Little Monkey’s eczema has been out of control lately, so we’ve been experimenting with different allergy-free food options until we figure out what his triggers are. We decided gluten had to go at least for the time being, but gluten-free baking is a pain, with a million different kinds of flours and binders. I just was not having it. So we decided to look into paleo options. Much easier! NomNomPaleo is now one of my favorite new blogs and these egg muffins are originally from her site.
Summer has left us, and with it has gone the bright, vibrant fruits and vegetables of the season. My favorite summer veggie? The good old zucchini, of course! But just because they’re not growing out of the ground anymore, doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy them in these cooler months. That’s why I like to make sure to stock up on the in-season zukes, shred them up, and throw them in the freezer. That way, when I’m ready to bake up a delicious zucchini bread loaf, like this one from Martha Stewart, I can just pull out a package from the freezer and let it thaw, which doesn’t take too long.
Quick breads and muffins are 2 of my most favorite things ever! So when I saw this recipe over at Eat the Weeds, I knew I just had to try it! I made a few changes (really, when don’t I?), used muffin tins to bake them, and 25 minutes later, voila! – dandelion muffins!
Ehh, they’re not really muffins. They’re definitely very much on the bread side of things, but slap some raw honey across their cute little muffin-tops and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and you’ve got yourself a yummy mid-morning snack 
…or an afternoon snack…or a midnight snack. Yeah, I’ve been snacking LOL 
I used raw honey and coconut oil to replace the honey and oil that’s called for in the recipe. I also added in some vanilla, cocoa powder, and coconut flakes for some texture and sweetness – excellent choice, if I do say so myself!
There’s really not much left to say about these, so I’ll let you peruse through the lovely pics…I think I spent more time photographing these than I did baking them LOL. Anyways, here you go… Enjoy!
This recipe is from a 2-part series on cooking with dandelions. For more info recipes, please visit:
Dandelions: Friend or Foe? Part 1 (Greens)
Dandelions: Friend or Foe? Part 2 (Flowers)
This recipe was adapted from here.
| Coconut Dandelion Blossom Muffins |
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dandelion petals, loosely packed
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup coconut flakes
- Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, including petals making sure to separate clumps of petals.
- In separate bowl mix together milk, honey, oil, and beaten egg.
- Add wet ingredients to dry mix. Batter should be fairly wet and lumpy.
- Pour into greased muffin tin, and bake at 400F for 20-25 mins, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. *For a bread loaf, bake for 25-30 mins and check for doneness. If still too moist, lower heat to 350F and check every 5 mins.
This post was shared here: Monday Mania, Just Another Meatless Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Mondays, My Meatless Mondays, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Foodie Friday
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I’m a huge fan of eggs, especially loaded with veggies and scrambled or made into omelets. Baked omelets are so easy; you just sautee all your veggies, dump the egg on top and pop it in the oven. Done! So when looking for a new way to incorporate some dandelions into our meals, I knew we had to try them in our morning eggs – and I’m so glad we did!
I woke up earlier then Mr. B and Baby Y, headed out to the backyard and picked some fresh dandelion greens and closed flower buds. I’m not one to measure ingredients (it’s bad, I know!), but here’s a picture of how much I picked for our 2-person omelet: a small bunch of greens and about 20-30 unopened flower buds.
Mr. B is not as big a fan of eggs as I am, so his eggs have to be loaded with as many veggies as possible, to mask the egg taste So, this became a loaded spring veggies omelet – fine by me! I chopped up some onions, mushrooms, celery, and asparagus. Again, no measurements, really…
I sauteed the greens and flower buds until they were soft…
Then added the rest of the veggies and cooked until they were nice and tender.
Then I beat the eggs with some milk and seasonings, dumped them over the veggies, and topped with some shredded cheese.
I popped it in the oven for about 10 minutes, and voila – Baked omelet!
I love my eggs with bread – scrambled eggs with toast, and omelets with pita bread – so I warmed up a pita and went to town on this thing!
Enjoy!
