Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream {Dairy-Free, Vegan}

Pumpkin Pie. Coconut milk. Ice cream. Warm "autumn" spices.

I can't even pick which of those four things is my favorite, I love them all. So, when all four were combined into an incredibly tasty, cool dessert during the heat wave we experienced earlier this month, I was a happy camper.
And it explains why I have not one photo, not even a cell phone pic, of this frozen treat. We devoured each serving in such a happy daze of ice cream bliss, that no one thought to get the camera. We even made a second batch recently - no physical evidence of that either.
Enough said?
Try this ASAP!  :)

Homemade [Dairy Free, Vegan] Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

What you need:

• 2 cups pumpkin puree - I used canned Libby brand. Trader Joe's is another good option
• One can full-fat coconut milk - approximately 2 cups
• 1/3-1/2 cup pure maple syrup (sweeten to your liking)
• 1-2 teaspoons each: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger or 1-2 TB pumpkin pie spice (season to the flavor intensity you prefer)

What you do:

Pour pumpkin puree and coconut milk into blender or large food processor, and mix for 20-30 seconds to combine well. Drizzle in maple syrup through the top while it continues to mix. Stop machine, add in spices and blend another 20 seconds to ensure all the flavors are evenly distributed.
Pour into ice cream maker and process for 25 minutes (or otherwise noted in instruction manual).
Enjoy!

Red [Brown] & Blue Berry Muffins!

Just in time for the 4th of July, here is a recipe for Red and Blue colored muffins, free of gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, refined sugar, legumes, and very low in grains...

These muffins are delicious. Soft, moist (though a bit crumbly) in texture, the chestnut flour gives them a warm nutty flavor while the blueberries sweeten and the raspberries give a little tang. They are an achievement I'm most proud of!

I have tested this recipe three different times, changing at least one ingredient each time. The last test was done using mini-cupcake liners and my new mini cupcake tin I purchased in prep for Victory's first birthday.
They turned out well each time, which tells me that they are nearly foolproof muffins. It helps (and somehow feels more decadent) to eat them with a spoon in a little bowl; this way you're sure to get every last crumb in your mouth too!

This version I'm sharing with you was my third experiment. It uses the highest ratio of Chestnut flour, I'm guessing this is why these were the darkest in color of the three versions. It also uses the lowest amount of grains, so that's why I picked it to share. If you're interested in the other two (just as delicious) versions using rice flour and tapioca flour, comment and I will post them.

This recipe came about a few weeks back, when there was literally nothing to eat in our kitchen but a few ingredients. A few gluten free flours I wanted to get rid of, frozen berry blend mix from Costco, and part of a bag of Chestnut flour leftover from my birthday Carrot Cake Cupcakes. I pulled my Flying Apron Baking Book off the shelf and found a recipe for "Maple Berry Muffins." I modified it to be as Primal, grain-free and low-sugar as possible, and three baking sessions later, here are these muffins.

These taste so good, and look so pretty, that they may be making an appearance at Victory's 1st birthday party next month, complete with fresh blackberries from our garden! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have (that includes me, Hubs, my mom, our friends, our friends' kids, our neighbors... they are crowd pleasers)!

Red (Brown) & Blue Berry Muffins

Makes 10-12 traditional size muffins, 24+ mini muffins

What you need:

1 1/2 cups chestnut flour, such as Dowd & Rogers
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1+ cup water
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup grapeseed oil or olive oil
1/3 cup pure organic maple syrup OR 1/4 cup maple sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger, optional
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup fresh/frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh/frozen blueberries

*I have been reading Michael Ruhlman's Ratio, and I have to say, it pains me to list out these measurements for you, knowing that if they were weights instead, you'd be essentially guaranteed a perfect muffin. My blog may turn into a recipe-by-ratio, baking-by-weight destination in the future, because I am really loving that concept. In the meantime, go with your gut. Baking without gluten really isn't so intimidating or risky, just pay attention to the texture of your batter and have fun! That is what it's really about :)

