Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Simple Coconut Blueberry Lime Smoothie

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Another great smoothie!

by Tasha Hackett

You’re surely not tired of them yet, are you? This coconut blueberry lime smoothie is going make you do a little hula dance right there in your kitchen. Or in your friend’s kitchen when you make it at her house. Or in the camp kitchen you’re working at this week.

blueberry lime smoothie

Simple Coconut Blueberry Lime SmoothieYum

I (Tasha) have been on a paleo diet since before Christmas. You could say it’s been the year of the smoothies. Even more than most years. It’s just so easy to get in the vegetables this way! Ack… this one doesn’t even have vegetables in it. I’m sorry. But you can go drink your salad another time.

While I’m at camp this week, I brought my Blentec—blender snob alert… yes, it’s me. High calorie smoothies like this one keep me from starving to death when not eating camp mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets.

I did say simple smoothie, didn’t I?

If my daily chocolate shake has too many ingredients for you, try this one! The recipe is in the title… Ding-a-ling! Easy peasy. It’s coconut milk, frozen blueberries, and the juice of one lime. You can stop there, or you can add a touch of sweetener:

  1. 13 oz. can coconut milk (I currently use Nature’s Greatest Organic 17% Coconut Milk Fat)
  2. 2 cups frozen blueberries (Or other berries, but then it wouldn’t be a Coconut Blueberry Lime Smoothie now would it?)
  3. Juice of 1 lime (Or 2-3 tsp of lime juice if you don’t have time for the squeezing of the lime… but I recommend the real deal.)
  4. Blend until smooth****

****If your kids are, well, you know, average kids, you may need to add a touch of a sweetener of choice. I use 1/2 teaspoon of THM Super Sweet stevia blend.

Put the lime in the coconut…

If you’re looking for more great smoothie ideas, search smoothie over there on the search bar on this sight and be wowed by the variety. How about this cinnamon one? And a homemade Orange Julius. Remember your high protein chocolate shake here. And lastly, don’t be scared to throw a few goodies in the blender and see what happens! Just PLEASE and I mean, PLEASE stay away from arugula in smoothies. Spinach and maybe some kale, but arugula does not play nice in a smoothie. That is my best advice to you. And beets… unless you like eating pink dirt. Haha. Some people will fight me on this one, but that’s a topic for another day. For now, go enjoy this fresh summer treat.

blueberry smoothie

 

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Confessions of a Chocolate Shake Addict

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Hey, it’s Tasha. Remember me? I’m Laura’s friend. The one who fell off the cliff and didn’t die. I homeschool a few kids and eat chocolate, AND I DRINK IT. Eating paleo took a turn for the better once I discovered some amazing chocolate tricks, but today is the day for the confessions of a paleo chocolate shake addict.

chocolate shake

Chocolate Shake Confessions:

  1. I drink a chocolate shake every day. Sometimes more than one.
  2. Secretly, not so secretly anymore, I am happy a few of my kids don’t like my chocolate shakes—more for me.
  3. 16 oz of cacao powder barely lasts me one month = that means I eat approximately 3 Tablespoons a day.
  4. Once, mid-shake preparation, I was ravenous. Hungry, grumpy, starving. The cacao powder was not where it was supposed to be. I searched frantically through the cupboards to no avail. Mean Tasha came out. I yelled across the house to my husband and kids, “WHO MOVED THE CHOCOLATE STUFF??” No one answered Crazy Mama. Climbed up on the counter and searched the top shelf while yelling at my family that there was a crisis upon us. Turns out, the almost empty bag was found behind the Blentec. Right where I’d left it I’m sure.
  5. No, I’m not misspelling Cocoa. Cacao is a real thing.

Cacao vs. Cocoa?

Cacao is the name of the tree that grows pods with beans that are harvested and roasted like coffee to make cocoa powder and chocolate. But—woah—if you don’t roast the beans, it’s called cacao instead of cocoa. Unroasted beans are raw and contain significantly higher levels of minerals, fiber, and even some protein. So that’s what I chose to eat. Please check out the Subscribe & Save options available for Organic Cacao Powder.

Paleo Chocolate Shake RecipeYum

Clearly, Laura’s salad-drinking habits are commendable. But, another confession: I’m not a grown-up enough human to submit myself to such torture. What I meant to say is that Laura is a super human blessed by the Almighty with taste buds of steel. Hmm. Okay, how about this: I’m so deeply in love with chocolate shakes and I see no reason to give them up.

