Breakfast Fruit Smoothie

Jefferson and Emily (via Leah)

Jefferson and Emily taught me this one and I eat it every other morning, maybe twice a day...

So easy, so good, so eat it!

Take 2 peeled oranges, throw them in a blender, add 2 ice cubes.
Blend till smooth
Add  2 bananas blend till smooth.

Drink it. love it. Awesome!

Feel free to add in other fruits as you want.

The thing that makes this drink so amazing is using fresh not frozen fruit.  Also make sure your bananas are pretty ripe, somewhat bordering on over ripe.

So do it, and love it!

Mango Sauce Lettuce Wraps

Filling:

Collard or any kind of lettuce Leaf
Sliced Tomato
Sliced Bell Pepper, any color
Chopped Lettuce or cabbage or filler of your choice

Sliced Cucumber

Any other veggies of your choice

Mango Sauce:

1 Cup Chopped Mango (if using frozen then add an extra date)

1 Tbsp. Tahini (raw, or roasted)
1 Pitted Medjool Date

1 Teaspoon (approx) chopped scallions/chives

1 Leaf Sage, or you can use 1 teaspoon of dry.

2 Leaves Basil, or you can use 2 teaspoons of dry. 

Blend all ingredients in a blender till smooth.

Spread sauce on lettuce leaf, add veggies, roll into a wrap and dip it in the extra sauce. Devour!

This is soooo Yummy! 

We also use this sauce as a salad dressing. You can use it for practically anything you want, even a fruit dip. It's THAT good!

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake
Jeff and Leah

This was really important for me to find, I was really wanting chocolate cake, but I didn't want the white flour and sugar that always comes with it.  Thankfully I found a pretty good recipe at Whole Grain Gourmet and tweaked it a little.

First of all, it's important to use cake flour.  If you don't have cake flour, don't worry! I found this awesome way to make your own.  Go here, and do this! Make your own cake flour.  Also I  have used two sweeteners, honey and maple syrup.  Maple syrup was awesome and honey was gross.

Here is what I did for the cake.


Ingredients:

2 ounces Unsweetened Chocolate
1 1/2 cups sifted Organic Whole Wheat/Spelt Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Salt
1/4 cup Butter, softened at room temperature OR Coconut Oil
1 1/4 cup Grade B Maple Syrup
2 Eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Sour Cream OR Coconut Milk (use the fat not the liquid)
1/2 Boiling Water

Preparation:

* Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9" cake pan.  <----THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
* Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.
* Melt the chocolate and then allow it to cool slightly.  Be careful not to allow it to harden.
* Beat the butter and sweetener together for two minutes.  Add the eggs and beat for an additional two minutes.  Beat in the vanilla and cooled chocolate.
* Gradually stir in the sifted flour mixture in approximate thirds, alternating each time with 1/4 cup of the sour cream.
* Stir in the boiling water.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
* Bake for 23 minutes. DO NOT over bake this cake!!! Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

I have made this with whipping cream and on it's own and both were amazing!  I don't need anything on this to make it great, but the whipping cream with strawberries or raspberries!

Cauliflower French Fries

Cauliflower French Fries

By Jeff and Leah

I made these yummy "french fries" the other day with Anna Lisa's delicious Veggie Pita and Jeff and I have never looked back!

Once again we must give credit where credit is due.....
Delighted Momma is a fabulous place and I couldn't get off the computer!

When I think of a crunchy salty snack... chips, french fries and carb loaded goodies (everything I have been craving this pregnancy but resisting) come to mind. I recently heard about cauliflower poppers and I knew I had to try them.

I have said before that I am not a big fan of raw cauliflower (yucky) but after I made skinny mashed potatoes using cauliflower I knew it was my new favorite lo-carb substitute.

What you will need:

• 2 heads of cauliflower
  
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Wash and clean the cauliflower. Cut off and discard the stem. Cut the cauliflower up into small pieces.
   
3. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the cauliflower pieces and thoroughly coat each piece.
4. Place cauliflower pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for one hour and turn 3 times during cooking until each piece has a nice brown coloring. The browner they are the better.
   
5. Remove from oven and enjoy!

Make them! Dip them, OR NOT!  They are that good!

LARA BARS

Making LARA BARS
By Jeff and Leah

I totally ripped this off word for word from

Enlightened Cooking

the only credit I take are the few LARA BAR combos I made up.

