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Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

February 7, 2023

These healthy cocoa nib granola bars are nutrient packed to keep the kids full and focused, are fast to make, and taste like a chocolate chip granola bar!

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Active kids and a brand new protein packed granola bar!

My youngest came home from a gymnastics meet not long ago telling me about this chocolate chip granola bar that her teammate was munching on after the competition. She was so intrigued, and wondered if we could get some! I pulled up some nutrition facts on various popular granola bar brands, and asked her if she thought these ingredients would help an athlete recover from the kind of practice and meets that she puts in. Corn syrup and/or sugar, soybean oil, rice and oats were really the only “real” ingredients, along with some preservatives in most of the brands we checked out. Zero protein source to help her muscles recover, rancid oil that would increase inflammation in her already worked-out body, and junky sweeteners…I know of exactly zero children that need a blood sugar spike like that. We decided together that those store bought bars are not exactly the “recipe for recovery” for any growing kid, let alone an active athlete.

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

So let’s make some!

I have plenty of granola bar recipes between the blog and my cookbook, but I have never done a “chocolate chip” granola bar. I had 2 main goals for this recipe.

  • First…it needed to be fast and easy to make. I know, I know…maybe my priorities are a little flip flopped. But if it is fussy to make, even I’m not going to make it on the regular. I am just as normal of a mom as it gets, with a busy work schedule, kid schedule, and everything in between. As much as I love the kitchen, I don’t have time for time consuming recipes every week.
  • And secondly, it needed to have a fantastic macro-nutrient balance. Protein, fats, and carbs…growing kids need them all. We don’t want a carb-heavy granola bar. I wanted something not only great to pack for a hungry gymnast after a meet, but something to pack in a lunchbox that would help the kids focus at school too!
Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

Cocoa nibs versus chocolate chips

Cocoa nibs are little shaved pieces of the actual cocoa bean that chocolate is made of. They are high in antioxidants and minerals, but because they don’t have the sugar added like a piece of chocolate does, they are bitter. Incredibly, when you mix cocoa nibs into a recipe with a natural sweetener like honey and the coconut sugar, they taste just like chocolate! I have nothing against chocolate chips here and there. If you want to use a mini chocolate chip, go for it! But give the little nibs a try, especially if the kids are going to eat these regularly! I have taste-tested these granola bars on more than just my “real food kids” and they have passed with flying colors!

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

Where is the protein coming from?

The biggest challenge in re-creating a “typical” chocolate chip granola bar is finding the protein source. Those store-bought bars are all rice and oat. There is nothing wrong with whole grain oats! But I wanted to add protein without compromising the flavor and texture. My newest baking protein source in the last year are these hemp hearts that I get at Costco. A whopping 10 grams of protein in just 3 tablespoons is an incredibly easy way to get some protein into something like a granola bar! I also added almond flour which makes the texture great. If you are at a nut free school, simply swap the almond flour ground up seeds of any kind – I would stick with sunflower seeds if you don’t want to change the color too much. Pumpkin seeds are great too, but they are green and might turn some kids off.

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

The Method :: The granola bar mixture

Earlier I told you that one of my goals in this granola bar recipe was to have an easy, fuss free, fast prep. If it is a drag to make, I know that I am not going to be motivated to make it on the regular! For these granola bars, you will simply mix up the dry ingredients in a bowl, and then stir in the melted liquid ingredients. It takes minutes!

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!
Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

The Method :: Granola bar molds or baking pans

I am pretty obsessed with my granola bar molds. I have had them for over a year, and I find myself making granola bars way more often because of how easy and *perfect* the shape comes out! I have both large granola bar molds, and recently got these minis because I think they make the perfect little snack bite for younger kids in lunchboxes! You can see the size of the mini’s in the picture below. Sometimes when I pack a larger one in my youngest’s lunch, she gets too full to eat the other items in the box because my granola bars are so packed and filling! To get the granola into the molds, just press the mixture in with a spoon. If you don’t have molds, you can use a parchment lined baking square. You’ll lift the square out of the pan when it cools and cut the bars into the shape you want.

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!
Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

So…did the swap make the cut?!

See the smile on that face?! She has been pretty pumped to have these granola bars for a snack in her lunchbox, and told me she can’t wait to pack it for her next meet! If you have kids that are used to regular, store-bought granola bars, you may want to bump up the honey or coconut sugar a little bit. As is, they taste like a treat to my kids, but they don’t get a lot of sugary foods.

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

Let’s talk about the size of this recipe!

This recipe makes…a lot of granola bars! I purposely did this because I was finding that with recipes like my Paleo Granola Bars, I was doubling them anyway so that I didn’t have to make them as often. You can certainly halve the recipe if you don’t want as many, but they do keep in the pantry for months, or you can freeze them if you like. This recipe makes 2 pans of my mini granola bar molds, and 2 pans of my large granola bar molds!

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Nutrient packed and gluten & dairy free!

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. If you plan to use granola bar molds, place them on a baking sheet. If you are going to use a baking pan, you can line two 8×8 or 9×9 baking pans with unbleached parchment paper so the paper hangs off the sides (This helps pull them out of the pan to cut them easier later).
  • Put the oats, shredded coconut, hemp hearts, almond flour, cocoa nibs, sea salt, and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine.
  • Melt the coconut oil in a small sauce pan until it is liquid, and then add the honey and coconut sugar to melt. Add the vanilla extract and then mix the melted liquid ingredients completely into the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.
  • Press the granola bar mixture into your granola bar molds, or into your baking pan. I use the back of a spoon to press them into a granola bar mold. When I make granola bars in a baking pan, I use the bottom of a measuring cup to press the mixture in.
  • Bake the granola bars at 325 degrees until golden on the top. For these small granola bar molds, it takes 15 minutes. For these larger granola bar molds, it takes 25 minutes. The baking pans should take between 25-30 minutes.
  • Let the granola bars COOL COMPLETELY before taking them out. You'll be able to pop the granola bars out of the molds. If you are using a baking pan, pull the parchment paper up to take the granola bars out of the pan, and then cut them with a long sharp knife.

Notes

  • I use these hemp hearts from Costco, but there are other brands, and you can price compare what works best for you!
  • If you can’t have coconut, or don’t like the taste, you can swap the coconut shreds for more oats, and the coconut oil for butter if you can have dairy, or avocado oil. I don’t taste the coconut in these bars, but I know some might!
  • If you are at a nut free school, swap the almond flour ground up seeds of any kind – I would stick with sunflower seeds if you don’t want to change the color too much. Pumpkin seeds are great too, but they are green and might turn some kids off.
Healthy Cocoa Nib Granola Bars :: Fast prep, nutrient packed, and gluten & dairy free!

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How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

October 17, 2022

Don’t throw those pumpkin seeds away! Roast them up for a zinc-rich, salty or sweet crispy snack that the whole family will love!

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

All the October pumpkin fun!

My crew is just like pretty much every kid around October – perfectly pumped to dress up in a fun costume, carve into some messy pumpkins, and run around with their friends to all the neighbor’s houses! We also use SO many of those little pie pumpkins this time of year. I just love to add the creamy sweetness to a broth for delicious soups like pumpkin chicken noodle soup, and chicken & pumpkin corn chowder, or chilis like this Instant Pot chipotle chili. And, of course, pumpkin is so fun to bake with. There are multiple recipes on the blog you can search for, but our favorites are the pumpkin breakfast cookies, pumpkin scones, and these brand new pumpkin donuts!

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

What to do with all those seeds!

With as many pumpkins as we go through in our home (including Halloween pumpkin carving!), we always end up having roasted pumpkin seeds on hand for quick lunchbox additions or snacks at home, and you can really dress them up any way you like! From simple and salty, to savory and complex, pumpkin seeds are a pretty blank slate, and so easy to roast as well. You can also make them a fun, sweet pumpkin spice or cinnamon toast flavor for a healthier Halloween treat!

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

Allll the zinc – and so many other healthy benefits!

Pumpkin seeds are known in health circles for being packed with zinc. Our bodies need zinc for so many things, including immune health, so it is pretty amazing this crispy snack is available during this time of year while the kids are back to school! But, did you know that pumpkin seeds are also loaded with other minerals, including magnesium, which so many of us (yes, kids too!), are super deficient in? What a fun way to get some minerals in!

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

The Method :: Soaking the Seeds

After carving your Halloween pumpkin, or scooping the seeds out of your roasting pumpkins for baking, you’ll want to soak the seeds. Add a little salt to a bowl, dump the seeds in, and fill to cover with water. They need to soak for at least an hour, but you can leave them overnight too. You’ll be able to pull any leftover pumpkin flesh out much easier after soaking too.

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

The Method :: Rinsing the Seeds

Once the seeds have soaked, drain the water, and give them a good rinse. This is a good spot to pick out any leftover pieces of pumpkin flesh that are stuck to any seeds too.

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

The Method :: Drying and Prepping the Seeds to Roast

After you rinse the seeds, you can lay them out on a paper towel to soak up any dripping, excess water. You don’t need them bone dry, but use the paper towel to pat the tops of the seeds. Next, dump the seeds onto an unlined, ungreased baking sheet. You’ll toss the seeds right there on the baking sheet with butter and sea salt. You can also add any extra seasonings or flavors you wish to add at this point.

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

The Method :: Roasting the Pumpkin Seeds

Roast your pumpkin seeds for about 15 minutes, and then give them a good shake or stir to make sure everything gets roasted evenly. Then roast another 7-10 minutes until golden. The pumpkin seeds will crisp up more as they cool, and you can store them in the pantry for a good month.

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

Let’s talk about dressing them up!

While butter and sea salt will always be my “go-to” favorite for pumpkin seeds, sometimes it is really fun to give the flavor a spin – especially if you have a lot of them! Here are some ideas! {All of the instructions for dressing up your pumpkin seeds are in the recipe card below}

  • Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Seeds :: This is super fun for Halloween night, with a crispy sweet flavor, it makes a yummy healthier treat option!
  • Savory Pumpkin Seeds :: With a little garlic and onion powder, your seeds will transform into a savory snack in the best way!
  • Cinnamon Toast Pumpkin Seeds :: This is another sweet option that works really well for Halloween night!
  • Pizza Night Pumpkin Seeds :: If you’re craving the flavors of pizza, this one will hit all those salty, herby notes you love!
  • Spicy & Sweet Pumpkin Seeds :: One of momma’s favs, the sweet heat is perfect for any fans of a little kick in the house!
  • Vinegar, Sea Salt, & Black Pepper :: Like vinegar chips! Need I say more?!
All of the instructions for dressing up your pumpkin seeds are in the recipe card below

How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

Ingredients

  • Seeds from 2 pie pumpkins about 1 – 1 ¼ cup seeds
  • ½ tsp sea salt for soaking
  • 1 tbsp of butter or avocado oil
  • ½ – ¾ tsp sea salt for roasting
  • See below for savory/salty/sweet flavor options!

Instructions

  • Before roasting your seeds, you’ll want to clean and soak them for at least an hour. Cover the seeds with water in a small mixing bowl, and add about ½ teaspoon of sea salt to the water. Stir everything around, and let the seeds soak at least an hour, or up to 8 hours.
  • Drain the seeds in a strainer, rinse, and remove any pumpkin flesh left behind. Put the seeds on a paper towel to soak any excess water, and gently pat dry. They won’t get totally dry unless you let them sit out overnight (which you can do if you want!). I usually don’t and they crisp up just fine.
  • Pour the seeds onto a baking sheet, and toss them with melted butter and sea salt. If you are flavoring your seeds at all, you will add those seasonings here as well.
  • Spread the seeds out on the baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Stir the seeds around and bake for another 7-10 minutes until golden and fragrant. The seeds will crisp as they cool.
  • Store your seeds in an airtight container in the pantry for 2 weeks.

Notes

Here are some fun flavor variations!
  • Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Seeds :: Pull the sea salt down to ¼ – ½ tsp, and add 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 1-2 tsp coconut sugar
  • Savory Pumpkin Seeds :: Add ½ tsp onion and garlic powder
  • Cinnamon Toast Pumpkin Seeds :: Pull the sea salt down to ¼ – ½ tsp, and add 1 tsp cinnamon and 1-2 tsp maple syrup
  • Pizza Night Pumpkin Seeds :: Pull the sea salt down to ½ tsp, and add 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp basil, and ½ tsp oregano
  • Spicy & Sweet Pumpkin Seeds :: Add a few pinches of cayenne to your heat preference, and ½ tsp paprika, 1 tsp coconut sugar
  • Vinegar, Sea Salt, & Black Pepper (Like vinegar chips!) :: Add a tsp or so of white vinegar, and a few pinches of black pepper to taste
How To Roast Crispy Pumpkin Seeds :: Plus 6 Different Flavor Variations!

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Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

March 28, 2022

This simple, no fuss, fool-proof Instant Pot hard boiled egg method is sure to become a part of your weekly prep day to set you up for easy grab and go meal add-in’s!

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Prep day staples to make meals run smoother

Just about every time I post one of our breakfast bar mornings to my Instagram, I’ll get a private message or 2, and some comments asking how I do the hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot. I never really gave thought to posting this, since it seems so simple, but truly, these are the kitchen tasks that make the meal plans we do during the week flow so much faster – in other words…this is how we do real food for real life families!

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

So let’s talk about what a Prep Day is in my house

For me, Prep Day is hardly a “day,” so let’s just get that out there! I know there are people that truly spend an entire day prepping food for the week or month, and I think that is great. Do what works for you. For me, I’ll pick a 2 hour spurt during the week (typically on Sunday’s, but this changes depending on the time of the year). During that 2 hour spurt of the week there are a few tasks that I *always* do (like these hard boiled eggs), and a task or 2 that will be specific just to that week, or maybe dedicated to replenishing a monthly pantry item like granola bars.

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

What in the world do you do with a dozen hard boiled eggs in 5 days?!

In my family of 5, this dozen eggs sometimes doesn’t even make it to the 3rd day, but let me give you some ideas! If you have a bigger family, by all means batch this up more!

  • Easy breakfast addition or breakfast bar item to go with muffins or breakfast cookies
  • Quick lunchbox add-in to go with everything from a soup or salad to leftover pancakes from the weekend to make a “breakfast for lunch” lunchbox
  • Fast morning or afternoon snacks
  • Egg salad for lunch or dinner
  • Crumbled onto a salad at dinner for extra protein for growing kids
  • Deviled eggs for a fun and easy addition to a charcuterie board lunch or dinner
Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

So now that you know how to use them, let’s talk about what kind of eggs to use!

I’ll keep this as short as I can, because truthfully, I want you to use whatever are the best eggs that you can afford. However, I was reminded this week that some people may not understand the difference between cage free, free range, pastured, organic, etc when it comes to eggs, and I want to be sure you know! Because when you know better, you can do better, right? No beating yourself up – just work on fitting into your budget what you can. Obviously the best bet is going to be a local, pastured egg from chickens on pasture around where you live. Whether that be a friend down the street or a local farmer, these eggs will be the best nutrition for your family. Eggs with bright orange yolks are indicative of nutrients in the grasses and bugs that the chickens were eating. You’ll notice that conventional store bought eggs have a pale yellow yolk, and those eggs just don’t have the levels of nutrients that a pastured egg does. Unfortunately many may be tricked by the verbiage “cage free” because it sounds like the chickens are treated pretty great as they are not in a “cage.” Tricky, tricky wording because technically cage free chickens still can be kept inside with a certain about of space per chicken, and may not even get to feed on grasses or bugs at all. Chickens were meant to be on grass eating from the ground, giving their eggs the most optimal levels of nutrients. My recommendation would be to look for at the very least “free range,” and at the very best “pastured.” If you have further questions on this, please as in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer! I would also encourage you to visit your local farmer’s market to ask your local chicken farmers questions about how their chickens live and about their eggs – 9 times out of 10, farmers just love to talk about their chickens – especially if they are raising them right!

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

How to make Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

***First, you’ll fill your Instant Pot with a cup of water and place a steamer basket or the trivet your IP came with into the bottom of the pot. I love the steamer basket because at the end, I just pull the whole basket of eggs out and dunk them into the water

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

***Second, you’ll put the IP lid on and close the valve. Press “Manual” on the IP and bring the time down to 5 minutes. The Instant Pot will beep, and then take a few minutes to come to pressure before counting down the 5 minutes.

