Peanut Butter Banana Bars (protein)

 Great combination of banana and peanut butter. My grand kids where over and loved them. A nice source of protein too. Nice after school snack or a great snack anytime of the day. It could also make a great breakfast for on the go.

Ingredients
1 ripe mashed banana
1 3/4 old fashioned oatmeal
1/4 C uncooked quinoa washed
1/2 C peanut butter or nut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 C honey
2 T coconut oil

Directions
1. In a small bowl pour in all the ingredients and blend together until all combined.
2. Pour mixture into greased square pan and press down evenly. Cover with plastic
3. Place in fridge and let harden. Serve when hardened.
4. Keep leftovers in fridge in airtight container.

Protein Power Blast Topper (Raw)

Topper on Yogurt

This is a fun topper that is loaded with protein. You can just store it in the fridge in an airtight container and have it ready to pour on top of , yogurt, fruit, hot cereal, and eaten alone too. It is a great way for you and your family and friends to add protein blast to your diet in a chewy yummy way. You can also mix a couple tablespoons with a couple tablespoons of your favorite nut butter and spread on apples, crackers, or rice cakes.

Protein Topper

Ingredients

1/2 C peanut butter or your favorite nut butter

1/4 C honey

1 1/2 C old fashioned oatmeal

1 C quinoa flour or whole grain flour

1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut

1/4 C chia seeds

1/4 C ground flax seeds *optional
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C Dark chocolate chips crushed up

Other optional additions

raisins or nuts

Protein topper on Oatmeal

Directions
1. In a bowl mix together peanut butter and honey until creamy.
2. Pour in the oats, quinoa, coconut, chia, flax seed, and vanilla. Blend until all crumbly. I used my hands some to get it all mixed together.
3. Stir in chips and *optional nuts and raisins.
4. Eat at once or store in airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy a yummy blast of flavor.

Optional: Mix a couple Tablespoons of topper with a couple Tablespoons of nut butter. Stir together until combined. Spread on bread, crackers, fruit, or rice cakes.

Mango Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients
2 3/4 C spelt flour or whole grain flour 
1/2 C quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder (aluminum free, please)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 C almond milk
2/3 C honey
1 tsp. vanilla 
1/2 C coconut oil
1 C Mango puree (mashed mangoes)

Directions makes 18-24 muffins
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease muffin pans. 
3. Mix together dry ingredients  in a large bowl.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, and the puree mango. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients stir until just blended.
5. Fill muffin cups.
6. Bake 10-15 min. Take out of pan and let cool. 

Toasted Almonds and Coconut with Steel Cut Oats and Raspberries

Happy Memorial Weekend. I hope that you have time to honor those who have given much to find for our freedom. It is also a sweet time to honor friends and family that have moved on too. Honoring their lives as well.

I had fun making this cereal this morning. It was a fun wist on the oatmeal. The toppings I used would be yummy with yogurt as well. Having hot cereal for breakfast is one of my favorites. It starts me off right. Add some blueberries to it and you have a great patriotic breakfast.

Ingredients

2/3 C steel oats

1 C water

2 T ground flax

1/4 C almond milk

1 T honey

1/2 C unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 C almonds chopped

1 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp honey

dash salt optional

1/3 C raspberries or berries of your choice

1 tsp honey

2 T chia

milk for on top

Directions serves 2-3

1. If possible soak the oats the night before in water. If not put the water and oats in a pot on medium high heat. Let it come to a boil.

2. Turn down the heat to medium low. Stir in the flax, almond milk and honey. Let cook until the oats are softened. Stirring occasionally.  In the meantime.

3. I used a flat skillet if you don't have one use a frying pan. Pour the coconut on the skillet and let it turn a pretty golden color. Take off the heat and set aside.

4. Pour on the almonds on to the hot skillet, oil, honey and *salt. Let them toast until light brown. Take off the skillet. Set them aside. 

5. Pour the berries on to the hot skillet with honey and chia. Stir them and heat them up until they thicken. Take off the heat and set aside.

