Chunky Apple Muffins (grain free!)

Chunky Apple Muffins

This past weekend we had a bunch of family in town for Dr. Court’s birthday and my baby shower. I wanted to have something quick and easy for breakfast since we had 5 people (1 bathroom!) and a baby all needing to be ready by 10am. I made an egg veggie casserole ahead of time but I thought it would be nice to have muffins or something to go with it.

Dr. Court’s assistant Kate recently shared this recipe with me so I thought I’d give it a try. Wow! I am so glad I did. They were a huge hit! I can’t wait to make them again. I feel a little guilty eating them kind of like the Paleo Breakfast Bread but I don’t need to because they’re grain free. They do have a little maple syrup but I reduced it from the original recipe by half. I also added a little protein powder to them. We use Biotics Research Whey Protein as it is not flavored and can easily be added to recipes like this. In fact, I often add it to things that I bake.

Chunky Apple Muffins

Muffin Ingredients!

Makes 12 muffins

2 c. almond flour

3 T. coconut flour

1/2 t. baking soda

2 scoops Whey Protein powder

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 c. maple syrup

1/4 c. olive oil

2 t. vanilla extract

1 organic egg

1 large organic apple, peeled, cored and diced

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone cups and set aside.

Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, protein powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together maple syrup, olive oil, vanilla and egg.

Add wet mixture to flour mixture and mix until fully moistened.

Fold in chopped apples.

Spoon the batter into muffin tin, dividing batter evenly between all 12 cups.

Place batter in muffin cups.

Bake for 25-27 minutes, until muffins are set and golden brown.  Allow muffins to cool in pan for 30 minutes before serving. (Mine didn’t need to cook as long as the recipe states so, I suggest checking them around 20-23 minutes.)

Enjoy with some cream cheese or butter!

Roasted Cabbage

Roasted Cabbage

Just in time for a fall…another recipe from pinterest….I wasn’t kidding when I said it was addicting. This is a super easy side to make for two reasons 1) you probably have all ingredient for the marinade already 2) it takes minutes to throw together. As we’ve have an abundance of cabbage in our CSA lately, we’ve had this several times. It’s a great way to use the “other half” of a cabbage. I find that when using cabbage I rarely use the whole thing and then I need to find something to do with the rest. This has become a “go to” for using up cabbage. For the two of us we’ll have a wedge a piece but for a larger family you could cut the wedges in half and serve another veggie with it. I didn’t change anything from the original recipe I saw online. However, I’ve made it using soy sauce instead of Worcestershire and I’ve left the lemon out when we didn’t have any on hand and it was still tasty! I also think you could play around and add different spices to change it up a bit. The original blogger talks about making it on the grill but I’ve never tried it that way.

Let me know if you come up with another variation!

Roasted Cabbage

Ingredients for marinade

 

1 tsp olive oil

2 tbsp real bacon bits (I used 2 strips of crispy bacon for half a cabbage)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Cabbage Quartered

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper (more or less to taste)

1 Medium Head of Cabbage quartered

 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the olive oil, bacon bits, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to make the marinade.

Marinade with Bacon

Prepare the cabbage. Rinse it under water and remove any yucky loose leaves. Cut into quarters.

Lay each wedge on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it up in. Spoon about 2 tbsp of the marinade on top making sure to get it in all the nooks and crannies.

Spoon marinade on top and wrap up.

Wrap each wedge and bake for 20-30 minutes for crunchy cabbage and 30-45 for a softer cabbage. (We’ve done it both ways!)

 

Note: To make a whole head of cabbage I would double the recipe above. The amount above is what I’ve used for a half a cabbage.

Cheesy Garlic Cauliflower Bread

Cheesy Garlic Cauliflower Bread

You probably remember my post from a few weeks back with the Cauliflower Pizza Crust. It was a raging success! Thank you for all the feedback! And, thank goodness for Pinterest!

