Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins, Grain/Gluten Free

These muffins feel like dessert, but they're not!  No oil in these, no refined sugars at all, no grains, no gluten, and can easily be dairy free too.

PB&J Muffins, Grain/Gluten Free
1 3/4 cups peanut flour (mine is 12% fat, light roast, Protein Plus! from netrition.com)
2 tbsp coconut flour
2 eggs
1 6 oz container yogurt (I used plain full fat yogurt, but you can use greek, coconut milk yogurt, etc)
35 drops alcohol free liquid stevia
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (nut)milk
about 1/2 cup no sugar added, just fruit jam

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flours, baking soda, salt and whisk well.  In a separate bowl, combine your eggs, yogurt, (nut)milk, stevia, and vanilla extract.  Pour wet into dry and spoon into lined muffin pan.  With a teaspoon, drop dollops of jam onto each muffin, and mix into the batter just a bit with a toothpick.  It's up to you how much jam to put in each cupcake, but don't overdo it.  A little goes a long way!  Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 25 minutes or so.  This made 9 cupcakes for me.  For a sweet, protein filled muffin, this is definitely a winner.  If you enjoy and can tolerate peanuts, give this recipe a try!

XoXoGFG

Paleo Egg McMuffin! Grain and Gluten Free

The outcome of this experiment truly shocked me.  I cannot get over how this super lazy recipe came out!

Last night as I was browsing pinterest, I saw some paleo blogger put up a recipe for a grain free english muffin.  Her recipe called for 1/3 cup of almond flour, plus one tbsp of coconut flour.  I don't know about you, but the thought of ingesting 1/3 cup of almond flour just didn't sit well with me, and since I'd be making this for S, it just grossed me out entirely.  But what if I could make an english muffin in the microwave with just coconut flour?  Could it be done?

YES.  Yes it can folks.  I also microwave a beaten egg for some extra protein.  With a little smear of jam on the muffin, this little mcmuffin was a big hit with my little one.  This is so super easy, it's almost embarrassing to post.  But what a wonderful trick to have up your sleeve for a quick meal!  Throw some carrots on a plate and you've got lunch in like, 5 minutes.

Paleo Egg McMuffin
1 1/2 tbsp coconut  flour
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp of milk, water, or nutmilk
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp honey

1 additional beaten egg
jam for spreading on the muffin, if desired
some oil, for oiling your glass/porcelain microwave safe bowls

In a microwave safe glass or porcelain bowl (like a ramekin), grease it lightly, and pour in your beaten egg.  Microwave your egg until fully cooked, about 90 seconds.  (depends on your microwave though, watch it carefully!)  In another bowl, mix together your coconut flour, egg, salt, honey, and milk.  Pour your batter into another greased ramekin and microwave for about 2 and a half minutes.  You want this to be cooked through and firm to the touch.  Add another 10 seconds or so if need be.  When fully cooked, slide it out of your ramekin and cut in half with a bread knife.  Toast in your toaster oven and then slather with jam, and top with your fluffy microwaved egg!  Crazy crazy.  S scarfed it down, which is miraculous because she will rarely eat an egg, or any protein other than bacon or cheese.  I think it was the jam that did it.

Did you ever eat mcmuffins growing up??  OMG I loved those nasty little things.  They were a very special treat on some weekends after we went to the orthodontist.  Gross right?  I know, awful.  But luckily, with these little guys, you can enjoy a mcmuffin once again.  Lots of protein, fiber, and very little carbs.  Did you know that 2 tbsp of coconut flour only has 62 calories?  And 6 grams of fiber?  Pretty wonderful stuff.  So if your diet will allow for a baked treat, please give this a try.

Enjoy GFGs! xoxo

Peanut Flour Banana Muffins, Grain/Gluten/Sugar/Oil Free

These muffins are definitely a departure from my usual coconut based recipes.  But sometimes you just have to switch it up!  Especially if you have some brown bananas hanging around.  And peanut flour you really dont't know what else to do with.  Since I no longer eat peanuts, just about the only thing to do with it is to bake muffins, since I don't eat those either, haha.  This is a useful recipe though, because it's gluten and grain free, is only sweetened with bananas and stevia, and is also oil free and can easily be dairy free by using any kind of nutmilk.

