Gluten-Free Gingerbread Muffins (vegan, nut-free, xanthan-free)

Happy Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere. As we were heading out to the beach today with the kids, my 6 year old said to me, "mama, that's weird, I thought today was supposed to be the darkest day of the year, but it's the sunniest!" Yes indeed, today was a beautiful day to spend at the beach playing on the warm, sunny rocks and exploring the trails. Also a good day to come home and bake gingerbread muffins to warm us up along with mugs full of hot spice tea!

These muffins use pureed prunes and chia seeds to bind them together and hold moisture. They are made almost entirely of teff flour. I buy 25 pound paper bags of it from Azure Standard for around $40 with free shipping. That comes out to about $1.60 a pound, which is far less than what you pay for those little packages in the health food store, plus the packaging is biodegradable. I buy organic, unsulphured prunes in bulk from my local food co-op.

Gingerbread Muffins

These moist and slightly sweet muffins would be perfect to serve on Christmas morning or for a holiday family brunch. Serve them with chai tea, spice tea, or hot mulled cider as an afternoon snack. They are also good served with a dollop of creamy almond butter.

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups teff flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup prunes
1 cup very hot water
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup olive oil or coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside. Place the prunes, hot water, and ground chia into a blender and let soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Then puree and add the applesauce, oil, maple syrup, molasses, and vanilla. puree again until very smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and whisk together until combined.

Spoon batter into muffin pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temp. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com.

Organic prunes

More Holiday Baking:
Gingerbread Hazelnut Cookies
Flourless Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Cut-Out Cookies
Sugar-Free Sugar Cookies

More Gingerbread Recipes from other Blogs:
Gluten-Free Gingerbread from Phytofoods
Grain-Free Gingerbread Cookies from The Spunky Coconut
Gingerbread Apple Crisp from Elana's Pantry


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Morning Winter Fruit Bowls with Hemp Seeds and Cacao Nibs

My mother-in-law was visiting earlier this month and she likes to make fruit bowls every morning along with a green smoothie right after her her morning "blissipline" routine. She's almost 70 and is in much better shape than me! Our children love to watch her do the splits and headstands. When Tom was 10 years old she transitioned the family to a vegan diet with the help of their family doctor at the time, Dr. John McDougall. Tom remained a vegan for about 30 years until last year when he began to eat a small amount of wild fish and pastured meats. My mother-in-law is still predominately vegan with a heavy emphasis on raw plant foods. And you can tell by her glowing skin. You can't beat nature's most perfect food.....plants! These fruit bowls are so packed with disease-preventing, life-enhancing phytochemicals.....your body will thank you.

Every morning she had the kids make a list of what they wanted in their fruit bowls. The boys made large spirals because they can't write letters yet. The girls worked on their lists every day to have ready for her. Then she set each bowl out and filled their orders. Pomegranates, apples, pears, oranges, avocados, cashews, brazil nuts, and chopped fresh ginger (for my oldest ginger-loving daughter). Eating a large bowl of fruit and nuts in the morning is actually quite filling and very energizing.

Morning Winter Fruit Bowls

Serve individual bowls of fruit or make a large fruit salad with these festive winter fruits....perfect for a holiday breakfast or brunch! If you are making this for your breakfast you really do need to eat a large bowl to fill up. Adding a whole, small avocado to each bowl helps with satiation. Choose whatever fruits and nuts you have on hand. I should note here that my almost 4 year old twin boys don't do too well with just fruit and nuts for breakfast so we served them the fruit bowls along with scrambled eggs or organic breakfast sausages.

apples, cored and diced
pears, cored and diced
satsumas, peeled and sectioned
avocados, diced
pomegranate arils
persimmons
finely diced fresh ginger
fresh lime juice (optional)
raw cashews
brazil nuts
almonds
hemp seeds
raw cacao nibs

Add fruit and nuts to individual bowls. Sprinkle with hemp seeds and cacao nibs. Serve immediately. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com



More Raw Recipes:
Winter Green Smoothie
Raw Super Green Salad
Orange Wasabi Cabbage Salad


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Sustainable Gift Giving Ideas

I know I predominantly share recipes here, but I have decided to begin sharing more than just recipes, because our health and the health of the planet is all connected in this intricate web we call life. When we purchase toys and products created from industrial plants and cheap labor in Asian countries we continue the demise of our environment and our children's, grandchildren's, and great-grandchildren's health. With the uprise in food allergies, it is clear that our immune systems are very confused and not functioning properly anymore. (We have much more to share on this in the new year). Environmental toxins, GMO's, and stress are the main culprits. We CAN support a cleaner, greener world every day by voting with our dollars. What we buy and consume affects everyone else on the globe. So, I thought I would share some wonderful, eco-friendly gift ideas this holiday season!




