Almond Flour {Carrot-Banana Muffins}

About six months ago a friend mentioned that she had done some baking with almond flour. Almond flour is very nutritious, readily available in health food stores and some grocery stores, high in protein and low in carbs and sugars. So me being me, I went to the health food store, bought a bag of almond flour, and put it in the freezer. It’s been in there, unopened, for a little under six months. Sticking to my New Year’s resolution to use up the food that is in my pantry and freezer, it was time to tackle the almond flour.

I had a couple of ripe bananas and was about ready to open up my ever-trusty Betty Crocker cookbook to my favorite banana bread recipe. For whatever reason, the almond flour came to mind and that was the mission for the day...find a recipe using bananas and almond flour.

On a blog by Elissa Goodman, a certified holistic nutritionist, she posted a recipe from True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure by Dr. Andrew Weil for Carrot-Banana Muffins. It’s a sugar-free, gluten-free recipe and is really delicious. (FYI, this was my first attempt at gluten-free baking). The combination of bananas, carrots and dates adds the perfect amount of sweetness. As an aside, I had about a half cup of dried blueberries so instead of using 1 1/2 cups of chopped dates, I used a cup of dates and then threw the dried blueberries in. Yum. For those of you who don’t like coconut, don’t worry. Unsweetened shredded coconut adds a little bit of texture, but the taste isn’t noticeable. 

The recipe quantity is for 12 large muffins...I ended up with 17.

Carrot-Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour/meal

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

3 large eggs

3 bananas, mashed

½ cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 ¼ cups pitted and chopped dates (I used 1 c. dates and 1/2 c. dried blueberries)

2 medium carrots, shredded

¾ cup chopped walnuts (I don't like walnuts; didn't use any type of nut)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin pan with expeller-pressed canola oil or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mx together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and coconut.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, butter, honey and vinegar.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Fold in the dates, carrots and walnuts.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups.

Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown or a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Since there is no real flour, the muffins will not rise significantly)

Cool pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then turn the muffins onto the rack and let cool to room temperature.

Makes 12 large muffins.

Blog Titles

While researching how to start a blog, one of the constant pieces of advice was to have a focus: What do you want your blog to be about? 

Oh my...blog about ONE thing? I love to travel, cook, read, drink wine, hike, vegetable garden. I'm adjusting to empty-nesting and reinventing my life after being a full time mom and having kids around for 25 years. I'm a word nerd...I love word origins, plays on words, having fun with words. The list goes on and on. 

Figuring out a blog title took a LONG time. At first it was going to be called "The Whole Kit and Caboodle...Plus the Kitchen Sink." Why this title you ask? It encompassed the idea of writing about lots of different topics.

Word nerd talking here and going off on a little tangent...The origin of kit and caboodle appears to be English. Soldiers carried a kit bag that held everything they needed, kind of like an overnight bag. Caboodle didn't start out as caboodle. Its original form was "boodle," meaning a group, bunch, lot, pack, or collection of things or people. Kit and caboodle may have originated with the idea of bringing along one's bag and friends and anything else one could think to bring. This title almost won out but it didn't.

You know how ideas can come in that hazy, fuzzy time when you're sleepy? That's when House Dust and Wanderlust found me. 

So my blog focus...adventures in everyday life. 

House dust...it's an everyday thing. "House" is also part of my last name. 

Wanderlust...always dreaming about that next adventure, whether it's local or even a little bigger than that.

And word nerd that I am, dust and wanderlust rhyme.

So there you have it. 

Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup

Today in Dayton, OH, the temperature is currently 7 degrees with an expected high of 18. On bitterly cold winter days, my meal of choice is soup, and preferably one that is a stick-to-your-ribs soup. One of my “go-to” soup recipes is Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup: meat, veggies and pasta come together to make a delicious warm, hearty meal. Making this has also helped me continue with my New Year’s resolution to clean out my pantry. (I had just one can of chicken broth so I used beef broth for the rest of the broth and then emptied a couple boxes of orzo that had just a little bit left in each of them).  

“There is nothing like a plate or a bowl of hot soup, its wisp of aromatic steam making the nostrils quiver with anticipation, to dispel the depressing effects of a grueling day at the office or the shop, rain or snow in the streets, or bad news in the papers.”
~ Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup

6-8 servings

1-2 lb. Italian sausage (depending on how meaty you want your soup)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 small zucchinis, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 cup dry white wine (Trader Joe’s has inexpensive wines that are great for cooking)
5 cups chicken broth
(1) 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with juice
1 tsp dried basil, crumbled
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 cup uncooked orzo pasta
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Brown the sausage. Spoon out most of the fat and discard. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft but not browned. Add carrots, zucchini, pepper, wine, chicken broth, tomatoes, basil, and oregano and bring to a boil. When the soup is boiling, add the orzo and cook for 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve in heavy soup bowls. If desired, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over each serving.

To prepare in advance: Like most hearty soups, this tastes best if it is cooled, refrigerated overnight, then reheated to serve. It may also be frozen.

Hoppin' John

Eat poor that day, eat rich the rest of the year.

Rice for riches and peas for peace.

~ Southern saying for eating a serving of Hoppin' John on New Year's Day

Hoppin' John is an American dish with African/Caribbean/French roots. It's a bean dish made of black-eyed peas that are simmered with ham hocks or sausages and rice. This dish is found in most of the southern states, but it is typically associated with the Gullah or Low Country cuisine of the Carolinas. Hoppin' John is one of those "good luck" New Year's Day foods. The black-eyed peas symbolize money and are thought to bring prosperity. Pigs (pork) are a lucky symbol because they root forward when looking for their food, hence forward progress in the new year.

Another one of my New Year's resolutions is to use up everything in my pantry and freezer without shopping for anything else. A batch of Hoppin' John took care of a bag of frozen black-eyed peas, a ham hock, two chicken Italian sausages, a quart of chicken broth and 

1 1/2 cups of brown rice.

Hoppin' John

Ingredients

1 T. olive oil

1 large ham hock

1 c. onion, chopped

1/2 c. celery, chopped

1/2 c. green pepper, chopped

1 T. chopped garlic

1 lb. black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed (a 1 lb. bag of frozen black-eyed peas  works just fine if you don't want to use the dried)

1 quart chicken stock

Bay leaf

1 t. dried thyme 

Salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

3 c. steamed white rice (or brown rice, if you prefer)

Directions

Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add the ham hock and sear on all sides for 3-4 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper and garlic and cook for 4 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender. Stir gently. If the liquid evaporates, add more stock or water. Adjust the seasonings. Serve over rice.

Resolutions

A new year...some new goals:

1. Create a blog. I've been thinking about this for some time and it's time to cast aside all my fears about being a not-very-technically-inclined person and just do it. 

2. Sign up for an athletic event. I did this on New Year's Day. I am going to train for the Air Force Marathon's 10K. I don't run very much and chose the 10K because 6 miles is a doable distance. Plus, all the participants in the 10K, half and full marathons get a medal!

3. Be more consistent using my cloth bags for grocery shopping. I have quite a collection of cloth bags...just have to get in the routine of putting them in the car so they'll be available when I go to the store. 

4. Quit being such a baby about taking my dog for a walk when it's cold outside. I DO NOT like cold weather and all the bundling up it takes to stay warm. But my dog loves to go on walks and once we're out and moving, the cold isn't so bad. It's good for both of us. 

Happy 2013!