Pumpkin Spice Creamer

It has been awhile since I have been very active on my blog.  Life has been hectic.  Every week I think I will have time to blog but something comes up.  I started a long term substitute position in a library in August.  It has been so much fun and I get to stay until Christmas Break.  Hopefully it will help me to get a full time position in my own classroom.  At the same time I have been busy at home spending time with my three year old.  Yes, I said THREE.  I can't believe she is growing so fast.  Also, the husband finally got to start working first shift, so he is actually home with us.  We've been soaking up the family time.  I have still been cooking and experimenting but it will take me awhile to catch up here.  I will work on it but it may be during breaks that I have a surge in blog posts.  For now, I have also discovered why people like coffee!  I stopped drinking pop a few months ago.  So I never get any caffeine unless I get a tea or coffee.  At home, our tea is decaf and I never drink more than one coffee at a time.  But, since I get up at 4 AM now in order to get to work (it's quite a commute for me at this point), I have a little trouble getting myself going.  Especially now that the weather has gotten colder.

Anyway, I love the pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, but I hate the ingredients and price.  I found several recipes online to make your own pumpkin spice creamer.  I wasn't completely satisfied with any of them.  I already make my own plain sweet creamer and I have already posted the recipe for that.  I easily turned that into a pumpkin spice creamer.  Here is how:

Ingredients:

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup pureed pumpkin (canned or fresh)

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

In a saucepan, heat 1/2 the can of evaporated milk, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to a low simmer.  Whisk together until this comes to a simmer, then take it off of the heat.  Let this cool completely.  When it is cool, whisk in the rest of the evaporated milk and the sweetened condensed milk.  Pour into two mason jars.  This will stay good in the refrigerator for a week.  I put one in the fridge to use and one in the freezer to save.  You could also give one away for gifts OR you could keep one at home and one at work if you drink both places.  It is very good.  I believe I outdid Starbucks with this one.

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

I have been busy with my new temporary job and I have been trying to make meals that can be made quickly and easily.  They also have to be good warmed up for lunches at work.  We prefer to eat homemade foods rather than eating out or buying pre-made boxed foods.  The easiest way for easy, quick, healthy, homemade meals is to use marinades.  I have started making up bags with marinades and putting meat in them and freezing them.  Then I can take it out of the freezer the night before, and it's ready the next night for cooking. This is one of the marinades we have been using for pork chops.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp. oil (I usually use grapeseed or olive)

3 Tbsp. coconut aminos (This is what we use to replace soy sauce.)

6 garlic cloves, minced

4 pork chops (I use boneless.  I hate eating around bones.)

Directions:

In a ziploc bag, add all ingredients and close and mix around.  Let marinade for at least 2 hours.  Once marinated, grill or bake.  We grilled and loved them.  But if you can't grill, bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

I got this recipe from Pinterest and just replaced the soy sauce.  To see the original post, look here. 

Throwing Out That Toxic Shampoo

Yes, I did it.  I was VERY skeptical of the "no poo" fad.  I have always struggled with very oily hair.  And I mean OILY!  I wash my hair every morning and by noon I was usually putting it up because it was already getting oily.  And it made me mad because people always said to wash it less.  The reason it was oily was because I was supposedly washing it too much.  The whole reason I started washing it so much was because it got that oily!!!  And there is no shampoo that works for oily hair.  If you have dry or frizzy or colored or curly hair, you have you pick of shampoos and brands.  But if you have oily?  There are maybe three shampoos you can find.  I've tried everything.  I also struggled with dandruff and sensitive skin.  I have allergies to so many lotions, soaps, shampoos, etc.  I recently had a friend take the plunge and try the "no poo" method.  After about six months, she and her whole household were still using it and were believers.  I visited them and they looked great and were so happy with the decision that I decided to give it a shot.  I'm glad I did.  It took about two weeks for my hair to really even out but after that it is so soft and smooth.  It has body/volume, less dandruff, and I can leave it down all day and when I go to bed at night it still isn't oily.  I have been amazed.  I am going to tell you how I do this but there really is no RIGHT way.  You have to experiment a little to find the right way for you.  I still wash my hair with the mixture every morning.  I find my hair does best that way.  My daughter's hair is only being washed twice a week now but she is only three and that is what works best for her.  My friend uses the mixture on her hair a few times a week now and just scrubs with water in between.  It depends on your hair (texture, thickness, dry/oily, etc.).

