Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Homemade “Larabars” for a Gluten Free Snack!

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Ready to learn how to make homemade Larabars?

larabars_remade

Yum

Ever since I got to try some Larabars for a review back in March, I’ve been hooked. They are amazingly yummy, incredibly healthy and what do you know…they are gluten free!

I’m amazed that they contain so few ingredients…my favorite Cashew Cookie bar is made of only dates and cashews…that’s IT. And it really does taste like a cookie. Only better.  :)

Since doing that review, I’ve done two things regarding Larabars:

1)  I used some of my Swagbuck earnings to order more from Amazon. I wanted to have these awesome snacks on hand for grab and go moments. They have come in very handy!
2)  I used Katie’s Healthy Snacks to Go eBook to make my own.

You have GOT to try your hand at Homemade Larabars.

I can’t believe how easy they are, and the homemade bars taste even better (because homemade always tastes better, right?)!

Malachi is not a big fan of nuts in any form, mostly because he really just hasn’t given them a chance. :)   This has been a challenge during our Gluten Free Experiment because I would really like to be able to feed him nuts as a snack. So…I didn’t call these Larabars. I told him that these were a “gluten free bar” that I had made. He didn’t ask what was in them. I didn’t tell. He saw the chocolate chips. That’s all he needed to know. :)

He gobbled one right up, exclaiming over and over how good it was. (yay!) I think we may be going through a lot of nuts and dates while I continue to “play” in the kitchen. :)

Regarding nuts, be sure to check out Braga Farms as a wonderful source for organic nuts! Braga Farms is a fabulous family farm to purchase organic nuts from. You can not beat their quality or their prices! I just placed an order and I can’t wait to get my great box of organic nuts!

Ever tried making your own Larabars?  I think we’ve decided to call our homemade bars “Mamabars”. And wow, there’s only one left so I’m going to have to make another batch! :)

Homemade Larabars

Homemade "Larabars" for a Gluten Free Snack!
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups raw cashews
  • 8 dates (remove pits)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • ¼ cup add ins like mini chocolate chips, dried fruit, or fresh fruit like blueberries (optional)
Instructions
  1. Grind cashews in a food processor until fine.
  2. Slowly add dates, vanilla, and water and pulse until the mixture forms a dough.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips or fruit.
  4. Press mixture into a parchment paper-lined 8x8 inch pan.
  5. Refrigerate for about one hour.
  6. Cut into 12 bars.

Homemade Larabars

 

Need more healthy snack ideas? You’ll love this wonderful and helpful eBook full of 227 Healthy Snack ideas and recipes!

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Gluten Free Peanut Butter Honey Balls

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Yum

If you haven’t made this Peanut Butter Honey Fudge…you are missing out on one of the easiest treats ever! For a little variation this time, I decided to roll some of the squares into balls. 

It may be fun to roll these balls in coconut flakes too!

Okay…Peanut Butter Honey Fudge – you have to try it! Three ingredients, that’s it! Peanut butter, honey and chocolate chips.  Find the recipe here!

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Gluten Free – Dairy Free Muffins

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I think this is the recipe I’m most excited about from all my gluten free recipe experimenting last week!!! Cher left this recipe in the comments section in my Gluten Free Experiment post and since I had all the ingredients on hand, I gave them a try. (Cher, I’d like to give you a BIG hug!!!)

Coconut_Flour_Muffin

Upon first glance, it seems that there would be too much liquid in these, making for a really runny batter. But nope…it’s just right. I mixed them up, baked them, then held my breath:  Would my kids like them? They smelled good…they looked good…but would they taste good?

Oh. My. Muffin.

EVERY boy in my house scarfed these up…my pickiest son exclaiming, “Mom! These taste like CAKE!”

It’s only been a week, but I think I’ve made three batches of these already. We all love them.

Gluten Free – Dairy Free MuffinsYum

Gluten Free - Dairy Free Muffins
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 6 eggs
  • 4 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
  • ½ cup honey
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup Coconut Flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • Add-In Ideas:
  • ¼ cup chocolate chips
  • ½ cup fresh berries
  • ¼ cup chopped, dried fruit
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together, throw in an add-in if you'd like, then pour batter into a well greased muffin pan.
  2. Bake at 350 for 15-17 min.

By themselves, these muffins are awesome…but with chocolate chips. Oh my!

