Nutella Hot Cocoa

Thank you Pinterest for giving me yet another fabulous idea to try.  This hot cocoa is so yummy I've made it several times already!  It's not too sweet, which is just how I like it, and it seriously even better topped with homemade whipped cream.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

1 cup regular unsweetened almond milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of Nutella
1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa
pinch of salt

In a small saucepan heat all the ingredients over medium heat.  Whisk together until smooth and creamy.  Serve in a mug topped with whipped cream or marshmallows.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is such a wonderful time of year.  One thing I love about fall is anything made with pumpkin!  I took my favorite muffin recipe and switched out the bananas for pumpkin.  The result was delicious.


Pumpkin Muffins

3 cups almond flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 to 3/4 can of pumpkin puree

 3 eggs
1/2 cup honey or agave
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. vanilla 

 

I added chopped pecans.  I was tempted to add chocolate chips!

Mix the dry ingredients first, then add the rest. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Almond Flax bread

My cousin posted this recipe on facebook and it peeked my interest so I thought I would give it a try.  The recipe is from http://www.healyrealfoodvegetarian.com/almond-flax-bread/

Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 tbsp whole flax seeds
1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 eggs beaten
2 tsp honey, optional
1/2 tsp raw cider vinegar
butter, to grease a loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 300°.
Grease a loaf pan.
Mix all ingredients together until thoroughly combined, then pour into a greased standard sized loaf pan and bake at 300° for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread’s center comes out clean.
Cool completely before serving.

I don't have whole flax seeds so I added a tbsp on oats instead because I love oat bread and the texture it has.  I also don't have raw cider vinegar so I just used regular apple cider vinegar and I greased the loaf pan with coconut oil instead of butter.

It smelled so good while baking, but after cooling for a little while it smelled a bit like turtle food.... 

it tastes pretty good though.  Really good after being smothered in honey butter :) ( I was this <---> close to drizzling buttermilk syrup on it but at the last second decided against it... would've been good though! 

Paleo Breakfast Bread

Found this here on Pinterest last night and tried it this morning!  Has to be one of the weirdest things I've made - from the list of ingredients I never would have guessed you'd get this delicious tasty "bread" for lack of a better word!  We loved it!  Kind of like a less dense, brown, cinnamon-y German pancake.  We had ours with scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon.  I have a feeling this will make a regular appearance at breakfast.

1/2 cup almond butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk.  Pour into a greased (with coconut oil) 8x8 glass baking dish. Bake for 12-15 minutes.  13 minutes did it for me, but all ovens vary!

*UPDATE* This is also awesome with 1/2 cup of shredded zucchini thrown in.  takes a few minutes longer to cook.  Kind of like breakfast zucchini bread!

Buttermilk Syrup

Buttermilk syrup. Sounds weird/maybe gross. Ohhhh noooo. It is the best thing you will ever eat! The first time I tried this it was at a Memorial Day breakfast at our Bishop's house last year.  His wife is an amazing cook and she had a little pourer full of this weird, pale, foamy syrup.  I was a little apprehensive because I love normal maple syrup and I hate change.  I decided to pour a little on the side of my plate and try it.  Well, after I sat down and ate my first bite of pancake cautiously dipped in the buttermilk syrup it was like in one of those cartoons or cereal commercials where your head kinda explodes and your eyes get all big and out of your head and you see stars and hearts all around you.  I then proceeded to stand up, walk back into the kitchen, and drown my pancakes in the buttermilk syrup. So ya. Its good.  I had her write down the recipe before we left and have treasured it ever since.  I brought the recipe home last summer and I think we made it 3 or 4 times.  (This was before we were gluten free.  We ate A LOT of pancakes, french toast, waffles, anything that can be smothered in syrup.)

Well, school just ended for me (I teach 2nd grade) and today I woke up feeling hungry. For syrup. I was excited to have the time to actually make a nice breakfast on a weekday because its summer! So I whipped up a batch of Natalie's lemon poppyseed pancakes and had the best intention of serving them with fresh fruit or yogurt like she so healthily did.  But, with the buttermilk sitting there on the counter taunting me to make the buttermilk syrup, I caved and made it.  Here is the recipe:

Buttermilk Syrup (Holiday Syrup)

Above the pot you can see my two bowls:
one with vanilla and one with almond

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. extract (vanilla, maple, or almond)

Cook the sugar, butter, and buttermilk over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat for 1 minute then add the baking soda and the extract. Mix to combine.  Serve warm.

