My boys absolutely love muffins for breakfast, or pancakes, but really they aren’t the most nutritious foods in the world. So here is my latest variation, hoping to add a little more pow to each yummy muffin. I start with King Arthur Gluten Free Muffin Mix. I think they make the best GF muffin mix available. Then I like to bump up the nutritional content, in this particular case I added an additional egg, one scoop of vanilla whey protein powder sweetened with stevia, a scant cup of cooked, mashed butternut squash, chopped nuts, chia seeds, 1/4 cup white chocolate chips, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and nutmeg. Chia seeds have a nice amount of omega 3s, nuts and the additional egg add extra protein as does the protein powder. The squash is just another way to get some great veggies in, while the cinnamon and ginger add antioxidants. Cinnamon is also known to help keep blood sugar levels steady, while ginger may help lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure. 

I like to round these out with a little low glycemic fruit such as strawberries and maybe another protein source such as left over cooked chicken or eggs. This way the boys are full without eating more than one muffin. We almost never drink fruit juice because it can elevate blood sugar so instead we opt for water. And often they will each enjoy a small glass of my green smoothie which gives them even more veggies to start their morning. 

 Yesterday was a special day in my family. Two of my favorite people share the same birthday, and it was yesterday. So we had a big family dinner with homemade (by my Italian husband) chicken parmesan, gluten free pasta with homemade sauce and meatballs. My husband even ground the pork for the meatballs and made sausage too. I was tasked with the dessert. Since one of the birthday boys was only turning two we opted to make a special dessert that the other birthday boy, who turned 85, would love. I made gluten free banana pudding. 

Years ago, before we went gluten free, I made Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Pudding from Paula Deen, and it was a big hit. But it uses boxed pudding mix and vanilla wafers. Not very gluten free and I do like to make my own food so I know what is in it, so that meant finding a pudding substitute. So I used her overall concept, but substituted homemade gluten free vanilla custard, and used gluten free animal crackers instead of chessmen cookies.

I used this recipe for the pudding, originally found here.

• 2/3 cup cane sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups light coconut milk OR milk
• 4 egg yolks 
• 2 tablespoons dairy-free butter substitute OR unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and coconut milk OR milk in a heavy saucepan and whisk to blend ingredients. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for about 6-8 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Boil for 1 minute while continuing to whisk. Remove the pan from heat.

Place egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Slowly drizzle 1/2 cup of hot pudding mixture into egg yolks while briskly whisking. Slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the saucepan with remaining pudding. Return pudding to medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Don’t overcook! Add vanilla.

Stir in dairy-free butter substitute OR butter. Chill.

After the pudding was made and chilled I used Paula Deen’s recipe which i adapted as follows:

• 1 bag of gluten free animal crackers
• 6 ripe bananas, sliced
• 1 8oz bick of cream cheese, softened
• 1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 8 oz of heavy cream, whipped
• The vanilla pudding from the above recipe, chilled

Using a large glass baking dish spread 1/2 to 3/4 of the animal crackers in the bottom of pan, evenly. Add an even layer of bananas, using all the banana slices. In a separate bowl mix the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Mix the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream mixture in to the vanilla pudding. Pour this mixture over the bananas and animal crackers. Top with remaining animal crackers and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make this recipe Gluten Free/Casein Free use coconut milk in the pudding. You can omit the butter or use a GFCF butter substitute. Skip the Paula Deen portion and simply serve the pudding over the GFCF animal crackers and bananas.