Tonight I made my first successful sugar free/gluten free/vegan muffins.

I have been trying to make something edible that is both sweet and within the limits of my diet for about 4 months and with the help of babycakes recipes by Erin McKenna I have succeeded!

Ingredients:

2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour

(but I used oat flour because I like oats)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

(though you don't necessarily need it. It just makes it stick better)

½ cup coconut oil

2/3 cup agave nectar

2/3 cup rice milk

(I used almond milk)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

2/3 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt. Add the oil, agave nectar, rice milk, vanilla and lemon extract to the dry ingredients, and stir until the batter is smooth. Using a plastic spatula, gently fold in the blueberries just until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour 1/3 cup batter into each prepared cup, almost filling it. Bake the muffins on the center rack for 22 minutes, rotating the tin 180 degrees after 15 minutes. The finished muffins will bounce back slightly when pressed, and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Let the muffins stand in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely. Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

They are really good!

I am awful at blogging consistently. I would say that I am going to try to get better but in all truth, I will probably retain about as much consistency as I have in the past. Anyway, I have been informed that I haven't blogged since February and am overdue.

This week I celebrated my birthday. I have a lot of mixed emotions about birthdays in general. I guess because I never feel quite different knowing that I'm a year older. This year is different. I am very glad to be leaving year 20. In a lot of ways, it was not a good one for me and I have yet to process everything that has happened with my health, the deaths I've experienced, and eruptions within my friendship relationships I wouldn't have predicted if you talked to me a year ago. I felt very exhausted and for a majority of 20 I was struggling to keep up with everything that was happening. This is not to say that this whole past year was awful, because it was not: it is merely to say that I will in no way miss being 20.

Out of these experiences, as often happens, I was able to make and keep some of the best friendships I've been blessed to experience. To you all, I would like to say thank you and that I predict you will be the best part of being 21.

Sarah, I think you may be the most loyal person I know. Thank you for being there every time I needed to laugh, act silly, vent, and have the types of conversations that really shape character.

Maria, thank you for being so considerate of my health. I have never had someone care for me after surgeries the way you did this year. It's the most humbly I've ever been served.

Jenni, I had never met anyone who understood me emotionally the way you do. To be understood on that level has been life changing for me. Thank you for being someone trustworthy that I can be vulnerable with when I need to most.

Ben, Ryan, and Conner, thank you for giving me a home when I didn't feel comfortable in my own.

Dan, thank you for being my friend even after seeing me at my worst and for being someone I'm not afraid will judge me.

Claire, thank you first for being someone I tell everything to. And second, for being absolutely nuts with me. Every time we would talk even if we started in the worst moods, we would end in fits of giggles that I miss now that you don't live in Waco.

Tonia, thank you for being consistent. Never at any point am I surprised by your kindness and joy since I have come to know your character. I have most loved being, as your mom puts it, the fizz to your coke.