... And all things wellness!
Do you enjoy pancakes and eggs? Do you have your old sandwich maker lying around? If the answer is yes, you’re in for a real treat! This Grain-Free Pancake Pocket recipe is simple to make and extremely fun to eat!!! If you can prepare pancake …
Are you gluten, grain, and/or dairy-free but love lasagna??? This Cassava Flour Pasta Lasagna is the answer to your prayers! Layers of sautéed vegetables and organic, grass-fed meat in between layers of homemade cassava flour fresh pasta! Healthy, “real food” Italian at its best!!! I …
Looking for a healthy, delicious treat that’s quick and easy to make and can easily travel with you wherever you go? You’ve found it! Paleo No-Bake Date Nut Balls!!! Sweetened only with dates, and made with all “real food” ingredients, this is a truly guiltless snack/dessert! What a great way to get in some healthy fats! (No yuca in this recipe, but they were just too good not to tell you about them!)
If you have a food processor, you’re only 10-15 minutes away from enjoying Paleo No-Bake Date Nut Balls! I had fun playing around with my basic recipe and creating different flavor variations like cinnamon, cacao, and banana! Get creative, as the possibilities are literally endless!
These babies are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar free, soy-free, vegan, and Whole30 compliant, yet full of fun and satisfying deliciousness!!! Who says healthy food can’t be scrumptious?!?!
Make a huge batch since these can be thrown into the freezer and pulled out any time you want a little treat! No need to even defrost! They’re yummy and chewy right out of the freezer!
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Let’s make Paleo No-Bake Date Nut Balls!!!
*Full printable recipe below*
Makes ten 1 1/2 inch balls
*Click on needed ingredients below to order conveniently through Amazon*
While any nuts can be used in this recipe, I chose to use the following:
-1/2 cup pitted dates (cut into a few small pieces before placing into food processor)
-1/4 cup raw pecans (measured as chopped pecan pieces, not whole)
-1/4 cup raw whole pumpkin seeds (without shell)
-1/4 cup raw whole sunflower seeds
-1 tablespoon flax seed meal
-1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
-1/8 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt (chosen for its purity and high mineral content)
-food processor (I use a Cuisinart)
-Cinnamon: Add 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon to above recipe
-Chocolate: Add 2 tablespoons organic cacao powder to above recipe. Maybe even drizzle some dark chocolate on top!
-Banana: Add 1/2 ripe banana to above recipe (can also be combined with cinnamon and/or cacao.)
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-Place pitted dates, pecans, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in a food processor / Cuisinart
-Pulse/blend for 10-20 seconds until nuts grind into coarse meal. (*Do not over-blend into nut butter.)
-Add flax seed meal, almond flour, coconut flakes, and pink Himalayan salt (along with cinnamon, cacao, and/or banana, if using,) and blend for about 20-30 seconds until well combined. *Mixture is ready when nuts and dates have turned into a coarse meal that holds its shape when rolled together. (See picture below.)
-Remove from food processor and place into a bowl.
-Roll into 10 equal sized balls.
-Enjoy immediately or store in an air tight container.
* These store incredibly well and can even be placed in the freezer and pulled out any time a snack is desired. No need to even defrost!!! 😃
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Would you like to check out cassava snacks, kitchen gadgets and pantry items I personally use in my kitchen to make Crazy For Yuca recipes??? All personally taste tested and approved by me and my family! If so, click here
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By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small commission which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional cost to you. All recommended products are ones that meet my own personal standard for high quality and clean eating that I use in my own kitchen. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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Looking for a healthy, delicious treat that’s quick and easy to make and can easily travel with you wherever you go? You’ve found it! Paleo No-Bake Date Nut Balls!!! Sweetened only with dates, and made with all “real food” ingredients, this is a truly guiltless snack/dessert! What a great way to get in some healthy fats!
In a food processor (I use a Cuisinart) place pitted dates, pecans, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
Pulse/blend for 10-20 seconds until nuts grind into coarse meal. (*Do not over-blend into nut butter.)
Add flax seed meal, almond flour, coconut flakes, and pink Himalayan salt (and cinnamon, cacao, or banana, if using) and blend for about 20-30 seconds until well combined. *Mixture is ready when nuts and dates have turned into a coarse meal that holds its shape when pinched together. (See picture below.)
Remove from food processor and place into a bowl.
Roll into 10 equal sized balls.
Enjoy immediately! * These store incredibly well and can even be placed in the freezer and pulled out any time a snack is desired. No need to even defrost!!! 😃
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
Have you ever tried Hamantaschen??? They’re the wonderful, triangle shaped pastries traditionally eaten on the Jewish holiday of Purim! Hamantaschen are named for Haman, the villain in the story of Purim. I thought it would be fun to make a gluten, grain, and dairy-free version …
I was inspired to make these Stuffed Cassava Balls from a chat I had with my Guyanese friend Anita, who grew up eating yuca/cassava in many exciting ways! She always gives me great authentic recipe ideas. Of course her idea of a recipe is telling …
Have you ever had a best friend be right there with you as you struggled through a really hard time? That’s what these Apple Cinnamon Nut Muffins were for me on my quest to eliminate gluten, dairy, soy, sugar, and eggs from my diet! These muffins came with me everywhere I went, ensuring I’d always have a healthy choice at my disposal! I literally don’t think I could have gotten through the transition without them!
Once I discovered I could make a huge batch, throw them in the freezer, and pull one out any time I needed it, the terror of fearing there would be nothing to easily grab when hunger hit vanished!
The early days of making huge changes to the way one eats can feel pretty unsettling and depriving! So many things that have been your go-to’s now become your no-no’s!!! (Good-bye bagels with melted cheese!!!)
For the transition to healthy eating to be successful, I not only had to eliminate problematic foods, but find new yummy foods to add to my repertoire that I was excited to eat! These Apple Cinnamon Nut Muffins definitely fit the bill! (As does yuca!!!)
What we eat is largely a habit. It’s important to put forth some real effort at first to create a new eating repertoire. Once you do, you can relax again, as these new foods become your new normal. This is key for healthy eating to become a permanent part of one’s lifestyle, and not just a short-term “diet”.
I began my journey toward taking back my health with numerous lifestyle changes, including a huge evolution of my diet, almost 8 years ago. These muffins, in a few flavor variations, have been by my side the whole time, and are still a valued staple for myself and my family. (No, I don’t ALWAYS eat yuca! But I do eat it a lot!!!)
While my blog is typically dedicated to recipes containing yuca / cassava root and cassava flour, as these are my newest besties keeping me happy and fulfilled these days, I felt compelled to share this recipe! It’s just too good, and too important for healthy eaters to have on hand! I’ve shared it with family members, friends, and patients through the years and everyone agrees they’re AWESOME!!!
Makes 9 muffins
Click on any non-perishable ingredient below to purchase it online!
-2 1/4 cups almond flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour)
-2 heaping tablespoons organic flaxseed meal (I use Spectrum Essentials Organic Ground Flaxseed)
-1 tablespoon organic chia seeds (I use Trader Joe’s Organic Chia Seeds)
-1/4 cup organic coconut oil – melted (I use Nutiva Organic Coconut oil)
-1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla (I use Simply Organic Pure Vanilla Extract)
-1 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (I use Primal Palate Organic Spices.)
-1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt (because of its high mineral content)
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 peeled, grated organic apple (a ripe banana can also be used instead)
-1/4 cup sweetener (For family I use organic maple syrup. For myself I use Lakanto Monk fruit sweetener for zero calorie option that won’t have any impact on blood sugar.)
-1 to 1 1/2 cup nuts of choice (I typically use a combination of chopped pecans, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts from Trader Joe’s)
-9 muffin cups
-muffin tin
Lakanto MonkFruit Sweetener – Classic
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-In one large bowl combine the dry ingredients including almond flour, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and monk fruit sweetener (if using this sweetener option.) Blend well.
-In a second bowl, blend wet ingredients including melted coconut oil, vanilla, almond milk, and maple syrup (if using this sweetener option.)
-Combine the contents of the two bowls and blend thoroughly.
-Peel and grate an organic apple.
-Add grated apple and nuts to the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
-Place 9 muffin cups into muffin tin
-Scoop muffin batter evenly into the muffin cups
-Top with whole pecans, if desired
-Bake for 25-30 minutes, until slightly browned on top.
-Enjoy!!!
*Since this recipe contains no eggs, feel free to eat the raw muffin batter! With or without the grated apples and added nuts it’s absolutely scrumptious!!!
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*By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. I only recommend products that I’ve personally tried, use in my own kitchen, and believe are high quality products. Thank you so much for supporting Crazy For Yuca’s efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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Do you love muffins, but hate grains??? Then you'll be wild about these grain-free Apple Cinnamon Nut Muffins! They came with me EVERYWHERE when I first eliminated gluten, dairy, soy, sugar and chicken eggs from my diet. I feared I'd be hungry and not have anything healthy that I can readily eat! These muffins and I go way back, long before I discovered yuca! They've remained a favorite of mine, my family, and everyone I've shared it with! They're super delicious, filling, and full of healthy fats! Once you try them please comment below and let me know what you think!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In one large bowl combine dry ingredients including almond flour, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and monk fruit sweetener (if using this sweetener option.) Blend well.
In a second bowl, blend wet ingredients including melted coconut oil, vanilla, almond milk, and maple syrup (if using this sweetener option.)
Combine the contents of the two bowls and blend thoroughly.
Peel and grate an organic apple.
Add grated apple and nuts to the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
Place 9 muffin cups into muffin tin
Spoon muffin batter evenly into muffin cups
Top with whole pecans, if desired
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until slightly browned on top.
Enjoy!!!
I can’t think of any better way to say Happy Chanukah than with Cassava Latkes!!! (Although they’re also the perfect appetizer or side dish any day of the year!) These latkes are crispy on the outside, and slightly chewy in the very center. DELICIOUS! These Cassava …
Nothing says Fall like the smell of apples and cinnamon! And there’s nothing cozier than snuggling up with a baked apple crumble on a chilly day! This Apple Cassava Crumble is so quick and easy to make! Perfect for your next brunch, snack, dessert for Thanksgiving …
There are endless ways to enjoy yuca/cassava, as it’s eaten in so many parts of the world in various different ways! Attieke is fermented, grated cassava. It’s a staple street food of the people who live along the Ivory Coast of West Africa. Attieke is similar in consistency to couscous, with an added subtle sour taste (as a result of the fermentation) which I found to be a delicious, new flavor not typical of American cooking! Just imagine – a gluten-free, grain-free side dish that’s actually feeding your beneficial gut bacteria!!! I get incredibly excited every time I learn of a new way to eat yuca! This recipe is so quick and easy, I know it will become a regular weeknight meal in my house!
If you’re lucky enough to live near an African market, you can buy Attieke frozen. Otherwise, it can be purchased dried in a box.
This recipe will demonstrate how to make attieke from a boxed brand. Knowing that I love all things yuca, my daughter brought me a box of Nayama Attieke, and we recreated a recipe similar to the one she often makes with a friend whose mother is from the Ivory Coast. We all LOVED it!! Although I was told (on a comment on Instagram) that no African from the Ivory Coast would eat boxed attieke, it was truly delicious, convenient, and a super healthy dish! Check out Nayama Natural Attieke by clicking below:
Attieke Ingredients:
-Box of Nayama Attieke
-filtered water
–pink Himalayan salt (chosen because of its high mineral content)
-1 tablespoon avocado oil
Attieke Instructions:
1. In a bowl, simply mix equal amounts attieke and water and let sit for a minute or two until the water is fully absorbed.
2. Cover attieke and heat in a microwave until warm (about 2-3 minutes.)
3. Season to taste. We chose to simply add 1 tablespoon avocado oil and a pinch or two of pink Himalayan salt.
That’s it! The attieke is now ready to be added to our dish!
Attieke is typically served with chicken or fish, and either the attieke or the protein is seasoned with hot peppers, onions, and garlic. We chose to keep the attieke simple, and make a scrumptious flavored chicken, along with a raw onion and tomato topping. We then layered them all together. This worked out perfectly! Since we used a store-bought organic rotisserie chicken, this meal took no more than 20 minutes to assemble! #Weeknightrecipe!!!
Chicken Ingredients:
-whole, store-bought organic rotisserie chicken or my Easy Go-to Crockpot Chicken – shredded
-1 organic onion – chopped
-3 organic garlic cloves – minced
-2 jalapeño peppers – minced
-chili powder – to taste
-1 tablespoon avocado oil
-1 teaspoon Jada Spices Chicken Salt (While a Maggi cube is typically used in authentic attieke dishes, they’re filled with hydrogenated oils and MSG. (A big no-no in my kitchen!) I use Jada Spices Chicken Salt in all recipes that call for bullion-type seasoning. It provides all the flavor with all natural ingredients! Check out Jada Spices Chicken Salt by clicking below:
Chicken Instructions:
Heat large frying pan with avocado oil. Add chopped onions along with minced garlic and jalapeños. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add cooked, shredded chicken. Add chili powder and Jada Spices Chicken Salt. Blend fully. Cook for a few minutes just until chicken is warm.
Topping Ingredients:
-1 organic sweet onion – chopped
-2 organic tomatoes – chopped
-1-2 teaspoons olive or avocado oil
-pinch of pink Himalayan salt
Topping Instructions:
While chicken is warming up, chop raw onion and tomatoes. Add oil and salt. Mix it all together. (It doesn’t get any easier than that!)
Place warm attieke on the bottom of dish. Then layer with shredded chicken and tomato/onion topping.
Enjoy!!!
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By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. I only recommend products that I’ve personally tried, use in my own kitchen, and believe are high quality products. Thank you so much for supporting Crazy For Yuca’s efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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Attieke is fermented, grated cassava. It's a staple street food along the Ivory Coast of West Africa. It's similar in consistency to couscous, with an added subtle sour taste, not typical of American cooking. In this dish, attieke is added to a flavorful shredded organic chicken, and topped with raw tomatoes and sweet onions. Quick and easy, healthy and delicious!
In a bowl, simply mix equal amounts attieke and water and let sit for a minute or two until the water is fully absorbed.
Cover attieke and heat in a microwave until warm (about 2-3 minutes.)
Season to taste. We chose to simply add 1 tablespoon avocado oil and a pinch or two of pink Himalayan salt.
Heat large frying pan with avocado oil.
