Natural Sugar Treats Archives | Page 4 of 5

Healthy Treat For Today: Strawberry Jelly Roll

March 7, 2008 by Laura 4 Comments

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Today, I asked Elias what we should make for our healthy treat…

He said, “Something with strawberries!! Some kind of cake!!”

Since strawberries aren’t in season yet…and I couldn’t really come up with any good ideas for a cake using frozen strawberries…

We came up with the idea to make a Strawberry Jelly Roll.

I’ve actually never made a jelly roll before…

Um, because, they’ve intimidated me.

I admit it. I have Jellyrollaphobia.

I’m usually a mix-up-a-cake-and-throw-it -into-the-pan kind of a girl. The idea of whipping my egg whites and folding in my flour mixture…blah, blah, blah…

And then rolling the cake thingy and spreading the filling, and rolling it back up without the thing breaking apart all over the place really scared me…

Jellyrollaphobia.

But today, everyone…

Today, I have overcome my fear of the Jelly Roll.

I have learned that Jelly Rolls are nothing to be afraid of.

This was very easy to make…and not at all scary.

Strawberry Jelly RollYum

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 t. baking powder
4 eggs yolks
1/2 t. vanilla
1/3 cup rapadura
4 egg whites
1/2 cup rapadura
Strawberry Jelly – the kind made with only fruit, of course

Stir together flour and baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla and 1/3 cup rapadura. And in another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup rapadura to the egg whites and beat some more until hard peaks form.

Then, fold the egg yolk/vanilla mixture into the egg whites. Next, fold the flour mixture into the egg whites.

Spread the batter onto a buttered piece of parchment paper lining a cookie sheet. Bake it for 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees. The cake should “spring back” if you gently touch it in the middle.

Immediately pull the cake off of the parchment paper and lay it onto a tea towel. Roll it up in the towel. Allow it to cool completely.

Unroll it, spread jelly all over it, and roll it back up.

Done.

Slice it, eat it, share it, exclaim over it, be amazed by it.

We all really liked this treat.

And I will definitely make it again sometime.

I’ll probably even play with it and make different fun variations to the Jelly Roll.

Pumpkin Roll, Chocolate Roll, Cream Cheese something or other Roll, Chocolate-Pumpkin-Cream Cheese-something or other Roll…

I am a Jellyrollaphobic no more.

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Healthy Treat for Today: Mudballs

March 6, 2008 by Laura 35 Comments

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Who wouldn’t want to eat a Mudball?! These treats give the idea of making mud pies a whole new meaning!

These are great fun to make…and great fun to eat!

Just ask my boys…who have gone through about 4 double batches of them since Jayme sent me the recipe!

As Jayme put it…

“Sometimes we eat them warm right out of the pan…sometimes we eat chill them and then eat them…but mostly…we just EAT them!”

Perfectly said!

You have to try these! They are a great snack to have on hand in the fridge. And they really do just take about five minutes to make.

MudballsYum

1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup sesame seeds or flax seeds

Cook the peanut butter and honey over low heat until melted. Add remaining ingredients. When cool enough to handle roll into oohey gooey mud balls.

Have fun! Let me know if you don’t like the name of these treats just as much as my boys do!

UPDATE

Every time I make these, I have to do way too much mental math to figure out how to make a large batch. Finally I realized that I needed to update this post with an additional recipe card to help us all just make these without having to stretch our brains to figure out how many 1/4 cups are in 40 ounces. Oy.

You may wish I had some sort of happy medium recipe – somewhere between Tiny Recipe and Monster Recipe. I suggest that you might want to cut the Monster Recipe in half, or make the big recipe and then wrap/freeze some Mudballs for another time!

NOTE: If you do the math, you’ll notice that not all of the ingredient amounts listed above are multiplied the same. This is because I refuse to use that much honey, which then changes the liquid consistency of the big batch. What you see below is how I make these now as I use a 40-ounce jar of our favorite peanut butter from Sam’s. (40-ounces is 5-cups, by the way. You can see then, that I don’t want to use 5-cups of honey!?!?! These are perfectly sweet with way less honey!)

Monster-Sized Recipe for Mudballs

Healthy Treat for Today: Mudballs

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Author: Laura

Serves: 50-60

Ingredients

40 ounce jar natural peanut butter
1 cup honey
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup flax seeds (ground or regular)
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1½ cups chocolate chips
4 cups oats

Instructions

Cook and stir the peanut butter and honey over low heat until melted together
Add remaining ingredients.
Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to form balls.
Store in an air tight container.

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Healthy Treat for Today: Applesauce Bread

March 5, 2008 by Laura 132 Comments

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Wanna know the biggest problem I had with my Applesauce Bread this morning?!

applesauce_bread

Yum

I only made one loaf! What was I thinking?!

