Gluten Free Skinny Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fall is defiantly in the air here in Colorado, and there is nothing better than your whole home smelling like pumpkin.  Come to think of it, there's nothing better than pumpkin spice well....everything haha.  It just screams fall.  I am always looking for an easy breakfast to take with me to work and this week I had such a craving for some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  My family has a recipe for some fabulous pumpkin chocolate chip muffin, but truth be told...they're full of oil and sugar.  So bad for you, but oh so delicious.  So it got me to thinking of what can I do to make some that are gluten free, and well all-in-all healthier.  After looking around on pinterest for a while I found a few recipes that I really liked, and kind of just combined and made some changes to make them what I wanted.  I also love to make mini muffins, as opposed to the normal sized ones.  I think they just end up way more connivent.
So make your self a nice cup of coffee and enjoy these wonderful muffins on a crisp fall day :-)

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 can pumpkin
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk (any variety)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup mini semi chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl (excluding the chocolate chips)  Whisk all the wet ingredients together making sure they are mixed well.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix thoroughly, but do not over do it.
Either line your mini muffin pan with liner or spray really well
Fill muffin tin about 3/4 full
Bake for 12 minutes if you are doing mini muffins, or for 15-17 mins if you are doing large muffins
Be sure to check for doneness with a toothpick.
Cool on a cooling rack, and be sure to store in an air tight container

Now the Best Part.... ENJOY

Paleo Gluten Free Crock Pot Cashew Chicken

So generally on Fridays my husband is off while I work during the day then we have the evening together.  There is nothing more I hate then having to go to work for 10 hrs, then come home and have to cook.  So I am always trying to come up with something easy for my husband to make (he's really not that great in the kitchen, but he tries :-) )  So I was craving some Chinese food, but what could I possible make that is both paleo and gluten free? Well Cashews were on sale at the store so I had picked up some of those then it came to me.... Cashew Chicken!  This couldn't be that hard in the crock pot!  And all Josh would need to do is throw it all in the crock pot and turn it on! SIMPLE!!!  One thing to keep in mind if you are gluten free is that Soy Sauce is FULL of GLUTEN!!!  But there are gluten free soy sauces out there, so just keep an eye out for it! I get mine at Sprouts, which is our local health food store.  I believe Whole Foods has it as well.
I then ran into the problem with the brown sugar needed for the sauce, this is not Paleo...now what to do... Then I stumbled across coconut sugar.  After researching all it is is processed coconut flesh to be very fine.  It's pretty delicious too, and it reminds me of brown sugar! Perfect!!  Alright enough blabbing, here we go!

Crock Pot Cashew Chicken

2 chicken breasts, (leave whole)
1-2 cups frozen broccoli 
1 cup carrots, chopped into bite sized pieces 
1/2 cup cashews 
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons ketchup (try to get sugar free for paleo)
1 Tablespoon coconut sugar
1 Tablespoon garlic powder 
1 Tablespoon ginger powder 
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth

Layer chicken, and vegetables in the crockpot
Combine remaining ingredients except water and cashews, and pour over chicken in crockpot
Add water or broth if necessary so that the chicken and veggies are almost completely covered
Cook for 5 hrs on low
Take the chicken out and dice into bite sized pieces, throw back in the crock pot and add the cashews and cook for another hour on low.

You can enjoy this on rice if you are not Paleo, or if you are Paleo you can do riced cauliflower (which is pretty amazing).  Best part of cooking the meal...ENJOY

Paleo Crock Pot Beef Stew

Paleo Crock Pot Beef Stew

Ahhhh there is nothing better than on a cool fall day to have the smell of beef stew cooking away in the crock pot.  So homey, and relaxing.  That would be perfect for a day like today here in Colorado.  It's currently 52 degrees out and I'm stuck at work until 4:30 pm.  The greatest thing about beef stew is that it really cannot be over cooked haha.   You can leave it in the crock pot on low allllllllllllll day long. Going Paleo means giving up a very important part of beef stew, potatoes.  How was I ever going to come up with a stew that still tastes that amazing with out it?!?  Well lets add another favorite veggie, green beans.  Yes, yes, this will be perfect!!  And yes there is wine in the stew, is wine Paleo?  Well people argue it both ways.  All I know is I'm not ready to give up my alcohol...so yeah...I will be drinking wine and cooking with it haha. So here we go!

Wish it looked a little better haha, but trust me it tastes wonderful!

Paleo Crock Pot Beef Stew

2 lbs stew beef (cubed or not cubed doesn't matter)
5 slices of bacon
1 large yellow onion (diced)
4 cloves of garlic (I love garlic)
4 large carrots (chopped into bite sized pieces)
1/2 lb green beans (trimmed)
Can of beef stock
1 cup red wine
1 bay leaf

Cook up the bacon in a pan until nice and crispy. Let cool and set aside reserving the leftover grease.  Take and brown off the stew meat, weather it's whole and you wanna shred it later or the individual cubes.  Place in crock pot.  Saute the onions in the bacon grease until tender, and add the garlic to cook for a couple of minutes.  De-glaze the pan with the onions and garlic still in it with the red wine.  Let reduce for about 5 minutes. Pour everything into the crock pot.  Add can of beef stock, veggies, bay leaf and the bacon crumbled to the crock pot.  Cook on low for 8-10 hrs.

Now the best part... ENJOY! 

Tomato basil soup

Here in Colorado fall is defiantly upon us. Friday it is only suppose to reach a high of 50... Brrrrrr... Haha. Ever since we lived in Florida I've become such a whimp with weather! 

On the news they were talking about how the first freeze may be happening sooner than later. Made me think of all that fresh basil sitting in my mom's garden and what can be done with it. Pesto is an obvious choice, but other than that what else is out there? That's when I started thinking about the cold weather and what I love during the fall... Soup. And one of my favorites, besides butternut squash, is Safeways tomato basil bisque.  So I thought to my self, how can I make a healthy version, aka minus the heavy whipping cream. Then I thought duh... My coconut milk sitting in my fridge!! So here we go!!

Tomato basil soup (healthy)

1/2 onion (diced)

4 cloves of garic (smashed)

2 T oil

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can chicken stock

10 leaves of fresh basil

1 cup coconut milk

2 t balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion and garlic in oil until onions turn translucent. Add tomatoes and chicken stock. Simmer on low for 15 minutes. Add basil and continue to simmer for 5 more minutes. 

Take mixture and either use an immersion blender, or a stand blender and blend well. Return back to the pot on low and stir in the cream, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!!

Now if you are big into freezer meals this is a perfect one!! Just put into a gallon sized ziplock bag (after it's cooled) and lay flat to freeze. When your ready to eat it you can take it out of the bag and out it in your slow cooker (yes from the frozen state) and cook on low while your at work and enjoy for dinner!!!