Paleo Pumpkin Spice Bread- Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free

#Pumpkinspice is a thing.  It's a stupid thing if you ask me, since really all it means is that something has some combination of cinnamon, ginger, and clove in it, but it's a thing all the same.  Don't even get me started on the pumpkin spice lattes at starbucks.  Oh my god, none of the ingredients in that are even food!  Blech!

Anyways- if you are wanting a quick and easy recipe for pumpkin bread that is entirely nut and dairy free, this is your ticket.

I highly suggest you give my maple syrup/molasses combo a try to get an especially warm and spicy flavor, but if you don't like molasses or just don't have any, using all maple syrup will still be delish.

You could also bake this in a muffin tin for pumpkin spice muffins.  Or frost it for a cake.  Or bake it in a square pan for bars.  Lots and lots and possibilities.

Pumpkin Spice Bread
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp clove (optional, I chose not to use it because I hate cloves, but customarily that is part of "pumpkin spice")
5 eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp ACV
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350.  Mix all your wet ingredients, and then add your dry and incorporate well.  Pour into a greased, or parchment lined loaf pan and bake until firm, 25 to 45 min depending on your oven.  You will notice this has a very dark appearance due to the molasses.  That is fine!

Crispy Paleo Pumpkin Seed and Almond Honey Cookies (Dairy free and egg free too)

Sometimes you just want to throw some ingredients in the food processor and make some cookies.  Minimal measuring, minimal ingredients, minimal bowls to clean.  Minimal.  It would be nice if life could be more minimal sometimes wouldn't it?  Well, with these cookies, you can start.

I've had a bag of salted pumpkin seeds in the pantry for awhile.  I snacked on them for a week or so and then got tired of them.  I'm more of a cashew kind of girl to be honest.   So into the food processor they went.  I've seen cookies made before with sunflower seeds, so why not pumpkin seeds? 

They came out great.  Thin and crispy, salty and sweet, the perfect snack or treat.

Try them!  Pumpkin seeds are much cheaper than nuts, and quite nutritive.

Crispy Paleo Pumpkin Seed and Almond Honey Cookies (Dairy and Egg Free)
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sliced and blanched almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3 1/2 tbsp raw honey
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
3 1/2 tbsp walnut or coconut oil

Process your pumpkin seeds and almonds until you have a fine flour.  While the motor is running, pour in your honey, oil, vanilla, and pinch of salt.  Once the "dough" starts to form a ball, it's ready to be spooned onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  This will take a minute or two, perhaps longer, depending on the speed of your machine. 

Use a tbsp to form little balls, and flatten well with your fingertips.  These cookies will not spread, so flatten them out pretty good.  Bake at 350 for about 5 minutes, until the edges brown.  These will cook super fast!  Watch them carefully!

I am baking more with honey, since I don't eat baked goods anyways, may as well spare S and MKG all my sugar free concoctions and just feed them, whole, real foods, like molasses and raw honey, and dates.  I am quite sure you could sub dates for the honey in this recipe, 5 should do it.  Did you know that per tbsp, molasses has about 60 calories, and is a great source of potassium, B6, and magnesium?  It also has 15 grams of carbs, which may make a not so great choice for diabetics, but if you don't have any problems with sugar, this is certainly a better choice.

Were I to make these for myself, I would probably opt for about 20-30 drops of NuNaturals Alcohol Free Liquid Stevia, a wonderful, non-bitter, non-aftertaste giving sweetener that I just adore.  It has such a clean flavor. 

Hope you're all having a pleasant week.  Believe it or not, it got into the mid 70's here in KC yesterday, breaking all kinds of records.  I spent the day inside the office so don't have any fun outdoorsy stories to tell, but the weather sure is nutty right now.  I love spring as much as the next guy, but I can't say it isn't a little disconcerting. 

XoXoGFG

Awesome Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to make a basic chocolate chip cookie, with some extra squash for good measure, but not necessarily the pumpkin flavors.  These turned out really good, you wouldn't even know there was pumpkin in them except for the slightly orangey color.  I will say, although this is a great recipe if you have an egg allergy or are doing AI protocol, they are quite crumbly without egg or some kind of egg replacer.  If I made these again I'd probably throw in two eggs (or maybe just the yolks) and reduce the butter to a third of a cup.  The chocolate chip recipe takes about three seconds and you can keep what you don't use in the freezer for another time!

Based on Frisky Lemon's recipe here.

