Raw Granola

Thank you Ashlee for sharing this with me. This is a great way to satisfy your craving for an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie in a healthier way. It has the wonderful texture of cookie dough. It can be eaten with milk or plain. I would put this in the treat category, but it is a healthier treat. :) It is a great way to get your family to eat oatmeal. It got gobbled up by my family.

Ingredients:
1/2 C honey
1/2 C coconut oil melted
1/2 tsp salt * optional
1 C unsweetened coconut flakes
1 C almonds chopped
4 C old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 tsp almond extract *optional
1 C dark chocolate chips (* or raisins)

Directions:
1. Pour all the ingredients into a mixer except the chips. Mix until combined.
2. Pour in the chips and stir until just combined. Eat immediately or store in an airtight container to eat later. 
Enjoy!

*If you want a version with fewer calories you can cut the honey and oil down to 1/3 C for each. It tried it. It tastes good just a drier version, and it doesn't clump as much.  If you are are adding milk to it for cereal, the the drier version will work great..   

Mango Kiwi Salsa

This is a fun food that makes me feel like it's still Summer. =) This is a nice side that you could eat with chicken, tilapia, chips, crackers, quesadilla, tacos, burritos, or...?. It adds some great nutrition and will add some life to your meal.

1 C Mango Diced
2 Kiwi Diced
2 T Red Onion Diced
2-3 T Cilantro chopped in small pieces
1/2 -1 T Lime Juice
1/4 -1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1. Combine the Kiwi and Mango. Then add the remaining ingredients. Stir till combined.

Best served fresh! Enjoy!

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.

Chicken Salad with Garlic Dressing

This was a great dinner. It was fun to have a different dressing for a change. It was a nice low calorie one as well. My family enjoyed it. It had a nice variety of vegetables in it too. :)

Ingredients

Salad:
1 Cup of cooked chicken cut into small pieces
1 Cucumber cut into small pieces
1/4 of a purple onion, chopped small pieces
3 to 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 Celery stalks, chopped
2 C Spinach or Argula

Dressing:
2 T Lemon juice
2 Garlic cloves minced
2/3 C low fat plain yogurt
2 T Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash and cut up all the vegetables and place in bowl.

2. Mix all the ingredients in the dressing together with a wire whisk.

3. Pour dressing on salad when ready to serve.

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.

Yummy Cherry Summer Salad

I love cherries! This was another great way to use them. I think often when we have fruit salads, we think they need a topping. I loved just eating with no topping. It was so good! I think cherries get overlooked for fruit salad. I loved the color of the kiwi.


2 C. Cherries (cut in half)
4 Kiwi chopped in small pieces
4 clementines divided into small pieces
2 gala apples chopped in small pieces
2 nectarines chopped in small pieces
1 C grapes

Toss all the fruit together and enjoy! It was a refreshing salad and healthy!

Healthy Power Bar

It is fun to find healthy options for power bars. I went to a Bosch class recently, and liked this idea. I debated about taking a picture of it. Power bars aren't the best looking thing. Sorry! :/ The other thing I liked about the recipe was the fruit is the sweetener. Sometimes the ones you get in the store are loaded with sugar. :( It was fun to realize I liked dates. :) I like the natural sweetness they give, to food.

You just add equal portions of the following ingredients. I did it as follows.

1/2 C. Walnuts Or pecans, almonds. cashews etc.. ( I like them chopped fine)
1/2 C, Dried Fruit apricots, Cherries etc.. (I used Cherries this time)
1/2 C. Dates Pitted

Then I added

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Chia or you could use flax * Optional

1T Honey *Optional (If it doesn't stick together, I didn't use it.)

1. Chop nuts

2. I blended in my blender the dates and Cherries.

3. Then I threw it all together in the blender, till combined.

4. Mash into a loaf pan. Let harden. You could put in the fridge. Cut into bars and wrap, in plastic wrap, individually. They will be ready when you are on the run. :) Yum! I like these fast easy and good. You can come up with your own combination. Enjoy!

Healthy Summer Squash Salad

I have been thinking about eating more raw foods. This is a great time of year to be doing that. I still think cooked foods are good as well. It is just beneficial to eat raw foods too. The thing about raw foods is; I find they fill me up faster, I don't eat as much, and I feel like I have eaten something really healthy. So this salad came as a result of that effort. It was fun to incorporate a lot of good foods together. All the fresh vegetables that are in season came in handy. The fruit and vegetable combo worked for me.

Recipe:
2 yellow squash (cut up in small pieces)
2 Zucchini squash (cut up in small pieces)
1 leek (cut up in small pieces)
1 apple (cut up in small pieces)
7-8 snap peas (broken into small pieces)
1 C. Shredded Chicken ( I added a little bit of barbecue sauce to it.)
1 T Fresh Basil
2 T Fresh Marjoram
1/2 C. Fresh Blueberries
1 C. Fresh Spinach
Yogurt dressing* (Or dressing of your choice)

1. Mix all the ingredients except Blueberries, spinach, and dressing.

2. Then lightly toss in the spinach.

3. Then toss in dressing and put the blueberries on top for a pretty garnish.

4. Salt and pepper to taste.

I felt like I had eaten a really healthy meal after I was done. :) Fast and easy!

* The yogurt dressing was the same one I used on the previous spinach salad. Click on Yogurt Dressing in the ingredient list to be taken to it.

