Paleo Banana Bread, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free, Grain and Gluten-Free

I am kind of weirded that I don't have a banana bread recipe up on the blog.  Banana bread used to be a staple chez GFG.  I would make it a few times a month, with regular SAD ingredients, or sometimes half whole wheat flour and half AP, or even a tablespoon or two of flax meal and think I was really badass.  Well, times have changed, and there's a new banana bread recipe in town y'all.  This recipe is so stinkin' easy and so stinkin' good.  It does not have a weird mealy coconut texture like so many coconut flour baked good can have.  It is delicious, and sugar free to boot.  It is sweetened with the bannas themselves, and stevia.  Think stevia isn't paleo?  It is.  Check out Mark's Daily Apple if you don't believe me.  And it is safe for diabetics.  I have tested it on myself, and I have pretty much no insulin.  So there.  This would make a great dessert, but frankly, I'll be giving it to S for breakfast, as it is perfectly healthy.

Paleo Banana Bread
2 medium bananas, mashed
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup walnut or coconut oil
3/4 cup nutmilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp butter extract (optional)
4 droppers nunaturals alcohol free liquid stevia
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut flour

Mash your bananas in a large bowl, add in your eggs, extracts, stevia, milk, and oil, stir well.  Add in your dry ingredients (try to get coconut flour lumps out prior to adding) and combine well.  I lined my loaf pan with parchment, but you can grease yours if you prefer.  Pour your batter into the loaf pan and drop on the countertop a few times to get out any air bubbles.  Sprinkle the top with cinnamon if you like!  When a knife comes out just clean, take it out.  It will firm up a bit as it cools.  Mine was still pretty squishy in the center.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  This is now your go-to, easy peasy, one bowl banana bread recipe.  Enjoy!

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

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

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

Merry Christmas! How 'bout a quick and easy last-minute cookie?

 It's probably a little late for another cookie recipe.  But just in case you need to throw something together in two seconds to take with you today, this is the cookie for you.  Honestly, you could eat these for breakfast if you wanted.

This is a nutbutter cookie with not much else to it, and they are faintly sweet, with most of the sweetness coming from the dried fruit.  They are quite crumbly, but have a wonderful crispness to them that only a nutbutter cookie can have.  I am calling them generically a nutbutter cookie because I had three different jars of nutbutter that were all almost empty, which combined gave me one cup of nutbutter.  Combine different kinds, like almond, sun, and cashew, or hazelnut, almond, and walnut, whatever!!

Dried Fruit Nutbutter Cookies (dairy free, gluten/grain free, no added sugars)
1 cup of nutbutter (mix it up!!)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
45-50 drops of NuNaturals Alcohol Free Liquid Stevia
1/3 cup chopped dried apple
1/3 cup raisins, cranberries, or other dried fruit

Mix your egg and stevia and vanilla extract in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix up your nutbutter. If it's cold, microwave it for a minute.  Mix your nutbutter and egg mixture, and then add in your dried fruit.  Incorporate well.  Form into balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Flatten cookies with your fingertips and bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.  They'll seem undercooked but after cooling for an hour or two they will have firmed up.  This made 17 toddler sized cookies.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas to all the grain-free groupies out there!  May your day be full of love, laughter, family, and joy.  Xoxo!

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!

Banana Peanut Flour Muffins- Sugar, Grain, Gluten Free

Clearly not a paleo recipe, but certainly a gluten, grain, and sugar free muffin, these little guys have that  unmistakeable peanut/banana flavor combo going on that most of us can't resist!  They make the perfect  breakfast for S and are a nice change from all that coconut flour.

Banana Peanut Flour Muffins
2 overripe bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup walnut oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp SF liquid sweetener
12 drops Vanilla Creme Stevia
4 tbsp peanut flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Makes 8 muffins.

Mash your bananas and add your eggs, oil, vanilla, sweetener, and liquid stevia.  Mix well.  In a separate bowl, use a fork to combine your peanut flour and coconut flour, and salt and baking powder.  Add wet to dry and mix well.  Pour into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 until the tops are browned.  A new trick I learned is that you want to remove the muffins when they are nice and browned, but still "crackling" when you listen to them.

These are for S to have for breakfast during the week, but I did have to cut off a small piece to make sure they were good.  If you were wondering, yes, they are crazy ridiculous good.  I so miss bananas, sigh.

