Vegan Grain Free Carrot Cake Breakfast Muffins

I usually enjoy a savory breakfast of greens and eggs on weekday mornings, but every once in a while, I miss the latte and muffin breakfast I used to have a long time ago. When I get nostalgic for a sweet breakfast, I usually bake these great grain-free vegan carrot cake muffins. This recipe was inspired by this post from Gluten-Free Dish. I've made these mini-carrot cakes countless times and they are always a huge a hit!

Why Do The High Holidays Make Me Crave Carrot Cake?

At sundown tomorrow, the Jewish Holiday, Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement begins, ending the "10 Days of Repentance." It marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. During these days, Jews are asked to contemplate their wrongs and ask for forgiveness from the ones they have wronged. It's similar to the 4th Step, in the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step programs, where you are tasked to do a "moral inventory" and make amends to the one's you have wronged and harmed with you illness.

Yom Kippur itself is a day of fasting, which to me represents a physical cleanse after a week of spiritual and emotional cleansing. This Yom Kippur will be unique for me because I have spent the last 6 months on a cleansing journey that has been physical, emotional and spiritual. I have worked on ridding my body of the excess weight of inflammation and from the emotional weight of anger and resentment. In this practice, I have been able to find myself and fulfill my passion of sharing with others my love for real food and cooking. I am so grateful that there are over 500 people that have shared this journey with me. Thank you.


For whatever reason, I associate the High Holy Days with Carrot Cake. Whenever, it's time to dip apples into honey, I crave the spiciness and richness of a delicious carrot cake. This year to satisfy my craving, I came up with my own grain-free vegan carrot cake muffin recipe. I prefer to bake in muffin tins, because it's the best way to control portion size. The muffins turned out delicious and very tasty.

Grain-Free Vegan Carrot Cake Muffins
1 1/2 cups chestnut flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 3/4 cups carrot pulp (approximately 2-3 carrots juiced)
1/4 cup apple pulp (1/2-1 apple juiced)
1/8 cup coconut oil
1/4-1/2 cup Grade A Maple Syrup (I used close to 1/2 cup and found it a bit too sweet)
2 tbsp chia seeds & 9 tbsp water
1 tbsp Apple Spice
1 tsp Powdered Ginger

1/2 tbsp aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Celtic Salt


 Process
1. Preheat over to 350
2. In a bowl, mix chia seeds and water and let stand for 10 minutes
3. In another bowl mix all dry ingredients (flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt)
4. Add wet ingredients to chia seeds (pulp, syrup, oil) and mix well
5. Using a mixer, mix on medium speed while pouring wet ingredients into the dry
6. Mix until all ingredients are well distributed, you should have a bunch of small chunks of dough
7. Line a muffin tin with baking cups
6. Take a heaping 1/4 cup of dough/batter and roll into a ball and place in baking cup and press until dough sits nicely in the cup

8. Bake for 20-22 minutes
9. Let cool on a wire rack.

Grain & Gluten Free Breakfast Ideas! The Best Waffles Ever & Swiss Chard Hash

Weekend morning breakfasts at our house are usually kind of generic, a version of eggs and toast. So when this weekend the hubby asked me to make him something special for breakfast, I came up with two grain-free (both), Paleo (Hash Only), GAPS (Hash Only) and SCD (Hash Only), friendly recipes that will surely satisfy. Saturday morning, I made a Swiss Chard Hash. Then, on Sunday, I was craving waffles, so I made my usual waffle recipe but substituted grain-free flours. The waffles turned out great! For toppings, I used Tula's CocoYO and my spiced plum compote.

Swiss Chard Hash
Ingredients
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp The Spice House Spanish Smoked Paprika 
4 eggs

Process:
1. Heat ghee in a pan
2. Chop Swiss Chard finely
3. Once ghee has melted add Swiss Chard, salt and paprika
4. Saute Chard for 6-8 minutes
5. Add eggs in sunny-side up fashion, cover, cook for 5-7 minutes or until whites are fully cooked
6. Enjoy!

