Coconut Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Chia Seed Protein Muffins

OK so honestly - I was trying to make cookies - my husband requested full sugar chocolate chip cookies and I wanted some I could eat - so I gave the coconut flour cookie method a try. Obviously - it went very very wrong lol and they ended up as muffins. I was also using a peanut butter protein "shake" I had made for myself that was way to thick (seriously thick - not like solid PB, but close) and I didn't want to be wasteful and throw it away.

This was my very first time trying to replace regular flour with coconut flour. I'd read that 1 cup of regular flour is 1/3 or 1/4 cup of coconut flour and you needed more egg to bind it all together as well as more liquid because coconut flour tends to be much dryer than regular flour. So I decided to try and translate the choc chip cookie recipe I was making my hubby into one I could eat using the above info. I added one extra egg and figured my PB "shake" would be the extra liquid. I had also read not to be alarmed if the "dough" was a bit runny because the coconut flour would soak up all the moisture during the cooking process. Well, I found that to be somewhat true, but only after I ruined one cookie sheet full of "cookies" that became like a solid super thin sheet cake lol. And that is why I decided to turn them into muffins. I also added some chia seeds to help soak up some of the excess liquid as well as make them even healthier :-)

The muffins are perfect and the flavor is out of this world delicious! I am so happy I decided to make these! They taste sooo sinful but are actually pretty healthy. I haven't even let my husband try them for fear he'll eat them all - which he's been known to do when my healthy treats taste better than the full sugar ones lol.

The only thing I don't have an exact recipe amount for is the protein "shake" but I'll try my best. I started with the thought of a PB/Chocolate Protein Shake, but once I'd already started making it, I found out we were out of the SF Chocolate Syrup. Then I thought of a banana PB shake - only to find out we were out of bananas! So I started trying to improvise, which only thickened the shake until it was too thick to drink. I could have eaten it with a spoon, but that just didn't appeal to me.

Coconut Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Chia Seed Protein Muffins

Protein "shake":
2 heaping scoops of Natural Isopure Unflavored Protein Powder
8 oz Milk
2 giant Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tbsp Chocolate PB2

Muffin mix:
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar Substitute
1 cup Brown Sugar Substitute
3 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Hot Water
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Coconut Flour
Protein "shake"
3 Tbsp Chia Seeds
2 cups Dark Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake/muffin paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugars together until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, protein "shake", chia seeds and chocolate chips. Spoon batter into cupcake/muffin liners until 3/4 full.

Bake mini muffin tins for aprox 15-20 minutes, regular muffin tins aprox 20-25 minutes. Muffins will be a darker brown but still spongy when pressed in the middle.

Let cool completely on wire baking rack - muffin papers will not peel away properly until fully cooled. Store in zip top bags or an airtight container to prevent muffins from drying out.

This recipe made 18 regular muffins and 12 mini muffins. It would have made more minis but I got impatient and filled them to the top (I only have one mini pan lol).

Like I said before - I am sooo very happy I made these. I cannot explain to you just how yummy these muffins are. Try them for yourself and you'll see!

Delicata Squash Cinnamon Sugar Baked "Fries"

When I heard that certain squash can taste like sweet potatoes, I knew I had to try it. I mean, I love potatoes, so if I can eat "potatoes" without the carbs, I'll be one very happy girl. Plus with Thanksgiving coming up, if this does really taste like sweet potatoes, I can substitute my candied yams with squash!

In looking at a few different recipes, I noticed a few common ingredients - oil, brown sugar and cinnamon. I wanted to make these as healthy as possible so I used coconut oil and brown sugar substitute. I also noticed that many recipes said to sprinkle the seasoning onto the squash. Well I don't know about you, but when I sprinkle seasoning on things, I tend to get more on my pan than on the item I'm trying to season lol. So I decided to try a Shake N Bake method and surprise - it worked beautifully!

While I will admit, these do not taste exactly like sweet potatoes, they are close enough that if you don't tell anyone, they'd never know :-)  

Delicata Squash Cinnamon Sugar "Fries"

1 Delicata Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into strips

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar Substitute

2 tsp Cinnamon

Coconut oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Coat the squash strips with coconut oil. Put sugar and cinnamon In a large zip top bag. Add the squash strips to bag, seal and shake like crazy to completely coat.

