Healthier Easter Treats: Dark Chocolate Dipped Rice Crispy Eggs

4 / 11 / 144 / 14 / 14

It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost Easter… {Ummmm, wasn’t it January just a couple of days ago?! I’m certain it was.} Either way, it’s about time Miss G and I get busy with some Easter fun, and we decided we’d start with baking up something delicious in the kitchen along with our friends from Hillary with two Ls {please} and Little Miss Mama. As usual, we started with a totally non-healthy recipe {this one for Rice Krispie Treat Speckled Eggs} and then worked our magic on it to make it sugar-free and more whole foods based. While we concocted a delicious healthier version of rice crispy treats over a year ago {and even formed them into rice crispy treat eggs last Easter}, this time I wanted to try something new.

Wholewheat Sugarless Apple Strudel {a bake off}

11 / 29 / 1311 / 29 / 13

There is no doubt that Miss G and I miss our Canadian mama and munchkin friends terribly despite being very happy here in the desert. Two of those pairs include Tairalyn of Little Miss Mama and her little lady, Sofia Marie, and Hillary of Hillary with two Ls (please) and her petit monsieur, Grady. Gracen sees both of her little friends via Instagram photos and videos, and I stalk both mamas via all of their social media outlets to make sure I don’t miss out on a single thing. Last month, when Tairalyn posted about a naughty recipe full of white flour, butter, Velveeta, and cream cheese, a crazy fun idea came together. You see, the three of us mamas all love to cook and bake. The only difference is that our approaches vary quite widely. Hillary loves to play with ingredients and try to find healthy(ish) alternatives to traditional ingredients, but despite her daily green juices and veggie-packed dinners, she’s a butter lover at heart. Tairalyn, on the other hand, unapologetically cooks up indulgent recipes in their full sugary, buttery glory, and spares nothing when it comes to taste.

…And then there’s me. Yes, lame-o ‘I bet I could make that sugar-free and wholewheat and butter-less, and, and, and…’ me. I once attempted to make a banana healthier. Enough said.

Summer Strawberry Shortcake {with Wholewheat Date-sweetened Biscuits}

6 / 30 / 137 / 6 / 13

Nothing says summer quite like fresh strawberry shortcake, and since our kitchen is currently overflowing with berries after this morning’s trip to Krause Berry Farms, I thought Miss G and I would experiment with a healthier, wholewheat, sugar-free version this afternoon. The unfortunate part is that our little old house was sitting at 31 degrees, so turning on the oven to bake shortcakes certainly wasn’t our best plan, but you gotta do what you gotta do when you have fresh berries begging to be gobbled up! ☺

While I don’t mind baking with small amounts of honey and pure maple syrup, our recent {and delicious!} cookie dough boys have peeked my interest in baking with dates {and other sweet fruits} instead of the alternative sweeteners I usually turn to. I’m happy to report, that our first experiment was a total success! These shortcakes turned out soft, moist inside, and perfectly sweet! Plus the tiny hint of coconut flavour from the coconut oil made them even more delicious.

Brad loved them, and I think Gracen thought she’d died and gone to heaven went she saw a little plate stacked with cake, sliced strawberries, and freshly whipped cream coming her way.

Here’s the recipe to our new favourite summer dessert….

Strawberry Shortcake with Date-sweetened Biscuits (adapted from this recipe)

2 1/2 cups of wholewheat flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

2/3 cup of buttermilk (you can make your own by adding 3/4 of a tablespoon of vinegar to 2/3 of a cup of regular milk and letting it sit for 5 or 10 minutes)
8 tablespoons of coconut oil (in its liquid state)
1 egg
4 majool dates, soaked and pureed

1 1/2 cups of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

strawberries, sliced

Before starting this recipe, place the dates into a small bowl, cover them with boiling water, and let sit for about 15 minutes. Remove pits and place dates, along with a tablespoon or two of the soaking water in a food processor or blender and process until smooth {or nearly smooth}.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If you’re making your own buttermilk, mix the milk and vinegar together and set it aside.

Whisk together the wholewheat flour, baking powder, and sea salt.