Add chopped onions, minced garlic and jalapeños. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
Add cooked, shredded chicken, chili powder and Jada Spices Chicken Salt. Blend fully and heat for a few minutes just until chicken is warm.
chop raw onion and tomatoes.
Add oil and salt. Mix it all together.
Place warm attieke on the bottom of dish. Then layer with shredded chicken and tomato/onion topping.
Enjoy!
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Disclaimer– At Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
Pasta made from cassava flour! Dreams really do come true!!! I couldn’t be more excited to add this homemade Cassava Flour Fresh Pasta to my yuca/cassava repertoire! I’ve been meaning to create a pasta recipe, but I’ve been too caught up in all my other …
Nothing says Fall like homemade pumpkin pie! Just because you’re gluten or dairy-free doesn’t mean you should miss out! These delicious, adorable Cassava Flour Pumpkin Tartlets rival any pumpkin pie out there! Made with Otto’s Cassava Flour, they’re not only gluten-free, but grain-free and paleo …
I like to think of Baked Stuffed Yuca as healthy stromboli – an Italian inspired gluten and grain-free yuca dough rolled around all “real food” nutritious ingredients! They can be made vegan by filling them with only veggies. I filled these with organic grass-fed beef, onions, fresh garlic, red peppers, heirloom tomatoes, spinach and herbs. These have all the nutrition of a full meal rolled into one impressive appetizer, side dish, or main dish! I love dipping these roll-ups in my favorite tomato sauce! YUM! The yuca makes a perfectly crispy, crunchy crust on the outside, while having a soft (almost cheese-like) consistency on the inside (yet these are dairy-free!) Baked Stuffed Yuca can be made ahead, refrigerated or frozen, then sliced and reheated when ready to serve. A true crowd pleaser!!
Ingredients below make one Baked Stuffed Yuca loaf that can be cut into about 10 pieces.
*Full printable recipe below*
-3/4 pound fresh or frozen yuca (I use frozen yuca)
-2 teaspoons avocado oil – divided (I use Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil)
-1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt – divided (Chosen for its high mineral content)
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder – divided
-Optional – cage-free egg white – to use as an egg wash. Vegan option: Brush avocado oil on top of loaf just before placing it into oven.
-1 pound organic grass-fed beef (or ground turkey or chicken) *Omit for vegan option
-1 tablespoon avocado oil
-5 organic garlic cloves – minced
-1 organic red pepper – diced
-1 1/2 cups organic chopped tomatoes (I used heirloom cherry tomatoes, but any preferred tomato can be used.)
-2 cups organic frozen chopped spinach
-1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
-1 teaspoon organic dried parsley
-1 teaspoon organic dried basil
-1 teaspoon organic dried oregano
-1/4 teaspoon ground chili powder
-fresh ground pepper to taste
If using fresh yuca, it must first be peeled and cut into pieces before boiling. See my page: How to Peel Fresh Yuca
If using frozen yuca, it’s already peeled, cut, and ready to be boiled. There’s no need to even defrost it before boiling! Many find frozen yuca to be much more convenient. It’s typically found in the Goya frozen section at the supermarket.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, place yuca in pot. Ensure yuca is fully covered by water. Return to a boil, then cook 15-20 minutes until fork tender. *Do not to overcook! Overcooking will result in mushy, difficult to work with yuca! While yuca is cooking, prepare filling as directed below.
Once fork tender, drain boiled yuca in colander and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, cut each piece of yuca in half lengthwise (top to bottom) and remove the stick-like stem that runs through the center.
Cut boiled yuca into chunks before placing into food processor. (See picture below)
*Pulverizing yuca in small batches will avoid overheating the machine. Place 1 heaping cup yuca chunks, 1 teaspoon avocado oil, 1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder in food processor at a time.
I use a Vitamix which works very well because of its tamper (a tool used to push the food down onto the blade while it spins.) If using a different food processor, the machine may need to be paused a few times to scrape yuca off the wall of the bowl so that it blends completely.
Check out the Vitamix Blender by clicking here:
Yuca chunks literally transform into dough in under a minute! (maybe a bit longer if a Vitamix isn’t being used.) It’s truly exciting to witness the first time you do it! Check out my little video below!
Once dough forms, spoon it onto a large piece of parchment paper. Beware – dough can be very sticky! Parchment paper is a non-stick surface which is needed to easily work with this dough. If dough seems too sticky to work with, wrap it in parchment and place into freezer for 5-10 minutes. It’s a miraculous trick to decrease the stickiness!
Using a rolling pin, roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to about 1/4″ thickness.
-While the yuca is boiling, bring two frying pans to medium heat.
-In the first pan, brown the organic grass-fed beef (or other ground meat of choice) until no longer pink (about 7-10 minutes.) Omit for vegan option.
-In the second heated pan, place 1 tablespoon avocado oil, chopped organic onions and minced garlic cloves.
-Once onions begin to brown, add chopped red peppers and tomatoes. Cook 2-3 minutes.
-Add spinach, basil, oregano, parsley, chili powder, pink Himalayan salt, and pepper. Cover and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes until spinach becomes warm and wilted, and seasonings mingle.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place rolled out yuca dough, with parchment paper underneath, on counter or cutting board.
Spoon sauteed vegetables onto rolled out yuca dough, leaving a 1″ edge at the top. This will prevent filling from overflowing upon rolling, and allow dough to seal closed.
Spoon browned, ground meat over vegetables.
Starting at the end where the filling comes right up to the edge, carefully peel the edges of the dough away from parchment paper and begin to tightly roll dough around vegetables and meat (like a jelly roll.) Lift parchment slightly to help guide you.
Once dough and fillings are fully rolled up, pinch dough at the seam and at each end to form a seal.
Place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush loaf with the white of an egg (or with avocado oil for vegan option) to create an egg wash. This creates a nice shine and browning effect once baked.
Sprinkle loaf with a pinch of pink Himalayan salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and dried basil.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip and bake for an additional 10 minutes – until yuca crust is firm and slightly brown.
Note: Remove from oven and fully cool before cutting. This will ensure the pinwheel design will stay intact.
Baked stuffed yuca can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to serve. Simply remove from refrigerator (defrost if in freezer,) slice, then bake slices at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, flip, then bake for an additional 5 minutes. SOOOOO GOOD!!!!
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*By ordering recommended products through affiliate connections on our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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I like to think of Baked Stuffed Yuca as healthy stromboli; a gluten and grain-free yuca dough rolled around all nutritious, "real food" ingredients! They can be made vegan by filling them with only the sautéed veggies. These were made with organic grass-fed beef, onions, garlic, red peppers, heirloom tomatoes, and spinach with lots of herbs. Baked Stuffed Yuca has all the nutrition of a full meal rolled into one impressive appetizer, side dish, or main entree! I love dipping these Italian-inspired roll-ups in my favorite tomato sauce! YUM! Make them ahead of time, refrigerate or freeze, then slice and reheat when ready to serve. A true crowd pleaser!!
If using frozen yuca, it’s already peeled, cut, and ready to be boiled. There’s no need to even defrost it before boiling! Many find frozen yuca to be much more convenient.
Cut up boiled yuca into small chunks before placing it into food processor. *Pulverize yuca in small batches to avoid overheating the machine (about 1 - 1 1/2 cups chopped yuca at a time.) Yuca turns into dough in about 30-60 seconds.
Once dough forms, place onto a cutting board lined with parchment paper. *Note: dough can be very sticky. Parchment paper is a non-stick surface needed to easily work with this dough. If dough seems too sticky to work, place it into the freezer for 5-10 minutes. It's a miraculous trick to decrease the stickiness!
Using a rolling pin, roll out yuca dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper until about 1/4" thick.
While yuca is boiling, heat 2 frying pans. The first for browning the meat, and the second, along with 1 tablespoon avocado oil, to saute the vegetables.
Brown the organic grass-fed beef (or other meat of choice) for 7-10 minutes, until no longer pink.
In the second pan, add chopped organic onions and garlic. Saute for a minute or 2.
Once onions begin to brown, add chopped red peppers and tomatoes. Saute 2-3 minutes.
Add spinach, basil, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and chili powder and saute for another 2-3 minutes until spinach warms and wilts, and flavors mingle.
Place rolled out yuca dough, with parchment paper underneath, on counter or cutting board.
Spoon sauteed vegetables onto rolled out yuca dough, leaving a 1" edge at one end to prevent filling from overflowing, and allow dough to seal closed.
Starting at the end where the filling comes right up to the edge, carefully peel the edges of the dough away from parchment paper and begin to tightly roll dough around vegetables and meat (like a jelly roll.)
Place loaf on parchment lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle loaf with a pinch each of pink Himalayan salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and dried basil.
Baked stuffed yuca can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to serve. Simply remove from refrigerator, (defrost if in freezer) slice, then bake slices at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, flip, then bake for an additional 5 minutes. SOOOOO GOOD!!!!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
These baguettes are AMAZING! You’d never guess they’re gluten-free! And they’re super simple to make! Perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and airy on the inside – just like good bread should be! I had to make it for myself after watching Jules Shepard …
Creamy, whipped Yuca Mash! Simple, healthy, and made with all “real food” ingredients!!! What can be better than that? Oh, maybe that it’s Paleo, low glycemic, non-GMO, non-inflammatory, as well as Whole30 and autoimmune protocol approved!! Not sure what yuca is??? It’s a root vegetable, …
What do you get when you take cassava flour and a bunch of nuts and seeds? Delicious, nutritious Paleo Nut and Seed Bars!!!! These bars have just enough sweetness, without being overly sweet. Cassava flour is a low-glycemic, non-inflammatory starch, while nuts and seeds provide an excellent source of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and immune boosting phytonutrients! Try the nuts and seeds suggested, or choose your own favorites! These nutrient dense Paleo Nut and Seed Bars are perfect for a snack, dessert, breakfast or bunch. With all the ready-made bars out there claiming to be healthy (which are actually often full of chemicals and other processed ingredients) it’s nice to know there’s a truly healthy, scrumptious bar that’s quick and easy to make!
These bars can be frozen, and pulled out whenever needed. They’re even awesome right out of the freezer! No defrosting needed!!!
Makes 12 bars
*Printer-friendly recipe below*
-2 1/4 cups Otto’s Cassava Flour
-3 organic, cage-free eggs (I use duck eggs, but chicken eggs can also be used)
-2/3 cup organic coconut oil – melted
-3/4 cup organic maple syrup
-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
-2 teaspoons xantham gum
-1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
-Optional: parchment paper (I prefer lining baking dishes with parchment for toxin-free, non-stick baking, and easy clean up.)
–Organic Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk (I use Let’s Do Organic brand which is Non-dairy, Vegan, Gluten-free, and Kosher)
-1/2 cup Unsalted, Dry Toasted Sliced Almonds (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
-1/2 cup Dry Roasted & Unsalted Pistachio Nutmeats (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
-1/2 cup Unsalted Dry Toasted Pecan Pieces (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
-1/3 cup Organic Unsweetened Shredded Coconut (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
-1-2 tablespoons Organic Chia Seeds (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
-1-2 tablespoons Raw Shelled Hemp Seed (I use Trader Joe’s brand)
I’m clearly a big fan of Trader Joe’s!! (lololol) You just can’t beat their prices, quality, and customer service!
*Note: Don’t be overly concerned with the brands, types, or amounts of nuts and seeds I used. These bars will taste great with any nuts and seeds you have on hand in any amounts you enjoy.
Need Otto’s Cassava Flour? Click here to check it out!
For more information on baking with cassava flour click here: Getting to Know Cassava (Yuca) Flour
To discover all the nutrition benefits of eating yuca click here: Yuca (Cassava) Nutrition Facts
Need Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk? Click here to order online
Note: No need to run to the store! Many non-perishable ingredients listed above can be purchased by simply clicking on the ingredient within the recipe.
By ordering recommended products through links on our website we get a small commission which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, blend Otto’s Cassava Flour, pink Himalayan salt, cinnamon, and xantham gum.
In a second bowl, blend maple syrup, melted coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient bowl and mix just until fully combined. *Do not over-mix or cookie crust may come out gummy.
Line a 9×11 inch baking pan with parchment paper. (This step is optional, but allows for easy clean up, as well as non-toxic, non-stick baking without the need to grease the pan.) Choose a baking pan that’s deep enough to hold the 3/4″ crust as well as the toppings which will be added after initial baking.
Spoon dough into parchment lined pan and press down so dough forms an even cookie crust about 3/4″ thick.
Dough pressed to bottom of pan to form cookie crust – before baking
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until edges become slightly brown and a fork stuck into center comes out clean.
Baked cassava flour cookie crust. Notice crust thickness – about 3/4″
Remove from oven, but keep oven on.
Add toppings:
While carefully handling hot pan with oven mitts, spread Organic Sweetened Condensed Coconut milk on top of cookie crust. (*Note: No need to use the entire can unless you desire a very sweet bar. Use just enough to cover cookie crust.) This will be the “glue” that holds the toppings on.
Scatter sliced almonds, pecan pieces, pistachios, shredded coconut, hemp and chia seeds over the sweetened condensed coconut milk, trying to cover entire cookie crust. It’s fine for nuts and seeds to overlap.
Place back into oven for an additional 10 minutes until toppings adhere to cookie crust.
Allow to cool before cutting into 12 bars.
Enjoy!
Bars can also be cut into 24 bites if a smaller treat is desired.
For yuca snacks, pantry items, and kitchen gadgets I personally use to make Crazy For Yuca recipes in my own kitchen.
Have you tried Primal Palate’s Organic Seasonings? They have some truly awesome blends!!!
Click below to check them out. Delish!!!
What do you get when you take cassava flour and a bunch of nuts and seeds? Delicious, nutritious Paleo Nut and Seed Bars!!!! Cassava flour is a low-glycemic, non-inflammatory starch, while nuts and seeds provide an excellent source of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and immune boosting phytonutrients! Try the nuts and seeds suggested, or choose your own favorites! These nutrient dense Paleo Nut and Seed Bars are perfect for a snack, dessert, breakfast or bunch. It's nice to know there's a truly healthy, scrumptious bar that's quick and easy to make!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, blend Otto's Cassava Flour, pink Himalayan salt, cinnamon, and xantham gum.
In a second bowl, blend maple syrup, melted coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient bowl and mix just until fully combined. *Do not over-mix or cookie crust may come out gummy.
