Cocoanutty Larabars

Let's face it. Dates are a superfood. They are full of fiber, iron, potassium, and the list goes on. Add some cashews with their good fats and protein and you have a superfood that kicks other superfood butts!

That's why Larabars rock! The sweet flavor brings my kids running for them, but there aren't any sweeteners, just yummy sweet dates. So when I ran across a recipe for homemade Larabars on Pinterest I had to try them. So now I find myself making a batch at least once a week and sometimes twice if the kids have friends over.

The original recipe is for cookie dough bars on Oh She Glows blog. This has been a great base to play with flavors, but I can't use the chocolate chips for my middle child so I had to change that part. So I want to share my most recent flavor I like to call Cocoanutty.

11/2 cups raw cashews
1 cup dates
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Pulse the cashews in a food processor a few times to get them started, add dates then pulse until they are mixed well and a sticky ball. Add the vanilla, cocoa powder, and coconut in and pulse a little more to blend it all together. 

Put parchment paper on the bottom of a bread pan and push the ball of yummy goodness out in a thin layer, then place pan in freezer. The original blog says to leave in the freezer 15 minutes, but I never remember and end up leaving it for 2 hours without a problem. I just wrap in wax paper for the kids' lunch boxes.

So there is my current favorite flavor. I may post more, especially since I'm thinking I need to bring some favorite fall flavors into the mix.

Butternut squash

In my quest to provide foods without sugar in them I decided to make butternut squash without the traditional cinnamon and sugar on it. So what is the opposite of sweet? Well, in my head it is spice, so here is a simple recipe for butternut squash with a kick.

1 pound of cubed butternut squash
Butter
~1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
~1/8 teaspoon red chilli powder

Cook the squash in a pan with the butter and spices on medium. Stir occasionally, and cover to trap some of the steam. Squash is done when it is soft but still together in cubes.

My family liked this a lot, except my one child who hates anything he even thinks might have spice to it.

Chilli Verde

We've all done it. You see something on Pinterest and think what a lovely idea it is, but then you go back later to find out you forgot to pin it! You frantically search your boards. Maybe you labeled it wrong..  Nope. Ok you saw it a few days ago, a week at the most, so look over you pin list and go back two weeks... Nope. Ah. Search all of Pinterest... BAHAHAHA! Did you really think that would work?!

Well, that happened to me today. Luckily I looked at the source website for the pin at the time and had bought a few of the veggies on the list of the recipe I wanted to try. I can tell you it was a Pork Chilli Verde, it was not a crock pot recipe, and it was from scratch. So I think, hey I got this. I can figure it out on my own. So I pull out my crock pot (because I have stuff to do) and I get to working.

I gather the following:
5-6 tomatillo
1 pablano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
Cilantro
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2.5 pound pork shoulder
Salt and pepper

I put the pork shoulder in the crock pot on high. I roast the peppers and tomatillo under the broiler, then put them in the blender with the garlic and a handful cilantro to blend well and pour over the pork shoulder.

I then went to pick up the kids from school and have fun for the afternoon.

When we came home three hours later I used two forks to pull the pork and put it all back in the sauce to sit on warm for another hour.

We served the Chilli Verde on whole wheat tortillas with cheese and sour cream. And all in all I'd call it a success. I think I should have put more garlic and salt in the sauce, and if you like spicy foods add another jalapeno or habenero, but while 3 of us love spicy foods we have a 1 year old and another child that don't so we keep it flavorful, but not too spicy and this fit the bill.

Reviving this blog

So, in the years that I have left this blog things have changed and now is the place to keep track of our hectic life. In an attempt to learn better methods of running our house I have turned to Pinterest. Yeah, I know this is just sucking up more of my time, but it is helping. I have used several things on there, but I really want to keep track of the things that work in our life and what doesn't.

So here is to new beginnings!