What you do:


Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Prepare your muffin tin, using festive paper liners.
In small-medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Using stand mixer, whisk together liquid ingredients on low until blended.
Slowly add dry ingredients to liquid mix, on medium speed, until smooth. Add water if mixture seems to need more liquid. Batter will be runny, similar to pancake batter, or a slightly watery brownie batter.
Scoop 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Depending upon how much water used, you will get 10 to 12 traditionally sized muffins.
Drop berries (can be frozen still) on top of batter in each muffin cup.
Bake until golden and tops are slightly firm to touch. It took 20 minutes for my traditional size muffins to bake (check at 15), and less than 10 minutes for the mini muffins (check at 5 minutes).

Note: Don't stress too much about getting them perfectly done. The beauty of baking without eggs is that even if your muffins turn out to be not quite done, they won't hurt you!

Enjoy! (I know you will!)

These would be delicious set on top of a small bowl of coconut milk ice cream... Excuse me while I steal away to my kitchen to see if I have what's needed to make that happen ;)

Have a festive 4th of July with family, friends, fireworks, or whatever else helps you celebrate all that our nation's freedom has given you. We are so blessed to live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Happy birthday America!

Coconut Milk Heaven...

When I look at this photo, this chorus runs through my head: "Heaven... I'm in heaven... And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak..."

Half a case of coconut milk from Hubs :)

I am a little bit obsessed with coconut milk. It's a healthy appreciation, really. I am so thankful for coconut milk's existence. It is delicious and satisfying and a wonderful healing fat. This brand (Taste Nirvana) is the best I've found. It has no additives, thickeners or preservatives. Just coconut and water. Awesome! I'm not sure why the manufacturer website does not have it listed as a product yet, but hopefully that doesn't affect it's availability. I discovered it at my local Asian market for $1.48 per can. Can't beat it!

"Samoa" Cookies

A few months back I saw a great recipe at beautiful Real Sustenance blog: Gluten Free Samoa Cookies. (Grain/Egg/Corn/Soy/Dairy/Refined Sugar Free). Samoa cookies have always been my favorite, dating back to my year as a Junior Girl Scout. If you've ever read the label though, like me, you know that they are not very good for you. So I was very excited to find Brittany's recipe over at Real Sustenance, and saved it for a later date. Check out the recipe here.

I finally had the chance to make these cookies yesterday with a good friend. They weren't exactly like original Samoa, but they were EXCELLENT cookies, even compared with traditional cookies made with wheat flour and butter. We used spring themed cookie cutters - a flower, a tulip and butterfly. If I get the chance to make these again some day, I will just keep it simple with a circle cutter, because the shapes get covered by the blobs of caramel and you can't tell what they are underneath the delicious toppings. The shapes made it more festive though, so I'm still glad we did that.

The caramel is so delicious, the fact that you can't tell these are tulips, flowers and butterflies doesn't really matter!

First, I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Shortbread mix to make the base cookies. It was one of the last grain items left in my kitchen, so it needed to be used up. This made my cookies gluten free but not grain free. However, they are free of soy, dairy and egg.

I made the shortbread cookies with substitutions for the ingredients called for on the recipe on the bag, which called for butter, water and an egg yolk.

I used the new Spectrum butter flavored palm shortening in place of butter or soybean oil shortening, and instead of egg yolk I mixed a heaping tablespoon of golden flax meal with 1/8 cup warm water, into a yolky-textured gel. I had to add water throughout mixing the dough, to get it to the right texture to roll out flat, but they turned out very well - if a bit hard. The golden flecks of flax meal in the white cookies looks pretty.

Once the shortbread cookies were cooled, I made the caramel. The original recipe had several options for each ingredient - what a blessing when you have dietary restrictions! I made it with the following:

• 3/4 cup organic virgin coconut oil
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar (another item in the small "gotta get rid of this" section of my cupboard!)
• 1/4 cup agave
• half can of canned, preservative-free coconut milk (I LOVE Taste Nirvana!)

