Granola Bars (Hemp Seeds)

Want a simple, yet satisfying snack or grab-and-go breakfast idea? Then here is the recipe for you.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Cup Hemp Seeds
• 1 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
• 2 TBSP Chia Seeds (if the texture of chia bothers you, consider grinding these in a coffee or spice grinder)
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
• 4 TBSP Coconut Oil (or butter)
• 1 Cup Sunflower Seed Butter (or other nut or seed butter)
• 1 Cup Walnuts (or any combination of nuts equaling one cup measurement)
• 8 Packs Sweetleaf Stevia
• 1 tsp cinnamon

METHOD:

1. In a bowl, mix together all ingredients. Blend together well.
2. Press mixture evenly into an 8×8 silicone pan or a lined with parchment paper pan.
3. Place in freezer.
4. Once frozen, take bars out of the freezer. Remove the granola block from the silicone pan. Cut in half, forming two portions. Continue cutting each portion in half to form 16 granola bars of equal size.

NOTES:

• You can eat these straight out of the freezer. They do not freeze “hard” so they are eatable. I wouldn’t even bother keeping them in the fridge. Simple package them into an air tight container and store them, well labeled, in the freezer.
• There is a LOT of flexibility in this recipe. Potential add ins can switch up the flavor (and the carb count). Try some different combinations. Some things to try: Pistachio nut-butter; macadamia nuts with cranraisins; walnuts with raisins; a stir in of chopped dark chocolate or coating the outside with melted chocolate along one edge.

7-Spice Kebabs

This recipe has a Middle-Eastern taste to it. If you haven’t tried Middle-Eastern foods, it is a good recipe to try. The recipe is very versatile as this spice blend tastes great with a wide variety of protein choices including: lamb, beef, turkey, chicken, chickpea, etc. Try them all and see what your favorite combination is–as well the 7 spice blend in this recipe is nice as a seasoning on various vegetables, especially drizzled with olive oil and roasted. Optional: serve with rice (cauliflower) and tzatziki sauce, if desired.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb of protein (ground or minced meat, beans, etc)
• 1/4 cup Parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup Red Onion, minced
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp Real Salt or Sea Salt
• 1/4 tsp Coriander Seed
• 1/4 tsp Cloves
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp All Spice
• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp Ginger

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix together all dried spices.
2. Chop and mince parsley, onion, and press garlic cloves.
3. Mix spice and herbs into protein source. Mix longer than you think you will need to do so to ensure the flavoring is equally distributed.
4. Portion the mixture into 1 ounce servings and shape, either as a meatball shape or more elongated per your personal preference.
5. To enjoy immediately: bake at 400 degrees until done. To enjoy later: freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet in the freezer; then store in an air tight container in the freezer to have an easy Go-To meal or snack option available.

Shortcake (Coconut Flour)

This recipe is grain-free, low carb, can be made sugar free, quick and easy to whip up and is delicious! Eat it plain, as is, or served with your favorite berries or berry sauce atop, with or without whipped cream. Another serving suggestion is with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 Cup coconut flour
• 3 TBSP melted butter, coconut oil, or other neutral oil
• 1/3 Cup JUST eggs vegan liquid egg replacement
• 3 TBSP sweetener (or about 6 stevia packs)
• 1/4 tsp rum
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

METHOD:

1. Turn on your toaster oven (If using) to 400 degrees.
2. Meanwhile prepare a 6 muffin tin with muffin liners (or grease with butter, coconut oil, or other neutral-flavored oil)
3. Begin by mixing together in a bowl all of the dry ingredients. Make sure the mixture is well combined and none of the dry ingredients have lumps.
4. Stir in the melted butter or oil, as well as the liquid JUSTeggs brand egg replacement.
5. Mix well to combine.
6. Drop by heaping TBSP into prepared muffin tins. Distribute batter evenly between 6 muffin tins. Batter rises, but it doesn’t spread much, so spread it out evenly in the muffin tin before baking.
7. Bake until golden about 10-15 minutes depending on your toaster oven.

Various Serving Suggestions:

• This recipe yields 6 small shortbread portions. Those individual portions can be slit in half to stuff with , or top with, fruit of choice and cool whip/whipped cream. It makes a nice snack or dessert.
• Leave out the rum, cinnamon powder and sweetener; use olive oil in place of butter or coconut oil for a savory flavor. Pairs nicely with garlic or Italian seasonings.
• For portion control, you could bake for a shorter time, 12 mini muffins instead of 6 regular muffins.
• As is, this recipe tastes great as a short cake (with any fruit/juice and whipped cream).
• Top with cream cheese.
• Other topping ideas, besides fruit include just using whipped cream. And/or adding chocolate bits. Walmart carries a sugar free brand of chocolate bits. Or, you can make your own.
• Taste great at room temperature with some butter on it.
• Try it with sugar-free jelly or jam.
• This recipe is surprisingly quick and easy to make, with very little clean up. You can make it frequently.

Source: For this recipe, I looked at high carb recipes, gluten free recipes, and other online recipes which were similar to this one. Then I made up a hybrid type recipe without any of the allergens the folks I’m cooking for avoid.

Carrot-Pecan Cake (lower carb)

Delicious, moist, amazing treat! This recipe has special-occasion worthy written all over it!

