Easy Three Ingredient Berry Ice Cream

I know super easy “ice creams” made with frozen fruit, especially bananas has been done many times and I’ve made it many times myself.  I usually make it with only bananas and sometimes add peanut butter and/or chocolate to it, which IS probably my favorite.  But last night I had a hankering for a sweet treat and saw how much frozen fruit I have in my freezer right now so I threw some in the food processor and made this heavenly version.

 

SO easy!  Perfect.  Healthy.  I even was so kind to share some with Parker, who is trying out veganism right now.  Going crazy trying to keep him fed!  This is my kid whose favorite foods were bacon and A1 Steak Sauce and steak.  I’m going crazy and hope this doesn’t last too long for him.  To each his own, but I think someone shouldn’t go all certain-diet crazy unless they can buy their own food and feed themselves!  Back to the delicious treat!

 

I went a little crazy (ha!) and drizzled some melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips on mine.  It was just like Magic Shell, but way, way healthier!  Love!

 

Easy Three Ingredient Berry Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

 

1 cup frozen bananas

1 cup frozen strawberries and blueberries (there were probably more strawberries)

2 tablespoons Enjoy Life (or any of your choice) chocolate chips, optional

 

You can easily do 2-3 cups of any fruit of your choosing.

Add the frozen fruit to a food processor.  Blend for 3-5 minutes until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl every minute or so.

While it is blending, melt the chocolate in a small microwaveable dish in 20-30 second intervals until melted.  Drizzle over ice cream. Yum!

 

I know this probably isn’t a very exciting post and something you’ve seen before but I decided to document it on my blog, which has been suffering from neglect lately. I’m going to try to get back into sharing……and making more goodies!  I miss it!

 

Chocolate Chip Walnut Blondies—Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free

One of the best goodies I’ve made that I can eat right here and I love the taste and texture.  I have a simple, little secret to tell you—I made the dough of My Favorite Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I wanted to add nuts, because for years now, I haven’t been putting nuts in cookies, even though I totally think they should be there, because people around here at my house don’t like them.  Then it dawned on me that I can put all the nuts I want into my own goodies because I am generally the only one around here who will eat them.  So good, healthy, grain free, refined sugar free chocolate chip cookies, with walnuts, needed to happen.  After making the dough, I didn’t feel standing around baking the cookies. 

 

So I hurried and threw the dough into a baking pan and baked them.  Hello?  Easiest thing ever—and these blondies were born.  I know, takes a lot of brain power for that one.  I love the texture and I love having nuts in my own treats.  So win—win.  I wasn’t sure how they’d actually bake, but I decided after 20 minutes to call it good and I let them cool completely.  I thought they’d sink down after taking them out of the oven, but they stayed nice firm.  Not sure I’ll ever make chocolate chip cookies for me again, because this was sure easy and I have 16 blondies to enjoy over the next little while, you know, if I wouldn’t eat three or four of them a day. ; ) No, I think the most I’ve had the first day was three.  They were great stored in an airtight container for a few days.  Now the rest have been in the fridge and are still great. 

 

These have a perfect soft, chewy texture that you want in a blondie and work the same magic that having a cookie would have in the cravings department.

 

Chocolate Chip Walnut Blondies, Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina Smith, Baking and Boys!

1 cup almond flour

¼ cup coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons coconut oil

½ cup coconut sugar

¼ cup raw honey

6 tablespoons almond butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)

1 large egg

1 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips, or chocolate of your choice (ingredients in the chocolate—evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic), non-dairy cocoa butter—dairy, soy, nut and gluten free)

1/2 cup lightly toasted, chopped walnuts (or nut of your choice)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with nonstick foil, lightly oil with coconut oil (probably don’t have to have the foil, but I like using it). In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the coconut oil, coconut sugar, honey and almond butter. Beat until well combined. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts with a spatula. Spread all of the batter  evenly into the baking pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Check the center of the bars with a toothpick that comes out  mostly clean, but a little bit of crumb/chocolate is okay. Let cool on wire rack completely.  Remove the bars from the pan using the foil edges and cut on a cutting board into 16 squares.   Store the ones not eaten immediately in an airtight container.

 

 

Deliciousness!  Can’t wait to try them with pecans.  Also going to try them with peanut butter instead of almond butter and put some peanuts in them.  Oh the endless possibilities!

No Bake Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Oat Bites

A perfect, easy, sweet treat!

 

These would be great for any Almond Joy lover, but someone looking for something a little more healthy.  Like me.

 

I know, it’s been a month since I posted anything.  I’ve been in a bit of a baking, sweet sharing slump.  I’ll never be gone for good, but seem to just be slowing down a bit with things I must share.  I whipped these super simple no bake bites up today and decided to get them posted for you. 

 

I will say, I got my inspiration for these from a blog, The Beaming Baker, when her No Bake Peanut Butter Coconut Bites showed up on Pinterest and Facebook.  I changed up her recipe since I’d just made some homemade almond butter and had finished off a jar of peanut butter.  These will sure be nice to have around for a snack as sometimes I can’t find anything I’m hankering for and it needs to be somewhat sweet.  Otherwise, I eat sugar snap peas like they are Lays potato chips and I can only eat so many of them before I’ll have pea sprouts coming out my ears or something. ; )

 

No Bake Coconut Almond Chocolate Chip Oat Bites, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free

 

3/4 cup almond butter (I made homemade with raw almonds, but you can use a purchased one also)

1/4 cup raw honey (I also added another tablespoon of honey after decided it needed a bit more, start with 1/4 cup)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

3/4 cup gluten free old fashioned oats

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup chopped almonds

6 tablespoons Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

 

In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond butter, honey and vanilla.  Stir together well.  Add the coconut, oats, flaxseed, almonds and chocolate chips.  Stir until all combined.  Decide if it needs a little more honey by making a ball of the mixture in your hands and squeezing it together.  When I make almond butter, it’s a little thicker than the store bought kind, so using a runnier one may make the mixture wet/sticky enough to combine.  Using your hands, form the mixture into about 1 inch balls, squeezing the mixture together so it stays in its shape.  Lay them on a waxed paper lined sheet.  Makes 16-20 depending on size.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

 

Easy peasy and yummy!

