Grain-Free Pumpkin Muffins (with Coconut Flour)

I've decided to do less wheat this year, so I went through my Pinterest pumpkin pins, searching for grain or gluten-free options for some pumpkin puree I'd thawed earlier in the week. Unfortunately, several of my pins didn't link to the correct recipe, but just the blog. Another required a password to access that blog. Ugh. Too much Pinterest traffic makes it harder and harder to find active links these days!

Anyway, I finally found one that worked, which I had pinned a while back. And though I thought I'd already made these, I couldn't find any evidence. So, I set out to make them again. You can find the original recipe over here, and my adaptation below.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. coconut flour (I use Nutiva organic)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c melted coconut oil
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. pure maple syrup (NOT pancake syrup)
1/4 c. chopped pecans

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix coconut flour, baking soda and powder, and spices in a small bowl.
In a larger bowl, melt coconut oil. Then add pumpkin, eggs, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup. Stir until well combined.
Add flour to wet mix and stir until combined.
Line 12 muffin cups with liners or grease well.
Divide mixture between cups, then sprinkle with pecans.
Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Apple Carrot Zucchini Bread

 I am officially out of zucchini, but I had one small summer squash left, so I managed to squeeze out one more zucchini bread recipe!

 

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 c. organic sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour 
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1-2 tsp cinnmamon
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2-1 cup shredded zucchini or yellow squash
• 1/2 cup diced, peeled apple
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
3. Blend butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together.
5. Fold dry ingredients into wet along with carrots, squash, apples, and pecans.
6. Pour into prepared pans.
7. Bake until golden brown, approximately 1 hour, or until toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

One Pot Chicken Rice Soup

I know this isn't a very Christmasy meal, but my husband and I both got a cold this week, so when my mother in law said she didn't have dinner plans, I offered to cook. When I looked up chicken rice soup recipes on Pinterest, they all had cooked chicken. Which is fine....if you have some leftover cooked chicken. But we didn't. And who wants to go through cooking the chicken separately, and the rice, and then adding it to the soup (when you're already sick and feeling like a soggy tissue)?

So I tried making it all in one pot.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2 quarts water

1 cup brown rice

2 lb package of chicken (I used legs & thighs, but breasts would be fine, too).

1 bag frozen peas

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, add water, chicken, and rice. Add more water if needed to make sure all the chicken is covered. Bring to a boil and cook about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, chop vegetables.
3. Add carrots, celery, onions, oil, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme
4. Cook another 20 minutes, until vegetables and rice are tender. Pull some of the chicken off the bones. It should come off pretty easily.
5. Add the frozen peas, salt & pepper to taste.

This turned out really well! I wasn't sure because all the recipes I found called for cooked chicken and cooked rice. But I wanted to make the whole thing in one pan. And it worked out really well. The rice thickened the broth so it was nice and thick and stew-like, and the rice was perfectly done at the same time as the chicken and veggies. I have never made chicken soup before (except chili verde), but I will definitely make it again. It was super easy and really tasty, and everyone liked it, even my picky son.

Red Beans and Rice--Slow Cooker Vegetarian Meal

Now that it's winter, I've finally dusted off the crockpot. I love soups and stews, but for some reason, I never use a crockpot in the summer. This is the second time I used it in the past 2 weeks, and I love it!

The recipe I found for beans and rice used sausage, but I didn't have any, so I made it vegetarian this time.

Here's what I did.

