French Breakfast Muffins - Gluten Free

I had a craving for a hardly breakfast muffin last week.  After a Pinterest search for breakfast muffin I found French Breakfast Muffins.   A little tweaking and viola Gluten Free Breakfast Muffins!  I added the chia seed to give it a little extra health factor.  I know, they ARE muffins - but a girl has to try:)

These are very dense and hardly muffins.  They aren't light and fluffy by any means.  These muffins taste great and are filling.  They are great for breakfast or a mid-morning snack.  Pop them in the microwave for 15 seconds and you are good to go with nice warm muffins.

What you Need

1 1/2 cups GF flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp GF vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 tsp chia seed, ground

topping
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp white sugar

How to Make it:
Heat oven to 350 and grease muffin tin.  Mix dry ingredients together.  In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients.  Slowly add wet to the dry and stir.  Batter will be thick.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Hot out of the oven.  The black spots are the Chia seed. 

While it is cooking melt butter and mix cinnamon and suger together in small bowl.  Once slightly cooled brush butter onto muffins.

Then dip them into cinnamon/ sugar mixture.

These are best served warm.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from here and here.
This post is linked to Gluten Free Homemaker's Gluten Free Wednesdays.

Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie

I have been finding such good recipes on Pinterest lately!  When looking for ways in up my protein and calorie intake I found these make ahead smoothies.   I had most of the ingredients on hand but a trip to Whole Foods finished off the list.

What You Need:
1/4 cup GF oats
1.5 tsp chia seeds (the bulk section at Whole Foods is cheaper than the pre-bagged)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup yogurt (I used strawberry.  You could use Greek yogurt to make it lower calorie)
1/2 cup strawberries (I used frozen)
splash of GF vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp honey


How to Make It:
In a smoothie blender mix the oats and chia seeds.  I have a Magic Bullet that I love!  Grind it up until it is fine.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend.

Refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours.  You could also freeze them in mason jars and thaw when ready to drink.

Then enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from the Yummy Life.  She has a number of different recipes for overnight oatmeal smoothies.

The Result
The biggest thing was that this was a very filling smoothie!  I woke up early with the babies and was starving.  I knew it would be a while before I could make me breakfast so I headed straight for the smoothie and it really hit the spot.  I was good to go until I had everyone feed and watching cartoons.

The taste was good.  Not too sweet, so you may want to add more honey if you like sweet smoothies.  I think I will try adding bananas next time to give it more levels of flavor.  You really could mix any fruit you wanted.  I was able to taste the oatmeal but I didn't find this to be a bad thing.

The texture was a little thick.   The oatmeal adds some depth so it is a little heavier.

Surviving Easter

Did you survive Easter weekend and all the festivities?  We loaded up the kids and took them to my sister's house Saturday and the hubby's side on Sunday.  Eating Gluten Free at family gatherings can be tricky.  I find the bigger the crowd the less likely I will be able to eat anything.

Saturday we did a low key cookout at my sister's house.  Because she loves me she made sure I could eat the hambergers, hot dogs and potato salad she made.  Eating a hamberger with a fork just isn't the same but it will get the job done.  I brought Gluten Free chips from Aldi (my new favorite Gluten Free grocery store.  Their labeling is AWESOME!) and a 7 layer salad.  My layers were: lettuce, red/yellow peppers, broccoli, peas, cheese, bacon, and dressing.  The salad was a big hit and we actually ate the whole thing!  This family gathering was small, my mom, sister's family and us.  This allowed for more control of the food being served.  In fact the only thing I wasn't able to eat were the buns!

Sunday was a large family gathering with lots of cousins, aunts and uncles.  With this big of an event I knew my safe options would be limited.  I made another 7 layer salad and GF corn muffins to help fill me up.  I also planned ahead and we stopped at Moes.  I got a burrito bowl that I ate on the way to help fill me up.   At the family lunch I ate the salad and muffins I brought and some rotisserie chicken.   There were lots of other tasty offerings but I just couldn't tell what was safe so I went basic.

How do you survive family gatherings?  Do you pre-eat?