Audre’s Chocolate Topped GF/oat free-Granola Bars

 DRY GRANOLA BASE

2 cup. Quinoa Pops (or millet/rice puffs)

2 cups. Brown Rice Crisps (or other dry cereal of your preference)

1 cup. Shredded toasted unsweetened Coconut

1 cup sliced or slivered almonds (lightly toasted)

½ cup. Walnuts Rough Chopped

½ -1 cup golden raisins (or other chopped dried fruit)

GRANOLA GLUE

1 cube of butter (or ½ cup peanut butter or sunbutter)

½ cup succanat

½ cup honey (or Agave Nectar)

TOPPING (optional)

aprox ½ cup choc chips (or GF-carob works great too)

DIRECTIONS

Line 1 9x13 casserole dish with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix all dry Granola base ingredients in a large bowl.

In a small saucepan bring the granola glue ingredients to a boil. Lower heat a little and simmer for a few minutes (this cooks the sweeteners into a soft ball candy stage to hold the granola bars together). Remove from heat and pour over the dry granola base and stir to coat ALL the dry ingredients!

Spread Mixture evenly across the pan and press firmly with spatula

Sprinkle on your chocolate chips and press firmly into granola bars. Allow approx 5 minutes for the chips to melt, and then spread them all over.

Let them cool for approx 20 minutes till firm and set, Remove granola bars (including the parchment paper) and place on cutting board and cut them into individual bars.

Package in zip-lock bags for on the go or at home and ENJOY!

Spinach Dip (Without the Mix) revised

Renee Found this Great recipe over at the "Chinese Grandma" blog. found here:
http://chinesegrandma.com/2013/06/spinach-dip-no-mix
She made it and Loved it and Shared it. So I decided to try it out too. I LOVED Spinach Dip back in the day, before changing my Diet, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I could actually use this recipe! Ive made a few alterations ie:I cut the recipe in half, but doubled the spinach and the water chestnuts. so I decided to re-post it the way I made it and LOVED it!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Plain Yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
3/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (make sure it's GF- I used Lea&Perkins Brand)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1- 8oz can of water chestnuts (drained and chopped fine)
1- 16 oz pkg. frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed as dry as possible)

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix well: yogurt,  sour cream and mayonnaise with the onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce.
2. Make sure you squeeze the spinach well to get out all excess water. Add spinach to the bowl along with chopped onions, and chopped water chestnuts. Chill before serving to allow dip to absorb flavors.
3. Serve with cubes of GF bread, GF crackers, Apple slices, carrot slices or celery sticks! (jasmine's faves are the bread cubes, and apple slices)

Notes

• If you have time, you can thaw frozen spinach in a colander in the sink. Otherwise, microwave to defrost.

Raw Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache

I found this Recipe over At brazenkitchen.com (link below) And Fell IN LOVE!!!! It is super YUMMY! But I made a couple alterations so I though I'd share them here!

Part 1 – The Crust

• 1 1/2 cup almonds
• 1 cup pitted medjool dates
• 1 tsp sea salt

1. Process the nuts into small pieces with salt in a food processor.
2. Add the dates and process until combined and sticky.
3. Press into the lined bottom of two 8 inch round pans and refrigerate or freeze until set.
4. Make the filling ...


Part 2 – The Filling

• 3 cups cashews (soaked & drained)
• ¾ cup lemon juice, fresh preferred
• 3/4 cup agave or maple syrup
• ¾ cup coconut oil (must be liquid, place bottle in bowl of hot water if solid)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 pint raspberries

1. Cover the cashews in water and soak for about an hour.
2. Drain and place in blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.
3. Taste for preferred sweetness and tartness.
4. Divide evenly between the 2 prepared pans. Place in freezer to set.


Part 3 – The Ganache (make 2 bathes. one for each pan)

• 1 ½ c. grain sweetened chocolate chips or Carob Chips
• 1/2 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk creamer  (or other nondairy creamer)

1. Place chips in a heatproof bowl.
2. Slowly heat the creamer in a pan, take off heat when it simmers.
3. Pour over chocolate chips and mix until chocolate is melted.
4. Cool for a few seconds while mixing. Pour over filling.
5. Decorate with another Pint of fresh berries. Place in freezer to set.