This recipe was part of a series on cooking with dandelions, view other recipes in this series here: Dandelions: Friend or Foe (With Recipes!)
| Dandelion Greens and Flower Buds Baked Omelet |
- 1 small bunch dandelion greens, coarsely chopped
- 20-30 unopened dandelion flower buds
- 1 asparagus spear, chopped
- 1/2 celery stalk, chopped
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 2 medium mushrooms, chopped
- 4 eggs
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons oil
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Wash and drain dandelion greens and buds. Heat oil in oven-proof skillet on medium heat, and sauté dandelions until just soft. Add the rest of the vegetables, and continue to sauté until tender and cooked through.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper, and parsley.
- Pour eggs over vegetables, top with shredded cheese.
- Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.
This recipe was shared here: My Meatless Mondays, Melt in Your Mouth Mondays, Just Another Meatless Monday, Monday Mania,Fat Tuesday, Foodie Friday,
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Before we talk about this week’s Tiny Tip, I want to first thank everyone who shared, pinned, and posted my tip on homemade cooking spray. I had no idea it would be such a huge hit! With over 20,000 pins (and counting) on Pinterest, this thing is spreading like wildfire! There are also a lot of comments with other tips and suggestions, so be sure to check them out too! I would like to also personally thank Andrea from Frugally Sustainable for sharing it on her Facebook page. Please check out her pages – she truly is a wealth of information!
Ok, now on to this week’s Tiny Tip!
Oh, how I love waffles, I really do. In the battle between waffles and pancakes, waffles always win. The crispy outside, chewy inside…even those cute little uniform squares which perfectly cradle the right amount of syrup for each bite. Mmmm…
But this post isn’t about waffles. It’s about hashbrowns – in a waffle iron! Oh who am I kidding, I’m a lover of hashbrowns too. The crispy outside, chewy inside…even those cute little…a-ha! See what’s happening here? Who would have thought waffles and hashbrowns could be so similar?
Not me. That is until I heard about this amazing idea on Pinterest a while back. I quickly brushed over it and didn’t think much of it. Then, I attempted to make hashbrowns for the first time in my life – and failed miserably! Side note: since completely eliminating non-stick cookware from my kitchen, and only using cast-iron and stainless steel pots and pans, my little escapades in the kitchen have been more, shall we say…teaching moments? Yes, teaching moments. And hashbrowns have taught me that you DO NOT turn your back on them for too long or they will grab hold of your precious pan and hang on for dear life!
Yeah, we almost didn’t have hashbrowns that morning. I did, however, manage to salvage the layer of potatoes that wasn’t yet touching the pan, and that’s when I decided to go for round 2 in the waffle iron. I heated that baby up, sprayed some homemade cooking spray on it, and laid the potatoes right on the iron. About 15 minutes later, we had hashbrowns!
Raw potatoes
Just about ready!
It’s really the easiest thing, and works with any wafle iron – even my tiny little 2-waffle capacity iron. I actually got mine from my mom, since she wasn’t using it – thanks Mom! But you could even look for a second-hand iron at thrift stores, garage sales, etc.
Aren’t they beautiful?
In looking for a little inspiration for this post, I came across the coolest site! Waffleizer is an amazing blog that attempts to answer the question, “Will it waffle?” Basically, the author attempts different culinary experiments in his waffle iron – and with great success! Check out the site for more great ways to use your waffle iron; everything from quesadillas, to mac-n-cheese, to even cupcakes! Seriously, check it out. Now. You’ll thank me later. And it’s a great way to get more mileage from your waffle iron!
Perfectly crispy outside, soft inside.
| Waffle Iron Hashbrowns |
- 1 medium potato
- salt and pepper + other seasonings, to taste
- Wash and shred the potato.
- Place shredded potatoes in a towel and squeeze the water out. (This is imperative for crispy hashbrowns!)
- Put potatoes in a bowl and top with salt, pepper, and any seasonings you like. (I added some paprika and garlic powder.)
- Spray the pre-heated waffle iron with cooking spray, and layer the potatoes on the iron, about 1/4 inch thick.
- Close the lid and let them cook, checking on them after about 10-15 minutes.
This post was proudly featured here:
This post was shared here: Frugal Tuesday Tip: Getting Ahead Blog, Frugal Tuesday Tip: Learning the Frugal Life, Kitchen Tip Tuesdays, Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Works for Me Wednesdays, Real Food Wednesdays, Penny Pinching Party Wednesdays,
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