Vanilla Coconut Butter Bites

This recipe is dangerous. It's so easy, and the melt in your mouth taste is delicious! I made a batch of these and they lasted two days, which was a miracle. We had to hold ourselves back.

If you'd like it sweeter, you can add more honey, but the 1/4 cup was perfect and this ended up making 12 bites -- 1 teaspoon of honey per bite!

Ingredients
1) 1 cup of coconut butter (aka coconut cream concentrate)
2) 1/4 cup honey
3) 2 teaspoons vanilla
4) 1/3 cup shredded coconut

Instructions
1) Prepare your coconut butter (you can grind your own by adding shredded coconut to a food processor and blending for about 20 minutes, until smooth like peanut butter or use Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate like I did, and warm until it's the consistency of peanut butter).

2) Add 1 cup of your coconut butter to a bowl, along with 1/4 cup honey and 2 teaspoons of good quality vanilla. Mix until well blended. It will thicken more as you stir it more, so keep blending until it's thick like soft serve ice cream.
3) Spread your shredded coconut onto a plate.
4) Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop your coconut mixture into the shredded coconut, and roll until completely covered. Place on a separate plate.
5) Continue to scoop until you run out of mixture---mine made 12 using the smallest of my cookie scoopers.
6) Place in the fridge to harden, at least 20 minutes. Store in the fridge for best results. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Banana Popsicles

It's so warm outside! We always try to keep some sort of popsicle in the freezer for times when we are craving a frozen dessert. This recipe was so simple and really delicious! It uses a whole can of coconut milk, so it makes a lot of popsicles. Feel free to half the recipe if you don't have any many molds!

Ingredients
1) 4 ripe bananas (mine were frozen, but fresh is fine)
2) 1 apple, roughly chopped and cored
3) 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk (or a 15oz can) - you could use almond milk!
4) 1 teaspoon cinnamon

**Makes 10-14 popsicles, depending on mold size**

Instructions
1) Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

2) Pour into your popsicle molds.

3) Place in the freezer until solid, at least 4 hours.
4) Enjoy!

Quick Chocolate Cherry Dessert

We just came back from our honeymoon, and are currently doing a 21-day sugar detox because we ate so much food on our trip! This means no fruit for us for a few weeks, but I will making this one again after we are done because it is so easy and took less than a minute to prepare. The only sweetness is coming from the fruit, as the coconut and cocoa powder were unsweetened. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
1) 1 cup of cherries, fresh or defrosted
2) 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
3) 1/8-1/4 cup shredded coconut

Instructions
1) Defrost your cherries, if they are frozen. If fresh, take the pits out.

2) Add your teaspoon of cocoa powder and thoroughly stir.

3) Add in your shredded coconut, until your desired amount. Eat up!

No-Bake Pumpkin Pie Pudding

I still have some pumpkin cans in my pantry from winter time. I was seriously craving something sweet and delicious, and quick and easy more importantly. I whipped this bad boy up in less than 2 minutes, and it really hit the spot. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
1) 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2) 2 tablespoons almond flour
3) 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon/nutmeg
4) 1-2 tablespoons honey (to taste)

Instructions
1) Add your pumpkin puree to a small bowl or mug.

2) Add your almond flour and spices. Mix to incorporate.

3) Add 1 tablespoon of honey. Taste. Add another tablespoon if needed.
4) Enjoy!

Banana Coconut Popcicles

It has been a very long time since I have posted----school is kicking my butt and keeping me VERY busy. But I am vowing to try and post again and add some extra recipes to the blog. I've already got a few ideas...

So this recipe was entirely created by my fiance, and he absolutely nailed it! Super simple, and really delicious. Using ripe bananas will make it even sweeter! Enjoy!

Ingredients
1) 3 bananas
2) 1 cup of coconut milk

Instructions
1) Add all the ingredients to a blender.

2) Mix until smooth.

3) Pour into a popsicle mold, and let chill for at least 4 hours or until firm.

Blueberry Frozen Dessert

My boyfriend refused to call this ice cream, but that's essentially what it is. He said it's a "frozen dessert", so I have named it as such! We've been doing a much stricter Paleo the past month, which means no ice cream for either of us. He's been wanting some lately, and so I was trying to figure out a way to make a version he would like. I've made a few before using our ice cream maker, and I thought they were really good! But my boyfriend said they just weren't the same as his beloved Blue Bell.

