Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Sugar-free Blueberry Muffins

Well the hubs and I returned from our Maine getaway on Friday - and while I'm dying to write all about it, I just absolutely need to start off with a recipe I made this morning with some of the super fresh, hand-picked Maine blueberries we brought back!!

First off, we need to talk about the blueberries: it's kind of been a life dream to go berry picking.. it's a long story. But once I found out that we were going to be in Maine during peak blueberry season, it became a necessity for me to find a pick-your-own farm somewhere in our travels (bonus: it's one of the few fruits/berries Scot will actually eat). My handy Coastal Maine travel book that I picked up the day before we left mentioned one in particular, that just so happened to be about halfway between two of our destinations. It didn't have a website - just some vague information that they are usually open daily in August, weather-permitting. A quick call the morning we wanted to go let me know they were indeed open, so off we went to Staples Homestead.

What ensued was pure chaos. All of the FOUR GPS's we had with us were navigating us to a dead end road with an off-roading option leading forward into lord knows where. We tried to be adventurous and keep going, but once the underbrush was literally banging on the underside of the car and the flies outside were swarming like in those terrible horror movies, we made a 27 point turn and had no option but to turn around.

Not one to be deterred by mere nature getting in the way (I mean seriously.. this place had to exist), I used my trusty map skills (thank god I grew up in a time where people actually knew how to read maps) and rerouted us a different way, one where it looked like a road actually went. Once we started seeing "Blueberry" signs, we knew we were in the clear. However, note to self: write complaint to Google maps. I still don't understand what it was trying to make us do. Probably get killed.

And thus our blueberry-picking experience was complete. All told, I think we ended up saving a buck by picking them ourselves. But the memories? Priceless!

But enough about blueberry fields and almost dying.. onto the recipe! While these little berries of antioxidant bliss are perfectly sweet and yummy on their own, nothing can really beat the taste of a warm blueberry muffin with some coffee and OJ out on the deck. Amiright?!



A little searching and adapting this morning gave me a super delicious "free" recipe that not only tastes good, but is good for you. The best kind!!

*recipe adapted from Cave Girl in the City

Just a quick note.. feel free to mix things up a bit!! I used almond extract since that was all I had, but vanilla would taste wonderful with this recipe.

For the sweet aspect, I opted for super local honey, but maple syrup or brown rice syrup would work just as well. While any of these options do still contain some fructose, it's still always better to use a naturally occurring kind vs processed white sugar (hence the "sugar-free" notation). The body absorbs the sugar from these sources much slower, thus preventing that infamous sugar-crash.

I also added about 1/4 cup of crushed flax seed to the recipe, which didn't seem to mess things up too much.. gotta love the fiber!!

Now excuse me while I go have a second third muffin and some iced coffee.

Beaches & Peaches

Ah, summer. How I love you so.

Sure the warmth and sunshine is lovely - not to mention our annual trip to upstate New York to visit Scot's parents on the lake - but just the freshness of it all, if you know what I mean. Everything is so green, so lush, and so seasonable. I largely feel that it is so much easier for me to eat more healthily in the spring and summertime simply due to the increase in availability of several yummy fruits and veggies. And not only is there a wide variety that are "in season", but so much more of it is so incredibly local, as well. (And I'm a big local-food junkie!)

This is one of the reasons why I love that the winery I work at is located on a local family farm. They always have an interesting assortment of things that they grow and tend to on-site (apples, some peaches, egg-producing chickens, two greenhouses, an apiary, etc), but they do also get some produce from other regional farms. They will also occasionally have bananas, watermelons, and avocados from Mexico and other warm climate places - you know, some of people's staple pantry items in the summer that are simply not easy to grow in Maryland conditions. It's all about variety!

There are a few things that, without fail, get all the farm customers excited. First and foremost would be the farm's signature unpasteurized apple cider, made fresh on site. Then would come the cinnamon sugar donuts made fresh daily.. and then the fresh strawberries in early June and farm-grown peaches in early July. But for those of us who are just way too impatient, they do get some Harrow Diamond peaches in from South Carolina in late June. Which I discovered were just perfect for making some quick & easy peach froyo!

The idea came to me, shockingly, from Pinterest. The fact that this recipe only has a measly 4 ingredients and can be made in my food processor had me itching to try it out. Trust me, you'll want to run to your local grocery store or farmer's market and snatch up as many peaches as you can.. I can't think of a better or more refreshing treat on a hot summer day!