Peanut Flour Banana Muffins

1 3/4 cups peanut flour

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk of choice

2 small bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla extract

30 drops SweetLeaf English Toffee Alcohol Free Liquid Stevia, or your preferred liquid stevia

Use a fork or whisk to combine your dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, combine your mashed bananas, eggs, milk, extract, and stevia.  Pour wet into dry and mix, but don't overmix.  Pour into paper lined muffin tin and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the tops are just starting to darken.  This made 10 muffins for me.  

These muffins have a decent amount of protein for such a small snack.  Almost 6 grams!  They'd be a decent choice for breakfast or for a snack, that is if peanuts don't bother you.  Certainly this recipe could be easily adapted with almond flour or using almond butter.  Chocolate chips would make this a great dessert too!

Enjoy folks.  XoXoGFG

Macaroon Muffins- Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free

Macaroons are delish.  Muffins are delish.  Muffins are easy and convenient, portable and have a decent shelf life.  These macaroon muffins are amazeballs peeps, and a complete and total accident.  I had just about nothing in the house to make my weekly batch of muffins for S and MKG.  Some leftover apple sauce that needed to be used up, and a sad old carton of plain greek yogurt.  No veggie purees, no diced fruit, nothing.  Oh well, experimenting is fun amiright?  YES!  Especially when it yields crazy good out of this world results like this.  These muffins have an amazing, buttery macaroon like flavor.  That is due to the butter extract in these.  Kind of a weird oddball ingredient, but so many other bloggers are baking with this stuff I had to try it for myself.  Without it, I doubt these muffins would taste so macaroon-y.  Try it and you'll see.  Imitation Butter Extract is inexpensive and lasts forever.

Macaroon Muffins, Free of Gluten, Grains, and Sugar
1 package Let's Do Organic Creamed Coconut (a package is 7 ounces, or use 7 ounces coconut butter, it's the same thing)
6 ounces plain greek yogurt (one individual carton.  Or, 6 ounces full fat coconut milk would probably work as well.)
4 ounces applesauce (which is equivalent to one baby food container if you like to keep these on hand for baking)
2 eggs
3 droppers NuNaturals Alcohol-Free Liquid Stevia (the dropper will not fill all the way, probably only halfway, that is what I mean by a full dropper)
2 teaspoons butter extract
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions are simple.  Mix all your ingredients together in a bowl.  Spoon into paper lined muffin tin.  Bake at 350 until nice and golden brown, as shown.  They will need to set up for a bit after you take them out, since they're so moist.  The creamed coconut will be hard, microwave it for one minute to melt it.  These muffins are awesome because you don't need to add oil, there is plenty from the coconut butter.  And no crazy amounts of liquid to deal with from coconut flour.  The batter will be very wet, and they'll need to bake awhile for that reason.  These aren't sturdy, big dense muffins, but rather light, spongy, and macaroony.

I hope you try them!

In other news, DOWNTON ABBEY starts tonight!!! Yayyyyyyyy!  I can't wait!  I originally wanted to make a fun British themed meal to commemorate it, but then remembered that a) I hate English food and b) there are two asian-inspired dishes I have been wanting to try. So nevermind the themed meal.  It will still be yummy and fun though!

On the menu this week are Asian Salmon with a Ginger and Sesame Broccoli Slaw, and later this week my first attempt at slow-cooked pulled pork.  I will basing my recipe off NomNomPaleo's kahlua pig, sort of, not really.  What else, I'm not sure yet.

Lastly, after taking a week or so off, I've decided to dive right back in to another detox.  Not a Whole30, since I need a bit more leniency than that, rather something in the middle of my sugar/sweetener detox and a Whole30.

4 Weeks, January 7 to February 4
1. No sugar
2. No fruit
3. No sweeteners
4. No treats/baked goods
5. No cheese
6. As always, no beans, legumes, peanuts

In addition to my usual no starch.  These are parameters for me and help keep me in line and hopefully will help keep my blood sugars under control.  Perhaps these parameters seem a bit strict for everyday life to some, but honestly, if I stray from this, my blood sugar goes crazy.  I am still not on insulin, so this is my life right now.  I HAVE to adhere and I have to be ok with it.  No crying!  This is life.  I can enjoy it with or without this stuff.  However, if I want to taste the batter for some muffins I'm making or take a bite of someone's food that has goat cheese in it, I won't fret over it either.

