Paleo Nut-Free Muffin Recipes

 Okay guys, I want to share a couple of muffin recipes with you. My son's school has a very strict nut policy now due to severe allergies, and most of my baking involved almond butter or flour. I've baked with coconut flour before, but it's so dry and dense, you choke trying to get it down. These muffins are so moist, and they freeze well. I make a couple of batches, freeze them, and pull them out when our stash starts to run low. They eat them for breakfast and snacks. Really, they are just two variations of one recipe, but they are really good, and really easy. Make a batch, and tell me what you think of them.

By the way, these muffins are fairly cheap to make IF you know where to get a good price on coconut flour and oil. Don't spend $10 a pound, please. I go to BJ's and get Organic coconut flour, 2.25 pounds for $5.99. They also have organic coconut oil, 1.125 quart for about $10. I've heard other people say they order it online, but I don't have the patience for all that.

Chocolate Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

1/2 cup coconut flour
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
1 cup of applesauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons honey or real maple syrup
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips (optional)

 I used a whisk attachment on my blender. If your applesauce and eggs are very cold, they will make the coconut oil harden. You can warm them slightly before mixing, but don't completely melt the coconut oil or the muffins will be soggy.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients together (I like to add my chocolate chips on top, but you can mix them in if you like). Grease your muffin liners with a little coconut oil. Scoop batter into cups, top with chocolate chips, and bake for 15 minutes. Makes about 1 dozen.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1/2 cup coconut flour
3 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt
1 cup of applesauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons honey or real maple syrup
1 cup diced apples

 I used a whisk attachment on my blender. If your applesauce and eggs are very cold, they will make the coconut oil harden. You can warm them slightly before mixing, but don't completely melt the coconut oil or the muffins will be soggy.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Grease your muffin liners with a little coconut oil. Scoop batter into cups, and bake for 15 minutes. Makes about 1 dozen.

Chicken Alfredo...with Cheese

     I am ashamed. I've had four people tell me that I've been slack with my blog. Hey, I think I've apologized at the beginning of nearly every post because, well, it had been weeks since my last...okay I get the point. I am slack. In my defense, I didn't realize that people actually enjoyed reading my blog. So before you read on, and get completely hooked, here's a disclaimer: it might be weeks until I get around to writing another one.

     I want to tell you guys about what we had for dinner last night. Chicken Alfredo! I'm not kidding, and you can find the recipe here. A couple of things about it. My family does not like zucchini. And just last night, when Cory asked what we were having, he literally scrunched up his nose like a kid, and told me that cauliflower wasn't a suitable substitute for anything. But because he's so great, or maybe it's because he'd be a hypocrite in front of the kids if he didn't, he tried it. Let me just tell you that I've known from day one whether my cooking was any good or not. He will not sugar-coat it, or try to save my feelings because he doesn't want to get stuck eating something he dislikes and having to continuously lie about it. He said, "It's not as good as the real thing," (Duh) "but it's not half bad!" Everyone had at least two helpings.

     Another note about cauliflower. Cory and I agree that it can have a "fishy" taste, especially when pureed. Strict paleo dieters do not eat dairy, but seeing as how it's so delicious, we do. We added a more-than-generous amount of Parmesan cheese, and that got rid of that fishy taste. And something I just learned, Romano cheese is actually from sheep, and they are pretty much exclusively grass-fed, so it's a better choice than Parmesan. For the zucchini noodles, I didn't have a "noodler gadget", so I just grated it the longest pieces I could, and that worked just fine. So I definitely recommend this. As my dear friend Lisa B. would say, "Was I fooled into thinking I was eating Alfredo? No, but it was a good substitute." We've made a similar dish with spaghetti squash before, and it was too sweet, but the zucchini was just right.

    I've been doing a little research on dairy. Some of the really hard-core Paleo dieters don't eat dairy because our ancestors didn't eat it 2 million years ago, and since it wasn't part of the original diet, it must be harmful. I don't believe the world is 2 million years old, so the only reason I would choose to eliminate it was if I actually thought it was harmful. And there are a lot of people with milk allergies. We did cut it out of our diets for the first month, and paid attention when we added it back in. The main thing I noticed was that eating cheese on top of everything made it more delicious. But I will say this, we have been told for the past 30 years that low-fat diets are healthy diets. So everyone pushes low-fat cheese, milk, and everything else. Studies actually show that diets with full fat (healthy fats, mind you. That Big Mac doesn't count.) are beneficial, and actually help you loose weight. Research for yourself, and see what you think.

