Category: Refined Sugar Free

Applesauce

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It’s pretty much fall now so all of the apple and pumpkin recipes are going strong. I’m going to have to buy some canned pumpkin, but thankfully my grandma has an apple tree in her backyard, so we’ve got LOTS of apples. Apples are great! I have one literally every night with peanut butter. There are so many things you can do with apples, and I’ll be posting more apple recipes, but today we’re just going simple with some applesauce.

I’m a sucker for some good applesauce. You know those little applesauce pouches you got as a kid? Yep. The best. I recently learned that my family doesn’t actually like it that much, but hey, more sauce for me. It makes a great snack, and can be used in a ton of fall desserts. Or just heat it up and add a little nice cream and you’re set. Anyways, applesauce isn’t very hard to make. You just cook down the apples with some cinnamon and water, and then blend em all up and then boom. Applesauce. No sugar, no preservative thingies, just the good stuff.

I ate about half of this batch, then froze the rest for later so I can bake something tasty with it. That’ll probably be my next fall apple recipe. Or I’ll just defrost it and eat it plain because it’s great like that too. So many options! Anyway you like your sauce, you should just go make some because it’s delicious and autumn-y and good for you. Check out the recipe!

Applesauce

Serves: 4

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups of peeled and chopped apples (I’m not sure what kind mine were because they came from my grandma’s tree. If you like your sauce sweeter use sweet apples like Fuji or Gala, and if you like it less sweet, use varieties such as Honey Crisp or Red Delicious.
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

  1. Bring the water, cinnamon, and apples to boil in a large pot. Lower to a simmer and cook until all of the apples are soft, about 10-12 minutes.
  2. Scoop out a 1/2 cup of the boiling liquid and set aside. Then strain the rest of the apples and add them to a blender along with the 1/2 cup of liquid.
  3. Blend the apples until smooth, then let cool and use in baking, eat it by itself, or freeze for later use.

Hope you enjoy this simple and versatile recipe! It’s perfect for fall:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)))

No Powder Protein Smoothie

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Hey guys:) I got a cool new blender over the weekend that makes single serving smoothies, so I thought I’d whip up a smoothie for breakfast this morning, and I could drink it on the drive to school. This morning was Upper Body day💪💪 so I wanted sone protein in there. Protein powder is my first choice, and for a while I was using some that we just had in our pantry. But now we’re out, and it’s so dang expensive! I’m not about to spend sixty five bucks on a thing of protein powder. This is where we get creative, people.

I tried adding black beans into one of my smoothie bowls a few weeks ago, and it may sound gross, but you can’t even taste them. Plus, they help thicken things up. Boom, 6 grams of protein. Then you’ve got a tablespoon of peanut butter, which adds great flavour. Another 4 grams of protein. Then some spinach and kale for the vitamins. 1 more gram. And finally, a cup of almond milk. 1 gram. So then you’ve got yourself a smoothie with 12 GRAMS of protein without using any powder whatsoever!!

This smoothie is not only full of vitamins and protein, but it tastes great👌 The peanut butter gives it some nuttiness, and the strawberry, banana, and peaches make it sweet🥰 This is a recipe that I will definitely be remaking, because it’s a quick, portable, protein filled breakfast that satisfies my sweet tooth! Definitely give this one a try😊

No Powder Protein Smoothie

Serves: 1

Total Time: 7 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana, frozen and chopped
  • About 5 fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup cooked black beans
  • 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup packed spinach
  • 1/2 cup packed kale
  • 1/2 cup chopped frozen peaches
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

  1. Add all of the ingredients into a good quality blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Enjoy!

Such a quick and easy breakfast recipe!! Hope you enjoy:)💪💪

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Peanut Butter and Banana Overnight Oats

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Hey there! Lunch is important, but breakfast is also essential to a great school day👍 I don’t get how people skip breakfast- it’s so delicious and totally fuels you up! With these overnight oats you won’t have to skip breakfast ever again because they’re so simple and quick👌

I haven’t made overnight oats in a long time, but they’re awesome because you just mix everything up, then leave them in the fridge for the next day. It saves a lot of time in the morning, and this recipe is really tasty- I used my favourite combo of Pb and banana. Also, I used almond milk in mine, but you can use any milk you’d like😊

Hopefully these oats solve your breakfast problems!! I’ll try and post more fun flavours in the future😋

Peanut Butter and Banana Overnight Oats

Serves: 1

Total Time: 5 minutes to make, then let sit overnight.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter
  • 2/3 cup milk of choice

Directions:

  1. In a small bowl, mash half of the banana. Mix in the oats, peanut butter, and almond milk, then cover with seran wrap and place in the fridge overnight to set up!
  2. Remove from the fridge in the morning, top with the remaining banana, and enjoy!

