I recently came upon a dilemma. Not a large on of sorts, but a tiny small one…. Mom was making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins tonight. A favorite in our family, if you remember from this post. But here was my dilemma, I haven’t tested chocolate or pumpkin yet! How was I going to be able to test them both? I just finished day three of my latest “food” (maple syrup—yum!), so I could introduce one but not both.

       After thinking about it for a while, I finally came up with a solution! I would try chocolate and use sweet potatoes as a substitute for pumpkin since I have read a lot about using them instead of pumpkin…Sno White uses them a lot in her baking (due to Frog Prince’s allergy?? I think), like with this recipe for Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Bread…which looks amazing.

     Anyway, I gave it a shot, and used my mom’s recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins which I thought I had used for my original recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins….but I realized that I hadn’t. So, I decided to see if I could get closer to mom’s recipe.  

   As I was making these, I realized that I could submit them for this months SOS challenge! Hooray! I had wanted to participate, especially since I love sweet potatoes and eat them a lot, but I wasn’t sure what to make, and was happy that I came across something without even trying! I’m also submitting these to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Anyway, all in all, they came out great! I made notes though for you, and me, so that you can make changes as needed to fit your diet and to make the recipe more suitable for you!

 

Pumpkin or Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins

by Ariana Anderson, based of mom’s recipe

Sweet potato love! And look at all those chocolate chips! Mmm! And they’re homemade too!  

Ingredients:

• 1 c. brown rice flour (I find I need less flour if just using brown rice flour, it seems to be very thickening) OR 1 to 1-2/3 c. GF flour blend OR 1-2/3 c.“regular” flour---whole wheat or spelt would be great!
• 2.5 t. liquid vanilla stevia (next time, I would decrease or omit this as I found it a little to much overbearing, but not too noticeable since I had chocolate chips in it too) OR 1 c. sugar (I would suggest Sucanat OR palm/coconut sugar) if tolerated
• 1 T. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 large eggs (I suggest free-range)
• 1 c. sweet potato (blend mashed sweet potato with a little water until it is more of a “canned pumpkin” consistency---ie. you want it smooth and thinner than just mashed up sweet potatoes with nothing else….I used my food processor) OR 1 c. plain pumpkin (which is 1/2 of a 1/2 lb can)
• 1/2 c. melted butter or oil or applesauce (I used applesauce)
• 1 c. chocolate chips (I used my own recipe—free of sugar, gluten, and dairy)
• 1/2 t. almond extract (I omitted because I haven’t tried almonds yet)

 

Directions: Heat oven to 350*. Grease muffin cups or use papers. Thoroughly mix flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Break eggs into another bowl. Add pumpkin/sweet potato and oil. Whisk until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and almond extract. Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened. Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes until puffed and springy to the touch in the center. Turn out onto a rack to cook. Makes 12 (1 dozen)

Notes: Next time, I think 1/2-3/4 c. chocolate chips would be plenty. Also, while the brown rice flour and stevia worked fine, I would like to try it with a GF flour blend (at least of brown rice and tapioca flour) and less or no stevia and some agave or honey instead.

 

Swirls of sweet potato….and spice!

"Kitchen Scraps and Food Storage"

I found this article on another site and I wanted to quote and post it here because I thought it was so good and useful!

"Kitchen Scraps and Food Storage...
Here is a wonderful way to save money, have gourmet items in your pantry and enjoy great tastes!

Dehydrate!
You will need a food dehydrator or an oven and a way to grind the dried material into a powder. Spice grinders, coffee grinders, food processors are all good. Work with what you have or are comfortable with. Once ground into powder, store the powders in baby food jars, spice jars or whatever tightly lidded jars you have handy. Sterilize and COMPLETELY DRY jars before putting powder in. Also, put an O2 absorber in each jar.

TOMATO PEELS
Those tomato peels that are usually flung in the trash when you can tomatoes? Dry them out, nice and VERY dry, grind them into powder. Tomato powder sells for big bucks in gourmet shops, but essentially, it is made from peels that would otherwise be discarded.

Use the powder to boost the flavor in soups, stews and sauces, add some to your tortilla recipe to make those gourmet *tomato wraps* most people pay a premium price for. Make your own pasta? Add tomato powder! Add to softened butter for tomato butter (great on steaks and fish!) Combined with dry milk and a few spices, you can have a quick and easy instant tomato soup! Toss tomato powder into your favorite breading recipe to add a little sparkle to the flavor of fried chicken or fried fish. Add a teaspoon to your salad dressing and shake!

ORANGE PEELS
Grate orange peels or toss in a blender or chopper to have your own orange zest without paying those high supermarket prices. Orange zest can also be used in home made soap recipes. I have even dried out orange peels, ground them up and added a teaspoon or two to a regular bottle of shampoo for a citrus-wake-me-up scent. Orange powder can also be used in sachets and pomanders to repel insects and freshen closets.
Orange peels (powdered) can have a *bitter* taste to them if you get too much of the inner white peel in the powder, so be careful of that! You can also add orange powder to salad dressings, breading, butter, ginger ale (orange ginger ale is pretty good). Use your imagination!

