The other day, we were reading Rattletrap Car, which repeatedly mentions “Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge Delight.” My 6-year-old speculated about what it might taste like, and how we might make it ourselves. I told him that I imagined it tasted like s’mores, but with all of the ingredients mixed together. Since he’s never had a s’more, this spawned a whole other conversation.… Continue reading
food
Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Dehydrating Stone Fruits
We’ve enjoyed a lot of stone fruits, such as peaches and plums (see HERE and HERE), throughout the summer. As summer comes to an end, we decided to dehydrate what will likely be our last bags of local stone fruits.
Dehydrating our own fruit not only allows us to preserve some of the delicious flavors of summer to snack on throughout the fall and winter (if they last that long), it also allows me to dry our fruits at a low temperature and without any additives or preservatives.… Continue reading
Fruit-Sweetened Chocolate Brazil Nut Milkshake
Today as I was writing I suddenly had a huge craving for chocolate. I didn’t have anything chocolate made or ready-to-eat, so I pulled ingredients out of my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer and tossed them all into the blender. What came out not only fulfilled my chocolate craving, it tasted really fantastic and was very easy to make.
This single-serving Milkshake recipe is vegan, raw, simple to prepare, and full of chocolaty goodness.… Continue reading
Slow Cooker Carnitas: Flavorful Mexican Pulled Pork
My brother and his family came to visit for the long weekend. When we have house guests, I want to spend as much time with them as possible, which means I don’t want to spend their entire visit in the kitchen. That said, I also want to serve delicious food.
This Crockpot Carnitas recipe allows me to do both. I can prepare the main dish ingredients in the morning, so at dinner time I only have to get the side dishes ready.… Continue reading
Grain-Free, Nut-Free Spice Bread
A couple of weeks ago, I came across this recipe on Living Healthy with Chocolate. It sounded simple and worth a try. (As a note, Adriana posts all sorts of great recipes and her food pictures are fantastic. It’s worth giving her blog a look.)
This last week, I’ve felt the fingers of Fall starting to reach into our Rocky Mountain summer nights, though the days still get quite warm.… Continue reading
Fruit-Sweetened Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Pops
Apparently we haven’t been making enough smoothies lately (see HERE), because when my 2-year-old asked for an ice pop today, we were completely out. So I pulled out my blender and made a special smoothie batch specifically to use for ice pop making.
I’d love to say I filled all of our ice pop molds with this chocolaty, peanut buttery goodness, but all four of us drank some of it in smoothie form too (and it was fantastic!).… Continue reading
Peanut Sauce Coleslaw
Today I was looking at the red cabbage in my refrigerator and was suddenly inspired: Peanut Sauce Coleslaw. It seemed like the perfect side dish for a hot day. It’s mostly raw, crispy vegetable, and it’s lightly coated with a yummy sauce.
So I whipped up a batch, and we all ate some as an afternoon snack. Delicious!
Here’s how I made it:
Peanut Sauce Coleslaw
1 Cabbage
½ cup Peanut Butter
¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar, or to taste
½ cup Water
2 tablespoons Tamari or Coconut Aminos
2 tablespoons Honey
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
¼ teaspoon Ginger Powder
¼ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (or more to taste)
Shred the cabbage using a food processor slicing blade (or cut into whatever shape pieces you want with a knife).… Continue reading
Encouraging Self Sufficiency: Teaching my Son to make his own Trail Mix
My 6-year-old has been eating a lot of trail mix lately. While I used to make it for him (sometimes I’d make it like THIS or with an array of variations), I realized that he is now more than old enough to make it himself.
So I had him make a batch with me a couple of times. I showed him the measurement lines on the side of our quart-size mason jar, and explained what they meant.… Continue reading
Grain-Free, Corn-Free Cornbread (Paleo, GAPS)
Last night I made chili for dinner. As I was cooking it, I had a flash back to my childhood, and remembered that when my mom served chili, she would also serve cornbread with honey butter. I remember it being amazingly delicious.
Suddenly, I wanted cornbread. But since no one in my family eats corn and feels well afterward, I knew that it couldn’t be a traditional cornbread.… Continue reading
Health Snack: Fresh Watermelon
Watermelon is the quintessential summer fruit. It’s tasty, wonderfully refreshing, and watermelons peak during the hot months of summer. Today we took slices of our local, organic watermelon outside to eat as we enjoyed a hot, plans-free summer afternoon. It felt and tasted like a slice of paradise.
In addition to tasting delicious, watermelon is also wonderfully healthy. Here are some of the health benefits of watermelon:
Watermelons, in spite of being 92% water, are nutrient dense, containing a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including large amounts of Vitamins A and C, more lycopene than any other vegetable or fruit, as well as a wide assortment of other nutrients (Szalay, 2014).… Continue reading