The Best Kiss….(Of the food variety! :))

My mother sent me this huge kiss for Valentine’s Day……I’ve been meaning to share it because look what is inside!

Dried, unsweetened, delicious pineapple! This is my kind of treat!

 

Thanks mom! :)

 

Thought you all would enjoy seeing a cute alternative to candy and chocolate for valentines or any other special occasion!

Chocolate Crepes with Chocolate Sauce and Strawberries

Just pretend I posted these for Valentine’s Day ok? This is what I had intended too….shhh…I’m a little behind….. :)

Whether for Valentine’s Day or for any occasion, especially those special ones….this makes a delightful breakfast or dessert.  Top with whip cream if you have it on hand and can eat it. :)

The crepe recipe was altered from this recipe. The rich, dark chocolate syrup is my own creation.

Ingredients (crepe):

• 1 cup flour (whole wheat or GF mix)
• 2-4 tbsp  unsweetened cocoa powder (depending on how strong of a chocolate taste you desire-start with 2)
• 1 tbsp honey/sweetener
• 1 1/2 cups  milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. oil

Heat a pan on medium heat.   Mix wet ingredients. Then add dry ingredients. Grease pan. Pour scant 1/4 c. batter into pan and lift the pan off the burner, moving the batter around until you have a thin crepe.

Top and fill with strawberries and

Rich Dark Chocolate Syrup

• 3 T soft butter
• 1/2 c. cocoa
• 4 T. agave/honey
• 6-8 T. water (to your desired thickness.

Combine all ingredients and serve over crepes. Use leftovers for chocolate milk or ice-cream (cow, almond, soy, etc).

How to Slice An Apple and Keep it from Browning (without lemon juice!)

I found the following info at this site. What a great idea! Healthy snacks are always good (especially for kids). Frugal too because you cut down on the amount of waste (ie. picky eaters that won't eat browned apples but still want them cut).

The rest of this post is quoted from the site.

"Slicing An Apple So It Won’t Brown

My daughters love apples with peanut butter for lunch – it is one of the few protein sources I can get my ultra picky 9 year to eat at lunch time – buthow do you keep the apple slices from getting brown?

Check out this technique:

Using an Apple Corer and Divider, cut down 7/8 of the way through the apple. Remove the slicer and reform the apple so it looks “whole” again. Pack in a sealed baggie or container. When your child opens it up at lunch, the apple will still appear fresh and will not have browned."

Mini Easy Little Cheesecakes

 

Don’t these look good? And the best part too is that they are really simple and relatively healthy to make:

• One “slice” of cheese from a box of Original, Laughing Cow, Creamy Swiss (or other flavor),3/4 oz. Soft Cheese Slices OR cream cheese cut up into wedges

 OR  for a DAIRY-FREE OPTION try Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese or Follow Your Heart Organic Vegan Cream Cheese (again, cut up into wedges etc)

• 3 chocolate chips (I used Sunspire Grain Sweetened)
• Chocolate Syrup (cocoa powder, honey, and a little water will do the trick in a pinch)
• Peanut Butter (that’s the tan stuff you see- my pb is made from a powder- it’s not as yummy but anywho…)

Arrange your slice of “cheesecake” on a plate. Top with your favorite toppings or those mentioned above. Relax and enjoy! :)

Healthy Chocolate Cookies with Homemade Peanut Butter Chips!

Or, How to get your chocolate peanut butter fix all in one stop! :)

Note: I made a small batch since I was adapting this from another recipe and also didn’t want too many cookies around. :) This recipe makes about 10 cookies though…Feel free to double or triple it according to your needs and wants.

Ingredients:
1/4 (~2T) banana, mashed
3 T. honey/agave

1 T. milk/water/dairy-free milk
1 T. cup melted butter/earth balance/oil

1/2 cup flour (whole wheat/GF flour blend)
1/4 c. cocoa

(Or if you want to make these as a basic cookie, use 3/4 c. flour and no cocoa)

pinch salt
1 /4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. homemade peanut butter chips

Preheat your oven for 325*. In a small bowl, (if you are making 1x the recipe, a cereal bowl can be used) mix together the wet ingredients and then add the dry (minus the chips). Spoon the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies if desired and then add chips. :) Cook for about 15 minutes.

PS. These are very satisfying with the chips added. If you don’t use the chips, they might be a little bland and not as sweet. I would suggest adding additional sweetener in that case.

Homemade Peanut Butter Chips!