Oh, and the best part? It's good for you!!

*recipe originally seen on Just A Taste

Isn't it amazing how such simple, natural ingredients can produce something so yummy?? Now excuse me while I go bury my face in this deliciousness.

weekend recap + BB brownies

I don't do a lot of weekend recaps.. mostly because my weekends have been a bit boring and work-filled lately.. but this past one was definitely deserves a few words! Well, Friday at least.

I started off the day with a hot power yoga class - which is always my favorite way to start a Friday morning. My fave local studio features $5 Friday's, so when I can squeeze in a cheap class and grab a few more Goûter tonics? It's a good day.

The next stop of the day was to see our tattoo guy, Chris, at Low Tide Tattoos for my newest ink - a cat paw. Something I haven't talked much about here just yet is about the passing of my sweet kitty, Tully, back in December. The reader's digest version is that he developed lymphoma last year, and it was just a matter of time before it took over his body. We had to put him to sleep just after Thanksgiving, and god help me, it was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I still think about him everyday.

When he started getting sicker, I decided that I wanted to eventually "commemorate" him with a tattoo of his paw print. The interesting part was actually getting the print, but after several tries (and lots of wet food as incentive), I was able to get a few decent ones. It took me a few months to actually schedule an appointment, but I was feeling especially inspired last week and set something up for midday Friday.

I sent Chris two of the best paw prints - and seeing as he's also done five out of my seven tattoos - I trusted him completely with it. And guys? It's beautiful.

Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Bites

One of the things that gets me super amped is when I'm able to whip something up from the ingredients we have laying around the house. Usually when I feel inspired or find a recipe on Pinterest that I just have to make, I'm missing half the ingredients.

Like the other day, I thought "I should make falafel for dinner - we have tomatoes and lettuce already!" But what we didn't have included chickpeas, onion, tzatziki, olives, cucumbers... basically, all the things you need for a decent Greek-inspired falafel dinner. Resulting in a trip to the store. Which is fine, except when that store is always Whole Foods and I'm always spending more than I should, and I end up doing this three times a week.

So when I got in the mood to make something with quinoa the other day, I was excited that I actually had quinoa. And I worked a bit backwards from there, (which is probably normal for most), by finding recipes I had already pinned, that I actually had all the ingredients for. Which led me to my new most-favorite recipe of the moment: Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Bites!

One bite of these scrumptious little balls of spicy heaven and I knew they would be the perfect sort-of-lighter dish to bring to our friends Super Bowl party. Except I got completely distracted by my mom being in town and totally forgot to make them. Oops.

However! To be fair, Scot and I were both incredibly busy making chili for our local farm & winery's Chili Day. I stuck with my theme-of-the-week and made Quinoa Sweet Potato Chili, while Scot made his 12-hour smoked brisket chili.

I won't lie, I'm pretty sure Scot's ended up being the bigger hit. (Apparently people want meat in their chili. Whatever.) But at least the people had options!

And so, my lovely friends were never able to taste my yum-tastic quinoa buffalo bites, but that's ok. I made another batch just for Scot & I the next day.. and we didn't have to share!

Quinoa Buffalo Chicken Bites

Ingredients:

- 1 cup shredded chicken

- hot sauce of choosing (I use Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce)

- 1 cup cooked quinoa

- 1 egg

- 1/4 cup panko (I used gluten-free)

- 2 Tbsp flour (Used gluten-free, again!)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F & lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. For scrumptious shredded chicken: marinate & simmer chicken and hot sauce in a covered sauce pot over low to medium heat on stove. The chicken should be mostly covered by the hot sauce sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle. Shred chicken either in the pot, or place on cutting board to shred, then return to pot.

*I typically end up using 2 forks to shred - you want to make sure you don't over cook the chicken, or else it won't shred quite so easily! I like to keep it in the sauce, since that is really my only spice/flavoring for the dish.

3. While chicken is cooking, cook quinoa according to directions. (Typically, 1c water/broth to 1/2c quoina. Cover, boil, reduce heat, and let simmer until quinoa is soft and sprouted.)

