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Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins - Grain-free, Vegan, Paleo

These Chocolate Chip Muffins are so good for you that you can't consider them a treat! Made mostly of almond flour, they're nutritious, lower in sugar and carbs than most muffins, free of most common allergens, Paleo and vegan. Treat yourself and nourish yourself with these grain-free chocolate chip muffins!

Believe it or not, these Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins were inspired by Starbucks' chocolate chunk muffins. Hopefully I didn't lose any of you by making that confession. Stay with me, folks. I will explain, and I promise the recipe is worth it!The holidays and two months that followed were a blur. I was so busy that I could barely remember my first name and felt like a hot mess most of the time. I tried to stay on track with planning out healthy meals, grocery shopping and cooking nourishing meals for my family, but life doesn't always go as planned. More than once, I found myself in the Starbucks drive-thru desperate for coffee and something to feed my kids.Being desperate and sleep deprived, I didn't have the will power to say "no" when my son requested a chocolate chunk muffin. I knew it was loaded with gluten and sugar and didn't offer many nutrients for his growing body, but no mom is perfect. *sigh* At least I learned a couple of things from those muffins. One, that my son absolutely loves chocolate chip muffins! Two, the muffins confirmed that like me, a lot of gluten-containing foods give him a tummy ache. Knowing that my son loved chocolate chip muffins so much, I set out to develop a recipe for a chocolate chip muffin that my son could eat, one that was free of most food allergens and actually good for him. I nailed it! These Chocolate Chip Muffins are awesome and my kids absolutely love them. *happy dance*Not only are these Chocolate Chip Muffins loved by adults and kids alike, they're free of eggs, dairy, soy, corn, and gluten. Thanks to cassava flour, these Chocolate Chip Muffins are not only gluten-free, they're completely grain-free! But don't worry, these muffins aren't crumbly or gummy like most gluten-free and vegan baked goods. These Chocolate Chip Muffins are moist and have great texture and structure, all without xanthan or guar gum!
Hold on, it gets even better. This recipe also uses minimal amounts of natural sweeteners, meaning that they contain less sugar than most muffins and still fall under the Paleo-friendly category. Yippee!

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, by Unknown

dairy-free

Flourless Banana Nut Muffins - Vegan, Paleo, No Added Sugar

These Banana Nut Muffins are so amazing that you would never guess they're flourless, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, vegan, Paleo and Whole30 compliant! Bananas provide all of the sweetness necessary, and psyllium provides the perfect texture along with plenty of fiber. Thanks to nutritious ingredients, these Banana Nut Muffins are both nutritious and satisfying!

I first read about baking with ground psyllium husks about a year ago. Alissa over at the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen made kneadable gluten-free bread dough and credited psyllium for making it possible. I was intrigued, but I hadn't tried baking with psyllium until I started formulating this recipe for flourless Banana Nut Muffins. The results amazed me!
In order for you to understand how amazing this recipe is, I need to stop here and talk a little bit about gluten-free and vegan baking. It's difficult - really difficult - to create baked goods with great taste and texture without the structure and elasticity provided by gluten and eggs. Gluten-free and vegan baked goods tend to either fall apart or end up gummy inside. When you are trying to avoid xanthan and guar gums, sugar and/or starchy flours, gluten-free and vegan baking becomes even more difficult.
That's why I was so impressed with these Banana Nut Muffins! They are flourless, which means they're grain-free and gluten-free. They're also dairy-free and egg-free (vegan), and free of sweeteners. That's right, all of the sweetness in these muffins comes solely from the bananas, allowing these Banana Nut Muffins to be Paleo! Yet these muffins could easily be mistaken for traditional muffins that contain gluten and eggs. Not only do they taste great, they're perfectly moist and tender!

