Zucchini Fritters.....yum :)

(This awesome photo is from the blog site : thepistachioproject.blogspot.com)

Yesterday morning I attempted to make pumpkin muffins. Let's just say they were not stellar. Ok....let's be honest, they weren't even a little bit tasty.

So it's back to the drawing board for the pumpkin muffin recipe.

In the meantime I wanted to share a recipe link to some truly wonderful Zucchini Fritters I found while I was cruising around on Pinterest (It's my latest obsession!....)

My friend Amy said it best when she said that Pinterest is like a shiney new FREE magazine to look through every day!

These fritters are wonderful and even the hubby enjoyed them. I substituted coconut flour in place of the whole wheat flour and they turned out great! I'll be adding some finely diced onion to my next batch. I have found some great recipes and "pinned" them onto my "Gliaden free, corn free and casein free" board on Pinterest. If you are interested in checking them out you can click on the red "follow me on Pinterest" link at the top right hand of the page.

Let the baking begin!!!

So yesterday my flour shipment from Vitacost arrived. I love Vitacost. Free shipping on orders over $49.00 (which is easy to do with g/f). I also buy our cleaning supplies, bath products and vitamins from there as well. You can even sort through things like shampoo using Gluten Free as a filter. Now I feel like I'm ready to embrace gluten free baking :) Something that I didn't realize before today is that you need to refrigerate or freeze your g/f flours and then allow them to return to room temp before baking with them.

Fortunately for me, we inherited an old dirty refrigerator that we keep in the garage that will now become

my g/f  "fortress of goodness".

I guess that means I need to deep clean it in the next few days...............

*ugh*

Today is the day :)

I have have come face to face with some really hard truths in the last few months. You see, I have struggled with my health (Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Fibromyalgia and Insulin Resistance) for more than 15 years now and pain and sleepless nights have been my "normal". I was introduced to a Holistic Dr. by my son-in-law and this Dr. is helping me to allow my body to heal itself the way God designed our bodies to do through proper nutrition. I have been angry.....grouchy....and over-all whiny through a lot of this process. I have felt deprived and punished that I can't eat the foods that other people can. Through the multiple blood and saliva tests I have found out that I can never have coffee again, *sob*, no corn, no oats, no tapioca, no quinoa, no dairy, no rye, no barley, no sorghum, no sugar and no gluten. I have also found that most gluten free foods that are on the shelves even at Whole Foods contain some form of corn or tapioca in them. So I'm faced with the realization that I will be making my own foods. I also learned that I have autoimmune inflammatory issues and I need to eliminate any foods that cause inflammation as well. The good news is that I now sleep deeply through the night. I'm down 21 pounds and I have less pain (and it's only been about 2 1/2 months) I feel like I'm finally getting to a place of acceptance. I have the choice to be happy. I have the choice to live a healthier life. I've also been using natural soaps, shampoo, deoderant, etc. So I'll be sharing recipes and products that I find helpful along the way.

Today I'm sharing a muffin recipe that I made for the first time this morning :)

Gluten Free/ Dairy Free Coconut Flour Muffins

3 eggs

2 tblsp Organic Coconut Oil -melted

2 tblsp coconut milk

3 tblsp Coconut crystals or honey
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp real vanilla
1/4 cup Organic Coconut flour
1/4 tsp corn free baking powder (I use Hain Gluten Free)

Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, honey, salt and vanilla. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

*Note: there is no coconut flavor in these muffins at all :)

This is a great basic recipe. Next time I'm going to add some sliced almonds to the top before I bake them. I'm also going to experiment with adding some pumpkin :)