Sugar and grain free? No problem.

That's what we call these. They don't last long at our house. They almost have a caramely/pecan pie-ish taste. Mmm, they're so good! They're sugar and grain free, but they don't have that I'm healthy taste to them, at all!

Ingredients:
1/4 C coconut oil (or oil of your choice)
1/4 C honey
1 t vanilla
1 1/4 C blanched almond flour
1/4 t sea salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 C chopped nuts (I use pecans... mmmMmmm)
1/2 C shredded coconut, unsweetened

Before you get started, preheat your oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl, combine oil, honey and vanilla, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, nuts and coconut.
Add dry the ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix throughly (I use a big spoon).
Take about a tablespoon or so and roll/shape (they can be a little sticky so they may not "roll") them into a ball and slightly flatten.
Bake them on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Cool and then move them onto your serving tray (I made the mistake of trying to move them too soon... Just trust me, don't do that).
Enjoy. My mouth is watering just typing the recipe out!

Adapted from Simply Living Healthy

Tantrums. Bad Tantrums.

(this is not a picture of a tantrum:)
Personal story:

Ezra is my sweet boy, but he used to throw terrible, and I mean terrible tantrums from time to time. All kids misbehave and throw fits, either because they’re tired, have had too much sugar, need discipline... But these aren’t the type of fits I’m talking about.

How to describe them? It’s like for a few minutes, my sweet boy isn’t there. He turns into someone who is screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs; growling, throwing things, kicking the walls and crying uncontrollably. Then, after it’s all over and we’re talking, and I ask him why he threw such a fit? He will usually look bewildered and say very genuinely, “I don’t know” and then star down at the floor very sad.

For a while these outbursts seemed to happen all of the time. Anyone who’s experienced these kinds of tantrums knows, you seriously wonder what’s happened to your kid? We figured it was the “terrible two’s” carrying over into the three’s.

Then, one day we noticed that he hadn’t had a tantrum in a while. They began to happen less and less, until it was only one every week or two; then they seemed to pretty much stop... Interesting.

Around this time we’d changed up our disciplining techniques and cut out TV (except for “special occasions”). Those were the only reasons we’d accredited seeing such an improvement in Ezra’s overall wellbeing. It was so nice having our goofy, innocent crazy kid back! Yet, with all of the changes we’d made it didn’t make sense that every now and then one of these tantrums would pop back up. Granted, it wasn’t as big of a deal because we knew that they would pass and he’d be fine, but it was confusing.

It wasn’t until one night, after we’d been out celebrating with family, that Josiah and I connected the dots. When we got home Ezra was bonkeroos!! He wasn’t being “bad” necessarily, he was just bouncing off the walls and was going ninety to nothing in his eyes. At one point he ran up behind Johnny and just whacked him on the back of the head! “EZRA!!” I yelled. “Why did you do that?” Again, he looked down, and then back up at me and slowly and quietly said “I don’t know.” “Ezra” I said “No, WHY did you do that?? You could hurt Johnny...” And that’s when it clicked.

That night he’d had red ice cream.

No. This could not be it. I didn’t believe it. I went to Josiah and told him and we both just stared at each other. Food dye? That just seems too weird. I’ve heard about those people who are sensitive to food dyes and I think it’s a bunch of crap... at least, that’s what I thought.

Hello google.

I found stories of the kind of behavior that we were experiencing and the culprit was indeed, artificial food coloring.

Up to this point, I had never had a second thought about food dyes. If the word “food” is in the name, then it’s got to be safe to eat... But, these are a few of the things I learned about artificial food coloring:

Many of them contribute to hyperactivity, restlessness and attention problems in children.

Some of them are known carcinogens. In short, a carcinogen is a substance that is capable of causing cancer in humans or animals.

The FDA actually recommended that one of the Red dyes be banned because of it’s link to thyroid tumors; Yet, it is still being used today.

In Europe they have to put a warning label on products that contain certain food dyes.

So, besides coloring the food, what do the dyes do? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. They add no nutritional benefit or flavor. Something else that’s interesting, it is completely possible to use natural food coloring, most companies just choose not to. For instance, in Europe (again) Kraft Foods uses natural food coloring in it’s Mac ‘n Cheese, but here? Nope.

Once we started entertaining the idea that food dye could be a huge culprit in Ezra’s tantrums, it clicked with us that the uncontrollable behavior began to lessen around the same time that we changed our diet to a more plant based, whole foods, natural way of eating. We would still let Ezra have cheats if we were out somewhere (hence random tantrums?), but the more real ingredient foods we ate, naturally we ate less processed artificial foods. Looking back it’s plain to see a direct correlation to our diet and Ezra’s behavior.

There are a lot of stories out there like ours. Your child doesn’t have to have an “allergy” to something for it to not be good for them. I encourage you to educate yourself and not assume, like I did, that things are safe just because they’re for sale to eat. Check labels out. I was shocked this Easter when I couldn’t find one jar of relish at the grocery store that didn’t have yellow dye in it. Really? Food dye in pickles?? I would never have thought.

Now, I still believe in fun foods and candy; I just want the real stuff, not something that was formulated in a lab. This is a link to a store that sells candy that is 100% natural and artificial dye free. Not only is it not harmful to you or your child, but there is no comparison to the taste. Hide your debut card before you click though. Trust me.