Ingredients:
1 lb bag dry small red beans
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
2 bay leaves

2 tsp Creole seasoning (I use Tony Chachere’s)
2 tsp original Tabasco sauce
2 tsp salt
1 cup dry brown rice

Instructions:

1. The night before, add the beans to the crockpot and cover with water to about 2 inches above the beans, and let it sit overnight.
2. Drain beans in morning, cover with water to cover about 2 inches above the beans, and turn the crockpot on low. If you won't be around all day, add the other ingredients. I was home, so I left the beans on for about 4 hours before adding the other ingredients, b/c I like my vegetables a little firm.
3. If you'll be around, after 4 hours, open the crockpot and add all ingredients EXCEPT salt & seasoning. You'll also need to add 2-3 more cups of water.
4. Cook 4 more hours or until rice is soft. 
5. Add salt & seasoning and serve hot.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

 Today I made my very last zucchini bread of the year *sob.* I had a cup of leftover zucchini from the lemon blueberry bread I made, so I used it to make The Charm of Home's chocolate zucchini bread, since my last one was such an epic failure. Somehow, I hadn't made a chocolate one all summer after that, even though I love chocolate zucchini cake. Now that it's winter, I'm in more of a chocolate mood, so I chose this recipe out of all the delicious looking ones left on the list of 50. Below is the recipe for a whole loaf (I made a half-sized mini loaf).

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1/4 c honey
1/2 c coconut oil, in liquid form
1/2 c organic sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder
1/3 c cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark b/c it's more chocolatey)

1 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c. whole wheat flour
2 c shredded zucchini
1 c chocolate chips, save 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top of bread

Instructions:
Prepare a loaf pan & preheat oven to 350.
Combine in a mixing bowl eggs, honey, oil, sugar, vanilla
Add flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder and stir to combine
Add zucchini and chocolate chips and mix well.
Pour into loaf pan and spread 1/4 chocolate chips on top
Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes
Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack. I like the chocolate chips still melty, so I always eat it warm. 


This turned out really well! I would definitely  make it again. It tasted like my mom's from when I was a kid...not all dry and gross like the one I made earlier in the summer.

Drunken Pears, aka, Pears in Port Wine

 This was a wonderful recipe I took to my book club this fall. Our pear tree was loaded this year, so much so that we were giving away pears by the bag-full. Sadly, Fannie only has a few pear recipes. But this one was very good. Would definitely make it over and over!

Ingredients:

• About 1 lb. pears, peeled, cored and sliced in quarters horizontally. I was using drops, so mine weren't perfect quarters, but large chunks. 
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• pinch of lemon rind, or dash of lemon juice
• Port wine/red wine

Instructions:

1. In a sauce pan, combine water and sugar and bring just to a boil
2. Add pears, cover and cook until tender but still firm
3. Place pears in a serving dish (I used my 8x8 pyrex bc I was transporting it to book club. A pie pan would work, too)
4. Pour wine over pears and let sit for at least 1 hr. Fannie calls for port wine, but I didn't have any, so just used a sweet red someone had given us that we had opened and not finished. 

It turned out great! Everyone loved it, even my mom, who doesn't drink wine. The pears really absorbed the flavor and were such a pretty color, too. It looked as good as it tasted. Now if only I can find my camera with the pictures on it...

Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Bread #2

 

 This is probably my last zucchini bread recipe of the year. I have a bit of grated zucchini leftover, though, so I may make a small loaf. I have loved making so many recipes for zucchini bread this year, but sadly, today I grated my very last zucchini, which has been sitting on the counter for months. I thought it might be seedy and hard or bitter, but it was tender and perfect. So I made lemon zucchini bread, which has such a delicate flavor that it needs a perfect zucchini.

I made a lemon blueberry zucchini bread recipe earlier in the year, so this is my second one. It's adapted from The Baker Mama's recipe.

Here is what I used:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup coconut oil, (or use 1 stick butter, softened, which I recommend)
1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1-1/2 cups blueberries (I used frozen, but fresh would be great, too!)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour two 9x5-inch loaf pans. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Beat in the yogurt, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth.
3. By hand, mix in the flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.
4. Mix in the zucchini, then blueberries.
5. Divide batter evenly between two prepared pans.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I used coconut oil here, which didn't turn out to be the best idea. Coconut oil is either liquid or solid. It's very difficult, if not impossible, so get it 'softened.' So I used it more on the melted side, but it immediately congealed when I added cold ingredients. It was virtually impossible to mix or spread into the loaf pans. So I would definitely use butter for this one! I don't know why I didn't, as I usually only use coconut oil if the recipe calls for cooking oil. Oh, well. Live and learn!