So here is what I do.  For the shampoo, I mix about 2 Tbsp. baking soda with about a cup of water. (If you have extra dry hair, you should only use 1 Tbsp. because baking soda can dry.)  I put this in a spray bottle that I got at Walmart or Target.  Shake it up and spray it all over wet hair.  I have a LOT of hair so I pick up my hair and spray it in layers.  Some people only have to spray it on top then scrub it in.  Experiment and find what works for you.  There are also several helpful videos on YouTube that can help you find different methods.  Scrub it in and scrub your scalp.  I let this sit in my hair a few minutes while I do some other stuff.  Then rinse thoroughly.

For the conditioner, (you won't want to skip this, even if you are like me and have oily hair), mix 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar in about a cup of water.  I put this in another spray bottle.  This one I just spray over the top of my hair.  If you have really dry hair, you may want to spray more.  I've also seen people who have really dry hair mix half cup cider vinegar with half cup water.  More vinegar means more moisture.  Let this sit for a few minutes too.  Then rinse thoroughly.  Don't worry, if you rinse thoroughly, your hair won't smell like the apple cider vinegar.  I've asked.  Nobody has been able to smell it.

Really, you should try this.  Read the ingredients in your shampoo and tell me you think those ingredients are okay.  Especially if you have crazy skin reactions like I do.  Or major issues with your hair or dandruff like I did.

Sesame Coconut Chicken

This is a new favorite.  It is easy to make and tastes like Chinese takeout except it's better for you.  I got the original recipe from the Paleoaholic website.  There are some great recipes there and the paleo diet lends itself well to allergen friendly diets like ours.  I modified the recipe a little but you can find the original recipe HERE.  J and I loved it.  This also helped us discover a replacement to soy sauce.  J loves soy sauce and recipes that use it but I've never liked soy sauce much and I stay away from soy due to hormone imbalances.  I also prefer to keep L away from soy since hormone problems run in the family and most soy is now GMO.  She also seems to have more stomach issues when soy oils are used on anything she eats.  Such a sensitive digestive system our toddler has.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 Tbsp. onion, minced
1 tsp. ginger (fresh grated or powdered/dried works)
3 Tbsp. coconut aminos (soy sauce replacement, you should be able to find this at any health food store)
1 Tbsp. sesame oil (I was actually out of sesame oil and used olive here.  It worked just fine so don't worry if you don't have sesame on hand)
1/2 cup apple juice (make sure it is a pure apple juice)

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together garlic, onion, ginger, aminos, oil and apple juice.  Add the chicken in the bowl and toss to coat.  Let marinate.  Mine marinated for a couple of hours but it should marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425*F.  Cover a baking sheet with foil and place chicken on the pan.  Spoon a little bit of the marinade over the chicken and set aside.  Bake the chicken for about 20 minutes.  Turn chicken and spoon a little more marinade over the other side.  Bake for another 20-25 minutes.

I served this over rice and cooked the rice with a little bit of the apple juice, ginger and coconut aminos mixed in as well.  It was VERY good.  It will be added to our regular list of meals because it was easy and tasted so good.

Quinoa Crusted Chicken

I completely stole this recipe.  You can find the original recipe HERE on a blog called The Simple Dish.  I must give credit here.  It's a very good recipe.  I was impressed.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 egg
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. parsley

Directions:
Boil quinoa in 2 cups of water.  While the quinoa is cooking, I took the chicken breasts and used a mallet to make them thinner.  When the quinoa was finished, I put it in a separate bowl and mixed in the salt, pepper, garlic, onion and parsley.  In a separate bowl, scramble the egg for dipping the chicken.  Prepare a baking sheet with olive oil.  I have a Misto sprayer to spray the olive oil and keep the chicken from sticking.  Preheat the oven to 375*F.  Dip each chicken breast in the egg, then coat in the quinoa mixture.  Lay out on the baking sheet and bake for approximately 45 minutes.

Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I've seen several recipes of stuffed sweet potatoes, especially since the paleo diet has become so popular.  This is actually my own recipe.  I read several recipes and kind of mixed them as I though my family would like.  This is a recipe for two servings.  If you have more people in you family, just add a sweet potato, chicken breast and two slices of bacon per person.

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
2 chicken breasts (diced)
4 slices bacon
parmesan (or preferred) cheese (optional) (I think this would be really good with something like goat cheese as well)
coconut or olive oil (unless cooking chicken in bacon grease)

Directions:
Now I already had bacon cooked so I chopped up and reheated it.  We keep our nitrate free bacon cooked and ready to warm up for the toddler.  She loves and can actually eat this one type of bacon so we keep it around.  If you are cooking the bacon, just use the bacon grease to cook the diced chicken in.  If not, use the olive or coconut oil.  First, you will need to bake the sweet potatoes.  This takes at least an hour in my oven so those will cook for 30 minutes before you even have to start on the rest.  Then cook the bacon.  Then saute the diced chicken in the bacon grease or oil.  When the potatoes are done, split them in half, unless you baked them that way.  Hollow out the middle a little, pushing the inside of the potato to the edges.  Split the chicken and bacon evenly into the hollowed out centers of the sweet potatoes.  Top with parmesan cheese.  I topped with parmesan from a jar.  I'm sure it would be better with fresh but I get so few shortcuts anymore that I take advantage of the few I can.

Watermelon Juice

This is how I used watermelon that needed to be eaten.  It is hard to get rid of watermelon when you are the only one in the house who will eat it.

Ingredients:
Watermelon chunks
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup lime juice
Water

Directions:
Blend watermelon chunks and strain to remove seeds.  Add lime juice and sugar.  Stir in water to fill the pitcher.  Stir or shake up before pouring anytime because the watermelon will settle to the bottom.  It's pretty good.  Try it.

Strawberry Bread

I know it has been so long since I have posted regularly on my blog.  Life has been crazy.  And not very nice.  Plus, I got a new computer.  Normally this would make me very happy but I absolutely despise Windows 8!  But it's summer break again so I am back to experimenting with food.  Although I don't really feel like it is an actual 'break' this year.

Since L had so much trouble this year, I now can or freeze almost everything we eat at home because everything has preservatives and dishonest labeling. This way, I know exactly what she is eating.  The health benefits, of course, are for all of us but this all started because she is so important.  So, this summer, since I don't have a full garden at home yet, we have been raiding the farmer's markets and fruit and vegetable stands for fresh and organic products.  We also found a local source for grass fed beef.

Anyway, with the last batch of strawberries I had, I made this wonderful bread.  The original recipe came from another blog which you can find HERE.

But I changed it up a little.  This bread is VERY moist.  And don't be fooled by the toothpick coming out clean when you check the bread.  My toothpick came out clean but it was still more like a crumble instead of bread in parts.  It was still really good though.  Nobody complained about how gooey it was.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups strawberries, chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour (I'm positive this could be changed for a gluten free.  We went with a corn-free.)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (original recipe said vegetable oil but in this house, we only use grapeseed, olive or coconut.)
Olive oil to grease loaf pans
1 tsp. vanilla (working on this to be corn-free)

Directions:
Mix chopped strawberries with the 2 Tbsp. sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease loaf pans.  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Then combine remaining ingredients but don't over stir.  Fold in the strawberries.

Divide evenly between the two greased loaf pans.  Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Note:  Pictures to come.  I'm still working on moving my pictures over after changing computers.

Natural Living- Face Soap

It has not been easy to get on here to blog lately.  L is finally doing better but we still haven't really gotten our life back to normal (whatever normal means).  I am studying to take a test to extend my teaching license to cover more grades, trying to find a teaching position for next year and still trying to cook and keep the family healthy.  I have not tried any new recipes lately but plan to soon.  The farmer's markets are opening this month and I hope to start stocking up.  Busy, busy, busy...