Sorry. The recipe(s).

I mostly make it the same every day, but has been evolving over the year. Therefore, I will give you two recipes. The first is when you only have 30 seconds to spare. The second is when you have 2 minutes.

Quick Fix Chocolate Shake

  • 8 oz. coconut milk
  • 2 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 1/2—1 teaspoon Super Sweet from THM or stevia/blend sweetener of choice
  • Large handful of spinach
  • 3 cubes ice
  • Blend until smooth
  • Drink

The above smoothie has approximately 4 grams of protein and 92 calories. It is enough to satisfy a chocolate craving and sweet tooth. If you want to trick your mouth into thinking you’re having a treat, and you’re in a hurry, give it a try. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of nutrients in the spinach, cacao, and coconut milk, but I wouldn’t recommend replacing a meal with this shake. Unless you’re planning to starve yourself to death, which I highly discourage.

Paleo Chocolate Shake with more stuff…

  • 8 oz. coconut milk
  • 2 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 1/2—1 teaspoon Super Sweet from THM or stevia/blend sweetener of choice
  • 2 Tablespoons integral collagen (paleo friendly dairy/soy-free protein)
  • half of a banana (sliced and frozen is nice)
  • 1/2 cup frozen fruit (blueberries or sweet cherries are good options)
  • 1 Tablespoon almond butter
  • Large handful spinach
  • 3 cubes of ice
  • Blend until smooth
  • Drink in secret or make double to share with all the toddlers

This is the shake I drink daily. If we’re heading out and I’m not sure if there’s going to be paleo food for me, then I make a shake. Sometimes I drink with breakfast, or later in the day if I’m hungry and there’s no food in front of me. The full recipe is approximately 320 calories and 17 grams of protein.

What do you eat everyday?! Does it make you ask happy as this shake makes me? If not… maybe you should make this shake instead.

Paleo Chocolate Shake
 
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Recipe type: snack
Ingredients
  • 8 oz. coconut milk
  • 2 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
  • 2 pinches salt
  • ½—1 teaspoon Super Sweet from THM or stevia/blend sweetener of choice
  • 2 Tablespoons integral collagen (paleo friendly dairy/soy-free protein)
  • half of a banana (sliced and frozen is nice)
  • ½ cup frozen fruit (blueberries or sweet cherries are good options)
  • 1 Tablespoon almond butter
  • Large handful spinach
  • 3 cubes of ice
Instructions
  1. Blend until smooth
  2. Drink in secret or make double to share with all the toddlers

book cover of bluebird on the prairieTasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and author of the Christian Romance, Bluebird on the Prairie; available wherever books are sold and from her website, www.TashaHackett.com. She spends most of her time (drinking chocolate shakes) with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Spaghetti Squash for Delightful Sapiens

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This is a regular (albeit amazing) spaghetti squash recipe. It’s intended for all people, mankind, and sapiens. However, WordPress informs me that titles with uncommon words perform better. Sapiens fits the bill. Ha!

Simple Paleo Spaghetti

I’ve been eating a paleo diet for over three months! Simple meals are slowly making their way back into my life. I spent the first month floundering and relearning how to use my kitchen. The second month I discovered all the “junk” food I could make with honey and maple syrup and and ate an insane amount of homemade chocolate. But I’m rocking this new diet now. My crowd-pleasing, feed-the-people meal is either a ginormous salad with Almond-Orange Dressing or spaghetti squash. (Or both.)

The spaghetti squash topic has already been covered by Laura. 

spaghetti squash

Yum

If you search on this sight you will find multiple spaghetti squash posts. Like how to cook it in an instant pot. (Highlights: Gut it. 5 minutes. Or leave whole and 20 minutes.) But, I had more information to share. I’ll see your spaghetti squash and I’ll raise you sausage. At first I was afraid this idea was too simple to even bother sharing, but after our great dinner last night with friends, they encouraged me to please share. Mostly because she wanted the “recipe.” 

Make it now. Eat it later. It’s a no-fuss dinner. 

Here’s how it went down. One morning I remembered I had a meeting scheduled at my house the next day. This meeting would last until suppertime. Therefore, I wanted to make something I could pop in the oven at four o’clock and then feed the delightful sapiens at five o’clock. No prep. No mess. 

