Snacks

Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread (Grain Free)

Pumpkin Pecan Bread Loaf

This loaf of Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread is moist and delicious! It is also grain free. The structure of the loaf is fantastic. There is 24 grams of protein in this recipe from the eggs, as well as healthy Omega 3’s and Vitamins A, D, E and K from the yolks, along with 36 grams of protein from the Almond Flour. I used soy free eggs since I can eat eggs without problems if they are soy free. I consumed a fair amount of soy in the past and developed an intolerance to it, and it is present in the eggs of chickens who are fed soy. You can read more about this topic here. You can use any egg you like in the recipe. I recommend a good quality, pastured one.

The bread comes together quickly, just like a quick bread should! It is great for breakfast, a snack, or packed in lunches!

Let’s bake a good quick loaf!

Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cup Superfine Almond Flour

1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Cardamom

1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/8 Teaspoon Cloves

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

1 Cup Pumpkin

4 Eggs

1/4 Cup Honey

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil, melted

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions: Preheat the oven to 375º degrees. Line a 8″ loaf pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients through the cloves. Set aside. In a small bowl, with a hand held mixer blend together the pumpkin, eggs, honey, coconut oil and vanilla on high speed for 1 minute.

Pumpkin Pecan Bread Batter

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and blend with a handheld mixer until completely smooth on medium speed. Fold in the chopped pecans, reserve a few pecans to sprinkle on the top.

Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread Ready for the Oven

Place in the preheated oven, and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven. Use the sides of the parchment paper to lift the loaf from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.

8 to 12 Servings

Go to In My Pantry for where to buy ingredients and my favorite brands

Eat Your Nutrients!

Bacon Scallion Grain Free Crackers

Bacon and Scallion Grain Free Crackers

Good Morning! Are you as excited about Spring and “springing ahead” as I am? Today the sun is shining after some very wintry weather and many “no school” days for the kids.

This weekend is birthday weekend at our house. Three of my daughters have birthdays consecutively starting Sunday.

I have this really good cracker recipe that includes bacon and chives that would be great as an appetizer for any get together. It doesn’t go crazy on the bacon, just two tablespoons in the batch really imparts a bacon flavor to the crackers.

Whether or not you are eating with food restrictions, this cracker should appeal to everyone. I am always looking to create recipes that I can feed to company, that I can eat too, and uses real ingredients.

You can cut these crackers into fancy shapes, or just use a pizza cutter to cut them into squares or rectangles. They are intended to be bite size, so if using a cookie cutter, use accordingly. 🙂

Baked Bacon and Scallion Almond Flour Crackers

Bacon Scallion Grain Free Crackers

1 1/2 Cups of Superfine Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Scallions, Green Parts Only (finely minced)

2 Tablespoons of Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

2 Tablespoons of Crispy Cooked Bacon, crumbled (use sugar free bacon if eating SCD Low FodMap)

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350º degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients with a fork, including the bacon and scallions. Add the lime juice and olive oil and whisk again with a fork until the dough holds together. You can add a bit more lime juice if needed.

Bacon and Scallion Cracker Dough

Form the cracker dough into a ball, and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Between two pieces of parchment or plastic wrap, from into a rectangle. Then, roll the dough with a rolling pin into an approximate 8″ x 11″ rectangle.

Bacon and Scallion Cracker Dough Ready to Roll

Ready to Cut

Now you can cut out the shapes, I used a small heart shaped cutter, or using a pizza wheel, cut the dough into squares or rectangles about an inch and a half in size.

Ready to Go Into the Oven

Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 20 minutes. This a a wide range, but I have found it really depends on the thickness of the cracker. So keep an eye on them, and bake them until brown but not over brown. Cool completely on the baking sheet to allow them to crisp up.

Baked Bacon and Scallion Almond Flour Crackers

Enjoy these delicious little crackers as an appetizer, or with whatever your heart desires!

Makes approximately 40 bite size crackers.

Very Low FodMap Serving Size is 4 crackers.

Eat Your Nutrients!