Enjoy your Monday folks!  XoXoGFG

Carrot Coconut Apricot Muffins, Grain/Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free

The winter solstice has officially passed!  Hallelujah!  Even though its mostly symbolic, I still love knowing that everyday the sun will shine just a minute or two longer than the previous day.  Did you celebrate the solstice?  One of these days I'd love to do 108 Sun Salutations to mark the occasion.

However, this year to mark the solstice, I instead chose to make these incredibly sunny little bites of summery muffins.  Only a handful of ingredients, super healthy, and comes together in a flash.

Carrot Coconut Apricot Muffins (Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Grain, and Gluten Free)
7 ounces of creamed coconut, or coconut butter (it's the same thing.  Let's Do Organic sells 7 ounce boxes of creamed coconut, or use just shy of a half 16 oz jar of coconut butter, or make your own.)
2 4 oz containers of organic carrot baby food
45-50 drops of Sweet Leaf English Toffee Stevia (or your fave vanilla stevia)
2 eggs
pinch salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup chopped dried apricot

This couldn't be easier.  Mix everything together in a bowl.  (You will most likely need to melt your coconut butter in the microwave first.  Make sure you've cooled it a bit before you add in your eggs.)

You don't need any oil because the coconut butter already has a good deal of oil.  This will be a super wet batter, spoon into paper lined muffin tin and bake at 350 until the tops are starting to turn golden brown.

This is an easy, incredibly healthy and delicious muffin.  This recipe makes 8 muffins.  Double or triple the recipe, or make a cake instead!  You can't go wrong.

Enjoy! XoXoGFG

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!

Carrot Cake Breakfast Muffins- Grain, Sugar, Gluten, Dairy Free

Told ya I wasn't going to stop posting #faileo type recipes!  Actually, these are little nutritional power houses, which is great because typically for breakfast, S will have a muffin every day.  Or, a nuffin as she calls them.  I make them every weekend because they are fast, portable, and delicious, and she can eat them once she gets to daycare/preschool.  This particular muffin is really great because it's full of carrots (I am having a rough time getting her to eat veggies these days) but they taste and smell pretty decadent.  No, I did not eat one.  I'm sticking to my sugar detox guns!

Carrot Cake Breakfast Muffins- Free of sugar, grain, dairy, gluten
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
3-4 tbsp preferred liquid sweetener
1/4 cup oil, like walnut or melted coconut
2 eggs
2 4 oz. containers organic carrot baby food
1 tsp vanilla
handful of raisins- optional

Mix the first 5 ingredients together well, get out any lumps with a fork.  In a separate bowl, combine your eggs, oil, vanilla, carrot, and sweetener.  Mix well, and add wet to dry.  Fold in your raisins, and spoon into lined muffin tin.  This made 8 good sized muffins for me.  Bake at 350 until the tops have browned nicely.  These will be pretty dense little guys.  Feel free to replace raisins with chopped nuts, chopped apple, chopped pineapple, or just leave out entirely!  These do not have a cakey consistency whatsoever, these are unmistakeably muffinish in texture, so don't be fooled by the name.  They just have that familiar, warm, and lovely carrot cake flavor profile.  But, feel free to have one for dessert, with some coconut cream frosting!  That is, unless you are detoxing along with me!  I should probably call this detox what it really is- a sweetener detox, since I don't technically eat sugar anyways- but sugar detox just sounds so much cooler doesn't it?

Regardless, this is a health snack or toddler breakfast you can feel good about.  Enjoy!

Yummy Toddler Breakfast Muffins- Grain, Gluten, Sugar, Dairy Free

These days, getting S to eat anything other than raisins is a struggle.  Veggies are especially difficult.  I am not complaining though, up until this moment she has been a great eater, ate fruit, veggies, and protein heartily, so if she's getting a bit pickier now as she turns two, I really can't complain.  That said, I still have to figure out how to get some dang nutrients in her in the mornings!  So, behold, my

Yummy Toddler Breakfast Muffins- Grain, Gluten, Sugar, and Dairy Free
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
3 packets of stevia (i am using pure via right now)
1 4 oz container carrot baby food
1 4 oz container apple baby food (or apple sauce is fine too, half a cup)
1 egg
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins (optional- or chopped walnuts would be great too, or berries, whatever!)

