Eggnog Custard Cake (Gluten Free, Grain Free, GAPS)

         This morning, my mom asked me if I wanted to make breakfast. Of course, I said yes, and not really wanting to make the usual lemon poppy seed muffins or sourdough/sprouted flour waffles, I went to look up some recipes. Pinterest is just great like that. ;) So I found one. Our six chickens have been laying pretty well, so I found one that took more eggs than usual. Normally we have to be economical with our eggs because we don't have very many chickens, but since we have been eating a bit more sourdough and sprouted instead of all GAPS recipes (which take a lot of eggs), we have had more on hand. So six eggs it is. I originally found this recipe here, and modified it just a smidgen.

Ingredients (I'm not going to say organic before each one, but we all know that's the way to go):

• 3/4 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream or full-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I used homemade) 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• heaping 1/4 cup of coconut flour
• 1 large banana
• 3/4 cup frozen blueberries (or fresh, if you have them)

Method:

• In a large bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, vanilla, spices, and salt. Mix by hand or with a blender of your choice.
• Add in melted oil and honey/maple syrup, stirring well.
• Add coconut flour, and stir in - make sure you don't have any clumps.
• Grease and 8" by 8" glass dish with butter or coconut oil, and pour your batter in.
• Slice your banana and lay the pieces over the top. They should float. Sprinkle your blueberries the same way.
• Bake for 50-60 minutes at 325 degrees. The top should be golden brown and the center should be firm. 
• Cool for ten minutes and then cut up. The website I got it from says it makes six generous servings. We *ahem* did not find them to be too generous. 

As a note, I must say that we had this cold the day after, and I believe it was even better then!

        I got only positive feedback from this recipe, and I hope you enjoy it as well as my family!

Blessings,

Reyna

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (Grain and Gluten Free, Gaps)

        I discovered this recipe when we were still fully on the GAPS Diet - now we eat a bit of homemade  sourdough every now and again - and was making it at least once a week for a while. I originally came across the recipe here, and have somewhat altered it to better fit my taste (less sweet, more lemon, etc). I have to admit, I never followed this recipe completely, even the first time I made it. I think I have a disorder where I just can't follow a recipe exactly - I don't really measure and intentionally add more or less of something I want. Most of the time it works, and then once in a while... Disaster strikes!

        I made these muffins today, and they did turn out well. Here is my improved recipe, but I don't measure any of this stuff so it is a slightly different texture every time. GAPS recipes are for the most part very forgiving, so that makes life a bit easier.

• 1/2 cup coconut flour (I use just a bit less to avoid the muffins being too dry)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (ours is homemade with vanilla beans and vodka)
• 4 large eggs or 5 small
• Zest from two medium lemons
•  Juice from one lemon
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

        My procedure is a bit different than most people's, it makes it so I don't have to melt the coconut oil. Feel free to add your ingredients in pretty much any order you choose.

• Mix together the coconut flour and the maple syrup/honey until it forms a very thick paste. It will be runnier if you add more sweetener.

• Add the vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Our vanilla is in an old root beer bottle with a cork.

• Add the eggs and mix in:

 

• Zest the lemons and then squeeze the juice from one in. Mix thoroughly.

• Mix in the poppy seeds. You see how bright yellow the batter is? Fresh eggs, people! They're full of vitamins and minerals!

• Grease your muffin cups or just line them with muffin wrappers. Our pans are all so old that everything sticks like glue, so I have to use foil. I know it's not the healthiest, but I don't really have a choice.

•  Fill the muffin cups.

• Bake for about 22 minutes at 350 degrees, or until slightly browned on the tops. Cool for a few minutes and then eat!

        These muffins have a delicious lemon flavor and are great for breakfast. As I said before, I make these all the time, and we haven't gotten tired of them yet. They are soooooo healthy as well, so you can't feel bad about having them often. There is no grain or gluten, and only a quarter of a cup of sweetener in the whole recipe! That's only one teaspoon in each muffin! 

        Do you bake grain/gluten/sugar free? I'd love to hear some recipe ideas!

Blessings,

Reyna

Blueberry Lemon Cookies (Grain and Gluten Free, GAPS)

        I just thought I'd share with you a delicious recipe that I concocted a few weeks ago. It is, as the title informs you, for cookies, but the best part is, they have no grain at all! And they still taste great!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour (I made my own; see below)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• zest from 2 large-ish lemons
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 5 tablespoons melted coconut oil or butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dried blueberries (see below)

Mix all ingredients together. The dough should be firm and sticky. Form into cookies (makes about twelve small or nine large), and bake at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Cool for about five minutes so they don't fall apart when you try to eat them, and then devour savor each bite. 

        I made rather large cookies this time:

         About the almond flour. I refuse to buy blanched almond flour from the store; it is SO expensive! The way I make it, it doesn't turn out quite as fine and takes quite a bit of effort, but still works. Here's how:

• Soak three cups of almonds in water overnight - I dissolve two teaspoons of salt in the water to pull the phytic acid from the almonds as well.
• In the morning, rinse the almonds well until the water coming out runs clear.
• Peel the skins off of each almond. This will take a while, so maybe put on a TV show or something.
• Grind up the skinless (blanched) almonds in a food processor. Try to get the pieces as small as possible. The blade in ours is rather dull, so it is hard for me to get it really fine.
• Spread the wet almond flour on a dehydrator mat and dehydrate on 150 degrees for eight hours or until completely dry and crispy
• Use in baking!

        About the blueberries. Again, I am not going to buy the fancy dried blueberries that are soft and tender and full of sugar. So, I make my own (surprise)!

• Get a dehydrator mat and put some aluminum foil over the top. Then put down a paper towel.
• Pour about 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries onto the paper towel and make sure they are spread out. 
• Dehydrate at whatever temperature you want until they are almost dry but not crispy. They should still be chewy and a bit moist. I think I did mine at 135 degrees for about seven hours. 
• Bake cookies or use in trail mix!

        I hope you enjoy this recipe! We eat mostly grain-free and this is one of our favorite treats.

Blessings,

Reyna