed coconut oil and place face down on the baking sheet. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a fork easily pierces the skin. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then peel away skin and set pumpkin aside.
4. To a large saucepan over medium heat add 1 Tbsp coconut oil, mirepoix and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly browned and translucent. Turn down heat if cooking too quickly.
5. Add broth, pumpkin, seasonings and bring to a simmer.  Hold light simmer for 20 minutes stirring regularly.
6. Add heavy cream and bring to simmer again
7. Transfer soup mixture to a blender or use an emulsion blender to puree the soup. If using a blender, place a towel over the top of the lid before mixing to avoid any accidents. Pour mixture back into pot.
8. Continue cooking over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
9.  

Chocolate Mousse

I might have really outdone myself with this recipe here.  I’ve been making this for a few months now and every version came out just fine, awesome actually (I just knew I could do better.)  The fact that I’m not 300lbs with a giant muffin top spilling over my pants after eating all the food I make is pretty awesome, I feel like I’m cheating the system.  Thats why I share what I know with everyone so people will know how food that fuels life should be tasting amazing, while being easy to make.  Here it is, share it with friends, make it for yourself, tell everyone it’s too good not to share.

 

Chocolate Mousse

  Ingredients

• 1 can coconut Milk, full fat

• 1 ripe avocado

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 1 tablespoon of natural sweetener, (i.e. local honey, stevia, maple syrup)

• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• 1/4 cup whey protein powder (isolate or consulate, preferable from grass-fed cattle) optional

Step by Step

1. Leave canned coconut milk in fridge over night or at least for one hour. When you open can, carefully scoop out only the solid coconut fat, the liquid part is extra that I haven’t found a good use for yet.

2. Combine coconut, avocado, cocoa powder, salt, whey protein powder and a small amount of the sweetener of your choice.  The goal is to use as little of the sweetener as possible.  (The whey protein powder can be left out if you don’t have it in your pantry, with it the consistency becomes a little creamier.)

3. Some sweetness will be needed to add to the flavor so start by adding just a small amount then blend and taste add more if needed and taste again.

4. Store in fridge or make fresh.

Thanks for checking out my recipe if you like it please, share it with friends or leave a comment to let me know if you like it.

Cheers,

Jerry  

Pumpkin Paleo Protein Shake

This is a recipe that I found online and had to add some flavor to make it my own. A super cool way to paleo hack for your post-workout protein.

Ingredients

4 eggs (as natural raised as possible)

1/2 can of Organic pumpkin mix (find in the baking isle)

1 tablespoon local raw honey

Cinnamon to taste

*extra credit add a teaspoon of MCT oil or coconut oil to up the healthy omega 3’s

The Process

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice then blend till ice is mixed into drink.  This will stay cold for a few hours if you take it with you to the gym to drink afterwards.

If you don’t have a blender just combine all ingredients into a plastic bottle with ice and shake vigorously.  You might have a hard time getting the honey to incorporate into the beverage without the blender so just make sure the honey goes in after the pumpkin, and it won’t stick to the bottle as much.

There is a reason why you must blend this or shake vigorously in a blender bottle.  If the eggs aren’t denatured is someway they will not be fully digested by the body.  Blending the eggs will help to break down the protein, as well as combining the MCT oil which will bind with the

Why:

Pumpkin is a great source of carbohydrates through vegetables.  Getting your daily source of carbohydrates through vegetables will make sure your getting a boat load of fiber and other nutrients that your body will need to recover from your workout.

Eggs are probable the best source of easily accessible protein, if you can get if from a friend who is naturally raising chickens then you get bonus health points.  But they need to be denatured, if you just drink raw eggs like Rocky your body will only be able to process about %64 of the protein.

Raw honey that is sourced locally helps your immune system function by introducing local bee pollen on a regular basis.  Basically if you can find a way to have a small amount of raw honey everyday you won’t be as affected by sessional allergies.

Cinnamon has been shown to have positive health effects all across the board, from lowering the glycemic index of a food to improving someones chances against cancer and it tastes pretty awesome.