In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, coconut oil, egg, and pureed dates until as smooth as possible.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just barely combined. Divide the dough in 8 to 10 balls and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are slightly golden.

Whip cream until peaks begin to form, then add maple syrup and whip for an extra few seconds to combine.

Slice strawberries.

To assemble, cut shortcakes in half horizontally, placing the tops aside temporarily. Place a heaping scoop of strawberries on each shortcake bottom, then top with a generous spoonful of freshly whipped cream, and place the tops back on. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

♥

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A Delicious First {& a Recipe}

6 / 15 / 136 / 15 / 13

This happened tonight… Miss G’s first ever ice cream cone. And oh my goodness, did she ever love it. Before we knew it, all that was left was sticky fingers and a drippy chin and dress.

She’s already planned our next two flavours too – pumpkin with cinnamon first, and then strawberry afterwards. There’s bound to be plenty of ice cream in our future.

{Healthier} Creamy Coconut Ice Cream with Candied Coconut Sprinkles

Ice cream:

1/2 cup of whipping cream
2 cans of coconut milk (we used full fat)
6 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl, then place in fridge to cool for a couple of hours. Process in an ice cream machine for 20 minutes and put into the freezer for a few hours to set.

Sprinkles:

1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup

Put both ingredients into a jar or bag and shake well. Spread coconut out on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Roast at 250 degrees until crunchy and golden brown.

Enjoy!

For more healthy-ish desserts, click here.

♥

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Healthier Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

6 / 15 / 136 / 15 / 13

Gracen and I have experimented with making many different versions of healthier peanut butter cookies – cream cheese ones, two ingredient ones, banana-based ones – but sadly, none have ever turned out really well. Late this afternoon, however, when she randomly declared that “We should make cookies! Yummy no sugar ones that Gracen can have – YEAAAAAAAAH!”, we came up with our first batch that actually taste like real peanut butter cookies. Only they’re much healthier. ☺ Here’s our new go-to peanut butter cookie recipe…

Healthier Peanut Butter Oat Cookies (based off of this recipe by Weelicious)

1/2 cup of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of good honey

1 cup of all-natural peanut butter
1 large egg
3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla

1 1/4 cups of wholewheat flour
1 cup of old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Using a mixer, cream the coconut oil and honey together until smooth. Add the peanut butter, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix again until smooth.

Add all of the dry ingredients to a separate bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix just until combined. Scoop out 1 tablespoon balls of dough and flatten with a floured fork. (For an additional nutrition boost, you could roll the balls in chia seeds or hemp hearts before flattening.)

Bake for 9 or 10 minutes, then cool and serve.

Enjoy!

For more healthy-ish desserts, click here.

♥

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Healthier Mini Mason Jar {Birthday} Cheesecakes

4 / 30 / 135 / 4 / 13

Yesterday, when I told Gracen that we’d be celebrating Papa’s birthday soon, the first thing she said was, “We need to make a cake!” Then she went on about painting him party hats and getting 3 pink gifts, but I digress. Originally, I was thinking about doing two cakes. Something delicious and wildly unhealthy from Pioneer Woman for Brad, and something wholesome, wholewheat, and sugar/butter-free for Miss G to enjoy. Buuuuut, when I thought about doing a cheesecake for Brad (one of his favourites), I realized that I could probably do a modified version that would suit everyone’s needs since cheesecake is mostly just cream cheese. My main obstacle was coming up with a yummy crust without using the usual graham wafer/sugar/butter combo, but I played around a little bit and I’m happy to report and it turned out really well.

As for the cheesecake itself, I wasn’t sure about it at first. It tasted good fresh out of the oven, but it was light and bubbly instead of thick and dense the way proper cheesecake is supposed to be. In the words of my husband, it tasted “healthyish”. I had come to terms with the fact that I’d have to do some recipe revamping in the future, until we tasted it again tonight. After sitting in the refrigerator overnight, it had densed up significantly and was actually really good! Good enough to make again, that’s for sure.

Here’s the lineup of ingredients my little sous chef and I used to make our mini mason jar cheesecakes… Sour cream, cream cheese, lemon zest, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla, almonds, an egg, and coconut. Plus the mini mason jars themselves, of course. 5 of these little jelly jars works perfectly with this recipe.

