This week has been a good week. We are halfway to the weekend. So, that's awesomesauce. I personally loathe the phrase "Hump Day", I prefer the nice simplistic "middle of the week" when referring to this glorious Wednesday. Although my hormones have pushed my anxiety to un-fun levels and I was back at the doctors, there is always good to be found. Like how Mr. Charming and I have a meeting to be Pre-Marital coaches through church! How two of my girlfriends had babies this week! Or how Wanderlust is taking off, sending me to amazing destinations where I get to WRITE and SEE COOL THINGS. And then there is chocolate. Enter brownies. Gluten-free, dairy-free, probiotic packed brownies. I'm thankful for the relationship that this journey has given me with food. I feel like I'm not all the way there yet, as I'm still apprehensive to eat things that are probably ok for me to consume, I like that I don't view foods as "good" or "evil" anymore. (Except for man-made Frankenfoods, we can just go ahead and say those are evil.) But real, natural foods like fruits, vegetables, natural starches, natural cacao... those are God made foods that while some of us cannot tolerate them or need to watch our portions, they aren't good or bad. They just are. But I'm getting off topic. Back to brownies. As I've given up sugar 90%, except for natural sugar in my fruit & sparse honey intake, I do still believe in the occasional treat. I had these delectable little babies on my birthday and on Thanksgiving morning I will bake my grain-free donuts and top them with Enjoy Life chocolate chips. There is no because. It's simply the relationship I'm learning to have with food. The relationship that works best for me. Mr. Charming and I made a delicious dinner of grilled basil and oregano pork chops and sweet potato last night and we were going to turn in early for a movie marathon night and so I thought brownies would be perfect addition. They were super easy to make. Seriously 4 steps. 1. Open Enjoy Life Foods Brownie Mix & pour in bowl. 2. Add water and a oil of your choosing (I usually ALWAYS use coconut oil when baking, but I was out and thought I'd "wing it" with some olive oil, which is an unconventional option in baking sweets, but it actually came out GREAT.) 3. Bake. 4. NOM NOM. For being a gluten-free ancient grain mix they were surprisingly moist - and the flavor on the brownie scale was an 8.5 out of 10. They are that deep, rich chocolaty chocolate. Mr. Charming even took a batch in to his work meeting today as a treat for his staff. He's totally got them used to gluten-free treats over there. I make my banana oat muffins for them occasionally. Such a good house wife I am, haha. This is a sponsored post. I received free product from Enjoy Life Foods in exchange for writing this review. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions on its deliciousness, as well as the photography, are my own. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new Enjoy Life brownies if you've tried them. Or your favorite gluten-free brownie recipe. Kick back, brew a pot of coffee, pop some treats in the oven and let's talk dessert! ;)
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Ingredients:
1/4 cup raw cocao powder 2 ripe avocados 3/4 cup agave nectar, Grade B maple syrup or honey 3 tablespoons coconut oil 1 tablespoon vanilla dash sea salt Directions: Combine all ingredients in your Ninja blender until creamy, fluffy and smooth. Spread on the brownies. You can also chill and serve with chopped berries & bananas for a raw treat. Ingredients:
1 cup pre-soaked almonds 1 cup pre-soaked cashews 3/4 cup raw cacao powder 1 cup chopped dates 1/8 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 cup maple syrup Directions: Combine nuts, dates, cacao and salt in a food processor until the mixture is well combined. Slowly add up to 1/4 cup maple through the top of the processor while it is running. Stop adding maple when the consistency resembles brownie dough. Press the mixture into an 8×8 glass pan. Frost and refrigerate until you are ready to serve them. INGREDIENTS
1 sweet potato 3 eggs (or egg replacer or flax-egg for egg-free) 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted 1/3 cup honey 1/4 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 3 tbsp coconut flour 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 425F Puncture the sweet potato with a fork several times and bake for 30 minutes Remove the sweet potato from the oven and reduce heat to 350F Peel the sweet potato and mash in a bowl Add the egg, coconut oil, honey and vanilla and mix well Add in all remaining ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined Pour into a greased baking dish Cook for 35 minutes Ingredients:
1/2 cup Virgin Coconut Oil, melted 1/2 cup maple sugar or organic cane sugar 1/2 tablespoon organic vanilla extract 4 organic eggs 1/8 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup coconut flour 1/2 cup shredded coconut 3/4 cup Enjoy Life or other dairy free chocolate chips Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix together coconut oil, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and sea salt. Blend thoroughly. Add flour, coconut and chocolate chips; mix. Form into small cookies on a parchment paper lined pan and bake in oven for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Enjoy! This is one of the few recipes on my website that is not 100% Paleo. In moderation (once or twice a month) I do consume gluten-free oat flour or oats, and for those of you that do/can, I have put just a couple of recipes throughout the site. This bread is a favorite of Mr. Charming's and I like to treat his office staff or our friends to this when we have pot-lucks. INGREDIENTS: Wet: 2 Large Eggs 1/2 C. Honey or Bee Free Apple Honee 3/4 C. Unsweetened Organic Applesauce 1 1/2 Tsp. Organic Vanilla 2 Medium Over-Ripe Bananas (Mashed) Dry: 1 1/2 C. Gluten Free Oat Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill) 1/4 Tsp. Sea Salt 1 1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda 1/2 Tsp. Cream of Tartar 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon 1/2 C. Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small square cake pan or two bread loaf pans with a dairy free butter. Mix together applesauce, eggs, honey or apple honee and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Mix into the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Mash bananas until creamy and mix in. Add chocolate chips and any other additions you prefer (nuts, dried fruit, etc.) and mix once more. I didn't need a hand mixer for this, as the batter was so smooth, I just used a wooden spoon and good old fashioned elbow grease. Poor into pan or pans and bake for 30-35 or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm with cool dairy free butter. Delicious! These were the perfect scrumptious treat on a rainy Saturday evening. Ingredients: 2 Medium, super ripe organic bananas 1/4 c. honey** 2 tsp. organic vanilla extract 2 organic eggs** 1/6 cup melted coconut oil 2 cups almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill) 3 Tbsp. Oat Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill, GF) 1/3 C. unsweetened cocoa powder 1 Tsp. Aluminum-free baking soda 1/2 C. Enjoy Life chocolate chips 1/4 tsp. sea salt **for vegan: replace eggs with flax seeds mixed with water or apple sauce. Instead of honey, use Agave Nectar. Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cups. In a medium-sized bowl mash banana until pureed. Add honey or agave nectar and vanilla and stir well. Add eggs or egg substitute and coconut oil, stir until combined well and set aside. In a separate medium sized bowl, mix almond flour, gluten-free oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and sea salt. Stir until combined and add wet mixture into the bowl. Mix well until a batter is formed. Add in chocolate chips, stir once more. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling them 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick or fork come out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and enjoy with a tall glass of dairy-free milk! Super delicious! My sister-in-law loves all things lemon. Lemon cookies, lemon cake, lemon tarts. When I saw this recipe I knew she would be the one I'd make these for. I havn't yet made them for her, but I am excited to try them out at the next family get together. Perfect as a Spring or Easter treat, these melt-in-your mouth raw coconut lemon balls are sure to satisfy!
Dry Ingredients: 1 & 1/2 cups almond flour 1 & 1/2 cups dried shredded unsweetened coconut 1/3 c coconut flour 2 big pinches of Sea Salt Wet Ingredients: 6 Tbsp Agave or All Natural Maple Syrup or Raw Organic Honey (omit for sugar-free & vegan) 4 Tbsp Lemon Juice 2 tsp Organic Vanilla 1 Tbsp Lemon zest (Tip: Zest your Lemon before you juice it) Directions: Mix all of your dry ingredients together - set aside and mix wet ingredients in a small mixing bowl. With your mixer on, slowly pour wet mixture into dry mixture. While your mixer is on, mix in your melted coconut oil as a thickener. Your batter will thicken fairly quickly as it mixes with the oil and the oil cools down. The next step is up to you. You can choose to heat/bake to set the cookies or to keep them raw you may chill them to have them set. Heating: Warm them in oven at the lowest heat setting, leaving the oven door cracked open. Warm for an hour. It should be dry on the outside and moist on the inside, place cookies in the fridge after they've cooled, let them chill and set, eat and enjoy! Cooling: If you opt not to heat your treats, chill in the fridge for an hour. The overall texture will be soft and moist. Enjoy! Ingredients:
•1 (5 oz) bag shredded coconut- unsweetened •2/3 cup melted coconut oil + 1 TBSP •1/2 cup almond butter (try Barney Butter's Cocoa + Coconut) (substitute Sunbutter for nut free) •1 tsp organic vanilla •1 cup dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life) Instructions: In medium bowl, mix the coconut flakes, 2/3 cup melted coconut oil, vanilla, and almond butter until well mixed. Using your hands, form into 1 inch balls and put on a plate. Place in the freezer until hardened. Once the coconuggets have hardened, melt the chocolate in a double boiler with the additional 1 TBSP coconut oil until smooth. Dip the clusters into the chocolate and put back on a plate or in a small baking dish and place back in to the refrigerator. Enjoy cold! Ingredients:
1 cup raisins 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life) 1-2 tsp virgin coconut oil (more for thinner chocolate, less for thicker) Directions: 1. Melt the chocolate in anyway you please. I did in a pot via stovetop on the lowest setting. 2. Mix in coconut oil and if desired, spices. 3. Add in raisins and mix until all is coated 4. Pour and spread out mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper 5. Place into fridge to harden 6. Once hardened, break up pieces and eat!! Like I said, super simple and delicious. Store the rest (if there is any left!) in the fridge. I hope you enjoy! |
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aboutNosh & Nurture was born of this journey I am on to better the health of myself, my family and those around me. What started as a simple compilation of recipes has grown to a all-around lifestyle journal with ways to incorporate organic products into your home, pantry and beauty cabinet. I also include stories on pregnancy, new motherhood, travel, Proverbs 31 marriage, and spiritual health, as I am a Christian who couldn't do any of this without my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. For more of my story you can click here.
All recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free with a lot of soy-free, grain-free, sugar-free options. |
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