Place squash strips onto a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes then flip. Bake another 15 minutes. Take out, let cool slightly. Enjoy!

These were so yummy, I can't wait to try them mashed!

Homemade Summer Sausage

My hubby decided to make some summer sausage for the first time this past week - and I must say it is so good - WAY better than any you can buy at the store! It's so moist and has great flavor - if you love summer sausage and you've got some time, I encourage you to make your own too!

Most recipes call for solely using ground beef but he had the idea to use a mixture of pork and beef. He used this recipe from Allrecipes.com and tweaked it a bit to meet his needs and ingredients.

Summer Sausage

3 lbs Ground Beef
5 lbs Ground Pork Shoulder
8 tsp Morton Tender Quick
1/4 cup Mustard Seed
3 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tbsp Salt
1/4 cup plus 1/2 tsp Hickory-flavored Liquid Smoke, divided
1/4 cup Brown Sugar, lose not packed (optional - gives a nice sweet glaze)

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until fully incorporated. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for three days, mixing well once per day.

On the fourth day, preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Shape the mixture into logs (we made 7) and place on a wire rack over a large drip pan, or foil lined bottom oven rack. Put 1/4 hickory-flavored liquid smoke in an oven safe bowl on bottom oven rack (optional but it gives the meat that extra nice smokiness) and sprinkle brown sugar over top of logs. Bake for eight hours at 200 degrees.

Remove and set on paper towels to cool. Let logs cool completely, then individually wrap in plastic wrap. Chill completely before slicing. Store in the refrigerator or they also freeze very well.

Doesn't that look yummy? You know you want some! It's super easy to make so get out there and do it!

Low Carb Pizza

I love pizza, like - LOVE it. But living a low carb life doesn't really allow me to eat it often and I feel so wasteful picking the toppings off normal pizza and throwing away the crust. So you can imagine my excitement when I found this recipe from PlainChicken.com. We have made it numerous times with different toppings every time. It's not a pizza you can pick up and eat with your hands, but that doesn't stop us lol.

Mmmmmm delicious!

Low Carb Pizza

Crust:

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

2 eggs

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1 Tsp Garlic Powder

Topping:

1/2 cup Pizza Sauce

Cheese of your choice (we like a mixture of cheddar, mozzarella and asiago)

Toppings of your choice - pork sausage, Italian turkey sausage, pepperoni, beef, bacon, mushrooms, green pepper, black olive, onion (the list could go on and on lol)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Mix the cream cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, black pepper and garlic powder in a mixer until mostly creamy. Spread evenly into the 9x13 dish. Bake for aprox 15 minutes until golden brown.

Take from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Pour the pizza sauce evenly over crust and top however you like (cheese first or last is totally up to you) with as many toppings as you like. Bake for 10 minutes - may need to bake longer depending on how many toppings you've used. Pizza is done when cheese is completely melted.

We did half Italian turkey sausage and salami and half Italian turkey sausage and pepperoni 

This is so easy and fast you can make and it eat before your delivery type pizza even gets there and you probably have all the ingredients on hand already! I urge you to try it, you won't be disappointed.

The Best Brown Bag Apple Pie

Have you ever heard of a brown bag apple pie? Me either - until I met my husband, then boyfriend. Then I heard about it all the freaking time, especially in the fall which happens to surround his his birthday lol! You know the whole - my birthday is coming up, it sure would be nice to have some BBAP hint hint lol. He loves pie - like a lot - and since I love to bake and wanted to impress the heck out of him - I went on a quest to find out what it was and make him the very best BBAP he'd ever tasted. And guess what - I did it! I don't know that I've ever seen such joy on a persons face while eating as I did when he ate my version of BBAP :-)

This pie is 100% homemade. None of that store bought pie crust stuff. This pie takes at least 2 days to make as the crust needs to sit in the fridge overnight. The crust is very special and is extremely important in what makes it the best. It's kind of like a cross between a normal pie crust and a sugar cookie. You may even want to eat this in layers - the crust is THAT good! I confess that I have done a store bought crust for the bottom and just made the top crust really thick - more of a cookie crust feel. I did have to bake it longer because of the thicker crust though - it took a while to brown.

