Bringing back a CLASSIC breakfast.

My Paleo Biscuits and Gravy was one of the first recipes that debuted on this blog almost TEN years ago (I'll spare you the link, my photography of it back then wasn't stellar, haha. If you look hard enough around here you can find it.) and I wanted to create a new and improved recipe now that I have  mastered flakier biscuits and a creamier gravy than I previously made. 

While not paleo, you could swap the gluten free 1 to 1 with a Cassava flour to keep it grain free. Or you could stick with my OG recipe suggestion of almond flour for a denser, heartier biscuit.  You do you, but I like the FLUFF. 

So much healthier than the restaurant variety, you can make extra gravy and freeze it to keep on hand for weekend brunches and breakfasts. I would suggest making your biscuits fresh, but you can freeze them as well. 

Biscuit Ingredients

• 1/3 C dairy-free butter
• 1/3 C vegan sour cream
• 1/2 TBSP organic sugar
• 1 1/2 C gluten-free one to one all purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 TBSP baking soda 
• 1 1/2 TBSP cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup club soda or sparkling water

Gravy Ingredients

• 1/2 lb gluten free sausage (we love organic AppleGate maple sausage or Jenny-O Sweet Italian)
• 2 TBSP gluten free all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 C. milk alternative
• 1/4 C dairy-free cream
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

​


Directions For The Biscuits

• Preheat oven to 425° degrees.
• Melt 1/3 cup dairy-free butter, to soft but not liquid.
• Whisk vegan sour cream and sugar into melted butter until smooth.
• Add flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar and stir with a fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add sparkling water and stir until mixture comes together and is sticky. 
• Lightly flour a clean surface and turn dough onto counter, turning to fully coat. Be careful not to mix the flour into the dough.
• Flatten with your hands into a circle about 3/4" thick.
• Fold in half to form a half circle, then in half again to form a triangular shape, and pat to 3/4" thickness again.
• Repeat the last step. This folding is what creates the flaky, layered effect.
• Cut into circles with biscuit cutter or large cup and arrange in a round cake pan so the biscuits are so close they are almost touching.
• Bake biscuits for 7-10 minutes. Remove biscuits just as edges begin to turn a golden brown and don't overbake!

Directions For The Gravy

• Brown sausage in a skillet. If your sausage has a casing, make sure to remove before browning. 
• Once browned, stir in gluten free flour and continue to cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Pour in milk while stirring and continue to stir until thick.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
• Serve over fresh biscuits, cut in half. Enjoy! 

​Serve these up with a fresh fruit salad and piping hot coffee or tea for a delectable morning indulgence. This recipe remind me of a rainy day or breakfast at a small-town café. Do Biscuits and Gravy bring to mind any special memories for you?

My delicious Glazed Cinnamon Pumpkin Donuts, which traditionally use Almond Flour and Egg, now have a nut-free, egg-free variation. They are smaller and softer than their nuttier, dense counterpart. A favorite of my husbands these are not grain-free but are gluten-free, of course, and so delicious. See the recipe below!

Ingredients:

Donuts:
dry:
1/4 c. potato starch
1/4 c. oat flour
1/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. tapioca starch
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. cinnamon 
1/4 tsp. ginger

wet:
1/4 c. honey
1 TBSP. coconut oil
1/4 c. dairy-free milk
2 TBSP. organic applesauce
1/4 C. canned organic pumpkin


Glaze:
1 C. Corn-Free Confectioners Sugar (I use an organic cane sugar/tapioca starch blend)
2 TBSP. Vegan Butter (I use Earth Balance Dairy-Free/Soy-Free)
1 1/2 TBSP. non-dairy milk

Directions: 

For Donuts:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease donut pan LIBERALLY with coconut oil or coconut oil spray. Combine dry ingredients and mix well with handheld mixer. Combine wet ingredients and mix well with handheld mixer. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix once more until well blended. Empty contents from bowl into piping bag or ziploc bag to disperse easily into donut pan. Fill donut pan 3/4 of the way and cook for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan and glazing. 

​For Glaze:
Mix ingredients once donuts have cooled and dip donuts to cover top. Set for 5 - 10 minutes until glaze solidifies. If glaze hardens before you are finished dipping, or if you are baking multiple batches, simply warm the glaze on low for 2-3 minutes to reuse. 

Since learning so much about the food we consume and things we put into our bodies I often look back at periods of my life. How I did things, what I consumed, what was thought about and what was simply routine. 

I think of my childhood and the grilled chicken and veggie dinners mixed with the trips for fast food and boxed breakfast pastries, and honestly, I shudder a bit. Wondering how it all played into altering genes and my autoimmune issues today. However, my parents were amazing parents to my sister and I and did the best they could with the knowledge they had. And so I have to move forward, do what I can to heal my body now, and do the best I can as a parent with the knowledge I have. 

