Grain Free Chocolate Doughnuts

Who said grain free can't be good!  Omg, these are delicious!  My family has sensitive bellies, but we love sweets...what are we to do?!  Eat grain free chocolate doughnuts of course! 

 Grain Free Chocolate Doughnuts

2 large eggs

1 medium sized banana

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond butter 

1/4 cup arrowroot flour/powder

4TBS cocoa powder

4 TBS honey or maple syrup

1 TBS vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

-Preheat oven to 350

-Prepare your doughnut wells.  I have This one and love it!  Rub good bit of coconut oil in each doughnut well by hand, making sure to coat each one well. 

-Blend all ingredients in Vitamix or food processor....or by hand the old fashioned way. I do like how smooth the batter gets with the blender!

-The batter will be quite thick

- Next put your batter in a gallon size zip lock bag (your making a makeshift pastry piping bag). Cut a very small piece of the tip off. 

- Fill doughnut wells about 3/4 full (I go around twice with the pastry bag)

-Bake 10-12 min

-Let cool in the the pan about 10 min before you carefully remove the doughnuts. 

Topping

You can really top these with just about anything....or eat them plain. 

I melted some chocolate chips, drizzled it over the top, then sprinkled some natural dye sprinkles over the top for the littles of course ;)

Enjoy!

Grain Free Graham Crackers

Graham Crackers:

3/4 cup almond four

1 tsp coconut flour

1/3 cup tapioca starch (flour)

1 egg  OR  1 TBS of ground chia seeds mixed with 3 TBS water ( this is an egg replacer, and also has a wonderful nutritional profile) *chia can be ground using a Vitamix, food processor, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle.   

***I have made both versions and prefer the egg version. Using chia is great for an egg free version of the recipe! and still tastes quite good. 

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder 

pinch of sea salt

2½ tablespoons butter or Ghee softened

1 TBS almond milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons raw honey

Dash of cinnamon

* Optional -I mixed up some Turbinado sugar and cinnamon and sprinkled it on top of the crackers before baking

-Mix all ingridients together well with a wire whisk

-Place bowl in the fridge and allow to chill for 30 min

-Place batter between two pieces of parchment paper on a hard surface

-Roll out quite thin (the thickness a cracker would be)

-Slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet

-Remove top layer of paper

-Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar if you choose 

-Use a pizza cutter to cut whatever shape you like for the crackers. I just did small squares (Don't move the crackers once you cut them, you are basically just scoring the dough and making line templates)

- Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 min

-I went back over the lines with the pizza cutter once they came out of the oven. 

-Let them rest and cool 10 min or so befor you move them off the cookie sheet. 

-You can also place them in the warm oven for a few hours to make them more crunchy. 

Enjoy!

Immunity Booster - Lemon Ginger "Tea"

I recommend this to anyone who is just getting sick. It's been my go to immune booster this season. I had a super sore throat a few days ago, slugged a few cups of this elixir back and not only felt 100% better in the morning...started feeling better within hours of drinking it. 

Recipe

Juice of half a lemon (I love using Meyer lemons)

About 1 inch of peeled fresh ginger grated. I grate mine using a micro plane. The ginger will settle to the bottom of the tea cup, and I will just drink it up with the last few sips ;)

Big TBS of Raw Honey

-Boil water, add lemon juice and ginger. Let steep a few minutes. When tea has cooled a bit, add the raw honey. You can also add a little cool water to bring down the temp of the water faster. You don't want to cook the honey and loose all of its amazing health qualities. 

Why This Works:

LEMON

Lemons contain lots of antioxidants and vitamin C, which can improve the immune system, and it also balances the levels of alkali and acids in the body. Drinking lemonade or lemon tea regularly will make your body less susceptible to illnesses.

The level of vitamin C in your system is one of the first things to plummet when you are stressed. This is why experts recommended taking extra vitamin C during especially stressful days.  Lemons are also high in potassium, which is good for heart health, as well as brain and nerve function.  They also aid in digestion,detoxify your system by enhancing enzyme function and stimulating your liver, and reduce inflammation in your body. 

GINGER

Ginger is one of the natural home remedies that has actually been tested and researched by the medical community. Ginger has been used for thousands of years in India for many different ailments. Ginger boosts your immune system by warming the body and helps to break down the accumulation of toxins in the organs, particularly in the lungs and sinuses.  Ginger also helps to cleanse the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a drainage in the body for toxins. By opening up these lymphatic channels and keeping things clean, ginger prevents the accumulation of the toxins that make you susceptible to infections, especially in the respiratory system. It doesn’t take long to see the benefits of ginger when you have a sore throat and a cold. Ginger is a must-have medicinal food during flu season.

Ginger is also an antioxidant, anti microbial, anti inflammatory. It helps clear congestion, eases throat pain, kills cold viruses, and combats fever.

RAW HONEY

Raw honey  is full of many vitamins and minerals; riboflavin, thiamine, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, nicotinic acid and vitamin C. In fact, the more pollen in the honey the more Vitamin C it has. Honey has been known to fight colds and respiratory infections. 

Enzymatic activities of honey also produce hydrogen peroxide, which generate highly reactive free radicals which kill bacteria, further contributing to its antibacterial properties.  Raw Honey is an Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral, and  Anti-Fungal Substance.  

