Gluten Free Muffins & No Odd Ingredients!

My Uncle is gluten free and he & my Aunt are coming over early tomorrow morning to watch our kiddos for the day. To make things easier for them I wanted to have breakfast ready to go. I came upon this GREAT gluten free grain free muffin recipe by Whitney McNutt! Super easy, super fast, and it doesn't use any specialty ingredients! Check out the link to the original recipe because she gives great suggestions for modifying the recipe, including a link for making it paleo or without bananas. Here is how I modified it based on what I had in the house and things I wanted to use up.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup nut butter (I used 3/4 peanut butter + 1/4 almond butter)

1 medium very ripe banana

1 cup shredded zucchini 

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp agave

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

         TOPPINGS

         1 cup strawberries, small dice

         1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut

12 muffin liners

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin liners.

2) Place all ingredients except for the toppings into your blender or food processor and process until a smooth batter is achieved and everything is combined.

3) Divide into the 12 muffin liners.

4) Top each muffin with a spoon full of strawberries. Press strawberries into the batter with the back of the spoon to submerge. Sprinkle with a pinch or two of coconut.

5) Bake for 15 minutes.

NOTES: Next time I make these I am going to drop the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. My convection oven seems to cook things faster and these, while super yummy, are a bit more brown on the outside then I would like.

A Whole Lotta Empanadas

One of my goals for this week is to try some new dishes. Using a few different recipes as guides, I came up with these super tasty, kid friendly, husband approved, empanadas. I added some nontraditional ingredients to boost the veggie factor, and my oldest who is my pickiest eater didn't notice at all. And baby ended up eating 3 of them!!! The kids ate them plain, but my hubby and I dipped them in my blender chimichurri sauce. They would also be good with guacamole, sourcream, and or some chipotle salsa. So so tasty!

This recipe makes a WHOLE bunch (64!) You can cut the recipe in 1/2 or cook up the whole mess of them and freeze some for later!

INGREDIENTS:

2 T butter

1/2 large yellow onion, diced small

1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture

2 lbs ground beef

4 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 a bag of Simply Potatoes shredded potatoes

1/2 cup Fresh parsley, finely chopped

2/3 a cup of low sodium V8 vegetable juice

4 cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (I used Trader Joes)

flour

2 eggs

DIRECTIONS, THE FILLING:

1) Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add diced onions and sauté until translucent. Add zucchini and sauté until most of the moisture has been cooked out - about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

2) Add ground beef to the same skillet and cook until just browned and no longer pink. Add back the onion & zucchini mixture, spices, shredded potatoes, parsley, and V8. Stir to combine and cook an additional 5 minutes. Allow to cool. 

NOTES: I transferred mine the filling mixture to a shallow baking dish and popped it into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. You could easily make the filling, refrigerate, and assemble the empanadas the next day.

DIRECTIONS, THE DOUGH:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pop open a can of biscuits. Take each biscuit and peal 1/2 off yielding a total of 16 rounds. 

2) On a lightly floured surface, roll out each biscuit into a 4 inch circle. 

3) Add 2 tablespoons of filling to each rolled out biscuit and fold in half, pinching the edges to seal and forming a half moon shape. Crimp the sealed edge with a fork. And place on a lightly greased or silicone mat lined baking sheet, leaving at least 1 inch of space between empanadas.

4) Brush with an egg wash. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

NOTES: I rolled out each biscuit and then filled it rather than rolling out all the biscuits first and then filling all of them. You can freeze baked and cooled empanadas in a single layer in a freezer bag. To reheat, preheat over to 350 degrees. Place frozen empanadas 1 inch apart on a baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.