Oatmeal Crisps

Toasting the oats makes these taste great. They are more like crisps than cookies, but would be great with added nuts or some dried unsweetened fruit. Super easy for a sugar free cookie!

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons spelt flour (I want to experiement with other flours to make these gluten-free)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola or coconut oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place oats in a medium saucepan and toast over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until oats are slightly golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, maple syrup and vanilla until combined. Add maple mixture to oat mixture and stir to combine completely. The dough will be warm. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently flatten dough with wet fingers and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack, then store them in an airtight container.

Breakfast On the Go

I copied this from the Whole Foods website. I haven't tried these yet, but I will tomorrow morning and then will get too busy to post! I read all 27 reviews and everyone loved these. I am always looking for a breakfast bar that I can take and run or an after the gym snack. I am anxious to try all sort of variations with different fruits and nuts.

Apple-Cinnamon Oat Squares

Ingredients

2 cups unsweetened almondmilk*
1 1/2 cups steel cut oats*
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup ground flax seeds (not whole flax seeds)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 (about 1 pound) Pink Lady apples, cored and grated

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Transfer to a foil- or parchment paper-lined 9-inch square baking pan, press down and smooth out the top and bake until firm and golden brown, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan; cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature. Refridgerate any leftovers and warm if desired for serving.

Nutrition

Per serving (1 square): 140 calories (50 from fat), 6g total fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 25mg sodium, 20g total carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 7g sugar), 3g protein

All Natural Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is another cookie recipe to get you through the sugar assault that is Easter! This is a recipe from my ultra-healthy sister in law. Thanks Aubrey!

3/4 cup room temp. butter

3/4 cup sucanat or palm sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup, preferably grade B

2 T raw honey

1 T vanilla extract

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour--I used ground soft white wheat

1/2 t salt

3/4 t baking soda

1- 1 1/2 cups grain sweetened chocolate chips or carob chips (there is a chocolate bar I found at Target that is sweetened with Raw Organic Sugar, that works in these chopped up. It gives these more of a "gourmet" look.)

Preheat oven to 350

Let all your cold ingredients come to room temp...they will cream much better that way.

Cream the butter, sugar, syrup and honey very well. Add the vanilla and egg. Cream very well. Add the dry and mix until combined, stir in chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes.

Cool and enjoy!

True Food

True Food is the name of my new favorite restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. Fun, fresh atmosphere, organic foods and best of all I could drink any of the agave sweetened sodas on the menu and all desserts are made with raw organic cane sugar!!

http://truefoodkitchen.com/

Celebrating...Naturally

For some reason holidays come with ad campaigns that would have us believe that without candy, chocolate and other "treats" we can't really celebrate. I think as a mom this has been the most challenging and also most fun thing about the no sugar resolution. It has forced me to be really creative and I like the opportunity to try some new things. I am trying to get to the point where the natural stuff is associated with the fun times, not the other way around. For St. Patrick's Day breakfast we made these green waffles with green whipped cream and kiwis. There were no complaints!

For my oldest son's birthday I took cake pops (very sugary!) to school, so I wanted to balance it for his party. We had popcorn, movie candy and root beer floats. We used OOgave Root Beer and Rice Dream Vanilla icecream for the floats. The Simply Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit Nuggets took the place of the candy for some of the kids and the popcorn made a healthier alternative to chips. I am still trying to find the right balance with my boys, I offer them the naturally sweet alternatives and hope to counteract the less-healthy (but sometimes fun!) foods. They still have the occasional Happy Meal or sugar cereal, but hopefully they are learning there are better choices that still taste great and are fun.

Springtime Waldorf Chicken and Apple Salad

From my Basha's flyer:

2 cups cooked chicken breasts, cooled and diced
2 large apples, cored and diced
1/4 cup raisins (you could use grapes instead)
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup Plain Low-Fat Yogurt (I use Cascade Fresh)
3 Tbsp Low-Fat Mayo
1 Tbsp Agave or Honey
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Salt and Pepper

Whisk together dressing ingredients. Combine salad ingredients and stir in dressing. Serve over lettuce leaves. Make six servings.

With 4g of fiber, 274 calories, 9g fat and 20g of protein this makes a fantastic healthy lunch.

Flax Seed Pancakes- Delicious

These are from the back of the package of Flax USA Organic Golden Flax bag. A friend told me they were good and they were! We substituted the sugar with honey, folded in some blueberries and drizzled with maple syrup. Even my pickiest eater devoured. Enjoy these for breakfast or breakfast for dinner.

1/2 ground flax seed
2tsp baking powder
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all these in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together:

2 Tbsp honey
1 cup buttermilk or (1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice + just under a cup of milk, let it sit for 5min)
1 egg
1 Tbsp canola oil (sure these would be great with coconut oil too)

Combine wet and dry until just mixed. Fold in fruit if desired. Cook on a hot griddle. Top with maple syrup, cinnamon applesauce, natural peanut butter, apple or almond butter. Enjoy.