Grain-free Pumpkin Muffins.

My mom found this recipe over at Amy's Simply Sugar & Gluten-free blog sometime before Thanksgiving. The original recipe was submitted in her Slightly Indulgent Tuesday's carnival by another blogger. Unfortunately when my mom printed out the recipe, it didn't say who made them! My mom was adventurous and made some edits to the recipe (go Mom!) which were spot on. So here is her lovely delicious creation.

I cannot say enough of these muffins! They are incredibly moist and have great flavor and texture. She was kind enough to ship me a whole package of these muffins when I was away at school over Thanksgiving. I shared them with all my "not gluten-free" friends and they LOVED them. They couldn't even tell they were gluten-free, and EVERY SINGLE person asked for the recipe. After much waiting, here it is! My mom also served them at her own Thanksgiving feast she hosted and NO ONE knew that they were gluten-free. The plate disappeared. Obviously people enjoyed them :)

We currently have a whole bag of these at our house in the freezer. Whenever we need a muffin fix we take one out and pop it into the toaster oven to warm up. All it takes is ten minutes and you have a warm yummy muffin.  These freeze very well! This will definitely be my new "to-go-to" recipe when I need to make muffins. Which reminds me, I need to remake my Morning Glory Muffin recipe without the grains and the sugar!

Grain-free Pumpkin Muffins
    makes about 2 dozen muffins

    2 cups  blanched almond flour
    1 tsp  baking soda
    1/2 tsp  sea salt
    1/2 tsp  each: nutmeg, allspice, cloves
    1 cup  pumpkin puree
    3 real eggs - ours were large!
    1/4 cup  organic extra virgin olive oil
    1/2 cup  honey/maple syrup
    1 cup  chopped nuts (for topping)
    Optional add ins: raisins, coconut, chocolate chips for topping

To make your muffins:
  1.  Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin tins with muffin liners.
  2.  Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, be sure to remove lumps.
  3.  Mix wet ingredients together in a large bowl.
  4.  Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
  5.  Pour batter into muffin tin, about 3/4 cup full for each.
  6.  Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

You simply MUST try these muffins! They will change your life they are so delicious! They are certain some nutritious muffins :) These also make a great protein filled snack and breakfast topping!

Broccoli Turkey Turnip Soup

Broccoli Turkey Turnip soup with grated
raw cheddar cheese and "black dust" black pepper!

Creating the post title for this post really made me laugh. Broccoli turkey turnip soup! It has such a happy go-lucky feeling to it doesn't it? If you are looking for an easy broccoli veggie soup, this recipe is for you. Some would call it "detox New Years soup" (have you noticed those recipes popping up everywhere?) but I would make this soup any time of year, detox or not. Plus, if you eat real food as I do, you don't have to detox!

This recipe was inspired by Elana's recent Broccoli Soup. Her basic recipe sounded fantastic, and as I started to make her recipe, the whole operation kind of went in a different direction and now I have something quite a bit different to share! I added homemade chicken stock, turnips and ground turkey to the recipe. I love the addition of the chicken stock, since the warmth and nourishment of the broth really promote excellent digestion and a happy stomach.

 Another great thing about this recipe is that the soup has no added fat, except the tiny amount of olive oil at the beginning. I did this intentionally to make it light. Fat is necessary for every meal, so depending what you are in the mood for, stir in a glob of coconut oil to boost your coconut oil consumption, stir in a tablespoon of butter, or grate any desired type of cheese on top. Fresh raw cream or coconut milk would also be a great addition to make the soup have an even more creamy consistency. I added the turnips for this reason, creamy whiteness without the cream! The recipe is very basic and easy to customize to your liking. It is also grain-free and low calorie!


Broccoli Turkey Turnip Soup
     serves many, with leftovers for the freezer

1 large heads organic broccoli
1 bag of turnips
water as needed
2 Tbsp olive oil or real butter
1/3 one large vadalia onion
4-6 cups homemade chicken or turkey stock
1-2 lb ground turkey
spices: sea salt, black pepper, nutmeg, garlic powder, kelp flakes

To make your soup:
1. Sautee onions in butter or olive oil until browned, add broccoli and some water and steam until soft.
2. In a separate pot, boil turnips until soft. Strain off water and keep in pot. Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
3. In the same broccoli sautee pan, brown ground turkey until cooked through.
4. Pour the broccoli mixture into the turnip pot and puree with a hand blender, or transfer by small batches to a blender. Blend/puree until smooth. Finally, transfer (do not drain) turkey to the pot.
4. Add spices and let simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Serve with lots of black pepper and grated raw cheddar cheese!


This recipe is very versatile since lots of other ingredients and mix-ins can be easily added. I like it just the way it is. I was in an adventurous food-mood one night and to the leftovers I added some frozen crinkle cut carrots and frozen blueberries! Weird combination but it was very good! Maybe I was craving some blueberries :)

It's definitely freezing up here in the North East. This soup will keep you warm at either breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Grain-free Apple Crunchy-Crisp

Craving apple crisp during a snow day we had last week, and deciding to remedy my want for warm buttery gooey apples, I whipped up this recipe. It was a real crowd pleaser. Between my parents and I, we ate the whole thing in 2 days. Like 48 hours. It was soo good! I actually enjoyed it for breakfast the next day under some greek yogurt. This recipe is so nourishing you can have it for breakfast. And the ice cream too! Perhaps best of all, it will make your insides nice and warm after coming in from shoveling all that snow!

Delicious topping!

Feel free to use whatever apples you have on hand. I only had grannies, but I really like the combination of grannies, gala and yellow delicious in a warm fruit dessert. Granny smith apples are the typical stand-by, but in my opinion, its the yellow delicious that really steal the show. So if you have more than one kind of apple in the fridge, I highly suggest you use a few different kinds. Either way, this apple crisp is delicious. It is very low in sugar, sweetened by the apples, dates and a bit of maple syrup. This is a dessert is such a nutritional powerhouse that it's kind of crazy to call it a dessert!

Apple Crunchy-Crisp
     serves six with no leftovers

6 small granny smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into slices
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp arrowroot flour/starch
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 pumpkin pie spice

4 Tbsp real butter
1/2-3/4 cup unblanched almond flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
10-15 pitted dates, chopped
dash cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter, reserved

To make your crispy cobbler:
1. With an apple apparatus, prepare your apples. Cover with water and lemon juice (prevents oxidation and brown discoloration).
2. Prepare the topping: roughly chop dates, combine with walnuts, cinnamon and almonds. In a separate bowl cut butter into almond flour. Mix flour/butter mixture with other toppings.
3. Drain water from apples. Toss with maple syrup, arrowroot starch and spices. Spread out (do not flatten) in a glass baking dish. Sprinkle topping over the top in an even layer. Slice remaining butter into small squares and distribute evenly over the topping.
4. Cover with tin foil and bake in a 375 degree oven until warm and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Turn up to 400 degrees without the foil and finish for 10 minutes or until topping has browned slightly (watch burning, since this topping has no sugar cane it will not "brown" like other pie toppings).
5. Let cool for a few minutes. It is best served warm with fresh raw cream and homemade french vanilla ice cream or homemade vanilla ice cream.

Finished product :) with ice cream

What a lovely chewy crunchy top!

Currently I am enjoying working at home and having another SNOW DAY! Second week in a row. If you are from the North East... what is your opinion on snow days? Love them, hate them? How do you deal with them?