Life is short, eat chocolate. That's the saying, right? I feel like I could whole-heartedly adopt that mantra from here on out. Anything that gives me an excuse to eat more chocolate is a a good thing. I woke up two mornings ago and just needed these muffins. I was feeling a little foggy and couldn't seem to get going. This past week has held a lot of changes (updates soon!) and carried a ton of stress. I'm finally sleeping again at night but still waking up a little out of it. But, I may have found the cure. Somewhere between these rich, fudgy muffins and the crispy & salty coconut bacon on top, I found pure happiness. Seriously, I got LOST in eating these little guys for almost a half hour. The combo is unbeatable and reminds me (sans bananas) of the Elvis sandwich we had back when Phoney Baloney's was just a sandwich shop here in Southern CA. They may be my new favorite stress-relieving breakfast. Oh, and you know, one more reason to eat chocolate for breakfast.
Oh and one more thing- I'm happy to announce that our Cheezy Polenta Fries recipe is being featured over on Chocolate Covered Katie today. Thanks Katie- we think these muffins may be right up your alley, girl.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups gluten-free flour (we used the all purpose GF mix from Fork & Beans- with great results!)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 - 2 cups non-dairy milk
1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter (or nut butter of your choice)
1/4 cup organic sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut bacon

Directions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl combine flour with cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, xantham gum, & salt. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl or mixer, mix together milk, oil & sugar. Once combined, add sugar and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients one cupful at a time until completely mixed. Dough should be a little closer to cookie dough than cake batter in texture. Pour in chocolate chips and stir it all together. Spoon batter into lined or greased muffin tins and sprinkle each muffin with about a teaspoon of coconut bacon. Bake muffins for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. If coconut bacon smells like its burning, watch it closely. We didn't have ANY bacon burn, but oven temps and hot spots vary, so be careful. (If your prefer your coconut bacon lightly cooked or are worried about it burning, wait until muffins are about halfway done before sprinkling with coconut bacon.)  Once finished, remove from oven and move muffins to a cooling rack. Makes 12 large, full muffins or 24 smaller, half-filled ones (which is the route we took. I have no will power or portion control on my own...) Muffins keep well in the fridge or on a cool counter for up to a week. Can freeze indefinitely, but coconut bacon may get soggy when defrosting. If you plan on freezing 'em, I recommend adding the bacon as needed later. Enjoy!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you FABULOUS moms for all that you do! But especially my mom, 'cause she's the very best. In fact, if we'd able to spend it together, this is what I would've given her; It's moist, sweet, full of flavor, and a perfect Spring treat. Perfect for breakfast, dessert, or for a graduation party pr baby shower. Keeping it gluten-free means sharing with EVERYONE at the party, which makes you an in instant success. Yep, this recipe = success. Making you a winner. Go you! Anyway, I really love how the fresh lemon compliments the crunchy chia seeds, and using almond flour adds a bit of a rich, nutty taste. It's really great, and I think you're gonna love it. Not a loaf kinda gal? Bake 'em up as muffins! Watching your sugar intake? Cut out 2/3 of the sugar by ditching the glaze. Now, let's eat!

Ingredients:
For Lemon Chia Seed Loaf
2 1/4 cups gluten-free flour (we used 1 1/4 cup almond flour + 1 cup teff flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teapsoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup dairy-free milk
1/4 cup organic sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaping tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons chia seeds

For Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice

*Glaze is optional, but glaze is delicious.
*Whole wheat flour SHOULD be interchangeable here, though I haven't tried it. If you do use WW, omit the xantham.
*Sub poppy seeds if you like!
*This recipe can be used to make 12 muffins instead of a loaf, if you prefer. They will take less time to cook however, so keep an eye on 'em.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, & xantham gum. In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the coconut oil, milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice. Pour wet into dry, stirring to combine. Once well mixed, pour in chia seeds and stir again to distribute them evenly through the batter. Pour batter into a greased or lined loaf pan (or into a 12-muffin tin) and toss it in the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes clean. When finished, remove from oven and move to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before removing from the loaf pan. 
While loaf cools, make glaze by simply mixing the powdered sugar & lemon juice together until a thick, runny glaze is achieved. Add as much or little liquid as you like, but the more liquid, the thinner the glaze. I recommend starting slow. 
When loaf cools drizzle with glaze and garnish with a sprinkle of chia seeds and some lemon zest. Lasts 3 days covered on the counter, 5ish sealed in the fridge. Enjoy!

I've been realllly good since the New Year. No wheat, barely any sugar- and I feel great. But yesterday, I couldn't stop dreaming about Blueberry Muffins! Moist, dense, rich blueberry muffins with a crunchy sugar streusel. So I made it happen. Even without any applesauce or bananas, these muffins are incredibly moist and flavorful- especially since they're gluten-free. And if you're still watching your sugar intake or aren't ready for a little splurge, skip the streusel topping. You'll still be left with a delicious, hearty muffin! These may be our new favorite muffin...and they're definitely getting baked in bulk, frozen, and taken with us on our upcoming cross country road trip. (In case you don't follow our social media pages- WE'RE MOVING BACK TO CALIFORNIA!) On that note, I'm gonna go eat another and let you get to the recipe. Later, taters!

