Today, I’m linking up with Dandelion House, Sippy Cup Chronicles, Happy Go Lucky, Life with Twins & a Drama Queen and Chubby Cheeks Thinks!

Don’t forget about our giveaway with Keeley Behling Studios! Like the Keeley Behling Studios Facebook page and leave a comment there about something in her Etsy shop to enter. It wouldn’t hurt if you liked the So Very Domestic Facebook page too. 😉

I am a little in love ok, I’m a little totally obsessed with Zuzana Bodyrock in general. My friend Gill got me into the site and between the two of them (Gill & the site) I’m in much better shape than I maybe ever have been. These workouts and this site in general are not for the faint of heart – I mean that both literally and figuratively. The workouts are intense and they’re HARD, most importantly there are different workouts up all the time, so your body never gets a chance to get used to what you’re doing. And the videos? They’re so hot they’re borderline porn. I mean that in the best possible way. Go ahead, go watch one. I’ll wait for you here.

Intense, right?

Anyhoo, so along with the videos, there are a lot of fun and healthy recipes on the site and I had to try this one because of this line – Once you let someone taste your balls, you will never be forgotten. I promise.

Each ball comes in somewhere around 100 calories, depending of course on how big you make them and what kind of nuts you use.

Zuzana’s Power Balls (aka Bodyrock Balls) via Bodyrock

1 cup oats, ground to oat flour
2 cups almond meal
3 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup carrot puree
1/2 cup chopped nuts (recipe calls for either almonds or pecans, I used hazelnuts)

So first I ground up my oats, and then added the almond meal and baking powder.
Next I added the honey and coconut oil. I keep pureed veggies in the freezer to sneak into random food so I had the carrot puree on hand, it doesn’t take long to make it though. Just steam and then smash 1 cup of carrots. Now you can roll out the balls, I think I made 30 smallish ones, Zuzana got 28 when she made them. Then CHOP YOUR NUTS AND ROLL YOUR BALLS IN THEM. Oh, I’m sorry. Was I shouting? Ahem.
Bake these babies for about 25 minutes at 350F.

Don’t forget about our giveaway with Keeley Behling Studios! Like the Keeley Behling Studios Facebook page and leave a comment there about something in her Etsy shop to enter. It wouldn’t hurt if you liked the So Very Domestic Facebook page too. 😉

This is the 8th recipe from Peas and Thank You and again, so far so good. This recipe, like seven others before it, came together easily! The directions are simple, the ingredients rad (as usual) and the taste was great. There are short stories about life in the Pea household before each recipe and this one totally resembled my feelings on french toast before this recipe. Maybe yours too? You know how there is almost always a piece of cooked egg hanging off the side of your french toast? Ugh. Not possible in this vegan version! Ha!

I ate my piece, 2/3 of the children ate theirs and my husband passed, but to be fair, he very rarely east breakfast and always passes on french toast. Maybe this will make him a convert the next time I do ‘breakfast for dinner’.

I will remind you again, no recipe for you this time around but I will be making a few recipeas (har har) that are available for free so I’ll post those here! I honestly think this is a cookbook worth buying.

If you use anything at all, let it be actual maple syrup!

Don’t forget about our giveaway with Keeley Behling Studios! Like the Keeley Behling Studios Facebook page and leave a comment there about something in her Etsy shop to enter. It wouldn’t hurt if you liked the So Very Domestic Facebook page too. 😉

Aside from the obvious deliciousness I’ve been posting on the blog, I have also added a few treats to the site without a blog post. Yummy things I really wanted to add to the site, but didn’t warrant a post.

	The whole house smells like ginger and cinnamon! (read).
	When I am feeling irritated about living in the woods, you know like when I want a Starbucks or feel like grabbing sushi with my girlfriends or maybe even just want to be able to WALK ANYWHERE, I can quickly remind myself how much I love living out here when I have to make something for the kids’ school. Wee One #2 requested I make treats for her class on her birthday. In their old school in Toronto, that would have meant baking and decorating at least 30 cupcakes. I did make treats for the school in Toronto, but they were not as detailed because there were just too many to make. This year she has 11 kids in her class. Yup, 11. Making a dozen cupcakes means there’s one left for the baker. (read).
	I was inspired by a recipe found on Oh She Glows, but I just HAD TO add peanut butter and switch it up a bit. Instead of making coconut butter, I used peanut butter and rolled the freshly coated banana pieces in coconut. So so so good on the back deck in the summer!!(read).