Grain-Free Vegan Waffles
Ingredients
1/2 cup chestnut flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 cup water
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Process:
1. Mix all dry ingredients together and separately mix all wet ingredients together
2. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium speed with a mixer
3. Scoop heaping 1/4 cup of batter onto oiled waffle maker
4. Depending on your waffle maker, cook for 8-10 minutes
5. Add your favorite waffle syrup or toppings
6. Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about going grain-free, Jill at Real Food Forager is teaching a class to help you. If you want to sign up for the class use the coupon code NOGRAINS and receive an additional $20off. The coupon expires September 25th. And don't forget about my Spices Contest!



                 

UCSF Studies on the Paleo Diet & Easy Grain-Free Quinoa Side Dish

In the last year, I feel like all of a sudden everyone is talking about some form of a grain-free diet. Whether it's Paleo, GAPS, SCD, Slow-Carb, nutritionists, acupuncturists, and health coaches are recommending going grain-free to help alleviate a variety of ailments from arthritis and autism to MS and psychological disorders. A UCSF study actually showed that when healthy volunteers followed a Paleolithic diet for 10 days (eating lean meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts and excluding grains, dairy and legumes) they reduced their blood pressure, improved their glucose tolerance and improved their lipid levels (cholesterol). Another study showed that the Paleo diet was better than the standard diabetes diet in improving heart attack risk in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The interesting thing about the Paleo diet is that it is a form the "real food" diet. While there are many companies trying to jump on the Paleo bandwagon, if you are eating the hunter-gatherer diet, you are eating whole foods that are not found in boxes. It is so interesting that a diet that has been proven to be more beneficial that what the American Dietetic Association recommends for type 2 diabetics hasn't become mainstream. One of the reasons that it's not mainstream may simply be a conflict of interest. The ADA influences the dietary guidelines set by the USDA. The ADA is a non-profit organization that is heavily financed by companies such as Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Hershey. So it's important to remember that the American Dietic Association is an industry friendly organization and not exactly the best source of dietary advice.

As part of my efforts to alleviate my lower back pain, I have been practicing a grain-free and dairy-free diet, which isn't Paleo because I choose to consume legumes. My pain has vanished. To me it feels miraculous. After spending 8 months seeing countless doctors and being poked and prodded, it's been amazing to see that the first medicine is food. If you are suffering from arthritis, gout, high blood pressure or if you are overweight, I recommend trying one of the diets mentioned above or all of them to find which one you can adopt as a lifestyle.

Like the UCSF study, you can try it for 10 days and work with your doctor to take blood before you begin and after 10 days. If you have a doctor that you do not feel is supportive, get a new one. I recommend One Medical Group. They have offices in the SF Bay Area, New York and Washington, D.C. From personal experience, I feel you will be able to find a doctor there willing to participate in your personal experiment.

In the meantime, I have a great satisfying Quinoa dish that you can enjoy. Quinoa is not a grain. It's actually seed that is closely related to beets and spinach. It contains the large amounts of the amino acid lysine, a necessary protein building block which is essential for calcium absorption, and hormone, enzyme and antibody production. It's high is calcium and is the considered to be a complete protein, meaning it contains all 9 essential amino acids.

I always keep Gogo Rice's Organic Cooked Quinoa in my pantry in case I forget to soak some. Since the Quinoa only needs to be heated, this side dish takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Quinoa Primavera Pilaf
Ingredients
1 package of Organic Cooked Quinoa
1 cup spinach
1 large carrot
1/2 parsley
1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Celtic Salt
dash of pepper
dash smoked paprika

Process:
1. Empty quinoa into a pan and heat on low with a tbsp water so it doesn't burn
2. In a food processor or by hand, grate carrot
3. Chop spinach and parsley finely
4. Toss carrots, spinach, and parsley into pat and heat everything for 2 minutes (add more water if needed)
5. Empty into a bowl and add vinegar, salt, oil and spices
6. Mix and Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about going grain-free, Jill at Real Food Forager is teaching a class to help you. If you want to sign up for the class use the coupon code NOGRAINS and receive an additional $20off. The coupon expires September 25th. And don't forget about my Spices Contest!