Ingredients:
For Muffins:
2 1/4 cups GF flour (we used 1 cup almond flour + 1 1/4 cup teff flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup dairy-free milk
1/2 cup organic sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (not thawed)

For Streusel:
1/2 cup almond flour
1/3 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil (not melted)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, xantham gum, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together coconut oil, non-dairy milk, sugar, & vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing together to combine. Be careful not to overmix! A little air left in the batter is best. Once combined, add in the blueberries and use a rubber spatula to distribute them through the batter. Pour batter into greased muffin tins, filling about 3/4 of the way full. Set aside.
In a small dish, fork together all of the streusel ingredients until completely combined. Sprinkle a little streusel on top of each filled muffin tin, right on top of the batter. We put about a tablespoon of streusel on each muffin.
Put the muffins in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through to ensure even cooking. Once finished, remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before eating. Save in an airtight container for several days. Enjoy!

Memorial Day weekend is here! Its one of those holidays that everyone celebrates, but rarely for its true meaning. Memorial Day was a holiday designed to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War, but through the years has become a day for recognizing all fallen American soldiers. Lets take a moment and do that, shall we? Even if its just in your head, thank everyone who does nice things for you. 
Anyway, as far as most of us are concerned, Memorial Day is just an excuse to stay home from work and have the first barbecue of the summer! 
Instead of barbecuing, we decided to bake our very first successful batch of Black Bean Burgers. And they were goooood...and gluten-free!

Plus, they're deceptively easy to make. We took our inspiration from a circular at Mother's Market for the month of May and made burgers with a black bean base...but there are so, so many more delicious ingredients involved than just beans! We wanted to increase the goodness of these burgers as much as possible, so we added some sprouted pumpkin seeds, sweet potato, quinoa, and carrots. You can just never have too much nutritional value!
The addition of BBQ sauce and chili powder adds just the perfect little kick to this smoky black bean burger.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked black beans
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup roughly chopped (we use these) sprouted pumpkin seeds
1 cup freshly grated carrot
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons vegan barbecue sauce
1 Tablespoon (2 cloves) minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/4-1/2 cup water
1/4 cup GF oats

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, please!
In a food processor, combine ALL ingredients except oil, water, and oats.  Combine until ingredients are all mixed, but not mushy. There will still be some chunks in this burger!
Pour contents of food processor into a large mixing bowl. Add water and oil, and stir well. Add oats to mixture, allowing to absorb any excess moisture.
Form into hockey-puck-ish sized patties, and place onto a non-stick baking sheet. 
Bake for about 15 minutes on each side, or until burgers are uniformly browned and cooked all the way through. Serve with tomatoes, avocado, grilled onions, sprouts and your favorite mustard on a delicious whole wheat or gluten-free bun. 
Makes 12+ burgers.
Wrap 'em up and they last for a week in the fridge.

Finding both a delicious and healthy recipe for blueberry muffins has been tough. We've tried tons of differnent recipes; most leave you with a muffin thats way too dense, dry, or chewy. A muffin consistency should be light, cake-like in texture, and above all else, have FRESH, juicy, delicious blueberries. I want mini-blueberry explosions in my mouth every time I bite in! These wonderful muffins will give you just that. Not too dense, and perfect to munch on at any point in the day!  We adapted our recipe from Eat Skinny, Be Skinny.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup hemp milk
3 tablespoons applesauce
1 cup fresh, ripe blueberries
 

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars.
Add milk and vanilla, stirring after each to combine.
Add applesauce to mixture and combine completely.
Finally, using a wooden spoon, gently fold in blueberries. Do not over-mix! You want your blueberries to stay intact and your batter to stay fluffy.

Spoon batter into 12 lined or greased muffin tins, filling about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy!

Don't these look scrumptious? Trust me, they are. We had some leftover pumpkin puree and some browning bananas to use up and came up with these little buggers. The fruit keeps the muffins moist and flavorful, while the muesli topping adds just a little crunch and texture. Ready to start your day off the right (and delicious) way? Read on my veggie friends!

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
muesli & cinnamon for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease or line muffin tins (makes 12).
Mash bananas thoroughly in mixing bowl. 
Add sugar and coconut oil and stir until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon, salt, flour, baking powder and baking soda. 
Add entire bowl of dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk together several times, until just combined. 
Add pumpkin puree to mixture and stir again, being careful not to over-mix. 
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling about 3/4 of the way.
Sprinkle with muesli and cinnamon and pop 'em in the oven! 
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. 
Makes 12 muffins!

Looking for something equally as pumpkin-y but with a little more sweet? We have a delicious recipe for Pumpkin Bread Cookies you should check out.