While I was overseeing third-grade math and language arts I baked two spaghetti squash in the oven (In short, slice in half, gut, bake “bowl-down” at 350* for 40-50 minutes. Or use the instant pot. Or bake whole and gut later). I chopped romaine leaves and other vegetables for a nice salad and put it all-together in a bowl in the fridge to be served with the amazing Almond Orange Paleo Dressing. Next, I cooked two pounds of pork sausage. 

When the squash was thoroughly cooked, I pulled it from its shells with a fork. This next part is where it gets exciting. THEN I mixed it with the sausage and a can of pasta sauce and spread it all into a 9X13 pan. Done. Mostly. 

A pre-made simple meal!

The next day, I simply popped the pan into the oven and re-heated it at 350° for an hour. At five o’clock the smell filled the dining room and I remembered I had completely forgotten to extend the invitation to dinner to our friends. “Oh, hey. You guys wanna stay and eat with us? Dinner’s already in the oven. We’re having squash and salad and stuff.” Haha. Who could turn down an invitation like that? They stayed. A good time was had by all indeed. Especially by my four-year-old, who cleaned his plate and spent the majority of the meal explaining, in detail to fresh ears, everything he knew about dinosaurs. 

looking at books

Simple meal prep is the best kept secret for the ease of serving other sapiens.

I want to be able to host and feed the people at a moment’s notice. When I first switched to paleo, I wasn’t able to do this. How could I bless others when I was following detailed recipes that included ingredients I wasn’t used to and only had enough on hand for four servings? After weeks of learning new skills, I’ve been able to put Laura’s good advice to work with my new diet requirements. I have pre-formed Salisbury steak (fancy burgers) in the freezer. I have riced cauliflower and shrimp on hand for quick and fun stir-fry. My fridge is usually full-to-bursting with fresh vegetables for snacks and salads because that’s fast food around here. Homemade chocolates, almond flour muffins, and green smoothies are a new staple. Whatever your diet needs, there are ways to make it simpler. I’m sure of it! 

Premade Spaghetti Squash Dinner
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 8 servings
Ingredients
  • Two Spaghetti Squash
  • Two Pounds Pork Sausage (or regular ground beef or pork)
  • 24 ounces of pasta sauce of your choosing
  • If using a plain pasta sauce, add salt, pepper, garlic, and Italian seasonings to taste.
Instructions
  1. Slice the squash down the middle to make two bowls and discard the seeds with a spoon.
  2. Oil the cut rings and place bowl-down on a pan with edges. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.
  3. To check for doneness, a knife should easily slide into the squash.
  4. Brown the sausage in a skillet, pour off the extra grease if desired.
  5. Mix the squash, sausage, and sauce together. Add any extra seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, garlic, etc.)
  6. Serve immediately, or spread in a 9x13 and refrigerate up to three days.
  7. To reheat, put the cold pan in the the oven and then set to 350 for an hour.

Have you ever given spaghetti squash a chance? 

I double-dog dare you to make it for dinner this week. Only mix in some great sausage and pasta sauce and voilá: Simple dinner for the masses. Just to be clear: viola is a musical instrument (played by skilled sapiens). Because I already knew that, I did not *ahem* need to search the web for the proper spelling of the French term “to suggest an appearance as if by magic.” Ya learn something new every day!

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett, friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie, a Christian historical romance releasing Spring 2021, is fueled by sunshine, paleo pudding, or hot chocolate—whichever is more readily available. Though she often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher, her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to entertain and encourage women. Her time is spent with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. You can connect with her at www.TashaHackett.com or Instagram @hackettacademy

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing

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Tasha’s here again with an awesome new recipe just in time for spring!

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing

by Tasha Hackett

What’s with the Paleo, Tasha? Okay! Sorry, just read this instead: Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Salad Dressing that will make you and your family cry tears of joy. Better? Hmm. But really, I can hardly describe the level of happiness this paleo salad dressing makes me. I never knew a salad dressing was capable of bringing forth such an emotion. Almond butter and orange juice? Who knew! Don’t be scared. This paleo salad dressing is delicious on, wait for it, SALAD, but also works great as a veggie dip. In fact, it is even edible straight from the table as pictured below. Not recommended. But acceptable.

toddler messes

Yum

My salad dressing is better than your salad dressing.

