Pears and Berries

Most often, I prefer a savory salad - garden salad with loads of veggies, or a chicken caesar, etc.  Some days, however, it's all about the sweet.  One of my favorite combinations is pears, pecans, and berries with a vinaigrette.  After a recent Costco trip, I found myself practically wallowing in pears and berries and spring salad mix.  I was, however, sadly out of my favorite Huckleberry Vinaigrette that my thoughtful mother brought back to me from her trip to Montana (I'd been rationing it very, very slowly.).  So I decided to try my hand at a vinaigrette that would have a similar impact on such a salad.  After a brief search online, here's what got whipped together:

1 part honey
2 parts balsamic vinegar
3 parts olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the honey and balsamic vinegar until combined, add salt and pepper.  While whisking, add the olive oil.  Pour over your salad.  Store in the refrigerator.

For the salad itself, I layered blackberries and raspberries on a bed of mixed spring salad greens, along with cubed fresh pear and chopped raw pecans.  I also threw in some jack cheese for added protein, although a more savory cheese, such as gorgonzola or feta would also be delicious and a good counterbalance to all the sweet. 

Intro Post and Paleo Muffins!

Good evening!  My name is Emily, and I'm slowly working on switching my family over to eating more Paleo, and less grain/sugar/processed foods.  I've noticed that the less processed foods and grain/sugar that I eat, the better I feel.  As such, I hope that this blog will inspire me to be more focused on creating healthy habits.  I also plan to post projects found through Pinterest as time goes on.  I don't have any solid plans for this blog at this point - simply a method of tracking and sharing projects both in and out of the kitchen.

PALEO PUMPKIN ALMOND MUFFINS!

adapted from this post on fastpaleo.com:
http://fastpaleo.com/almond-pumpkin-paleo-muffins/

This is what I came up with, given the ingredients I had on hand:

1.5 C almond meal
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
3 t pumpkin pie spice

1 C canned 100% pumpkin (or cooked mashed pumpkin, if you have it available to you at the last minute when you decide to whip up last-minute muffins)
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 T honey
3 eggs
1.5 t vanilla
2-ish T almond butter

 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Beat the eggs, combine with wet ingredients.

Blueberry thief - caught in the act!

Sift dry ingredients together, add to wet ingredients. Stir to combine. Add a cup of fresh blueberries if you like (we do - so we did!).











Stir to combine. As these are grain/gluten-free, the batter won't react like standard muffins, so don't worry about stirring only to combine. Stir away. You won't hurt anything.







Divide into muffin tins and bake - approximately 18 minutes for standard muffins, 8-10 minutes for mini muffins. Store in your fridge (if they last long enough to store!).

They started flying off the counter before they were even cooled....

Suggestion: allow to rest in the pan for a bit until they come out clean. As these have no gluten, they do have a tendency to fall apart when they are warm. I would also suggest that if you use berries, as we did, instead of beating them into the batter, drop them in to the muffin tins after they are filled. Berries at the bottom only create a mess as you pull them out of the tins.

Baby muffins!

The texture is a little bran-muffin-y, but considerably sweet and overall satisfies that overwhelming muffin craving when it hits. These were a hit in my house, and have led to a few suggestions for add-ins. First on our list to try: toasted coconut and crushed pineapple instead of blueberries. Cacao nibs will also be tried soon. Perhaps toasted coconut and cacao nibs? I'll keep you updated.