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Yummy Vegan (and GF) Muffins

June 4, 2013 by Carey Jane Clark

I mentioned last week that our family has eliminated meat, dairy and eggs from our diet. I have been dabbling in this kind of diet for a while now, trying to add more vegetarian choices to our meals, then became convinced of the need to eliminate dairy and eggs altogether as well, but one of the reasons I stalled was the inevitable learning curve of a dietary change. Having switched to a gluten-free lifestyle in the last couple of years, I’m already a serious recipe tweaker. Now there are more tweaks.

However, I ordered a few cookbooks to help me through the transition, and things have been going smoother than I had anticipated.

One of my big kitchen challenges is breakfast. It has always seemed as though my kids were hard to please at breakfast time. Two would really enjoy something and the other one would hate it. And having now eliminated several options, I was not sure how this would work.

However, I’ve managed to find a number of breakfast selections THAT EVERYONE LIKES (!) so that I now have seven breakfast selections–one for each day of the week–that everyone is happy to eat. You have no idea what a breakthrough this is for me!

Here is just one of the delicious breakfast choices:

rice-millet-muffins

Rice/Millet Blender Muffins

yield 12 muffins (I actually made 21 smaller muffins from this recipe)

  • 1-1/2 cups long grain brown rice
  • 1/2 cup millet
  • 1-1/2 cups water

Soak the above ingredients overnight. This begins the germination process, breaks down phytic acid, which inhibits nutrient absorption, and makes the grain much easier to blend. It also makes for fluffier muffins.)

  • 1 apple, cored and cut into chunks
  • 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
  • 2-4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1-3 Tbsp honey

Blend thoroughly until grain is only slightly gritty.

Add 1 Tbsp baking powder (aluminum free) at the end and blend just until mixed.

Variations: Substitute (non GMO) corn for millet in equal proportions. Substitute one or two ripe bananas in place of the apple. Add cocoa powder or sweetened chocolate chips. Add chopped nuts.

We made this recipe with apple the first time, then tried with banana and chocolate chips. Truly delicious both ways! My kids declared it their favorite muffin recipe (and I have some good ones)! I couldn’t be more thrilled.

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Menu Monday

September 3, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I am determined to get this year off to a good start. I’m excited about the fact that we’ll be spending the whole year in one place and in our beautiful new (soon-to-be-furnished) homeschool room! I’ve taken a lot of steps to getting things off on the right foot. Today, I spent the day printing out all my printables for the first few weeks of school: copywork, Bible memory plan, math worksheets and some grammar review. I also made some chore cards to simplify tidying the homeschool room at the end of the day. I’ll share those in another post this week.

One of the biggest hurdles for me staying organized is meal preparation. So I’ve made a complete September menu plan, heavy on slow cooker use, and I’ll be sharing that here, one week at a time on Menu Monday. Wherever possible, I’ve hyperlinked the recipes. For our family, breakfast is almost as big a deal as supper. Eating gluten-free involves coming up with a lot of alternatives to baking gluten-free bread constantly, so our breakfasts are pretty varied.

But in order to get breakfast eaten and start homeschool at a decent time, a lot of planning ahead is required. Here are this week’s meals, breakfast and dinner:

Monday

Breakfast: Leftover Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole

Dinner: Indian Butter Chicken

Tuesday

Breakfast: Banana Muffins (make double batch and freeze the second batch)

Dinner: Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

Wednesday

Breakfast: Homemade Granola with homemade almond milk

Dinner: Chicken & Mango with Ginger-Curry Topping

Thursday

Breakfast: Toast with Gluten-Free Bread & Scrambled Eggs

Dinner: Country-Style Beef and Green Pepper Soup

Friday

Breakfast: Bircher Muesli (this isn’t the recipe we use–ours has mainly yogurt–but it comes close)

Dinner: Sushi

Saturday

Breakfast: Mexican Breakfast Casserole (this is my own creation–a variation on this recipe with salsa added to the eggs and fried up in the electric skillet–oh yum!)

Dinner: Vegetarian Southwestern Soup

Sunday

Breakfast: Orange-Date Muffins (make double batch the night before and freeze half)

Dinner: Thai Chicken with Basil and Coconut Milk

To make this work even better, I downloaded, printed and laminated the poster below for our fridge. Now I’ll never have to wonder about the answer to the question, “What’s for dinner?” I’ll be able to simply point to the chart! To download this poster yourself, click on the image to be redirected to the designer’s site.

- Carey Clark

Summer Breakfast: Peach and Blueberry Clafoutti

July 19, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Peach and Blueberry Clafoutti

I sometimes find when I get back from vacation, getting back into the swing of things in the kitchen is a challenge for me. Add the heat and I seem to have no idea what to cook. This recipe is a standby in our house because everyone likes it. (That’s big.) It’s also quick and easy.

This morning, I gave it a summer twist. I love the combination of peaches and blueberries. Everyone gave it two thumbs up.

Peach and Blueberry Clafoutti

Ingredients:

  • 1 peach
  • enough blueberries to cover the bottom of your pan in a single layer (I usually use a pie plate, but we’re living in someone else’s house right now, and all I have is an oval pan.)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup flour (I use spelt)
  • 1 cup milk (I use kefir–or yogurt–and the result is nicer. For some reason, the fruit stays on the bottom better, so when you turn it out of the pan there is a beautiful fruit layer on top.)
  • 1/4 cup honey (I replace honey for sugar in most recipes. To convert it back, use double the amount of sugar)
  • 1 tsp. lemon rind and juice (I used lime this morning.)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Grease baking dish.
  3. Slice the peach and spread over bottom of the baking dish. Make a layer of blueberries to cover the bottom of the dish.
  4. In a small bowl, beat the eggs.
  5. Add flour, milk, honey and lemon/lime.
  6. Pour the egg mixture over the fruit.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
  8. If you wish, turn out onto serving plate, so fruit is on top.
  9. Serve and enjoy!

- Carey

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