Worldly Gifts
Support a family in a developing country with the gift of a goat, ducklings, a cow, a pig, or honeybees through Heifer International. Your gift goes a long way in promoting health and self-reliance in communities. Last year Tom's brother gifted a goat in our name and we thought it was such a wonderful idea that this year we are letting our children pick an animal to gift in their names.

Donate money through World Vision. You can Sponsor a Child, Give an Animal, or Contribute to Clean Water for a community in a developing nation.

Donate to the Environmental Working Group. EWG is a nonprofit action group based on science and research that works to protect the most vulnerable segments of the human population, children, babies, and infants in the womb from health problems attributed to a wide array of toxic contaminants. "EWG's research brings to light unsettling facts that you have a right to know. It shames and shakes up polluters and their lobbyists. It rattles politicians and shapes policy. It persuades bureaucracies to rethink science and strengthen regulation. It provides practical information you can use to protect your family and community."

Give Experiences
What will your child remember most when he or she grows up: a particular toy they received or time spent with you? I remember the trips and fun hiking adventures we did as a family much more than I remember any particular toy. Here are a few of my ideas, please feel free to share your ideas in the comments section. :)

A day sewing with mom. A day skiing in the mountains with dad. A special evening with just the older girls playing cards and having a tea party. Taking the kids to a movie (they have never been to a movie theater yet and our oldest is almost 10)! A little card for the kids saying we will go to Seattle for the day and visit the Zoo and go out to eat. An afternoon at the train museum (for our twin boys).





Unconventional Gift Ideas
Give a six month supply of eco-friendly, biodegradable laundry soap and dishwashing soap to your college student or family member. Most of what you find at your local supermarket is quite toxic to our bodies and local environments after it goes down the drain. These chemical detergents contain hormone disrupters that not only affect ourselves but the aquatic life around us. Plus, they smell disgusting. Products such as Biokleen and Seventh Generation are good choices.

Give a gift certificate to a local food co-op. We received a gift card to our local co-op a few years ago from Tom's family and it was very helpful to stretch the food budget!

Buy a share to a CSA for a friend or family member. Ask your local food co-op or Farmer's Market office to get the names and contact info of a few local organic farmer's who offer CSA's. If you are in the Northwest, this is a good site to look for a CSA.




Eco-Friendly Gifts
Beeswax Candles scented with pure essential oils. Many people do not realize that regular petroleum-based paraffin candles may be emitting solvents like toluene (that can negatively affect the nervous system), and benzene (which has been linked to cancer) when you burn them. As an extra bonus, those candles with wicks that stand up straight may have lead in them. Within an hour of burning these candles, you may end up with an unsafe level of airborne lead that may contribute to learning disabilities in children.

Wooden Toys made in the USA. I have been on a mission since I was pregnant with my first daughter, ten years ago, not to allow plastic toys in the house. We have succeeded for the most part except for last year when the plastic Legos made their appearance. Other than that our children have wood toys and cloth dolls stuffed with wool to play with. What happens to all of these plastic toys when they break? They end up in the landfill causing pollution for many years to come, not to mention the pollution caused during the production of the plastic and toys themselves. Wooden toys can biodegrade once they are old and worn. Before you go online to shop, see if you can find a local wood worker who makes and sells solid wood toys. If you can't find anyone, then shop online at stores such as Nova Natural, A Child's Dream, Bella Luna Toys, or Rosie Hippo.

Non-Toxic natural art supplies such as Beeswax Block Crayons, Gluten-Free Aromatic Play Dough, Hemp Sketch Pads, Unlacquered Colored Pencils, Natural Glue, and Hemp Fabric for sewing projects.