I f you were like us, you might have had some cauliflower leftover. I had also pinned a  recipe for this cheesy garlic bread.  I have to say, I don’t know which one we liked more…the pizza or the garlic bread! They were both amazing but I’m leaning toward the bread. I just felt sooo bad, but I wasn’t being. I really felt like I was eating cheesy bread sticks when I dipped them in the leftover pizza sauce.  They were also really good cold and leftover! (I know, it’s crazy and I’d say it’s just because I’m pregnant but Dr. Court thought so too!) The recipe is almost identical to the pizza crust. I didn’t change a thing from the recipe I from Mom, What’s for Dinner?

Give it a try and let us know which one YOU like better!

 

Cheesy Garlic Cauliflower Bread

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 tsp garlic salt

olive oil

 

For Topping:

2 tablespoons softened salted butter

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

*Optional Marinara sauce for dipping  (I highly recommend this…we used leftover pizza sauce.)

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Chop the cauliflower florets into chunks and steam them in a steamer or on the stove until slightly soft for 15 minutes. Place in a ricer or grate.

One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

 

To Make the “Bread”:

Prepare your baking stone or sheet by spreading a small amount of olive oil on it and top with parchment paper. (I also, highly recommend using the parchment paper. It made it so much easier as it didn’t stick or burn.)

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg, Parmesan and Mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir.

Transfer to the baking stone or sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a large rectangle.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven.

Mix 2 TBSP butter and garlic in a small bowl and.spread the butter and garlic mixture over baked cauliflower bread and top with Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses.

Place back in the 450 degree oven until all cheese is melted.

Slice and Serve!

We had this with the Garlic Dill Chicken recipe from last week and it was fabulous!

Garlic Dill Chicken

My sister-in-law reminded me of this recipe. It was given to her by my mother and at this point I don’t think she remembers where it came from originally. It’s super easy and full of flavor. My sister-in-law made a few adjustments to the original recipe and those are the ones I’ll share with you.

She substituted the sour cream in this recipe for Greek yogurt. I have to admit that I rarely use sour cream for anything anymore. I almost always use Greek yogurt as we always have it on hand, it has more protein and it tastes great on anything that you would use sour cream. For example, we use it on sweet potatoes, taco salads sans shell, as a topping for chili, you name it. If you would use sour cream, we use Greek yogurt in its place. Anyway, it’s great in this recipe. While I used chicken for this recipe you could also use fish and it would be just as excellent.

Garlic Dill Chicken

Ingredients for Garlic Dill Chicken

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

½ tsp Garlic powder

1 Tbsp Dill weed (I used fresh dill from our CSA that I had dried)

¼ tsp Black pepper

Salt to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl mix together mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, garlic powder, dill weed, black pepper and salt.

Coat the chicken breasts with the mixture and place in a 9×13 pan.

Coat with mixture and place in pan.

Bake covered for 25-30 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top of the chicken. Place back in the oven until cheese is melted and slightly browned and chicken breasts are cooked through.

Sprinkle the chicken with Parmesan cheese.

ENJOY!

Yummy Cooked Apples

Spartan Apples from Poverty Lane Orchard

Fall is here! The temperature is dropping, the leaves are turning and pumpkins and apples are ready for picking. Recently I picked up a bag of Spartan apples at our local Poverty Lane Orchard. When I was shopping for them I had a recipe in mind that my mom used to make when we were kids. I’m not sure it’s a recipe in so much as it’s one of those things that you just throw together. Come to find out my mom’s used to make it and her mom’s mom also made these yummy cooked apples. So who knows how long it’s been in the family or how many times it’s changed. I, of course, had to put my own spin on it and try to make it fit our eating plan a little better. The original called for sugar which I knew I would omit as I figured it wouldn’t really need it. I was right! With the addition of some raisins it’s perfectly sweet on its own.

Now, I tried to dress the apples up a little more by making some candied toasted walnuts to top it. If I hadn’t burnt them they would have been a great addition. However, they ended up tasting a little like burnt popcorn which took away from the amazing apples we opted not to use them.

Additionally, pouring a little organic heavy cream over the apples is another great option.

