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It’s time for a little chat today, one that’s been a long time coming, and I feel needs to be hashed out. Ready?
Grab your coffee or better yet, pumpkin spice latte and a comfy chair.
My family’s real food journey started out quite simple, yet complicated: a documentary, dare, the produce section, and veganism. See, simple-complicated. Let me bring you up to speed.
Years ago, I discovered the documentary Food INC. A much anticipated documentary which exposed the true horrors and secrets of our current food system. I watched the film over and over, mortified at the system I trusted and realized change had to be made.
One night at dinner (after watching Food INC. way too many times), Dustin issued a dare, “I bet you can’t shop from just the produce department of the grocery store for a week!” I’m not one to turn down a good dare (within reason), and since I knew this was exactly the kind of change we needed, I accepted. That week was hard, but amazing.
With my knowledge of Food INC. and a new feel-good dare mastered, I decided to take the plunge into veganism. Essentially I kissed bacon, burgers, honey, and anything that comes from an animal good-bye.
Veganism opened up a new world for me. Suddenly I couldn’t just reach for a package of ground beef or eggs, I had to dive into new foods with a creative flare. I learned the art of cooking green leafy veggies and how to cook beans from scratch (something I thought only came from a can). I enjoyed being a vegan, but after about a year my restrictive diet began to take a toll on my health and social life.
I began to crave meat like my life depended on it, but did my best to dismiss the intense cravings. Social outings were far from pleasurable as I spent most of my time with friends and family worrying about the bread on my plate and if it contained eggs or honey. Food consumed me. I began to worry about food and obsess over my every meal. Neither of which were healthy. I also became pregnant during this time with my first child and began to experience energy lows which I blamed on the “I’m huge” aspect of my life.
Two years later, Dustin and I faced a decision: make dietary changes for our son (you can read his story here) or continue on our restrictive diet. We chose to make changes, and slowly introduced grass-fed meats into our home along with raw milk and cheese. Freedom and health were restored. I realized that my restrictive eating had caused health issues for myself and our son along with unnecessary stress over food.
Over the past couple of years, since our change, it’s been my mission to cook and serve my family nourishing food. Yes, we avoid processed food, but my kids partake in the store-bought cake at birthday parties. Yes, we purchase grass-fed meats from a farm, but I’m not going to leave a family gathering due to a beef stew prepared with conventional beef. It’s a matter of doing the best we can, but not letting food rule over us in a stressful, all-consuming way.
This is where I wanted to end up in our conversation. Is your coffee cup almost empty? I promise, I’m almost done.
When I started Live Simply, our family had wholeheartedly embraced Nourishing Traditions (a phenomenal book which I highly recommend reading). Along with consuming good fats in a well-balanced diet, Sally Fallon strongly encourages soaking, sprouting, or souring grains before they are consumed. It’s because of this recommendation that many of my first recipes on Live Simply were soaked (such as this pancake recipe).
Over the last six months, I’ve moved away from soaking or sprouting all of our grains to just using plain ol’ non-soaked grains. I believe soaking, sprouting, and souring are excellent for digestion, but these practices started to consume me. Creating soaked recipes can be incredibly time-consuming and often hit or miss which means lots of time in the kitchen and a ton of failed results.
I’m learning the art of balance once again. The art of cooking from scratch with wholesome ingredients and techniques, but not letting food and its preparation consume me in a way that’s stressful or worrisome. You’ll still find me soaking, souring, or sprouting my grains from time to time, but I’ve also embraced using plain ol’ grains and flour.
Simple real food is not about embracing by an ideology that bogs one down, but rather finding enjoyment and pleasure in the art of good, real food prepared by loving hands. An art which I’m once again learning to embrace by letting go of perfection and worrisome ideology.
After all this talk (thank you for letting me share), I’m sure you’re hungry and since we’re putting perfection behind, I know you’ll love a non-soaked, sprouted, or soured muffin complete with the flavors of a fall: pumpkin and warm spices. I’ll pour you another latte; stay, sit, and let’s enjoy a pumpkin muffin together prepared with love and wholesome ingredients.
