Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have a little sweet tooth, or need an easy recipe for a party or event, but you don't want to ruin your healthy eating habits for the new year? These are a great occasional solution - they are gluten free, low in sugar and really surprisingly, amazingly good. If there ever was a "healthy" cookie, this is it!
Here's the original recipe from a great blog called "Musings of a Housewife". I added and subtracted a couple of ingredients to make them a little more healthful, without taking away from the taste. They are little sweet protein balls - yum! After baking them, pop most of them in the freezer so they won't tempt you too much on your kitchen counter.

Gluten Free Protein Bars

My hubby loves granola bars and is always looking for something quick to eat when he's running out the door. I think that a challenge for many of us who are trying to eat better and less processed is trying to have quick snack items on hand. I've found that healthy bars are not only hard to find, but are expensive. In the spirit of cooking and baking in bulk, we tried out this "protein" bar recipe. While it is does have whole ingredients, it tastes like a dessert!

It makes a large portion which can be cut, divided and put into baggies ahead of time. I was lax with measuring which made my bars come out a little crumbly, but they were still very good! And very easy. 

2 cups brown rice cereal 
2 cups rolled oats 
1/4 cup flax meal 
2 tbsp. Cocoa
1 tbsp cinnamon (more or less to taste) 
1/2 cup raisins (more or less to taste, you can also add other dried fruits, chopped) 

1/2-3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 
1/2 cup raw honey 
2 tbsp. vegetable oil, like coconut 
2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a big bowl.
In a saucepan, heat the peanut butter, oil, honey, and maple syrup until bubbly (about 3-5 min)
Pour the liquid combo into the dry ingredients and stir until well blended. If you're like me and over pour the cereals, you may need to add more honey or peanut butter to make it stick together better and not be too crumbly. 

Spoon the batter into a 9x13 pan and push it down until it's flat with parchment paper. Refrigerate and allow to cool completely before cutting.  

Happy health! 


P.S. Don't forget to "like" me on Facebook to enter to win a bottle of Nordic Naturals Omegas! 

Butter free Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Not only are these really tasty, they are dairy free. Added bonus!

I know that lately I've been saying this about my recipes, but really these are REALLY good! And healthy (ish) too! I love to bake and have had some trouble finding healthy recipes for baked goods. I adapted a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com . These do not have white sugar - I've replaced it with agave nectar, to help decrease those sugar spikes. They are whole wheat and dairy free. You can easily make them gluten free by substituting the wheat flour with buckwheat flour. 

Ingredients:

1/2 c. Earth Balance Soy Free Spread (Non-GMO, vegan)

3/4 c. Organic Agave Nectar

1 tsp. Salt

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour (or any flour that you'd like)

2 tsp. Baking Powder

2 C. Fresh Blueberries

1/2 C. Coconut Milk (or other non-dairy or dairy milk)

1 tbsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin pan with liners. 

Beat the margarine, agave nectar and salt until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. 

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. (Spoon some of this mixture in with the blueberries and toss to coat to prevent them from sinking to the bottom)

Stir the remaining flour mixture into the bowl with the eggs, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Gently fold in the blueberries. 

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the top.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool 10 min. before removing from pan. 

Try them and let me know if you also ate 4 right when they came out of the oven! 

Veggie Mexican Bowl

Ok y'all - this is a really good recipe. Promise.

My hubby asked me to make this every week. It's super easy, even he could make it ;)

An added bonus - it's really healthy. Full of fiber, protein, vitamins and nutrients. Great if you are trying to lower cholesterol or lipids.
It's dairy free, gluten free, and vegan. Even though we aren't completely vegan, we try to eat lots of vegan food and mostly avoid dairy and animal products. Try making one of your meals vegetarian every week. I bet you'll end up eating more veggies!

I came up with this because I wanted to eat at Moe's, but I was already at the grocery store, and figured I'd try to make a burrito bowl (minus the tortilla).

Grocery List:

• Brown Rice
• 1 Cucumber (Chopped in small pieces)
• 1 Avocado (Chopped in small pieces)
• 1 Bunch Cilantro (Chopped)
• 1 Can Olives (Chopped)
• 1 Can Black Beans (with or without sauce)
• 1 Jar Salsa

Cook the brown rice. (boil 2 1/4c. water, then add 1 c. brown rice for 30-45 minutes)
Add the brown rice to the bottom of the bowl.
Add your toppings (chopped cucumber, avocado, cilantro, olives, beans and salsa). I used extra, extra cilantro because I love it. Plus, it has some amazing properties - aids in digestion, anti-inflammatory agents, and even reduces mood swings and cramping associated with PMS. Check out more about the amazing power of Cilantro! Here's another article on cilantro and detoxing.

Easy enough?

Happy health!

I ate it with blue corn chips. YUM                            Hubby ate his in about 5 minutes.