5 Ingredient Banana Nut Butter Muffins (Gluten Free & Dairy Free)

My breakfast is early. If I want to have something substantial I have to eat before 6:00 am, usually around 5:30. I usually end up blending a protein or green smoothie and taking it to my first client. My smoothies are filling and I am usually satiated for a few hours. When my earliest client cancels I feel indulgent when I get to have eggs, but I usually have a pretty wimpy breakfast followed by snacks of fruit, nuts, seeds and on occasion a Lara Bar.

Today I made a client some breakfast muffins and decided to come home and whip up some for myself. I will admit, I usually feel a little sick of cooking after spending time in the kitchen for a client; but these muffins are so easy it was no sweat. I usually make these with mini chocolate chips, but I have been over doing the sweets lately and decided to leave them out. They are way more decadent with the chocolate, so by all means add away.

I mix these 5 ingredients in a blender to create a smooth batter:

1 Large Banana
½ cup of Nut Butter
2 tbsp of Raw Honey
1 Egg
¼ tsp of Baking Soda

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 7-13 minutes depending on the size of your muffin. Mini muffins take about 7 minutes in my oven and regular muffin tins take between 11-13.

I try not to eat raw egg but I licked the spatula and a little bit of the blender…it’s that good.

I like this recipe because it is simple and it is easy to just whip together when a craving or need strikes. If you don’t have Raw Honey you can use regular honey, agave or maple syrup. If you are vegan these work with a flax egg too! I used organic peanut butter but almond, cashew or sun butter would work as well.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free & Flourless)

It has been a while since my last post. I have been crazy busy trying to keep my clients and my own wellness in check. My plan was to use free hours during “spring break” to get some blogging done, but then i was knocked on my ass by the stomach flu. After not eating for 24 hours I decided to torture myself by scanning Instagram and Pinterest for recipe inspiration. I find it oddly satisfying just to look at food. Dessert is my guilty pleasure, and if you follow my blog you know I try and make it less guilty.

So what did I do my first day back from the flu? Worked my morning clients out, baked a batch of these bad boys then went straight outside to run and get some much needed vitamin D. If I didn’t plan on running as soon as these came out of the oven I probably would have gobbled down a few.

It takes about 10 minutes to prep the batter and load up the baking sheets and about 10 minutes to bake. So you are looking at 20 minutes for perfect cookies. You wont need any butter or flour. The recipe is so simple you will have in memorized after one batch.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond butter
1 cup turbinado sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chips
½ teaspoon course salt

Just preheat your oven to 350 degrees and combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Line your cookies on a baking sheet with parchment paper. I made my cookies on the smaller side, rolling them into little balls. Bake for about 10 minutes.

I found this recipe on Martha Stewart’s Instagram page. Martha used lightly packed light brown sugar but I wanted to make these as healthy as a I could with what I had. I think the next time through I will try them with some coconut sugar. Enjoy!

Chocolate for Breakfast

My recipe game has been weak, but this post should definitely make up for it! This is a GLUTEN FREE Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread. If it sounds like edible heaven, that’s because it is. As a bonus, this recipe is so easy to make. I bet you already have all the ingredients in your kitchen. I found this recipe on another blog and made a few modifications. Here is what you will need to concoct this loaf:

In Bowl One: Whisk egg then mash in the bananas

1 egg

3 ripe bananas

In Bowl Two: Combine the below ingredients

3 tsp baking powder

1 pinch salt

1/3 cup organic peanut butter

3 & 1/2 tbsp coconut butter or 3 tbsp coconut oil (I used coconut butter)

3/4 cup almond milk

½ cup cocoa powder

1 cup gluten free flour ( I used Bob’s Redmill)

1 cup gluten free oats

½ cup of chocolate chips

Fold bowl two into bowl one and bake at 350 degrees for 75 minutes.

You can use any nut butter that tickles your fancy.  I used peanut because it is the most inexpensive.  I save almond butter for eating by the spoonful.  Personal preference….

Gluten, Dairy & Guilt Free Coffee Cake

I have always loved coffee cake.  It was actually one of the first baked goods I learned to make from scratch! When I was an avid coffee drinker I loved sitting down with a cup of hot coffeee and a slice of anything sweet as I tackled homework in my collegiate apartment.  Now I no longer drink coffee, but I still love to enjoy a pick me up as I read my afternoon emails.  This coffee cake is the perfect guilt free solution.  It is not too sweet so it wont light up the chocoholic or sugar addict in you…I found this recipe on Dr. Axe’s website and made a few modifications:

Combine wet ingredients

• 1/4 c coconut oil
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 coconut milk

Combine dry ingredients

• 1 1/2 c almond flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking Powder

Mix dry ingredients into wet mixture and pour into an 8×8 pan

Comibine ingredients for crumble topping:

• 1/2 c almond flour
• 1/2 cup of gluten free oats
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp honey
• 4 tsp cinnamon

Sprinkle topping over cake mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and serve with a spoon of almond butter!

