Grain Free Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins

This week I am attempting organization by baking and cooking lots of things to stick in the freezer for after the baby comes.  Last week I made these grain free muffins, which turned out pretty good, but I wanted to tweak the recipe a bit.  They are packed with protein and fiber from the coconut flour, eggs, and pumpkin.  This recipe will yield 24 muffins - I froze 12 to eat at a later date.  If you want the more healthy version omit the glaze...but it sure does taste yummy.  

Hope you enjoy them!!

Ingredients:

paper cupcake liners

olive oil non-stick spray

muffin pan

 

Wet:

12 eggs

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp maple flavoring

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup raw sugar

1 cup pumpkin purée

Dry:

1 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup frozen blueberries (coated in flour)

Glaze:

2 T. melted butter

1/2 lb powdered sugar

1/8 c. of milk

splash of coffee

1 tsp of maple flavoring

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the liners in the muffin tin and spray them with the non-stick spray.  If you don't do this you will only get about 1/2 a muffin because the other half will be stuck to the paper liner.

Mix the wet ingredients well using a whisk.

  

Then place all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, whisk together, then sift into the wet ingredients.  Mix well.

  

Place frozen blueberries in a Ziploc bag and add 1 T of coconut flour.  Close the bag and shake to coat the blueberries in the flour - this keeps them from turning the batter a yucky color and from becoming squishy.

  

Add the blueberries to the batter and mix very gently.  

Fill each paper liner to about 1/8" from the top - they don't rise very much.  Put them in the oven to bake for 15-18 minutes - just until the top feels firm when you touch it.  

While they are cooking, make the glaze, and right when you pull them out of the oven pour some glaze onto each muffin.  Let them cool for about 3 minutes in the pan - then gently transfer to a cooling rack for about 10 more minutes.  Then enjoy!!

happy baking!

xoxo

jessica

Hey Senorita - make your own corn tortilla!

This week I have been cooking a lot.  and not just the easy 30 minute dinners. 
real stuff.  probably because baby dumpling in my belly is hungry.

For some reason I decided to try my hand at making my own corn tortillas.

  

They are a great g-free option and the store bought ones are always rubbery and yuck.  

Despite my inexperienced and inadequate hands they turned out very tasty 

- not real pretty, but very tasty.  

I took pictures along the way in case you'd like to try your hand at it.

  

The cool thing about making things like this is the sense of connection you feel to women from the past.  I could imagine myself in a hut somewhere 300 years ago mixing the cornmeal with water to form one of the most basic doughs ever.  (of course I didn't have to grow the corn, or grind it up to make the flour, or haul the water from a well or stream... ;)

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups Corn Masa Flour

1 1/3 cups warm water (maybe more)

cast iron skillet or electric griddle

wax paper/rolling pin - or tortilla press

2 damp kitchen towels

Step 1: Mix the water and Masa together.  It should form a nice ball of dough - if it's too dry add some more water by the Tablespoon.

Step 2: Form 12 balls of dough and cover with a damp kitchen towel.

Step 3: Go ahead and heat up your skillet or griddle to medium heat.

Take one ball and place it between two sheets of wax paper.

Roll it out into a circle using the rolling pin - unless you are a master at this it won't be a perfect circle, but don't worry about that. 

Gently peel it off the wax paper and place it on a place.  

Cover it with the other damp kitchen towel.

Repeat with the remaining dough balls.

Step 4:  Do not put any oil or butter in the skillet!

Gently lay one tortilla onto the dry skillet and let it sit for about 20-30 seconds.  I used a rubber spatula for this part because my tortillas kept cracking as a laid them onto the skillet - so I just patted them back together again with the spatula, it worked great.  When one side is about done, you'll notice steam seeping from the edges of the tortilla, this means it's time to flip it.  Let it sit on the other side for the same amount of time.  They won't be brown, but they will look cooked.

Then you're ready to turn them into something delicious like...

the Pioneer Woman's Enchiladas.

Yum.

Happy tortilla making!

xoxo

jessica

Shake it like a salt shaker...

How friendly are you with sodium? 

Do you know where it lives and how much of it lurks in your favorite places?  

It's everywhere.  

I mean everywhere.

 (pretty picture from here) 

The past few weeks of this pregnancy, I have been extremely sensitive to sodium - if I have too much I swell up like a balloon.  So I'm trying to watch it.  Actually I've become a private eye detective, in search of that sneaky sodium fellow.  

So here are some things I've uncovered.