The original recipe that I adapted had a few more ingredients and it only made one tiny serving of dressing. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to go through all the trouble of making a salad dressing from scratch to eat with my paleo food . . . I’m making more than one tiny serving. Clearly, the chances are high that I will be eating salad again in the near future. I’ve made some version of this dressing at least 5 times in the last month. If you’re drinking your salad, skip the dressing and add some fruit. **Insert puking face if you just envisioned drinking a garlic and olive oil flavored smoothie.

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing

Make as directed for a typical dressing consistency. Though if you want it thicker, just add more almond butter. My salads are usually quite epic. I will rarely just eat lettuce, but this dressing has enough going on, that I have eaten it on plain old leaves before. My kitchen hack with this paleo dressing is to make it in my almond butter jar when there’s about half a cup left. Saves times scooping almond butter AND I don’t have to wash any jars just yet. Sometimes I’m pretty smart like that.

My new favorite salad includes the following:

  • Mixed greens (heavy on the spinach)
  • Chopped romaine hearts
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Chopped avocado
  • Slivered almonds
  • Dried cranberries or cherries
  • Chopped cold meat of some kind (ham, chicken, salmon, tuna, or even boiled/scrambled eggs, etc)
  • Chopped dill pickles (tricks me into feeling like I’m having a sandwich)

Yes. My toddler eats salad. What can I say? I think it’s the dressing.

Toss it all with Almond Orange Paleo Dressing and my kids fight for the last serving.

I’ve been serving my family made-from-scratch salad dressings for years and I absolutely love how freely we use them. No worries here about what we’re smothering our vegetables in. As a result, we don’t skimp on the dressings for health reasons. Everything in this dressing is Food. For. Fuel! Go make ya some and tell all your friends about how amazing it is and then invite them over for salad. I dare them to go home hungry.

Salad for dinner! Again! #paleohasmelike #sorrynotsorry #iheartsalad

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing
 
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Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dressing
Serves: 2 Cups
Ingredients
  • ½ Cup Almond Butter
  • ½ Cup Red Wine Vinegar
  • 1 Cup Olive Oil (Can use part MCT oil or other oils)
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • ½ tsp Black Pepper
  • ½ tsp Granulated Garlic Powder (Or two fresh cloves, minced)
  • Juice of two Oranges
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients and stir or shake vigorously.
  2. Taste and adjust to preference.
  3. For a thicker dressing, add more almond butter.
  4. For a sweeter dressing, add a splash of apple juice.
  5. Store in the refrigerator.

 

Quick! What’s your go-to salad dressing? Store-bought or make your own?

Lastly, be sure to check out some of the other dressings on our site.

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett, friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie, a Christian historical romance releasing Spring 2021, is fueled by sunshine, paleo pudding, or hot chocolate—whichever is more readily available. Though she often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher, her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to entertain and encourage women. Her time is spent with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. You can connect with her at www.TashaHackett.com or Instagram @hackettacademy or for Laura @heavenlyhomemaker.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Tips for Making a Gluten Free Diet (or Any Diet) EASY!

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If you eat a gluten free diet, or even if you don’t, you’ll want to check out these tips for making your meal prep easier!

You may recall that a few weeks ago I shared that my husband, Matt, was experimenting with a vegan diet to see if that helped some minor health issues he was having. I personally found that trying to cut meat, dairy, and eggs from his meals was pretty challenging! But that’s probably because I’m such a meat-loving, dairy-loving girl! So I was only able to come up with a few ideas for meat free, dairy free, egg free meals.

The results? That particular diet experiment didn’t really help, but it did boost our vegetable and fruit intake! So we’ve held onto that and been even more determined than we already were to be sure we’re all eating plenty of fruits and veggies!

Meanwhile, we visited our wholistic doctor in Lincoln to see what she might have to offer Matt. We are so thankful to have this resource closeby, and her remedies have been making a difference, praise God! Along with her remedies and treatments, she also recommended that Matt try cutting gluten for the short term to at least give his digestive system a break as it heals.

So our pendulum swung! Matt didn’t necessarily go back to eating lots of meat, dairy, and eggs, but it would be pretty tough to cut out gluten and not at least eat some meat and eggs! So he went cold turkey on gluten (without a complaint, because it truly wasn’t very hard – oh except for that one day someone took hundreds of fresh donuts to his work!) and added back in some meat and eggs, with the occasional dairy product.

