WIAW Archives - Strength and Sunshine

Apple Gingerbread Muffins

December 30, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 147 Comments

Soft , slightly sweet, gluten-free, vegan apple gingerbread muffins. Warm from the oven as a breakfast, snack, or healthy dessert, these muffins will shock you not only by their deliciousness, but by their unique ingredients as well.

As I said yesterday, I am still truckin’ forward with everything Christmas. I was late to the game with being able to enjoy all things gingerbread and baking so I’m just getting around to it now (and living it up for sure!). I’ll be posting gingerbread stuff through the year. Why? Because I bet you’ll appreciate the festive flavor when you least expect it. It’s simply a cheery and joyful word, gingerbread. Just the sound of it puts a smile on my face.

I wasn’t going to post these today though. I had another killer recipe to share, but this post is part of a 3-part series and since gingerbread was involved, I decided to share it first to play along at least a little with the season! What is this “series” about you ask? How about flours that are grain-free? No, not nut flours or coconut flour or bean flours. I’m taking veggie and fruit flours! I am very honored to introduce you to Anti-Grain flours!

I recived samles of Anti-Grain’s apple, squash, and sweet potato flour back in September, but wasn’t able to properly try them out until I was home with a good kitchen! I was so excited to finally do some testing and I am very please with the yummy results! I have a recipe for each of the flours, starting with these muffins!

Anti-Grain started as a Kickstarter campaign and that’s how I found them. I then contacted Jerry (he and his wife founded the project) and asked about them. They happily sent me samples which was the nicest thing! I love Kickstarter campaigns and always find the coolest new foodie things like my beloved banana flour and coffee bars!

As I’ve been conversing with Jerry the last few months, he happily agreed to do a little Q and A for this post! I’m sure you’re curious about his project, I know I was! So now I would like to introduce you to Jerry…

Q1: Who are you and what is Anti-Grain Foods?

Anti-Grain Foods is a brand new company run by a soon-to-be husband and wife couple, Jerry & Amanda. By day, Jerry is an innovation consultant at a Boulder, CO agency that frequently works on product development projects with both natural food clients and major CPG companies. Amanda is currently pursuing her doctorate in Physical Therapy and was a former Microbiology Technician at a food plant. We both have a passion for wellness and believe that food is the largest component of living well. We started Anti-Grain after being frustrated that so many of the ‘solutions’ in the grain and gluten-free space have been achieved by taking things OUT of our food–including the parts that are good for us. We wanted products that fit into our lifestyle, that added both nutrition and flavor to our food, and could help us achieve better balance in the things we make and eat.

Apple Gingerbread Muffins | Strength and Sunshine @RebeccaGF666 #glutenfree #vegan #gingerbread #muffins #apple #baking

Q2: Why grain-free and how do you do it?

Cooking and especially Baking is something that brings people together. It’s something we do for others more so than we do ourselves. Anti-Grain is much more than just grain-free. We create products to be as inclusive as possible, so that when someone who is gluten-free sits in front of their birthday cake with their Paleo friend and their cousin with a nut allergy, everyone can enjoy the experience together.

Anti-Grain promises to provide the most vibrant alternatives for all types of grain-haters–with a strong belief that we all have a reason to hate grains. We started from scratch—with the flour—because we saw the potential to change the perception of flour altogether; to be less of a necessary evil, something to strictly hold flavors together, or as something to try to replicate the taste and texture of the all-purpose flour foods many of us grew up with; but as a flavor ingredient in its own right: something that can act as a contributing member of the flavor profile in modern home cooking and baking.

Q3: Are you testing other veggies and fruits to expand the line?

We experimented with all sorts of vegetables and fruits before arriving at our current 3 varieties and take tremendous pride in the end result. While we aren’t experimenting with any more varieties, we are continuing to improve the three we have: we will be introducing 1lb packages in mid 2015 and are finding ways to boost the macronutrient content of our flours (focusing on fiber and protein) without compromising our values of being single ingredient flours. Plus some super top secret stuff for down the line.

Q4: Where can I get my hands on some of these flours? Will they ever be in conventional grocery stores?

We will have our flours available for sale on our website, www.anti-grain.com, beginning in January 2015 and plan to make them available on Amazon shortly after that. While conventional grocery stores might be a long ways away, we do hope to enter a few natural stores in the Rocky mountain region in early 2015 to start.

