Category: Gluten Free

OG WFPB Cowboy Cookies

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(WFPB – Whole Food Plant Based)

This one is DELICIOUS!!! Seriously, I have been eating these for my pre-workout fuel haha. So YUM and so good for you! I have been trying to experiment with different sweeteners and I read something about date paste, so since I had some dates all ready in my refrigerator, I thought I would experiment–the most fun part, except when it doesn’t turn out lol. In this recipe I subbed out the sugar for date paste, equal amounts. It tasted amazing and not too sweet, which I love.

The reason why I call them cowboy cookies is because I have been thinking about my dad lately and these cookies just seemed fitting for celebrating him. It was his birthday this month and he was a tried and true cowboy though and though. I can picture him out on the range herding cattle and eating some of these cowboy cookies. Oh man, I miss that guy. Here’s to you, dad!

WFPB Cowboy Cookies

  • 2 T. Flax Seed
  • 6 T. Water
  • 3/4 C. Date Paste (see below for recipe)
  • 2 C. Natural Peanut Butter
  • 1/2 C. Apple Sauce
  • 1 T. Vanilla
  • 2 tea. Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/2 tea. Salt
  • 1/2 tea. Baking Soda
  • 3/4 C. Regular Oats
  • 1 C. Cup4Cup Flour (gluten free)
  • 1 C. Coarsely Cut Walnuts
  • 1/2 C. Unsweetened Shredded Coconut Flakes
  • 1 C. Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Mix flax seed and water. Let sit for about 5 minutes.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together and all of the wet ingredients together in 2 separate bowls. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient bowl and mix by hand. Mix well and add walnuts, coconut flakes and chocolate chips. Mix well until all ingredients are combined and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have 2 cookie sheets ready with a splat mat on each cookie sheet. Get about 2 T of the dough and roll it into a ball with the palms of your hands and sit each ball on the cookie sheet. After the cookie sheet is full, take a fork and flatten out each cookie so they resemble the picture below. I just kind of pat the fork around the ball until it is to my liking. I like mine about 1/4 – 1/2 ” thick. Whatever thickness you decided on, make sure they are all uniform so they cook equally though. Repeat this process for the remaining cookie dough.

I put 2 cookie sheets in my convection oven – one on each rack. Cook for 12 minutes.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Recipe for Date Paste:

2 cups of fresh dates, pitted (pack it down good)

1/2 C. Water (add a little more if too thick)

Mix well in food processor or Vitamix. I used the Vitamix and used the tamper to mix it up well and I stopped and started it in between tapping it down. It worked great!

Vegan Thai Coconut Quinoa Bowls

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I LOVED this recipe. There were so many different flavors on my tastebuds that every bite was a little different. The coconut quinoa was some good vegan comfort food. This recipe is taken from one of my favorite blogs called fitfoodiefinds.com. I adapted it for an oil free version. Also, don’t get overwhelmed by all of the cooking steps! It just creates more opportunity for family to help you in the kitchen. Make it a family event and it will be quick and easy :).

Prep Time: 40 minutes Bake Time: 30 minutes

COCONUT QUINOA

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 15-oz. can full-fat coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

To prepare the quinoa RINSE WELL, place coconut milk, water, maple syrup, and quinoa in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil over high heat.

Next, turn the heat to low, cover the saucepan and let the quinoa cook for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

  • 2 large sweet potatoes and or yams, cut into bite-sized cubes
  • Spritz with a little bit of water
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Then, place diced sweet potatoes on a large baking sheet and spritz with water. Toss to fully coat.
  2. Then, season with minced garlic, salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
  3. Roast sweet potatoes at 400ºF for 25-30 minutes.

PURPLE CABBAGE SLAW

  • 1 cup purple cabbage, sliced
  • 1 cup shelled edamame (if you don’t have shelled edamame, you can use shelled like I did and spread them on top)
  • 1 large red pepper, sliced
  • 1 large carrot, cut into thin sticks
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  1. Place purple cabbage, edamame, carrot, and red pepper in a bowl. Set aside.
  2. Make dressing by whisking together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, maple syrup, grated ginger, and salt.
  3. Then, toss veggies in dressing. Set aside.

PEANUT SAUCE

  • 2.5 tablespoons all-natural peanut butter
  • 2.5 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  1. To make peanut sauce, place all ingredients into a medium bowl or jar and mix together to combine.