With both Coconut Oil and Coconut Flour in these, you would think they would have an overpowering coconut flavor. You can taste a bit of coconuty-goodness, but it’s not strong. Read this post explaining about the differences in coconut oils – try expeller pressed coconut oil if you don’t like the taste of coconut!

So where can you get Coconut Flour? I usually get mine from Tropical Traditions, but just saw this great pack of Coconut Flour at Amazon and decided to snatch it up. I think we’ll be making a lot of these muffins in the future…whether we remain gluten free or not. What an EXCELLENT little healthy muffin!!!

Have you ever baked with Coconut Flour? I’m hoping to figure out more Coconut Flour recipes. It’s super good for you! What add-in ideas can you think of for these muffins?

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Taco Corn Fritters

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When Matt and I were at Whole Foods recently, we saw that they had some sort of Jalapeno-Corn fritter for sale on their hot bar. They looked SO GOOD, and while I didn’t figure our kids would appreciate the jalapenos, immediately my brain started thinking through how I could create something like this for a quick lunch that would be a little more kid-friendly. Feel free to add jalapenos to this recipe if you want. Just don’t touch your eye after messing with jalapenos. Or at least have milk handy if you do. But really…just don’t touch your eye.

Taco Corn Fritters

I kind of wanted an “all in one” meal, which is why I put taco meat in our fritters. Then, since it had taco meat, I figured it needed cheese. Those items are optional…but wow are they good! Of course though, I’m the girl who needs her beef. ;)

Taco Corn FrittersYum

1/2 pound cooked hamburger meat seasoned with taco seasoning mix (Many commercial taco seasonings contain gluten! I highly recommend making and using this wonderful homemade recipe!)
2 cups cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups frozen or canned corn
oil for frying (I used palm shortening)

Brown hamburger meat and add  taco seasoning mix to taste. Mix together remaining ingredients, stirring in the seasoned meat. Melt palm shortening in a skillet. Scoop 1-2 Tablespoons of corn mixure into the hot oil and press down to form a “pattie”. Fry for 5-7 minutes on each side until cooked through. (I had my electric skillet set to 350°.)

The great thing about these Taco Corn Fritters is that they even taste good cold, which means they would make a great grab and go lunch or snack!!! I haven’t tried freezing these (because we eat them too quickly!), but I’m pretty sure you could make up a big batch and freeze them for “fast food”.

So would you put jalapenos in these, or not? How would your family like them best?!

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It’s a Gluten Free Recipe Parade!

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Many of you may remember the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Parade we had back in October, when I spent the entire week posting new and fun recipes, giveaways and cooking tips. It was a blast and it made us all hungry to try all the new and healthy recipes!

Well, thanks to all of your encouragement on our Gluten Free Experiment post, and because I just can’t seem to stop myself when it comes to tinkering with new recipes…I’ve been having a good ol’ time in my kitchen the past few days playing with some of the recipe ideas you all sent my way, or just making up fun recipes for foods to eat that don’t contain gluten.

In my quest to create dishes that Malachi (and the rest of us) would enjoy, I have been quite determined NOT to try looking high and low for “specialized gluten free” ingredients.  I know they are available, but they are pricey and many of them do not contain much in the way of nutrition.

Besides, I want to come up with recipes that EVERYONE can appreciate and enjoy…not just those who have to eat a gluten free diet. I’m out to prove (to myself, most of all) that there is no end to all the yummy and fun dishes and treats you can make without gluten. I’m also out to prove that eating a gluten free diet doesn’t have to be expensive!

And so…next week we’ll be having a great big Gluten Free Recipe Parade here at Heavenly Homemakers!

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I have quite a few recipes to share, and even if you don’t have any gluten free needs in your household…I think you’ll still love all the new ideas to try for your family. I was making some of them before our experiment started…I just hadn’t had the chance to share them with you yet.

In addition, I’ve got several great and wonderful giveaways lined up that fit right in with our Gluten Free Recipe Parade! This place is sure to be hopping next week as you never know when I’ll be posting a new recipe or giveaway post. Prepare yourself for lots of fun starting Sunday night, April 3!

ALSO…because it’s so much fun to do this…I’ll be giving away five $10 Heavenly Homemakers Shop Gift Certificates during the Parade, good for use on any of our downloadable products! All comments left on ANY post that features the Gluten Free Recipe Parade button (shown above) will be included in the drawing. If you leave a comment on every single post featuring the Gluten Free Recipe Parade button…you  have LOTS of chances at winning one of the certificates!!!

