Almond and chocolate mini muffins in less than 30 minutes: Paleo - Gluten free – Grain free

Well, hello there… It’s been quite some time since the last I posted in this blog, to be precise just about 2 month. My excuses? Several… but I hope soon to talk about them.

In the meanwhile, here you have a great little recipe I found while looking how to satisfy a baking / sweet craving and manage to remain gluten free and grain free (and almost sugar free).

To be perfectly honest I didn't expect much of the recipe due to it having so few ingredients and the claim that it will be ready in less than 30 minutes but I gave it a go and I'm so glad I did!

This little bites are delicious and moist and can be eaten just plain as they are or adding some almond butter or cashew butter or even honey to them.

So without much ado, here they are…

Almond and chocolate mini muffins – Gluten free – Grain free

SERVES: 12-15 mini muffins

Prep Time: 5 minutes                  Cook Time: 15 minutes

How many?: 12-15 mini muffins

Recipe adapted from The Sweet Spot

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almond butter (You can buy almond butter here  or if you are in Málaga or Alhaurín El Grande check out the Herboristerías - Make sure it is the butter made of raw and peeled almond.)
• 1 medium sized bananas (The riper, the sweeter! Don't worry about using those that has the skin already blackened ;)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the seeds of 1 vanilla pod
• 1 serving of Stevia*. (If you buy it from Mercadona, they come in little sachets, use 1; if you buy the granulate Stevia the equivalent of 1 tablespoon. If you don't now where to get it, check here). These measures gives you a medium sweet muffin, if you like sweeter ones, add one more tablespoon.)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of double cream**
• 2-3 tablespoons of organic dark chocolate chips (at least 70% cacao). If the chips are too big don’t be shy and cut them with a knife.

Instructions:

1.    Preheat the oven at 180ºC.

2.    Place all ingredients - but the chocolate chips- into a blender or food processor. You can also use a stick blender if you have one. Blend until well mixed. Batter should be sticky in texture.

3.    Add 2/3 of the chocolate chips into the batter and mix. Keep the rest to use as topping.

4.    Pour batter into a greased muffin tin or those handy silicon mini muffins moulds.

5.    Add the rest of the chocolate as topping to each muffin.

6.    Cook time: 10-12 minutes for mini muffins.

 

I didn't expected them to rise so beautifully but here they are!

Note: best eaten the same day. If you have some left for the next day you can reheat in a toaster oven for about 4 minutes at 150ºC or just eat them at room temperature, your choice.

Hope you try them and let me know how you like them...

Ciao!

* I use Stevia to do some baking every once in awhile instead of sugar and results are quite good. I'm not saying it is the same but in terms of health I prefer Stevia. You can find information about stevia such as glycemic index here and how it is processed here. Or even something not so good here. Make sure to do your research..so you KNOW what’s going into your body. 

** If you want to make this dairy free you can change the double cream for apple cider vinegar.

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Weight Loss Wednesday Weeks 5 and 6

Weight Loss Wednesday Week 5 and 6

How far along? 6 weeks

Weight up or down? down... amazingly down..

Total weight loss: so far... 6.9Kg

BMI: 25.4

Clothes:  Tops and pants back to a EU38!!! 

Sleep: Because I've been on medication my sleep patterns are being a bit erratic... either I sleep a profoundly all night or wake up every 4 hours... nevertheless sleep quality is good.

Skin: My skin is looking great... can't really complain. Surgery scar is healing well.

Happy, oh happy dance...

Exercise:

-        Cardio: none. I know I need to be doing more but I was feeling tired due to medication.  

-        General circuit training: two "Arms and back" 55 minutes sessions of P90X

-        Walks: gone for a walk on an average of 3 times a week about 5 km each time. On a Monday we spend the whole day roaming the paths of Kew Gardens with my mother in law (8 hours almost non-stop but in a leisure pace).

Smelling the roses

Selfie in the gardens

 Food plan: No Sugars, No Grains. No milk. Only dairy I'm having is cheese (all sort of fatty cheese) and double cream.

