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Alison Diven

Spiced Currant Orange Baked Oatmeal Mini Muffins (Dairy-Free & Gluten-Free w/ Egg-Free Option)

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Spiced Currant-Orange Baked Oatmeal Mini Muffins (GF & DF) -- egg-free option too
by Alison Diven, Contributing Writer

This baked oatmeal in mini muffin form is quintessential Autumn–and so fun for little snacks or little hands! With their hearty texture, warm spices, subtle orange notes, and mild sweetness, they cozy up perfectly to a cup of tea and your favorite sweater . . . or cuddly story-time with your little ones. They’re also chock full of healthy ingredients, so I feel good about doling them out any time of day or taking them along on outings for easy nourishment.

Spiced Currant-Orange Baked Oatmeal Mini Muffins (GF & DF) -- egg free option too

This is great news because as my baby’s due date draws near (just 2 weeks now), it seems like there’s always another errand to run or midwife appointment to attend. Mama’s tired! I’ve baked several variations of these muffins and squirreled them away in our freezer for postpartum life, but truly, I’m already breaking into my stash. I can’t keep up with our daily food needs at the moment, so I’m extra grateful for foods like this that I can make in big batches when I have a burst of energy.

For the record, these freeze and reheat beautifully. I like them plain, slathered with butter, or broken up into a bowl with raw milk. My dairy-free son enjoys his solo or with a smear of almond butter and raw honey.

3 Variations to Try

  • Pumpkin Spice — One of my favorites! Just use pumpkin puree instead of mashed banana, omit currants and orange zest, and increase sweetener to taste.
  • Banana-Coconut-Chocolate Chip — My toddler’s favorite. Omit nutmeg, clove, orange zest, and currants. Add shredded unsweetened coconut and mini chocolate chips (Enjoy Life has a soy-free, allergy-friendly product).
  • Cranberry Orange — Use chopped dried cranberries instead of currants and omit nutmeg and clove. Increase orange zest by up to double, depending on your taste.

Let your taste buds guide you! So long as you don’t overdo the wet ingredients, which will make your muffins forever gummy no matter how much you bake them (voice of experience here!), it’s hard to go wrong.

Spiced Currant-Orange Baked Oatmeal Mini Muffins (GF & DF) -- egg free option too

Related recipes you may enjoy from The Nourishing Gourmet:

Buckwheat Crepes (as Gluten-Free Sandwich Wraps)
Mini Zucchini Millet Muffins
Pumpkin Maple Baked Oatmeal
Apple Oatmeal Mini Loaves (Soaked Whole Grain and Naturally Sweetened)

Spiced Currant Orange Mini Baked Oatmeals
 
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Serves: 24 mini muffins
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Perfectly spiced and gently sweet, these flourless oatmeal mini muffins nourish any time of day and are especially nice for little hands. You can, of course, make them as regular-size muffins by increasing the cooking time to 30 minutes. I chose currants because their size suits mini muffins, but feel free to use raisins instead, either whole or chopped up. Now that my son can eat eggs, I use them for the protein and vitamins, but the recipe works great without them, between the holding power of oats and banana. Just add enough additional liquid to make a batter.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups rolled oats (use certified gluten-free oats if needed)
  • 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup mashed overripe banana (about 2 large bananas)
  • 2 eggs OR additional ¼ to ½ cup coconut milk for egg-free version
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground clove
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2-3 tablespoons coconut sugar or other natural granulated sweetener (liquid sweeteners add too much moisture)
  • zest of one orange
  • 6 tablespoons chopped pecans (optional)
  • 6 tablespoons currants (or raisins)
Instructions
  1. The night before baking, mix together the oats, coconut milk, and lemon juice in bowl and leave out, loosely covered, overnight.
  2. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 and grease a mini muffin pan.
  3. Break up the thick, gummy soaked oats with a fork, then add remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine.
  4. Scoop heaping tablespoons into the greased mini muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes.
  5. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan, then invert onto a cooling rack.

Easy Egg Muffins with Pesto & Ham (GF with DF options)

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Easy Egg Muffins with Pesto & Ham -- Perfect for breakfast all week or a packed lunch

By Alison Diven, Contributing Writer

Y’all, a week of breakfasts or light lunches doesn’t get any easier or more delicious than this. These little darlings? Five minutes prep, then bake. Done. No sautéing, no mixing, no mussed up bowls. And the flavor combinations are endless! This batch got all fancy with layers of leftover pesto, goat cheese, and ham, but I can also vouch for the simple pleasure of ham and cheddar. And what about in-season Hatch chiles and cheese? Oh baby.  I’m still all over the freezer burrito idea, but if you don’t watch your supply, you run out before you have time to make more. (Ask me how I know.) Egg muffins to the rescue!

