Homemade Lara Bars

Sorry I have not posted in a week.  We were car shopping and just being busy in general, and I did not take the time to document our happenings.  Here is something good we tested out!

I really like LaraBars!  But they are at least $1.00 each, if they are on sale, or can be up to $1.75.  I decided, they can't be that hard to make, since they are mostly dried fruit and nuts.  And I was right; TOTALLY simple.  First I googled LaraBar recipe and came across this great site filled with different versions of LaraBars.  I then proceeded to make my own flavor based on the ingredients that I had on hand.  I am sorry to say that I did eye ball the ingredients, but I took a picture so you could estimate for yourself.

Peanut butter & Jelly LaraBars

Ingredients:
Large handful of cashews
Handful of dried, unsweetened cherries
Handful of pitted dates
Handful of rasins
4 Tablespoons natural peanut butter, add more if the mixture isn't sticking together.

Add all the ingredients to a food processor, pulse until starting to stick together.  Remove and roll into a ball.  Put between parchment paper and roll until 3/4 inch thick, form in a rectangle.  Cut into small bars & wrap in plastic wrap.  Store in the fridge, until ready to eat.  Yum!  Makes 10 bars.

Crunchy Granola

Blog readers, I am back!!  Sorry it has been a busy, tiring week, and I have not been able to post as much as I would have liked.  I have some free time tonight so I hope to share a few of this weeks successful creations.

My 3 yr old son helped me with this delicious recipe.  I was inspired to do a tv-free day, so we did a lot together (cooking, cleaning, talking LOL).  It was nice and he LOVED being mama's big helper.  I have a chopper that he thoroughly enjoyed using to finely chop all the nuts.  He got so excited when I pulled the chopper out and he said "Yay, I get to chop, thank you for letting me do this, it is so special."  It was sooooo cute!!  It may take a little extra time to include your little ones while baking/cooking, but if I didn't let my Drew help, I would have missed that sweet moment.

I am a HUGE granola fan.  I have a hard time finding it without bad oils, and gluten free granola costs an arm and a leg.  So I decided to make my own.  It turned out AMAZING.  I hope you will try it, so easy to make and incredibly tasty.  I love to eat as cereal any time of the day, or sprinkled over yogurt.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups gluten-free old fashioned oats ( or normal old-fashioned oats)
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds (Trader Joes has a 1 lb bag for 1.99 GREAT deal)
1 cup raw walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raw almonds

3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/8 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup rasins
1/2 cup dried cherries

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Toss oats with sunflower seeds, walnuts and almonds in a large bowl.  In a sauce pan bring the next 6 ingredients to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat & pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients in bowl, stir to coat completely.  Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet, bake for 15 minutes, stir, continue baking until oats start to turn golden.  Total baking time : 25-30 minutes.  Remove from oven, immediately stir in dried fruit.  Allow to cool completely, then place in a zip-bag or container with a fitted lid.  Enjoy all week!

***Alternate, easier version: 3 1/2 old fashioned oats, 3/4 t salt, 3/4 agave, 1/2 cup grapeseed oil, 1/2 T cinnamon, 3/4 cup rasins, 1/2 cup chopped roasted nuts.  Same directions, just add the nuts and raisins after finished baking oats.  Crunchy, tastes just as good!***

Easy Kettle Corn

For some reason I was craving fresh Kettle Corn tonight.  I have never made this before, but I thought, it can't be too hard.  I found a quick recipe at http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/kettle-corn/Detail.aspx then I changed it slightly & we were very surprised with how good it was.  Drew was calling it "sugar pop corn", so it is sweet, I look forward to trying it with xylitol.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
• sprinkle of salt
• 
  
• Melt coconut oil on med-high heat in large sauce pan.  Once melted stir in the sugar and kernels.  Cover the pan and shake constantly so the sugar doesn't burn.  Continue moving until all the corn is popped.  Once cooled slightly, stir to break up any clumps & sprinkle with salt.  Serve warm.    

Simple Rice Cake with Peanut Butter

Well this is definitely not an original recipe, but it was so surprisingly good, I just wanted to share the idea with you.  I buy salted rice cakes from Aldi for super cheap.  The only ingredients are whole grain brown rice and salt, on the package the picture has this version of the snack on it.

Ingredients:
Rice cake
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
Handful of raisins

Just spread the peanut butter on the rice cake and top with raisins.  Enjoy :)

Homemade Tortilla Chips



I have decided to make our own tortilla chips, so I can have chips and salsa and control the oils that are in the snack.  Super simple & tasty.  If you are avoiding oils, just leave the oil out, cut and bake.   

Ingredients:

10 corn tortillas
Grapeseed oil
Sea salt

Brush both sides of the tortillas with oil.  Cut each tortilla into 6 triangles.  Spread onto 2 baking sheets, sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until just golden.  Keep an eye on them and make sure they get crispy.