6. Pour the oats into the bowls. Top with berries, nuts and then coconut. Pour on milk on top. Enjoy!

It is a Delicious Day with Steel Cut Oat and Berries

I love Oat Groats! I think they taste even better than an oatmeal cookie. I think part of it is that I know am eating something so healthy. I love the texture of them when I eat them. I had it cook while I was doing my exercise and it was perfect and ready to eat when I was done. With all the great fresh fruit out there right now, there are a lot of options to put on top of it. I chose fresh strawberries. They added a fresh and natural sweetness so I didn't use much honey.

It is a delicious day! That is the word that comes to me on days like today. It is a beautiful blue sky day with sunshine and a slight breeze. It was so nice to exercise and enjoy the breeze coming in the window. I hope that you are having a delicious day as well. :)  

Ingredients:
3 C water
1 C Steel Cut Oat Groats 
2 T honey * vegan add a different sweetner
1 T coconut oil
*cinnamon and fresh nutmeg sprinkled on top optional
*fresh cut up fruit (love berries with it)
almond milk or coconut milk poured over the top 

Directions:
1. Pour into a saucepan water, oats, honey and coconut oil. Turn it to medium high heat. Let it come to a boil. Turn down the heat to low and let in cook until it thickens about 30 min. 
2. Serve into bowls. put on fruit, sprinkle with spices if desired and then top off with almond or coconut milk. Enjoy! Store the leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.  

Have a delicious day!

* To shorten cooking time soak in water over night in covered pot.

Whole Grain Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

Valentine's Day is one of our favorite holidays around here! I love thinking about the people I love and I feel like it means spring is coming soon. We decided to dedicate some recipes to the holiday of love this week. We declared yesterday a day of cooking and I got two of my daughters involved in the fun. And, less you think cooking always goes right in this house, only two of our four recipes actually worked. Boo. But we did have two successes.



Our Whole Grain Oatmeal Bars were one of those successes. They have a nice granola-y crunch that is satisfying and hearty.

Ingredients

1 C 6-grain rolled oats (or plain rolled oats if that's easier)
1 1/2 C rolled oats
2 1/2 C whole grain flour (I used a mixture of spelt and Kamut and oats, equal parts)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 C coconut sugar (or your favorite sugar alternative)
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C coconut oil, melted (or your fat of choice--the original recipe called for butter)
1 C raspberry preserves (or your flavor of choice) I had some frozen raspberry puree I used :)
1/2 C unsweetened flaked coconut

*A note about coconut oil and coconut sugar. They do not taste like coconut. They are simply fat and sugar alternatives that I feel are better for me.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Stir in vanilla and coconut oil until crumbly.

3. Set aside 1 C of crumb mixture and press the remaining amount evenly into a 9x13 baking pan.

4. Spread preserves over the crumb mixture. Mix coconut with the remaining crumb mixture and sprinkle over the preserves.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until coconut is lightly browned. Let cool before serving.

Spiced Apple Berry Almond Crumble with Almond Cream

I loved this! It was heavenly. The almond cream added the perfect touch. I will be making it again soon. I don't get excited about apple crisp, but this was yummy. It had a hint of sweetness and the spices and almonds were fantastic in it.

Here it is ready to dig into. It makes my mouth water looking at it.

This is the fruit mixture with the added spices and sweetener.

This is what it looked like before it went in the oven.

This is after it cooked.

Ingredients:
3 granny smith apples (I used my apple peeler to slice them up)
1 C mixed berries (I used a mix with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)
orange zest from one orange
juice from 2 oranges
1/8 C coconut sugar or sweetener of your choice (I may try honey next)
For topping:
1 1/2 C Mixed whole grains (spelt, oats kamut) Or your choice
1/4 C finely chopped almonds
3 T butter
1/8 C coconut sugar (or other sweetener)
1/2 tsp cardamom (I love this stuff)
1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 C whip cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 to 2 T powdered sugar
orange zest for garnish

1. Heat oven to 400. Grease square pan or 2 qt dish.

2. Prepare apples and put in bowl, with berries, zest, juice and sugar. Mix it all together. Pour into the pan.

3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, sugar, spices, almonds together cut in the butter till all crumbly. spread over the fruit. Make sure you go to the edge to seal the juices in.

