Honey Caramel Nuts (GAPS, no sugar, healthy snack)

I made a batch of these chewy little morsels this week, and decided that it was time to share their yumminess with everyone else!

As you know by now, we have a little man who is on a restricted (GAPS) diet, and it's pretty tricky to find some "treats" for him to have (always nice to have a special little treat when you come in from a rough day at kindergarten!).

These are perfect. They are sweetened with honey, super easy and quick to make, and the kids LOVE them!

They are chewy, 'caramelly' goodness! 

Finny couldn't wait to get his hands on them while I was trying to take a couple of photos!

OK...so....the recipe (if you can call it that) is really simple.

You really can't mess them up (unless you burn them!). 

All you need is a bag of raw organic pecans (or almonds, cashews....whatever nut you like, actually!) approx. 2 cups, about 1/4 cup of butter and about 1/2 cup of raw honey (I sometimes add a little splash of organic vanilla extract at the end).

Just put all of the ingredients in a frying pan (I use a le Creuset cast iron pan because I find it works the best), on medium heat, and let it all bubble up, while mixing constantly. Don't stop mixing or it will burn. If you want to do a quick job and turn the heat up, be extra careful because it will burn quite quickly if you stop mixing. Let it boil for about 3 minutes, while mixing/coating the nuts. Remove from the heat and spoon the hot mixture (watch out...it is VERY hot, and will burn your skin if you splash a little!..been there, done that) into a parchment paper lined pan, or little parchment paper mini muffin cups (I prefer to use the muffin cups because they're then in little snack-sized clusters, and don't have to be cut up).

Let them cool in the freezer for a couple of minutes, and you're done!  I keep these in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or so, in a sealed container. 

Enjoy! :)

Valentine's Day Treats (GAPS/SCD/Paleo Marshmallows and Gummy Candies!)

With a new baby due to arrive any day now....I wanted to make sure I had some special Valentine's Day treats ready for the boys (ones that wouldn't hurt Toby's tummy).

With Toby's restricted diet (no sugar/no grains, etc etc), it's a little tricky to come up with treats that both taste yummy and look fun enough to pass for "special Valentines" . 

But...I think I pulled it off!!!! 

I tweaked a couple of recipes that I'd tried around Christmas time, and just changed them to heart shapes and pink/red colours :)

 I thought I'd share these two recipes with you, because they are such a HIT with our boys, and are completely tummy-friendly :) As in, no sugar, no food colouring, sweetened only with raw honey treats.

And to top it all off, they both contain grass-fed, super healthy GELATIN....which is a pretty amazing "ingredient".

Just to list a few things gelatin is good for:

Heals gut lining/prevents leaky gut (which then in turn helps a plethora of problems including food allergies, etc)

Helps foods digest easier when eaten with other foods (due to gelatin's ability to attract liquid molecules, which then help food travel through the digestive system without causing problems), 

Helps with arthritis/joint pain by building up cartilage, 

and heck...it's even made up collagen, which then prompts the body to build up more collagen (yay...anti-aging benefits!!)....need I go on? ;)

First up...

Raspberry Lemon Gummy Hearts/Lollipops

 I found this super-easy, 5 minute (literally) recipe here and made a couple of changes.

3 tbsp Grass Fed Gelatin Powder (I bought this brand)

3 tbsp Raw Honey

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

2 tbsp Raspberry Juice 

(I used frozen raspberries and heat them up in a saucepan with a little bit of water, then let them boil/reduce for a minute or so and strain to get the juice)

2 drops Young Living Lemon Oil 

(excellent immune-boosting health benefits, as well as anti-bacterial/fungal/viral properties)

I just followed the instructions on the Mommypotamus blog (lots of awesome GAPS/PALEO recipes on her blog!...definitely worth a peek).

I found some heart shaped silicone moulds in our local kitchen store, as well as little Valentine themed "lollipop" moulds at the Daiso. They both turned out really well, and I'm always surprised at how easy it is to pop the gummies out of the silicone moulds (they come out so perfectly and are pretty much indestructible!)