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, by Unknown

gluten-free

Pumpkin Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is in full swing, and the stunning display of colorful leaves that have started covering the ground is proof. That means it's pumpkin season!Pumpkin everything is all the rage right now. There are pumpkin weighing contests, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin muffins. Except I will up your bet by another pumpkin. Yes, these are pumpkin pumpkin muffins, meaning that they are made with both pumpkin puree and pumpkin seeds, making them tasty and nutritious, with an extra dose of Fall!This recipe is based on Ali's Pumpkin Hazelnut Teff Muffins recipe over at the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. Her recipe is fantastic, but my daughter was sensitive to nuts in my diet while she was nursing, forcing me to find an alternative. I found that grinding my own pumpkins seeds was just as delicious and less expensive than buying hazelnut flour. I also substituted buckwheat flour for the teff flour, because I had a hard time finding teff flour for a long time. And that's how my Pumpkin Pumpkin Muffins were born! Like Ali's muffins, my Pumpkin Pumpkin Muffins are also gluten-free, vegan and gum-free, but since they are made with pumpkin seeds instead of hazelnuts, they are also nut-free. That's good news for those of you who have or cook for someone who has tree nut allergies!To grind the pumpkin seeds for this recipe I use my handy Ninja Master Prep. If you think I'm mentioning this gadget a lot, you are right. I use it all the time! It's because of my Ninja Master Prep that I'm able to grind my own nuts and seeds for recipes, making it affordable to add any kind of nut or seed flour and a lot of great nutrients to muffins, cookies and other baked goodies. Might I mention that I would rarely indulge in such goodies if they were made solely of flour and sugar? I really try to avoid traditional baked goods, but muffins made mostly of ground nuts or seeds offer lots of nutrients and a lower glycemic load, which puts them back on the menu. That sure makes the $40 I spent on my Ninja Master Prep worth it to me!

Raw pumpkin seeds are available at most grocery stores, but typically they are cross contaminated. If you have a food allergy, be sure to use allergen-free ingredients! Gerbs Raw Pumpkin Seeds are the best I've found and can be conveniently ordered on Amazon. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "false"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "tastea-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "top"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Raw Pumpkin Seeds on Amazon"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "raw pumpkin seeds allergen free"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "9fef955ee5663755effd81f90c139434"; amzn_assoc_rows = "1"; There are a couple of other choices you can make for this recipe. For the milk I use SoDelicious plain unsweetened coconut milk, but you could also use any other plain unsweetened non-dairy milk or even water. I've found avocado oil from Costco to be the most affordable and versatile option, so that's what I use for the oil. However, you could also use melted coconut oil or even melted red palm oil, which is rich in beta carotene. The more nutrients the better! Just be careful because red palm oil tends to stain everything it touches. On to the recipe before all of the remaining leaves fall off the trees! Pumpkin Pumpkin MuffinsPrep Time: 20 minutesCook Time: 30 minutesTotal Time: 50 minutesMakes 12 muffinsDry Ingredients:
- 2 cups ground pumpkin seeds (or a type of nut meal, like almond or cashew)
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:
- ¼ cup hot water
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup oil (avocado oil or melted coconut or red palm oil)
- ½ cup plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use SoDelicious plain unsweetened coconut milk)

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, or lightly grease the cups of a silicone muffin pan with butter or coconut oil.

Wisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, add the hot water to the ground flaxseed and wisk. Add the remaining wet ingredients and wisk together until smooth. Pour the wet into the dry and whisk together. Switch to a sturdy spoon and spoon into muffin cups.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before devouring!

Disclosure: this post includes affiliate links for convenience. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "false"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "tastea-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "top"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Ninja Master Prep on Amazon"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "ninja master prep"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "9b6b672c4d13ad752cfbe099be0ecb8c";

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, by Unknown

gluten-free

The Best & Healthiest Zucchini Muffins!

