Grain-free Cinnamon Roll Donuts

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 c almond flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons raw honey (plus some for drizzling on top before serving)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a six mold donut pan very well (I use coconut oil). In the bowl of your food processor, combine the dry ingredients. Pulse. In a separate small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and add this to the food processor. Blend until the batter is very smooth and then pour into the six donut molds, filling about 2/3 of the way. Bake for 12 minutes. Do not over bake! These should be moist and fluffy.

Drizzle with raw honey (my daughter prefers to use maple syrup) and serve warm.

Original recipe: Texanerin

Pumpkin Spice Donut

Finally...a donut you can feel GOOD about eating.  These light and fluffy grain-free donuts are a protein disguised as a carb.  Absolutely delicious!

Pumpkin Spice Donuts

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy almond butter, unsalted
4 eggs
1/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground all-spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Honey (To drizzle on top)

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes
Yields: 15 medium donuts

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Place almond butter in a medium bowl and beat with a hand mixer until creamy. Add eggs, pumpkin, honey, and vanilla. Continue to beat until thoroughly blended.

2. Add salt, baking powder, and spices. Mix well.

3. Place batter into a well greased donut pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove from pan. Just before eating, drizzle with honey.

Note: These donuts reheat well and can be refrigerated in a sealed container for up to three days.

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 120
Fat: 9g
Carbs: 8g
Protein: 3g

Recipe adapted from: A Sweet Simple Life

Pumpkin Pancakes

Confession:  The texture of most gluten-free baked goods/breads give me the heebie-jeebies.  I'd rather avoid the item altogether than eat an inferior gluten-free version.  So, most mornings, my breakfast consists of eggs, veggies and fruit.  But, let's be honest...a girl can only eat so many eggs before she's desperate for something, ANYthing else...even IF the texture is a little...ummm..."off".

Enter: Pumpkin Pancakes.  After a little experimentation and tweaking, I have to say that these are the most gluteny-textured gluten-free pancakes I've had so far.  They're super easy to whip up and delicious with a little butter (or butter substitute) and a drizzle of real maple syrup.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1/8 cup almond flour

1 tbsp honey

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder (GF)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup coconut, rice or almond milk (I use SoDelicious coconut milk)

1 tbsp extra virgin oilive oil

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Should be a bit lumpy and fairly thick.  Spread 1/8 - 1/4 cup of batter into a circle with a spatula or spoon.  Cook at approx 340 degrees F until golden on both sides. Makes aprox 10 - 20 pancakes.  Serve with pure maple syrup or agave nectar.  Also delicious with apple compote!

Variations:
Use 1/2 cup of mashed ripe bananas in place of pumpkin.  

Add pecans or walnuts into batter while baking to add a wholesome and delicious crunch!
  
If you're the only one eating GF, this batch will make WAY too many for one person.  I recommend laying the cooled pancakes on a cookie sheet and sticking them in the freezer for 20 min.  Once frozen, you can throw them all in a freezer container and pull them out a few at a time for breakfast/snack.  10-15 seconds in the microwave (high) and you're good to go!

Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups almond flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
3 large eggs
4-5 very ripe bananas
1 cup chopped walnuts

4 oz softened butter or butter substitute (optional)
2 tbsp honey (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line 12 muffin cups with liners or grease with melted coconut oil.

Mash the bananas into a bowl (using a hand mixer). Add oil and eggs; blend until mixture is smooth. Add flour, salt and baking soda, and mix well. Add the walnuts, and combine.

Spoon the batter into muffin cups. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown. Let muffins cool in the pan for about half an hour, then serve.

Mix butter (or butter substitute) and honey to serve with warm muffins. (optional)  The muffins are not very sweet, so I recommend topping with honey butter before serving, or you could simply add the honey directly to the batter and skip the butter all together.

Recipe Source: Adapted from "The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook" by Elana Amsterdam

Citrus-Berry Scones

I was searching for something fun to make my family for Valentine's Day and came across a recipe for scones. I didn't have all the ingredients, but figured it'd be a fun time to experiment with substitutions.  I only had greek yogurt, so I had to increase the liquid a bit...and used an orange, instead of a lemon, for my citrus.  I was a little nervous, but my family gave me a unanimous cheer and said these were definitely a "make again". :)

Citrus-Berry Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
zest of one orange
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used greek yogurt, so I added a couple extra splashes of cream)

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Egg wash, as needed

For the glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
Juice of one orange
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and lemon zest. Add the cubes of butter and either with a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the butter until the mixture is grainy and the butter is the size of peas.

