Daily Bites has Moved!

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I’m pleased to announce that Daily Bites has moved to a bigger and better home! This old one will still remain up for a while as folks get the hang of the transition. 

Come check out my new place here and be sure to update your subscription to the new feed. Hope you drop by the new home soon! Thanks,

Hallie

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Chunky Tomato and Pearl Onion Salsa

With spring in full swing and summer on its way, I thought I’d share with you this recipe for a fresh salsa. It’s not unlike pico de gallo—a classic Tex-Mex mix of tomatoes, herbs, onions, and (usually) hot peppers. What makes this recipe different is the chunky texture and use of little pearl onions in place of scallions or chopped red onions. Dressed lightly with a splash of olive oil and lemon juice, you could almost say that this salsa took a detour to Italy instead of Mexico.

I enjoy fresh salsa all year round, but especially in the warmer months when lighter food tastes good. Salsa is a great little condiment for grilled fish or rice and beans. For a quick salad, spoon some atop a bed of greens and top with a handful or two of chickpeas. As most fresh salsas do, this one also makes a terrific accompaniment to quesadillas or wraps. There’s something unique and different about fresh salsas that set them apart in a league of their own from the store-bought variety found in most supermarkets. It’s a brightness of flavor that just can’t be beat.

My local farmers’ market reopened for the season again on Saturday. I’m already dreaming of the beautiful heirloom tomatoes that will be piled high in the stalls in just a few months. Ripe and juicy and perfectly sweet, they’ll be knock-your-sandals-off good in this salsa!

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Chunky Tomato and Pearl Onion Salsa – Makes 2 cups

10-12 red pearl onions, unpeeled

1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped Roma tomatoes (from about 2 large)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Big pinch of sea salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Bring a small pot of water to boil. When boiling, add the unpeeled pearl onions. Boil for 60-90 seconds; remove from water with a slotted spoon. When onions are cool enough to handle (this takes just a few minutes), cut off the root tips with a paring knife and discard. Rub off the onions’ skins with your fingers. Cut them in half and transfer to a small mixing bowl.

To the onions add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine everything well. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Refrigerate until ready to serve, or up to 2 days.

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Fruit salsas are another delicious and easy way to brighten up your dinner table. Check out my recipe for Spiced Black Beans and Rice with Mango Salsa. It’s one of my favorites!

Two more tasty salsa recipes…

• Fresh Papaya Salsa (The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen)
• Roasted Tomato Salsa (101 Cookbooks)

 

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Carrot Cake Bites

These Carrot Cake Bites, featured in my guest post today over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, taste like carrot cake in a snackable ball with none of the refined sugar, flour, gluten, or dairy found in most carrot cake recipes.

I love keeping a batch of these at the ready in my refrigerator during the warmer months because they have such a refreshing flavor. In addition to making a great snack or simple dessert to enjoy yourself or with your family, these are also a tasty treat to pull out when friends or neighbors stop by for an afternoon chit-chat. This seems to happen more often in the spring and summer, so it’s great to have some simple little recipes like this one tucked away in your repitoire for unexpected guests.

Be sure to visit Simply Sugar and Gluten Free today and check out my guest post on the importance of fruits and vegetables in the gluten-free diet. Big thanks to Amy for inviting me to post on her blog!

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Carrot Cake Bites – Makes 12-15 balls

2 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (about ¾ cup)

½ cup raw walnuts

¼ cup raw cashews

¾ cup dates, pitted and roughly chopped (about 5-6 large dates)

1 tsp. freshly grated ginger

½ tsp. cinnamon

Zest of one orange, optional

Sesame seeds or unsweetened shredded coconut, for rolling

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, process carrots until finely ground. Remove and set aside.

Process the walnuts and cashews in the food processor (no need to clean it out) until finely ground. Add the dates and process until finely chopped and incorporated into the nuts. Add the reserved carrots, ginger, cinnamon, and orange zest (if using) and process until dough forms.

Shape the mixture into 12-15 small balls. Roll in sesame seeds or shredded coconut to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve, or up to five days.