I just discovered how to make my own peanut butter chips! I simply chopped up my fudge (see previous post) into tiny pieces and added it to my cookies. :)

Yeah! (Be sure to keep them in the freezer though :))

Recipe Review: FUDGE! Refined-Sugar-Free Carmel-like Peanut Butter Fudge/Truffle

I tried Comfy Belly’s homemade peanut butter fudge recently! It was so good! I followed her recipe except I used 3/4 c. honey instead of 1 c. honey and used my low-fat peanut butter that I get and finish at home here. It was really sweet-even with less honey. Next time, I think I’ll experiment with 1/2 c. honey instead and maybe some extra water/peanut butter .  Be sure to watch it though- I burned the butter/honey mixture the first time! :/ :)

 

 

ALTERATIONS:

For those of you who are dairy-free, sub coconut oil or earth balance for the butter.

For those of you who are peanut free, try a different nut butter.

For those of you who are nut-free, try sun-butter.

For those of you who are vegan, try it with agave, maple syrup, etc.

Let me know what you come up with! :)

Yummy, Homemade Use-what-you-have Pizza

My room mates went out for pizza and I decided since I was staying home, I’d make my own…healthier version with what I had on hand. (yeah-for double frugality! No money spent on going out, no money spent on more food supplies!)

I topped this with some frozen chicken pieces, bits of pineapple, frozen shredded cheddar cheese, and parmesan. Feel free to top it with whatever you have on hand (and can eat :)).

It was really yummy…soft, bread like, dough. It was very thick. I think next time I might split it into two pizzas.
 

No Rise Pizza and Crust – adapted from this recipe

 

Ingredients:

1 T yeast
1 C warm water

1 tsp. honey/agave
1 tsp. salt
2 T olive oil
2.5 C whole wheat flour or some other (GF flour) combo

Prepare the crust by mixing warm water, honey,and yeast in a small bowl. Allow yeast mix to sit for about 5 minutes.  Then add the oil and stir. After that add the flour and salt. 

Next knead the dough for a few minutes with your hands (or alternatively a kitchen aid/bread maker), then let it sit for 5 mins while you grease your pizza pan and gather the ingredients for the toppings.

Take the dough and put it on the center of the pan…stretch it out slowly until it covers the entire pan. Top it with your favorite sauce (I used straight tomato paste) and toppings.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is done and the toppings (such as cheese) are done.

 

Naturally Sweet Double Berry Oatmeal

  You will notice the oatmeal looks a little purplish-almost gray especially compared to the background----but don’t fear! It’s because of how it’s made.

 

I discovered that I left a mug of herbal raspberry tea out and decided to experiment with using that instead of water in my oatmeal. I also added some strawberries. It was perfect. It gave it just enough flavor….oatmeal, strawberries, and a hint of raspberry flavor! :) Try it! :) You might be surprised. :)

 

I try to use as little sugar as I can especially on oatmeal so this was perfect option for me. :)

 

*GF’ers- be sure to use GF oats or quiona flakes!

Frugal, Filling, and Hearty Carrot Soup

The other week I noticed I had some carrots that were in dire need of use! I didn’t want to waste them so I decided to make something with them. I found a recipe for carrot soup and then modified it to fit my needs and what I had on hand. The original recipe doesn’t advise to use “older carrots” but I found it worked just fine.  It was delicious and so filling. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a soup this filling before! :)  I would definitely make this again, even with fresh carrots. :)  I like how frugal this recipe is too.

Carrot Soup

Modified by Ari, from this recipe

About +/- 10 carrots (use what you have)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups+ water
1.5 T lemon juice (half a lemon’s worth)
fine grain sea salt (as much as you need)

cinnamon (as much as you want)

and or garlic (again, that’s subjective to you)

Peel, cut, and cook carrots in 3 c. boiling water. After they are soft, add lemon juice, salt, and cinnamon and or garlic. (I used a both- A little garlic gave it more flavor- and the cinnamon heightened the sweetness of the carrots.) Then use a potato masher to mash up the mixture.  If you want a smoother soup, use an immersion blender or if you don’t have that, do as I did and use a regular hand mixer. :) You could also  use a food processor or a blender to do the same thing. After mixing, serve! :)

The original recipe says it serves about four, I would say that is about right. :)

Sloppy Joe Boats

After finishing up my hamburger buns and still having meat left I decided to make a healthy low carb variation of my sloppy joes!

Viola! Take a leaf of lettuce (like Romaine), add meat, and sprinkle with cheese. Enjoy! :)

Mom’s Homemade Sloppy Joes

Mmm…sloppy joes! A classic American favorite. I just recently made my mom’s recipe and I will quote it here with some minor add-ins:

Sloppy Joes

Brown 1 pound hamburger with one diced medium onion.

Add one 6 oz. can of tomato paste,  1 1/4 cup water, and shake in a few shakes of dry diced garlic.

Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve on hamburger buns.

That's it.  Easy, huh?  Yup, real easy. Real tasty!

This makes enough for our entire family.  (There are 7 of us) Her suggestion (if you are the only one eating it or have less people) is that  you may want to half it and then freeze it in baggies in 1/3 cup portions that you can pull out to eat quickly.  Or you could add it to spaghetti sauce to use it up.