Easy Pineapple One Bowl Muffins

One of my favorite cakes in the 80’s was pineapple upside down cake. Crushed pineapple was really popular to use in baking, and added lots of moisture to the recipe. Hummingbird cake, pineapple upside down cake, and dump cakes are three that come to mind. I loved pineapple upside down cake growing up, and I thought why not try a muffin with a few simple ingredients that can be made fast, grain free and low fodmap……….I had a craving! 🙂

So, if you like pineapple, here is a recipe that is simple, fast, and a pleasure to put together, that I think you will love! It makes an even dozen, and the muffins have a beautiful crumb. They start to brown on the tops as they are finishing off, for a truly delicious muffin that is not overly sweet.

Easy Pineapple One Bowl Muffins

Easy Pineapple One Bowl Muffins

Directions: Preheat your oven to 350º degrees. Line a twelve cup muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.

Ingredients:

1 14 oz. can of Native Forest Crushed Pineapple (or one without additives)

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup Clear Honey (Clover Honey is Lower in FodMaps)

1 1/2 Tablespoons Ground Ginger

1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 Cups Superfine Almond Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Okay, this is really, really simple, and I love it! Put the ingredients in a bowl in the order listed above, and using a hand held mixer, mix until completely blended. Scoop evenly into the muffin liners. I used a muffin scoop. Bake for 30 minutes in your preheated oven. They will be starting to brown on the top, and when gently pressed, the tops will spring back when done. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Pineapple Dump Muffins Batter

The Batter is Ready to Scoop!

Ready to Go Into the Oven

Muffins Ready to Bake Above.

That’s it!

Makes 12 – an even dozen!

Have a great day!

Eat Your Nutrients!

Homemade DIY Corn Free Baking Powder

baking powder

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Cream of Tartar

1/4 Cup of Baking Soda

1/4 Cup Arrowroot Powder

Whisk together and store in tightly sealed container.

How to Make Chocolate Cherry Energy Balls Demonstration

It’s the day before Thanksgiving! I am busy in the kitchen all day, what about you?

Today I am sharing a video demonstration of my recipe for Chocolate Cherry Energy Balls that will bust your sugar cravings and add nourishment and energy to your day without adding those holiday pounds! Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings to you and your family!

Chocolate Cherry Energy Balls

These little Energy Balls are a great way to bust a craving, with benefits! The raw cacao busts an intense chocolate craving, which can actually be your body’s way of telling you it is deficient in magnesium. Raw Cacao is rich in it! The almond butter contains protein and healthy fat, walnuts contain brain boosting Omega 3’s, tart cherries are anti-inflammatory, the honey is a natural form of sweetness, and the sea salt gives our bodies trace minerals it needs. Just one of these a day can really help reduce cravings for sweets, or why not replace these with other sweets you might reach for that don’t contain clean, health promoting, ingredients? Here’s the easy recipe! They are delicious to serve at a holiday party as a truffle.

Chocolate Cherry Energy Balls

Ingredients:

1 Cup Almond Butter, no added sugar (I Used Artisana Brand)

1/3 Cup Raw Cacao Powder

1/3 Cup Dried Tart Cherries with no Added Sugar

1/4 Cup Raw Honey

1/8 Teaspoon Almond Extract

1/8 Teaspoon Sea Salt

3/4 Cup Raw Walnuts, Coarsely Chopped

Directions: In a food processor, or vigorously with a fork in a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the chopped walnuts. Form the mixture into 34 balls, and roll in chopped walnuts. Refrigerate in a sealed container, or if you like them firmer you can freeze them.

Apple Butter in the Crockpot

I love apple season! The apples are crisp and abundant in the Fall, and I believe everyone loves the smell of apples and cinnamon when they walk into a home.

Apple Butter in the Crockpot (No Sugar Added) in a Rose Chintz China Bowl

Do you love apple butter as much as I do? i didn’t grow up eating it. I learned about apple butter when I moved to a Southern state from Northern Michigan in my twenties. The town I moved to had an annual apple butter festival where they made it in large copper pots during the festival weekend, and the whole town smelled like delicious cooking apples!

The fact that this recipe is so full of flavor and natural sweetness from the apples themselves is very appealing from a nutrition standpoint. Naturally fruit sweetened apple butter contains vitamin C, phytonutrients, and fiber, and also small amounts of potassium and calcium.