Q5: What’s your favorite Anti-Grain recipe?

So far, my (Jerry’s) favorite are the Dark chocolate blondie bars made with squash flour and apple flour. They come out super chewy and satisfy every sweet craving. While Amanda LOVES the squash flour and chicharron encrusted chicken tenders—we probably make those every other week!

Q6: What was the biggest grain-free flop?

The first time we tried to make noodles using our sweet potato flour was quite a disaster. We made them a more traditional Italian style fashion and they looked like they were going to turn out great, until they hit the water that is and pretty much dissolved. We posted about it on our blog and were able to refine to them both durable and delicious!

Apple Gingerbread Muffins

Apple Gingerbread Muffins

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Author: Rebecca Pytell

Recipe type: Breakfast, Snacks, Dessert, Baking

Cuisine: American

Serves: 8

Ingredients

¾ Cup Gluten-Free Oat Flour
¼ Cup Buckwheat Flour
¼ Cup Apple Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
½ Tsp Ginger
½ Tsp Cinnamon
¼ Tsp Cloves
½ Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
½ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 TB Blackstrap Molasses
½ Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
Sprinkle of Gluten-Free Rolled Oats (for topping, optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and whisk together. Then add the wet ingredients and whisk again until you get a thick and sticky batter.
Line a medium muffin tin with 8 liners. Scoop about 2½ tablespoons of batter into each liner. Top each with a sprinkle of rolled oats if you wish.
Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

O boy, these were good! My first taste of gingerbread of the season and with this new apple flour. Total winner! I can’t wait to share the two other recipes I have with Anti-Grain flours. One is completely “anti-grain” too, hi paleo people! So this foodie is giving Anti-Grain flours a two-thumbs up! So fun and creative!

So tell me:

+ Have you ever found any awesome Kickstarter campaigns?

+ What would you make with apple flour?

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Snickerdoodle Breakfast Cake

December 17, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 120 Comments

Boy do I have fond memories creating this recipe! The idea, the inspiration hit one summer evening. I wanted something “cakey” for breakfast the next day, but not pancakes (I know, shocking!). So if this creation turned out okay in the oven then I knew prime photographing time was dwindling. This recipe would be a race with the setting sun. I whole-heartedly accepted the challenge though, I knew this one would be a winner. Why not bake it in the morning? Uh, because I’m hungry when I wake-up and baking would take to long!

However, I managed to snap a few right under the window next to the kitchen sink. (Mind you, this lighting conundrum would happen multiple times that summer. I just never learn.) I got so many that I couldn’t choose which ones to edit and post here today…so be prepared for a bombardment of yummy photos ahead!

I really don’t know what to call this little dish either. Breakfast bake was what I originally planned, then I though baked mug cake, but really this is more of a baked pancake. So I decided to call it just a breakfast cake! Snickerdoodle style! Perfect for the holidays, right? Right!

What I have written on the little scrap of paper I used to jot down the recipe was “SnickerDoodle B-Fast Bake”. Exactly like that. You should see these millions of jotted down recipes on scraps of colored notepad paper, stickys, ripped off corners of random papers. It’s really organized 😉 Just a bunch of random measurements, notes, lines, arrows, but barely any directions. I just remember all that in my head. Haha!

I’ll be one of those old grandmothers with all the recipes that the family will never be able to recreate of decipher. I’m completely a cook at heart. Just throw this, that, and a pinch of these in and done! Even when I’m baking (which can be risky). Call it laziness or call it skill 😉 I say the latter!

Anyway, I love snickerdoodles, or at least the idea of them! Warm, cakey, cinnamon love! Count me in! All in! Cinnamon is my favorite spice as you know. I go through the bottles like I go through sweet potatoes. Every day and in every way! So a snickerdoodle just seems like an obvious flavor choice for me. Plus, it’s festive and Christmasy. I guess that’s the sign of a goof food blogger too! Making out of season recipes to post for when they’re in season. But I am still behind. I still have a few pumpkin recipes to post! I just didn’t want to go recipe crazy and run out while I was away at college with no way of making really good new ones!

Enough of this blabber! Time to just give you the damn recipe! O and I felt pretty bad ass using cream of tartar here. Snickerdoodles always have it. I don’t know what it does, but I bought a little bottle just for the purpose of this recipe.