We downed the whole loaf very quickly…

And then, “Mom, did you make anymore?” say all the boys as they peek around in hope at all the countertops and at the oven.

So, be warned, you might want to double this recipe if you’re going to wake your family up some morning to the delicious smell of this bread baking.

And, it is a great way to wake your family, I promise!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Healthy Treat for Today: Applesauce Bread

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Author: Laura

Serves: 1 loaf

Ingredients

1½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup sucanat or ½ cup honey
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¾ cup applesauce
2 eggs
¼ cup melted butter

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients.
Make a well in the center and add applesauce, eggs, and butter.
Stir well.
Pour batter into one buttered bread pan or stone.
Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Check out these cutie boys eating their Aplesauce Bread this morning with butter melted on it, with a glass of milk…

See, Malachi has his green cell phone handy right there – ready to call someone to let them
know what a great breakfast he’s having. (I can’t believe my kids were actually this little once!)

This is one of our favorite fall recipes! Put some in the oven, and your whole house will smell like fall. Or Christmas. Or comfort. Or all of the above.

Hint: If you have some apples that are beginning to get mushy and no one wants to eat them – simply core them and put them into a food processor or blender. Puree them, then stir them into this recipe. Works like a charm!

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Healthy Treat for Today: Chocolate Chip Brownies

March 3, 2008 by Laura 98 Comments

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Do you like rich chocolate like I do?

For me…the richer the better…

And this is one wealthy brownie. Loaded. Rollin’ in it. It’s got bank.

These babies require a glass of milk. A tall one.

After you have these, a brownie from a box just won’t do anymore. You won’t even be able to call those boxed things brownies anymore. They’ll just be a brown square of blah-ness. Nope, now these…these are real brownies.

And, guess what?! I experimented a little with the chocolate chips to see if I could make them with butter instead of coconut oil.

Oh yeah!! You SO can!

The chips are a little softer when made with butter, but they still worked just fine.

And they definitely taste good.

And make great Chocolate Chip Brownies!

Chocolate Chip BrowniesYum

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sucanat
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup homemade chocolate chips (chunks)

Stir together butter, sucanat and cocoa. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into a 8×8 baking stone or pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I had to double this recipe today because I’m taking a few to some friends tonight, and because…YUM!

Get yourself a tall glass of milk and sit down and enjoy one of these rich treats!

And then, get up and jog a few laps, because even though these are on the healthier side of things…

They aren’t carrot sticks.

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Healthy Treat for Today: Banana Cake

February 28, 2008 by Laura 23 Comments

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So, I told you I’d give you some amazing and deep insights into why I want to be like a banana. And I know you can hardly wait to read this and gain from my incredible deep- thinking thought.

So here it is.

I was looking at my bananas a few days ago…and watching as they turned darker and blacker and squishier and saggier.

And then I began to think through the life of a banana.

It starts out green…and it’s not very tasty.

Then it turns a beautiful yellow and it tastes good…it’s in it’s prime of life.

And then, it begins to lose it’s beauty…and slowly becomes darker and blacker and squishier…and saggier…

And as that happens…the banana just gets softer and sweeter…

And even more useful.

Because before, it was just a banana to be eaten.

Now, it is a super sweet banana that can be made into ALL kinds of things…banana bread, banana pancakes, banana smoothies, banana muffins…

And that’s when I decided that I wanted to be like a banana.

As I get older…I’m going to get age spots and get saggier…and all those fun things.

But, I also want to get sweeter and sweeter and be more and more useful to people.

I want to appreciate the older “bananas” around me who are “oh so sweet” and have “oh so much wisdom and usefulness”.

And I want to teach my children to appreciate them too.

Now when I see those bananas on my counter, instead of seeing the black, squishy sagginess of them…

I see that they truly are beautiful.

And THAT, my friends is my incredibly deep insight into why I want to be like a banana.

Here’s a great recipe to use with those beautiful squishy bananas!

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup rapadura or 3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 smashed over-ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1 stick butter, melted
1 t. vanilla

In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Mash bananas in a separate bowl. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients. Pour in mashed bananas and all other ingredients. Stir well (or beat with hand mixer).

Pour into a greased 9×9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese FrostingYum

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 ounces cream cheese
1 t. vanilla
4 T. honey

In a medium sized bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese, vanilla and honey until smooth. Fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream. “Slather” it on your banana cake.

Enjoy.

I’m going to go have myself a piece of cake…

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Healthy Treat for Today: Coconut Macaroons

February 26, 2008 by Laura 16 Comments

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All these “natural sugar” treats are soooo working for me around here. They satisfy the sweet tooth…my kids love them…and I can feel good about us all eating them!

Here’s today’s recipe!

Coconut MacaroonsYum

4 egg whites
1/4 t. sea salt
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. arrowroot powder
1/2 cup real maple syrup (grade B is best)
2 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut

Separate eggs…putting the whites in a mixing bowl and the yolks in the fridge for tomorrow’s breakfast!