Soft and Chewy, Healthy! Chocolate Chip Cookies

WOW! This is the first time in years I’ve had a chocolate chip cookie! It’s amazing! And my first try worked! :) They were so good I ate way too many! and burned my tongue. :) I think these would be great too with the alterations listed but I was excited that they turned out so well with whole wheat flour and no refined sugar. Give them a try and let me know what you think!!! :)

They aren’t quite as sweet (just a little bit less sweet) than your normal cookie but they do the trick for me! :) Hence, the burnt tongue and disappearance of a 1/3 (ok…ok…1/3 sounds better…I ate 6! :) They were that good!) of my cookies! :)

Amazingly, Yummy, Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Ari (me) based of this recipe

1 cup whole wheat flour (or GF flour blend)

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted butter(or melted earth balance, melted coconut oil, etc)

1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used grain-sweetened, which are sugar-free)

Preheat the oven to 350*F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together honey, vanilla extract and butter until well combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Place spoonfuls of batter on cookie sheets and bake for 13-17 (no more than 17- the maximum actually gets you a very crisp cookie with a tiny bit of a chewy center) minutes for soft chewy cookies. I would guess 15 minutes is about perfect. Cookies will set up as they cool. :) Makes 12-15 cookies.

ENJOY! :) Serve with a glass of cold milk! :)

100% Whole Wheat Bread- Tastiest EVER!

To all my celiac and gluten-free friends- I’m sorry, this recipe is not for you… but it was so good, I had to post it for those who could enjoy it!

Here are some yummy gluten-free breads. :) Corn of the Cob Bread, GF Whole Grain Bread,GF “White” Bread

Aunt Judi's 100% Whole Wheat Bread (Modified by Me,Ari)

(Note: I use my bread maker to knead it. Judi notes if you don’t use that or a kitchen aid, you won’t get as well of a rise.)

Yields: 2 loaves and rolls

6 cups freshly ground wheat (red or white)
2 1/2 T yeast
1 1/2 T salt
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Then add:
2 1/4 cups warm water

¼ c. honey
1/2 cup oil (melted organic palm oil shortening keeps this especially really moist)

Stir until blended well and very sticky. Place into mixer. Mix until you see the dough start forming a ball and coming away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a floured surface and knead a few times with your hands. Place in an oiled bowl and rise covered with a towel until double in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down dough. Divide into two or three loaves depending on the size of your loaf pans. I make 2 loaves and use the rest for rolls. (or 2 large loaves). Shape into loaves and place in well greased loaf pans, covered. Let rise until forming a nice loaf shape barely over the tops of your pans, approximately 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Soon after they are done, “paint” with butter to keep loaves soft. When they are cool, store in Ziploc bags.
Enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Variation:

For each loaf: Add ¾-1 c. raisins with the other ingredients. Add 1+ tsp cinnamon too. Really Good!

Grapefruit-Pineapple Punch

Grapefruit-Pineapple Punch

*Note: picture is of my aunt’s recipe… but this one should come out very similar

by Ari Anderson

Modified from my aunt's recipe, which she likes to serve for Thanksgiving. However, this is a very easy recipe, so feel free to make it anytime.

Ingredients:

• 1 part grapefruit juice (the real stuff, no sugar added, you may have to make your own...home squeezed...I don't know of any around here that aren't loaded with sugar etc) 
• 1 part pineapple juice (again, the real stuff :))

Note: I put part because it can be anything that you want: 1 quart, 2 cups, a gallon etc, as long as both are equal amounts.

Mix these two juices together. Pour some into a cup and taste. If too tart, add a little stevia, agave, or honey. Mix. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen, add 3-4 to a glass. Pour lemon/lime "soda" (see note) with over the top. Mix. Enjoy!

Lemon/Lime "Soda"

(AKA lemon/lime flavored water/ seltzer water)

For every cup of water, add a couple of teaspoons of lemon and or lime. Add stevia (0r other desired sweetener) to the mix if desired. Stir. Adjust measurements to your taste buds. Serve over grapefruit-pineapple juice cubes.

Carrot Cake!

I had this cake for my belated birthday party at home yesterday. It was really good! And the best part was, it was filling and nutritious! I even had some for breakfast and lunch today!

Carrot Cake

(modified slightly from THE NOURISHING APRON, see it here)

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat, this would be great with GF whole grain flours)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/8 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oil or applesauce (I used applesauce this time)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup frozen pineapple juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups grated carrots

1 c. raisins (opt) (that’s what I did)

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients in large bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined. Stir in carrots (you can add chopped nuts and raisins if you like). Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 13. Bake for 25-35 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting

Frosting
1 cup whipping cream
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter (or Earth Balance) room temperature
1 tablespoon pineapple juice concentrate, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Whip the cream until fairly stiff. Transfer to a small bowl. Whip cream cheese & butter until well combined. Add pineapple juice, vanilla and maple syrup. Whip until well combined. Add whipped cream and blend well.
Store cake in refrigerator.