AND…on Friday, April 8, you will have a chance to link up YOUR favorite and healthy gluten free recipes to share with all of us. This is what I look forward to most – reading all of your great ideas for recipes that do not contain wheat, oats, barley or rye. Even if you aren’t a gluten free gal…I bet you have some great recipes to share!!

If you haven’t already, you may want to subscribe to Heavenly Homemakers so that you don’t miss any of these great posts! You can Subscribe in a Reader or Subscribe by Email!

Let the Gluten Free Recipe Parade fun begin!!!!

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Whole Foods Couponing…and a Thank You!

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As you may remember, I used to be a Coupon Queen. I was the one who would be in front of you in the check out line with 47 coupons and a cart full of groceries. After the cashier spent ten minutes subtracting out my coupons, my receipt total would be somewhere in the $24 range for a cart full of food.

If indeed we can call it food. I wasn’t exactly using coupons to get fruits and vegetables, you know?  But shucks…most of it was free! Free poptarts are great, right?

Learn to make healthier, homemade poptarts if you need a poptart fix!

Well, as you know, we’ve changed our ways a little bit entirely and now I shop completely differently. (You can read this post to learn how I grocery shop. And you can read this entire series to learn about our Healthy Eating Journey.)  I now recognize that spending money on good, whole foods is a perfect investment in our overall health.

But I still love finding great deals on great groceries!

This is where the “Thank You!” part of this post comes in. Remember how I mentioned that if you sign up for Shop it to Me…I could earn free gift cards?  Well…several of you signed up, which means that I earned several free gift cards. I appreciate it so much!  There were several gift card choices…but of course…I chose the cards for Whole Foods!! Who can pass up free groceries at Whole Foods??!

Matt and I were able to hit a Whole Foods store while we were away for the weekend at the Weekend to Remember conference. (Yes, part of our romantic weekend was spent shopping for asparagus. You know your relationship is solid when you can lovingly gaze at organic produce together.)

Not only did I have a few Shop it to Me Whole Foods cards to use…I had been doing my homework and had put together some coupons to use during our outing. It brought back memories and I have to admit that I felt quite giddy as I actually put coupons into an envelope again. I really haven’t done that (to this extent) for a long time. (Yeah I know…I’m a geek.)

The kids were pretty happy to see us when we got home…especially when they saw we had brought home cereal and yogurt!! (Hey guys…didn’t you even miss us just a little bit?)

We stocked up on chicken wings and boneless, skinless chicken breasts because I just don’t have a great source for those nearby. We found great deals on lettuce, asparagus, apples, pears and zucchini…Larabars, yogurt, butter and cheese.

And then, because they were on sale, because I had coupons and because they are gluten free…we splurged on a few items I lovingly call “organic junk food” that we’ll save for a rainy day. Cereal and chips…woohoo! Malachi sure does look disappointed with our loot, huh? :)

I had also been sent a Brat Hans Sausages coupon so that I could try them for free! We cashed in on that and WOW, you should have seen the boys when they found those in the bag! I thought they were going to eat me when they saw them! They must feel they have a brat deficiency or something?

So thank you to all who signed up for Shop it to Me …you made our Whole Foods shopping trip very fun!! If you haven’t signed up for Shop it to Me , you certainly can and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings even a little bit. :)  NOBODY  has to spend any money unless you want to – that’s the beauty of it!!! AND, more importantly, after you sign up, you can tell YOUR friends and family about Shop it to Me  so that YOU can receive free gift cards!!!

I did want to note:  I normally do the majority of this type of shopping through Azure Standard…Whole Foods is two hours away and I’m blessed to have an Azure Standard drop point right here in my town!! Azure is much less expensive and has everything I need. This Whole Foods trip was a fun splurge, gave me a “grocery store shopping fix” and well…I had gift cards. And coupons. And needed to get Brats, apparently. :)

Do you shop at Whole Foods? Do you have one close to you, or do you have to drive pretty far like I do? What do you like to get at Whole Foods?

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The Gluten Free Experiment

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I’ve been stubborn. I have not wanted to “go there”. And for Pete’s sake…I have 300 pounds of wheat in my storage room.