Food journal: Was very bad. I didn't log anything for the past week or so. I n¡know... I will get back to it as soon as possible... like today? 

Saturday treat: Gluten free pizza
(almond flour base and three cheese topping). Delicious.

Sunday lunch: big salad with eggs and tuna steack

Sunday dessert treat: banana and berries home made frozen yougurt
No sugar added!

Food cravings: While in the UK and when my mother in law was around I really crave some cake and finally on the day we went to Kew Gardens I gave up and have a half portion of lemon and poppy seed cake... it was good but not as I expected it to be really... the other craving I've been having is "chipa paraguaya"... so last Sunday and after some search I found tapioca starch and bake this heavenly cheesey little buns and loved every single bit of them... check out the recipe here.

Cake temptation in the UK

The best wedding cake ever! Cheese and more cheese...

Chipa paraguaya... oh delicious chipa..

Happy or moody most of the time? I had ups and downs but it was mostly ups. Went to the most entertaining wedding I've ever been to like ever (Thanks Cath and Steven!), met a lot of new friends and family members, spent some quality time with my DH in London and had been spoiled rotten by my little brother since I came back to Spain.

At the wedding

Day at the beach with little brother and Bilbo

Best moments of these weeks: Cath and Steven's wedding, meeting the "stable boy" at the B&B we were staying who coined the acclaimed phrase of the weekend: "Was it worth it?" after asking me how long I've been with my DH... =) and coming back to Spain and being welcomed by Bilbo and my little brother.

Miss anything? I missed having some cake (not anymore) and drinking "cocido" (a typical paraguayan tea) with my "chipa paraguaya.

Looking forward to: having my mum over for the holidays... I can do some mami-time right now.

Baci per tutti!

Hasta next week!

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Paraguayan tapioca and cheese little muffins - Gluten free - Chipa Paraguay

Since I began my #NSNG challenge that is gradually turning into a lifestyle, I have been away of baking which is one of the aspects of cooking that I love the most but for the past week I have been honestly craving the taste of “chipa paraguaya”.

Chipa Paraguaya is one of the most traditional breads in Paraguay. It is made of mandioca flour also known as tapioca or cassava, a starch that is gluten free and therefore apt for celiacs, gluten intolerants and #NSNG who wants a treat once every blue moon (depending on how strict you are, but as Vinnie says, we need to put life into living... don't we?).

Even though the GI of tapioca is a bit on the high end with a GI of 85 to 90 for the tapioca flour its content of sugar is very low being of less than 3%, raw mandioca or cassava is consider an acceptable alternative to white potatoes and other starches for diabetics.

Going back to the chipa, these chewy cheesy little pillows are based on a recipe originally from Paraguay. The original chipa is made from Cassava flour or Tapioca Starch, lard and Paraguayan soft cheese. The adaptation you'll find here is also made from tapioca flour but instead of lard and Paraguayan cheese I used butter and a 3 cheeses combination in order to try to achieve the particular taste of Paraguayan cheese. 

Chipa paraguaya, just out of the oven
with soft melting cheese inside... yummy!

This version of the recipe results in a soft muffin, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. They are so quick and easy to make, they go wonderfully accompanying coffee or a cold tereré and by the way, you don't need to be following a gluten free diet to enjoy them.

Chipa paraguaya: Paraguayan tapioca and cheese little muffins – Gluten free

Author: Letizia Fretes – Cabernetplease.blogspot.com

SERVES: 30- 34 mini muffins

Ingredients:

- 350g Tapioca or cassava or mandioca flour

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 tablespoon baking powder

- 1/2 cup butter, melted

- 2/3 cup of Grana Padano grated cheese

- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, strings*

- 150g of matured sheep cheese, diced*

- 2 eggs

- 180ml single cream or milk

Instructions:

1.    Preheat the oven at 200ºC.

2.    Mix the dry ingredients together: tapioca flour, baking powder and cheeses.

3.    In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and add the salt, the melted butter and half of the single cream or milk.

