Snack well.
Apples Smothered in Love “Seriously delicious.” Smothered in love for Nanny Belinda are these nut butter, granola-dipped apples or pears.
This recipe was originally developed in 2010 for a Boise family for whom I was fortunate to cook for many years! Everyone loved them! Today, I am inspired to share this recipe reimagined for a supper nanny named Belinda. I suggest making a batch right now and eating them immediately.
For lasting crunch, even after a few days in refrigerator, I suggest using my Nut and Seeded Granola, or a store-bought brand you like. Traditional oat and or cereal blends will soften after a day, but otherwise, still delish.
Serving: 6 halves
Ingredients:
3 Granny Smith apples (cleaned, cored and halved)
1 large lemon, halved (for rubbing apples)
1 cup nut butter (almond, peanut, cashew, organic only if possible) or Nutella
1½ cups Nut and Seeded Granola Paleo Blend or your favorite (clean, healthy, naturally-sweetened from your natural food stores cereal aisle or bulk section)
1 extra-large food storage container
Instructions:
Prepare ingredients as suggested above. Clean, core, and halve apples.
Rub your apples’ flesh with your halved lemons (each halved lemon, rubs three halved apples). Put granola in a shallow dish. Have your food storage container available to start packing with your super cool, healthy snack.
With a sandwich spreader: divide your nut butter or hazelnut spread among the apples and smear all over.
Dip your apples into the granola: then place in food storage container.
Serve immediately or store in refrigerator up too four days.
Notes: If making your own nut butter: use any combination of good, clean organic nuts like high fiber macadamias. Almond, cashew and or peanut. Maybe a little coconut butter. Make your own Nutella™ using toasted, skinned hazelnuts, with a little cocoa and skim milk! Yummy! I actually like pears in this recipe best. Pear and almond butter are my favorite combo!
Rice Bubbles “No bake for heaven’s sake Julie.”
Ingredients:
Coconut oil for spraying
½ cup raw honey or pure maple syrup (boiled, one minute)
½ cup smooth almond or peanut butter (or other nut or seed butter)
¼ cup, coconut oil, melted
Zest of one large orange
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
Dash of sea salt
4 cups organic, crisp rice cereal (Trader Joes™ or Koala Krisp™ brands)
½ cup dried, chopped, strawberries or apricots
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
½ cup unsweetened coconut, grated (Let’s Do Organic™ brand)
2 tablespoons superseed mix (Barlean’s™ or Spectrum™ brand, flax, chia and coconut)
Instructions:
Prepare ingredients as suggested above
Spray a 9x13” rectangular cake pan, line it with plastic wrap, and set aside
In a large mixing bowl, add all your crisp rice, dried fruit, seeds, coconut, and superseeds. Set aside.
In a small sauce pot, over medium heat, bring honey to a boil for one minute.
Remove from heat and add nut butter, coconut oil, zest, flavor and salt. Stir until smooth.
Pour nut butter mixture into dry mix and uniformly combine.
Transfer mixture to your cake pan and firmly press evenly throughout the pan.
Cover with plastic and chill in fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes or longer.
Cut into desired number of bars.
Store in an airtight food storage container, in your fridge or freezer, or individually wrap in food grade paper for up to.
Note: You can also scoop this mixture into, 12 paper cup lined vessels in your favorite muffin pan.
Sassy Salsa “Tammy, You Rock”
This is another large batch recipe. I also use this in some soup recipes, dipping sauces, and dressings, therefore, feel free to make an extra batch and freeze some.
Yields: 3½ cups (or more, depending on cherry tomatoes)
Ingredients:
1 - 15-ounce can fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
1 - 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1-pint sweet cherry tomatoes, rinsed
6 cloves garlic, peeled, coarsely chopped
1 large jalapeno, halved, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 handful cilantro leaves (no stems)
2 tablespoons lime juice (fresh squeezed)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
In a food processor, combine all ingredients.
Pulse until uniformly combined and pureed. I like a smooth salsa, not a chunky salsa.
Store in a glass food storage container for up to one week, or store in individual, 2-ounce portion cups.
