Who doesn’t love a muffin, a little sweet treat in the morning to go with your coffee or my favorite, TEA.

Did I ever tell you I’m obsessed with tea, like I buy teas wherever I go it’s pretty ridiculous I have a cabinet full of different tea and flavors. I love smelling the tea, I love sipping the teas, I love sharing the teas.

Starbucks has this new spearmint and Lemongrass tea with an aroma that will take you to another realm. Plus the caffeine is appropriate for the energy depriving lifestyle that comes with being a mommy.

But about these muffins, they are small batch too. Just 8 muffins to share or enjoy alone over the week for breakfast.

Plus they are low in sugar.

I’ve been making these at night after putting the kids to bed and passing them out in the morning, for a protein packed pre breakfast starter.   

Let’s get to these muffins tho.

Mix your dry ingredients together.

Mix in the wet ingredient. You gotta go fast during this step, or else the coconut flour will soak up all your moisture and mixing the berries in will not be so easy.   

Carefully fold in blueberries. (frozen blueberries were used in this picture but I highly recommend allowing the berries to defrost before adding them to the mix or else it will get to thick. Better yet you can use fresh blueberries.)

 Place mix in muffin tins.

To make the crumble topping, with a fork mix in the butter, sugar and tapioca flour until crumbly texture is reached.

Sprinkle on top of muffins after they have baked for 15 minutes.

The picture shows the crumble on top but it comes out much better if you wait until the muffin has cooked a bit first. I also ended up preferring using the coconut sugar or brown sugar over the white sugar for the crumble topping.

Bake the muffins for 15 more minutes after adding the crumbled topping, so 30 minutes in total.  

Remove muffins from pan and let them cool a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

I have to give my body a bunch of good stuff first thing in the morning.

I need the energy.

I’m no good on an empty stomach.

If I’m at work with food all on my mind you can count me useless.

Well food is always on my mind, but if I fail to eat a decent breakfast it’s on ten.

To counter that morning hunger crankiness I make sure I’m getting some real sustenance before I step foot out the door.

This meal is a bunch of REALfood that fills your belly, provides good nutrition, while pleasing the palate.

Grass fed beef is always better but this time I’m using this frozen all beef steak.

Yep I used a pack of good old frozen cheese steak meat. Mostly I’m pretty particular about the cut and quality of meat I use, but these work perfect. When it’s a busy & rushed morning, this frozen beef is as good as prime rib as far as I’m concerned.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat olive oil in pan and add the steak.

Cook steak (til it’s brown all ova’)

Add chopped peppers and onions.

Season generously with salt, peppers, and herbs of you choice.

Cook peppers and steak mix down.

Crack eggs over top of the peppers and meat.

Bake in oven for 5 minutes or until egg is done to liking.
I like my eggs a little runny so I don’t keep them in the oven long.

You can place it over top a cooked and sliced sweet potato for an energizing, and healthful breakfast.  

I add a little cheese to my kiddos but for me it’ perfect just as so.

Hope you enjoy!

I have been cooking up a storm.

My oven is  looking real scary with all the spills and thrills it’s been subjected to as of late. Switching to a grain free diet has been interesting to say the least. I enjoy all components of food. The texture, the taste, the smell. Bringing all those things together, taste, smell, and texture with grain free baking has been a bit of a challenge. When you throw in the need to avoid food allergies it makes grain free baking even more challenging. I’ve just been researching, and experimenting, and failing, and succeeding, all in an attempt to enjoy my soul food classics free of grains, and at times dairy, and eggs.

To share some of the failures and success I posted my best and worst!  

This Gumbo tasted fantastic, but I could not find Andouille Sausage without Corn Syrup so I consider it a fail. Grain free cannot include corn. The farm I order my pork products from, does make grain free Andouille sausage. Going forward I’ll plan ahead and order my sausage from them.

This red velvet cake was perfect! I used coconut oil instead of butter and three different grain free flours. Unfortunately I had to use buttermilk. It’s not perfectly Paleo, but it was perfectly delicious.

This Enchilada is certainly not the prettiest picture of food, but it tasted great. I made the grain free tortillas with 3 different grain free flours and lard! They were so good I used the leftover tortillas for breakfast burrito the next morning.

 This Perfectly Paleo, no-dairy, grain-free, vegan, and Autoimmune Paleo acceptable, was not palate acceptable. Grain free flour is too expensive to let go to waste, so I topped it with some ice cream and served it to the kids.  Oh and it’s Berry Cobbler. :/

Last but not least is this Peach Cobbler that was to die for, and then I almost did cause I ate the entire thing by myself. I hid it in the refrigerator and when I got some time to myself, I went HAM on the whole pan!