So instead of using a bunch of coconut milk and then using the ice cream maker to solidify it, I had seen some recipes just using frozen bananas as the base. My boyfriend's new favorite ice cream is a combination of vanilla, strawberry and blueberry ice cream. We just got a bunch of blueberries from his family and so I thought I'd try to at least recreate the blueberry part of the ice cream he loves so much.

.....and success! He loved it! Plus it's no sugar added, which is awesome. But if you like yours sweeter, you could add some honey to it as well. You could also add in some nuts or coconut flakes or whatever else you like!

Ingredients

1) 3 frozen bananas (best to peel them and chop them up, then throw them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. I bought a bunch of extra bananas at Costco and so now we have tons in the freezer)

2) 1 cup of frozen blueberries + 1/3 cup for topping

3) 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk (make your own or skim the top of a can of coconut milk)

Optional: 1T honey, coconut flakes, crushed nuts, other fruit...

Instructions

1) Throw the bananas, frozen blueberries and coconut milk into a food processor.

2) Blend for 2-3 minutes, until everything is smooth and combined. It should be thick!

3) Top with remaining blueberries (and/or other toppings too!) and stir in to incorporate.

Maple Vanilla Butter Cookies

Sometimes you just need a cookie! This random creation came after doing some browsing online and I wanted to find something to make without any eggs, since we were out at the time. These have a chewy texture, which I love, and really tasted delicious. This is a nice treat for the weekend or when you are having guests over.

Ingredients
1) 1 1/2 cups of almond flour
2) 1 teaspoon of baking powder
3) 2 tablespoons of melted ghee or butter (could sub coconut oil but won't have the butter taste then)
4) 3 tablespoons maple syrup
5) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

**Servings: 6 cookies

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Add all of the ingredients to your food processor.

3) Blend until smooth. It will be a little wet.

4) Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet, into six even balls. Flatten down until they are an even consistency.

5) Bake for 14-18 minutes, until firm to the touch and golden brown.

Sour Kombucha Gummies (For Joint Care!)

As I study more towards my physical therapy degree, I learn more and more about how important our joints are. As a CrossFitter, I know that my joints take a beating during workouts, and also by sitting around in class all day. So I know that I need to eat good things that promote joint health, and collagen is such a great supplement for that. I have made a gummy before, but this time I tried it using kombucha instead of pureed fruit and without using the stove at all. Call it a super lazy gummy snack, if you will. Plus, this one not only has the probiotics from the kombucha, but it has the awesome collagen from the powder. We have started taking these with our post-workout recovery meal, and we are enjoying the taste AND the health benefits!

Ingredients
1) 1 cup of kombucha (homemade, or store-bought), any flavor (I used mango this time because it is what I had the most of on hand)
2) 1/4 cup of water
3) 1/4 cup of lemon juice
4) 1/4 cup of unflavored gelatin (I used Great Lakes brand, pictured below)

**Makes 12-16 gummies, depending on size

Instructions
1) Mix your kombucha and lemon juice together in a bowl.

2) Stir in your 1/4 cup of gelatin.

3) Mix well. It'll still be clumpy, that's ok.

4) Heat up your 1/4 cup of water in a separate bowl in the microwave until bowling, about 45 seconds.
5) Add the boiling water to your mixture, and stir until smooth. All of the gelatin will melt and mix in now.

6) Pour into silicon molds, or into a glass pan. No need to oil the pan: this won't stick at all.

7) Place in the fridge and let harden, at least 1 hour.

8) Cut into squares. Recommend dose of gelatin per day is 1 tablespoon, according to the container, which is 1/4 of your total gummies.

Chocolate-covered Fruit and Nut Clusters

Sometimes you just need something sweet! This recipe has 4 ingredients--3 of which I am sure 90% of paleo enthusiasts have on hand all the time: nuts, dried fruit, and shredded coconut. I literally whipped this up in 3 minutes, and let it cool for 10 minutes and we were enjoying the fruits of our labor (pun intended!). You could throw in whatever you have on hand, or go shopping and throw in your favorites. Next time we have some macadamia nuts on hand, I'll definitely try this with those as well.

Ingredients

1) 1/2 cup of roasted nuts (almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, etc) - I used almonds

2) 1/2 cup of chopped, dried fruit (apricots, prunes, berries, dates, figs) - I used apricots

3) 1/2 cup of shredded, unsweetened coconut

4) 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life, which are dairy/soy free and only 3 ingredients themselves!)

**Makes: 8-10 clusters

Instructions

1) Chop up your dried fruit. You could also chop your nuts if you want smaller pieces. 