4. Once chicken & quinoa are cooked - combine 1c chicken with 1c quinoa. Add egg, panko, and flour. Mix well.

5. Scoop 1-2" balls onto baking sheet - you should have about 12.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until crispy and brown on the outside.

7. Add celery and blue cheese (or sauce of your choosing) and ENJOY!!

green eggs & a snow day

..because I don't eat ham!

So the DC area was hit by a whopping 6-8 inches of snow this past week, which, without fail, shuts the whole area down for at least a day or two.

When I officially called it a snow day and closed down work at 8am, it looked like this outside.

Anticipatory? A bit. But you have to understand that a mid-day snowstorm caused a 13 hour traffic jam in DC back in 2011. People here simply don't know how to deal with snow, much less driving in it, and you really just kind of have to embrace it. So I did.

And see? It actually did snow quite a bit! Well.. eventually.

Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bars

One of the recent tasks I've been assigned to at my massage gig joint is to find, bake, and bring in a monthly recipe - ideally something healthy and relatively easy to make. Naturally, I was all over this like crunch on kale. I already had a ton of ideas, but it gave me even more incentive (not like I really needed it) to explore a bit more to find suitable and varied recipes. Pinterest was literally made for projects like this.

So last month, I went to an old stand-by recipe of mine - Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins - which was a huge hit with both my coworkers and clients alike! For November, my thought was to switch it up a bit and maybe do some sort of crockpot chili.. until I came across a few recipes from one of my favorite blogs, the Detoxinista. (All of which were pinned immediately, of course.) Among them? Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bars. Gluten free, dairy free, added-sugar free. Perfect for November!


I've also been itching to find a good recipe for the bag of coconut flour I have in the pantry. Since I've gone mostly gluten free, I've been experimenting with different grain and flour substitutes (thank you Bobs Red Mill!), but I hadn't found a really decent use for the coconut flour until now. I already knew that it's best used for baking.. but the problem in this household is that anything I bake.. I eat. Because my husband is of one of those incredibly odd and rare species that "doesn't like sweet things". And I mean, I can't bake something and let it go to waste, right? Hence, the validity to my argument that he is inadvertently making me fat. (Just kidding, shmoop, I love you.) ;)


So anyway, once I found both a delicious and relatively good-for-you fall treat, I busted out the pumpkin and can opener (silly kitties thought it was breakfast time for them.. again). The best part is that this recipe is literally the easiest to make. Also? It tastes like crustless pumpkin pie. And really, who needs to bother with the crust anyway? It's all full of hard work and calories. No dice.

Healthy(ish) Eggplant Parm

When I tell people that there's a farm down the street from where we live, I usually get looked at like I have five heads, and the general response is: "WHERE in Maryland ARE you?!". Truth is, we are only about 10 miles north of downtown DC (about 5 to the actual DC border) - so don't worry, we're not that rural. Still definitely in suburbia, but not all country-like like when one thinks of farm. (In my mind, at least.)

Anyway, this farm is the best. We actually discovered it last year when we were searching for local places to get our Christmas tree, ended up going back regularly for weekly produce, and just so happened to move down the street from it this past June.  They sell all sorts of fresh, local produce, and even have a chicken coop and apple orchard on site. When we go, we usually end up getting the same few things each week - tomatoes, onions, apples, potatoes, some form of squash for me, fresh pasta for Scot, etc. This is more a result of habit, as well as the Mr. not being terribly adventurous with his vegetables. I always resist buying something different or off the beaten path because, more often then not, it goes unused when I can't find a good recipe to put it in that he won't only eat, but enjoy. Men are weird.

But I said eff it this week, and got some beets and some eggplant. The beets have yet to find their way into a meal, but the eggplant? Oh my gosh, you guys. The eggplant.

We happened to have a whole bunch of scrumptious, leftover meaty marinara sauce that I made a few days earlier, that I knew would go perfectly in the form of eggplant parm. Scot seemed up for the challenge, so I went with it.

The first (only?) thing you need to you know is that you seriously can't beat farm-fresh eggplant. It would sucker-punch all the "it's too sliiiimy" nay-sayers in their butts. Because it's not slimy. It's tender and delicious and perfect. Pair that with the homemade marinara and a bit of leftover rice, and I was in healthy(ish) dinner heaven. Scot didn't even complain about it too much.. which makes it a win in my book!

((You can find the recipes for the eggplant parm here and the marinara sauce here!))