Category Archives: treats

breakfast, recipe, treats

Blackberry Crisp

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Treat your family to a tasty blackberry crisp with greek yogurt this weekend!

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Ingredients:
2 cups blackberries
1/2 cup gluten free oats
1/4 cup brown rice flour
2 tbs brown sugar
1 packet stevia
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
3 tbs butter or coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place berries in a greased baking dish (9″x9″ or larger).

2. Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, stevia, cinnamon, and butter or oil in a bowl. Crumble together and sprinkle over the berries.

3. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is crisp. Serve warm over cold yogurt.

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Easy, right? Try using other berries and summer fruits for fun variations. I think apple and blackberry would be an awesome combination.

recipe, treats

Fresh Cherry Cake Recipe (Gluten Free)

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I bought a big container of cherries at Costco. This is always how it starts… I have lots of something and need to figure out how to use it up! I knew I wanted to recreate my favorite cake, cherry clafoutis, which is a light and fluffy pancake style cake, but I wanted to make it gluten free. I also had to figure out how to pit fresh cherries without a cherry pitter (those gadgets are ridiculously overpriced).

First of all, if you’re going to use fresh cherries, pit them by pushing a straw through the bottom of the cherry until the pit comes out the stem end. It’s going to feel really gory. The juice gets everywhere, so do this over the trash can. If you’re using already pitted cherries, my favorite ones to use are the jarred cherries from Trader Joe’s.

Second of all, use a kitchen scale to measure the flour. It will be more precise than trying to use a measuring cup. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, get one! They’re $20 (sometimes less) and are a handy tool to have around for portion control.

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Ingredients:
1-2 cups pitted cherries
50 g almond meal
50 g brown rice flour
60 g coconut flour
2 tbs arrowroot starch
1/4 c applesauce
1/4 c plain greek yogurt
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 droppers full of liquid stevia, or 1/4 c sugar
6 egg whites
1 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the egg whites in a stand mixer until frothy and fairly stiff.

2. Set the cherries aside. Sift together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients to the egg whites. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl gently to combine.

3. Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9×13 casserole dish. Carefully press the cherries into the batter.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Allow to cool before cutting and serve with powdered sugar (optional).

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The almond flour in this cake complements the flavor of the cherries really well! This is a nutritious cake! You could eat it for breakfast. Here’s the nutrition breakdown for 1/8th of the cake (a generous slice!)

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Let me know if you like having the nutrition info posted along with my recipes, I’m more than happy to include it!

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recipe, treats

Easy Nectarine Bellini Sorbet

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Did you know it’s really easy to make your own sorbet without an ice cream maker? All you need are a blender, a freezer, and a shallow baking dish.

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This pretty pink sorbet is made from white nectarines and champagne. You can use peaches and moscato too!

Ingredients:
4 nectarines, very ripe
1 cup champagne or moscato (can use white grape juice if non-alcoholic)
Honey, to taste

1. Blend pitted nectarines and champagne in a powerful blender until smooth. Add honey if desired and blend again to combine.
2. Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish or ice cube trays and freeze for at least 2 hours (unless using frozen peaches, then you don’t have to wait as long!)
3. Blend the frozen chunks again to turn them into a sorbet consistency. If you use frozen fruit, you can skip the freezing and re-blending and just eat the sorbet after step 1!

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This pink sorbet is so refreshing! If you use ripe fruit, it doesn’t even need honey! Enjoy and experiment with your own flavor combinations.

recipe, treats

Paleo Shortbread Cookies

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Coconut flour is my latest culinary obsession and challenge. I failed miserably at making paleo bread out of it this weekend, but these cookies turned out splendidly! Enjoy a few with coffee!

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Ingredients:
3/4 c + 1/2 c extra coconut flour
1/4 c arrowroot starch
1/2 c coconut oil or butter, melted
1/8 tsp sea salt
5 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 c dark chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients except chocolate and 1/2 c extra coconut flour in a mixing bowl. Mush up with a fork and add additional coconut flour until the mixture is crumbly.
3. Dust a clean, smooth surface with coconut flour. Press the crumbly mixture out with your fingers to make it smooth and somewhat flat. Dust with coconut flour.
4. Roll the dough to about 1/8-1/4 inch thickness using a rolling pin. Cut shapes out of the dough. Roll the scraps up into a ball and flatten to cut more shapes out.
5. Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool.
6. Microwave the chocolate chips for 10 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until they are melted. Drizzle cookies with the chocolate. If the chocolate is not very runny, add a tiny amount of coconut oil and stir.
7. Allow the cookies to cool in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes until the chocolate is set.

