Soaked Buckwheat Pancakes

We recently confirmed that my 3-year old has a sensitivity to gluten, so I've been trying out some new recipes. Apparently, the best gluten-free recipes either use almond flour or a cocktail of different flours. We can't afford to use almond flour for all our baking purposes and I don't have all the ingredients in most "multi-flour and bean" gluten-free recipes. So I decided that buckwheat would probably be my most affordable flour that can sometimes stand alone. It grinds up well in my grain mill but has a definite different texture and taste that I am still getting used to. This pancake recipe turned out to be the best buckwheat recipe I've tried yet. (And let me assure you that simply substituting buckwheat for spelt in my normal tortilla recipe is NOT a good idea... I definitely need a new recipe for that!) I think I added a little bit of molasses for some extra minerals and sweetness. Many thanks to Just Making Noise for a great recipe! I can't wait to try out more of her recipes!

• 2 cups 100% buckwheat flour (or 1 cup buckwheat & 1 cup whole wheat or spelt)
• 2 cups buttermilk, kefir, yogurt or water w/ 2 Tbsp lemon juice or raw vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp raw honey (I liked the deep flavor of molasses, so I added a bit of that, too)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp melted butter or coconut oil

Soak flour with liquid in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours.


Lightly beat the eggs and pour into the soaked flour. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and thin the batter to desired consistency with water if needed.


Cook on a hot, oiled griddle or cast-iron skillet. These pancakes cook slower then unsoaked whole grain flour or white flour pancakes. When bubbly on top and golden brown at the bottom… flip over and cook for a few minutes till golden brown.

Grain-free cupcakes or muffins

I made this recipe for my baby's first birthday and I thought it tasted a lot better than other coconut flour recipes I have tried. The beans add a lot of moisture and I promise you can't tell that they are there! I then made this recipe again with blueberries and decreased the maple syrup to 1/3 cup for our morning muffins. The girls loved them. Many thanks to homeopathyworks for a great recipe and many great articles! Click on the link to see a recipe for a healthy chocolate buttercream frosting. (I just used my old stand-by cream cheese icing recipe for the birthday cupcakes.) I changed the recipe slightly for the muffins and I noted the changes in the recipe below:

Soak 2 cups dry of white beans overnight in double the amount of water.

Next day, rinse well and cook until tender.

(You might have a little more than 2 cups once they’ve been hydrated and cooked, but only use 2 cups.)

Cool to room temperature and add the following to a food processor and puree well:

• 2 cups cooked beans (use white for vanilla)
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup maple syrup or sucanat (reduce to 1/3 cup and add a cup of blueberries for breakfast muffins)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Add:

• 1/4 cup slightly warm coconut oil (so that it is liquid)
• 1/3 cup sifted coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp Celtic salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder

Puree again

Pour into spring form pan, lined with unbleached parchment paper, well oiled with butter or coconut oil. (I just used my stoneware muffin pan, greased with butter.)

Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. Check to see if toothpick or knife inserted comes clean

(Cupcakes take about 20-22 minutes)

Grain free Coconut Cookies

My girls have been wanting to make cookies, and this recipe seemed healthier (because of all the coconut and eggs) than most but still yummy! This is a very kid-friendly recipe -- the girls had fun rolling the dough into balls and then flattening them into cookies. They wanted "baby" cookies, so we had fun making little button-sized bites. Oh, and I am running low on honey, so we used sucanut instead. And I used my stone bar pans, so I didn't use any parchment paper. These are not super sweet, but just right for me and my girls! We love coconut! Thanks to Food With Kid Appeal blog for such an easy and yummy recipe!

Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup honey (I used sucanut)
6 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 300 . Combine oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Add shredded coconut and coconut flour. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make golf ball size balls and then flatten with hands. I wet my hands before forming the cookies to keep the batter from sticking. The dough will not spread out so however flat you make them is how they will turn out. Bake for 20-30 mins or until lightly browned.

