Gluten Free Vegan Almond Muffin Bread: Finally Getting Back to This

Whew! It's been a really long time. I think my last post was about peppermint bark! Before that, I hadn't been posting much either. I have been itching to get back to sharing things with everyone but life has been stressful.

I think I mentioned in a post last year that 5 years ago I was diagnosed with an Autoimmune disease and told it's most likely Rheumatoid Arthritis. My gut never fully accepted this diagnosis but I went on the meds anyway. After a couple of years, I had the biggest flare-up of my life. It was hard to get out of bed and even walk to the bathroom. It was awful. At the beginning of this year, I had some issues with the medications at my pharmacy and it meant I was going to be off the meds for at least 3 weeks. So, since I had already cut down to one dose a day a few months previous and had improved a lot, I decided to just go off of it and see what happens. 

Well, my pain and swelling went down. Not completely, but significantly. I was doing yoga again, lifting weights, and walking more. My muscles seemed to be stronger and I had a better range of motion everywhere. As a former dancer, the most exciting thing for me was being able to go on relevé for the first time in over 2 years. Then, about 30-45 days after I stopped taking it I had a flare up of my IBS, eczema, my face broke out all over (I am 42), my body odor changed, and most importantly...my anxiety flared beyond anything I have ever experienced. However, my pain and swelling remained low to almost non-existent. I knew I was doing the right thing and felt (especially when my face broke out) that my body was trying to rid itself of toxins from the medication. Six weeks later and I am finally feeling like I am coming through it. I had to do some diet clean up and started meditating. I did more and more research on anxiety and panic attacks. Breathing exercises, meditation, mantras, yoga for anxiety, staying away from certain foods, and watching happy and silly movies and shows (avoiding the stressful ones and no news watching) are all things I discovered helped. I have a long way to go, but the turtle wins the race, right? Luckily my IBS has calmed down a ton, my face has cleared up, and my body odor has returned to normal. Even my eczema I have on my scalp has cleared up almost completely. I could go into everything I am doing, but that wasn't the point of this post. 

In the midst of all of this, I aimed at cleaning my diet even more. With stomach issues, I am always looking for cleaner ways of eating. That usually means I need to make my own food. I can't tell you how hard it is to find Gluten Free Vegan bread products that don't have nightshades or chemical crap. Just finding GF Vegan bread, in general, is difficult. So, I started trying recipes. I haven't found a regular sandwich bread, but I found this (sort of) sweeter bread recipe that I kept adapting and tweaking until it was all my own recipe. I have never created my own recipe. Surprisingly, all the trials were edible but I wanted to make it perfect. It took a couple of weeks but I finally did it!

Now, I was looking to gain some weight when I created this recipe and was focusing more on nutritional value than low in calories. In the few weeks that my anxiety was the worst, I lost about 5 pounds because my stomach hurt so much I couldn't eat real food. I got to a weight I was not comfortable being at when I knew it wasn't because I was doing healthy things like working out and eating clean. This recipe uses almond flour and avocado oil so it adds a significant amount of calories to the servings. But it tastes so good! I have never made a gluten-free vegan bread that is soft, fluffy, and tasty like this one. It could probably be scooped into a muffin tin as well. Try it and let me know what you think. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I do have a real camera now, so hopefully, I can remember to take some decent pictures!

GLUTEN FREE VEGAN ALMOND MUFFIN BREAD

• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/3 cup arrowroot starch
• 2 T + 2 teaspoons of tapioca starch/flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour (not almond meal)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup avocado oil
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seed, plus 3 tablespoons water)
• 3/4 cup almond milk (or non-dairy milk of choice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*.

2. In a small bowl, combine the ground flax seed and water. Set aside.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine/whisk all of the dry ingredients and set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients, adding the flax egg last.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It will start to get a little fluffy. You don't want to get rid of the air bubbles so don't over mix. (I use a smaller rubber spatula to make it easy)

6. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased medium sized loaf pan. Be careful not to press down too much and don't bang the pan on the counter. You want to keep the fluff.

7. Bake for 50-55 min. Let cool 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.

For 10 servings per loaf:

Amount Per Serving
calories 236
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 15 g	23 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	8 %
Monounsaturated Fat 10 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 133 mg	6 %
Potassium 76 mg	2 %
Total Carbohydrate 24 g	8 %
Dietary Fiber 2 g	7 %
Sugars 7 g
Protein 2 g	5 %
Vitamin A	1 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	6 %
Iron	3 %

This bread would also be tasty as a breakfast bread. You could add a touch of cinnamon to the recipe or even do a brown sugar crumble on top. Blueberries might even be a wonderful addition as this is sort of a muffin texture. Try some things and let me know how it goes!

Now that I am starting to feel a little better and I am now working from home full time (therefore have more time since I don't have to sit in traffic) I hope to get more posts. It seems that health and recipes seem to be the most viewed posts. Let me know if there is anything else you are interested in. I do have some makeup posts I want to get done. 