Learn more about raw honey here

Learn more about cinnamon here

Learn more about raw eggs here

The Birthday Frittata

The way I like to say thank you to friends and family is to make something delicious for them.  Good health is the first form of wealth, so if you can make something that someone would have to go to a restaurant for and that is incredible nutritious, your gift is priceless.  This sunday I made my Mom her Birthday brunch as she turned early 40’s, Mom reminds me that she had me when she was twelve so her 44th Birthday.

I’m going to give the recipe for this frittata a little different so you can make it your own when you make it for your loved ones.

Set oven to 350 and let preheat while you prep everything else.  Ideally you will have a cast iron skillet that is well coated.  If you don’t have that then a pan that has a handle that is oven safe will work fine.

Julian two medium onions to caramelize.  Using a big skillet I added coconut oil and onions over a very low heat.  The key to caramelizing onions is to take your time, if you try to go to fast you just end up with cooked onions that aren’t caramelized.  If you want to make kick ass fully caramelized onions then with chopping and cooking should take over an hour.  But because this is part of a brunch frittata just let the onions simmer while you dice your sweet potatoes.

Wash peel and double peel if you have the time, your sweet potatoes.  Root vegetable should be washed and peeled to remove toxins absorbed from the dirt.  Once potatoes are diced remove onions from pan and replace with sweet potatoes, add extra coconut oil to pan if needed.  While that is cooking dice any mushrooms or other vegetables that you want to use.  When adding your different vegetables just remember the denser the vegetable the longer it will take to cook.

With all the vegetables simmering (oh, you put the onions back in there right?) start prepping the eggs.  Take half of the eggs you plan to use, (I used 12 eggs total) scramble with salt pepper and sriracha sauce.  Why sriracha?  Uh duh, it’s hot sauce and eggs a match made in culinary heaven.

Now we get to the part that will turn your delicious nutritious breakfast into something that you will become insta-famous for.  Pour scrambled eggs over vegetables in skillet, shake and push around veggies to settle and even everything (this is all done while over a low heat).  Take remainder of the eggs crack and evenly place around the skillet.  After placing eggs salt and pepper once more for good looks and place in oven till eggs are done.

When will it be done?  That depends how you like your eggs.  I recommend sunny side up, egg whites cooked but leaving the yolks unbroken and slightly un cooked inside (yolk should pour out when you break into it).

This method of starting eggs on the stove top and finishing them in the oven is a French way to cook eggs.  I find it adds volume to the eggs and cooks them evenly.  That isn’t as easy to accomplish when cooking on the stove top alone.  Have fun making this recipe and practicing these techniques.  The ingredients I used were  just the ones I had in my kitchen if I had planned ahead I would have had some green veggies in there for sure and if I had a nice cheese I probably wouldn’t have minded if that made it in as well.

Sweet Potato Salad

Love this recipe, I like to make it at the begging of the week and go back to snack on.  It’s easy to do that with this sweet potato salad as it is good right out of the refrigerator.  When I don’t have time to make a whole meal the ability to grab something nutritious and quick is a life saver.

With Sweet potatoes being the main ingredient it will have a pretty high glycemic load, which is fine if you are at your ideal weight or if you are part of a high intensity training regimen.  I would recommend eating some after a workout or in the second part of the day.

Ingredients

1/2 pound bacon

3 large sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons coconut oil

juice 1 lime

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 green onions, chopped

handful of fresh dill, roughly chopped

dash of red pepper flakes (optional)

dash of ground cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

The Process

1. Preheat oven to 375˚f.  Line baking sheet with foil and lay bacon flat on the sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the bacon is slightly crispy. let cool then roughly chop.

2. While bacon is cooking double peel sweet potatoes*

3. In a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, toss sweet potatoes and garlic in rendered bacon fat from baked bacon (let bacon fat cool before handling).  Roast for about 30 minutes or until slightly browned.

4. While the sweet potatoes are roasting, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.  Toss in green onions, dill, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, and salt and pepper and mix well.

5. Once sweet potatoes are finished cooking, toss them together with the dressing and bacon.

Notes

*any tubers or root vegetables should be peeled to avoid toxins that can be picked up form the soil or , a simple step that goes a long way to improving health.  With sweet potatoes I double peel as recommended by the Bullet Proof Executive.

~ cooking time will vary relative to the size of the sweet potato cubes, try to keep them lade