To make our crust, we added some coconut, some raw almonds, a little bit of pure maple syrup, and a little bit of pure vanilla into our food processor and blended until it was thick and sticky.

Then we scooped the crust mixture evenly into our 5 jars, and Miss G used a cork to flatten them out.

This was the end result.

With our crusts ready to go, we switched our focus over to the actual cheesecake part. First, we added our room temperature cream cheese and egg into our mixer and beat until smooth.

Next we added our sour cream, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla, and lemon zest, and mixed again.

Baking is ridiculously fun, wouldn’t you agree?

With our cheesecake filling prepared, we poured the mixture evenly into our 5 mason jars.

Then we placed them into a high-walled baking dish, filled it halfway up the jars with hot water, and baked the entire thing.

When they’d finished baking, I topped the ones for Gracen and I with stewed blueberries…

And the birthday boy’s with deliciously naughty Nutella. Of course the options are endless really… Fresh berries, shredded coconut, sliced bananas, or mini dark chocolate chips would all make yummy toppings too.

The biggest perks to these little desserts is that they already come in a storage container, they’re super easy to hand out at parties, and they tuck easily into picnic baskets and backpacks for a treat on the go.

Healthier Mini Mason Jar Cheesecakes

{adapted from this recipe}

5 4 oz. mason jars

1/3 cup of raw almonds
1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut
1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla

250 grams of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup of sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
zest of 1/2 a lemon
2.5 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

Blend almonds, coconut, maple syrup, and vanilla in a food processor until thick and paste-like. Divide the mixture equally into 5 mini mason jars and use a cork to create a flat, even crust.

In a mixer, combine the cream cheese and egg until smooth. Add in the sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and pure maple syrup and mix again.

Pour the cream cheese mixture evenly into the 5 mason jars. Place the jars in a high-walled baking dish, fill it with water until halfway up the jars, and bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

Allow to cool on the counter. Top with toppings of your choice before or after refrigerating overnight.

Enjoy!

♥

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Healthier Banana Fudgesicles

4 / 25 / 135 / 1 / 13

The other night, Brad went out for Saturday night movie treats after G was in bed. I requested a fudgesicle, and he came home with a box of 18. Oy. Several fudgesicles into the box, I decided we’d better come up with a healthier version, stat.

Here’s our line up of ingredients… Frozen banana chunks, cocoa powder, pure maple syrup, and pure vanilla. Plus a popsicle mould of course.

To get started, we basically turned out frozen bananas into one ingredient ice cream by adding small batches into our food processor at a time, blending them into a thick soft serve texture.

Next, we added some cocoa, a little bit of pure maple syrup, and a little bit of pure vanilla, and blended everything up again to create thick, chocolatey soft serve.

And that’s it. We simply scooped the soft serve into our popsicle moulds and popped them in the freezer overnight.

This was the end result. Thick chocolatey banana pops that are bound to satisfy a sweet tooth or chocolate craving.

What does Miss G think? Well, after finishing her first one, she turned to see mine still almost whole, and said, “Mine’s a little bit almost all gone, Mama, so I want to trade wif you.” as if she was doing me a favour – hah! Thanks for thinking of your mama, Miss G.

Healthier Banana Fudgesicles

3 medium bananas, frozen
2 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons of pure maple syrup (truly optional – they’d be sweet enough without)
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla

Blend bananas in a food processor until they reach a thick soft serve consistency. Add in the cocoa, maple syrup, and vanilla and blend again. Scoop mixture into popsicle moulds and freeze overnight.

Enjoy!

♥

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Healthier Chocolate Puff Squares

4 / 24 / 134 / 21 / 17

Now that Miss G is a little bit older, we’ve definitely loosened up a little in terms of what she eats. While ‘treats’ in the past may have included roasted chickpeas, kale chips, or popsicles made with almost strictly mango and yogurt (all things that pack a pretty decent nutritional punch), nowadays, some ‘treats’ are simply treats… Things that are yummy and not oozing in nutritional value. That being said, we do try to keep them on the healthy side, using whole, organic ingredients whenever possible.

