Spicy Mixed Nuts (Refined Sugar Free, Paleo)

Looking for a munchy snack for New Year’s Eve?  These spiced mixed nuts are great!  They aren’t just perfect for New Year’s or any other holiday, I’d make them year round.  And they are pretty healthy—there are no refined sugars in them—just good Grade B maple syrup, and not even that much.  A little egg white to add to the protein and some great spices make these perfectly crunchy and delicious.  I’ve loved having them here while others around me are eating so many other treats that I no longer eat. 

I used pecans, almonds, and just a handful of cashews and hazelnuts along with some raw sunflower seeds.  I threw a little orange zest in the mixture and it’s good.  I wish I would have added a little more.  The kick from some cayenne is just enough, but if you’d like it even spicier, add a little more.  I was afraid and didn’t want to make them too spicy since I’m mainly the only one eating them around here.  Love the sweet combo of cinnamon, maple and orange.  It goes well with the cayenne, chili and cumin powder to make a great sweet and spicy flavor.

These made for some nice holidays gifts I also handed out.

Spicy Mixed Nuts (Paleo, Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

5 cups mixed nuts (I used a mixture of mostly pecans and almonds, with some cashews, hazelnuts and some sunflower seeds)

2 large egg whites

¼ cup Grade B maple syrup

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon Ancho chili powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Put all the nuts in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer for 2 minutes, until frothy. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the nuts) and fold it all together. Spread the mixture evenly on the baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Or portion them out into cute gift bags and ties.

Apple Cinnamon Granola, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Vegan

I love granola.  I’m so happy that granola can easily be made gluten free—and refined sugar free.  It makes for a great snack.  Even when you just need to grab a handful and go.  But it also makes for a great breakfast.  I love it in a bowl with almond milk and some more fruit as well as with a little Greek yogurt, more fresh fruit and a drizzle of raw honey.  I almost always have some made and ready to eat at any time.  As I type this, I’m almost out of this yummy Apple Cinnamon Granola and need to make more.  Some Gluten Free Oats were on sale recently, so I have plenty in stock.  I love making all kinds and flavors of granola.  What is your favorite?
Apple Cinnamon Granola, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!
4 cups gluten free old fashioned oats***
1/4 cup ground flax meal
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened, natural applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup dried apple pieces, tossed in a little cinnamon (optional)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax meal, sunflower seeds, pecans, salt and cinnamon.  Stir together.  In a medium sized microwaveable bowl, combine the coconut oil and coconut sugar.  Microwave for 30 seconds.  Whisk to combine.  Add the applesauce and vanilla and whisk together.  Stir the wet ingredients into the big bowl of dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened.  Pour the mixture out onto a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet.  Spread evenly.  Bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Let granola sit untouched on baking sheet on wire rack until cooled, this helps the pieces stick together in bigger clumps if you like it chunky.  Stirring right after if comes out of the oven makes for separated pieces (which is still good!).  Once pieces are broken up spread the dried apple pieces around and toss evenly.  Store in an airtight container.  ***Don’t want to or need to worry about gluten free, just use regular oats, this works both ways!

Hmm, what kind should I make next?  Any ideas on flavors yet unseen?  I need more granola and I need it right now.

Granola Energy Bars—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

It’s Tuesdays With Dorie time.  To start out the new year, we picked the Granola Energy Bars from Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi.  How fun for me to have a recipe that didn’t need altering.  I just used gluten free oats.  We could use any nuts and dried fruits we wanted and the granola bars were easy to make.

Dorie mentioned that these were best with brown rice syrup and I’ve been wanting to get some and try it so I bought some (and yay, it was on sale).  I did exactly as the recipe said, but only baked these for 20 minutes, not 25-30 and they were super crispy/hard. Bummer. So much that we had a hard time cutting them immediately.

Well, never fear—I decided to make them again.  This time, I changed up the nuts and fruit a bit (I went with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut and peanuts and just raisins.  But I decided to use raw honey and lower the temperature of the oven.  When I make granola, I bake it at 300 degrees F.  It was written in the recipe to bake these at 325 degrees F.  So I went with 300 degrees and I used raw honey instead of the brown rice syrup.  I baked the new batch for only 20 minutes as well.  They seemed a lot softer.  Enough that I was even worried they wouldn’t cut into bars.  But I waited as the recipe said—let them cool for 3 hours and while they hardened up nicely, they were much better, still a little more firm than I like a chewy granola bar to be, but I am going to love having them for snacks for the next week.  I wonder if it’s a high altitude thing?

I couldn’t help it—with the peanuts and raisins, I kept thinking about those candy bars called Chunky that have peanuts and raisins in them and I decided these granola bars needed to be dipped in chocolate.  LOVE!  I’m so smart. Just kidding.  Dorie mentioned in the recipe that you can add any and all kinds of nuts and fruit and chocolate if you want.  I never think of chocolate………….(right!?)  I used some 70% organic chocolate (3 ounces) melted with about 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil. 

