Coconut Flour Muffins

Baking is something that I gave up a few years ago, with the exception of homemade pies. Every year I make delicious pumpkin & pecan pie from scratch for Thanksgiving, but that is about it. I stay away from gluten & dairy. So much of the time it is too difficult to eat baked goods with those requirements. Well, these days I have felt the need to try and make a few baked goods myself. So this morning I decided to make muffins. Coconut flour muffins that are gluten-free & dairy-free. They tasted really good!

Here is what you need:

2 heaping tbsp of Coconut Oil* (I use Tropical Traditions brand)
*If the coconut oil is solid, heat it up so that you are working with a liquid
2 heaping tbsp of Raw Honey (if you are looking for a less sweet muffin try less Honey)
1/4 cup of applesauce (if you want dry muffins use less applesauce or cut it out entirely, I like my baked goods a bit on the heavy side.)
3 Eggs
1 tsp of Almond extract (if you want to use less feel free)
2 tbsp of coconut milk
- Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl.

1/4 cup of Coconut Flour (Tropical Traditions brand)
1/4 tsp baking powder (aluminum free)
1 small carrot - minced into small bits
1/3 cup of almonds - minced into small bits
1/3 cup of goji berries
1/3 cup of shredded coconut (Tropical Traditions brand)
- Mix the dry ingredients into a bowl

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then grease your muffin tins with coconut oil - enough so the muffins don't stick. Mix all the ingredients together and then spoon into the muffin tins about half way full. At this point I sprinkled shredded coconut on top of the muffins before I popped them into the oven, just to make it look pretty.

Bake for about 15-20 min depending on your oven. Use a toothpick, knife, or fork to test the muffin. If the utensil comes out clean the muffins are ready.

NOTE - mix and match things. I did not have any dried fruit or bitter chocolate chips, but if I had I might have tossed them in. I had also thought about using brown rice syrup rather than honey for a less sweet muffin (next time I will try that because these were sweeter than I had wanted for breakfast). I had a zucchini so I had debated on using that with the carrot...the possibilities are endless.

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Finishing things off

It is a few days before I get to pick up my next CSA box and here I am feeling a bit lazy about turning the remaining food into meals. I checked the fridge and before I even bothered to put thought into what I could do with the fabulous veggies I had awaiting me I began chopping them up into more soup. (Not that I am regretting the decision I made, but I just realized that the celeriac would have made a tasty gratin dish or fritters...)


I cannot seem to help but make soup. It is still wet and rainy here and we have not dared turn on the heat. Doing so would admit defeat to the inevitable winter weather that will be heading our way. Instead as I write this post I am wrapped in a nice blanket with an electric heater at my feet.


Now I cannot honestly say this is the most exciting soup I have ever made. In fact I think it tastes "healthy" - not in a bad way, but in a way that makes me feel really good about eating it.


Ingredients:


2 Celeriac
3 Parsley Root (looks a lot like parsnips)
1 Carrot
1 Leek
3 Cloves of Garlic
5 Red Radishes
2 Small Green Cabbages


The first thing I did was chop everything up into similar size pieces. I do this so that everything cooks at the same speed.


1. In a stock pot I sauteed the garlic on low with a few tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and the Leek
2. Then I tossed in all the other veggies and covered them with chicken stock (maybe 4 cups or so)
3. I put a timer on for 15 min. and upped the heat a bit and headed back into the office.
4. When the timer went off I walked back into the kitchen. Added some salt, cracked pepper and another bit of EVOO and turned the heat off and covered the pot.
5. I took a phone call and let the soup chill out for about 10 min
6. I then took out my immersion blender and proceeded to blend the soup up. It was really thick and so I added some water to thin it out. During that time I tasted the soup and added some dill weed and I grated fresh ginger into the soup


Servings - About 10 

Note - this soup is not sweet. It is a bit tart and I think that I what I like about it. It is also very filling. I think this soup would be paired nicely with some corned beef. Maybe because the of cabbage in the soup? It might also be a nice baby food!


Let me know what you think. Do you have any recommendations on herbs that would add some pizzaz to these veggies? Let me know.