My new favorite simple snack

I don't have all the ingredients for my favorite power bars, so I've just been eating nut-butter on dates. Any nut-butter will do, although my favorite is sunflower butter. The dates have a perfect little hole for the nut-butter after taking the pit out, and the nut butter gives a salty contrast to the sweet date. My girls love it, too, although I have to admit it is a messy snack for them :)

The versatile favorite trio

My girls LOVE quinoa, beans, and chicken. Ok, I'll admit, they would be happy without the chicken, but I always add it for extra protein because it doesn't seem deter them. We make many a variation of those three items, so I thought I should blog about it to give you an idea.

1. Beans -- I make a batch once a month of 2 bags of black beans and freeze them in little bags because they are one of our easiest "healthy fast foods." I have no idea why, but my girls love them both hot or cold. If Karlie is fussing for dinner and it is not ready yet, I set her at the table with some cold beans straight out of the fridge and she is a happy camper. And Karis is the same way. It sounds gross to me, but it keeps them happy til their meal is done. Anyways, beans are most healthy when I soak them overnight in a bunch of warm water and about 4 Tbs of lemon juice. The next day I rinse them, boil them, scoop the impurities off the top, and let simmer on the stove til nice and soft (Several hours). Once cooled, I freeze in little bags in small quantities so I always have some on hand.

2. Quinoa -- My girls love the texture of this grain and so do I. It is the only grain that is a complete protein, so I love to feed it to them. I soak a cup of quinoa in a cup of water and a few Tbs. of yogurt, keifer, ACV, whey, etc. The next day I bring a cup of water or chicken stock to boil, rinse my quinoa (don't skip the rinsing or it will taste bitter!) and throw it in the pot. Then I turn off the heat and let it set until it has soaked up all the liquid.

3. Chicken -- cook it however you like it :) I usually boil it in a pot of water so I can make chicken stock to use in all my recipes.

Directions: Mix those three ingredients with a healthy liquid and a cheese and any other herbs or veggies you like :) I switch around the add-ons frequently so the girls never get tired of their beans and quinoa! I usually warm it all together in a saucepan, but they will even eat it cold! It is also good baked in the oven (at 350 for about 20 min) but it is much faster in the sauce pan. You can make it really thick to be easily grabbed by little fingers or put more liquid in it and make it a soup.

Our liquid options:
Butter
ghee
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Chicken stock
yogurt
coconut milk
sour cream
keifer

Cheese options: Pretty much anything will work, but we especially love feta, cream cheese, parmesan, or sharp cheddar

Other add-ins:
Broccoli
corn
crushed garlic
chopped peppers
chopped sweet onions sauteed in butter
cilantra

Experimenting with grain-free brownies!

One of my favorite bloggers, Donielle, posted THIS recipe for grain-free brownies several weeks ago. I've been trying to find the time to make them ever since. The idea of brownies made from beans (yes, I know it sounds absolutely horrible!) was such a novel idea that I had to try it. So yesterday, I did it! But I stink at following a recipe, so I had to liven it up a little: I made one batch with coconut flakes and another batch with peanut butter! I have to admit that I was absolutely in love with the pb ones and my husband liked the coconut ones the best. And my toddler went for whichever one she could manage to sneak off the counter at any given second :)

To me, these brownies were every bit as good as the box kind, just with a much smoother consistency. But the best part is that they were every bit as easy as the box mix! It really only took a minute to blend all the ingredients together :) Give yourself plenty of time to let them cool, though, because they are super gooey at first. I'd recommend refrigerating for a couple of hours before trying to cut them :)

So here is Donielle's recipe and my additions. Be sure to check out her website for more healthy recipes!

Healthy Grain Free Brownies

• 2 cups black beans (or 1 can of no salt added)
• 3 lightly beaten eggs
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil (or melted butter)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey (or other equivalent sweetener)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped up bittersweet chocolate (or semi-sweet chips if you don’t mind the added refined sugar in them)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts -optional

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8×8 pan. Toss all but the final 2 ingredients (the chopped up chocolate and walnuts) into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Fold in the chopped chocolate and walnuts. Pour into the pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

For coconut brownies, just stir in about 1 cup of coconut flakes after processing.

For peanut butter or sunflower butter brownies, decrease the amount of oil to 1/4 cup and add 1 cup of peanut butter before processing.

This post is part of Kelly's SUYL desserts! Click on over for more yummy desserts!