2 oz of deli turkey meat  --  640mg sodium

9 Santitos Tortilla Chips  --  110mg sodium

14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes  --   770mg sodium

15.5oz can of Goya Black Beans  --  1610mg sodium

1 cup of low-fat milk  --  102mg sodium

1 T. of soy-sauce  --  1000mg sodium

So what do those numbers mean?  

The average person, as stated by the USDA, should have about 2300mg a day. 

Middle aged and older adults should have no more than 1500mg a day.  

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says 2300mg should be the max for any person, and most should aim closer to 1500mg.  

1 tsp of table salt has 2325mg - that's 25mg higher than your max daily intake.

Our bodies only need 180-500mg daily to survive.  

The average American consumes 3436mg daily.   

That's 1136mg more than your max daily intake.

The Mayo clinic says this:

But if for some reason your kidneys can't eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases.
Increased blood volume makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, which increases pressure in your arteries. Such diseases as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease can make it hard for your kidneys to keep sodium levels balanced.
Some people's bodies are more sensitive to the effects of sodium than are others. If you're sodium sensitive, you retain sodium more easily, leading to fluid retention and increased blood pressure. If this becomes chronic, it can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and congestive heart failure.

Of course, foods that are processed, canned, pre-packaged, or served at restaurants contain the highest amounts of sodium.
So what are we to do?  Never eat pizza or chips and queso again?
That's one option of course.  If you cook everything at home you can control the sodium.  But, at least for me anyway, life gets busy and I choose not to do that all the time.
So I say, if you know you're ordering pizza for dinner, really watch the rest of your sodium that day.  And drink lots of water of course to help your kidneys process that salt.

So here are some fun things to do with salt besides eat it ;)

Make Salt Dough Ornaments 

Make a Salt Bath Scrub

Make Holiday Salt and Glue paintings!

Hope this has been helpful or at least mildly interesting.  Knowledge is power anyway.  I certainly don't claim to do everything perfectly when it comes to eating - but the more I learn, the more it helps me just to be aware of the foods that I'm putting in my body.
Something to keep in mind with all the delicious holiday foods coming our way ;)
Wishing you well,
xoxo
jessica

Hey, Pumpkin!

Lots of pumpkin things floating around these days!  

Really wonderful looking recipes.  

 (although nothing looks as wonderful as that sweet girl)

So you know, I started wondering - what's in pumpkins?  

 Vitamins?  Minerals?  

So here's what I found, plus a roundup of some delicious and healthy recipes!

Pumpkins contain a lot of vitamin A (the orange color is a big hint - think carrots)

They are full of fiber

low in calories (49 in a cup)

also contain vitamin C and potassium

and pumpkins are a fruit.  Did you know that?  I didn't.

So go ahead and try some pumpkin tonight!

Pumpkin Soup

 

 

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Pumpkin Spice Pull-apart Bread

Gluten Free Pumpkin Sweet Potato Mash

Grain Free Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Happy cooking, and hope you have a lovely fall day!

xoxo

jessica

Onions have layers...

I'm kind of a curious person.  I love to learn new things, and yesterday while I was slicing an onion for dinner I wondered "is there anything good for you in this thing?"  

I mean, I use onions all the time for flavor, but do they provide any nutritional value?  

It's okay if you don't care about this - no offense taken - 

I know not everyone wonders about these sorts of things, but if you do,

or have,

or are wondering now...

here's what I found out.

Onions are in fact good for you!

They have many vitamins and minerals: 

C, B6, folate, fiber, potassium, chromium, and many more.

They are good for your cardiovascular health - preventing your blood from clotting too much, and lowering cholesterol.

When consumed regularly they can increase bone density, act as an anti-inflammatory, and can even help prevent colo-rectal, laryngeal, or ovarian cancers.

They also contain anti-bacterial properties and powerful anti-oxidants.

Good stuff!  I found that to receive most of these benefits we need to eat onions every day, or at least several times a week - so now you can feel good about that steaming bowl of onion soup (amazingly they don't loose any nutrients when cooked, they just transfer to the water!)

Happy cooking and happy weekend!

jessica 

"You don't like meat...It's ok, I'll make Lamb"

Today I have a special guest, again named Jessica, who is here to share with us a wonderful Irish meal - Take it away Jess!


SO this is not Greek, nor a Big Fat Wedding, but it is Lamb. 

Thank you thank you  thank you...this is my first ever blog post and I am so excited to share a tradition that my husband and I started 4 years ago.  When St. Paddy's Day rolls around, we do our best to make a traditional Irish meal.  This is not a quick meal, nor a cheap meal, but it is very fun and I have to admit for the first time we prepared this together in the smallest kitchen we have ever owned and it was a blast.  I hope others can have the same experience.