But our six year old, Malachi, seems to be getting worse instead of better lately with his eczema. This is SO disheartening. If you remember reading about his story, you’ll remember that he doesn’t just have just a “little bit of a rash diagnosed as eczema”. No, our littlest guy has always had a chronic form of eczema. He was covered head to toe for about the first three years of his life. From age three to now age six, the flare ups have at least been more tolerable, due in great part to all of the natural ideas we’ve tried to help his little body fight and become stronger.

But the past month or so, the rash seems to be tormenting him. It’s spreading back up to his neck. He scratches, he bleeds, he cries. Something has to give.

I don’t want him to need to eat gluten free.  I really, stinkin’, totally don’t. Which is why I’ve avoided this experiment for so long. But you know how God smacks us upside the head sometimes? I’ve felt Him doing that recently. First, Amy decided to go gluten free for a while to see if it would help her baby’s eczema. Then, my friend Danae was telling me about how she went Gluten Free and her rash cleared right up.

And Malachi has been so miserable at bedtime lately.

I feel like I need to do this for him. What if it actually helps? We’ve tried so many other things. What if this is the answer for him? What if he could be free of this misery?

And so…Matt and I decided to give it a try. It is our understanding that we need to try this experiment for a good six weeks in order to see if it truly is something that can help. We’re on day nine. So far, he’s not one bit better. But he’s not worse. So who knows?

Since I’m sharing my heart here, I’ll go ahead and tell you that I’m really, really torn when it comes to this experiment. I don’t want the Gluten Free Experiment to work. I don’t want him to have to avoid gluten for the rest of his life. I don’t want to have to cook differently for him. We already try to eat such a healthy diet…I don’t want to learn more and change more and work harder. I don’t.

But by saying that…I feel like I’m saying that I want Malachi to be stuck in this misery. Of course I don’t want that.  Which means that I really do want this experiment to work. I want this to be the answer. Except that I don’t. My selfish side wants something else to be the answer. Like the fact that the sun really is going to start shining more and he’ll be out getting Vitamin D which always helps. Yes, that would be an easy answer.

It’s not fun to sort out these feelings. And now I just spewed them all over you. 

My guess is that some of you can relate. Am I making this too hard? Yes, I’m pretty sure I am.

Thanks to all of you who mentioned these great Gluten Free Websites. It’s so helpful to know there are so many wonderful resources available! And you’d better believe I’m pouring over the eBook my friend helped me put together a few months ago, Gluten Free and Good for You. Not to mention all the other great recipes Kim has thrown my way as we’ve been putting together more eBooks that will hopefully be  ready to launch soon(ish). 

I even experiemented and made these Gluten Free Brownies 
(made with black beans…don’t tell my kids!) 
They really were quite tasty!

We can do this. I mean, if there are brownies involved…we will have the strength to do this, right!? :)

Thanks for letting me share. We just want Malachi to be better.  God is faithful.

I’ll keep you posted on how our six weeks goes. I may even share a gluten free recipe or two (sprinkled in with some wheat recipes because good grief…I do still have 300 pounds of wheat in my storage room.

If you or one of your family members eats a gluten free diet, would you please share how that’s working for you? Share why you/they are on a gluten free diet. How did your transition go?

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Gluten Free and Good For You! eBook

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Gluten Free and Good For You eBook is filled with all kinds of Gluten Free tips and information to help you to either eat gluten free, or to be able to serve gluten free meals and snacks to family members and friends who have gluten free needs. I have loved learning through my friend Kim (co-author of this ebook) such wonderful gluten free ideas so that I can fellowship with or take meals to my friends who are unable to eat gluten. 

Beyond all the great information this eBook contains, you’ll love all the great recipes! You don’t need any special or hard to find gluten free ingredients to make these recipes!  All of the recipes include basic, every day ingredients that you’re likely to have on hand in your kitchen, making gluten free cooking easier than ever. I’ve included quite a few favorite gluten free recipes from right here on the Heavenly Homemakers site, plus Kim has added several of her tried and true family favorites.

And I’ll say it again:  Gluten Free or not…our family loves all of these recipes!! They’re healthy, they’re easy, they’re inexpensive…and they’re gluten free. 

Pages 1-6 are full of gluten free information and tips, and then come the recipes!!
Here’s a peek at the recipe table of contents…

This book is worth purchasing JUST to get Kim’s Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe. It is SO good! 

