Coconut Almond Muffins - Pure Deliciousness

The moment I saw these bad boys on Bethany's blog, I knew I had to take a stab at this recipe. Since Juliet has an egg allergy and we have been trying to avoid white flour and sugar as much as possible, I made a few revisions and surprisingly, they turned out well!!

The crumb is very fine (I was in heaven - probably because I've been cooking with rice flour and almond flour lately, so this was a refreshing change) and the almond essence balanced beautifully with the coconut. Here is the picture of the muffin- yes, slathered in butter because that's how I roll: I was surprised how dark they turned out, but I assume that's from the spelt flour.
Here was my revised recipe (you could also use Bethany's original recipe and they would be crazy delicious as well, I'm sure):

COCONUT ALMOND MUFFINS

1 c. white flour
1 c. spelt flour
1/2 c. organic cane sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T flaxseed meal mixed in with 6 T water, allow to sit a few minutes to gel
1 1/3 C Greek honey yogurt
1/2 c. melted butter
1/4 agave
1/2 t. almond extract
1 c. coconut (unsweetened, shredded coconut) *
1/4 c. dark chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 c. sliced almonds
additional sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl whisk the flaxseed mixture, add Greek honey yogurt, butter and extract; combine well. Stir wet mixture into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.

Fill greased muffin cups with batter. Sprinkle with almonds and additional sugar. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Makes 12-15 muffins.

*I have made the permanent switch to unsweetened shredded coconut (I buy it in bulk at WinCo) because regular sweetened coconut has a nasty preservative in it and plain coconut is crazy good for you.

Pumpkin Granola Bars

Picture and recipe found here.

I have a avid love affair for all things pumpkin. All year round. So, when I stumbled upon this blog, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. And my sis-in-law said she made these bars this weekend and they were a crowd pleaser. I will be making them very, very soon.

This Looks Crazy Delicious.

Picture and recipe from here.

I just found this Chicken Vegetable Casserole recipe on the Framed blog and can't wait to try it!

Food. And My Meal Plans.

Here are a couple of breakfast dishes that I have tried recently. This is overnight french toast from the Food Network website (specifically Paula Deen). Paula Deen doesn't know how to exclude half and half from her recipes. This included two cups of it!! My brain begins to short-circuit when I start counting the fat grams in two cups of half and half. Here's what my casserole looked like: I thought it was pretty tasty, but the family didn't devour it as I expected. So, there is an entire half casserole sitting in my freezer for when I'm feeling particularly lazy one morning...

And this, my dear friends, is Sunday Oatmeal from Barefoot Contessa's cookbook. I make a batch every week for Juliet - she eats it by the fist fulls and sometimes Colin and I comment about how she will founder if she is left to her own devices. Meaning: she eats a boatload of the food she likes. Here's what it looks like:

A bowl full of mush for sure, but healthy baby food as well.

I just discovered this website called The Joy of Baking and I feel like maybe I have been in a virtual cave, because I bet everyone else has been here already. I've drooled, I've stolen recipes and now I'm off to Winco, Trader Joe's and Costco (well, not all in one day - I do have three children!) to purchase the ingredients for the following meals/treats:

Spaghetti w/arugula, roasted peppers, prosciutto/bread

Potato Bar (broccoli/bacon bits/chives/sour cream/butter)

Tacos (including refried beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese)

Lasagna, spinach salad, bread

Calzones (from my bread maker)

Pasta and peas

Tortilla chip pie (from Kiwi magazine)

Breakfast bars

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Chai tea pancakes

Banana Muffins

Tecate Bread (from bread maker)

Blueberry Muffins

Have I mentioned how much I am loving my Bread Machine Lover's Cookbook? It makes my calzone dough and all my most recent bread doughs. I do a second rising on the counter and bake the breads in the oven for more authentic taste, but it really does all the hands on work for me.

Also, I have discovered that if I let my kids be involved in their meal, they tend to actually eat it. Imagine that. So I let them pick their toppings for calzones, pizzas and tacos.

And now we are set for a week of food!

Cinnamon Rolls

Oh, my. These cinnamon rolls by the Pioneer Woman are to die for. I almost wept over the pan when they came out of the oven. And then I tasted them. They are like maple bars with a cinnamon-y kick. And the recipe makes like 50 of them.
This is how mine turned out: I could lick the screen.

Carrot Cake

Yesterday I baked the carrot cake from the Mother's Bistro cookbook. Personally, I would not have included so much pineapple (it called for an entire 20 ounce can, drained) and Colin suggested I add raisins next time, but other than that, it was really good. Of course I took pictures. Samuel and Jude dipped their carrots in the cream cheese frosting remnants: Colin insisted on cutting into the cake and trying a piece even before our company arrived for dinner.

And here is how the inside turned out. Pretty good consistency which I can attribute to steaming and pureeing the carrots as part of the batter. Very moist.

Yes, that is a dinosaur plate. It's all that was clean.

Food. And More Food.

Sometimes I just gush with my excitement over food. I'm chewing on mostly raw garlic right now (I baked broccoli with garlic, bread crumbs, freshly grated parm, olive oil and salt and pepper). I can't stop thinking about the smell of my house when blueberry scones are baking in the oven. Meat shredded to perfection gives me a bit of a high. These kind of posts are more for encouraging someone out of a cooking rut than to brag about what my family is eating. I really don't like bragging. So, here's my meal plan currently:

Spicy shredded pork - as as seen in my picture below, before it was shredded. I love the recipe. I didn't have the white wine vinegar, so I substituted Mirin, a sweet rice cooking wine. It added a wonderful depth of flavor. I pair this with brown rice, lime wedges and tortillas. Hands on time is minutes. P.S. I love my Le Crueset dutch oven. The world is a better place with these bad boys in it. We also tried a new meatloaf recipe from Real Simple - paired it with yellow potatoes (I actually purchase them at WinCo in the bag and love them - so buttery).

Pasta/parm/veggies. A good standby - no recipe needed and it's quick.

Bean chicken and sausage stew - known as "hot dog soup" around these parts. I purchase the chicken sausage at Trader Joe's and the soup involves kale, so I don't feel so bad.

This morning I made these blueberry scones. It's the perfect recipe and they remind me almost exactly of the ones I get at Starbucks when I'm starving (which is almost always).


I have a confession. Up until this point in my life, I wouldn't touch an entire raw chicken with a ten foot pole. Well, I briefly saw the Neeley's on the Food Network get all up in a chicken (including under the skin with butter and herbs). I realized I was missing out on this entire corner of the culinary world that involved beautiful golden birds filled with garlic and lemon slices and I could resist no longer. I put my bacteria neuroses on the back burner and cooked a bird. What a success! The meat was fragrant and moist (but no where near as salty as those delicious rotisserie chickens you get at Costco - what do they put in those?!) and I will definitely do it again.

My last recipe is one found in the Mother's cookbook. I am attempting the carrot cake recipe, although I don't really have the crowd to cook it for.

Got Bread?

Oh, my. I could lick the screen right now. I made this bread last night thanks to a fellow Bible Study attender giving me her trusty recipe. It was incredibly easy - all done in my Kitchen Aid mixer and it comes out as a honey wheat bread (with half white flour, just for that wonderful pillowy texture). Email me if you want the recipe, as my computer has apparently not woken up and is not pasting anything from anywhere.