A Healthy Treat

I created these bar treats the other night when I wanted something sweet and filling, but healthy. They are very similar to my "Lara" bars, but I just used the ingredients I had on hand instead of following a recipe. I didn't measure a bit, but I will estimate for you :)

Chop in the food processor in this order:
1 cup dehydrated coconut flakes
1 cup soaked and dehydrated almonds, pecans, or a combo
1 bag of dates (probably about 10 dates)
2 heaping spoonfuls of coconut oil
a handful of Carob or chocolate chips if desired

Blend until it has a smooth consistency. Put wax paper down in a glass dish (I used an 8x8) and scoop mixture onto it. Press into pan, put in the fridge, and let chill for a good 15 minutes.

Cut into small bars and enjoy! Eat straight from the fridge because they melt in your hands :)

Make-Ahead Meatballs -- new recipe review

This recipe caught my eye because it mentioned using cooked brown rice instead of bread crumbs or crackers as a filler. Although I ought to, I haven't started making my own bread crumbs and didn't want to buy a processed kind with mysterious ingredients :) I love Food Renegade's recipes because they contain "real" ingredients instead of processed food. These meatballs were very flavorful and everyone in my family enjoyed them. My 1-year old really surprised me: I gave her a piece of one right after they came out of the oven, and every few minutes she would toddle back over to me, signing, "please" because she wanted more. She ate a ridiculous amount of meatballs that day! I'll be using this recipe from now on!

• 3 eggs from pastured hens
• 1 small onion, chopped (or half a large one)
• 1 1/3 C. bread crumbs (or cooked brown rice)
• 2 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Italian herb blend
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 3 lbs. grass-fed ground beef

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the next six ingredients and mix well. Finally, add the beef and mix well. Shape the meatballs into one inch balls (should make approximate 100 meatballs). Place in single layers on ungreased 1-inch deep baking pans and bake at 400F for 10 minutes, until done.

Drain the fats and store for later use or (heaven forbid!) discard.

Once the meatballs and pans have cooled to the touch, place the meatballs (tray and all) into your freezer to “flash freeze” them. After they’ve frozen, remove the meatballs from the trays and transfer to plastic freezer storage bags or other freezer storage.

Keep stored in freezer and remove only as many meatballs as you need at a time. You can thank the flash freezing for that. It helps each meatball hold its individual shape and not stick to the other meatballs around it. This way, you can remove as few or as many meatballs as you need for whatever you’re serving up.

Reheat make ahead frozen meatballs on the stove, in sauces, or in the oven (350F for 20 minutes).

Enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash-Spinach side (A healthy chip dip?)

Since my husband was such a surprising fan of spaghetti squash, I bought some more last week. I was planning to look up another fabulous recipe online, but both of our computers were down. So I had to improvise. I finally decided to just add to my basic creamed spinach and see how it turned out. The girls thought it was fun the first time I served it to them, but didn't really want it the next day. But my husband surprised me. He loved it and said it was kind of like a spinach chip dip. The next thing I knew, he was getting his tortilla chips out of the pantry and dipping them in my spaghetti squash! The man never ceases to amaze me :) I didn't really see the connection with the chips, but I did enjoy my side dish. So here it is:

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1 box frozen spinach, thawed, or fresh baby spinach leaves
1 stick of butter
one small sweet onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
4 Tbs. flour
1 cup milk
cheese as desired (I use any combination of swiss, cream cheese, parmesan, etc.)

Directions: In a large stock pot, put about 2-3 inches of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Wash outside of squash, cut squash in half and place in the stock pot of boiling water, flesh side down. Cover and boil for 15-20 minutes, until squash is tender. Drain squash. Holding halves with a potholder, use a fork to scoop out the stringy "spaghetti". Set aside. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Saute garlic and onions in butter til soft, then add spinach and squash. (The spinach and squash will soak up most of the butter. ) Sprinkle on flour and mix thoroughly. Slowly add milk, and stir til the sauce thickens. (It is kind of like making a basic white sauce.) Add in cheese and stir til melted. Serve and enjoy!

