Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins {Gluten Free}

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

Important things I did yesterday instead of writing:

I Google image searched “Dogs wearing overalls” which then lead me to image search “Dogs in business suits” which then lead me to search “Where can I buy my dog a business suit?” and “Business suit for dogs distributor.” There is more. Let’s just say I went down the rabbit hole.

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

After this, I did a fair amount of internet research on tater tots. Sunday afternoon was spent brunching with friends. Tater tots happened in a big way. I want to make them. I can’t stop thinking about them. My brain and my heart are filled with images of these crunchy, school-time favorites. You want some now, don’t you? I am going to do my best to make this happen. I asked Siri earnestly “Why are tater-tots so delicious?” to which she replied “Calling Jim.”  Siri fail. The most concerning part being, I don’t know a Jim.

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

After my really important internet research, I decided to get cooking. I massaged the heck out of a kale salad. I also crisped you up some sweet potato chips. I secretly want to cover the sweet potato chips in chocolate, but I am trying to practice something I call restraint. This could be seen on Sunday when I ate only 1.5 plates of tater tots instead of 2 plates of tater tots. High five.

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

I’ve been eating paleo (ish) for 25 days (Yes, I know tater tots are not paleo. Real life happens. I have stuck with it 95% of the time. If you are shaking your head in disappointment  it’s only because you want to go eat tater tots. I get it.) On my fourth day of eating paleo, I got the baking bug. There was a fury of search terms that were typed into Google, mostly in all caps. “PALEO DESSERTS!!” “PALEO MUFFINS!” “WHAT CAN I BAKE WHEN EATING PALEO?” “IS CHOCOLATE PALEO?” It turns out that you can make a lot of things paleo. I was surprised in the best possible way.

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

Do you ever wish you could peek at my Google search queue? It gets weird.

After scrolling and drooling and writing down a key list of ingredients, I settled on these tea-infused muffins! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. The chamomile is complimented by the lemon zest. The raw honey gives it a sweetness, and the almond meal is rich and buttery. It’s like a decadent cup of tea in muffin form! I split one open while it was still warm, spread some coconut oil on each half and dipped it in a glass of Cardamom & Honey Cashew Milk. Total heaven.

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.  Sending so much love, and warmth to those affected by the tragedy in Boston. What I didn’t mention before is that in between my erroneous Google search terms, I was glued to the news, watching with utter confusion and shock.  My heart feels heavy. I wish I could bake you all muffins and give you hugs. xo

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins

Yield: 6 muffins

Adapted slightly from Roost

Ingredients

  • 2 cups almond meal
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 chamomile tea bags
  • 1/4 cup raw honey (or maple syrup)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine together all of your dry ingredients. This also includes your lemon zest and the contents of your tea bags. Simply cut them open and dump the chamomile tea inside the batter. Stir.
  3. In a separate bowl mix together your eggs and your honey. Whisk until they are thoroughly combined.
  4. Add your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and whisk together until a thick batter forms.
  5. Distribute your batter between six cupcake liners. I like to use re-usable silicone liners, since they separate from the muffins so easily.
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown.
  7. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, and then enjoy!
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Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang Out

Look-y here. I’ve managed to make you something that isn’t breakfast. I’ve apparently been on one serious breakfast-y kick. I’ve been turning out waffles, quiche, and smoothies galore. I point out the fact I’m bringing you something non-breakfast since I am pretty sure tomorrow (or at least soon) I am posting something breakfast-y. Sorry (not really).

So…yesterday got weird. Mostly because I’m me and can’t seem to stay off the internet no matter how terrifying it can be. I had a weird tingle in my leg, which I promptly Googled (bad move). Don’t do this, friends. Don’t Google every twinge or tingle or pain that happens in your body just because you can. I’ve been telling myself this for years, but I can’t seem to take my own advice. When you Google a symptom, no matter what your symptom is, it usually leads to “OMG, I AM DYING!!!” Since I was experiencing a weird leg tingle, the sage and soothing advice of the interweb made me believe that I was probably, most likely, right in the middle of a stroke. Things got dramatic. I started pacing back and forth, thinking “OMG. I am having a stroke. This is not good. This is extremely bad.” The dog looked at me suspiciously and without major concern. Aren’t dogs supposed to be sympathetic? Geez.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang Out

I needed to be talked off the ledge and the dog’s cavalier attitude led me to believe she was not the one for the job. I called my mother. “Mom, I am fairly certain,with the advice of the internet, that I am having a stroke.”  It turns out that if you have the where withal to call someone semi-casually, and the strength to pace your hallways over and over, you are probably not having a stroke and most likely just have some sort of pins and needles situation from sitting on your leg for too long at the computer. You are however, probably in the middle of a WebMD-induced panic attack. After a pretty grandiose freak out, some light tears and some heavy breathing, I managed to pull myself together. Long story short…WebMD is not a real doctor, Moms are good people to call when you are having non-strokes, and I can be an over-dramatic hypochondriac. This is my real life brain in ultimate crazy-mode. It happens. We all have our things.

