If I had a grain free muffin of the month club November would be pumpkin spice muffins. September would be banana muffins and May would be blueberry muffins. Of course, I have no such club, however, I do love a good healthy muffin.

For those of you who have nut allergies? These grain free Pumpkin Spice Muffins are nut free.

The roasted pumpkin in this muffin makes it delicate and moist and the spices add a robust fall flavor. I use a tablespoon each of ground cinnamon and ginger. The result is a healthy one given that cinnamon is a wonderful blood sugar stabilizer and ginger is anti-inflammatory. When baking, these muffins will perfume your home with the wonderful aroma of healing spices.

Next week I will be posting the vegetarian Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream recipe that you see crowning these Pumpkin Spice Muffins. If you want immediate gratification, check out Marla’s recipe at familyfreshcooking.com, and check out the gorgeous photos on her site as well.

While I based my dairy free pumpkin whipped cream recipe upon hers, mine is a bit different. Marla’s has less sugar (she sweetens it solely with stevia) and mine has more spice. That’s what I love about the internet –there’s a recipe for everyone if your fingers do the walking.

Here are some of my other gluten free muffin recipes:

• Banana Muffins
• Bran Muffins
• Carrot Muffins

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When the boys were little we used to have green eggs for breakfast everyday.  They grew out of that phase a while ago and now I think this Green Eggs recipe is perfect for St. Patrick’s day.

Now when I make these, I serve them with chicken breakfast links and my Dark Rye Bread (as shown above).  Green eggs are a colorful, fun, super healthy, hearty way to get in green veggies at the start of your day.  You can also make these yummy gluten free, dairy free eggs with spinach.  Here’s the recipe.

I’m chilling today and making Hamantachen after a wild weekend of partying with some amazing women.  With St. Patrick’s Day and Purim so close together, there is lots of baking to be done over here.  Tomorrow, I’m hosting a huge Purim party for our Chavurah.  Later this week, I’ll be posting some new Hamantaschen recipes so stay tuned. 

For now, here are some more gluten free St. Patty’s Day recipes from friends:
-Green Eggs and Ham Quiche from Heidi of Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom
-Grain Free Irish Soda Bread Biscuits from AndreAnna of Life as a Plate
-Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from Shirley of Gluten Free Easily

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I’ve been slightly obsessed with rosemary lately.  I put it in everything and just can’t seem to get enough of this delicious herb.   My latest rosemary victim?  Gluten free Lemon Rosemary Mini Muffins made with coconut flour.

I find that rosemary almost has a buttery flavor.  It’s also power packed with nutrients including iron and calcium.  These gluten free muffins are more of an adult treat than something for children.  I’ve been in the mood lately for tasty snacking and dessert items that aren’t too sweet and are filled with interesting flavor.  These hit the spot!

Lemon Rosemary Mini-MuffinsNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
¼ cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
¼ cup agave nectar
¼ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest, packed and heaping

1. In a large bowl, combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a smaller bowl, blend together eggs, agave and oil
3. Blend wet ingredients into dry, then blend in rosemary and lemon zest
4. Scoop batter 1 tablespoon at a time into greased 24 cup mini muffin pans
5. Bake at 350° for 7-8 minutes
6. Cool then remove from muffin tins and serve

I hope you like these Lemon Rosemary Muffins, I think they’re equally good for a gluten free breakfast or dessert.  Very sophisticated, yet homey and comforting.

This week was packed with action both on the internet and in the real world as well.

I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely Linda from Kitchen Therapy at the ADA Conference earlier in the week where I appeared to do signings for my gluten free cookbook.  Linda blogged about her experience encountering all kinds of gluten free people of interest at the ADA Conference and her post is a delight to read.

In other blogging news, Erika from The Stewardship Diaries honored me with a Best Blog Award.  Thank you so much Erika, your blog is fabulous and I appreciate someone like you who is dedicated to organics and the environment taking note of my blog!  While those themes are a sub-text on my blog, to food, they are important guiding lights in my life.

Finally, the amazing Paige of The Sister Project wrote an article called Don’t Blame the Blogs regarding the dismantling of Gourmet Magazine and how food blogs are definitely not to blame.  Thanks Paige, I love your writing and perspective.

The winner of last weeks Friday Freebie is Michelle. Congratulations and enjoy your Kroeger herbs and tea!

This weeks Friday Freebie is a Magic Line loaf pan from Courtney at benefityourlife.com.  Her website also sells a very high quality almond flour, that I have tested and can highly recommend, in case you are looking for another great place to order your almond flour. So, go ahead and leave a comment for your chance to win this awesome loaf pan.

UPDATE: this giveaway has ended, the winner was Lenee

And in local almond flour news, something very exciting.  Helios Health Center at Broadway and Darley Avenue in Boulder is now selling a fabulous quality almond flour retail that I have tested.  Call them at (303) 499-9224, for more information, or stop by.  They are selling it out of their apothecary which also happens to have a great selection of herbs, vitamins and books.

Have a lovely weekend all and thanks so much for all of the wonderful responses, care, connections and advice to Nicole in this post.

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For those of you that have leftover zucchini from your gardens, here is a delicious gluten free zucchini chocolate chip mini muffin recipe.  Our garden is just petering out with the severe frost we had last weekend and I need to get going on pulling up all the wilted plants from the yard.