Shop on Etsy.com. Your money goes directly to the person who made the toy, clothing item, house decor, or jewelry. I am amazed at all of the beautiful creative works of art you can find on this site. Everything from upcycled wool clothes to wooden blocks. This felt play food makes a great addition to your child's wooden play kitchen.

Fair Trade Stores are also a good place to shop for unique gift ideas. The communities and people who make these products are not exploited and the materials used often are sustainable or recycled.

Stainless steel lunch containers such as Lunch Bots, Kids Konserve, or a 10-ounce Stainless Steel Thermos for soups and other hot food.

If you have any other ideas you'd like to share, please leave a comment, thanks and Happy Holidays!

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Grain-Free Cupcakes with Vegan Coconut Frosting

These gorgeous chocolate-banana-honey grain-free cupcakes are from Elana Amsterdam's latest cookbook, Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour. If you are looking for simple, healthy grain-free cupcake recipes, this is the book to turn to. All but one of the cupcake recipes contain eggs. It isn't easy creating grain-free recipes without using a lot of eggs. There are also a bunch of healthy frosting recipes to choose from, many of them being dairy-free.

My children love flipping through her book picking out the recipes they want me to make.....which is all of them I think! I love that all of Elana's recipes contain very few ingredients and can be made in a snap! Be sure to check out her blog too if you haven't already.

Although I can't share the recipe photographed above, I wanted to mention that I have substituted honey for the agave nectar called for in this recipe with great results. This particular recipe as well as many others are made with coconut flour. Great for those of you who are nut-free. I do have another recipe to share from the book that I think you'll like. And if you are interested in winning a signed copy of this book, please leave a comment below.

If you are interested in checking out another recipe in this book before purchasing it, you can read my friend Shirley's review from last April where she shares Elana's Marble Cupcakes.




Grain-Free Lime Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting

Yield: 10 cupcakes

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup blanched almond flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3 large eggs

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

1/2 cup agave nectar

2 tablespoons firmly packed lime zest, plus more to decorate (about 3 limes)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 10 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the coconut flour, almond flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, grapeseed oil, agave nectar, and 2 tablespoons lime zest. Blend the wet ingredients into the coconut flour mixture with a handheld mixer until thoroughly combined.

Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into each prepared muffin cup.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 1 hour, then frost, sprinkle with the remaining lime zest, and serve.

Vegan Coconut Frosting


Yield: 2 cups

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

1 tablespoon water

1 cup coconut oil, melted over very low heat

In a medium saucepan, bring the coconut milk and agave nectar to a boil over medium heat. Whisk the ingredients together, then decrease the heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, to reduce just slightly, stirring frequently.

In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot powder in water, stirring to make a slurry. Increase the heat under the saucepan to medium-high so the mixture is bubbling. Add the arrowroot slurry to the coconut mixture, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and turns opaque and shiny, about 1 minute. Once the mixture becomes shiny, remove the pan from the heat and gradually blend in the coconut oil with a handheld mixer until well combined.

Allow to cool on the counter for 15 minutes. The mixture will not look like frosting yet—don’t worry; this is okay.

Chill the frosting in the refrigerator for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the frosting fully solidifies and looks opaque white in color. Remove from the refrigerator and whip with a handheld mixer until thick and fluffy. The frosting will be sticky looking and lumps will dissolve during whipping.

Use immediately or store in a glass Mason jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow the frosting to soften a bit after removing from the refrigerator. Stir with a flexible spatula until spreadable.


(Recipes reprinted with permission from Ten Speed Press).

Enter to Win!

For a chance to win a signed copy of Elana's book, Gluten-Free Cupcakes:

1. Leave a comment (please include your email address or make it VISIBLE in your Blogger profile by clicking edit and checking a box). If it were me, I wouldn't leave my email address out in the open on a blog. It is super duper easy to set up a Blogger account. And you can always uncheck the box that makes your email address visible. A very large part of the comments left on my last giveaway were not counted because there wasn't an email to contact you with if you won. Thanks! :)

2. Share this post on Facebook and come back and leave a second comment saying you did so.

3. Share this post on Twitter mentioning us (@nourishingmeals) and come back and leave a third comment. (When you mention us on Twitter I will see your tweet in my inbox and if you follow us I can send you a message if you won). 