4. Bake 25- 35 min. Until lightly golden. (The apples were soft but not over cooked) Whip cream in a bowl, add the almond extract, and sugar. Dish the crumble into dishes, and put on a dollop of cream. I sprinkled on a little orange zest for an extra touch.

Cranberry Oat Muffins (Low Gluten)

This is a wonderful treat to enjoy, while getting the benefits of eating cranberries. :) I love this time of year when you can buy the fresh cranberries in the store. I learned a trick last year you can freeze cranberries, and you can then use them all year. Yeah! Some of the SUGGESTED benefits to cranberries are, they can help urinary tract infections, reduction of dental plaque, anti cancer activities, heart diseases, and kidney stones. That is a nice long list. I like getting cranberries fresh because they haven't added all the sugar. It is hard to find dried unsweetened ones.

I love the sweet and tart combination this recipe has. (I used to always love those sweet and tart suckers too. :) These kind of reminded me of a yummy bran muffin. They were nice and dense. The problem when they taste good is I eat too many of them. :(

My mother in law is gluten intolerant. I have found when I make her things with spelt and kamut she doesn't have a problem. Each person is different. It has been fun to make her yummy things she can eat.

Ingredients:

2 C spelt flour
1/2 C oatmeal
1/2 C Sucanat or sweetener of your choice
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 C fresh cranberries Chopped (I just chopped them in the blender)
2 T honey
1/2 C Almond milk or 1/3 C regular milk *
1 egg *
2 T oilve oil
3/4 C fresh orange juice or you could used canned
1 T orange zest

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 Grease muffin pan. It made 12 regular muffins.

2. Combine in a bowl, spelt, oatmeal, sucanat salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add cranberries and stir to coat them with the flour mixture.

3. Then mix in a separate bowl, egg, oil, honey, juice, milk, and zest. Then add to flour mixture. Stir just until blended. Spoon into muffin pans.

4. Bake 12-15 min or until completely cooked through. Enjoy! these are a keeper.

* Almond milk is a little thicker so you can add a little more.

*I realized I left the egg out, after I had already put the batter into the pan. I decided to see how it would work without it. It worked well. It may have risen higher with the egg and been a little lighter. But I was happy with them. A recipe is just a guide. You can do your own experimenting.
Have fun. =)

* These taste even better the second day. They are soooo good!

Healthy Power Bars in a Ball

This is for some of you that are looking for something healthy to eat during the holiday week end. The other option is eat it after the weekend after you are sick of the candy. =) This is loaded with lots of great nutrition in one ball. It could be a great snack, quick breakfast, or alternative for dessert.

I had a free sample the other day of some kind of "Healthy" bar that felt like it was going to break my teeth. There are a lot of "Healthy treats" or "Power bars" that are not healthy--read the labels. I am finding it is a lot cheaper and safer to make my own. I like all the textures in these balls. I hope you enjoy it as well. The nice thing is when you eat ones of these, it is very satisfying.

Ingredients

3 C Dates
4 C 6-grain rolled oats or oatmeal (the oatmeal would make it gluten free)
1 C Unsweetened coconut
1/4 C Chia (optional)
1/4 C Ground flax
1/4 C Cashews, chopped fine
1/4 C Almonds, chopped fine
1/4 C Sesame seeds
1/4 C pumpkin seeds
2 T Peanut butter
1/2 C Coconut oil
2 T Cinnamon (other spices could be good too)
1/2 tsp Salt

Directions

1. Put dates in a bowl with enough water to cover them. I have some harder dates so I left them in about 20-30 minutes.

2. Drain water into another bowl and pour dates into a blender and blend. You want it to be a paste when you are finished. You can use some of the water you drained off to help make the paste if your dates did not absorb enough. Add a little at a time. You don't want it to be runny. The goal is a thick, smooth consistency.

3. Then pour the date mixture and all the remaining ingredients into the bowl. Mix until all combined. Roll into balls. The recipe made 28 balls. Put them in the freezer to harden on a cookie sheet. I freeze the ones I can't eat right away in zip lock bags.