When you add the baking soda it gets all foamy and frothy.  Its really fun :). I have made it with the vanilla extract every time and it tastes like melted cookie dough. Today I couldn't decide between the vanilla and almond so I took two bowls and added 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract to one and 1/2 tsp almond extract to the other and then poured in the syrup and had both! It was a good idea.  The pancake with the almond syrup seriously tasted like an almond poppyseed muffin from Costco.

As I sat there, eating my delicious breakfast by myself, I was like OMG why is no one here to taste this with me! It's so unbelievably good I want to share it with everyone! So here I am, typing this to you with the taste of buttermilk syrup still in my mouth.

Make you banana pancakes, pretend that its the weekend now...

(Jack Johnson anyone?)
                                    

Sorry for the blog post hiatus. (reason pending) But I have some things to add! First off, Banana Pancakes! I made the Yummy Muffin recipe yesterday with my newly acquired almond flour, and loved them but I still had some over ripe bananas to use and with it being Fast Sunday today, I was craving some good hearty breakfast-for-dinner food.  So I headed to the web for some banana pancake recipes.  A lot of recipes were 3 ingredient banana pancakes made with just egg, banana, and peanut butter or vanilla or salt, and I was like ummm I need a little more substance than that.  I found a great recipe called Gluten Free Banana Pancakes and just tweeked it a bit.  Here is my version:

1 1/2 cups oat flour (I just ground some up quick oats in my little food processor)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 banana, mashed
1 cup milk, and a little more if the batter gets too thick
1 egg
1/4- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(makes about 15 medium sized pancakes)

In medium bowl mix together oat flour and baking powder and salt Add the mashed banana, milk, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Mix until combined.  Melt a little butter on the griddle and spoon the batter one.  Cook 3-4 minutes on one side and then flip.  I kinda pressed them down with the spatula once I flipped them to make them a little thinner because they were looking quite beefy.  I had to add a little milk to the batter in between batches because it thickened up as it sat there.  Serve with syrup, peanut butter, yogurt or applesauce.  Or, if you are my husband, top them with texas sheet cake. *eye roll*

I quickly snapped a picture before he was able to destroy the evidence!

German Pancakes

KC is home from BYU!  We have missed her and are so excited to have her back for the summer.  She requested one of her favorite's this week--German Pancakes.  

German Pancakes

2 tablespoons butter

8 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup coconut flour

6 tablespoons corn starch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put the butter into a glass 9 x 13 pan and put into the oven.  Preheat, with the pan already in the oven, to 400 degrees.

Put the eggs into a blender.  Blend for a few seconds.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend.

When the oven is hot and the butter is melted, pour the batter into the pan and return to the oven.  Bake for 12 minutes.

We love them with powdered sugar and lemon juice, but they would be delicious with fresh fruit or berries.

Carrot Muffins

Because we are no longer baking or eating bread, muffins are a wonderful alternative.  They are easy to make and satisfy that need for a baked good.  This recipe is from the Wheat Belly Cookbook.  I put them in the freezer and then take one out for breakfast or to pop in my lunch for later.  These muffins are like a yummy, little carrot cake.  Try with a little cream cheese--Yum!

1 1/2 cups almond meal/flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup ground golden flaxseeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon gound nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup shredded carrots
2 tablespoons orange peel (I didn't have any, so I didn't use any.)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
2 eggs, separated (I have made this recipe twice.  One time I separated the eggs and beat the whites and the next time I didn't.  Didn't seem to make any difference.)
1/2 cup xylitol or 1/4 teaspoon liquid stevia or to desired sweetness.
1/2 cup sour cream or coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut oil, extra-light olive oil, or butter, melted
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin pan or grease the cups.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.  Stir in the carrots, orange peel, and raisins (if using).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, xylitol or stevia, sour cream or milk, oil or butter, and applesauce.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture until combined.  Fold egg mixture into the flour mixture until well combined.  (I skipped this step and added all the wet ingredients together.)

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling each about half full.  Bake for 40 minutes (25 minutes), or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely on the rack.

Important!  The first time I made these I baked them for the 40 minutes.  It was way too long and they were very overdone.  The second time I baked them for 25 minutes and they were just right.