Beat the whites and salt with a hand mixer until soft peaks form.

(I took this picture with my left hand while I beat my egg whites with my right hand. But, I’m not trying to brag or anything…)

Continue to beat and add vanilla, arrowroot powder and maple syrup, one at a time.

(I cannot brag about adding these ingredients and beating the egg whites and taking a picture all at the same time.)

(I mean, I could have… but I was too busy working on our taxes, practicing my latin skills and tayloring a new suit for my husband while I did this step. I simply cannot do everything at once.)

Fold in the coconut.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes….then turn the oven to 200 degrees for one hour to let them crisp up.

These little treasures are so delicious!

The hard part about making them is smelling them bake for a whole hour and a half….and not being able to eat them!

Ah, but your patience will pay off!

Enjoy!

Tomorrow’s natural sugar recipe will have something to do with bananas…as I have several around here who have seen better days.

I’m thinking…hmm…banana cake?!

I also plan to share with you some deep insights into why I hope to be like a banana someday.

Deep. Very deep insights.

Be sure to take a look at all of the great natural sugar treat recipes…and to keep coming back for more each day!

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Healthy Treat For Today: Smoothies

February 26, 2008 by Laura 23 Comments

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There really is no limit when it comes to smoothies.

smoothies

Yum

Whip out your blender and you can make them with just about any combination of ingredients:

Yogurt or kefir, berries, peaches, apples, bananas, juice, cream, milk…

How about spinach smoothies?

Yes, and they’re good too. Really. I’m not kidding.

I made myself one yesterday. Ain’t it purty?

Heather mentioned some smoothie suggestions a few weeks ago at the beginning of the NO SUGAR Plunge. Here are her great ideas:

The Ultimate Smoothie:
half a Banana
four to six frozen strawberries
half cup plain yogurt
half to one cup orange juice
one Tbsp Flax seeds (ground in coffee grinder)

In a blender add the banana, strawberries, yogurt, and orange juice. Blend until smooth. Add the flax seeds and whey, blend until evenly distributed. Pour in two glasses and enjoy! Makes 2 smoothies or cut ingredients for a solo one!

Change the fruits to make a whole new kind of smoothie.
Tropical- Fresh banana, frozen mango, pineapple juice
Very Berry– Fresh blueberries, frozen raspberries, pomegranate juice
Peachy Dreams– Fresh strawberries, frozen peaches, orange juice

Thanks, Heather for sending us those!

I really like mixing my homemade yogurt or kefir (kefir is a lot like yogurt, just a little runnier) and a variety of frozen fruits, a tiny bit of vanilla and a few drops of stevia to sweeten. Blend it up and you’ve got breakfast or a snack or a side dish at lunch.

And I know you’re dying to find out how I made my spinach smoothie…’cause you really want to hop right up and make one yourself!

It was a banana, and apple, a big handful of spinach leaves, about a half cup of water and a few drops of stevia. Trust me, it mostly tastes like banana and apple. You can use any kinds of greens – I just happened to have spinach on hand.

What do you put in your smoothies?

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Healthy Treat For Today: Peanut Butter Raisin Balls

February 25, 2008 by Laura

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I’m curious…which of the “Natural Sugar” treats have you tried?

Nobody’s been complaining around here about the yummy snacks appearing on the table. (Or should I say disappearing from the table?!)

This weekend I made Krista’s Peanut Butter Raisin Balls, and one of my kids just kept coming back, saying, “Can I have another one?”

And I just let him…because there was no reason to limit him! They are so good…and so good for you!

And…just look at how cute they are! (Yes, I’m weird and think that sometimes food it cute.)

Peanut Butter Raisin BallsYum

1 cup natural peanut butter (with salt), smooth or chunky
2 Tbs. to 1/3 cup honey (to taste)
2/3 cup raisins
2 tsp. carob powder or cocoa powder (optional)
big pinch of cinnamon (optional)
1/2 to 2/3 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut (divided) (You can substitute another form of coconut here, but it won’t be the same-this stuff should add a nice texture and crunch)

Mix together peanut butter, honey, cocoa and cinnamon. Fold in 1/3 of the coconut and all of the raisins. Chill thoroughly. Roll the mix into little balls. Roll the balls in the remaining coconut. You may need to roll them twice and press the coconut in a little. Cover them with plastic wrap or put them in a ziplock bag and serve them well chilled.

Krista’s notes:
I like these best frozen and thawed for about five minutes. :) Also, I have never used the carob/cocoa or cinnamon and the taste was still great.

Laura’s notes:

These were SOOO easy to make…I look forward to now saying to Asa or Justus, “Hey would you please go make some Peanut Butter Raisin Balls?”

(And then I’ll go do something else *like blog or somethin’* and they’ll go make them all by themselves!)