Pumpkin Carrot Date Muffins

This is another variation to pumpkin muffins. I found that they got even better with time. I had some later in the evening, and they were so moist and yummy. Pumpkin breads are my favorite.

Ingredients:

1 can Pumpkin 29 oz
1 C Sucanat or 1 C Brown Sugar
1/3 C Coconut oil or Olive Oil
4 eggs
4 C grated carrots
1 tsp Vanilla
1 C Dates
1/2 C Water
3 C Spelt Mixture * or Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 T Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cardamom

Directions:

1. Beat together Pumpkin, sugar, oil, egg, vanilla and carrots in a bowl. Put dates and water in a food processor or blender. Blend until all chopped up into a liquid form add to other wet ingredients.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a seperate bowl.

3. Pour Dry ingredients into wet mixture. Mix until combined. Don't overstir.

4. Fill Greased muffin tins. Bake 350 18-20 min. Or until cooked all the way through.

Made 60 Mini Muffins. You could freeze some to have on hand.

* Spelt Mixture was left over from when I ground 6 C Spelt 2 C Kamut 1 C Oat Groats

Wholegrain Cardamom Bread Low Gluten

This is a recipe I got 30 years ago, when I was in College. That sounds like a really long time ago. I had fond memories of this recipe. I was telling my daughter who is in college to collect recipes. They will bring back fond memories from that time of life. I was able to change it to whole grain flour with success, and cut the sugar down and the butter. It was one of the best looking whole grain breads I have made. :) It would be a fun one to serve to guests during the holidays.
It was a nice slightly sweetened bread. It tasted good. I hope you enjoy it too.

This is what the dough looked like before it was cooked.
This is the finished product.
Ingredients:

9 C Spelt Flour Mix* or Wheat flour or you could use some White Flour
2 C Scalded Milk (I just mixed up some powdered milk it worked great)
2 T Yeast
1/2 C Warm Water
1 C Sugar or I used 1/2 C honey
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C butter or I used 3 T Butter and 1/3 C Coconut Oil (you could use another oil)
1 tsp Cardamom
1 Beaten Egg

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water (not hot) and sugar or Xagave. I don't even stir it. I just let it sit for 5 to 10 min.

2. You can scald the milk if you use regular milk by heating in the microwave, for a couple of minutes. You will have to let it cool before you add it to the yeast mixture. I sometimes put ice in it to speed up the process. I did not heat up the powdered milk and it worked great.

3. Add the milk, sugar, 2 egg, salt, butter, oil and cardamom, to the yeast mixture.

4. Mix the flour in 1 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides. You still want the dough to be sticky.

5. I kneaded the dough 4-5 min in the Bosch. (When you use the Spelt Mixture you don't want to Knead too long) If you are doing it by hand knead 10 min.

6. Cover let rise till double.

7. Pour out on to floured board. Knead by hand for a couple minutes till smooth.

8. Then divide into 6 equal pieces. I weighed it. Each section was about .73. You then roll each piece into a long snake. I put oil on my hands to make it an easier process.

9. Then grab 3 of the pieces lay them out straight push them together at the top and braid them. You can then keep it long or make it into a circle.

10, Cover let rise till double. That happened really fast about 20 to 30 min.

11. Place dough on a cookie sheet. Beat an egg and brush on to the top of the dough. Bake in a preheated oven 375 20 to 25 min. Time may vary according to your oven. This bread is a winner! : )

* Spelt mixture I ground up 6 C Spelt 2 C Kamut 1 C Oat Groats or Oatmeal. I have extra for the next recipe I make. I just store it in the freezer.

Healthy Hearty Banana Muffins (gluten free flour

These are a great Breakfast. They would freeze well you could make them ahead. They would also make a great snack or a side for dinner, or make a great dessert. My daughter just came home and ate a couple, and gave them the thumbs up. These were moist. Don't over cook them. You don't want them to dry out. I loved the texture in the muffins. It is hard to not keep eating more. Hope you enjoy them. It is another way to use granola.
I like using this mini scooper. It is great for muffins and cookies. It keeps your hands clean too. I usually give the batter or dough a taste to see if it needs something else added. :) It is easier to add before it's cooked.
They raised very nicely. I was pleased.


