Homemade Larabars

Larabars are a delicious and healthy snack or "dessert" to top off lunch.  You can find Larabars at most grocery stores.  If you eat them as often as we do, then you probably want to start making your own to save money.  There are so many wonderful homemade Larabar recipes and I have included several of them below.

Most (if not all) of these recipes call for dates.  I buy dried pitted whole dates.  Even though they are pitted, I still slice each one open and make sure the pit (or part of the pit) isn't still left in there.  Pits are very hard and would really hurt if you bit down on it.  I have found one or two dates that still had part of the pit in it, so I am glad I always check.  Also, you can buy dates that are already chopped into pieces.  Don't buy these, as the ones I've seen has Dextrose added to the dates, where as the whole pitted dates are JUST DATES.

Another helpful hint....once I get all the ingredients combined in the food processor and shaped into a large rectangle (on parchment paper, which is on a baking sheet), I stick it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  I have found that they are easier to cut into bars if they have had a little time to freeze.

I haven't tried all the recipes listed below, but they all sound delicious and I wanted to share them all with my readers.  So far, we've tried (and constantly keep on hand) the Apple Pie Larabar recipe from Rawified and the amended Cashew Cookie Larabar recipe from 100 Days of Real Food.  I hope you get a chance to make some soon and make sure you get back with me and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

~Davis

100 Days of Real Food has four recipes on their site: Cashew Cookie Larabar, Granola Larabar, Peanut Butter Larabar, and Nut-Free Larabar (click here for these four recipes).  I really like the Cashew Cookie Larbar recipe, but adjusted the recipe a little (see below).  My husband and I think these taste like Nutter Butters.  We make these all the time.  

Here are the ingredients I use: 

-1 cup dates

-1 cup raw mixed unsalted nuts (instead of cashews).  I found raw cashews at The Fresh Market and they are fairly pricey, but Target sells a 30 oz. container of these mixed nut for much cheaper.  The mixed nuts consist of: cashews, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts and walnuts. 

-1/4 cup peanut butter

-1 Tablespoon water

-1/2 - 1 tsp. vanilla (not in original recipe)

Rawified offers recipes for 20 different flavors of larabars: Apple Pie**, Banana Bread, Blueberry Muffin, Cappuccino, Carrot Cake, Cashew Cookie, Cherry Pie, Chocolate Chip Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Coconut Chew, Coconut Cream Pie, Ginger Snap, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Bar, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cookie, Pecan Pie and Tropical Fruit Tart.  This site also offers a guide to make your own flavor Larabars.  We obviously haven't tried all of these flavors yet, but have tried the Apple Pie recipe and love it!  It's definitely another one of our favorites!   click here for all the RAWIFIED LARABAR recipes



click here for the APPLE PIE LARABAR recipe (different than the one that I've tried and that's mentioned above)
(from: Real Food. Real Deals.)
Ingredients:
-raw walnuts
-dried apples**
-dates
-cinnamon
-ginger
-salt

Real Food. Real Deals. has several other Larabar recipes that look yummy:  Chocolate, Banana, & Mango Lime Coconut (click here for these three Larabar recipes).


**Dried Apples: I was never able to find Apple Chips at Kroger or Publix, but did find them at The Fresh Market.  The Ingredients for these Apple Chips from TFM are: Apple Chips, Canola Oil and Dextrin.  I wanted to find Apple Chips that were just dried apples, but couldn't.  I remembered a recipe I had cut out of Whole Living Magazine a while back for Apple Chips.  I used this method for making my own Apple Chips to go into the Apple Pie Larabars we make and it worked perfect.  I love knowing that just my dried organic apples are going into these bars and not canola oil and Dextrin!  click here for the APPLE CHIPS recipe



click here for the CASHEW COOKIE LARABAR recipe
(from: Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth)
Ingredients:
-dates
-raw unsalted cashews
-water



click here for the GINGERSNAP LARABAR recipe
(from: So I Married A Chef)
Ingredients:
-dates
-fresh ginger
-cinnamon
-cloves
-raw almonds
-raw pecans

All the ingredients for the Apple Pie Larabars in the food processor. 

All mixed together.

About to put this in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

All done!  YUMMY!

My sliced apples are about to go into the oven.

Homemade Apple Chips for the Apple Pie Larabars. 

Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins & Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins

I love to sneak vegetables into breakfast!  The zucchini muffins and sweet potato muffins were delicious and I would definitely make then again! If you've been following my blog, I am sure you've noticed that I like to make muffins.  One of the reason I do is because you can make them on the weekend and then just pop them in the microwave each morning during the week, which makes for an easy and fast breakfast!  Hope you try one of these recipes soon!