Grain, Gluten, Sugar, and Egg Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup liquid sweetener
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar free chocolate chips, recipe below

Combine coconut flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well with a fork to get out any lumps.  In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, melted butter, sweetener, and extract.  Pour wet into dry and mix well.  Add your SF chocolate chips and spoon onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 until the tops are starting to turn golden.  This made 14 very generously sized cookies.

Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup liquified coconut oil
3 packets stevia (i used pure via)
1 tsp instant decaf coffee

Mix everything together well and pour into a flat plastic tupperware container, and freeze.  These taste great baked in things, but I probably wouldn't eat them all by themselves (which is probably a good thing right?) because the stevia after taste is definitely noticeable.  There are many other recipes out there for SF homemade chocolate, calling for powdered erythritol, xylitol, etc, but I didn't want to mess with them.  These are just fine for what I needed them for, and are a thousand times cheaper than buying the sugar alcohol sweetened Hershey's at the grocery store.  Be advised, they do not have stabilizers in them like regular chocolate chips and will melt and spread in baked goods, rather than staying in chip form.  If that bothers you, there are other recipes using cocoa butter which will probably work much better for you.

Protein Pumpkin Pancakes

So yeah this is a dumb picture, it was taken mid-bite as MKG was eating, sorry.  But these are some damn good pancakes for toddlers and adults and best of all, they are devoid of sugars, grains, gluten, dairy, and anything processed.  Great way to sneak some squash into your family's diet too.

Protein Pumpkin Pancakes (serves 3)
1/4 cup pureed pumpkin
2 eggs
1/4 cup nutmilk of choice
1 tsp maple extract
20 drops vanilla stevia
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (guessing this is 2 tbsp)
2 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Mix your pumpkin, eggs, and nutmilk and add your extract and stevia drops.  In a separate bowl mix your baking powder, coconut flour, protein powder, spices, and salt, and stir well to get out any lumps.  Add wet to dry and stir well.  If the batter is too thick simply add a tad bit of water or nutmilk.  I had no trouble flipping these at all and they were quite substantial.  To serve, top with cinnamon and butter, or SF syrup, coconut cream, or just eat plain! 

Paleo Pumpkin Bars!!!

This recipe represents me getting over two irrational fears- well not fears exactly, just a couple things I have been avoiding, I don't know why.  Typically any recipe using almond butter as the base has always scared me away.  Call me crazy, but almond butter is not really my fave!  That's why another GREAT nut butter to work with for this would be cashew or pecan butter.  But if you don't have any- use almond butter.  It will not taste overwhelmingly almond butterish.  I have also never ever ever used coconut cream concentrate!  I know!  I am crazy!  That sh*t is incredible.  What was I thinking?  It's like the thickest whipped cream you could imagine, but sugar and dairy free and so gosh darn good for you!  The frosting for this recipe, which I highly recommend, is not much more than a little CCC, some pumpkin pie spice, and sweetener.  Get some.  TJ's now has it canned folks.

Paleo Pumpkin Bars
1 cup mild nut butter (almond, cashew, or pecan)
1 cup organic pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple extract (optional)
1 tbsp organic pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup liquid sweetener (like SF syrup, maple syrup, honey, coconut nectar, etc)
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Frosting:
5-6 tbsp CCC
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus a bit more for sprinkling
3 tbsp liquid sweetener

In a large bowl, mix up ALL your ingredients.  One bowl peeps, can't complain about that!  Save yourself some trouble though, and make sure your nut butter has no lumps in it before adding it to the bowl.  For instance, if you've had it for awhile and it has dried out a little.  Mix it all well and transfer to a parchment lined 9x9.  Bake at 350 until a knife comes out just clean.  25-30 minutes ish.  Let it cool while you mix the frosting.  If it is warm when frosting, you'll melt the CCC.  If you are in a rush, don't worry, because it will firm up in the fridge.  When finished, refrigerate and enjoy!  This could even be enjoyed for breakfast!

Curried Pumpkin Soup

As I've said many times, GFG does NOT waste food!  That extends to the squash assortment I purchased for a fall centerpiece!  I had some sugar pumpkins lying around, and knowing they'd go bad soon, I figured- pumpkin soup! why not?!  Even better, more crunchy salty pumpkin seeds! 

First, you'll need to roast your pumpkins.  The pumpkins should be the smaller pumpkin pie pumpkins, or sugar pumpkins, not the big carving ones.  Cut a circle around the stem and then pull the stem out, then halve down the middle, and proceed to scoop out the stringy guts and seeds.  The seed are awesome, don't throw them out!  Once you've cleaned them out, place skin side down on a foil lined baking sheet, and preheat the oven to 350.  Rub the insides with EVOO and sprinkle with sea salt.  Roast for about 70-80 minutes or until a fork will pierce it easily.  The soup is easy peasy from here.

