Category Archives: Snacks

Kale Chips

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I tried something new yesterday and although I was skeptical, they actually turned out really well. I made kale chips, it simple and quick. All you need is fresh kale, 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

1. Wash the kale and dry completely.

2. Break off small pieces of kale leaves and place them in a large ziplock bag. Do not use any of the steams, they are really bitter tasting. Once you have a desired amount of kale, add 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil, zip up the bag and shake.

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3. Remove the kale from the bag and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 30-40minutes at 350F. If you like the chips more crispy you may need to leave them in a bit longer.

4. Once they are done, remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Allow to cool and then eat! They make a great festive snack with some cut up red apple:)

Enjoy!!IMG_2345[1]

 

Healthy Baked Apples

Pre-cooked apples

I baked these for desert a couple weeks ago and they were a hit! All you need are5 or 6 large apples and some baking ingredients for the filling. I hope you enjoy! They are perfect on a cool fall day. WARNING – bake them well in advance of when they will be eaten, especially if you are giving them to little ones, they take a LONG time to cool!!!!

Ingredients:

5 or 6 large apples, cored and peeled at the top

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 maple or brown sugar

1/4 cup multi-grain flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup coconut

A handful of mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Combine oats, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter and stir until it is well mixed. Add the rest of the ingredients and using a small spoon fill the inside of all the apples.

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.

Allow time to cool.

Enjoy!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Mmmmm…good!

Here is a wonderful recipe for pumpkin muffins. They are moist and delicious. I doubled the bath and froze half of them for snacks.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup coconut sugar
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin (either canned pumpkin or homemade puree)
2 cups multigrain flour
1  1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream together butter and coconut sugar, beat in eggs, stir in pumpkin.

In another bowl combine dry ingredients. Then add to wet ingredients and mix well. Put in greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Healthy Pumpkin Cookies

I created a yummy pumpkin cookie recipe as I have been craving them lately:) You can use fresh cooked pumpkin or the canned pumpkin it doesnt make a difference.

Mercy helping me press the cookies down.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked pumpkin

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 egg

1 tsp rice milk

1 tbsp vanilla

2 cups multigrain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Combine wet ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and stir until completely combine. Spoon onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 350F for approx 10 minutes.

Enjoy with a warm cup of tea!

May you be blessed beyond measure today!

Perfect Pesto

Fresh Basil

Anyone looking for find a recipe to use up your fresh basil leaves?

I have an incredible recipe for pesto that can be refrigerated or frozen. You can use pesto as a dip or it can be added to spaghetti sauces or pasta dishes. It is simple and quick!

Ready to freeze!

Ingredients:

4 cups packed fresh basil

6 sprigs of parsley

1/2 cup olive oil

Pinch of coarse salt

1/4 cup of pine nuts, toasted

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesean cheese

Toasted Pine nuts…Mmmmm….

Instructions:

1. Toast pine nuts at 350C for 5 minutes until lightly browned.

2. Place all the ingredients in the food processor except the parmesean cheese.

3. Transfer to a bowl, stir in cheese, adjust with salt and serve! (It is delicious with crackers, or fresh baguette)

You can refrigerate for up to a week or store in the freezer. If you choose to freeze the pesto, do not add the cheese. When you are ready to use it, thaw and then add cheese at that time. This will allow the pesto to keep in the freezer longer. Enjoy!

Healthy Banana Coconut Loaf

Banana Coconut Loaf

For some strange reason lately, I am in love with coconut. I add it to smoothies, loafs, cookies, granola, date balls, cereal, curry…basically everything I make. I decided to try this recipe and add coconut as well and it turned out AMAZING! I picture above does not do justice to this loaf. I made a couple loaves then froze them so I can take them out for snacks and desserts.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup butter melted

3 medium ripe mashed bananas

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (my kiddos love these!!)

Directions:

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl until frothy. Add sugar and melted butter. Stir in mashed bananas and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients into another bowl until combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together well. Pour into a greased loaf pan 9x5x3. Bake at 350F in over for 1 hour. Remove from oven, let it cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan. Makes 1 loaf.

Enjoy! (My kids love to eat it with a glass of rice milk:)

Veggie Delight

I had a question from one of my readers: “how do you get your kids to eat veggies?”. My first response is that it can be hard at times, but I think that parents example has a huge influence on their eating habits. My kids definitely like raw veggies more than cooked ones. I think it is helpful to find out what your kids like and then organize and cater accordingly. Something that I have found helpful lately is cutting up veggies and storing them in the fridge so they are ready for snack and meals. I got this tupperware tray and have loaded it up with all different kinds of veggies that my kids like. It works great for snacks or meal prep.

I don’t know about you but for me lunch and dinner times can be stressful if I am trying to cut up veggies and make things when all three kids are tired and hungry. This little trick of have things already cut up has helped me tremendously. For example last night I decided last minute to make homemade pizza and all I had to do was make the dough, I then spread sauce on the pizzas and allowed the kids to put their own veggies on their pizzas. We also use them for veggie wraps, subs, spaghetti sauce, lasagna and stir-fry, etc.

My kids also like colour, the more colourful the veggies the more likely they are to eat them:) For snacks I always take theis tray out as well as a container of hummus or pesto. The kids eat the veggies sub consciously just because they are out, which is awsome! The more veggies they eat the better. Vegetables are full of all sorts of vitamins, minerals and healthy fats that our bodies need. Make sure that you clean the veggies before you eat them as there can also be a lot of dirt on them.

