Egg-less Double Chocolate Muffins

With all this cold weather, I have been craving warm foods. Soups are great, but I have really been craving muffins and breads. And chocolate! Since we have changed our diet and gone to a more whole foods diet, when I am craving something chocolate or sweet, I choose not to go buy anything, but to make something instead. This is what I decided would fill my cravings. The best of both worlds!

These are great for dessert, an after school snack - I actually fed them to my kids for breakfast the next morning (I am a super-cool mom sometimes).

 Notice the earring? She was dressing up as a "real"Princess

Egg-less Double Chocolate Muffins

2 cups wonder flour (or 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 cup non-dairy milk

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 Tbsp plain yogurt (I prefer greek yogurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin or line with 12 paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk, oil, applesauce, yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy.

Divide batter between the prepared muffins tins. If you want your muffins to be over-the-top big muffins, only fill 8-10 wells in your muffin tin. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top of the muffins.

Bake in a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes.

We love our mini muffin tin... although it may cause you to eat more because they are so easy to pop in your mouth! (Bake mini muffins for only 12 minutes)

Recipe adapted from My Baking Addiction

Jana

Pineapple Bliss Green Smoothie

We have an on/off relationship with green smoothies. The Brothers DO NOT like them, which I find weird since they will eat an entire plate of spinach, but won't drink it when it is mixed with fruit. Go figure.  I get tired of fighting them over it so sometimes we just don't do them. But, lately we are back with daily green smoothies. The Princess LOVES green smoothies and will drink mine if she doesn't have her own. This is her absolute favorite green smoothie (and mine too)! It tastes more like a treat than a good-for-you green smoothie.

I buy green grapes in the summer when the price is good and freeze them in 2 cup portions. I do the same with pineapple. I prefer this made with coconut milk (although it is still good with water) - it makes it nice and creamy. Yum! I think it tastes like pina colada.

This makes a large amount. We like to freeze the extra in "smoothie pops" (using Norpro silicone molds) or into popsicles.

If you aren't a green smoothie fan yet, here are some reasons to get more greens in your diet (whether through smoothies or eaten by themselves).
1. Helps with varicose veins
2. Builds a high red blood cell count
3. Helps prevent cancer
4. Helps clean the liver
5. Helps counteract toxins
6. Provides iron to your organs
7. Improves vision
8. Revitalizes vascular systems in the legs
9. Eliminates body odor
10. Helps with milk production
11. Regulates menstruation
12. High in vitamin K and E
13. Contains more bio available calcium than other foods
14. Contain essential amino acids
15. Loaded with chlorophyll (meaning oxygen)
16. Creates an alkaline environment

Greens are the most nutrient dense food out there. So, give this smoothie a try for a super yummy way to eat greens!

Pineapple Bliss Green Smoothie

2 cups water (or coconut milk - or even coconut water)

1 banana

3-4 handfuls of spinach (I freeze mine so it lasts longer)

1/4 large pineapple (fresh/frozen - not canned)

2 cups frozen green grapes

sliver of lime with the peel (be careful, it is easy to get too much)


Put all ingredients in blender in the order listed (I use my Blendtec and this is the order recommended for it, you can switch up the order for your blender if you need to). Blend until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!!

Recipe from Unconventional Kitchen

Jana

Favorites in the Kitchen

We all have those things in the kitchen, whether big or small appliances or just things that making cooking easier, that we can't live without. I decided that I needed to share some of my favorite items in the kitchen. I should have done this before Christmas, but I am a little behind. Now you have all year before Christmas to make your list of things you want to add to your kitchen (or you can ask for them for your birthday or mother's/father's day) 

Blendtec Total Blender
This blender is definitely an investment... but it is worth every penny! I use this thing EVERY day, often a couple times a day. It is excellent for making smoothies, homemade nut butters, waffle and pancake batters, soups and everything in between. I crack grains for hot cereals and mill grains for flour (my favorite is fresh cornmeal from popping corn) when I only need a small amount. I have only had mine for about 10 months, but I don't think I could live without it now.

Nutrimill Grain Mill
A grain mill is another investment piece for your kitchen that is worth the money. A grain mill is essential for healthy, whole foods (or clean) eating. I mill my own wonder flour, spelt flour, kamut flour and whole wheat flour. It is so much cheaper to buy the grains in bulk and make your own flour than to buy them pre-milled. Whole grain flours also lose nutrients after they have been milled if not properly stored. I know how old all my flour is and how it has been stored. Biting into something made with rancid flour is not a pleasant thing... trust me. I know this from experience.