Cheers and happy baking!

***notes: You can sub oat or buckwheat flour for almond flour but you won't get the same texture. You can sub a regular GF flour blend for the white rice, brown rice, tapioca, and arrowroot but omit xanthan gum if the blend includes it. Coconut oil can also be used in place of the avocado oil, but I prefer the flavor of the avocado oil.

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*****UPDATED: Be sure to use dark maple syrup. I tried using the light maple syrup (the only difference) and it didn't rise as well. I went back to the Grade A Amber and it came out perfect again.

Homemade Granola: Worth the Time?

Every morning I eat oatmeal with granola. I usually throw some wild blueberries and almonds in there, too. It has become my favorite morning meal. It fills me up, keeps me energized, and is healthy. But what about the granola? Every day I am eating 1/3 cup of store bought granola and the bag only lasts a week at most. How much am I spending on this? What amount of added sugar am I consuming first thing in the morning? The answer is a lot.

Even on sale, the granola I purchase is $5.99 a bag when it's on sale. That's a minimum of $24 a month, but usually at least $30. Yes, the brand I buy is Gluten Free, 5 grain, Non-GMO, and relatively healthy by most standards, but I wasn't happy that I was consuming evaporated cane juice, glycerin, and canola oil every morning.

What is evaporated cane juice? Companies that make it will say it's a natural sweetener. Really, it's just sugar with a tad bit of the molasses still included. All sugar, because of the process that makes it, is evaporated cane juice. So really, it's just a fancier, healthier sounding way to say "processed sugar."

Glycerin is a filler. It's used as a sweetener and preservative. I wouldn't think it would be considered an ingredient for "clean eating." Besides, isn't that an ingredient in soap? Just because it is non-toxic doesn't mean it is edible or should be consumed.

Canola oil is not something I have done a lot of research on, but it seems to be a controversy. I prefer to use olive oil or coconut oil strictly for anti-inflammatory properties and health reasons. I don't avoid canola oil completely, but I figure if there is a controversy, there might be a reason to limit your consumption at the very least.

So, this led me to research Paleo homemade granola recipes. I wanted something that was similar to the flavor of the brand I buy (blueberry vanilla). I found a great recipe and it was really easy to make. You can find the original recipe here. My version is tweaked a bit. The original recipe was so large that it required two sheet pans. Not only do I not have two sheet pans, I am only one person and that much granola would go stale before I could eat it all. I cut the original recipe in half. Also included are directions to read as you go, because my pastry chef instructor would reprimand me as I did not read the whole recipe before starting. It's my way of helping you out so you don't make the same mistakes I made.

Pre-start tips:
1. Pull out all of your ingredients and measure them out.
2. Pre-heat oven to 325* and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. (I was out so I used wax paper which wasn't ideal, but it worked in a pinch)

Blueberry Vanilla Granola with Chocolate Chunks

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 25 min
Total Time: 40 min

Yield: 5 cups  

Ingredients

1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup almond butter (I used cashew butter)
1/4 cup raw honey
1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (I use the GF oats from Trader Joe's)
3/4 cup raw sliced almonds
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (I just used a few shakes as I try to keep things low sodium)
1 cup dried blueberries (I prefer the Steve's Paleo dried blueberries because they have no added sugar, but Whole Foods was out)
**1/8 - 1/4 cup at least 65% cacao dark chocolate chunks (I see this as optional) (I used Enjoy Life allergen-free chocolate chip minis)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheet with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.

2. To a small saucepan, add just the coconut oil. Melt over medium-low heat.

3. Whisk in the almond (or another nut) butter, honey, and vanilla extract. Continue to whisk until melted and smooth. Turn the pan to low heat while you prepare your dry ingredients.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, almonds, salt, and blueberries. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.

4. Pour the granola onto the baking sheet, spreading evenly.

Before spreading evenly in pan.

5. Bake the granola in the oven for 10-12 minutes and then give it a good stir.

6. Return to oven for an additional 10-12 minutes and bake until golden brown.

7. Remove granola from the oven and let it completely cool before transferring to an airtight container and stirring in the chocolate chips.

8. Store the granola in an airtight container for about two weeks.

This recipe turned out great. It's nice and crunchy with just the perfect amount of sweet. It's great for breakfast or a snack. I use this on top of my oatmeal every morning. As a snack, the chocolate chips are a fun added sweetness. However...if you are using it on top of oatmeal or in a bowl with almond milk for breakfast, I suggest you cut the chocolate chips. I add fresh blueberries to mine, so the chocolate is a little odd mixed in there.

I hope you all try this! It's a tasty recipe and has no added sugar, especially if you get the Paleo snacks dried blueberries with no added sugar and cut the chocolate chips. My verdict? DEFINITELY worth the time.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was so excited to make this granola that I only snapped one. Enjoy! Be healthy.