I think back to living on my own in Los Angeles in my early twenties and making healthier, better changes for life in the entertainment industry and all of the physical work I was putting my body through. The gym, running and hip hop dancing. I cleaned up my eating in those years but it still wasn't anything near what it is now, because again, I didn't yet have the knowledge. 

And then the period after I was diagnosed with several food intolerances, genetic defects and an autoimmune disorder is where I took a too strict approach and lost too much weight and adopted a mindset that launched an unhealthy and unwarranted fear of food. 

Thus bringing us to today - a happy place. Where I am knowledgeable about WHAT goes into my body while having a passion to bring back comfort foods, happy foods if you will, into our life. Deprivation isn't a way to live, but neither is giving into desires for food that can cause us harm, so I can say, in the past few years, I have found my niche. My happy place as a chef, a food blogger and a mama in the kitchen. 

Comfort foods that bring connection, warmth and nutrition while being allergen-friendly and more wholesome than a packaged food item. 

Which is why today I present homemade strawberry pop tarts for you and your family to enjoy. Yum! 

Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free and nut free - these pleasant pastries pack delicious strawberry preserves, sweetened naturally and thickened with potato starch versus corn. 

I used gluten-free pie shells and a homemade corn-free powdered sugar glaze to bring back memories of school mornings as a child. Greyson LOVED these and gobbled one up before one of our pre-k home school mornings and I will be making them again as a treat this fall. I am excited to try different flavors as well - such as a warm coconut sugar pop tart in lieu of the famous brown sugar pop tarts - as well as a blueberry and a double chocolate. 

​

This week I started prepping and planning recipes to make in bulk for post baby. She's due in just over 9 weeks! WHAT?! This pregnancy has gone lightning fast (after the first trimester, anyways. Woof. So sick.) and I'm just now trying to get my booty into gear on planning, buying and prepping all the things. 

Sweet girl will be in our room for the first year or so, so no nursery was designed this time around. Keeping it simple helps not only your prenatal sanity but your budget as well.

Which lets you spend more on high quality, nutritious food for pregnancy and post-baby! 

Below is my recipe for a DELICIOUS, easy and homemade Banana Bread Granola. Gluten, dairy and refined sugar free, its much healthier than granola's your find in your local health food store and it took no time at all to whip up. I make this in large batches, dry it completely, then store it in a sealed glass container to eat on for the week or for a couple of weeks. 

I'll be making a triple batch pre-baby arrival, as oats are AMAZING for milk production when nursing. 

Also, you could add nuts to this if you like for added protein and crunch, I however am a banana bread purest and don't care for nuts in it. 

​Enjoy!

Ingredients

• ​3 cups gluten-free oats (not quick cooking!)
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped dried banana chips (I use Sun Tropic for the amazing thin chips) 
• 1/4 cup avocado or coconut oil
• 1/3 cup organic raw honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 banana, smashed

​Directions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Whisk together gluten free oats, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and banana chips in a large mixing bowl.
• In a small saucepan, over low-medium heat, combine the oil, vanilla and honey. Heat until warmed and liquid.  Remove and whisk in banana.
• Gently mix wet ingredients into the dry until fully incorporated. Spread mixture onto your baking sheet in an even layer. 
• Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
• Allow to cool and dry out completely (this takes about an hour or so).
• Store in a airtight container and enjoy! 

We are on a muffin kick lately! These Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (paleo and grain-free) are SO easy, so warm and comforting in the cold winter months, freezable to re-heat on busy mornings and they help keep me on track with getting back into my paleo groove. I always find myself coming back to this diet when I need to lower inflammation, help out my cycle, prep for pregnancy, lower my intake of sugar (preach) or drop a couple of pounds. 

The last breakfast recipe I posted were my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, so naturally, there is a paleo muffin thing happening in our home. 

Other muffin favorites lately have been my Carrot Zucchini Muffins, my Blackberry Almond Muffins and not techincally a muffin but my yeast-free cinnamon rolls keep showing up on the weekends ;)

This was my first time using a recipe with JUST cassava flour (I know, I'm so late to that game) - I've usually mixed it with other flours, but today I made a simple cassava muffin sweetened only with bananas and a dash of vegan chocolate chips.

In our taste test, I thought the family may find them to be not sweet enough but the consensus was that everyone approved and my toddler ate FOUR of them before lunchtime. 

So, they'll be hanging out on the meal plan long term.

Enjoy the recipe below and if you make a bunch, freeze some and invite me over for a warm mug of tea because I'm craving some girl time in my busy schedule and am always down for good convo and muffins.