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

***Next, after the Instant Pot pressure cooks the eggs, you’ll release the valve right away, and pull the steamer basket out of the IP to dunk into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking. If you are using the trivet, you’ll have to use a tongs to individually take the eggs out, which is totally fine. I just use a large mixing bowl in the sink to fill with cold water.

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

***Finally, after the eggs cool off for a few minutes, you can crack and peel them. I have left the eggs in the cold water up to an hour and that is fine too, although I have found they peel the best right away. Peel your eggs and store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Get the kids involved in prep day!

Making the weekly hard boiled eggs is actually a fantastic way to get the kids in the kitchen. If you have little ones, have them help you peel the eggs – they will love this task! If you have older children, put this kitchen task on their plate entirely from start to finish. It is great life skills for when they are older, and they will feel proud contributing to the family. I’d even let them make some deviled eggs to get fancy if they love those!

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Tips for introducing eating hard boiled eggs to little ones

Hard boiled eggs were one of my girls’ favorite finger foods as toddlers. They were an easy, compact protein for on the go little people, and I have a few ideas to make the introduction even more fun! Little kids *love* to be in charge. It all starts with letting them help you make the eggs, and for little ones this will mean gently placing the eggs in the IP, and maybe even helping you press a button or 2. Little ones also love peeling eggs – let them help you! Get a little egg cutter to make the prep a little safer (the egg cutter pictured below is one that I have had over a decade and I couldn’t find it, but there are so many in the stores, and if you like the Prime stuff, here are some to choose from there!), and let them cut the egg how they like – their choice. Let them sprinkle a little sea salt on the egg too!

Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 12 uncooked eggs

Instructions

  • Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of your Instant Pot stainless steel pot, and place a steamer basket, or the trivet in the bottom of the pot.
  • Put up to 12 eggs into the steamer basket or on the trivet, close the lid of the IP, and seal the valve so it is closed.
  • Turn the IP on, press "Manual," and bring the time down to 5 minutes. The IP will beep, and then take a few minutes to come to pressure before counting down the 5 minutes.
  • Once the 5 minutes of pressure cooking is done, open the valve so the pressure releases, open the lid of the IP, take the steamer basket out, and place the steamer basket with the eggs into large bowl of cold water. I just fill a large mixing bowl with cold water in my sink. If you are using the trivet, you'll have to use tongs to pull out each egg and drop them into the bowl of cold water.
  • Let the eggs sit in the cold water at least a few minutes, though sometimes I forget about them for up to an hour. The eggs will peel the best after just a few minutes, but it still works if you have left them longer.
  • Once the eggs have cooled in the cold water for a few minutes, you can peel them. Store your hard boiled eggs in an air tight container up to 5 days in the fridge.
Simple Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

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Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

March 9, 2022

These yummy oat free Paleo granola bars are a snap to prep in the blender, quick to bake, and even easier to eat!

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Moving week…and snack short-cuts!

It’s *finally* here! Moving week! It’s been a long year as we awaited our house to finish, and I’m getting ready to get these boxes we have been surrounded by into their final destination! Which means…I won’t have a whole lot of time in the kitchen, or be able to find much of anything until we get unpacked. I decided to get a few things stashed in the pantry that we can grab easily while we are moving, and I even got a new kitchen find to make the granola bar making process even faster!

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Meet my new $13 kitchen friend!

Seriously, this is the best 13 dollars I’ve spent in a long while! I would even say life changing status that compares to the Instant Pot. If you have ever made granola bars before, you know that in a pan, the edges tend to get slightly more cooked than the middle, and sometimes the cutting process can lead to some crumbs. These little silicone granola bar pans literally solve all of those problems, and truly the end result is perfectly shaped, perfectly cooked bars every. single. time….and I’m so here for that!

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Let’s talk about the ingredients!

While we aren’t a “paleo” exclusive house, I do like to keep ingredients on a rotation so we aren’t just eating the same ingredients all the time. Most granola bars have an oat base, and since we do oats in other places throughout the week from baked oatmeal to breakfast cookies, I wanted to make this staple, easy to make bar without oats to change the nutrient profile up a little bit. You can swap the nuts for whatever nuts that you have on hand – and I do think that if you are nut free you can use all seeds. The combination power packed nuts, seeds, and coconut, makes for a balanced fuel for everyone in the house!

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

The Method :: Mix the Dry Ingredients

No hand chopping here! This whole granola bar mixture can be done right in your food processor! Put all of the dry ingredients into the food processor, and pulse about 4 long pulses, just to mix everything up and give a coarse “chop.” The pieces should look about like this ::

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

The Method :: Mix the Wet Ingredients

Next, you’ll want to melt the honey, coconut oil, and almond butter in a sauce pan, and pour into the food processor. The wet ingredients are what gives the “stick” to the granola bar to bind the pieces together, so you really shouldn’t try to adjust the amounts of these, or you’ll end up with a crumbly mess if you use less, or a gooey mess if you use more. Pulse the food processor to combine the dry pieces with the wet ingredients. You can pulse until the pieces are still on the visible side, or until they are very small and unrecognizable. I like to go somewhere in between – I do have “coconut chip” detective that will refuse the bar if she can “see” the coconut chips – but she has no idea they are there in this form (and she is the biggest fan out of everyone of these bars btw!)! The mixture should look like this ::

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

The Method :: Assemble and Bake

Again, I think the $13 investment in the silicone granola bar pans is so worth it – I am kicking myself for not getting one sooner! I think I would even pay double that for this convenience. Simply spoon the mixture into each well, and press it down firmly with the pack of your spoon. If you are making the bars in an 8×8 pan or a 9×9 pan, line the pan with parchment paper first, and then pour the mixture in. You’ll want to press the mixture down as firmly as you can before baking.

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Snack ideas and storage

Once the bars cool completely, they pop out of the silicone liner so easy, and you can store them in an airtight container in the pantry up to 3 months. Use your paleo granola bars for easy lunchbox add-ins or a quick snack with a side of fruit or veggies and dip! And for those of you with little ones at home, the *best* part about making your own granola bars is that you control the size. You can easily cut these bars into “bites” which is how I often still pack them for my 8 year old’s lunchbox. A full bar makes a good snack for her, but she doesn’t need all of that with other things in a full lunchbox too. My older girls do, though, so we keep the full size in the pantry, and I cut them to the size I need!

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Easy Paleo Granola Bars :: Oat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and place your silicone granola bar liners on a baking sheet. If you don’t have granola bar pans, you can use an 8×8 or 9×9 pan and cut them, just line the pan with parchment paper.
  • Put the walnuts, cashews, coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, flax seed meal, cinnamon, sea salt, and coconut sugar into your food processor, and do a long pulse about 4 times to mix the pieces and break them up a bit. You can see what this should look like in the image above labeled “Mix the Dry Ingredients.”
  • Put the honey, coconut oil, and almond butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat, stirring along the way.
  • Once the liquid ingredients are melted, pour them into the food processor with the dry ingredients, and pulse the ingredients to your desired consistency, making sure the wet ingredients have fully incorporated. If you want bigger pieces, pulse less times. If you want to make the pieces smaller so you can’t “see” them as much, pulse a bit longer. You can see what this looks like in the image above labeled “Mix the Wet Ingredients.”
  • Spoon the granola bar mixture into your silicone granola bar pan rectangles. Press the mixture down to pack it in tight using the back of your spoon. If you are using a square baking pan, pour the mixture into the parchment paper lined pan, and press firmly into the pan.
  • Bake the granola bars for 20 minutes, until lightly golden, for a slightly crunchy/slightly chewy granola bar, or 23-25 minutes, until darker golden brown, for a crunchy granola bar (similar to the texture of a Nature Valley Crunchy Honey Oat bar). I happen to love them crunchy, but both ways are fantastic! Let the bars cool completely before taking them out of the pan so they have time to harden. If you take them out while warm, they will fall apart.

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Copycat Trader Joe’s® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

February 5, 2022

All of the yummy “Everything but the Bagel” flavor with a cleaner oil and no corn syrup! Copycat that Trader Joe’s® Nut Duo for your own pantry!

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

A Trader Joe’s® trip, and a fun, new snack!

Every first of the month, a couple of friends of mine and I hop in the car and head out for our monthly Costco and Trader Joe’s trip! We live a good 45 minute drive from the closest of either of these stores, so we make a morning of it once a month, and try to stock up until the next month. I am not a huge TJ’s shopper – I’ll grab a couple things here or there, but every once and a while I’ll find a fun snack, and this month was one of them. I was cautiously hopeful as I turned the bag of the TJ’s “Everything But The Bagel” Nut Duo to check out the ingredients…because my usual disappointment with these kind of stores, and these kind of snacks, is that the oils used are junk, and there is usually added sugar. This one checked both of those disappointing boxes, and I set the bag back down. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fun flavor that those nuts could be though….

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

A new kitchen experiment!

While I continued my shopping, I passed the spice isle, and decided to grab the “Everything but the Bagel” seasoning, and just try to make my own. Trail mixes are so easy to put together, and while the convenience of grabbing a bag off the shelf is always nice, making my own would save the budget *big-time* (because these specialty items are always over-priced), and I could also add a healthy snack to our pantry rotation on a regular basis instead of just once, because the ingredients are fantastic when you make it at home!

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

Why do food companies use these ingredients, and why do we want to avoid them?

Cheap and readily available. It really boils down to the dollar bill. Cheap oils like sunflower, soy, and safflower oils, as well as sweeteners like corn syrup are so cheap and easy to get, that it really hits the bottom line for these companies in a good way for their profits. When it comes to sweeteners, corn syrup is as cheap as it gets, and it tastes super sweet, so they don’t need to add a lot to make it super palatable to people. Corn syrup sky rockets blood sugar even more than table sugar, and is almost always GMO, so it is just really important to avoid if you can. Sunflower oil “looks” healthy – I mean sunflower seeds are healthy right?! But the way these seed and veg oils are processed makes them super unstable on the shelf, and they go rancid so quickly. When we eat these kind of rancid oils on a regular basis, it causes a lot of inflammation in the body. Free radicals fly everywhere and it inflames. (One caveat to this, would be if you see a truly cold-pressed – sometimes called expeller pressed – sunflower oil. The cold pressed process on the sunflower oil keeps the integrity of the fats so they don’t go rancid – this is very hard to find in products though!)

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

So how do we replace the bad stuff, and still get a yummy product?

It is so much easier than you think! Swap the sunflower oil for a healthier oil, and swap the “sweet” for a more natural sweetener (or leave it out). In the case of this nut trail mix, the oil part was easy. I almost always use coconut oil for my trail mixes because it is so good for our bodies, and it doesn’t change the flavor to us. If you are really sensitive to the flavor of coconut, you might want to use butter or avocado oil. Even a good olive oil would be fine for this recipe. As far as swapping the corn syrup, I tried the recipe without a sweetener at first, because I figured it was a savory snack, and didn’t need it. I was right on the flavor, BUT there is something the corn syrup did for the TJ’s snack that was lacking in my first attempt. The stick factor!

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

How to get that crunchy “stick” to the trail mix

Because the “Everything But the Bagel” Seasoning is larger pieces, you really need a way to get it to stick to the nuts, or it just ends up in a pile on the sheet pan. Most trail mixes that need to make a “candy like” crunch coating use egg whites. And you could totally do that and leave the sweetener out in this recipe if you want. BUT…I have so many egg free readers, and I really wanted to figure out a way to make this without the egg whites. I tried coconut sugar to start, since it has a lower glycemic index, but the candy like coating did not happen, so the seasoning fell to the bottom of the pan. Then I remembered that the secret to the crunchy coating on my Coconut Cluster recipe was maple syrup, so I tried that…success! It’s really just a couple of tablespoons for the whole batch, and I’d say that is totally worth it!

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

Egg white method

The trail mix can be made without the maple syrup, but the seasoning does not stick to the nuts very well in my experience. It is worth the stick to have that little crunch and flavor together! If you need it to be sugar free, and can have eggs, you can swap the maple syrup for 1 whisked egg white, and that will accomplish the same thing. I have so many egg free readers though, so I had to figure out a way to make this without the whites! If you can have eggs, the egg whites is a great way to get the seasoning to stick without using maple syrup.

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

Can I use any nut combo, or swap for seeds?

Absolutely! The Trader Joe’s® “Nut Duo” uses almonds and cashews, so that is what I used – but please use whatever nuts you have in your pantry. And I would actually encourage switching the combo up every time you make it, so that you are getting different nut or seed nutrients! If you are nut free, use pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp, etc! I really think it would be a fun mix to change things up for you!

Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

Copycat Trader Joe’s® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, toss all of the ingredients together until well combined.
  • Spread the mixture out onto a large, unlined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees. Take the sheet pan out, stir the mixture around, and bake another 10 minutes until the nuts are fragrant and lightly toasted.
  • Leave the trail mix to cool completely before touching it. The maple syrup will cool and harden, sticking the seasonings to the nuts. Once the trail mix has cooled, you can store it in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 2 months.

Notes

  • I used the Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel seasoning, but you can find that blend just about anywhere now, and there are lots of homemade, DIY blend recipes online that you can find on Pinterest! Use what you can find or what is available to you.
  • The trail mix can be made without the maple syrup, but the seasoning does not stick to the nuts very well in my experience. It is worth the stick to have that little crunch and flavor together! If you need it to be sugar free, and can have eggs, you can swap the maple syrup for 1 whisked egg white, and that will accomplish the same thing. I have so many egg free readers though, so I had to figure out a way to make this without the whites!
  • You can swap the coconut oil for melted butter, avocado oil, or olive oil if you prefer that, or have that on hand.
  • My Everything But the Bagel Seasoning did have some salt added to it. Since the nuts are unsalted, I found the mix still needed some salt, which is why there is salt in the recipe. If you use a different brand of Everything Bagel seasoning, just be sure to account for this, and if yours does not have salt added, you may want to adjust the salt amount.
Copycat Trader Joe's® Everything But the Bagel Nut Duo!

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Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

January 20, 2022

Bring the coffee shop home to you with these Bakery Style Banana Bread Muffins packed with good for you ingredients to make a healthy breakfast!

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

As the saying goes…

“If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.” And so we snow shoe. And we build snowmen. And I live through the joy in my girls’ eyes at the sight of fresh powder. I am not sure I enjoyed the snow as much as my 3 girls do when I was a kid, but man, it sure is pretty. And we live here – and love it. So for a few months out of the year, I find joy in the piles of snow, and dream of the beach days to come. The winter months also bring a bit of a produce shortage to my kitchen, and that means…bananas!

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

All the bananas, all winter long

Because bananas are about the only thing my fruit budget likes in the winter. We pile them up in the fruit bowl every week, and inevitably there are a few stragglers at the end of the week that make for the most perfect breakfast muffins! I do have 2 banana muffins already on the blog, so why another? Well this one has a different ingredient profile, so maybe it works better for someone. And these big guys really reminded me of a coffee shop bakery muffin, so my older girls are all over that!

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

The Method :: The Bananas

Hey listen, I’m all about a banana muffin recipe where you just whir up the bananas right along with the rest of the ingredients and it becomes a super smooth batter. I even have recipes like that on my blog. But this one – we’re gonna take a fork to those bananas because it is worth those few little pieces for texture’s sake in these yummy muffins. Just grab a fork and have at it – it’s still just a “one-bowl” kind of a recipe, and it doesn’t take a lot of extra time.

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

The Method :: The Nuts

The blended nuts have a two-fold purpose. I wanted these to be a breakfast muffin, so adding an element of protein was easy to do with nuts. But I’m not just going to add almond flour to these muffins – the combination of walnuts and pecans give the most amazing flavor to the banana muffins, and you’ll get a just a little bit more nutty texture to the final muffin too. Yes, you have to pull out the blender, but just like the fork-smashed bananas, I promise that it is worth the flavor and texture.

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

The Method :: The Banana Muffin Batter

Once you mash the bananas, you’ll whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients – I just use the same fork I mashed the bananas with! Then you’ll add the blended nuts, and the rest of the ingredients. Just a quick stir with a rubber scraper will give you the perfect muffin batter to scoop into your muffin tin. I use a 1/3 cup measure which ends up being the perfect amount to completely fill the muffin cup. If you are going for a “bakery style” sized muffin, this is what you want to do! You’ll get that fun muffin top this way, and it’s a great size for older kids. You can make the muffins smaller by filling the muffin cups less, and you’ll get more muffins this way!