Line a 9x11 inch baking pan with parchment paper. (This step is optional, but allows for easy clean up, as well as non-toxic, non-stick baking without the need to grease the pan.) Choose a baking pan that's deep enough to hold the 3/4" crust as well as the toppings which will be added after initial baking.
Spoon dough into parchment lined pan and press down so dough forms an even cookie crust about 3/4" thick.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until edges become slightly brown and a fork stuck into center comes out clean.
Remove from oven, but keep oven on.
While carefully handling hot pan with oven mitts, spread Organic Sweetened Condensed Coconut milk on top of cookie crust. (*Note: No need to use the entire can unless you desire a very sweet bar. Use just enough to cover cookie crust.) This will be the "glue" that holds the toppings on.
Scatter sliced almonds, pecan pieces, pistachios, shredded coconut, hemp and chia seeds over the sweetened condensed coconut milk, trying to cover entire cookie crust. It's fine for nuts and seeds to overlap.
Place back into oven for an additional 10 minutes until toppings adhere to cookie crust.
Allow to cool before cutting into 12 bars.
Enjoy!
These bars freeze perfectly! Bake, cool, then throw in the freezer for a ready-made treat any time!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
Have you tried Yuca Chips yet??? If not, maybe this post will inspire you. They’re crispy, crunchy, and DELICIOUS! While my Perfect Yuca Chip recipe is AWESOME, you likely don’t have time to break out the mandolin every time you’d like a snack. And since …
Imagine a dreamy, creamy soup made of all healthy ingredients that can be thrown together in under 45 minutes! It’s hard to believe this vegan soup is also gluten and dairy-free! The yuca gives this soup its creamy consistency, as well as makes it …
If you’re a Nutella fan, but prefer a healthy version that’s free of dairy, refined sugar, soy, and processed inflammatory oils, this Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is for you! While the first ingredient of Nutella is sugar, with only 13% hazelnuts, the predominant ingredient in this Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is hazelnuts! I included a delicious sugar-free option (my personal favorite!) as well as an option to add a bit of non-refined sugar in case a little more sweetness is preferred.
Hazelnuts make an awesome tasting nut butter! I don’t understand why it’s not as popular as peanut butter? Just imagine the possibilities of how this Chocolate Hazelnut Butter can be used??? It can be drizzled over my cassava flour pancakes (Yuca-ta Try These Pancakes) or any dessert, used as a dip for apples, strawberries or other fruit, used as a filling for my Grain-Free Crepes, or spread on gluten-free bread (like my Flatbread) as a nutritious breakfast or snack! It’s a decadent, yet healthy treat you can feel good about serving to your family!
(*Full Printer-Friendly recipe below*)
Nutritious “real food” ingredients needed:
-1 16 oz bag raw hazelnuts (about 3 cups) or dry roasted hazelnuts (If using dry roasted hazelnuts, skip roasting and skin removing steps below.)
-2 tablespoons organic cacao powder (Cocoa powder could also be used, but it’s not as pure, or rich in fiber, antioxidants and other nutrients. Both are healthy and will make delicious Chocolate Hazelnut Butter!)
-1/4 cup organic coconut oil – melted
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-Sweetener Options: – 1/4 cup organic coconut sugar or 1/8 teaspoon Pure Monk, a 100% organic, zero calorie sweetener that has no affect on blood sugar. (See more information on Pure Monk below.)
-pinch of pink Himalayan salt (Any salt can be used, but I prefer pink Himalayan because of its high mineral content.)
Instructions:
–If using raw hazelnuts, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Raw hazelnuts must first be roasted, after which skins can be easily removed.
-Roasting hazelnuts: Spread raw hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until nuts start to brown and skins loosen. Allow to cool.
-Place cooled, roasted hazelnuts on a clean dish towel, gather ends together creating a sealed “bag”, then rub and roll nuts and towel together to remove nut skins. The more that gets removed, the creamier the texture of the nut butter, but it’s unnecessary (and nearly impossible) to remove 100% of skins.
-Place roasted, skinned hazelnuts in a food processor (I use a Vitamix, but any food processor can be used.) Process nuts for about 5 minutes, until they become the consistency of creamy nut butter. It may be necessary to stop every minute or 2 to scrape the sides to keep everything blending together.
Continue processing until your hazelnut butter resembles the picture on the right below.
-Add cacao powder, sweetener, vanilla, and salt, and continue blending for another minute until fully combined and smooth.
*I store mine in a sealed glass container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (although it rarely lasts that long!)
There are an endless number of things that can be done with this decadent treat!
Chocolate Hazelnut Butter makes eating fruit a whole lot more fun!!!
Make Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Crepes using my Grain-Free Crepe recipe! It’s extra scrumptious with bananas!!! Roll them up or make triangles!
Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Crepe Pizza with strawberries, bananas, blueberries, shredded coconut, and pecan pieces! (Or whatever toppings you like!!!)
What would you like to do with your Chocolate Hazelnut Butter??? Send me pictures of your creations!!! Or post them on Instagram and tag @CrazyForYuca
***
Monk fruit, also known as lo han guo, is a melon grown in Southeast Asia. It has been used in Eastern medicine to treat ailments for centuries. Monk fruit sweetener is a natural extract of monk fruit, with a single serving containing zero calories. It’s highly recommended for weight loss and diabetics since it doesn’t impact blood sugar levels. Organic Pure Monk is almost 300 times sweetener than sugar! Very little goes a long way! The taste is different than sugar, and may take some getting used to. It’s FDA approved and considered safe for children and women who are pregnant or nursing.
Note: If you buy any brand of monk fruit sweetener other than Pure Monk, be sure to read the label carefully. Many call their sweeteners monk fruit, but blend them with other sweeteners to make the taste more similar in taste and sweetness to sugar. The added ingredients may add calories, decrease the relative sweetness, or change the health profile of the sweetener. Give pure monk fruit sweetener a try and let me know what you think. But trust me, use VERY little. More is not better in this case.
Check out Pure Monk by clicking the link below.
for pantry items and kitchen gadgets needed to make Chocolate Hazelnut Butter or other Crazy For Yuca recipes. I personally use all recommended products in my own kitchen!
All yuca/cassava snacks have been taste tested and approved by myself and my family! For a discussion of recommended yuca/cassava chips, see my post The Perfect Yuca Chip!
*By ordering recommended products through affiliate connections on our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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If you're a Nutella fan, but prefer a healthy version that's free of dairy, refined sugar, soy, and processed inflammatory oils, this Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is for you! Just imagine the possibilities??? It can be drizzled over pancakes or any dessert, used as a dip for apples, strawberries or other fruit, used as a filling for my Grain-Free Crepes, spread on gluten-free bread (like my Flatbread) as a nutritious breakfast or snack... You name it! It's a decadent, yet healthy treat you can feel good about serving to your family.
If using raw hazelnuts, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Raw hazelnuts must first be roasted, after which skins can be easily removed. If dry roasted hazelnuts are being used, skip to step 4.
Spread raw hazelnuts on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until nuts start to brown and skins loosen. Allow to cool.
Place cooled, roasted hazelnuts on a clean dish towel, and gather ends together to create a sealed "bag." Rub and roll nuts and towel together to remove nut skins. The more that get removed, the creamier the texture of the hazelnut butter, but it's unnecessary (and nearly impossible) to remove 100% of skins.
Place roasted, skinned hazelnuts in a food processor (I use a Vitamix, but any food processor can be used.) Process nuts for about 5 minutes, until they become the consistency of nut butter. It may be necessary to stop every minute or 2 to scrape nut butter off the sides so everything blends together.
Add cacao powder, sweetener, vanilla, and salt, and continue blending for another minute until fully combined and smooth.
Have fun drizzling, dipping, and spreading your Chocolate Hazelnut Butter on anything desired!
I store mine in a sealed glass container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (although it rarely lasts that long!)
***
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
What’s more fun than strawberry shortcake?… Strawberry Short-Crepe Cream on Top!!! This beautiful gluten, diary, and refined sugar-free dessert is made simply by layering Grain-Free Crepes, scrumptious homemade Strawberry Jam, organic fresh strawberries, and Coconut Cream! It’s the perfect dessert, brunch dish, or birthday cake …
Grain-Free Crepes are quick and easy to prepare, and lots of fun to eat! They can be filled with almost anything – whether sweet or savory! With a fruit filling, such as strawberry jam, they’re perfect for entertaining guests for brunch, or as a sweet …
This guilt-free lasagna has everything that makes lasagna yummy, yet no gluten, grain, or dairy to trigger many common food sensitivities. It’s even Paleo and Whole30 compliant! Who ever thought one could say that about lasagna??? While it may be a bit unconventional, this lasagna is so packed with natural flavor that you’ll never miss the cheese or noodles! The key to this recipe is the substitution of layers of rolled-out yuca (a.k.a. cassava) in place of noodles. This not only makes it more fun, it increases the nutritional value of the dish!
Yuca is a root vegetable with a low glycemic (GI of 46) and a significant amount of vitamin C, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, and manganese. It’s a non-GMO, Paleo, Whole30 approved source of non-inflammatory carbohydrate that’s a significant source of resistant starch. This means it’s a prebiotic food that supports colon health by feeding probiotic bacteria in the colon. (This type of fiber is seriously lacking in the Standard American Diet.) See” Yuca Nutrition Facts for more info on the benefits of adding yuca/cassava to one’s diet.
This lasagna is not only healthy, it’s DELICIOUS!!! It exemplifies how yuca/cassava can be used to transform typical “gluten-full” dishes into fun and hearty gluten-free delicacies! Yuca truly is the chameleon of foods! Discover more about cooking and baking with yuca by clicking the links below and by checking out the recipe tab above!
See: Getting to Know Yuca/Cassava
See: Buying, Storing, Peeling and Cooking with Yuca
Vegan Option: Customize this lasagna by doubling the vegetables and including 2 layers of veggies in between layers of rolled-out yuca (instead of one layer of vegetables and a second of ground meat.)
Links to recommended pantry items can be found in the shopping tab above or by clicking on the ingredient listed below.
Ingredients for yuca layers (6-8 servings)
-1 1/2 pounds fresh or frozen yuca. (Fresh yuca must first be peeled. Frozen yuca is already peeled and cut into pieces. See picture above)
-3/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt -divided
-3/4 teaspoon garlic powder -divided
-1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast -divided
-1 tablespoon avocado oil -divided – (I use Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil)
-*parchment paper – (Parchment paper is key in working with yuca dough, as it’s very sticky.)
–Vitamix or other food processor
Ingredients for vegetable layer
-1 large organic onion – chopped
-1 organic leek – chopped
-2 organic zucchini – chopped
-1 organic red pepper – chopped
-1-2 cups organic broccoli – chopped
-1 6 oz bag organic spinach
-1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt – or more if desired. (I use pink Himalayan salt for all cooking and baking because of its high mineral content.)
-1 teaspoon dried organic basil
-1 teaspoon dried organic oregano
-1 teaspoon dried organic parsley
-1/2 teaspoon dried organic marjoram
-black pepper – to taste
-1 tablespoon avocado oil
Ingredients for meat layer – (omit for Vegan option)
-1 pound ground organic grass-fed beef, chicken, or turkey
-1 cup organic tomato sauce – (I LOVE Organic Paesana Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce!)
-a pinch of pink Himalayan salt or garlic powder may be desired – to taste
Instructions for Yuca Layers
-Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
-*If using fresh yuca it must be peeled and cut into 3 pieces before boiling. See: How to peel fresh yuca. Frozen yuca is already peeled and cut into pieces. *There is no need to defrost frozen yuca before boiling.
-Place peeled, cut fresh yuca or frozen yuca into pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes – until fork tender. *Do not over-cook or yuca will become mushy and very difficult to work with.
-Drain water immediately and allow to cool.
-Once cool enough to handle, cut each piece of yuca in half from top to bottom to remove stick-like stem that runs through the center.
-Cut into bite-sized chunks.
-To form each of 3 yuca layers, place 1 1/3 cups yuca chunks (1/3 of total) along with 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast, and 1 teaspoon avocado oil into food processor (I use a Vitamix) and pulverize for 30-60 seconds until a dough is formed. *Do not place more than 1 1/3 cups yuca in food processor at a time or machine may overheat.
-Place each of 3 yuca dough balls on parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out each yuca layer between 2 pieces of parchment. If yuca dough seems too sticky to work with, place into freezer for a few minutes before rolling out. See: Tips for Handling Sticky Dough
Instructions for Vegetable Layer
-Chop onion, leek, zucchini, red pepper and broccoli, and place into heated pan along with avocado oil, salt, basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, and black pepper. Saute for 8-10 minutes until vegetables are soft.
Instructions for Meat Layer (Omit for Vegan option)
-Brown ground meat until no longer pink.
-Add 1 cup Organic Paesana Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce (or tomato sauce of choice.)
Assembling Lasagna Layers (I use an oval baking dish about 8″ wide by 11″ long)
-Spoon tomato sauce to cover bottom of lasagna pan to prevent yuca layer from sticking to pan during cooking.
-Carefully lay one yuca layer over tomato sauce. *Yuca dough is very sticky. Either coat fingers with a gluten-free flour such as cassava, tapioca, or arrowroot while handling it, or place yuca layer along with bottom layer of parchment on top of sauce layer, then peel back parchment to transfer yuca layer to baking dish.
-Spoon meat layer evenly over yuca layer.
-Place a second yuca layer on top of meat layer.
-Spoon vegetable layer evenly over second yuca layer.
-Place third yuca layer on top of vegetable layer. Brush with a thin layer of avocado oil, and sprinkle with a touch of salt, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast.
-Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Broil for the last 3 minutes if browning is desired on top. Keep an eye on it during broiling to avoid burning.
Enjoy!!!
***
for ingredients to make Grain-Free Soft Pretzels, or to see recommended pantry items and kitchen gadgets I personally use to make other Crazy For Yuca recipes!
Check out the yuca/cassava snacks! – All personally taste tested and approved by myself and my family! For a detailed description of the recommended yuca/cassava chips, see my post The Perfect Yuca Chip!
By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
This gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free lasagna may be unconventional, but it's so packed with flavor that you'll never miss the cheese or noodles! Layers of rolled-out yuca (a.k.a. cassava) are used as a perfect substitute for pasta, while increasing the nutritional value of the dish! This lasagna is healthy, delicious, and exemplifies how yuca can be used to transform typical "gluten-full" dishes into fun and hearty gluten-free delicacies!
-Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
-*If using fresh yuca it must be peeled and cut into 3 pieces before boiling. See: How to peel fresh yuca. Frozen yuca is already peeled and cut into pieces.
-Place peeled, cut fresh yuca or frozen yuca into pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes until fork tender. There is no need to defrost frozen yuca before boiling. *Do not over-cook or yuca will become mushy and very difficult to work with.
-Drain water immediately and allow to cool.
-Once cool enough to handle, cut each piece of yuca in half from top to bottom to remove stick-like stem that runs through the center, then cut into chunks.
-To form each of 3 yuca layers, place 1 1/3 cups yuca chunks (1/3 of the total) along with 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast, and 1 teaspoon avocado oil into food processor and pulverize for 30-60 seconds until a dough is formed. *Do not place more than 1 1/3 cups yuca in food processor at a time or it could overheat machine.
-Place each of 3 yuca dough balls on parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out each yuca layer between 2 pieces of parchment. If yuca dough seems too sticky to work with, place into freezer for a few minutes before rolling out. See: Tips for Handling Sticky Dough
-Chop onion, leek, zucchini, red pepper, broccoli and place into heated pan along with 1 tablespoon avocado oil, basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, and black pepper. Saute for 8-10 minutes until vegetables are soft.
-Brown ground meat in pan.
-Add 1 cup Organic Paesana Tomato Sauce (or tomato sauce of choice)
-Spoon tomato sauce to cover bottom of lasagna pan. This will prevent yuca layer from sticking to pan during cooking.
-Carefully lay one yuca layer over tomato sauce. *Yuca dough is very sticky. Either coat fingers with a gluten-free flour such as cassava, tapioca, or arrowroot flour while handling it, or place yuca layer along with bottom layer of parchment on top of sauce layer, then peel back parchment to transfer yuca layer to baking dish.
-Spoon meat layer evenly over yuca layer.
-Place a second yuca layer on top of meat layer.
-Spoon vegetable layer evenly over second yuca layer.
-Place third yuca layer on top of vegetable layer. Brush with a thin layer of avocado oil, and sprinkle with a touch of salt, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast.
-Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Broil for the last 3 minutes if browning yuca is desired. Keep an eye on it during broiling to avoid burning.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
What’s a Southwestern Egg Roll? Think Chinese egg rolls, only the inside is a burst of spicy Southwestern flavored chicken and veggies! WHAT AN AMAZING IDEA!!! I only wish I thought of it! This recipe is courtesy of The Modern Cavegirl from Heart & Bones …
How do you like your Avocado Toast? Slathered in guacamole? With organic turkey bacon and tomatoes? With a sunny side up egg? – with a broken yolk dripping down your toast… No matter how they’re garnished, they are a truly special treat! Made on top …
Who doesn’t love a salty hot pretzel??? As a gluten-free eater I thought I’d never have one again, until now! These Grain-Free Soft Pretzels are THE REAL DEAL!!! They’re made with Otto’s Cassava Flour, so they’re naturally gluten and grain-free! With all “real” whole food ingredients, this is a snack that you can feel good about eating and serving to your family. This soft, chewy dough topped with coarse salt is indistinguishable from soft pretzels made from wheat! Never feel deprived again! Eat them plain, with your favorite mustard, or other dipping sauce. You’ll be happy you did!!!
This first thing you’ll need in order to make your Grain-Free Soft Pretzels is a bag of Otto’s Cassava Flour which you can purchase by clicking the link below.
See: Getting To Know Cassava (Yuca) Flour for more information about this incredibly versatile gluten-free, grain-free, non-GMO, Paleo, Whole30 approved, autoimmune protocol friendly flour!
***At Crazy For Yuca, my goal is to bring my followers the best gluten-free, dairy-free, “real” food recipes featuring yuca and cassava flour. (Yuca and cassava are the same thing.) Some of my posts are original CrazyForYuca recipes, and others are from other bloggers and recipe developers who are doing amazing things with yuca/cassava! (Because there’s no need to re-invent the wheel – am I right???) My goal is to become the place yuca lovers can go to find all the best yuca/cassava recipes!
I test out others’ recipes to ensure they’re awesome, tweak them to fit my eating style if needed, take my own step by step pictures while making them, and post along with my personal tips – giving full credit to the original recipe creator with a link to their post. If it isn’t my own recipe I cannot legally provide the full recipe in my post.
Heather did an incredible job of re-creating soft pretzels using cassava flour! I’ve had my eye on this recipe since I launched my site back in November and finally had time to make them. They will definitely be a staple in my house from now on! Thank you Heather!
After reading my post about them, check out her full recipe by clicking this link: “Paleo Soft Pretzels.” Heather also has an AIP version without the yeast which she calls “AIP Soft Pretzel Bites.”
Links to all non-perishable pantry items can be found in the shopping tab above or by clicking on the ingredient listed below.
Ingredients for pretzel dough:
-warm water
-extra virgin olive oil (I used avocado oil, as I do for most baking, because of its high smoke point. An oil’s smoke point is the temperature at which it breaks down, loses nutrients, changes flavor, and may produce free radicals that can be damaging to one’s health. (See: Dr. Axe’s article “Why Avocado Oil Got Rx Status in France.”)
–pure maple syrup (I used Hidden Springs Organic Maple Syrup.)
-cage-free egg (I used a duck egg since I’m sensitive to chicken eggs. Both work perfectly!)
–active dry yeast (I used one packet of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast, which is gluten-free and kosher.)
-salt (I used pink Himalayan salt because of its additional mineral content compared to table salt.)
Ingredients for boiling pretzels:
-water
Ingredients for pretzel topping:
-egg yolk for egg wash – (Brush pretzels after boiling)
–coarse salt (I used Pereg Coarse Crystals Red Sea Salt – which isn’t actually red in color.)
Instructions:
The recipe involves making the pretzel dough, forming it into the desired number of pretzels (depending on how big you want them to be,) boiling them, brushing with an egg wash, topping with coarse salt, and then baking. (While it contains yeast, there’s no requirement to allow time for the dough to rise. I was curious if that was an omission, so I covered the dough and put it in a warm, dark place for an hour, but it didn’t rise. They came out great which just makes these even quicker to make!)
For Heather’s full instructions click here, Paleo Soft Pretzels.
Pretzel dough balls get rolled out into “snakes,” which are formed into pretzel shapes (or whatever shape is preferred!)
The pretzel shaped dough is brushed with an egg wash, and sprinkled with coarse salt.
It’s important to use coarse salt, as opposed to a finer grain of salt, if an authentic soft pretzel look and taste is desired. YUM!!!
Heather instructs to use egg yolk mixed with a little water for the egg wash. My pretzels came out a bit darker in color than I would have liked (but still deliciously tasty!) Next time I will try using either the whole egg or just the egg whites to get a lighter colored pretzel. (The color may have been darker because I use duck eggs.)
Serve plain, with mustard, or any dipping sauce of choice! Make them for yourself, or for your next party!!! They’re a real crowd-pleaser!
***
for ingredients to make Grain-Free Soft Pretzels, or to see recommended pantry items and kitchen gadgets I personally use to make other Crazy For Yuca recipes!
Check out the yuca/cassava snacks! – All personally taste tested and approved by myself and my family! For a detailed description of the recommended yuca/cassava chips, see my post The Perfect Yuca Chip!
By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
These Grain-Free Popovers are so light and airy! They’re fun to eat and really hit the spot when you’re craving some bread, but don’t want the grain! They’re especially delicious warm right out of the oven! While most of my Crazy For Yuca recipes are …
Nothing says Easter like decorated eggs! And nothing says “fun celebration” like hand pies!!! Did you love Pop-tarts as a kid? If the answer is “yes”, you’ll adore these Easter Egg Hand Pies – with a delectable flakey crust on the outside, and sweet fruit …
I call this recipe Mandel Bread / Biscotti because there’s little (if any) difference between these 2 cookies. I want everyone to feel free to enjoy them – no matter one’s heritage, or holiday celebrating. With both Passover and Easter coming within the next week, these will be an excellent addition to any holiday dessert table! While delicious on their own, they’re especially fun to dip into coffee or tea!
Both mandel bread and biscotti are traditionally twice-baked, once as a loaf and then again after being sliced. This is what makes them especially crunchy, as opposed to a more cakey cookie. Because the moisture is baked out of them, they can be made days ahead and retain their freshness, especially if kept in an airtight container at room temperature. (Unfortunately, I can’t report how long exactly this recipe will stay fresh since we gobble them up way too quickly!!!)
This recipe is kosher for Passover, as it’s grain and dairy-free, and doesn’t contain any leavening. It’s made of only a few simple, whole-food ingredients and no refined sugar. The main ingredient is cassava flour, which is a welcome change during the 8 days of Passover when EVERYTHING is made of matzo!
Cassava (a.k.a. yuca) is the incredibly versatile root vegetable that is the focus of this blog. Yuca/cassava is gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, Vegan, Paleo, Whole30 approved, soy-free, and typically considered safe for those following an autoimmune protocol (AIP friendly.) (Note: this recipe is not nut-free, as almond flour and slivered almonds are added.)
Click link : Getting to Know Yuca (Cassava.)
Click link: Buying, Storing, Peeling, and Cooking Yuca (Cassava.)
Cassava flour is a whole-food flour made simply by drying and grinding the white flesh of peeled yuca/cassava root. With its neutral taste and similar consistency to wheat flour, it’s easily substituted for wheat flour (or matzo cake meal) in this recipe.
Click link: Getting to Know Cassava (Yuca) Flour
I use Otto’s Cassava Flour for all my baking. It can be found in specialty stores or online here by clicking the link below.
By ordering Otto’s Cassava Flour and other recommended products through our website we get a small commission which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional cost to you. All recommended products are ones that I personally use in my own kitchen. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
These are incredibly simple to make and delicious to eat!
The word mandel means almond, and biscotti are traditionally made with nuts, so I chose Almond Mandel Bread / Biscotti as the basic version of this recipe. I’ve also included chocolate chip and cinnamon variations below. YUM!!! Feel free to play around with different extracts and add ins to create your own personal favorite.
Makes 16 pieces (About 5″ long x 3/4″ high)
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup Otto’s Cassava Flour
2/3 cup almond flour
4 teaspoons potato starch
2/3 cup avocado oil
2 cage-free eggs
2/3 cup organic maple syrup
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl blend dry ingredients, including Otto’s Cassava Flour, almond flour, potato starch, and salt. In a second bowl blend wet ingredients, including avocado oil, egg, almond extract, and maple syrup. Combine contents of two bowls by adding wet ingredients to dry ingredient bowl. Blend thoroughly. Mix in slivered almonds.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough in half. With moistened hands, form 2 loaves on parchment lined baking sheet. To ensure even baking, make certain thickness of loaf is even throughout.
Place on middle rack of preheated oven (set to 350 degrees) and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. 
Using a spatula, carefully place each loaf onto a cutting board. Using a fine, sharp knife, slice into cookies. Carefully place cookies back on parchment lined baking sheet, cut-side down, and place back into oven for an additional 15 minutes to dry and lightly brown. (Check after 10 minutes to ensure cookies aren’t burning.)
Once edges brown, remove from oven and allow to cool.
Enjoy!!
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For the chocolate chip version, simply swap out the slivered almonds for dairy-free chocolate chips! I use Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels. or Pascha Organic Dark Chocolate Chips (55% or 85% cacao.) They’re both gluten, dairy, soy, and nut-free! Check them out by clicking link below!
Mini Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Morsels can also be used.
For the cinnamon version, swap out the almond extract for vanilla extract and leave out the slivered almonds. Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to batter, and sprinkle additional on top.
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I call this recipe Mandel Bread / Biscotti because there's little (if any) difference between these 2 cookies, and I want everyone to feel free to enjoy them - no matter their heritage, or holiday celebrating. They are Kosher for Passover, but would be an excellent addition to one's Easter dessert table as well! While delicious on their own, they're especially fun to dip into coffee or tea! These cookies are twice-baked, once as a loaf, then again after being sliced. This is what makes them especially crunchy. Since the moisture is baked out of them, they can be made days ahead and retain their freshness, especially if kept in an airtight container at room temperature. (I can't report exactly how long they stay fresh since we gobble them up too quickly to know!!!) The main ingredient is cassava flour, which is a welcome change during the 8 days of Passover when EVERYTHING is made out of matzo!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl blend dry ingredients, including Otto's Cassava Flour, almond flour, potato starch, and salt.
In a second bowl blend wet ingredients, including avocado oil, egg, almond extract, and maple syrup.
Combine contents of two bowls by adding wet ingredients to dry ingredient bowl. Blend thoroughly.
Mix in slivered almonds.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Divide dough in half and place each half on parchment lined baking sheet.
With moistened hands, form 2 loaves. To ensure even baking, make certain thickness of loaf is even throughout.
Place on middle rack of preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Using a spatula, carefully place each loaf onto a cutting board.
Using a fine, sharp knife, slice each loaf into approximately 8 cookies (loaf can easily crumble if not careful.)
Carefully return sliced cookies to parchment lined baking pan, repositioning them so they're cut-side down.
Place back into oven for an additional 15 minutes to dry and slightly brown. (Check after 10 minutes to make sure they aren't burning.) Once edges brown and cookies harden, remove from oven and allow to cool.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
It’s time to plan your Passover menu! Why not decrease the grains this holiday with Grain-Free Cassava Flour Matzo Balls? They will be adored by your gluten-eating and gluten-free guests alike! (I had a little trouble stopping myself from eating them all before getting a …
While I usually incorporate yuca (a.k.a. cassava) into typical American food as a way to make gluten-free cooking more diverse and less restricting, today I’m excited to share a traditional recipe showing how yuca is eaten in another part of the world. This recipe for …
I’m making this banana bread as I type up this post, and the incredible aroma as it’s baking has taken over the house! I can’t wait for it to cool off so I can take my blog pictures and dig in!!! Whether made into muffins or loaves, this recipe is the perfect gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, dairy-free, soy-free, healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert any time! They’re just sweet enough, without being overly sweet. This banana bread is my husband’s absolute favorite! I like to make a batch, then throw them in the freezer so they’re available any time.
Go Nuts with Gluten-Free Grain-Free Banana Bread / Muffins!
