Muffin Recipes!

Recently, I watched Forks Over Knives documentary with my husband. If you want a convincing argument-that's not all about animal humanity-to decrease (or eliminate) your meat & milk protein intake and increase your intake of whole foods and veggies then you need to hop of Netflix and watch this documentary!

My "take-a-ways" from this documentary were...

• The Standard American Diet is just that, SAD
• Childhood obesity and diabetes is PREVENTABLE (and our fault)
• A diet of 20% casein (milk protein) TURNS ON CANCER CELLS in our bodies
• A whole foods plant based diet has been proven to REVERSE DISEASE
• Cultural case studies showed that a shift away from a plant based diet and toward the Standard American Diet led to an increase in cancers 

The biggest cultural case study that struck a chord with me was in the Philippines :: they were seeing the current generation's children diagnosed with liver cancer. The apparent cause? A shift away from their ancestral roots of a plant based diet to a meat and milk based diet...eye opening-ly scary.

What's this have to do with muffins? Well, as you may have guessed, because we watched this documentary and have done further research, we've begun shifting our diet to be more plant based.

And my hubby has a gluten sensitivity.

Together, those things create a challenge when you're baking!

But I scored in the baking department by altering two recipes to be completely vegan and gluten free! ie NO GUILT MUFFINS and my husband's sinuses don't swell up ;) 

Note: when exchanging "normal" flours with gluten free flours you have to decrease the baking temperature and increase the baking time or you risk doughy muffins. The temperature and time are based upon my oven. Take note of the original baking settings and adjust according to your muffin baking experience!

Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are based on the Very Simple Blueberry Muffins at VegWeb. I only had to change the flour option and adjust the oven temperature/baking time.  Fantastic muffins.

1 cup flax seed flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut (or fave non dairy) milk (plus more as needed)

1/4 cup grape seed oil

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 large very ripe banana mashed to near puree (instead of white sugar)

Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a medium bowl combine the milk, oil, and mashed banana. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Then fold in the blueberries.

Divide batter into muffin tins.

Bake at 350* for 40-45 minutes

Butternut Squash Muffins

These muffins are based on the Butternut Squash Bread recipe at My Baking Addiction. These were the favorite by my family of the two muffin experiments this week. Fabulous recipe!

2 cups butternut squash puree (about one medium butternut squash)
1/2 cup grape seed oil
1/4 cup water
1 cup mashed ripe banana (instead of white sugar)
1 1/2 cups flax seed flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamom

In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a medium bowl mix well the squash puree, oil, water, and ripe banana. Combine the wet and dry ingredients thoroughly.

Divide the batter into muffin tins.

Bake at 325* for 40-55 minutes

Hope you enjoy!