So now that you know my struggle, I’ll get back to the kitchen experimenting.

Who doesn’t love Pinterest?

You get to pin a bunch of  crap that you’ll probably never have, like a grown up tree house made out of old bottle caps.

DIY Pallet refurbishing projects that you’ll never start.

Or recipes that you’ll never cook like a Krispy Kreme Donut casserole.

Who am I kidding?! 

If I had some grain free donuts I would totally make a ridiculously sweet casserole out of them. 

This recipe was inspired by a Biscuit Battered Fruit Ring Pin I found one day.

I was doing my daily Pinterest browsing and up pops these little treats. The process thy used is much more sophisticated than mine. They actually dip the entire fruit into the batter and cook.

I just knew I had to remix this recipe into a grain free/Paleo  hit!

I decided to make grain free pancakes and simply place a fruit ring in the middle.

These and my Paleo Cinnamon Roll Pancakes are my favorite grain free pancakes thus far.

But if I had to choose one recipe between the two I’d probably choose this one.

The mix of grain free flours I used gave this the most traditional pancake texture. With the addition of fruit you add more sustenance to the recipe.

These pancakes will be in constant rotation on our grain free breakfast menu.

If you try them they’ll be on yours too.

It’s not a difficult recipe. I mix everything together and whip two egg whites separately. Adding the egg whites to the batter I fold them into the mixed batter.  This part is crucial to the final product, it gives the pancakes the fluffy texture you would expect from traditional pancakes.

Here’s all you do.

Mix all Dry ingredients together.

 In a separate bowl beat two egg white until they are stiff.

Carefully mix stiff egg whites into the batter.

Oil and heat skillet to 375.

Pour batter onto preheated skillet and place the apple ring in the middle.

When edges are brown flip over and cook for a few more minutes or until pancake is done. Serve with a little maple syrup, and voila.

I just love how the hot skillet gives the apples a nice and sweet caramelization.

You really don’t need much syrup with all the flavors you get out f these cakes.

                                                                        Paleo/Vegan Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

If you don’t know yet, wings are kind of my thing. 

I play around with flavors, cooking methods trying to find that perfect balance of crispy outside and tender juicy center to compliment.

The texture of wings are what i enjoy the most. I get a sensation from pulling tender meat from its bone. Call it the cave woman in me but I’ve always had an innate urge to chaw at a bone like it was my last meal!

But don’t be too quick to judge, because chowing down on the bone is exactly what you’ll be doing when you try these CRAZY delicious wings. 

 Even better, you don’t need fancy ingredients to prepare this yumminess.  A few easy steps, simple ingredients, and you have a great little appetizer. 

 Squeeze the juice from one lemon. Cover the wings in the lemon juice along with salt and pepper. 

Marinate wings for at least an hour. 

Melt butter in a larger pot. Add some olive oil. 

Add pressed garlic cloves to the butter and olive oil in the pot. 

Simmer butter and garlic on low for about 5 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning. 

Add marinated chicken to the pot mix the butter and garlic together with the chicken and make sure all chicken is evenly coated in sauce. 

Cook and mix for 5 more minutes. 

Turn off the stove. 

Turn oven on broil 500 degrees F. 

In a shallow dish place 1 cup of the grated Parmesan cheese. 

Spread Parmesan out evenly. 

One by one put the chicken into the Parmesan and turn around so that all sides are covered in cheese. 

Place chicken on a baking sheet when finished coating.

Place baking rack on the second to the top rack. 

Broil for 15 minutes.

Flip chicken over to cook other side. 

Broil for a remaining 10 minutes or until tops are perfectly bubbly brown. 

I like all food, and sometimes that includes food that other people won’t eat.

From Pigfeet to neck bones I have grown up on it all!

I enjoy it all. I eat it all. 

I realize that this will not be a snack that most will indulge.

But my hope is that this recipe reaches all my friends, and one day I will visit their homes and they will have fried up some gizzards using these instructions.

Then we can dip them in a spicy sauce and enjoy as if there is nothing strange happening.

As of now I’ll take those side eyes’ and rude remarks as I offer up some of the weirdly shaped nuggets to my guests.

I’m an old school girl, and I will try to  carry these strange, overlooked, and discarded cuts of meat on to the next generation. I will try.

Most of us have used them to prepare gravy. 

But did you know that when fried they can make a pretty satisfying snack. 

I first use the gizzards to make a well seasoned broth. They make a really great broth. 

I then batter it up and fry them. 

These’ll be apart of our super bowl spread this year!