TOPPINGS

  • 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
  • squeeze of lime juice
  • Black sesame seeds, to toast

ASSEMBLY

  1. Evenly distribute the coconut quinoa, sweet potatoes, and coleslaw into four bowls or meal prep containers.
  2. Drizzle with peanut sauce if eating immediately and top with cilantro, chopped peanuts, a lime wedge, and more black sesame seeds.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

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This week I have been thinking about some creative dinner recipes that I could publish on my blog. Maybe it comes from not having so much to do because of being isolated and 6 feet apart from everyone in my world haha. The struggle is real folks! I hope all of you are doing well and filling your time with the people you love (virtually and real life) and some things that you have time to now do.

Today I am bringing you an original and with this recipe you can get creative yourself and use a different bean other than garbanzo, such as pinto beans (try my instant pot pinto bean recipe) and give it a Mexican twist.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms (an itsapegslife original 🙂

Serves 3-4 people

  • 6 portabella mushrooms, washed, gills and stems removed
  • 1 sweet potato, baked, sprinkle with a little cumin and chili powder and smashed
  • 1/2 green pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 red pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 white onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 bunch of green onions, sliced thin
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 cup raw quinoa, cooked in veg. broth (1/2 c quinoa to 1 c veg broth, bring to boil, cover, and cook on med. low for 20 min.)
  • 2 cans any type of bean. I did a garbanzo bean mixture with sauted onion and garlic, salt, pepper and tumeric and slightly mashed them.
  • 1 can vegan refried beans
  • 1 sliced avocado

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and once it is up to temperature, put mushrooms gill side up on a baking sheet lined with a splat mat or parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 min while you get the remaining ingredient together.

While mushrooms are cooking saute garlic, onion, red pepper and green pepper on medium high. To do this, first add a little veg broth to the pan and let it get hot, then add garlic and onion. Saute for 2 minutes and then add peppers. I like to add a few shakes of cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste (1/2 tea. each approx.) at this point. Saute until peppers are cooked through (about 10 min).

Add whatever bean you want to this mixture.

After mushrooms are done cooking, remove from oven and let sit while you get your ingredients in order for the “stuffing.” This is also a great way to use up some of the leftover stuff in the fridge. For example, the sweet potato, garbanzo mix and refried beans were leftover from other meals that I had prepared last week.

First blot dry the inside of each mushroom with a paper towel to absorb the moisture. Now for the assembly–

  • Refried beans
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Bean, pepper, onion mixture
  • Quinoa
  • Green onion

Put back in the oven and bake for 10 min on 425. Remove from oven and enjoy. I like to serve this with some greens. So delicious. Please let me know if you make these and tag me at itsapegslife.

Tasty Tacos– (the hub’s fav)

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It’s my hubby’s birthday today, so in honor of his big day, I’m posting the recipe that is his ultimate favorite taco. You will love the little bit of spicy cauliflower & chickpeas for the filling, which completely transforms the flavor that cauliflower, chickpeas and cabbage normally have. The filling is complemented with a scrumptious cabbage slaw, avocado slices (optional) and a drizzle of cashew cream. Trust me–YOU WILL LOVE IT! GUARANTEED! Please read the full recipe before cooking.

There are 3 parts to this recipe–Cabbage Slaw, Cashew Cream Sauce, and Cauliflower/Chickpea mix.

For the Cabbage Slaw:

  • 1/2 Medium head purple cabbage, sliced thin
  • 1/2 Sm/Med Red onion, sliced thin
  • 2 T. Taco Time hot sauce
  • 2 T. Honey or Agave
  • 1/4 C Lime juice
  • Salt to taste

In a small bowl mix hot sauce, honey (or agave) and juice from limes together and pour over cabbage and onion. Mix with your hands. I like to massage it in really well together. (This is actually the part that the hub’s does :). Set in the fridge until serving. This can be made a day ahead (highly recommended, but not essential, for even better flavor), as well as the cashew cream sauce, which I’ll share next.

