I love (grain-free) cupcakes, cake, brownies, well, baked goods of any kind really, for special occasions. Being gluten free, you still have to watch your “gluten free” products. While buying a package of “gluten free” cake mix can be better for your gut and wheat intolerance (yes, we all have in it some form), it certainly is not better for your insulin levels, diabetes risk, etc. Many of the ingredients in those “gluten free” processed products are made with potato or tapioca starch, rice flour, and a whole host of other insulin raising ingredients. In fact, many of these ingredients raise insulin levels more than wheat products or sugars. As William Davis, author of Wheat Belly, says, “avoid gluten free foods if you are gluten free”, but that just goes back to getting away from the processed stuff we all know we should avoid anyway, right?
When I bake, I really like to use either coconut flour or almond flour. They have protein, fiber, a low glycemic level, and well, they’re actually good for your body. For sweeteners, I really love the raw coconut palm sugar. I did use some agave for this recipe, which I don’t use often, but they were for my dad and since he’s use to sweeter things, I really wanted him to enjoy these. I did cut down on the original recipe and added a little coconut palm sugar instead and think they turned out pretty darn good. I think the kids liked them too!
Gluten free vanilla cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting
½ cup coconut flour, sifted
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
6 eggs
½ cup grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
½ cup agave nectar
2 tbsp raw coconut palm sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda
In a small bowl, blend together eggs, oil, agave and vanilla
Mix wet ingredients into dry and blend with a mixer or hand blender until smooth
Pour batter into cupcake holders in muffin pan
Bake at 350° for 20 minutes
Add chocolate frosting
The frosting recipe is below:
Chocolate frosting
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup grapeseed or evoo oil
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch celtic sea salt
In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and grapeseed oil
Stir in agave, vanilla and salt
Place frosting in freezer for 15 minutes to chill and thicken
Remove from freezer and whip frosting with a hand blender until it is thick and fluffy
Frost over cake, chocolate or vanilla cupcakes or between cookies
I dipped our cupcakes in the frosting, like with the macaroons and the melted chocolate, one, because it was just easier and two, it gave it a nice smooth look. Oh and then we added some gluten free sprinkles we got at Whole Foods for fun. This was the outcome!
Pat -I know at least one person who is a chocoholic. Question is, did she approve? They DO sound good, though.ReplyCancel
landriav -Ha! She never got to try them. Too bad we don’t know!ReplyCancel
Jennifer Godfrey -One of the perks of being neighbors with the Voigts- we got a taste of these…and they were fantastic! The girls asked when can WE make some of these? Soon!ReplyCancel
Aside from my loving family and our health, I’m thankful for my sweet dad. Today is his birthday and knowing he’s on this blog as much as anyone, I thought this would be a fun way to share the love he and our children share. Scott and I are so fortunate for our wonderful parents and role they have in our kids lives. And, our kids absolutely adore them, if you can’t tell. Thank you dad for being such a super “Pop pop” to Alice and Tate. I hope you have a fantastic birthday today. In celebration of his birthday, the kids and I thought we would make gluten free cupcakes with chocolate icing! Yum! I will post those this week…
How many kids are in this picture? They sure wear him out, but I LOVE that he plays so hard with them, always.
lanny -Landria, thank you so much for your sweet comments. I love the pictures of me and the kids. The past two days have been the best I’ve had in a long time. Your such a wonderful, talented, caring and loving daughter. I love you so much!ReplyCancel
Shana -Those photos brought tears to my eyes! The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is so special, and you’ve captured it perfectly in these pictures!ReplyCancel
landriav -Thanks so much Shana! They actually did to mine too. We are very blessed!ReplyCancel
Drennen -Happy Late Birthday Pop Pop!
Your grandchildren are SO fortunate to have you in their lives.
Landria – the pictures are amazing and my mouth is watering for those cupcakes!ReplyCancel
Ok, I know…lots of chicken lately, but for the longest time the thought of cutting the fat off of another dull chicken breast sounded just awful. It was gross and a hassle; and well, I was just sick of it. I was in the habit of buying those lean chicken breasts too, and let’s face it, breast meat just isn’t as tasty as the dark meat; so the combination of the simplicity of using a whole chicken and taste of using all the meat has been great. And yes, I was still in my low fat habit (old habits are hard to break), but now that we know we don’t have to worry about healthy organic animal fat, let’s enjoy some of the dark stuff!
