Cream Cheese Muffins

Several years ago, I started truly researching types of food and how our body reacts to different foods.  I began to look at GMO foods and issues, read a lot about eating local, in season foods, studied traditional foods (along the lines of Nourishing Traditions), and watched Food, Inc., Supersize Me, and other documentaries about the SAD (Standard American Diet).  I decided that our current way of eating was going to have to change.  I started eliminating processed foods from our diet, adding coconut oil, and trying some grass-fed meat options. 

Then, of course, the bomb dropped - food allergies. I had just begun a gradual overhaul of our entire way of eating when I learned that Jerry and my boys were allergic to all of God's green earth, and began a new research project - how to cook without any recognizable ingredients.  It has taken two years, but I now have a decent repertoire of recipes that the whole family can enjoy, and my boys' are healing - they are truly totally different after two years of treatment! 

Since all of that happened right after I had a baby, and I was only focused on learning how to cook non-allergenic foods for a long time, my weight got a bit out of control.  So once I re-learned how to feed my family, I began to try to lose some weight and figure out how to incorporate the changes I had started to make three years ago into our new-normal allergy-friendly eating plan.  It has taken some major creativity, plus some trial and error, but I finally have a plan that works! We now eat only foods our grandmothers would recognize (Which is really saying something since one of Jerry's grandmothers was born in 1899!), with a few exceptions, of course!  I don't worry about fat in our diet, but use non-hydrogenated fats, such as coconut oil, butter, and olive oil. We have learned to eat quinoa, millet, and add whole grains of all sorts to our diet.  We have eliminated about 80% of the chemicals we used to consume, and rarely consume corn syrup anymore. I have learned to be satisfied with a meal that consists only of meat, fruit, and vegetable much of the time, and no longer eat very many starches.  The result? I have lost a ton of weight and finally like the way I look, my kids are healthier and don't feel like they're missing too much, and we all enjoy the occasional treat and have discovered which of our "coveted foods" from before really don't appeal anymore.

A recent picture to document the end of my weight loss journey.

I've ended up using many low-carb recipes in my efforts to avoid wheat (for my allergic family) and other starches (for me).  I thought I'd occasionally share some of these recipes here, knowing full well that most of the world doesn't eat the way I do.  But if something I put out here looks good to someone, I'm happy to share.  I know my Green Smoothie wasn't a big hit, but these are much more normal looking, and really tasty! (I promise.) I enjoy a couple of these for breakfast or one for a quick snack.  They are best fully refrigerated.  It is like a mini-cheesecake, really!

Cream Cheese Muffins (Sernicki)
Muffins:

• 24 oz cream cheese, softened
• sweetener: 1 cup splenda or sugar, or 1/2 c. honey (honey changes the consistency some)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 5 eggs

Topping:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 c. splenda or sugar, or 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• optional: 1 TB cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 

Blend together cream cheese and sweetener.  Add vanilla extract.  Add eggs, beating in one at a time.  Pour into 24 paper cupcake liners (you MUST use liners with this recipe) in cupcake pan, filling liners about 2/3 full of batter.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes.

While muffins are cooling, beat all topping ingredients together. Spoon a bit of the topping onto each muffin, where an indention has formed from the cooling.  Return to oven for 5 minutes, then remove and cool. 

Even with another layer of muffins on top of these, this container empties quickly at my house since all 5 of use enjoy these!