Happy Heart Citrus Cookies

What a spring we have had! Just this past weekend here in Michigan we had a ice storm, a snow day, and we are all scratching our heads thinking is this April or January?!? Personally, I kinda expect this kind of spring torture here in Michigan, but I have to admit this year has really got me going crazy with antsiness and low-grade depression! Let's get on with this weather and let's start to see the warmth, buds, flowers and green grass, already!!!

It efforts to bring a little more warmth and love into our homes this season I made some Happy Heart Cookies with the hint of lemon and orange to help uplift our spirits and perhaps remind our hearts of happiness, love, joy and the gifts of life all around us. These little cookies are a symbol of that. They are just a cookie, yes, but they also represent love and those citrus flavors have a reputation for uplifting the senses and heart to inspire. So we need all of the uplifting, and love and happiness we can get around these parts! So my friends, may you find love and peace in your day and carry on and spread it as best as you can! Sending love and whole-hearted living your way xoxo

Happy Heart Citrus Cookie Recipe

{gluten, dairy, egg, soy, nut, seed and refined-sugar free}

3/4 cup of certified gluten-free oat flour (+ 1 more cup for kneading and rolling out)
(I grind my own out of GF rolled oats)
3/4 cup of fresh ground buckwheat four
3/4 cup of rice flour
3/4 cup of tapioca flour
1/3 cup of coconut palm sugar
2 TB of potato starch
1 1/2 ts. of baking soda
1 ts. of sea salt
1 ts. baking powder
1 organic lemon for zest and juice
1 organic orange for 3-TB of fresh zest and 1/2 cup of fresh juice
1 TB of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of pure honey
1 cup of oil: I use a mix of coconut oil and palm oil shortening
1/2 cup of date paste puree

plus 1/4-1/3 cup of sparkling sugar with 1/2 ts. of lemon flavoring oil or 1 ts. lemon juice

In a large bowl, mix together the flours and dry ingredients first, then add in the wet and oils, use a spatula to make sure the oils are evenly pressed through and the batter is soft.  You will need to add about ONE MORE CUP of GF oat flour for kneading, firming up and rolling out.

Let batter sit in the fridge to firm up just a bit, like 15 minutes. Then roll out and cut out the cookies with your favorite heart shaped cutters.  Sprinkle the lemon sparkling suagrs on top of the hearts before baking. You may need to press the suagrs into the cookies justa  bit.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Let cool for at least 20 minutes from the oven before moving to help with less breakage.

There you have it- HAPPY HEART citrus cookies for the win! Hoping this recipe will share a little kindness your way, keep spreading it and let's keep going!

Peppermint Crunch Fudge

Are you a fudge lover? Peppermint lover? How about a combo for another Christmas cookie treat? I made this freezer fudge this summer and fell in love with an easy simple, not-too-much goodness, treat that you could make last minute or have for days. This one has a Christmas peppermint twist with some added candy cane goodness. Fudge isn't really photogenic if you ask me, or maybe were all just too excited to consume it so it doesn't last long enough to snap a photo, haha! 

But there is a lot more there on these ones than what a picture can show. Maybe if it was scratch and sniff you would get the real idea here :) Oh I will stop! Just do yourself a favor and make some and share some with all the Christmas cookie goodies this year!

Peppermint Crunch Freezer Fudge Recipe
{gluten, grain, dairy, egg, soy, nut, and seed-free, also vegan and paleo}

1 - 1 1/2 cup of date paste puree
1/2 cup of cacao or cocoa powder
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand)
1/3 cup of organic virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/2 ts. of quality sea salt
1 heaping teaspoon of all natural peppermint oil flavoring

optional add in: add in 1/2-1 cup of rice cereal to add some texture, or else you can keep that out and only add the crushed candy canes to the fudge mix and topping...

(2)- all natural peppermint candy canes crushed into extra small pieces for twirling and topping.

Put all of the above ingredients, (except peppermint and optional cereal) in a small saucepan and melt and whisk together. Then lastly add in the peppermint oil flavoring and taste to make sure you don't want more. Then if you want to add in 1/2-1 cup of rice crunch cereal and quickly pour into a parchment covered 9x9 pan or a 8x10 pan and spread smooth. Lastly mix or top the crushes candy canes before you put in the freezer to get hard. Put in the freezer for 2 hours and then cut into 2x2 squares. Keep in the fridge or freezer to stay fresh longer. 

Hope you are finishing all the run-around and busy-ness and starting to settle in and gather with those you love and are able to show your true self. That hope, joy, peace and LOVE abound. Much love to you all and ENJOY!