After one is done having a non-stroke, one gets hungry. At least, this is my personal experience after said non-stroke. I took out some hearty healthy veggies and began to work some healthy magic.  I chopped a cauliflower into florets. I diced up a couple of cloves of garlic very finely. I broke out the fancy Copper Hill olive oil and poured a couple of tablespoons over my cauliflower and garlic mixture. All good things at work here. This is definitely healthy eating.  (I know this because I Googled it. Old habits die hard, no?)

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang OutI tossed the mixture with my fingers, making sure that all of the florets were covered with the olive oil and the garlic mixture. I roasted the cauliflower until it became tender and golden brown. This gives it a lovely, nutty taste.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang OutI indulged in a little more chopping therapy, and minced some kalamata olives and some green onions. I measured out capers and juiced a meyer lemon.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang OutOnce the cauliflower florets had cooled enough to be handled, everything went together in a bowl to mingle and get cozy. I tossed the mixture again with my hands. There is something therapeutic about using your hands. It’s the same feeling you get when you are kneading biscuits. It just makes sense for me. I topped the whole mixture with a couple more tablespoons of olive oil.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang OutI filled a plate up with fresh spring mix and put a generous helping of the cauliflower mixture on top. You don’t even need to dress your greens, because the olive oil and the lemon juice mixture will seep down into them. The whole mix is packed with flavor. No salt is needed, since the capers and the olives pack a salty punch. I grated a bit of freshly-cracked black pepper over the top just to add a little bit of a kick. This dish is simple, clean and completely satisfying.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang OutBe cool, eat your veggies, and lay off the internet medical advice.  High fives all around.

Disclaimer: The nice people at Copper Hill Olive Oil sent me some samples for recipe development and testing purposes. However, all opinions are my own.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Ingredients

  • 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
  • 4 tbs high quality olive oil (I used Copper Hill's Koroneiki Olive Oil)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tbs capers
  • 15 kalamata olives, diced
  • 1/3 cup diced green onions
  • Juice from 1 meyer lemon
  • Spring mix
  • Freshly cracked black pepper, to top

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  3. Remove the stem from your cauliflower and chop up into florets.
  4. Mince your garlic and add into a medium sized mixing bowl with your cauliflower florets.
  5. Add in two tablespoons of your olive oil and massage with mixture with your hands until the cauliflower is completely coated and the garlic is also distributed evenly throughout.
  6. Lay the cauliflower out flat onto your aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and pop into the oven for 10 minutes. Once ten minutes has gone by, remove the cauliflower from the oven and flip each piece. Put the pan back into the oven for 10-15 minutes or until your cauliflower is fork tender and lightly golden brown on the edges.
  7. While your cauliflower is baking, prepare your other ingredients. Chop up your olives and your green onions, juice your lemon, and measure our your capers.
  8. When the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, put it back into your mixing bowl with your other ingredients and using your hands mix together. Top with the remaining 2 tbs of olive oil and mix again.
  9. Serve over a bed of spring mix and top with freshly cracked pepper.
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Lentil Soup With Lemon Yogurt Cream

Lentil Soup With Lemon Yogurt Cream

As long as I can remember I have been a fan of lentil soup.

When I was younger I would heat up a can of Progresso, cook pasta shells in it, and then proceed to dump at least a quarter-bottle of grated Parmesan into the mix. This is not an exaggeration. You know how the bottle has two settings? One of them is the sensible trio of holes that will simply dust your food with a socially acceptable amount of cheese, the other is one gaping hole that is intended for quick and sudden evacuation for large amounts of cheese. I used the gaping hole side. This dish is what my Italian father dubbed “Pasta Fazool.” It was simple and tasty and I am sure that our Great Italian Grandmother is rolling over in her grave somewhere at the thought of us using canned soup and buckets of pre-grated Parm.

For a long time this satisfied me. Opening up cans, dumping the contents, saturating the finished product with buckets of gritty cheese. This got me through most of college… along with a suspicious amount of turkey sandwiches and vodka. Then, one year I got bit by the soup bug. I am sure this was during the first year that I started teaching. I was constantly sick. I started making soup from scratch and it was a revelation. I experimented with everything from chicken noodle, beef stew, chicken and rice, spicy sausage soup with spinach and of course lentil.