After fairly successfully creating a yummy and healthier crispy rice treat recipe, I decided we would try to redo another classic children’s treat… Chocolate puffed wheat squares. It took a little bit of experimenting, but I think we found a pretty awesome alternate recipe. Here’s how we made them…

First, the lineup of ingredients… Coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa powder, kamut puffs, pure vanilla, pure maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and cashew butter. {Edited to add: I find that this is an incredibly forgiving recipe and have now tried it many ways, so I’ll list a few alternatives in the recipe at the bottom of the post.}

To start off, we added our coconut oil, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and cashew butter to a large pot.

Of course finding a spoon licking volunteer wasn’t hard.

Then Miss G measured out the kamut puffs into a large bowl…

While I stirred the wet ingredients over at the stove. Just as it started to form slow bubbles, I turned off the heat, added the vanilla, and gave it another quick stir.

Then we poured the wet mixture into the kamut puff bowl and Miss G mixed everything up well.

When it was mixed well, we poured the mixture out onto a parchment-line baking pan (my smaller one was already in use and this one was too big so we only used half of it) and used slightly wet hands to press everything down firmly.

After about 30 minutes in the fridge, we took our chocolately dessert out of the pan and cut it into squares.

The verdict? Gracen LOVED them (as did I). When I asked her how they were, her response was, “So, so, sooooooooo yummy!”

The other way I know they are decent? When I left for a 30 minute run around the neighbourhood, there were 10 squares sitting on parchment paper on the butcher block. When I got home? 3 and some crumbs – THREE! (Proof is in my Instagram feed – mamapapabububa). Apparently they are husband approved also.

Healthier Chocolate Puff Squares

1/2 cup of organic brown rice syrup (or honey or pure maple syrup)
1/2 cup of cashew butter (or peanut butter)
1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup (not needed if using honey or maple syrup in place of brown rice syrup)
3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons of coconut oil

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

4 1/2 cups of kamut puffs (or other puff cereal)

Measure the brown rice syrup, cashew butter, maple syrup, cocoa, and coconut oil into a large pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring almost constantly. Allow the mixture to come to a bubble, turn down the heat slightly, and continue stirring while it thickens up a little. When done, turn off the heat, add the vanilla, and give it another quick stir.

Add in the kamut puffs and mix well to ensure the cereal is evenly coated with the sticky mixture.

Dump the mixture into a parchment-lined baking pan or scoop into a greased muffin cups and press it down firmly. Pop the pan into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to allow the treats to set.

Cut and enjoy!

♥

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Apple Crumble Dessert Popcorn

4 / 23 / 134 / 25 / 13

Oh my goodness. After our morning cooking class at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. where the lovely Suz shared more of her secrets, Gracen and I whipped up a batch of this sweet, satisfying popcorn treat. It’s ridiculously delicious.

Here’s the line-up of ingredients… Pure maple syrup, coconut oil, dried apples (we dehydrated our own, but you can just as easily buy unsweetened, unsulphered ones at the store), popping corn, cinnamon, and sliced raw almonds (not pictured because ours were toasting in the oven).

To start off, we added our coconut oil, popping corn, and cinnamon into a pot (thanks to my lovely friend Tairalyn who reminded me that putting seasonings directly in the pot is a brilliant idea). We have this fancy popcorn popping pot (which we adore!), but any decent quality pot will do. Warm your oil, popcorn seeds, and cinnamon over medium heat until the seeds start popping. Shake the pot back and forth over the element almost constantly once the popping begins.

When the popping has finished, we had a delicious, slightly coconut-y popcorn, evenly coated in warm cinnamon.

Next, we chopped up our apples, put them in a bowl, and drizzled our maple syrup on top.

Then my freshly bathed sous chef dumped the mixture on the popcorn and mixed it all up with her hands.

The last step was sprinkling the generously toasted almonds on top and giving the popcorn one final mix.

Depending on how much will power you have, you can either eat it immediately, or lay it out on a baking sheet and let it lose some of its stickiness for a few minutes – both ways are delicious (though we definitely know how the ‘served immediately’ kind tastes like better than the ‘wait’ kind).