Valentine Heart Shortbread Cookies

Trying to get festive over here... making some valentine's treats and goodies for the kids while we decorate the house in hearts and make little notes for school friends and loved ones. Once February rolls around,  I am sooooooo ready to add some pink and red hearts to our home to add some color and 'LOVE'. It is usually pretty grey and blah outside this time of year so it helps to feel warm and cozy and full of so much love on the inside. I guess I am a lover for Valentine's Day then... I know it can be a touchy day of love or hate or something in-between. But seriously- why not embrace all of the love, chocolate and flowers you can... sometimes my hubs gets mad at me because I occasionally even buy them for myself ;) I do.... no shame or guilt!

I made this shortbread recipe just out of the flours I had a lot of in the pantry, and they turned out pretty wonderful. But you could also use one of the below Shortbread/Cut Out Cookies Recipes if you have those flours on hand as well.

Sweet Heart Almond Shortcake Cookies...

Lemon Shortbread Heart Cookies...

Coconut Cutout Shortbread Cookies...

Sugar Cut Out Cookies with Icing Recipe...

Or maybe you are looking some something a little more chocolaty and indulgent :) I get it. I do. Here are a few more chocolate goodies I made in the past for valentine's treats... and HERE is my archive of CHOCOLATE recipes.... 

Chocolate Date Donuts....

So In Love Dark Chocolate Brownies...

Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Bites... 

Gluten-Free Vegan Cut Out Shortbread Cookie Recipe
{nut-free, seed-free, gluten-free, vegan}

1 cup of coconut flour
1 cup of sprouted brown rice flour
1 cup of millet flour
1 cup of tapioca flour
1 ts. of baking soda
1 ts. of baking powder
1 ts. of sea salt
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup of avocado oil
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/2 cup of softened coconut oil

In a large mixing bowl, mix together your dry ingredients first...then add the applesauce, maple syrup, and oils. Mix well with a fork or to be honest, your hands and fingers do the job best. Knead the lump of cookie dough in your hands for a few minutes until you get a perfectly mixed ball of cookie dough. If your dough is a touch sticky, then sprinkle some more tapioca flour to stiffen it right up.

Roll out the ball of dough on a parchment paper. Try and keep the thickness around 1/2 inch and roll out as evenly as possible. Then start cutting with heart cut out or whatever cutouts you prefer. Put the cookies in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes. I like my cookies a bit crispier, so I stay around 14 minutes baking time. This recipe should make about 2 dozen cookies but really depends on the size of your cutters and how big and small you want your cookies to be.

The icing I used was just a mixture of palm oil shortening(1/3 cup), maple syrup (1/4 cup), organic powdered sugar (1/4 cup), and a pinch of sea salt and plant based food dye. I used red for these hearts and it came out a nice pink ;) I whisk with a hand blender and pour into an icing bag and then you can write, trace or do whatever you like. You can also just spread on with a knife. I also have just melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips before and just drizzled melted chocolate over the cookies and let them cool too. So do whatever sounds good!

Well I hope you find some time to make a few treats in the kitchen so that you do not have to feel like your diet is so limited that you cannot have a little fun and enjoyment too. You deserve it!

And now I leave you with...

Love and kindness does not equal weakness...and LOVE starts within and for yourself...

"...stop acting so small...you are the universe in ecstatic motion...your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
---wise words from Rumi---

So dear one, find the love and care you ache for within yourself. How are you to give and receive love if you are not showing it to yourself ?!

Much LOVE to YOU, as always xoxo

Banana-Blueberry-Lemon Muffins

On Tuesday mornings, a dear friend has been keeping me company and giving me consolation as we both send off our babies to Kindergarten this year. It's a lot harder than one might think and so much to learn about this process of letting go and helping that little person become more of themselves. So with all this change it is of utmost importance to have a mommyhood sisterhood community for support. We both have another little one to care for and so we decided to make it a Tuesday date of time for the littles to play and time for us to chat. The two hours fly by, the week seems shorter and life seems less harsh. As we await the fall air to settle in, brewing some hot tea seems a must as we try to get into the rhythm of things. The past few weeks it has involved a little pot of tulsi chai tea and muffins. I love finding rhythms that sink into our daily lives so naturally. One of those for me is baking muffins on tuesdays. So here is my latest, and these were given Stephanie, "these-are-your-best-muffins-yet" rating, so yeah, there's that ;) Happy fall rhythm making and settling into some weekly routines that help you feel balanced and well. Much love xoxo