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free
Whisk the wet ingredients into the bananas
Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free
Stir in the dry ingredients

The Method :: The Topping

Because most fun bakery muffins have a topping to entice! Just a couple sliced bananas and a sprinkle of walnuts make a pretty muffin top, and the kids will love it! The walnuts get crispy in the oven and so flavorful. Just place your banana rounds, sprinkle the walnuts, and you’re ready to bake.

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

The Method :: Baking the Muffins

I went for a higher heat to start with these muffins to get the most rise and a great “muffin top” texture. Once you pre-heat the oven, you’ll put the muffins in and pull the temp down a bit. The muffins will bake for about 25 minutes until they spring back to touch. Let them cool for a few minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. You can also cool and then freeze these muffins so that you have easy “grab and go” breakfasts for busy weeks!

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

Swaps?

So I have not tried these muffins nut free. It is a lot of nuts to swap out. I do think blended pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds could work, but I’m not sure how the flavor would be. If you need a completely nut free banana muffin, try my Paleo Mini Banana Muffins! There are 2 eggs in these muffins and I do think they need them for the rise, but typically 2 eggs swap for egg replacer well in baked recipes. You might not get the rise that these muffins do, but it should still have a good texture.

Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

Bakery Style Banana Bread Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, and line a muffin tin with unbleached paper cup liners.
  • Mash 4 bananas in the bottom of a medium mixing bowl until smooth. There can be a few small pieces throughout.
  • Add the avocado oil, coconut milk, eggs, and vanilla and whisk with the fork to combine with the mashed bananas.
  • Blend the pecans and the walnuts into a fine meal, and add them to the wet ingredients in the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, and use a rubber scraper to stir the batter until it is just combined.
  • Scoop the batter into your lined muffin tin, filling the muffins cups all the way to the top if you want the larger, bakery style muffins. You will get 12 large, bakery style muffins perfectly, or you can make them smaller and get 18 regular sized muffins.
  • Put the muffins in the oven, and bring the temperature down to 400 degrees. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Check your muffins around the 25 minute mark in case our ovens run differently. The muffins should spring back to touch, and be golden brown on the top.
Bakery Style Banana Bread Breakfast Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free

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Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

November 29, 2021

You can make the Wonderful® brand chili roasted pistachios right in your own home with a super easy and fast prep!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

Picture this…

I know my fellow Costco friends are going to hear me on this one…You pick up a fun new Costco find. Something you’ve never had before, but looks intriguing. You bring it home, get completely and utterly hooked on it, only to find that it is nowhere to be seen the next time you go to Costco. They are notorious for this! They’ll have seasonal items that come and go, but when you tease us with a cool snack that we end up falling in love with, don’t take that away!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

An opportunity to create

Earlier this fall, I grabbed the big bag of Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios at Costco. I have seen them in the regular grocery store before, but there is no way I was going to pay what they were asking! The price at Costco was half of the grocery store price and double the size bag, so I went for it. My husband and I were completely hooked. I’d grab a small handful here or there when I needed a quick protein snack, and they really hit the spot! I couldn’t wait to go back the following month to get another bag, because, who knows how long this stuff will be around, right?! Exactly. It wasn’t there, and I haven’t seen it since. A one time wonder, and I was so disappointed. A good friend of mine reminded me this might be a good opportunity to create, and I decided I was missing them enough to get into the kitchen and try my hand at Chili Roasted Pistachios!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

The Method :: The Chili Seasoning Blend

I took a peek at the back of the chili roasted pistachios I had at home. It took about 4 batches to get it just right, but these pistachios really do taste like the store bought version! The great part about making them at home is that you can adjust the heat to your preference. Want the heat a little more tame? Pull down the amount of chipotle powder, or completely omit it. That is how I make them for my younger 2 girls that don’t like spicy heat. Want to take it up a few notches? Add more chipotle, or even a few pinches of cayenne to bump it up. Simply whisk the seasonings in a small bowl and you’re ready to dress up your pistachios!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

The Method :: Roasting the Pistachios

My favorite part about making these chili roasted pistachios at home is that you get to use a healthier fat than the store bought version. I used coconut oil, but you can use butter, olive oil, or avocado oil too. Simply toss the shelled pistachios with the melted coconut oil and the seasoning blend from above and you’re ready to roast!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

Will my kids be able to tolerate the heat?

It really depends on your kids. The best part of making your own seasoning blend is that you control the heat! All of the really spicy heat lies in the chipotle chili powder. If you leave that out, you’ll have a sweet, smoky flavor left to the chili pistachios – very mild and almost no heat. This is how my younger 2 girls like them. My oldest has grown an affinity for spicy food, and does enjoy the original version, so if you have kids that like to spice it up, give it a try! What a fun way to change up a lunchbox trail mix snack!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

Can I use a mix of nuts?

Absolutely! I think this is going to make a fantastic holiday gift in a jar with a pretty ribbon, or a hostess gift for any parties you attend this year! Use the same amount of nuts to seasoning and oil ratio and you can double up if you want as well. I’m partial to walnuts, and really think that a pistachio, walnut, and pecan blend would be perfect for the holidays!

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
  • Stir the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl and spread out evenly on an unlined baking sheet.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. The pistachios will crisp up more as they cool. Use an airtight container to store your chili pistachios in the pantry.

Notes

  • The heat level on these pistachios is really all in the chipotle chili powder. If you want to make these for the kids, and they don’t love heat, just leave that out and there will be a mild smoky sweetness that the kids will enjoy. I do have one kiddo that enjoys a really spicy heat and she loves it made the original way. Just make 2 batches or 2 halved batches if you want to have some mild ones for the kids and spicy ones for you.
  • The Wonderful Spicy Pistachios brand I believe has even more spice than this recipe. If you want that level of heat, add a pinch or so of cayenne!
Copycat Wonderful® Chili Roasted Pistachios

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Blueberry Energy Bites

June 21, 2021

Just a 5 minute prep and you can keep these real food blueberry energy bites stashed away in the pantry for easy snack packing!

Blueberry Energy Bites

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Simple staple snacks for busy kids

For the most part, I’m a super no fuss mom when it comes to snacking. I’d rather focus on the 3 meals of the day, and if a snack is needed, give the kids a simple handful of fruit and cheese. So if I’m going to actually prepare a homemade snack, it needs to be easy prep, and double bonus points for pantry storage! We just kicked off our summer break last week, and packed these fun blueberry energy bites for one of our beach days. They were devoured, and made such a fun snack change up. I hope you get a chance to try them, whether its for your summer road trip or those school lunchboxes this fall!

An easy pantry snack

I just love any homemade food that I can make that doesn’t take up room in my fridge or freezer. That is hard to do with real food, but between homemade granola, my trail mix, and coconut clusters, I have a few easy grab and go snacks that pack easily for school lunches or road trips. Energy bites also store in the pantry well, and I put a spin on the classic cashew/date snack bites that we have all come to love with a fun blueberry flavor! Just perfect for little hands!

Blueberry Energy Bites

How to Make Blueberry Energy Bites

A very simple handful of ingredients (please be sure to read the section below titled “Ingredient Sourcing” for help on making sure you don’t blow your budget on this stuff!) and a blender is all you need! You’ll put everything but the blueberries into your food processor, and blend to make the energy bite mixture – it should stick together when you pinch it. After you pulse in the freeze dried blueberries, you just scoop and roll the bites up! That’s it! I love that these energy bites can store in the pantry, fridge, or freezer. It’s up to you!

Blueberry Energy Bites
Blueberry Energy Bites

Can I use fresh blueberries?

Believe me, in the height of summer, I’m all about using our fresh Michigan blueberries! Fresh blueberries would just make these energy bites a sloppy mess though with all the juices. You could dehydrate your own blueberries, or freeze dry your own blueberries. I have had success in freeze drying my own fruit by just putting a tray of blueberries into the freezer (uncovered). You let them “freeze dry” for about 2-3 weeks, and they should be ready to go once you bring them to room temp and let the condensation dry off them. These days, you can buy freeze dried fruit just about anywhere, and for not that bad of a price in some places! I grab the bags at Trader Joe’s, but you can get them online too.

Blueberry Energy Bites

Just for my nut free friends!

If you can’t have the cashews or almond butter, you can swap those out for sunflower seeds and sunbutter or tahini. I have made energy bites with both before, and they turn out great! In fact, the chocolate covered banana energy bites in my lunchbox cookbook, The Little Lunchbox Cookbook, are completely nut free, using sunflower seeds since many schools are nut free school zones.

Blueberry Energy Bites

Ingredient sourcing

I’ll be the first one to tell you from experience that fun little real food snacks like energy bites can absolutely BLOW your budget. Listen to me…don’t do it. If you cannot source this stuff without going broke, pack the kids local fruit and a handful of nuts and call it good for their snack. I don’t want you going broke to make these. If the freeze dried fruit is expensive where you live, leave it out – they taste so good even without that fancy fun stuff! For what it is worth, I do get every single ingredient on the list, except the freeze dried blueberries, at Costco. I pick up the freeze dried fruit at Trader Joe’s. I know not everyone has these places to choose from. In fact Trader Joe’s was even a mythical dream for me up until a couple years ago when they finally built one here!

Blueberry Energy Bites
Blueberry Energy Bites
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Blueberry Energy Bites

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Put the dates, cashews, almond butter, vanilla extract, and sea salt in your food processor, and pulse the blender a few times. Then, continuously blend the mixture for about 1 minute until everything is incorporated, and the mixture can pinch together and stick together.
  • Add the freeze dried blueberries, and pulse until the blueberries are incorporated into the mixture in tiny bits.
  • Use a tablespoon or a spoon to scoop the mixture, packing it into the measuring spoon. Use your hands to roll the energy bite into a round ball. Continue with the rest of the energy bite mixture. This recipe makes about 18 tablespoon sized energy bites.

Notes

  • These energy bites keep in the pantry for a month, or in the fridge or freezer for 3 months.
  • If you are nut free, I have used sunbutter and sunflower seeds for energy bites before with great success! you will use less sunflower seeds, so play around with the amount – it will probably be more like 3/4 cup or a little less.
  • You can use medjool dates if that is what you have. Just pit and halve them to measure.
  • You can swap the freeze dried blueberries for any freeze dried fruit!
  • This recipe doubles well if you have a large enough food processor, like my 14-cup food processor.
Blueberry Energy Bites

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Sheet Pan French Fries

March 10, 2021

Make easy sheet pan French fries for the perfect compliment to any burger, or the most fun munchy snack for game day or movie night!

Sheet Pan French Fries

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Like peanut butter & jelly…

The beach and flip flops. Peanut butter & jelly. Spring time and muddy children. A burger with the perfect French fries. Like so many things that just go together, I really think that having a great, healthy option for French fries is an absolutely must in any kitchen! Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with this French fry method, and I think it will become a staple in your house for every burger night, or munchy snack need too!

Sheet Pan French Fries

The Method :: Cutting the fries

Whether your kids have had restaurant French fries or not, one of your favorite kitchen tools for making fries is going to become the crinkle cutter. This inexpensive cutting tool not only dresses your fries up to look more like restaurant fries, or fries from the frozen section of the grocery store, you can also use it to crinkle cut veggies to jazz those up too! I also find a crinkle cutter an easy to grasp tool for toddlers that want to try learning how to cut soft veggies. To cut the French fries, I like to use a straight knife to cut medium potatoes into thirds lengthwise. Then lay those pieces flat to cut the crinkle fry shape. Be careful with the thickness of the fries – if you go to thin, they will cook really fast and not have that fluffy potato center.

Sheet Pan French Fries

The Method :: Seasoning the fries

Once the potatoes are cut, toss them in a bowl with olive oil and seasoning. It doesn’t get much easier than that! I like using simple sea salt and pepper with a little paprika and parsley for color. But you can dress them up however you like here!

Sheet Pan French Fries

My favorite French fry method…

The secret to fries that don’t stick to the pan, and the perfect crispy outside all lies in the screaming hot sheet pan. One burger night, a very long time ago, I turned the oven on to pre-heat while I prepped my potato fries, and didn’t realize that I had inadvertently left my sheet pan in the oven from earlier in the day. When I went to put my fries on a sheet pan, I couldn’t find it, and, of course, remembered it was in the oven. The sizzle when the oil coated fries hit the pre-heated sheet pan made me wonder how these fries would turn out, and much to our utter happiness, we couldn’t believe how amazing the texture was.

Sheet Pan French Fries

Bake, toss, bake, toss, bake…

Sounds fussy, but I promise it just takes a few seconds to toss those fries around. Let them sear on the super hot sheet pan for about 15 minutes, and then toss them around. Bake another 15-20 minutes, and then toss again. You’ll do one more round of 15, and then you’re fries are ready. Moving them around every 15 minutes or so will ensure the super hot oven doesn’t crisp just one side of your fries. And I’m not talking perfection here – I definitely do not sit there and meticulously flip each fry. I just use a spatula to flip them around, give the pan a shake and toss it back in the oven.

Sheet Pan French Fries

Dipping ideas!

I know, I know…ketchup. But think outside the box a little bit, and one of my favorite fry dipping modes lately in a restaurant has been any kind of aioli they serve! Or as my husband puts it, “fancy mayo” 🙂 You can use your favorite healthy store bought mayo, or make your own. On the blog, I have a great dairy based egg free mayo, and a Paleo egg free mayo to try. There is also 2 great aioli recipes on the blog! Try my chipotle lime aioli or my garlic aioli – both are dairy free!

Sheet Pan French Fries

Does this method work for sweet potatoes?

Absolutely! I tend to flip sweet potatoes a little more often because they tend to burn easily, but stirring them around the 10-12 minute mark seems to do the trick. It all depends on the size of your cut.

Sheet Pan French Fries

Sheet Pan French Fries

Ingredients

  • 5-6 medium russet potatoes
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup olive oil or avocado oil
  • 1 – 1 1/2 tsp sea salt to taste start with around 1 tsp – you can always add more later but you cannot take it away
  • 1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp dried parsley
  • ½ tsp pepper

Instructions

  • Put a large, unlined baking sheet into your cold oven, and then pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. You want the sheet pan to be in there to pre-heat as well. This will prevent sticking and make for crispier potatoes.
  • Cut your potatoes into French fry shape. I like to cut the potato lengthwise in thirds using a straight knife, and then use a crinkle cutter to cut the flat pieces into thirds again making a crinkle cut.
  • Toss the French fries in large mixing bowl with the oil and seasonings until the potatoes are coated evenly. I think using my hands works the best here.
  • Once the oven pre-heats, take the hot sheet pan out of the oven, and pour the seasoned and oil coated French fries onto the hot pan (listen for the sizzle!). Use a rubber scraper to get all the oil out of the bottom of the bowl. Spread the French fries out on the pan.
  • Bake the French fries at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Stir the fries, and then bake another 20 minutes. Take the French fries out again, stir the fries, and the bake another 15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. If you cut your French fries smaller/thinner, they will take less time. If you cut them bigger, you will want to add more time.

Notes

  • You can leave the paprika out, but I love the color it gives, and the slightly smoky flavor to a smoked paprika. If you use a sweet paprika you won’t taste it as much so that would be a good option for little ones that might not like the smoked flavor, but would still give the pretty and appealing color.
  • Change up the seasoning to what you are serving it with! Try rosemary with a steak, or dill when serving with crispy fish!
Sheet Pan French Fries

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Breakfast Cookies 6 Ways!

February 4, 2021

Enjoy a fun, healthy breakfast with these power packed breakfast cookies made 6 different ways to change it up!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

A Friday tradition, about 7 years in the making!

It all began about 7 years ago. Imagine…a busy mom of a 5 year old in kindergarten, a {seriously rambunctious} 3 year old, and a baby on her hip. Not exactly the picture of the most relaxing morning, let alone getting a good breakfast in. I think back to those days and really do wonder sometimes how I managed. And dear momma who is in the same boat, you WILL, in fact, make it through those years. It was during those years that I created my very first breakfast cookie – something packed with nourishment that we could head out the door with when the morning fell apart trying to get a kindergartener to school while toting along a feisty toddler and squirmy baby!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

All grown up!

That little baby in the picture above is now marching right along in 1st grade this year! And, no, all those busy, pulled-in-all-the-directions mornings did not “ruin her” as I once thought they might – she is pure joy {with a sprinkle of spunk, I might add!} And while it’s been a hot minute since there have been babies and toddlers in the house, Breakfast Cookie Friday has become a most looked forward to breakfast over the years for my school aged children ready to celebrate Friday and welcome the weekend!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Our Breakfast Cookie Friday Set-Up!