I thought I would go ahead and jump on here and tell you all about a new face wash I am using.  I plan on making my own face wash, body wash, etc. eventually, but for now I buy as natural as possible.  The new soap is a bar soap called Olivella.  It is made with virgin olive oil from Italy according to the company.  I started using it and noticed a difference after one day.  My face is softer, less oily and less flaky/dry.  I have EXTREMELY oily skin, especially face and hair.  I have had trouble with my hair my whole life and my poor daughter has hair just like mine.  She is two and a half and already has trouble with oily hair.  I plan on experimenting a little with hair this summer when I don't have to worry about looking nice if I mess it up some day.  During the summer I jump in the pool multiple times per day anyway.  Anyway, back to my face...  If you can believe it, my face is oily and dry at the same time.  I have no idea how that happens.  And I am 28 years old and still break out like a teenager.  I have tried everything.  Through the past year I have been reading about natural methods of cleansing our bodies on the outside since we've been focusing so much on our insides already.

I bought this soap at my local health food store but you can also find it online.  If you want to check the company out, this is their website:  http://www.olivellausa.com
The exact bar soap I bought and use is:  http://www.olivellausa.com/OlivellaBarSoap.html

The only ingredient which is concerning to some is the fragrance.  I'm not sure exactly what the fragrance is derived from but the other ingredients are just olive oils.  This is about as natural as you get without making your own.  As I experiment more with my own I will post blogs.  This all started when I read something about how it doesn't make sense to use the soaps we use on our faces.  Oils wash away oils, harsh chemicals do not.

Another note:  I used a scrub daily because I felt like I had build up on my face everyday whether I wore make up or not.  With this soap, I don't feel a build up at all and don't feel the need to add anything else to my cleansing routine.  Not to mention this is so much cheaper than what I was using.  I also have sensitive skin so my soaps were always more expensive.  Since I lost weight over the past year, my body chemistry has changed and I have reactions to even more of the harsh soaps.  I was using a "natural" cleanser.  The brand is Boscia.  It is incredibly expensive.  I spent between $35-$40 per bottle of face wash.  And that doesn't include the acne gel, moisturizer or scrub.  So, for $4, I have replaced at least 3-4 expensive products.

Try it.  If not this soap, then some other more natural oil method.  I have been so skeptical of all of this natural stuff for so long but now that I have started trying some of them, I believe there are many benefits to this way of life.

Canned Applesauce

With all of the digestive issues in this family, we have pretty much stopped processed food all together.  This includes jars and cans from the store which most people still use for convenience.  It is difficult to cook completely from scratch this way in this society based so much on convenience and constant go go go.  We, like many families, are often on the go but we have decided to make health a priority so that we can keep going going going.  This means I even can my own food.  I've done a few posts on freezing and I still do that quite often.  But now, I can too.  This is very new to me.  I know my great grandparents canned their own food from their own garden.  We don't have the space or time for a garden yet though that is the ultimate goal.  For now, I will stock up when the farmer's market has a good selection and when I find organic produce on sale at the grocery stores.  So far, I have only canned applesauce.  But it is so good!  I bought this great little pressure cooker which also doubles as a water bath cooker.  The applesauce was done in a water bath and here are the instructions:

Ingredients and Materials:
Large pot for cooking apples
Peeler/Corer or good knife
Water bath canner
A big bunch of apples
Water

Directions:
Peel and core apples.  Place the apple slices in a large pot with about an inch of water in the bottom.  (More or less water depending on the size of the pot and amount of apples.)  Cook apples on the stove and stir until all apple slices are tender.  Mash with a potato masher.  I'm sure you could also process in a food processor or something similar if you want a finer texture applesauce.  Spoon the applesauce into pint canning jars.  You should taste it now.  I used really great granny smith apples and they were great just like this.  But, depending on the type of apple, you may want to add a little sugar.  You want to add the sugar and cinnamon or other optional ingredients before you spoon into jars.  After the jars are full and closed, submerge them in the water bath with about an inch of water above the jars.  Boil in the water bath for about twenty minutes.  NOTE:  If you live in a higher altitude, you will need to boil longer.
After twenty minutes, pull the cans out carefully and let them cool completely before storing.  I set out a couple of kitchen towels and set the jars on them to cool.  They need about 12 hours to cool before storage.