Taco soup made healthier

This post is part of the Whole Food for the Holidays Progressive Dinner! My family LOVES taco soup! Even my picky toddler will gobble it down if I tone down the spiciness with some sour cream or cream cheese. We have really enjoyed THIS recipe but since I'm trying to make all my recipes healthier, I wanted to do without the packaged taco seasoning. And I had a leftover cup of butternut squash that needed to be used, so I thought I'd give it a try. I also randomly decided to throw in some spinach to see if anyone minded. I was utterly amazed that it didn't bother them at all and my husband actually said that it was the best taco soup I had made yet! So hopefully I can remember how I did it :)

Ingredients:
1 pound taco meat
1 cup (or more, depending on how thick you want it) of home-made chicken stock
1 jar organic salsa
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 can organic Italian style diced tomatoes (make sure you look at ingredients to make sure there is no HFCS!!!)
1 1/2 cup soaked, cooked beans (we like black beans, but you can use whatever you like)
1 1/2 cup frozen organic corn
1 cup of butternut squash puree (optional)
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained (optional)
chili powder to taste if it is not spicy enough for you

Directions: If you are making taco meat, saute the green peeper and onion with the ground beef until tender, adding in the other ingredients as the recipe call for them. Then add the taco meat along with all the above ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low all day. If your taco meat is already made, just throw it along with everything else into the crock pot. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and chips or on top of quinoa.

Lime Chicken Tacos

This awesome recipe came highly recommended by my sis-in-law, Terra, who got it from THIS blog. It has become a favorite for my family and for taking to potlucks as well! We love all kinds of tacos, and this one is super easy and delicious! The lime flavor adds a kick that my husband loves. I add a bit of extra juice just because we love it so much :) I also like to add diced pineapple and beans to the mix to make it tastier and feed more people. It is a great gluten-free dish if you eat it as soup or with quinoa instead of a tortilla!

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 Tbs lime juice

1 Tbs. chili powder

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup chunky salsa

1 can diced pineapples, drained

1 can black beans

12 flour tortillas, warmed

sour cream, lettuce, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro and any other toppings you like

Place the chicken in a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken; cool slightly. Shred and return to the slow cooker. Stir in corn and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Serve in tortillas with sour cream, cheese and lettuce if desired.

I’m very excited to be part of the Whole Foods for the Holidays Progressive Dinner, hosted by Stephanie at Keeper of the Home today.

My absolute favorite fall side dish!

I posted this recipe last fall, but I made it again last night and fell in love with it all over again. So I thought I'd mention it in case you'd forgotten about it : Sweet Potato Spinach Bake! Yes. I know. It sounds like a really weird combination but its amazing. Spinach in a creamy sauce with cheesy sweet potatoes and bacon. I never would have put them together but I love it! And so does my husband, which is also amazing because he usually only like spinach as a dip for chips and only likes his sweet potatoes super sweet with lots of brown sugar and butter and cinnamon :) But he loves it. So I'm probably going to be making this almost every week :) Just thought I'd let you know!

Coconut Flour Cupcakes (muffins)

This was my new recipe for the week. I have a Mom, a nephew, and a sweet friend who cannot eat wheat, so I'm going to be trying out a lot of coconut flour recipes in the future :)

I found this recipe at one of my favorite nutrition blogs, The Nourishing Gourmet. I'm still getting used to the more dense consistency of coconut flour in recipes, but I really enjoyed these cupcakes. I will say that they seemed more like muffins than cupcakes, but they are definitely the closest to cupcakes I have gotten without using white flour :)

Red, White and Blue Cupcakes-makes 10-12 muffins
You can also use all blueberries for a delicious blueberry muffin. I used all frozen berries.
(To make these GAPS friendly, just leave out the baking powder, to make it SCD substitute baking soda. )

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs, gently beaten with a fork
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1-In a medium size bowl, place the coconut flour, sea salt, and baking powder. Whisk to remove any lumps.

2-Melt honey and coconut oil in a small saucepan, just until melted (if you have over-heated it all, let it cool before combining it with the eggs so that it won’t curdle it. Combine wet ingredients (eggs, honey, coconut oil, vanilla), and whisk thoroughly into dry ingredients.

3-Fold in fresh or frozen berries. In papered or lightly greased muffin tins, put about 1/4 cup of batter in each muffin tin. Make sure to have some of the blueberries and some of the raspberries in each muffin

4-Bake for 375 degrees until the muffins are lightly browned on the top and a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the middle of the muffin (20-28 minutes)

Cool and enjoy!

