Cake Batter Cashew Butter

I don't like sprinkles.

I know that's an odd way to start a post- especially when the accompanying photo includes sprinkles.

My defense is this- as much as I dislike the taste of sprinkles, I DO like how they LOOK.

They taste like chapstick though. Just sayin'....

Cake Batter Cashew Butter

From: The Edible Perspective

• 2 cups raw cashews
• 1/3 tsp sea salt (fine grain)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tb. maple syrup, honey, or sugar (I used maple syrup)
• Sprinkles (optional, obviously)

First, you're going to roast the cashews. Place on a cookie sheet in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, turning twice.

Let them cool 5-10 minutes, then place in the food processor, and process until the nuts butterize. (I'm not sure that "butterize" is an actual word, but it suits this recipe.) This will take about 8-12 minutes. You will need to scrape the bowl down several times.

Yum. Ok, now, add the rest of the ingredients, then process until it is smooth again, 2 or 3 minutes.

If you're going to add sprinkles to the whole batch, wait for it to cool first, then add the sprinkles. 

My favorite way to eat this is on a baked sweet potato. (Well, that's actually my second favorite way. My MOST favorite way is to eat it by the spoonful.)

I seriously cannot believe how easy it is to make your own nut butter! It is nice to know it's fresh and to know exactly what's in it- plus, it's fun to experiment!

No- Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites

Yeah, except don't make these. Because even though they are raw, and vegan, you will still think they are super good and eat a bunch. 

A whole bunch.

...I did.

I have been trying to make yummy snacks that are healthier than, you know, Coke and Red Vines. (Someone should really make a healthy, raw, vegan version of Coke and Red Vines. I would buy so much of that stuff.)

Christopher, Nicholas and I loved these! I'm not sure if Wade liked them, because we didn't save any for him. 

Here's what you need:

The recipe is in this link- I doubled the recipe

Put the ingredients into the food processor and blend away!!

Yum!

I rolled these into small dough balls and smooshed them once with the tines of a fork. I used wax paper so they didn't stick. The actual finished cookie dough bite was between a nickle and quarter in size.

These are SUPER great for the late afternoon when you want some junk food before dinner!! One or two really helps curb the sweet tooth cravings!!

I stored these (For all of a day and a half) in a Ziploc container with wax paper in between the layers.

So- if you have a favorite go-to healthy snack, what is it??

Cinnamon Bun Popcorn- Crazy Good......

This is one of those recipes that you probably have nearly everything on hand in order to make it! Which is too bad for you, because then you'll go running, eat a healthy breakfast and a nutritious lunch, and then TOTALLY blow it by stuffing down huge handfuls of this popcorn and not being able to stop eating it.....

.....oh, wait. Maybe that was me. I couldn't help it!! It's so good!!

Here's what you need to make some:

• 12 cups popped popcorn (I popped mine from kernels, and it takes 1/2 C. kernels to get 12 cups. Or you could use microwave popcorn, but use the kind with no butter or salt)
• 1 C roughly chopped pecans
• 1 C brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup Karo syrup (or honey if you don't do corn syrup)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) real butter
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 squares white candy coating

First, pop the popcorn and put it into a LARGE bowl (I used my giant Tupperware fix and mix bowl. You want a really huge bowl) Then mix in the pecans.

Preheat the oven to 250. Line a large jelly roll pan or two 9x13 pans with foil and spray with Pam.

Next, get a large microwave-safe bowl (I used a 2.5 qt. Pyrex) and put the brown sugar and the cinnamon into the bowl. Use a fork or a whisk, and combine the two.

Then add the butter, cut up into chunks, and the Karo or honey:

Microwave for 30 seconds to soften the butter, then stir together to combine. Then microwave for 2 minutes, stir. Microwave for another 2 minutes. It should look bubbly like this:

Stir in the baking soda and vanilla. It will foam up a bit. I would have a picture but I was trying to move quickly and didn't take one. Pour the caramel syrup over the popcorn/pecans and stir well to make sure all the popcorn is well-coated. then pour into your prepared pan(s) and put in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10. 

Now at this point, I dumped the popcorn out on wax paper to cool. Then, melt the white candy coating and drizzle over the popcorn with a fork. Let the candy coating harden, then break into pieces.

And eat them.

...all of them.

I gift-wrapped some for my Mother-in-Law, because it was her birthday!! :) She loved it!

This wasn't difficult at all, and makes a really awesome treat for the family, or a GREAT gift! 