Also! If you're wanting these completely refined-sugar free and fully paleo compliant, nix the chocolate chips and add some fresh or dried berries, nuts or raisins. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cassava Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon 
• 1/2 C. Chocolate Chips
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Ripe Bananas
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/3 C. Avocado Oil 

​Directions
​

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a muffin tin with parchment paper liners (you won't regret switching to these!) and gather your ingredients, a whisk, a rubber spatula and a large mixing bowl. 
• Place your two bananas in your bowl and mash until smooth.
• Add your eggs to your banana and whisk.
• Add in your avocado oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. 
• Whisk together wet ingredients until well blended.
• Add in your cassava flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt.
• Once all wet and dry ingredients are well blended, fold in your chocolate chips and any additional ingredients you are adding (nuts, berries, shaved coconut, raisins...)
• Fill your muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Enjoy warm and save the leftovers in the fridge for up to four days. You may freeze them and reheat for longer lasting muffins. 

Check out our latest episode of In The Kitchen With Nosh and Nurture to snag a delicious fluffy pumpkin pancake recipe just in time for fall.

In partnership with My Give Garden, we were delivered our monthly subscription box to foster connection and life skill development with our son in the kitchen. 

In the video I show you how to swap out the included ingredients for gluten free and dairy free subs. 

Also, it's worth watching JUST to see the hilarious faces Grey starts to make about halfway through. 

Kind of obsessed with this child I made. 

So I did a thing.

And it was amazing.

My son asked for donuts last weekend and I awoke to find I was out of our gluten free 1 to 1 flour. What's a mom to do?!

S'Mores Donuts. 

I grabbed a bag of our gluten free pancake and waffle mix and decided to sub it for my normal donut recipe flour. Having just returned from his first camping trip, with a newfound love of S'Mores, I tossed a few mini marshmallows on top and some crumbled GF graham crackers.

He. Ate. It. Up. Literally. And I have to say, I love my original donut recipe, but the pancake mix added a subtle sweetness and moist, chewy, cakey consistency that made these highly addictive and disappear before the weekend was over. 

INGREDIENTS:
Donut
2 1/2 C. Bobs Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
1 1/2 tsp. Corn-Free Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1/2 C. Cocoa Powder
1 c. Coconut Sugar
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
2 C. Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk for nut-free)
1/2 C. Avocado Oil (olive oil or coconut oil also work)

Frosting + Toppings
2/3 C. Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Coconut Oil or Avocado Oil
1/8 C. Almond Milk
2 Gluten Free Graham Cracker Sheets
1/2 C. Mini Marshmallows

​DIRECTIONS:

Donuts
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease your donut pan or pans lightly with coconut or avocado oil.

I use two six space donut pans for this amount of mix.

Mix all dry ingredients until blended well. Add wet ingredients and stir or mix with a hand mixer until batter consistency. Add more milk of choice if needed.

Add batter to piping bag to pipe into pan (easiest method for perfect circles, or spoon batter into pan evenly. Fill almost to top for fluffiest donuts.

Bake regular sized donuts for 12 minutes, mini donuts (if using a mini donut pan) for 7. Check for doneness and remove to allow to cool for 15-20 minutes on a wire rack.

Frosting
Start by warming a small sauce pan over medium-low heat.  Add chocolate chips and coconut oil until they start to melt.

Add vanilla and mix.

When mixture is completely melted together, add dairy-free milk of choice until desired frosting consistency is achieved.

Pour immediately into a wide, ceramic bowl and dip cooled donuts to frost. Allow to set and cool for another 15 minutes. Crush gluten free graham crackers and sprinkle on top, use a small flame to scorch mini marshmallows and add to donut. 


Enjoy!

This past weekend on Friday night we decided to visit our new property and take Grey camping on site! I purchased the hubs a blackout tent for Christmas and wanted to try it out before braving the true wilderness with a toddler.

I'm happy to report we all had a BLAST, invited some friends to boot and cooked our dinner, dessert and sunrise breakfast over an open flame.

Returning home smelling of smoke and the outdoors, we were craving a more fanciful breakfast come Sunday. We whipped up these little scrumptious Veggie Loaded Baked Egg Bites with some vegetables and fresh OJ and it was just the perfect return back into home life. 

INGREDIENTS:
​

• avocado oil cooking spray
• 9 large organic eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
• black pepper
• 3 tablespoons thawed frozen kale, drained
• 3 tbsp diced organic tomatoes
• 3 tbsp diced onion
• 3 tbsp diced bell pepper

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
  
• Spray muffin tin with avocado oil cooking spray.
• In a large bowl whisk the eggs and season with salt and pepper.
  
• Mix in kale, tomatoes, onion and bell pepper. 
• Fill muffin tin cups and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until set.
• Serve with fresh juice, vegetables or breakfast sausage. 

I'm currently on Day 25 of a Proverbs 31 study that is life changing. 