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

I pinned these while babysitting last night and woke up this morning sooo excited to make them and have a delicious and nutritious breakfast.  Well, after waking up and not having any yogurt, eggs, or honey to make them, I hopped straight into the car (in my sweats, slippers, and glasses (not a pretty sight) and drove over to Sam's club to pick up the needed ingredients.  Then I got home and promptly whipped up a batch of Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins.  They go a little something like this:

Ingredients:
2.5 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 TBSP ground flax seed
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas

Chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray or line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners.
2. Place the oats in the food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds. Add remaining ingredients (except chocolate chips) to the food processor. 

3. Process until everything is mixed together and oats are smooth. Add chocolate chips.
4. Divide batter among cupcake liners, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I don't have a big enough food processor to mix the whole recipe up in one, so I just use my baby one to chops up the oats and then I mixed everything in a large bowl with my hand mixer.  I also mushed up the bananas with a fork on a plate before mixing it in.  I pulsed the chocolate chips in the food processor too because I am not a big fan of chocolate chips in things so I would rather have little flecks of chocolate in it then full chips.  I also did not have cupcake liners which I think would have been better.  But! All in all they are pretty delicious.  Not too sweet and I can feel good about eating them.  I ate 3 right out of the oven and they didn't make me feel super full and heavy. Just good clean food.
(and they don't have a very strong banana taste at all-which is good because I don't love bananas)

Cranberry Cinnamon Scones

*WARNING* 

I'm talking about traditional English scones, NOT deep fried bread (much to Jenna's disappointment - she wanted "a scone as big as my head!" like you can get at Granny Annie's.  Never again poor thing, our days of greasy, glutenous, fried dough balls are over.)

Cranberry Cinnamon Scones

1 cup ground golden flaxseeds

3/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons xylitol or 8-12 drops liquid stevia or to desired sweetness (I used the stevia)

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

1/4 cup heavy cream (*if using stevia use an additional 1 tablespoon heavy cream)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the flaxseeds, almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and xylitol, if using.  Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it's the size of peas.

In another bowl, whisk together the stevia (if using), cream, eggs, and vanilla until combined.  Stir into the dry ingredients until well blended.  Add the dried fruit, and stir until evenly distributed.

Evenly dived the dough into 8 pieces and place on the baking sheet.  Flatten to approximately 3/4" thickness.

Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

My Take: Thanks to the Wheat Belly Cookbook (which I'm convinced everyone should have!), whenever I feel the urge to bake I have tons of healthy, gluten-free recipes at my finger tips.  I'd been eyeing this one for a couple of weeks and finally broke down and bought the heavy cream so I could try it.  The recipe went smoothly, and I chose to shape the dough into triangles.  They turned out awesome, kind of how I think a whole wheat scone would be, a little more dense and substantial.  They're not very sweet (again, think traditional scones) but I enjoyed mine plain or with some butter.  I think they'd be yummy with some jam on top as well.  I individually froze half of them to pull out for a quick breakfast when I need it.  They are very filling!

Lemon-Poppy Seed Pancakes

This is by far my favorite pancake recipe I've tried to date.  So good that even Jenna wants to snack on them plain throughout the morning after breakfast is over.  So good I made them for Jenna and I last Thursday, and again over the weekend so Joey could try them!  The texture is lighter thanks to the egg whites and seems more of what I remember a traditional pancake being like.  I think they're best topped with vanilla yogurt and strawberries.  Raspberry greek yogurt was also yummy, and I'm sure whipped cream and blueberries would be excellent as well! 

They come from the Wheat Belly cookbook, and were also featured on Dr. Oz here.  If you're new to the Wheat Belly line of thinking check out the video clips from Dr. William Davis' visit with Dr. Oz here.



Lemon-Poppy Seed Pancakes

3 large eggs, separated
4 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp freshly grated lemon peel
2 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp lemon stevia or to desired sweetness (optional - I did not use)
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon peel, poppy seeds, and stevia (if using).

Add the almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg whites until slightly stiff. Fold into the batter.

Grease a skillet or griddle and heat over medium heat. For each pancake, scoop 2 heaping tablespoons of batter onto the skillet. Cook for 1 minute, or until bubbles form around the edges. Turn and cook for 1 minute, or until underside is lightly browned. Remove from heat to a serving platter. Repeat with remaining batter, regreasing the skillet if needed.

Pancakes

Our family has a long-standing tradition of eating pancakes on Saturday morning.  This morning was no exception. 