Pumpkin & Almond Butter Muffins

Whether you want your muffins for breakfast, a snack or dessert, this recipe is for you. These muffins are moist, decadent and pretty damn healthy. If you are a health food junky you likely have all the required ingredients ready …

Super-Gut-Food Almond Butter

I have been dealing with Leaky Gut Syndrome for a while now, but my flare ups have become irregular and almost obsolete.  In fact, my gut has been fairly healthy in the past year and a half.  However, this past Monday I was completely blind sided by the side effects of this crap syndrome.  So for a few days I was consuming mostly liquids (coconut milk, kombucha, hot tea, and lots of water).  I eased my way to coconut milk yogurt, sauerkraut and mashed up bananas.  My stomach was inflamed and my energy level was insanely low due to a calorie deficit.

So now I am on a mission to repair my intestinal lining and get back to a healthy gut.  My diet for the next 2-4 weeks is going be restrictive, more or less Paleo with some extra rules.  I cannot eat soy, sugar, legumes, dairy, night shade vegetables, grains or anything processed by any means. Last night I had a dream I was eating Chinese food. I don’t even like Chinese food.  I have been Gluten Free for almost seven years and I remember in the first year I would have dreams I was eating sandwiches all the time.

It is not complete torment, I still get to eat most of the things I love.  I will be consuming lots of coconut products like coconut milk, coconut milk yogurt, coconut oil and coconut butter.  Fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi are great for gut health and I do love an excuse to splurge on kombucha.  I will be attempting my first bone broth this weekend which is supposedly deeeelish, I just hope I can find some chicken feet.  Another great food group for gut health is sprouted seeds (like flax seed, chia seed and hemp seeds).  Which brings me to my creation this morning.

Super Gut healthy Almond Butter

• 2 tablespoons of Almond Butter ( I use Trader Joe’s Unsalted Crunchy)
• 1 teaspoon of Chia Seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Flax Seed
• 1 teaspoon of Coconut Oil

Mix them all together and enjoy! I spread mine on apple slices for a mid morning snack.  This is a very filling spread so you might not need to eat the whole two tablespoons in one sitting, but it’s so good I cannot help but lick the bowl clean.

Gluten Free “3 Ingredient Pancakes”-My Version

Good Morning! It’s dumping snow here in Virginia and the road conditions have given me the opportunity to make a breakfast that takes more than 3 minutes to prep.  I have been dying to try these “3 Ingredient Pancakes” that have been all over the web lately.  The majority of recipes call for about 1 banana, 1 egg and a tiny pinch of baking powder.  I dressed the recipe up a bit.  Here is what you will need for my version:

• 1 ripe banana (mine was freckled with brown spots)
• 1 egg
• 1 tiny pinch of baking powder (about 1/8 tsp)
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter (I used Trader Joe’s Raw Unsalted Crunchy)
• 3 dashes of cinnamon

1) Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix

Throw it in

Mix it up

2) Heat your pan, grease it up and spoon about 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan.  I used Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil Cooking Spray.  Coconut oil is great to use on pancakes because you get a subtle hint of the flavor.

3)Cook, Flip and then onto the next cake!  I made a total of 5 cakes, one of which was ugly and defective so I ate it before I took my final picture.

Tip: Keep the pancakes small, it will prevent them from breaking as you flip.

Keep your cakes small

Voila!

How does it taste?

• Natural: It does not taste like an IHOP pancake.  However, I did like it more than my almond flour pancakes I have made in the past.
• The banana makes it sweet, I did not need syrup.  If you prefer syrup, go with organic maple syrup and make it worth the calories.
• It’s much more dense, not light and fluffy like your traditional pancake.
• Overall I really enjoyed these cakes!

Tips:

• I tried adding raisins to one cake and it just fell apart.  So keep these simple and just add toppings after you cook!.
• Flip it really fast, the density of the cakes make them prone to breaking.
• Play around with ingredients! If you don’t have almond butter try all natural peanut butter or any nut butter you may have at home.  I wonder how coco powder would work in these? Yummm