Recipe: Made 36 mini muffins

2 1/2 C Granola (I used homemade it had the coconut and other good stuff already in it)
1 1/3 C Bobs Red Mill gluten free flour, or Spelt mix  (If you use spelt they will not be gluten free)
1 T Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
 2 T Honey
1 C Coconut Milk or Rice milk or Milk of your choice
1/3 C Coconut oil or Canola oil
1 egg
1 C Mashed Bananas about 3 medium (Very ripe give the best flavor)
1 tsp Vanilla

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Beat the honey, milk, oil, egg, bananas and vanilla in another bowl till all mixed together.

3. Combine the two mixtures together. Mix until completely moistened.

4. Scoop into greased muffin pan. Bake 400 15 min about.Don't over bake. ((If you make bigger muffins the time will be longer) Mine were slightly soft to the touch when they came out. Just make sure completely cooked inside. They will be even better tomorrow. The second day with banana bread is even better. :)


*You could also use a healthy toasted oat cereal such as Kashi brand.

Peanut Butter Granola Cookies ( low Gluten )

You have a new thing to use your Homemade Granola for cookies. I had this idea a couple days ago and adapted a recipe. It was fun to have my son come home and love eating the cookie dough. He was scraping the bowl. He is one of my picker eaters. He liked the cookies as well. I was pleased how moist they were. :) They would make a great breakfast on the run.
1/2 C Coconut Oil (Or Canola Oil
1/2 C Sucanat or sweetener of your choice
1/2 C Water
1/2 C Dates
2/3 C Peanut butter
4 T Ground Flax seed *optional
2 T Chia *Optional
1/3 C Water
1 1/2 C Spelt Flour Mix*
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 T Pumpkin Spice
3 C Granola (I used homemade)
1/2 C Dried Fruit* (If you want more)

1. Put Dates and 1/2 C Water in the blender. I let it soak about 15 min. Then I pulsed it till it was liquid. Then pour into mixing bowl.

2. Then add Sucanat, oil, peanut butter,to date mixture. Beat a couple minutes till smooth.

3. Then mix Flax, Chia and 1/3 C water In separate bowl and soak for 1 min. Mix in with the date mixture, until all combined. Then add all the dry ingredients. (You could put in a separate bowl first) Add the granola and *Optional dried fruit.

4. Drop on to cookie Sheet. Bake at 350. Bake 8-10 min. I liked them being a little soft, when I took them out. Don't over bake. :) Healthy too! Made 41 cookies

* I had them for breakfast they were great! :)

Flat Bread Whole Grain Tacos

These turned out well. I was wanting to make something similar to Navajo Tacos, with out frying them in all the grease. I used my tortilla maker so it flattened them out and made them similar to flat bread. You could try just rolling them out and frying them with a little oil, so it won't stick, in a fry pan, or on the tortilla maker without putting down the lid. It would make them a little thicker. Either way I think would be good.

4-5 C Spelt mixture *
2 tsp Salt
1 T Yeast
2 C Warm Water
1 T Olive Oil

1. Mix yeast and water together. Add the salt and oil. Add enough flour so it doesn't stick to sides and the dough is not real sticky.

2. Let rise 20- 30 min.

3. Roll in to balls a little bigger than a walnut. I put some oil on my hands and rubbed it on the ball before frying it. You can then roll it out. (I flattened mine in the tortilla maker) Thickens depends whether you want it to be a flat bread or a little thicker. Similar to a Navajo Taco. You can then cook in a hot tortilla maker or a frying pan. Cook until desired consistency. I liked them soft enough, to still be able to fold. Then put in your favorite taco fillings. I used tomatoes, spinach, cheese, shoe peg corn, black beans, and ground turkey cooked with taco seasoning. I put taco sauce on it too.