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Another Great Cookbook (and Energy Bar Recipe)

You’ve gotta love a cookbook that makes you smile—even laugh—as you read it. Rebecca Katz’s The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen is food for the soul.

I picked it up a few weeks ago on the recommendation of some other Bauman College grads. I don’t have cancer or know anyone close to me who does, but that doesn’t matter in the least. Rebecca’s recipes for delicious, nourishing fare are perfect for anyone seeking to eat healthfully and support their immune system—whether they have cancer or not.

Along with the tasty recipes and sensational photographs in the book, Rebecca’s writing is a delight to read. Riddled with humorous stories and plenty of culinary and kitchen tips, The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen presents healthful cuisine in an engaging and “easily digestable” package. While the book caters to the physical needs of those undergoing cancer treatment or recovery, the recipes will tickle the tastebuds of foodies both ill and healthy alike.

I’m particularly eager to try the Thai It Up Chicken Soup, Middle Eastern Chickpea Burgers, and Mediterranean Lentil Salad. Before I get to any of these, however, I want to share with you an adaptation I made of Rebecca’s Anytime Bars.

In the headnotes of the recipe, Rebecca writes:

“The great thing about this recipe is that you can change the ingredients to fit your taste preferences. You can even split the batter and make half with currants and cranberries and the other half with walnuts or whatever you’d like.”

I took her advice and shook up the recipe a little bit to my tastes, including making them gluten-free. The results are scrumptious—er, were scrumptious. They’re long gone already…and it won’t be long before I’m making another batch.

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Hallie’s Energy Bars – makes 20 bars

(Inspired by the Anytime Bars found in The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen)

 1/4 cup millet flour

2 tbs. flaxseed meal

Pinch of sea salt

1/8 tsp. baking powder*

1/8 tsp. baking soda*

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup raw, whole almonds

3/4 cup raw pecan halves

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup quinoa flakes or gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup (loosely packed) medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped

1 cup (loosely packed) dried Turkish apricots, roughly chopped

1 egg

3 tbs. honey or maple syrup

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, process the millet flour, flaxseed meal, salt, baking powder and soda, and cinnamon until combined. Add almonds, pecans, and seeds and pulse 5-6 times to chop coarsely. Add quinoa flakes, dates, and apricots and pulse 10-15 times until everything is chopped and incorporated. (Mixture should still be fairly coarse.)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and honey. Stir in the nut and fruit mixture until evenly moistened. Press into an even layer in the prepared 9×9 baking dish. Bake at 325-degrees for 20-25 minutes until set and lightly golden brown on top. Cool completely in pan, then cut into 20 squares.

Bars will keep at room temperature for up to 4 days or refrigerated for 5-7 days.

*Note: I do not have an eighth-teaspoon measuring utensil—I don’t even know if they make those! So I just used half of a quarter-teaspoon and it worked perfectly.

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Hungry for more cookbook recommendations? Check out my post on Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors. Find more great recipes for healthy food at Amy’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

 

New Beginnings

The neighborhood I live in offers community garden plots to residents on  a first come, first serve basis. Last year, my family and I were “wait-listed” due to an abundance of eager gardeners and a lack of plots. We waited out the long winter in hopes of being offered a plot this spring…and much to our surprise, we got one!

On a lovely spring morning over the weekend, we journeyed the three blocks to our plot—lucky number 18—armed with rakes, spades, and gardening gloves. It was time to work the soil, to get in there and get dirty, to see what sort of ground we had on our hands. This is what we found.

Lots of rocks and pebbles, plastic plant tags, torn bits of potting soil bags, more rocks, clayish soil, scraps of wood—oh, and more rocks. The previous gardeners of this plot also left us a large square strawberry patch. Unfortunately, it’s quite overgrown and riddled with pesky weeds and thistles, so I think we’ll end up pulling it out and growing more vegetables there instead.

The strawberry patch (and yes, that is me in the photo waving to you. Hi!)