Freeze leftovers for up to one month.
Lori’s Lovely Bars or Cookies “What would Lori T. say about this cookie you ask?”
This recipe is dedicated to, and in honor of, one of the most lovely and sweetest soul friends I’ve ever had the honor to share in my life and heart. Lori is an angel. She actually helped me develop this recipe by sharing what ingredients she would like in a cookie. And so it is. “A Lovey Bar cookie recipe has been created for a sweet, divine angel, and soul friend.”
Large batch recipe. You decide the portions! Make in a sheet pan or into cookies.
Ingredients:
1¼ cups vegan buttery sticks (or grass-fed butter)
1 cup monkfruit sweetener
¼ cup flax meal (or two eggs)
2 medium ripe bananas
¼ cup unsweetened, plant-based milk (no milk if using eggs)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
2 cups rolled oats (Bob’s Red Mill™, GF)
2 cups all-purpose flour (King Arthur brand™, or gluten free)
½ cup coconut flakes (Let’s Do Organic™ brand, reduced sugar)
½ cup slivered almonds
½ cup cranberries
½ cup dark chocolate chips (or cocoa nibs, dairy/vegan chips)
¼ cup chopped, candied ginger (Australian if you can)
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
A Large, Cookie Sheet-Pan (21-inch x 15 inches)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare ingredients as suggested above.
Spray and flour-coat a large, sheet pan.
In your stand mixing bowl with paddle attachment: add butter and sweetener. Mix at low to medium speed until uniformly combined.
Add flax (or eggs), bananas, and plant-based milk (no milk if using eggs). Mix at medium to high speed until light and fluffy.
Remove bowl from stand. Add remaining ingredients. Mix a little by hand with a wooden spoon to get the dry ingredients slightly under and combined with the butter mixture.
Return bowl to stand and mix on low speed until uniformly combined (do not over mix).
Transfer the cookie dough to your large sheet pan and press evenly throughout the pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. And fully baked in the center (when an inserted toothpick comes out clean, and or bounces back to the touch of a finger).
Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes. While still warm, score into your desired number of bars (24 small or 18 medium to large bars.)
Cookies: If you want to make cookies. Go ahead: on a parchment lined cookie sheet pan. Divide dough into 24 balls. Place on pan. Flatten a little with palm of wet hand. Bake in convection oven, at 325°F, for about 18 minutes. Lightly golden brown and dry to the touch.
Avo Smash “Alicia, You’re Ab Fab”
Serves: 1½ cups
Ingredients:
3 medium, ripe avocados (or one large Slimcado)
3 heaping tablespoons, Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce, Trader Joe’s Brand™ Fermented Calabrian Peppers
1 teaspoon lemon juice,
½ teaspoon lemon pepper (Trader Joes Brand™)
Instructions:
Cut your avocados in half and discard pits.
Carefully cradle your halved avocados in a free hand and scoop flesh into a medium size mixing bowl.
Add remaining ingredients.
Using a potato masher, smash until smooth, but a little chunky.
Serve immediately.
Or store in an airtight container in fridge for up to 48 hours.
Or store in individual, 2-ounce portion cups; and freeze for up to one month.
NOTE: To ensure freshness: and that your avocado smash does not go brown: apply a piece of plastic wrap directly to the very top of your Avo smash. Press firmly down and entirely over and around the smash. Cover container with airtight lid. This will minimize exposure to air and delay the browning process.
Hummus “Yes, Sabina”
Yields 1-1/2 cups or more
Ingredients:
1 - 15-ounce can organic garbanzo beans (bpa-free, drained and rinsed)
¼ cup roasted tahini
¼ cup purified water
Handful cilantro leaves
4 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Tamari
Directions:
Make hummus by pulsing ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Add more water to hummus if need be. Should be on the coarse and thick side.
Store in an airtight food storage container in refrigerator for up to 5 days, or store in individual 2-ounce portion cups.
Note: Freeze leftovers for up to one month.