Very Cherry Bars (use as a template for almost any combination) LARA BARS use a multi-layer package that keeps out UV light and oxygen, which, in turn, maintains freshness without the use of preservatives. I use plain old plastic wrap and my refrigerator, then pop one in my bag when I’m ready to go.

1/4 cup chopped dates (roughly chopped whole fresh dates; see my note about pre-chopped below)
1/4 cup dried cherries or dried cranberries
1/3 cup whole pecans, almonds or walnuts
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Set out two pieces of plastic wrap for shaping and wrapping the bars. Do this first; you’ll have sticky fingers when you need it.

Place the dates and cherries in a food processor. Pulse until processed to a paste (photo 1). Transfer paste to a medium bowl (don’t clean processor).

Add the nuts to the processor and pulse until finely chopped (photo 2). Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon, to the bowl with the fruit paste (photo 3). Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the paste (just keep squishing, it’s fun; brings back memories of play-dough; see photo 4).
.
Divide mixture in half. Place each half on each of one of the sheets of plastic wrap. Wrap the plastic around each bar and start squishing into a bar shape form, 3 and 1/2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 3/4-inch thick); press against countertop to flatten bottom side, flattening top side and ends with flat of hand (photo 5) Tightly wrap the plastic around each bar and store in the refrigerator. Makes 2 bars.
.
Nutrition per Serving (1 bar): Calories 207; Fat 9.4 g (sat .8g, mono 5.2g, poly 3.1g); Protein 3.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Carbohydrate 24.9g; Sodium 0.4mg. (Note: I did the nutrition analysis using Diet Analysis Plus 7.0.1)

Note about using pre-chopped dates: Pre-chopped dried dates are much cheaper than whole dates, and sometimes are the only option available at the supermarket, depending on where you live. However, they are typically coated with oat flour (to prevent sticking), and sometimes a bit of sugar, too. They are too dry and hard to work as is in this recipe, but with a bit of tweaking, they will work just fine. To make them usable for larabar purposes, place them in a small bowl and cover with warm water (not hot or boiling water; this will make them turn to mush). Let stand 3 to 5 minutes until softened; then drain and pat dry. Not only will this soften the dates, it will remove any oat flour and/or sugar).


A Few Ideas for Variations:

Apricot-Almond: Use 6 tablespoons coarsely chopped dried apricots and 2 tablespoons date (to measure 1/2 cup total); use almonds for the nuts. (Made this and it is delicious.  I am eating it and typing, I added cashews, half and half) 
Tropical: Use tropical fruit bits (these come pre-packaged at the supermarket); use raw cashews for the nuts. Add 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest, and 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice to the mix.

PB & J (cheap and delicious!): Use 1/4 cup dried cherries or cranberries and 1/4 cup raisins or dates; use raw or roasted peanuts (lightly salted or unsalted) for the nuts.

Blueberry Bliss: Use 1/4 cup dried blueberries and 1/4 cup dates; use almonds for the nuts. Add 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, and a drop of almond extract to the mix.

Cashew Cookie Dough: Reverse the proportions of fruit to nuts--Use 1/3 cup dates for the fruit and 1/2 cup raw cashews for the nuts.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Same as cashew cookie dough, but add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch of cinnamon and 1/2 ounce very finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate to the mix. (I made this and it is amazing how much it tastes like cookie dough! WOW! YUMMY!)
Pistachio Heaven: Same as cashew cookie dough, but use raw pistachios and add a tiny drop of almond extract.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: Same as cashew cookie dough but use raw or roasted (lightly salted) peanuts for the nuts.

LEAH'S BARS

Okey-Dokey family and friends, these are some combos I made up and seriously just make this!

I love roasted nuts and so I cheated and made some non raw bars.... I don't know if I like them BETTER but they do feel more like a dessert and make me happy.

Dating your almonds: Use 1/2 cup dates and 1/3 cup roasted almonds! DONE! :)

Nutty Coconuts: Use 5 dates, 1/4 cup plus coconut, 1/3 cup raw cashews, 5-8 roasted almonds.

And my crowning achievement!  SOOOO GOOOOOD!

Apple Pie: Use 4 dates, 1/4 cup dried apples, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/3 cup roasted almonds. (If you want to be really cheaty add a drizzle of maple syrup or sprinkle of sucanat)

But seriously people, just start mixing your favorite fruit nut combos and you will be surprised at how good everything is!  (But by doing so you must promise to SHARE!)