Gluten free banana berry muffins

So, I bought some gluten free flour from Trader Joe's.  And I bought some from Bob's Red Mill.  I wondered if I should look for a "gluten free" recipe, trust the bag of mix that you can directly sub it for AP flour or...???

In the end, I decided to make the recipe on the Trader Joe's bag.  Sort of.  Because I didn't have everything.  And the Bob's Red Mill bag said to use Xanthan gum.

So, here's what I did:
1 cup TJ's gluten free flour (the rest of the bag)
1 cup Bob's red mill gluten free flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp Xanthan gum
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
A little less than 1/2 cup sugar (because I didn't have agave)
1/4 cup maple syrup (to make up for the lack of agave)
1/2 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana (because I didn't have applesauce)
1 cup frozen mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)


I think that's it, but I threw the bag away.  I'll check next time I buy the stuff.  I found the recipe here, so I think I'm good.

So: mix dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, Xanthan gum, cinnamon)

In separate bowl, mix eggs, oil, milk, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla.

Add wet to dry and mix until just blended.  Fold in mashed banana.  Fold in berries.

Bake at 350F for ...??  In my oven, which runs cold, and using the silicone liners, it took about 25 minutes.  The two that were in paper liners cooked faster.

These were amazing.

Banana Oat Blender Muffins

So, this recipe started with a couple of posts I saw on my facebook feed.  One was for banana oatmeal blender bread.  I made that last week.

http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a51821/gluten-free-banana-bread-recipe/

The main problem with the bread was that the cook time was really low.  20 minutes.  I mean, no.  It's a quick bread, but no.  So I baked it 50 min, and it needed more.  Still, it was delicious.  I adjusted it a bit though, added a little bit of oil. And probably a few TBSP of brown sugar in place of the liquid sweetener. And chocolate chips.  The consistency of this kind of bread is chewy, not crumbly.

I decided this week to do a muffin version.  I'd found this recipe and gave it a try (shared from the same page, 100 days of real food).  The advantage of the muffin version is that I can add different things, since hubby doesn't like chocolate.

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/oatmeal-yogurt-blender-muffins-recipe

Of course I edited again.  First, it's Friday and I'm out of a lot of things.  And I don't have Greek yogurt.  So I made homemade buttermilk with milk and vinegar, and subbed that (but used less).  Also, I used maple syrup instead of honey.

Recipe called for 15 min baking, and it needed 20.  Again, a little chewy.  I'm not sure if the chewy is the oats/ banana, or the lack of butter/ oil.  It bums me out that when I look for gluten free/ oat based muffin recipes, people seem to want to make them fat free. Or veganized.  I'm fine with veganized, because I was almost out of eggs.  But damn it, don't be afraid of fat!  I think there is a big tendency (still) to use applesauce, bananas, and honey/ maple syrup as the liquid.

So I'm still on the lookout for a recipe that calls for butter or olive oil too.

I was very excited to see them puff up, but then they sank, just like the picture in the link.  They taste fine, but need a teeny bit more sugar.  My versions were chocolate chips, blueberries, coconut, and walnut.

Banana oat blender muffins
2 c. rolled oats
2 very ripe bananas
2 eggs
3/4 c milk with 1 tbsp vinegar, let sit a few minutes
3 T maple syrup or honey
2 T olive oil or melted butter
2 T brown sugar (new)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
1 tsp vanilla

Toppings: blueberries, chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts...?

Put everything into blender, blend until smooth.
Pour into muffin cups.  Top with toppings.  Bake at 400F for 20-22 min.

Recipe Links - focaccia and orange muffins

Because these days, this blog has devolved back into what it was in the first place - a location where I can find the good recipes that I've made before...I'm posting links.

You see, finding the "right" recipe is hard.  Remembering it?  Harder.  Sometimes, I print out recipes.  I have a PILE over the microwave.  If it's good, it stays.  If not, I toss it.

Sometimes, I find a recipe on Pinterest. If I like it?  I copy it over to the "recipes I've made and like" file.

Sometimes, one of the recipes from my cookbooks is awesome, and I put it on the "cookbook" tab.

Sometimes, I made up a recipe and posted it here years ago.

Today, it's a couple of links for things we've made this week.  That I want to repeat.

First: orange muffins.  We used lemon and blood oranges.  Should reduce the sugar by 1/2 cup next time.

http://www.feedyourtemptations.com/fresh-orange-muffins/

Second: rosemary garlic focaccia.  Now, I used the focaccia recipe in my bread machine instructions, and just added the garlic and focaccia on top.  That was yummy BUT messy, as the garlic and focaccia just kept falling off.  So TODAY, I put it in the dough, and we'll see how it tastes.

https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/222623649/shaved-garlic-and-rosemary-focaccia/

Some favorite recipes

Boy I've been missing of late.  But I do still cook.  Most of my cooking is of the "bulk" variety.