We set up our Breakfast Cookie Friday’s in a breakfast bar style. A bowl of the cookies, a bowl of hard boiled eggs, some hot water for tea…and the best part – the kids serve themselves! *Round of applause for the moms!* Dear momma, I promise that spending a bit of time while they are young to show them *exactly* {precisely!} how you want them to serve themselves, is worth every single minute of your extra coffee time not having to tend to serving them! If you already have big kids, just a quick demo will do. If you have toddlers and younger children, show them precisely, {every single step!} so that you don’t get frustrated when eggs land on the floor, or there is a big mess. I have found that age 2-3 is a good age to start this, depending on the child. Giving them the gift of independence and your trust in them to serve themselves is priceless! These days, my Fridays are extremely hands free with an 11, 9, and 7 year old, and it is just glorious! I make the hard boiled eggs and cookies the night before and the morning is extra relaxed.

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

A new breakfast cookie base – with endless possibilities!

Honestly, this recipe was born because I wanted just one recipe that I didn’t have to pull up instructions for – something I could memorize easily, and then adapt to whatever I had in my pantry. You’ll just adore this power packed, base breakfast cookie recipe, and then you get to pour the add-ins that you have available in the pantry that week!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Dried fruit, nut, & seed variations

I’ve created 6 different recipe cards with different dried fruit and nut/seed combos for you to try, but really the possibilities are endless! I just picked up a bag of brazil nuts and dried mango at Costco last week, and plan to use that the next time I make these. So fun! Truly though, use what you have in your pantry before you go out and buy something else. That is the beauty of this recipe – use what you have!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Freezer friendly!

Do yourself a favor, and go ahead and double up this recipe once you know that the kiddos give them the ok! These cookies freeze up fantastic. My method is typically to make them on a Thursday night and double up. Then I only have to make breakfast cookies every other week or so. Freeze up what you don’t use on Friday morning and next Friday’s breakfast is set!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

A note for my nut free friends!

I would love to hear from my nut free readers how your swap tries go. Breakfast cookies are some of my favorite kind of recipes because they are VERY forgiving. Meaning, I think you could try some swaps and still always have an edible cookie that tastes good. You can swap the almond butter for sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) or tahini (sesame seed butter), and swap the nuts for pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or even shredded coconut. The almond flour is going to be your call. I think finely ground up seeds would work just fine here, or you can try another flour of your choice. You are going for a cookie dough consistency as pictured above. Remember that the almond flour that you are replacing is oily and not super absorbent. So if you choose to use something that is dry or very absorbent, back off on the amount. If you are fully nut AND seed free, I would try coconut butter for the almond butter, coconut shreds for the nuts, and for the almond flour, just swap for another flour of your choosing. The chia seed can be left out completely and still turn out.

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Almond Raisin Breakfast Cookies

This basic recipe has nuts and dried fruit found in most anyone’s pantry! If your kids aren’t raisin kids, try mini chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Almond Raisin Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  • Blend the coconut oil, almond butter, and honey until smooth.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
  • Form the cookies in your hands, flattening them to the shape and size that you want. They do puff a little but not too much – just make them about the size that you want them to be, and then place them on your lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for small cookies, and 15 minutes for larger cookies, or until golden on the tops. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They firm up as they cool, and hold their texture very well.

Notes

  • If you prefer less nut texture, you can blend up the almonds to more of a fine chop.
  • You can swap the almond butter for any nut or seed butter that you like.
  • If you are egg free, this egg should be easily replaced with a flax egg or egg replacer.
  • These breakfast cookies are good at room temp in an airtight container for 3 days. They freeze up great as well, so leftovers can be put in the freezer.

Apricot Pistachio Breakfast Cookies

One of our newest favorite combinations, this one is such a fun change up! We are able to find shelled pistachios at Costco, as well as apricots, so this cost effective variation is definitely hopping on our rotation!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Apricot Pistachio Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  • Blend the coconut oil, almond butter, and honey until smooth.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
  • Form the cookies in your hands, flattening them to the shape and size that you want. They do puff a little but not too much – just make them about the size that you want them to be, and then place them on your lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for small cookies, and 15 minutes for larger cookies, or until golden on the tops. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They firm up as they cool, and hold their texture very well.

Notes

  • If you prefer less nut texture, you can blend up the pistachios to more of a fine chop.
  • You can swap the almond butter for any nut or seed butter that you like.
  • If you are egg free, this egg should be easily replaced with a flax egg or egg replacer.
  • These breakfast cookies are good at room temp in an airtight container for 3 days. They freeze up great as well, so leftovers can be put in the freezer.

Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookies

Reminiscent of banana walnut bread, only this breakfast cookie version is perfect for on the go! Such fun flavors – bananas are always a kid favorite!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  • Blend the coconut oil, almond butter, and honey until smooth.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
  • Form the cookies in your hands, flattening them to the shape and size that you want. They do puff a little but not too much – just make them about the size that you want them to be, and then place them on your lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for small cookies, and 15 minutes for larger cookies, or until golden on the tops. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They firm up as they cool, and hold their texture very well.

Notes

  • If you prefer less nut texture, you can blend up the walnuts to more of a fine chop.
  • You can swap the almond butter for any nut or seed butter that you like.
  • If you are egg free, this egg should be easily replaced with a flax egg or egg replacer.
  • These breakfast cookies are good at room temp in an airtight container for 3 days. They freeze up great as well, so leftovers can be put in the freezer.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Breakfast Cookies

Oh yes, I went there! This one is for momma…and I suppose the kids can have one too! Treat yourself dear momma! Cacao nibs are little bits of pure chocolate without the sugar added and packed with antioxidants, but don’t fear! The mild sweetness from the cookie and the freeze dried strawberries are in every bite and make those little bits of cocao nib taste just like sweetened chocolate!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  • Blend the coconut oil, almond butter, and honey until smooth.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
  • Form the cookies in your hands, flattening them to the shape and size that you want. They do puff a little but not too much – just make them about the size that you want them to be, and then place them on your lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for small cookies, and 15 minutes for larger cookies, or until golden on the tops. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They firm up as they cool, and hold their texture very well.

Notes

  • You can swap the almond butter for any nut or seed butter that you like.
  • If you are egg free, this egg should be easily replaced with a flax egg or egg replacer.
  • These breakfast cookies are good at room temp in an airtight container for 3 days. They freeze up great as well, so leftovers can be put in the freezer.

Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Breakfast Cookies

This breakfast cookie is another that has seeds and dried fruit that are staples in many people’s pantries! I love the fun seed color, but you can blend them up if you wish.

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  • Blend the coconut oil, almond butter, and honey until smooth.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
  • Form the cookies in your hands, flattening them to the shape and size that you want. They do puff a little but not too much – just make them about the size that you want them to be, and then place them on your lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for small cookies, and 15 minutes for larger cookies, or until golden on the tops. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They firm up as they cool, and hold their texture very well.

Notes

  • I leave the pumpkin seeds whole, but you can chop them if you wish!
  • You can swap the almond butter for any nut or seed butter that you like.
  • If you are egg free, this egg should be easily replaced with a flax egg or egg replacer.
  • These breakfast cookies are good at room temp in an airtight container for 3 days. They freeze up great as well, so leftovers can be put in the freezer.

Pecan Fig Breakfast Cookies

And last, but certainly not least…my youngest *very* favorite breakfast cookie with her *very* favorite fruit in the whole wide world…figs! We always have the big bag of dried figs from Costco on hand, so this is an easy one to make for the littlest hands in the house – and you see the look on her very happy little face how happy she was to eat her food photography prop at the end!

Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

Pecan Fig Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  • Blend the coconut oil, almond butter, and honey until smooth.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
  • Form the cookies in your hands, flattening them to the shape and size that you want. They do puff a little but not too much – just make them about the size that you want them to be, and then place them on your lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for small cookies, and 15 minutes for larger cookies, or until golden on the tops. Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. They firm up as they cool, and hold their texture very well.

Notes

  • If you prefer less nut texture, you can blend up the pecans to more of a fine chop.
  • You can swap the almond butter for any nut or seed butter that you like.
  • If you are egg free, this egg should be easily replaced with a flax egg or egg replacer.
  • These breakfast cookies are good at room temp in an airtight container for 3 days. They freeze up great as well, so leftovers can be put in the freezer.
Breakfast Cookies - 6 Ways!

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Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

April 3, 2020

You are one bowl and a 5 minute prep away from the best gluten free banana bread you’ve had in your kitchen!

Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Rainy day kitchen helpers

“Momma, can I bake with you?” Pretty hard to turn a request like that down, no matter how dreary the day, or how badly I just wanted to curl up with a book and a blanket! We were days from a grocery trip, so I wasn’t sure what we were actually going to bake, but but those sweet eyes, I sure was going to figure something out.

Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

Basic ingredients and one bowl

With a few bananas past their prime sitting in the fruit bowl, and a bag of flour, I decided we would try a really simple banana bread. We love making our favorite Paleo banana breakfast mini muffins, but I didn’t have the right flours, and I really wanted this to be a project that my 6 year old could do herself with really simple ingredients. Just 8 ingredients and 1 bowl, and we were on our way!

Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread
Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

One Bowl Banana Bread :: The Method

This simple banana bread comes together into the bread pan before the oven even has time to pre-heat! Just blend the wet ingredients together before combining with the dry, and then dump the batter into your loaf pan. The banana bread turns out so moist with the best texture chew for a quick-bread thanks to the yogurt and simple ingredient list.

Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

Tips for baking with kids

There is such a beautiful simplicity to the measurements and ingredients in this recipe, which makes it a perfect baking project for kids, no matter the age. Here are some age appropriate thoughts as you take on baking with kids:

  • Most kids can take a fork to a banana and mash it up in the bowl! Get it started for your toddlers so it is a bit easier, and then let them try. Show them exactly what you want them to do.
  • Even toddlers can be taught the start of how to crack an egg. Crack the egg hand over hand to show them how it works, and before you know it they will be cracking their own eggs for more than just baking.
  • Have your reading children read the recipe to you while you bake! Older kids learning fractions can help with finding measuring cups and measuring things out too. With your younger children and toddlers, go ahead and measure it out perfectly, and then let them dump it in the bowl. Baking is precise so you really want to be sure it is measured correctly.
  • Hand over hand the blender with your littles, and before you know it they will be able to manage a blender on their own. Show them how to hold it steady and how to move it around.
  • Little kids love buttering the pan! Wash up their hands good and put a pat of butter in the pan for them to smear around!
  • Don’t forget to have the kids wash up their mess too! These are life skills, dear momma, and your littler ones especially will love this task. You can really stretch this out to occupy the kids while the banana bread bakes by filling up the sink and letting them play in the water for a while.
Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×5 inch (1.5 quart) loaf pan with butter (coconut oil if you can’t have the butter)
  • Blend the mashed bananas, eggs, coconut sugar, and yogurt in a medium mixing bowl until smooth.
  • Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt and blend on low until smooth and combined. Be sure to "fluff" up the flour a bit before measuring – if it is too packed in the measuring cup there will be too much flour.
  • Pour the batter into your greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes until the top springs back to touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Let the banana bread cool in the pan at least 10 minutes before turning it out to cut into slices.
Easy One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread

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15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

March 25, 2020

Put snack packing on auto-pilot with this list of 15 portable healthy snacks for kids that you can rotate!

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

School snack time…my nemesis

Ok, so that might be a strong word. But if you have been around this space long enough, and have read my other school snack posts (my very first snack post, written when I had littles, all about preschool snacks here, and the ever popular, healthy store-bought school snack post here), then you know that I have kind of a love hate relationship with the morning snack at school.

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

A vital necessity

It isn’t that I don’t think the kids need it. Many of these kids are having breakfast at 7:30 am or earlier and don’t have a lunch period until 12:30pm or 1 – the morning snack helps bridge that long gap. It has more to do with the time and thought going into packing one…more…thing…for the day. We spend time packing thoughtful, balanced lunchboxes, and the morning snack matters too. Popping an easy bag of pretzels or crackers in their bag is tempting, but defeats the purpose of helping kids focus until the lunch period. Carb loading without a balance of fat or protein only sugar crashes these kids who rapidly use up whatever energy their body is given as their brains work hard in class, and their bodies work hard at playing and growing.

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

Busy momma, I see you.

I get that it is one more thing to pack. I understand that you are already trying to balance their breakfast and lunchboxes for school, and the snack seems insignificant. But I am here to tell you I have seen the kids in these classrooms carb crash with my own two eyes. These teachers are doing their best to help the kids make it to lunchtime, and could use a little help. Packing a balanced snack does NOT need to be hours of homemade “Pinterest Mom” creations. It can be as simple as adding a protein or fatty rich sidekick to that bag of crackers, such as hummus cups, cheese, guacamole cups, boiled egg, or nut/seed butter. The protein/fat will slow the carb burn and satiate their hunger for that extra hour or two until lunch. It really can be that simple…

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

So I say, let’s simplify it

A few years back I was getting burned out from snack packing, and decided that my oldest was old enough to be in charge of her morning snack (she was in 2nd grade at the time). One less thing off my plate! Since she was still learning how to pair the right foods as a balanced snack, I made her a list of options she could choose from each day. That rumpled up piece of paper is still in the cupboard, and now my middle kiddo has joined her in independently packing her own school morning snack. It is a list of simple, easy pairings filled with variety, and the best part is that each snack idea requires ZERO help from me. Two kiddos down, and 1 to learn! I’ve almost got this whole school snack packing thing completely off my plate!

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

My gift to you, dear momma

I want to gift this to your home. I spent some time making a kid friendly, colorful chart filled with my morning snack time ideas that you can use for your own kids. The chart can hang inside a cupboard in the kitchen for your big kids to refer to when packing their own snacks, and if you have littles in the house, they can help pick their snacks from the chart as well. And because I know this list of snacks is not all inclusive, and you may have different diet restrictions we do not have, I am also gifting you a blank chart that you can fill in yourself. You can tailor each snack choice to your household and the kids can pick from your list. If you have access to a laminator, you can mark up your chart with a dry erase marker week after week with new choices based on what you have in the house!

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

The breakdown!

So here is a breakdown of these snack choices so you can see them up close and give the kids a visual for how this can be packed. I would recommend supervision the snack making/packing for a bit so that you can help them choose appropriate portions for their age/appetite, and also help them with strategies for cleaning up. Remember, you can adjust the portion sizes in these snacks for your kids’ ages and appetites. No 2 kiddos are a like! Be sure to check out the TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL SNACK PACKING below the snack visuals!

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

1. CRACKERS & HUMMUS

Use snack pack hummus cups, or make your own hummus for a dip container (my own super simple, super smooth hummus recipe will be in the Staples chapter of my new cookbook, “The Little Lunchbox Cookbook,” on pre-order now!) and pack your favorite crackers! I prefer to keep an eye on the oils in store bought hummus to avoid rancid oils like sunflower, canola, soy, or safflower oils, and I’ve found the Lilly’s hummus cups to be the best using olive oil. The crackers pictured here are Mary’s Gone Crackers GF crackers. (Snack box pictured below is the Sistema Small Split)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

2. CELERY WITH SPREAD OF CHOICE & RAISINS

Spread options are endless here! Nut butters or seed butters are typically the go-to, but spreadable soft goat cheese is a favorite here, and cream cheese is yummy too! (Snack box pictured below is the Planetbox Round container that comes with Planetbox lunchboxes. They can also be sold separately.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

3. COCONUT CLUSTERS

Store bought or homemade for this one, dear momma! Do what you can! I will say that the homemade version is very cost effective AND super fast to prep – just 5 minutes! These sweet, crunch clusters are super kid friendly and packed with fat and fiber from the coconut! (Snack box pictured in this post is the Sistema Snacks To-Go)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

4. MEAT STICK/JERKY WITH CRACKERS & CHEESE

These are my favorite kid friendly meat sticks, but you can use anything you like! Just watch those ingredients. As far as the crackers and cheese go, use your favorite crackers (pictured here are the Simple Mills Almond Crackers) and the best cheese you can afford. Pictured here is a spreadable goat cheese my kids love – you can spread or dip! (Snack box pictured below is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the medium size. I used our Planetbox condiment container for the goat cheese.)