In a small bowl, mix your shredded coconut, baking powder, salt, spices, and stevia packets.  In a separate bowl, mix your carrot, apples, almond butter, egg, and vanilla extract.  Combine well, then pour wet into dry and mix.  Add your mix-ins if desired.  Bake in muffin tin at 350 until golden brown and a knife comes out barely clean.  For me this was 30 minutes, for a regular oven, probably more like 20.

Grain Free, Gluten Free Ginger Bread Muffins

MKG's grandma is moving out of her home of the last 20 plus years.  We spent the morning yesterday going through her things, labeling boxes, separating stuff to sell, keep, give away, etc.  And what gem did we stumble upon that she wasn't planning on keeping?  An oversize muffin pan!  Just the muffin pan my husband had been lamenting we were not in possession of.  A regular complaint in this house is that the muffins I make are too small.  They are perfect for toddlers, a bit puny for adults I suppose.  So today I set out to make a muffin worthy of the larger proportions.  They are definitely worth the extra bites!

Grain-Free, Gluten-Free Ginger Bread Muffins
1/4 cup chestnut flour (i find that chestnut has a natural nutty/spicy flavor that i thought would go great with the spices)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or just increase your ginger and cinnamon and add some clove)
4 eggs
1/2 cup (nut)milk of choice
1/2 cup liquid sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup walnut or melted coconut oil
1 cup dried fruit, like cherries or raisins, optional


Combine your dry ingredients (first 8 ingredients) and use a fork to mix well and break up any lumps.  In a separate bowl, break your eggs and add your (nut)milk, oil, liquid sweetener (molasses is obviously the go-to in a gingerbread recipe, but i used SF liquid sweetener.  Use what you're comfortable with) extract and mix well.  Add wet to dry and incorporate.  You'll want this to be a pretty wet mixture, though not so wet its thin like pancake batter.  Add in your mix-ins, walnuts or pecans would be great too, then spoon into lined muffin tin.  This made 8 oversized muffins in my case.  I baked mine at 350 until the tops were crusty and a knife came out just barely clean.

Paleo Nut Butter Muffins

I may as well change the blog's name to Grain Free Muffin Lady, or some such thing.  I know I make a ton of muffins.  Why you ask?  Well because they are portable, can be eaten any time of day, are easy to hold with small hands, and make a super easy breakfast for S.  I also can throw them in a baggie and bring one to work, as can MKG.  Great way to get in some protein and still has that breakfast-y feel that many paleo breakfasts don't have.  So, my apologies for all the muffins.  I just don't have time to make an elaborate breakfast every morning while I'm rushing to work.  If you are in the same boat, I suggest you start experimenting with these great coconut flour muffins too.  The basic recipe stays the same.

Paleo Nut Butter Muffins
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup nut/seed butter of choice, like sun or almond or walnut or pecan etc
1/4 cup nut milk of choice
4 room temp eggs
1/4 cup oil, i like walnut for baking for its neutral flavor and favorable omega 3:6 ratio
1/2 cup preferred liquid sweetener
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small microwavable bowl, add your 1/2 cup of nut butter and 1/4 cup nut milk, microwave until its warmed through and easy to stir.  In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, salt, and baking powder and use a fork to break up any lumps and distribute.  In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, oil, sweetener, and extract.  Let your nut butter mixture cool a bit an add it to your wet ingredients, stir well to incorporate, then add wet to dry.  You should have a very wet batter.  Bake at 350 until the tops are golden brown and muffins are completely cooked through.  This made 8 very large muffins.  You could also easily bake this in a loaf pan, or even try in an 8x8 pan.  With some chocolate chips, this would taste downright decadent!

I hope you try it and enjoy!  Are you getting sick of my muffin recipes or are they useful?  Am I the only one out there that makes a batch of muffins every weekend and can't stand the thought of making the same thing week in and week out?  Let me know GFGs!

Til next time, xoxo GFG

Another Muffin Recipe! Grain-Free, SF Banana Pancake Muffins

Getting tired of my muffin recipes yet?  I'm sure you are!  But I would feel awful not sharing this recipe because it's so stinking good!  Unfortunately I am abstaining, because I don't eat fruit anymore, but for those of you who can tolerate it, PLEASE try these out!  They are also 100% dairy free.