So here are a few of the recipes that I have been making -

Veggie frittata squares - these are really easy for our Sunday morning brunches.  And even when I don't know what to take, as long as I have a dozen eggs, some cheese, and some sort of veggie - then I'm good.  Last week was potato and parmesan, this week is asparagus and red pepper and cheddar.

Applesauce carrot muffins - we had leftover applesauce from the week of the stomach flu.  I adjusted this recipe a bit - it seemed like too many steps for me.  So I did it in one bowl:

Mix wet ingredients - I subbed 1/3 c sugar for the honey.  I only  used 1/4 c butter and used 1/4 c canola oil.

Add dry ingredients - I didn't blend them in a bowl first, one less dish.  Also, I just used 1/2 c whole wheat and 1 c regular flour because that's what I had.

Add applesauce

Add carrots

They were really very good.  We still have a few left

Pumpkin chocolate chip bread - I made some substitutions here, based on what I had (you can see those in my comments on the pin).  It was great and my 9 year old LOVED it.  Also, I used fresh pumpkin that I pureed and froze a couple of months ago.

Asparagus potato soup - this is in the pot right now.  I had leftover asparagus from the frittata, and I didn't buy enough veggies this week.  So this is going to "stretch" my asparagus.  This is a new recipe for me, so I will let you know how it comes out.  I did not make the stock - it seems like a waste of good veggies to me - I used a veggie bouillon cube.

Carrot ginger soup

Chicken fried rice

About the only thing left to cook this week is some canned tomatoes - I haven't yet decided if I will make a third soup (tomato soup) or a curry dish.

Orange Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

So Sunday is park brunch day.  It rained last night, so I wasn't sure we were going to have it, but I wanted to be prepared.

I wasn't up to anything too difficult. I didn't sleep well last night and woke with a bit of a headache (thanks to 1/2 glass of wine too many at our parents' night out and hormones).  Wow, a night out!  It was fun, and for some reason, the babysitter can get our toddler to bed better than we can.

Pinterest led me to a few interesting recipes, and I picked one because I had a bunch of oranges and lemons from the farm and from friends.  But it called for poppy seeds (I had none) and plain yogurt (didn't have that either).  I didn't figure that banana yogurt would taste right.

So I headed to the store and used 10% of my weekly budget (ouch!) on poppy seeds (no cheap options at the close store) and a small yogurt.  It was worth it!  And now I have plenty of poppy seeds.

I pretty much followed the recipe here exactly, except that I didn't top with coarse sugar, because who has that?  Not me.  Still the hubby and older son loved them and they are almost gone. (No brunch today.) Pardon the crappy photo.  I mean, the photos on the original recipe are awesome.  I'm pretty sure nobody comes here for my photography. Just my witty personality.

The general weekend prep this week, in addition to the muffins, included BBQ chicken in the crockpot (for tacos), spinach balls (actually chard and beet green balls), steamed beets, plus lots of washing lettuce and radishes and hard boiling eggs for lunch time salads.

I also washed and froze dill for the freezer, and probably should do the same with the parsley, but I already have a ton of frozen parsley.  How much more do I need, really?

Banana bread muffins

I love banana bread.  I have worked on perfecting a healthy banana bread.  I like it, my husband likes it, my kid - not so much.

I buy bananas every week, and then at least one or two end up mushy and in the freezer.  But then the next thing you know, you have 15 bananas in the freezer.  I wish I were exaggerating.  I decided to look for a new muffin recipe that maybe my kid would like, and I found this recipe.

So, when I adjust recipes to healthify them, I do a few things:
1.  cut the sugar
2.  substitute some whole wheat flour for regular
3.  cut the fat by subbing applesauce

On this recipe, I decided to only cut the sugar in the main recipe from 3/4 c to 1/3 c.  I mean, really, the recipe says that it makes 10 muffins.  I got 12.  But 3/4 c sugar is 12 Tbsp (not even counting the streusel topping), so that's 1 Tbsp sugar per muffin, which is a lot.  And bananas are sweet.

In any event, these were awesome.  I have to say that using the full amount of butter and using all regular flour made them moist and fluffy compared to my usual muffins.  Maybe next time I'll try a teeny bit of whole wheat flour.  I also added 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips.  And the topping - I didn't pack my brown sugar, just loosely scooped.