For the Cashew Cream Sauce:

  • 1 C. Raw Cashews, boiled in water for 20 min or let sit overnight)
  • 2/3 C. Water or just enough water to barely cover the cashews (not the water that you boil the cashews in–fresh water)
  • 1 tea. Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 tea. Lemon juice
  • 1 tea. Nutritional yeast (optional-this makes it more cheesy)
  • 1/2 tea. Salt

Put all ingredients in a high power blender. I have a Vitamix that I love, and if you do have a Vitamix, you can skip the boiling of the cashews. It does make it a bit creamier if you boil them, but either way, it works great. Once that is blended together for a few min on high, then transfer to a container and set in the fridge. As mentioned before, this can be made the day before.

For the Cauliflower & Chickpea Filling:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a cookie sheet pan and line it with a splat mat or parchment paper.

  • 1 head Cauliflower, broken apart into smaller pieces (not riced though–still chucky)
  • 1 can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Mix together cauliflower and chickpeas in a large bowl. Set aside while you make the sauce.

For the sauce:

In a saucepan on the stove heat together the following ingredients:

  • 1/2 C. Frank’s hot sauce
  • 1 C. Vegetable broth
  • 2 T. Honey or Agave
  • 1-2 T. Cornstarch

Mix together well in saucepan and cook on medium high heat until thickened. Pour on cauliflower and chickpea mixture. Mix together throughly with a spoon or once it cools enough, mix it with your hands. It just mixes better that way. Pour on cookie sheet and spread mixture out evenly. Cook for 15 min then turn and cook 10 -15 min more or to your liking. I like it a little crisp so I do 10 more min.

This is the brown rice that we use from Costco. It’s so fast to cook.

Now for the best part—- The assembly!!!

  • Corn Tortilla
  • Cauliflower/Chickpea Mix
  • Brown Rice
  • Cabbage Slaw
  • Avocado (optional)
  • Cashew Cream

ENJOY!!! YUM!!

You Won’t Believe Its Vegan Chili

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Recently I set on a quest to perfect my chili recipe so those who are not whole food plant based people, would not miss eating meat in their chili. This original chili recipe came from https://eathealthyeathappy.com/killer-vegan-chili/ but I modified it a little bit. It’s quite a process to make but just like most anything in life that takes a lot of time—it’s sooooo worth it!!

I cooked the recipe for my pinto beans in the instant pot the night before. The recipe link is here https://itsapegslife.com/2019/03/09/delicious-instant-pot-pinto-beans/ They are my family’s favorite, so I thought the added flavor of these beans would just enhance the taste of the chili.

Next step is to make the cauliflower hamburger recipe as follows:

  • 1 head cauliflower, grated in food processor or you can just use your blade, whatever works best for you to make the cauliflower the size of rice grains
  • 6 oz. of button mushrooms, washed, dried and grated/blade in food processor
  • 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped medium (again you can use your food processor)
  • 1 -2 T. cumin
  • 1-2 tsp. chili powder
  • salt and pepper as needed

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well. I like to use my hands and mix it really good. Taste the mixture to see if it is to your liking. Spread mixture out on a cookie sheet with a splat mat or wax paper on it. If you don’t have a splat mat or wax paper, just spray the cookie sheet with Pam and spread a thin layer of cauliflower mixture on it. I like to use two cookie sheets so the layer isn’t too think.

Cook on preheated 425 degree oven on the upper rack so it’s close to the element for 15 min and then turn the mixture. Cook again for another 10-15 min. And there you have it–cauliflower hamburger. Let cool.

Now for the Chili—–

You Won’t Believe Its Vegan Chili

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 2 1/2 Tbs chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
  • 2 Tbs cumin
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock)
  • 2 c chopped bell pepper, any colors

45 oz. cans Pome chopped tomatoes (you can find these at your Harmon’s for those of you that live in Utah)

  • 2 Tbs brown sugar
  • 2 Tbs low sodium tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
  • 4 c water
  • 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
  • 1/3 c uncooked quinoa (wash throughly)
  • 2-3 c cooked pinto beans (the homemade beans above)
  • 1 15 oz. can of kidney beans
  • 1 15 oz. can of black beans
  • 1 can sweet corn

Toppings like fresh homemade cashew cream, cilantro, avocado or vegan cheese shreds (optional)