This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday's! :)

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I am so excited about this recipe! Do you know why? Because I made it completely up myself. I didn't look at one other recipe. I just threw things in together and it worked! :) And it's even delicious! So delicious, that I'm afraid I ate both of the two versions within the day I made them! :)

Version One: Pictured here and above

Version Two: 

 

So you want the recipe now do you? Looks good, doesn’t it? :) And guess what? It is really healthy for you too!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/3 + cup  applesauce (you want it slightly overflowing)

1/3 cup agave (or honey, but I would suggest agave, as I used)

1 T. butter or earth balance, melted

1 c. previously cooked/prepared oat* groats  or 1 c. cooked oatmeal (I used oat groats. It gives it more of a chewier texture. If you do use oatmeal, do not use quick oats. Try steel cut and make sure that they are broken up with a spoon after you cook them and before you add them to the recipe.)

*Note: Those with celiac should only consume GF certified oats/ oat groats

1 c. flour (Whole grain GF mixes should work great here, as does whole wheat flour)

1 T. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen (it is not necessary to thaw them if they are frozen before putting them in the recipe)

 

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all ingredients together starting with the liquids first and then adding in the dry ingredients.  Next add the blueberries.

Pour into a greased round cake pan or a greased square pan.

Bake at 350 for 35 mins.

Serves 8.

Variation (Version 2)

Mix 1/4-1/2  c. shredded coconut (preferably unsweetened), 1 T. melted butter/earth balance, and about 2 tsp. agave together. Crumble over the top of the cake. Bake.

 

Wondering what oat groats are?

“oat groats = whole oat groats = whole oats  Notes:  Oat groats are minimally processed--only the outer hull is removed.  They're very nutritious, but they're chewy and need to be soaked and cooked a long time.  Substitutes: wheat berries”- From this source

This recipe is being submitted for Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. See more great recipes here!

Chocolate Banana “Ice cream”

To make this simple ice-cream, all you need is a little sweetener, water,  cocoa (1/4- 1/2 c.) and four frozen bananas. Add the frozen bananas in chunks, to your ice-cream maker or food processor and then add cocoa and sweetener (preferably liquid) to taste.  Then add water until it reaches the right consistency. Serves 2-4. YUM!

Yummy, Easy Creations

 

Chocolate Banana Oatmeal   

Melt-in-your-mouth Peanut butter cookies

I’ve been meaning to post about these two for quite a while. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly how I did each of them (a far as having an exact recipe but I can give you an idea of how to do it since both of them were so delicious and easy. Luckily, I have gotten better at writing down what I do, so hopefully most recipes you see on here will have a “real recipe”. ;)

 

For the chocolate banana oatmeal:

Take one frozen banana or fresh and mash it (reserving a few slices for the top). Add 1/3-1/2 c. dry oatmeal and water. Add in some cocoa powder (I'm guessing about 2-4 T.) and sweetener (I used agave- probably a couple of T.)

 

For the Melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter cookies:

I used absolutely no grains, butter, refined sugar, milk products, gluten, etc! I used peanut flour and agave. I purchase my peanut flour through Emergency Essentials. You can find them online. Anyway, I mixed some peanut butter powder (peanut flour) and agave together with an egg and or baking powder ? until it looked and tasted to be peanut-buttery  and sweet but not overpoweringly peanut buttery or too sweet. I then placed spoonfuls in the oven I think for around 15 mins. I will try and make these sometime soon again and update you on what I did. :) They were so good and melted perfectly in your mouth.

Peanut Butter Banana Green Smoothie

Oh my! I just had the best! smoothie :)

I have been a little wary of green smoothies but decided to give it a try (especially since I can't seem to digest spinach by itself [ie. in a salad, or just raw]). Boy, am I glad I did.

My recipe is based off of this one from The Spunky Coconut! Thanks for the inspiration!

I love, love, bananas and peanut butter! And since I don't have any protein powder but wanted some protein in this smoothie, I decided to put peanut butter in it!

So good! I could taste both the peanut butter and the banana. (And I couldn't taste the spinach :)).

Not only is it delicious, this smoothie sneaks in some not usually kid friendly vegetables (which are full of antioxidants- especially good this time of year), protien, fruit, and water to hydrate! And it is not full of sugar or juices. :)

Here's the recipe

3 handfuls baby spinach

2 T. peanut butter (natural)

1/8-1/4. t. powdered stevia

1 c. water

5 icecubes

1 frozen banana, in chunks

Combine in blender and blend well. Makes one very large and filling serving or two normal size servings.