Happy New Year and Coconut Brownies!

Such a busy holiday season!  I must admit I entirely forgot about my blogs.  But, Happy New Year to everyone!!  I hope you enjoyed the holidays with your family and friends :)

I started the new year immediately with a stomach flu that left me out of commission for an entire week (not the best way to start off a new year with your employer, either).  I haven't been sick like that in a long time and I'm usually very careful about handwashing and eating well to keep my immunity in check.  So, my first week of 2011 was spent dozing in and out on the couch with episodes of Desperate Housewives playing in the background.  My cats used my warm slightly feverish body as a heating pad all week, which is both morbid and cute.

My holidays were filled with non-paleo treats and I suffered tremendously.  It's all tasty at first, but the effects shortly kick in and all goes to hell in a hand basket for my guts.  I got into a pattern of just saying "oh, it's just one . . one won't kill me" and my indulgences for three weeks had me gain 5 lbs and some lovely headaches and lethargy.  Actually, that's most likely where the stomach flu stemmed from.  My craptastic culinary voyage got my immune system into a funk.  Lesson learned . . . I hope.

But, I'm all better now!  Got my eating in order as soon as I got my appetite back.  5 lbs gone (kinda thanks to the flu) and I'm in a good place.  My days are super bacon filled and I'm feeling pretty darn good.

I made some softball size Marvellous Meatballs tonight in a lovely sauce.  Recipe thanks to my most recent paleo blog discovery Everyday Paleo.  Created by Sarah Fragoso, her recipes are simple and incredibly tasty.  Definitely one of the best recent additions to my blogroll.  I wish Sarah all the best with the release of her new book and if you're interested, she recently started a podcast, Paleo Talk.

I just finished making a batch of brownies.  I occasionally like to test out recipes to bring treats for my colleagues at work. 

Coconut Brownies


7 Tbsp Coconut oil

1/2 Cup Honey

2 eggs

9 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut

1/2 Cup Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Arrowroot

1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips

Mix all ingredients and pour into a coconut oil greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 350 for about 20
minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

They turned out quite well and make a lovely thin cake brownie (1 cm thick).  Because of the sweetness of the dark chocolate chips, I could probably reduce the honey a bit more.  If you try them, let me know how they turn out!