These cooked apples taste like fall, plus they make the house smell amazing as they cook! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! I know I’ll be making another batch very soon!

Cooked Apples

8 small apples, peeled and sliced (you could use more small apples as they cook down considerably)

Peeled Sliced Apples

¼ c. raisins

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Other Ingredients

Melt the 2 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Melted Butter

Add the peeled, sliced apples, raisins and cinnamon to the pan. Stir to coat them with the butter cinnamon.

Stir to coat apples with butter, cinnamon and raisins.

Let them cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the apples are soft and just starting to fall apart. You don’t want them to get too mushy and turn to applesauce.

Cooked Apples

Remove from heat and serve warm either by themselves or with a little heavy cream. (You could top them with a small scoop of organic vanilla bean ice cream if you were so inclined….hey even we have a little ice cream as a treat once in a while….just not every day or week for that matter!!!!)

Cooked Apples with Heavy Cream

Cooked Apples

8 small apples, peeled and sliced (you could use more small apples as they cook down considerably)

¼ c. raisins

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Melt the 2 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the peeled, sliced apples, raisins and cinnamon to the pan. Stir to coat them with the butter cinnamon. Let them cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the apples are soft and just starting to fall apart. You don’t want them to get too mushy and turn to applesauce. Remove from heat and serve warm either by themselves or with a little heavy cream. (You could top them with a small scoop of organic vanilla bean ice cream if you were so inclined….hey even we have a little ice cream as a treat once in a while….just not every day or week for that matter!!!!)

Candied Toasted Walnuts

1 cup of coarsely chopped halved walnuts

1 Tbsp melted butter

½ tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp of maple syrup

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine melted butter, maple syrup and cinnamon in a bowl. Add walnuts and toss until coated.

Place walnuts on a baking sheet and place in oven for about 5-8 minutes. Make sure you watch them closely and turn them a time or two. They will go from perfectly toasted to burnt in no time! Top the apples with some walnuts. (Again, these are a treat for us. I don’t make them every time I make the apples.)

Mexican Egg Casserole

Mexican Egg Casserole

Again I saw this on pinterest.com. I’m telling you it’s addictive! Anyway, I came across this egg casserole and wanted to try it. I love egg casseroles. I don’t think they should be reserved for holidays although they do come in very handy at that time of year. During the week they make our mornings easier when all we have to do is warm up a dish that I’ve already prepared and add some sliced berries or veggies. Plus, they are tasty and varied. I thought this one sounded interesting but after taking a look I knew I’d have to changes some things like removing the bread and adding more eggs.

Here’s my version.

Mexican Egg Casserole

8 oz. uncooked chorizo (spicy Mexican sausage)

8 oz. ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

Ingredients for Mexican Egg Casserole

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 cup baby spinach (I used 1 package frozen chopped spinach because I had some on hand)

18 eggs

2/3 cup organic half and half

1/2 tsp. ground mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese (used mozzarella because I had it on hand)

1/2 cup grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated jalapeño cheddar cheese (I omitted this as I was afraid it would get too spicy for Dr. Court to handle)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9″ by 13″ baking pan with a saved butter wrapper.

Whisk the eggs, half and half, ground mustard, salt, and black pepper together, and set aside.

In a skillet, brown the chorizo and ground turkey until cooked through then add the onion and bell peppers and sauté until tender. Add garlic and sauté a minute more and then add spinach and cook just until spinach wilts (if using fresh).

Place the meat and veggies in the pan, then add the egg mixture and top with the cheeses. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until cooked through, uncovering for the last 5-10 minutes so the cheese will brown slightly on top.

Serve with some fresh sliced berries or cherry tomatoes.

Meat and veggies go on the bottom.

Add eggs and cheese.

ENJOY!!

Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake

Again, I saw this on pinterest.com but it reminded me of a something my used to make when I was growing up. My mom’s version was yellow squash, onion, salt and pepper and cheese and poppy seeds. It was also delicious and as I’m typing this I realize I haven’t made it in a while will have to! Back to this Cheesy Zucchini Bake. It really is super easy and delicious. I’ve made it a few times and I think the version I’m going to show you is my favorite. It even tastes great leftover the next day.

Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake

Ingredients you’ll need!

2 medium-sized zucchini, cut in slices or half-moon slices (I used 1 large zucchini and 1 ½ medium yellow squash)
2 medium-sized yellow squash, cut in slices or half-moon slices
½ cup chopped fresh basil (or less, depending on how much you like the flavor of basil)
1 thinly sliced shallot
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup + 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese but another white cheese like Swiss would be good too

1/2 cup coarsely grated Parmesan (I would use a little less if you only have the very finely grated Parmesan from a can)

Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Grease the pan with a leftover butter wrapper.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray an 8″ x 8″ baking dish with olive oil or use a leftover butter wrapper to grease the pan.  Wash the squash and cut in slices or half-moon slices.  Wash basil, spin dry or dry with paper towels and finely chop.  Slice shallot.

Combine the ingredients.

Combine the sliced squash, chopped basil, sliced shallots, dried thyme, garlic powder, ½ cup of mozzarella and ½ cup of coarsely grated Parmesan and stir together until the veggies are coated with cheese and the herbs are well-distributed. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Put the mixture in the baking dish and bake uncovered for about 25-30 minutes.

When the zucchini is nearly cooked through, take the casserole dish out of the oven and sprinkle over the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Put the dish back in the oven and bake 10-15 minutes longer, or until the cheese is melted and nicely browned and zucchini is fully cooked.  Serve hot.

Serve hot and enjoy!

P.S. This goes amazingly well with the meatloaf from the Everyday Paleo cookbook. This meatloaf recipe is by far my absolute favorite! It’s fantastic! So good in fact, I would make it every week! 🙂

P.P. S. If you haven’t seen or heard by now Sarah Fragoso has a new cookbook out. Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook with brand new recipes! Check it out too.

Mexican Eggs

Mexican Eggs

This recipe was inspired by many things so I’ll try to be brief. Back in May our local Mexican restaurant, Gusanoz, was made over by the Food Network’s show Restaurant Impossible. Essentially, when a restaurant is failing they appeal to the show to come and make over their establishment to help turn things around. On Wednesday night the show aired on the Food Network and Dr. Court and watched. Let me just say sometimes it’s better to NOT know what’s going on behind the scenes in a restaurant. Anyway, we were inspired to go back last night and see what the “new” Gusanoz was like. As it turns out the food was fresher, the décor clean, albeit a little stark for a Mexican restaurant, but overall a very pleasant experience. I also happened to bring home a doggie bag which leads me to the next piece of inspiration for this recipe.

Our friend and fitness coach Ben Dearman of KDR Fitness had mentioned that putting black beans in your eggs was really good. I’ll admit that the first time he said it I thought he was crazy. (I should give him a little more credit as he has written a chapter on fiber in a book that was just released, Results Fitness.) As we were sitting in the “old” Gusanoz for dinner I watched him place an order for extra black beans to take home and thought I’d give it a try with my few leftover black beans. As it turns out my eggs were awesome the next morning!

Here we are. Last night I had some black beans leftover from my dinner at Gusanoz so I asked to have them boxed up. We don’t usually eat a lot of beans but you can hardly eat Mexican and not have beans and rice (although I never eat the rice). This morning as I was making our breakfast I thought the beans would be fantastic with tomatoes and onions and cheddar cheese. I was right! They were amazing! Check them out and let me know what you think!!!

Mexican Eggs

Butter

Ingredients you need…

Chopped onion

Chopped tomato (I used half of an heirloom tomato I had leftover and some organic cherry tomatoes, sliced in half)

1 Tbsp of black beans

Garlic powder

Cumin

Salt and Pepper

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Eggs

3 Tbsp of cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a small skillet.

Add the onions and tomatoes and sauté until the onions are starting to soften then add the black beans.

Sauté another minute or two adding the garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.

