Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I started making these muffins back in the fall, when Trader Joe's started carrying their pumpkin puree and when I found this recipe.  I tweaked the recipe to meet our needs and preferences, and now we have a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin that we like to eat not just in the fall, but year-round, as long as I stock up on enough pumpkin puree while it's available in stores. 

Sometime last year I started the tradition of making muffins for breakfast every Sunday.  I freeze the leftover ones and bring them out to feed myself and the girls for breakfast during the school week, when I don't want to get up early enough to make fresh ones.  In addition to tasting great right out of the oven, these muffins taste just as good when defrosted in the fridge overnight and then microwaved until warm.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree.  (Get one that does not contain any added ingredients.  I use Trader Joe's brand, which is seasonal.)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 cup dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I recommend Ghirardelli, Trader Joe's, or Enjoy Life brand.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the cups of a muffin tin with canola oil.  In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, flax seed meal, brown sugar, canola oil, and applesauce.  Heat in the microwave until warm, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  Then set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and sea salt.  Stir the apple cider vinegar into the pumpkin puree mixture.  Then pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until no trace of flour remains.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Pour 1/3 cup of batter into each of the muffin tin cups.  Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  
  

Egg and Sausage Casserole

This year I thought I would try to come up with some fun foods to eat for breakfast on Christmas morning.  Since most of us can eat eggs, I decided to work on a dairy-free egg casserole.  (My sister-in-law also put in a request for something sweet with cinnamon, but I'm still working on that recipe.)  I think the breakfast sausage gives the egg casserole lots of flavor, even without the usual cheese sprinkled on top.  To make the casserole wheat-free and dairy-free, I used gluten-free bread and almond milk.  We'll see what the rest of our family thinks, but Michael and I found it quite yummy.

One important thing to note is that you need to start this casserole about 24 hours ahead of time.  The bread needs to soak in the egg mixture overnight for it to turn out as egg casserole perfection.  If you don't have 12 eggs, you could try using 10 eggs and 1 cup of almond milk, or 8 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of almond milk. 

Egg and Sausage Casserole
serves 10 to 12 people

Ingredients:

• 12 to 16 oz. breakfast sausage.  Jones All Natural original pork sausage and Jimmy Dean All-Natural regular pork sausage are the two brands I have found that are free of wheat, corn, dairy, and soy.
• 12 large eggs
• 1/2 cup plain almond milk.  (Not vanilla-flavor!)  I prefer Blue Diamond Almond Breeze original.
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. ground mustard
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 6 slices of Ener-G tapioca loaf.  Or if you cannot find the tapioca loaf, use 5 or 6 slices of Ener-G brown rice or white rice loaf, depending on how many are needed to cover the bottom of the pan.  (The tapioca loaf slices are cut thinner.)

Instructions:  

The morning before you want to serve the casserole, take the tube of breakfast sausage out of the freezer to let it defrost in the refrigerator.  Then the evening before, cook the sausage over medium-heat in a large frying pan for about 10 minutes, breaking the sausage up into small pieces and stirring frequently, until the sausage is cooked and has begun to brown.  

Whisk together the eggs, almond milk, oregano, basil, ground mustard, sea salt, onion powder, and black pepper.  Cut the slices of bread into 1/2-inch cubes.  Liberally grease a 9x13 Pyrex pan with canola oil or olive oil.  Sprinkle the bread cubes in a single layer on the bottom of the pan.  Pour the egg mixture over top of the bread cubes.  If any of the cubes remain dry-looking, press them into the egg mixture to coat.  Then sprinkle the cooked sausage in an even layer on top.  Cover the baking dish and place it in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, take the dish out of the refrigerator.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  When the oven is hot, bake the casserole uncovered for 30 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle of the casserole comes out clean.  Let the casserole cool for a few minutes before serving.

 

Overnight Steel-cut Oatmeal

I'm back!  I finished my first semester of graduate school and now can think again about things like posting new recipes.  This fall I've been trying out a few, but I just didn't have the time or energy to post them.  It didn't help that I couldn't find the battery charger for my camera for a while.  But now that I'm not writing papers or looking for my charger, I can resume my recipe posting.  This recipe is one that I've been making a lot this fall.  I can start it the night before, and then it just takes 15 minutes in the morning to finish making breakfast.  Since sleep is a precious commodity, I've been trying to get up as late as I can and still get the girls fed before Sabrina has to catch the bus at 7:20 am.

I have three variations of our steel-cut oatmeal:  blueberry with maple syrup, raspberry with brown sugar, and chocolate raspberry.  The picture above is of the chocolate raspberry version, which is the girls' favorite.  Big surprise, eh?