Peanut Bobbers “Created with divine love”
This recipe was created in minutes. It just came naturally to me. I made it for someone I love. And on the first test run, they were perfect. When you create and bake with love from a heart-centered place, it’s simply divine and delicious. Love and cookies are all you knead Bob.
Makes 18 x 2½” cookies
Ingredients:
½ cup (one stick) vegan buttery sticks (or real butter)
¾ cups peanut butter (super chunky, optional)
½ cup monkfruit sweetener (or other natural sweetener/zero sugar)
½ cup light coconut palm sweetener
1 tablespoon raw honey or maple syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups rolled oats (Bob’s Red Mill™, GF)
1 cup gluten-free flour (King Arthur™)
½ cup chopped peanuts
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Instructions:
Prepare ingredients as suggested above. Preheat standard oven to 350°F, or convection air oven to 325°F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
In your stand mixing bowl with paddle attachment, combine buttery sticks, peanut butter, sweeteners, and honey and mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Add your egg and vanilla. Continue to mix on medium speed until smooth and uniformly combined, about 2-3 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and mix until just combined.
Drop heaping tablespoons of dough on sheet pan, about 2 inches apart.
Flatten dough a little with your flour-dusted fingertips and bake for 14-16 minutes. Longer for a more golden, crisp texture.
If using a standard oven, bake one sheet pan at a time and rotate pan halfway through baking.
Note:
Be creative and add some chocolate chips if you like. These make great sandwich cookies. Hint.
Oat Berry Bars “Stinemates Rock”
“A Boise Idaho, River City Coffee House Adaptation”
This recipe was derived from an original recipe belonging to a family who owned The River City Coffee House and Bakery in Boise, Idaho. I also had the pleasure to bake with this family. I use the term “bake with,” as it was a beautiful experience to bake with people who really cared about each other and the community. While it was work, when you love what you do, you’ll never a work again. We knew every customer’s name and the names of their pets. “I miss you Kay, Pete, Heather, Nick and Margaret.”
Enjoy my version, using vegan buttery sticks™, pastry flour or the opportunity for go gluten-free. I added some spices and use triple berries. I do still make these bars for my friends using raspberries. Or raspberries and rhubarb. Yum.
Makes a 9x13” rectangular cake pan. You cut desired number of bars. I prefer smaller bars.
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) vegan buttery sticks™ or real butter, cut into cubes, softened
1-1/4 cups light brown sugar (or 1 cup coconut palm sweetener and ¼ cup honey)
2 cups rolled oats (Bob’s Red Mill™-GF)
2 cups, pastry flour (or gluten free flour: See Notes)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 cups frozen, triple berry bend, or combo of raspberries and rhubarb
Instructions:
Prepare ingredients as suggested above. Preheat standard oven to 350°F. Convection oven to 325°F.
Spray and flour dust a rectangular cake pan (9x13”)
In your stand mixing bowl with paddle attachment, add your cubed buttery sticks and dry ingredients. Toss a little by hand, to uniformly combine.
Start mixing on low speed for about one minute. Scrape bottom of mixing bowl.
Increase speed to medium speed and continue to mix until uniformly combined, and a moist, crumb-like topping is formed.
Note: When pressed between fingers, mixture should stick together.
Press two-thirds (2/3) of the crumb mixture into your oil-sprayed and flour-dusted cake pan.
Add your frozen berries
Top with remaining crumb and bake for 35-45 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool about 30 minutes. While still warm: score into your desired number of bars (24 small or 12 medium to large bars.)
Chill before fully cutting bars.
Individually wrap your bars and store in a food grade storage container in the fridge for up to one week, or in the freezer for a few months.
Note: This recipe bakes perfectly in a standard oven, on the center rack vs. convection air. You want a fully cooked bottom crust and a golden topping (not burnt topping).
I also scoop and serve this immediately after baking, like a fruit crisp. Topped with ice cream.
Rhubarb—I also make this once a year with rhubarb. If doing so however: you must sprinkle the rhubarb with a little sweetener (monkfruit, coconut palm sugar, or other), and serve it with a warm, British “Birds English Custard™.”
Freezes perfectly. Individually wrapped portions. For up to one month.