I had some egg whites to use up after making pudding, so I “whipped up” some coconut macaroons. I took a basic recipe I found online and improvised with healthy sugars and the orange flavoring. They came out great!
Preheat oven to 300° F. Grease a cookie sheet.
In mixer add egg whites and beat until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add the honey, stevia, and extract.
Turn off mixer and gently fold in the shredded coconut. You want the mixture to be stiffer than meringue (not soupy), but not as thick as cookie dough. If it’s soupy, add a little more shredded coconut.
Drop by rounded spoons onto cookie sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes.
Roasted red peppers are so versitle. You can use them on salads or sandwiches, in dressings or dips, with scrambled eggs, or even paired with some sliced cheese for a quick snack.
On a hot grill, gas burner, or oven, roast your red peppers until the skin is lightly charred. Remove the peppers from the heat. Place them in a bowl with a lid and let them sweat as they cool.
While the peppers are cooling, mix the rest of the ingredients in a quart mason jar and set aside. When the peppers can be handled, the skins should slip off easily. Once you remove the skin, you can put them in the brine whole, sliced or chopped.
Store in the fridge for up to a month.
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.
This is a great way to rescue a runny batch of homemade yogurt! It’s thick and smooth, and lightly sweetened. I love this, especially since I’ve never seen full-fat lemon yogurt in the store (which would be loaded with sugar anyways).
Place lemon juice in a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over. Heat to boiling, letting the gelatin dissolve. Remove from heat and stir in honey, stevia, and natural food coloring if desired. Stir in yogurt and mix thoroughly until creamy and smooth. Pour into 2 quart jars, cover tightly and refrigerate until set. Enjoy with fresh berries, or I think it would make a great dessert with some whipped cream!
This is one of my favorites. It is a healthy treat that my children love. You can choose any fruits that are in season. This picture shows pear and pomegranate fruit roll up. Pears cooked until tender with fresh pomegranate juice added.
Place all contents in a 2 quart pot.
Bring contents to a boil and simmer until fruit is tender.
Using a blender or food mill puree cooked fruit until smooth.
Place 3/4-1 cup of puree on lined dehydrator trays**.
Spread smooth.
Dehydrate 4-6 hours until fruit is dry.
Lay out on parchment paper or wax paper.
Cut in 1/2 inch strips and roll up.
**Note: If you do not have a dehydrator, line baking sheets with parchment paper and spread contents. Bake in an oven at lowest setting (150 degrees) for 4-6 hours or until puree is dry.
This method makes the softest, most delicious stewed prunes with no actual cooking time.
Fill a mason jar 3/4 full of prunes/dried plums
Fill the jar with boiling water, put on a lid and let it sit in the refrigerator for a 3 days or more.
If you let them sit for at least a week, the resulting liquid is thicker, and the prunes are smoother.
Incidentally, this method will also work for other dried fruits, such as apricots, peaches and figs.
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.
Dates stuffed with cream cheese and dipped in chocolate…wow! These decadent little treats are a holiday tradition!
In the top of a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and shortening together. Cut a slit in each date big enough to remove the pit, then stuff each one with a spoonful of cream cheese, closing it back up afterwards. Dip in melted chocolate and top with a pecan half. Repeat with remaining dates, then place in the freezer or refrigerator to firm up. Enjoy!
A dip or spread to be used as a condiment for meat, vegetables and on breads. Raw ingredients. Best eaten within a day, although it can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days. My 4 year old loves this, and it is the basis for many of my snacks.
Squeeze lemon juice into a small mixing bowl.
Pour techina into the mixing bowl
Add the salt.
Whisk with a fork/wire whisk (it will be thick and a bit lumpy)
Add water, 1TBS at a time, while whisking.
Keep adding water until the techina is a smooth, creamy consistency (or desired consistency).
Add chopped fresh parsley or coriander leaves.
This is adapted from the Moosewood cookbook, and a variation on Latkes for Hanukah that we enjoy as a family.
30 minutes to prepare
4-6 servings
Salt the grated sweet potato and white potato in a colander and leave for 15 minutes. Rinse and squeeze out the water (this is important, as watery latkes don’t work)
Combine all the ingredients and mix well.
Fry in a heavy skillet in butter, until brown and crisp.
Serve immediately, topped with yoghurt or sour cream and fresh chives. Or techina with parsley.
Here is a delicious recipe you can quickly prepare, throw in the crock pot, and forget about it for a few hours as it cooks. Our kids can barely wait for it to cool off before demolishing a whole batch.
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and stir. All spices are optional. Pick and choose; use all, some, or none. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until the apples are puffy-looking with small splits.
Use potato masher to get the applesauce to the consistency you’d like it (it took us about 5 seconds, the apples fall right apart). Store in glass mason jars and keep in the fridge, or maybe even put some away in the freezer if you don’t think you’ll mow through it in two days like we did. It will keep for about 10 days in the fridge.
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!