Almond Muffins - wheat free, gluten free and delicious!

This is from a recipe on T-nation, you can really customize it with any flavoring or add-ins you like. I used almond extract, I have seen it made with canned pumpkin (cook a little longer), nuts would be good, zest of lemon and poppy seeds would be awesome...anything you can think of. You can make big muffins, mini-muffins (my first batch here was minis), muffin tops...I have no idea how it would be in a small loaf pan, but I bet it would work.

Almond flour is expensive, but worth it if you aretrying to go wheat-free/gluten-free.

Basic Muffin Recipe

Made 21 mini-miffins, not sure how many large it will make.

2c almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3-1/2c Splenda
1/2c butter or coconut oil, softened
4 eggs
1/3c water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Spray or grease a muffin tin, or line with paper cups.

Mix all the dry ingredients. Mix all the wet ingredients. mix together well, either by wooden spoon or with a hand mixer.

Spoon into  muffin tins, leaving a little room for expansion.

Bake 10-15 minutes, until set in middle (check wwith toothpick). Less time for mini-muffins, more time for larger and for muffins with moist add-ins, like pumpkin.

Enjoy!

Bonus Topping/glaze/dip

You can make this any flavor, depending on the protein you use and if you add zest or extracts, and you can make it thick like frosting, dip consistency or pourable, like a glaze depending on how much milk/milk substitute you use.

1 Scoop Whey or mixed protein powder
1 tbsp coconut flour
splash of 1/2 & 1/2 or almond milk (I used whole milk)

Mix well, adding more liquid if needed for desired consistency. Enjoy guilt-free on top of muffins (or by the spoonful :) ).



These brownies are amazing! Paul makes them for me :) This is from an ebook, full of great recipes, by Leigh Peele called Body By Eats Desserts. order it here (when redesigned, apparently):

http://www.bodybyeats.com/?hop=henlem

Veggies Noodles

We finally got a noodle shredding device and have been making lots of veggie noodles. My favorite are zucchini. You can use any shreddable vegetables. I saute them in a little oil and spices, depoending on what I am going to serve over them.

Here is the shredder we got:

http://www.amazon.com/GEFU-13460-Spirelli-Spiral-Cutter/dp/B0026RMEK4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380644377&sr=8-2&keywords=vegetable+noodle+maker

Here is a fancier version:

http://www.amazon.com/Paderno-World-Cuisine-A4982799-Tri-Blade/dp/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380644490&sr=8-1&keywords=vegetable+noodle+maker


Here are some massive amounts of raw noodles:

 

 And In the process of being sauteed:

 

So far I have had chicken and Thai peanut sauce over them and red curry pork over them. Any type of saucy food you might serve over noodles can be served over veggie noodles, if you are looking for a no-grain, low carb choice. We like lots of vegetables for their nutrient content, as well as for their bulk. I can cut weight and still have a large volume of food with lots of vegetables.

Slow Cooker Red Curry Pork

Slow Cooker Red Curry Pork

We committed to a huge amount of pork via Sam's club having a deal on pork shoulder. We ended up with 2 massive roasts, about 6 lbs each. Pork shoulder is perfect for slow cooker recipes. One favorite is just to pour two bottles of low sugar barbeque sauce over it, cook on low 8-10 hours and then add black beans or any bean of choice for easy bbq pork and beans. This curry recipe has become the other new favorite.

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup Thai red curry paste

1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

6 lb pounds boneless pork shoulder or Boston butt, trimmed (ours had a bone in it)

2 cans coconut milk (enough to halfway cover the pork. If you want less fat, use 1 can coconut milk and 1 can water).

 

Mix everything but the pork in the slow cooker, blending with a whisk until smooth. Add the pork roast, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until falling apart.

 

We serve ours over veggie noodles that were lightly sauted with a little coconut oil and garlic.

 

This makes a week's worth of meals for 2.

 

 

Wafflepocalypse

Here are 2 different protein waffle recipes, both wheat-free! We liked the chocolate oat ones a little more, but only because the cocnut waffles dried out a little (I kept them warm in the oven while I cooked the remainder and that may have been a mistake). waffles are a great, make-ahead breakfast choice, you can reheat them in the taoster or microwave, or even eat them cold like bread.

The first Protein waffle recipe is from :

http://www.sixpacksmackdown.com/2012/12/19/easy-protein-waffles-recipe/

he has a video on how to make them. I didn't get that fancy, I just mixed everything together and poured it onto the hot waffle iron. I doubled the recipe. Choose any flavor protein powder.

Chocolate Protein Waffles

1/2c oats
2 whole eggs or 4 egg whites
2 scoops chocolate whey protein
6 Tbsp milk (any type, almond, coconut, whole milk)
Splenda , to taste (1 or 2 tbsp)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Whisk everything together or place everything in the blender and blend until smooth.

Makes 4 waffles.

The entire recipe has approximately 30g carbohydrates, 60g protein (depends on type of protein) and 6-10g fat depending on the type of milk you use and whether you use whole eggs or egg whites. Tailor it to fit your dietary needs.

The Second Recipe comes from a blog I just happened to stumble across when craving waffles and searching for a recipe, I am going to spend more time browsing her blog, as it looks like a lot of wheat-free solutions to every day recipes and her waffles were good.

The blog is:

http://wellnessmama.com/1696/coconut-flour-protein-waffles/

and here is the version we made:

Coconut Protein Waffles

Makes  6 waffles
Ingredients:

8 eggs

½ cup melted coconut oil

½ cup coconut flour (plus a little more, in case batter seems thin)

1 T cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Crack the eggs into a medium sized bowl and beat with whisk
2. Add the melted oil, cinnamon, vanilla and salt and mix well
3. Add the coconut flour and mix well
4. Batter should be thick. If it is too thin, add a little more coconut flour.
5. Spoon into heated and greased waffle iron and cook until light brown and firm to touch (about 3 minutes )
6. Serve with sugar free syrup, real maple syrup or any topping you like :)

I didn't do any nutrient calculations, just kick back and enjoy these on a weekend and don't worry.