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2020 :: We found these little Duke’s meat sticks at Costco this summer and love them too! You can get them on Amazon as well just in case your Costco doesn’t have them!

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

5. YOGURT WITH GRANOLA

Get whatever is the best full fat yogurt you can afford (coconut milk yogurt would be a great option for dairy free kids). You can make your own granola (very cost effective and easy!), or purchase a quality store bought granola for the pantry. (Snack box pictured below is the Sistema Snack Capsule To Go)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

6. VEGGIES WITH FULL FAT DIP

I find raw veg to be slower to eat for little ones, but as your kids get older, this makes a great crunchy snack! Let them use a crinkle cutter to make the veggies super fun dipping vehicles too! You can see a full list of kid friendly dips here to make at home, or these are a good store bought brand with healthy oils. (Snack box pictured below is the Sistema Snack Attack To Go)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

7. HEALTHY GRANOLA BAR

The sky is the limit here. Since my kids started school, the demand for healthier granola bar options has sky rocketed, and companies are hearing you, dear momma! There are many brands out there using heathier oils, less sugar, and better ingredients all around! My favorite store bought granola bars are the Autumn’s Gold and these Healthy Warrior nut free bars. Of course making your own will almost always be more cost effective – and I’ve got 2 on the blog you can try! This nut free chewy granola bar, and this nut free crunchy buckwheat and apricot granola bar! (Snack box pictured below with the homemade bar is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the small size)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

8. FRUIT SLICES OR FRUIT CHIPS WITH NUT/SEED BUTTER OR COCONUT BUTTER

From fresh apple slices or apple chips to a banana or banana chips, this is always a fun snack. The pantry dried fruit chips make winter packing much more affordable when fresh fruit is expensive. Sunbutter will work best for nut free school zones, but I encourage you to also try coconut butter – it is basically the flesh of a coconut blended into a smooth butter. It is sweet and creamy – so good! (Snack box pictured below is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the medium size.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

9. MUFFIN LEFT FROM BREAKFAST WITH BUTTER

Tuesday’s are muffin mornings here, and with a pan of a dozen muffins, there are leftovers for snacks! Our favorite breakfast muffins that pack well for snacks are these protein banana muffins, GF blueberry muffins, GF paleo mini banana muffins, GF oat bran muffins, and these GF baked oatmeal muffins. Get a big smear of butter on those muffin halves and that is one easy peasy snack! (Snack box pictured below is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the small size.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

10. HARD BOILED EGG WITH FRUIT CHOICE

Every Sunday, I hard boil a dozen eggs so that there is a container of easy to grab snacks in the fridge. They keep for 5 days so it is perfect for the school week. Let the kids pick whatever in season fruit you bought for the week, or dried fruit from the pantry. Figs and dates are so rich in minerals, so I always keep a bag of those in the pantry! (Snack box pictured below is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the medium size.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

11. HEALTHY TRAIL MIX

Homemade or store bought here, dear momma! Do what you can! Homemade will tend to be more cost effective, and you can control the ingredients in bit more if you are in a nut free school. There is one really great seed based store bought trail mix that we love though from Enjoy Life! If you need that convenience, these are great, and they come in snack pack bags or larger trail mix bags to pack yourself. (Snack box pictured below is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the small size.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

12. UNSWEETENED FRUIT POUCH WITH CHOICE OF FAT/PROTEIN

We love these fruit and veggie pouches and chia squeezes, and there are so many other safe/organic brands to choose from, so get whatever is the best that you can afford. You can give the kids a choice of fat/protein to go with their pouch based on what you have for the week. Things like hard boiled eggs, jerky, cheese, olives, or nuts/seeds are all great choices. (Snack box pictured below is the Sistema Small Split)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

13. NUTS OR SEEDS WITH FIG OR DATE AND CHEESE

Super simple, and easy to eat! This is a popular one in my house. Figs and dates are rich in minerals for busy kids and keep in the pantry well. (Snack box pictured below is the Kid Basix Safe Snacker in the small size.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

14. MINI LARABAR OR ENERGY BITES WITH FAT/PROTEIN OF CHOICE

Larabars are great snacks. If you have older kids you could pack them a full size Larabar, or if you have younger children, the mini Larabars are great. Since they are mostly dates (fruit), I like to pack the minis with a fat or protein of choice such as olives, cheese, jerky, or boiled egg. Energy bites are also fun to make (there is a chocolate covered banana energy bite recipe in my new cookbook, “The Little Lunchbox Cookbook,” on pre-order now!). (Snack box pictured below is the Planetbox Round container that comes with Planetbox lunchboxes. They can also be sold separately.)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

15. GUACAMOLE CUP WITH TORTILLA CHIPS OR CRACKERS

We get these little guac cups at Coscto, but just about every grocery store carries them now! Pack them with some tortilla chips or crackers and this super fun snack will become a quick favorite! (Snack box pictured below is a Lunchbot Duo)

15 Portable Healthy Snacks For Kids :: FREE Snack Chart PDF Included!

Tips for successful snack packing

A little planning goes a long way, and I want to see you succeed in this, dear momma. Here are a few tips that I have learned throughout the years to make snack/lunch packing smooth and fast.

  • Food prep. On Sundays I typically hard boil a dozen eggs for the week, and make a jar of dip or dressing for veggies. It takes me all of 15 minutes and really sets me up for easy packing. The girls know where the container of eggs is for quick snack packing, and always have a veggie dip available as well. Once a month (yes just ONCE a month), I’ll stock my pantry with “something” – sometimes that “something” is granola or granola bars, and sometimes it’s trail mix. I have a shelf for these in my pantry in a spot that is easy to access for the girls to pack their own snacks.
  • Snack access. The rest of the snack items (such as nuts/seeds, pouches, and bars in the pantry, and then fruit/veggies, cheese, etc in the fridge) are kept in easy to reach spots in the pantry or fridge so that they don’t have to go digging through my things making a bigger mess. The time it takes to quick organize a shelf of snacks in the pantry and fridge is SO worth saving your frustration, dear momma!
  • Easy to use gear. Let me tell you…I have been through a LOT of lunch gear and snack box gear. I get things sent to me to try out all the time, and I have also purchased a lot on my own. Have a cupboard or drawer designated for your snack boxes that the kids can reach without your help so that you don’t have to search around for things. I have linked each snack box you saw in the snacks above – the ones pictured are my favorite brands.
  • Set them up for success. Explain your snack packing expectations. If you have older kids packing their own snacks, use the “Notes” section on the side of your chart to list your expectations. For instance, maybe you want to say that they can only repeat the same snack twice in one week so you can ensure they are getting variety. Or maybe you have a certain day of the week that you want something used up. Or maybe that week you don’t have a certain item on the list, so you want to let them know that that isn’t an option this week. My girls know that my rule on packaged, store-bought snacks (such as a packaged granola bar, jerky, or pouches) is 2 per week; it isn’t that they aren’t healthy – it is for saving my budget! For your littles, you can help them pick what snacks on the chart they want to eat for the week. Do NOT send new food to school without trying it at home first. This will end in un-eaten snacks and frustrated kids.

Ok! Talk to me! Tell me about your favorite healthy snacks in the comments below! We can keep this list growing!

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Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

March 9, 2020

Keep the pantry stocked with these easy 10 minute prep, nut free school zone safe, crunchy buckwheat and apricot granola bars!

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Early spring?! We’ll take it!

It sure feels like spring has sprung rather early in these parts, and while I know there is a very good chance we will still see a March snow storm where I live, we’re soaking in every ounce of any sunshine and 40 degrees that is thrown our way with complete and utter delight!

Busy kids and healthier on the go snacks

Spring is a very *busy* time of year for my crew, and having grab-and-go snacks on hand that won’t sugar crash my growing kids is truly the name of the game. Real food fats, proteins, and healthy carbohydrates to sustain and satiate active kids, while still tasting good isn’t as hard as it sounds. Keeping fast and easy hard boiled eggs, fresh veggies with fatty dips, and even some healthier choice packaged store-bought snacks on hand keeps us from blowing our budget on empty calorie snacks and kids that are hungry every hour of the day. When we “make every bite count,” filling our kids up on food that satiates, they won’t be asking for snack after snack.

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Homemade, made easy

It’s no secret, I’m passionate about seeing kids filled up on nourishing, real fats, sustainable protein building blocks, and energy fueling real food carbohydrates. But I am also a real mom, with 3 very real kids, and this truly is a very real family behind this computer or phone screen that you are reading. There needs to be a balance between store bought everything and homemade all the things if it is going to be sustainable. This quick, 10-minute prep granola bar is made for busy families! The granola bars also store in the pantry, just like regular granola bars, so they will be just as convenient for the kids to grab for lunchbox packing or snack time.

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Star players

So let’s talk about this fun granola bar change up, and why it is a great idea to keep ingredient variety in our diets. Instead of an all oat based granola bar, I’m focusing on mineral rich seeds for this crunchy, satisfying version. One of my girls has a nut free snack time at school this year, and while nut free is easier than you think, I have also challenged myself to create some seed only snacks (like these copycat coconut clusters) for her this year to change things up. Buckwheat is a seed packed with minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. I feel like it is a really overlooked, mineral rich ingredient, and it has a nutty, toasted taste when baked into a crunchy granola bar. I’ve also added mineral rich pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds to add to the nutrient variety and flavors, and of course some traditional oats make these pretty granola bars picture perfect. The kids will love these honey toasted seeds in a convenient little bar, and the dried apricots are a fun little surprise sprinkled throughout!

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

The Method

You’ll start by pouring all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl. I use my food processor to buzz up the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, so this part goes fast. After you melt the coconut oil and honey over the stove, you’ll pour that over the dry ingredients and stir them to coat everything evenly. The granola mixture gets pressed into the pan and you can tend to other kitchen tasks or the kids while it bakes! After the granola bars cool completely, you can cut the bars in the sizes you like. The beauty of making your own granola bars is being able to control the size of the bars you like. I tend to make squares so that they can be a small snack or a small addition to lunchbox since my kids are still young. This works well for toddlers too since a large granola bar can be a lot to finish. If you have older kids, you can make regular sized bars.

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free
Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free
Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Swap thoughts

Even if you aren’t in a nut free school or have kids at home with nut allergies, I would love to see you try these seed based bars! The nutrient diversity is good for your gut and growing bodies. That said, if the you have nuts on hand to use up, I do think that they will swap in this recipe for the seeds. If they are bigger nuts like almonds or walnuts, you might want to use a heaping ¼ cup of nuts to make up for the small seeds that fill up the quarter cup. If you don’t have dried apricots just yet, raisins should work just fine, though if you get a chance the apricots are so fun and pretty too!

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and line an 8×8 baking pan with unbleached parchment paper.
  • Put the oats, buckwheat groats, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, buckwheat flour, and apricots in a medium mixing bowl, and set aside.
  • Melt the coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan and then pour over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Stir the granola bar ingredients thoroughly so that everything is coated with the coconut oil mixture.
  • Pour the granola bar mixture into the lined pan and press the mixture down using the bottom of your half cup measuring cup so that everything is pressed into the pan evenly. Pay attention to the sides and corners so that everything is straight and even.
  • Bake the granola bars at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Do NOT cut the bars until they have cooled completely. The will harden as they cool and be easier to cut. Once the bars have cooled completely to room temp, pull the sides of the parchment paper so the granola bars come out in one square. Use a long sharp knife to cut the granola bars into the sizes you want.
Nut Free Crunchy Buckwheat and Apricot Granola Bars :: Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

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Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

February 6, 2020

From lunchbox snacks to on the go toddler munchies, these copycat coconut clusters are kid approved and safe for nut free school zones!

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

February thaws and a new favorite snack

Good gracious these Michiganders of mine aren’t quite sure what to do with this mild winter we are having so far! The first weekend into February and we had such a huge thaw that we could play in the beach sand and hike without snowpants! We’ve been extra active this winter, which is so nice, and it also works up little appetites! Let me tell you about a new favorite of ours!

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!
Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

From a Costco find to a homemade copycat!

Earlier this fall, we picked up these cute new coconut cluster snacks at Costco, and my kids really liked them. I loved the simple ingredients, and that they were packed with fatty coconut and mineral rich seeds. I did not, however, love that they were sweetened with brown rice syrup and sugar. I decided to try a bag anyway, and when I discovered how much the girls liked them, decided I better figure out a better way to make them so they weren’t having brown rice syrup and sugar on a weekly basis. The snack was such a great idea otherwise, so we gave it a shot!

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

The prepping method

Because in all actuality, the store bought coconut clusters were really just as simple as a bunch of coconut flakes and seeds baked with their mode of sweetening! You’ll start by adding your coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and chia into a large bowl and then mix with just the right amount of mineral rich pure maple syrup.

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

The baking method

Then, you have two baking choices! If you like neat little cluster rounds, you can spoon your coconut mixture into small cookie sized shapes. Or, you can spread the entire mixture onto the baking sheet, and break it up after it bakes, leaving uneven little clusters. The choice is yours! Both work great!

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!
Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!
Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!
Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

Sweetener choices

I loved the warmth that the pure maple syrup brought to these little coconut clusters. I do think that raw honey might work here, however honey has a tendency to burn a bit, so be super careful as they bake. I have not tried a combo of maple syrup and coconut sugar but I do think that might work. You do need some sort of liquid sweetener though to get the stick that you need for the clusters to come together. I’d love to know what you’ve tried, if you want to comment below! As it is, the fat and fiber in the coconut and seeds balances the sweet, and this is a side or snack, not a full meal, so all in all I don’t tend to worry about it!

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

Can I swap the seed for nuts?

If you can handle nuts, and want to change things up for more variety, any nuts will work here too. If they are heftier nuts like almonds or walnuts, I would consider a rough chop to make the pieces a little smaller.

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

Storeage

Good news! These little guys store right in your pantry for easy peasy lunchbox additions or snacktime! Just put the baked and cooled coconut clusters in an airtight container in the pantry up to 3 months.

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

Copycat Coconut Clusters :: Nut Free School Zone Safe!

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 sheet pans unbleached parchment paper.
  • Mix all of the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, until thoroughly coated in the maple syrup.
  • To make clusters, use a spoon to drop a couple tablespoons of the mixture into a cluster onto the sheet pan, lining up the clusters like you would cookies on a cookie sheet. To make one large sheet pan to break up into uneven clusters and smaller chunks, divide the mixture between the 2 sheet pans and spread the mixture out evenly, making sure everything is touching so it sticks together.
  • Bake the coconut clusters at 350 degrees for 14 minutes until the coconut is lightly toasted. Do NOT touch the coconut clusters for about 1 hour so that they harden. Leave them on the sheet tray. Once the coconut clusters are completely cooled, they will be hardened and stick together well. If you made a large sheet pan full, you can break apart your clusters once they are cooled. Store your coconut clusters in an airtight container in the pantry up to 3 months.
More real food LUNCHBOX RECIPES you might like! GF Pizza Pinwheels Paleo Mini Banana Muffins Instant Pot Tomato Soup for Lunchbox Thermoses GF Pizza Muffins Honey Nut Granola for Lunchbox Yogurt Parfaits Nut Free Granola Bars

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Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

August 15, 2019

This simple, staple gluten free blueberry muffin will be a hit on your breakfast menu rotation!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Summer blueberry bliss…and a new RGN project!

Happy August, my friends! I cannot wait to share this new, fun blueberry muffin with you – it is sure to be a school morning staple! But first! We have had a whirlwind of a summer filled with sprinklers, park play, of course all the beach time…and a new book deal! I am so excited to be able to share with you where I have been pouring my heart this summer. It’s been quiet around the blog for good reason, and I promise you that this new lunchbox concept cookbook is going to be worth the wait! I’ll be sharing more over on Instagram throughout this process, giving you snippets of peeks during recipe development, and I’m so honored to bring this piece of my home to you.

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

On to the blueberries!

Because man alive did we have to wait for them this year! Michigan had a slow start to produce season because of the cold and rainy start to the summer, but it sure has been worth the wait with these gorgeous Michigan blues. Since we are so close the school year with these late blueberries, I decided to come up with a new, fun school morning blueberry muffin that will work right out of the freezer, and also pack in lunchboxes well. Win-win!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

My school morning blueberry muffin checklist…

If I’m going to be using these for school mornings, they need to be fast to prep, and hold up well to travel, lunchboxes, and the freezer. Most often on school mornings that involve muffins, I’m pulling them from my freezer stash. Whenever I bake, I make sure to stash at least a few a way, so that I have something to pull from when I need fast breakfasts. These blueberry muffins have a super soft texture, and keep well in the freezer.

