Probar Cups

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Place oats, dates, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, ground flax and cocoa powder in a food processor container and blend until dates and almonds have been broken down. Add honey, peanut butter, and vanilla and blend until the mixture sticks together when pressed between your fingers. Add a bit of water if needed to make it stick together. Pulse in chocolate chips until they are well scattered in the mixture.

Divide mixture among 12 lightly greased or paper lined standard sized muffin cups and press down to firmly pack in the contents. You don’t need the grease or use paper liners if using silicon cups. Place tray in freezer for about 30 minutes to help set the cups.  Unmold and store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container.

Slightly adapted from: muffintinmania.com 

Almond Butter Bites

Ingredients: 

• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1 cup brown rice crisp cereal
• 3/4 cup oats-pulsed in blender or food processor for a couple of seconds
• 3/4 cup puffed millet
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup dried tart cherries-chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 cup unflavored whey protein powder
• Water-as needed 

Directions: 

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Combine wet ingredients in large saucepan and heat over low heat until melted together and well-combined. 
3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. If mixture is too dry to stick together when pressed, add a bit of water.
4. Wet hands thoroughly and shape mixture into balls of desired size. Press mixture firmly so it will hold. Wet hands after each ball. It will make them more firm and keep the mixture from sticking to your hands.

These store really well in the freezer and are chewy right out of the freezer. 

Trail Mix Cookies

These cookies are incredible. They are full of healthy ingredients and tasty at the same time. They got the stamp of approval from ALL of my kids plus a collection of their friends and some of my co-workers. I hope you will enjoy them too. They are slightly adapted from this recipe.

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats, blended into oat flour
• 1 cup almonds blended into fine meal
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup pecans 
• 6 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 8 tablespoons mini dark chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate)
• 4 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon ground flax + 4 tablespoons water, mixed together
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the ground flax and water in a small mug and set aside.
3. Measure pecans and sunflower seeds into blender and pulse until coarsely chopped. 
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
5. In a blender jar, blend together the wet ingredients, including the flax egg until thoroughly combined.
6. Add the wet mixture on top of the dry mixture and stir well until combined. This will take quite a bit of stirring. You might even think it's not possible, but with a little bit of work, it will all come together.
7. Portion small balls of dough (just smaller than golf balls) onto the baking sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart.
8. Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes, until light golden brown on the bottom. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
9. Wrap up and store leftovers on the counter or in the freezer, if desired.

Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole, raw almonds (unsalted)
• 3 T pure maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 T coconut oil, melted

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place parchment paper to cover the bottom of a 9X13 inch baking dish. Add almonds and maple syrup. Stir to coat.
3. Roast nuts for about 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Almonds are ready when the maple syrup has become crunchy.
4. Remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes (They should still be slightly warm).
5. Place almonds in a high powered blender and blend on low speed for 15 seconds. Increase speed to medium high and blend for another 30 seconds
6. Add salt, cinnamon, and coconut oil.
7. Continue to blend on medium to high speed until the almonds have released their oil and the almond butter is the consistency you desire. You may need a little more or a little less coconut oil.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

This bread has it all. It is 100% whole wheat, which pleases me, and it has a taste and texture that pleases the rest of my family (as well as other friends who are kind enough to test all of my cooking). The ingredients are simple. It makes 3 two pound loaves. It freezes well and makes good sandwiches and toast.

The recipe is designed for a Kitchen Aid or Bosch mixer. I have had the best results using Wheat Montana's hard white whole wheat flour.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs yeast
• 4 C lukewarm water
• 1/3 C honey
• 9 C whole wheat flour (1 cup of flour can be replaced by a combination of any ground grains or seeds).
• 2 T gluten
• 2 T vinegar
• 3 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 and spray 3 loaf pans.
2. Combine the following ingredients in the mixing bowl. Mix for 1 minute, cover and let sit for 10 minutes:
• water
• yeast
• 3 cups of flour
• gluten
• vinegar
3. Add honey, salt, and remaining 6 cups of flour and mix with the dough hook for about 5 minutes.
4. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl and be smooth and only slightly tacky when it has the right amount of flour.
5. On a lightly floured surface, knead out any bubbles, shape and place in 3 greased loaf pans (2lb. loafs). 
6. Let rise about 30-45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the house. The dough should be just higher than the top loaf pan. It will continue to rise in the oven.
7. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove bread from oven.
8. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove loaf and cool completely on a cooling rack.   

Almond Coconut Trail Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole unsalted almonds
• 2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup puffed millet, rice (or other puffed whole grain; or crispy brown rice cereal)
• 1 tablespoon flax seed meal*
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup brown rice syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Grease/spray large bowl, 9x13 baking sheet/pan, wooden spoon or rubber spatula, and bottom of drinking glass. Set aside.
2. Coarsely chop almonds (You could leave them whole if you prefer)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds on large baking sheet and bake for 10 min. until lightly toasted and fragrant. 
4. Spread coconut in single layer on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-7 minutes, stirring half way through, until lightly toasted. Watch it closely to avoid burning.
5. Add toasted almonds & coconut to large bowl. Add puffed rice/millet and flax seed meal. Stir to combine; set aside.
6. In 1-1/2 or 2 quart saucepan, combine honey, rice syrup, salt, and vanilla over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches 250 degrees on a candy thermometer. 
7. Quickly pour liquid mixture over nut mixture and stir until combined. 
8. Transfer to greased/sprayed 9x13 pan, use hands to spread mixture evenly in pan; using the bottom of the drinking glass, press the mixture to compact it and close all of the gaps. 
9. Let cool 20 minutes (pan should still be slightly warm). Invert pan on cutting board, allowing mixture to fall out in one piece. Cut into 20 bars. If they cool too much, they will become extremely difficult to cut. You can return them to a warm oven for a couple of minutes and try again.

*Once Flax seeds are ground, they go rancid very quickly. Always buy whole flax seeds and store them in the freezer or refrigerator and grind them as you need them. A coffee grinder is the best tool for the job.

Happy Trails Cookies

These cookies are a great source of healthy fats. My kids all love them and didn't ask any questions when I first served them as an after school snack (questions like-"What is in these?""Are they healthy?""Will you try them first?"). Recipe is adapted from Oh She Glows.

Happy Trails Cookies

Dry Ingredients

• 4 cups whole pecans, toasted
• 3/4 cup pepita seeds, toasted
• 4 cups rolled oats, ground into flour in a blender
• 2.5 cups whole rolled oats
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, blended into smaller pieces in the blender

Wet Ingredients

• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 cup brown rice syrup
• 2 T vanilla extract 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 and toast the pecans for 8-10 minutes, and the pepita seeds for about 5 minutes, watching closely so they don't burn. Remove and set aside to cool. Increase the oven temperature to 350 and line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients (minus the pecans and pepita seeds).
3. In a blender, blend the toasted pecan and pepita seeds on pulse until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add to the dry ingredients.
4. Use the same method to blend the chocolate chips into smaller pieces. Add to the dry ingredients.
5. Using the same blender, combine the wet ingredients.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. The dough will be very sticky.
7. Use a 2 T cookie scoop or your (damp) hands and pack the dough firmly into balls. Flatten the balls a bit before you bake.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes. The key to having soft cookies is to avoid overbaking them. They will still be a bit soft in the middle when they are ready to come out. Leave them on the baking sheet for another minute before removing them to a cooling rack. Once cooled, they can be stored in a sealed container. They freeze really well.

 Makes about 3 dozen cookies