New favorite smoothie combo: water, banana, cucumber, kale (blanched and then frozen), frozen mango, flax seeds, walnuts and collagen peptides!
Salad made with arugula, roasted potatoes, roasted chicken, peaches and pumpkin seeds. I dressed the salad with Meyer lemon honey living vinegar (brand Acid League- this stuff is crazy delicious!), extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper, mustard and microplaned garlic.
Little sweet treat made with peanut butter, maple syrup, sea salt, vanilla, toasted oats, toasted walnuts, cacao powder, freeze dried bananas and dates! So good!
I put some treat bags together with Kale Junkie’s Chocolate Crinkle Cookies dusted in powdered sugar, Gingerbread Cookies (from On Baking by Sarah Labensky, Priscilla Martel and Eddy Van Damme) dipped in melted Marshmallows (from The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg and Amy Kemp Friberg), and Lemon Bars made with Lemon Curd (from Cooking by James Peterson) and my Vanilla Granola Butter Crust!
LooKitchen will resume on the week of January 3rd with the following posts: sugar cookie latte recipe, savory tempura pancake recipe, red light therapy, eats: various dishes from the holiday break and juice.
Hubby and I are spending a month in California and one of the coolest things is being able to buy Granola Butter in a physical store. I am obsessed with granola butter, it is so delicious. It’s a nut and seed free spreadable granola! We picked some up at Whole Foods along with a vanilla crunch Hu Chocolate bar.
This is the easiest and most delicious chocolate treat!
Jar of granola butter, well stirred
Hu Kitchen vanilla crunch bar, chopped
Pinch of Maldon sea salt
Line a pan with parchment paper. Pour the granola butter into the pan. Spread the chopped chocolate bar on top and press the chocolate in using the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with sea salt and freeze for at least 4 hours. Chop and enjoy!!
3 1” cubes cacao paste, microplaned or finely grated
1/2 cup dried banana
Toast oats at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
While oats are toasting, melt coconut oil, almond butter and maple syrup over very low heat until coconut oil is melted. Turn off heat. Add vanilla and finely grated cacao paste to the maple mixture and stir to combine.
Remove the oats from the oven and add flax, almonds, salt and the chocolate maple mixture. Stir to combine. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in the dried banana. Allow the granola to come to room temperature (stirring every 10ish minutes, so it doesn’t stick to the pan).
Add maple syrup, chia seeds, flax seeds and vanilla to a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. Stir to combine and let sit while you toast the oats and nuts.
Toast oats in a pan over medium low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add walnuts and toast until the nuts are fragrant.
Add oats and nuts to the food processor and pulse into a rough flour. Add salt and collagen and pulse to combine thoroughly. Add Your Super chocolate lover and pulse to combine. Add the syrup, chia and flax mixture to the food processor and turn on until completely combined and the dough starts to pull away from the sides. The dough should easily come together to form balls (if it doesn’t, it needs more time in the processor).
Form the dough into balls and chill in the freezer for 4 hours. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy!
This recipe features one of my favorite products: Kween and Co granola butter. I have talked about granola butter before. It is a spreadable nut and seed free butter made using oats. It is so delicious! It’s great spread on toast, waffles, pancakes, fruit and dessert.
Melt ghee over very low heat and pour into a mixing bowl to cool. Once its no longer hot, add granola butter, maple syrup, vanilla and egg and whisk together. Make sure to combine the ingredients very well.
Whisk together the almond flour, arrowroot, oats, sea salt and baking soda. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two additions. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover the mixing bowl or remove the dough to a silicone (or plastic) bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and scoop or spoon balls onto a parchment paper (or silpat) lined baking sheet.
Bake for 9-13 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies). Remove from the oven and let cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to a plate, rack or serving board. Enjoy!
Happy Holidays!! The holiday season looks different for us this year, but I still wanted to whip up a small treat platter!!
Maple Gingerbread Cookies with a Maple Buttercream. I am still working on this recipe, but I will make sure it’s available before next years holiday season! Cookies are made with ghee, coconut palm sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, sea salt, eggs, almond flour, arrowroot powder and baking soda. Frosting is made with maple syrup, ghee, vanilla and sea salt.
Kale Junkie’s Fudge Crinkle Cookies! These are so fantastic (as are all her recipes!). Check her out- I absolutely adore her! ❤️
Pro tip: I only baked off a few cookies since it’s just me and my husband this year. I’ve frozen the remaining cookie doughs and can bake them off as wanted for us and to make cookie boxes for my parents and in-laws.
I whipped up some of my easy blender fudge! It is delicious, quick and easy!
I used a Christmas silicone mold this time, but you can use any mold or a parchment paper lined pan.
8 oz almond butter (or peanut butter)
8 oz ghee or coconut oil
1 TB vanilla
64 g cacao powder
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp sea salt (plus opt. tiny pinch extra for topping)
1 cup water
Add all ingredients except the water to a high powered blender.
Bring the water to a boil in a pot on I the stove. Pour the boiling water over the rest of the ingredients. Blend until well combined.
Pour into a silicone mold or a parchment paper lined pan. Freeze overnight. Unmold or pull the fudge out by grabbing onto the parchment paper and cut into desired size. Freeze until ready to serve/eat. Enjoy!
Toast walnuts over medium low heat for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Combine chia seeds and milk in a high powered blender. Blend on high for 20 seconds. Add pumpkin, banana, maple syrup, chocolate lover, chocolate protein, sea salt, vanilla and about 1/3 of the walnuts to the blender with the milk mixture. Turn the blender on and blend until thick and creamy.
Pour mousse into serving cups/bowls and chill for at least 3 hours.
Top cups/bowls with toasted walnuts before serving. Enjoy!