Banana-Blueberry-Lemon Muffin Recipe
{gluten, dairy, egg, nut, soy and refined-sugars free}

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of coconut milk beverage
4 drops of lemon essential oil (I use Young Living here)
1/2 cup of melted coconut oil
1/2 cup of coconut palm sugar
3/4 cup of certified GF oat flour (I grind GF rolled oats in a high powered blender)
1/2 brown or white rice flour
1/4 cup of tapioca flour
2 ts. of baking powder
1 ts. of baking soda
1 ts. of sea salt
1- 1 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix all the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and then add all the dry ingredients. Save the blueberries for last and just fold them in to avoid making your muffins a blue-purple the dye creation (or don't, and make those instead ;) Pour into 12 muffin tins, and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.  These muffins need to cool for at least 15 minutes to avoid tongue burning on bubbling blueberries. 

Blueberry Lemon Cake

Blueberries. In Michigan, we wait all winter this season and then pick berries till our freezers are full in hopes that we will have enough berries till the next year. Well, maybe not all Michiganders are as crazy as me. But it is hard not to be a little blueberry crazy when they are growing all around you in West Michigan. I also enjoy picking to connect to where my food is coming from and my Maker. There is something so simple, and so spiritual about growing, harvesting and eating the food that you worked the earth to gather. So, if it is mid-July, you can find me wandering my favorite local no-spray blueberry farms in West Michigan. Email me if you are looking for a Michigan no-spray fruit farm to get started.

I started last week and picked an average of 30 pounds a day and now have around 100 of pounds in the freezer and who knows how many fresh eaten pounds by my kiddos. Of course there were many picked for treats to enjoy the season, but the majority goes in the deep freeze to make it through the long winter.  This may seem a bit much, but between, cakes, crisps, muffins, smoothies and just eating them from the freezer, my family will eat them. I hoping we can make it to next spring with some remaining.

This cake was a little extra gift after a long picking day. You know me, I have a way of celebrating life and it's seasons with a little bit of cake. And when you have friends that ask and devour your experiments, well then, you really have no choice :)

Blueberry Lemon Cake Recipe

{gluten, dairy, egg, soy, nut and seeds, and refined sugar-free}

1 1/2 cup of finely ground certified gluten-free oat flour
1 cup of white rice flour
1/2 cup of tapioca flour
1 cup of coconut sugar
1 ts. of sea salt
1 ts. of baking soda
2 ts. of baking powder (I use the Hain brand so to avoid corn ingredients)
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup of pure maple syrup
1/2 cup of coconut milk beverage mixed with 2 TB. of apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice (juice from 2 lemons)
1/2 cup of melted organic coconut oil
zest from juice lemons, or 8-10 drops of Young Living essential Lemon oil 
or you can use 1-2 ts. of lemon flavoring which essentially contains the same oils but also mixed with another mixing oil. The zest alone does a good job of flavoring, but I think the oils add just the right amount of lemony flavor

1 1/2 cup of fresh picked blueberries (or you can use frozen here as well)

First grind your GF flours and mix well with all the other dry ingredients. Then mix in the wet ingredients, and lastly the warmed oils and lemon oils. Mix well and you will start to see the lemon juice and baking powder do it's work and make the better poof up a bit. Fold down and then mix in the fresh berries, but making sure to not over mix and break in the berries.

Pour in a coconut oiled baking pan. I baked mine in a bundt or angel food cake pan. But you could also make this in a 9x9 circle or square pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until it is no longer wet and giggling. The cake should show a clean toothpick from the middle of the cake and firm, but soft. no wetness. Pull from the oven and let it cool completely.

The frost your cake with the following:

Honey Lemon Cream Frosting Recipe
1/2 cup of room temperature soft but NOT liquid coconut oil
1/3 cup of pure local honey
2-3 TB of fresh lemon juice plus 6-8 drops of essential lemon oil or lemon oil flavoring
pinch of good sea salt

Whip up the ingredients with a fork in a bowl, DO NOT over mix because it will soften too much. Then just whisk and spread on the completely cooled cake. Then top with another cup of fresh blueberries and more lemon zest for color and flavor.

 

Now you are ready to make this cake happen in your life. I made it without eggs, dairy, and gluten and not to mention toxic sugar, nuts, seeds and soy so that everyone in the family (and friends) could enjoy. Some days, well lets be honest, most days are incredibly hard having to eat a special diet or have limited options because of health issues, butt this cake is here to say, "This ones for you, baby!" So get your big girl panties and apron on and make this divine cake and feel the love!