Overnight Steel-cut Oatmeal
serves 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 small children

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten-free steel-cut oats.  I use Bob's Red Mill brand.
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• for the blueberry version:  1 cup frozen wild blueberries, 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• for the raspberry version:  1 cup frozen raspberries, 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon,  2 to 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• for the chocolate raspberry version:  1 cup frozen raspberries, 1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I like Trader Joe's semi-sweet or Ghirardelli semi-sweet brands), and 2 Tbsp. brown sugar 

Instructions:

The night before, add the the steel-cut oats, water, and salt to a small pot and stir.  Bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Immediately remove the pot from the heat and cover with a lid.  Leave the pot on the stove top overnight.

The next morning add the berries to the pot, stir, and bring the oatmeal to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium, or so the liquid is simmering gently.  Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  (If you are using raspberries, occasionally mash them with the back of your spoon so that they dissolve into the oatmeal.)  Then remove the pot from the heat, stir in the other ingredients, and serve.

Zucchini Apple Muffins

Here is my latest muffin recipe!  Since it's now summer and zucchini is inexpensive and plentiful, I thought I would come up with another way to use it in muffins.  The grated zucchini and apple keep these muffins nice and moist.     

Recently I have discovered another method that helps cut down on preparation time when making baked goods:  weighing flour using a kitchen scale.  I had read that one cup of white flour is 125 grams.  After measuring and weighing the Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour, I confirmed that one cup of it also is equal to 125 grams.  So if you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend weighing the flour instead of trying to scoop it out of the bag.  Weighing the flour is more accurate and takes less time, too!  (One caveat is that other gluten-free flours do not weigh the same amount, so be sure to measure other flours using measuring cups or according to the recipe.) 

Zucchini Apple Muffins
makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. rice milk
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed meal
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small apple
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar 
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.  Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the muffin tin with canola oil.  Mix the rice milk and flax seed meal in a cup, heat it in the microwave until hot, and stir.

Peel the skin off the zucchini and apple.  Grate the zucchini, pack it firmly into a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and pour the grated zucchini into a small bowl.  Then grate the apple, pack it firmly into the 1/2 cup measuring cup, and transfer it to the bowl with the zucchini.  Be sure to firmly pack as much zucchini and apple into the measuring cup as you can.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a different bowl, mix the flax and milk mixture, white sugar, canola oil, cider vinegar, and vanilla extract.  Stir the grated zucchini and apple into the liquid ingredients.  Then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients.  Stir until completely combined.

Pour the batter into the muffin tin using a level 1/3 cup of batter per muffin.  Bake for about 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Loosen the sides of the muffins with a knife or thin spatula to help the muffins come out of the tin.

Applesauce Spice Muffins

These muffins are great to make in the winter when fresh fruit isn't as available or affordable.  They are also great when you haven't been to the store in a while and the only fruit in the house is applesauce.  And finally, they are great because the spices and applesauce make them taste like apple pie in muffin form.

Ingredients:
makes 5 or 6 muffins

• 3 Tbsp. hot water
• 1 Tbsp. flax seed meal
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the muffin tin with canola oil.  In a small bowl mix the hot water and flax seed meal, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice.  In the small bowl containing the flax mixture, add the white sugar, brown sugar, canola oil, and cider vinegar.  If the applesauce has been refrigerated, warm it in the microwave and then add to the small bowl.  Stir the liquid ingredients together and then pour them into the bowl with the dry ingredients.  Stir until completely combined. 

Pour the batter into the muffin tin.  Use a level 1/4 cup of batter per muffin for 6 muffins or a level 1/3 cup of batter for 5 muffins.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Gluten-free Bisquick Pancakes

During our Florida vacation I wanted to make cooking breakfast simpler than it is at home. Therefore, I decided to use some gluten-free mixes instead of making everything from scratch. One of the mixes was gluten-free Bisquick, which I used for making pancakes, albeit modifying the recipe on the Bisquick box because of Sabrina's egg allergy and our dairy intolerance. I also added some ground cinnamon to the batter because I like the way cinnamon in pancakes tastes. I think the resulting pancakes were quite good and worth making again. Even so, I'll reserve the Bisquick for vacations and other special occasions because it's more expensive that the Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour that I buy in bulk. In addition, the Bisquick isn't quite as healthy since the main ingredients are rice flour, sugar, and modified potato starch. But who thinks about what's healthy when they're on vacation, right? Speaking of not so healthy, one morning we topped our pancakes with chocolate syrup. Yum, yum.

Gluten-free Bisquick Pancakes
makes about 8 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup gluten-free Bisquick
• 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium to large banana)
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. plain almond milk
  
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil

Instructions:

Add the Bisquick mix to a medium bowl. Microwave the milk until warm and pour into the bowl. Mash the banana on a plate or in a food chopper and add it to the bowl as well. Finally, add to the bowl the ground cinnamon and canola oil. Whisk until completely combined. Let the batter sit for ten minutes.

While the batter is resting, place a large non-stick pan over medium heat and let it heat up. When the pan is hot and the batter has rested for ten minutes, make a tester pancake using 1/4 cup of batter. Cook the pancake for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Then cook the rest of the pancakes, using 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.