I was surprised at how long it took to get the caramel past 200 degrees; it was a stubborn pot that didn't want to boil! But finally after about 30 minutes, the candy thermometer was creeping up and we had our caramel. It was delicious! I think it's pretty neat that you can make caramel dairy-free, and I want to make it again for a special occasion to top coconut ice cream.

For the chocolate topping, we used Enjoy Life allergen-free mini chocolate chips (those things are AWESOME!) and my unsweetened coconut flakes were organic, small shreds from the bulk section of Whole Foods that we toasted on parchment paper in the oven for about 5 minutes

A tulip

It was definitely worth it to finally try out this recipe. I would love to repeat it every year around Girl Scout Cookie time, so I feel less left out. It's good to treat yourself once in a while :)

Happy Spring! Are you as thrilled as I am that it's finally here?!

[Nutritious] Chocolate Banana Drink

This afternoon I was watching TV and got stuck on the Ninja Kitchen System infomercial. Isn't it true that even if you have NO need for a product, an infomercial can sell you anything if you don't hang on to your self control and head sense? Translation: Even though I own a nice quality Kitchen Aid blender, food processor, mixer, and Jack Lalanne Juicer, a few minutes watching the wonders of the Ninja KS, and I thought I needed it. What can I say? Anything cooking-related is my weakness. Thankfully I came to my senses, and realized I could make a delicious afternoon treat (like they were making on TV) without spending any money, using what I already own.

So I hopped into the kitchen and got to it. This was my inspiration today:

When we were kids, occasionally my mom made us this super yummy afternoon snack that we called "Chocolate Banana Drink." It consisted of ice, bananas, and chocolate pudding mix. Simple, sugary, and delicious. This afternoon I wanted something that tasted like that, but chocolate pudding mix is full of junk and not something I keep around my pantry (anymore). So I adapted my own [gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, sugar-free, Paleoish] recipe, and in under ten minutes we were all enjoying a delicious, chocolate frappe-style dessert drink. Here's the recipe:

[Nutritious] Chocolate Banana Drink!

What you need:

2 frozen bananas, broken into smaller pieces

handful (about 1 cup) frozen, torn spinach and kale leaves

1/2 cup coconut milk (I used Silk PureCoconut original)

1-2 TB cocoa powder (add more/less to taste)

1 TB golden flax meal

Optional:

3 chunks frozen pear

4 ice cubes

1/2 cup water

What you do:

Put bananas, greens, coconut milk and cocoa powder into blend and puree until it reaches the right consistency. I had to add 1/2 cup water to help it along, then it was too runny, so I added the frozen pear and ice cubes, and more cocoa powder and it became the perfect chocolately frappe consistency. 

I enjoyed my treat so fast, only afterward did I realize I should share this on the blog, and there was nothing left to photograph! My hubs had a tiny bit left:

Make this drink and this is what you'll be seeing -or rather NOT seeing- in a matter of minutes  :)

Banana Nut Bread (gluten-free and vegan)

Okay, I just found this recipe and beautiful photos of the finished product at Gluten Free Hope, and my first thought is: Must Bake ASAP!

Why is it that when I'm not in the mood for baking, I'm missing the ingredients, or such is my current predicament, I don't have any ripe bananas, that I find great recipes like this? I will be going out tomorrow and buying some bananas at our local produce stand (with spare change I might add, since payday isn't until Friday and our Grocery envelope is empty). I will put the bananas in a brown bag, and as soon as they are ripe I'm baking this. I especially love the ingredients list - simple, easy to find flours and binders that I have in my pantry already. Love it!

Photo credit

Here is the recipe: Banana Nut Bread (gluten-free and vegan)

Update: I've made this recipe, not once, but THREE times, twice in muffin form! It was delicious as muffins and as bread, but we liked the muffins best because they were easy to grab and run out the door with for busy mornings. Yum! Stephanie, you've done it again - another fabulous gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free baked treat! :)