While this recipe is amazing without nuts, adding your favorite nut is a great way to boost the protein, Omega-3 fats, fiber, and minerals in your diet, all while enjoying a scrumptious piece of banana bread or muffin!
If you haven’t tried cassava flour yet, you’re missing out! (FYI – yuca and cassava are different names for the same root vegetable.) Cassava flour is a relatively new flour that has emerged in the gluten-free, Paleo, and autoimmune protocol worlds in recent years. It’s a whole-food, non-GMO flour made simply by drying and grinding the white flesh of the peeled yuca root. Since yuca has a low glycemic index of 46, it will not spike blood sugar the way many other gluten-free flours can. It’s therefore considered safe for diabetics.
It can be used in place of wheat flour in most recipes to create grain-free treats with all the goodness expected of wheat flour. It has a neutral taste and a texture similar to wheat flour (not grainy like some nut flours.) It’s finer than wheat flour; a bit like powdered sugar in that if mixed too vigorously it creates a “flour cloud” over the bowl. It’s dryer than wheat flour, so recipes often need a bit more liquid.
I use Otto’s Cassava Flour for all of my baking since it tastes great, is certified gluten-free, non-GMO and Paleo, and is made upholding the highest standards. See About Cassava (Yuca) Flour for more information.
By ordering Otto’s Cassava Flour through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
This recipe makes 20 muffins or 2 loaves
Ingredients:
-2 cups Otto’s Cassava Flour
-2 tablespoons organic coconut flour (I use NOW Foods Organic Coconut Flour.)
-1 teaspoon baking soda (I typically use Bob’s Red Mill baking soda because they mine their sodium bicarbonate directly from the ground in it’s natural state, while many other brands use a chemical reaction process (1.))
-¼ teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt (I use pink Himilayan sea salt for all cooking and baking because of its high mineral content.)
-4 cage-free eggs – room temperature (I use duck eggs since I’m sensitive to chicken eggs. Both chicken and duck eggs work perfectly!)
-2 cups mashed, ripe organic bananas (About 4-5 bananas)
1 cup organic maple syrup -room temperature
-½ cup organic applesauce – no sugar added
-1/3 cup organic coconut oil – melted ( I use Nutiva Organic Coconut oil)
-1 tsp organic vanilla extract
–baking cups – If making muffins.
parchment paper – If making loaves
-Optional: Add pecans and/or walnuts – reserving some to sprinkle on top of muffin or loaf.
How nutty are you??
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl blend dry ingredients including Otto’s Cassava Flour, coconut flour, baking soda and pink Himalayan sea salt . In a second bowl, combine wet ingredients including eggs, mashed bananas, maple syrup, applesauce, coconut oil, and vanilla. Combine ingredients from the 2 bowls by adding wet ingredients to the dry, then stir just until moistened. (*Over-blending may cause your banana bread to be gummy.)
Optional – Add chopped pecans and/or walnuts, stirring just enough to blend.
Spoon batter into muffin tins lined with baking cups or into 2 loaf pans lined with parchment paper.
Optional: Sprinkle additional nuts on top for added crunch and a truly spectacular looking muffin or loaf!
For muffins: Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
For loaves: Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.
Notes: These freeze well.
Gluten-Free Grain-Free Banana Bread
Gluten-Free Grain-Free Banana Muffins (With and Without Nuts)
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Whether made into muffins or loaves, this recipe is the perfect gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, dairy-free, healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert any time! They're just sweet enough, without being overly sweet. Go nuts and add pecans and/or walnuts to boost the protein, Omega-3 fats, fiber, and minerals of this delicious treat! Make a batch, then throw them in the freezer so they're available any time.
In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients including Otto's Cassava Flour, coconut flour, baking soda and pink Himalayan sea salt until well combined.
In a second bowl combine eggs, mashed bananas, maple syrup, applesauce, coconut oil, and vanilla.
Place blended wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl and stir just until moistened. (*Over-blending may cause your banana bread to be gummy.)
Spoon batter into muffin tins lined with baking cups or 2 loaf pans lined with parchment paper.
If desired, sprinkle additional nuts on top for added crunch and a truly spectacular looking muffin!
Bake muffins at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, and loaves for 45-55 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the center comes out clean.
Notes: Freeze well. Defrost quickly at room temperature or in microwave for about 30 seconds.
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
Why should the gluten-free be denied scrumptious almond cookies from the Chinese restaurant? (After all, we already can’t have most Chinese food!) My daughter, who is gluten and dairy-free, had a hankering for almond cookies and asked me to create this recipe using cassava flour. …
This is no ordinary chocolate chip cookie! While it has chocolate chips, it also has dried cherries, cinnamon, and is made from naturally gluten-free cassava flour! They’re soft-baked, with a melt-in-your-mouth crumbly texture, and just enough maple syrup sweetness. These are my go-to cookie when …
Spend 5 minutes of prep time, then go about your day knowing this simple, delicious 4 ingredient crockpot chicken will be ready and waiting for you when you get home! Then boil up some yuca (because everything is better with yuca!) while chopping and sauteing your favorite vegetables. Then throw it all together into one pot. Within 30 minutes this perfectly healthy, mouthwatering stew is done! This is one of those recipes that makes it super easy and satisfying to eat well! It’s one of my go-to weeknight meals.
When I first began my gluten and dairy-free journey, my functional medicine doctor gave me a list of foods that were acceptable to eat and yuca was on the list. I had no idea what it was so I just ignored it. Who would have thought that 6 years later I’d consider this root vegetable to be the savior of a gluten-free diet, and create an entire blog around it! Without yuca, I unknowingly deprived myself of many wonderful dishes that would have made being gluten-free a lot easier. While this dish is perfectly yummy without the yuca (although not as hearty) take a moment to discover all the amazingness that is yuca by clicking the links below. You’ll be happy you did!!!
Getting To Know Yuca (Cassava)
Yuca (Cassava) Nutrition Facts
Buying, Storing, Peeling, and Cooking Yuca (Cassava)
If you don’t have yuca on hand, this dish can be made with cooked rice, quinoa, or potato (for a non-Paleo version.) I recommend buying a bag or 2 of frozen yuca and keeping it in your freezer so you’re prepared for any exciting recipe that comes along on Crazy For Yuca! Yuca (also known as cassava) is typically found in the frozen Goya section at many larger supermarkets. Frozen yuca takes about the same amount of time to cook as rice or quinoa (15 minutes in boiling water.) Fresh yuca takes a bit longer to prepare, since it must first be peeled. See: How to Peel Fresh Yuca.
Ingredients for Chile Lime Crockpot Chicken: (Full Printable Recipe Below)
-whole, raw organic chicken
-juice of 1 large organic lemon (3 tablespoons)
-1 tablespoon Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning Blend
-1 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
-1 cup filtered water
Ingredients for Vegetables:
-3/4 lb fresh or frozen yuca (Half a bag Goya Frozen Yuca or 1 medium fresh, peeled yuca cut into 3-4 pieces.) Note: If using fresh yuca it must be peeled before boiling. See: How to Peel Fresh Yuca for instructions if needed.
-1 organic leek – diced (green part only for low FODMAP) (Or onion if FODMAPS are not a concern.)
-1 organic red pepper – diced
-3 organic carrots – sliced
-1 organic zucchini – diced
-8 oz organic rainbow chard – leaves torn/stems finely diced (or other green leafy vegetable of choice)
-1 tablespoon avocado oil
Note: Any vegetables can be used in this recipe, so feel free to use what you have on hand. I often also throw in broccoli, spinach, collard greens, or kale. It all depends on what’s in my fridge that day!
Let’s make Chile Lime Crockpot Chicken!
The key to this amazingly delicious meal is Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning Blend!
Start with a whole, organic chicken. Remove skin, wash, and place in crockpot. (I remove skin to decrease the fat, since I use the broth created during cooking as the sauce for this Chile Lime Crockpot Chicken and Vegetable Stew.)
Add 1 tablespoon Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning Blend, 1 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt, the juice of a large organic lemon (about 3 tablespoons,) and 1 cup filtered water to crockpot. (Water not yet added in picture below.)
Cover and cook, either on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, depending on your timing needs. That’s it! Go about your day knowing that your chicken will be ready when you need it in a few hours! (It’s fine if the chicken cooks longer on either of these settings. No need to rush home.)
Viola! Scrumptious, tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bone chicken, ready when you are!!!
(I apologize for the boo boo on the top chicken breast. My husband came by and pinched off a taste while the chicken was cooling without realizing I planned on making our dinner my next post!!! It really is hard to resist!)
Once ready, uncover crockpot and allow chicken to cool enough to be comfortably handled during deboning.
While chicken is cooling, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add peeled, cut, fresh yuca, or frozen yuca (which is already peeled and cut into pieces) and return to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes until fork tender. Ensure that yuca is fully covered by water throughout cooking.
While yuca is boiling, chop vegetables.
A common question is whether or not to eat the stalks of rainbow chard. The answer is YES! They are chock full of dietary fiber, vitamins A and K, are an excellent source of iron, and have lots of beneficial polyphenols! These are antioxidants that have shown promise in preventing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and degenerative neurological conditions (1).
To prepare rainbow chard for cooking, remove leaves from stems, tear leaves into pieces, and finely dice stems. The stems need to be cooked a bit longer than the leaves.
Heat a saucepan with avocado oil to medium heat. Add chopped leeks (or onions), carrots, red peppers, zucchini, and diced rainbow chard stems and saute for 3-5 minutes. 
Once yuca is fork tender, immediately drain water from boiled yuca and allow to cool for a few minutes. (If boiled yuca is kept in the water it will quickly become mushy.)
Once yuca is cool enough to handle (about 5 minutes,) cut each piece in half lengthwise to remove stick-like stem that runs through the center. Cut into cubes. 
Pour broth from crockpot chicken into saucepan with sauteed vegetables and bring to a simmer. Add yuca cubes and rainbow chard leaves to the pan. Cover and reduce heat to low.
Debone chicken. Add 2 cups of cooked chicken to the pot. Cover and heat for an additional few minutes. 
Serve.
Save the rest of your Chile Lime Crockpot Chicken for tomorrow’s lunch or dinner!!! It can be used for any dish that calls for cooked chicken (like my Zesty Chicken Salad Dijonnaise!) It shreds easily or can be cut into chunks. I make 2-3 crockpot chickens per week, so there’s always chicken on hand to throw together a quick lunch or dinner. (This prevents reliance on unhealthy, processed cold cuts and greatly decreases the time needed to prepare a meal!) For lunch, I toss it into a salad or chicken salad (using my Zesty Dijonnaise Dressing (low FODMAP)), or onto a Cassava Flour Tortilla Wrap, or eat it with steamed vegetables (which takes only 5-8 minutes.) Convenience is key when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
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All it takes is 5 minutes of prep time in the morning, and this delicious, gluten and dairy-free chicken will be ready and waiting when you get home. Then boil up some yuca while chopping your favorite vegetables, and within 30 minutes this perfectly healthy, mouthwatering dinner is done! Who says eating well needs to be hard or time-consuming?
Start with a whole, organic chicken. Remove skin, wash, and place into crockpot.
Add 1 tablespoon Trader Joe's Chile Lime Seasoning Blend, 1 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt, the juice of one organic lemon (3 tablespoons,) and 1 cup filtered water.
Cover crockpot and cook either on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
Once cooked, remove cover and allow to cool.
Once cooled, debone.
While chicken is cooling, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add yuca, return to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes until fork tender. Ensure that yuca is fully covered by water throughout cooking.
Meanwhile, chop leek (or onion), red pepper, carrots, and zucchini. Remove leaves from stems of rainbow chard. Tear leaves and finely dice stems.
Heat a saucepan to medium heat. Add avocado oil, chopped leeks, carrots, red peppers, zucchini, and diced rainbow chard stems. Saute for 3-5 minutes.
Once yuca is fork tender, immediately drain water and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Once cool enough to handle, cut each piece of yuca in half to remove stick-like stem that runs through the center. Cut into cubes.
Pour broth from crockpot into saucepan with sauteed vegetables, and bring to a simmer.
Add yuca cubes, rainbow chard leaves, and 2 cups of cooked deboned chicken to pan. Cover and heat for a few additional minutes until chard is wilted.
Serve.
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Comment below and let me know what you think of this dish!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
With this Paleo French Onion Soup topped with melted yuca dough, you won’t miss the cheese! This perfect pairing is deliciously gratifying in every way!!! Upon baking, the underside of the yuca gets soft and gooey, while the top browns just right! This Paleo variation …
Many panic when they find out they need to be gluten and/or dairy-free! I think one of the main reasons is fear of giving up their comfort foods. This Grain-Free Chicken Pot Pie recipe is true comfort food at its best! It’s proof positive that …
Have you tried baking with cassava flour yet? If not, this is the perfect cookie recipe to get you started! Whether you’re gluten-free, or just want to eat less grain, these cassava flour Strawberry Almond Butter Pinwheel Cookies are fun to make and to eat! They’re sweet, but not too sweet. A perfect pastry to serve to guests at your next dinner party or brunch, or to accompany your afternoon coffee or tea.
Cassava flour is a whole-food flour made simply by drying and grinding the white flesh of the peeled cassava root. (Cassava is also known as yuca.) Nothing is added or removed. It’s a pure, natural foundation for baking.
Cassava flour is a relatively new flour that’s gaining popularity within the healthy eating community. And why not? It’s gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, soy-free, Paleo, Vegan, easily digested, and Autoimmune Protocol friendly! If that’s not enough to entice you, consider that cassava flour can replace wheat flour in a 1:1 ratio in most recipes, so it’s super easy to incorporate into your baking!!!
Making the swap to cassava flour adds wholesome, real-food goodness to your recipe without any sacrifice to the quality of your dish. The only things you have to lose are:
Cassava flour has a neutral taste and a texture similar to wheat flour (not grainy like some nut flours.)
If you are gluten-free, adding cassava flour (and yuca) into your repertoire is really a “no-brainer.” It will add so much back into your diet that you thought was lost forever.
*See additional yuca/cassava recipes in the recipe dropdown menu located at the top of this post. Discover how you can live happy, healthy and gluten-free with CrazyForYuca.com! Your days of feeling deprived are over!!!
