Busy week ahead, so I'm cooking tonight

It's going to be a busy week, so tonight I took some time to cook and bake a few things:

First I made 2 kinds of turkey sausage. Hubs wanted apple sausage, so I made a pound of onion/apple sausage and a pound of regular sausage. I'll do separate posts with the recipes.

Next I started the fermentation process for some kefir I've been wanting to make. I bought some freeze dried starter grains (it's not grain, actually; it's yeast and bacteria) at Whole Foods (they were like $5 off, so only $.97 for a pack of 6) yesterday. I heated up some organic whole milk, let it cool to about 75 degrees, then poured some into 4 different containers into which I'd already put one pack each of starter grains. Now they sit, covered, for about 24 hours while the kefir starter grains "wake up" and ferment the milk. After that, I think I drain off the excess liquid and voila! My very own live and active starter grains. Throw them in some milk and let them get to business.

Then I made banana/strawberry egg-free and grain-free muffins. They are actually in the oven right now, and I'm not sure they are going to make it. This happens frequently to me when I try baking without eggs. It's really a gigantic pain in the ass, but I figured that since this particular recipe didn't call for eggs, there shouldn't be a problem. We shall see. I'm not opening the oven door for another 20 minutes...

I'm also going to bake some pumpkin-zucchini egg-free and grain-free muffins. And possibly some of those delicious brownies.

I'm feeling a bit sad right now, but it's nothing I want to talk about. It's something that's been going on for years, and it's something I guess I just have to deal with. As much as it sucks...

Egg-free, Grain-free, Cane Sugar-free Brownies (primal)

So I was looking around for egg free muffin recipes earlier today, and some how came across this recipe for egg-free, grain-free brownies.

I didn't have any xanthan gum, but I did have flax meal. After looking around the interwebs for subbing flax, I finally found that it's a 1:1 sub...for breads. That little tidbit escaped my notice for a bit.

I made the recipe exactly like she said, with the exception of honey - I used 1/3c xylitol - and the flax subbed for xanthan. My batter was incredibly dry and crumbly. So I decided to put a little whole milk in. And a little more. And a little more. Didn't work well enough, so I threw in some full fat sour cream. That did the trick! These brownies are soooo moist and chewy. The only thing I'd change is using almond butter without salt.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
3 T coconut flour
1 c almond butter (salt free)
1/4 t salt
2 droppersful liquid stevia (mine was actually Lemon Drop from SweetLeaf, but the lemon flavor is so minute, it made no difference)
1/4 t organic vanilla (maybe use a bit more if yours isn't organic - I find organic to be very strong)
1/3 c xylitol (I use XyloSweet)
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c organic whole milk
1/2 c full fat sour cream

Mix all ingredients together with an electric beater or stand mixer. Pour into a small greased cake pan (I used a metal pan greased with organic coconut oil). Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Makes 18 brownies.

By my calculations, here is the nutritional breakdown per brownie:
Calories: 119
Fat: 9.2g
Sat Fat: 1.6g
Carbs: 8.2g
Sugar: 1.3g
Protein: 4g

If you make them, lemme know how they turn out!