When I asked Grae what she thought of it, she replied with “Nummy!”, “Sweet!”, and “Delicious!” in between ‘mmmmmmmm’ sounds. My guess is that she liked it every bit as much as I did.

Apple Crumble Dessert Popcorn (inspired by Suz of Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company)

2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1/2 cup of popcorn seeds
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 cup of unsweetened, unsulphered dried apples
2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

1/2 cup of raw sliced almonds, toasted until golden brown

Toast sliced almonds in an oven set at 200 degrees.

Put coconut oil, popcorn seeds, and cinnamon into a large, heavy pot and pop over medium heat.

Roughly chop dried apples and drizzle the maple syrup on top. Dump the apple/syrup mixture on top of the popcorn and mix well by hand. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top and mix again.

Serve immediately or let sit on a baking sheet for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

♥

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{Heart-Shaped} Strawberry Crispy Rice Treats

2 / 13 / 139 / 22 / 13

I must admit, since creating our first batch of healthy{er} crispy rice treats, we’ve made several batches since. The good news is that through all of the ‘testing’, we’ve learned that they last really well in an airtight container on the counter, they can be made into fun shapes using silicon moulds and ice cube trays, and they can easily be cut into shapes with cookie cutters {all while holding their shape just as well as regular Rice Krispie treats do}. The one lesson we’ve learned along the way is that if you overdo the cereal, they turn out crunchier, more dry, and not nearly as yummy. Lesson learned.

When planning some of the treats we’d serve at our annual Valentine’s Tea, Gracen’s most enthusiastic suggestion was “Crispy treats! Valem-time ones!” Making the treats pink came to mind first, but since I’m not crazy about feeding Miss G a bunch of unnecessary food dyes, that got nixed shortly there after.

The next thing that came to mind was one of Grae’s favourite treats… Freeze-dried strawberries. We buy ours at Trader Joe’s, but I have seen them in other stores as well. They’re just strawberries, but the process of freeze-drying them causes them to be super crunchy and astronaut food-like.

I asked Grae if she’d like to experiment with making strawberry crispy rice treats, and she was on board all the way.

To get started, we took about a half a cup of freeze-dried strawberries, ground them to a powder in our food processor, and added them to the wet mixture while following our usual crispy rice treat recipe.

Of course, Miss G licked the cashew butter spoon, because, well… That’s probably the best part about helping with this recipe.

Once we’d combined the cereal and the wet mixture, we took another portion of freeze-dried strawberries, crumbled half into the mixture itself, and then sprinkled the other half on top of the mixture after pressing it down firmly on a baking sheet.

We let the mixture cool completely, then used a cookie cutter to cut out heart-shaped treats. Miss G liked helping with this job, but it required some serious muscle, so I had to help out.

It’s a simple twist, but so far the feedback’s been great… Strawberry crispy treat success! ☺

Healthier Crispy Rice Treats

1/2 cup of organic brown rice syrup (found in the all-natural aisle of most grocery stores, somewhere between the nut butters, syrups, and honeys)
1/2 cup of cashew butter (macadamia works great too)
1/2 cup of freeze-dried strawberries, ground into powder
1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

4 cups of crispy brown rice cereal
1/2 cup of freeze-dried strawberries, gently crumbled

Measure the brown rice syrup, cashew butter, ground freeze-dried strawberries, and maple syrup into a large pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring almost constantly. When the mixture is hot and liquidy (but not bubbling), add the vanilla, give it another quick stir, and remove the pot from the heat.

Add in the crispy rice cereal and mix well to ensure the cereal is evenly coated with the sticky mixture. Next, add in a 1/4 cup of the crumbled strawberries and stir to distribute them evenly.

Dump the mixture onto a parchment-line baking pan and press it down firmly. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of freeze-dried strawberries on top of the mixture, and gently press them down into place.

Allow the mixture to cool completely (or almost completely). Use a cookie cutter to cut out heart-shaped treats.

Enjoy!