Instructions

  1. Add a small portion of the broth to a large lidded cooking pot. Add onion and saute over medium heat for about 3 minutes.
  2. Add the chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, basil, chipotle powder, cumin, oregano salt and pepper. Add a few splashes of the veg. stock to deglaze the pan and simmer 3-4 minutes. Reduce the heat slightly and/or add more if the spices are burning at all.
  3. Stir in the bell and poblano peppers and the rest of the stock. Simmer about 7 minutes.
  4. Add the Pome tomatoes, brown sugar, soy sauce, salt, liquid smoke and water. Loosely lid the pot and simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Stir in the lemon juice, quinoa, beans, and corn. Reduce the heat to medium low, lid the pot and simmer about 60-70 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add enough water to make it the consistency you like as you need to.
  6. When soup is done simmering add cauliflower mixture. I like adding about half of it but you can add as much as you want.
  7. Serve with your favorite toppings.

I like to make this the night before I serve it and then reheat in the slow cooker. Sooooo good!

The BEST Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Recipe-Gluten Free

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PLEASE DON’T BE TURNED OFF BY THE TITLE OF THIS POST LOL!!  I promise–YOU WILL LOVE THESE!!  The texture is seriously my fav!!  The original chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe, that I have been making for about 20+ years now, has 1 c. of butter flavored shortening  and we all know how terrible that is for our body, so I subbed 1/2 C. applesauce and 1/2 C. almond butter.  I love grinding my own almond butter at the grocery store–seriously the best and you know exactly what is in the container :).  I also subbed flax eggs for real eggs.  The recipe is below:

1 Flax Seed Egg= 1 T. Flax seed mixed in 3 T. water

Let mixture set for about 5 -7 min and add to cookie mixture.

For this recipe, I used 2 flax seed eggs, so 2 T. flax seed and 6 T. water.

Lastly, I wanted to make them gluten free, so I used almond flour along with xanthan gum, because I have a couple of friends and a sister that LOVE to eat treats, and we all know that gluten-free treats seem to be rather bland.  Well, look no further because this recipe is a keeper.  Even if you’re not gluten free, you will be surprised at how glutenous this recipe seems to be haha.

THE BEST VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPE– GLUTEN FREE

Yield: Approx. 2 1/2 doz. medium cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

INGREDIENTS:

CREAM TOGETHER WITH BLENDER:

1/2 C. Applesauce (no sugar, all natural organic)

1/2 C. Almond Butter

1/2 C. White Sugar

1 C. Light Brown Sugar

2 Flax Eggs (recipe above)

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

IN SEPARATE BOWL COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS WITH WHISK:

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 scant tsp. Salt

1 C. Oatmeal

3 1/3 C. Almond Flour

1 3/4 tsp. Xanthan gum

Slowly add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture 1 cup at a time and mix by hand (I like using a rice spoon). Don’t use the blender. Continue adding dry ingredients until all flour is mixed in and then add:

1 C. Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips

1 C. Coarsely Crushed Walnuts

Mix until chocolate chips and walnuts seem to be throughout the dough. Put dough in freezer for 20 min. This is a step that you cannot skip!

Remove dough from the freezer and use a medium sized cookie scoop and put scoops of cookie dough on cookie sheet topped with a sheet of parchment paper. You should be able to get 12 scoops of cookie dough on one cookie sheet. Put in oven on center rack.

Bake cookies for 20-25 min or until slightly brown on top. Enjoy!

Best Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

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I hope you have all had an amazing Spring Break. I know we have had a lot of family in town and it’s been so much fun.  Love my family time. This recipe that I’m sharing today is one that is so delicious, one that you can make gluten free, and you won’t even miss the oil when you taste them.  They are delicious!

Best Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 T. Flax seed mixed with 3 T. Water let sit for 5 min until thickened a bit

3 very ripe bananas

1/4 c. Applesauce or you can use another half of very ripe banana

1/4 c. Coconut sugar

3 T. Maple syrup

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 c. Regular Oatmeal

1 1\2 c. Bread Flour, Regular white flour, Wheat flour, Almond flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Flour

1/2 c. Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1/2 + c. Walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or insert liners.

Mash bananas, add applesauce, flax seed mixture, coconut sugar, maple syrup and stir.

Add remaining ingredients and mix until all ingredients are combined and all flour is mixed in. Do not over mix. Take a large cookie scooper and scoop batter into muffin tins. You should have 12 muffins. Bake 15-20 min.  Enjoy!!  You can also make these and freeze them as well.