Also, I used very little honey…more like the 2 T. she mentioned, and that was plenty…because the raisins are so sweet.

Thanks, Krista for sending in the recipe!! Anyone else have a yummy “natural sugar” treat recipe to share? Email me with it!!

Tomorrow, I think we’ll take a look at some great smoothie recipes…YUM! We love smoothies around here!!

And one more thing…I haven’t asked in a while…

How’s everyone doing on the NO SUGAR Plunge?? Hanging in there? Give us all an update!

(In case you’re wondering how I’m doing…I’ve stuck to my plan: Eat one “natural sugar” treat a day. With one exception…on Friday we had Justus’ birthday party a week late *that’s another blog for later this week*, and I made little chocolate cheesecakes at his request…and I ate one. And I enjoyed it and I didn’t feel bad about it. Other than that splurge, I’ve stayed true to the goal and I’m feeling GREAT!!)

(And it made Justus really happy that I was eating one…cause he was a little sad that I didn’t have any of his original birthday cake. I couldn’t make him sad two chocolate cheesecakes in a row, now could I?)

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Healthy Treat for Today: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

February 23, 2008 by Laura 17 Comments

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Did you try making your very own homemade chocolate chips, er, chiumpks?!

Yes, they’re different than store bought ones…

But we really like them! And, I think I’ll keep playing with them to see about making them with butter…just to see if that works too!

I have really enjoyed munching on the trail mix…I love the combo of all the nuts with the fruit…and of course the CHOCOLATE!!

So now, here’s a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies, using unprocessed flour and sugar. These have a different flavor than you’re probably used to with a CC cookie…because all of the good stuff hasn’t been stripped out of the ingredients you’re putting in.

We think they’re just as good, if not better…

And when I’ve fed these to company (minus the homemade chocolate chips…I just tried those this week), they LOVE them. And they don’t even know there’s good stuff in them!

Chocolate Chip CookiesYum

2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/2 cups rapadura or sucanat
2 eggs
1 t. sea salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 – 1 cup homemade chocolate chips (I tend to be a little stingy on the chocolate chips that are homemade…I kind of want the batch to last longer!)

Mix melted butter and rapadura. Add eggs and stir well. Mix in salt, baking soda and vanilla. Stir in the flour until all combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop teaspoon sized pieces of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Now, of course I picked out some of the prettier ones to show you…and just so you don’t wonder why some of yours didn’t turn out that pretty…

The homemade chocolate chiumpks in these just melted allllll over the place.

Maybe we could call those Chocolate Swirl Cookies?! (Sounds better than Runny Chocolate Blob Cookies.)

The good thing is…they taste great no matter what!

My kids had NO complaints about eating the ugly less fortunate looking ones.

Stay tuned for our next recipe…Peanut Butter Raisin Balls…sent in by Krista.

As you can tell, this series of healthy treat recipes is not going to end any time soon! I still have to talk about smoothies and coconut macaroons and…

There are SOOO many great things to make. Please send me any ideas you would like to share!

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Healthy Treat for Today: Trail Mix With HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIPS

February 22, 2008 by Laura 29 Comments

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Who knew?

You can make your very own chocolate chips!!

Okay, well, I’m actually not clever enough to make them into the shape of chocolate chips…so maybe we’d better call them chocolate chunks.

Chip…Chunk…whatever. How cool are WE to know how to make our very own Chocolate Chiunpks?

I’ve had this recipe for a while, but hadn’t really thought about making it. Then I saw it on another post and was reminded! I’m SO glad for the reminder!

The recipe comes from my FAVORITE nutrition book: Nourishing Traditions.

I adapted it just a bit because it had a pretty bitter chocolate taste…and you may need to adapt it more, depending on how bitter you like your chocolate.

Also, depending on the quality of coconut oil you use, you may or may not have a
coconut-y taste in your chips. I LIKE it with the coconut taste.

Okay…so are you ready?!?!

Homemade Chocolate ChipsYum

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup rapadura or sucanat
1 cup coconut oil
1 T. vanilla

Mix ingredients in a glass container and set in simmering water until melted. Mix together well.

(Anybody wanna know what I was doing at exactly 2:04 yesterday?)
(uh, see…you can see my clock there, behind the melting chocolate chip mixture.)

Spread mixture on a piece of buttered parchment paper and allow to cool in the refrigerater.

When hardened, remove parchment paper and break into chunks. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

Aren’t they beautiful? Mmmmm-mmmm. (See a more thorough chocolate chip making tutorial here!)

Now…for the Trail Mix part…

1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, cut into pieces
1/3 cup homemade chocolate chips

Mix it all together and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator…if it makes it that far!

Come back tomorrow for a recipe for whole wheat, rapadura Chocolate Chiumpk Cookies!

(And let me know if you can figure out how to pronounce that.) :)

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