13 Paleo Uses For Coconut Aminos
Long before I went Paleo, I used Soy Sauce in almost all of my cooking, thinking that not only did it taste good – but that I was adding a super health food to my diet. Now, I've replaced Soy Sauce with Coconut Aminos in all of my cooking.
What’s So Wrong With Soy?
As I researched I formed the opinion that rather than being healthy, Soy is actually quite the opposite. As a legume, Soy contains Lectins, which turn your Leptin sensitivity haywire, confusing your hunger and energy signals. The high levels of Phytates in soy are also undesirable, since they bind to minerals, ensuring that they are unavailable for your body to absorb.
Soy has a high Goitrogen content. Goitrogen interfers with the Thyroid, so can lead to Hypothyroidism. My biggest concern with Soy however, is the plant estrogens it contains (isoflavones) – which have the effect of raising estrogen and decreasing testosterone. Think man boobs and all sorts of undesirable effects through unbalanced hormone levels.
Avoiding Soy…
Fortunately, it is easy to avoid Soy products. Firstly, I find that by using so many different ingredients in my cooking, it is so much tastier that I don’t need to add any extra flavour. Just by changing the herbs and spices I use, I can completely change the taste of a recipe anyway.
But – for those occasions when nothing else will do, I have found Coconut Aminos to be a great alternative to Soy.
What Is Coconut Aminos?
Coconut Aminos is essentially the sap of a coconut tree, or the juice from coconut blossoms. The tree is tapped to collect the aminos, which is then dried in the sun to evaporate, or can be fermented. The sap from the tapped tree will continue to produce sap for years to come.
The aminos is loaded with amino acids (apparently 14 times more than soy sauce) and packed with minerals and vitamins.
13 Things You Can Do With Coconut Aminos
- Marinate a steak in coconut aminos, garlic, coconut oil, salt and pepper for a few hours before cooking
- Make Paleo Sushi using nori wraps, cauliflower rice and fish, and serve with coconut aminos as a dipping sauce
- Use for making beef jerky
- Add to Paleo chilli for a deep flavour
- In fact, try it in any tomato based dishes to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, make the dish a darker colour and replace the need to add salt
- Marinate chicken in it before adding to a stir fry
- Use in fermented foods like Kimchi
- Perfect for Asian inspired dishes like Nasi Goreng
- Use in soups and stews instead of adding salt
- Add to the baking tray when roasting a chicken to brown the skin when basting the bird.
- Mix coconut aminos, balsamic vinegar, mustard, oive oil and a squeeze of lemon to make a delicious salad dressing
- Add to sweet potato chips with olive oil and coriander before baking in the oven.
- Slice and de-seed and avocado, pierce with a fork, then pour on balsamic vinegar and allow to soak in. Then fill the hole up with coconut aminos and eat with a spoon.
Where Can You Get Coconut Aminos?
If you’ve not tried it before, you can often find Coconut Aminos at your local health food shop. Alternatively, a few places online stock it. I get mine from iherb (who offer $10 discount for first time customers), as I order most of my herbs, spices and supplements from there in bulk.
What do you use Coconut Aminos for? Share your suggestions below.
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How to Make Paleo Kimchi
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How to Make Nasi Goreng
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How to Make Paleo Tomato Ketchup
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Paleo Breakfast Recipe Book
After months in the kitchen, I've finally finished my first recipe book all about Paleo Breakfast Recipes. I'm thrilled with the result, an ebook of well over 100 pages of Paleo breakfast recipes to suit every situation and taste, with beautiful photos to tempt you into the kitchen.
I know how hard it is to find time to make a good breakfast, so there is a chapter on grab and go breakfasts, quick (but still delicious) breakfast recipes and also drinkable Paleo breakfast recipes.
I've also included chapters covering alternatives to your former favourite SAD breakfasts, child friendly breakfasts, lots of egg free recipes, meat-free recipes (a lot of people can’t face meat for breakfast) as well as fancy breakfast recipes, for when you have a bit more time and want to impress.