(Pictures to come later.  I have a new computer and I'm still getting things switched around.)

Smoothies

I have been missing from the blogger world for awhile now.  We've had some major issues with my daughter.  She has been very ill off and on.  As I've stated before, we believed she had a food allergy, mainly to corn.  Well, in recent months, she has started reacting to almost every food she eats.  We have had so much trouble getting any pediatricians to help us so we are now trying a naturopath.  Basically, we have started over completely.  She was at the point she wasn't eating or drinking anything.  It was getting very scary.  After two and a half months with this naturopath, she now eats a few things and always drinks water and tea.  And she is finally gaining a little weight.  But her diet is very strict.  We started out only offering the following foods:  sweet potatoes, avocado, chicken, salmon, peas, spinach, apple, pear, banana, white beans and a nitrate free bacon.  On these, we put salt, olive oil and coconut oil.  At first, she wouldn't eat any and even stopped drinking for two whole days.  She lost a few pounds.  Since that wasn't working we had to take a different approach.  We still used that list as our base but I went ahead and let her eat a few of her fruit squeezers.  You know the ones you can buy and they can suck out through the top while squeezing.  I finally found one she would eat.  Then she started drinking water and tea.  Then she started eating the bacon.  And now she eats baked or grilled chicken and sometimes a regular potato.  She has finally slept through the night for several nights in a row.  She has never slept through the night before and she is two and a half years old.

With all of that, I just haven't had the time, energy or heart to work on blogging, cooking, crafting or job searching.  I hope we are on our way to a healthy child so we can all get back to life.  I still have blogs started from Christmas time that I haven't finished and posted.  But I do have a few smoothie recipes for you today.

Spinach and Fruit Smoothie:
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 apple, cored (you can peel too if you prefer but I like the peel)
1 banana
1 cup almond milk (I use almond but you could just as easily use any kind of milk)
5 whole strawberries
1/2 orange
2 scoops protein powder (optional, I use whey protein powder)

Blend all together.  This can be frozen for use through the week.  This actually made 2-3 servings.

Breakfast Smoothie:
1 cup peaches
1/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup almond milk
1 scoop protein powder

Blend all together.  This one is also good to freeze if needed.  This one is enough for 2 small smoothies or 1 large.  I doubled the recipe and made 3 smoothies.

Vanilla Shortbread Cookies

These were very good.  The first bite was a little weird but they quickly became addicting.  And the toddler LOVED them.  She even started saying "cookie".  Well, it actually comes out "kie" but it's still a new word.  One note though, make sure the butter is soft enough.  It makes a huge difference in the taste and texture of the cookies.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. corn-free vanilla extract

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the flour and salt.  In a mixer, add butter and sugar and beat until fluffy and light.  Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly throughout the mixing process.  Add in vanilla extract and mix until combined.  Add flour mix and carefully mix until combined, without over-mixing   The dough should stick together when clumped with fingers.  Put dough on a sheet of wax paper and roll out until about ¼ inch thick.  (I actually liked it better just a little thicker than this.)  Line baking sheets with wax paper and preheat oven to 325°F.  Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter or just using a pizza cutter/knife to make small squares/rectangles.  I used some Christmas cookie cutters this time.  Place cookies onto pan with about and inch of space between.  Bake until firm and edges are starting to turn golden, about 10 minutes.  Be careful not to overcook.  Let cool then serve.

Note:  This recipe was modified from HERE.

Christmas Crack

NOTE:  This is not corn-free as is.  I may work on a corn free version later.

This is a great candy for the holidays.  Everyone who tried it liked it.  It didn't stay as hard as most toffee type candies so I left it in the fridge most of the time.  My mom left hers in a bag on the counter though and loved it just like that.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 sleeve saltines
1½-2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (the original recipe was for 2 cups but I prefer a little less chocolate) 

Directions:
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and combine with brown sugar.  Bring to a boil.
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cover a cookie sheet with foil.  Line the pan with saltines.  Pour the butter and brown sugar syrup over the saltines.  Some of the crackers will float so you will have to line them back up and make sure they are covered by the syrup.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and pour chocolate chips over the top.  When chips are softened, use a spatula to spread it evenly across the candy.  If you need this to harden very fast, you can put it in the freezer.  I put it in the fridge over night.  Freezing might actually help with the hardening problem I had.  When it is hard enough, dump out of the pan and remove the foil.  Break into pieces and enjoy.