Anyway, today, I bought another whole chicken, threw it in the crockpot at noon added the ingredients below and turned the crockpot on high (for time’s sake). After 5 or so hours, we had a new favorite crock pot chicken dinner! Once the meat was done, I did take the whole bird out of the slow cooker, put it on a big plate, scrapped the skin off and put all of the meat back in the crock pot as the chicken literally fell apart. You just can’t get the meat any more tender or more flavorful with such little effort! Oh, and I actually added a few big bones back in the pot since I was going to let it cook on warm for a couple of more hours and wanted that extra flavor and nutrients. But that was it and gosh was it good, and, it went fast here!!!
Here’s what you need for Spiced Garlic Chicken:
1 whole organic free range chicken (I used 3 or so lbs)
1-2 large parsnip(s), shaved or chopped
3/4 cup shredded carrot (about 3 carrots if you shred them yourself)
4 celery stalks, chopped thin
1 red onion, chopped thin
10-12 whole garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup coconut oil (poured over the chicken)
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
3 tsp celtic sea salt
black pepper to taste
By the way, I saw jars of coconut oil at Trader Joe’s yesterday for the first time ever. Yay Trader Joe’s! Oh! And, do you like my new logo on the top left hand side? I’m very excited about it! Thanks Ashley!!
Rebecca O'Donnell -Thanks, Landria, for this one and all your recipes! I’ve created a notebook for them!! Yay!!!ReplyCancel
landriav -Awesome Rebecca!!! For the garlic chicken, I didnt have the capability back then to do it. I could just copy and paste in onto word and print (if I put the directions all together, hopefully) or take a pic of it with your phone and print that?ReplyCancel
Rebecca O'Donnell -This garlic chicken recipe does not have a print button at the bottom. How to print?ReplyCancel
I love cooking a whole chicken. It’s so easy, pretty cost effective (I’ll get Trader Joe’s or Whole Food’s Organic Free Range Chicken), and it’s delicious by itself or in any dish, soup, stew, for chicken salad, etc! So for this one, I paid $11.65 for 4.68 lbs ($2.49lb), and once it was done cooking, the bones collapsed and the meat just fell off the bone. And there was so much of it!! It was almost double the meat I would have got from a rotisserie chicken (for $7.99), not to mention the fact that it was an organic free range chicken. Here’s how you to do it:
2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
1 cup chopped onion (optional)
Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the spices.
Remove any giblets from chicken (usually nicely wrapped in a bag in the chicken) and rinse the chicken.
Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make it’s own juices.
Cook on low 4-8 hours.
Let the meat fall off the bones and enjoy!
By they way, can you tell how heavy this chicken is? Alice was having a hard time holding it. She’s not in crossfit…well, not yet anyway.All done, right? No, no, wait just a second. Don’t trash them just yet! Now you can make the super food, bone broth, with those lovely bones! Did you know….
Bone broth is one of the most nourshing things we can put in our bodies! Homemade broth is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other trace minerals. The minerals in broth are easily absorbed by the body. And, it even contains glucosamine and chondroiton – which are thought to help mitigate the deletorious effects of arthritis and joint pain. Furthermore, homemade bone broths are often rich in gelatin. Gelatin is an inexpensive source of supplementary protein. Gelatin also shows promise in the fight against degenerative joint disease. It also helps to support the connective tissue in your body and also helps the fingernails and hair to grow well and strong. And lastly (I’m trying to keep this condense), it can also heal leaky gut, a cold, inflammatory diseases, and, get this, it can reduce cellulite! WHAT?! Yep, I thought that might get some people’s attention. Here’s a little more information on the subject. Cate Shanahan’s book is one of my favorite books! It’s full of great information.
To make your bone broth, once you pulled all of the meat off, put the bones back in the crock pot with about 4-6 cups of water. Add about 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, salt, some pepper and any spices you might like and let cook for 4-24 hours. Honestly, I figured, the longer the better so let my broth slow cook for 24 hours, and well, my butternut squash ended up tasting a little too much like gravy or chicken so make sure you add enough water if you’re going to cook it that long. But, all I can think is how great this is for my body. And, you know what, my stuffy nose, is completely gone!
inaxachBrarne -Hello! Just want to say thank you for this interesting article! =) Peace, Joy.ReplyCancel
landriav -Hey there, thanks so much for your post and thanks for reading! 🙂ReplyCancel
Cathrine halliburton -H Landria!
Thank you for the ideas! I wanted to ask about the neck and giblets. Do you add them to the bones for your broth. What about the skin?