My personal opinion is that eating gluten-free is MUCH EASIER than eating vegan. I didn’t have the least bit of difficulty making gluten free meals for Matt, and most of the time, the entire family eats what he’s eating because most gluten free meals are just…normal. Rice dishes, meat and potato meals, tacos made with corn tortilla shells? Normal. Easy. Tasty.

So that I could easily stay on top of our gluten free meal needs, I started making a few naturally gluten free foods in any spare moment so I could put meals together at night without much effort.

You guys, this isn’t just about eating gluten free. I do this any day, any time, and that’s where all these Simple Real Food Recipes  came from. If we all – GF or not! – spend a few minutes here and there getting ahead when we can? We can make are meal prep so much easier!

So you’ll notice that while these are the naturally gluten free foods I have been prepping ahead, these are also the normal foods I prep ahead. These just happen to be normal and gluten free at the same time. (Is it ok that I’m using the word “normal” here?! It’s just that many, many foods we normally eat are naturally gluten free. We don’t have to make this difficult! Let’s just eat normally! And also gluten free. Ok.)

Tips for Making a Gluten Free Diet (or Any Diet) EASY!

1. Make rice ahead of time

I make a batch or two of this Amazing Stick-of-Butter Rice, store it in the fridge, then pull out spoonfuls to make:

This make meal prep incredibly easy, especially if I:

2. Make hamburger meat ahead of time

You know that for years I’ve been cooking hamburger meat ahead of time and storing it in meal-size portions to pull out for easy meal prep. But now that I’ve learned how to make it in my Instant Pot? Wow, is it easy! And such a time saver!

I often have several pounds of cooked hamburger meat ready to grab and use. I can stir it in with the cooked rice as mentioned above, and we can have a meal ready in just 5 minutes! I love this!!

Here are some naturally gluten free meals I can make with my cooked hamburger meat:

3. Put meat in the crock pot early in the day

Then I can just add some fruit and veggie side dishes at meal time and we can quickly sit down and eat! Some of our favorite naturally gluten free meaty main dishes are:

Now, I didn’t tackle gluten free breads or pancakes. Those take special-ish ingredients and I didn’t feel the need to “go there” because Matt was fine with all that we’ve had to offer. I did purchas some gluten free pasta to have on hand and I purchased a gluten free pizza crust for him to eat on days we were making pizza for ourselves. I’m thankful these are readily available to buy!

Gluten Free Snacks and TreatsYum

Oh, and for years I’ve kept Coconut Flour on hand because it’s nourishing and fun to work with! Since it’s naturally gluten free and I have fun recipes we like to make with it, I have tried to keep any variety of these fun treats made and in the fridge:

Tapioca Pudding (which, for the record, makes a great breakfast!) is easy and we love it! So I made a big batch to grab from our fridge to eat as needed…

These Super Moist Flourless Brownies and Super Moist Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies are a favorite of ours also! They are completely grain free and I’ve made them for a couple of years now just because they are delicious and nourishing!

Muffins!

While I’m writing this, I am remembering that I have a fantastic Coconut Flour Muffin recipe that has been on my site since 2011! Time to dust that one off and make it again. They are so good!!

Ha! And I just remembered I have this recipe also for Coconut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes. How have I forgotten about these??!

See, this is why I started a Club Membership Site!! All these fantastic recipes and resources get buried and forgotten. Shucks, if I’ve forgotten them I’m quite sure you probably have. The Club Membership site makes it SO MUCH EASIER to access all of these recipes! Check it out and join us!

What are your favorite tips to get ahead to make meal prep (gluten free or not) easier?

 

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No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites – (Gluten and Dairy Free)

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You might notice that this No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites recipe looks identical to our No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars recipe. This one is a fun one to make with your kids!

Yep. You figured it out. Same recipe. One shaped into bars. One shaped into balls. We are so creative, are we not?

Speaking of creative, we’ve got three other simple varieties of this recipe here. Just a few ingredient variations will give you one of these!


Grab the No-Bake Cookie Dough Bite recipes here:

Need Coconut Flour?

I found a great price here!

Need Almond Butter?

It’s hard to find a good price on this! Aldi has been my best option, if and when I can make it there to shop. (I live an hour away from the closest Aldi, boo!) Try to find one without added sugar. Or better yet, if you can find a good price on almonds, make Homemade Almond Butter!

Need Honey?

I much prefer and recommend buying local honey! Otherwise, I recommend buying a big jug from Azure Standard if that is an option for you.