Curried Pumpkin Soup
Flesh from two roasted pumpkins, or two cans of pumpkin puree
4 cups chicken stock
1 can light coconut milk
4 strips of turkey bacon (optional)
one small onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp garam masala

In a large pot, saute onions until yellow.  Add in bacon (if using), garlic, and stir for another minute or so.  Add seasonings, and stir for 2 or 3 more minutes.  Now, add pumpkin, coconut milk, and chicken stock, and stir.  Check your salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.  I love salt and salty foods so I added quite a bit, and also quite a lot of pepper, because I like things spicy.  My roast pumpkin was a bit on the bland side, so needed a lot of seasoning.  At this point, bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.  Then, use your immersion blender to puree until it's nice and creamy, or pour into a blender if you don't have an immersion blender.  Et voila!  S ate a huge bowl of it, mixed with yogurt for some protein.  Personally, I think some Curried Pumpkin and Bacon Soup would have been even better!  So if you have some, dice it up and throw it in with the onion for even more depth of flavor.  Yum!

Are you getting pumpkin'd out yet?  I'm on the verge.  But really, who can resist all that orange squashy goodness!?  XoXoGFG

GFG Original Recipe- Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie Muffins!

I think all the talk recently about the pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks got me thinking about pumpkin pie.  The latte does not interest me at all though.  Sounds pretty gross actually.  Anyways- I wanted to create a nice fall-ish recipe using pumpkin so devised this fun new recipe!  It is incredibly simple and tastes great!  Next time I'd probably add a little flax to it and maybe a pinch of ground ginger.  But try this out!


Pumpkin Pie Muffins
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (add a bit more cinn/ginger if you like it spicy!)
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil (canola or coconut)
1 tsp vanilla
half can of pumpkin puree (about 7.5 ounces)
1/4 cup sweetener, like stevia in the raw

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin.  Makes 12 muffins.

Combine almond flour, baking powder, salt, and spices and whisk to combine.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, then add oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Then add pumpkin and combine well.  Add dry to wet and make sure its thoroughly combined.  Drop batter into muffin tin using 1 tbsp scoop.  Bake 25-30 minutes and enjoy!

I also tried making homemade frozen yogurt in my ICE-21 and had great results using Trader Joe's non-fat Greek yogurt.  Not the european style- greek.  It's very very very thick.  Make sure your ice cream maker is turned on BEFORE you add the base or it won't turn.  Here is what I did:

one container of non-fat greek yogurt
zest and juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons stevia in the raw.  I made sure the mixture was thoroughly combined and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.  The yogurt is very thick and creamy, although it did not have the tart flavor I was looking for.  Unfortunately, most commercial tart yogurt is made using citric acid, and lemon does not create the same tart flavor.  Rather, it tastes lemony.  Not a bad thing at all, just not what I was looking for.  Tart yogurt may not be something you can create at home, although I'll keep trying!  In the meantime, using non-fat greek yogurt is an excellent and extremely high-protein treat that can be sweetened and flavored in any number of ways.  Using stevia and fruit purees, you could really make any flavor you wanted!  If the flavor of greek yogurt isn't your thing- try using vanilla non-fat yogurt and straining it- then adding whatever flavors you like.  Or, just regular non-fat yogurt.  You must strain it first.  I've noticed that if your base is very watery- the mixture won't freeze well.  The mixture crystallizes and is much more icy than creamy. 

I'll post more later today- it's use what you have Sunday!  XoXoGFG

Today's experiments

I feel pretty successful about my two coconutty creations!  And I had fun doing them!


First, I tried Vegan Freezer Fudge!  YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I posted about it earlier in the week.  OMG how easy and delish!  Love it!

2 tablespoons coconut butter
2 tablespoons organic all natural peanut butter (no additives, peanuts only!)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 ripe banana, although mine wasn't too terribly ripe and it was more like 3/4 of a banana, baby S ate the first 1/4!
1/2 teaspoon sugar substitute
1/16th teaspoon salt

Blend everything until smooth in blender, then transfer to square tupperware and press until evenly layered, and freeze!  It is delish.  Seriously.  I'd like to try a vanilla version with no cocoa or PB and some vanilla extract.  Yum!  Easy and fun.  And no baking for me to screw up!