Recipe #2....

Fluffy Peppermint Marshmallow Hearts

Another recipe that I found on Mommypotamus and just did some minor changes...

1 cup Filtered Water (split into two half cups)

3 tbsp Grass Fed Gelatin Powder

1 cup Organic Honey

1 tsp Vanilla extract (I've also used vanilla bean seeds in the past, which worked really well)

1/4 tsp salt

3 drops Young Living Peppermint Oil (excellent digestive/stomach benefits)

1 Packet all-natural (no artificial food colouring) carnival sprinkles for sprinkling on top! (OPTIONAL)

These are a little more time-consuming to make than the gummies, but don't be intimidated!! They are super easy. You do need a candy thermometer, tho. At least, it's easier if you have one. If not, you'd probably be safe with boiling the honey/water/vanilla mixture for about 10 minutes.

Directions are here at the Mommypotamus, for the original "plain" vanilla marshmallows.

Once I followed her directions, and spread my marshmallow cream into the pan, I sprinkled the fun sprinkles on top, and let it set for about an hour. Then..I used a little heart cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes. This part is a little tricky...but I found it was easiest when I lightly greased the inside of the cookie cutter with butter (it didn't stick to the marshmallow so badly!). 

I put the marshmallow hearts into little parchment paper mini muffin liners, as well as a few gummy hearts and lollipops, and boxed them up all cute and Valentine"y" :) 

They look super cute, and I can't wait to see the boys' faces when they get to gobble them up :)

Happy Valentine's Day,  everyone!!

xoxo

Gluten Free Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (GAPS/Paleo/SCD Diet friendly)

These were a hit.

Plain and simple.

Since Toby will be starting Kindergarten in 3 weeks (EEEK!), I decided to start experimenting with coconut flour for baking instead of almond meal because the school is "nut free" (I honestly don't know how to survive because a lot of Toby's diet consists of nuts!). Toby's tummy troubles are explained here (if you're wondering why we have to go to such lengths with coconut flour and the like) ;)

But we had some success :)

And they were taste tested by not only my two "sugar-deprived" boys, but their friend Gavin, who ate 4 of them straight out of the oven! Didn't even wait for them to cool down! 

They told me that these little muffins were "more delicious than the cupcakes at the cupcake store"  ....what????    A GROSS exaggeration.......in my opinion. But hey....makes me relieved that I have a little treat that doesn't contain nuts, and can be sent to school (with many variations possible)!

I came up with this recipe by combining/tweaking a few that I found online...

It makes 24 mini muffins

1 ripe banana (mashed)

4 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp organic raw cocoa powder

1/3 cup coconut flour

Handful of bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Combine all of the ingredients except for the last three (baking powder/cocoa/coconut flour)

Mix until well blended. Combine the last three ingredients in a separate bowl and then add gradually to the other ingredients. Mix well so that all lumps of coconut flour are blended in.

Pour into greased muffin tins, or parchment paper mini muffin liners (my favourite because they NEVER stick to the muffins, and save a lot of mess!)

Bake for approx. 10-12 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once the muffins came out of the oven, I added two bittersweet chocolate chips to the top of each one.

Enjoy!! 

Captain Hook Pirate Party......the Treasure Chest Cake

Today was the big day.

The day "Captain Hook" got his crew together to celebrate his 5th birthday :)

Not Toby's birthday.

Nope.

Captain Hook's birthday.

Of course ;)

I knew it was coming.....the inevitable Pirate party. I tried to avoid it, in favour of some other less popular themes...but nope. It HAD to be a Captain Hook party :)

And to be honest, I had a lot of fun planning it!

There's just too much for one post, so this is just a little preview and a look at the treasure chest cake.