For more information on the nutritional value of Cassava Flour see: Getting To Know Cassava (Yuca) Flour
There are many reasons for this choice. First – it tastes great, practically indistinguishable from wheat flour! It has no fillers and is not enriched with anything. The only ingredients are cassava/yuca and water. Otto’s Cassava Flour is certified non-GMO, gluten-free, and Paleo. Many other cassava flours are made by peeling and then sun-drying the root. This allows fermentation which can create a sour tasting and musty smelling flour. Otto’s Cassava Flour is made in Brazil, (not Africa like some brands) where it’s peeled and baked according to their proprietary method – with no fermentation or opportunity for mold growth. As someone with autoimmune issues, avoiding mold is a top priority. Otto’s is the highest quality, cleanest tasting flour. If you tried a different brand of cassava flour and didn’t like the taste of your recipe, don’t give up before trying Otto’s. You won’t be sorry.
Otto’s Cassava Flour is available in small specialty markets or online here!
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Otto’s Naturals 100% Natural Cassava Flour Made from Yuca Root Bag, 2 Pound
*Printer-friendly recipe below*
Ingredients for cassava flour dough:
-1 1/2 cups Otto’s Cassava Flour
-2 tablespoons organic 100% maple syrup
-1 organic, cage-free egg (I use duck eggs since I’m sensitive to chicken eggs, but either can be used.)
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda (I use Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda)
-1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
-1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
-1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening
-1/2 cup filtered water
What makes this crust so flakey and delicious?
Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening. Click below to check it out:
Ingredients for filling:
-1/2 cup raw almond butter – divided (I use Trader Joe’s Raw Unsalted Almond Butter)
-1/2 cup fruit spread – I use St. Dalfour Strawberry 100% Fruit Spread (Sweetened only with real fruit and concentrated grape juice.)
(-1/2 cup chopped raw or dry roasted pecans – divided (I use Trader Joe’s Dry Toasted Pecan Pieces)
-1 teaspoon cinnamon – divided (I use Primal Palate Cinnamon)
Check out St. Dalfour 100% Fruit Spread by clicking below:
Topping ingredients:
-1 organic cage-free egg – whisked for use as egg wash
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I use Primal Palate Cinnamon.)
-1/4 cup chopped raw or dry roasted pecans (I use Trader Joe’s Dry Toasted Pecan Pieces)
To make cassava flour dough: In a large bowl, blend Otto’s Cassava Flour, baking soda, xantham gum, and salt. In a second bowl, whisk egg and add organic maple syrup and water. Combine contents of the two bowls. Add Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening and blend until a dough is formed. Once mixing with a spoon becomes too difficult, use your hands to fully incorporate ingredients into a dough. (A stand mixer can also be used.)
Divide dough into 2 equal balls. Roll out each dough ball between 2 pieces of parchment paper to form the base of the Pinwheel Cookies.
Spread half of the almond butter (1/4 cup) on top of each piece of rolled-out dough, leaving a 1/2 inch plain edge along one side. (This will prevent filling from overflowing over the top of the pastry when being rolled up.)
Place half of the strawberry fruit spread (1/4 cup) on top of the almond butter, for each of the two rolled-out pieces of dough. Any preferred fruit spread flavor can be used for these Pinwheel Cookies. Some great options include apricot, blueberry, mixed berry, raspberry, or peach!
Spread fruit preserves evenly over almond butter, remembering to leave 1/2 plain edge on one side.
Sprinkle each rolled-out dough with half of the cinnamon and chopped pecans (or other preferred chopped nut.)
Starting with the end where the almond butter and fruit spread were spread right up to the edge, tightly roll dough from one end to the other into a jelly roll. I find it helpful to lift parchment paper to guide the dough. (Note: In the picture below I didn’t leave enough of a plain edge to prevent almond butter and jam from overflowing at the top. Oops! Live and learn! )
Ensure that pinwheel log is rolled-up as tight as possible (no air within the log.)
Rolled-up Strawberry Almond Butter Pinwheel Cookie log.
Wrap Strawberry Almond Butter Pinwheel Cookie logs tightly in either parchment or plastic wrap and place in freezer for one hour. (I prefer using the same parchment I just used to roll out dough. This prevents waste as well as provides a non-toxic wrap for my logs as compared to plastic wrap.) Placing Pinwheel logs into the freezer is needed to firm up ingredients so they will hold their shape during slicing into individual cookies. This will enable the creation of the pinwheel design. If sliced at room temperature, layers blend together during slicing. If frozen for longer than 1 hour, dough becomes brittle and crumby when slicing into cookies. If this occurs, simply leave log out on the counter for a few minutes before continuing to slice.
Remove logs from freezer, unwrap and place on cutting board. Use a sharp knife to slice each log into 12 Strawberry Almond Butter Pinwheel Cookies. Test readiness for slicing by starting at one end (since each end is unlikely to form a perfect pinwheel design.) It’s the proper temperature for slicing when a sharp knife easily slices through log without the dough crumbling or log losing its shape.
Place Pinwheel Cookies onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (The same piece of parchment can be wiped clean and re-used.)
Whisk an egg and brush top of each cookie with egg wash. Sprinkle with cinnamon and chopped pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until edges begin to brown.
Enjoy as a delectable dessert or as a pastry at your next brunch!
Chocolate Variation! Everything is delicious with chocolate – am I right???
For the chocolate version, simply swap 1/2 cup melted chocolate in place of the strawberry jam, and immediately roll after spreading chocolate and sprinkling cinnamon and nuts. Rolling will be hampered if chocolate is left to cool and harden.
I use Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels. I prefer dark chocolate because it’s lower in sugar. Enjoy Life dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips are both gluten, dairy, nut and soy-free as well as non-GMO verified. If you like your cookies sweet then you may prefer using semi-sweet chocolate. Click link below to check out Enjoy Life Morsels.
By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you, and shipping is always free. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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Healthy Eating Tip: Choose almond butter over peanut butter!
Both peanuts and almonds are a good source of protein, have heart healthy monounsaturated fats, have similar amounts of calories, contain fiber, and have vitamins and minerals such as potassium, biotin, magnesium, and zinc. However, there are a few big reasons to choose almond butter over peanut butter for optimal health.
One of the main reasons I limit my intake of peanuts is because they can be inflammatory within the body. Systemic inflammation is believed to be an underlying cause of many debilitating illnesses including heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disease, irritable bowl syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and chronic pain. Omega 6 fats cause inflammation, while Omega 3 fats reduce it. Peanut butter contains too much Omega 6 fats, which can disturb the healthy balance between Omega 3 and 6 fats within the body. While a 2:1 ratio between Omega 6 and Omega 3 fats is recommended, as a result of the Standard American Diet the ratio is more often about 20:1 (1.)
The second reason I choose almond butter is because almonds are alkalizing while peanuts are acidic within the body. We are susceptible to illness when the body is in an acidic state. Our blood should be slightly alkaline (just higher than a ph of 7.) Since most Americans consume an overabundance of acidic foods such as meat, dairy, wheat, sugar, alcohol, and coffee, it’s important to find areas to make swaps to more alkaline foods whenever possible to keep our bodies in balance (2, 3.)
A further problem with peanuts is that they are prone to mold growth. This is a major trigger for asthma, allergic reactions, as well as autoimmune disease (1.)
As compared to peanut butter, almond butter has significantly more iron, calcium, and vitamin E (an antioxidant that can stop the development of plaque within the arteries,) as well as 25% more monounsaturated fats (a further link to a reduction of heart disease.) Almond butter also has half the saturated fat as peanut butter (4.)
Overall, almond butter has clear advantages over peanut butter. If peanut butter is eaten, be sure to choose an organic brand with no additives, hydrogenated oils or added sugar. The ingredients should simply be peanuts or peanuts and salt. Choose peanut butter made with Valencia peanuts since they’re grown in a way that doesn’t promote mold growth. While eating peanut butter, eat foods or take supplements that contain Omega 3 fats to keep the Omega 6:3 ratio in balance (.1)
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Ditch the grain with these incredible gluten and grain-free Strawberry Almond Butter Pinwheel Cookies made with cassava flour. You'll never miss the grain! They're the perfect to accompany your afternoon coffee or tea, brunch item, or dessert. They're sweetened with only a touch of maple syrup and strawberry jam. Who says unprocessed, "real" food can't be a scrumptious treat???
In a large bowl, blend cassava flour, xantham gum, salt, and baking soda.
In a small bowl, whisk egg. Add maple syrup and water and fully combine.
Combine the wet and dry ingredient bowl contents and add Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening. Blend into a dough, first by mixing with a spoon and then using hands to fully incorporate ingredients. If dough is too dry, add additional water - 1 Tbsp at a time. If dough is too wet, add additional cassava flour - 1 Tbsp at a time.
Split dough into 2 equal sized balls.
Place dough balls, one at a time, on a piece of parchment paper.
Roll out each of the 2 dough balls between 2 pieces of parchment paper until they're about 1/4 inch thick.
Remove top piece of parchment paper and place each rolled-out dough, with bottom parchment, onto a baking sheet.
Spread half of the almond butter (1/4 cup) onto each of the 2 pieces of rolled-out dough, leaving a 1/2 inch plain edge along one side. (This will prevent filling from overflowing at the top of the pastry when rolled up.)
Spread half of the strawberry jam (1/4 cup) to fully cover almond butter. (Any preferred jam flavor can be used such as raspberry, apricot, peach, blueberry, mixed berry, etc.)
Sprinkle 1/2 tsp cinnamon evenly over each of the 2 rolled-out pastries.
Sprinkle half of the chopped pecans (1/4 cup) over each of the 2 rolled-out pastries.
Starting with the end where the almond butter and jam were spread right to the edge, roll dough into a tight jelly roll. (I find it helpful to lift parchment to help guide the dough. See picture in body of post.)
Wrap each of the 2 individual Pinwheel Cookie logs tightly in either parchment or plastic wrap and place in freezer for one hour. (Placing logs in freezer is needed to firm up ingredients so they hold their shape during slicing - allowing for the pinwheel design.) The log is ready for slicing when a sharp knife easily slices through log without the dough losing its shape or crumbling. If crumbling occurs, the log froze excessively. Simply leave log out on counter for a few minutes before slicing.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place individual Strawberry Almond Butter Pinwheel Cookie slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (The same parchment can be used.)
In a small bowl, crack and whisk an egg.
Brush the top of each cookie with egg wash.
Sprinkle a touch of cinnamon on top of each cookie.
Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of each cookie.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until edges begin to brown.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!!
Chocolate Variation: Substitute 1/2 cup melted chocolate for the strawberry jam in the recipe above. Melt and then spread chocolate directly over the almond butter on the rolled-out dough. Be sure to roll up the pinwheels immediately after spreading chocolate. Once chocolate cools it will harden and hamper rolling. All other instruction steps are the same for both variations. Use dark chocolate for a dairy-free, less sweet version or dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate for a sweeter cookie. I use Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips, as they are gluten, dairy, nut and soy-free as well as non-GMO verified.
*These freeze perfectly.
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
Otto’s Cassava Flour If you haven’t tried Otto’s Cassava Flour yet, what are you waiting for?? Otto’s Naturals 100% Natural Cassava Flour Made from Yuca Root Bag, 2 PoundCassava flour is a relatively new flour that is starting to become popular in the healthy …
Not sure what to do with your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers? Sick of eating plain, dry turkey? This Turkey Bacon Yuca Salad will forever change your perception of leftover turkey. Think potato salad mixed with chicken salad – only way better!!! The addition of organic turkey …
If you haven’t tried yuca (a.k.a. cassava) yet, you are in for a treat! Yuca is in many ways similar to a potato in that it’s white, has a very mild taste, and takes on the flavor of the sauces and spices within which it is cooked. It has the amazing ability of being transformed into a number of exciting things like flatbreads, pizza and pie crusts, tortillas, cookies, pancakes, and dough that can be used to make any number of things – such as Yuca Empanadas! Check out the recipe tab above for lots of exciting ideas!
This Roasted Root Vegetable With Yuca recipe makes a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving! It’s especially good for those avoiding stuffing as a result of a gluten-free, grain-free, or Paleo diet. Yuca adds an additional texture to this dish. It’s slightly more firm and chewy (in a good way) as compared to the other vegetables. It’s hard to describe, but trust me it’s good!!! If you try it, please comment below and let me know what you think!
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*Full Printable Recipe Below*
Ingredients:
-3/4 pound fresh or frozen yuca/cassava (the fresh yuca pictured below is about 3/4 pound)
-4 organic carrots – sliced (I enjoy using organic tricolor carrots from Trader Joe’s)
-1 organic beet (Note: the beet color bleeds onto the other vegetables. This isn’t a problem, but omit if this will bother you.)
-2 large organic sweet potatoes – chopped
-2 large parsnips – sliced
-1 turnip – chopped
-1 organic leek or onion – chopped
-1 organic red pepper – chopped
-4-6 large organic garlic cloves – minced
-1 tablespoon fresh organic rosemary
-1 tablespoon fresh organic thyme
-3 tablespoons avocado oil – (I use ChosenFoods 100% Pure avocado oil)
-1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
-black pepper to taste
Instructions:
This dish can be made with fresh or frozen yuca. If using fresh yuca, it must first be peeled and cut into a few pieces before boiling. Frozen yuca is already peeled and cut into pieces. Both fresh and frozen yuca must be boiled for 15-20 minutes before roasting in the oven with the other vegetables.
This is what fresh yuca looks like. Fresh yuca can often be found in Asian, Latin and other specialty markets. I sometimes find it in large supermarkets as well.
See: About Yuca: How to Peel Fresh Yuca if using fresh yuca and are in need of detailed instructions on how to peel it.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the yuca.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
While the yuca is boiling, peel and chop the other vegetables so they will all be ready to go into the oven at the same time.
There are a wide variety of root vegetables that can be used in this recipe! I like to use sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and beets. Turnips, celeriac, white potatoes, and rutabaga can also be used. Chose what you like, or what you have available. I also like to add leeks or onions, as well as peppers and garlic for more flavor and nutritional value. Rosemary and thyme add that familiar flavor that one expects from a good Thanksgiving side dish.
Once yuca is boiled, drain in colander, and allow to cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, cut each piece of yuca in half to remove the stem that runs through the center. Cut boiled yuca into chunks.
In a large bowl, place all cut vegetables, along with oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Blend thoroughly.
Place onto a baking pan or oven safe baking dish.
Place into preheated oven for 45 minutes. Mix vegetables halfway through to ensure even cooking.
