Confession: Today Miss G had chocolate for breakfast.
And it wasn’t the first time. {Ugh.}
Now I know what you’re thinking… WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?
I know.
Tag Archives: treats
A Delicious First {& a Recipe}
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
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 Chocolate Puff Squares
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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A First
First ever juice box. Slightly baffled at first (juice?! orange juice?! in a box?!), but after the surprise wore off, she was pretty thrilled about it all.Creamy Kiwi Avocado Pops
A couple of weekends ago, at our local farmer’s market, we came across a Abbotsford-based farmer selling my favourite fruit… kiwi. While I had no idea that kiwi fruit was grown locally, I did know that kiwi is delicious and lasts a long time when properly kept, so I stocked up. When we got home, the kiwi went into the back of the crisper and I forgot about them for a while. Oops.
Upon rediscovering a stash of over a dozen kiwis, I decided we had to put {at least some of} them to good use asap. I ran a few ideas past my sous chef and she very confidently decided on popsicles. As you do. We gathered up a few simple ingredients – the kiwi, some plain yogurt, a little bit of honey, and some pure apple juice, and got started.
While I’m sure they would have been yummy given the original line up of ingredients, at the last minute I decided to add in an avocado… Extra creaminess and extra nutrients equals a win-win, right?
My little helper threw everything into the food processor…
Stopping to sample her first ever taste of apple juice. When the measuring cup was four fifths empty she asked, “Dump it in now, Mama?” Hmmm… you think she enjoyed it?
After replacing our missing apple juice, we processed everything until smooth.
This was the result. A super smooth, super creamy mixture that Miss G wanted to drink then and there.
We transferred the mixture into our makeshift popsicle moulds, which are still some of my very favourites despite the fact that we now have several proper sets.
Grae happily placed the lids on top and inserted the wooden popsicle sticks…
And it was time for the freezer.
Several hours later, we had delicious, healthy popsicles Miss G couldn’t wait to get her little hands on.
Creamy Kiwi Avocado Popsicles
- 8 kiwi fruits
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1/4 cup of plain organic yogurt
- 3 tablespoons of fresh-pressed apple juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of honey (more if desired)
Pop everything into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pour into popsicle moulds and freeze.
Enjoy!
See more of our healthy popsicle recipes here.
♥
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iPhoneography // Saturday Night
sous chef // best part of bakingHealthier Crispy Rice Treats
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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