♥

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Healthier Crispy Rice Treats

1 / 13 / 131 / 11 / 14

I don’t know why, but lately I’ve had a real hankering for Rice Krispie treats… Of course I could have easily whipped up the classic butter and marshmallow version I grew up with, but number one, I wouldn’t feel good about letting Miss G try one (which is slowly becoming the determining factor of whether or not any of us should eat particular foods), and number two, have you ever read the ingredient list on the side of a bag of marshmallows?! It’s not good.

So today Miss G and I set off on a little mission to create our own healthier version.

To be honest, I really had no idea if it was going to work. My thought process went something like this… Hmmm… I guess I could replace the butter with a nut butter (still lots of fat, but good fat with some added nutrition mixed in). Then I could replace the marshmallows with a more natural sticky sweetener (Maybe maple syrup? Honey? Brown rice syrup?) And the regular Rice Krispies cereal could easily be swapped for a sugar-free crisp brown rice cereal. It at least sounds like an okay plan, right?

In the end, I decided to go with cashew butter… It’s light, has a mild flavour {that is almost mallowy}, and is super creamy. As for my sweetener, after a bit of online research, I decided to go with this brown rice syrup. I haven’t used brown rice syrup a whole lot in the past, but that’s only because I hadn’t yet done my research. What I found out is that brown rice syrup is a natural sweetener produced by fermenting cooked rice and treating it with natural enzymes from sprouted barley. It’s about half as sweet as sugar, has a mild flavour, and is thick and syrupy (somewhere between pure maple syrup and a good honey). The benefits are that it has a low glycemic value, and it’s a good source of minerals and minor nutrients. Sold. In order to add just a touch of sweetness, we added a little bit of pure maple syrup, and pure vanilla is a must in almost all baking projects in our house.

So there you have it – crisp brown rice cereal, brown rice syrup, cashew butter, pure maple syrup, and pure vanilla – and all were available in our nearby {regular} grocery store.

Just for fun, we decided to make our treats in individual portions using a muffin tin, so Grae prepared the tray ahead of time by lightly brushing on some grapeseed oil.

Now for the actual cooking part… First, we put our brown rice syrup to a large pot…

Then we added our cashew butter…

And a little bit of pure maple syrup for sweetness.

Then we transferred the pot over to the stove and stirred the mixture over medium heat until it was hot and liquidy, but not bubbling.

Next, we added a good amount of vanilla, gave the mixture another quick stir, and removed it from the heat.

While you could just as easily dump your cereal into the pot and dirty one less dish, we opted for dumping our cereal into a large bowl and pouring the mixture on top so Miss G wouldn’t have to worry about the hot pot during the mixing process.

Then we mixed everything up until the cereal was evenly coated with the gooey mixture.

Working quickly, I filled each cup with a heaping scoop of crisp rice mixture.

Then we placed a large sheet of parchment paper on top and pushed the mixture down firmly into the cups.

Voila!

After a little bit of time in the freezer, I used a butter knife to pop out our treats.

The verdict on Miss G’s first ever crispy rice treat? She LOVED it.

We all loved them in fact. They’re soft and gooey just like regular Rice Krispie treats, with a similar flavour that is just slightly more caramely.

The true determining factor of success? Brad {my sometimes picky husband who doesn’t always love the ‘weird food’ G and I cook} announcing that he likes them just as much as the classic variety, only to later decide that he thinks he likes them more. Score. ☺

Healthy Crisp Rice Treats

1/2 cup of organic brown rice syrup
1/2 cup of cashew butter (or your favourite nut butter)
1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

4 cups of organic sugar-free crispy brown rice cereal

Measure the brown rice syrup, nut butter, and maple syrup into a large pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring almost constantly. When the mixture is hot and liquidy (but not bubbling), add the vanilla, give it another quick stir, and remove the pot from the heat.

Add in the crispy rice cereal and mix well to ensure the cereal is evenly coated with the sticky mixture.

Dump the mixture into a parchment-lined baking pan or scoop into a greased muffin cups and press it down firmly. Pop the pan into the freezer for about 15 minutes to allow the treats to set.

Enjoy your much healthier crispy rice treats!

♥

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