Also, this is meant to be a sweeter tasting apple pie than you may be used to. If you prefer a more tart pie - use Granny Smith apples. My man likes it somewhat sweet which is why I use Red IDA apples, they are sweet but tart at the same time - not to be confused with Red Delicious apples which are not tart at all, that would make it much too sweet, in my opinion.

I used an old Outback Steakhouse bag lol

The Best Brown Bag Apple Pie

Crust (makes both top and bottom layers):
2 cup Cake flour
1/2 cup Sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup Unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/3 cup Ice water

Filling:
5-10  Sweet Tart Apples like Red IDA Apples
1/2 cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Small Tapioca Pearls
1 tsp Fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Ground nutmeg
1 1/2 Tbsp Unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 Large brown paper bag

Crust Instructions: 

Day 1:
In a food processor combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and pulse until pea-sized pieces appear. Add the water and pulse briefly—it will still look crumbly.

Transfer the crumbs to 2 pieces of parchment paper or foil and form into 2 disks. Wrap the discs with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2:
On a work surface lightly dusted with flour, roll out 1 disk to a circle about 1/8-inch thick. Keep rolling until the circle is at least 2 inches larger than your pan. I find that rolling out the dough is easier with a heated rolling pin (I have a really old Tupperware one that I fill with hot water). Line the pie pan with the dough, letting the edge hang over a bit.

Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Make sure whatever rack you use leaves space all around the bag - lower your rack if the bag touches the top. The last thing you want is an oven fire!

Roll the second disk, place it on a sheet pan and chill it until you're ready to build your pie.

Pie Filling Instructions: 

Cut your apples into slices. In a medium bowl, toss the apple slices, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg together. Transfer to the pie shell and dot with the butter.

Brush the overhanging edges of the dough with water. Carefully cover with the rolled-out top crust and pinch the edges together, turning them under all around to make a thick edge. To decorate the rim, press it all around with the back of a fork, or just pinch it to seal. With scissors, cut a few V-vents in the center.

Slide the pie into the brown paper bag and fold the top down. Staple bag shut and place it on a sheet pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

Remove the pie from the oven and cut a large circle in the top of the bag. Return to the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Let the pie cool at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Served hot with vanilla ice cream - YUMMMM

I really do love this pie - as does my husband. I hope you do too!

DIY Cinnamon Scented Pine Cones

Every year I buy a large bag of the cinnamon scented pine cones. I absolutely love the look and scent. It means the arrival of fall and holiday season to me. This year I decided to try make my own!

While camping in the Oakanogan area Labor Day weekend, there were pine cones everywhere. And they were the big beautiful good ones - just like the ones you buy! So my husband and I scoured the area and selected only the best to bring home lol

There are many different methods you can use for this project. The method I decided to use takes a few weeks before they'll be ready to set out, but I think it'll have the best scent impact and longevity. I did do two different batches though, just to see if spraying the essential oil mixture before baking made any difference. We shall see.

The first thing you need to do is bake the cones on a foil lined baking sheet for one hour at 200 degrees to bake off any sap and kill any bugs that may be lerking inside.

Once done baking. Take out and let cool. In a squirt bottle (I used an empty Febreze bottle that I cleaned out thoroughly) mix some cinnamon essential oil with water and spray the pine cones liberally. Put cones into a zip top type bag and spray once more. Shake bag to move the oils around.

My cinnamon essential oil/water mix in an old Febreze spray bottle.

The cones inside the zip top bag. You can see the moisture on the bag from the oil/water mixture. The cones soaked it right up.

Now this is where the waiting begins. The cones will need to sit in the bag to let them absorb the oil and soak up the scent. The longer you let them sit, the stronger the scent will be. You will need to shake the bag once a week to move the oils around. I will be spraying more essential oil into the bag every week because I want a super strong scent that lasts the whole season.

I was able to make 6 full gallon sized zip top bags and I think I'll wait until at least the middle of October before I set any out. The rest I'll leave to take out later in the year. The good thing about this is, once these lose their scent, I can put them back in a zip top bag and start the process all over again! Then, at the end of the season, I'll put them back in their bags and soak them with the oil/water mixture and put away till next year! Just think how yummy they'll smell by then!!