Meanwhile, with this colder weather I’ve been a baking fiend and my family is fully taking advantage of this, loading themselves up with gluten free goodies.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Mini-MuffinsNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
1 ½ cups grated zucchini (do not pack down when measuring)
½ cup chocolate drops

1. In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, agave and zucchini
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet thoroughly
4. Stir in chocolate chips
5. Grease a mini muffin tin with grapeseed oil and lightly dust with coconut flour
6. Spoon approximately 1 tablespoon of batter into each muffin tin
7. Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes
8. Cool and serve

Last night I had a fabulous time teaching at the Culinary School of the Rockies.  My next class is on October 28th at Bauman College, right here in the heart of Boulder.

My busy week started off with a super fun interview Monday on 9 News‘ Colorado and Company television program, during which we discussed my high protein gluten free cookbook and ate lots of treats that I brought to the show.

The busy week continues this Sunday as I will be appearing at the ADA conference in Denver.  For more information please see my book tour page.

In Freebie news, the winner of last weeks Friday Freebie (book by Robyn O’Brien), The Unhealthy Truth is Danielle! Congratulations.

This weeks Friday Freebie is for a box of Kroeger Herb’s Female Tea and a bottle of their Female Balance™ Herbal Supplement. Leave a comment below by Wednesday, October 21st for your chance to win.

UPDATE: this giveaway has ended and the winner was Michelle

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Because of all of the requests I have had for more videos as well as for recipes using coconut flour…I have created a short video tutorial using coconut flour.

In this quick and easy tutorial I invite you into my kitchen to be taken step by step through a recipe for mini blueberry muffins. These muffins are mighty tasty.

My children and their friends (who can eat as much gluten as they want) fought over these muffins after I was done baking and shooting them for my video purposes.  They ended their little row in a civil fashion, by dividing the muffins evenly amongst themselves.

As you can probably tell, these muffins are a favorite in our house for breakfast (served with scrambled eggs), snack or dessert. 

I hope you like them as much as we do and that you find this video tutorial to be of much assistance in your baking endeavors.  Enjoy!

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These gluten free carrot muffins make a great addition to any brunch menu, though especially one for Mother’s Day.

These lightly sweetened muffins are made with high fiber coconut flour.  Don’t let all that healthy stuff scare you off though, they’re mighty tasty.  And with yacon sweetening them, they’re not too sweet.  If you want to replace the yacon with agave your muffin will be just a bit sweeter.  I tried making them both ways and preferred the yacon version.

I would say that yacon compares to agave the way molasses compares to honey.  Yacon and molasses have a more subtle, round flavor, whereas agave and honey have a sharp, sweet flavor.

Either way, these muffins are a healthy treat great for breakfast, snack or dessert.

Just before we ate dinner last night, my boys were packing their lunches.  Much to my surprise, my older one put 5 or 6 of these carrot mini-muffins in his lunch.  He’s more of a brownie kind of guy and doesn’t usually go for my fruity (or in this case vegetable) type treats.  When I told him I was so glad that he liked these new muffins, he responded that he did not.

He then explained that the boys in his class really like my baked goods and he trades them for fruit leather and candy at lunchtime.  Whoopee.  You can imagine how happy I was about this.  Not.  Overall, I would have to say that the children he trades with are getting the better end of the deal!  At least my son is a good label reader and is hopefully not getting glutenized.  Though that’s not really the point in this case.

I want to take a moment and thank all of you for your comments.  While I love what I do and get satisfaction from it day in and day out, it is great to hear from all of you.  I so appreciate the contact and community.  Your comments really are the icing on the cake!

And to thank you all for your wonderful comments, for this week’s Friday Freebie I will be giving away an Elana’s Pantry tote bag made of 100% recycled cotton.  Leave a comment on this post and your name will go into the Yankees hat for the drawing (to be done by my boys) next Thursday evening.  We will announce the winner next Friday.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

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We will be making these gluten free lemon poppy seed muffins at my class on March 17th at the Culinary School of the Rockies.  I am sharing the recipe here for those of you that won’t be able to make it.

This is my mother-in-law’s favorite little muffin.  When she came out to visit, I baked a batch and sent them with her so she would have sustenance for the plane ride home.

I like these muffins because they are not only light and fluffy, they are also high in protein and fiber and lower in sugars than the average muffin.  Make that much lower in sugars.  They are quite a refreshing treat and I hope you like them as much as my mother-in-law does.

Lemon Poppy Seed MuffinsNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
¼ cup agave nectar
¼ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1. In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a large bowl, blend together eggs, agave, oil and lemon zest
3. Blend dry ingredients into wet
4. Fold in poppy seeds
5. Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each greased mini muffin cup
6. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes
7. Cool and serve

Makes about about 24 mini-muffins

For the bible on baking with coconut flour, see Bruce Fife’s Cooking with Coconut Flour. He is the master when it comes to baking with this very healthy, reasonably priced ingredient!

In other news, Heidi from 101Cookbooks.com has created a new search engine for recipes made primarily from minimally-processed, natural, sustainable, whole foods. It’s called Super Natural Recipe Search and it looks mighty good.  I highly recommend checking it out!

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