So often, recipes like this use a microwave and/or almond flour. If you’ve been searching for a worthy carrot cake recipe made without almond flour and without using a microwave, then this is the one for you! If you like your carrot cake with some nutty crunch, try blending our own pecan meal, leaving some of the pecan pieces a bit more chunky while grinding the remainder to “flour” like consistency.

To make this coconut-flour rich cake turn out moist, this recipe uses baby food. Why? It is the perfect consistency for ensuring a moist and delicious cake, and it is also sized perfectly for this recipe ensuring no wasted excess carrots. Be certain to purchase stage 1 baby food as it only has one ingredient; in our use case here that is simply pureed carrots.

INGREDIENTS:

Cake Batter:

• 4 TBSP Coconut Flour
• 4 TBSP Ground Pecans (see note)
• 4 TBSP Swerve Powdered
• 2 TBSP coconut oil (melted)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 ounces carrots stage 1 baby food (no added ingredients, just pureed carrots)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounce package full-fat cream cheese (room temp)
• 2-3 TBSP Swerve Powdered (to taste)
• 1-2 Packages Sweet Leaf Stevia
• coconut milk (as needed)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• shredded carrot for topping or candles (optional)
• one flavoring: vanilla, orange, lemon, maple (optional)

METHOD:

• Grease two ramekins with coconut oil.
• Mix together dry batter ingredients in one bowl. Stir until well blended and there are no lumps.
• In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients until well blended together.
• Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
• Equally distribute into prepared ramekins.
• Bake in a 350 degree toaster oven for 12-15 minutes. Don’t over cook or the cake will be too dry.
• If you will be frosting these for a “birthday” or layer cake, you’ll need to unplate them. Otherwise, you can skip this step. To unplate, begin with one, then follow the steps for the second ramekin. Use a snack plate the size of your ramekin or slightly larger. Using hotmits (the ramekins are still hot!) place the snack plates over the top of the hot ramekin. Flip the ramekin covered with your snack plate upside down so that the plate is on the counter and your ramekin is upside down over the plate. Tap the bottom of the ramekin. Carefully lift up the ramekin so the cake is now on the plate. Repeat this process for the other ramekin.
• Allow cake to fully cool.
• Place in freezer for15-30 minutes (this helps us frost the cakes as they are very soft and moist!
• While the cakes are freezing to frost, it is time to start making your frosting. NOTE: You can make a 2 layer cake out of each Ramekin or a 4 layer cake out of both. You’ll need to time this perfectly. Freeze just long enough to have the cakes firm enough to use your cake cutter to make the layers, before frosting.
• Whip together the room-temperature cream cheese package, your sweetener, your pinch or two (to taste) of cinnamon, and if desired a flavoring such as vanilla or other extract (maple, orange, lemon all interesting frosting flavors, but this cake is so moist and delicious you don’t need any of the optional flavors. Just use coconut milk to thin, if needed, to get the frosting consistency.
• Taste before frosting to ensure your frosting is sweet enough for you.
• Remove cake from freezer.
• Carefully frost.
• Top with candles or carrot shards, if desired (optional)
• Enjoy!

NOTES:

• Carrot cake always takes a bit more time than other cakes to make. Using pureed, stage, one, carrot baby food saves time. Frugal tip: make your own pureed carrots and freeze them in 4 ounce portions to use later in making this recipe when ever you need it.
• This frosting is so delicious and versatile with the optional flavorings you can really enjoy this on its own, or atop other recipes besides this carrot cake. There are lots of Vitality oils which could be used as a topping flavor too: Lemon, Orange, Tangerine, Lime, Grapefruit, Ginger, Spearmint, Mint. Citrus Fresh, Clove, Cinnamon Bark, Cardamom, Bergamont, Lemongrass, Lavender.
• If you are not using this recipe for a special occasion, you can reduce the frosting in half to simply top the top of the two ramekin cakes in the ramekin and enjoy right away without freezing or any additional steps.
• Swerve Powdered Sugar style works best for this recipe. If you only have granular sweetener, grind it in your coffee grinder.
• To make the pecan meal, grind fresh pecans in a coffee grinder to a “flour” like consistency, stopping just short of making pecan butter.
• Another optional topping could be coconut flakes (dyed with food coloring or not)

These cakes unplate easily, are super moist, delicious, spiced just right, and easy to frost once soft-frozen a few minutes.

Happy birthday!

Pumpkin Latte

This is a copycat recipe of so many coffee shop versions. Now you can make it at home and be in control of which ingredients work best for you.  This beverage can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Ingredients

• 16 ounces coffee (hot or cold)
• 1 TBS pumpkin puree, organic
• 1 TBS maple syrup (or sweetener of choice for sugar-free)
• 1 TBS coconut milk (dairy-free option)
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tap ground nutmeg

Mix. Enjoy. Optional: top with whipped cream or whipped coconut cream.

Options:
Sugar: Use Maple Syrup
Sugar-Free: Use sweetener of choice
Dairy: Option: Use Heavy Cream or 1/2 and 1/2 in place of coconut milk and whipped topping.
Dairy  Free: Make with coconut milk and whipped coconut cream.
Soy-Free: Check base ingredients before using for soy-free ingredients.
This recipe is naturally free of nightshades.