Spring is full of new beginnings. Out with rocks and weeds, in with the soil and seeds. Our adventures in gardening are only beginning. Hopefully, in a good 12 weeks or so, I’ll be able to post some stunning before-and-after photographs and maybe a tasty recipe or two using up our garden’s abundance. Stay tuned!

Dressed-Up Salmon Salad

We all have those nostalgic recipes lurking in the back of our minds that evoke a sense of the past, maybe childhood or home, when we make them and eat them. Perhaps for you it’s your grandmother’s “top secret” recipe for chocolate chip cookies or your aunt’s best-ever potato salad. Maybe it’s the first recipe you and your spouse made together or the one thing you remember eating over and over again in a college dorm.

I have more than just one nostalgic recipe that holds a special place in my heart. But today I’m going to share with you a twist on a near and dear one: all the flavors of salmon loaf turned into a dressed-up salmon salad.

Doesn’t every little kid love salmon in a loaf? I know I did. My mom always seemed to make it just right. Her recipe was simple: just salmon, breadcrumbs, an egg, chopped vegetables (usually onion, celery, and bell pepper), and sometimes mayonnaise all mixed together and baked in a loaf pan. Unmolded from the pan and cut into slices, it was a tasty supper served alongside some warm peas and roasted potatoes. I haven’t had salmon loaf for a long time now, being gluten-free and all, but I do enjoy a good salmon salad every once in a while. Not only is this healthy meal gluten-free and dairy-free, it also replaces the mayo with a bit of olive oil for richness instead.

It was thinking back on Mom’s salmon loaf that got me inspired to make this salad. I tossed together Mom’s classic combo of onion, celery, and bell pepper along with some canned wild salmon and a splash each of olive oil and lemon juice (Mom always served lemon wedges alongside her loaf). To sort of wrap the side dish of peas right into the salad, I threw in a handful of those as well for a pop of sweetness and color. Served up on a bed of greens, this delicious salad had all the flavors and colors of Mom’s salmon loaf but none of the breadcrumbs or mayonnaise that make it a bit indulgent.

When I took a bite of this salad—though it’s quite deviant from Mom’s original salmon loaf recipe—the memories came galloping back to the front of my mind: Mom in the kitchen stirring up ingredients with her trusty wooden spoon (which she still has, by the way)…reaching over the counter to give me a few strips of celery to nibble on…sitting down at the table as a family to chat about how the day went and enjoying a satisfying meal together.

Does life get much better?

I guess that’s why we have memories. To keep us mindful of what life used to be, of the simple pleasures we once savored, of the people close to us who we continue to love through the years, and of all the time stretched out ahead of us like a canvas ready to be spattered and splotched with new memories.

What are your nostalgic recipes?

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Dressed-Up Salmon Salad  – Serves 1

3 oz. (half can) canned wild salmon, drained and flaked into bite-sized pieces

1/4 cup each: chopped bell pepper, celery, and onion

A few cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup fresh or dethawed frozen peas

Splash of olive oil and lemon juice

Salt and pepper, to taste

1-2 cups mixed greens

In a small bowl combine salmon, vegetables, tomatoes, peas, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix it all up well and spoon onto a bed of greens. Serve.

Looking for a crunchy gluten-free cracker or slice of flatbread to go along with your salad? Check out these recipes:

• Whole Grain Flatbread – from Ali of The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen
• Sesame Crackers – from Elana of Elana’s Pantry
• Gluten-Free Crackers – from Lauren of Celiac Teen

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By the way, over the winter I devoted a whole entire post just to canned wild salmon. Head on over here to read it and find another tasty salmon recipe. It’s such a versatile and healthful ingredient. I always have some stocked in my pantry.

This post is linked to Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday.

Garlicky Green Soup

 

Have you ever given your personality a color? If you were a color, which one would you be? Blue, purple, yellow, orange, aqua, cream?

My family had a lot of fun with this color concept when I was growing up. After some thinking and lots of around-the-dinner-table discussions, we determined that my dad was silver—because he might be a little dull at first, but when you polish him up he really shines. My mom, a creative type with a keen eye for innovative design, cannot be pegged with just one color. Instead, the jewel tone palette better portrays her many depths and variations.