Norpro Silicone Molds
These are the BEST! We love to make our own gogurts and "smoothie pops" to eat for breakfast or snacks. Kids love the taste of gogurts and moms love the portability, but gogurts have more sugar in them than ice cream. Not what we want in a so-called "healthy" food. I love to take plain yogurt (I use greek) and mix in some fruit and honey, give it a whirl in the blender and stick it in these molds. They can be eaten right away or frozen and added to school lunches. My kids actually like to eat them frozen and not thawed. I also like to make green smoothies and put them in these molds and freeze them. The Princess will pretty much eat anything I put in these molds. These come in sets of 4 and are BPA-free. I have 2 sets (because I love them so much) and bought mine at Amazon.

Pampered Chef Measure All
This is the best measuring cup for hard to scoop items like coconut oil, nut butters or thick molasses. You simply pull down the inside part, fill the "cup" full of whatever you are measuring and than push it out. All you have to do is scrape off the flat surface to get everything, no more scraping out measuring cups. I have the one cup size.

Silpat
My fabulous cousin gave this to me for my birthday 2 years ago - I had never heard of it before. It is simply awesome. No more non-stick spray when making cookies. Simply lay the silpat onto your cookie sheet and nothing sticks. It is easy to clean and store and (when taken care of properly) can last for years! You can find these on Amazon.

Ziploc divided containers (Rectangle)
We love these for school lunches. No more plastic bags to throw away each day. With divided compartments, I can fill each one with something different and they don't have to touch (obviously liquids can't go in here).  They are BPA-free, very sturdy and come in a 2-pack. I bought mine at Amazon.

Apple Peeler/Slicer/Corer 
This was another birthday present (also from my fabulous cousin). I LOVE homemade apple pie, apple crisp and applesauce. This makes the worst part of those recipes (dealing with the apples) quick and easy. You can get the kind that suctions to the counter (what I have) or clips on the overhang (which I don't, the overhang part of the counter). These are fairly inexpensive, easy to store and well-worth having in your kitchen.

Air Popper
Air popped popcorn is super healthy for a snack anytime of the day. I like to make a trail-mix of sorts with air-popped popcorn, raw almonds and cereal (or homemade granola) for The Princess. It is also great for when you want to make some healthy kettle corn or caramel popcorn.

Jana

Cinnamon Chip Scones

Growing up in Utah, scones were bread dough that was deep fried and topped with honey and butter. It wasn't until I visited back east when I was pregnant with The Princess that I learned there were other types of scones. While I still like the "Utah" variety, I prefer the "real" scones (I'm sure I will offend some Utahns by referring to their scones as not the real thing). "Real" scones are much healthier, not so greasy, and definitely not so messy.

I had a bag of cinnamon chips laying around my house (that I bought on a whim because they looked so yummy) and needed to figure out what to do with them. Lately, I have been craving some warm bread or muffins (since the temperature hasn't made it above 25 degrees for more than 2 days in the last 2 weeks) and decided I would combine my need to use my cinnamon chips with my craving... and this was the result. Yummy scones that are healthy enough for a quick breakfast paired with some fruit, a green smoothie (because if you are like me, a green smoothie alone will not last all morning), or some plain greek yogurt mixed with fruit. The Princess says it is like eating a cookie... a cookie for breakfast!

Cinnamon Chip Scones

2 1/4 cups wonder flour (or other whole grain flour)

1 1/4 cups soft white wheat flour

1/4 cup raw sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cups cold butter

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup cinnamon chips*

Melted butter (optional)

Coarse sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. I used the blade of my mixer to do this instead of doing it by hand and it worked great (and was much easier!). Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Fold in cinnamon chips. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for a few minutes.

Here is where you will have two options. I made my scones both ways and they worked out equally as well, just pick the method you prefer.

Method #1: Divide in half and pat into 7-inch round circles. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar (like turbinado sugar). Cut into 6 or 8 wedges. Place on baking sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until the tops begin to brown.

Method #2: Divide in half and pat into two 8-inch pie pans. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar (like turbinado sugar). Bake at 425 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until the tops begin to brown. Cool slightly, cut into 6 or 8 wedges.

* I was able to find Hershey's brand cinnamon chips that are not manufactured in a facility with peanuts. Don't buy the Nestle brand.

Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is

Jana

Asian Sesame Chicken

I don't know what happened at your house in the last 18 hours, but we received almost 24 inches of fresh new powder overnight. Seriously... 2 feet!! Where is all this new snow supposed to go. The piles on the edges of our driveway and sidewalk are so high, there isn't anymore room for snow. Craziness! I spent the morning shoveling, building snow forts, shoveling, helping The Princess and Brother #2 get unstuck and shoveling again. At least I have had my exercise for today, shoveling for my arms and packing down snow (with my feet) at the top of the highest drift for a snow fort worked my legs pretty good. But, now onto the recipe for today.