Maybe you’ll try them. 

Maybe?

Put gizzards, herbs, and spices into pot, cover gizzards with water. 

Bring to boil, cover pot and turn to low. Simmer covered for 2 hours. 

Turn off heat and let gizzard sit in broth for at least 30 more minutes. 

Drain broth from the rest of the pot. Save broth for use later. 

Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer up to 2 months. 

In a bag with flour mix, salt, and pepper drop cooked gizzards. 

Shake bag up 

Heat lard in pot. When temperature reaches 375 carefully place battered gizzards into oil. 

Fry for 2-3 minutes or until brown. When they start floating to the top of oil I remove them from pot.

They can easily get over cooked, remember they’re already done you just want to get the outside crispy.  

Place finished gizzard on paper towel lined plate. 

Sprinkle with a little salt while still hot. 

To all the mamas who go to work full-time and still come home to cook a meal for your family, you all are the real MVP’s! 

Even as much as I love to cook, it’s not my favorite thing to come home from work and meal prep on top of the list of other things that comes along with a family. 

 My kids are pretty much spoiled by my home cooked meals so they will not have mama falling behind on kitchen duties. They want it and I want to give it to them, however I had to switch up my techniques a bit.

I plan out meals for the week, make sure I have everything I need, and have any thawing & marinating done before I leave for work.

This recipe is perfect for when you just don’t have time for a bunch of meddling in the kitchen, but you still want something good. It’s easy, healthy and budget friendly.  

When you use skin on dark meat you have less instance of drying out your meat. The skin helps keep juices in the chicken and the dark meat is naturally more tender and flavorful!

Of course I use Free range, no hormones, or antibiotics chicken. It’s much healthier than conventional hormone and antibiotic injected caged chickens.

The lemon herbs and spices adds bursting flavors for the chicken. 

Here’s all you do!

Wash chicken, and place in shallow baking dish.

Season with lemon juice, butter, herbs and spices. (Use whatever seasonings you like or check out the recipe below.)  Get generous with the salt. (If you have the time marinate this over night, or for at least 30 minutes for even more flavor)

Cover tightly with aluminum foil, place on middle oven rack, and bake in oven on 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

After 20 minutes turn on to broil 500. Take aluminum off of the chicken, and place on top rack.

Bake for 10-15 more minutes or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 180.

Pour cooked juices over the chicken when serving!

I love this, I mean I really love this blogging thing. Staying up late writing about recipes and food and family.   

I’m constantly rummaging stores, tuning in to interesting food shows, researching spice blends, or trying to learn how to grow my own collard and mustard green garden.

More than I love eating, the joy I have from watching my loved ones enjoy my preparations is even better.

I love to hear hmmm how did you make this, or wow this broccoli is good. Or what did you put in that chili? 

Nothing is better than watching others enjoy your food. 

That’s why I blog. Not for any other reason but to share my passion for food with you.

Thank you for cyber kickin’ it with me.

Thank you for letting me indulge in my passions with you.   

Now let me show you how I  you can make our families favorite soup. Trust me, you should make this one. 

Starting with a pound of ground pork.

Brown pork in pot.

Not just to cooked through but until it gets a nice little caramelized and brown crusty’s.  

Add some salt. 

Pour and reserve the rendered fat, they call it Lard, I call it heaven. 

I use it to scramble eggs or season my cast iron skillet.

It’s good fat long as it’s from a good pig.

No antibiotics, no hormones, free range, humanely raised piggies is what I use.  

Lets move on to the herbs and spices.

Sage. Because sausage likes sage. 

Tarragon. It adds a sweet aromatic note to this salty soup. 

Mushrooms for more body. 

If you know me you know I’ll do anything with a sweet potato.

So of course I choose it over a russet.

 They’re prettier.

They have more flavor.

They have more nutrition.

Beta-carotene, and vitamin A any one. I like a bit of spice. So, Crushed Red pepper. 

Mix it all together and what do you get? A nice base for this hearty soup! 

Add some more salt and mix it with pepper at this point.

Start with a few teaspoons and add more later as your palette sees fit. 

2 Tablespoons of butter. Melt. Sorry my Lactose -intolerant queens. Min in 1 Tablespoon of arrowroot flour.

This is where you can or cannot follow the pictures. Totally up to you.

In the picture I added the sweet potatoes first but after a few trial and error runs I find the potatoes end up with a better texture if you add the liquid first.

Bring it to a boil.

Then add your sweet potatoes. 

Bring back to a boil turn heat to low and recover the pot for 15 minutes. 

That’s cream. And again apologies  my Lacto-intolerant peeps. 