While great for Thanksgiving, these Roasted Root Vegetables With Yuca are great for any day of the year, or for any meal! I often make a big portion and eat it all week for breakfast with my eggs! It’s like healthier hash browns. When I break the yolk of these sunny side up eggs and it drips all over the vegetables, it’s pure heaven!!! This dish is also great for brunches!
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Healthy Eating Tip: Add yuca to your diet! Yuca is an excellent source of vitamin C, and a good source of manganese, potassium, magnesium, and B vitamins. In our mineral deplete world, it’s also nice to know that yuca provides some copper, zinc, calcium, and iron! Yuca is high in carbs and not particularly high in protein, so it’s best to eat it alongside a healthy source of protein to be considered a complete meal. But don’t be scared off by the fact that it is a carb (which has become a nasty 4-letter word!) Yuca is a whole-food, non-inflammatory, non-GMO source of carbs, and it’s lower in carbohydrate than wheat, rice, yellow corn, or sorghum! It’s gluten and grain free and has a low glycemic index of 46! This means it releases glucose into the bloodstream at a slow, steady rate without causing blood sugar spikes. This is why it’s recommended for diabetics! Yuca also contains a significant amount of resistant starch, a type of insoluble fiber which makes its way all the way to the large intestines undigested (which means those calories don’t count!) It then becomes food for beneficial probiotic bacteria in the colon, thereby supporting colon health (10,11, 12.) Within the large intestines it ferments into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate, which provide numerous potential health benefits including:
So eat yuca!!!!!
See: About Yuca: Yuca (Cassava) Nutrition Facts for more information on the nutritional value of yuca.
See: Getting to Know Yuca (Cassava)
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This recipe can be made with whatever root vegetables you enjoy! As long as yuca (a.k.a. cassava) is included, it will be delicious and satisfying. Other root vegetable options include sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery root, and rutabagas. Choose what you like, or what is available, and enjoy!
Preheat oven to 425 degress.
In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Meanwhile, if using fresh yuca, remove peel and cut into 3 or 4 pieces. See: About Yuca: How to Peel Fresh Yuca for step by step directions if needed. If using frozen yuca, it is already peeled, cut, and ready to be boiled.
Place peeled, cut yuca into boiling water and boil for 15 minutes - until fork tender. Ensure that water fully covers yuca throughout boiling.
While yuca is boiling, cut up the other vegetables. Place them into a baking dish lined with parchment paper (greatly aids clean up and prevents food from sticking to the pan.)
Once yuca is fork tender, drain water.
Once cool enough to handle, place yuca on a cutting board. Cut each piece in half vertically to remove the stick-like stem that runs through the center.
Once stems are removed, chop boiled yuca into chunks and place into the baking dish with the other root vegetables.
Add avocado oil, and mix well ensuring all vegetables are coated evenly.
Add rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, and mix to fully combine.
Bake for 45 minutes, turning vegetables halfway through to ensure even cooking.
Enjoy as part of your Thanksgiving feast, or any other meal.
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
This is not your typical, dry Thanksgiving turkey! This bird is moist and flavorful and is made a day ahead so it can soak up its juices overnight and free you up to enjoy your guests. It makes a scrumptious main meal and side dish …
If you’re anything like me, “Pop-Tarts” were a staple of your childhood. When I was little my mother would leave a box of them in a lower cabinet so my brother and I could get breakfast for ourselves on weekends, and she and my dad …
Crockpot cooking is ingenious! All it takes is a few minutes of effort, and delicious nutritious food magically appears a few hours later!! (I timed myself casually making this recipe and it took exactly 7 minutes and 32 seconds, including removing the chicken skin and squeezing a fresh lemon, to get everything set in the crockpot.)
For me, the key to eating well is having healthy options readily available in my fridge that I can quickly whip into a meal. Especially at lunch time, I don’t want to start a whole big cooking production.
This Easy Go-To Crockpot Chicken is moist and flavorful, and can be chopped or easily shredded for use in any number of recipes. I typically make crockpot chicken 2-3 times per week (it’s only myself and my husband living home now most of the time) and use it as the base for lunch and/or dinner most days.
Having this chicken de-boned and waiting in the refrigerator means it can be quickly thrown it into a salad, or put in a Cassava Flour Tortilla Wrap with any number of toppings – such as lettuce/baby spinach, Guacamole, Zesty Dijonnaise Dressing etc. I also mix crockpot chicken with Zesty Dijonnaise Dressing to make Zesty Chicken Salad Dijonnaise (my absolute favorite lunch!) Easy Go-To Crockpot Chicken is even delicious on its own alongside steamed veggies (which take no longer than 10 minutes to make.) It can be tossed into soups or any dish requiring cooked chicken. Having chicken readily available greatly decreases the time needed to prepare any meal, and eliminates the need for eating unhealthy, processed cold cuts or stopping for fast-food.
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Simply toss a chicken into the crockpot along with pink Himalayan salt, pepper, ground mustard, lemon juice and water (or chicken broth if preferred,) and go about your day. Your Easy Go-To Crockpot Chicken will be waiting for you when you get home, ready to be made into a quick, nutritious dish like those below.
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Total truth! ……. I just got a little hungry for lunch as I’m writing this post and decided to give myself a little real-life crockpot chicken motivation to write about. Let’s go to the fridge!! I have my lettuce and some crockpot chicken, but I want to make it truly yummy so I’m going to whip up some Zesty Dijonnaise Dressing to throw on top.
I timed myself and I literally threw this salad together, including making the Zesty Dijonnaise Dressing from scratch, in 9 minutes…… And now I have dressing for the rest of the week! (I cannot express how happy I get knowing this dressing is in my fridge. It means I can have a delicious meal in 2 minutes!)
Here is the chicken that I still have in the fridge, my warm, freshly made Zesty Dijonnaise, and my favorite Trader Joe’s Organic Butter Lettuce & Radicchio. A perfect combo!
There are 5 reasons why I LOVE this lettuce! 1- It’s organic. 2. It’s already cut up, making it soooo convenient. 3- While it’s already cut up, it doesn’t seem to go bad as quickly as other cut-up bags of lettuce. 4 – This lettuce has a soft, smooth texture, very different from typical lettuce. 5 – It’s a mixture of 2 types of lettuce including a purple radicchio. I try to “eat the rainbow” every day to get the greatest variety of nutrients in my diet. With this lettuce I have purple covered! Other than cabbage, this isn’t the easiest color to find in food. Radicchio is rich in Vitamin K and antioxidants, which are known to fight many cancers, increase bone density, and support heart and eye health (1.)
By ordering recommended products through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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Healthy Eating Tip: Eat “real” food! Most people today have little time to cook, leaving them more likely to choose non-nutritious, processed food because it’s quick and readily available. Many convenience foods such as sauces, salad dressings, crackers, cookies, breads, frozen meals, etc. that come in a box or jar “ready to eat” contain a list of processed, genetically modified ingredients, along with pesticides, chemicals, and preservatives, that are not actually “food” at all! Many of these ingredients are manufactured in a chemical company, and those that grew naturally have often been processed so far from what nature intended that they no longer contain the nutrients that our bodies need. Our digestive systems don’t even know how to integrate, digest, and properly eliminate many of these ingredients. Processed foods can harm the lining of our gut, cause inflammation in the body, strain the immune system, and incite processes which cause or perpetuate chronic illness. Eating “real food” means always stopping to ask yourself if what you’re about to buy or put into your mouth is actually “food” at all! With crockpot chicken you can have both health and convenience. Having delicious, cooked chicken available and waiting to be thrown into a quick meal greatly increases the chances of choosing nutritious options.
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Cooking chicken in the crockpot is the answer to convenient, delicious, healthy cooking. With just 5-10 minutes of effort there will be moist, flavorful chicken that's literally falling off the bone waiting for you a few hours later. Eat as is, or add it to soups, stews, wraps, salads, etc. Cooked crockpot chicken is always handy to have available.
Wash chicken.
Remove chicken skin. Organic chicken may be cooked with or without skin. I remove the skin because I use the chicken broth created during cooking as a base for delicious soups and stews. Removing the skin makes the remaining broth much lower in fat.
Place chicken into crockpot. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and ground mustard. Add lemon juice to pot and 1/2 cup purified water.
Cover crockpot and place on desired setting. Either set crockpot to low and cook for 8 hours or set to high and cook for 4 hours. Don't worry if your crockpot doesn't have a timer and you aren't home exactly at the time it's ready. The chicken can cook longer if needed. The longer it cooks, the more "fall off the bone" delicious it becomes!!
Notes: Try any seasoning combination that you like. It's hard to go wrong with crockpot chicken!
Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
Whether right out of the pan or filled with your favorite toppings, these tortilla wraps are outstanding! While cooking up a batch I literally have to stop myself from eating them all before I finish making them. They’re sooooo yummy on their own… especially warm! …
If you’re looking for a crowd-pleaser you’ve found it! Young and old, as a meal, side dish or an appetizer for guests, these empanadas are a hit with everyone! (Whether the person is gluten-free or not!) They can also be made with beans for a delicious vegetarian version.
Yuca makes a delectable dough! No need to be concerned that these won’t taste as good as those made with wheat or gluten-free flour. Yuca is no inferior, gluten-free choice! I’d argue that these are actually superior to traditionally made empanadas, not just in nutritional value, but in overall taste! I’ve made these for my family, guests, and for my Recipe Swap Club with 5 star ratings all around! No matter what I’ve made for my Recipe Swap Club since, someone always brings up how amazing the empanadas were at EVERY MEETING! They’re that memorable! Try them out for yourself and comment below to let me know what you think.
These Yuca Empanadas can be custom-sized to fit any need. Make little 3 inch appetizer-sized ones (pictured above.) They’re so much fun to eat with your hands and maybe dip into guacamole or salsa! Or make medium-sized, or even giant meal-sized ones!!
This Yuca Empanada recipe is what truly made me go Crazy For Yuca! It’s so perfectly crunchy on the outside and bursting with mouth-watering flavor on the inside! I cannot say enough about how much my family and I enjoy them. Everyone is ecstatic to run to the table on empanada night!
This is the way my husband loves them – slathered with salsa and guacamole! He just picks up the whole thing and takes a big bite! No forks or knives needed!!
It’s still a bit hard to believe that a whole-food, non-inflammatory starch that’s filled with immune-building vitamin C and resistant starch can be this deliciously satisfying! Yuca is truly in a class by itself!!
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Ingredients: (4 servings)
-1 1/2 pounds fresh or frozen yuca
-2 tablespoons avocado oil – divided (plus additional to brush on empanadas just before baking.) I use Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil.
-1 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt– divided (I choose Himalayan sea salt because of its purity and rich mineral content as compared to other salt.)
-1 teaspoon garlic powder – divided
-optional – 1-2 tablespoons either tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, or coconut flour (used to decrease stickiness of dough. If dough is too sticky to work with, it can also be placed into refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes.)
–Vitamix (or other food processor)
*By purchasing items through our affiliate links we get a small commission which helps support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca at no additional cost to you. All recommended products are ones that I use in my own kitchen. Thank you for supporting the efforts of CrazyForYuca.com to bring you the lastest yuca/cassava recipes when you shop online!
If using fresh, be sure to peel yuca before boiling. For step by step directions on how to peel yuca, see: About Yuca: How To Peel Fresh Yuca (Cassava.) Jennifer from PredominantlyPaleo was the originator of “yuca dough.” I vary her recipe slightly to make these empanadas. See her dough recipe here.
Once fresh yuca is peeled, cut it into 3 or 4 pieces before placing it into a pot of boiling water. Frozen yuca (pictured below) is already peeled and cut. It’s as easy to make as boiling rice!
Boil until fork tender (about 15-20 minutes.) Drain and discard water.
Remove stem. Once boiled yuca is cool enough to handle, place on a cutting board. Cut each piece in half lengthwise, remove and discard the stem that runs through the center. (That stick-like center will not be pleasant in your empanadas!)
Chop boiled, cored yuca into cubes before putting it in the food processor (the smaller the better to not over-heat the machine.)
Pulverize into dough. Place 1 to 1 1/2 cup of yuca chunks into Vitamix (or other food processor) at a time, along with a pinch of Himalayan sea salt, pinch of garlic powder and a drizzle of avocado oil. Blend for about 30 seconds until yuca turns into a ball of dough. I never get tired of watching boiled yuca turn into dough in a matter of seconds! Watch the video below and you will see what I mean!
Place yuca dough ball on parchment paper. If too sticky to handle, I typically throw it into the freezer for 5-10n minutes and that usually does the trick. Adding a little tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, or coconut flour until it becomes manageable (just like bread dough) can also help.
See: Tips For Handling Sticky Dough.
Divide dough into balls, the number and size depending on desired size. One cup of yuca can make 6-8 appetizer-sized empanadas, 4 medium-sized ones, or one giant meal-sized one. (They are yummy no matter what size they are!!)
Roll out each dough ball in between 2 pieces of parchment paper to form a circle.
Ingredients:
-1 pound organic, grass-fed, ground beef, turkey, or chicken. (For vegetarian option I use 2 cans organic, BPA free black beans or lentils.)
-1 tablespoon avocado oil (I use Chosen Foods 100% Pure Avocado Oil)
-1 large onion – chopped
-2 cloves organic garlic – minced
-2 tablespoons Primal Palate Taco Seasoning (or gluten-free taco seasoning of choice, or a combination of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and cumin.)
–Himilayan sea salt – to taste
–lemon pepper – to taste
Saute onions and garlic with avocado oil in a pan. Add ground beef, turkey, or chicken (black beans or lentils for vegetarian option) and cook until no longer pink. Add taco seasoning, pink Himalayan sea salt, lemon pepper and cook a few more minutes.
Fill one side of each rolled-out dough circle with Taco Meat (or bean mixture,) leaving a rim of dough along the edge.
Fold dough in half to create a semi-circle, pinching edges together to seal in meat (or beans.) If dough sticks to your fingers, it may be easier to fold the entire piece of parchment in half, along with the dough, as pictured below. Brush top of empanada with avocado oil and sprinkle with a pinch of Himalayan sea salt.
Bake at 375 on parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes. Flip empanadas and bake for another 5-10 minutes until crust starts to brown and get crispy. Enjoy!!