One thing I love about this method is that, unlike scrambled eggs (which I also love), it showcases the glorious orange-gold yolks of pastured eggs. If you’ve never tasted a backyard-raised egg, you really owe it to yourself to locate some. Their flavor is so much richer that I now find grocery store eggs bland, even the fancy ones. We buy grocery store eggs too, of course, but every chance I get, I nab the “good stuff.” Farmers’ markets are a great place to look for them, and sometimes locally-owned health food stores will carry eggs from the community. You can also ask around. You want eggs from chickens that spend most of their lives outdoors being chicken-y–eating bugs, worms, and grass. Once you see and taste the difference, you’ll know the “pastured egg thing” isn’t just hype.

Pastured eggs, or eggs of any kind, are especially important for pregnant women like me. Egg white omelets may still populate the “healthy” menu at restaurants, but it’s eggs with their yolks that offer so much for general health and for building babies—including hard-to-get nutrients like vitamins A, D, and K, choline, zinc, and iodine. (Read more nutrition details from Kimberly here.)  These days, as I plod through the third trimester, I get as many egg yolks as I can for the brain-food choline, but scrambling eggs every morning gets really old. Adding in these egg cups and raw “milkshakes” with egg yolks has kept me going.

Recipe Notes:

Swap out ingredients freely! Don’t do pork? Skip the ham or substitute a slice or two of chicken sausage. Use any cheese your heart desires, or nix it altogether if you’re dairy-free. Some easy, no-pre-cooking-required flavor combinations to try:

  • Jarred roasted red peppers, ricotta cheese, and a basil leaf
  • Roasted New Mexico (Hatch) chile peppers with goat cheese or cheddar
  • Tomato, mozzarella, and a basil leaf
  • Thinly-sliced zucchini, monterrey Jack cheese, and cilantro pesto
  • Ham and cheddar

Do use paper muffin liners. While not strictly necessary, they help hold everything together since you’re layering, not mixing ingredients.

Eat ’em hot or cold. They’re delicious fresh, of course, but I eat them cold throughout the week.

Other Bulk Breakfast Recipes You Might Like:

Individual Ricotta and Spinach Ricotta Omelets in a Muffin Tin
15 Freezer Burrito Hacks for Nourishing Cooks
Spiced Oatmeal-Apple Muffins (Dairy, Gluten, Egg-Free)
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes (Soaked)

Easy Egg Muffins with Pesto & Ham (GF with DF options)
 
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6
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Egg muffins are endlessly versatile and a great way to cook breakfast or light lunches for a week. Pesto, ham, and cheese give these an Italian vibe, but you could go all-American with ham and cheddar or Southwest with green chiles and goat cheese. Let your imagination guide you! They are also delicious without the cheese, so don't let being dairy-free stop you from enjoying them.
Ingredients
  • 6 ounces sliced ham (I often buy Applegate or Organic Pastures)
  • 4 ounces soft goat cheese or your favorite cheese, optional
  • ½ cup prepared or leftover pesto (use dairy-free pesto if needed)
  • 12 eggs, preferably pasture-raised and GMO-free
  • 12 paper muffin tin liners
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Meanwhile, line regular-size muffin tin with paper liners.
  2. Chop ham and cheese into largish pieces.
  3. Distribute chopped ham among muffin cups. Then add a small spoonful of pesto to each cup. Sprinkle in the cheese. Crack a whole egg into each cup.
  4. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the yolks are set but not chalky. Let stand for 5 minutes. Eat warm or refrigerate for later meals.

 

French Tuna Salad with Tomatoes & Herbs (Mayo-Free)

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French Tuna Salad with Tomatoes & Herbs (Mayo-Free!)

By Alison Diven, Contributing Writer

It’s hard to beat a no-cook meal in late summer, and if you’re looking for something simple and a little elegant too, this French-inspired tuna salad is quick to please. We love this olive oil-dressed salad for its blend of easy prep and fresh, sophisticated flavors. Even better, it showcases two of the season’s superstars, tomatoes and fresh herbs. Serve it in lettuce cups for brunch, on sourdough bread for a last hurrah summer picnic, or alongside a giant salad for dinner.