When I didn’t have enough chocolate left to keep dipping the bars, I drizzled the rest over the remaining bars.

Never fear—I did not and will not throw out the first bars that are so hard.  This morning, I put them in some almond milk on the stove and waited and watched and broke them up as they softened and turned them in to my morning oatmeal!  Good stuff!

Chocolate Peanut Butter “Granola” Bars (Oat and Grain Free)

These might just look like every other granola bar you’ve seen and you might even be wondering why “granola” is in quotes in the title.  That would be because there are no oats or grain in these.  The kick of flavor from all the different nuts, coconut, and of course, chocolate is heavenly in these bars and the grain is not missed at all.

I made these right before my family reunion in June.  When getting out other desserts to share, I snuck one of these out of the fridge for me (since I’m not eating any of the other treats that were available) and my brother, Matt, asked what they were.  He was interested in them since he tries not to eat much sugar and he knew they were probably healthy since I was eating them.

Within minutes, they were almost completely gone.  Matt loved them.  He encouraged others to try them and they liked them as well.  I hurried and snuck a couple more bars to save for me for another time and let them get devoured.  Without oats and other grains, the nutty flavor is intensified and these have just the right amount of chocolate.

I got this recipe from Danielle’s blog, Against All Grain.  Love her blog and cookbook and her!

Chocolate Peanut Butter “Granola” Bars, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Danielle at Against All Grain

1/4 cup (84 grams) raw honey

1/2 cup (148 grams) organic, natural peanut butter

2 tablespoons (28 grams) coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup raw walnuts

1/2 cup raw pecans

1/2 cup raw cashews

7 pitted dates, roughly chopped to check for pits

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick foil.  Set aside.  In a small saucepan, combine the honey, peanut butter, coconut oil and salt.  Heat until all melted and combined together.  Stir in the vanilla.  In the meantime, put all of the nuts and the dates in a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles course sand.  Add the sunflower seeds and coconut and pulse a few times until they are mixed well with the other nuts.  Remove the peanut butter mixture from the stove and stir the nut mixture into it.  Once it is all combined, pour the mixture into the prepared pan.  Place a piece of parchment or waxed paper on the top and press it down evenly with your hands.  Remove the paper from the top and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and again using the parchment/waxed paper, press them in to the top of the bars.  Put the pan in the freezer and freeze for 2 hours.  Remove bars from the pan and the foil and cut into desired sized bars on a cutting board.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 weeks.

It’s official, I am making these again today.  They are full of nuts and pretty sweet, I think the bars could even be cut smaller than I did in the photos.  But at this size, they are a perfect snack or energy bar.

Crazy Nutty Gluten Free Granola

I have been craving crunchy things.  With eating gluten free, refined sugar free and even cutting back on lots of grains, I felt like I just needed to crunch something.  I used to eat homemade granola almost everyday and was really missing it.  (Know what else I miss, sometimes just taking a big chug of fat free milk…..I’ve cut back on dairy, too, and have heard fat free has all kinds of chemicals in it, so I don’t drink it anymore, but it’d sure be nice after one of these Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies that are so good you’d never know they are gluten free or refined sugar free.  They are SO good chilled in the fridge, too.  Must make more.

We’re talking about granola here though.  So I set out to make me a crunchy gluten free granola.  The only sweetener in this is raw honey.  You could use maple syrup or agave, too.  I decided to put a bunch of nuts and seeds in this.  I’m so happy with how it turned out—perfect, I must say. ;)  I wanted a clumpy granola and there is a perfect “trick” to that.  Once it comes out of the oven, don’t stir it.  When it is completely cooled, it will have stuck all together and you can break it in to any sized pieces you’d like.

This is the perfect kind of granola to just take a baggie full somewhere for a snack on hand.  But if you break up the pieces a little smaller, it’s also great on top of yogurt with some fresh berries.  One of my favorite things.

Look how clumpy that is!  Of course, you don’t have to make it gluten free, I just used gluten free oats—this is still a great granola with any kind of oats.

Crazy Nutty Gluten Free Granola (Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups gluten-free oats

3 tablespoons ground flax meal

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ cup raw almonds

½ cup raw pecans

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup raw honey

3 tablespoons organic coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax, sesame seeds, coconut, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds and salt. Stir together.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the honey and coconut oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir together with a whisk until well combined. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until everything looks wet. Spread the mixture evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-22 minutes until fragrant and browned. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Do not touch the mix during this time as it is setting up and will be clumpy. Once it is completely cooled, you can break it in to clumps and store in an airtight container. *You can use any nuts and seeds you’d like or have on hand, just make it nutty!

I think I’ll go snitch a bit of the granola right now.