Grain/Gluten/Sugar/Dairy Free Banana Pancake Muffins

1/2 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1/4 cup walnut oil (or coconut)
3 large overripe bananas
1/2 cup SF pancake syrup
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple extract

I usually have brown bananas in the freezer, and I'm not sure if it's just me, but does freezing them create more juice?  Or does the freezer just pull moisture out of them faster? I'm not sure, but be sure to save the juice!  Wring out your peels as best you can!

In a large bowl, use a fork to combine your coconut flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.  Break up your lumps!  In a separate bowl, mash your bananas and add your eggs, oil, syrup, and extracts.  Add wet to dry and stir stir stir!  Bake at 350 until the tops are browned.

These would quickly become dessert with some frosting.  They are really really good.  Just remember my coconut flour baking tip, which is to be sure to completely cook these through, they cannot and should not be underdone!

The batter for these was very very wet.  If your bananas aren't that juicy, try adding a splash of nut milk.  The browner the banana, the batter!  You could easily add some flax or chia seeds for some added nutrients.

Enjoy GFGs! Xoxo

Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins (throw all the ingredients in the blender!!)

Miss me?  We were in blissful Door County WI for a week and I thoroughly enjoyed the awesome weather, beautiful beaches, delicious local produce, and super fun July 4th parade.  I wish I could go back.  I think about it all year long.

But back to the real world we came!  And back to baking some weekly staples on Sundays.

Sometimes you have to throw together a really fast muffin batter, and sometimes you have ingredients that really need to be used up.  This recipe accomplishes both.  I had a languishing jar of applesauce about to go bad, so I thought- cinnamon applesauce muffins would be good!  Best of all, I experimented throwing everything in the blender at once, and it worked out great!

Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins (sugar, grain, gluten, dairy free!)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
11/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp chia seed
1 heaping tbsp cinnamon (add more if you like)
4 room temp eggs
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/2 cup SF liquid sweetener
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Throw all your ingredients into your blender, turn it on, et voila- yummy applesauce muffin batter.  Bake at 350 until the tops are browned nicely.  This made 8 muffins.  Enjoy!

Grain-Free Carrot Spice Muffins

How about a delish, nut free, grain free muffin bursting with healthy carrots and vitamin A?  These make an awesome on the go snack or breakfast and can be dressed up further with raisins, walnuts, frosting, etc!  But on their own they are just an easy, healthy little snack, perfect for kids and adults.

Feel free to up the ante on the spices, I didn't want these to be too spicy for S but these could stand a little more kick if that's your thing.

Grain-Free Carrot Spice Muffins
1 cup coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
5 large carrots, grated (I used the cuisinart grater attachment, then to get some of the moisture out, microwaved for about 5 minutes, stirring at a few intervals)
8 eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk (I used whole, but use what you got)
1 cup liquid sweetener (I used my SF simple syrup!!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices, and salt, use a fork to combine well and get out any lumps.  In a separate bowl, mix your milk, eggs, oil, sweetener, and vanilla.  Add wet to dry and incorporate.  Add in your grated carrots.  Feel free to add in nuts or dried fruit at this point.  Spoon into your muffin pan and bake at 350 until the tops are golden brown.  This made 15 muffins, 3 of which were super-sized, so I bet it would make more like 16 regulars.

I made these for a road-trip we are taking for July 4th- can't wait!  Also, made a big batch of my paleo oatmeal cookies, and some egg muffins!  We are so excited to take a family vacay, it's been forever!

Please try these out!  Who could complain about this!

One thing I have found baking so often with coconut flour is that you really really need to bake these completely.  No leaving them a little soggy.  The texture improves lots if it is completely baked through and done done done.  Just my two cents anyhow.

Have a great day GFGs! Xoxox

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Lemon Poppyseed (actually Chia Seed) Muffins

By far, this is the best muffin I have ever, ever, ever made.  Hands down, no contest.  And I have been making a lot of muffins lately.

