Peanut butter no-bake heaven!

Gluten, dairy and sugar free no-bakes! 

1/2c melted coconut oil

3T honey 

1/2c unsweetened peanut butter

Add oats until thicker texture ( approx 1-1 1/2c)

Mix together coconut oil, honey and peanut butter. Stir in oats. Scoop into mini muffin tins and freeze approx 15 mins. Pop out of tin into Baggie or container and store in fridge. 

Yummy x infinity! 

Couscous, where have you been my whole life?

I have recently rediscovered couscous and I'm in love. I make it with a little olive oil and chicken stock then butter to finish.

We have been adding more grains and couscous cooks so quickly and easily it is great in a pinch! 

Tonight's dinner:

Grilled chicken and potatoes over whole wheat chicken couscous with tzatsiki sauce ( Greek cucumber yogurt sauce.) 

Yummy! 

Chocolate!!

I found a recipe for home made dark chocolate and tweaked it with coconut oil since I didn't have cocoa butter. 

Honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla and cocoa powder. I poured it into my bear molds and added some chopped cashews. After a bit in the freezer they easily popped out and I store them in the fridge. 

Round 2 was a peanut butter chocolate bark. I smeared unsweetened peanut butter in a pan, poured the chocolate mix on top, frozen to set then chopped into pieces. The peanut butter is a but sticky so I store this in the freezer.

This definitely satisfied my sweet tooth while helping me to get my daily coconut oil. 

Bread

I've been on an adventure to find a good bread recipe. Here are a few I've worked through. 

Almond honey bread:

Almond flour, whole wheat flour, honey, almond milk, coconut oil and butter

To go with the amazing warm bread coming out of the oven I started making chia jam!

Strawberry rhubarb chia jam:

Honey, strawberries, rhubarb and chia. 

I've also made a plain strawberry version that is just as tasty! I eat this stuff on everything! My favorites are yogurt and warm bread. My family likes it on vanilla ice cream. 

Oat wheat bread:

Oat flour, whole wheat, egg, half and half, coconut oil, butter, honey and water

Hummus flatbread/crust:

We ate this with chicken, cous cous and Greek cucumber sauce then made a chicken three cheese flatbread  on the leftovers for dinner.

It was nice and crusty! 

Garbonzo bean flour, water, olive oil, sea salt, while wheat flour 

In the end the oat wheat loaf is my favorite. I make I weekly and my kids love it also. The flatbread is super tasty also with a great crunch to it. 

Bread is back on the menu! Color me happy! :)

Heaven in a Bowl

My new favorite food- Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae 

Black bean brownies with Peanut Butter Chip Frozen Yogurt (previously posted)

Brownies:

Oats

Black beans

Honey

Cocoa powder

Vanilla

Dark chocolate chips

Walnuts

Coconut oil 

Baking powder 

Ginger chicken and black bean lettuce wraps

I've tried more and more to use leftovers in new ways. Today was a "cleaning out the fridge" lunch. The results...

Ginger chicken and black bean lettuce wraps:

Grilled chicken breast

Evoo-ginger-soy sauce-garlic-honey-hot sauce

Black beans

Quinoa

Onions

Peppers

Peanuts

Broccoli

Carrots

Iceberg lettuce

(I prefer water chestnuts in my wraps for the crunch, but these are great for leftovers )

Friday Night Special

We just had a fantastic dinner- all made within restrictions. 

Seared Scallops over quinoa with White Wine Mushroom Cream Sauce:

Scallops seared in butter

Quinoa made with chicken stock 

Sauce- mushrooms, onion, olive oil, white wine, salt, pepper and Greek yogurt 

 It was my first time searing scallops at home and I have to say they were perfection! I think seeing so many poorly made scallops on Hell's Kitchen inspired me to pay more attention. If you watch the show you know the scallop station is always a challenge. 

Following that I made a pie today. I was attempting pie crust with alternate ingredients. Pie is one of my major food groups, you know along with cheese, coffee, bread and potatoes. 

So attempting home made pie crust for the first time and with alternate ingredients my expectations were low. The results were fantastic! The crust is super flaky and tasty. The only place I notice a big difference is the edges. I don't long to break the crust edge off on the entire pie to eat alone as I do with regular crust. But this is a much healthier version and very good. 

Triple Berry Pie:

Crust- almond flour, unbleached flour, coconut oil, egg, vinegar, water, salt

Filling- strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raw local honey, chia gelled, egg, dash of unbleached flour 

It's been a very tasty evening in!