[hash tag] #food allergies

I feel like my life the past 8 months could best be described as #dairyfree #soyfree #oatfree #glutenfree and most recently, #xanthangumfree. This has definitely not been by choice. Yet, in a weird way, I'm glad. I would never have discovered how many more options are out there, besides plane ol' wheat (in all of its beauty). I would never have realized that I could create recipes. I feel like a room to a different part of my brain has been opened. I see food in a completely different light. And it's all thanks to this guy:


Johnny:)
In the days following his birth I started noticing that, at times, he would sound like he was choking. I began hearing a gurgling sound in his throat, especially at night. It scared me so badly that I would hold him through the night to make sure that he wasn't choking. He was also "collicky", meaning he would cry and cry without end. He would only stop if he were being held. Exhausted, I felt like I was losing my mind.

I called his doctor and explained what was going on and they wanted us to come in. It was confirmed: reflux. GERD to be more exact. Relieved that it was figured out, I filled the prescriptions. After reading the possible side effects of the medications, the risks far outweighed the benefits. So, I got him started on the more mild medicine and began my search to find out what causes GERD in infants. This led me to Dr. Sear's Elimination Diet. Sure enough, my diet was the culprit. One by one, I began learning which foods were causing his reflux.

I felt very lost at first. No dairy? Ok. I can do that. No oats? There go my favorite cookies, but oh well. No gluten?? Wait, what? Seriously?? What will I eat?? I mean, you can only eat so many salads. Oh, now there's no soy??? Who cares. I stopped paying attention after "no gluten." So this is where I decided that I had to do something because I love food far too much to be in misery for the next year. I dove into this whole thing head first, and it's actually been pretty fun. My only prerequisite: It has to taste good. That's non-optional. With that in mind, I'd like to share with you a couple of snack/breakfast recipes that we love.


The first is Maple Morning Granola Cereal

This stuff not only tastes great, but it's loaded with nutrients-specifically, protein. With quinoa as one of its main ingredients, it's one of the few breakfast cereals that provide a complete (meaning, it has all of the amino acids present) protein.

So, for this you'll need:
1 1/2 C Oats (if you're like me and can't have them, omit them and add more quinoa. Play with it to find the ratio that you like)
2/3 C quinoa
1/2 C pecans
1/2 C almonds
1/2 C walnuts
(the nuts were measured before chopping)
1/4 C cranberries
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C real maple syrup (if you want it even sweeter, just add a little more! But I'd start here)
Other optional highly recommended ingredients: 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 tsp coconut oil

Directions:
Heat large skillet to med/high heat and toast the oats, stirring often. Err on the side of a little too toasty. Once you begin to smell their nutty scent, add the pecans and continue toasting and stirring. I use this time to chop the rest of the nuts put the nuts in a zip lock and smash with a cup because I don't have a chopper! Next, add the quinoa and the rest of the nuts and cranberries and continue toasting and stirring (are you noticing a theme?). Add cinnamon and stir it all around. If you're using coconut oil and/or vanilla, (liquify the oil first) mix them into the maple syrup an then pour over the granola in the skillet and stir, stir, stir. It'll sizzle and be a little wet. Just keep stirring until everything is coated and it's completely dry. Allow it to cool.


And viola! All you need is milk, a bowl and a spoon:)
*If it didn't turn out as crispy as you would have liked, either you didn't toast it long enough, or you need to scale the recipe down for the size of your skillet.


Next are the Nut Bars (inspired by Kind Bars)
For these you can use whatever nuts and dried fruit that you have on hand (in all of my recipes the nuts I use are unsalted). All of the ingredients except the honey and dates are optional and can be interchanged.

What you'll need:
10-15 dates (remove pits)
1/3 C honey
1 C almonds
2/3 C cashews
2/3 C pecans
1/3 C sunflower seeds
1/3 C pumpkin seeds
1/3 C walnuts
1 or 2 tbs ground flax seed (I use my coffee grinder)
2 tbs hemp hearts
1/3-2/3 C cranberries
1 tbs chia seeds
3 tbs water

Directions:
Combine the chia seeds and water and set aside. Blend dates in food processor/blender until smooth (it'll be sticky and you'll have to scrape the walls a few times). Add the chia seeds, honey and hemp hearts to the dates, and pulse. Don't over blend, you want it chunky. Empty contents into a bowl. It will not all be blended. The majority of the nuts won't even have the honey/date mixture on them. Now, rub a little (I use coconut) oil on your hands and mix everything together. Next, empty the mix onto a piece of wax paper (on top of a pan) and flatten, press together and shape into a big square (keep adding oil to your hands to avoid it getting too sticky). At this point you can top it with any toppings you wish, or just leave it simple and plain:). Next, I usually dehydrate mine for an hour or so and then stick it in the fridge to firm up. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can either put them in your oven, on the lowest setting, for 45 minutes (give or take-keeping a close eye that they don't start toasting) or put them directly into the fridge, they just may not get as firm this way. After about 4 hours or so, you can remove them, cut them into bars and store them in the fridge. They usually don't last long in ours:)


Here's another batch topped with coconut flakes:)

Unless specified, my recipes are extremely versatile. You can interchange ingredients, omit them, add more of them... they're pretty hard to mess up.


Oh, and if you're wondering about this guy...

He's been medication free for about 6 months. Anytime I hear some reflux, instead of reaching for the Zantac, I just realize that my cooking's about to get a little bit crazier!