Saturday, August 31, 2013

Paleo Banana Muffin With Strawberry Spread



One thing you will note right away is that I am NOT a photographer by any means.  Most of the pictures I will be posting throughout this journey will be taken with my iPhone and edited with basic photo editing software (in other words, the free stuff that comes on your computer).  If I make this process too time consuming, I won't stick with it, so it has to be relatively easy in order it to be successful. 

It just so happens I have a friend who is embarking on this Paleo journey at the same time as me, so it has been fun bouncing recipe ideas off of each other and sharing where the cheapest place is to get Paleo approved ingredients.  This friend of mine messaged me about these muffins and raved about how delicious they were, heated up and drizzled with the strawberry topping.  So of course I had to make them and we tried them this weekend.

This first recipe is definitely a winner when you're in the mood for something sweet.  It would also be good as a breakfast treat because you feel like you're eating dessert for breakfast!

Paleo Banana Muffins With Strawberry Spread:

Muffins:
1/2 Cup Almond Flour
1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Seat Salt
3 Large Ripe Bananas 
4 Eggs, Room Temperature
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp Raw Honey
6 Tbsp Coconut Oil, Melted

Strawberry Spread:
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
1/2 Cup Honey
4 Fresh Strawberries (I used 7 Strawberries & 5 Raspberries)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir with a form to combine and to break apart any chunks.  Set aside.
3. Place the bananas, eggs, and vanilla extract in a blender and blend until combined.  Add in the coconut oil and honey and blend well until smooth.  Add the flour mixture and blend to combine.
4. Pour the mixture into lined muffin tins (makes enough for 12 muffins).
5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Left muffins cool.

While Muffins Are Cooling:
7. Place the coconut oil and raw honey in a food processor or blender and blend until combined.
8. Add your berries and blend until smooth.
9. Serve spread with the muffins.

After letting the muffins cool off right out of the oven, my husband, Logan and I shared one.  Logan had no complaints - he smacked his lips and chowed down.  My husband and I both noted the difference in texture right away, but I thought the flavor was still good.  I decided to whip up the berry spread and ended up adding a couple more strawberries and a handful of raspberries because they were starting to go bad and I needed to use them.  With the addition of the berry spread on top of a heated up muffin, these things were AMAZING and you forgot about the texture difference.  

I would definitely make these again!

Original Recipe Taken From: Paleo Cupboard (http://www.paleocupboard.com/) and Slightly Modified

New Resolve, New Goals, New Lifestyle - We're Going Paleo

It's been over two years since I've posted a new recipe, and I promise there are a million reasons why...some of them good reasons, others not so much.  But sometimes life just gets in the way and stuff happens.  With that said, we now have an 18-month-old creature (named Logan) wandering around the house and I feel it's okay to say he is the biggest reason why I have not managed to maintain my food blog.

  
With Logan came a lot of changes in our house and for our family.  We had to move kids into different bedrooms, start the remodel of adding another bedroom, putting in a backyard, etc., etc., etc.  The list goes on and on, and I'm ashamed to say the additional bedroom is still not finished and aside from a gate being put up on the fence, the backyard hasn't seen much progress either.  Kids tend to make you shift your priorities, but we're working on it.

The one good thing Logan has done for our family is renewed our attempt to get back on track to living a healthy lifestyle.  There are a lot of "conditions" that run in both sides of our family (Husband's family: hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc.  My family: various cancers, allergy and skin conditions, and possible behavioral disorders, some of which have probably not been diagnosed but I'm convinced they are there).  In our pursuit of jumping back on the bandwagon of healthy living, I came across a lot of information about the Paleo lifestyle and the overall health benefits associated with this way of living.  

For those who have never heard of Paleo, it is basically a lifestyle that reverts back to the days of paleolithic eating of our hunting-gathering ancestors.  It is a process of removing all processed and prepackaged foods from your diet and relying on whole, clean and nutrient dense foods to provide nourishment to your body.  This includes eating only grass-fed meats, free range poultry, wild fish, vegetables, fruit, berries, and some nuts and seeds.

Studies done over time have shown the Paleo Lifestyle to be associated with multiple health benefits that you just can't ignore:

Increased and more stable energy levels
Improved sleep quality
Healthier skin and hair
Improved mood and attitude
Sustained weight loss
Muscle growth / increased fitness
Lowered risk of heart disease
Lowered risk of diabetes
Lower risk of cancer
Higher immune function
Improved glucose tolerance
Decreased insulin secretion and increased insulin sensitivity
Improved lipid profiles
Healthier gut flora
Better absorption of nutrients from food
Reduced allergies
Reduction in pain associated with inflammation
Improvements in respiratory problems (asthma)

Info taken from: http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/

With our family histories, I think it is the least we can do to teach our kids how living a healthy lifestyle can benefit them now as children, and in the long run as adults and seniors.  A lot of people who haven't spent enough time or energy researching the Paleo Lifestyle have nothing but negative things to say about it, but I truly feel that you can't knock it 'til you try it!  So this is where our new journey starts.  I want to prove to those naysayers that you CAN enjoy delicious and nutritious foods without pumping your body full of overly processed, highly sugared and dangerously over preserved crap (Good Read: Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner).  

Please keep in mind that this is a new journey for us and not everything I attempt to make is going to turn out the first time.  I will post recipes that I have found to be successful for our family with the hopes that others will see the kinds of foods my family is enjoying and try it out themselves.  So without further ado...enjoy!