Tragic Chain Reaction: Gluten-Free Can Still Be Adorable

As I may or may not have mentioned, my oldest sister recently had two heart attacks and needed six stents. The result is that she has to eat an extremely restricted diet. Basically, lots of veggies and fruits, no salt, sugar or dairy, and she was also advised to avoid gluten and fat.

I've been helping her out by cooking for her so she can learn some new ways to eat. But she loves, loves, loves sweets. So she asked me if I would try my hand at baking some food she can eat.

I was like, sure, I can make baked goods without flour. And salt. And sugar. And fat. And dairy. Can't everyone?

Actually, the gluten-free aspect was the easiest part. Years ago, I had a boss with celiac disease and I learned to mix various gluten free flours to make something that could be used for baking, although they were often dry and crumbly or too dense. But these days there are lots of choices and you can buy already already mixed flours that have a good consistency for baking. I did use one of those for the blueberry muffins, but not for the other two, because I love doing things the hard way.

As for the other issues, I did a little research, and although I found plenty of gluten free recipes, they pretty much all included fat or sugar or dairy, or all three. So I had to adapt. Thankfully, I am nothing if not adaptable.

I ended up with Apple Oat Cinnamon Cranberry Walnut (alright, maybe I got a little carried away with these cause they were the first ones I made), Blueberry (these were supposed to be Blueberry Lemon, but I forgot to add the zest), and Banana Quinoa Colada. I also went with mini muffins cause I figured she could freeze them and just eat one when she really wanted something sweet. Also, half a batch was enough to make 20+ muffins.

These came out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Maybe the blueberry muffins could have been a little sweeter and the apple a little less sweet, but I think you'd like them.

Recipes are in the links below.

Recipe for Mini Apple Cinnamon Muffins

cals: 33kcal | fat: 0.34g | carbs: 7.11g | prot: 0.86g