Snickerdoodle Breakfast Cake

Ingredients: (serves 1)

+ 3 TB Millet Flour

+ 2 TB Gluten-Free All Purpose

+ 2 TB Mashed Ripe Banana

+ 1 Packet of Stevia

+ 1/4 Tsp Cream Of Tartar

+ 1/4 Tsp Baking Powder

+ 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda

+ 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon (plus more for topping)

+ 1/4 Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract

+ 1/4 Cup of Unsweetened Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk)

Optional Vanilla Cinnamon Frosting:

+ 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon

+ 1 TB Vanilla Protein Powder

+ 2-3 TB Water

Directions:

+ Preheat an oven to 350ºF.

+ In a lightly oiled ramekin, combine all ingredients in the order listed above. Mix until a doughy mixture forms.

+ Bake the mixture in the oven for about 20 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean when done.

+ Stir up the vanilla frosting (if using), pour on top of the cake. You can also just top it with cinnamon…or nut butter 😉

+ You can also refrigerate this overnight to enjoy a cold cake in the morning or heat it up for a minute in the microwave like I did!

This is just screaming Christmas to me right now! Why are all the amazing flavors like snickerdoodle, peppermint, peppermint mocha, gingerbread, etc. only associated with the holidays? Screw that! I’m going to keep making my festive fare all year-round! Be a food rebel!

So tell me:

+ You could only pick from these: snickerdoodle, gingerbread, or peppermint. Which do you choose? Snickerdoodle!

+ How do you jot down recipes you’re making? Mine are also always gross, wet, and stained with food, haha!

*Recipe linking up for the week! WIAW, Allergy Free Wednesdays, #RecipeFridays, #RecipeOfTheWeek, #StrangeButGood, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Real Food Friday, Gluten-Free Fridays, Tasty Tuesdays, Savoring Saturdays, Healthy Vegan Fridays, #WeekendBites, Real Food Recipe Roundup, Tasty Tuesdays, Meatless Mondays, Lena’s Tasty Tuesdays!*

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Roasted Sweet Vanilla Pecan Butter

December 10, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 150 Comments

Do I have a sweet recipe for you today! During the summer I made a ton of more “festive” holiday recipes (unintentionally), so I have been saving them for just this season! Think things like cinnamon, snickerdoodles, sweetness, gingerbread, and christmasy love! That will all be coming at you in the next few weeks leading up to THE BEST days of the year 😉 For now I’m sharing a super fun homemade nut butter! What could be better than that!?

Say hello to my Roasted Sweet Vanilla Pecan Butter! You all know by now that I have an undieing love for cashews (the best nut ever…ever!). But, my heart does have a special place for the beautiful pecan as well. I really never ate nuts when I was younger. We just never had them in the house, especially the more expensive ones like pecans. So I wasn’t sure I liked them until I became a nut fanatic a few years ago.

However, now I can tell you that I love pecans! I love all nuts for that matter! Well, except walnuts. They are okay, but I wouldn’t freeing choose to eat them. They definitely rank last in my opinion. Pecans though, they are near the top. They’re sweet like cashews, but a little more robust. Of course I love eating them raw, unsalted, and cold from the fridge just like cashews. That keeps them a little chewy if you will, just how I like it! But roasted and sweet isn’t bad either 😉

Don’t pecans just feel like the holidays? They are one of the holiday nuts…right? I think so! Plus this sweet vanilla butter is the perfect homemade gift! You can of course eat it all yourself (like I did), but now since it is the holiday season and not summer…why not put it in a pretty glass jar and gift it to a loved one! So easy and they will LOVE you 😉 If someone made me homemade nut butter I would be eternally grateful! **hint hint**

You know what’s great about pecans? They must have more oils in them, because they blended into the best, smoothest, and creamiest butter! Even my Ninja Ultima was able to handle it! Plus, anytime you roast the nuts before making a nut butter, that just releases the oils more and makes blending much easier without have to add your own oil.

Roasted Sweet Vanilla Pecan Butter

Ingredients: (serves 6-8)

+ 2 Heaping Cups of Raw Unsalted Pecans

+ 1 Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract

+ 6 Drops of Vanilla Stevia

Directions:

+ Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

+ Line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly oiled foil. Spread your pecans evenly on the sheet and bake for about 7 minutes (you’ll start to smell them and they’ll glisten!)