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Because flavor matters…

I’ve tried lots of different sweetening options and landed on coconut sugar or maple sugar being my favorites. The subtle warmth is the perfect light sweetener for a school morning so that blood sugars don’t go through the roof, but also keep kids happy.

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Fruit swaps?!

I am so excited to play around with this muffin base with other in season fruit…namely apples that will be in season this fall. I think this muffin recipe will be very versatile to whatever fruit you have laying around, including dried fruit from the pantry later this winter when nothing seems to be in season. From banana slices, to strawberries, I look forward to updating this post throughout this year to let you know what works! If you happen to try a new fruit in the blueberry’s place, let us know how it works out in the comments below.

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Flour swaps

If you cannot have the almond flour, you can use all Namaste, just use half the amount of the almond flour amount (1/2 cup). I preferred the texture of the muffins with the almond flour, but the all Namaste flour muffins did turn out. If you need a grain free version, you will love these buckwheat flour blueberry muffins! If you do not have to be gluten or grain free, these are the loveliest sprouted grain blueberry muffins from Nourished Kitchen!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

A new journey…

I’m so grateful to this community for patiently waiting this lunchbox book out. I am thinking of every single one of your kiddos and mine as I write every word, and my hope is that this book will be the most loved, tattered, torn, dripped on, and dog-eared cookbook in your library!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
Print Recipe
5 from 8 votes

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar plus more to sprinkle the tops if you wish (Turbinado, maple sugar, or sucanat would work too)
  • ½ cup melted butter or olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp almond extract or another tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup buttermilk You can make buttermilk by putting 1 tbsp ACV in a liquid measure and then filling to the ½ cup mark with coconut milk or raw milk
  • 1 cup Namaste GF Flour Blend
  • 1 cup blanched almond flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin tin with silicone muffin cups, or unbleached paper cups.
  • Blend the eggs, coconut sugar, butter, and extracts in a medium mixing bowl, about 1 minute.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients except the blueberries and blend until just combined, and then fold in the blueberries.
  • Scoop the batter into your lined muffin tin. If you want to sprinkle the tops of the muffins with more coconut sugar, you can do that at this time too.
  • Bake the muffins at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and spring back to touch.
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

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Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

June 28, 2019

You’ll be blown away at the flavor of these pineapple watermelon popsicles – no added sugar needed and allergen friendly!

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

A leftover bowl of fruit, and sweet summer bliss

How is it possible that we have already been out of school 3 weeks?! I also stepped away from this space to help my crew settle into summer routine, and I missed you all too for that long! We’ve been enjoying every ounce of the sunshine, local parks, and all of our favorite Lake Michigan beaches! Of course those long summer days sometimes lead to forgotten bowls of fruit, and we have been cooling off with super fun blends of fruit popsicles most days of the week to use it all up.

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

A new household favorite fruit blend!

Hands down one of our favorites has been watermelon and pineapple! Who knew?! There was a stretch of a couple weeks where our grocery store had them on sale as buy 1, get 1 one free (!), and that kind of summer bounty definitely calls for a frozen treat!

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

All of the flavor without adding sugar!

Because truly it doesn’t get any sweeter than a fresh pineapple, and when you are using watermelon as the “liquid” for blending, it gets even sweeter. So these popsicles are literally all fruit based – go ahead and pop these out of the freezer every time that ice cream truck rolls around! The kids will be so geeked, and you can feel good about not loading them up on food dye and high fructose corn syrup filled pops from the ice cream truck.

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!
Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

Just 2 ingredients and a loaded freezer

No fuss is the name of my game in the summer. I want to be outside playing and soaking the sunshine as much as I can. Whenever I can fill up my 10-pop popsicle mold with leftover fruit, I’m filling my freezer. Just a quick blend and pour and it’s done. I have a little shelf in my freezer during the summer dedicated to popsicles, which also allows my kiddos to serve themselves…#winning!

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

Let’s talk about popsicle molds!

I’ve had my 10-pop popsicle mold ever since I realized how quickly 3 kids can go through popsicles – 3 kids times 5-7 days a week…you do the math! I have had this 10-pop mold for a while now, and love it. Grab a box of wooden craft sticks super cheap, and you’re set. If you have older kids, or a gaggle of kids that gather at your house during the summer, you’ll want to grab that one! There are so many fun popsicle mold shapes though – sit down with the kids and pick something out that works for you!

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!
Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

A few notes on your TODDLERS!

While I love my big, 10-pop popsicle mold, I DO, however, remember those days of having smaller children, and that 10-pop popsicle mold makes big kid sized popsicles. Mini popsicle molds are a lifesaver with toddlers and older babies because there is less waste and dripping. I had these mini popsicle molds with the easy to hold handles – they were so nice when I had little ones! I also found these teething pop molds that are even smaller – perfect for older babies.

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!
One of MY babies with a mini popsicle! So nice for teething babies and little hands! (This recipe is in THIS POST and makes more like “smoothie popsicles”)

Freezer stocking tips

Remember that whole shelf just for the popsicles trick I mentioned earlier?! That whole kids serving themselves thing?? Stock up different flavors (see the bottom of this post for a whole list of flavors!), making a bunch of popsicles here and there throughout the week! Once the pops are frozen, run the popsicle mold under a little warm water to ease them out, and then wrap them up in plastic wrap (or beeswax wrap if you prefer to use that). They stay individually wrapped this way, and easy for the kids to grab.

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

Raising independent kitchen helpers (if you only read 1 thing in this post – read this!!!)

One quick note before we get to the recipe! Early on in this mom gig, I spent a lot of time talking about getting your kids in the kitchen. I remember, more than anything, thinking that the result would be that the girls would remember that time spent together, and that they would hopefully pick up a few kitchen skills that I never had along the way. But as my older girls have reached the ages of 10 and 8 years old, there are days that I am in awe of just how much they are capable of. Your 10 year olds can have popsicle making on their chore chart, dear momma. <—Read that part again! What a fun “chore” to have responsibility of! One less thing off your plate, and this fun task feels less like a drag while still building independence in your kids. And YES include the clean up as part of that chore. If you have little ones, start small. Let them help you put the fruit in the blender and push the button. Let them wash up the counter. Putting the wooden sticks in the popsicle mold will absolutely take longer, but it will not only help them feel useful, it is great fine motor work!

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!
Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

Ingredients

  • 4 cups watermelon rind removed, and cubed
  • 3 cups pineapple rind removed, and cubed
  • Optional raw honey or other sweetener of choice to sweeten to taste if needed (I haven’t been sweetening these for my kids, but if you have kids that are used to really sweet popsicles, you might want to add a few tablespoons. I made one batch with raw honey that was delicious.)

Instructions

  • Blend the fruit (and honey if using itogether to puree completely. I use the “juicing” button on my Blendtec, but just blending it through smooth on a regular blender works too.
  • Pour the pureed fruit into your popsicle mold. If your blender blended high speed enough to make some fruit “foam” form at the top, you can spoon that off, and add more fruit puree. Put the tops/sticks onto your popsicle mold, and freeze overnight.

Notes

  • This recipe fits my 10-pop popsicle mold perfectly. If you are going to make this for more of a mini popsicle mold (or these super cool, small “teething pop molds” for your little ones, you could cut the recipe in half or even quarter it.
  • I like to run the popsicle mold under the hot water tap for just a few seconds to loosen them from the mold when pulling the frozen popsicles out.
Pineapple Watermelon Popsicles :: Allergen Friendly & Refined Sugar Free!

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Gluten Free Honey Nut Granola

May 31, 2019

Little bites of honey nut granola, reminiscent of childhood cereals, made with healthy, real ingredients, perfect for yogurt topping and on the go snacks!

Summer splendor and warm weather breakfasts

We are counting the days down. We just have to get through 4.5 more days of school and we are free for carefree summer bliss for the next couple months! Warm, muggy summer mornings call for cool and quick loaded yogurt bowl breakfasts, and this breakfast bar yogurt concept has become a summer morning staple at least a couple times per week during the warm months of the year. We stir in all sorts of great add-ins, and granola just happens to be a favorite of the girls.

Gluten Free Honey Nut Granola

An old, childhood breakfast favorite with a real food twist

Oh come on 80’s and 90’s kids…you know what I’m talking about. The cold breakfast cereal that so many of us had in our bowls as little kids – Honey Nut Cheerios! While I didn’t set out for this granola to taste like a nostalgic cereal from my childhood, I was totally blasted to the past when I took the first bite. A cross between those honey sweetened O’s and another childhood favorite – Honey Bunches of Oats – these crispy little granola bits are certain to remind you of childhood.

Power packed ingredient line up!

While we love a good granola base focused on oats, I wanted to create something with a bit of diversity. Why, you ask? Well, beyond adding a super fun crispy crunch and amazing flavor, adding some different grains, nuts, and seeds in the mix also creates a breakfast platform that offers a variety of nutrients instead of just one or two. So let’s talk about these great, sometimes forgotten, players!

Buckwheat Groats

Buckwheat is a seed used in many Asian culture’s cuisines. If you have ever enjoyed soba noodles before, or one of my cherry buckwheat muffins, you’ll know that the nutty sweetness is irresistible, and as it lightly toasts in the oven for this granola, it crisps into that familiar “kasha” cereal like texture. Buckwheat has an impressive protein content for such a small seed, and since it also boasts fiber nutrition, it makes a really perfectly balanced superfood bursting with minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins. You can typically buy buckwheat groats in bulk at any health food store, or you can get organic buckwheat groats online. You can also buy sprouted buckwheat groats for even more optimized nutrition.

Millet

Millet originates in Chinese and African cuisine, seen most often in couscous dishes, as well as porridge dishes and breads. Millet contains prebiotic fiber, essential for feeding the good bacteria in your digestion. This sometimes forgotten super grain is a good source of magnesium and calcium as well as B vitamins and antioxidants. Millet is has a more mild nuttiness, and takes on the flavor of whatever you are using with it to cook in – in this case it gently crisps up in the granola and tastes of honey and nuts! You can pick up hulled millet in bulk at most health food stores, or you can buy hulled millet here online. I have never been able to find sprouted millet, but you can sprout it yourself if you wish.

The oats, nuts, & seeds

Of course we love the simple, and humble oat as well. Amazingly, these days you can find sprouted oats very easily – this is my favorite brand. Using sprouted oats optimizes nutrition and is easier on digestion, but if you can’t find sprouted oats, you can certainly use a regular rolled oats. For the nuts and the seeds, use what you have in the pantry, but I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and change things up too! I found the buttery flavor of walnuts and classic almond flavor together give the granola the taste of the cereal that we all know and love really well. But I wanted to add in the sunflower seeds for some variety. I also made this once using Brazil nuts in place of the almonds and loved the outcome. If you are completely nut free, try pumpkin seeds, flax, and sunflower to change things up. There are so many to try in both the nut and seed family that you can really bring a variety of nutrients to your granola.

The process

While making your own granola may feel daunting, and look fancy, it is truly one of the easiest kitchen swaps you can make from buying store bought. Not only does it allow you to control the sugar content, it also allows you to use safer, healthier oils. Even many of the “healthy” looking granolas at the store are made with junky fats like canola, sunflower, and safflower oils. We use simple coconut oil in this recipe, but you could easily use olive oil, butter, or avocado oil. Simply toss the dry ingredients into a bowl with the melted fat and honey and it’s ready to go. Stir it around a few times and a half hour later you have granola for stashing away in the pantry. This recipe lasts my family of 5 a good couple of weeks or longer!

Can I skip the grains?

Sure! One of my favorite things about making granola is that it is super forgiving. If you need to be grain free for your household, you can swap the oats and millet for any combination of the following. (Buckwheat is technically a seed, and is not in the wheat family as it is not a grass. It is actually in the same family as rhubarb! Some in the paleo community consider it a pseudo-cereal, but I’ll leave whether you want to consider it a grain up to you! I go by what my family tolerates and feels good on, and we love buckwheat – if it doesn’t agree with you, by all means swap it out!)

  • Unsweetened shredded coconut, or coconut flakes
  • Almonds
  • Pecans
  • Pistachios
  • Brazil Nuts
  • Cashews
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Hemp
  • Flax seed (chia seeds are already in the recipe in a good amount — I wouldn’t add any more than what is already written)

LOVE the granola yogurt breakfast bar idea?!

Here are a few more granola recipes to try, to change things up a bit!

Print Recipe
5 from 15 votes

Gluten Free Honey Nut Granola

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and set out 2 large sheet pans.
  • Put the oats, buckwheat groats, millet, nuts, seeds, and coconut sugar into a large mixing bowl, and set aside.
  • Melt the coconut oil in a small sauce pan, turn the heat off, and stir the honey to melt in. Add the extracts to the oil/honey and stir.
  • Add the melted coconut oil/honey mixture to your dry granola ingredients in the large mixing bowl, and stir to combine well.
  • Spread the granola mixture onto 2 large baking sheets and bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes. Stir the mixture and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Stir the mixture one more time and return to the oven for 10 more minutes. Remove the sheet trays from the oven and let it cool completely. It will crisp up as it cools. Store the cooled granola in an air tight container.
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Gluten Free Oat Bran Muffins :: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free

May 9, 2019

Soft and sweet with nutty knobs of bran, these gluten free oat bran muffins will become a weekly breakfast staple!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

A last minute idea, a new recipe, and some love for every teacher

I’m not very much of a last minute person. Oh, sure, I don’t use an elaborate meal plan, but I have an idea or a framework for most weeks. But when it comes to planning something like an event, I’m a details person. Earlier this year I was assigned to “Teacher Appreciation Day” at our school, typically a luncheon at some point during Teacher Appreciation Week. Having all 3 kids in full time school this year has given me some extra hours to help out at school, and last week I had this revelation…1 day of celebrating our teachers simply wasn’t enough. I am in awe every time I help at that school. My village. I wanted to do something each day of the Teacher Appreciation Week. With a tight budget, a couple mom friends, and determined personality, my mind was made up, and we made it happen! We already had the pot luck style luncheon set up, I had a super talented thrift store super shopper friend that found some great gifts for one day, a beautiful gardening friend that brought flowers one day, and…probably the most anticipated day of the week – this Friday, myself and 7 other parents are doing a “recess take-over” giving the staff an extra long lunch while we man the playground duty! Gold!

Muffins and coffee

A simple muffin. A cup of dark coffee. It is so simple, but you guys the day during that Teacher Appreciation Week that we brought in boxes of coffee from a local coffee shop and 4 dozen simple oat bran muffins, you would have thought we brought them the world. These sweet teachers’ faces were priceless. I wish you all could have seen the picture. In fact, I’m challenging you to make your *own* picture. These teachers are capital D.O.N.E for this year, and to surprise them with a simple coffee and muffin on a Tuesday morning would absolutely fuel their hearts to get through one more week.

So let’s talk about these muffins!

Super cost effective (I had a budget to stick to, remember?!), healthy, filling, and the most important thing when you are baking for someone else…they are delicious! Bran muffins should have a warm, molasses-y sweetness to perk them up, and I was so happy with how the coconut sugar brought that warmth and fun flavor without adding a ton of sugar. Those knobby bits of oat bran throughout add a lovely nuttiness as well.

The softness secret, and that beautiful rise though!

Buttermilk. A simple soured milk gives these muffins a soft texture despite the coarse bran, and you can make it yourself if you don’t have access to quality buttermilk. In fact, you can even make it with dairy free milk if you need to be dairy free. I love the fatty richness that coconut milk has, and soaking the grains in that coconut buttermilk made for such a rich, satisfying muffin. A quick whisk of some apple cider vinegar and milk, and that’s it! The acid in the buttermilk also acts as a soaking medium for the grains. If you choose to soak the grains in the buttermilk over night, you’ll be rewarded with an easier food for your digestive system to manage as the phytic acid is broken down.

Add-ins?

Sure thing! Since I was making these muffins for a crowd, I left them as is, because some people aren’t fans of dried fruit. But I made a batch of the oat bran muffins for my girls with chopped dried apricots and the girls thought they hit the jackpot! We made a batch with chopped dried figs as well – my youngest’s favorite by far. You could use raisins, dried blueberries, or chopped dates as well.

