Cranberry Coconut Muffins (Gluten-Free)

This blog is quickly turning into a muffin blog, it seems. Every morning when we get up, Monkey asks to make muffins even though he rarely eats any of them. He just really likes to help bake, and who am I to turn down a child's desire to bake muffins that I then get to hoard mostly to myself? :P

• 1/2 cup coconut milk (the canned kind, not the dairy substitute kind)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (always use cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour (we use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour)
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using regular flour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups cranberries

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and add coconut milk, agave nectar and coconut oil, mix well. Add wet to the dry bowl, combine. Add cranberries, stir to distribute. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 24 minutes. SO GOOD.

Bacon-Wrapped Figs with Pomegranate Balsamic Reduction | Red & Green Rice

Bacon-wrapped figs are, in a word, AMAZING. Like whoa. They're a perfect food. And SO easy and simple to make:

Wash and slice fresh figs in half lengthwise, removing the stems. Cut bacon slices in half. Wrap each half piece of bacon around each half fig and place cut side down in a baking dish. Cook on convection bake at 375° for 30 minutes, or until bacon looks done enough. Don't overdo it. (These were the brown turkey variety of figs. We've also made this using black mission figs. Both were amazing.)

While the figs are baking, make a pomegranate balsamic reduction: Put equal parts pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and simmer on medium-medium high until reduced by about half. We use 1/3 cup of each, which, reduced, makes enough to drizzle over the bacon-wrapped figs serving two adults.

The Red & Green Rice was a new experiment, using what we had on hand. It was pretty good, but I think I'll modify it a bit next time. What we did tonight was this:

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/4 cups rice (we used white basmati)
• 2 shallots, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 small-medium zucchini, shredded (about 1 cup after shredding)
• around 16 sun-dried tomatoes, diced (the kind you buy in a jar of oil)
• 2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves, minced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2-3 Tbsp butter

In a pot, warm the chicken stock to a simmer. In a bowl, soak the rice in water. While those are busy, saute the shallot and garlic in olive oil a Dutch oven for 5 minutes or so. Turn it to medium, add the chicken stock, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, and herbs. Rinse the rice, add to the pot, stir, cover, and leave it alone to cook on medium for 20 minutes. At the end of 20, stir, slide the butter into the bottom, cover, and cook another 5 minutes. Stir and serve!

Next time we make this: I'm going to use half the oregano, omit the thyme, and use maybe 1/4 cup fresh basil. I'll also sauté half a diced yellow onion with the shallot and garlic. We were out of onion today. Rookie mistake!

Note: using a different kind of rice may affect the amount of stock you need and the length of time it cooks. White basmati usually cooks in 20 minutes in a 2:1 ratio of liquid:rice. Adjust as needed.

Another note: this would probably be delicious with fresh grated parmesan melted in to make it more of a risotto. Unfortunately, someone in this house *cough* Josh *cough* doesn't like melted cheese (unless it's on pizza). I know. How could I marry the guy? Who doesn't like melted cheese?

Apple Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Monkey and I are on an experimental gluten-free diet but I'm unwilling to give up delicious baked goods, so I've been dabbling in gluten-free baking. It's surprisingly awesome! Several times a week, I try a different recipe that I make up or modify from a previous experiment, and about half the time they're decent. Monkey, though, never ate my most common concoctions -banana breads or muffins. Humph. Yesterday, I ran out of bananas so I decided to try apple instead and for once, he ate some! Woohoo! Unicorn loves them too. She saw them on the table while breastfeeding and immediately rejected me for the muffins. Sheesh.

Today's recipe:

• 2 apples, cored, peeled, shredded
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c agave nectar
• 1/4 c ghee
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix wet ingredients and the shredded apple in one bowl, dry ingredients in another. Combine, mix until blended. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350̊ for 22 minutes.

This recipe turned out great, very moist but not dense. I tend to prefer less sweetness in my muffins (cupcakes are another story!) so these have a subtle sweetness from the agave and apple. To make it not gluten-free, just use regular wheat flour and omit the xanthan gum. And, I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing that substituting softened butter for the ghee would work about the same. Next time, I'll add 1/4 c applesauce for extra moisture. I meant to, but we were out. Dang.