Blueberry Butternut Squash Muffins

 

  

This is a recipe I've been playing around with for some time.  The  original idea came from this recipe.

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I love Meghan Telpner and often use her recipes, or bits and pieces thereof :-)  This one actually came from one of her assistants.  I started off using 2 kinds of sweeteners, as the original called for, but found we didn't think it needed that much.  So I've made it with maple syrup, or coconut palm sugar (my fav. low GI sweetener) and this time I tried it with raw honey.  I've also used various kinds of flour in this recipe, including oat, brown rice, premade gluten-free blends, arrowroot, tapioca, etc...  This time I used a mix of besan (ground chickpeas), oat and brown rice flours.  I think this might be the one that's baked up lightest and fluffiest so far.  This is also the first time I've used blueberries in this particular recipe.  I usually use dates or raisins.

Here's what I did...

 Cut in half a beautiful butternut squash I bought at our favourite organic farm (Simpler Thyme in Waterdown, On.)

 Roasted it for 45 minutes in a 400F oven (on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper)

 Cooled, then mashed the squash

 Put it into the bowl of my stand mixer with 2 organic eggs

 And 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I usually use coconut oil for this, but thought it would make a change) and 1/2 cup raw honey

 Mixed it all together 

 Then added 1/2 cup oat flour (I just ground the oats myself), 1/2 cup chickpea flour and 1/2 cup brown rice flour

 Added 3 tablespoons lucuma, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2/3 tsp. Celtic sea salt, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon & 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

This is lucuma.  Some info. on it can be found here.

 Then I added 2/3 cup chopped, raw walnuts

 And one and a half cups frozen blueberries

 Folded them in gently and then dolloped the mixture into large muffin liners

 I baked them for 28 minutes at 350F (rotating trays halfway through cooking time)

Finished!!

Salad in a Jar!

When I read about this idea on Twitter last week, I was totally blown away.
  What a simple, but brilliant way to package salad for Perry to take to work with him!
I didn't use any leafy greens in this particular salad, so it probably wasn't as vital to keep the veggies away from the dressing as it would have been had I used lettuce.  Regardless, it's an awesome idea and I'll continue making these.

Here's what I did...

 To a small bowl, I added balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, Dijon mustard, Celtic sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Whisked it all together to make a dressing

 Poured the dressing into a large mason jar

 Added some grape tomatoes

 Diced celery

 Chopped red peppers

 Chopped cucumber and sliced green onions

 Lots of grated carrot

 And topped it all with pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts and pine nuts

Voila!!

Chocolatey Brown Rice Treats

These treats were inspired by a recipe posted in the Vitamix '13 days of Christmas' album.  You can see

the original here.

 The recipe was for Granola balls, but I had half a box of brown rice crisps that I wanted to use up, so I figured I'd give it a try with my own substitutions.  It worked out really well!  

Here's what I did...

To my Vitamix, I added 1/4 cup of coconut milk

This is the brand I used

  Then I added 1/4 cup of coconut oil

and 1/3 cup of coconut palm sugar

I broke up half of a 70% cocoa chocolate bar (about 50g as it was a 100g bar)

Then I added 1/2 cup almond butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

And blended it all on high speed for a couple of minutes.  The recipe said 5 minutes, but mine didn't need that long

I dumped it all into a bowl, using a spatula to scrape the sides of the container

Then I added 1/2 cup of shredded coconut (unsweetened) and 3 tablespoons chia seeds

and 4 cups brown rice crispies

 These are the ones I used

Then I stirred it all together until the crispies were all completely coated

And patted it all into a silicone pan (9x9 I think) lined with plastic wrap

Then I placed it in the freezer for about 45 mins. and then cut it into squares. 

Chia Banana Date Cookies

I found this recipe while searching for interesting things to bake with chia seeds.
I decided not to make many changes since it's the first time making the recipe and it sounded different from what I'm used to in a cookie recipe.  I did go the gluten-free route and used coconut flour, so I knew there'd be extra liquid needed.  I figured I'd use the amount called for and then add extra when I saw how dry the mixture was.  I ended up adding a couple of extra tablespoons of water and one more egg.  

I won't lie and say they're the best cookies ever, but they're actually quite tasty and I like the ingredients, so I'll muck around with the recipe and next time add some chopped nuts (probably walnuts) and some chopped dates or maybe raisins for texture and a little more sweetness.  I would also (and meant to, but forgot) add cinnamon and ginger for a kick.

Here's what I did...

I ground 4 tablespoons chia seeds in my spice grinder and dumped this into a large bowl

 Added 4 tablespoons coconut flour

I added 2 tablespoons rolled oats

 Into my Vitamix, I added half a ripe banana (next time I'll use the whole thing) and 2 pitted Medjool dates

 I added 1 large egg, a tablespoon of water and 2 tablespoons of raw honey and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

 Then I blended it on high speed for a few seconds until well-mixed

 I added 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt to the bowl

And mixed the dry ingredients together with a spatula

Mixed all the ingredients together and as expected, it was a stiff, dry blob :-)

 So I added an extra egg and 2 tablespoons of water and this mixture seemed more managable

Dropped it by teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and baked at 350F for 20 minutes

Not the prettiest cookie, but quite tasty!  As I said, I'll tweak it in the future and I'll report back :-)