Add your eggs to the pan (I have 2 and Dr. Court usually has 3) and cook through.

Mix in the cheddar cheese until melted.

Transfer to a plate and enjoy!

I just want to mention that I’ve never tried this by just opening a can of black beans and putting some into the eggs. While I am sure that would be good, I think part what makes this great is that the black beans from the restaurant have been seasoned with garlic, onion, cumin, cilantro etc. If you don’t have a Mexican restaurant near you I would suggest making a batch of beans using these thing and then adding it to your eggs. Also,this recipe would also be great with some green or red peppers but I didn’t have any on hand at the time.

Summer Veggie Bake

Hello Summer! It’s been a while since I lasted posted a recipe. I have to admit that I was in a new recipe funk and couldn’t come up with something interesting to share with you. We were in our easy rut of grilling our meat and veggies for dinner, Veggies Scrambles for breakfast and lunch was usually leftovers or salads since we’ve had a TON of lettuce from our CSA. However, in the last week I have tried a couple of new recipes that I am really excited to share with you because they are super easy and delicious. Today’s recipe is a Summer Veggie Bake.  We recently had a version of this at dinner party and I thought it was fantastic so I came home and tried to recreate it. I happened to have a bunch of fresh herbs on hand from other recipes and some fresh tomatoes from a local farm stand.  I think it’s turned out pretty well maybe even a little better than the one we had at the party, if I do say so myself! 😉

Give it a try and let me know what you think. What other veggies could you add to change it up a bit? Herbs?

 

Summer Veggie Bake serves 4

1 large organic yellow squash

2 small – medium organic zucchini

2 tomatoes

1-2 shallots

Fresh basil, parsley, and oregano

Salt and pepper

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease an 8×8″ pan. (I freeze the butter wrappers so I used that to lightly grease the pan.)

3. Thinly slice the tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash into rounds. Also, slice the shallots so they create thin rings.

4. Chop about 1/4-1/2  a cup each of fresh basil, Italian parsley and oregano.

5. Place a layer of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash in the pan. Top with some shallots and herbs and a dash of salt and pepper. Continue to layer in the pan until you are out of ingredients.

6. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

7. I cut the 8×8 dish into quarters and served a slice to each of us. You can top with Parmesan cheese if you would like.

Note: I would make my slices thinner the next time I make this dish. It still tasted yummy but it would layer a little better and cook more evenly if they were more uniform.

Berry Good Cobbler

I have a favorite cookbook that I use all the time. You’ve heard me talk about it before. It’s called Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso. I’ve only had it for a year and it’s already dog-eared, water marked and stained. It has great recipes that I don’t feel guilty eating because they’re paleo and the bonus is that they taste fantastic. I have many favorites from this cook book but today I want to share the Berry Cobbler recipe. With the unofficial start to summer last weekend it’s time to break out dishes like this. For us here in the Northeast, strawberry season is just around the corner to be followed by all the other delicious berries. Having grown up in the Midwest in a family and community of bakers I sometimes miss delectable desserts like cobbler but not anymore. With this delicious recipe I feel like I’m indulging in a very guilty pleasure. I hope you enjoy it. You could also make this with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, a mixture of berries, peaches or apples or frozen berries like I did since fresh aren’t yet in season. Here is a link to her blog with the recipe.

 

Berry Good Cobbler

3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (I used 1 package of frozen organic blackberries and 1 package of frozen mixed berries which was slightly more than 3 cups) (or other fruit of your choice)

1 egg

1 ½ cups almond meal

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp cinnamon

Drizzle of raw organic honey or maple syrup

Unsweetened coconut milk

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Pour the blackberries into a pie pan.

In small bowl, mix together the egg, almond meal, and coconut oil and shake in the cinnamon. Stir well until the mixture starts to crumble. If you wish, drizzle a bit of raw organic honey on top of the blackberries.

By hand, evenly crumble the almond meal mixture on top of the blackberries and bake in your preheated oven for 35 minutes.

Serve in bowls with cold coconut milk poured over the top.

You should check out the book.