*This was the flour I ground for the Apple Muffins 5 C Spelt 2 C Kamut 1 C Brown Rice 1 C Oat Groats

*It tastes great the day after too.
*To buy flat bread in the store is a lot more $ than making them yourselves. :)

Mixed Grain Apple Date Muffins ( Low Gluten)

These were a fun way to use the apples, that are in season right now. I was really happy with the way they turned out. They are so moist! There was no sweetener used other than the dates and orange juice. The end result was fantastic. I used Teff which is a fun grain, loaded with lots of nutrition. The spices were so good too. :) They are loaded with lots of grains. Daughter # 2 tried them and said "They are good and really moist". If you want them sweeter, you could add a little sweetener. I was excited to not add sweetener this time. :)

2 C Spelt Mixture*
1/2 C 6 Grain Rolled Oats or Oatmeal
1/4 Teff *
2 T Ground Flax
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
12 Pitted Dates and 1/4 C Water
2/3 C Rice Milk Or Milk of your choice
1/4 C Fresh Orange Juice*
4 T Coconut Oil or Oil of your choice
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 egg beaten
2 C Cooking Apples Finely Chopped (Sweeter variety)

1. I measured all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then I sifted them to make sure all the spices were evenly distributed. Set aside.

2. Mix the dates in with 1/4 C of Water in the blender until all chopped into smooth mixture.

3. Mix the Date Mixture, Milk, Juice, Oil, Vanilla, and Eggs in a separate bowl.

4. Combine the two mixtures together. Don't over stir.

5. Pulsed the Apple cut up in pieces, in my blender. (With the peels on) Until they were small pieces.

6. Fold in the Apples into the mixture.

7. Scoop into muffin pans. I made mini muffins. It made 36.

8. Bake in preheated oven 350 for 10-12 min. Add time if you make bigger muffins.


* Spelt Mixture 5 C Spelt, 2 C Kamut 1 C Brown Rice 1 C Oat Groats. I ground up extra for other baking. :)
* I ground the Teff up in the Coffee Grinder.
*I squeezed it from a Sweet home grown orange. Thanks! Craig and Ellen

Happy Fall!

Multi grain Bread

Today I decided to make some bread with mostly wheat flour, and a few other grains. The dough was very easy to work with, to form into loaves.

6 C. Warm water (not hot)
2/3 C Oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 C Xagave or 1 C Honey
3 T Yeast
1 T Salt
2 T Gluten (I replaced this with 1 T White Vinegar)
1 T Cinnamon (Optional)
1/4 C Unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C Flax (Ground)
1 C 6 Grain rolled oats
2 1/2 C Buckwheat Flour
11-12 1/2 C White Wheat flour

1. In bread mixer pour water, yeast, Xagave. Let sit for 10 to 15 min till starts to bubble. If it doesn't bubble your yeast is bad. (It is nice to find that out in the beginning of the process.

2. Then add the rolled oats, so they can soften in the water for 5 min. Then add the remaining ingredients, adding the wheat flour last. Add just enough wheat flour for the dough to pull away from the bowl. Be careful to not let it get too dry. The dough will still be sticky. Knead in the mixer 6-8 min. (You can knead it longer when the spelt is not in it.

3. Let sit in the bowl covered till double.

4. Oil your hands. I used olive oil. and put oil on the counter and in the pans. From into loaves let rise till double.

5. Put into preheated oven at 400. Put the bread in turn down to 325. Bake for 25-30 min. If have a thermometer, stick it in the bread in the center. It should read 180 when it is done. I rubbed butter on the top. It has a really nice texture. I really liked it.

*I made a (1) 1/2 lb loaf, (2) 2lb loaves, (1) 2 1/2 lb loaf and (5) rolls. :) Plenty to share.

Oatmeal Date Nut Balls

These were sooo good! They were easy too. :) The recipe made 8 balls and I have already eaten 3 of them. :) I love the natural sweetness of them. My daughter doesn't like dates and was pleasantly pleased with them. I think most people wouldn't guess there were dates in them, they are in such small pieces.