MKG loves lemony treats and desserts.  I just bought a big bag of lemons, and with their fresh scent- so summery!  I also had recently purchased lemon extract, envisioning something just like this.  These muffins came out a zillion times better than I had hoped.  The Chia seeds are the perfect substitute for poppyseeds.  They look very similar and have so many wonderful health benefits.  You do not taste them either- and I would know if you could.  Chia seeds to me have a very floral taste, and these muffins are all lemon.

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Lemon Poppyseed (CHIA!!) Muffins
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp chia seed
zest of one lemon
4 eggs (preferably cage-free, room temp)
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup sugar-free liquid sweetener *see below for note
2 teaspoons pure lemon extract

In a mixing bowl, combine your flour, salt, baking powder, and chia seed.  Use a fork or whisk to get out any lumps.  Zest your lemon over the mixing bowl and incorporate.  In a separate bowl, crack your room temp eggs (I always notice a big difference in my baked goods when I take the time to bring my eggs to room temp- or you can place them in lukewarm water for 10 minutes) and measure your liquid ingredients into a measuring cup.  Mix your wet ingredients together and then add wet to dry.  This will be a very wet mixture, but not so wet that it's a pourable batter.  Bake at 325 until the tops are verrry golden brown.  As I have said many times- my oven is ridonk in terms of cook times- this took 45 minutes!  But other bloggers regularly say their muffins cook in 15-20 minutes, so go figure.  Want to use poppyseeds? Go ahead! 2 tbsp will do.  Why did I use lemon extract you ask?  Well, I wanted these to be sweet, not acidic.  I felt using straight up lemon juice would just make these sour, instead of lemony.  So use the zest and save the juice for lemonade.  These little guys make a great breakfast for S- with 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein, and only about 125 calories- they are a great on the snack or quick toddler breakfast.  I got 8 decent-sized muffins out of this- so feel free to double your recipe.  Even better- make a lemon poppyseed loaf!

*Regarding the sugar-free liquid sweetener- I decided to try a little experiment today.  While I use my vanilla SF sweetener sparingly- it still bothers me that it contains sucralose.  Ick.  So I thought- it can't be that difficult to make my own sugar-free simple syrup with my own preferred sweeteners.  I chose to use an equal mixture of three sweeteners- stevia in the raw, xylitol, and erythritol.  In a deep sided pot- I added 3 cups of filtered water and 1 cup of each sweetener.  Brought to a boil and then simmered for about 10-12 minutes.  This resulted in 2 1/2 cups of SF syrup.  I wanted something totally unflavored- no vanilla, maple, nada- just a sweet simple syrup.  I used 1/2 a cup in this recipe and now have 2 cups to use in future recipes.  Stored in an airtight jar in the fridge, I think this will keep for quite some time.  This will probably be my go to SF liquid sweetener from now on folks.  It has no weird aftertaste, no odd mouth-feel, cooling affects, nothing.  So I'd encourage you to try making your own and combining different sweeteners. 

I'm so glad I tried this recipe for Fathers Day- because I know these muffins will be a big hit with M- whose only muffin related complaint is that they are too small.  Much love to all the dads, dads-to-be, grand-dads, step-dads, wannabe dads out there.  Happy Fathers Day to all! XoXoGFG

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Blueberry Muffins

I am one of the few people that doesn't really like blueberries too much.  They are fine baked in things or dried, but raw? Eh, not so much.  I think it's their mealy texture that bugs me.  They are so squishy and mushy.  But, a good blueberry muffin?  Now that is hard to pass up.

I have been wanting to make a basic blueberry muffin for forever.  I was waiting around, until I found the perfect fresh blueberries to buy.  Which I never did.  And I've had a bag in my freezer for a long time, so what the hell- may as well try some out.  I also wanted to make them with 100% coconut flour, no mixtures of this and that- I wanted to prove to myself, after many many MANY coconut flour flops, that it could be done.

Well grain-free peeps, it CAN be done.  Behold, my coconut flour masterpiece!

