Pumpkin Chocolate Bars

We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was even nice enough to go on a walk. I love being outside. I heard inspiring stories at church yesterday that made me want to be better. I wish the weekend could last longer they go by too fast.  My son that is serving an LDS mission wrote today and he is so happy. It is a great day. 

I made these yesterday and they were moist and tasted soo good. The added ingredients of the mashed bananas added a natural sweetness to the bars and a nice moistness too. 

Ingredients 
3 1/2 C spelt flour or whole grain flour
1/2 C chia
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C cocoa 
1 15-oz. can pumpkin, or 2 C fresh pumpkin puree
1/2 C olive oil  or another of your choice
2 eggs
1/2 C water
1 C maple syrup
1 C  vanilla Almond Milk unsweetened
1 C smashed bananas


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease   13 x 9 pan (stoneware works best for whole grains) with cooking spray. (You could also do muffins instead.)

2. Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine pumpkin, oil, water,  almond milk, maple syrup, and bananas.

3. Mix together wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into pan.

4. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. About 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream (Dairy Free and No Added Sugar)

I always think it is fun to have pumpkin ice cream this time of year. This is a great choice and it is dairy free and sugar free. With a nice creamy texture. It was approved by my grandson.

Ingredients

1 C canned coconut milk
2 1/2 to 3 bananas cut up frozen pieces
1/4 C canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
sprinkle on nutmeg on top if desired

Directions

Pour all the ingredients into the blender and blend and stir until smooth. Eat soft serve or put in covered air tight container to harden and put in freezer.

Guilt Free Peach Ice Cream (No added sugar)

 So it is that wonderful time of year when peaches are in season. They taste wonderful in ice cream. I came up with a guilt free peach ice cream. I work hard exercising and I am sure you do too. So this is a great way to enjoy peach ice cream with out sacrificing the flavor. Yum! So easy to make.

Ingredients

1 C frozen peaches

1 frozen banana chopped up

2 T plain greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla *optional

Optional cut up fresh peach

Directions  serves 1 or 2

1. Place peaches, banana, yogurt, and vanilla  in the blender. Stir and blend until creamy.

2. Scoop into dish and fold in fresh cut up peaches if desired.  

Wonderful refreshing treat. 

Moist Whole Grain Banana Cake or Bread

I had some really really over ripe bananas today. My two children that were here said I should make them into banana bread. I thought that was a great idea. It is rainy here today. It felt like a great day to bake. I was very happy how it turned out. Reducing the banana liquid adds a lot of flavor to the bread. You don't need a lot of other sweetener. It was moist and delicious. This could be made into a bread or cake. Yum! 


Ingredients
5 bananas 
1/2 C melted coconut oil 
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2  C honey
2 C spelt or whole grain flour of your choice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease pan with non stick oil.

2. Peel all the bananas place in microwave safe dish. Cover with plastic and poke a few wholes to vent. Place in microwave for 5 min on high. Take out and put bananas in a strainer over a bowl. Stir and mash the bananas to get out the liquid. It should be about 1/2 to 3/4 C in the bowl. I got a 3/4 C. Then pour liquid in a small saucepan on the stove. Turn on to med heat. Reduce until it cooks down to 1/4 C of liquid. The goal is to have a concentrated liquid, that will add a lot of flavor to the bread or cake. :)

3. Stir the 1/4 C liquid to bananas. Mash the bananas till they are all mashed. You could use a masher. I used the back of a plastic spoon. Then add honey ,eggs, oil, and vanilla. Beat together, and set aside.

4. In another bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking soda.

5. Stir the flour mixture into banana mixture until just combined.

6. Pour into greased loaf pan or square stoneware pan. 30-45 min. Till toothpick comes out clean.

8.  I rubbed a little coconut oil on top when it came out of the oven. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 min. Then remove from pan and serve. 

Quinoa Oatmeal with Strawberries and Bananas

I had the most delicious breakfast this morning. Quinoa is a great grain to eat for breakfast. Not only is it a grain, but it's also a complete protein. Isn't that a great way to start your day? It tasted so good. I loved the added strawberries and bananas on top. They added a wonderful natural sweetness to the cereal. This is a great time of year to buy strawberries--as they seem to be on sale all over. The hot cereal was so good. I hope you enjoy it too. 

Ingredients
1/3 toasted quinoa (well rinsed)
1/3 old fashioned oatmeal
2 T chia
1/2 water
1 C vanilla almond milk unsweetened
1 T honey
1 T coconut oil
Cut up strawberries and bananas
top with almond milk if desired

Directions
1. Put saucepan on medium heat. You can toast the quinoa if its not already toasted. To toast pour in the quinoa and toast until light golden, stirring often.
2. Stir in the oatmeal, chia, water, milk, honey, and oil. Bring to boil and and let it boil for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Turn down the heat to medium low and put lid on. Stir occasionally until thickened. Add additional water if needed.
4. Take off the heat and serve in bowls.
5. Put fruit on top of the cereal and drizzle milk on top if desired.