Salsa Asada in the Blendtec

My wonderful husband bought me a Blendtec!  We are having so much fun making all kinds of things in it.  Since making diet changes that include not eating gluten, I was wanting to make my own almond flour and other nut flours and butter.  It was wearing out my food processor.

We have already (in less than a week) made countless smoothies, almond butter, peanut butter, soups and this delicious salsa.  The Blendtec comes with some great little recipe books that we are plowing through.   We did end up making a change to the recipe from Blendtec recipe, they used fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, but since we didn’t have any at the time, I used some canned whole tomatoes.  Here’s the link to a lot of their great recipes, but the Salsa Asada one isn’t on their website.  Lots of other good ones though!

Super simple to make, just added all the ingredients to the blender and pulse a few times until it was the consistency we wanted.  You can pulse less if you like a chunkier salsa.  I like mine to not have really any chunks at all.  This salsa has a little different kick in it from some liquid smoke and some vinegar.  It is otherwise pretty similar to the one we make most often, called Mildly Wild Salsa.   Try this one if you like a little kick.  Don’t tell those who try it what it is that is in it and see if they can guess what that smoky flavor is.

Salsa Asada, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Blendtec

2—14 oz. cans of whole tomatoes, drained

2 jalapenos, skins blackened over gas stove (for extra spiciness, don’t throw out the seeds and ribs, just cut off the tops)

1 small shallot (or 1/4 medium onion), peeled and chopped into 4 quarters

2 cloves garlic, peeled

about 1/3 cup fresh cilantro (or to taste)

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1  1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 teaspoon all natural liquid smoke

With a gas burner on medium heat, set two jalapenos over the rack and blacken each side.  You can hold them over the flame with tongs as well, it is often necessary to move them around to get even blackening.  Once they are blackened, put them in a bowl and cover it.  In the bowl of a blender, add the drained canned tomatoes (there were about 4-5 whole tomatoes in each can).  Add the shallot, garlic, cilantro, vinegar, salt and liquid smoke.  Remove the skins from the jalapenos by rubbing them with a paper towel.  (Don’t rinse away that grilled flavor!  A little black skin left on them is okay.) 

One all the ingredients are in the blender, pulse it in 1-2 second pulses until it is the desired consistency.  Pulse less if you want chunky salsa, more if you want it smoother. 

(This was a little spicy for me, but others in the family loved it.  I would remove the ribs and seeds from one jalapeno next time and left them in the other.)

With the new Blendtec, it has the big jar, but we also got the smaller one that is used more for making nut butters.  If you’re going to get a Blendtec, I would recommend getting the smaller jar (for an added price) as well (though you CAN still make nut butters in the bigger jar).  Also not pictures, I made sunflower seed butter—within seconds!  When I was doing these butters in my food processor, it was taking 10-15 minutes to get it to a smooth consistency and I think my food processor would have eventually died for the overworking. ;)

It would be overkill if we took pictures of all the smoothies we’ve been making and Kevin made a tortilla soup (all the raw veggies are just added to the blender, then you push the “soup” button and within seconds you have soup—it even heats it slightly.  We liked it a little hotter, so we did heat it a little on the stove after that.  Kevin liked the tortilla soup so much, he’s made it twice already (and this is coming from someone who claimed he didn’t like soup)!

(This is not a sponsored post and I was not paid to say this, I just love my new Blendtec!)

Thanks for the Blendtec, Kev!  I wasn’t even begging for it, he just knew I wanted one and that it would get used.  What a guy!

Homemade Nut Butters—Honey Peanut Butter, Almond Butter and Sunflower Seed Butter

Homemade Honey Peanut Butter, July 2013

I’ve been making homemade nut butters and promised a few people I’d post about them.  There is something about making nut butters homemade that is fun and in my opinion taste better.  I love knowing exactly what is in them and controlling how much salt goes in as well.  It is also more economical than buying them.  I’m sure I’ll still buy my favorite ones from time to time, but I’ve really enjoyed the ones I’ve done so far.

Besides for health reasons, I started  making these after ordering five pounds each of raw sunflower seeds, raw almonds and raw pecans.  I love eating raw nuts and seeds.  I actually prefer sunflower seeds raw rather than roasted and salted.  For the nut butter, I did roast and salt them.

I just made the Honey Peanut Butter yesterday.  I might be my favorite one so far!  I had some raw peanuts and roasted them on a baking sheet.  When they came out of the oven, I sprinkled just a little salt on them.  After they had completely cooled, I put them in the food processor and pulse them until they were chopped finely.  Then I turned the food processor on and let them go until they became a paste.  I would stop and scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time.  It only took about five minutes until they became a great peanut butter.  I sprinkled in a little bit more salt.  Then for kicks, I decided to add some raw honey.  I added a tablespoon.  The peanut butter thickened up quite a bit after I added the honey.  I wasn’t sure if it would smooth back out if I just kept the food processor running, so I decided to add some organic coconut oil to it.  That smoothed it right out and the peanut butter tastes fantastic!  I love just the ever-so-slight hint of coconut flavor and the perfect amount of honey.  This might be my favorite nut butter I’ve made so far, but every time I make one, I think that.  They each taste so different, it’s really hard to say.

