Category — Snacks

My husband showed me The Guacamole Song on YouTube last night and it made me laugh! It also made me hungry for guacamole, but I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make it, so I decided to do the next best thing and just blog about it.

I’ve modified this recipe a bit over time, so I’ll share it again now. Who doesn’t enjoy some guacamole on a Friday afternoon?

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1 red onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large jalapeno pepper, if you like mild to moderate (OR 1 to 2 habanero peppers if you prefer moderate to spicy), stem and seeds removed, minced
• 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tomatoes, chopped

Directions:

1. Peel the avocados, remove pit, and mash them using a mortar and pestle or in a bowl using a fork
2. Add onions, peppers, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and sea salt, continually mashing/mixing
3. Add chopped tomatoes right before serving

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This salsa was inspired by salsa I purchased at the berry farm when I picked our strawberries. I LOVED it, and was sad not to find more when I went back another time. I found a recipe online and adapted it based on the ingredients that were in the salsa I bought, and my own preferences, and it turned out quite tasty. My husband told me it didn’t taste much like that salsa I bought—he thought it was better!

Yield:  About 4 cups

• 2 cups diced strawberries (I used frozen ones that I thawed and drained)
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled and diced (great instructions for peeling here!)
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 fresh lime, juiced (yield should be about 2 Tbsp)
• 1 small  jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely minced, or to taste
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

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I’ve been meaning to try making these for a while but finally tried it for the first time last night. I loved it! I wanted something to munch on, and just didn’t feel like making popcorn, so I gave it a try and it made a fantastic crunchy snack.

I’ve seen a lot of various recipes for these online, and a lot of them use a food dehydrator, but they worked just great for me in the oven!

Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• Kale (I used about 1/2 bunch and it covered 1 baking sheet)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Celtic sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Remove kale from middle stalk, leaving the greens in 2-3 inch pieces.
3. Pour olive oil into a bowl, dip your fingers and rub a very light coat of oil over the kale pieces. Alternatively, you could spray it if you have that option.
4. Sprinkle the kale with celtic sea salt.
5. Lay kale on baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes or until it starts to turn just a little bit brown. Keep an eye on it! Turn the kale over and bake for another 4-5 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and serve!

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These are delicious, healthy muffins that smell so good while baking, you’ll want to try one immediately no matter what time of day it is. I am looking forward to serving these at our Easter breakfast on Sunday morning!

Yield: 18 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup oat bran
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ tsp stevia powder
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar
• ¼ pound carrots (2 cups)
• ½ cup shredded coconut (no sugar added)
• ½ cup walnuts
• ½ cup raisins
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup greek or goat’s milk yogurt
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Granny Smith apple

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and oil eighteen 1/2-cup muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl sift together flour, oat bran, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
   
3. Whisk in stevia and sugar.
   
4. Coarsely shred enough carrots to measure 2 cups and chop walnuts.
5. Add shredded carrots and walnuts to dry mixture with raisins and coconut and toss well.
6. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, oil, and vanilla.
   
7. Peel and core apple and coarsely shred. Stir shredded apple into egg mixture and add to dry mixture, stirring until batter is just combined well.
   
8. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling them three fourths full, and bake in middle of oven until puffed and a tester comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes.
9. Cool muffins in cups on racks 5 minutes before turning out onto racks to cool completely.

Muffins keep in an airtight container at room temperature or in refrigerator for 5 days. For longer storage, keep in freezer.

Source: Cameron Rupprecht

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OK, these are really awesome, especially if you are a fan of Lärabars. I’ve mentioned these a few times now…they are snack/energy bars that are literally made from unsweetened fruits, nuts, and spices…and nothing else. I’ve recently spent some time in the snack/energy/protein bar aisle checking them all out, because I was curious…do you know how many ingredients are in most of those bars? Even the “all-natural” ones? It’s craziness!

Lärabars, on the other hand, have like 3 ingredients. And they are delicious. It was a very happy day when I was at Whole Foods and they were giving out samples of 5 or 6 different flavors. So far my favorites are Peanut Butter Cookie and Cinnamon Roll.

But back to the point of this post…today I tried out the recipe for “Babies” from “Chocolate-Covered Katie” and was very pleased to discover that I had basically made my own bite-sized Lärabars. Now that I have made 5 different varieties in tiny form, I am going to choose my favorites and make bar-sized versions every so often for snacks.