It's amazing what God will do when you ASK him to move in and help change your heart, your mind and how you live your day to day life.

I've been feeling "less-than" in so many areas since becoming a mama, and I've really needed to call on him and let him take over. I've wanted to improve how I take care of my home, how I love my husband, how I mother our son, how I pour into my relationships and serve others and how I go about my work. 

The Proverbs 31 woman always intimidated me, but by doing my current study (with the book Becoming The Woman God Wants Me To Be) I see now I don't need to be perfect. I just need to be OPEN to allowing God to motivate me. Strengthen me. And empower me to improve in all areas of my life. 

Just twenty-five days in, I'm feeling the challenges. The changes in my heart. Some things have not come easy, but I do feel a higher sense of peace. Of joy. To get up each day. To care for my home and our little family. And that is what is so life changing. When you align your hopes and actions and daily tasks with God, even the tiniest mundane things can feel joyous and purposeful. 

One of my goals was to get BACK into the kitchen like I use to and create healthy recipes for my boys. These Carrot Zucchini Muffins were a hit this morning and we have leftovers to munch on through the week! 

​gluten free - dairy free - vegan - nut free - yeast free - soy free - egg free

I've been thinking a lot about childhood lately. 

I love seeing the world through Grey's eyes. How he lights up at every little thing. How the simplest joys make him laugh those beautiful deep baby belly laughs. It all got me thinking about my childhood. Joy. Innocence. Peace. Playfulness. 

I adored my childhood. I was blessed to have attentive, loving parents, a mom who stayed home with us and a dad who worked so hard for us but then gave his all on evenings and weekends. I want to make a happy home for Grey to thrive and feel like his imagination can soar to heights greater than I could imagine. And I want to go on that incredible journey once again, this time, letting him take the reigns and just really let him be little and be uniquely him. 

(just took a quick break to let him chase me in his walker, emitting squeals of laughter)

See what I mean? Glorious. 

And reminiscing about my childhood got me thinking about the food of my childhood. 

Which got me thinking about comfort foods.

Which, of course, led to thinking about donuts. 

Which if you've hung around here since my pregnancy you can see it's become an obsession of mine to perfect the allergy-friendly donut. My Blueberry Powdered Sugar Donut, My Double Chocolate Donut and my Apple Cinnamon Glazed Pumpkin Donut are a few of my top recipes here at Nosh and Nurture, proving to me that other people have a love for the circular pastry as much as I do.

Have I told you lately that I love you?

One of my favorite donuts to get at the shoppe on weekend mornings with my dad was the Pink Frosted with Rainbow Sprinkles. Because it was colorful, girly, sweet and just made me happy. 

But, of course, loaded with yeast, gluten, sugar and dairy, (and God knows what else) these are no longer on my list of accessible morning breakfast items. So when weekends roll around and I find myself reminiscing of sweets of the past, I get my booty into the kitchen to try to create something that hints of days can by while meeting my nutrition seal of approval. 

And these babies (colored with freeze-dried strawberries) allowed me to visit a bygone era where sprinkles and pink stained confectioners sugar were the staples of a Saturday morning cartoon binge. 

I'm thinking of adding 10 or so more custom donut recipes to the blog (I have plans for an allergy-friendly Apple Fritter, A Maple Bar, a Cinnamon Roll and more) and then maybe turning them into a book. Not sure yet. Still feeling it out as I have another book on my 2017-2018 business plan that's been in the works for some time. That's all to say, enjoy them while they're here, as they may move into a little book home of their own one day. 

Would love your ideas on some others to recreate! What is YOUR favorite donut that you miss?

Ingredients: 

​Dry: 
1 c. Gluten-Free Flour (I used Bob's Red MIll 1-to-1)
1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon

Wet: 
1/4 C. Honey (Maple Syrup or Agave for vegan)
1/4 C. Dairy-Free Milk of Choice (I used Trader Joe's boxed Coconut Milk)
1 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3 1/2 TBSP. Avocado Oil (Coconut or Grapeseed Oil would also work)

Frosting: 
1 C. Confectioners Sugar
1/2 C. Freeze Dried Strawberries, ground to dust
1 TBSP. dairy-free milk
Dye-Free Rainbow Sprinkles (I use India Tree) 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a donut pan with coconut oil lightly. (My donut pan makes 6 donuts, to make a full dozen you will need to double the mix)

In a small mixing bowl, mix together all wet ingredients.. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Slowly mix wet ingredients into medium bowl with dry ingredients. 

Using a piping bag, ziploc bag or spoon, fill donut pan rings 3/4 of the way. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to wire rack. 

While the donuts are cooling prepare your frosting. Mix all ingredients and microwave for 30 seconds. 

Once the donuts are cooled completely (10-20 minutes total) Dip 2-4 times per donut to get a good, thick glaze and top generously with sprinkles.