Need Chocolate Chips?

My very favorite chips are these Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips! They are usually more expensive in the summer as they don’t ship well in the heat. So watch for them to go down in price in the fall and winter months, then stock up!

Need Vanilla Extract?

Oh how I love making it myself! Unfortunately, the price of vanilla beans has gone up over the years. Boo. Still, I think it’s best to make it ourselves if we can! Learn how here!

And now, grab your kids and let them help you make these awesome little treats!

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough BitesYum

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites - 5 Ingredients
 
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Author:
Serves: 12-15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup natural creamy almond butter
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup coconut flour
  • ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
  2. Roll the mixture into teaspoon-sized (or whatever sized) balls.
  3. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

We like using a cookie scoop like this one to make these Cookie Dough Bites.

Looking for more help as you pull your kids into the kitchen with you?

If you really want to go all in and teach your kids to cook this summer, I encourage you to invest in Katie Kimball’s Kids Cook Real Food eCourse. I used this course with Malachi and plan to use it with Bonus Boy too. It is FANTASTIC!!! Get the details here. And pick up her awesome FREEBIE —>

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Santa Brownies (Grain Free or Regular!)

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I found this idea for Simple Santa Brownies and decided that surely I could make a healthier version of them. I was not wrong. I was very right. And come to find out, Santa is very, very delicious.

Now obviously, you can take this idea and go with it no matter if you’re using a boxed brownie mix or a healthier brownie recipe. But I loved the idea of using my Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffin recipe for this! It turned out fabulously.

Finding good strawberries this time of year is a little bit tricky, I realize. But for the sake of creating these awesome treats, I think it’s worth your purchase.

It’s probably also worth noting that if I can make these, anyone can make these. I’m no decorator. I rarely try to make cute food because I know I’m not good at it. But whipped cream and strawberries win the prize on these. Who knew real food could be used to decorate a fun Christmas treat!

I’ll repost my flourless brownie recipe for you here. But if you want my full sugar, full flour recipe, you’ll find it here!

Flourless Brownie Muffins for Simple Santa Brownies

Simple Santa Brownies (Grain Free or Regular!)
 
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Author:
Serves: 9
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups (12-ounces) Peanut Butter or Almond Butter
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • For Santas:
  • 9 strawberries, washed and with greens removed
  • 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 5 drops liquid stevia or 1 Tablespoon sugar
Instructions
  1. Stir all ingredients together until well combined.
  2. Scoop batter into 9 paper-lined muffins cups.
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. (Remove them from the oven when they are just slightly underdone so they come out moist!)
  4. Whip cream and stevia or sugar until stiff peaks form.
  5. Once brownie muffins have cooled, top them with whipped cream and a strawberry.
  6. Top the strawberry with a "snowball" of whipped cream.

 

What’s your favorite brownie recipe?

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16 Delicious Flourless Treats

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I am a wheat eater and a gluten consumer. I use freshly ground flour several times each week. Even so, I love making Flourless Treats for a change of pace. After all, we all get plenty of grains in our diet. Making treats that are flourless is a great choice for all of us!

The beauty of this list of Flourless Treat recipes I’m sharing is that every single one of them tastes like something special. These recipes don’t include weird ingredients that make them seem “healthy.” Not that any of us are opposed to eating healthy, of course. It’s just that some healthy treat recipes are strange and awkward and leave the consumer wanting an actual cookie that isn’t made with banana paste and finely ground chicken feathers. Or some such.

So please, my friends. Enjoy the following delectable recipes that no one will suspect to be “out of the norm.” All will eat these and be delighted. They will share them with their friends, saying, “Hey, you’ve got to try this cake!” Meanwhile, over in the corner, you will be chuckling over the fact that once again, you pulled off the “I made treats without flour in them and nobody suspected” trick.

Not that we’re trying to be tricky. I mean, we can’t help it if our healthier food tastes just as good if not better than their less healthy counterparts. There’s nothing we can do about this. Making great food in healthy ways is simply what we do now. We can’t even help ourselves.