Taking a Break

If you've been following a while, you've probably noticed that some of my posts lately have been empty. That's because blogging takes a lot more time than I have some days. With that said, I'm going to try to do an amended version of NaNoWriMo for the first time ever this year (that's National Novel Writing Month, for those of you unfamiliar). During the challenge, you try to write an entire novel in a month. Sooo, I will be extra busy, and am  not planning on having any time to blog. I'm going to *try* to start back up in December, but you never know. At some point, though, I will be back with Fannie. So do not despair, I will still be trying out recipes and giving a verdict...but I'm not sure when.

For now, this has been a long and taxing process (the blogging, not the cooking), so I'm taking a little break to work on a shelved novel. I will still be cooking and hopefully keeping track so I can post about them sometime later.

Have a happy November and enjoy NaNo if you're participating!

German Pancakes

This is a really weird breakfast that is not actually a pancake. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It's pretty tasty, though. See pictures...it tasted a little like a giant fortune cookie.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp melted butter


Toppings: lemon juice and confectioners sugar, maple syrup, butter, etc.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450.
Butter a large skillet or 4 small ovenproof pans.
Beat eggs in large bowl until well beaten.
Add milk and blend well.
Sift flour into the eggs and milk as you whisk or mix.
Add melted butter and mix until smooth.
Pour batter into pan and bake 15 minutes. If using one big pan, reduce heat to 350 and bake 10 more minutes.
Sprinkle lemon juice over pancake and top with sugar or maple syrup and eat immediately.
This was pretty strange, a bit stretchy, a bit sweet, a bit chewy, but tender. I thought it was good, but my son thought it tasted too eggy. It was an interesting breakfast experiment to make once, though.

Adobo Sauce

This is a quick and easy recipe for Adobo sauce, which can be used in a ton of things. Instead of going out and buying it, I made up a batch myself which was very quick and easy. You can use it to can chili peppers or chipotle peppers in. But I used it in a salad dressing.

I did not put chipotle in mine, because I don't have any and because I wanted to make a marinade sort of sauce. I had found the recipe while looking for Puerto Rican food, so I made an adobo that, according to the site, was a Puerto Rican versian. It had crushed garlic, olive oil, salt, black pepper, oregano, vinegar and paprika. I wasn't sure about measurements, so I sort of winged it.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano (powdered is best, but you can use the leaves, if that's what you have)
1 tbsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together in a small jar, shake and leave overnight to let the flavors mingle. It does not need to be refrigerated, as that will make the olive oil separate. Shake right before using.

Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Bread

This is yet another zucchini bread, this one from Married/Single Parent. She has a recipe for glaze as well, though I skipped that and didn't miss it a bit. This may be my favorite zucchini bread to date, though it's a tough competition with the lemon poppyseed zucchini bread. But this was the first one I've made that was cooked all the way through and not at all gummy. And those blueberries...soooo delicious.

Ingredients:
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour, as it's softer texture)
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 c. coconut oil
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. buttermilk
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 tbsp lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini
1 c. blueberries (I used frozen, but fresh would be great too)


Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 35o ⁰F. 
2. Grease and flour a 9×5″ loaf pan, set aside. 
3. In large bowl, blend flour, baking powder.
4. In the mixer bowl beat 2 eggs well. 
5. Then add oil and sugar, and beat on low until well combined. Add the buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and blend everything well. 
6. Fold in zucchini and stir until evenly distributed in mixture. 
7. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and blend everything together, but don’t over mix. 
8. Stir in blueberries.
9. Pour batter into prepared 9×5″ loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I had to bake 1 hr and 15 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.
10. 

Beef and Corn Casserole

I made this beef and corn and black bean casserole, because I had some cooked black beans to use, and because it looked kind of plain with just beef and corn underneath. Even so, my husband sprinkled it liberally with spices, and even my son ate some seasoning salt on it. I don't think I'd make it again, but it was fine once. Quite edible, just not very exciting.

