WAIT, before you scratch your head and wonder to yourself, “what the heck is Marin mama posting and making these days,” just read through this post a bit and you will gain a bit of insight into my insanity.
School is just around the corner and I’m all about having healthy snacks in the house for the kids and their friends to chow down on after school. I don’t know about you, but my kids come home from school ravenous and immediately ask me, “Mom, what can I have for snack?” I often just tell them to open the fridge or pantry and have a go at it. If I’m home I may make them up a smoothie, or some popcorn (well, now thankfully they’re old enough make up their own smoothies and popcorn). Most afternoons though we’re running from one activity to another, so I like to have an easy and healthy grab-and-go snack, like these gluten-free cookie bites, instead of stuffing their hands with something like goldfish.
Just try and keep your hands out of the cookie jar with these bad boys. These little cookie bites, even though they’re on the healthier side, are super addicting. I shouldn’t really be calling them a cookie, as they are a take on the classic Cliff Kid’s ZBAR, so they’re more of an energy bar in cookie form. Maybe I should just call them cute little energy cookie bites!
I love steel cut oats. I love their chewy texture and creamy consistency. They’re the perfect comfort food on a cold morning, and ever since I figured out the lazy overnight way to make them, I eat them at least 2 times a week, if not more. Goodbye instant oats, say hello to rich and chewy steel cut oats! My favorite go-to toppings are peanut butter and fresh fruit! YUM!
One of our favorite on-the-go snacks are granola bars. Granola bars are portable and tasty! We’re currently in love with these bars from Kind. I love the Kind bars because they’re a healthier bar. They’re chock-full of real ingredients like nuts, whole-grains, berries and dark chocolate. There is nothing processed in their bars, which makes me feel good about serving them up to my kids. Zoe’s favorite Kind bar (and mine as well) is their peanut butter dark chocolate bar, but she’s not entirely in love with nuts, so I decided to play around and create a “nut-free” granola bar version for her. I played around with a few different versions and came up with this bar, and let me tell you, it was a HUGE success, not only with Zoe, but with friends that I pawned them off on! These bars are not the traditional crunchy bars, they’re on the chewy side!
These are pancakes that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating because they’re made with almond flour, use raw honey for the sweetener, almond milk for the dairy, and coconut oil as a substitute for butter or vegetable oil, which will not only speed up your metabolism, but fuel your brain.
ALMOND BUTTER BROWNIES!!! Yes, you heard me right, almond butter brownies, not chocolate fudge brownies, so I apologize for those of you that were looking for something chocolately, next time! These are a bit of a healthier brownie, if there is such a thing as a healthy brownie. These brownies are made with 6 simple ingredients, almond butter, honey, an egg, vanilla, salt, and baking soda.
These are not the prettiest bars I’ve ever photographed, but they sure are tasty and pretty healthy to boot. They’re filled with the goodness of quinoa, quinoa flour, chia seeds, goji berries, local raw honey and so much more. You can even make these gulten-free by using gluten-free oats.
There’s no better way to steer your kids away from all of the store-bought Halloween candy than to make up a healthy homemade alternative. For years, my family has been making healthier versions of classic candy favorites like homemade peanut butter cups, homemade dark chocolate bark and these no-bake, vegan Almond Joy bars. These bars are an easy and fun recipe to make with the kids. For parents concerned about nut allergies, you can make the classic Mounds bar, because as they say, “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” These bars are vegan, no-bake and take about 30 minutes to make. So come on, let’s make up some bars!
So most of you know that I was a cereal addict since the age of 17. I literally ate a bowl of cereal everyday, usually grape-nuts topped with some other kind of fiberish cereal and granola. I’m one of those people that wakes up hungry and can’t sit around and wait a 1/2 hour for breakfast to cook, so cereal was the breakfast of choice, or should I say breakfast of convenience. Steel cut oats were reserved for those fancy hotel vacations or breakfast out with the family, as I was under the assumption that steel cut oats were a labor intensive and timely breakfast to whip up. I changed that way of thinking though when I cooked up my hot quinoa and oat cereal for the first time. I learned the trick to a quick breakfast of steel cut oats, and that was to bring them to a quick boil and then let them sit out overnight. I still eat cold cereal on occasion, but lately I have been devouring these steel cut oats, my 5 minute quinoa cereal and my quinoa and oat cereal. I would have to say that my breakfast routine has changed for the better!
