These pickles are basically instant - just boil the vinegar mixture, douse the cucumbers, and cool it off in the fridge. Super easy and super delicious.
Add the vinegar, honey, water, sea salt and mustard to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.
While waiting for the pot to boil, slice the cucumbers and pack tightly into two quart jars (if using dill or garlic, put in jar prior to packing in the cucumbers).
When the honey has dissolved in the boiling mixture, pour over the cucumbers until the jars are full.
Refrigerate until cool.
A Meatless Monday recipe idea! I make them, and a lot of them, because they are a quick and handy dinner idea. They freeze well, and my husband will pack them in his cooler to take to work. Serve them with freshly made pita bread.
Soak chickpeas over night in water and lemon juice.
Drain and place in a food processor.
Add all herbs, spices, and salt.
Blend until it forms a paste.
Transfer to a large bowl, add baking soda.
Knead to throughly to combine.
Cover and rest for one hour.
Heat a cast iron pan and melt coconut oil to 325 degrees.
Shape into 1 oz balls, flaten slightly.
Slowly lower falafel into oil and fry unil golden in color.
Remove and drain.
Serve with fresh pita bread.
Seriously, a nearly perfect real food on-the-go snack. The chickpeas (or garbonzo beans, if you will) are crispy like nuts, salty and have a tasty seasoning. The texture reminds me of Corn-Nuts, but they are so much healthier! These roasted chickpeas are a favorite with kids and so many different flavors can be made.
Rinse chickpeas well and place in a large bowl. Cover with at least 2 inches over the top of very warm water. Add 3-4 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or whey. cover and allow to soak in a warm place for 12-24 hours. 24 hours is best.
Drain and rinse chickpeas thoroughly. Place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until done, about 1-3 hours. If desired you may want to remove the outer skins: Drain cooked chickpeas and fill the pot with cool water. Grab handfuls of chickpeas with your hands and rub them together between your palms. Do this several times, skimming off the skins as they rise to the surface. Then drain the chickpeas in a colander. This is an optional step.
Place chickpeas on a stainless steel baking sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Drizzle on olive oil and seasonings.
Roast chickpeas in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes. Watch to be sure they don’t burn. I shake the pan several times during cooking.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.
If you like Kettle Corn like I do but don’t want it made with nasty rancid oils and white sugar this is the way to go. Quick easy and oh so good! Great for a snack or a night of popcorn and a movie. Also great for kids lunches.
Put coconut oil and popcorn in a large heavy bottom pot. Turn heat on Medium/High.
When the popcorn just barely starts to pop put in the Sucanat. Shake pot constantly while it finishes popping so the Sucanat won’t burn.
Put in bowl and add salt to taste if desired.
Enjoy!
Cocoa roasted almonds seem to be the new snack food. But often times they are loaded with unnecessary sugar and not so good for you oils. These are a great snack for any type of snacker, they are slightly sweet, crunchy, have a little heat, and of course chocolatey.
Put the almonds in a bowl and add honey mix to evenly coat all almonds. Warming the honey slightly will help with this but is not necessary.
Sprinkle on the cocoa, salt, and cayenne. Remember just a little cayenne goes a long way. You can always taste it (taste a whole almond not just the coating) and see how you like it and add more if you need. Mix this in to coat the almonds. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 250 for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the almonds are fragrant and the honey starts to dry some.
After you take them out you can sprinkle another tablespoon of cocoa on them and coat. Let cool, place in an air tight container, keep in the fridge and enjoy.
I wanted to create some special treats for my children that didn’t include a ton of sugar, but were still tasty and nutritious. These citrus cardamom candied almonds are crunchy, sweet and fragrant. A perfect inclusion in lunches or for a party snack.
Whisk egg whites until very frothy. Add in sweetener, ground cardamom, extract and salt. Beat until well combined.
Stir in almonds until coated.
Pour onto 2 parchment lined baking sheets or dehydrator trays.
Dry out in a cool oven set at 150 degrees (or it’s lowest setting with a rolled up tea towel to prop the door open) or a food dehydrator at 150 degrees for four or more hours or until most of the coating is stuck to the nuts. Coating will still be *slightly* sticky when “done,” but will continue to harden after nuts cool. Stir every half an hour until the coating is well stuck to the nuts, then you can stop stirring and just allow the coating to harden. Be careful not to over dry.
Allow to cool completely and store in a mason jar in the refrigerator for a week.