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These cookies are wonderful! You’ll be surprised. They are buttery and crumbly just like regular shortbread, and they stay intact well!

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breakfast, recipe, treats

Raspberry Muffins

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This is a healthier raspberry muffin recipe! It features gluten free flours, reduced butter content, and a combination of applesauce and stevia for the sweetener. The trick to making these muffins light and fluffy is whipping the egg whites into a foam and folding them in gently at the end.

Ingredients:
1/2 c gluten free oats, ground into a powder with a food processor or blender
1/2 c almond meal
1/3 c coconut flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, whites and yolks separated
3 tbs butter, melted (can sub melted coconut oil)
1/3 c greek yogurt (plain)
1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
3 droppers full of liquid stevia OR 1/4 c honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar
36 fresh raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350. In one bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients except egg whites and raspberries.

2. Whip the egg whites into a stiff foam using a hand mixer or stand mixer.

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the egg whites gently. Fill a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners with the batter. This should fill 12 liners 3/4 full.

4. Press 3 raspberries into each muffin. Bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

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I’m bringing these to bible study this morning! They’ve already passed my taste test. Moist, light, and just a little sweet!

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Hungry yet?

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recipe, treats

Blueberries and Cream Protein Ice Cream Bars

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I live on the opposite side of town from my mom and sister. On the rare occasion that my mom comes over, she has me blend frozen blueberries and half & half in the vitamix with a bit of powdered sugar to make an easy ice cream treat. This is my healthy variation that will keep in the freezer for surprise visits :)

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup half & half (or use another 1/4 c milk)
1 scoop vanilla whey isolate powder (I use Dymatize Elite Gourmet Vanilla)

1. Blend all ingredients in a powerful blender until smooth. Add more milk if needed. Pour into 6 ice pop molds and freeze for at least 2 hours. To remove the ice cream bars, run hot water over the ice pop mold for a few seconds to loosen.

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recipe, treats

Healthy gluten free cheesecake bites

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Happy Independence Day! Colby and I celebrated with a hike at Mt Charleston… Sort of. It was too hot up there for me so we cut it pretty short. When we got home, I whipped these up as a festive 4th of July snack:

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These mini cheesecake tarts are made without butter or oil. The filling is protein rich and the crust is gluten free!

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1/2 c gluten free oats
3 tbs almond meal
1/2 banana

For the filling:
1.5 cups plain nonfat greek yogurt
2 tbs lemon curd
1-2 tbs gelatin, dissolved in small amount of water or milk
(You can use sugar free instant cheesecake pudding mix instead)
Fresh berries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulverize the oats in a blender. Mash the “oat flour” with banana and almond meal to form a thick batter.

2. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Scoop a dollop of batter into each cupcake liner and flatten to fill the bottom of the liner. You should be able to fill 9-12 cupcake liners this way. Bake for 15-20 mins or until crisp and golden.

3. While the crusts are baking, make the cheesecake filling by combining greek yogurt with lemon curd and unflavored gelatin OR sugar free pudding mix.

4. Allow the crusts to cool. Top each crust with filling and berries.

5. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

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You can eat these with a spoon or carefully take them out of the liners.

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recipe, snacks, treats

Fresh Fig Jam

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I had lots of leftover figs from this weekend. Enjoy this sweet summer fruit in a homemade jam!

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh figs
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
1/4 c honey
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick

1. Place chopped figs and all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until boiling.

2. Stir frequently as the sugar dissolves and the jam begins to thicken. This will take about 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick.

3. You’ll know the jam is ready when it doesn’t drip off a spoon easily. You can store it for up to two weeks in the fridge!

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Serve on toasted baguette with goat cheese.

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Drink some unfiltered pear cider with it (yum!!)

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Try swirling some into plain greek yogurt!

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Any way you serve it, you’ll love the ginger, cinnamon, and honey flavors complementing the sweetness of the figs. The lemon juice and zest balances the sweetness nicely! Next time I’ll see what happens when I use stevia instead of sugar.

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protein shakes, recipe, treats

Raspberry Protein Shake

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We’re facing record setting heat here in Vegas this weekend. Stay cool with this raspberry protein shake! I drank mine after trampoline fitness class this morning.

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In a blender, combine:
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup coconut water
1/4 cup almond milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder of choice (I like Dymatize Elite Gourmet Vanilla Whey Protein Isolate All Natural)
Additional ice, if desired

Blend for about 60 seconds on high or until smooth

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The sprinkles on top are just for fun. I found all natural sprinkles (no artificial colors or flavors) at Marshall’s. I like that they make my protein shake look like a fun milkshake :)

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Enjoy!

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