Paleo Pumpkin Zucchini Carrot Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

So I took a twist to the normal delicious zucchini muffins and made an even more amazing version!  PALEO PUMPKIN ZUCCHINI CARROT CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS!  I know... just the name screams out... BOMBTACULAR!!! :)

As if a zucchini muffin by itself wasn't good enough.  Well, I go ahead and add some carrots, pumpkin spice, chocolate chips... oh and of course I paleofied the recipe as well!  Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables to use in recipes.  You can serve it steamed, grated, sauteed, etc.... It's easy to digest, full of nutrients, and for those picky eaters out there, just make them these muffins! This recipe is an amazing way to disguise this vegetable into something sweet, moist, and delicious! 

My experimentation came about just because I accidentally bought too much zucchini and thought to myself... why not try out a new muffin recipe?  I decided to add some carrots since I love carrot cake... I mean... how can adding carrots ruin the muffins?  If anything, I'll be adding more fiber and the carrost will give an added sweetness... I'm okay with that.  Here's how I whipped these together.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
2 eggs
1/4 grapeseed oil
1/4 cup light agave nectar
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini (do not pack down when measuring.  After measuring, squeeze out all excess water before adding to batter)
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup Paleo chocolate chips

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  In medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice.
3.  In large bowl, combine eggs, grapeseed oil, agave, zuchhini, and carrots.
4.  Mix dry ingredients into wet thoroughly.
5.  Stir in Paleo chocolate chips.
6.  Grease mini muffin tin.  Spoon batter into each muffin tin.
7.  Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes.
8.  Cool, serve, and enjoy!

My normal recipe calls for nutmeg instead of pumpkin spice, so if you don't care for the pumpkin flavor feel free to leave that out.  During this season, pumpkin twist everything sounds awesome so I highly recommend it.  Also, you don't need the carrots in there either (like I mentioned before), so if you don't have carrots, don't sweat it.  Feel free to add the amount of chocolate chips to your liking.  My boyfriend loves the chocolate in there so I always make sure he gets some extra chocolate love in there!  Seriously though, I'm all about cooking with love... so tweak it to your liking!  Okay, now go get some healthy baking on!  Have an awesome healthy week, guys!  KHo loves you!

Paleo Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm in the kitchen again and can't help but experiment to see what yummy healthy goodness I can create!  It's seriously like a fun project for me.  Everyone needs a hobby to take them away from the hectic stressful life... and right now, mine is kitchen experimenting time!

If you've already subscribed to my YouTube Channel - KHo Loves You, you may have seen my easy KHotCakes recipe.  I'm obsessed.  Just two ingredients - bananas and eggs... and voila... pancakes that are not only delicious but also grain-free, gluten-free, and Paleo!  It's one of the easiest breakfasts to make. 

So today, I had some really ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter and didn't want them to go to waste.  I've done the banana pancake thing... let's try something new... BANANA MUFFINS!!!  Pinterest to the rescue...LOL... I came across this one blog called "Tessa the Domestic Diva" and she had an easy recipe using bananas, eggs, and nut butter.  I've made Paleo bread in the past with cashew butter and I remember that the consistency was surprisingly very bread-like so I thought why not run with it.  I was inspired and now I'm sharing with you my version!

Ingredients
2 really ripe bananas (the browner the better for sweetness)
2 eggs
1 cup nut butter (any kind - almond, cashew, peanut, Brazil nut, sunflower seed)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla or 1 tbs honey (optional)
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (1/2 cup)


Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place all ingredients (except chocolate chips) into a blender or food processor.
3. Blend until well mixed: batter will be sticky.
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into a greased mini muffin tins.
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes for mini muffin tin or 12-15 minutes for regular muffin tin.

So, like I mentioned earlier, I love me some easy recipes and this one is just that.  I literally threw everything in my Blendtec, pressed a button, and bam, I had banana muffin batter.  "Tessa the Domestic Diva" said cashew butter was her favorite for this recipe. I like to mix things up and went ahead and used 1/3 cup raw almond butter, 1/3 cup honey Brazil nut butter, and 1/3 cup cashew butter.  I got my nut butters from Essential Living Foods.  If you haven't tried their products, I highly recommend it.  They have tons of super-foods and high quality, organic products... which I'm sure you'll be seeing more blogs and recipes from me using their products.  Their honey Brazil nut butter is pretty amazing so I'm sure it definitely added to these muffins.  I didn't use vanilla or honey when I made these but that's a personal preference on how sweet you like your treats.  For me, the bananas were sweet enough and everyone who tried them thought they were perfect as is.  I didn't put this in the ingredients list but I also added about 2 tbsp of chia seeds.  I like to throw in chia seeds whenever I can for some added protein and fiber.  If you have chia, go ahead and toss some in for fun.... you won't even be able to taste it.  I added the chocolate chips last since I knew my Blendtec would probably just disintegrate them.  I also suggest sprinkling some on top of the muffins to give them a really nice presentable chocolate chip muffin top.

I'm excited for you to try out this recipe.  I'll be posting a video soon so stay tuned.  Aren't you excited to get your muffin fix in without the guilt?!?  It's all about cheating smart and picking the right ingredients!  I know that living a healthy lifestyle is hard so I hope I can keep inspiring you and giving you tips on how to keep it simple and easy!  Now go make some muffins and enjoy every bite!  KHo loves you!!!!!

KHo's Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay so since my Rhabdo incident, I couldn't workout for awhile so my new hobby became cooking and baking.  When I first made these Paleo cookies, I didn't have the ingredients that I needed so I had to make a few adjustments.  I've made 3 different batches since that time and I think this recipe is a winner.  I keep getting messages asking for the recipe so I figured I'd make a blog out of it and share it with all of you!  Super easy, super yummy, super paleo!

Ingredients:
Almond Flour (I mixed some regular almond meal from TJs and some blanched from Whole Foods) - 1.5 cups
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Sea Salt - 1/4 tsp
Coconut Oil (melted) - 2 tbsp
Organic Maple Agave Syrup blend from Trader Joe's - 1/4 cup
1 egg
Chocolate Chips - 1/2 cup

Preparation Method:
1.) Mix dry ingredients in bowl (baking soda, almond flour and sea salt). 
2.) In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients (melted coconut oil, maple/agave syrup, egg)
3.) Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well.
4.) Add Chocolate chips in and mix well again.
5.)  Refrigerate batter for 20 minutes so it is easier to make into balls of dough.
6.)  Preheat oven to 350.
7.)  Prep cookie baking sheet with parchment paper so cookies don't stick to sheet.
8.)  After dough has been refrigerated, roll into small balls and place on cookie sheet.
9.)  Bake for 15 minutes.
10.)  Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. 
11.)  Enjoy!!!

This is a super easy recipe.  If you have coconut flour and want to throw some in there too, I would do 1 1/4 cups almond flour and 1/4 coconut flour.  That's actually what I did to get the cookies you see in these photos.  For simplicity sake, I left the recipe above with only almond flour.

Also, if you want your cookies flatter, you can use a spoon and flatten the balls of dough before placing in oven.  I left mine as balls and they came out taller and thicker as you can see in my photo.  Do whatever tickles your fancy.  These treats should be made with love so do what your heart desires!

So here is one of many recipes that I have yet to share!  I hope you enjoy your Paleo cookies.  I know I am! LOL

Love,
Cookie Monster aka KHo