Freezer friendly

I made 2 double batches of this muffin recipe for that Teacher Appreciation morning, and they really held up for the 2 days that they sat in a bag on the counter. If you are going to make more than you need, I would recommend putting extras in the freezer right away, however because it will lock in all of the moisture. These muffins will make great grab and go lunchbox add-ins and breakfast on the go with hard boiled eggs!

Print Recipe
4.95 from 18 votes

Gluten Free Oat Bran Muffins :: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free

Ingredients

Instructions

  • The night before you want to make the muffins, put the oat bran and GF Flour in a medium mixing bowl. Make “buttermilk” for soaking the oat bran and flour by putting 1 ½ tbsp of ACV in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and pouring coconut milk in until you reach the 1 ½ cup mark on the measuring cup. Whisk this together – this is “buttermilk.” Pour the buttermilk over the oat bran and GF flour, and mix together. It is thick – do not add more liquid. Cover your bowl and set on the counter overnight, 8-12 hours. This soaking process breaks down the phytic acid in the grain making it easier on digestion over time.
  • The next morning pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and line a dozen cup muffin tin with silicone muffin liners or unbleached paper liners.
  • In a small mixing bowl beat the eggs, coconut sugar, and vanilla with electric beaters. Add those wet ingredients to the soaking oat bran/flour mixture, add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and blend slowly to combine. The oat bran/flour mixture will feel dry and thick at first, but the liquid will loosen it up. I start with the beaters and finish with my spatula.
  • If you are adding dried fruit to your muffins, you can add them at this time.
  • Scoop the muffin batter into your muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and spring back to touch. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5-10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. You can freeze leftover muffins in freezer bags.

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Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancake Mini Muffins With Berry Dipping Sauce :: Gluten Free, Grain Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free

April 16, 2019

A healthy buckwheat pancake, in the perfect “little hand sized” package – mini muffins!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Birthday girl!

I’m pretty sure I get more excited about the girls’ birthdays than they do 🙂 I love remembering being pregnant with them and experiencing their birth stories, and telling them about how they were when they were babies! This sweet and spunky middle kiddo of mine turns 8 next week, and we started celebrating a little early with a fun breakfast idea that is totally up her ally…

On. The. Go.

If you look up busy bee in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure Claire’s picture would be right next to it. From the day I felt her strong, *non-stop* kicking in utero, to her blazing fast, “sunny-side up” delivery, never-ending toddler years, and now these smart as a whip school age years, we are definitely kept on our toes with this one, and on-the-go breakfasts have become a specialty of mine in her honor.

Pancake…muffins?

Absolutely! While we love a slow start Saturday filled with a fluffy stack of pancakes, in reality, busy weekday mornings just don’t have room for that. Last year we created *the* pancake mini muffin – a perfect, portable substitute for that fluffy pancake stack. I hear from you guys all. the. time. about how much your kids love them, so I’m giving you another option to add to your rotation to get some new ingredients into the mix!

A new ingredient line-up…

So many of you have messaged me asking how to make my original pancake muffins egg free and/or grain free, so this version is dedicated to you. But wait! If you don’t happen to be a “free” anything household, these delicious buckwheat pancake muffins are still for you too! Food rotation is so important to get a variety of nutrients into your family. Eating the same thing over and over again can wear on the gut, and can create imbalance in your nutrient levels.

What is buckwheat?

Despite the sound of it’s name, buckwheat flour is ground up buckwheat seed – it’s a seed, not a grain! Many people that cannot tolerate gluten or grains can tolerate buckwheat, and it has a host of nutritional benefits. Buckwheat has an impressive protein content and is packed with essential minerals our bodies need to function at it’s best. Even if you can tolerate gluten/grains, it is a good idea to rotate your food around. Using the same flour day in and day out in your baking will wear on the gut. Change things up a little! The buckwheat gives these muffins a mildly sweet, nutty flavor, and the vanilla and warm coconut sugar make them taste like pancakes!

Allergen friendly!

It is pretty tough to get a muffin to look like a muffin without eggs, my friends. Let alone feel like a muffin and taste like a muffin! But for some reason, I have found that buckwheat batters have some “stick” to them almost like a chia seed, so the egg binding isn’t always needed. And add in a bit of baking powder to react with an acid, and you’ve got yourself a nice puffy muffin top without the egg rise!

Little kids love to dip!

That is no secret to you, I’m sure, dear momma! So instead of dipping these little pancakes in a load of sugary maple syrup, we’re going to cut the sugar down and use some fruit, and then mix it with some fat to keep blood sugars balanced. Use whatever berries are in season near you, or thaw out some frozen berries to use if it is wintertime. The sauce takes no time at all to make, and you can customize it to your kids’ taste for sweet. If you have really littles in the house, I’d skip the added honey all together. If you have teens in the house used to sweeter foods, that touch of honey will really bring out the berry’s sweetness, and it will still be less sugar than dousing them in maple syrup before a school day.

Not just for breakfast!

This recipe as written fills my 48 cup mini muffin pan! That, my friends, is the epitome if the whole “cook once, eat twice” mantra so many of us try to live by on busy schedules. The girls enjoyed taking the leftovers from breakfast in their school lunch the next day topped with butter, and with a thermos of soup. They freeze fantastic too, so if you don’t have a need for the extras right away, just pop them in a freezer bag for another time.

A note on the soaking

If you are newer to the more traditional real foods movement, this whole soaking process is probably new to you. In a nutshell, soaking grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds is an ancient practice that helps reduce gut disturbing phytic acid, making digestion more sound over time. It takes only minutes to prepare, though remembering to get the flour soaking the night before is part of the process! And because I totally, and utterly understand that, I’m going to step out and be a little taboo for a minute…if you are a hardcore traditional foodist, you’ll want to cover your eyes for this part… Skip the soaking if that means you’ll make these instead of opening a box of cereal, dear momma. I’d rather have you make this healthy, nutrient dense breakfast for your kids without the soaking versus not making them at all. If you are totally into the soaking, go for it! I actually love it because it means most of the recipe is made the night before.

Print Recipe
5 from 12 votes

Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancake Mini Muffins With Berry Dipping Sauce :: Gluten Free, Grain Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free

Ingredients

FOR THE BUCKWHEAT PANCAKE MINI MUFFINS ::

FOR THE BERRY DIPPING SAUCE ::

  • 1 cup berry of choice quartered if large like strawberries
  • 2-4 tsp raw honey or coconut sugar depending on how sweet your berries are
  • 1-2 tbsp butter optional if you don’t tolerate dairy

Instructions

FOR THE BUCKWHEAT PANCAKE MINI MUFFINS ::

  • The night before you want to make the muffins, put the buckwheat flour, milk, vinegar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl, and stir to combine. Cover with a lid and let the mixture soak overnight 7-10 hours. This soaking process helps break down the phytic acid in the buckwheat seed making it easier on digestion over time.
  • The next morning, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees, and spray a mini muffin tin with avocado oil spray or use mini muffin liners
  • Stir in the rest of the ingredients to the soaked batter, and spoon the batter into your prepared muffin tin.
  • Bake the mini buckwheat pancakes at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (if you are making regular sized muffins, bake for more like 25-30 minutes). Let the muffins cool for a couple minutes, and then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. You can keep the muffins in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or in the freezer for months. 

FOR THE BERRY DIPPING SAUCE ::

  • Everything into a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, letting the sauce simmer and break down for about 3-4 minutes. A potato masher helps this along well.
  • Taste the sauce for sweetness, and then blend until smooth. The berry sauce will keep up to a week, chilled in the refrigerator. 

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Healthy Salty and Sweet Trail Mix :: No added sugar!

January 22, 2019

From lunchbox additions and afternoon pick me ups, to game day munchies and movie night snacks, this salty and sweet trail mix is the perfect healthy choice!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Lunchbox ruts…

Dear momma, I am so feeling you! Halfway through the year, and that lunchbox rotation is starting to look a little blurry, the kids are bored of the same thing, and you are just squinting your eyes at any glimpse of summer break on the horizon 😊

Even real food bloggers need a fresh idea!

Because I’m human too. And I have a full schedule, 3 completely different kids, and seriously those lunchboxes don’t pack themselves! My youngest started asking for “trail mix” in the last few weeks, and I had an idea of what she was asking for. Usually I just take the easy route and pack the girls a hand full of nuts or seeds with a few pieces of raisin and call it “trail mix,” but my youngest was referring to a trail mix she fell in love with a while ago…

A healthier take on an old stand-by…

A year or so ago, Costco carried this cleaner than most trail mix that I had grown accustomed to having in my rotation for the girls’ morning school snacks, or as a quick lunchbox addition. Like Costco seems to be so good at doing, right when you get into a rhythm of using something of theirs that you love…they take it away! Amiright?! To be honest I didn’t love that the dried fruit in the mix had sunflower oil, but for the most part the mix was pretty clean, and it was nice to use once a week as a quick snack or lunchbox filler. Really this mix isn’t that hard to duplicate! I decided to grab a cleaner, healthier fat to make the trail mix feel rich, and make it fun with different pieces of dried fruit for the sweet, and a hit of sea salt for the salty – that makes for a fun snack!

Let’s break it down!

You can really swap the nut/seed/dried fruit combo for anything that you have in your pantry. I love having a big variety to take advantage of all the different vitamins and minerals that nuts and seeds have to offer, without overdoing it on one particular kind. If you are nut free, just use all seeds, and if you can’t have something on the list, simply swap it out. And as far as the dried fruit goes, the sky is the limit as long as it doesn’t have added sugar in my book, so go for it! I can hardly wait until strawberry and blueberry season so that I can dry some of those out to add to the mix!

Speaking of the fruit…

Dried fruit is super sneaky. You have to really look at the ingredient labels and be sure you aren’t getting sunflower oils and added sugar. Just be careful – I’ll add a link to each of the dried fruit elements that we love using here, and I’ll add a few more that I think work great too. All of these are oil and added sugar free! For the most part, I get the dried fruit between Costco and Amazon.

  • Raisins
  • Dried mango (to use these in the trail mix, just chop them up into bite sized pieces)
  • Dried apple (to use these in the trail mix, just chop them up into bite sized pieces)
  • Dried goji berries
  • Dried apricots (to use these in the trail mix, just chop them up into bite sized pieces)
  • Prunes (to use these in the trail mix, just chop them up into bite sized pieces)
  • Dates (to use these in the trail mix, just chop them up into bite sized pieces)
  • Dried bananas (Sometimes called banana chips – I use these as snacks with pouches of Justin’s almond butter for lunches too!)
  • Figs (to use these in the trail mix, just chop them up into bite sized pieces)

To bake or not to bake?

If you are short on time, this mix truly does just come together to toss without the cooking fat and sea salt, and you’re good to go. Many of you with toddlers in the house can start out this way! As the kids get older and their palates mature, having that salty/sweet combo with the richness from a little butter makes a handful of trail mix go from good to amazing! When the girls got their hands on this, they literally thought we were having a treat. I’ll be packing this up in little containers for a popcorn swap the next time we visit the movie theater because it definitely is a nice salty and sweet snack. While I think butter or ghee has the best flavor, avocado oil or olive oil would work the same way. Use what you can!

Soaked/Sprouted Nuts and Seeds

All of the nuts and seeds that I use in this trail mix have been soaked and dehydrated (with the exception of the shelled pistachios). When I first started learning about real food years ago, I learned about the process of soaking in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook as something that our ancestors would have done. The soaking takes the phytic acid in the nuts and seeds down a few notches, making them easier to digest. If that feels outside your real food comfort zone just yet, don’t work yourself up over it. Just use what you have or buy and make this fun recipe! If you are a traditional foodie, you will want soaked or sprouted nuts/seeds. My process to make the soaking process simple and fast, is that when I buy the bags of organic nuts/seeds from Costco or Amazon, I soak and dehydrate them right away. They stay in containers in my pantry so that I can take a quick handful for lunchboxes, or scoop them out for a recipe like this!

Other fun add-in ideas

You can really dress the trail mix up for whatever you are using it for! This basic framework is great for everyday, if you are going to have a bowl of it out at a party or on game day, add in some healthier choice chocolate chips is fun (this does have added sugar just fyi if you have to watch that). I also think coconut flakes are a fun addition and when I have those around I like to add those in with the baking process to make them crispy like chips.

A quick note about saving money and where to shop

Nuts, seeds, and dried fruit can be super pricey if you aren’t careful. We want to have good stewardship with our real food budget, and so I suggest shopping around diligently to find your best priced source. For where I live, it is really between Costco and Amazon, though there are a couple of items with better pricing at our local grocer, such as the dates listed in the dried fruit above. In the links below in the recipe card, any of the nuts that you see with the “Kirkland” organic brand linked, I get at Costco. The rest of the nuts/seeds I buy on Amazon to save money. These items come with a lot, so build up your stash a little at a time, and you will be able to have more variety in your trail mix with time! 

Print Recipe
5 from 18 votes

Healthy Salty and Sweet Trail Mix

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees.
  • Pour the nuts, seeds, and dried fruit right onto a baking sheet (NO Silpat or parchment paper for this recipe), and then toss with the melted butter and sea salt so that everything is coated evenly.
  • Divide the trail mix between 2 large baking sheets, spread the trail mix out, and bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes. Stir the trail mix around (I just shake the pans a bit!), and then bake another 5-7 minutes.
  • Let the trail mix cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

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Gingerbread Granola :: Gluten & Dairy Free!

December 20, 2018

Gingerbread granola is perfect for your last minute gift giving, and a healthier “all holiday season long” breakfast!

Last minute momma…

Oh man, you guys. I am usually never the person to be “last minute” on gift giving, but this whole having 3 kids in school thing has made me…not as organized, ironically! I think I figure I have all this time during the day to get stuff done, and it gets pushed off to get work done, or clean the house, or…well you get the idea! This year I really did think that I had all of my gift set, and then remembered I hadn’t covered all of the teaching staff that our family so desperately loves! Once again, that whole all 3 kids in school thing…times a teacher and assistant in each class, plus office staff and the beloved specials teachers. These people are a part of my village and I love to take care of them!

A granola tradition

We’ve been jarring up granola for teachers for years – since my 4th grader was in preschool! It is such a simple gift that everyone will love. I always picture these hard working teachers sitting back with their coffee and a big blanket enjoying their first breakfast of the well deserved 2 week holiday break on us! We usually make this cranberry orange granola for Christmas, and this honey rhubarb granola for the end of the school year. It is always so loved, and the girls like making it.

Short on time!

Because those well loved recipes require soaking (read, time), and I was short on that commodity, I decided to use sprouted oats, so we could skip the soaking step (if you have regular oats, you can still make this too!). I also didn’t have cranberries or oranges on hand for the cranberry orange granola, and with a little one that had to stay home with an upset tummy, there was no store running on this day. I scanned through my cupboards and when I got to the spices, I hit the jackpot! Gingerbread flavor. No special store runs – I bet you have all of these ingredients right in your pantry! I also decided to forgo the dehydrator and just bake this granola. It went super fast, only taking just over 20 minutes to finish! I had the entire granola mixed, onto trays, and fully baked in a half hour.

Homemade gift giving

The kids can truly help make this granola from start to finish, and then scoop it all up into mason jars with a pretty ribbon for their teachers. It is so special to be able to let them say “I made this!” when they hand over those jars! Of course, this crazy momma did wait last minute and ended up making it for the girls, but I’ll be having them jar it up and write notes on the jars which is just as special. It is such a simple gift, and so many people get sweets and treats for these kind of gifts – it’s a nice change up to give them something with holiday flavors that can be used as an actual meal!

How to use your gingerbread granola

  • Top your breakfast or snacktime yogurt or coconut yogurt with it!
  • Pour raw milk or coconut milk over a bowl of your granola!
  • Mix it with coconut, nuts, and seeds to make a trailmix for holiday road trips!
  • Pack it up in lunchboxes or morning snack boxes throughout December for a fun Christmas snack throughout the season!

Sprouted versus regular oats

If you only have regular oats on hand, I’m totally going to tell you to use them (this is the Non-GMO brand of oats that I use). I would rather you make this with regular oats, then not make it at all and have to buy something for a gift at the store. If you have time to order, we love these sprouted oats, and I keep them on hand for times that I don’t have time to soak. Once isn’t going to be the end of the world not to soak, but over time it is a good idea to eat your oats soaked or sprouted for easiest digestion.