When firm, place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Adapted Lightly from Recipe found here: http://brazenkitchen.com/2011/03/29/love-and-food-raw-cheesecake-with-chocolate-ganache/

Nana's Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C. Peanut Butter 

1 C. Succanat

1 egg 

1tsp. Vanilla

Whip on high the PB, Succanat and vanilla. When well Blended add the eggs and mix till well combined. Bake @ 350 for approx 10 minutes till golden Brown. Allow cookies to cool on parchment over cookie rack for 5 minutes before removing.

Green Chili Enchilada Sauce

GF- Green Chili Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients

1- 29oz. can of Whole Green Chili’s with juice.

1- 7oz. can of Mild Diced Green Chili’s (more if you want to add more green chili flavor)

1 clove Garlic

1 cup. Chicken Broth

1/2 box of GF condensed cream of Chicken soup

1/2 tsp Herbamare

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp Ground cumin

1/4 cup Sour cream

Directions

In a Food Processor,

Start with the 29oz can of Green chili’s and the garlic. Process till smooth.

Pour into a medium saucepan with the diced Green chili’s, Chicken broth, cream of Chicken soup, and Spices. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. (The simmer time improves the flavor.)

Remove from heat; and whisk in the sour cream.

Now your sauce can be used however you please.

NOTE: this recipe makes enough sauce for 2- 9x13 pans of Chicken Enchiladas.

Raw Cookie Dough Bites

I found a Super Delicious Recipe over at Perry'sPlate.com It was SUPER delicious, But I made a couple of changes so I thought I'd share it here in-case you wanna make it the way I did!!! ENJOY!

((Grain, Sugar, Dairy, & Egg-Free))

Yield: about 15 bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil melted
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoon peanut butter
2 teaspoon GF pure vanilla extract
2 handfuls mini carob chips (if you have too many it will prevent you from forming balls)

Directions:

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk the oil, honey, peanut butter, and vanilla in a separate, smaller bowl. Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and combine well. Your own two hands to the best job of getting it all combined. If you find the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon of water at a time until you reach cookie dough consistency.

Mix in the desired amount of carob chips and roll into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls.

Store in the refrigerator. They should keep for several days, although they tend to dry out the longer they are stored. (If they last that long...)

Nat's Notes:
1. The more you work the dough, the more the coconut oil will melt, resulting in the balls getting greasy. Return the dough to the freezer to re-harden if this bothers you.
2. This recipe doubles well.

3. You can even make these in a food processor. Just process the dry ingredients and add the wet ones once you've mixed them together. For those who don't like to get their hands messy...

Adapted Lightly from: Perry's Plate: Progressively Paleo Recipes
http://www.perrysplate.com/2012/08/raw-cookie-dough-bites-gluten-sugar-dairy-and-egg-free.html

GF- Broccoli Salad

(Adapted From Renee’s Recipe)

 I finally got my hands on Renee's Awesome Broccoli Salad Recipe and made it myself for the first time with a couple slight alterations and it turned out awesome! EVERYONE LOVED it and it disappeared so fast that some ppl didn't even get to taste it! :) It was a total HIT! It's all I ate at Grandma's Birthday BBQ! I had no desire to finish my chicken or even taste anyone Else's salads! :) lol I should have doubled the batch and just used the whole Costco bag of Broccoli!! It's my NEW FAVE BBQ side! I think I'll be making this all summer instead of Potato salad!! Probably  less calories too!!  So I thought I'd share with you all!! ENJOY!!!

Salad Ingredients

1 ½ pounds Raw Broccoli chopped small (½ of the 3lb Costco bag)

½ cup Sunflower seeds (pre-shelled and toasted and salted)

½ cup Organic Raisins

1/8 cup sliced green onion

3/4 cup candied walnuts (see directions below)

1pkg Apple Gate Bacon diced and cooked

Dressing

½ cup mayo

½ cup plain Yogurt

¼ cup Raw Blue Agave Nectar

1 tsp Apple cider Vinegar

~Mix well and add in increments till all ingredients have desired coating.

Candied Walnuts

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 pat butter

drizzle of Pure maple syrup

Melt the butter in a hot pan. Add the Drizzle of syrup allow to simmer slightly. Add walnuts and stir to coat all walnuts. Continue cooking till the syrup has caramelized on the walnuts. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a plate. When cool, break the nuts apart and sprinkle on the salad! YUM!