Without further ado…

16 Delicious Flourless Treats

  1. Flourless Brownie Muffins (my very favorite!)
  2. Super Moist Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies
  3. Super Moist Flourless Brownies
  4. Chocolate Cheesecake Fudge
  5. No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  6. Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
  7. No Bake Cookie Cups 
  8. Honey-Sweetened Flourless Peanut Butter Bars
  9. Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
  10. Flourless Fudge Cookies
  11. Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
  12. Honey-Sweetened No Bake Cookies
  13. The Most Amazing Flourless Cake
  14. Flourless Peanut Butter Bread
  15. Flourless Peanut Butter Muffins
  16. Flourless Pumpkin Muffins

P.S. Every single recipe on this list is a perfect choice to make for your friends and family members who eat Gluten Free. Only beware of the recipes which include oats, making sure to use GF oats!

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Easy Flourless Pumpkin Muffins

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If you can’t have wheat in your diet, you will love the Flourless Pumpkin Muffins recipe I am about to share. But even if you CAN have wheat in your diet, I always recommend that we should cut back on eating so much wheat and grain to give our digestion a little break. So these muffins are for you too. :)

What’s great about these muffins, besides the fact that they are flourless and deliciously pumpkin-y is that they are also filling and super nourishing. These include creamy almond butter, which makes these Flourless Pumpkin Muffins such a great start to the day!

Truly, can you believe these don’t have flour in them? They look so normal! (Hmmm, that’s what people have said about my children. “Really? Your kids are homeschooled? But they act so normal!” Ahahaha! Can you even believe it’s possible?! But I digress…)

I mix these muffins in my Blendtec, simply because it means I can throw them together so quickly. I blend the batter, then pour it into prepared muffin tins. Easy and awesome!

Easy Flour Pumpkin Muffins

3.7 from 3 reviews
Easy Flourless Pumpkin Muffins
 
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Serves: 18
Ingredients
  • 2 cups creamy almond butter
  • 15-ounces pumpkin puree
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Spice OR 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender or with a hand mixer until smooth.
  2. Scoop batter into 18 paper-lined muffin tins.
  3. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

*Find the recipe for our Pumpkin Spice mix here. Or substitute: 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg in this recipe.

Need more Flourless Recipes?

 

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Lunch in a Jar: Mini Crustless Quiche

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If we can bake Quick Bread in a Jar we can certainly bake Mini Crustless Quiche in jars. Check this out!

Surely your first question is: “If I bake quiches in jars, then pack them in a lunch, won’t they taste weird since they are cold?”

You would think so. But these quiches actually taste good cold. Or, if you have the ability to rewarm them, that’s great too. <— Laura states the obvious.

Just like so many Lunch in a Jar ideas we are sharing this month, these Mini Crustless Quiches can be made to order. Add or exclude whatever your family likes. It’s super easy to line up several jars and fill them using an “assembly line” method.

If you have cooked meat, put some in each jar per people’s preferences. If the kids won’t scream too loud about it, add some fresh spinach. Crack in 1-2 eggs per 8-ounce jar (1 if you have a lot of add-ins, 2 if you are more focused on eggs than meat/veggies/cheese). Add in any goodies you like: onions, sweet peppers, shredded cheese, cooked sausage, cooked bacon, chopped ham, leftover chicken – the options are only limited to your preferences and what you have on hand!

I recommend 8-ounce wide mouth jars for each Mini Crustless Quiche as they are easier to clean afterward. But truly, any 8-ounce jar will work!

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Lunch in a Jar: Mini Crustless Quiche

Lunch in a Jar: Mini Crustless Quiche
 
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Ingredients
  • 1-2 eggs per 8-ounce jar
  • 1 Tablespoon heavy whipping cream or milk per jar (optional)
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • Add in options:
  • Cooked Sausage Crumbles
  • Cooked Bacon Bits
  • Chopped Ham
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Chopped Onion
  • Chopped Sweet Pepper
  • Torn Spinach Leaves
  • Leftover Cooked Chicken
  • Your choice!
Instructions
  1. Crack 1-2 eggs into each 8 ounce jar.
  2. Add cream or milk, salt and pepper, plus any add-ins you like.
  3. Use a fork to scramble the contents together in the jar.
  4. Place jars on a cookie sheet.
  5. Bake for 30-40 minutes in a 350 oven until contents in each jar have puffed up and cooked until the middles no longer "jiggle."

 

Even my pickiest kid loves these – even with the spinach!! Score!

What are your additional suggestions for Add-Ins for these Mini Crustless Quiches?

Great additions to your Mini Crustless Quiche Lunch in a Jar Idea

Consider adding any of the following to your lunch box along with your Mini Crustless Quiche

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

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