No Sugar Added Dairy Free Fruit & Grain Muffins

I've been on this cleanse for the past little while.  It's divided into two phases, with the first ten days being the most brutal.  No fruit.  No raw veggies.  No dairy.  No a million other things I happen to enjoy.  But on day 11, the angels sing and the sky parts, and I can once again have a salad and limited fruit.  This is my second "day 11", thanks to having to start all over on the first day 8 because of someone accidentally serving me sugar and msg.  So the whole heavens were singing this morning.

In anticipation of today, I made some muffins out of two of the allowable grains and some fruit.  The males in my life tried them yesterday and passed their approval.  Neither of them had any clue there wasn't a drop of raw sugar, maple syrup, or honey to be found in there.  Nada.  Nothing.  And they loved it.  I tried it this morning.  And I loved it.  I may never go back to putting added
sweeteners in muffins again.

(NOTE: I am not a photographer.  At all.  I take pictures to record a memory.  That's about it.  But this picture gives you an idea of the texture and size to expect when using this rather unusual recipe.)

The following recipe makes 23-24 muffins.  They won't be huge coffee-shop muffins, but they will be tender bits of delectable sweetness.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup steel cut oats (you can pulse these a minute in a food processor if you like)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cups sprouted spelt flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/16th tsp. (a tiny, tiny pinch) of Stevia Rebaudiana Leaf Extract (totally optional*)
4-5 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, beaten
4 T. coconut milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
scant 2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
2 c. berries (I used a mix of frozen blackberries and blueberries from last summer's harvest)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  In large mixing bowl, stir dry ingredients together until well combined.

2. Add in the berries and toss well to coat.

3. Mash the bananas, and mix the eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla in with a fork until well combined.  Add in the melted coconut oil and mix in until fully combined.  (If your bananas were frozen previously, you might want to consider letting them warm up to room temperature.  Otherwise, they will probably cause the coconut oil to immediately seize back up in a solid state, and that will be a pain to combine thoroughly. Fresh, ripe bananas are your friend in this step.)

4. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry berry mixture, and gently fold together until all the grains are incorporated.

5. Scoop into two greased muffin tins.  Bake at 400 for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan and then carefully run a knife along the edges of each muffin and gently lift out onto a cooling rack.  These will be very tender muffins, so go slowly and gently.

6. Enjoy and revel in the fact that you get to enjoy the sweetness of fruit.

* About the Stevia.....Most of the stevia out there isn't actually stevia.  It's primarily got sugar alcohols and a tiny bit of stevia, and then they put "stevia" on the label so you think you are doing a good thing. You are not doing a good thing.  These muffins don't actually need the extra sweetness, but if you were going to add it in, you would want to only use a brand that contained ONLY stevia rebaudiana (leaf) extract.  New Roots has a white powder concentrate that is amazing and has none of the aftertaste I kept hearing about when researching it.  I just don't know if New Roots is widely available outside of Canada.  Our little natural foods store in town carries it in a 15g container for about $9.  It's a tiny tub, but when you realize it takes only a few grains to sweeten an entire bowl of oatmeal, suddenly it seems like a worthy investment of $9.  All the big box grocery stores carried over-priced crappy substitutes.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
1 package yellow cake mix
1 large package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 c oil
1 C sour cream

Directions:
Beat together for 7 minutes.

Mix 1 C nuts
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa

Grease a bundt pan, sprinkle 1/4 of the nut mixture in the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the batter and nut mixture

Bake 1 - 1 1/2 hours at 350

A different kind of breakfast burrito

I make this for the kids now and they love it.