1/2 C Oatmeal Old fashioned
1/2 C Dates pitted Chopped fine
1/2 C Cashews chopped up fine (almonds would work too)
1/4 C Peanut Butter (Adams Natural Creamy is what I used)
1 1/2 T Honey

I put the dates, oatmeal and cashews in the blender (or food processor) pulsed till chopped up fine. Then I added the peanut butter and honey. I rolled them in a ball. They stuck together great. You could add mini chips,coconut or another kind of dried fruit. They were tasty!

*I put the dates in whole in my blender. It will depend on your blender if you can do that. My cashews were broken up in pieces, when I put them in.

* I tried them again today. I used almonds instead of cashews added the same amount. I also added 1/4 C of coconut. They were great too. :) I love this new snack.

* I cut the peanut butter down to 1/8 C. and they still turned out really well.

Multi grain breakfast cereal !

These were three of the grains I used in the cereal. I forgot to put flax in the the picture. The cool thing is there are so many nutritional benefits to each of these grains. They make a great combination. You can start out the morning with a great breakfast, so you will have energy for the day.
Sorry the lighting was bad on this pictures. It tasted soo good. I loved the combination of everything. I felt very satisfied. :)

4 C. Water
2/3 C. Oatmeal (Old Fashioned)
1/3 C. Buckwheat
1/3 C. Quinoa
1/4 C. Ground Flax Seed
2 tsp. Cinnamon
4 Tbsp. Xagave
1 C. Blueberries any kind of berries would be yummy, or rasins!
8 T. Unsweetened coconut flakes

Served about 4 depending on serving size.
You have a couple of options of cooking it.
1. Cook on the stove. Bring to a boil and then turn to low heat till softens.
2. Put in crock pot on low before you go to bed.
3. I cooked it in my pressure cooker. I set the timer for 7 minutes. When the timer went off I let it sit for 5 min.

Cook all the grains and water together. Then afterwards add the cinnamon. I just drizzled on the xagave in each bowl separately. Then put the blueberries and coconut on top of each bowl depending on preference of how much you want. You can pour a little milk over the top. :) It was wonderful!

* You can read on the side bar the nutritional benefits of these grains. :)

Coconut Apricot Bread

I tried this new kind of bread. I wasn't going for sweet. I put the unsweetened apricots in the bread. If you want a sweeter version put sweetened apricots in it or add more sugar.

1 1/3 C milk you could use coconut milk
1 1/3 C warm water
4 T coconut oil or oil of your choice
1/4 C coconut sugar or another sweetener
1/4 C milk powder
2 T yeast
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 C Chopped up fine dried apricots
1/4 C T finely ground coconut
7 1/2 C Spelt flour mixture

1. Mix Milk, Water, oil, sugar, powdered milk. Let sit about 5 mix till mixture starts to bubble.

2. Mix in eggs, coconut. Add flour 1 cup at a time. Till the dough pulls away from the side and yet is slightly sticky. You don't want it too dry. Don't knead in a machine more than 4 min. With Spelt flour you don't want to over knead.

3. Rub oil on the dough and let rise in a bowl covered with a towel. For about and hour or till double.

4. Rub oil on your hands. Form into loaves. I made 2 nice loaves. I think it will make good french toast. :)

Sweet Potato Whole Grain Waffles

These were something fun and new to try. I was happy with the results. My son ate them and seemed to enjoy them. :) I like all the health benefits to sweet potatoes so it was fun to use them.

1 1/2 C. I ground up 2 C Kamut 1/2 C Quinoa 5 C Spelt 1 C Brown Rice 1 C Oat groats (extra flour for something else I can make.) You could use wheat flour instead
1/4 coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp of each allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger

1 C milk add 1 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 C plain yogurt
1/2 C sweet potato ( I poked a couple holes in the potato and baked in microwave 7 min high)
4 Tbsp canola oil
3 large eggs room temp (warmed them up in warm water)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Set aside.

2. Beat all the wet ingredients together. Make a well in dry ingredients. Pour wet mixture into it. Stir until completely moistened. Do not over stir. Let sit for 5 min.

3. Pour in hot waffle griddle. Bake till golden. Enjoy!

* Some of the health benefits to a sweet potato. They are a good source of Vitamin A, C, B6 and beta carotene. They are a great antioxidant food.

This could make a great dinner too!