Pot covered. Ready for 15 minutes. 
After 15 minutes, mix in Kale and cover pot again.  

Cook on low five more minutes and turn off. 

 Because I like my Kale to retain it’s texture, I make sure to turn pot off after 5 minutes and let it sit for at least ten minutes before serving. 

To finish it off, sprinkle with Parmesan and enjoy. 

Sweet potatoes. 

Sausage.

Kale. 

That’s it. 

I was so looking forward to our first Christmas dinner grain free, everyone was on board and for the most part new what was expected.

Well of course I was thrown a curve ball. 

We had more guests then on the initial list and I found out only the day before Christmas Eve which afforded me zero time to change the game.

My list was made, and most of the food materials were purchased.

With the exception of this goat cheese recipe and my grain free mac and cheese there was no dairy as well.

I was skeptical. I wanted everyone to be satisfied and I knew if I cooked the traditionally less than healthy everyone would be happy. 

The additions on our guest list  happened to be family members that would not be as forgiving about the lack of tradition.

Long story short I took a chance and it went great.

It was a huge positive having honest people around who have never even heard of give and honest opinion on my dishes.

Everyone discussed each dish in depth, and it ended up being a successful sort of  focus group.

I’ll definitely be doing it again in the near future.  

We enjoyed  Rib smoked by my brother and a Lamb baked by yours truly. Both were delicious. Unfortunately are perfectly cooked main course quality meat was duped.

They didn’t get their shine on.

They were not the main attraction nor the bell of the ball.

The grand show was taken, robbed, and overshadowed. 

What could over shadow the star of the Christmas dinner show you might ask?

Well it was something quite simple.

A 6 ingredients 5 minute mix of Goat Cheese, basil, pimentos, garlic, olive oil, and salt. 

That’s it. 

Like most things in life effortless is best. 

Something about this mix brought out the best of flavors in the Lamb. 

But that’s not all it’s good for. You can use this mix for all your dipping and spreading needs. 

Crackers, bread, veggies, and then some will be completely content topped with this goat cheese spread.  

Here it is, the last post for 2014. I’m running out this year leaving all the grains, gluten, and processed foods behind me. 

2014  was the year of healthy transformations. I started practicing Bikram/Hot Yoga, I’ve lost over 35 pounds, I’ve healed my eczema, and I just feel better.

During the holidays I backslid a bit, and it turned out to be a positive thing.

As much as I was already convinced getting rid of grains were having a positive effect on my body, actually consuming them and then feeling like crap again was even more convincing that grains are exactly what I don’t need if I want to feel my best.

Not only did I feel tired and sluggish my ribs ached, and the muscles around my lungs were in such discomfort I could hardly sleep. The inflammation throughout my body was apparent.

I’m going into the new year with a wealth of knowledge and even more enthusiasm to not only continue on my healthy lifestyle but to inspire others to take control of their health and make an awesome transformation. Even more important enjoying good food while your’e doing it.

My passion for food won’t change.

I’m not that girl who is satisfied with a garden salad topped in some bland lemon and olive oil dressing.

I need hearty food.

Food is my life and just because we choose to eat healthy doesn’t mean we have to stop enjoying our food.

This past year has been a challenge for me to make good food that is good for me. And I did make some good food, learn some new techniques, and unique ingredients. 

This year I want to push it even further, try new cuisine, techniques, and tools that will have all our taste buds partying it up grain free style. 

2014 did produce a few recipes that had an avid grain eater rethinking that thing, and here they are. 

My top 5 Grain Free recipes of the year.

These Cinnamon Roll Pancakes were Paleo, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Vegan, Egg-Free and any other special diet friendly you can think of! These were dag on ridiculous! 

These Paleo Zucchini Fries were a hit at the Heggins house and the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce was just what I needed to convince big Noah that Paleo food can be on point! 

Salmon is already a super nutritious food but when you add pumpkin and bits of bacon, chile’ let me tell you, it becomes a party in your mouth! This Skillet Pumpkin Salmon is perfect and Paleo! 

These Sweet Potato Cookie Pies were the first Paleo dessert I made that had my entire family on board. They were all about that grain free life.  

 Last but fr, fr, not least this Grain Free Macaroni and Cheese! I made this at Christmas dinner and everyone was raving, including my grandma about this “Macaroni” and Cheese! I kept saying it’s not actually macaroni y’all. My grandmother quickly retorted I don’t care what it is, it’s good! And with that said I’m done. Grandma said it. Debate over. Grain Free is tasty! 

 To those who have stuck with me throughout this year of changing recipes thank you! I wish you all health and happiness in the year to come!