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Blueberry Muffins
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs, preferably pastured, room temp
1/4 cup walnut oil (or melted coconut etc)
1/2 cup preferred liquid sweetener (I used an SF sweetener but surely maple syrup or honey would be great)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk of choice, I had whole milk on hand so that's what I used
3/4 cup blueberries, preferably fresh (mine were frozen and I am sure that had I used fresh they'd been a million percent even more delish)

Preheat your oven to 350.  In a small bowl, add your flour, flaxseed, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, and use a fork or whisk to get all the lumps out.  In a separate bowl, mix your eggs, milk, sweetener, oil, and vanilla together.  Add wet to dry and incorporate.  You want this to be a very wet mixture, not thin, but wet, so you might need an additional tbsp of milk.  Then add in your blueberries and mix.  I have a 2 tbsp coffee scoop that is perfect for muffins and cupcakes.  This made 8 large muffins, one of which I ate immediately, to test it of course.  Pretty yummy, even straight from the oven!  Usually coconut flour baked goods take awhile to set up.  This will make a fun and healthy breakfast for the munchkin and a good snack for M.  Just out of curiosity- I ran the numbers on these little guys- only 110 calories per muffin!  Not bad!  If you are the calorie counting type, which I could not give two sh*ts about.  I was curious though, about the macros.  Not bad either!  9 grams of carbs, 4 of which are fiber, and 5 grams of protein.  Awesome!

On an unrelated note- it seems the vast majority of traffic from google relates to treats/desserts/baked goods.  Duh this shouldn't be surprising at all- but it does kind of make me wonder, why exactly?  It could be any number of things.  People having recently given up grains/sugar and searching for comfort where they can, regular CW folks that are just trying to cut back on treats, paleo peeps that get tired of all the MEAT EGGS BACON MEAT EGGS BACON from the paleoverse… so does this mean I stop posting recipes other than ones like the above?  For now, no.  This blog really was created so I could deposit all my recipes in one place.  I can't tell you how many times I've searched my own blog for a recipe I wanted to make again.  And I know that I am constantly searching other people's blogs for inspiration for the latest head of cabbage, or bunch of kale, or organic pastured beef liver, or pound of ground chicken hanging out in the fridge.  So yeah maybe the cabbage recipes and chicken recipes are boring and dull and the cookie and ice cream recipes are more fun and get like a zillion more hits, but hey, there are still 7 dinners to make every week, give or take, and a GFG has to cook something right?

Spinach Muffins- Revisited

New and improved Spinach Muffin recipe- or Spinach Muffins 2.0.  These are just as easy, but a little tastier, and with some added nutrients from my good friend- flax seed meal.

Portable, can be eaten at room temp, stores easily in the fridge but also makes for a great on the go snack for adults/toddlers/baby hippos alike.

Spinach Muffins 2.0
1 10 oz bag frozen spinach
2 eggs
2 tbsp flax seed meal
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup shredded cheese, or a string cheese torn up if you're me

Throw everything in your cuisi and pulse until thoroughly combined.  Spoon into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 until the tops are browned and a toothpick comes out clean.  This makes 8 quite large spinach muffins.

Yum!  Enjoy :)

New Recipe (Finally) Mixed Veggie Muffins

So it's been awhile since I posted a new recipe- there kind of a lot of reasons for that, which I won't bore you with, but one of them being that it has been NINETY degrees much of this past week and while I love my oven more than words can say- that damn thing heats up my entire house.  And, to top it off, I am dead set against turning on the AC before June, so needless to say we are all sweltering and constantly moping around in sweaty, cranky, puddly messes.  I am evil, I know.  Evil and cheap.  Very cheap.

Anyways- on to the recipe.  Last night we were at First Friday's in the Crossroads- good times!  The First Friday of every month, but mainly May-Oct, all the art galleries downtown open up and serve wine, play live music, and it's generally a really f'ing good time!  Lately, there's been a food truck meet up too, which we decided to check out.  My man Bourdain would enjoy it.  And my little hippo also enjoyed it too (duh)  however, there were no veggies of course, and I found myself wishing I had brought along some kind of portable and delicious veggie for her that would be yummy and edible in 90 degree heat.  Thus, the mixed veggie muffin was born.