So where do you start?  We started with the guest.  Jessica and Ryan were our very first guests 4 years ago so it is only fitting that I have the honor of posting this on her blog.  (Thank you!!!!)  This year we have a goal of having all of the elders in our congregation in our home so we started with the couple we knew the least.

Second, the Menu: Lamb with mint sauce, Colcannon (Irish potatoes), Irish Soda Bread, Spinach Tomato and Feta salad and for Dessert Strawberries and Cream

Last, the recipes and shopping list.


LAMB
(we chose a boneless leg...8lbs and cut it in half.  We froze half for another time.)
1 butterflied (boned) leg of lamb:  To butterfly a piece of meat, lay it on it's side and carefully slice in half until you are about an inch above the bottom.  Open it like you would a book(upside down) and lay out flat.  Set aside and prepare the mint sauce and marinade.  (Hind sight is 20/20 right...we recommend you do this a day or two ahead.  The longer the meat has to soak in the marinade the better the meat will taste!)

MINT SAUCE

2 packages of fresh mint
Mint extract
1/2 pint of white vinegar
3 heaping tablespoons of sugar
1 tsp salt
4 T warm water
4 T lemon juice

Chop the mint finely.

Bring the vinegar and water to a boil, then, add half the mint leaves and simmer until reduced by half.

When reduced strain out the cooked mint leaves, add a splash of mint extract, and the sugar, warm water and lemon juice.

 

Half of this mint sauce (along with 1/2 of the remaining chopped fresh leaves) goes into the lamb marinade. The other half of the sauce is reserved for spooning on the lamb at the table. When the table sauce cools, add the remaining chopped leaves.

MARINADE

Half of the mint sauce
Chopped mint leaves
2 tsp dry or wet mustard
fresh grated pepper
3 tbsp onion juice (we did not use this, we figured the onions had enough juice in them from our tears!)
3 chopped onions
4 tbsp melted butter
1 clove of garlic (we used minced garlic)

• In a blender or food processor (we use a blender stick...my new favorite kitchen tool!) mix the fresh mint, mint sauce, mustard, grated onion. Blend well.

• Lay the leg of lamb in a baking dish and pour the above marinade over it, coating both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Marinate at least 3 hours or overnight, turning several times.

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

• Remove lamb from marinade; save marinade to brush on while grilling. Sprinkle lamb with freshly ground pepper.

• Place lamb in oven uncovered, immediately reduce temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for about 30 minutes.

• Transfer lamb from oven to grill; cook for 15 minutes or so while brushing occasionally with the reserved marinade. I believe properly prepared lamb’s full flavor is attained when cooked just until it has a bright pink center. The final grilling seals in the flavor and adds a delectable outer crust.


COLCANNON (Irish Potatoes)

2 lbs. potatoes, well-scrubbed,  We "striped" ours (by "striping" I mean only take off part of the peal in order to leave some of the vitamins from the peel in the potatoes) cut any large ones in half
4 tbs. butter
1/3 lb. back bacon, sliced, then finely chopped
1/2 small savoy cabbage, finely shredded
2/3 C. double cream

Directions

Tip the potatoes into a large saucepan of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced.

Meanwhile, heat quarter of the butter in a pan, then fry the bacon and half the cabbage for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside. (If you can't find sliced back bacon, I'd suggest using middle rasher bacon, with the rinds and fat removed.)


Drain the potatoes in a colander.

Mash the potato until smooth, heat the cream with the remaining butter and, when almost boiling, beat into the potato.

Add the bacon and cabbage to the potato and mix.

Season, to taste and serve.



IRISH SODA BREAD
1 ½ C Coarse Flour
½ C Regular Flour
¼ tstp salt
1 tsp soda
½-3/4 C. buttermilk

Knead like biscuit dough. (We used our Kitchen Aid with the dough hook.

Form loaf (we doubled our recipe, that's why you see two loaves.)

and cut top. Bake @ 425 for 45 mins.

(we found that cooking for 30 minutes was good...matter of fact we almost burned it, but if your oven runs cooler it may be different for you...I would check often once you get past 25 minutes. Your goal is golden brown.)


RASPBERRY OR STRAWBERRY CREAM  (we chose strawberry because we just received 4 flats of strawberries from a very generous donor to my husbands work place.)
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds Raspberries or Strawberries
3 egg whites
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar (according to taste)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Press half the berries through a sieve (we don't have a sieve so we used a metal coffee filter) or food mill to remove the seeds.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, slowly add the sugar beating well. Whip the heavy cream separately,

then fold into egg mixture with the berry puree. Pour mixture into four serving bowls. Roughly crush the remaining berries and put on top. Sprinkle on a little sugar.