I’ll never forget the inspiration for this recipe. I sat cross legged on the lawn of Versailles, with the palace in full view across the Grand Canal, as I tasted my first forkful of herby, tomato-filled tuna salad. It was idyllic. That was four years ago on a bicycle tour from Paris, and we’d stopped in the town of Versailles to pick up picnic goods. I remember splitting a Nutella-banana crepe with my mother-in-law—oh, that Chantilly cream!—before selecting a blue cheese that turned out to be one of the best I’d ever tasted, some forgettable odds and ends, and that marvelous mayo-less (in France, of all places!) tuna salad. I came home inspired.

Because this salad is so simple, you’ll want to use the best ingredients you can. Gourmet extra virgin olive oil really makes a difference here. Did you know that, unlike wine, the fresher the olive oil, the more prized? That’s one reason many experts recommend choosing a USA product over imported Italian ones, not to mention concerns about adulteration. Kimberly has written before about her favorite olive oil source, but if you just want to dip your toe in the water, Trader Joe’s carries an award-winning California Estatesextra virgin olive oil in a 16.9 oz bottle at a fabulous price point. That’s what I’ve been using to dress cold dishes and drizzle over soups, and I just love its robust peppery flavor.

Quality tuna is important too, not only for taste and texture, but also for health reasons. There’s the mercury content to consider, of course, but also the potential radioactive effects of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. You can read more from the Nourishing Gourmet about this here, including several tuna brand suggestions like Cole’s from Radiant Life. I used oil-packed Tonnino tuna fillets myself. We’ve cut way back on our tuna consumption, especially since these brands are pricey, but every once in a while, tuna is the only thing that will do!

French Tuna Salad with Tomatoes & Herbs

Finally, let’s talk tomatoes. Believe it or not, we still don’t have farm-fresh tomatoes at the growers’ market here in northern New Mexico! This short growing season is killing me. If you’ve got fresh tomatoes right now, well, eat an extra for me, and then use the rest fresh—deseeded and chopped—in this salad. If, however, you share my sorrow and are making do with grocery store tomatoes, you may enjoy “melting” cherry or grape tomatoes to concentrate and enrich their flavor. Actually, it’s hard for me to decide which way I like this salad better. You really can’t go wrong. (I follow this super easy method for melting tomatoes. Don’t skip the parchment paper!)

Looking for more summer food inspiration? Check out these other recipes from the Nourishing Gourmet:

Chai Tea Fauxccino
Cuban Picadillo Lettuce Wraps
Late Summer Garden Veggie Soup
Summer Kale Salad
Honey Garlic Drumsticks (a Simple Summer Crockpot Meal)

French Tuna Salad with Tomatoes & Herbs
 
Author:
Recipe type: Main course
Cuisine: French
Serves: 4
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A French-inspired light and refreshing tuna salad with a gourmet touch. Use high quality tuna, olive oil, and tomatoes for best flavor. Either garden-fresh tomatoes or "melted" cherry tomatoes work beautifully--each gives a different, equally delicious flavor profile. Serve the tuna salad as a main course, or stuff lettuce cups with it, or pile it atop sourdough toast. You can't go wrong!
Ingredients
  • 13-14 ounces canned or jarred tuna, preferably packed in olive oil (I used Tonnino)
  • 6 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs - any combination of basil, dill, and/or parsley
  • ¼ cup minced shallot or purple onion
  • ½ cup seeded and diced heirloom tomatoes OR "melted" tomatoes (see this method)
  • 3-4 Tablespoons quality extra virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle (I used Trader Joe's California Estate)
  • ½ large lemon, juice added to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Drain the tuna and place in a medium bowl. Add the chopped herbs, minced shallot, 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with a fork, breaking up the tuna.
  2. If using fresh tomatoes, carefully fold them in. If using melted tomatoes, break them up with a fork a bit before stirring in--they make a delicious sauce as they burst.
  3. If the mixture is dry, add another tablespoon of olive oil. You may need even more if your tuna was water-packed.
  4. Add lemon juice to taste. Adjust salt, pepper, and herbs to taste.
  5. Serve with an extra drizzle of olive oil on top.