Me? I’m green, because I have many different shades. (This was my sister’s reasoning, by the way, which I think fits me perfectly.) Just think of all the greens out there:  the color of fresh spring grass contrasted with deep evergreen pine boughs; the murky water of a lake washing up gnarly masses of black-green seaweed; the pale hue of leeks and pistachios; the eery green light streaming across the water onto Gatsby’s lawn.

The color of this soup.

I like to think of green as the color of life, the universal shade of vibrancy and vitality. I felt like I was eating a big bowl of liquid life when I slurped down this soup for the first time. It tastes like you’re doing something good for yourself as you swallow spoonful after spoonful. And no matter what time of year or time of day, we could all use a little more liveliness in our lives, couldn’t we?

What’s your color? Give it some thought—maybe at the dinner table with your family as you eat this soup. Come on back and let me know what you find.  

Photo courtesy of Brianna Tittel

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Garlicky Green Soup – Serves 4

2 tbs. olive oil

2 leeks, white and light greens parts halved lengthwise, then chopped crosswise

4 cups broccoli florets

6-8 cloves garlic, chopped

2 small red potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/3-inch dice

6 cups water or no-salt vegetable broth

4 cups spinach leaves, washed and chopped

1/2 cup parsley

1 cup frozen peas (no need to thaw)

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tbs. lemon juice

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium. Add leek and saute until tender but not browning, about 4 minutes. Add broccoli and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add potatoes and water. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a knife, about 10-12 minutes.

Stir in the spinach, parsley, and peas. Remove pot from heat. Puree using a handheld immersion blender. (If you must use a regular blender, puree the soup very carefully in batches so that it does not splatter and burn you. Return the pureed soup to the hot pot.) Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

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This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Cookbook Spotlight: Local Flavors, by Deborah Madison

It’s rare to come across a cookbook where the recipes, photographs and stories capture such attention and evoke such a desire to get in the kitchen and cook that you simply can’t resist cracking open the book in your every spare moment to ooh-and-ahh over the pages. Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors is one such masterpiece.

The book is an artful combination of recipes and musings illuminating the brilliance of America’s farmers’ markets. Madison aligns the chapters of the book with the seasons, beginning with spring’s plentiful greens and ending with storage foods—foods that keep through the winter. The book jacket sums up Local Flavors perfectly:

“By going behind the scenes to speak with the farmers and producers, Deborah Madison connects readers directly with the people who grow their food. Full-color photographs of gorgeous produce, mouthwatering dishes, and evocative scenes from the markets will entice readers to cook from the  farmers’ market as often as possible.”

I’ve already made a handful of recipes from the book, including Harriet’s Hot Roasted Cauliflower (who knew roasted cauliflower could be so good?) and a variation on the Chickpea Salad with Coriander and Cumin. I’m aching to try the Pea and Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk, but might get to the White Beans with Black Kale and Savoy Cabbage first.

To be honest, I don’t know if there’s a recipe in this book that doesn’t look good. (As I’m flipping through the cookbook now I’ve just come across the Three-Beet Caviar with Endive and Goat Cheese, which really contains no caviar at all. The beets themselves are the caviar, and the photograph is making me swoon.)

With nothing but farmers’ market abundance ahead in the next six or seven months, Local Flavors will be one of my go-to sources for inspiration of what to make with all of the treasures stacked high at the market. There’s nothing more satisfying to me, both physically and spiritually, than taking the gems of the earth—fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes—and transforming them into delicious and nourishing dishes both sweet and savory. Produce itself is inspiring with its vast array of colors, textures and flavors. But I love it when I stumble upon a book like this one that harnesses all of those colors, textures and flavors and heightens them to a new level of deliciousness.

Madison writes in the epilogue of her book,

“We need to use our markets deeply if farmers are to continue to farm and we are to continue to eat well in the deepest sense, being nourished by our immediate landscape and community. How fortunate that meeting this need is one of the most pleasurable obligations we can assign ourselves.”