Now if I could only get rid of the fruit flies that seem to love my bananas.

Banana Muffins

I searched this blog for this recipe this morning (my banana bread recipe), and couldn't find it.  Kinda crazy!!  How did I go 4  years without posting it?  It's basically a recipe from one of my cookbooks that I healthified.

I generally healthify a dish by cutting the sugar to 1/3 to 1/2 of the original recipe, replacing some of the fat, and subbing whole wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour.

My kid complains about nuts, so I left them out.  Usually I make bread, but I was feeling like muffins today, and they bake in less than half the time.

Banana Muffins
1.5 c. all purpose flour: 0.31
1 c. whole wheat flour: 0.20
1 tsp baking soda: 0.05
1 tsp salt: 0.01
1 c chopped walnuts (optional).  Other options: chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, coconut: 0.50
1/2 c. sugar: 0.09
3 T canola oil: 0.15
2 eggs: 0.63
3 mashed ripe bananas: 0.57
1/3 c. milk: 0.14
1 tsp vanilla: 0.15
1/4 c. organic natural applesauce (unsweetened): 0.37

Total: $3.17 for 20 muffins, or $0.16 per muffin.  Two for a nice breakfast, one for a snack, yummy!

I made one pan with a few chocolate and peanut butter chips, and the other pan with coconut and chopped macadamia nuts.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

On our camping trip, my neighbor brought along some buttermilk oatmeal muffins.  I was dying to try them, so I bought buttermilk.  When I got the recipe, I realized that they require steel cut oats (which I don't have) and 8 hours of soaking time (which I also didn't have).  So, google and allrecipes became my best friend.

I found this recipe and adjusted it a bit.  First, I doubled it.  Then, I used half the amount of oil (olive, because that's what I had), and added 4 oz of berry flavored applesauce.  Then I sprinkled in some cinnamon and added brown sugar.  Also, I didn't have 1 full cup of brown sugar, so I only used 1/2 (I always cut the sugar anyway).

These were nice and delicious and simple.  And they made 22 muffins.  Next time, I might try to add grated carrots or apple.  Why not?

Pumpkins!

This is the first year since we joined our CSA - oh, 8 years ago or so - that we've gotten more than one pumpkin. Last week I chose a carving pumpkin. I chose it pretty poorly, darned thing won't stand up - so we'll have to carve it to look like it's been knocked over somehow.

This week we got another pumpkin. I walked into the field to choose (that's just so much fun), and got into a conversation with a 7-or-8 year old girl on the virtues of an "eating" pumpkin vs. a carving pumpkin. She chose to pick up a very large sugar pumpkin (one that I decided was too big). I selected a slightly smaller sugar pumpkin.

Then on Friday night I roasted it. First, I microwaved it to soften the skin (3 min on high). That's a tip I learned here on the internet. Then, I sliced it in half crosswise, scooped out the seed (1.5 cups!) and placed the halves face down in two baking sheets (with lips) - lined with foil. I added a little water. Then I roasted it for 1.5 hours at 375. I flipped over the halves so they would cool, scooped out the flesh, and put it in the fridge.

I got a fair bit of water, a couple of cups. I suppose I could have saved it for soup, but I just dumped it. I also got about 5.5 cups of pumpkin. I roasted the seeds.

Saturday morning I baked Pumpkin Apple Muffins, & packed up the rest of the puree into the freezer. I had planned on giving a bag to our friends with the 6-month old baby, but forgot (perfect baby food!) Maybe we'll drop some off in the coming weeks.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins:
1.5 c. all purpose flour: 0.28
1 c. whole wheat flour: 0.22
1/2 c. sugar: 0.19
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten: 0.42
1.5 tsp cinnamon: 0.25
0.5 tsp ground ginger: 0.05
1/4 tsp nutmeg: 0.05
1/4 tsp ground cloves: 0.05

1 cup organic pumpkin puree: 1.00
1/2 c. vegetable oil: 0.25
2 cups chopped apple (organic): 1.33
1/2 c. raisins: 0.22

Streusel:
2 T. flour: 0.02
2 T sugar: 0.05
1/2 tsp cinnamon: 0.08
4 tsp butter: 0.08

Total: $4.54 for 20 muffins, or $0.23 each

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 18-20 muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, spices, baking soda, and salt. In separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin, and oil.

3. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients. Stir just to moisten. Fold in apples and raisins. Spoon into muffin cups.

4. Mix streusel topping in a small bowl. Sprinkle over muffins.

5. Bake for 35 min, or until toothpick comes out clean.