easy

GF HONEY OAT BANANA MUFFINS

My favorite thing to do on weekends is watch Food Network's The Kitchen (seriously my favorite show EVER, check it out if you haven't yet) and bake delicious goodies.

My weekly meals consist of mostly plant-based foods with the occasional boiled egg or roasted fish so when Sunday comes around it's my mission to try out a new good-for-you cookie, muffin, or other sweet treat recipe. Being gluten-free used to limit my breakfast and dessert intake immensely - there were little to no options available at restaurants, coffee shops, even grocery stores. That was 8 years ago and now the world has finally caught up which for me is a blessing and a curse. Hear me out here. I am so happy that the Celiac and GF population can now enjoy foods that they used to miss out on. Our previous avoidance of certain restaurants has gone down, and so has the envious stare-into-your-friends-mouth-as-she-takes-a-bite-of-stuffed-french-toast-from-your-favorite-breakfast-spot move. Not very classy.

Honey Oat Banana Muffins (Gluten Free) Recipe on www.natashawellness.com

But, have you noticed that all the gluten-free replacements are like 10 times more unhealthy than the gluten-full versions? Gluten-free pizza typically has 90 more calories, 4 grams less protein and 8 more grams of fat than regular pizza. GF sweet treats typically have more sugar and/or butter to maintain the gooey dense texture we've come to expect in a cookie or muffin. And I thought being gluten-free was more healthy. Not fair.

Honey Oat Banana Muffins (Gluten Free) Recipe on www.natashawellness.com

That's why I decided to try my hand at creating homemade treats. I know what's going into the batter, and into my belly. It's a win-win! Oh, and another positive is that each batch typically contains about 12 servings. Since I'm only feeding myself and my partner, the rest of the treats will either last us for a few days, get shared amongst visiting friends, or get frozen for later. My love of dessert is mostly a textural thing rather than a sugar-bomb craving so I can create a muffin that uses a small amount of sweetener and be happy. All I really care about is TEXTURE. And these muffins sure have a decadent gluten-y texture. 

My sweet recipes use honey, maple syrup, maple sugar, coconut sugar or mashed bananas for sweetness and coconut flour, almond flour, oats and chickpea flour for texture. Each sweetener and flour has it's own place and is just as satisfying as using the "regular" version. I also like to enhance my foods with nutrient dense superfoods like prunes, chia/flax/hemp seeds and nuts. Nutritious and delicious!

This weekend I made dense and delicious Honey Oat Banana Muffins. Packed with healthy fats, dietary fiber, Vitamin C, protein and anti-inflammatory nuts these babies will melt your all muffin-guilt away. Take a bite knowing you are feeding yourself real, wholesome food.

Try this recipe on your own and let me know what you think!

Honey Oat Banana Muffins (Gluten Free)

Honey Oat Banana Muffins (Gluten Free) Recipe on www.natashawellness.com

ITALIAN SPAGHETTI SQUASH BOATS

Italian Veggie Spaghetti Squash Bowls

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 14oz can of tomato sauce
1 package mushrooms, cut into quarters (portobella, baby bella, shitake, white button)
1 package grape tomatoes, halved
a few handfuls of Spinach
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
2 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tsp herbs: any ratio you liked of basil, oregano, parsley
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp allspice (optional)
grated parmesan cheese, freshly grated is best! (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat over to 450 degrees. While the oven is heating up, cut off ends of spaghetti squash, then cut in half lengthwise. Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour water onto cookie sheet and place squash face down on sheet. Set timer for 45 minutes.

2. While squash is cooking, sautee onions and garlic in coconut oil with a little salt and pepper. Add in mushrooms, cooking for 5 minutes. Add in tomatoes, s&p and cook for 2 minutes or so. Add in spinach and tomato sauce. Let it come to a boil then cover and simmer while squash cooks.

3. After 40 minutes flip squash over and spoon sauce veggie mixture in the bowls of the squash. Set oven to broil. Grate parmesean cheese on top and put back into over for 5 minutes.

4. Carefully remove squash from over and place on a plate. Add more parm if you want.

VEGETABLE BROTH FROM LEFTOVERS

I recently saw a recipe online that takes veggie scraps and turns them into veggie broth. And I'm over here buying boxed veggie stock from Trader Joe's? No way, I thought to myself, this is too easy. The recipe calls for saved and frozen veggie scraps from a week or months past (depending on how often you cook) which is great to know for the future but didn't help my grumbling belly at that moment. 

Simple Vegetable Stock Recipe by www.natashawellness.com

I had a lot of leftovers from our NYE party grocery haul and thought, what better way to use up all those baby carrots than with a soup? I love dipping these babies in hummus in the summer months but raw vegetables don't digest well for me in the winter, nor do I crave them. I also had some ready-to-be-eaten celery, onions, cilantro, mushrooms, sage and rosemary. 

Here is my version of a "clean out the fridge"/"everything but the kitchen sink" stock I made a few days ago. Sooo sustainable. 

Simple Vegetable Stock