If you would like the nuts to keep longer as in gift giving. Bake at 200 in the oven stirring every 15 minutes for about 1.5-2 hours. This will cook the egg white completely so they may be stored at room temperature, but it will also cook the nuts and they will lose their raw qualities.
*If you use sucanat as opposed to syrup or honey, your mixture will harden quicker and be done sooner. It also will appear less sticky and shiny.
This is a great Paleo snack recipe for gluten-free almond crackers. Only 4 ingredients! This is a really great use for almond pulp leftover from making almond milk.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl
Roll dough into a ball, press between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll to ¼ inch thickness
Remove top piece of parchment paper
Transfer the bottom piece with rolled out dough onto baking sheet
Cut dough into 2-inch squares with a knife or pizza cutter
Bake at the lowest setting for around 20 hours, or until crunchy
Let crackers come to room temperature on baking sheet, then serve
This crunchy-delight is a staple in our house. If you’ve got a hankering for salt (or you’re trying to wean yourself from potato chips), try giving this nutritious snack a try! Warning: they can be addictive.
Tear kale into desired size pieces (3-4″ in size; larger is better), removing the thick and crunchy stem.
Place in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss with salt.
Place on a SINGLE LAYER onto a cookie tray (no need to grease).
Bake 350* for 10-15 minutes until desired crispness is reached. Cool. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature.
Makes a perfect snack for a packed lunch!
I enjoy popcorn, who doesn’t? But most flavored popcorn has lots of sugar, harmful fats, sometimes soy and often colors (like Yellow 5). Which means I haven’t had popcorn in years.
Solution? Make your own!
As an added bonus, it’s another way to get more coconut oil into your diet (without tasting coconutty). What’s so good about coconut oil? Coconut oil can help to kick-start your metabolism, assist you in weight loss, turns into instant energy, isn’t stored in fat cells, and helps protect your heart.
Follow the instructions on your popcorn maker. (I use a Whirley Pop.) Drizzle on melted butter and salt to taste.
We really like the kettle corn that you can get at county fairs and community events, but since switching to a real foods diet we never get it. Usually it’s popped in corn oil and then mixed with refined sugar and table salt, not to mention that it’s GM corn. Only recently I decided to see if I could recreate this yummy snack in a more healthful way. Really tasty and super easy, this is probably a dangerous recipe to pass on because it’s so addicting! Just remember to keep it as an occasional treat and you’ll be fine.
*To make powdered sucanat or rapadura, place in a blender and blend until powdery. It’s that easy.
Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot on high heat. Place 2 or 3 kernels in the oil. When the testing kernels pop, you know your oil is hot. Pour in the remaining popcorn kernels in the pot, but do not cover with a lid just yet.
Once the kernels begin to pop, quickly sprinkle in the powdered sucanat and salt. Cover the pot with a lid and begin shaking the pot over the heat.
Once popping begins to slow, remove from heat and keep covered until popping stops. Pour into bowls and enjoy!
NOTE: This recipe uses more coconut oil than usual for popping because there is no added oil or butter at the end. I wouldn’t try to do it with less. You may choose to use a little more sucanat in your recipe; we just try to get a hint of sweetness to keep the sugar to a minimum.
Popcorn. A no-fight food. Children welcome it. Peace in the house. Happy. Here is our very simple, 5-ingredient recipe to jazz up your next bowl. We pour this drizzle on two batches of air-popped corn, but if you want an extra tasty, gooey treat, you can use it on one batch.
Start the popcorn. While the corn is popping, in a small cast iron skillet, soften the nut butter over medium heat. Turn heat off and stir in coconut oil and honey until all melted and well combined (I add the honey and oil after the heat is off to try and preserve as many enzymes as possible in them. Since we use roasted peanut butter, we choose to heat that up first).
The popcorn should be done popping right as the drizzle is ready. Drizzle over popcorn, then sprinkle sea salt over popcorn.
Enjoy!
This is a fun way to get the classic BLT flavor without the bread!
Wash lettuce leaves, and dry thoroughly. Cook bacon until desired crispness, either in a frying pan or on a parchment lined pan in the oven. Spread each lettuce leaf with Vegenaise* and dijon, then sprinkle liberally with Herbamare. Place a slice of bacon down the center of each leaf, then top with avocado, tomato and cucumber. Add more herbamare, if desired. Roll up and secure with a toothpick.
*Vegenaise can be used if you have an egg allergy. Otherwise homemade mayo made with olive oil is good.