Paleo Lunchboxes

     I've been so bad about blogging, but the truth is we messed up so many times this summer, I was too ashamed. I came to realize something. I made excuses saying to myself that it was summertime, the rules weren't as strict. So what if we have rice, potatoes, corn and gluten-free pizza! Sure, make that two scoops of ice cream. I kept thinking that we need to get back to paleo, and after the summer it would be easier. But then I realized I have to make lunches every day, and I have to provide alternatives when they have class parties, and it's going to be a lot of work.  It's always going to be easy to make excuses to cheat a little.

     Staying true to a healthy eating plan isn't easy in this time of wrapped-to-go, preservative-laden convenience meals and snacks. But to be completely honest, my stomach is all confused and irregular, and adding some of that junk back in has made me feel very sluggish and yucky. And there were a couple of times that I consumed gluten (I do have an allergy to it) and was down right sick. For like, days.

     School starts back this week. Teachers are known for bribing rewarding their kids for good behavior with candy. So am I "that" mom that doesn't let her kids have anything good? Do I make my poor kids sit and watch everyone else eat candy? Or do I give in and let them have candy? Honestly, I don't think a little treat here and there is going to really do any damage. But on the other hand, I'm trying to detox, and stay detoxed from all the junk. So how do I remedy this? I find better alternatives. Annie's organic fruit snacks, for instance, is free of high-fructose corn syrup, synthetic colors and flavors and preservatives. Much better than Skittles ingredients. Now I just have to bribe convince their teachers to go through all that trouble to give them separate treats.

     Now, I need to confess how much I hate packing lunches. I would rather scrub my shower with a toothbrush than pack lunches. And now Ryland is starting kindergarten, so I have to pack double the lunches. And they can't eat from the cafeteria, so I have to pack it everyday. And I can't make a sandwich. So this year is going to be like 6 times the fun of last year's lunch packing extravaganzas. What in the world am I going to pack these kids? We rarely have leftovers. We used to waste them, so I got in the habit of making just enough, and now I can't seem to break that habit. I have done some research and made a list of lunches. And this year, when things go on sale, I'm going to stock up and do some bulk cooking in freezer, lunch-sized meals. Today, I made 1561 meatballs.

Three different kinds of meatballs pictured here. 

And one more because Chase wanted me to show off his artistic photography skills.

I chose to make a huge batch of meatballs because there are endless possibilities. Any combination of meats, veggies, spices, and sometimes cheese, and you have a new flavor! So here are the three recipes I used. 

Asian Meatballs from Nom Nom Paleo. Looking at her recipes, they sound a little strange sometimes, but they have been amazing! And just FYI, do not spend an entire afternoon making up meatballs, and then not have time to shower before you go to your kids open house at school, only to smell like fish sauce, which kind of smells like B.O., by the way. And everyone was all like "Oh Anna! It's been an entire 3 months since I last saw you. How have I survived? Here, let me hug all over you!" But the meatballs were really good, probably our favorite recipe that we tried. Just stinky. Really stinky. 

Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta Meatballs These were actually pretty disappointing. They have potential, but not nearly enough spice. Add more salt and maybe a little something else, and they could have been much better.

And then I winged the last recipe. They tasted like chicken sausages.
Turkey Veggie and Herb Meatballs

1 LB ground turkey              1/2 cup shredded squash                 handful of kale

2 cloves garlic                      1 shallot                                         fresh basil

fresh sage                            fresh rosemary                               1 egg

1/4 cup coconut flour            salt and pepper

I put the shallot, squash, garlic, kale and fresh herbs into a processor until finely diced, shredded, or whatever you want to call it. If you don't have a processor, you can dice it up. Then I added everything together, mixed well, and rolled into balls, and baked on 375 for about 20 minutes, rotating pan half way through cooking time.

I froze the meatballs on a pan after cooking them so they wouldn't stick together. Once frozen, I tossed them all into a freezer bag so I could take out 3 or 4 at a time for lunches. I just plan to pack them and refrigerate them overnight, and have the teachers warm them up for them. Boom, main course for several days worth of lunches.