It was actually an easy cake to make. And Toby did a lot of the "decorating"......ie. stuffing as much loot into the "treasure chest" as possible, while nibbling on a little bit or two when I wasn't looking :) 

For a little man who can't have sugar (unless of course it's his birthday), he was absolutely thrilled with this cake!

It was pretty loaded with treasure. Just how he wanted it!

I used three 9"X 13" chocolate cakes, with a little wedge of hard rye bread (yes...really) wrapped in wax paper to prop the lid open. Don't judge. I was too lazy to make more cake ;) And it was much stronger than cake would have been!

The birthday boy post treasure hunt....sans costume......loaded down with every jewel possible :)

As soon as the candles were blown out, the smoke was still in the air and the little pirate hands were pillaging the treasure chest. Wayyy too much to resist ;)

More fun Captain Hook Pirate stuff to come.....when I get motivated to write another post. For now....it's an early night for this pirate momma :)

xo

No-Flour, Gluten-free, Sugar-free, GAPS / SCD Diet Chocolate Banana Cupcakes. Now, that's a mouthful ;)

So.....I've mentioned before that my boys are on a fairly restrictive diet to try and help Toby's tummy troubles.....and yes, I really *should* be on it too, but it's just so hard!

It's called the GAPS diet (or the Single Carb Diet), and the short version is that you need to avoid all sugar, and anything that turns to sugar in the gut (such as all grains, starches, unfermented dairy products, fruit juice, etc).  I know....sounds impossible, right?

But it's not. We've proven this for the past 6 months. And yes.....almost everyone around me thinks I'm depriving my kids of all the fun snacks.....but it's so worth it for the difference it makes to Toby's tummy, and just for the fact that they now eat a very healthy diet. 

Before we started, my kids ate a normal "kid" diet (although I bought the "organic"/healthiest versions of everything)....lots of noodles, crackers, cookies, bread, etc etc. Now they eat  fruits/veggies/yoghurt/nuts/cheese/meat, etc instead! 

BUT......they still need little treats :) C'mon....what's life without treats, right?

So...I have a few "go-to's" in my repertoire now....and this is one of them.

Looks yummy, right? :)

Here's the recipe.....I've sort of adapted it from a few different ones, and customized it to what works best for me.

3 cups Almond Meal

1 tsp Baking Soda (not really GAPS "legal")

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3 Tbsp Organic raw cocoa powder

3 eggs

2 bananas (mashed up)

1/2 cup Raw Honey (the only sweetener that doesn't hurt the gut)

1/4 cup melted organic butter (salted) or coconut oil

1 Tbsp Vanilla extract

Do the usual.....mix the wet ingredients together, mix the dry ingredients together, and then add the dry to the wet.

Preheat your oven to 375F, then put the cupcakes/muffins in the oven and turn it down to 350F. It always takes exactly 17 minutes in my oven, but bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Icing Recipe:

This is what really makes them yummy.....

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Cream Cheese (I cheated and used organic store-bought, but you can make your own by putting homemade kefir through cheese cloth)

1/4 Raw Honey (you can add more or less depending on how sweet you want it)

1 T Organic Cocoa Powder (also....add more or less depending on how dark/chocolatey you want it)

I added strawberries on top today, but raspberries are delicious too :)

Psyched much? ;)

They never last too long around here. Not even for the picture.

Enjoy!

Swanky Beans...The Best Coffee in the World! ( Kopi Luwak )

Ever heard of Swanky Beans?

If not, then you're definitely missing out on one of life's finest delicacies.

The smoothest cup of coffee that the world has to offer!!

I'm serious.

I was so lucky as to get my little hands on a box of this stuff (thank you Dustin!), and after a much-anticipated wait for the french press to work its magic, I was in heaven. 

I tasted the "Confident Bean" which had a really subtle almost chocolatey/nutty flavour to it. Amazing.

And check out the packaging! 

So unique and modern....and entirely different from any other coffee packaging. 