Mixing in flax seed mixture
Dough should be a bit sticky, but not runny
Fill muffin cups almost to the top

Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Banana Bread!

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I have to say a word or two about this recipe.

1st–You’re going to be sooooo tempted to eat this straight out of the oven while its hot, BUT RESIST!!  Don’t do it!! Unlike the usual pumpkin bread recipes, where you love a nice hot slice freshly baked, this recipe needs to sit in the refrigerator over night and even the following day, it is so moist and so good.

2nd–Just because it has pumpkin and banana in, don’t use that as an excuse to eat the whole loaf LOL.

I love Chocolate Covered Katie’s recipes.  You may want to check out her site as well.  She has some awesome desserts for the holidays.  Also, for an oil free option, I left out the oil and used almond milk and it was delicious!  Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Banana Bread

Source: chocolatecoveredkatie.com

Course: Breads

Yield: Yield: 12-16 slices

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour – I like oat flour (240g)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3⁄4 tsp baking powder
  • 3⁄4 tsp salt
  • 1⁄2 tsp each: cinnamon ginger, pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 1⁄2 cup mashed, overripe banana (360g)
  • 1⁄2 cup pumpkin puree (120g)
  • 1⁄2 cup pure maple syrup honey, or agave
  • 1⁄16 tsp uncut stevia or 2 tbsp sweetener of choice
  • 1⁄3 cup oil or milk of choice
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1⁄2 cup chocolate chips optional

Directions

  1. *I’ve tried the recipe successfully with spelt, white, and oat flour. Although I can’t vouch for a flour I haven’t tried, please feel free to experiment.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Whisk all liquid ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour wet into dry and stir to form a batter. Smooth into the prepared pan. If desired, press some extra chocolate chips into the top. Bake on the center rack 30 minutes, then do not open the oven door but turn off the heat and leave in the closed oven for 10 additional minutes. Let cool completely, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Taste and texture will be much better the second day (and even better the third day as it will get sweeter). Leftovers can be sliced and frozen if desired.

Amount Per Serving (1)

  • Calories: 92

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FRIEND FRIDAY GUEST—MY SISTER, EVON SEELY!!

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Today my guest is one of my sisters (I have 3 AWESOME ones 🙂 , Evon Seely!! Evon is the oldest sister in our family of 6 children. I apologize for getting a little personal here but I LOVE MY FAMILY! #sorrynotsorry😜

The Rose Family :).  First pic is of our brother, Bruce, who was killed by a drunk driver at the young age of 24. It was heartbreaking for our family. I was just 8 years of age at that time and he left behind a wife and baby girl. My other brother, Larry, was on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the time and Evon was due with her firstborn.  The second pic is an older pic—me (enormously pregnant with our 4th child), Evon, Larry, Janis, Joanne (front) our dear dad and mom. 

Evon lives about 6 miles from me. She has always been there for me through hard times and good times. One of the memories that touches my heart was when my husband was going to chemo and my 5 children were young, she would drop everything and watch my sweet little darlings so I could be with my DH when he was so terribly sick. She is just that kind of person to everyone. I’m so grateful to have her in my life and so grateful for family. As Princess Diana said, “Family is the most important thing in the world.” And with that, I bring you my sister, Evon!❤️ Isn’t her family so beautiful!!

I am excited to contribute to Peg’s blog. When I was a teenager, I was driving my mom over to Panguitch quite frequently. At last, she asked me if I knew why we were going there so much. I told her no. She then told me that we were going to have a baby. I was so elated and excited! I told her that was great news as I had been praying for a little sister. Mom was about 41 years old at that time and wasn’t overly excited about the event. Peg is the baby of our family and has been adored and loved by her parents and all five of her older siblings. We have wonderful memories of her as she was growing up. She was such a blessing to our family. In fact, our Dad didn’t want “that dentist” to steal away his little Peg! Nevertheless, Peg and Dane did get married and Mom and Dad grew to love him very much too!
When Peg and Dane had children, we were so excited about them! We have many fun and special memories of them. Particularly, I remember the fun the kids had on Princess (the horse) and the day she ran away with Brianne and Nat; then Brance telling me he didn’t know I could run so fast! I love the photo of Brianne, Nat, McKelle and Brance on Princess. When they were little they also liked to run in circles on the blue living room rug. Hilarious! We enjoyed having the kids at our Santa Clara house jumping on the trampoline with their cousins. It was so cute when Caden became confused because his siblings called me aunt and our grandchildren called me grandma, so his name for me was “Aunt Grandma”. I loved tending the children when Peg and Dane went to dental conventions. We would have the grandest times! We have so many precious memories! We dearly love Peg and Dane and their delightful family!