Ingredients:

•  2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 c. corn kernels (I used canned, bc I don't have fresh corn)
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 1 c. bread crumbs
• salt 
• Optional: I added 2 c. cooked black beans and a lot of ground pepper, and, after it was cooked, some Tony Chachery's for seasoning.

 Directions:

Heat oil in large cast iron skillet. Add peppers and onions and cook until onion is translucent.

Add ground beef and cook until pink is gone.

Preheat oven to 350. Add black beans and corn, salt to taste, and heat through.

Pour into a casserole pan. Lay tomato slices over, sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake 25 minutes or until crumbs begin to brown.

Pumpkin Bread

I couldn't believe Fannie had a recipe for Pumpkin Bread, but she does. It turned out really well, too.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. white flour
• 1/2 c. organic sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 c. pumpkin puree
• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 c. chopped  walnuts
• Optional: Fannie calls for 1/4 c. water, but I left this out as my batter was perfect without. If your batter is too thick, I'd use milk instead of water.

 Directions:
preheat oven to 350.

Sift together flour, sugar and baking soda. Mix pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk and spices, them combine with flour & mix lightly.

Stir in nuts and pour into a buttered loaf pan.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Ever

I've made a handful of oatmeal raisin cookies over the years, since that's my favorite kind, find recipes everywhere from cookbooks to the top of an oatmeal container. But these are my all-time favorite, adapted from bits here and bits there, and tested many times over.

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. white flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. raisins
 


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter in a large mixing bowl.
Gradually add sugar and cream into butter.
Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix flours, baking soda and cinnamon.
Add to butter mixture and mix well.
Add oatmeal and raisins and mix well.
Form into cookies of desired size on a buttered or nonstick cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes.

Skillet Lamb Chops

These are super quick chops and really easy, too. Fannie suggests using chops less than 1 inch thick for pan broiling.

Ingredients:
4-8 thin lamb chops
salt & pepper

 Directions:
Heat a cast iron skillet until very hot
Rub with the fat of one of the chops
Brown the chops quickly on each side
Lower heat and cook each chop about 3 minutes on each side
Salt & pepper to taste & serve hot (I served them with green bean casserole).

Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread

I've been wanting to make lemon poppyseed cake for ages. It's my all-time favorite cake, and I've never made it. So when I found this recipe on the long list of zucchini bread recipes, I immediately went out and bought a lemon. I stuck it in the door of the refrigerator and promptly forgot about it for about a month. Sadly, when I went to make this, the lemon was a bit dry. So I had to grate the 'zest' on the largest setting of my grater to make anything come off. So, it was more like lemon rind slices than zest, but of course I did not let that deter me.

I've been getting up on Saturday or Sunday morning every week and making one of the zucchini bread recipes for breakfast (although it's usually more like brunch time when we eat it). While I always use whole wheat when baking, this time, I went for the decadent cake I remembered loving so much, so I used only organic white flour. So it was definitely more like dessert than breakfast this time around.

Ingredients 
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2-3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 teaspoons poppy seeds

 
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
2. Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in zucchini and next remaining ingredients. Spoon batter into a buttered loaf pan.
3. Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (I had to bake it for 1.5 hrs). Cool in pans on rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool for 30 minutes more.

This bread was probably my favorite of the zucchini bread recipes I've tried so far. It's way better than the ones I've made before. I'm going to add more poppy seeds next time, but other than that, this was sooo good. We just ate it plain, without frosting or cream cheese or butter. It didn't need anything.

Salmon Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 extra small onion (about 1/4 c.) I used red onion
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/4 c. minced parsley (or 2 tbsp dried)
• 2 c. cooked brown rice
• About 1/2 can of salmon (or 2 cans tuna)
• salt & pepper to taste

 
Directions:

1. Melt butter in cast iron skillet.
2. Finely chop onion and green pepper and add to skillet.
3. Cook until onion is translucent.
4. Add rice and salmon and parsley and heat through.
5. Add salt & pepper and serve