When The Princess's daddy and I were first married, we moved to South Korea to teach English. While our experience teaching wasn't the best, we LOVED the food. The Princess's daddy had lived there before for 2 years as a missionary, but it was my first experience in an Asian country.  While I had always been a fan of Asian food, eating it in country made it an even bigger favorite of mine. Since having kids, we have continued the tradition of eating a lot of Korean (and Asian food in general) at our house. We gave Brother #1 kimchi at the ripe old age of 1 (which he loved until the heat hit). Despite that incident,  he still loves all Asian food (as do Brother #2 and The Princess). He prefers Asian food over pizza.

One of the hardest parts of The Princess's allergies (for us) that most people wouldn't think about is that we are unable to eat at Asian restaurants. Most obvious is the egg (which she isn't allergic to anymore so that really isn't a concern). What is least obvious but can be most scary is the use of peanuts and/or peanut oils. The best Korean (and Asian) food seems to be in small town restaurants (not chain restaurants) where the owners/cooks don't speak much English. This makes it very difficult to ask about the use of peanuts and peanut oil. The risk of cross contamination is always high at most Asian restaurants and not a chance we are willing to take.

So, that leaves to me do my best at cooking Asian food at home. We have tried many different recipes and have found some that we love. I'm not sure how "authentic" they are, but we like them and I guess that is all the matters. This recipe is probably one of The Princess's favorite recipes of all time!  It is also much healthier than the restaurant version because it isn't deep fried.

This can be paired with plain rice or stir-fry. I hate to admit it (even though you will notice by the pictures) but we mostly eat our Asian food with white rice (GULP!). For everything else, we use brown rice, but somehow, brown rice just doesn't go as well with Asian food. We also like to serve it with a big salad topped with  homemade Asian Ginger salad dressing (maybe I will post this recipe in a future post - if anyone wants it). We like to use our Korean dishes (which we brought back from Korea) and chopsticks - because everything Asian tastes better with chopsticks.

SESAME CHICKEN

1/2 cup whole grain flour

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp fresh ground ginger*

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy!)

Dash of ground cloves

Dash of cinnamon

5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/3 cup teriyaki sauce **

1/3 cup raw honey

1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (or Bragg's Amino Liquid)

2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds (these can be found at Asian Markets or you can toast your own)

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-heat.

In a large resealable bag, combine flour, pepper, ginger, garlic salt, red pepper flakes, cloves and cinnamon. Place chicken into the bag and shake well to coat (make sure the chicken pieces aren't sticking together but that all the individual pieces are coated on all sides).

Place chicken in skillet and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes.

While chicken is browning, make the sauce by combining teriyaki sauce**, honey and soy sauce.

When chicken is done, reduce heat to low. Mix in the teriyaki mixture and stir until sauce thickens. Shake in sesame seeds and serve immediately.

* You can store fresh ginger in a ziploc bag in you freezer. When you want to use it,  simply grate off what you need, no need to thaw it. Fresh ginger tastes much, much better than ground ginger from a jar.

I realize there are no sesame seeds on this chicken. 

I ran out and wan't about to drive 30+ miles to the nearest Asian store to buy more just for this picture

**TERIYAKI SAUCE
I prefer to make my own teriyaki sauce. Store bought sauce has high-fructose corn syrup and is full of preservatives. It is super simple to make at home and can be stored in the fridge for up to a month.

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce (or Bragg's Amino Liquid)

1 cup water

1/2 tsp fresh ground ginger

1/4 tsp garlic powder (or 2 minces cloves)

1-2 Tbsp raw honey

3 Tbsp sucanat (or equal amounts of agave nectar)

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

In a small sauce pan, combine all ingredients except cornstarch and cold water.Begin heating over medium heat.

Measure out the cornstarch into small bowl and add the cold water (you can use tap water, just make sure it runs until it is really cold). Mix the cornstarch and water well, than add to the teriyaki mixture.

Raise the heat to medium and let it come to a boil. Boil until it comes to a consistency that you like. If it becomes to think, you can simply add more water.

Store any leftover sauce in an air-tight container in the fridge. The sauce becomes very thick after it has been refrigerated. You can add water before refrigerating or after to bring it back to the consistency you like.

Recipe from my recipe book (We have been cooking it for so long, I honestly can't remember where I got the recipe)

Jana

Confessions of a Sugar Addict

Yep... that is me. A self-proclaimed recovering sugar addict. After years of eating lots of sugary treats every day, I have finally come to terms with my addiction and am working toward recovery. I haven't sworn off sugar completely but I have been trying to eat less. My biggest problem... I like to bake. And what do most people bake... cookies, brownies, cakes, crisps, cobblers, all that good stuff.

Now, I have nothing against treats... a person only lives once and part of life is enjoying yourself, which to me means enjoying all of life. But, too much of a good thing makes it not so good anymore, right? And, sugar, in any form, just plain isn't good for you.