Our garden inspired my first post. We have two zucchini plants that have been producing lots of zucchini, so I thought it was the perfect time to make zucchini muffins! This and most of my recipes for baked goods were born in the days when I had babies that relied on me for nourishment. I had adopted a gluten-free lifestyle before having children. Then I had two babies with very sensitive tummies, so there were a lot of things I couldn't eat. My son couldn't tolerate dairy or egg and was also bothered by rice in my diet, oddly enough. My daughter was sensitive to dairy, corn and nuts in my diet. It essentially meant that while nursing, I had to eat baked goods that were gluten-free and vegan. If you have ever tried to bake gluten-free and vegan, you know how difficult it is! The gluten and egg gives traditional baked goods their structure and elasticity. Removing both of them makes baking a whole different ball game! I'm sure that's why it's also very difficult to find gluten-free and vegan baked goods available to buy in the grocery stores. Thankfully, I found a few bloggers that had already figured out some tricks and shared their recipes. The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen was one of them. Alissa's recipes gave me hope that I could still satisfy my craving for taste! Once I started experimenting with Alissa's recipes, there was no turning back. I came up with so many recipes for baked goods that were gluten-free and vegan that it just became a way of life. These zucchini muffins are gluten-free, and since they are also dairy-free and egg-free they are vegan. They are also rice-free!

Shredded zucchini to make gluten-free, vegan and low-glycemic zucchini muffins

Did you know that a lot of muffin recipes call for a whole cup of sugar? That comes out to about 17 grams of sugar per muffin, not including any of the other ingredients! Store-bought muffins are often worse. Calorie King says Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip muffins have 34 grams of sugar per muffin. That's 7 teaspoons of sugar per muffin!

I minimized the sugar as much as possible in these zucchini muffins. Using honey for part of it helps to minimize the amount used because honey is so sweet that a little goes a long way. However, I kept some brown sugar in this recipe (I use sucanat unrefined cane sugar) because it really gives these muffins a great flavor. Even though there is still some sugar, these zucchini muffins only have about 10 grams or just over 2 teaspoons of sugar per muffin. I also use cashew flour to add nutrients and lower the glycemic load. I use a standing grater to shred the zucchini and a Ninja Master Prep to grind the cashews. I love my Ninja Master Prep! It comes with a blender and food processor with one motor that powers both. I have used the food processor to grind nuts and seeds for my recipes for the past 4 years and it has done a fantastic job! The best part is that it costs less than $50, includes both the food processor and blender and has several thousand ratings boasting that it stands up to the Vitamix. Pretty awesome considering that it's 1/10th the price! With minimal sugar and lots of nuts and zucchini in each muffin, you can feel great about eating these! I think they're especially good with a smear of butter from grass-fed cows on top, but they are certainly delicious without it if you want to keep the muffins vegan.

Cashew Flour Zucchini Muffins with butter from grass fed cows. Gluten-free, vegan, rice-free and low glycemic

I hope you enjoy my cashew flour zucchini muffins! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Cashew Flour Zucchini Muffins with Walnuts

Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup millet/sorghum flour
- 1 ½ cups cashew flour
- ¼ cup sugar (Sucanat)
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup flaxseed meal
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tsp salt
- optional: 1 tsp coconut flour (add if the muffins come out too moist)

Wet Ingredients:
- ¼ cup avocado oil (or melted coconut oil or almond oil)
- ¼ cup honey (for rise)
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla

Additional Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups of shredded zucchini

- ¾ cup walnut pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

Wisk together the dry ingredients. Wisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour the wet into the dry and wisk before switching to a sturdy spoon. Fold in the shredded zucchini and then the walnuts and spoon into muffin cups.

Bake at 350 for 25-27 minutes (22-25 minutes at sea level)

Note: if the muffins come out too moist, coconut flour can be added. Start with 1 teaspoon. Yes, one teaspoon. That tiny little bit will soak up a lot of moisture!

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, by Unknown

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About me

Lots of people think they are limited to tasteless food when they switch to a healthy or restricted diet. Well my name is Laura, and I started this blog to prove that wrong! I share all sorts of recipes here, from Paleo to vegan, Whole30 to AIP. All are gluten-free, low-glycemic, extra nutritious and delicious. If you have a craving for taste, it's my hope that you find something to satisfy it here!

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Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins - Grain-free, Vegan, Paleo

Flourless Banana Nut Muffins - Vegan, Paleo, No Added Sugar

Pumpkin Pumpkin Muffins

The Best & Healthiest Zucchini Muffins!

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