This drawing will be open until Friday (12/16/11) at midnight PST. 

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Creamy Herb Sunflower Dressing/Dip

We receive quite a few comments and requests about nut-free recipes. Indeed, we do eat a lot of nuts, but we enjoy seeds quite often as well. This creamy ranch-style dressing is perfect to top any type of green salad, be it a crispy romaine salad or a picnic potato salad. If you use less water the dressing is a creamy dip for carrot and celery sticks. I also love that this dressing is raw, made from soaked raw sunflower seeds. Before you go to bed at night just place the seeds in a bowl and cover with filtered water. If I am making this dressing for dinner then I would begin soaking the seeds around lunchtime.

I use lemon juice and garlic in this dressing, which for some breastfeeding moms might be problematic (if your baby is very young). Our baby just turned 3 months and can tolerate just about anything I eat now. Early on I could not eat lemon juice or raw garlic. So if you are making this recipe for a new mom or are breastfeeding yourself (or cannot tolerate citrus), I would replace the lemon with about 3 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar or coconut vinegar and omit the garlic.

Creamy Herb Sunflower Dressing

In the wintertime I use dried herbs, but in the summertime I use whatever fresh herbs are growing in my garden. Snipped chives are particularly delicious, as well as fresh marjoram. Reduce the water and create a luscious, white, creamy dip perfect for any crispy veggie. This dip makes a great holiday party appetizer alongside a platter of raw, organic veggies!

1 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked for 4 to 6 hours
1/2 to 1 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 to 2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried thyme
small handful fresh parsley

Place the sunflower seeds in a bowl and cover with water. Soak for 4 to 6 hours then drain and rinse. Place into a Vita-Mix or blender with the water (less for a dip, more for a dressing), lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and peppercorns. Blend on high for one minute or until very creamy and smooth. Then add the herbs and blend on a lower speed until combined but not completely pureed.

Pour into a glass mason jar, cover, and store in your refrigerator until ready to serve. The salad pictured here is made from greens, raw carrots, roasted beets, sprouts, and hemp seeds. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

Other Yummy Salads and Dressings:
Pear and Hazelnut Salad with Creamy Cranberry Dressing
Orange-Wasabi Cabbage Salad
Asian Chicken Salad with a Soy-Free Dressing

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Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookie Recipe

Or shall I call them Gingerbread Hazelnut Cookies since they are made primarily with hazelnut flour? Our children have so much fun cutting out and decorating these lovely gluten-free Christmas cookies! Just look at that photo, what is not to love? I am sharing this recipe as part of a wonderful blogging event called Home for the Holidays....Gluten-Free Style hosted by Shirley from gluten-free easily! Twenty-four bloggers were asked to create and share recipes that meant both home and holidays to them. In addition to the recipes, we’ll also be hosting giveaways of the resources you value the most....cookbooks, resource books, apps, and the grand prize, a Vita-Mix!

You can view yesterday's post from Heidi at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom. She shared her Gluten-Free Fritter recipe. Tomorrow Sunny from And Love it Too will be sharing a holiday recipe. So be sure to go check their sites as well.

For me, Home for the Holidays takes me back to baking gingerbread and sugar cookies with my mother. My brothers and I would decorate dozens of cookies with beautiful colored sprinkles and bright white icing. I wanted to share that experience with my own children, only with a healthier, gluten-free version, and thus this recipe was born (actually the recipe came to me in a flash one night). It uses coconut sugar as the main sweetener, along with a powdered coconut sugar icing. Although coconut sugar is definitely a low-glycemic sweetener, it is still sugar, and these cookies are to be considered a sweet treat.

Gingerbread Hazelnut Cut-Out Cookies

I use Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal Flour. It works beautifully in baking. You can check your local health food store for it or buy it on Amazon.com. If you don't want to use coconut sugar or don't have access to it, Sucanat (whole cane sugar) is a good substitute. It still has all of its nutrients intact like coconut sugar, but has a higher glycemic index. For a dairy-free option, use Earth Balance or Coconut Oil in place of the butter (note that I have not tested the recipe this way though). Use currents, raisins, sliced almonds, natural sprinkles (from Let's Do Organic!), or anything else you can imagine to decorate them. I find the dough is best if it is refrigerated overnight. You can make the dough after your children are in bed and then bake the cookies with them in the morning.