So, why am I discussing this on our blog? I have noticed that the recipes that are most popular on the blog are the treats. There are some obvious reasons for that... a lot of treats contain eggs (and/or peanuts) so they are an obvious choice for recipes that need to be modified. And, everyone loves treats so, of course they are popular.  In our family, we try and do one treat per week (for us we do it on Sunday evenings. I will discuss some of our other nutritional goals in another post) . I am working on teaching The Princess and her brothers that they don't "need" a treat after every meal, or even every night after dinner. Bad habits are hard to break... it is easier to never learn them. Because dessert recipes are so popular,  I have felt a lot of pressure to post them here on the blog and have therefore been cooking way more dessert than I would generally like.

So, here is my warning that you may not see as many dessert recipes posted here on the blog. While this isn't a new years resolution, it may help some of my readers with their resolutions. Everyone can use a helping hand when trying to be healthier. There will still be yummy treats, but also more healthy breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner recipes as well.

Thank you to all our readers for your support! Please share our blog with your friends and don't forget to 'like' us on Facebook.

Jana

"Egg-less" Sun Butter Fingers With Chocolate Frosting (AKA School Lunch Bars)

I am only somewhat off the ball when it comes to posting - like it is still Thursday so I'm not late, just later. These few weeks during the holidays have been crazy busy. Throw in some stomach flu and I am just now getting on top of the mess in my house and everything else I am supposed to be doing. So, we are finally back with a new recipe. Hope you didn't miss us too much over the holidays and that your holidays were wonderful!

Peanut Butter Fingers are one of my absolute favorite goodies (well, I should say anything with peanut butter was an absolute favorite of mine). Although, I am getting over my long-time addiction to peanut butter and all things peanut butter thanks to The Princess. Isn't it funny how if you haven't had something in a long time, you honestly don't really miss it and somehow it isn't quite as wonderful as you remember it being? Well, that is how I feel about peanut butter now. After a year and a half of mostly avoiding it, I don't miss it much.

Anyway... sometimes though, I still like to make things from the past and these are one of those things. This is actually one of the first recipes I recreated after The Princess's diagnosis - yet we haven't made them again until now. We needed a yummy recipe for our New Years Eve party (which consisted of the 5 of us at home watching a movie - well The Princess was in bed because she had the stomach flu) and these sounded so good. I substituted sun butter in place of the peanut butter but you could use any kind of nut butter. The sun butter gives the bars a slightly greenish tint after baking (can anyone explain this to me) but the taste is still super yummy. Cover them in chocolate frosting and if it is an extra special occasion (or you are looking to put yourself in a sugar coma) add some ice cream on top!

"Egg-less" Sun Butter Fingers With Chocolate Frosting 
(AKA School Lunch Bars)

For Bars:

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups whole grain flour (I used wonder flour)

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 cup sucanat

1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp. water)

3/4 cup sun butter (or any nut butter)

1/2 Tbsp. vanilla

For Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

5 Tbsp butter, softened

5 Tbsp. boiling water

1/2 tsp vanilla


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl until well incorporated and set aside. Mix all wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until well blended. Add dry ingredients to wet ones and mix until just blended.

Scoop dough into 9 x 13 inch pan and press with fingers until bottom of pan is completely covered.

Bake until light brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 15 minutes (but it really depends on how thick yours end up).

While bars are cooking, make the frosting. Whisk together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add softened butter, boiling water and vanilla. Beat until smooth and glossy.

When bars are cool to the touch, spread on frosting and cut into squares. These can be eaten still warm and gooey or completely cooled (and don't forget to try them with some ice cream!).

Recipe adapted from an old family recipe book

Jana

Happy New Years

I can't believe it is the starting of a new year already. The old saying sure is true... time really does fly!

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I don't think we need to wait for a new year to decide to make changes in our lives... we can do that at any time. It is probably better if we make resolutions more often than just once a year. But anyway... I have 2 things I have been thinking about working on so I guess you can call them new year's resolutions.

First, organize my house. I'm sure this is the same as many people, but it feels so nice to declutter and simplify! Since The Princess is not a baby anymore, we can finally clear out all the baby stuff. Only to make room for princess dolls, princess castles,  princess dress ups and all other princess type toys!

Second, to spend more time with my family and less time on things that aren't as important in the long run. This is a hard one because there are a lot of things that aren't "bad" or even a "waste of time", but that can take us away from the things that are more important. Kids are only little once and it would be a shame to waste away their childhood worrying too much about other stuff. Although, I will still be spending time in the kitchen. In my opinion, spending time cooking healthy, safe foods for my kids is not a waste of time, but a gift to them (a gift of a healthy future).

I wish that your new year will be full of joy and happiness!

Jana