Enjoy!
~Davis  


click here for the WHOLE WHEAT ZUCCHINI MUFFINS recipe
(from: 100 Days of Real Food)

Ingredients:
-whole wheat flour
-cinnamon
-baking soda
-baking powder
-salt
-eggs
-oil (I used half coconut oil and half olive oil)
-honey*
-vanilla
-grated zucchini
-chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
*The recipe calls for 1/2 cup honey.  I used only 1/4 cup honey and added a mashed banana.



click here for the WHOLE WHEAT SWEET POTATO MUFFINS recipe
(from: All Recipes)

Ingredients:
-cooked sweet potato
-whole wheat flour
-baking soda
-salt
-ground cinnamon
-ground nutmeg
-ground ginger
-ground cloves
-oil (the recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I used olive oil instead)
-eggs
-vanilla
-honey (The recipe calls for 1 cup honey.  I used only 1/3 cup honey and added a mashed banana)
-yogurt*
-1-2 Tbsp. Flax seed meal (not in original recipe)
-almonds (see note below)

*The recipe calls for vanilla yogurt, but instead I bought plain Greek yogurt and sweetened it with 100% pure maple syrup and then flavored it with vanilla extract.

Notes:
The recipe calls for an oatmeal/brown sugar/almond/cinnamon topping.  I didn't add a topping to my muffins, therefore, I left out the oatmeal, brown sugar and additional tsp. of cinnamon for this recipe.  I did, however, use the 1/2 cup almonds IN the muffins.  I simple put the almonds in my food processor until they were chopped up and then just added it to the muffin mix.

Zucchini Muffins

Spaghetti with Chicken Basil Meatballs

This was a meal we enjoyed for several nights!  The meatballs were easy to make and the fresh basil used in the meatballs gave them a wonderful flavor.  Also, the marinara recipe was very tasty!  We had some sauce leftover, and used it as pizza sauce on our homemade pizza we had for dinner the other night.  We always keep 100%  whole wheat pasta (one ingredient) on hand.   Publix will put some of their boxed pasta on sale (B1G1), so I always stock up when  it's on sale.  We ate this delicious spaghetti meal with a side of steamed broccoli and for dessert strawberries, blueberries and cantaloupe. 

Enjoy!
~Davis  

P.S. Just for comparison sake, we used to use the McCormick Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Mix packet, which has 15 ingredients listed...and the first ingredient is sugar!!!


click here for CHICKEN BASIL MEATBALLS recipe ***
(from: Cahaba Fitness)

Ingredients:
-ground chicken
-eggs
-almond flour/meal
-fresh basil
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-dried parsley
-salt
-pepper
***Instead of making this recipe into a meatloaf, I simply made the mixture into meatballs.  I placed the meatballs on a baking sheet and cooked them in the oven, just like the original recipe.


click here for MARINARA SAUCE recipe 
(from: All Recipes)

Ingredients:
-olive oil
-garlic cloves
-crushed tomatoes (preferably organic)
-tomato puree (preferably organic)
-dried oregano
-dried parsley
-grated cheese (I used mozzarella)
-bay leaves
-onion powder
-1 tsp. sea salt (not in the original recipe)


click here for HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI SAUCE recipe *
(from: 100 Days of Real Food)

Ingredients:
-fresh, organic, ripe tomatoes
-chopped carrots
-chopped celery
-chopped onion
-olive oil
-salt
*I wanted to use this recipe for the sauce, but I had some tomato puree that I needed to use up.  I hope to try this one sometime soon.  If you use this recipe, I'd love to get some feedback on it.

Spaghetti with Chicken Basil Meatballs. 

Burritos

We love Mexican food at our house, but the seasoning packets are full of unwanted preservatives and additives (and lots of sodium).  So, let's get REAL....what do you really need to properly season your Mexican dishes?  The taco seasoning recipe I use calls for chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and red pepper....that's all (and it's super yummy!)!!  If you look at the Old El Paso's Taco Seasoning Mix (25% less sodium), it has 13 ingredients listed.  The first ingredient is Maltodextrin and only five of the thirteen  ingredients are things that you would find in my kitchen (and I keep a fairly stocked kitchen)!

This taco seasoning recipe can be used in a variety of Mexican dishes, but the other night we made burritos and they were SO tasty!  I basically followed  a taco salad recipe from 100 Days of Real Food, but made it in burrito form (click here for TACO SALAD recipe).  

Hope you can enjoy a healthy, REAL food Mexican meal soon!