This was eaten up before I could get a picture of the broken pieces.  Obviously everyone liked this stuff.  Next time I will make sure and get a picture of it broken into pieces.

Rice

It seems silly to put a recipe for regular ol' rice on here but my group is very picky and I've finally perfected my method so that we can all eat rice.  So here is my method and recipe for the rest of you.  Maybe it will help some who also have to please picky eaters.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice (I prefer Basmati but this will work for any rice.  I've used several.)
1 Tbsp. onion powder
3 cups water
salt and pepper

Directions:
In an appropriate sized pot, stir together all ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a low boil/high simmer until most liquid is gone.  Serve.

Ornament Wreath

Here is one of my many Christmas crafts. They are all over Pinterest and the blogosphere and now it is here too.  Part of keeping a blog is to just keep everything together in one place along with sharing it with others.  I like to share my experience if it could help others but I also like the fact that all of my projects and recipes are in one place for me to go find.  I know exactly how my blog is organized and how to find everything.

Materials (with cost):
wire clothes hanger (Free!  They come with my husbands clean uniform shirts.  We send most back because I hate wire hangers in the closet but I kept a few for projects.)
wire cutters (Free!  My husband is so handy.  He always has the tools I need in the garage.)
duct tape (I can't remember exact cost.  Approximately $2-$3 I used a red duct tape.  Did you know they have a million colors of this stuff now?)
tons of cheap Christmas ornament balls  (I used about 60 and it ended up smaller than I originally planned.  I bought them at the dollar store but by the time I realized I needed more, they were out of every color except gold.  Yuck!  So I made do with what I had.  Originally I spent $6 and had 6 tubes of 10-12 ornaments.  So all in all this is a cheap project.)
big festive bow ($2 at Walmart)
hot glue gun with extra sticks of glue (Free!  I already have a bunch in the drawer at home.)

Directions:
1. Cut off the hook of the wire hanger with the wire hangers.
2. Hot glue the tops on the top of the ornaments.  Trust me, do not skip this step.  I went through and if it was easy to pull the tops off, I hot glued.  But I thought the rest would be okay.  Boy was I wrong.  Every time someone opened the door, an ornament fell.  Most of them ended up hot glued after the fact and I still have 2 ornaments I found while cleaning up decorations.
3. Start stringing the ornaments on the wire hanger.  You will have to move them around to get it to look full. Pack the ornaments on there tight so they don't move and it all looks even.
4. Duct tape the ends of the hanger together to make it a wreath.
5. Attach the big pretty bow to hide the ends and the duct tape.

Voila!

I'm pretty sure I will try this again next year with more ornaments to make it bigger.  But I was pretty happy with how it looked hanging on my door.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cinnamon Muffins

I have a bunch of chocolate chips left over after Christmas.  Yes, they keep well in the freezer, but I thought I would go ahead and use some.  I get sugar cravings sometimes, as most women do, but I've tried to start making something semi-healthy to satisfy the cravings.  Even if there is sugar in it, the recipe is mostly unprocessed.  All of my guinea pigs raved about this recipe.  It was our New Year's Eve treat.  We taste tested these muffins, various teas my sister bought to try and a bottle of Yellow Tail Moscato.  It was a great night!  

Ingredients:

1½ cups old fashioned oats

2 and 2/3 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

4 tsp. baking powder (corn free)

½ tsp. salt 

1-2 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1½ cups canned coconut milk

1 stick (½ cup) butter, melted

1 cup chocolate chips (I am still looking for chocolate chips with acceptable ingredients)

Directions:

Combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the eggs, milk, and butter.  Stir until the flour is moistened. Mix the chocolate chips in.  Fix greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full with the batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until tops are light golden.  Makes approximately 18 muffins.

Note:  I have a picture of the muffins but it is on my phone at the moment.  I will update with the picture when I can.