Oat Flour Banana Muffins

I've tried so many gluten free recipes over the past year.  I'm sorry to say that most of them are not good. And some are worse, horrible!  So when I made these muffins and they actually came out I knew I had to share the recipe with you.  

For this recipe you will need to grind some rolled oats or buy a good quality oat flour.   There is very little sugar in this recipe which is another reason why I like it so much. And with the addition of nuts they are especially satisfying. 

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats, gluten free
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds 
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients:
4 very ripe bananas 
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice 
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

Grind the oats into flour using a Vitamix or other grain grinder. 

Put all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  

Puree the wet ingredients in a food processor just until smooth. Do not over blend.

Pour wet over dry ingredients and mix with a spatula. Do not over mix. 

Fill muffin pan with papers, or use cooking spray, and fill 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean when done.

Makes 12 muffins.  These freeze well. 

Options: you could also add some fruit to this recipe.  Perhaps some fresh blueberries, or some finely grated green apple.  You will need to increase the baking time however. 

Original recipe from Forks over Knives.com 

True Food Cookbook

Andrew Weil, MD is the founder of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and a partner in True Food Kitchen.  He is the author of several bestselling books including Spontaneous Happiness, The Healthy Kitchen, Healthy Aging, and 8 weeks to Optimum Health. 

I've been following Andrew Weil for years. I subscribe to his newsletters, read all this article on health, and have such a deep respect for the man because of his integrative school in Arizona. He feels that our doctors come out of medical school not knowing anything about nutrition or how to help their patients achieve wellness through diet so he single-handedly opened the first integrative school to teach this to doctors. He is affecting the way medicine is taught in this country and now others are following in his footsteps.  He is a guru in the wellness community.  

The book is based on eating an anti inflammatory diet.  Why is this important?  Because inflammation is the root of all disease. If you can reduce the inflammation in your body you will reduce your risk of disease. 

Dr.  Weil has always taught diet first, medicine second, but when he decided to open an actual restaurant showing people how to eat I immediately had to see it. Fortunately for me there is a location close to my house in Newport Beach California.  I then purchased the book and started making some of the dishes in my own kitchen.  I am a pretty healthy eater anyway but having a cookbook like this makes eating right all the more enjoyable.  The recipes are not difficult and color photos are so nice to see. It's fun to make a dish and then see if you end product looks like the photo.  Trust me they won't look as good! 

I am not a broccoli fan but the Braised Broccoli with Orange and Parmesan made me a believer  Now I can eat it without saying yuck. The Kale Salad is one of the best selling items at the restaurant and it is in the book. There is a Citrus Sesame Sauce recipe that I use on everything. He shows it on green beans but you can make a batch and put it literally on anything.

Good eating should be enjoyable but also do something healthy for the body. The recipes in this book do just that. 

Homemade Lox

Yes you read that right.  I have always wanted to try my hand at making my own lox. I was standing in the store looking at some beautiful wild salmon that was on sale and decided right then and there that the time had come.  I've seen this done on a couple of food shows and I was so curious to see if I could recreate the same thing in my own kitchen. It's amazing what you can do when you have the right instructions and the best quality ingredients. 

There is a mustard sauce that goes with this at the end of the recipe. You can use it with the lox or use it on everything else. I baked some salmon one night and used it on that.  The sauce is fantastic! 

Ingredients for lox: 
3 pounds fresh wild salmon
1 large bunch of dill 
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar 
2 tbsp peppercorns 
1 tbsp fennel seeds


Cut the salmon in half and place one half in a deep dish, skin side down.  Cover with the chopped dill.  Combine and salt, sugar, peppercorns, and fennel in a small bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle over the fish. Place the other half of the fish on top, skin side up. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place it in a larger dish then put some weight on top of the fish. I used big 32 oz size cans of tomatoes.  Place in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, turning every 12 hours. You will need to remove the cans, open the foil, and turn the fish over. Cover back up again, place the weight on, and put it back in the frig until the next turn.

Once it is done curing, remove all the stuff from the fish. Don't wash it because you will lose flavor, simply take a paper towel and wipe it all off until it is clean.  Then take a very sharp knife and start slicing thin slices on the diagonal. Cut down until you get to the skin then stop. 

You can serve this on pumpernickel bread with the mustard sauce, or use on bagels with cream cheese. 


The perfect Sunday morning breakfast!

Ingredients for mustard sauce: 
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp dry mustard 
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp tarragon vinegar
1/3 olive oil 
3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped 

Combine everything but the dill in a small bowl and whisk until it is combined and emulsified.  Once it is thick and ready to serve add the dill and stir in. 

The original recipe is from Ina Garten. 

Miso soup with buckwheat, bok choy, shitake

I could live on soup.  It's warm, it's comforting, it's delicious.  You can make soup out of anything, and I can make a big batch of it and have it ready to eat for days.  You know my motto, cook once, eat twice! 

I have a gluten intolerance so I've been experimenting with grains.  Buckwheat is gluten free and it's a good replacement if you miss pasta like I do. And it's inexpensive. I go to the local Asian market and buy a package that contains about 7 or 8 bundles, which equates to enough for 7 or 8 meals, and it's only a few dollars. 

This soup takes some preparation so get into the kitchen and do all your chopping.  Once that is done it comes together very quickly.  For me it's always the washing and slicing and dicing that takes up so much time and energy.  I try to get his done early enough so that once we are hungry I can just get into the kitchen and this will be on the table in 10 minutes. 

This soup is aromatic and great for cold and flu season. The mushrooms and ginger are immunity building! 

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp olive or coconut oil 
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger 
4 scallions
3 garlic cloves, minced 
4 oz shitake mushrooms 
1 small sweet potato 
4 oz buckwheat noodles 
1 baby bok choy 
1 handful sugar snap peas 
1/2 cup white miso 
Lime wedges 
coarse salt

Peel and very finely mince the ginger. 

Slice the scallions and separate the white and green parts.  You will use the white parts to saute into the soup and green parts as a garnish when its done. 

Mince the garlic. 

Clean and slice the mushrooms. 

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 1 inch cubes. 

Wash and slice the bok choy into 1 inch slices.

Prepare the sugar snap peas removing any strings.

Dissolve the miso in a small amount of hot water so its ready to pour into the soup.

Cut the limes in wedges. 

In a medium pot heat the oil, add the ginger, scallion whites, and garlic and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Do not burn the garlic.   Add the sweet potatoes and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender about 6 to 8 minutes.  

Meanwhile cook the buckwheat noodles according to package directions.  Pour into a colander and allow to drain well. 

To the soup add the bok choy, mushrooms, peas, cook 1 minute.  Reduce heat to low and add the miso.  You  never want to boil miso.  Cook one minute more keeping the veggies crisp tender.

To serve:  Put noodles into the bowl, add some of the soup, top with the scallion greens and a wedge of lime. 

Serves 4.

Meyer Lemon Curd

$10.00 - Now taking orders

The Meyer lemon is a citrus fruit native to China thought to be a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange.  It was introduced to the United States in 1908 by Frank Meyer, an employee of the Department of Agriculture who collected a sample on a trip to China.  The fruit is yellower and rounder than a true lemon.  The skin is fragrant and thin, colored a deep yellow with a slight orange tint when ripe.  They are sweeter and less acidic than more common Eureka supermarket lemon varieties. 

Gift wrapping is available for an additional $1.00.   These make great gifts!

Pick up, delivery, and shipping are available.   To qualify for delivery: order several items or join forces with others.  I will deliver several orders to one location. You are free to stop by and pick up as well, or we can also meet some place in the middle.  For shipping I use Priority Mail through the Unites States Postal Service.

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