~Davis 



click here fore TACO SEASONING recipe
(from: 100 Days of Real Food)

Ingredients:
-chili powder
-cumin
-oregano
-salt
-red pepper

Burritos using homemade taco seasoning.

Ranch Dip

Have you ever been snacking on some raw vegetables and ranch dip/dressing and said to yourself, "I'm so proud of this healthy snack I am eating!"?  Well, it's possible that only half of that snack was REAL food healthy.  Have you ever considered what ingredients are in ranch dips and dressings?

When I was at the grocery store recently, I thought I would take a look at the ingredients listed in some popular ranch dips/dressings:

-Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing:  Has over 21 ingredients.  The first ingredient is vegetable oil, the  forth ingredient is sugar and at least one-forth of the ingredients are long words that I am not sure what they are!

-Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dips Mix: Has ten ingredients.  Of these ten ingredients, the first three ingredients are: maltodextrin (a food additive), salt, and monosodium glutamate (a flavor enhancer).

-Publix Ranch Style Sour Cream Dip: This item has 19 ingredients listed.  Again, lots of preservatives and additives.

I don't know about you, but I don't want all of that STUFF in my body!  I'd rather have dip with minimal and recognizable ingredients!  A delicious and easy alternative is to make your own Ranch Dip.  I keep a container of this mixture in my spice cabinet.  Also, I have found that once the ranch dip is prepared, it tastes best if it sits overnight in the refrigerator.

Next time you are wanting a REAL food snack, whip this up and eat it with lots of colorful raw vegetables!

Enjoy!
~Davis


click here for RANCH DIP recipe
(from: 100 Days of Real Food)

Ingredients:
-dried parsley
-dried dill
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-dried basil
-pepper
-Plain Greek Yogurt*

*The original recipe calls for sour cream, not Greek Yogurt.  There's nothing wrong with sour cream, but I just prefer plain Greek Yogurt, as it's higher in protein.

Ranch Dip

Banana Pancakes

This is one of the neatest and easiest recipes, EVER!  It's very basic, as it only has two ingredients (one banana and two eggs!!!).  I put the two eggs and chopped banana in my mini food processor and it mixes the batter perfectly!  There's really not much else to say about this recipe, other than my toddler and I enjoy having this for breakfast!  

~Davis


click here for the BANANA PANCAKES recipe that I've tried*
(from: blogilates.com)
*A friend told me that she's made these, but replaced the banana with mashed cooked sweet potato.... sounds equally yummy to me!!


click here for BANANA CINNAMON VANILLA PANCAKES recipe**
(from: Rabbit Food for my Bunny Teeth)
**I haven't tried this version, but it sounds like it would be equally as good as the original recipe!


Here's another Banana Pancake recipe (from Homemade Mommy) that sounds good too.  It's seems to be more involved, as it has nine ingredients (eggs, banana, almond butter, milk, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and coconut oil), but definitely a recipe I would like to try.  click here for the GRAIN FREE BANANA PANCAKES recipe

Banana Pancakes

A yummy, clean, REAL food breakfast!

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Crock-Pot Chicken

Does this make you start singing the Simon and Garfunkel song "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" ?  It does me!  Such great musicians!  

Anyway, back to food....so, I usually make The Best Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot, but we were in the mood for a change.  Also, we attended a party recently and my friend made this amazing  turkey in the crock pot that was seasoned with sage and thyme, so it got me in the mood for a similar recipe.  I actually had planned on cooking a turkey in the crock pot, but to my surprise a whole turkey was twice as much as a whole chicken (that shows you how often I buy a whole turkey)!  I made several changes to the recipe I found online, but here's the original recipe from Tablespoon.com if you want to check it out too: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Turkey Breast.  

We've been enjoying this chicken on sandwiches and by itself.  Hope you like it too!  

~Davis 



PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & THYME CROCK-POT CHICKEN

Ingredients
-4 tsp. dried parsley
-1 tsp. dried sage leaves
-1 tsp. dried rosemary leaves, crushed
-1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
-1 tsp. salt
-1/2 tsp. pepper
-1 onion
-1-2 garlic cloves, minced
-1 whole chicken (about 5 lbs.)- skin cut off the entire chicken and giblet packet removed from cavity

Slice onion.  Put the onion slices in the bottom of the crock pot and some inside the cavity of the chicken.  Put the minced garlic in the cavity too.  In a small bowl, mix the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.  Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken.  place the chicken in the crock pot (on top of the slices of onion).  Cook chicken on low over night (8-10 hours).    Enjoy!

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme.