Gluten/Dairy/Soy/Sugar Free Muffin Mush



This has hands down become my favorite mistake.

The muffin recipe below was the one recipe that I have been using for the last year. Lately it hasn't been holding its own for us. The recipe below has a tendency to turn out a bit dry for us. You can make it work straight out of the oven, but even then its a little full in the mouth if you know what I mean. It isn't dry, or chalky, but it's hard to get down sometimes. It fills your mouth in an uncomfortable way. When you don't eat a lot of muffins though, you think, "Oh for the love of all that's good! I get to eat a muffin!" So you eat it anyway with a big glass of rice or almond milk or you dunk it in coffee, even though it kind of falls apart on you and then you fish the crumbs out and its a big mess. You somehow are still excited to be eating a muffin.

Well, one day I substituted coconut flour for the rice flour and the coconut flour sucked up all the moisture. I would add a big splash of milk to the batter, but it didn't matter, no moisture. Well, I dumped it in the muffin pan anyway and baked them. They were thicker and fell apart as you pulled them out of the oven.

Something you should know about me is I hate waste. Hate it. I hate wasting money. Time. Food. Paint. Fabric. Gas. Water. Doesn't matter what it is, I don't like wasting it. So now, here I have a food, money and my time sitting in a muffin pan that didn't work out.

So what should I do?

Then I remembered my individual berry pie's that I served at our harvest party. The topping to the pie's were crumbled muffins and then we would drizzle Coconut Milk over it and it was to die for. Seriously, BEST DESSERT EVER.

Well, I could do the same thing without the pie right? A little bit french toast bake, a little bit mashed cake look, and a lot of yummy goodness. So I took the muffins, pulled out five bowls, crumbled two muffins in each bowl. Then I drizzled pure maple syrup over the crumbled muffin, added some chopped pecans and then poured in a small amount of coconut milk. Not enough for it to look or feel like cereal, but just enough to add sweetness and moisture that I apparently couldn't accomplish pre baking it.





IT WAS AWESOME!

Seriously best dessert breakfast we have ever had. Even Paul pre-diet said this should be a legit recipe and not a mistake. The only warning is that the kids prefer this over regular muffins now. It's hard to get them to eat them plain after this goodness.

So you don't have to use these muffins, you can use whatever muffin recipe you have. They don't even have to be gluten or dairy free. What isn't better with syrup and milk poured over it?

Now I will say that coconut milk adds a richness that rice milk doesn't. Using a flavored milk also helps, like vanilla almond milk. You could even sprinkle cinnamon on top. Get crazy and just enjoy it on Saturday morning!


Muffin Mush recipe


Make muffins according to these directions.

Gluten/Dairy/Soy/Sugar Free Muffins
1 1/2 cup of rice flour*

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of Real sea salt

3 large banana's mashed with fork**

1/4 cup of honey

1 egg

1/3 cup of butter spread substitute (earth balance is great)***

2 teaspoons of flax or chia seeds


Blend all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix wet ingredients together in separate bowl. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Extra fun add in's:1/4 cup of Nuts, raisins, coconut, choc chips, seeds, et. .

Bake at 350 for 15 min.

Pull out of oven. Break apart into bite size pieces and place in cereal bowl. Add chopped nuts or coconut flakes. Drizzle a tablespoon of pure maple syrup over crumbled muffin. Add 1/4 cup milk of choice.

Enjoy!

*All GF flours are not the same. I have used Bean and Coconut flour in this and neither has worked. Bean adds a very negative distinct flavor and Coconut soaks up all the mixture so you can never get it back to batter consistency.

**You can also replace this with 1 cup pumpkin puree or squash puree. If you use pumpkin or squash I would recommend switching the honey to Pure Maple Syrup because it kind of keep's two fall flavors together and they compliment each other really nicely.

*** I have also used coconut oil here when I was out of butter and that has worked well too. It adds another layer of sweetness to the overall muffin.

Hearty Gluten Free Granola

This recipe started from one of my favorite cookbooks called, Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert.



It's not that sweet, but it hits the spot.  I have taken their basic recipe and added a little here and changed a thing or two there.  We eat it as a snack, but mostly we use it as our cereal.  When you can't have Gluten/Dairy/Corn/Soy/Sugar, cereal is around $6 a box.  We just can't do that.  Plus the bonus is that when you make your own cereal, you control what goes in it, and you keep the preservatives out.

Again, the way I approach recipes is to look at them like a base.  Here is your granola base, but think about what you like to eat, what your family likes to eat.  If you won't eat raisins, don't put them in.  On the other side of that coin however, is the idea to try to stretch your tastes, include items that you know are good for you, but you wouldn't normally eat.



HEARTY GLUTEN FREE GRANOLA

Preheat oven to 300 degree's
3 cups GF oats
1 cup GF flour blend, (I really like to use Coconut flour for its added sweetness)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon of ginger
Handful of Chia seeds or hemp seeds
Mix together in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center then add:

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 milk
1/2 cup nuts or dried fruit (raisns, walnuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, cashews, almonds, chopped dates, etc.)
Mix well and pour into a cake pan.  Place on middle rack in oven for 45-55 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

* Adding the coconut sugar the first few times you make this will help in the transition of flavors.  Once you start enjoying homemade granola cereal, you can leave out the added sugar.

I always like to double this recipe because my kids like eating it so much, doubling up just means I have to make it less. Saving time and energy in the kitchen means to have more time and energy for my family.  So make it once, if you like it, always double it so you have it on hand.  Store in airtight jars or containers.

We love eating this with almond milk in the morning, or in the evening as a snack.

Enjoy!