I got this recipe from Our Best Bites

Make Your Own Hot Buttered Mall Pretzels and Pretzel Bites

Today was one of those days that I had to "roll with the punches". Nicholas woke up with a fever and a tummy ache last night, and pretty much was up the whole night, off and on. So I only slept an hour or two. So I had this monstrous "to do" list that was quickly pared down so that I could get some more sleep. Which I did.

It's funny how kids make you slow down sometimes, and it turns out to be a good deal. I actually had some nice chats with both my boys, and still got a bunch of work done. I have to get through my lesson planning, as the new school year starts for us in two weeks, and I spend most of the summer happily avoiding paperwork. It was good to get some of that accomplished.

Yesterday I said I would post this recipe, this amazing, yummy, everything-you-hope-it-will-be, recipe. Make these. They aren't even difficult. But they ARE crazy delicious.

Here's what you need:

Dough
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (or one packet)
7/8 to 1 cup warm water (I used 1 cup)

Topping
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Put all the dough ingredients in the bucket of your bread machine. Start the machine on the "dough" cycle, but you only need to take it through the knead process. When it stops kneading to rise, you can take the dough out. It will be quite slack, and sticky. (Alternately, if you don't have a bread machine, just knead it for about 10 minutes by hand, or in a kitchen aid for about 5 minutes.

Take the dough out of the bread machine and flour it well, then place it in a bag to rest. (By the way, I thought this was odd. "Place it in a bag to rest"? Sounds like something a mobster would say. But I am a recipe direction follower, so I did it. Let it rest about 30 minutes.

By the way, not only does it sound weird, but it isn't the worlds' best idea- it stuck to the bag. I got most of it off, but next time I would flour the dough a little more, and maybe throw some flour in the bag too. Whatever, it wasn't a big deal.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and let it rest again for 5 minutes (this time outside the bag, on a floured surface):

Meanwhile, make up the baking soda/water solution. Mix up the warm water and baking soda in a shallow bowl. Make sure the baking soda is dissolved. And preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Get out your salt. I used this coarse sea salt from the grocery store. I am sure there is "pretzel salt" but that seems like a scam- I'll bet the charge you more because they call it pretzel salt. Coarse salt is coarse salt. I hate when they give things fancy names and then try and rip you off.

Now get out two baking sheets and coat them well with Pam, or cover them with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Now you're ready to make some pretzels!!

Basically you roll each dough ball into a long snake (think back to play-dough fun days and do that!) and shape into pretzels. My snakes were about 24" long. I made 4 large pretzels, then cut the other dough snakes into "pretzel bites"- those were GREAT~

After you shape them, dip them in the baking soda solution, put the on the prepared baking sheet, and sprinkle with salt. I used a bunch of salt, but I like stuff really salty. Use your own judgement.

Here's the bites:

And here are the sheets, ready to go into the oven. Ok, FYI: When the oven is 500 degrees and you lean in to rotate the baking sheets and you have a silver charm on your necklace- THAT CHARM GETS STINKING HOT!!!!!!!

....that is all.

Bake at 500 degrees for 8-9 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. They should be golden brown. Have 3 Tb melted butter ready with a pastry brush for when they come out of the oven.

Brush all the pretzels with butter until all the butter is used up. Now go find a secret spot and take several pretzels with you. Oh, and bring something to wipe your hands off with. You're gonna need it.

I got this recipe from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/ - they have some AWESOME stuff!!

Make Your Own (Whatever flavor) Chewy Granola Bars!!

Ok, I know I have an unnatural obsession with bars.... Larabars....energy bars.....

I love when I can make something from scratch that tastes as good as (or better than) store bought things. Especially when it saves me money. I heart saving money. (Unfortunately, I also heart spending money. Sort of like how I like exercising and eating. Yeah.)

I really like these granola bars. They were VERY easy to make, I had everything on hand, and the kids liked them as much as I did!

Don't they look good? I made mine with chocolate chips and sunflower seeds.... yummm...

Here's what you need:

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup mix ins (I used 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds... craisins and white chocolate chips would be good- or almonds and dried cherries.....)

1/2 cup honey

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ok, I'm not trying to be creepy, but how weird-looking is the honey bear's face?! Have you even looked at your honey bear? I had to turn the bottle in the opposite direction, because it was giving me the heebeejeebees!!! He was staring at me!

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, and the dry ingredients in another:

Then combine them, and mix well with a spatula, or your hands. Then dump the mixture into a well-greased 9x13 pan:

Spread/pat the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan:

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars and let cool completely in the pan. (If you wait for them to cool before cutting, it's much harder)

That's it!! Now you have a batch of yummy, homemade chewy granola bars!!

I adapted this recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/