It's a perfect little gift, wrapped and ready to go :)

Inside the box is a heat-sealed kraft paper coffee bag, finished off with the same thick grosgrain ribbon as on the outside of the package.

There are four different varieties of beans...

The Socialite Bean, The Original Bean, The Confident Bean and The Refined Bean.

Love the names, love the idea behind this product.

What a great gift for the guy/girl/dad/mom who has everything :) I'm pretty sure they won't have tried this yet! It's every true coffee connoisseur's dream to try the famed Kopi Luwak coffee.

You can read more about it here at the Swanky Beans site.

Salted Chocolate Caramels for Valentine's Day, Anyone??

So, I made some chocolate dipped caramels.

And I can't stop eating them.

And everyone I've given them to can't stop eating them either.

Oh my. 

What have I started? ;)

well.....I've decided to start a little sweets business, that's what. One that involves yummy treats and cute packaging.

And here you have it....

GIGGLE SWEETS online store is NOW OPEN!

Chocolate-dipped Salted Caramels....made with organic sugar and mineral-rich Ancient Sea Salt.

As for these salted caramel bars.....they're *meant* for sharing....and cutting off little caramels one at a time.

But I'm not going to tell anyone if you happen to polish one off all by yourself ;)

Can't say it hasn't happened once or twice.

They get wrapped in soy-wax paper, with an outer layer of eco-friendly parchment paper. Then finished off with a striped paper band and chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon.

If you think you'd have more control with the individually-wrapped caramels....then these are the ones for you :)

They come wrapped in eco-friendly parchment paper, held together with a pink striped paper band, and tied with twine.

Do you have a special Valentine? 

I'm pretty sure they'd be tickled pink if some treats arrived at their door! ;)

Stay posted for a yummy GIVEAWAY very soon!!

In the meantime, pop on over to my little store, if you're craving something sweet!

A pink cupcake day (thank you Dr. Oetker)

So....yesterday was a snow day.

We'd already done the 8:30 am "playing diggers in the snow" thing.

Next on the agenda...

cupcakes :)

I think every day should be a cupcake day, personally.

So....since we had limited time while Finn was napping, we pulled out a trusty Dr. Oetker Organic Vanilla cake mix.

If you haven't tried this....I would recommend you do. In my opinion, it's the best, most home-made tasting, moist cake mix out there.

My little secret...add a good dollop (sort of like a heaping tablespoon) of mayo or sour cream to the mix. Moist and delicious every time :)

And don't bake it as long as it says on the box. For mini cupcakes, I find that 13-14 minutes is perfect. For regular sized cupcakes, 18-19 minutes is good. Not the 20-25 that they suggest.

Now....we all know that the icing makes the cake, right?

Well.....there's nothing quite like a frothy, whippy, vanilla raspberry frosting! :)

I don't use a recipe for icing generally, but it went something like this:

3 cups icing sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp organic raspberry jam

Oh myyy.....it was gooood!

I actually originally added the raspberry jam because Toby had requested pink icing, and I was avoiding food colouring (it doesn't agree with him).

Just look at this little man....icing away like a pro ;)

He said "I'm the "sprinkler", mom, so you don't have to worry about sprinkling...I'm so good at it" ;)

hehe

I can just see it on his resume...."Excellent cupcake sprinkling skills"

I sure know how to raise 'em ;) Good skills and all!

And there they are....the "sprinkles"..

and yes....they're organic and coloured with beet juice and the  like. 

There is such a thing....can you believe it?

Aren't they just so darn cute? :)

Yep....so cute I ate 4 right away....

and then about 6 more this morning.

Oh dear.

I thought...well, there's eggs in them, right? ;)

And then little Finny spotted them.

"cooookie...coookie" (his new word after Christmas)

Not cookie, Finny, but close enough.

So, like any self-respecting, organic-freak mother...

I licked the icing off and handed him a cupcake.

I know.

I know.

awful mother.

Someone please come over and eat the rest for me!

I simply don't have it in me to resist them.