Nutella Marsacapone Cups

9-12 sheets phyllo
1 cup Homemade Nutella
1/4 cup homemade marsacapone cheese (1 liter cream, 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice)

The only slightly complicated thing about this treat is making your own marsacapone cheese and if you can’t be bothered, just pick up a tun from the grocery store and you’re already ahead of the game! It is pretty easy though. Heat the cream over a double boiler to 190F, add lemon juice. It’ll curdle, that’s ok. Stir till it starts to thicken (till it coats the back of a spoon like the pictures below) then let it cool down a bit on the counter.
Now transfer it to a bowl lined with cheesecloth and wrap it up. Leave it alone, in the fridge, till it stops dripping. It took almost two days here. What you’re left with is a very smooth, marsacapone-like cheese. Mix about 1/4 cup of it with 1 cup of softened homemade nutella.
Lay out 3 sheets of phyllo and cut it into 12 squares. Squish these little squares into a muffin tin or mini cupcake tin and bake at 350F for about 5 minutes (till golden). Then scoop in about a tablespoon or so of the creamy nutella and add a smaller dollop of marsacapone on top of that! I don’t think it’s physically possible to eat just one. They look super fancy but they’re way simple and while people will be impressed you made your own marsacapone, it’s totally not a big deal – you can do it!

Another hit from Sarah Matheny’s Peas and Thank You.

I made these three dips to go with the tofu nuggets when four of my girlfriends came up to visit. Of the three of us that are down with tofu, we polished off the plate and sought out more things to dip! We also each had a different favorite. I loved the homemade barbecue sauce the most, I swear it tastes like the stuff in the bottle we used to buy but it’s honestly better. Talea liked the lime thaini best and Gill favored the Cinnamon Vinaigrette. That worked out well since we each wanted to hoard our own dip anyway!

The sauces, like all the recipes in this book so far, came together really simply. The nuggets are a bit of a time investment because you need to press the tofu and leave it to marinate, but really, it’s a hands off time investment so it’s not an issue.

The BBQ sauce came together in a saucepan.
All the vinaigrette needed was a whisk and a bowl.
The lime thaini made good use of my food processor and was literally done in under a minute.
As for the nuggets, after you’ve pressed the tofu and cut the brick into little nuggets, make the marinade and leave it overnight in the fridge. Then you make the coating and the egg-free egg step. Curious? Buy the book! It’s totally worth it, I love it and will always use this instead of eggs when I coat things. Then of course you coat each nugget in both bowls (after shaking off the marinade) and bake them! So so so crunchy and good. If you have stayed away from tofu because you don’t like the texture this is a great recipe to try because they’re nothing tofu-y about this!

Another vegan win! Sweet enough to quiet the sweet tooth, not so sweet that it’s overwhelming (and it wont make you crave sweets for days after like other indulgences). They are very good.

I made these for my Dad when he came up for a visit to the woods and not only did he say he loved them (Dads just do that to make us feel good, yes?), I totally caught him eating them in the wee hours of the night! <3 They come together pretty quickly and as all my favorite vegan recipes they make my food processor feel reeeeeeeally useful. The original recipe calls for raw oat groats flour which requires you to soak oat groats overnight, drain and rinse the next day, sprout if you wish, dehydrate and process in a high speed blender to a fine powder oooor you can use grind up raw oats in your food processor until they’re powdery. So far, every time I come across raw oat groats in a recipe I just use raw oats, but next time it comes up, I’m totally going to try the actual oat groats.