Much love and grace and peace, my friends!

Chocolate Berry Tart

I am day 2 into my 30th year and I can say I do feel older. In a good way. My hubby took me out for a night out on my birthday and we visited some of our favorite places downtown. I thought on how many of these places consisted of college aged kids and the scene was one that I craved in my 20's. So full of excitement and life. And now as I have stepped into this new chapter of 30, these scenes seem to make me tired :) And, I'm already tired with having so much less sleep per night and busy with small children needs all day. So the night out was super fab, but also a great reminder of where my heart is now. It is in a new stage of life of being totally wrapped up at home with my sweet little family. Busy from dawn to dusk and finding rest and peace at home, in my jammies, on the couch with a slice of this chocolate goodness.

Sharing the treat with my hubby and talking about all the silliness of the day. I swear I never would have thought this to be true for me one day when I was in my early 20's. You could find me at the coolest local coffee shop talking about all the cool books and adventures till midnight. Now that seems a few chapters back. I am so enjoying the new found joy of being a home-body and mommy. This stage has been the biggest adventure yet, with the biggest challenges and darkest and lightest moments of life.

Thus far that is. As you age you can see more of the big picture and you are not in such a rush.

That is the beauty and joy of celebrating another birthday. You get to reminisce and talked about where you have been and get excited for where you are going. So much can happen in a year and yet it can seem like just a day as you look back. This must be the gift and curse of growing older.

Now, to this lovely and tempting tart I have been teasing you with.  I have made this recipe a few times now and decided I better make it again and try to perfect it for my birthday. This year I decided against a traditional cake and went with this decadent tart that does not disappoint.

The recipe idea originated from a mixed collaboration of the Nourishing Gourmet's Dark Chocolate Tart mixed with also special trips to PF Changs for their flourless chocolate dome and also a local favorite Marie Catrib's famous chocolate pudding. So this is my version of a mix of all of the above. A creamy, smooth, chocolatey treat that will melt in your mouth. It may get messy, but thats ok, it will taste amazing no matter what!

 Plus it is a very easy to make , with simple ingredients, and it doesn't hurt that it is gorgeous.

Chocolate Berry Tart Recipe

{VEGAN + gluten, dairy, egg, soy, nut, and refined-sugar free} 

Crust
1/2 cup of ground gluten-free oat flour (or you can sub almond flour if you can tolerate)
1/4 cup of tapioca flour
1/2 cup of rolled gluten-free oats
1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
dash of sea salt
3 TB of pure maple syrup
1/2 cup of soft organic extra virgin coconut oil

Mix the above in a small bowl and then sprinkle into the bottom of a 9 inch non-stick spring form pan. Press the crust dough on the bottom of the pan and then bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely before you pour the chocolate in. 

Chocolate Mouse
20 ounces of Enjoy life Chocolate Chunks (2-10 ounce bags, or about 4 cups) 
2 cans coconut cream, about 1 3/4 cups of pure coconut cream
5-10 drops of Young Living Citrus Fresh essential oil (or use 1/4 ts. of pure orange flavoring)
dash of sea salt
optional additions:
a splash of pure vanilla or maple syrup for taste

To get the best coconut cream, refrigerate 2 cans of organic full-fat coconut milk and then open the cans and scrape out the cream only. Discard or save the coconut water for a smoothie or other recipe. Then in a small saucepan pour the coconut cream and all of the chocolate into the pan. On low heat stir until t is all melted and creamy. Then add the citrus oil drops.  Turn off the heat and whisk well together and let sit until it stiffens just a bit. Then pour into the cooled spring form crust pan and put pan on a plate in the fridge to completely cool and stiffen. You can also put in the freezer to quicken this process, but try not to serve straight from freezer because the crust will be hard to cut if frozen. Add the berry sauce before serving with fresh berries.

Berry Sauce + Fresh Berries
1/4 cup of each fresh berry, blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry
2-3 TB of pure raw honey
1 ts. of arrowroot or tapioca starch

In a small sauce pan add the fresh berries and honey and squish the berries and honey together until you get a jam-like sauce. You can use a small strainer if you want to omit the berry seeds and just have a sauce. Or I have also quickly blended the berry sauce to grind of the seeds a bit more before serving as well. Serve with fresh berries and sauce, or decorate the very cold chocolate tart with the cooled sauce and let sit in fridge for another hour if you would like to serve cold all together.