APPLE PEELS
Dry those apple peels out nice and very dry and grind into powder as with tomato peels.
Apple peel powder is great to add to oatmeal and other cooked cereals. A teaspoon in a glass of ginger ale is lovely on a hot day, or add a teaspoon to a hot mug of tea on a cold winter night. Toss some apple powder into your body wash for a wonderful scent, or add to unscented talcum powder and dust some on! Apple powder can also be used as a sachet scent or in a pomander.

BROCCOLI STEMS
Slice up your leftover raw broccoli very thin and dry it completely. Grind into powder. Mix with cream cheese and sour cream and a smidge of tomato powder for a great dip. Broccoli powder + dried milk + water = cream of broccoli soup. (I always scatter some grated cheese on top) Again, use your imagination!

SPINACH STEMS AND PIECES
Dry out completely. Grind into powder. Spinach powder + sour cream + cream cheese + spices = terrific dip or spread for crackers! Cream of spinach soup when mixed with dry milk and water.
Add to pasta dough when making pasta. Add to flour tortilla recipe. Good to add to salad dressings or mayonnaise.

CUCUMBER PEELS
You have to be careful with this. If you grow your own or buy locally, you should be okay. You cannot dry out most store bought cuke skins as they are wax coated! That being said--dry out totally and grind into powder. Add to cream cheese or sour cream (or both-mixed) for a nice dip or flavorful spread. Cucumber is a pretty popular additive to bath salts, soaps, shampoos, etc. Add to alcohol and water (half and half) in the summer and put in a spritz bottle. Spray yourself to stay *cool as a...* you know the rest! A teaspoon added to a bottle of salad dressing is great for cool summer salads. Add to mayonnaise.

CELERY BITS AND PIECES
Slice thin and dry completely before grinding into powder. Use in place of celery seed in soups and stews. Add to salad dressings, dips, spreads or mayonnaise. I like to sprinkle it on deviled eggs (VERY lightly!).

CANTELOUPE RINDS (ALSO WATERMELON OR ANY MELON)
This one always gets me weird looks, lol! Okay, there is ALWAYS some leftover *meat* in that rind. Dig it out, slice it into thin slices and dry it out. (NOW you can toss those rinds in the compost heap!) Once dry, grind into powder.
A teaspoon in a glass of ginger ale is absolute heaven on a hot day in July! Adding watermelon powder to hot tea sounds weird, but is actually pretty good! Add some to unscented bath salts.
I have used watermelon powder in a white cake batter to make a watermelon cake. (It was terrific! Just add 3 to 5 teaspoons (depends on your tastes) to batter and mix in well. Add to softened cream cheese, sour cream and add a bit of honey and mix well to make a dip for fruits."

"I highly recommend the dried watermelon powder...watermelon cake is really good. I have also made watermelon ice cream by mixing the powder into a basic ice cream recipe.
I recently watched a show on the Food Network and a chef was just going nuts over a tomato ice cream he had tried somewhere...I thought "Gee, that's easy to make", lol!..have also made peach, nectarine and apricot powders. Strawberry powder, too. Basically, anything you can dry out thoroughly and grind into a powder--fruit or veggie. The only limits are your imagination and your taste buds!"

So, there you go...eat your garbage!."

My gluten-free version (also sans raisins)

What do you eat on a cold, fall morning? Muffins! What do you eat on a chilly night?

I served this warming turkey noodle soup last night with these applesauce muffins.

Soup and muffins!  Muffins are great anytime of day.

One of my absolute favorite muffins that my mom makes are applesauce muffins! They are so good….especially with mom’s homemade macoun applesauce! I decided to make them for my family one night and one morning for me. So, I’ve tested this recipe both as my mom originally wrote it (with wheat flour and all) and gluten-free. Both are great!  

Mom's Applesauce Muffins

Mom’s original recipe: made with whole wheat flour and raisins

Ingredients:

1-1/2 c. brown rice flour*

1/4. c. tapioca flour/starch*

*If you can have gluten, sub 1-3/4 c. whole wheat flour (as originally stated in my mom's recipe) or spelt flour

1 t. baking soda OR 2 t. baking powder (original recipe)  

3/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

1/3 c. oil or applesauce or half oil/applesauce (I used applesauce, although I think it would work the best with at least 1/2 oil)

1/4 c. apple juice

1 egg, beaten

1/2 c. honey (original recipe) or agave (I used agave)

3/4 c. applesauce (yes, in addition to using it as a sub for oil if you used that)

1/2 c. raisins (optional, but my favorite! I didn't add them this time, because I haven't "tested" them yet)

1/2 c. chopped pecans (or other nuts, also optional; I don't remember my mom ever using these, but it's on the recipe, so I'm sure it's good!)

Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger. Combine egg, applesauce, honey, oil, and apple juice. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until flour is moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Fold in pecans and raisins (if using...dried cranberries might be good here too!) Fill 12 greased or papered muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 400* F for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Ari