Homemade Honey Peanut Butter, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups raw peanuts

1/8 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1 tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon organic coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread peanuts on baking sheet in an even layer.  Roast for about 10 minutes.  After removing them from the oven, sprinkle a little salt over them.  Let cool completely.  Put the peanuts in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are chopped finely.  Turn the food processor on and let them go until they begin to form a paste.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and process until it becomes a smooth peanut butter ( about 5 minutes total).  Sprinkle with a little more salt.  Add some raw honey (you don’t have to use raw honey).  After it combines, add coconut oil until it is all smooth.  Let the peanut butter cool, then store in a jar.  If it lasts more than a week, store it in the refrigerator.

 

Today I had some of the peanut butter spread on some Grain Free Sandwich Bread I made.  I found the recipe at Unrefined Kitchen.  It is my first try of a grain free bread.  It’s okay.  It’s my first bite of anything bread-like in about a month.  In the recipe, it gives the option of butter or coconut oil.  I used coconut oil.  It also suggested two tablespoons of honey, but more if you want a really sweet bread.  So I only used one tablespoon of raw honey.  I’ll eat the loaf slowly, I’m sure.  It will be fun to try different recipes until I find one that I really like.  It was certainly good with the honey peanut butter on it!

I enjoyed it with some apple slices yesterday not long after I made it.  It’s good enough that I could just dig my finger in the jar as well.  The peanut butter is a light color.  I think it is because the raw peanuts I used did not have skins.  I am assuming a lot of peanut butters are made with the skins on and/or they are roasted to a darker color.  This is perfect to me. ;)

I made sunflower seed butter about three weeks ago.  Loved it.  I need to make some more.  There isn’t really a recipe for that.  I roasted raw sunflower seeds (about 3 cups) on a baking sheet at 350 degrees F. for about 10 minutes.  I lightly salted them when they came out of the oven.  I let them cool completely.  I put them in the food processor and let it go, scraping the sides every couple of minutes until it formed a nice smooth butter.  This took probably closer to a total of 10 minutes until it was the consistency I wanted.  You can decide how smooth or crunchy you’d like any of these butters.

Here’s a couple pictures of the sunflower butter in process.

After a few pulses in the food processor.

After 2 minutes in the food processor.

 

After 4 minutes in the food processor.

After 6 minutes in the food processor.

 

After 8 minutes in the food processor.

My favorite thing to do with the sunflower butter, besides dipping carrot sticks in it, is make one of my breakfast smoothies.  I always put a tablespoon of peanut butter in it, but tried it with sunflower seed butter and it was really good.  I’ve always tried my smoothies with almond butter.  They are all good, but this particular one is really good with the sunflower seed butter.  This smoothie has a secret ingredient that one wouldn’t think of for smoothies, but I love it!

I kept forgetting exactly what I was putting in the smoothie, so I finally remember to take a picture of the ingredients once recently.  Funny thing is, I forgot to add the Greek yogurt in the photo. ;)

The secret ingredient is sweet potato!  So really this smoothie just has banana, sweet potato, nonfat Greek yogurt, sunflower seed butter and my vitamin powder and some almond milk.

Breakfast Banana Sunflower Smoothie, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 a banana, frozen

1/4 of a sweet potato, cooked and cooled, skin removed before adding to smoothie

1 tablespoon sunflower seed butter (or other nut butter)

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1/2-3/4 cup almond milk (or any other milk)

1/2-3/4 cup crushed ice

vitamin powder (mine has a light orange flavor), optional

Combine all ingredients in a blender.  Pulse and puree until smooth, about 1 minute.

Although I often have green smoothies or put other fruit in them as well, this banana one is my favorite.  You can’t really taste the sweet potato, but it sure makes the smoothie creamy and adds a lot of nutrition!

Finally, I have made almond butter at least three times.  Super easy and great for so many things.  I just made another batch two days ago.

  Here’s one of my lunches recently with almond butter.

Homemade Almond Butter, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

4 cups raw almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Roast for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.  Put the almonds in the bowl of a food processor.  Process (it’s pretty loud at first as they start to chop up!) the almonds until they become a smooth butter.  This takes a good 10 minutes.  Let cool (the food processor warms up a bit) before store in a glass jar.  This amount of almonds made 16 ounces of almond butter.

Almond Butter

Can’t wait to try all kinds of different things with all these nut/seed butters I’ve been making homemade!  I know that there are a lot of grain-free/gluten free recipes that use almond butter and have been enjoying looking at all the possibilities.