Chill and serve.

Set your table with as much green as you can and you are good to go! 

WOW!  Doesn't that look great!?! Thanks Jessica for posting this yummy meal!

Have a great Wednesday everyone - I'll announce the winner of the tote bag later today.

xoxo,

Jessica

*NEW* Guest Post Thursdays!!!

From now on .... hopefully...I will be having a guest post every Thursday!  If you would like to send a post please send it to sewhomegrown@hotmail.com with pics and text. Please be sure your post falls under the category of homemaking.  So - christening our Guest Post Thursdays is my dear friend Heather from Florida.  Now I'll preface this by saying this girl does everything.  She is an amazing woman - AND - does it with four kids in tow.  This is her tutorial for canning tomatoes - a wonderful summer project!
Enjoy- and thanks Heather!

Let’s go  A-Quart-in’

Yes! Even us married girls can do this!  Now is the season for all those YUMMY fruits and veggies!  If you don’t grow your own yummy stuff, go and find a U-Pick place in your area or visit your local farmers market- there are sooo many of summer’s ripe treasures hiding there, YOU just have to go exploring!

Right down the road a mile or so, I found my ripe treasure… a U-Pick tomato farm!  At $5 a 5 gallon bucket… yes, I do grow my own, but there was no way to pass that by!  So, after picking 8 buckets FULL here is what I decided to do: 

Gather all Quart size jars (you can find these at Wal-Mart or pretty much any grocery store)

Wash them in the dishwasher to sterilize (keep them in there till ready for use)

Gather:

lemon juice, sharp knife, large pot, canner (you can use your largest pot)

   tomatoes, 2 or 3 pans, large bowl, & slotted spoon.

Wash Tomatoes well in lukewarm water.  

Bring a Large pot ¾ full of water to a rolling boil.  Put 5 or 6 tomatoes in boiling water to loosen their skins for about a minute or so, you can see the skins loosen and start to crack.

Scoop the tomatoes out with a slotted spoon and place them in a large bowl of ice cold water, this will make the tomatoes easier to handle and the skins easier to peel off.

Peel the skins off and place the bare tomato in a pan, you want to save any juice that may leak out. 

Preserve those vital vitamins!

Slice however you prefer your canned tomatoes, I quarter mine.  

Fill your bowl or pan with those sliced babies, isn’t that pretty?!

Next get a small saucepan ½ full of water, yes I am the glass is ½ full kind of gal!

Put your lids in the water and bring to a boil. 

Now is the time to bring out those sterilized jars from the dishwasher, I do 3 to 4 at a time.

While waiting for those lids its time to put all those lovelies into the jar.  

Leave about ½ inch space at the top, add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to each jar. 

 Rescue the lids from the boiling water, place on top of the jars.  Then take your band and screw it on tight, you want to make sure the lid seals securely to the jar.

Isn’t Quarting fun???!  

Now, if you have a canner fill it ¾ full of water and bring to a rolling boil.  Take 7 quarts and lower them in gently, place lid on and allow to boil for 45 min.  

This is called a water bath, it will help build a vacuum to seal the jar.  

Since tomatoes are an acidic fruit they do not have to be pressure canned.  With that being said, if you do not have a canner, you can use your largest pot and fill it ¾ full.  Bring to a boil and gently lay your jar/jars in (water needs to cover completely).  Boil for 45 minutes.

Once they are “processed” lay towels on your counter, double thickness.  The jars will be HOT, remove from water with a hot pad and let  cool on your counter. 

After 10 maybe 20 minutes you will hear pops and pings… 

you are being serenaded by the beautiful “quarting song”!  

Feel free to join in because you have successfully quarted tomatoes!!!  It is a Beautiful thing!

Once the jars are COMPLETELY cooled, carefully remove bands.  Wash in soapy water.  Dry.  Place in storage till you are ready to create a dazzling meal!

Now are you wondering what I did with 40 gallons of tomatoes…??? 
I went a quartin’ and processed 70 jars of those beauties!  

I also made some wonderful sun dried tomatoes just by slicing the tomato into thirds and placing in a food dehydrator for 24 hours!  

We also ate our fill of Italian salad:  2 tomatoes diced, 2 basil leaves, ½” slice of mozzarella cubed.  

Toss together with a pinch of Mediterranean Sea salt and enjoy!

I hope you go and find your ripe treasure this summer, there is nothing sweeter
than Quartin’ with your sweet loved ones!

P.s.-  Peaches are exactly the same process just add ½ cup honey to each jar and can for 25 min. !!!

OXOOX~
Heather from Asmus Acres