Delicious Blueberry or Banana bread/muffins

Because my baby is due very soon (any day now!!!!), I have not been trying out new recipes. I've just been trying to stock my freezer with recipes that I know we will enjoy. However, I recently decided to splurge and buy some sprouted flour so that I wouldn't have to worry about the soaking step in my recipes (anything to make my life easier at this point!). Sprouted flour opened up a whole new collection of recipes to me and this recipe is the first one that I tried. So easy and delicious! I made a loaf of banana bread and one of blueberry bread and they both turned out great! I didn't even fool with the crumb topping since I wasn't sure if it would freeze well, but I'm sure that they would be even better if you included it! Thanks to Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking for such a great recipe!!

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (whole wheat pastry/soft spring wheat is the best!)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup rapadura or sucanat (natural sweeteners)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter or coconut oil, melted – or replace with half applesauce, as desired
• Blueberry Variation: Replace bananas with 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries and 3/4 cup applesauce. Yum!

Topping, optional:

• 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup rapadura, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
   
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full (Definitely fill all 12, otherwise they will overflow).
3. Optional: In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup rapadura, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins. I normally just sprinkle with cinnamon and a little rapadura.
   
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean

Grain free Coconut Cookies

My girls have been wanting to make cookies, and this recipe seemed healthier (because of all the coconut and eggs) than most but still yummy! This is a very kid-friendly recipe -- the girls had fun rolling the dough into balls and then flattening them into cookies. They wanted "baby" cookies, so we had fun making little button-sized bites. Oh, and I am running low on honey, so we used sucanut instead. And I used my stone bar pans, so I didn't use any parchment paper. These are not super sweet, but just right for me and my girls! We love coconut! Thanks to Food With Kid Appeal blog for such an easy and yummy recipe!

Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup honey (I used sucanut)
6 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 300 . Combine oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Add shredded coconut and coconut flour. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make golf ball size balls and then flatten with hands. I wet my hands before forming the cookies to keep the batter from sticking. The dough will not spread out so however flat you make them is how they will turn out. Bake for 20-30 mins or until lightly browned.

Time-Saving Spice Mixes I Keep on Hand

I recently made up big jars of the following mixes, and I cannot tell you how handy they have been! Need some seasoning on my oven fried potatoes? Just sprinkle on some Italian seasoning mix. Need a quick dinner when the pantry looks bare? Make a basic cream sauce with milk, butter, flour and my ranch seasoning mix and toss in some chicken, pasta, and broccoli! Want to spice up a sweet potato? Sprinkle on some pumpkin pie spice! Needless to say, I have really enjoyed having these spice mixes at the tip of my fingers. (And if you are wondering why I don't just buy them at the store, it is because almost all pre-made mixes are loaded with msg and bad salt! Plus, it is cheaper to make my own mixes!)

So here are the ones I plan to always keep on hand:

Ranch Seasoning Mix

Italian Seasoning Mix

Taco Seasoning Mix

Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix

Onion Soup Mix

And I just found THIS awesome website that has 178 different spice mix recipes, so I can't wait to try them out and add to my list!