These Latin delights can be made ahead and frozen, ready to be pulled out for a delicious meal or appetizer any time! Nothing makes my older daughter happier than being sent back to her apartment with a bunch of frozen empanadas to quickly heat up as a scrumptious meal any time! It’s hard to believe that you’re actually eating healthy when eating these empanadas, but you are!!!
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Healthy Eating Tip: Choose grass-fed beef. Many make big claims about the health benefits of grass-fed beef over grain-fed beef. At the same time there is research showing that the differences in the amount of debated nutrients are minimal. After reading the literature, I’ve decided to buy grass-fed mainly because cattle raised on a pasture have been proven to be healthier and are not injected with antibiotics. I don’t want to eat meat from cattle that are stressed and diseased as a result of their confined, unsanitary living conditions, then injected with antibiotics in order to manage the disease caused by this horrendous environment! I also don’t want to support such cruel practices! In addition, antibiotic use in animals increases the risk of antibiotic resistance in humans, which is a real concern for our future. It is also an agreed upon fact that grass-fed beef is much leaner and is higher in omega 3 fatty acids, which may reduce the risk of heart disease. Raising animals on a pasture is also good for the environment. It has been shown to decrease soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and improve water quality (due to decreased pollution) (1 , 2, 3, 4, 5.) The taste of grass-fed beef, compared to grain-fed, is slightly different, and the meat is not as tender (due to lower fat content.) It may take some getting used to for some people, but my family always enjoys it. Grass-fed is a bit more expensive, but I think it’s worth it. I shop at Trader Joe’s a lot and their prices are excellent. Their organic, grass-fed ground beef is $6.99 per pound! They also have Grass-Fed Angus Beef Strip Loin Steak in the freezer section for $9.99 per pound! (I feel like an add for Trader Joe’s right now!! I promise – I have no connection to Trader Joe’s and receive no money for promoting their products. I just love that store and feel so thankful that I live close to one!!! Not everyone is so lucky.) I have both in my fridge at the moment so I snapped a picture in case you are interested.
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These grain-free empanadas are deliciously crispy on the outside and bursting with Mexican flavor on the inside! Make appetizer or meal-sized ones. No matter the size, they'll be a hit with everyone!
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Meanwhile, if using fresh yuca, thoroughly peel and cut yuca into 3-4 pieces. See: How To Peel Fresh Yuca (Cassava). Frozen yuca is already peeled and cut.
Place yuca into pot, ensuring yuca is fully covered by water. Return to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes until fork tender.
Once yuca is fork tender, drain water and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Once cool enough to handle, place cooked yuca on a cutting board. Cut each piece of yuca in half lengthwise to remove and discard the stick-like center that runs through the middle.
Cut boiled yuca into chunks (the smaller the better - to not overwhelm your food processor.)
Place yuca chunks into food processor in batches of about 1cup (I use a Vitamix.) Add 1-2 tsp avocado oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp garlic powder per cup of yuca.
Blend until a dough forms. This takes about 30 seconds in a Vitamix, but may take longer in other food processors.
Spoon blended dough onto a cutting board lined with parchment paper. (Parchment is a non-stick surface and will help greatly with managing this sticky dough.)
Divide dough into equal sized balls (the number of balls depends on the size of the empanadas you are making.) Each cup of yuca can make about 6-8 appetizer-sized, 4 medium-sized, or 1 giant meal-sized empanada.
Optional - Sprinkle each ball of dough with a little tapioca, arrowroot, or coconut flour and knead into dough to decrease stickiness. Add as much as needed until dough can be handled without sticking excessively to your hands. It should look and feel just like bread dough. Dough can also be made less sticky by placing it into the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes.
Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball between 2 pieces of parchment paper until it forms a circle. Remove top layer of parchment.
While yuca is boiling, saute onion and minced garlic in 1 Tbsp avocado oil until slightly brown.
Add ground meat and cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat. (Vegetarian option - substitute black beans or lentils.) Add 1-2 Tbsp Primal Palate Taco Seasoning, plus sea salt and lemon pepper - to taste. Cook for another few minutes to allow flavors to blend. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Spoon filling on to one half of each rolled-out dough circle, leaving a rim of dough along the edge.
Fold each dough circle in half to create a half-moon shape and pinch the edges together to seal in the meat (or beans.) You may prefer to press edges together with a fork. (If dough is sticky or too thin, I fold the parchment paper in half along with the dough, push down edges to seal, then uncover parchment paper.)
Place empanadas on parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush the top of each empanada with olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of Himalayan sea salt on top.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Flip empanadas and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until dough is slightly browned along the edges. Cooking time will vary based on empanada size.
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“Yuca-ta” Try These Cassava Flour Pancakes got their name because no one can believe they’re made with anything other than wheat flour! The taste is truly indistinguishable! These pancakes have been taste tasted on my husband, my kids, and a bunch of their friends with …
Welcome to the first post of the new blog Crazy For Yuca! What is yuca??? It’s the key to living happy, healthy and gluten-free! ***** First, let’s answer the basic question on everybody’s mind – “What is yuca???” Yuca (pronounced yoo-ka) is an incredibly …
Come one, come all! The time has come! Whether you’re following a gluten-free, Paleo, Vegan, or Autoimmune Protocol, there is now a scrumptious flatbread that you can eat without guilt!
Who could believe that delicious flatbread can be made simply by boiling some yuca, blending it with oil, salt and garlic powder (or any other spices you like), rolling it out, and baking it! It really is too good to be true! Thank you Jennifer Robbins of PredominenatlyPaleo.com for discovering this ingenious fact! While I use a similar “yuca dough” recipe to make this flatbread, Jennifer calls hers pizza crust. Two AMAZING options! See her full recipe and video links below.
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One of my husband’s favorite sayings is, “Everything is easy when you know how to do it.” This idea totally applies to making yuca flatbread. While it isn’t complicated, there are a few tips and tricks that will help avoid some common pitfalls. We’ll take it step by step. Mastering the making of this dough is very important, since it’s the foundation of countless recipes to come!
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Ingredients:
– 4 cups fresh or frozen yuca, peeled, boiled and cut into chunks (This is the equivalent of one 1 1/2 pound bag of Goya frozen yuca or 2 medium sized fresh yuca.)
– 3 tablespoons avocado oil – divided
– 1/2 teaspoon organic garlic powder
– 1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt (chosen for its high level of purity and mineral content)
– parchment paper
This flatbread can be made using either fresh or frozen yuca. The result will be the same either way, so use whatever feels more comfortable for you. If using frozen, it’s already peeled, cut, and ready to be boiled. There’s no need to even defrost it before boiling. Many find frozen yuca to be much more convenient.
If using fresh yuca it must be fully peeled before it gets boiled. For step by step instructions on how to peel yuca see: About Yuca: How to Peel Fresh Yuca (Cassava) on this site.
Once fresh yuca is peeled, cut it into 3 or 4 pieces and place it in a pot of boiling water. Ensure that the yuca is fully covered by water. Once water returns to a boil, cook 15-20 minutes, until just fork tender. It is very important not to overcook! Drain in a colander.
Once cool enough to handle, cut each piece of yuca in half lengthwise (top to bottom) and remove the stick-like stem that runs through the center.
Chop boiled yuca into small chunks before placing it into food processor. *Pulverize yuca in small batches (1 to 1 1/2 cups at a time) to avoid overheating the machine. Overheating the food processor is very easy to do and can be one of the most frustrating parts of making yuca dough. No one wants to wait 10 minutes for the machine to cool down in the middle of making dough! When I first started making this I would overheat my machine many times in the same day!!! Now I just pulverize about 1 cup at a time and it’s “easy peasy lemon squeezy” – as my daughters used to say! Trust me on this one. You will save a lot of time in the end.
I use a Vitamix which works very well because of its tamper (a tool used to push the food down onto the blade while it spins.) If using a different food processor you may need to stop a few times to scrape yuca off the wall of the bowl so that it blends completely.
Yuca chunks literally transform into dough in under a minute! (maybe a bit longer if a Vitamix isn’t being used.) It’s truly exciting to witness the first time you do it! Check out my little video!
Once dough forms, place it onto a cutting board lined with parchment paper. Beware – dough can be very sticky! Parchment paper is a non-stick surface which is needed to easily work with this dough. If dough seems too sticky to work with there are a few tricks that will help.
1. I try not to touch the dough much. I spoon it from the Vitamix right onto parchment paper. I then place a second piece of parchment on top, then roll it out.
2. Refrigerating or freezing dough for a few minutes will help greatly to reduce stickiness.
3. Kneading a little tapioca flour, arrowroot flour or coconut flour into the dough and keeping fingertips coated in flour will help as well. For more tips see About Yuca: Tips For Handling Sticky Dough.
Using a rolling pin, roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Decide how thick or thin to make it. Thinner dough will come out crispier, although this also depends on how long it’s cooked. I love it crispy along the edges and a little soft and doughy in the center.
Remove top piece of parchment and place flatbread (along with bottom piece of parchment) on a cookie sheet. If top parchment sticks to the dough, place the whole thing into the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes. The top parchment will then easily be removed.
Brush top of flatbread with a little avocado oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of Himalayan sea salt and garlic powder (according to taste.)
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on thickness. Once edges start to brown and a spatula easily slides between flatbread and parchment, it’s ready to be flipped. Cook on second side for an additional 5-10 minutes – until reaching desired doneness.
Adjust cooking time according to how doughy or crispy you like it. Cooking at a higher temperature (400 degrees) will make the dough crispier as well. It can come out soft and bendable like a typical pizza crust or more crispy like a cracker. There’s no right or wrong way to bake these. They come out delicious no matter what!
Slice immediately into desired shapes with a pizza cutter. Delays in cutting will make slicing more difficult and increase breakage. Enjoy!
Variation: “Everything But The Bagel” Flatbread – One of my favorite variations is topping this flatbread with Trader Joe’s “Everything But the Bagel Seasoning Blend.” This seasoning contains all the toppings you would expect on an “Everything bagel” including sesame seeds, sea salt, garlic, onion, and poppy seeds (I’m happy to say there are no caraway seeds and no gluten ingredients.) Who needs bagels when you have this! Cut into whatever shape you want. Eat plain or top with anything you would put on a bagel! Yummy “whole-food” goodness!!! *Note- the addition of this seasoning would prevent this flatbread from being approved for those following an autoimmune protocol.
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See Original Recipe by Jennifer Robbins here at PredominanatlyPaleo.com
See Video – Yuca Dough – PredominanatlyPaleo.com
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Healthy Eating Tip: Make extra and freeze them! Spend the time once to boil up a big batch of yuca, blend in food processor in 1 cup batches, then roll out into individual flatbreads. (I make each individual flatbread with 1 cup of boiled, chopped yuca.) Separate each flatbread with parchment paper, place in an airtight plastic bag, and store in your freezer until you’re ready for a warm, fresh flatbread in about 30 minutes. Simply toss one into the oven to bake while you prepare the rest of your dinner (or bake one to enjoy as a delicious snack anytime!) To retain freshness of leftovers, freeze baked flatbread on the day it’s baked. Baked flatbreads won’t stay fresh when simply wrapped up and left at room temperature or put in the refrigerator.
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What if you want to make flatbread, but don’t own a food processor? You’re in luck! Stacy from PaleoGoneSassy.com has devised a way to make this same yuca dough on the stovetop with grated yuca/cassava! The main reason I don’t do it this way is because I haven’t found a store near me that carries grated yuca. The one time I found it was at a Wal-Mart and they only had one package Goya grated yuca left! Unfortunately, it isn’t carried at the Wal-Mart near my house. You can check Wal-Mart.com using the store locator to see if it’s carried at a store near you. It can also be gotten at Asian markets if you live near one. Click here to check out Stacy’s technique.
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I can’t wait to hear your feedback about these incredible grain-free, egg-free flatbreads! Once you master the making of this dough there is no limit to what you can create with yuca! Give them a try and let me know any new variations you come up with!
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Makes four 8” round flatbreads
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Meanwhile, if using fresh yuca, remove bark-like peel with a vegetable peeler or sharp knife before boiling. See: About Yuca: How To Peel Fresh Yuca (Cassava.) Once peeled, cut each yuca root into 3 or 4 pieces. Place frozen or peeled fresh yuca pieces into boiling water - ensuring yuca is fully covered throughout boiling. Return to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, until fork tender. Drain water.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Once cool enough to handle, place cooked yuca on cutting board and cut each piece in half lengthwise (from top to bottom) to remove the stick-like center.
Cut boiled yuca into chunks (the smaller the better - to not overwhelm your food processor.)
Place yuca chunks into food processor (I use a Vitamix) in batches of about 1 - 1 1/2 cups. Add 1-2 tsp avocado oil, 1/4 tsp sea salt and 1/4 tsp garlic powder per cup of yuca. Blend for about 30 seconds until a dough forms. (It will likely take a bit longer with a traditional food processor.)
Spoon dough onto a cutting board lined with parchment paper. Note: dough is very sticky. Either spoon directly on to parchment paper without touching it or knead some arrowroot, tapioca, or coconut flour into dough until it can be handled without sticking to fingers.
Using a rolling pin, roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Decide how thick or thin to make it. Thinner flatbread will be crispier and thicker will be softer.
Remove top piece of parchment paper and place rolled-out crust and bottom piece of parchment paper onto a cookie sheet. Brush the top of the dough with a thin layer of avocado oil and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and garlic powder.
Place in preheated oven and bake. For thin flatbread - bake for 20 minutes before flipping. It's ready to be flipped when edges begin to brown and a spatula easily slides between flatbread and parchment. If flatbread is sticking to parchment, cook for a few additional minutes before flipping. Cook on second side for 5-10 minutes. For thicker flatbread, cook a bit longer.
Adjust cooking time according to desired crispiness. It can be soft and bendable like pizza crust or more crispy like a cracker.
Remove from oven. Slice immediately using a pizza cutter. Delays in slicing may cause it to crumble upon cutting. Enjoy!!
Variation: "Everything But The Bagel" Flatbread - One of my favorite variations is topping this flatbread with Trader Joe's "Everything But the Bagel Seasoning Blend." This seasoning contains all the toppings you would expect on an "Everything bagel" including sesame seeds, sea salt, garlic, onion, and poppy seeds (I'm happy to say there are no caraway seeds.) Simply roll out dough, brush with avocado oil, and sprinkle with amount of "Everything But The Bagel Seasoning" preferred. A true favorite!!
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
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