Now, about the recipes . . . Most of my life I have suffered with stomach troubles. Finally, in 2014 I had a colonoscopy-endoscopy and found out that I had celiac disease and some of the complications that are caused by that disease. After learning more about it, I had to give up some of my favorite treats and thought I would never be able to enjoy licorice, breads, cinnamon rolls, etc. After trying some of the expensive (tasteless) commercial treats I decided that I needed to learn how to bake some of them myself. I purchased the book, Gluten-Free Family Favorites by Kelli and Peter Bronski. I liked their Artisan flour mix because it had more grains in it than some of the other mixes and the recipes had less fats. 

Artisan Flour Mix: 

1 1/4 c. brown rice flour

 ¾ c. sorghum flour

 2/3 c. cornstarch

 1/3 c. tapioca flour or tapioca starch 

1 teaspoon xanthan gum. 

Combine all ingredients and whisk well to mix thoroughly. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months in the pantry or 6 months in the refrigerator.

One of my favorite recipes to make with it is Banana Mini Muffins. 



Banana Mini Muffins

3 medium-size ripe bananas

 1 egg

 ½ c. honey

 ¼ c. applesauce

 1 teaspoon GF pure vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients: 

 1 ½ cups Artisan GF Flour Blend

 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

 1 ½ teaspoons GF baking powder

 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

 ¼ teaspoon salt

 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. (I like them spicy, so I add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg and sometimes a few nuts on the top.)

 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the cups of a 24-cup mini muffin tin with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Place paper liners in the greased muffin cups, if desired.

2. Mash the bananas in a large bowl until mostly smooth with a few large lumps. Mix in the egg, honey, applesauce and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, whisking to mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and mix at low speed just until combined, 5 – 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at high speed for about 5 seconds, until the batter is thoroughly mixed.

4. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. A cookie scoop works very well to transfer the batter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the muffins spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean. The muffins should be slightly golden brown on top. Let muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove and serve.

Me talking again :)— YUM!!!!! Thanks for sharing with us today, Evon! Love you!

Healthier Pumpkin Cookies

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This weekend I was craving pumpkin. I LOVE pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes. Well, you get the idea :). My daughter, Natalie, was home this weekend and we went to work transforming a regular pumpkin cookie recipe to a more healthy version. 

The original pumpkin cookie recipe is bomb. Here it is just in case you want to make it :). 

PUMPKIN COOKIES

2 c. Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tea. Vanilla

2 c. Pumpkin

1 1/2 c. Butter

4 c. Flour

1 tea. Salt

4 tea. Baking powder

2 tea. Soda

1 bag Chocolate Chips

1/2 tea. Cinnamon

1 c. Walnuts (optional)

Mix first 5 ingredients together (wet ingredients) and the dry ingredients in another bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet and add chocolate chips and nuts at the last. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 min depending on how big your cookies are. These are so delicious! BUT they have butter, white flour, eggs and a lot of sugar. Here’s the updated healthier version :).

HEALTHIER PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES


1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 T. milled flax seed mixed with 6 T. water (mix and let stand until thickened)

2 tea. vanilla

2 cup pumpkin

1 1/2 cup Apple sauce

2 cup quick cooking oats

2 cups oat flour

1 tea. salt

4 tea. baking powder

1 tea. baking soda

1/2 tea. cinnamon

1 12 oz. package of chocolate chips (EnjoyLife)

Mix first 6 ingredients and add remaining. 

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes on cookie sheet. 

Enjoy! These are best the following day after you bake them. Seriously, so good!

This is the substitution list:

Applesauce for the butter

Used half the sugar and added brown sugar for part

Oat flour (we ground in the Vitamix 2 c.) and quick oats for 2 c. for white flour 

Flax seed for eggs. 


The Master Chef :)!