Mixed Veggie Muffin (Grain-Free, Gluten-Free)
1 bag of your preferred mixed frozen veggies (or in my case, 2 half eaten bags, plus a handful or two of frozen cauli)
2 eggs
1 cup chickpea flour/besan
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
11/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds

Thaw your veggies, then blend them until pretty smooth in a blender.  Don't skip this next step!  Drain them in sieve lined with a paper towel and get as much juice out as you can, or these muffins will never set up and be soggy/mushy.  Once you've gotten as much water out as you can, dump the veg back into the blender and add your eggs, chia, salt, pepper, and baking powder.  Blend a minute more until well incorporated, then add your chickpea flour.  Blend until combined.  You should have a nice spoonable batter.  Not so wet you can pour it out of the blender, but not dry either.  I used a large spoon to place drop into a lined muffin tin.  Baked at 350 for 35 minutes, until the tops were browned.  This made 10 veggie muffins for me, which will vary for you depending on how watery your veg, how big your eggs, etc.  These muffins will be a great portable veggie for S, and also a great snack for M in the mornings.  Gotta switch it up from egg muffins every now and then, you dig?

Hope you like them!  These would be even better with some cheese melted on top, or a little bit of pastured butter.  After all, there's no fat/oil in these, apart from yolks!  And there is no end to the variations you can create- asparagus/mushroom, zucchini/red pepper, broccoli/carrot, whatever!  Just be sure to get the excess water out and you'll be golden.

Broccoli Bites

Have you ever bought a bag of frozen broccoli and been disappointed to find that most of the bag is actually chopped up stalks and not florets?  No?  Just me?  Ok.  Well, if it does ever happen to you- don't throw 'em out.  I was tempted to, because Princess S wouldn't dare eat them, but then I remembered we were fresh out of spinach muffins.  So how about some broccoli bites?  Toddler approved folks.  Totally portable, totally yummy, with some protein to boot.  These make a great snack or mini-breakfast too!  And thank goodness for that because there's snack time at our playgroup, and if I don't have something yummy for S to eat while her little friends are munching on sugar and gluten filled granola junk she will LOSE her MIND people.

Broccoli Bites
1 bag, or most of a bag of broccoli
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup shredded cheese
kosher salt

Defrost your broccoli and preheat your oven to 350.  Throw all your ingredients together and then portion into muffin cups.  I love my silicone muffin cups.  Bake 30 minutes or so.  This made 8 broccoli bites.  I know only 6 are pictured, that's because S and M each ate one before I could snap a pic.  That's ok with me!

Spinach Muffins!

So this is a fun new twist on egg muffins!  I once again found inspiration on Pinterest, and I'm so glad I did!  I make egg muffins every weekend that everyone snacks on during the week, but once in awhile you just have to switch things up.  The recipe I originally found was a little fancier than I needed it to be, I just wanted to make something nutritious and yummy that would be a good grab-and-go breakfast item for M during the week, and also an easy way to get little miss hippopotamus to eat her veggies.

Spinach Muffins

12 ounce bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup cottage cheese

2 eggs

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Blend everything together in your blender, then distribute evenly into 12 muffin cups.  I love my silicone muffin cups, they make clean-up super fast.  I baked mine for about 35 minutes in a 350 oven because I wanted them to brown slightly.  As you can see this is a very simple recipe that you can tweak and adapt as you like.  Serving these for din?  Add parm, mozzarella, garlic, or even some chopped sun dried tomatoes! But for an easy breakfast or toddler veg, these are awesome.  

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Cranberry Orange Muffins

 We all know I regularly lament the lack of unsweetened dried cranberries in the markeplace.  Sooner or later I'll just get a dehydrator and do it myself, but until then, there's always fresh, right?  Well, wrong actually- aren't cranberries only in stores this time of year?  Anyhow- I picked up a bag and figured whatever I didn't use could be frozen.  Back in the day, when I was still on the SAD diet- I used to loooooooove S'bucks cranberry orange scones.  Never mind they had like 500 calories and 3000 carbs.  I felt like trying to recreate those flavors with this muffin.  Next time I would add much more liquid, but the flavors were spot on.  (Recipe amended for more liquid)
GF/SF Cranberry Orange Muffins
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup sweetener
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
zest of one orange
1/4 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk or soured nutmilk
1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped, and macerated in 1/4 cup of OJ and a packet of pure via/stevia
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine coconut flour, almond flour, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and baking soda, incorporate well.  In a separate bowl, mix your oil, sweetener, egg, and vanilla.  Add your buttermilk and stir, then add wet to dry.  Add orange zest, then add cranberries and mix evenly.  Pour into greased muffin tin and bake 35-40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  I sprinkled cinnamon over the tops of the muffins too.