Paleo Banana & Chocolate Chip Muffins (but I call them cupcakes)

I really enjoy treats, but I enjoy them more, when they are made from WHOLE ingredients. I've slowly made the move to consuming more Paleo desserts, and this banana muffin/cupcake is so moist and is a perfect replica of the regular "white flour" version....that I had to include it on my own blog.

I took this recipe straight from http://paleomg.com/banana-nut-chocolate-chip-muffins/

so, I give all the credit to Juli Bauer for her amazing Paleo blog. Go check it out!

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas, mashed with a fork

• 3 eggs, whisked

• ¼ cup maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ cup smooth almond butter

• ¼ cup coconut flour

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• pinch of salt

• ½ cup chopped walnuts (I actually Omit these when I cook mine)

• ½ cup 72% Eating Evolved Baking Chocolate, chopped into pieces (or other chocolate chips you like)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add eggs, maple syrup, almond butter, and vanilla extract and mix together.
3. Then add coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder and a pinch of salt and mix well.
4. Lastly, fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.
5. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into 9 cups of a silicone muffin pan.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before removing from silicone pan.

Special thanks and credits given to: http://paleomg.com/banana-nut-chocolate-chip-muffins/

Olive Garden Breadsticks

Why do I LOVE Olive Garden?.....THOSE BREADSTICKS!!! 

So dang good! I wanted to make these at home. 

I wanted to try to see if I could perfect those little boogers into the hot, buttery taste of the real thing.

 So I tried different sauces. Butter, garlic, parmesan, salt, different spices....All kinds of different mixtures with melted butter, drizzled over bread. None really tasted like it.

Until I gave up thinking that it was a mystery concoction and realized it was as simple as this little COMBO:

So FIRST OFF, open this tab, "HOMEMADE BREAD"

and prepare bread as normal.

Once you get to the point of dividing up your bread into equal portions, use ONE (or more if you want)

portion and roll it out like a big rectangle.

You want to have some thickness to your rectangle.
Maybe just a tad thicker than pictured.

Lay all breadsticks on parchment paper.

I ended up making small loaves of bread AND bread-sticks.

Cover all bread with clean towels.

Let rise for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven first to 350.
Bake for 15 min or until they look like this.
 (slightly golden brown)

Once out of the oven, brush melted butter over all breadsticks.
Lightly sprinkle garlic salt over the buttered breadsticks.
(Lawry's seems to taste MOST like the olive garden type)

...and there you HAVE it!
So easy.
Unlimited bread sticks out of your own oven.
Your welcome.

Banana and Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

Here's my version of "Banana Bread"

I've always loved making savory breads...Banana, Zucchini, Chocolate...etc. (I'd like it even more if I could eat it...that's okay....7 more weeks and I'll bake me and my teammates a TON of these, after our show)

But, I've LOVED playing with the traditional banana bread recipe and adding my own things and taking out what I don't want. 

So....Here's MY version! 

Ingredients:
1/3 C Butter (softened)
3/4 C sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 C. Raisin Bran (I remove the raisins)
1/2 Tbsp. Flax seeds (if you don't have these, no big deal)
1 1/2 C. Flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 (medium to large sized) bananas
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp. Vanilla
(makes 12 cupcakes + 14 mini bite cupcakes) or (16 cupcakes)

Cream Butter, sugar and egg.
Add in the 1 C. Raisin Bran and  1/2 Tbsp. flax seeds.

In a separate bowl:
stir together  1 1/2 C. flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. baking soda.

Add Flour to creamed butter mixture, then MIX

Mix well. You should see that it'll be a bit chunky looking.

Then you'll need 4 VERY ripe bananas.

Add to mixture.

Blend well, then add 2 Tbsp. water

Then, add 1 tsp. Vanilla

Get your cupcake pans ready.

I fill up a DOZEN cupcakes

...then I use the rest to make MINI bites.

Bake 350 for 23 min.
You can put BOTH pans in together and remove the mini bites after 18 min. or so (just check with a toothpick)
Leave the bigger cupcakes in until about 22-23 min. (periodically check with a toothpick)

Once done. Let them COOL.

Make the Cinnamon Vanilla Frosting:

In a small bowl mix together:

2 Tbsp butter softened (not melted)

2 C. powdered sugar + 1 tbsp

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. Vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. Coconut extract

(if you want it a bit thinner, add milk. If you want it thicker add a little more powdered sugar)

Time to toast your own COCONUT!
Super easy.
Place shredded coconut on baking pan.

Place under a broiler.

Watch carefully, and continue to stir.

I will slowly toast to....

.....Perfection!

Frost the "Cooled" cupcakes with the Cinnamon/Vanilla Frosting.

Dip in toasted Coconut.

And...
ENJOY!!!