Vegetable Salsa

We have enjoyed something called "Cowboy Caviar" I decided to do some changes. The family seemed happy with it. You get a lot of vegetables and fiber in one dish. :)

1 Lg. can white shoepeg corn, drained
1 can black-eyed peas, drained
1 can black beans, drained
6 Roma tomatoes chopped up
1/2 C. Fresh Cilantro chopped
2 Avocados
6 green onions cut up small
1 1/2 C. Brown Rice, Buckwheat, Quinoa (I cooked 1 c. brown rice 1/4 c. Buckwheat 1/4 c. Quinoa with 4 cups of water)
15 slices of Jalapenos (I bought the sliced Jalapenos in a jar)

Dressing
1/4 C. Olive oil
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1 lime (Juice from lime)
2 T Chia (No one knew it was in there) Optional*

1. Mix all the ingredients of the dressing together set aside.

2. Mix the vegetables, beans and rice mixture together. Then gently stir in the dressing.

3. If you let it sit for a little bit the vegetables, rice and beans pick up more of the flavors from the dressing.

4. Can be served on tortillas, or with chips, or just plain.

5. Great healthy meal! With lots of nutrition. Nothing unhealthy in it!

Berry Smoothie

I love this time of year. I went on a walk this morning. The colors were wonderful. :) I read an article today about the benefits of smoothies. 1. It helps to take off the pounds. :) 2. Fast and easy so you can take away the hunger pangs fast. 3. Packed with nutrition, if you put in the right ingredients; Like flax, berries, and yogurt. 4. The thickness takes up space in your stomach. Crowding out space for the junk food. 5. The study showed people consumed less calories in the day. The mixture I did was.....

2 C. Plain yogurt (I used the homemade)
3/4 C. Blackberries
3/4 C. Blueberries
6 Frozen Strawberries
1 1/2 Frozen Bananas *
1/4 C. Chia
1/4 C. Flax ground (I use a small coffee grinder)
1 T Xagave or Honey

Throw it all in the blender and turn it on for a couple minutes till all blended. It tasted great. It was filling. Three of us drank one recipe. If you don't want it as thick, you could add 1/2 water.*I peel the bananas and put them in the freezer, in ziplocks. They help to make the drink nice and creamy. :) Smoothies are a family favorite. I enjoy it better than ice cream. Also Drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day will make you not as hungry. I try to drink more than 8.

Multigrain Energy Bars

• 

1C. Chopped almonds (food processor)
1/2 C. Sesame seeds
1C. 7 Grain rolled oat Cereal (You can buy in bulk in healthy food stores.)
4 1/4 C. Old fashioned oats
1/2 C. Sunflower seeds
1/4 C. Flax seed (ground) *Optional
1/4 C. Chia (ground) *Optional
1 C. Honey
3/4 C. Water
1 C. Dried cherries (or dried fruit of your choice)
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
2 C. Natural peanut butter
1/2 Unsweetened coconut
2tsp.Vanilla extract


1. Toast the oats, 7 grain rolled cereal, almonds chia,flax and sunflower seeds in oven at 300 degrees. Stir often till light golden brown.
2. Put cherries in a food processor chop into pieces.
3. Mix oat mixture and dried fruit together, till completely blended.
4. Then add oat mixture to water, honey (I heated the honey), and peanut butter, add coconut , salt and vanilla. Mix till all blended. 5. Firmly press into a jelly roll pan. Compress to make it all level. You can use a spatula. Allow to sit till firm.
6. A great healthy snack. I loved the peanut butter flavor. You could add chocolate chips too. :)

Green Drink!

It wasn't green today, because I added blueberries, but normally it is!

The grains I add—flax, chia, and buckwheat.

The fruits and vegetables I added—look at all the goodness you get first thing in the morning!
(Not pictured: frozen banana)

Cherie's healthy drink:

This is for 2 people
2 1/4 Cups water
1 Tbsp. X-agave (natural sweetener that doesn't raise glycemic levels. Has inulin that helps with digestion. Sometimes I don't use it or use less than a Tbsp.)
2 Tbsp oat groats, buckwheat, oatmeal (I switch around what I use)
2 Tbsp. Chia and Flax I just grind it in the blender
1/4 C. yogurt (I have done tofu instead) I haven't been using it lately
1/2 cucumber (skin on) cut in about 4 pieces
2 stalks celery
1 fist full each of the following: Spinach, collard greens, Kale, Italian Parsley, Carrots (I have been freezing the spinach lately. i like it making the drink colder. What greens I use varies. Always kale, celery, and spinach though)
1 c. blueberries
1 Banana (I like it when the banana is frozen)
3/4C. frozen fruit (i.e. strawberry, peaches, pineapple) It varies what I use.

Then I sometimes add a pinch of cilantro

Blend it all up Enjoy!
Have fun with it,and do your own variations. Love, Cherie

Protein Bars

These babies taste gourmet! You know those expensive protein bars you can buy at health food stores? Here is a great alternative recipe that will cost you half the price and be free of the preservatives that most other bars have. And, we were pleasantly surprised at how good they taste. If they were not so filling, I would be eating a lot more!

1 1/2 c. almonds
4 T. honey
1/2 c. unsweetened coconut (available at health food stores)
1/2 c. dried fruit (we used dried cherries, but it should also work with cranberries or dates)
2 t. chia

Chop nuts in food processor, then add remaining ingredients and chop them all together.

Press mixture into greased bread pan. Let set and then cut into bars. Prepackage in snack-sized bags for a quick, take-along snack.

A Note about Raw Foods

When foods aren't cooked and processed, more of the health benefits remain. And that fact makes me feel even better about the healthiness of this treat!