Gluten Free – Home Steeped Hope

We have been prepping my 21 year old’s new house (yep, she’s a homeowner as of 2 days ago! Woot! Woot!) for paint–inside and out. Ripping out wallpaper, spackling, sanding, scraping, taping–bringing back memories of *my* 21 year old self, in our first home, doing the exact same things. Only difference being, I was married and expecting my firstborn–yep same firstborn that’s 21 and playing at fixer upper! Ahh the good ole days…

So I came home tonight and indulged in one of our favorite desserts. This delicious brownie recipe happens to be the. best. recipe. ever. Whether you make it gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free or with real sugar, flour and dairy, it’s all good. Even my picky ones love it made “healthy style”. I hope you will too.

Favorite Brownie Dessert with strawberries and coconut cream, the way my firstborn daughter serves it up!

2/3 cup Lilly’s brand dark chocolate stevia sweetened chocolate chips (available at HyVee, Natural Grocer’s) OR Trim Healthy Mama’s dark chocolate stevia sweetened chocolate chips
5 TB coconut oil or avacado oil
2/3 cup Gentle Sweet (a Trim Healthy Mama stevia blend that is unsurpassable!) (You can also use Pyure brand from Walmart, but it’s not the same…still, in a pinch…)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup almond flour (even if you aren’t gluten intolerant, I’d make these with almond flour–they are so flaky and melt- in-your-mouth!)
2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder (or cacao powder)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
At the end you will mix in an additional 2/3 cup chocolate chips
Optional–sprinkle coarse salt on top

Preheat your oven to 350F. Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper. Melt the oil and chocolate chips together and mix until smooth, set aside while you separately whisk together the eggs and stevia blend of choice (or sugar if you aren’t sugar free). Mix dry ingredients and then combine all and lastly add the additional 2/3 cup chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared 8×8″ pan and bake at 350F for 20-24 minutes till edges are set and brownies are still slightly soft in the middle.

Dress it up into individual servings with fresh, sliced strawberries and a dollop of coconut cream. Savor every healthy decadent bite!

Low Carb Gluten Free English muffin & Bread Recipes

Gluten free recipes became much sought after friends when my amazing 83 year old mother committed to a strict Candida cleanse diet. For a year, our nutritionist recommended mom eat a low carb sugar-free diet while taking a rigorous herbal protocol to clean up her body from the devastating effects of this rapidly multiplying and debilitating yeast overgrowth. As mom had grown mostly immobile, with my dad, sisters and I sharing in her caregiving, I put my apron on and went to work in the kitchen.

God truly prepared me to be in a good spot to not feel entirely overwhelmed. My family has no food allergies. However, I had discovered the Trim Healthy Mama diet a few months before in October of 2017 and loved the sister authors’ balanced approach to health and weight loss/maintenance. While the Trim Healthy Mama (THM) diet isn’t exclusively gluten-free (they do have recipes for sprouted grain bread with gluten) if you must go gluten free, you really will find the two THM cookbooks to be a goldmine. I highly recommend getting them ASAP. Follow the link above to their site and check out their featured recipes such as the Nuke Queen’s Awesome Bread (It’s delicious, and no worries, if you are averse to microwaves there is a baked version there as well which is what I’ve made!). I remain mostly gluten free to this day, because of how much better I feel, and without feeling deprived of delicious alternatives.

Today I want to share two recipes with you. Neither of these are THM recipes, but those will come in another post! While developing meals and treats for my mom, I learned that googling “Paleo” and “Keto diet” recipes would also net some very nice dividends.

Paleo-style English Muffins are up first. Have you discovered cassava flour in your gluten-free journey? In addition to being a wonderful substitute for flour in GF recipes, it is a fabulous thickener for soups and gravies. I’ve linked to Anthony’s Goods which is where I purchase mine. For this recipe, premeasure your dry ingredients into snack sized bags for quick grab and fix breakfasts all week, then simply mix in your egg (right into the baggie if you’d like!) and squeeze the batter into your buttered ramekin and bake in the microwave for 90 seconds. These can also be baked in the oven at 400F for 12-15 minutes, or till middle is done. But it’s not done till you slice it in half and toast it! Toast it open face down in a skillet, or in the toaster, melt butter or cream cheese on it, and add jam…mmm! Now these are a different size and texture than regular English muffins, but we were pleased with the result.

Gluten Free English Muffins (single serve)
3 TB almond flour
1/2 TB cassava flour 
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 TB butter 
1 egg 
pinch of salt

Melt butter in a 4 oz ramekin/souffle dish and swirl around to coat dish. Add other ingredients and whisk with a fork until light and fluffy. Cook on high in microwave for 90 seconds. Carefully remove dish (it will be HOT!) and loosen edges. Gently flip upside down and shake out muffin. Cut muffin in half lengthwise and toast to desired doneness.

Cassava Blender Bread. Here is another gluten-free bread featuring cassava flour:

Cassava Blender Bread
7 eggs
1/2 cup almond milk
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 cups almond flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
7 TB cassava flour (can substitute coconut flour)

Put all ingredients into blender EXCEPT cassava flour. Blend on low for 30 seconds, then on medium for 30 seconds. Add cassava flour and blend 1 minute on medium.

Line loaf pan with parchment paper. Pour batter into pan and smooth evenly in pan. Bake at 325F for 60-80 minutes depending on your oven.

We hope these recipes help make your gluten free journey a bit less difficult!