Wheat-Free Pancakes

3 cups almond meal

1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons extra-light olive oil, walnut oil, coconut oil, or butter, melted (I used coconut oil.)

In a medium bowl, combine the almond meal, flaxseeds, salt, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs.  Add the milk and oil or butter and whisk thoroughly.

Gradually whisk the flour mixture into the egg mixture.  The consistency should be similar to that of conventional flour-based batter; if too thick, add 1 or more tablespoons of milk or water until of desired consistency.

Lightly oil a large skillet and heat over medium heat.  For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle.  

Almond meal pancakes can be delicate; if you encounter difficulty turning them, release the edges first and then turn.

They were very thick and I had to add several tablespoons of extra milk.  Next time, I will start with 2 cups of almond meal and add a little more as I go.  They were delicious and very filling!

Yummy Muffins

This recipe was given to me by one of my great Kindergarten moms, Paige Davis. It is quick and so yummy. I keep them in the freezer and grab one for breakfast or lunch. Just microwave for about 35 seconds. Yum!

Banana Almond Muffins

3 cups almond flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 ripe bananas, smashed
3 eggs
1/2 cup honey or agave
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. vanilla (or 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring for more almond flavor)

Mix the dry ingredients first, then add the rest. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Coconut Flour Crepes - YUM!

One of the hardest things about going GF for me has been breakfast.  Don't get me wrong, I love my oatmeal, but it's got nothing on a big weekend breakfast of pancakes, waffles, crepes, and other gluten-laden goodies that I used to make when I had more time on a weekend morning.  I can't even tell you my excitement when I stumbled upon a GF crepe recipe here last week.  Naturally, I tried it out this past weekend.

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• Stevia liquid drops, to taste (about 10 drops)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (can substitute almond extract)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour, sifted
• small pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1/3 cup whole milk (can substitute regular coconut milk)
• 1-1/2 cups blueberries (or other berries)
• Whipped cream

In a medium bowl with a wire whisk, beat together the eggs, oil, stevia, vanilla, and salt. Mix in sifted coconut flour, nutmeg and cinnamon; stir in milk.

Heat an 8-inch skillet over medium heat. When hot, melt a tiny pat of butter, coconut oil or palm shortening in the pan. Pour 1/8 cup of batter in the skillet and swirl around in pan until a thin layer of batter covers the bottom. The crepe should be about 6-inches in diameter.

Cook 1-2 minutes, or until batter is bubbly and cooked around the edges. Flip the crepe and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes more, or until done.

Fill the crepes with the berries, top with a little whipped cream, and if you wish a light dusting of coconut flour.

Makes about 6 crepes.

My Take:  Now if you're anything like me, the first thing you probably noticed was that it is supposed to make 6 crepes.  6 crepes!?  That's not even enough for me!  Well that's what I thought when I read the recipe, so the first thing I did was double it.  I also cut out any stevia/sugar since I never used to add any to the batter when making normal gluten-filled crepes.  In my opinion, pancake/waffle/crepe recipes should not need sugar since most anything you put on them is sweet.  Just me.  The batter behaved a lot like normal crepe batter, but it did take a little longer to cook and they seemed a little more delicate in the flipping process.  The finished product however acted just like any crepe should, and was absolutely delicious filled with strawberries, cinnamon sugar, or any other topping you can think of.  The only problem I ran into was that even with a head start I couldn't make them as fast as Joey and Jenna could eat them and we were all sad when the batter ran out.  Pleasantly satiated, but still sad.  Next time, I'm either tripling the batch, or making them when no one else is around!





Skinny Muffin in a Mug

1/4 cup ground flax
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. coconut oil, melted
1 egg
1 packet stevia or xylitol (or other sweetener of your choice)

Break the egg into the mug and beat with a fork. Add the dry ingredients and the coconut oil. Mix with the fork. Microwave for one to one and a half minutes. When it comes out of the microwave, invert onto a plate. So easy!

*check out the comments for some yummy variations!

Add-ins could include berries, banana, applesauce, chocolate chips or raisins. If you add too much wet fruit, you will need to add a little bit of cooking time.

Got this recipe from my hairdresser, Lora, who is also on a gluten-free journey. I tried it this morning and it was so quick and really tasted great. It took less that five minutes to mix and cook. To make it even quicker in the morning, Lora suggested putting the dry ingredients in a Ziploc bag ahead of time and then just adding them to the egg and oil before baking. It was tasty, filling, and a great way to use flax seed.