Later that year I would return to my parents home for a visit, reach into their cupboard grab a can of lentil soup and proceed to start my Pasta Fazool-ing. I did everything that I used to do. Dumped the can, cooked the pasta, emptied their cheese canister onto my single serving. When I took a bite I almost cried. It was disgusting. I think I exclaimed “OMG, THIS IS SO DISGUSTING, I CAN’T EVEN EAT THIS” and then made gagging noises. It was probably dramatic. I had become an unintentional soup snob. Homemade soup has so much flavor and soul to it. Canned soup now tasted flat, mushy, watery and lacking in freshness.

So, if you are stuck in a canned lentil soup rut, I get you. I dare you to make your own. It is a game changer. Also, if you make your own and still want to put a near gallon of Parmesan cheese in it, I won’t judge you or look at you funny. Go ahead.

lentil soup-8018blog

A couple of weeks ago I became a victim of flu season. Despite juicing nearly every piece of citrus in my house and eating an inhuman amount of kale I still managed to gain a sore throat, aching body and a generally bad attitude. There were reality TV marathons and a lot of day napping. It was bleak.

I finally decided to make myself some soup. I remembered seeing this recipe on The Kitchn website and wanting to try it out. In true form, I did not have everything the recipe called for. Being that I was dizzy and hadn’t properly groomed my hair for two days, I was not about to make a run to the store. I had enough to make a delicious soup.  Perhaps the most delicious thing about this recipe is the addition of the Lemon Cream. It’s bright and sour and really stands up to the earthiness of the soup. Delicious. Totally 100% more fancy than canned soup, no matter how much Parmesan you dump in there.

I am trying out this ZipList recipe plug in which allows you to print out recipes easily. Let me know how it works for you!  xo

Lentil Soup With Lemon Yogurt Cream

Lentil Soup With Lemon Yogurt Cream

Ingredients

  • Olive oil to coat the pot
  • 1 medium sized yellow onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 cup brown lentils
  • 8 cups beef broth (veggie broth to make vegan)
  • 3/4 cup red wine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt (omit if vegan)
  • zest and juice from 1 lemon
  • Minced parsley to serve

Instructions

  1. Coat the bottom of your soup pot with olive oil and heat up over medium heat.
  2. Add in your onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent.
  3. Add in your celery and carrots and cook an additional two minutes stirring occasionally.
  4. Add in your tomato paste, cumin, cinnamon and salt. Stir and allow to cook down for another two minutes. Your mixture will be very fragrant and the red color of the tomato paste will color your veggies.
  5. Add in your lentils and stir to coat with all of the veggies and spices. Add in your broth, wine and bay leaves and bring the entire pot to a boil.
  6. Once your pot is boiling, reduce your heat and bring it to a simmer. Allow your soup to simmer this way for at least 35 minutes. Your soup is done when your lentils are soft and tender. They should not be hard at all.
  7. While your soup is simmering, start your lemon cream. In a bowl combine your cup of yogurt and the zest and juice from your lemon. Whisk together until it all combined and set aside.
  8. When your soup is done serve in a bowl with the lemon cream to top and garnish with parsley.
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(Adapted From The Kitchn)

Lemon and Rosemary Air Freshener

Sometimes life doesn’t smell great.  Maybe you decided to have egg salad for lunch. Maybe you forgot to take the garbage out last night.  Maybe things just get a little funky. It happens. Maybe (definitely) you have one of these:

She’s beautiful.  You call her Emma.  She likes to roll in dirt.   She is funky.  So funky that she needs a bath.  Now you have a wet dog.  She thinks that your whole carpet is her towel.  She proceeds to rub herself on your carpet.  Double funky.  You hustle her outside to dry, and now deal with the smell.

You remember a pin you saw on pinterest.  It tells you to boil lemons and rosemary and some vanilla.  It claims that your home will suddenly smell like Williams  Sonoma.  You think this is better than your home smelling like a dog park.  You try it.  It’s awesome.   And easy.  Who doesn’t love easy?

Ingredients:

Water

2 Lemons

5 Sprigs of Rosemary

1 Tbs Vanilla

Fill a stock pot 2/3 of the way full with water.  Add in your sliced up lemons, rosemary and your vanilla.  Let it simmer on low all day long, adding extra water as needed.   Easy as that.

(Inspired by One More Moore)

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