That's it! Pretty simple and seriously delish! It is a new favorite around here and its better to share at home with friends or also in my case in jammies, on the couch, with my hubby rather than out at a restaurant way past my bedtime. You get a bedtime again, when you are 30, right? I hope so! I feel like I have earned it after a crazy decade of my 20's.

May you enjoy life and find beauty in all it's pain and joys. 

To another year of life...!

You are loved dear ones!

Hot Cross Buns

I have been dreaming of these buns for years.
And, I finally got some fire in my buns {pun intended} to make them before Easter this year. 

I love it when you can enjoy a holiday recipe just like the best of 'em and not have to feel like you are an inconvenience for not being able to eat "anything" Which we all know is not true. We can actually eat so many things. But then on special occasions or in special circumstances it seems like all the hope of eating gluten-free gets thrown out the window. You loose heart and you feel jipped. I am here to tell you that is normal. It's part of the process of dealing with the loss of eating differently. "Not-eating-gluten" is so much more than "not-eating-gluten". It changes how you think. It is something to grieve as a loss and then find new ways to live and carry on. 

It could even be tied into Easter. Thinking about the life with gluten, dying, and being put to rest. And going gluten-free as a new way to live and sort of resurrection of life of sorts. 

Find ways to make eating gluten-free more normal. You make the dessert or the dish to pass at the party that you can also enjoy. This will not single you out and may even surprise your family and friends. I know this is not easy. But take baby steps and make a recipe you make again and again, so it is tried and true and will not disappoint. Doing this is a brave endeavor and shouldn't be seen as a small task. My hope for you is that you can carry on through this and be able to see some hope in the process.

Hot Cross Buns Recipe
{gluten, dairy, soy, nut, egg and refined sugar-free}

1/2 cup of non-dairy milk of choice (I usually use coconut or hemp)
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of coconut sugar

Put the above in a small saucepan and warm until an almost boil. Ready to mix with the rest of the wet ingredients.

1/2 cup of currants, soaked in 1/2 cup of boiling water with 1-2 drops of orange essential oil ( I use Young Living brand to ensure edible safeness)

Put the above ingredients in a small glass bowl or Pyrex and let the currents soak for a while, or even over night to plump out and get soft.

2 TB of psyllium husk powder

Then, in a large mixing bowl, add the above psyllium and the boiling milk sugar mixture with the following wet ingredients. 

2 TB of fresh orange or other citrus juice
2 TB of olive oil
2 TB of honey
1 TB of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of apple butter or sauce
1 ts. of pure vanilla

Once all of the wet ingredients are mixed well with each other, add the soaked currents. Drain excess water before dumping. Then add the following dry ingredients and fold well until you get a soft and fluffy dough.

1 cup of GF oat flour
1 cup of white rice flour
1/2 cup of tapioca flour + more for kneading and dusting
2 ts. of baking powder
1 ts. of sea salt
1 ts. of baking soda
1 ts. of ground nutmeg
1 ts. of ground cinnamon

Roll out dough on a cutting board. Cut the dough into 12 parts and roll each piece between your hands to make a bun like roll.  Use an additional 1/4-1/2 cup of tapioca flour for rolling and dusting if the dough is too wet or soft.

Place all 12 buns on a parchment layered baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Then whisk up the following ingredients and brush or spoon over the top of the buns and bake for another 5 minutes.

2-3 TB of raw honey with 1 TB of water whisked well 

Then pull from oven and let cool for a least and hour before adding the cross frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
1/4 cup of non-dairy cream cheese (I use Daiya brand)
1 TB of palm oil shortening butter flavor (can omit, but used to help keep it together)
1-2 TB of maple syrup or honey

Mix the frosting up in a small bowl and then spoon into a frosting bag or a ziplock bag works too. Cut the corner tip just a smidgen and then you can use to squirt out the lines above the buns. Go one direction first over all the buns, and then switch and cross over your first lines finishing in the other direction. 

You will come out with these gorgeous, sweet and moist buns. Perfect for Easter Sunday morning brunch or even dinner. They are too tempting to wait till then, so I snuck a bite or two. These buns and a special sweet treat. Covered in sweet honey and finger licking.


This hot cross bun recipe isn't anything miraculous but I do hope you find hope this season of new life and to look for the new ways that a resurrection is blooming in your daily life.

Much love and light to you this Holy week and Easter Sunday.

Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins + doTerra Lemon Oil Giveaway

A blog friend of mine, Joelle, recently sent me some amazing essential oil samples. She was kind enough to share my favorites: lemon, lavender and peppermint. Plus, it's amazing how much knowledge she can share when it comes to how these oils treat and deal with so many everyday issues and symptoms. I just love soothing a health issue with a plant based oil rather than a drug, chemical or even something you have to swallow. She was also generous to offer one of you a bottle of some amazing lemon essential oil... so see the end of post for details in winning a bottle of your own...

I have used the lemon essential oil for baking, and I also made a nice cleaning spray to use as an air freshener and also cleans the surface as well. I used a 8 ounce spray bottle with 4-10 drops of lemon oil and viola you have a very simple fresh smelling cleaning spray. It is seriously SO uplifting and fabulous in the home!  I have also done something similar with lavender oil to help with freshening my rugs or home after dusting or cleaning. The doTerra oils are very potent, so you really only need a few drops. Learn more about them here. So a bottle will last forever, but also it is perfect for this pregnant momma who has a hard time with toxic cleaning smells and it also keeps me and my baby healthy. What are some of your favorite essential oils and how do you prefer to use them?

I also love how you can cook and bake with many of these essential oils. The lemon flavor in these muffins are just wonderful-with full scent and flavor of a fresh lemon tree. Which has been perfectly satisfying to me, because I have had an intense lemon craving lately, like all the time! I just can't get enough of the fresh and sunshiny flavor. Especially in the dead of winter when you are looking for bright and beautiful distractions from the grey and cold outside. The smell is also energy boosting and brings immunity with it when it is digested.

Tangent...
I saw this recipe post today and will be making these Lemony Bars from Green Kitchen Stories very soon... sorry, tangent... it's my pregnancy brain. And, it's easily distracted by beautiful pictures of yummy and healthy food that involve lemons.

Now, back to my own kitchen... I made these not too sweet muffins with one of my favorite combos of lemon and blueberries. I also experimented and made this recipe as a coffeecake instead of muffins in a  9 or 10 inch square or circle pan and you have to bake in double time, but it turns out fabulous as well. Especially still warm with a drizzle of vegan butter and honey.

 Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Muffin Recipe 
{gluten, dairy, nut-free, vegan option}
1/2 cup of brown rice flour
1/2 cup of millet flour
1/2 cup of tapioca flour
1/2 cup of fresh ground buckwheat or certified GF oat flour
1/4 cup of coconut flour
1 1/2 ts. of baking powder
1/2 ts. of baking soda
1/2 ts. of sea salt
2/3 cup of coconut sugar + more for sprinkling on top
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup of melted coconut oil, or light olive oil
1 fresh egg or chia-egg replacement (1 TB chia meal to 3 TB of water wisked)
2/3 cup of coconut milk beverage (I used So Delicious)
   plus juice of 1 lemon (2 TB of juice) and can add some zest from lemon for more flavor
   plus 4 drops of lemon essential oil (I used doTerra)
   plus 1 ts. of pure vanilla

1 heaping cup of fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen this time)

In a large mixing bowl, blend your mix of GF flour and for best results use a fresh ground buckwheat flour that you grind from buckwheat groats in a high powered blender. Blend all of the dry and then add the rest of the wet ingredients and the "buttermilk-lemon milk" blend last after you let it sit by itself for a few minutes to curdle. Mix the batter well and then lastly add the blueberries and just fold them in so that you don't allow them to bleed too much into the rest of the batter. Use a 1/3 cup to measure out each muffin batter into a muffin tin or cup. This recipe will make 12 medium to large muffins. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with some coconut sugar or fresh lemon zest before baking. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes depending on your oven and elevation. 

Pull from oven, test the middles with a toothpick and then let cool for at lest 15 minutes before moving to cooling rack or eating. 

Serve with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. And, ENJOY!

OK, so how can you win a fabulous bottle of doTerra lemon oil of your own....?

Here are the details to follow:
1. Leave a comment below on this blog post and tell me your favorite essential oil and why.
2. Become a follower of Joelle's blog, under the RSS feed, and then leave another comment here
3. Become a follower of Joelle's facebook page, and then leave another comment here.
4. Check out Joelle's website to learn more about doTerra's oil and what they have to offer, then leave another comment here.

So you have 4 chances to win, and the winner will be chosen by random out of the full order of comments below and will be chosen on Monday February 4th at 1pm EST. I will announce the winner on the blog and then will ask the winner to email me to get your full name and info to get your reward.

Hope you are staying warm, finding some sunshine and Vitamin D, and good luck with the giveaway!

Much love,
Stephanie