Here are the recipes for what I made, but be sure to check out Katie’s site and her recipes as well. The instructions for all are the same–mix the ingredients in a food processor and then mold into whatever shape and size you want. I found it worked best for me when I put the nuts in first and chopped them up very small, then added the dates (quartered) and any other ingredients. These batches will make 8-12 balls, depending on what size you make. The main ingredient is pitted dates, which I bought in 227-gram bags at Whole Foods. I used my food scale and found that 80 grams was about 15 dates. For the nuts, I used my food scale, and I used all raw, unsalted nuts…remember, raw nuts are the most nutritious.

Chocolate Fudge
I rolled these in raw cacao to make them more like truffles!

• 80 grams dates
• 30 grams (total) cashews and walnuts
• 1 Tbsp. raw cacao powder
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Chocolate Mint

• same as above, but add 1/8 tsp. peppermint extract

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

• 80 grams dates
• 30 grams cashews
• approx 1 tsp. dark chocolate chunks (chopped with nuts)
• 2 Tbsp. rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• approx. 10 milk chocolate chips (added at rolling-into-balls stage)

Peanut Butter Cookie
Check out the photo…we did a taste test and mine were very similar to the Lärabar! (mine’s on the left, the end I cut off of a Lärabar is on the right)

• 90 grams dates (just throw in an extra 2 or 3)
• 5-6 raw unsalted peanuts
• 1/2 Tbsp. natural chunky unsalted peanut butter (Trader Joe’s)
• 1/2 Tbsp. natural creamy salted peanut butter (Trader Joe’s)
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Cinnamon Roll

• 80 grams dates
• 30 grams (total) walnuts, cashews, and almonds
• 3 pitted prunes (because I did not have any raisins)
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• approx. 1 tbsp. cinnamon

Source: ChocolateCoveredKatie.com

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In my quest to give up wheat, I have learned about alternative grains, and sprouted grains are a really good one. Products made with sprouted grains and seeds are very nutritious. (See my newly-discovered foods list for more details on that.)

Yesterday I made some guacamole and wanted my husband to be able to have chips with it, but we did not have any (I was going to use celery, which is surprisingly good for dipping into guacamole!) so I decided to make some. We have done this before with corn tortillas and it works pretty well. What we had this time was some whole wheat tortillas leftover from my wheat-eating days and the sprouted corn tortillas I got for the burritos. So, I gave it a shot.

The wheat “chips” turned out more like crackers, and some actually burned a little. But the corn chips turned out great–better than any I have made before. Very crispy and tasty! Here’s how I did it.

Ingredients:

• Food for Life Sprouted Corn Tortillas (found in freezer section at Whole Foods)
• Sea salt
• Olive oil in a spray bottle

Directions:

1. Thaw tortillas
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Cut tortillas into triangles – 4 or 6, depending on your preference
4. Lay tortilla pieces out onto cookie sheets, spray with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt
5. Flip tortilla pieces over and spray and sprinkle other side
6. Bake for 5 minutes; flip and return to oven for another 4 minutes. Check your chips frequently the first time you do this–depending on oven, cookie sheet shininess, and oven rack position you may need more or less baking time
7. Take cookie sheet(s) out and transfer chips to a plate
8. When cool, put into a ziplock bag; if you want them saltier, spray with more olive oil, sprinkle salt into bag and shake
   

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I got this recipe from a blog I like, NoBiggie.net. I was excited to see it did not call for tahini, like most hummus recipes do, because I have found that is hard to locate at the store. Plus, I love peanut butter! This turned out SO good, I had to stop myself from licking my fingers when the celery and carrots were gone, and force myself to put the rest (and it made a lot!) into the fridge for a snack tomorrow. Yum…

Ingredients:

• 1 – 15oz. can Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas) – drained with liquid reserved
• 3 Tbsp. Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 Lemon zested
• 3 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
• 1 clove of Garlic minced
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil (EVOO)
• Sea Salt & Cayenne Pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine in a food processor/blender. With the machine running add oil and bean liquid to make it smooth at the end.

Source: NoBiggie.net

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The first time I made these, I used the red pepper flakes, but the fries ended up a little too “hot” for us! I left them out this time but I will probably add them back in, just in a smaller amount, next time.

I also learned that sweet potatoes vary a LOT in size. I used pretty big ones this last time and wished I had used a little more olive oil and garlic–but they were still delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato per person
• ½ tsp olive oil per potato
• 1 clove garlic, minced, per potato
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes per potato

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Wash and dry sweet potatoes.
3. Slice horizontally in thin rounds. The thinner the cut, the crispier the outcome.
4. Place slices into large Ziploc storage bag.
5. Add all other ingredients, close bag, and shake until potatoes are well-covered.
6. Place potatoes on large sheet pan; try to avoid overlapping.
7. Cook for 20 minutes, flipping potatoes half way through.
8. Serve.

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