Recipes are easy to follow and clearly laid out, with both imperial and metric measurements. If you buy this book in conjunction with one of my other ebooks, I offer big discounts – click here to find out more
I though I’d share one of the breakfast recipes from the book here…
If you’re interested in the book, you can buy it here
Buy Two or more Paleo Recipe Ebooks and Save
The book is $17, but I offer big discounts if you buy more than one of my recipe books in one transaction – you can find the bulk prices here.
Breakfast Mushroom Saucers
Ingredients:
• 4 large portobello mushrooms
• 4 rashers bacon
• coconut oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 200g (7oz) spinach
• 75g (2.5oz) grated cheese (optional, if primal or lacto-paleo)
• 30g (2 tablespoons) pine nut kernels
• fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 avocado
How To:
Wash the mushrooms and set aside the stalks to use in another dish.
Cut the bacon to match the size of the mushrooms, and fry in the coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat, until your desired level of crispness has been reached.
Coat the mushrooms in the left over bacon fat (or more coconut oil) & season with salt & pepper, to taste.
Grill the mushrooms for a few minutes, under a medium heat, making sure they don't burn.
Meanwhile, steam the spinach in a saucepan for a couple of minutes.
Top each mushroom with the bacon, then spinach. If using cheese, top with grated cheese and grill until the cheese melts. Top with pine kernels and chopped parsley.
Serve with sliced avocado and enjoy.
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Review: Paleo Indulgences
I was excited to receive my copy of the new Paleo recipe book “Paleo Indulgences” by Tammy Credicott”.
Unlike many of the Paleo cookbooks in existence, this is most definitely not an every day book. This book is for those occasions when you might otherwise be tempted to go non-Paleo. Birthdays, celebrations and all of those special occasions marked by food.
There’s a great introduction about Paleo, what should and shouldn't be eaten and where to find the ingredients used for the recipes in the book.
The book has a great thumbnail contents pages – making it easy to find exactly which recipe you want to cook.
Paleo Indulgences has lots of baked recipes, such as cookies, scones, bread and cakes; sweet treats; ice cream and restaurant recreations.
The sweet treats contain Paleo friendly ingredients such as almond and coconut flour. Whilst you wouldn't want to eat these everyday, they are clearly far better alternatives to their SAD equivalents.
I tried out the meatball recipe and the tomato sauce to go with them, both from the “Restaurant Recreations” chapter.
The recipe was easy to follow and tasted great. I made up a large batch to take care of several meals in advance.
There were quite a few ingredients I didn’t have, such as Coconut Nectar, Coconut Crystals and Arrow Root Powder which I have now ordered – I’m looking forward to trying out more of the recipes when the rest of the ingredients arrive!
This book would be great for families trying to feed their children Paleo nutrition – but without feeling like they were missing out on SAD treats.
Which is your favourite recipe book? Have you got Paleo Indulgences yet?
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Must Read Paleo Books
I’m often asked which Paleo books I’d recommend. It’s great to have a few introductory books to hand to explain everything you need to know about what Paleo is – and how to start. If you’ve got friends interested in learning more about Paleo, these are the books I’d recommend.
Introduction to Paleo Books
The Primal Blueprint. Mark Sisson’s book is a great introduction as to why we should eat a Primal Diet and how to start. He also covers lifestyle factors like sleep and stress and how to exercise – primal style.
The Paleo Solution. Robb Wolf's book is another good introduction to the Paleo Diet and is written in a very engaging way. As a bio chemist, Robb Wolf is able to talk about the science, but in a very easy to understand way.
The Paleo Answer Loren Cordain’s latest book is more on the science side than the practical application side, but a great book for anyone dubious about giving up those deathly whole grains!
Starting Paleo Books
Once you’ve decided to give Paleo a try, these book are a great way to take you through your transition into Paleo, step by step.
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Recipe Books
It’s great to have some recipe books on hand, to demonstrate the huge wealth of menu ideas that are possible on the Paleo diet. These are some great recipe books that I use regularly.
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Which Paleo books are on your book shelf? Which one book would you recommend as a “must have” to someone new to the Paleo diet?
