Whole30 Fail- and Apple Pie Muffins

I soooooo wish you guys could smell these suckers.  I could not believe the crazy apple deliciousness coming from the oven yesterday.  Better still, they took mere minutes to throw together.

Grain Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free Apple Pie Muffins (makes 11 small muffins)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of clove and ginger, if you like
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup organic, unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/2 cup honey, maple syrup, or SF liquid sweetener

Combine with a fork or whisk your first 7 ingredients.  Break up those pesky coconut flour lumps!  In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, applesauce, oil, and sweetener together.  Add wet to dry and stir well.  Scoop into muffin tin and bake at 350 until golden brown.  20-25 minutes or so.  Feel free to throw in some mix ins at the end, cherries, raisins, walnuts, whatever!  Because of all the applesauce, these are pretty crumbly.  You really don't want to overbake them though so if a crumbly muffin isn't your thing, maybe just skip this one!

So- onto my Whole30 update.  I definitely got off track this weekend.  I am pretty bummed about it.  I went on a cooking/baking bonanza with Chanukah and have not adhered as strictly to my detox as I'd like.  And wow, am I feeling it today!  I feel sluggish and bloated and pretty uncomfortable.  Anytime I eat starches, in even the smallest amounts, I really pay for it the next day or two.  Those sweet potato/carrot latkes?  Yeah, they are pretty tasty, but I seriously just cannot tolerate them.  Those sweet potato fries that came with my daughters burger over the weekend?  Sorry, don't even think about it.  Ugh what a mess I feel like today!

Is it the end of the world?  No.  I am not going to beat myself up about it.  It's one or two days out of the month.  I'll survive.  But it is a great reminder of how much better my body functions when I adhere strictly to my plan and dutifully avoid starches and treat type foods.  The havoc it wreaks on my tummy and blood sugars are just not worth it.

It really is too bad though because last week I was thinking to myself how much more comfortable I have felt after eating from eliminating any extra starches, sugars, and legumes in my diet.  I was really feeling triumphant there for a minute!  So hopefully by the end of this week I'll feel back on track.  Again, it's not about winning or losing, failing or succeeding, its how you feel.  If I felt absolutely no change whatsoever after eliminating these foods, would I continue to avoid them?  Probably not.  But I can tell you I feel waaayyy better not eating legumes, peanuts, and peanut butter, and I most likely will not be adding them back in.  I don't feel that cheese is an issue for me, but the jury is still out, and I still see no reason to eliminate butter or cream.

An ongoing problem is still munchy time, and that is where I ran into issues this weekend.  I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, so by Saturday/Sunday night there is seriously nothing Whole30/Type 1 diabetic/GFG snackable.  There is food, but nothing to eat, if you will.  So I am tempted to eat stuff I shouldn't, right before bed to boot.  Baaad idea folks.  Do not eat stuff your body doesn't like before bed, unless you want to sleep like crap and wake up feeling like poop.   So this is an ongoing journey, and I keep discovering new issues and fixes and side effects and this and that and the other.

Lastly, I have decided I'll be adapting my baking slightly.  For one, I have eliminated baking powder.  It is not a paleo ingredient as it contains corn and can be quite problematic for some people.  Secondly, since most of my baking recipes will be eaten by others, and not myself, I see no reason to only use non-sugar sweeteners.  Certainly when stevia or erythritol will work I will continue to use them, but I will be using real liquid sweeteners more often, in the form of maple syrup, raw honey, and molasses where I can.  I am still a proponent of stevia products and quite like erythritol in certain applications, but honestly, since I've found that any type of sweetener, nutritive or not, raises my blood sugar, I guess I don't see the point of using the fake stuff anymore.  It seems to me that I am simply not able to eat anything sweet in any amount, however infinitesimal so I may as well bake with wholesome, pure, organic real ingredients.  Honey, maple syrup, and molasses contain some vital minerals and nutrients, albeit in very small amounts, and are considered "paleo/primal" to a degree, right?

This is my thinking for now.  Agree?  Disagree?  What sweeteners are you all using these days?  Any diabetics out there that have also experienced blood sugar surges after eating foods made with non-nutritive sweeteners like xylitol, sucralose, stevia, etc?  Please share!

Homemade No Sugar Apple Butter

We had lots of fun apple picking this weekend, if you are in the KC area then definitely don't miss Schweizer Orchards in St. Joseph.  A hike for sure, but well worth it, with a hayride, pumpkin patch, and lots of kids activities.  A super affordable afternoon and best of all, you can pick a bazillion apples for next to nothing!  We were a few weeks too late I think, but still managed to score pretty big.

And what is a family of three to do with a bazillion apples you ask?  Make homemade apple butter of course!

Homemade Apple Butter, No Sugar
12 apples, cored and sliced (I used assorted apples, honeycrisp mostly, some jonagold, some green)
3 cups filtered water
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

Dump your cored and sliced apples in your crockpot with your water, and sprinkle on your cinnamon and nutmeg.  Stir well to coat the apples in the spices evenly.  Then turn your crockpot on to LOW and let it cook overnight.  I actually let mine cook for 15 hours, and at the end, they were totally finished, no additional cooking necessary.  However, if you just do yours overnight, here is what you do in the morning:  Get out your stick blender and blend them all up well in the crockpot.  Then recover and cook on high for an hour or two until you get the consistency you are looking for.  I like mine really super dark brown, and this also concentrates the flavors so you get a deep, dark, rich, buttery maple flavor.  You absolutely do not need added sugar.  Try it out!  This made probably 20 ounces of apple butter.