**Fun tip: for an on-the-go breakfast, mix your oats in a Tupperware container with a lid!**

Have a great day guys!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Peanut Butter Cluster Nice Cream

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It’s summer so bring on the ice cold treats! Nice cream is one of my favourites because it’s super fast, tasty, and CREAMY, all without any dairy or refined sugar. I’ve made Neapolitan Nice Cream in the past, but today I made PEANUT BUTTER CLUSTER NICE CREAM. There are actual PEANUT BUTTER CLUSTERS in here. Summer, here we come.

All nice cream is is basically blended up frozen bananas. It has an amazing texture and is also really good for you:) Because of this magic, I ALWAYS include a frozen banana in my smoothie bowls. From now on I might throw these peanut butter clusters on my smoothie bowls too cause they’re pretty darn delicious. I made them using oat flour- which is just ground up oats. So yeah, you’ll be needing a good blender to make this recipe. The peanut butter clusters also contain peanut butter 😋, maple syrup, vanilla, and some dark chocolate chunks. I DEFINITELY recommend using crunchy peanut butter for these, because then you get some peanut pieces in there. I’ve actually been converted from team creamy to team crunchy, cause I love those peanuts❤️ If you don’t feel like making nice cream, these clusters would make a greet breakfast with some almond milk or yogurt, or a nice snack on their own.

Once you have the nice cream made and the peanut clusters rolled and frozen, you fold the two together and BOOM! A super delicious summer treat. Let’s be honest though, I will probably be eating this all year long. Hope you enjoy this recipe, and be sure to let me know some other nice cream flavours that you want me to make a recipe for!

Peanut Butter Cluster Nice Cream

Serves: 3

Total Time: 210 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Peanut Butter Clusters:

  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp runny or melted crunchy peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp dark chocolate chunks

For the Nice Cream:

  • 3 bananas, sliced and frozen
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • Splash of water

Directions:

  1. Mix all of the peanut butter cluster ingredients together in a bowl. Roll into 1/2 tsp sized balls, then put into a container and freeze for about 2 hours, so that they’re easier to mix in with the nice cream.
  2. Once the peanut butter clusters are ready, throw the frozen banana, vanilla and SPLASH of water into the blender. You don’t need to much water, or else you’ll miss out on that creamy texture. Use the tamper to push the bananas down and blend until smooth. You want a nice swirl like this:

3. Scoop the nice cream into a parchment lined loaf pan, and mix in about half of the peanut butter clusters. Place in the freezer for another hour until the texture resembles ice cream. Serve with the rest of the clusters on top!!

This stuff is legit SO good and you should for sure make some ASAP. Perfect for a hot day!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Chocolate Date Puffed Wheat Squares

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How’s it going guys? Oh, you’re asking what you should do today? Well I have a great answer because you NEED to make these Chocolate Date Puffed Wheat Squares!

I don’t buy dates very often because they’re a tad expensive, but someone gave me a bunch a little while ago so I knew I had to do something special with them. I’ve been eating them by themselves (which is amazing), and I’ve also heard that they’re spectacular with peanut butter, but there are so many awesome desserty things you can do with dates. I decided to make these CHOCOLATE DATE PUFFED WHEAT SQUARES. Sweet, gooey, and a little crunchy, they’re the perfect treat!

These squares are pretty easy to make, too. You just soften up some dates in warm water, them blend them up to make a kind of paste. Then you mix that with cocoa, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla, heat it up a bit, and mix it in with puffed wheat. I let mine harden in the fridge overnight after I pressed them into a greased pan, but you should be good to go in a few hours. That simplicity mixed with the fact that these squares taste AMAZING and have no refined sugar makes them a winner in my book.

So yeah, go make these squares and you WILL NOT regret it:)

Chocolate Date Puffed Wheat Squares

Serves: Makes 9 squares

Total Time: 30 minutes, plus at least 3 hours cooling time.

Ingredients:

  • 10 large Medjool Dates
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 3 cups puffed wheat

Directions:

  1. Heat some water in a small pot over the stove until it just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and add in the dates. Let them sit for about 10 minutes to soften them up.
  2. Remove the pits from the dates and add them into a blender or food processor. Blend until a kind of paste forms, but don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be completely smooth.
  3. Transfer the date paste back into the small pot and add the cocoa powder, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla. Place over low heat on the stove for about 2 minutes as you stir to combine.
  4. Remove the date mixture from the heat. Dump the puffed wheat into a large bowl and mix in the chocolatey dates. Press the soon-to-be puffed wheat squares into an 8×8 pan greased with coconut oil.
  5. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until firm enough to eat; around 3 hours. You can try and speed up this process by throwing the squares into the freezer.
  6. Once the puffed wheat mixture has cooled, cut it into 9 squares and enjoy!
  7. Store in the fridge.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Yours Truly,

Olivia;))