Coconut Flour Pancakes

Coconut flour is incredibly good for you and gluten free. It has a high fiber and protein content and is naturally sweet so it doesn't require as much added sweetener. It also doesn't need to be soaked like grains, so its easy to cook with. I've been wanting to try it out and thought this great pancake recipe from Cheeseslave (an awesome blog for healthy recipes!) would be a great place to start. I love the fact that it contains lots of eggs because I'm always trying to get my family to eat more of that nutrient dense food. Coconut flour is pretty expensive but dense, so a little goes a long way -- you'll notice that this recipe only requires 3 Tbs of the flour. So I have plenty left for other recipes that I want to try out! We really liked the flavor of these pancakes, although the texture/consistency is a little different from normal flour pancakes.

Ingredients:

3 eggs (preferably pastured)
3 tablespoons butter (preferably butter from grass-fed cows; I use Kerrygold butter) or coconut oil, melted (plus extra butter or coconut oil for cooking the pancakes)
3 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk (preferably raw, from grass-fed cows)
1 1/2 teaspoons rapadura ( I think you could also use raw honey or maple syrup)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons coconut flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (Bob’s Red Mill)

Instructions:

1. Using a wire whisk, mix together eggs, melted butter, milk, rapadura, and sea salt.

2. Continuing to whisk, add the baking powder and coconut flour until thoroughly mixed.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter (or coconut oil) in a skillet on a medium flame.

4. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet making pancakes about 3-4 inches in diameter.

5. Serve with lots of butter and real maple syrup.

Lezlie's Feta Salmon

This is one of my husband's favorite meals! What's even more impressive is that I like it because I don't typically like seafood. But the feta is so yummy and drowns out the fishy taste :) I actually drenched the salmon with a bunch of garlic butter before throwing it into the oven :) And we didn't use many capers because we don't absolutely love them :)

Ingredients:
salmon
feta cheese
capers

Easiest directions ever: Put a slab o' salmon on a broiler pan, cover it heavily with feta cheese & capers (adds a salty touch that accents the feta perfectly,) and stick it in the oven at 375, cook it til the feta starts turning brownish, about 15 -20 mins. depending on the size of the slab. EASY & Kids will CHOW IT DOWN! Even the picky ones! (usually!) Really tasty & elegant if you need it to be!

I’m very excited to be part of the Whole Foods for the Holidays Progressive Dinner, hosted by Stephanie at Keeper of the Home today.

This recipe is part of Kelly's Korner SUYL

Strawberry dreamsicle smoothie

Karis had a fever on Monday and didn't want to eat anything. So we made some yummy healthy smoothies out of what we had on hand and we all loved them! Next time I'm going to triple the recipe to use up all the O.J. and make popsicles out of the leftovers :) For tips on other great smoothies, check out THIS great post!

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (so very good for you and yummy, too!)
1/3 can of frozen orange juice concentrate
about 1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
frozen banana
raw honey to taste (we use about 3 Tbs)
a handful of ice if you like a crunch in your smoothie :)

This post is part of Kelly's SUYL desserts! Click on over for more yummy desserts!
Other healthy add-ins we tried:
fruit flavored cod liver oil (about 3 Tbs)
heaping spoonful of coconut oil
Grapefruit seed extract (about 4-5 drops)

Just blend it all together, starting with the coconut milk and O.J. in the bottom and add anything else that sounds yummy!

Layered Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

Wednesday night I was planning on making our favorite chicken cordon blues. But my kids were clingy and I just didn't have the time to flatten the chicken, dip it in the bowls, roll it up, etc. I was lucky to get my chicken trimmed. So I decided to layer the ingredients to save time and we all loved it! Addition: the next time I made it I added in a layer of diced pineapples! Yummy!

Ingredients:
4-6 chicken breasts, cut into whatever size pieces you want (strips, nuggets, etc. :)
ham
swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese
sliced pineapples if desired
Garlic if desired

Directions: Place chicken in pan; sprinkle with garlic powder. Chop up ham and cover chicken. Cover ham with pineapples and cheese. Bake at 350 for about 45 min, til chicken juices run clear.