My Favorite Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have had My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe for years now.  I’ve tried so many different recipes over the years, even since finding THE one, but the one I always make holds true.  It is a perfect cookie dough and makes perfect cookies.  I’ve used the recipe to add all kinds of things to the cookie, including peanut butter yumminess, coconut and nuts, and freeze dried raspberries, just to name a few.  I adapted the Jacques Torres/New York Times recipe years ago and have made this one my go-to.  Everyone loves the cookies.  Check out the link for lots of mouth-watering pictures.  There was a problem—now that I don’t eat gluten and refined sugar, I knew I was really missing out on one of my favorite things.  In the meantime, I’ve tried many gluten free and grain free chocolate chip cookie recipes.  They are usually okay.  They usually “do the trick” for me, you know, get me over that “I need a chocolate chip cookie” fix. 



I need to tell you though—I’ve found My Favorite Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookie and need to share it with you all here.  I almost always make the regular ones into huge cookies, they are just perfect that way.  I give them away to lots of happy people and hear many compliments.  I recently needed to give some good gluten free chocolate chip cookies to someone who can’t have gluten (at all, I cleaned everything well and kept it well away from anything gluten), so I created this one and it’s the best one I’ve made.  Perfect combination of chewy on the inside and crisp edges and the flavor is great with what I think is just the right amount of sweetness from coconut sugar and a little honey.  Must make these again!



My Favorite Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina Smith, Baking and Boys!
 

1 cup almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons coconut oil
½ cup coconut sugar
¼ cup raw honey
6 tablespoons almond butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)
1 large egg
1 ¼ cup Enjoy Life chocolate chunks and mini chips (ingredients in the chocolate—evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic), non-dairy cocoa butter—dairy, soy, nut and gluten free)
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the coconut oil, coconut sugar, honey and almond butter. Beat until well combined. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks/chips with a spatula. Scoop the dough into cookies on the baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes (depending on size of cookies). Let cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
 

You know you want a bite.  Or maybe even your own cookie (s )!

World Nutella Day—Homemade Healthy Nutella

 

Happy World Nutella Day!  What does that mean for me?  I’ve always liked Nutella.  But it has lots of sugar and I don’t eat it anymore.  What did I do about this dilemma?  I made my own!  And you can, too!  It’s super easy and taste pretty darn good.  Is it exactly the same?  According to my boys, NO!  But for me, it works and I’m happy.

I made the Nutella  copycat and decided I needed to have it on some toast.  I don’t often have gluten free bread, but happened to have some I’d recently bought at Costco.  It comes in an interesting shape.  After slathering on the Nutella, I noticed it kind of reminded me of a ghost.  Then since it’s not Halloween, which would be super cute and fun to make these then, I made a second piece of toast and another cute ghost with a red mouth (although it looks more like a nose)—perfect!  Now they look like a perfect Valentine pair—don’t they?  Ready to dance the day away!

The recipe made a half quart (so 2 pints, it’s the wider but shorter jar), right?  Yeah, I know, I could check on the world wide web or ask my mom, but I’m too lazy and just can’t wait to tell you about this.  I know homemade versions of Nutella have been done before and I looked at some of them, but ultimately decided on my own amounts and ingredients.  Some had added coconut oil and regular sugar, etc.  I didn’t think that was necessary.  I like the maple syrup I used in this, but I’m interested next time in trying to make it with raw honey, too.  It’s definitely not too sweet, I’m now so used to things not being very sweet since I don’t eat much sugar/sweet things anymore, so this was just right for me.  I believe it would even be considered Paleo and vegan.

Homemade Healthy Nutella, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (Paleo, vegan, refined sugar free, gluten free, dairy free)

1 ½ cups toasted (and skinned) hazelnuts, chopped (I bought some that are already toasted and chopped, which I prefer over toasting and skinning them myself.)

½ cup cocoa powder

½ cup almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

½ cup Grade B maple syrup (Grade A is okay)

Put the hazelnuts in the bowl of a blender (I have a Blendtec, which is super powerful!). You could also use a food processor, but note that it does take a lot longer to grind the nuts into a butter, maybe 10 minutes. Pulse nuts in the blender, scraping down the sides every 10-20 seconds. In the Blendtec this literally only takes about 2 minutes until it’s a pretty smooth butter. Add the cocoa powder and half the almond milk and pulse to combine. Add the rest of the almond milk, vanilla and salt and pulse to combine well. Add about half the maple syrup and combine, taste and add more to your liking, up to half a cup. I used the full amount.  I am going to try it with raw honey next time, I just like the flavor better. Store in a jar in the refrigerator. Makes half a quart/2 pints. This would be perfect to put in little jars for gifts, but it would be hard not to eat it instead.

I mean, really, this looks like it totally needed a companion.  And I needed a second slice of toast with this Homemade Healthy Nutella on it, too.  So it was a win for both of us.  Until this started happening……..

Sorry ghosts on toast, it had to happen. ; )

You can find a whole lotta Nuttela greatness and love on the Facebook page and on Twitter.  #WorldNutellaDay  You can also find a lot more Nutella laden recipes (and mouth-watering photos) on my blog.  I’ve been posting something for World Nutella Day since 2009!  And guess what—my blog will be 8 years old in less than two weeks!  How cool is that!