CathrineReplyCancel
landriav -Hey Catherine! Long time no see! Thanks for your post. So I just toss the neck and giblets. I keep the skin on as it adds flavor and locks in moisture but take it off when we are eating the chicken. Once I get as much meat off as I can, I’ll let the bones continue to cook and maybe even add a little extra water. You also can get bones (beef) at The Cathedral Farmer’s Market too for broth. Hope you’re doing well!!ReplyCancel
JillP -Dumb question….do you clean out the crock before adding the bones back in for broth? Tons of “drippings” are left from cooking the chicken, and I’m not clear on whether to keep this in with the bones. Thanks!ReplyCancel
landriav -Hey Jill, not a dumb question at all! I actually don’t, but that might actually be a good idea. I just use a strainer before I pour the broth in a container and that seems to help.ReplyCancel
JillP -Good point. Thanks so much. 🙂
The chicken was great, BTW.ReplyCancel
Pam Loomis -Do you skim the fat off the broth? I’ve seen both sides of this online – to skim or not to skim??? Thanks!ReplyCancel
landriav -Hey Pam! Sorry for my delay but just saw this. I don’t skim the fat off as that is where a lot of the collagen and nutrients are.ReplyCancel
DORIS CLAPPIER -I STARTED MAKING BONE BROTH BASED ON ARTICLE I READ IN CALIF.–HAD GINGER IN WATER WITH CIDER VINEGAR. ARTICLE ALSO SAID TO KEEP USING THE BONES UNTIL THEY FALL APART–HAVEN’T DONE THIS YET BUT COOKED SOME BEEF MARROW GRASS FED BONES TWICE, AND IT WAS ALMOST AS RICH SECOND TIME, COOKING FOR ANOTHER 24 HRS.IN NEW WATER & INGREDIENTS.ReplyCancel
Rob -When making the bone broth… do you leave all of the chicken’s natural juice and onions, etc in the crock pot with the bones and additional water? I probably have 2 cups of the juice from cooking the whole chicken already in the crock pot. Or do I start over with only bones and water? Thanks!ReplyCancel
landriav -Hi Rob!
I will usually just add water to our bones and whatever broth is leftover in the pot. It adds good flavor but don’t want to dilute it too much so maybe take some out. Hope it turns out well!ReplyCancel
Camy -I hope I can make this one of these days. I’m too busy to make my own broth which is why I bought Au Bon Broth. I’m surprised coz it’s really delicious. It’s the right one for me.ReplyCancel
I love a good chicken salad, but I don’t love processed mayonnaise and the hydrogenated oils that it’s made with, so I’ve started to make my own. It’s very simple! In a food processor, blend together:
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1 large organic egg
3/4 tsp Celtic or Himalayan sea salt
1 cup light olive oil
Then very slowly add in 1 cup of plain light olive oil. You can use extra virgin, but your mayo will be yellow/green and taste very olive-y, like mine did today). Unfortunately that was all I had in the kitchen. Oh, and if you don’t use a vitamix (or similar type blender) it won’t be as thick as traditional mayo, but tastes just as good.
And whah-lah. It’s that easy…
For the chicken salad, I’ll use
Whole Foods plain rotisserie chicken (or preferably a whole chicken that I’ll cook in the slow cooker. I’m posting that recipe this week!)
1/4 cup of raisins
2 tbsp Trader Joe’s roasted flax seeds
1/4 cup Trader Joe’s raw slivered almonds
1/4 cup sliced grapes
Take about half of the mayo out of the blender and add in torn up pieces of the chicken. Blend lightly for about 5-10 seconds. Then, put in a bowl or storage container, mix in some more homemade mayo and the above ingredients, or whatever you’d like, and you’re done. Now, you have lunch for the week!
Marla-Deen-I so agree! My favorite is Chicken Salad, but I am extremely picky! Especially since I don’t like or eat mayonnaise! My Mom always made her own, too.ReplyCancel
landriav -Thanks for posting Marla Dean! Me too, for sure!!! Sorry I’ve been missing class so much lately Busy month! I’m so ready to get back and have you kick my butt!ReplyCancel
kari -I tried making this mayo and nothing but a liquid mess….that tasted off. Is this due to not adding the oil slow enough? What is the consistency that you usually get?ReplyCancel
maria -I love your recipes but there is no easy print button on your page 🙁 I rather not print 3-4 pages of direction. Do you have your recipe easy to print in one page format?ReplyCancel
landriav -Hey Maria! Thanks for your note. Unfortunately I didn’t add the print recipe widget on my site until a year or so ago so none of the old recipes have the printing capability. I would just copy, paste (to notes section or email or word doc) and print if needed.ReplyCancel
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Pat - I know at least one person who is a chocoholic. Question is, did she approve? They DO sound good, though.
landriav - Ha! She never got to try them. Too bad we don’t know!
Jennifer Godfrey - One of the perks of being neighbors with the Voigts- we got a taste of these…and they were fantastic! The girls asked when can WE make some of these? Soon!