Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Muffins

The past few days, here in northern California, has been overcast, showery and a humid 70 degrees.  It NEVER showers in July in our part of northern California.  I kinda liked it though.  Put me in the baking mood!  Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Muffins was what I came up with.

I'm not normally a "gluten free" person....my kids are not gluten free, my husband is not gluten free but I do have friends and family who are. 

Although the thing that inspired me to come up with a new gluten free muffin recipe was actually the fact that I despise wasting food.  I had a few brown bananas on hand and I love banana bread.  I also had this in my cupboard...

Bob's Red Mill whole grain Brown Rice Flour.  Not sure why.  It's been in my cupboard for a while now so I decided to go bananas and bake some gluten free banana chocolate muffins to see if anyone in my family would notice.  Normally they would, but these muffins were THAT good.  

Okay, here's what you need for success....

Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill whole grain brown rice flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3 large very ripe bananas

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup chocolate chips

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Coat muffin pan with non stick cooking spray or use paper muffin liners.  Measure flour and mix together with baking powder, baking soda and sea salt; set aside.

Combine bananas, sugar, egg, coconut oil and vanilla extract in large bowl.  Mix in flour mixture, little by little, in thirds.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Using a ice cream scoop, scoop batter in to muffin tin.

Bake for 23 minutes.  Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Super Bowl Party Food with Blue Diamond

Super Bowl is the second biggest eating day of the year, ranked just after Thanksgiving.  It's not surprising, as I, like many of you, consider Super Bowl Sunday to be an unofficial holiday of sorts where you gather with friends, eat, drink, socialize, watch the game AND the commercials.

To help along with the game day menu planning, here are a couple of recipes that came to me via Blue Diamond Almonds.  Blue Diamond is delving in to the Gluten-Free market with their new, crunchy Almond Nut Thin crackers and have incorporated them into these tasty appetizer recipes....

Enjoy!!

Nutty Ranch Chicken Strips

Ingredients

• 1 (4.25-oz.) box Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins
• 1/4 cup Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds, finely chopped
• 1 (1-oz.) packet dry Ranch Dressing Mix
• 1/3 cup light ranch dressing
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 1/4 lbs. chicken tenders or 1 1/2-inch cubes boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Olive oil cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place Blue Diamond Nut Thins in a gallon-size bag and fold over the top. Crush with a rolling pin until chips are in tiny pieces.
3. Add Blue Diamond Almonds and dry ranch dressing mix to bag and shake well to mix.
4. Stir together ranch dressing and butter in another medium bowl. Dip each chicken tender in ranch dressing and shake off excess.
5. Roll in chip mixture, pressing into the surface to coat well; place on prepared baking sheet.
6. Coat with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 10 minutes. Coat with cooking spray again and cook for 10 minutes more.

Quick tip: Any of the coating mixture that falls off the chicken after cooking is great sprinkled over a tossed green salad or mashed potatoes.
 

Nutty Ranch Chicken Strips Nutritional Analysis

Calories	310
Fat	11g
Saturated Fat	1.5g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	85mg
Sodium	620mg
Potassium	294mg
Carbohydrates	19g
Fiber	1g
Sugar	1g
Protein	32g
Vitamin A	0%
Vitamin C	0%
Calcium	2%
Iron	15%

Artichoke Heart Dip

Ingredients

• 1 can of artichoke hearts (9 oz.)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 10oz. bag frozen spinach - bit size pieces
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 4 oz. softened gluten-free cream cheese
• 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella
• Dash of pepper
• Blue Diamond Nut Thins

Directions

1. Cut up artichokes after draining them.
2. In large pot, sauté onions in olive oil until translucent. Add spinach and artichokes and cook about 5 minutes. Add wine, then cream cheese.
3. Placed in 1 quart dish, top with mozzarella bake in preheated oven at 350° for 5 minutes until brown and bubble.
4. Serve with Blue Diamond Nut Thins.

Artichoke Heart Dip Nutritional Analysis

Calories	60
Fat	4g
Saturated Fat	2g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	9mg
Sodium	170mg
Carbohydrates	3g
Fiber	1g
Protein	3g

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