Cinnamon Muffins

The thing about whole food eating is that sometimes it is difficult to fit all the food we need into the budget. Lately, it has been an enormous challenge. With little one on a severely restricted diet, and trying to pay for chiropractor visits, I am at the end of the rope. We are out of budget, out of meat, out of fresh fruit, and nearly out of eggs. I do, however, have a huge stockpile of grains, beans, and homemade chicken broth. I also have a teenager that needs to pack a lunch today for classes he attends once a week. Why do I always forget about that until late Sunday evening, and then freak out? There's that organization and procrastination thing again. Thankfully, this time change thing has me waking up at 5am again. I was able to get up and make some fantastic muffins for him to put in his lunch. I also put a frozen banana and some frozen strawberries in there. That should thaw out and be sufficiently mushy by the time he eats it. Sorry sweetie, it's either that or cold mashed potatoes. I taste tested one of the muffins, and they are really delicious.

I really only have one muffin recipe, that I continually adapt to various ingredients I have on hand. Today, it was about using grains that are not as toxic for little one and trying to make them without eggs. Little one showed very sensitive to wheat, but not as much to spelt and barley (even though those are forms of wheat). I used chia seeds as an egg replacer. I am not vegan, but I do read a lot of fantastic vegan blogs because they have tons of great ideas and recipes on them. I've seen the idea many times, but just never got around to trying it. It's true, necessity really is the mother of invention. Here's your muffin recipe.

Step 1: Mix 3 Tbsp of ground chia seeds with 9 Tbsp of water. Mix well and let sit for about 10 minutes to form a goopy gel. (1 Tbsp chia/3 Tbsp water = one egg) If you do the math, you can use 3 eggs instead of chia seeds. I hear flax seed meal makes a good egg substitute as well. Same ratio as the chia.

Step 2: I had to melt the coconut oil this morning. It is 2/3 cup of liquid coconut oil.

Step 3: Mix the dry ingredients.

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup barley flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Step 4: Mix the dry ingredients with the coconut oil and the chia seed gel.

Step 5: Scoop into greased muffin pan (about 12 muffins). Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. I use a stone muffin pan, so I don't use paper liners, but that would work too.