So, there you have it.
My version of the age ol' banana bread!

Cinnamon Honey French Toast

Tonight, I made my Homemade bread for my boys....Buuuuut, it didn't stop there. 

We had one of his friends over after school today, and I distinctly remember Asa (Mason's friend) saying how much he LOVED French Toast!

So, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do today; Make bread and then make an awesome rendition of a hearty and sweet french toast.

I looked online and found this recipe from Alton Brown, and changed it just a little bit.

Ingredients:
1 C Whole Milk (I'm sure Fat free would work just fine too)
3 large eggs
2 Tbsp. honey (warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds)
1/4 tsp. salt
6 (1 inch) slices of a thick bread (Alton's original recipe calls for day old, or stale country loaf, brioche)
1 tsp. cinnamon

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, honey, cinnamon and salt. Pour this mixture into a pie pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375, and prepare a griddle to 375.

Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and place on a hot griddle. Cook all 6 pieces of bread for 2-3 min each side. (To allow a nice crunchy layer to form around the outside)

Remove from Griddle and place on a rack in the oven. (What I did was get another rack and placed it on a cookie sheet that had sides on it. It allowed for the french toast to continue to brown underneath and bake within)

Once all the french toast were in the oven, I let it all cook for an additional 15 min, until I saw each piece of bread slightly bulge (which meant the eggs and milk were cooking completely inside the bread)

Once fully cooked, serve immediately with fresh fruit, maple syrup or whipped cream.
As Josh and the 2 boys (Asa and Mason) were eating, they all kept saying...."Mmmmm delicious!"

SCORE!!! This now is going on my food blog!
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown, foodnetwork.com

Homemade Bread

Ooh.....What can I say? 

I LOVE BREAD! I love THIS bread. 

It's the kind I grew up on. It's the kind my mom would saturate in an egg/cinnamon/malted milk mixture and make a kick butt french toast with it. It's the kind where you walk in the house from playing outside because the power of diffusion was just too strong to keep playing.
It reminds me of the times I'd spend with my Aunt  Kathy in UT and she would always have this bread available with fresh, homemade jam. At one point in her life she had all 5 of her sons living at home and would make 10 loaves a week. WOW! What a money saver!

So.......I've now made this available to anyone who wants to make a simply delicious white bread. (I know, I  know, white bread is not the healthiest, but take out all the preservatives and make it fresh? Well...at least there's a step in the right direction....Enjoy this as a treat with your kids too!)

LARGE recipe(makes 5 loaves)

13 C. Flour

5 1/2 C. warm water (NOT HOT)

2 Tbsp. Yeast

3/4 C. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Salt

1/2 C. Crisco

In a LARGE bowl put 13 cups of flour. Make a well in the flour and add in order:

Pour water in well. Sprinkle yeast over water. Sprinkle sugar over yeast (that will help the yeast go down into the water). 

Pour salt over sugar, then scoop the Crisco into the water.

Stir with a wooden spoon as good as you can. Then, you have to get in and work it with your hands. 

When all the flour is worked in, and the dough isn't sticky, knead it for 5 minutes. (You may have to add a little more flour to make it a nice satiny dough that you can knead without it sticking to your hands, or the bowl)

After kneading, cover with a cloth and let it rise about 1 1/2 hours (or until double in size).

After it has doubled in size, punch down.

Then divide dough into 5 equal portions.
(if you want to make breadsticks, open this tab "Olive Garden Breadsticks")
If not, proceed.

Now here comes the crafty part.

I roll out the loaf into a long rectangle, with a rolling pin to pop the air bubbles out. Make sure it isn't wider than the loaf pan. Roll up like a Jelly Roll and seal the ends and edges.

Spray a loaf pan with Pam. Put the rolled up loaf, TOP DOWN into the greased loaf pan, then FLIP over so the seamed edge is on the bottom of the pan.

Do this for each loaf, then cover and let raise for about 
2-2 1/2 hours until the loaves are just about double in size.

Bake in a 350 (preheated) degree oven for about 30 min.

Remove, and cool about 30-45 minutes and put into plastic bags. 

They can go in the freezer for future use!

ENJOY!

SMALL recipe (makes 2 loaves)

6 1/2 C flour

2 1/2 C warm water

1 Tbsp yeast

6 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Salt

1/4 C. shortening

Follow all the same directions as above, but just change the amount of ingredients to the size you want to make. Mix and raise as directed above.

SMALLEST recipe (makes 1 loaf or 2 small loaves)

3 1/4 C flour

1 1/2 C warm water

1/2 Tbsp yeast

3 Tbsp. Sugar

1/2 Tbsp salt

1/8 C shortening

Follow all the same directions as above, but just change the amount of ingredients to the size you want to make. Mix and raise as directed above.

Recipe Courtesy of my Aunt Kathy