+ Remove the pecans and let cool for a few minutes. Then add them to a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend until the pecans form a flour-y meal texture.

+ Now add the vanilla extract and stevia. Blend again, scraping the sides of the container a few times, until the mixture becomes a lovely creamy butter!

+ Store in a glass jar with a tight lid, in the refrigerator!

O yea, not only does your house smell lovely when the pecans are roasting, but once you put them in the blender with the vanilla…o my! My whole kitchen smelled like festive holiday love…in the dog days of summer 😉 The best of both worlds, right?

I hope you decide to make this and make it as a gift! It is such a fabulous spread for anything! From bread, to apples, to carrots…to just, you know…a spoon! And for more of my homemade nut butter, make sure you check out this cinnamon roasted almond butter and this raw cashew butter!

So tell me:

+ What is you favorite and least favorite nut?

+ Did you grow up eating nuts or is it something more new? I’m pretty sure I only ever really had peanuts and sunflower seeds as a kid. Sad life!

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Chocolate Pumpkin Pancakes

November 19, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 157 Comments

Time for a pancake recipe! This is the one I talked about making last year and never posting. It’s also to celebrate the fact that I lugged my equipment down to the kitchen this weekend and whipped up some pancakes. It’s just so much easier to throw a mug cake in the microwave right in my room instead of walked all the way around to the other side of my floor to the kitchen. (And then carrying hot pancakes and pans back to my room while needing a free hand to swipe my key card and somehow balance everything to open my door.) But, I made it work 😉

I do miss making weekly pancakes. But it isn’t so bad when I have SO MANY other options for breakfast. Too many options really 😉 (No…never). From oatmeal, overnight oats, buckwheat cereal, quinoa flakes, mug cakes, cold cereal, granola, and then the occasional pancakes or waffles, I am fine.

I treat my breakfast like a dinner. There are many components. The main course changes daily, being something I listed above. Then we have a beautiful fresh side of fruit. I like to buy these $4.70 fruit cups in the dining hall (yea…no joke), but I split that for two days. Then of course a small side of raw nuts. The coffee or tea always comes later when I head to class.

Breakfast is a nice time, a simple time, to enjoy the wonderful flavors of foods. All while reading blogs, social media-ing my own blog post for the day, and somewhat listening to the news on the TV in the background. Tons of stimulation, but always my favorite part of the day. Or maybe it’s my favorite part of the day because chocolate is usually involved 😉 I add chocolate in some form to basically all my breakfasts (almost). These chocolatey pumpkin pancakes for example. Chocolate explosion! Let me show you…

Chocolate Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients: (serves 1)

+ 3 TB Millet Flour

+ 2 TB Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

+ 1/4 Cup Pure Pumpkin Puree

+ 1/4 Tsp Baking Powder

+ 1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

+ 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon

+ 5 Drops of Vanilla Stevia

+ 1/3 Cup Water

Chocolate Sauce:

+ 1 1/2 TB Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

+ 1 TB Chocolate (or Vanilla) Protein Powder

+ 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon

+ 3-4 TB of Water

Directions:

+ In a mixing bowl: add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and spices. Give it a mix with a fork. Then add your pumpkin, stevia, and water. Mix again until you get a good not-too-thick pancake batter.

+ Heat a non-stick pan using a bit of coconut oil over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add 1/2 the batter (or 1/3) to the pan. Let cook for 3-4 minutes, flip and cook another 3-4 minutes. Repeat for the rest of the batter.

+ To make the sauce, simple mix the dry ingredients, and slowly add a few tablespoons of water until you get the desired consistency. I like mine a bit thicker, but it you want it to be more saucy, add more water.

+ Top the cakes with the sauce and devour!

Did I ever tell you about those cinnamon sticks you see? In the summer, I found this huge awesome cheap bag of cinnamon sticks at the grocery store and just had to buy them! I have like 50 sticks now (I brought a few down to DC with me), but they are perfect for pictures 😉 Plus, I am cinnamon girl so it only seemed like a natural thing to have! The more cinnamon the better!

So tell me:

+ What’s been your breakfast of lately?