Whole Grain Pumpkin Muffins with Oat Streusel
Ingredients
- 2 cups spelt flour or whole white wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 TB pumpkin pie spice
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree homemade or canned
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce avoid applesauce with corn syrup or added sugar
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Streusel Top
- 2 TB butter softened
- 2 TB old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3 TB spelt flour or whole white wheat
- 1/8 cup sucanat
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a muffin pan (I use coconut oil) or line with muffin liners.
- In a medium-size bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
- Using a stand-mixer (a hand-mixer or wooden spoon will also work), beat the butter and honey together until creamy. Stir in the applesauce, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan.
- For the streusel top: In the dry ingredient bowl (now empty), place the butter, oats, flour, and sucanat. Using your hands work the mixture together until it’s lumpy and the ingredients are combined. Place a small teaspoon (more or less) of streusel topping on each muffin.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, depending on size of the muffins.
- Serve once cool or freeze for busy a morning or snack.
Nutrition
More Recipes You May Like:
Almond Flour Pumpkin Glazed Donuts
Amen! Trying to soak, sprout or sour everything grain in our lives can get pretty overwhelming especially when things get hectic and one forgets to plan ahead for breakfast etc. It’s nice to step back, see the big picture, and realize we don’t have to be perfect all the time to still get the benefits of wholesome and delicious food. Thank you for your encouraging words and for helping some of the rest of us (finger pointing at me) to remember to keep things simple and enjoyable.
Amen, Bethany! It’s so true. I continually need the reminder that nourishing my family with real food isn’t about perfection, rather doing the best I can each day. You’re doing such a great job, Bethany! Keep up the amazing work!
How do you think we could soaked this recipe?
Hey Carolyn, This recipe may be a difficult to soak, usually I would say just combine the wet ingredients with the flour and add an acidic medium (one tablespoon), but this recipe would be a bit more difficult due to the applesauce, pumpkin, and butter which help make the muffins moist. I’m not sure how the wet ingredients will perform when soaked in their current quantities. Here’s a good soaked recipe that you may like which contains directions for soaking: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/02/19/recipe-connection-soaked-healthy-pumpkin-muffins/.
Hi girl! It happened exactly the same to me… im not letting loose of everything, i still have conscious about what to eat, but enjoy life much easier now, this was a GREAT POST!! THANKS
It’s very freeing to make good food choices, but not let them consume you. Thank you for sharing, Carolyn! It’s wonderful to know I’m not alone :).
Im sorry the recipe about the pumpkin muffins is fantastic, my comment was for “what you really eat?”post that was a GREAT POST!!
Lol, Carolyn ;). I’m so glad you enjoyed that post! I’ll try to write up another “What I really eat” post again :).
Oat streusel sounds like something I seriously need in my life! Yay for healthy pumpkin deliciousness 🙂
Medha, Streusel makes a muffins worth every bite! I’ll share :).
Here’s to not letting food consume us! *clinks the PSL mug* Thanks for this honest and encouraging peek into this part of your food journey, Kristin! 🙂
Thank you, Dena. I’m learning to let go and not let these healthy ideas consume me in a way that’s unhealthy. Enjoy that latte, my friend!
Thank you thank you thank you for this post. I’ve been dealing with the same challenges…and eventually I came to the same realization, I’m doing the best I can with better ingredients! That’s a whole lot better place than I was in just 6 short months ago. 😉 I still use sprouted flour for some recipes but I also use organic whole wheat (not soaked) for others! So thanks for this…and now I’m off to make a pumpkin spiced latte. 😉
Tiffany, I’m so glad to hear that I’m not alone. It’s so easy to get caught up in the “best practices” that I often have to step back and remind myself of that very same thing…I’m doing the best I can with better ingredients! Keep up the great baking and enjoy the latte!! Blessings, Kristin