I see myself making it for special holiday get-togethers because it’s easy to make and tastes like a delicious gourmet dessert. Wow. Plus, being able to read all of Kim’s gluten free tips and cooking tips are invaluable. I have learned so much about gluten free cooking from Kim! She’s been cooking exclusively gluten free for over seven years…she knows how to cook a healthy gluten free diet. I have the coolest friends. :)

A big thanks to Kim for all your hard work with me on this eBook. Look out everyone…there’s already a gluten free eBook number two in the works!!

$6.95

Add to Cart

Once you purchase, keep the window up as you’ll be offered a download link right away!

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Easy Alfredo Sauce

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High Five Recipes 2

I love a good alfredo sauce. Want to know why this recipe is so good and rich? It’s full of butter and cream. Indeed, this recipe is neither fat free nor dairy free. I am very much not afraid of real and healthy fat. For those of you who need to eat a dairy free diet, I’ll try to come up with something a little less “cow” next time. ;)

Easy Alfredo SauceYum

Easy Alfredo Sauce
 
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Author:
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • One pint of cream (2 cups)
  • 1-3 garlic cloves
  • 2 Tablespoons cream cheese
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Bring the butter, cream, garlic and cream cheese to a boil.
  2. Turn down the heat, simmer and stir for about two minutes.
  3. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted.
  4. Simmer the sauce for 15-20 minutes until it becomes "thick and saucy", stirring occasionally.

And now, a few alfredo pictures:

Into the pot go the butter, cream, cream cheese and garlic…

The parmesan cheese is shredded and ready to add once we’ve boiled the other ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Here’s our sauce, simmered and ready to serve…

OH. YUM.

pasta alfredo

Are you wondering about the pasta I served with our Easy Alfredo Sauce? It looks like WHITE pasta, doesn’t it? Ah, but it isn’t!! I’m very excited to tell you that this was Gluten Free Corn Pasta  from OliveNation. My OliveNation friends told me that their GF pasta tasted awesome and wow they were right!!! It’s great stuff! AND, if you recall, just like with vanilla beans, OliveNation offers Heavenly Homemakers readers a 10% discount (use the code home).

Now, you can of course add chicken to this dish if you like. Just saute a little chicken in some olive oil and toss it into the sauce. For that matter, that steamed broccoli I served on the side tasted great stirrred right into the sauce and noodles on our plate!

Are you a red sauce or a white sauce kind of pasta lover? Or does it depend on the day?

Take a peek at all of our High Five Recipes –
High Quality Recipes…Five Ingredients or Less!

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Healthy(er) Rice Crispy Treats

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This is one of my favorite new recipes, so I chose to show you this one first in the Heavenly Homemakers Parade of Recipes and Cooking Tips!

I rarely buy cereal because it is expensive and no matter what kind you buy, it is generally not very good for you. However, occasionally I’ll buy a Mom’s Best or a Kashi variety. We all have “those mornings” when we just want to grab out a box (or two) of cereal and call it breakfast.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking around on Amazon for organic cereal choices and was excited to find Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal for a very reasonable price and with ingredients I didn’t feel too bad about. I used my Swagbucks and ordered some.

Because this cereal is made with brown rice, it’s a little bit different from your “normal” Rice Krispie cereal, but since cereal is a special treat around here, we all like it just fine. Well, then…I got to thinking that it sure would be fun to make some sort of “rice crispy treat”. I miss Rice Krispie treats. They’re so easy and yummy.

While this recipe doesn’t taste entirely like a real Rice Krispie Treat, it does have the feel and crunch of one – plus they taste really, really good!! I still haven’t tried making homemade marshmallows, so I skipped that idea altogether and just used honey to sweeten and make the cereal “stick together”. All of us have declared this recipe to be quite tasty…and I, the mom, have declared it to be one of the easiest recipes ever. It takes about five minutes to throw these together!

 

 

Stay tuned to see what’s coming up next in our Parade of Healthy Recipes and Cooking Tips!!

 

Healthy(er) Rice Crispy Treats
 
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Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan, melt and stir the peanut butter and honey together. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in Crispy Rice Cereal. Spread in a 9x9 inch pan and allow to cool.
  2. For fun, you could add 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips as you're stirring in the cereal. We LOVE these soy free mini chocolate chips from Enjoy Life!
  3. I love that this recipe is gluten free, easy, fast, healthier and crunchy! This is SUCH a simple snack to throw together. I think I'll try to make some with Sunbutter for Malachi - I don't know why it wouldn't work!

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