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups hazelnut meal flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup softened organic butter

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1 large organic egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl beat with an electric mixer (or vigorously whisk) together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix together. Form into a ball, cover, and place into the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight. 

When the dough is firm and chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a large piece of parchment or waxed paper down onto a clean, flat work surface. Lightly flour the paper with sweet rice flour. Take part of the dough and roll it out to a little less than 1/4 inch of thickness. Put the remaining dough back in the fridge to keep it chilled. Cut the dough out using your favorite holiday cookie cutters. Carefully peel away the dough around the cut-outs. Then take a thin spatula and lift the cookies onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes depending on how crisp you like them. A few more minutes of baking makes them crispy. Just watch them so they don't overcook. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Then repeat with remaining dough. Let cook completely before frosting.

Coconut Sugar Icing

You can refer to my last blog post on How to Make Powdered Coconut Sugar in order to make this icing. 

1/2 cup Powdered Coconut Sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons milk (I use almond milk)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place powdered coconut sugar in a small bowl, whisk in the milk and vanilla. Use to ice cooled cookies. You might need to make more depending on how much icing you like on your cookies. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

More Holiday Treats:

Maple Sunbutter Candy

Maple Caramel Corn

Candied Walnuts

And Now The Giveaways!!

To enter to win one of these fabulous books, please leave a comment below. You can leave up to three comments by sharing this post on Facebook and Twitter. Come back and leave a comment saying you did, so we can count it. All of the comments you leave on this post and any other posts by other bloggers (see the full line-up here) will be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaways. The grand prize winners will be announced on Christmas. Note that you will have 48 hours only to leave a comment here and then I will announce the winners. You will need to have a Blogger account with an email attached to it so we can contact you or leave your email address in the comment like this: jane @ yahoo(dot)com. It only takes a second to set up a Blogger account (you do not need to use gmail to set one up). This is a good way if you feel uncomfortable leaving your email address in the comments. You can view my profile to see how I have my email as a link in my profile if you don't totally understand what I am saying. :)

Grand Prize: A 5200 Vita-Mix which includes the dry container

Second Prize: A $150 shopping spree from freefromgluten.com

Third Prize: $89 dollar value package of Caveman Cookies

Today's Giveaways: 

The Pure Kitchen

This book is an awesome addition to any gluten-free, whole foods kitchen. It is filled with nutritious recipes that you will want to make over and over again! When I first opened it I literally wanted to bookmark every recipe. It is written by Hallie Klecker who blogs at Daily Bites. Her recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free.....and amazing.  

Healthier Without Wheat

This is a resource book you will want to have if you are dealing with gluten intolerances or Celiac disease. It covers all the myriad of diseases and symptoms associated with gluten as well as the difference between Celiac Disease and a gluten intolerance. This book was written by Seattle doctor, Stephan Wangen. You can check out his clinic, The IBS Treatment Center for more information.

The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen

I don't own this book (though it looks fabulous) so here is the description from Amazon: The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen makes cooking healthily both easy and delicious. This veritable volume is chock-full of more than 250 recipes, plenty of color illustrations, and advice on which foods are (or aren’t) okay when powdered, canned, or frozen. Lévana promises your new superfood diet will taste so good, you won’t ever go back. 

Gluten-Free Baking for Dummies

This baking book is newly released! It was coauthored by my good friend and local Naturopathic doctor, Jean Layton. Not only is this a recipe book with over 150 recipes, but also a resource book on baking gluten-free. You'll find tips for stocking your kitchen, certain gluten-free baking methods for cakes, cookies, and breads, plus much more!

Please leave a comment to win one of these great books and to be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaway. Remember to include your email address or use your blogger account (with an email address linked in the account). Use your name or initials to distinguish yourself. Your comment will NOT be counted unless we have a way to contact you. Thanks for reading and for your support! :)

This giveaway ends on Saturday morning (12/3) at 7:00am PST. 
This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks everyone for participating. The winners will be sent an email notifying them. :)

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