Home-made "Lara Bars"

Mark really needs filling snacks he can eat on the run at work. So I was excited to see these healthy bars on one of my favorite blogs. She gives 2 great varieties. My family loves them! And I didn't measure anything (I hardly ever do - it just makes too many dishes :) So I threw in a bunch of dates, almond butter, coconut oil, shredded unsweetened coconut, home-made granola, and yes, even a few organic chocolate chips :) YUMMY! I thought they were good enough without any sweetener. And they really do give me a boost when I need it. I call them my Power Balls because I actually shaped them into balls and froze them so I could grab one whenever I needed it. I eat them straight from the freezer! (I think they are actually better frozen because the coconut oil melts and gets greasy if I leave them at room temperature too long.) Oh, and the best part? My husband loves them as well! He takes them with him for some extra energy when he plays tennis. Here are the original recipes:

Better than Lara Bars

10-12 pitted dates
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (more may be necessary)
handful of raisins
1 cup of shredded coconut (plus more for coating)
1 TBS Raw Honey (or other liquid sweetener)]
Liquid Stevia to taste
handful of chopped crispy nuts (macadamia nuts or almonds are great)
1/3 cup of coconut oil or butter

1) Place dates into food processor and process until you have a paste.

2) Add raisins, peanut butter, honey, and coconut and process until mixture forms a big mass.

3) Add your coconut oil now, as well as the protein powder, if using. Mixture may seem a bit "wet" from the coconut oil. This is okay,but if it seems too runny, add more shredded coconut. Taste for sweetness, and add a few drops of stevia (or more honey) to acheive desired sweetness.

4) At this point, add the chopped nuts.

5) Form pastey mass into balls or bars and roll in shredded coconut (or rapadura or cocoa).

6) Place bars on parchment-lined baking sheet and chill in freezer for about 10 minutes.

Notes: This is a pretty forgiving and versatile recipe. Try subbing raisins for any dried fruit (apricots or cherries would be great!) The coconut oil is not absolutely essential to the texture, either. You can get by without it, but it adds some good nutritional properties! You also don't need nuts, the peanut butter is enough!

These are amazing! They are full of healthy fats, complex carbs, and protein! Enjoy for breakfast on the run or for dessert with a glass of milk!
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2008/07/better-than-lara-bars.html


Cinnabun Lara Bars!
crispy nuts (I use almonds)
raisins (any dried fruit will do)
cinnamon
coconut oil
coconut
salt


Process:

1) Place about 2 cups of crispy almonds into the food processor. Add 1.5 - 2 cups of raisins and process until you have a paste. It should be sticky.

2) Add about 2 TBS (or more) of coconut oil and process until smooth.

3) Add salt (to taste) and about 2 tsp of cinnamon (add more if you need to). Ginger and cloves add a nice flavor too.

4) Add about 1-1.5 cups of shredded coconut until you have more of a thick, dry paste. You are looking for a rounded, "doughnut-shape" in your food processor.

5) Remove dough, press into parchment-lined jelly roll pan. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2008/11/cinnabun-lara-bars.html

Zesty CHicken Packets

My friend Sandy makes these and they are yummy! I think these would be even better grilled!

4 chicken breasts
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Italian dressing
Four pieces of aluminum foil

In each piece of aluminum foil, put 1 tsp of olive oil and 1 pat of butter
Put in chicken, peppers and onions
Salt and pepper
Cover with Zesty Italian dressing
Bake on 400 for 1 hr
http://dealmeals.blogspot.com/2009/04/zesty-chicken-packets.html?showComment=1239819960000#c6718989359531964884

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients
Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
½ bell pepper
1/2 zucchini, sliced
1 t oregano
1 t Italian seasoning
1 T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 T Coconut Oil
1 t salt and pepper


Directions
1. Stew tomatoes in large pot
2. Once soft, spoon tomatoes into food processor and add zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, seasonings, and oils.
23. Puree and store as you wish. I am not into canning (yet!), and so wish I was! I will store this sauce and use it for spaghetti, pizzas, lasagna or any other “Italian” dish!

Found at: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/09/homemade-spaghetti-sauce.html