4.    Add the mix to the dry ingredients and incorporate, slowly keep adding the rest of the single cream or milk until you are able to form a ball with the dough (if necessary add some more single cream or milk to make the dough manageable).

5.    Make little balls with the dough and place them in mini muffin tins. As a variation you can make little sticks with the dough, they will result in a type of crispy and rich grisines.

6.    Bake at 200ºC until golden brown that would be around 18 to 20 minutes.

You can made cheese sticks like grisines,
these are my brother's favourites.

*You can use any combination of cheese according to your personal taste or what you have available at home. Some really nice variants are smoked or mature Gouda, old vintage cheddar and Manchego cheese? Change the flavours every once in a while for a new taste experience.

**Enjoy them right out of the oven and only make as many as you need. Using mini muffin tins or making the grisines are the way to go. Bigger muffins or buns tend to become chewy or hard the next day, but this can be fixed with some drops of milk and 5 minutes of hot oven.

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Weight loss Wednesday: NSNG Week 5

Weight Loss Wednesday Report

A full month of my “No sugar, no grains” (#NSNG) has passed and I've been logging my  food diary  everyday. The Paleo recipes has been a great add to my food plan and I'm discovering new ways to prepare tasty and nutritious food every day.

If you want to find out a bit more about the #NSNG way of eating, I can recommend some books, podcasts and Facebook groups to help you get into this world. If you want to read the books, try these: ”Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease” by Robert H. Lustig, “Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It” and Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes. I can bet they will change the way you look at food after reading them.

Give them a go. They won't disappoint you.

If you are interested in the podcasts, try "Vinnie Tortorich: America's Angriest Trainer", "Fat burning man" and "Living La Vida Low Carb" or you can try the Facebook group "Vinnie Tortorich's No Sugar No Grains"

This is my week report:

-----------------------

How far along? 4 weeks finished, bmidways on the 5th

Weight up or down? I have lost 5.6Kg and I went down a pant size.

Total weight loss: 5.6Kg

Clothes: down one size. I was able to buy the Pearl Jam concert t-shirt in "S" last Friday! Hurray!    

Sleep: Sleep patterns has been a bit erratic this last week due to all the travelling and night outs but all in all at least 6-7  solid hours each night.

Skin: radiant and clear. No spots or break outs... Scar from surgery is healing well.

Exercise:

Cardio:  mainly walks. While in Spain we walk up the mountain each morning (8:30am) and in London we walk basically everywhere.

Walks: Every day this week with an average of 8 to 10 km per day.

General circuit training: None this week. Best workout this week was jumping up and down during over 3 hours at Pearl Jam's concert in Milton Keynes... will do it everyday if I could!

Walking up the mountain in Alhaurin El Grande

Walking everywhere while in London

3 hours of jumping up and down at Pearl Jam's concert.
The best workout ever!

Food

Food plan: No Sugars, No Grains. No milk. Only dairy I had this week is cheese. Not giving up on cheese.

Food journal: logged my food journal every day in MyFitnesspal.com.

Food cravings:  fruits. I saw those beautiful watermelons at the supermarket and couldn't resist.

Any sin? Wine, as usual and a pint of cider at the concert.

Breakfast: spinach and camembert cheese omelette and some bacon

Lunch: aubergines gratin and tuna and apple salad

Pork sirloin with apples, saute mushrooms with garlic, salad and wine.
A hobbit dinner...

Happy or moody most of the time?  Most of the days happy but a bit stressed out this week. Spanish summer was hitting hard and a lot of planning to attend a wedding next week has been keeping me a bit on the edge.

Best moment this week: In Spain... Bilbo's new swimming pool... In London, Pearl Jam's concert at Milton Keynes.

Pearl Jam last concert in the european tour at Milton Keynes

 

Worst moment this week: hormone treatment has begun....

Miss anything?  I miss my mum this week...

Looking forward to: a cousin's wedding next week!

Baci per tutti!

Leti~

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