In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and cream until combined. Add to the flour mixture and mix with a spoon until the mixture just starts to come together. Do not overmix. Add the blueberries and gently fold together (the blueberries will start to bleed so mix minimally to prevent your scones from turning purple). Gather the mixture into a ball and dump onto a greased surface.

Use your hands to form the dough into a circle and flatten about one inch think. Use a pizza cutter and cut the dough into 8 slices. Place each triangular scone on the sheet pan about one inch apart. Create an egg wash by whisking one egg and a tablespoon of cream or milk together. Brush over the top of each scone.

Bake until golden, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Meanwhile, make the glaze.

Stir together the orange juice and confectioners sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Add the butter and microwave on high for about 30 seconds until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Drizzle over the tops of the scones.

Makes 8 scones.

Recipe Source: Adapted from Completely Delicious's Lemon Blueberry Scones

Mini Dutch Babies with Strawberry Sauce...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks for our family, so meals have been easy, and let's face it...BORING...around here.  To make up for that, I decided to make the kids a surprise breakfast treat.  Mini dutch babies drizzled with strawberry sauce and dusted with powdered sugar.  They were a HIT!  (I tried a bite, just to see how they came out and they were DELISH!  I hope to experiment with a gluten-free, dairy-free version, so check back soon if you're interested.)

My family is not big on the eggy-ness of the typical dutch baby, but this recipe uses the least amount of eggs possible.  Also, they're not sweet.  If you prefer them to be...add a tablespoon or so of sugar, honey or agave.  Once they're sprinkled with powdered sugar and dipped in strawberry sauce or maple syrup, I think they're the perfect blend of savory sweetness...but, on the other hand, adding a sweetener to the batter does make it taste more like a pancake and less eggy.  Just experiment and find out what you're family likes best. :)

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted
powdered sugar

Berry Sauce:
6 large frozen or fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons berry jam
optional: sugar if needed, to taste

Instructions
Place mini muffin pan in oven and heat to 400 degrees.  While oven is heating, place flour, milk, eggs, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.  Carefully remove the pan from the oven (don’t forget it’s hot!) and quickly spray the wells with non-stick spray, or brush with melted butter.  But we’re going for quick and easy here so I just grab the spray.  Fill muffin wells 3/4 full with batter.  Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden on top.  Remove puffs and place on plate or platter.  Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Drizzle with berry sauce and top with cool whip or whipped cream, or serve with sauce and/or maple syrup for dipping.

Quick and Easy Berry Sauce

If using frozen berries, place berries and jam in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 1 minute.  Use a fork to stir and mash everything together (cut strawberries if necessary), or place everything in a blender and pulse a few times until desired consistency is reached.  Add sugar to taste for sweetness and a few teaspoons of water or juice only if needed for consistency.

Yields about 24 mini muffin pancake puffs

Recipe Source: OurBestBites.com

Italian Dressing Mix

I've always kept dry Italian dressing seasoning on hand for marinades, dips, quick homemade dressings and fajitas. <--- Yes, you read that right. Fajitas. In a moment of desperation, I discovered that a package of Italian dressing mix is the perfect substitute marinade for steak fajitas. It sounds odd - I was skeptical at first, too - but it tastes just like fajita seasoning when mixed with sauteed steak, onions and peppers - and it's way less expensive.

I triple or quadruple this recipe and store it in an airtight container so I always have it on hand.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
2 tablespoons salt

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, mix together the garlic salt, onion powder, sugar, oregano, pepper, thyme, basil, parsley, celery salt and regular salt. Store in a tightly sealed container.

To prepare dressing, whisk together 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons of the dry mix. You can substitute red wine or white wine vinegar, as well as balsamic vinegar, for the white vinegar, to change things up. They're all excellent!

Recipe Source: Italian Dressing Mix at Allrecipes.com.