Some of the ways I use apple butter is for baking, with pork, topping sweet potatoes, in cookies, muffins, apple pie, as a spread, and in smoothies, and honestly I like it plain by the spoonful. It is especially beautiful in this Rose Chintz china bowl that has been passed down through the generations in our family. 🙂

Apple Butter (Crockpot No Added Sugar)

This crockpot recipe means you can walk away and don’t need to stand over the pot stirring! It is thick and as good as the more labor intensive way, and your house will smell amazing!

Apple Butter in the Crockpot

In this recipe, I caramelized the apples on the stove top before adding them to the crockpot for a richer flavor, and to add layers and complexity to the apple butter, I included the zest of the lemon and a bit of salt.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Pounds of Apples (I used 4 Granny Smith and 4 Fuji Apples)

1 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil (You could also substitute Grass Fed Butter or Ghee)

1 1/4 Cup Fresh Apple Cider (No additives or sugar added)

Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

!/4 Teaspoon of Himalayan Pink or Sea Salt

Directions:

Peel, core, and slice the apples. Melt the coconut oil in a large sautee pan over medium high heat. When the coconut oil is melted, add the apples. Cook the apples in the coconut oil for five minutes, stirring only occassionally until the apples are nicely browned.

Sliced Apples

Add the remaining ingredients to the apples, and bring the apples to a boil.

Sauteeing Apples

Then, place the apple mixture in the crockpot and cook on high for one hour with the lid slightly ajar. After one hour with the lid ajar, place the lid completely onto the crockpot, and cook an additional three hours until the apples are mostly disintegrated.

Apples Sauteed and in Crockpot

With an immersion blender or food processor (you could also use a blender). Blend the apple butter until smooth. Place in glass jars and seal.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 Cups.

Eat Your Nutrients!

How to Make a Quick, Grain Free, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mug Muffin

It is a perfect time to enjoy this mug muffin! Find the full recipe here. That is Ming, Ming snorteling in the background of this video. If you look closely in the beginning, she is in the left hand corner!

Enjoy your day!

Sandra

Apple Pie Microwave Mug Muffin

My family loves my mug muffin recipes, and they have been asking for an apple pie mug muffin! I can’t wait to share it with you also! Mug muffins are so awesome…….they are fast, fresh, and cater to an individuals preference, because you make one at a time! You don’t have a whole batch to consume before they get stale, and if you feel like apple, pumpkin, berry, or whatever you have in the house, you get to choose.

This muffin takes two minutes in the microwave, and you can prep it and refrigerate it the night before if your morning is rushed. Then all you have to do for breakfast is pop it in the microwave for two minutes, and it is ready! Even so, they only take ten minutes to prep and two minutes to cook if you make it right when you want it.

It is a nutritious, grain free, guilt free breakfast or snack! I personally like to make one in the evening, and my children like to make them for breakfast. This Apple Pie Mug Muffin is sweetened with just a tablespoon of honey, has a healthy fat and protein rich egg in it, and the apple of your choice, which is a good source of fiber as well as the coconut flour! I used Fuji apple in the muffin pictured below. If you like an apple with more tartness, try a Granny Smith, but any kind will work! Use your favorite!

Apple Pie Microwave Mug Muffin

Apple Pie Microwave Mug Muffin

Ingredients:

1 Large Egg

1/2 Cup Chopped Apple (this is about half a medium apple, peeled and cored)

2 Tablespoons Apple Sauce

1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour

1 Tablespoon Almond Flour

1 Tablespoon Honey

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

A Dash of Himalayan Pink or Sea Salt

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the apple. Fold in the apple, reserving a little bit for the top. Spoon the batter into a mug. Sprinkle with the remaining diced apple. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Serve! Be careful, it is hot and delicious, and smells soooo good!

Enjoy your day!

Apple Pie Microwave Mug Muffin Ingredients

Eat Your Nutrients!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mug Muffin in Minutes!

Mug muffins are scrumptious, convenient, individual and fast! Just mix and microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds and you have a warm muffin in a mug!

Since Fall is in the air, I have been craving pumpkin. I was in the kitchen this weekend creating a pumpkin flavored mug muffin with a touch of chocolate that really evokes thoughts of cooler weather, sweaters, autumn crafts and warm hugs. My youngest daughters are 12 and 14 now and like to choose and make their own breakfasts. They love mug muffins and can whip them up quickly on a school morning!