I couldn’t agree more.

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In other news…

Have you checked out the round up of guiltless gluten-free recipes yet over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free? The March theme for the “Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free” blog carnival inspired some of the best bloggers on the web to come up with creative and delicious gluten-free pleasures made a little bit healthier. I entered Two-Bite Pistachio and Chocolate Chip Cakes. Head on over here to see the 30+ other gluten-free entries!

I also wanted to share some info with you all about an interesting film project I heard about recently. The movie, FRESH, is designed to highlight and celebrate the farmers, thinkers, and business people in America who are changing the face of our food system. FRESH is all about re-inventing the way we eat in this country and emphasizing the importance of small farms, local food, and sustainable agriculture. For more information about this exciting project or to view the trailer, visit the website.

Buckwheat and Fig Butter Scones

A few weeks ago when I read Heidi’s post on Figgy Buckwheat Scones, I nearly fell out of my chair in utter adoration. They were beautiful. I could almost taste them just by looking at the pictures.

I left a comment saying that I might (timidly) attempt making a gluten-free, white-sugar-free version. And that’s just what I did. And guess what? It worked! They aren’t swirled like Heidi’s and call for some different ingredients, but I think that same concept of robust, deeply flavored buckwheat paired with earthy dried figs is still there.

It’s funny how something as simple as creating a successful recipe can send you on a high for the week. When I took my first few bites of these scones and concluded that they were good, my heart swelled for days afterward. The sense of accomplishment—“look at me! I made a gluten-free scone that doesn’t taste like a doorstop!”—really got me pumped.

Several days later, I (quite cockily, I’ll admit) attempted making a gluten-free, whole grain buckwheat pizza crust. Surely, after conquering something so monumental as a whole grain scone, a pizza crust would be a walk in the park. I’ll have you know that I was humbled—brought low, you might say—by my pizza-making experience. The look on my mom’s face, bless her heart, as she was eating the pizza with me said one thing: never again, Hallie. Never again.

So I’ve decided to stick with scones for now. And soups and salads, because they are pretty hard to mess up. I’ll leave pizza for the adventurous, experienced chefs with the minds for culinary greatness. As they knead their dough and flip rounds of crust high up in the air, I’ll be perfectly happy whipping up batches of fig butter and nibbling on these scones.

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Buckwheat and Fig Butter Scones – Makes 10

Note: these scones are not super sweet. They are more like a subtly sweet biscuit with bits of fig running through them. If you’d prefer a sweeter scone, add additional honey to the fig butter recipe. You may also make additional fig butter to serve with the scones once they are baked.

1 cup buckwheat flour

¾ cup millet flour, plus extra for flouring work surface

¼ cup tapioca starch

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

1 recipe Fig Butter (below), cold and cut into ½ inch cubes

½ cup plus 2 tbs. cream (half and half)

1/3 cup dried Black Mission figs, chopped small (stems discarded)

1-2 tbs. light or heavy cream, for brushing

Preheat oven to 400-degrees.

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, combine buckwheat flour, millet flour, tapioca starch, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle fig butter cubes over top and pulse about 20 one-second pulses until mixture looks like wet sand with the largest butter pieces the size of small peas. Transfer mixture to mixing bowl.

With the side of a wooden utensil, scoot the flour-butter mixture to the edges of the bowl creating a well in the center. Add ½ cup plus 2 tbs. cream to the well. Gently mix into flour. When ingredients are just moistened, stir in Black Mission figs until just combined. Do not overmix.

Transfer mixture to a work surface very lightly floured with millet flour. Pat scone dough into a 10×7 inch rectangle, flouring your hands lightly if needed to keep dough from sticking to them. Cut dough into 10 evenly sized square scones. Arrange scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet spacing about ½ inch apart.