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.

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! 

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.

Quick High Protein Toddler Meal

Do you read The Paleo Mom?  It's a neat blog written by, of course, a paleo mom.  It's interesting in that it has a very scientific slant to it as the blogger is a former scientific researcher, which I particularly like.  Rather than lots of anecdotal musings, she has lots of bonafide research to back up her claims. Quite refreshing in the paleoverse.  I recommend you check out her blog if you have the inclination!

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know I have a toddler!  She is my pride and joy and light of my life, and I absolutely can't get enough of her.  I love every single thing about her and cherish every second I am with her.  However, just like any child, meal times can be rough.  That's why I enjoy coming up with so many healthy, protein-packed muffin recipes that I know she'll enjoy and eat happily over and over.  But one can not subsist on muffins alone.  And the girl is not quite as fond of veggies as she once was, so sometimes you have to resort to covert measures to get in a healthy dose of the green goodies.

Case in point- the paleo mom's great suggestion for making Green Eggs.  Check out her post and give it a whirl!  I did today, and am happy with the results.  Here is what I did:

Green Eggs
3 eggs
2/3 cup raw greens (I used some leftover salad greens, but spinach, kale, or even some dark leafy lettuces would work)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In a blender, toss your greens and eggs and salt and pepper and blend until you have a consistent green mixture.  Pour into a hot, greased frying pan and cook for 4 minutes or so on one side before flipping.  This will feed 2-3 people.  Depending on what greens you use, your eggs will have a distinct flavor.  Spinach is probably going to be the most agreeable, but in the spirit of using what I have, I thought, what the hell, I'll use some salad greens.  Topped with some guac, it was an easy and super nutritious meal for mommy and S.  Just make sure your pan is well-oiled for optimal flipping!

Best of all, there are tons of variations for this.  Why not make orange eggs using orange and red peppers?  Or try broccoli and cauli instead of greens?  Experiment and enjoy!  Xoxo GFG

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

Want a Meat Cupcake? Or How 'bout a Meat Muffin?

It was only a matter of time before these became a reality.  I'm surprised I didn't make them sooner.  Think of them either as big meatballs, or baby meatloaf.  Whichever you prefer.  But they are meaty, yummy, packed insanely full of nutrients, and portable!

We are trying to incorporate grassed beef-liver into our diets.  We had some last month, and while good, not something I'll be making again soon.  It was just too tough and liver-y.   But mixed with ground meat and baked with herbs?  Now there's a winner.  This made quite a lot.  MKG ate maybe 4 of them, S ate 1,  so a normal servings is probably 3.  I highly recommend you try making these as described, with 100% grassfed beef liver.  Just try it!  Even grassfed liver is cheap- like $2.99 for a pound!  Can't beat that.

I made these with ground turkey- 1) because that's what I had and 2) i thought these would be heavy enough with the liver, so though some light meat might be nice.  Use what you got.

Meat Cupcakes with Grassfed Beef Liver (makes approx. 16)
1 lb 100% grassfed beef liver
1 1/2-2 lbs ground turkey, however much is in your container
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 red onion, chopped finely
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tsp oregano
your fave marinara sauce for dipping

In your cuisinart, pulse your beef liver until it is well broken up, basically a liquid.  Sorry- this is not fun and way gross.  I really don't know what else to tell you.  But I would feel terrible not giving you a little warning.  Maybe you won't be grossed out like I was, hopefully not!  Pour the liver into a bowl with your ground meat and throw in your onion, garlic, salt and pepper, oregano, and basil.  Incorporate well with a fork but don't over mix.  Spoon into lined muffin tin and bake at 425 for 30 minutes or so.  There will be a considerable amount of liquid so don't worry when you see it bubbling at the top.  The tops should brown nicely.

Want meatballs instead?  Be my guest!  But you'll need to add something starchy because this is a very wet mixture.  Or just bake as a loaf instead.  That will just take longer.

With some yummy marinara, this is a really great recipe and easy to eat/snack on and grab and go.  We have quite a few left and I bet these would even freeze well!

Try them and let me know what you think!  Or perhaps, sub the liver for pastured chicken liver if that's more accessible.  But please, don't use livers from a grain-fed, sick animal.

Enjoy GFG's!  Xoxo
Edit:  These actually get better in the fridge the next day, or the day after.  I actually much preferred them two days later.  Just FYI!