+ Are you a milk chocolate or a dark chocolate person? DARK all the way. This may sound weird (it does sound weird), but trust me. Get some quality dark chocolate and go eat it outside in the fresh air. Allow the air to mingle with the chocolate in your mouth. Really…it is the best way to eat dark chocolate. It tastes so good…really 😉

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Sweet Pumpkin & Bell Pepper Sprouted Black Eyed Peas

November 12, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 125 Comments

Bloggers, do you have this problem too? I have a ton of post ideas (and recipes from the Summer!) that I want to post, but when it comes time to write my posts (on the weekend) I always struggle with what to write. Even though I have my list of ideas, I never end up feeling like posting them. It’s weird. I have so many things I want to share with you guys this holiday season, but I don’t know where to start! Then if I wait to long, some posts aren’t relevant anymore or recipes don’t fit the season. I mean, I still have this awesome pumpkin pancakes recipe from last year that I need to post! And then other posts will just require a lot of work and attention that I never feel like I have (or the motivation to write). I guess that’s why bloggers always say their draft folder is overflowing with half-written posts. Mine, mine is empty. I can’t have a draft sitting there (stresses me out!).

When I sit down to write a post, I want it done. I rarely take more than a day to write a post. I might work on it throughout the day, but I don’t leave it sitting there. But that’s the other thing, it takes me HOURS to write one post! I have no idea how some bloggers post multiple times a day…WITH photos too! Major props to you guys. Editing the photos for this recipe alone took forever, but I guess that’s why legit food bloggers only post once or twice a week. It takes time and care! Still, I’m just not a fast blogger. That’s why by the time I’m done, I never reread my full post (i.e. many errors), but hey, I have a life too! 😉

O and let me tell you. Coming up with things to write about in recipes posts is so hard! I think it’s boring to just talk about the recipe, plus that doesn’t take up much space. Like this dish. The “first” meal I cooked when I came down here to college. (The only new “dinnerish” recipe I’ve made). But that’s it, end of story. So instead I’m rambling about blogger problems, haha!

I guess I should talk about the recipe now. You may be interested. Maybe…

I brought down a bunch of dried beans with me and no rice cooker to cook them the easy way. So instead of crying over this, I decided to sprout them! I took a Tupperware container, filled it with some beans and water, and left it in my room a few days while the magic happened. I always sprout my lentils, but I forgot how good sprouted black eyed peas were too!

Quick easy way to “cook” those dried beans! Plus, by sprouting, you make the beans much easier to digest which is a welcome outcome for tummies. Since they aren’t fall about cooked canned beans, they have that fun little bite to them. The skins even fall off them sprouting them, leaving them to become “naked” beans, but still super tasty! So here is the recipe for this fun sprouted, gluten-free, and vegan dish…which is also pumpkin and veggie packed for your enjoyment!

Sweet Pumpkin & Bell Pepper Sprouted Black Eyed Peas

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)

+ 2 Cups Sprouted Black Eyed Peas ( Soak 1 cup of dried beans covered in fresh water for 1 day. Then drain and place back in a bowl covered with a paper towel. Every 12 hours (when you wake-up and before you go to bed, rise and drain the beans again. Continue to do this for about 2-3 days until little white tails form on the beans! Then they are ready!)

+ 3/4 Cup Pure Pumpkin Puree

+ 1 TB Fresh Chopped Chives

+ 1 Medium Green Bell Pepper (Chopped)

+ 1 Cup Chopped White Mushrooms

+ 2 Tsp Honey Mustard

+ 1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder

+ 2 Tsp Dried Parsley

+ 2 Tsp Crushed Dried Rosemary

+ 1/4 Cup Water

Directions:

+ In a large saute pan, combine all the ingredients. Stir everything around so the goods are equally distributed.

+ On a store, over medium heat, warm the dish until things begin to “sweat” and the dish is hot to the touch (10ish minutes). Remove, serve alone or with a grain, even use it as a filling for wraps, and enjoy!

There you have it, a rambley recipe post 😉 I hope you enjoyed it! I have plenty more where that some from! But I promise I will start working on these “bigger” idea posts. They are good, I just need to buckle down and write them!

So tell me:

+ Do you have this same “many ideas/no ideas” blog post problem?

+ How long does it take you to write a post (estimate)?

+ For you non-bloggers, do you sprout? Or have you never taken the plunge? I hope you do with this recipe!