Raspberry Orange Ginger Swirl

Recipe Redux this month is spotlighting beverages. Have you been noticing a lot of drinks popping up in your Pinterest feed? Well, you want to add this one, too. Just as the name suggests, it's a lovely mix of frozen raspberries, oranges, and just a bit of ginger. It tastes like sunlight in the middle of winter.

Even my baby couldn't get enough of it. See?

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 1/2 C fresh orange juice
2 frozen bananas
1/4 tsp ginger
1 C frozen raspberries
1/2 C water

Directions
1. Blend together orange juice, bananas, and ginger. Pour into a small pitcher or liquid measuring cup.
2. Next, blend the raspberries and water together. (You don't have to clean out the blender prior to mixing.)
3. Pour some of the orange mixture into the two cups you'll be serving it in, until they are a little over half full. Pour the raspberry mixture evenly into both.
4. Pour the remaining orange mixture in the cups. Use a shish kebab stick (or whatever you have on hand) to gently blend the two together so the raspberry mixture shows through the sides of the cup. Serve immediately.
 You can also try this Mango Blueberry Swirl.

An InLinkz Link-up

Nutritious Pina Colada Smoothie (Nonalcoholic)

I know that Pina Colada is traditionally something to drink during the summer, preferably sitting on a beach or besides a pool. But this light refreshing smoothie could be a delicious treat anytime of year. It certainly tasted good today during a winter snow storm! Give yourself the gift of summer in the winter. :)

Ingredients
1 1/4 C crushed pineapple (unsweetened) drained
2 C vanilla almond milk or coconut milk
2 frozen bananas
1 C ice cubes
1 tsp coconut extract

Directions serves 2 to 4 
1. Pour all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy a refreshing Treat

Strawberry Banana Basil Smoothie (Green Smoothie)

Strawberry Banana Basil Smoothie

My wonderful family!

Sometimes life  feels like a dream. Today I was thinking about this past weekend, and it felt like it was all a dream. Life moves at a quick pace and if you aren't careful you will miss it.

This past weekend was a sweet one. My son and daughter in law surprised us with a quick weekend visit. :) The squeal my grandson made when he saw them was priceless. It was a wonderful treat to all be together. We had a weekend of enjoying a beautiful day on the lake. (Why can't summer last forever?) Then we enjoyed a wonderful out door concert.. We enjoyed yummy food, homemade ice cream, that my son made. It was divine. Lots of laughter. Good times!

I looked at this picture today, that we took together last night and I couldn't get the smile off my face. They are what is important in my life. They make each day a little sweeter. Life doesn't get much better than this.

I made this wonderful smoothie tonight. I got the idea from a friend to add basil to the smoothie. I really liked it. The other sweet thing was the only sweetener was the fruit. I liked that too. It was very creamy yum!

Ingredients: 4 servings
1/2 C plain coconut yogurt or regular yogurt
6-14 basil leaves ( I used 14 mine were small)
2 C frozen strawberries
1 1/2 frozen bananas
1 C water

Directions: 
1. Put all the ingredients in the blender. Blend until creamy.  Serve in cups!

 

Healthy Morning Side Muffins

Image credit NASA 

I love the morning when the sun is just coming over the mountains. I love seeing how the sun sheds light on to the mountains. I love the sunshine it warms my soul. The sunrise brings a fresh start to a new day. Look to the sun for light. :)  I love light. This world is a beautiful place. :)  

I love the weekends It is so nice to have my husband home and regroup as a family. This weekend we left the projects behind, and enjoyed a "field trip" as my husband called it. We were gone for the day and evening enjoying time together. We went and visited a college campus for my daughter, and a new shopping center. Then another daughter was in a pageant and we enjoyed watching  her stretch to new limits. My children teach me by the things they do.  It was a fun day to be together. The cool thing is when your gone all day, and leave a clean house, the house stays clean. It is nice to have a day off every once in a  while. We all need it.

These were yummy muffins, As have said before I think muffins are even better the next day. I think all the flavors are enhanced. I look for muffins not to be sweet like a cookie. If you are looking for sweeter you can increase the sweetener. These are a great way to start your morning. :)

Ingredients:

3 C whole Grain flour (I used mixture spelt, kamut, and buckwheat)

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

6 T coconut oil 

3/4 C coconut sugar or other sweetener

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 C rice milk

1 ripe banana mashed

1 C grated carrots

1 to 1 1/2 C pineapple tidbits (drained)

Directions:

1. Measure and pour into a bowl all the dry ingredients. Stir together with a wire whisk and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl beat the softened coconut oil and then beat in the sugar till creamy. Beat for a couple minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. 

3. Then beat in the milk and  bananas.  Stir in the dry in ingredients. 

4. Stir in the carrots and pineapples.

5. Pour into greased muffin pans. Bake 375 for 12-to 25 min. depending on the size of your muffins. 

6. Remove from the pan while still warm. Store extras in airtight container.