This is probably my favorite grain free treat that I make.  My son would agree!  It is similar to my banana muffins but has that little extra oomph on top that makes it more like a coffee cake.

I use Kerrygold grass-fed butter as the topping.  Grass-fed butter has a whole host of nutritional benefits that I wanted to share with you.  Given the choice I would pick grass-fed butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil or avocado oil any day over margarine, and vegetable/seed oils for baking and cooking.

Grass-Fed Butter:

According to Kris Gunnars from the website Authority Nutrition:

Butter is basically just milk fat, also known as butterfat.

Butterfat is highly complex. It contains about 400 different fatty acids, and a decent amount of fat-soluble vitamins.

Fatty acids are actually more than just energy sources, some of them have potent biological activity.

As it turns out, many of the fatty acids in butter can affect our physiology and biochemistry in some way, leading to major health benefits.

This includes the fatty acid CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). It is popular as a fat loss supplement, and studies show that it can have powerful effects on health.

Grass-fed butter contains 5 times more CLA than butter from grain-fed cows.

Butter from grass-fed cows is also much higher in Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin K2, compared to butter from grain-fed cows 

and p.s. don’t’ be afraid of the saturated fat, the link between heart disease and saturated fat has been debunked in my opinion.  I will be writing about that at a later date but if you want to read something on that, here is a link to a WSJ article.  Everyone has an opinion on this and there is scientific studies done by both sides.  This is the one I personally agree with based on my reading and studying and what has worked for me.

The topping also includes 2 Tbsp of coconut sugar.  You need the sugar to make the topping crunchy, stevia will not work.  Coconut sugar is still sugar but it is lower in fructose than sugar, has a lower glycemic load and does contain more nutrients.  For an occasional treat it is a decent sugar substitute.

This is probably my favorite grain free treat that I make.  My son would agree!  It is similar to my banana muffins but has that little extra oomph on top that makes it more like a coffee cake.

I use Kerrygold grass-fed butter as the topping.  Grass-fed butter has a whole host of nutritional benefits that I wanted to share with you.  Given the choice I would pick grass-fed butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil or avocado oil any day over margarine, and vegetable/seed oils for baking and cooking.

Grass-Fed Butter:

According to Kris Gunnars from the website Authority Nutrition:

Butter is basically just milk fat, also known as butterfat.

Butterfat is highly complex. It contains about 400 different fatty acids, and a decent amount of fat-soluble vitamins.

Fatty acids are actually more than just energy sources, some of them have potent biological activity.

As it turns out, many of the fatty acids in butter can affect our physiology and biochemistry in some way, leading to major health benefits.

This includes the fatty acid CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). It is popular as a fat loss supplement, and studies show that it can have powerful effects on health.

Grass-fed butter contains 5 times more CLA than butter from grain-fed cows.

Butter from grass-fed cows is also much higher in Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin K2, compared to butter from grain-fed cows 

and p.s. don’t’ be afraid of the saturated fat, the link between heart disease and saturated fat has been debunked in my opinion.  I will be writing about that at a later date but if you want to read something on that, here is a link to a WSJ article.  Everyone has an opinion on this and there is scientific studies done by both sides.  This is the one I personally agree with based on my reading and studying and what has worked for me.

The topping also includes 2 Tbsp of coconut sugar.  You need the sugar to make the topping crunchy, stevia will not work.  Coconut sugar is still sugar but it is lower in fructose than sugar, has a lower glycemic load and does contain more nutrients.  For an occasional treat it is a decent sugar substitute.

The post Grain Free Banana Coffee-Cake Bread appeared first on .

When you are trying to decide where to spend your food budget you may ask “is organic chicken worth it?”  My opinion is yes.  I would actually opt to buy all my meats organic, pastured, hormone (beef only, see below) and antibiotic free over spending my money on organic fruits and vegetables IF you had to make that choice.

Organic chickens are fed a vegetarian diet that does not include any GMO or toxic pesticides.  Antibiotics are not used unless medically necessary.  They are suppose to be given access to the outdoors but there are not set standards, meaning how long they are outside or how big the space.

antibiotic-free  means no antibiotics were ever given.

Chickens are not allowed to be given hormones in the US so if the label says no hormones that means nothing.  Cage-free also means nothing as chickens raised for meat in the U.S. are not kept in cages (does not apply for chickens laying eggs).  Natural also means nothing as there is no definition for natural under our food structure except for that it contains no artificial ingredients.  There is no process to verify this claim.

Free-Range just means they had some access to the outside, their feed is still not vegetarian or organic unless it says organic.

 As I’ve said before I’m a huge fan of Asian food.  So many delicious dishes with meat and seafood and lots of veges.  Miso soup and sushi…yum my mouth is watering.  I don’t know about you but every time I eat it whether it be Thai, Chinese or Japanese I get an upset stomach.  I’m not sure if its the oil they use or the soy sauce or the MSG.  But I am always on the hunt for restaurant quality dishes that I can recreate at home!  These coconut curry chicken thighs fit the bill!

When you are trying to decide where to spend your food budget you may ask “is organic chicken worth it?”  My opinion is yes.  I would actually opt to buy all my meats organic, pastured, hormone (beef only, see below) and antibiotic free over spending my money on organic fruits and vegetables IF you had to make that choice.

Organic chickens are fed a vegetarian diet that does not include any GMO or toxic pesticides.  Antibiotics are not used unless medically necessary.  They are suppose to be given access to the outdoors but there are not set standards, meaning how long they are outside or how big the space.

antibiotic-free  means no antibiotics were ever given.

Chickens are not allowed to be given hormones in the US so if the label says no hormones that means nothing.  Cage-free also means nothing as chickens raised for meat in the U.S. are not kept in cages (does not apply for chickens laying eggs).  Natural also means nothing as there is no definition for natural under our food structure except for that it contains no artificial ingredients.  There is no process to verify this claim.

Free-Range just means they had some access to the outside, their feed is still not vegetarian or organic unless it says organic.

The post Coconut Curried Chicken Thighs appeared first on .