I could start by telling you just how scrumptious the above Vegan Dark Chocolate Muffins are, which they are, because Carrie, author of Ginger Lemon Girl, is very talented at recipe creation, but really, what I want to start by telling you first is how kind Carrie is. I discovered Carrie’s blog early on in my attempt to understand food intolerances and how they could be affecting my health. I was immediately captivated by how she was putting together fantastic meals and desserts without gluten, dairy or soy (she is intolerant to all three). And yes, I kept reading for the recipes, but I also kept reading because Carrie is incredibly kind and gracious and it completely comes through on her blog, from how she answers comments to how she writes. You can see a bit more about how I started reading Carrie’s blog in this guest post I was honored to write for Ginger Lemon Girl in the fall, back when I was just starting my lunchbox series. I had wanted to adopt Carrie for Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger.an event created by Sea of Book of Yum and hosted this month by Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen, for a couple of months already but someone else was always quicker than me.
In fact, Carrie’s approach to this year revolves around kindness and self-acceptance. I read her post on this topic on New Year’s Day and it made a tremendous impact on me. It completely influenced my decision to approach physical activity this year as a mind/body concept (read more here – the mind/body resolution is the next-to-last bullet) – rather than saying I need to work out and/or go to yoga x number of times a week, I am also making meditation part of these goals, which for me is about self-acceptance and kindness to myself as well.
Now, I should really be telling you more about Carrie and her blog and her recipes rather than me. Carrie has been creating many recipes with almond flour lately, which is perfect for me since I have been experimenting with grain-free baking using either chia seeds or ethically sourced duck eggs lately. The Vegan Dark Chocolate Muffins included sorghum and millet, but according to Carrie’s recipe notes, other flours could be substituted, so I used the pseudograin buckwheat. I split the batch in half and made 6 muffins – the 3 for me did not contain the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips, while the 3 muffins for my husband did. My husband’s muffins tasted like muffins crossed with brownies, while mine, sans chocolate chips tasted like chocolatey muffins. Either way it was a win-win.
I also made Carrie’s Almond Flour Pizza Crust and it was a winner. I used 3 ducks eggs and cut back the olive oil just a bit – the white beans really make this crust. I think they are the reason the crust is slighly chewy, almost a bit doughy, and not as crispy as gluten-free pizza crust tends to be. I topped the pizza with tomato paste mixed with Italian herbs and a nice layer of Daiya (one of my few processed foods indulgences). On the side you can see some kale salad with my Vegan Caesar Dressing, but if you would like a non-vegan version of Caesar dressing, Carrie has a recipe for that as well.
I have made the pizza several times now, and the crust is also great for a hearty flatbread. Here is a shot of a lunchbox containing some of the pizza, topped with tomato paste, spices and grilled zucchini:
Adopting Carrie was lots of fun. I only wish that I had had time to make these wonderful grain-free double chocolate brownies – fortunately, there is always next time.
Past adoption posts:
Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free
Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake
Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
what a great review of a fantastic site! I need to make those muffins, and thanks for the reminder
I need to spend some time on Carrie's recipes! I really want to try her bread recipe. Also, do you think the pizza dough could be made without eggs? Chia? I am still honored that you adopted me Valerie! I really respect your food choices so it means a lot to me that you would try my recipes.
Wow!! I had no idea you adopted me!! Thank you SO much!! You make those muffins look amazing!! And I love that pizza crust too! I love how the beans work so well in it and you'd never know they are in there!! I think next time I'm going to split it in two and make two thin chewy crusts!
You're wonderful! Thank you so much for this incredibly sweet review of my site! ((((hugs!))))
@Cheryl – these muffins were lovely. I think the buckwheat substitution worked well with the chocolate too.
@Maggie – I think the pizza dough could be done with chia, but I would recommend maybe making the dough into mini pizzas to give them more of a chance to rise a bit. Adding baking soda might help too. The recipe calls for 2 cups blanched almond flour and 3 eggs, so you could try it with chia seeds for 1 egg (I keep seeing debates as to whether that is 1 tsp ground chia or 1 tsp chia that is then ground to make 2 tsps) and maybe 2/3 cup almond flour and see how it turns out. I am going to try that next time I have a hankering for this crust and my husband is not in the mood for flatbread/pizza. And thank you for your kind comment. I really enjoyed adopting you last year
@Carrie – so glad you enjoyed this post. I always enjoy cooking your recipes and reading your blog.
Carrie truly is a kind soul – I <3 her blog and her writing. I adopted her last month and made pizza too! It's darn tasty.
@Tasty Eats at Home – Hi Alta! I actually resolved to adopt Carrie when I saw you made her pizza on your blog. It looked divine, and it indeed is.