Year: 2013

Almond Butter Protein Bars (Vegan)

Melissa King 117 Comments

Almond Butter Protein Bars.  Have I told you how much I love almond butter?  I eat it almost daily.  One of my favorite healthy sweet snacks is a date stuffed with almond butter.

If you haven’t tried it yet, you really should.  Totally curbs a sweet tooth!  So I created these almond butter protein bars with that snack in mind.

 

almond butter protein bars

 

These would be a great pre/post workout snack.  Most of the protein shakes on the market are full of unwanted ingredients or too much processed sugar.

Why not try these instead?  They are filled with wholesome ingredients.  They can be made in minutes and you could enjoy one with my Energizing Green Juice.

To watch a video of just how easy this is to make on your own, watch me below.  For more videos, you can subscribe to my You Tube Channel.

Almond Butter Protein Bars

Almond Butter Protein Bars

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Prep Time 20 min Serves 10 bars     adjust servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In the food processor or Vitamix, grind the oats into a course consistency. 
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until a sticky dough is formed. 
  3. From here, you can roll them into balls or make them into bars like I did.  I used an 8 x 8 pan, but I think a slightly smaller pan would work better.  If you use a pan, line it with parchment leaving enough room to come out the sides.  That way they will be easy to pull out and cut. 
  4. I used a pizza cutter to cut mine. 
  5. Let them chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour.  That’s it.  I cut mine into squares and got about 10 in my batch.  Enjoy!

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Crock Pot Baked Beans

Melissa King 54 Comments

I just love crock pot meals.  I am more of a baker than a cook, so I tend to make my cooking recipes super easy.  I have had a lot of requests lately for toddler friendly recipes.  This is one!  When I was a little girl, my favorite meal was baked beans.  Of course back then, I ate the pork and beans in a can.  No pork in this, but I promise it is delicious! I also have my Healthy Toddler Crackers.

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Crock Pot Baked Beans

Crock Pot Baked Beans

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Prep Time 8 hr Cook Time 4 hr

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Soak the beans overnight.
  2. In the morning, add all the ingredients to the crock pot. 
  3. Cook on high for the first hour and turn down to low for an additional 3 hours.

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Recipe Notes

You can cook it longer if you like. The longer it cooks, the more the flavors develop. This made at least 4-5 servings. You can eat it right away, store it for later, or even freeze it. Enjoy!

Grain Free Blueberry Tart (Vegan)

Melissa King 69 Comments

Grain Free Blueberry Tart.  Today we got our co-op basket.  There was an optional add-on for blueberries so I took it.  12 pints of organic blueberries!

We gave some to my in-laws and we took the rest.  My older daughter just LOVES blueberries.  She ate a whole pint in one sitting.  I can’t say I blame her!

They are so good!  I have been wanting to do a fruit tart recipe for a while now, so I thought I would make a grain free blueberry tart. I can tell you my family was not disappointed.

 

Grain Free Blueberry Tart

 

It was awesome!  This tart is not only grain and gluten free, it’s also vegan! 🙂  It’s super easy to make too.

Grain Free Blueberry Tart

Grain Free Blueberry Tart

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 10 min Serves 12 slices     adjust servings

A no fuss dessert that looks fancy, but is really easy to make!

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In the food processor, grind the almonds.
  3. Once they are ground to a course consistency, add in the dates, coconut oil and a small amount of water.
  4. Pulse until a dough forms.
  5. Press the mixture into a greased tart pan.
  6. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.
  7. While it is baking, drain the soaked cashews and throw them in the blender with the maple syrup and vanilla. You can probably use a food processor for this as well.
  8. Blend up the cashews until they are a smooth cream. You may need to add a small amount of water or milk to get it smooth. You will want a cream-like consistency.
  9. Spread the cashew cream over the tart crust and top with blueberries.

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Recipe Notes

I would imagine this would keep in the fridge for a week at least. If you can get it to last that long! Enjoy!

Healthy Toddler Crackers

Melissa King 53 Comments

My kids love animal crackers.   Problem is, I have never been able to find a store bought brand with a super clean ingredient list.  Sure you can buy GMO free animal crackers at Trader Joes and Whole Foods, but even their brands have too much sugar for me.  So when Wholesome Sweeteners sent me a sample of all their products, I decided to use their coconut palm sugar in this recipe.

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Ideally, I would have liked to make these in animal shapes, but I didn’t have an animal cookie stamp.  I found this one on Amazon and ordered it, so I will make these again once it comes in the mail.  For now, these are just cut into tiny squares.  Since these cookies are for toddlers, I made them only mildly sweet.  My daughter loved them and I hope your kids do as well.