May you delight in today, enjoying the grace that God pours out on us and our families. May we walk blameless before Him!

Homemade Granola

For all you granola lovers out there, this recipe is for you!! I have been experimenting with it over the past couple months and I finally got it the way I like it. It is crunchy and sweet, AND 100% free of any additive, presevatives and added sugars! It is also fully of protein and fibre. We eat it by the handful and my kids actually LOVE it. (which is a miracle because they are so picky these days) It is also delicious as a breakfast cereal with rice milk. I usually make a double batch each time because it gets used up so quickly. So be blessed and enjoy!

Mercy stirring in the almonds one at a time:)

 1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed or ground almonds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup walnut or almond oil (purchased at a local health food store)

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup combined raisins, cranberries, and sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix the quinoa, flaxseed, pumpkin, cashews, maple syrup and almond oil in a bowl. Spread out on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and scrape up the mixture with a spatula. Mix in the almonds, pecans, raisins , cranberries and sunflower seeds and spread out evenly over the pan. Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and scrape up the granola from bottom of the baking sheet so that is doesn’t stick and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

The Joys of Juicing!!

At the beginning of November we dusted off the old juicer and decided to start using it again on a daily basis. I bought some bulk fruit and veggies; carrots, celery, apples and oranges and started juicing every day with our kids. It has been really fun to allow the kids to help me and to watch them really enjoy the different flavours of juices that we make together.

Their favorite juice is Apple/Orange/Carrot juice, its sweet and filled with goodness (recipe below). I also put 5 drops of children’s probiotics into the juice each day so that they are getting a regular probiotic, as we do not consume yogurt or other dairy products which sometime have probiotics in them.

Juicing provides vital nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals for our bodies to repair themselves, it also helps strengthen the immune system which is beneficial in these days when flus and other colds run rampant.

  • Juicing unlocking nutrients in raw foods. Fiber is locked into many vegetables and fruits and the potential benefit of the fiber is lost as the digestive system does not unlock it. Juicing releases the fiber’s nutrition so that benefit may be realized.
  • Normally we do not consume peelings, seeds and pits of fruits and vegetables. These parts are a rich source of vital nutrients we normally throw away. A good quality juicer extracts juice from the whole veggie or fruit, including peelings, pits and seeds to provide vitamin and minerals that would otherwise be lost. I have also decided to keep the pulp that our juicer spits out and we make muffins and loafs with the leftovers:)
  • Heat kills live enzymes. A quality juicer minimizes heat in order to preserve the most live enzymes possible.
  • Juice is an excellent snack or meal replacement.
  • Antioxidant effects of juices help detoxify your body and help you eliminate the toxins, fats, preservatives and chemicals that a diet of processed foods leave behind in your body.
  • The most readily digestible or absorbable form of foods, not to mention the most concentrated form, is juice. Juicing makes foods easy to digest and thus, easier for the body to receive maximum benefit from the source food.
  • Making your own juices allows you to make any combination of fruits or vegetables that you choose into juice – and you know what’s in it, unlike produce on the supermarket shelves.

I recieved a Champion Juicer (www.championjuicer.com) for Christmas two years ago and it has been amazing. Check out their website for more details.

Here are a couple of recipes for simple juices.

Apple/Carrot/Orange Juice = 2 apples + 2 oranges + 2 carrots

Apple-Strawberry Drink = 5-6 apples + 1 cup strawberries

Pineapple Drink = 1/3 pinapple + 1 carrot + 1 apple + 1 stalk of celery

Pear Drink = 1 pear + 2 apples + 4 oranges + 1 grapefruit

The possibilities are endless and you can make an combination of fruits and veggies that you like. My kids love apples so in all the juices we always include apples. If you like tomatoes juices you can make them as well to make a natural V8 juice without the added sodium. V8 Juice = 5-6 carrots + 1 beet + 3 tomatoes + 1 bunch of spinach + 1 red bell pepper + 1 celery stalk + pinch of sea salt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making these juices together has really reminded me of the importance of teaching my children by example. I have been able to explain to them how there are natural sugars in fruits that are good for us rather than the added sugars that we find in juice boxes and such. (We do drink juice boxes, but only as treats) And on another level I have realized that my kids learn more by my actions than by what I say. When I get them involved and we are hands on together it teaches them more than if I just do everything for them. So I encourage you to do things together and let them have the experience. It is definitely more time consuming and messy but I trust that it is worth the investment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Oat Scones

This morning the kids and I decided to do a little baking and this is what we came up with. They are Homemade Oat Scones, really tasty and extra delicious with warm apple cider. There are not many ingredients so they are fun for little ones to help with. There is no refined sugar in them and you could replace the egg with egg replacer and the butter with non-dairy butter to make them vegan if you like.

1 1/2 c All-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour – add more rice milk if you use whole wheat flour so the scones don’t get too dry)

2 c Quick cooking rolled oats (not instant)

1/4 c Maples sugar

4 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Sea salt

1/2 c Semi-sweet Chocolate chips

1  Egg, beaten

1/2 c Butter

1/2 c Rice Milk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In another bowl beat egg until frothy. Mix in melted butter and rice milk. Pour into the well in the other bowl and stir until dough is well mixed. Pat into two circles and transfer onto a greased baking sheet. You can make then whatever thickness you would like and if you want you could even make one large circle. Score each top into 8 pie wedges. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes. Split while they are warm and serve with a warm drink:)

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” Psalm 34:8.

May you experience the blessing and the refuge of our Lord today!