                                 

2) Add your chocolate chips to a bowl, and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Mine took 1 minute.

Before

After

3) Fold in your fruit and nuts to the chocolate, until all are coated evenly. Then add in your coconut, and mix to combine.

All mixed up

4) Shape into clusters on a lined plate or cookie tray, to prevent sticking. You could also just spread into a layer and then break apart after it's cooled.

5) Place in the fridge to harden, about 10 minutes or longer. Store in the fridge.

Chocolate Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had never cooked with chia seeds before this recipe, but I have been seeing it a lot in recipes lately and when I saw a bag at our local Costco, we bought one so I could try my hand at some chia seed creations.

Seeing as I had to add a fair amount of sweetener to this dish, we certainly won't make it on a regular basis. But it was really delicious for a nice Sunday night treat after a great meal. You could portion it into small servings to have a nice, healthy-sized dessert too. We ate this in two days between the two of us, because it was THAT good!

You could essentially add anything else you'd like to this dish. Next time I want to add up some chopped banana slices!

Ingredients
1) 1 can of coconut milk (15 oz)
2) 1/2 cup of chia seeds
3) 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
4) 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
5) 3-6 tablespoons of honey (to taste)

**Makes 2-4 servings

Instructions
1) Get your ingredients ready, because this recipe is quick!

2) Mix your coconut milk, cocoa powder, vanilla and 3 Tablespoons of honey together. Stir well. Taste and check the sweetness. If it's not sweet enough for you, add more honey. (I added about 5 Tablespoons because we were going for something fairly sweet).

3) Sprinkle your 1/2 cup of chia seeds on top of your liquid.

4) Stir to incorporate.

5) Place in the fridge. The longer it stays, the thicker it will get. We tried it out after 1 hour and liked the texture, but we also ate the other half the next night, and it was very good (and very thick!) as well.

(No-bake) Not-Nutella Balls

Everytime we go to Costco, I want to buy a giant jar of Nutella and eat the whole thing in one day with a spoon while watching Netflix. It is so delicious, but definitely not my definition of a good, healthy decision.

So instead, I bought some hazelnuts and wanted to try and create some sort of chocolatey-hazelnut treat to satisfy my Nutella desires.

I made this little gems for my birthday and got some pretty great reviews, and my boyfriend happily ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day.

Ingredients

1) 1 1/2 cups of hazelnuts

2) 3/4 cup of chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life, because they are delicious, dairy/soy free and only three ingredients! Order on Amazon!)

3) 1/4 cup of coconut oil

4) 1 cup of shredded coconut

Optional:

5) 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey

Instructions

1) Add your hazelnuts to your food processor and pulse until it breaks down into flour.       

                                           

2) Microwave your chocolate chips until melted, and then add them to the food processor. Then add your coconut oil, shredded coconut and optional sweetener.

3) Blend until smooth and everything is incorporated.

4) Roll into balls and let harden at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Paleo Fig Bars (No added sugar)

They just opened up a new Costco closer to our home, and it was the happiest day ever when shopping there and I discovered they sell organic, dried figs with no other ingredients. I super love dried figs--they are a paleo sweet-tooth gal's best friend, let me tell you! While eating them straight from the bag is easy and delicious, I really wanted to try and create an attempt at a paleo version of a fig newton. While these don't look anything like it, they taste very similar and are really easy and quick!

This makes an 8x8 pan size, but be warned: I made a batch, and we ate the entire thing while playing a heated game of Risk....because we are giant dorks with huge sweet tooths. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1) 1/2 cup of pitted dates (about 10-12)

2) 1/2 cup of almonds or any other nut you like (for the crust) + 1/2 cup for the filling (1 cup total)

3) 1/4 cup of coconut cream concentrate (aka coconut butter or creamed coconut)

4) 1 1/2 cups of dried figs, stems removed

5) 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

Instructions

1) Add your dates, 1/2 cup of nuts and 1/4 cup of coconut cream to a food processor.

                                         

2) Blend until it looks like wet sand, about 1 minute.

3) This is your crust. Press it into an 8x8 pan until compact and even.

4) Now add another 1/2 cup of nuts, 1 1/2 cups of figs and your cocoa powder to the food processor.

5) Blend about 1 minute until it looks like wet sand, too.

6) This is your filling. Press it on top of the crust in your 8x8 pan, until pressed down and even all around.

7) Pop in the fridge for at least 1 hour until the crust hardens, then you'll easily be able to cut out your pieces.