Healthy Toddler Crackers

Healthy Toddler Crackers

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 30 min

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup spelt flour (for a GF option, try using GF all purpose)
  • 1/3 cup Wholesome Sweeteners coconut sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2 flax eggs (I used a flax egg replacer)
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground vanilla bean or vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup milk (I used oat milk)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. 
  2. In a food processor, grind up the oats into a coarse crumb-like texture. 
  3. Add them to a bowl with the rest of the dry ingredients. 
  4. Add all the wet ingredients into another bowl. 
  5. Add dry to wet and mix only until combined. 
  6. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic.  It may be a bit sticky. 
  7. Stick dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up a bit. 
  8. While the dough is firming, cut two sheets of parchment paper the size of your baking sheets . 
  9. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough in half. 
  10. Lay the parchment paper down on the counter.
  11. Place the plastic wrap you had the dough wrapped in between the rolling pin and the dough.  By doing this, you will be able to roll the dough out very flat and it will not stick to the counter or the rolling pin.  It will also make for easy transport to the baking sheets . 
  12. Roll the dough as flat as it can get and transfer to the baking sheet. 
  13. Repeat the same steps with the second half of the dough. 
  14. Before you place the dough into the oven, score it for easy cutting once it’s baked.  I used a pizza cutter to make squares. 
  15. Bake for about 15 minutes. 
  16. Remove the pans and very carefully, flip the pieces over.  If you have scored the dough beforehand, they should easy break into little pieces. 
  17. Put back in the oven for another 15 minutes, carefully watching them to make sure they don’t burn.

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Recipe Notes

If you have really young children, you may want to bake them a little less so they can easily be chewed. I filled a large mason jar with the crackers I made. Enjoy!

Maple Pecan Cookies

Melissa King 23 Comments

I have had it on my mind to make these maple pecan cookies for a while now and I finally got around to it.  These maple pecan cookies came out really tasty!  Maple and pecans are two of my favorite things, so why not throw them together and make a maple and pecan thumbprint cookie.

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These are made with whole grains and no refined sugar.  I also added extra crushed vanilla bean and cinnamon to make the cookie appear sweeter than it actually is.  Did you know that spices can do that?  I was pretty surprised to first read that, but now I swear by those vanilla beans.  They are amazing!  This is a great recipe to do with your kids as well.  Since my daughter is only 3 1/2, her job is to push the pecans into the middle of the cookie.  I used raw pecans for my recipe, but they would be equally delicious with my Candied Pecans as well.

Maple Pecan Cookies

Maple Pecan Cookies

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 13 min Serves 20 Cookies     adjust servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a food processor, grind up the 1/2 cup pecans (measure before grinding.)
  3. Add the pecans to a bowl with the rest of the dry ingredients.
  4. Add all the wet ingredients into another bowl.
  5. Add dry to wet and mix only until combined. The dough will be a bit thick and sticky.
  6. Roll into balls and place on a lined baking sheet.
  7. Press the cookies down flat with the palm of your hand.
  8. Press a pecan into the middle of each cookie.
  9. Bake in the oven for about 13 minutes.

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Recipe Notes

They should last at least a week, but you can refrigerate or even freeze to make them last longer. Enjoy!

Dairy Free Spinach Pesto Recipe

Melissa King 30 Comments

You need to try this Dairy Free Spinach Pesto!  Who doesn’t like pesto?  I actually prefer it over a tomato sauce any day.  We have basil growing in our backyard, so I thought I would use some of it to create a pesto sauce.

I could seriously sit there and smell it all day!  Seriously, if you don’t have basil growing in your house or yard, you need to get some.

Basil grows like a weed!  You can save so much money by growing your own herbs, and basil is no exception.

Plus, you can freeze them and have herbs all year round.  This dairy free spinach pesto recipe makes more of a paste than a sauce, so if you want to turn it into a sauce, you need to add a bit more oil and/or some water.

 

dairy free spinach pesto

I love using this recipe for making pizza.  It’s great with a cherry tomatoes as well.  If you are not familiar with nutritional yeast,  it comes in flake form and gives a nutty and cheesy taste.

It is often used in place of cheese.  Nutritional yeast is a great source of protein, fiber and B vitamins.

You can find it at most health stores.  I used almonds when making this pesto, since pine nuts are so expensive.  Almonds make a great substitute.

You can also make this healthy pesto recipe with kale if you like.  Works just as well.

Dairy Free Spinach Pesto

Dairy Free Spinach Pesto

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Prep Time 10 min Serves 1.5 cups     adjust servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Throw everything in the food processor and mix until combined. Since my food processor’s lid broke and I am waiting for a new one to arrive, I had to use my Vitamix for this. I can tell you it was a bit harder in the Vitamix than the food processor.

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Recipe Notes

This recipe made about 1 1/2 cups and should last a couple weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze it for longer storage. Enjoy!