1 T of salmon cream cheese (or cream cheese of your desired flavor) (1pt)
1/2 c of egg substitute (1pt)
1/8 c of l/f shredded cheese (1pt)
1/4 c of diced mushrooms (free)
1/4 c of diced peppers (free)
2 t of bacon pieces (I use the hormel) (.5 pt)
1 w/w tortilla (burrito size) (4 pt)

I use pam and spray my pan. Turn my burner on 5 (medium heat) and pour the egg substitute in pan. After it cooks a bit I sprinkle, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese around on top of the egg. While that is cooking, I move the pan to move uncooked egg around. I flip the egg (not breaking it and lightly brown other side)

I take the 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and spread it on tortillia.

Place egg in center of tortilla and roll. You'll get egg mixture in every bite.

(7.5 pts weight watchers but it's very filling and the kids love it)

French Toast Casserole

Okay, so I've been on the sidebar since two days after this started and as of yet have not added my two cents! I came up with this about a month ago when it was "breakfast soufle'" night and I really didn't want it, but had all the eggs and the loaf of white bread (ewwwwww), and diced ham to use up. This is the one and only time you will see white bread in my house!! My family loved it and so did I!Enjoy!

1 loaf white bread, torn into small pieces
1 dozen eggs, beaten
1 C milk,
2 8 oz blocks cream cheese, diced
2 C chopped ham (I buy the bag already chopped)
1/4 C sugar (I use raw)
vanilla and cinnamon to your taste
maple syrup

Combine all ingredients except maple syrup and pour into 9X13 dish with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees "until done"! I think it baked about an hour or so, but it may have been more or may have been less. I just kept setting my timer for 15 minutes until it was done so I lost track! I'm bad about that!! This stuff smells amazing while it cooks! Serve with maple syrup on top and fruit on the side! Yum!

Unbeatable Banana Bread

2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened

1 C sugar

2 eggs, room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 med to large very ripe bananas

1/2 C sour cream

Sift dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, cream sugar & butter together then add eggs one at a time mixing between each addition until well combined, then add vanilla & mix. Set aside. In another bowl mash the bananas & mix in sour cream. Into the butter mix, add 1/3 of the dry mix & stir in with a wooden spoon*. Add the rest of the ingredients in this order: 1/2 the banana mix, 1/2 the remaining dry mix, the rest of the banana mix, the rest of the dry mix, any add-ins desired (I like to put in dried cranberries or dried berry mix). Line loaf pan with waxed paper leaving enough to drape over the sides. Pour batter into pan & bake at 325 for 75 minutes or until bread tests done with a toothpick. Set bread on cooling rack for 20 minutes, then use waxed paper to pull it out of the pan. Peel paper from sides of the bread & allow it to cool completely before slicing.

*mixing with the wooden spoon prevents over mixing & keeps the bread from becoming chewy.

This is my favorite breakfast! Oh, and I rarely let it cool completely before I cut into it...can't wait that long!

Buttermilk Pancakes that Will Rock Your World

This is my dad's recipe for buttermilk pancakes - it is his adaptation of the Betty Crocker recipe. There are a few ingredients that are marked as OBWC - this stands for "Optional But World Class" - that's my dad's designation. I have to say I don't include them, but dad does when he makes them, and they are SUPER good.

Into a mixing bowl put:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup wheat bran
1 heaping Tbsp cornmeal (OBWC)
1 heaping Tbsp cream of rice (OBWC)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

And stir up real nice until everything is mixed just the way you like it...

THEN

Into your blender jar put:
2 eggs (or 1 egg and up to 2 or 3 egg whites, it's a protein thing)
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (says my dad: "or butter but NOT MARGARINE! It'll clog your veins and make any circulatory activities much more difficult with the passing years. Trust me on this one... or not...it's your breakfast.")

Whirl it around until the color is uniform.

NOW

Pour the liquid into the bowl with dry ingredients and mix lightly.

AND NOW - make sure your frying pan is nice and hot. Film the pan with oil (that's per dad - I use cooking spray, and they come out fine... )... Add about 3 tbsp of batter to the pan for each pancake.

Cook like you would cook pancakes (seriously, I can get specific, but I'm tired of typing!)

Enjoy your breakfast!!!