A note on the “sweet”

This granola is a bit sweeter than I typically make our “everday” granola. When I created this, I was keeping gift giving in mind, which a lot of the times means people that are not used to mildly sweetened foods. I made a second batch for my girls and backed off on the coconut sugar and maple syrup by half and it tastes really good still. Do not back off on the molasses – this is what gives the gingerbread flavor! If you have really little guys around the house that you will be making this for, I would consider backing off the sweet by a bit. As written, this granola totally tasted like a treat to my girls – ha! It is nice a sweet, and perfect for a sour/tart bowl of yogurt. Or to give as a gift to someone who is more used to sweet breakfast cereals.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

 

Another year has literally flown by, and I am so honored to continue to be able to write in this space, and share conversation with you all. Healthy and happy new year to you!

Print Recipe
5 from 13 votes

Gingerbread Granola :: Gluten & Dairy Free!

We've been jarring up granola for teachers for years - since my 4th grader was in preschool! It is such a simple gift that everyone will love.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: dairy-free granola recipe, gluten-free granola, pecan granola
Servings: 20 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  • Melt the coconut oil, maple syrup, and molasses in a small sauce pan. Turn off the heat, and add the vanilla extract.
  • Combine the rest of the ingredients (the dry ingredients) into a large mixing bowl, and then stir in the melted coconut oil/syrup/molasses, until all of the dry ingredients are coated.
  • Spread the granola mixture onto 2 large baking sheets and bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Take the trays out, stir the granola, and then return to the oven. Bake for another 13 minutes. Take the trays out, stir the granola, and then let the granola cool completely. It will crisp up more as it cools. Store your granola in airtight containers up to a month in the pantry, or months in the fridge or freezer.

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Healthy Gluten Free Gingerbread Muffins :: A Perfect Christmas Morning Breakfast!

December 8, 2018

Healthy gingerbread muffins with warm gingerbread flavor and healthy ingredients, perfect for Christmas morning breakfast!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

The wonder of Christmas morning!

We take this picture every year, and I’m pretty sure I create a post surrounding this special time each year, and it just never gets old. They serious grow up before your eyes!

Let them play

I have talked about Christmas morning breakfasts often. Years back, I came to the realization that when you are in a season of these littles running around, having a quick, portable {not sugar-filled} breakfast for them to munch on while they play with a new toy is the key to happy kids with stable blood sugars. Sure, you can still make your fancy Christmas brunch later on that morning, but most kids need a little something when they wake up in the morning, and it is really hard to pull them away from the excitement surrounding the Christmas tree! We have created a number of handheld breakfast ideas for Christmas morning over the years – here are a few:

Easy pour blender batter – yes please!

Because as much as I know you want to have a special homemade breakfast out for the kids on Christmas morning, it is even more special if you get to sit in your favorite chair to watch them enjoy the special morning, or join them on the floor as they play with their new toy instead of being in the kitchen all morning. Kids spell love T-I-M-E, and you can enjoy special time making these easy muffins together, as well as enjoying the wonder of Christmas morning. In fact, my oldest (age 9 this holiday season), was able to make a batch of the muffins completely independently, so this would be a fun “night before” or morning of activity for your older kids to give them something to do too!

How to create a warm, gingerbread flavor that kids will love

Gingerbread can really be all over the board as far as “spiciness” or more of a mild, warm sweetness. I admit, that as an adult, I will totally go for a really spicy gingersnap and totally love it with my tea or coffee. Little kids might find it strong on their young palates though! I feel like I found a very happy medium between have a very apparent gingerbread flavor without being overpowering for little kids. I also love the warm sweetness that coconut sugar brings to the table pairing with the stronger molasses – these muffins are mildly sweet versus cupcake or cookie-like, which makes these gingerbread muffins perfect for a healthy breakfast.

Why soak the oats?

Soaking grains like oats in an acid medium (the yogurt in this recipe) reduces phytic acid in the grain. Over time, phytic acid can upset digestion, so it is a good idea to practice what our ancestors would have done with grains, and soak them. If you really don’t have the time, don’t sweat it. I would rather you make the recipe than not make it and buy store bough muffins instead. It only takes one minute to set up the soak the night before. If you happen to buy sprouted oats, you can skip the soaking process.

Tips for making a quick morning prep

Plan ahead just a little bit, and it can make the morning run even smoother.

  • The soaking actually helps you along! Part of the recipe is already done and in the blender!
  • Measure out all of the dry ingredients (nuts, flours, spices, etc) beforehand – the gingerbread spices are a pain, I know, but the flavor is SO worth it, so just measure them out the night before so you can just dump it all in.
  • Have your muffin pan lined and ready to go the night before too.
  • These muffins are freeze-able too! You can make them weeks ahead of time, and just pop them in the freezer until Christmas morning!

Special tip for working with molasses!

Here is my super special trick that will make your hands less of a sticky mess! You will be measuring out the oil in a ¼ cup measuring cup. This will line the measuring cup with slippery oil, and if you measure your molasses in that measuring cup, it will slide right out without having to touch it! Since you only need 2 tbsp of the molasses, you can fill the ¼ cup measure half way with the molasses which is the same as 2 tablespoons! You’re welcome!

Print Recipe
5 from 20 votes

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Muffins

Healthy gingerbread muffins with warm gingerbread flavor and healthy ingredients, perfect for Christmas morning breakfast!
Prep Time7 hours
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time7 hours 20 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: gingerbread muffins, gluten-free gingerbread muffin recipe
Servings: 12 muffins
Author: Renee - www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

  • 2 cups oats
  • 2/3 cup full fat coconut milk or whole milk if you tolerate dairy
  • ¼ cup full fat coconut yogurt or regular full fat yogurt if you tolerate dairy
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¼ cup avocado oil melted butter, coconut oil, or olive oil will work here
  • ½ cup pecans walnuts or almonds should work here. If you are nut free I think pumpkin seeds would be nice – sunflower seeds would work too
  • ¼ cup tapioca flour
  • ¼ cup grass-fed collagen I think the recipe will work without this if you don't have access
  • 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ cup coconut sugar Organic pure cane sugar, maple sugar, honey, or pure maple syrup should work here. This amount leaves the muffins mildly sweet – if you have older kids used to sweeter things, you may want to add more.
  • 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses older, adult palates might enjoy this bumped up by a tablespoon or 2 for a richer molasses taste - this is mild and kid friendly
  • 1 tsp almond extract if all you have is vanilla extract that is fine
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

  • If you want to soak your oats for digestion, 7-10 hours before you want to make the muffins (usually the night before), put the oats, coconut milk, and coconut yogurt into your blender and do a quick stir with a spoon to combine – doesn’t have to be perfect. Put the top on the blender and let the mixture soak overnight. This soaking process breaks down the phytic acid in the oat grain making it easier on digestion over time. (If you don’t wish to soak your oats, you can just put all of the ingredients into the blender to combine.)
  • The next morning, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender, and blend to combine.
  • Pour the muffin batter into a silicone muffin cup or paper muffin cup lined muffin pan, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan 5 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

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Gluten Free Mini Pumpkin Muffins :: Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free

October 16, 2018

Gluten free mini pumpkin muffins made just right for little hands and big imaginations!

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Playing dress-up, and a little story about Princess Pumpkin Muffins…

So it all started a couple weekends ago when my oldest ventured off to the store with Daddy to get started on a school project, and my littles were left home to play. These two in particular have the wildest imaginations, and when left to themselves, their stories would captivate just about any crowd! They were both curious about the muffins I was making that morning, but were torn between the princess story they were playing out, and seeing if they could stick around to help long enough to lick the bowl clean…{which, as you can see, they did, in fact, accomplish!}

Teaching a princess to bake

Because why wouldn’t you want to bake in your best gown?! I invited the girls up to the counter, gowns and all, to help me make some pumpkin muffins. They were full captivated, and with each little giggle, egg crack, and sprinkle of cinnamon, I was convinced that baking in a princess gown is definitely something that everyone must try!

Princess Pumpkin Muffins?!

Well, that is what the girls claimed they shall be called, as they sprinkled the “sparkles” {coconut sugar}, over the tops of the muffins! We’ll label them just pumpkin muffins for the sake of the blogging SEO gods, least I never get seen by the mighty interwebs…but by all means, these special little muffins are most certainly fit for the mightiest of princesses and totally deserve the title “Princess Pumpkin Muffins.”

A mini muffin favorite…revisited!

As you can see in the above photos, my original plan was “regular” sized muffins. After a couple batches, I decided to make these muffins “mini” in honor of my mini-est little princess since she just adores muffins that fit right in her little hand. For those of you who have been around here long enough, you know that the girls love taking the Paleo Mini Banana Muffins to school – a lot! (See my hashtag #rgnschoollunch to see how we pack them!). Since banana and pumpkin behave similarly in baking, I decided to use that framework for these muffins, and the results were simply delicious.

A batter fit for a bowl or blender!

I just LOVE that this batter can be blended up right in a blender or food processor. I pulled a bowl and hand mixer out for my littles when they were making their batch, mostly because it gave them more space to spread out – and what little one doesn’t love using a hand mixer!? But absolutely, dear momma, utilize your blender or food processor to whip that batter up super fast on a busy morning or prep day – it goes so fast.

Simple ingredients for little attentions spans

This recipe is simple enough for the littles to stick around from start to finish. That feeling of making a recipe from the first egg crack to the last sprinkle is priceless – and these 2 were so excited to serve “their” muffins to their big sister for lunch when she got home! I’m even letting you go ahead and use that can of pumpkin to save on some time, unless you make your own pumpkin purees! For these muffins, the can definitely works. I also think that cinnamon suits little ones’ palates over the whole pumpkin pie spice deal (at least in my household that is the preference) – cinnamon is warm and sweet and makes the muffins really delicious – if you are a pumpkin pie spice fan, though, by all means use that!

Ingredient tips

  • If you don’t have access to coconut sugar, raw honey or pure maple syrup are a fine substitute for the sweet. Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index, and the warm sweetness goes really well with pumpkin which is why I love using it for this recipe.
  • If you make your own pumpkin purees, go for it! Canned pumpkin works just as good, and is a time saver for how I run my kitchen, so I chose to use that. Since the recipe doubles up so well, you can double the recipe to use up the can of pumpkin, or use the rest of your canned pumpkin puree for pumpkin raisin breakfast cookies, or pumpkin spice latte (which, let’s face it, you are totally making that latte 😉 )
  • I have not tried other flour options for this recipe. With the right combination and ratios, this could be done with other gluten free flours though, I’m sure. They are already grain, gluten, nut, and dairy free so that covers a lot of bases!

Equipment and freezer tips

I am pretty convinced that every house with little kids ought have a large mini muffin sheet pan! I have gotten so much use out of this pan in the last couple years, and my only regret is not having it around when I walked through years and years of toddlerhood. I use this safe avocado oil spray to grease it down super fast and easy, though you can use mini muffin paper liners if you wish. The mini pumpkin muffins freeze up fantastic. Simply let the muffins cool down all the way, and then pop them into a freezer bag. You can take them out to warm in the oven for breakfast, or pop them into lunchboxes completely frozen, and they will thaw by lunchtime.

Print Recipe
5 from 20 votes

Gluten-Free Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Gluten-free mini pumpkin muffins made just right for little hands and big imaginations!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time13 minutes
Total Time18 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: dairy-free muffin recipe, dairy-free pumpkin muffins, gluten-free pumpkin muffins
Servings: 24 mini muffins
Author: Renee - www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees, and spray a mini muffin pan with avocado oil spray.
  • Put the eggs, pumpkin, oil, coconut sugar, and vanilla into your food processor or blender, and blend for 1 minute until smooth and creamy.
  • Add the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and blend to combine until smooth.
  • Scoop the batter into a mini muffin pan, and bake the mini muffins at 375 degrees for 13 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Let the mini muffins cool for a couple minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack. The muffins hold up really nice and are ready to eat in a just a few minutes of cooling! To freeze the muffins, let them cool completely and then toss them in a freezer bag to freeze.

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Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

September 29, 2018

Preserve your apples, and send the kids off to school with healthy gluten free apple cinnamon breakfast muffins!

My toughest transition….

Apple season is just about one of the only ways you can drag me kicking and screaming out summer and into the autumn equinox. I know some of you live for all your pumpkin spice, wool mittens, and cozy blankets, but this beach bum has a hard time saying good bye to her flip flops and hello to fuzzy boots. Last weekend we celebrated the autumn equinox with our first apple picking of the season, and we couldn’t have asked for better fall apple picking weather, or any better of a farm experience!

A new organic apple farm favorite!

We were lucky enough to get a chance to visit Evergreen Lane Farm & Creamery, a “new to us” organic apple farm, one their first day of their apple picking season. There trees were simply gorgeous boasting a variety of apples to choose from, including Ida Reds and Jonagolds, which is what we picked! There were buckets of bruised or dropped apples near their goats and horses that the girls had a riot feeding to the animals. It was such a fun day trip, and felt so good to show the girls the importance of supporting farmers that care for their plants and land in a way that is sustainable and safe.

A bushel of fun!

We brought home a bushel of apples, and my goodness have we had some fun with our apples this week! I did end up making some apple baked oatmeal right off the bat, and then the girls and I settled in at my Instant Pot to pump out quart after quart of delicious “Kid Prep” applesauce for the freezer. When I was down to my last 5 pounds of apples, I decided to create a new muffin for school mornings, and we are so in love with these fluffy, delicious apple cinnamon muffins.

High muffin standards…

Because if I’m going to be sending my girls off to school fueled on a muffin, they are going to have to make it through my checklist! Our household has to be gluten free, but I also want the ingredients “count.” Which means I want balanced macro-nutrients in the muffin. These muffins have a great balance of protein, satiating friendly fat, and energy fueling good carbohydrates. They also happen to taste and feel amazing, which is also on my checklist, because that does matter!

How to make these work on a school morning!

  • Get all of the dry ingredients into a small bowl so you can dump them into the wet ingredients super quick in the morning.
  • Have the muffin tin ready to go the night before. Line the muffin tin with either silicone muffin cups or unbleached paper liners.
  • You can measure out the oil and coconut sugar right into the mixing bowl the night before as well. Then, in the morning, all you have to do is add the eggs to beat, and all the rest of the ingredients go in after that while the oven is pre-heating.
  • Use an apple cutter and your food processor to make the apples easy to manage. It literally takes less than a minute to cut 2-3 apples with your apple cutter, and then just buzz them up in the processor quick instead of hand chopping to save time.

Freezer friendly?

Yes! That actually happens to be one of my criteria for a “keeper” on my muffin list. If I can stick the leftover muffins in the freezer, or make a double batch to stock up my freezer and preserve the apples, then I’m totally in! And these muffins definitely fill that need. Having freezer muffins make for easy grab and go school morning breakfast or lunchbox additions.

A note on ingredients and swaps

Please know that it is impossible for me to test out every possible ingredient swap. I noted some alternative swaps in the recipe. Any unanswered questions you can drop comments at the bottom of this post, and I will try my best to help!

Print Recipe
5 from 23 votes

Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

Preserve your apples, and send the kids off to school with healthy gluten-free apple cinnamon breakfast muffins!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: gluten-free apple muffin recipe, gluten-free apple muffins, gluten-free muffin recipe
Servings: 12 muffins
Author: Renee - www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs I haven’t tried egg free, but I would imagine flax eggs or applesauce “eggs” would work – the muffins will probably not puff up as much but they would still taste great.
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar Raw honey or pure maple syrup would work too. If you have older kids used to sweeter things, I would bump this up to ½ cup. As is these muffins have a mild sweetness, perfect for a healthy breakfast muffin for little ones.
  • ¼ cup olive oil or melted coconut oil or butter
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup coconut milk or raw milk/yogurt if you tolerate dairy
  • 1 cup cassava flour
  • ½ cup blanched almond flour If you are nut free, you could try more cassava flour
  • ½ cup tapioca starch
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 2 cups chopped apples it ended up being 2-3 small apples for me – I just buzz them up in the food processor quick for the chop

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tin with silicone muffin cups or unbleached paper cups.
  • Beat the eggs, coconut sugar, and olive oil for 1 minute until frothy.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients, blend to combine, and then fold in the apples.
  • Scoop the muffin batter into your lined muffin tin (recipe makes 12 large muffins), and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean if they are done. Let the muffins cool 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. To store leftovers in the freezer, let the muffins cool completely, wrap them up in plastic or beeswax wrap, and then into a freezer bag.

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