As far as I have read, a lot of the health benefits of raw oat groats are the same as regular oats, since you know, they’re practically the same thing. I said practically, so there is a difference. An oat groat is the whole unbroken grain of the oat without the hull. Since it’s raw and still in one piece, you can sprout it! Rolled oats have been rolled flat and dried. Most of the time rolled oats are steamed to do this, and so they’re not raw but some health food stores have actual raw rolled oats. With that distinction in mind, both kinds of oats are an amazing source of fiber (including soluble fiber – a great help in regulating blood glucose levels). They also have a serious punch of B vitamins, potassium, iron, phosphorous, selenium, zinc, manganese and magnesium. Phew. I just read today that regularly drinking raw oat milk ‘can reduce bowel fungus and promote the growth of healthy intestinal fauna.’ OMG ewww. Does that mean that most of us have bowel fungus?! Ugh, sometimes a little knowledge is a painful thing. You know I’m going to try to make raw oat milk now.

Anyhoo, so what do all these vitamins do for us anyway? Well, together they support the rate of metabolism, maintain healthy skin, hair and muscle tone, enhance immune and nervous system function, promote cell growth and division, and reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer. They can help against stroke, blood pressure problems, anxiety and stress, muscular strength, metabolism, heart and kidney disorders and the nervous system! Not to mention boosting your energy levels, improving your body’s immunity, and helping you sleep.

Raw Vegan Cinnamon Donut Holes – via Mama in the Kitchen
*The original recipe made the donut holes and then rolled them in a mixture of cinnamon and dried whole cane sugar, I added the cinnamon and cane sugar right to the donut holes themselves.

1/2 cup raw coconut flour (just grind raw dried shredded coconut in your food processor)
1 cup raw oat groats flour (or like I did, use 1 cup of ground up raw oats)
1 cup raw sprouted soft wheat flour (I didn’t sprout mine)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
5 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons dried whole cane sugar

So first mix together the coconut flour, oats and soft wheat flour. Then add the salt, vanilla, coconut oil and honey.
Once that’s all combined, add the cinnamon and cane sugar.
Now you shape them into donut holes however you can! You could scoop them out with a spoon and roll them or you could use a small ice cream scoop or melon baller or whatever you have on hand. Whatever shape you make them, they’re delicious and actually good for you!

I’m linking up with Flock Together Blog Hop and Inspiration Linky Party.

I mentioned a few months ago about my ever mounting paranoia general concern thoughts on how processed some most all of the garbage touted as ‘healthy’ and marketed to kids has become. Though to be fair, I don’t know if it’s right to say ‘has become’, it’s probably always been pretty negative and unhealthy but I didn’t know better as a kid and my hippie father did a pretty good job of sheltering me from stuff like that. I however? Do not do such a great job with the sheltering of my wee ones. They can ask for store those chewy granola bars all they want, I’m not caving, and this is why.

The granola bars I make have 14 ingredients, including the granola. They could only be healthier if I made the marshmallows myself and now that I type that, I will totally make the marshmallows myself next time!

The granola bars with the shiny commercials have 31 ingredients and while most of them are not so bad, too many of them are totally unnecessary. I know they need to be shelf stable, and that’s what they are loaded with preservatives, but man. Like, if I can make and eat them within a few days I don’t need to add any preservatives so while the additives are justifiable for shelf stable, pre packaged crap snacks, I don’t have any use for them – and if you have half an hour or so once a week, neither do you.

Granola via Amateur Gourmet (modified) 2 cups rolled oats 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bars via Back to the Cutting Board 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup honey 2 cups plain granola 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.) 1 cup mini marshmallows 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

First, preheat the oven to 325F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix the oats, cinnamon, and salt on a small bowl. Then in a separate bowl, mix the vegetable oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and make sure all of the oats are coated.
Bake for about 10 minutes, take out and mix it up, then another 10 minutes, take it out and mix it up again and then bake for another 5 minutes.
Now on to the actual granola bars! Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the brown sugar and the honey. Stir and heat till it’s melted.
Now add the rice cereal and the granola.
Marshmallows!!
When the marshmallows are partially melted, spread the mixture into a parchment lined brownie pan.
Then cover with chocolate chips!
Cut them into bars and voila!

2 Comments

baking, granola bars, homemade granola, school lunches