Bake at 400-degrees for 18-22 minutes until deep golden brown and crackled on top. Can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 

Fig Butter

½ cup dried Black Mission figs, cut into quarters (stems discarded)

1 cup water

1 cinnamon stick

½ cup butter, softened to room temperature

¼ cup honey

Combine figs, water and cinnamon stick in a small pot over medium heat. Bring mixture to boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until figs are rehydrated and liquid is deep maroon in color—about 8-10 minutes.

Drain figs, reserving 2 tbs. cooking liquid. Discard cinnamon stick. Transfer figs and 2 tbs. cooking liquid to food processor fitted with the S-blade. Process for 10-15 seconds to puree. Add butter and honey. Process for 15-20 seconds until mixture is fairly smooth. If a few small chunks of fig remain, that’s okay.

Transfer fig butter to plastic wrap or a plastic baggie and form a log or rectangle out of the mixture. Seal it up and chill until ready to use.

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This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

Two-Bite Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cakes

I know that nuts really aren’t a seasonal food, but I still tend to associate different types with different seasons. Pecans and hazelnuts work their way into my holiday recipes at Thanksgiving and Christmas, while pine nuts tend to show up in the warmer months as I whip up batches of pesto and pasta salad with summer’s bounty. Walnuts and almonds are my go-to snacking nuts any time of the year. And pistachios? Well, to me, those just sing spring.

Usually I enjoy pistachios more in savory dishes than sweet. Their buttery texture and snappy crunch offer a lovely addition to salads of many kinds or platters of roasted vegetables dressed simply in lemon juice and olive oil. One of the pricier nuts on the market, I reserve pistachios for spare but savored use in only a handful of recipes. And yet, for the past few weeks on my trips to the grocery store I’ve eyed the pistachios every time, dreaming up some fancy way I could use them. Nothing came to me. Then, at least.

Last week when I was on my way to check out my groceries, I paused in the Whole Foods bakery section to peer into the glass case and feast my eyes upon all of the beautiful spring desserts. Three-layer carrot cakes, lemon curd tartlets, tiramisu, chocolate cupcakes, lattice-topped pies. And on the top shelf, tucked away in a corner as if they were too shy to take center stage, a cluster of tiny two-bite cakes almost too cute to imagine eating. Almost. 

If I could have, I would have bought a few of those little cakes on the spot and eaten them right then and there in front of the bakery case. But, cute as they were, the wheat flour and refined sugar in them simply wouldn’t do. While I’ll occasionally—rarely is a better word—make a treat or two with granulated white sugar, I avoid gluten completely. My body gets very upset if I don’t! But with the two-bite cake theme whirling in my head, I left the grocery store that day with the goal in mind to come up with a gluten-free, white sugar-free alternative that was tasty and, if I was lucky, just as cute as those little cakes in the case.

The two-bite cakes I came up with not only turned out adorable; they also gave me the prime opportunity to use luxurious pistachios in a new and different way. As you may already know if you’ve been around this blog for a while, I don’t like my “sweets” to be super sweet. In this recipe the actual cake batter is sweetened only subtly with a bit of honey. The real burst of sweetness comes from the chocolate. If you prefer a sweeter sweet, feel free to try bumping up the honey to your liking.

I can’t think of a better way to welcome the spring season than by popping down a few of these tasty morsels and heading outside for some sunshine. If you’re looking for more gluten-free, guilt-free treats to try this spring, check out “Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free” hosted by Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. Celebrate the season with delicious, guiltless pleasures!

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Two-Bite Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cakes – Makes 16 mini cakes 

1/2 cup raw shelled pistchios, chopped

1 cup blanched almond flour

1/4 cup millet flour  

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted, plus extra for greasing the pan

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Grease 16 cups of a mini-muffin tin with coconut oil and set aside.

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, grind 1/4 cup pistachios to a fine powder. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add almond flour, millet flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.

Separately whisk together coconut oil, honey and eggs in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Fold in remaining 1/4 cup chopped pistachios and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into the greased muffin tin. Bake cakes for 15-18 minutes until deeply golden brown. Cool completely before removing from pan. (For easy removal, run a sharp knife around the edges of each cake and gently lift out of pan.)

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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