Double Chocolate Pancakes

Chocolate for breakfast? I say "yes!" They smell like brownies while they're cookies. Can you get a better start to your day than that? Chocolate pancakes are the most requested breakfast of my three year old. That is, next to his cream of rice cereal.

These are so simple! You could use sugar, honey, or a sugar-free replacement to sweeten them. I've used Pyure and coconut sugar, and both were delicious!

Double Chocolate Pancakes

1 3/4 cups gluten free all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa or cacao powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar, 2 tbsp honey, or 5 tsp Pyure
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups milk (or water)
2/3 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
Oil, for skillet

In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Add the wet ingredients and mix again until well combined.

Heat a skillet on medium-low heat and oil it for easier flipping. Scoop 1/4 cup fulls of batter onto hot skillet, and cook until the bottom edge starts to look dry. Flip, and cook until golden brown.

Makes about twelve pancakes. Serve with real maple syrup. Enjoy!

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Gluten, Dairy, Egg-Free Blueberry Muffins

Sometimes, while I'm just minding my own business, a bright idea will just pop into my head. An idea like, "That flour combination made really good cookies. Why couldn't it make good muffins? Blueberry muffins! Yes, that sounds good!" Then, while one of my children is playing with Play-Doh and the other one is coloring on a newspaper...and my hardwood floor...and the sliding door windows, I put together these most delicious blueberry muffins. (I'm so thankful for washable crayons!)

I've tried a few different gluten-free blueberry muffin recipes. They all turn out rather crumbly, like you'd expect with almost any gluten-free baked good. These particular muffins turned out moist and cake-like. They were soft, but not so soft that you couldn't spread some dairy-free butter spread on them. I'm going to make them again soon, omitting the cinnamon and switching out the blueberries for Enjoy Life chocolate chips. My three year old will be beside himself with chocolate in his muffins at breakfast!

One thing I did different with these muffins from all my other baking was to measure the flours by weight. I've been doing a little bit of reading on how that can totally change your end product in gluten-free baking. Different flours have different weights, so I looked up each one before measuring. I really do think it helped, but if you don't have a kitchen scale, don't worry too much about it. Just try to get precise measurements with your measuring cups.

Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12-15 regular muffins

1 cup (113g) tapioca flour
1 cup (135g) millet flour
3/4 cup (84g) coconut flour
2 tsp gelatin (or 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum)
1 tbsp baking powder (Try homemade for a corn-free version!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups coconut or almond milk
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease muffin cups, or line with paper liners.

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add applesauce, oil, honey, and vanilla, then stir. Pour in milk and stir again until well combined. Fold in blueberries. Divide batter between muffin tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes until muffins are slightly golden on top and feel firm to touch.

Yes, my muffins are square. I still don't have my muffin tins out of storage, so all I had to use was the Pampered Chef brownie pans. That larger one on the top right is actually out of a tiny loaf pan since I didn't have two brownie pans clean. It baked a few minutes longer, but turned out fine. We just sliced it up and slathered on the butter!

Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash

One pan skillet dinner, meet real food. What mom doesn't love a one pan dinner that can be made in less than forty-five minutes? This can be done in thirty minutes easily, if you have the potatoes chopped ahead of time.

My family has recently discovered its love of sweet potatoes. I'm frying them, baking them, making fries with them. Yum! A little off topic, but did you know there are also white sweet potatoes? They're delicious too! Everyone should get to try them.

This recipe can be for breakfast, lunch, or supper. You choose. It's good at any time of the day!

Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash 

Coconut oil
1 lb pork or turkey sausage
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Salt and cinnamon, to taste

Optional add-ins:
Greens
Carrots
Broccoli

In a 12" skillet, brown the sausage. When there is no pink left in it, move it to a bowl, but leave the grease. Add chopped sweet potatoes (and carrots or broccoli, if using) to pan, adding coconut oil if needed. Season with salt and cinnamon. Once potatoes are soft (15-20 minutes), add sausage (and greens) back in and continue to cook for a few minutes to let flavors combine. Remove from heat and enjoy!

(I ran my spinach through the food processor first. It makes it easier for the kids to eat, and they can't pick it out!) :)

Chocolate Plantain Donuts

My 3 year old kept asking me for donuts, but being on the Autoimmune Paleo diet makes that a little tough. No grain or nut flours, and no eggs...how can one make a donut with those restrictions? Well, believe it or not, I tweaked a waffle recipe and came up with something really tasty! I'm excited to share it with you!

For this recipe, you'll need three or four plantains. Have you ever seen them in the grocery store? They look like an over-sized banana. In fact, they're in the banana family. Ripe plantains are delicious when they're sliced and fried and sprinkled with some salt and cinnamon. You should try it sometime!

The texture of these donuts are close to regular donuts. I don't know how they keep, since we had them all gone by bedtime. :)

Chocolate Plantain Donuts

4 cups plantain puree (3-4 large ripe--or close to ripe--plantains)

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tbsp vanilla

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp carob powder (or cacao, or cocoa)

2 tbsp maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Peel and chop your plantains and run them through the food processor or blender until smooth. Next, add the oil, vanilla, and vinegar and blend again. Add salt, soda, carob powder, and maple syrup and blend until well mixed. 

Spoon this dough mixture into two donut pans to make twelve donuts. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. 

Enjoy!

Homemade Coconut Milk

A lot of store bought coconut milk has ingredients other than water and coconut. Gums and carrageenan are just two of the list. If you're doing AIP, gums are not allowed, and my family avoids carrageenan already.

Did you know it's super easy to make your own additive-free coconut milk with only two ingredients? It's also more cost effective! The first ingredient is unsweetened coconut. I got a bag of Wild Oats organic coconut from Walmart for $1.98. Your only other ingredient is...drumroll...water! I promise, it is SO easy. Here you go...

Homemade Coconut Milk

1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 cups hot water

In a large blender, combine ingredients and process for 3-5 minutes. Strain through a fine strainer. Press the pulp down with a spoon to get all the milk out.

If you're like me, and don't want to waste that coconut pulp, you can dehydrate it in the oven. Just spread it on a cookie sheet, turn the oven to 200°F, and leave it for 45 minutes to an hour. It's done when there is no moisture left. Run that through your food processor, and you have something to bake with.

Coconut Raisin Crunch

Are you ready for something totally addicting? It's the kind of addicting where you may hide the bowl from your kids so you can eat it during naptime. :) It's like a trailmix, but it's good with milk over it like cereal too. Super easy and fast, here's one of my favorite recipes!

Coconut Raisin Crunch

2 cups thick coconut flakes
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp maple syrup
2/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Combine coconut flakes, cinnamon, and maple syrup in a medium bowl and mix gently until all the flakes are covered. Spread evenly onto a cookie sheet (with sides).

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until coconut flakes are lightly browned, stirring often. Allow to cool, and then add your raisins.

If you're like my 3 year old, you may think it needs more raisins. (Like an entire box full in one small bowl.) Go for it!

*This recipe can be doubled, just add a little more baking time.