 

 

Cuban Picadillo Lettuce Wraps (GF, DF & Paleo-Friendly)

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Cuban Picadillo Lettuce Wraps
By Alison Diven, Contributing Writer

When you crave something different but not too exotic for dinner, try picadillo! Brightened with green olives and capers, mellowed with currants, and warmed with cumin and cinnamon, this ground beef dish is sure to please young and old alike with its mild salty-sweet flavors. We piled it into lettuce leaves with rice and fresh pico de gallo for the perfect summertime meal.

If you’ve had picadillo before, my ingredients might surprise you. No potatoes! you gasp. And what’s with the capers? you wonder. Well, there are as many variations on picadillo as there are Latin-influenced cooks in the in the world. Spain, Brazil, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and more all boast their own version. This recipe features the add-ins my little family likes, and it happens to be on the Cuban(ish) side of things. I won’t claim authenticity, but I will claim deliciousness!

It’s that salty-sweet thing I can’t get enough of. I suppose I first developed a taste for it when I discovered Moroccan, Indian, and Persian cuisines in my early twenties. They paired spices I associated with baked goods, like cinnamon and nutmeg, with meat and poultry. What a revelation! While that period of my life was darkened by illness and desperate attempts to get well, one of its lasting gifts has been all the culinary exploration prompted by food restrictions and healing diets. It changed my cooking forever — for the better.

Cuban Picadillo Lettuce Wraps Slider

Recipes Notes:

  • Choose 100% grass-fed ground beef or bison, if you can, for the best nutrition. (Read more about that and how to buy it for less here.)
  • If you’re grain-free, leave out the rice. We use it to help stretch the meat a bit further–it’s just too easy to keep filling lettuce leaves!–but it’s optional.
  • Cooked lentils could replace part or all of the ground meat for a more frugal, or even vegetarian, meal.
  • Instead of using lettuce leaves, serve the picadillo in tortillas, over rice or potatoes, or even in quesadillas for a different twist. And leftovers make a delicious omelet filling! Just add a little cheese.
  • Check the labels on your olives and capers to avoid preservatives and artificial colorings.

More ethnic-inspired recipes from the Nourishing Gourmet:

3 Ingredient Teriyaki Pan-Fried Chicken
Sriracha Lime Salmon One Pot Meal
Simple Persian Lentil Soup
Easy Thai Curry Noodle Soup
Thai Inspired Pizza with Peanut Sauce

Cuban Picadillo Lettuce Wraps (GF, DF & Paleo-Friendly)
 
Author:
Recipe type: Main Dish
Cuisine: Cuban-ish
Serves: 4-6
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Salty, sweet, and a little tangy, this family-friendly dish will leave you begging for more! If you prefer, you can substitute raisins for the currants. Paleo and grain-free eaters can leave out the rice but will get fewer servings from the recipe.
Ingredients
For the Picadillo
  • 1 pound ground beef, preferably grass-fed
  • 2 Tablespoons tallow, lard, or coconut oil
  • 1 medium onion, about 1.5 cups diced small
  • 1 large green bell pepper, about 1.5 cups diced
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 14 oz can whole tomatoes
  • ¼ cup currants
  • 2 Tablespoons green olives with pimiento, diced
  • 2 Tablespoons drained capers
  • 2 Tablespoons olive brine (or white wine vinegar and salt to taste)
For the Pico de Gallo
  • ⅓ cup minced shallot or red onion
  • ⅔ cup diced tomatoes
  • 2 Tablespoons minced cilantro
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
  • salt to taste
To Serve
  • Lettuce leaves or cabbage leaves
  • Cooked brown or white rice (optional)
  • Chopped cilantro (optional)
Instructions
  1. Heat large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add beef. Crumble and stir occasionally as it cooks. Remove and set aside.
  2. Add tallow or oil to pan. Add onions and cook until beginning to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add bell pepper and cook 3 more minutes. Stir in garlic, then add the salt, black pepper, cumin, and cinnamon and stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
  3. Add cooked beef, canned tomatoes, currants, diced olives, capers, and olive brine. Break up the tomatoes into small pieces while the mixture comes to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10-20 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, prepare the pico de gallo. Combine minced shallot, chopped tomatoes, minced cilantro, lime juice, and a dash of salt, then set aside.
  6. To serve, fill each lettuce leaf with the beef mixture, a spoonful of rice (if desired), and a spoonful of pico de gallo or cilantro. Enjoy!