Grain Free Cinnamon & Chocolate Chip Muffins

Crazy how some bananas, nut butter and eggs can make a muffin. These are good, and easy to make!

Grain Free Cinnamon & Chocolate Chip Muffins 

Recipe modified from Mindy's Munchkin Menu

Yields 10 large, 24 mini muffins

1 Cup nut butter (almond, peanut, cashew, sunflower seed butter, etc.)

I have made them with sunflower and almond butter. I prefer the almond, but sunflower is good too. 

2 medium sized ripe bananas

2 large eggs

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

2 Tbsp raw honey or maple syrup

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips or raisins...or both! (I love Enjoy Life allergen free mini chocolate chips)

--------------------------------------------------------------

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

-Place all ingredients except raisins into a blender or food processor. (I used my new Vitamix)

-Blend until well mixed and smooth

-Stir in the chocolate chips or raisins.

-Pour batter into prepared muffin tin (either greased with coconut oil or lined with cupcake liners).

-Cook time: 15 minutes for full size muffins

-Cook 10 min for mini muffins

-Enjoy!

What Natural Sweeteners Are Best?

If you are anything like me, you have felt overwhelmed by all the selections of natural sweetners out there. There are A LOT of them. Growing up, we had two types of sugar in my house, white and brown. That was that. It's wonderful that there are so many types to choose from, and they are so readily available, but it can be confusing!  Here is a list of some of my favorite natural sweeteners, and a little info on why I don't recommend Agave nectar.

Holistic Mom R.N.'s Favorite Natural Sweetener

1.  Sucant - My favorite sugar to use to date. Sucant is made from sugarcane, and is whole unrefined cane sugar.  The sugar cane juice is extracted manually, then cooled and little brown crystals form.  It is brown, because it still has some of it's molasses content. It has a mild molasses/caramel flavor.  Sucant also has less sucrose than table sugar. It can replace table sugar in any recipe 1:1. 

2.  Rapadura- Very similar to Sucant, as it is also made from sugar cane juice. Rapadura is unrefined dried sugar cane juice.  It contains all of the vitamins and minerals that are normally found in sugarcane juice, namely iron. It replaces sugar 1:1 and adds a molasses flavor and dark color, so it’s great in baked goods like brownies, cookies, and cakes, coffee and black tea.  It does have a pretty strong molasses flavor, so keep that in mind when using it. 

This is a brick of rapadura

3.  Turbinado-  This sugar is often confused with sucanat, but the two are not the same. After the sugarcane juice is extracted, the juice is then boiled, cooled, and allowed to crystallize into granules.  These granules are then refined to a light tan color by washing them in a centrifuge to remove impurities and surface molasses. Turbinado is lighter in color and contains less molasses than both rapadura and sucanat. A popular brand-name of turbinado sugar is Sugar in the Raw, that you often see in every coffee shop.  It replaces sugar 1:1. 

As you can see, the crystals are much larger and formed than sucant and rapadura. It is also much lighter in color. 

4.  Maple Syrup-  I love using maple syrup when I want a liquid sweetener.  I usually buy the lighter grade one (lighter color and milder taste). It can be used as a substitute for sugar in just about any way. It can be used for making cookies, cakes, adding sweetness to smoothies, nut butters, nut milks, and of course...pancakes!  It is known that maple syrup can bring many benefits to the body, including promoting the health of the heart, boosting the immune system, lowering the risk of prostrate cancer and others.

Trader Joes Grade B is great!  It is the most reasonably priced organic maple syrup I have been able to find. 

5.  Raw Honey-  Raw honey is a natural sweetener that is made by bees. It is important that you buy raw honey, so that you can get the many health benefits and nutritional qualities from the honey. If you add it to your tea, let the water cool a bit before adding it. Honey has been used as a sugar substitute for centuries. It has a low glycemic index, and is ideal for those who want to lose weight. I have read, that if you are trying to lose weight, you should take some honey every morning. Honey is rich in antioxidants, which can protect your body from a variety of illnesses. It can also treat insomnia, beautify the skin, help wounds heal and promote digestion.  Wowza!!  We use it a lot here in my house as a natural cough syrup. It is very soothing to the throat when you have an upper respiratory infection.  My favorite sick "tea" is made with hot water, raw honey, ginger, and lemon juice. 

***IMPORTANT!!!!!!  Honey should NOT  be given to infants under one year of age due to the fact that it can carry botulism toxins. ***

This is my favorite brand. It's good quality and quite reasonably priced. 

You might wonder why I didn't add Agave to this list with all it's hype and popularity in the media over the past few years. There are some new concerns over Agave being no better for you than high fructose corn syrup. One of the worst "sugar" substitute offenders.   Agave nectar is produced from the juice of the core of the agave, a succulent plant native to Mexico. Far from a whole food, agave juice is extracted, filtered, heated and hydrolyzed into agave syrup. Vegans often use agave as a honey substitute, although it’s even sweeter and a little thinner than honey. It contains trace amounts of iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium. The fructose content of agave syrup is much higher than that of high fructose corn syrup, which is of concern since some research has linked high fructose intake to weight gain (especially around the abdominal area), high triglycerides, heart disease and insulin resistance. High fructose corn syrup contains 55% fructose while agave nectar syrup contains 90%. Despite this, it has a low glycemic index because of its low glucose content.  

Well, I hope this helped, and makes your day a little sweeter ;)