Later on while S was napping I tried my hand at Pumpkin Spice Bread, adapted from like twelve different pumpkin break recipes I found.  All of them call for an enormous amount of eggs and I just can't do it.  It just seems gross to me.  So I finally settled on the following:

3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 flax eggs (2 T ground flax meal with 6 T water, blended well and then let sit for five minutes)
1/4 cup liquified coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar substitute
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350.  Blend flax eggs and combine with real eggs.  Pour in vanilla, coconut oil, and pumpkin puree, sugar substitute and stir.  Sift coconut flour, salt, baking soda, and spices in separate bowl and combine.  Pour in wet mixture, add walnuts, and stir, then transfer to greased loaf pan.  Bake 45-50 minutes. 

The end result is good, not sweet at all, but still getting used to the mousse-iness of coconut flour baked goods.  I wonder if anything can be done about that?  And also, I wish it would rise more.  I wonder if a bit more baking soda would help?  I think only further experimentation with more/less eggs and liquid will tell.  I have seen other blogs add chocolate chunks to pumpkin bread, but I remember last thanksgiving my aunt made a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake and the flavor combos did NOT sit right with me, or anyone else really, so I'm kind eh about trying that out.

This week, I'll be trying a few more items, like this one from Spunky Coconut that I'm excited about, with quite a few tweaks, of course. 

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars:

Add to bowl:

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup almond meal flour

1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

4 tbsp coconut oil, liquified

Combine and pour into lightly greased square baking dish.

Spread evenly.

Melt over lowest heat:

1/4 cup coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp sugar substitute

Combine and immediately remove from heat (so the chocolate doesn't burn).

Add to measuring cup:

3/4 cup coconut milk + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 2 tbsp sugar sub

Pour over crust.

Drop chocolate mixture (or chips if substituting) on top of crust and coconut milk.

Drop 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar-free raspberry jam like this:

Top with 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Refrigerate about 8 hours.

It solidifies from chilling.

We'll see how it goes with my many tweaks and substitutions!  Yikes!  The orig recipe calls for Quinoa flakes and stevia and ghee- no thanks!

Here are two other Grain-Free entrees I'll be trying this week:

Spicy Turkey Sausage with Flageolets and Cauliflower
1 lb spicy turkey sausage or kielbasa
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 can rinsed and drained Flageolet
1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets and blanched
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

Saute cut up turkey sausage, browning evenly.  Remove from pan and transfer to plate.  In same pan, adding coconut oil, saute onions for a few minutes until transparent, then add spices, then beans.  Cook for two minutes.  Add blanched cauliflower florets and cook 5-7 minutes.  When browned and cooked through, add turkey sausage to warm through.  Serve with arugula and lemon vinaigrette!

Coconut Flour Chicken Curry

• 1 whole chicken cut into 6-8 piece
• 3 Tablespoons coconut oil 
• 2 Tablespoons coconut flour 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon curry powder 
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup water 

Sauté garlic, onion, ginger, with coconut oil. Add the cut-up chicken, slightly brown the chicken. Add chicken stock, simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt, black pepper and curry powder. Cover the pan. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Dissolve coconut flour in 1/4 cup of water. Stir it into the pan. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

What else?  Well I'm excited that baby S is finally really embracing solid foods!  This morning she ate 1/4 of a banana with her oatmeal, and then at lunch ate cut up fruit pieces from a fruit cup!  So that is really great.  She is also way into cottage cheese, which is awesome.  And while I am not a fan of edamame or soy products in general due to their phytoestrogens (which flaxseed has as well?), she did enjoy some edamame last night at Oakwood.  Yay!  Next I want to try cooked broccoli and cauliflower.  

Have I mentioned my shortcut muesli yet?  It was pretty simple, although the flaxseed gives a somewhat odd smell and texture.  Now that I make flax eggs in baking all the time, the snot-like texture that flax gets when mixed with water is grossing me out, alas, I ate it!

This is sort of in-line with CCK's volume oatmeal, just in that I stole her trick of adding tons and tons of water.  

Lazy-ass Muesli

1/4 cup irish steel cut oats

2 tablespoons flax

2 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in bowl and put in refridge for 2 days.  Oats will increase in volume 250%!  I ate mine with 6 ounces of yogurt.  Adding some nuts would make it more nutritious, or some sliced berries.  Yes I am aware oats are a grain and no I will not be making a habit of this- but I felt like the extra protein, fiber, and good fats from this particular combination were worthwhile.  This is, I believe, gluten-free, just not grain-free.  The cool thing about my Lazy-ass Muesli is that because the oats grow so much, you can actually end up eating half of a serving and feeling like you just ate a ton, so the muesli itself ends up being only about 100 calories.  All that water it absorbs makes it quite filling!  

Ok S is tearing up the room and needs a bath, until next time grain-free groupies!