Oat Bars

When you have brown banana's in your kitchen screaming Banana Bread at you BUT you want something a little different...
Depending on how many of these brown little sweeties you have staring at you, you actually have SO many fun options.  Have you tried Banana nice cream ...seriously....seriously....it is like soft serve but not crappy and SOOOOO easy to make. OR you could make oat bars.
These are simple and just the right amount of sweet. All natural ingredients you can feel good about.  Perfect for afternoon tea time or pack in your lunch basket for carb energy in your day.  Great thing is once you realize you have those ripe banana's staring at you, you really have almost all the ingredients.

4 1/2 Cups Oats
2 Ripe Banana's
6 TBSP Maple Syrup
6 TBSP Tahini (you can use any nut butter here)
4 TBSP Coconut Oil, plus extra for greasing if you don't have parchment paper to line your bake tray

Preheat the oven 400F

Put your Oats into a large mixing bowl set aside
In a small bowl mash your banana's
In a small sauce pan add your maple syrup, your nut butter, and coconut oil.  Heat on medium heat stirring till smooth.  Add your mashed banana and allow to simmer until it becomes warm and liquid and smooooth.
Pour the smooth sweet banana, syrup, nut butterness onto your oats. Stir well until all your oats are covered.
Grease your baking sheet with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.  I love parch paper makes for such an easy clean up plus it makes it much easier to chop into bars from a cutting board rather than out of the pan.
Transfer your batter onto the baking sheet.  Press down firmly with a spatula so that it is even and compact.
Bake for 20 minutes until the top becomes golden.
Cool completely before chopping into bars.

Enjoy
XO
Asia Girl

Grape Nuts Muffins

I made these while looking for a way to incorporate more fiber into my diet.  I like baked goods but am extra picky since I want my food to be as natural and healthy as possible.
These muffito's are made with whole ingredients.  The grape nuts are a store bought item... but for the added benefits of the fiber I think it is a good add.

Ingredients

1 cup Grape-nuts

1/2 cup Rolled oats

1 1/4 c Almond milk

1 Flax Egg

1/2 cup Applesauce

1/4 cup Maple Syrup

2 TBS melted Coconut Oil

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 TBS Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Make Flax Egg: Mix 1 TBSP ground flax with 2.5 TBSP water. Let sit 3 min's.

3. Combine Almond Milk, Grape-nuts, and Oats. Let sit 3 min.

4. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into cereal mix.

5. Add Maple Syrup and melted Coconut oil to your Flax Egg.

5. Stir wet mixture into flour mix. Stir until combined. Fold in the berries.

6. Line muffin tins with *silicone liners or grease with coconut oil and fill 2/3 full with batter. 

7. Bake 20 min. Cool 5 min in pan, then on wire rack.

* I have used paper liners for this recipe and results were not great.  Ended up eating a bit of paper with each muffin as they STICK to the paper like glue! Silicone liners = best results :)

Enjoy! 

XO 

Ashie Girl 

Asia Eggplant Dip

If you love Baba Ghanoush you might now want to hear that most store bought prepared Baba can be loaded with fat and calories. Now you know I’m not afraid to eat fat (hello nut butter!) but the kind of fat you will find in these dips doesn't typically land in the 'good fat' category. Also keeping it more veg and less fat gives makes for a perfect snack that you don’t have to feel guilty about.  This can easily be used as a dressing for salad or mixed with rice and beans adding something a little extra for taste as well as bumping up nutrition.

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant
• coconut oil 
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp dried cumin (optional)
• 1 tsp of Tahini 
• Lemon juice
• water
• Pepper to taste
  
  
  
  
  

To start you need to roast your eggplant. THis is pretty simple.  Heat oven to 400.  Cut your eggplant length wise.  Rub the outer skin with coconut oil.  Cut side down roast in oven for 20 minutes.  

Once cooled add your eggplant and remaining ingredients to your blender.  Wiz it up. Voila.  You have a yummy dip for veggies or mix with rice or quinoa.  

ENjoy!

xo

Ashie Girl 

Roated Kabucha squash Taco's with purple cabbage & quick Guac

Mini Yam Bread

YOu know when you are going low carb and you NEED just a little something.  This was my solution today.  My day was crazy town from start to finish.  This tasted sorta like pumpkin pie but in a loaf.  I had a little chunk with Almond butter on it with my tea and it fixed me right up.  The rest is sliced up and in the freezer until the next low hits.  Being prepared with healthy go to snacks is crucial to success.  I still think this recipe could use some work since it reeaaallly didn't actually rise like bread.  But I found it valuable today so I wanted to post it anyways.  Also I used my blender to puree the yam then added all the other ingredients to the blender.  At this point it wasn't really blender worthy so I used my long spatula to incorporate the rest.

prep tins with coconut oil - pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

-200 grams of cooked Yam (about 1 medium sized Yam)
-1 1/4 Cup Almond Milk (un sweetened)
-1 3/4 Cup Rice Flour
-1 tsp Cinnamon
-1 ts Baking powder

Combine ingredients.  Add to tins.  Bake about 1 hour.  Cool.  Slice. Enjoy.
Xo Ashie Girl

Hippy Muffin's for back to school

These muffins are inspired by one of my fav bloggers Sarah Britton of 'My New Roots'. These freeze beautifully. Keep half out for your fam jam to munch on, and once cooled, put the others in a thick plastic bag in the freezer. Take some out in the morning, put one in your kids lunch AND DONT FORGET put one (or two) in your bag for an afternoon snack at work. You will thank yourself for being so prepared and healthy!

Ingredients

-1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
-1/3 cup olive oil
-1/3 cup maple syrup
-2 Tbs. Tahini
-Grated zest of 1 organic, un-waxed orange
-2 cups whole grain flour (spelt, kamut, or whole wheat)
-1 cup rolled oats
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 tsp. sea salt
-1 cup fresh or frozen berries.
-pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prep a 12 Cup muffin tin.

2. Put the orange juice, oil, syrup, tahini, and orange zest into a medium bowl and whisk until well combined.
3. Mix the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl until well combined. Add the orange juice mixture and combine, using as few strokes as possible so you do not over mix the batter. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each approximately 3/4 full. Sprinkle with seeds. 

Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (about 20-25 minutes).

Gingerbread

This recipe is inspired by a rainy day.  It's halloween and it doesn't feel at all like it!  Our energies lately have been all about work for myself and especially Grego. For Boden his many activities and new passions.  We even skipped carving a pumpkin. Boden has declared himself too old to trick or treat...he IS only 11 but as he looks down at me towering my height my inches now I support his choice.  Baking something with pumpkin, molasses, and pumpkin pie spice could not be missed.  

This recipe was inspired by Oh She glows.  I love cruising all my fav blogs for new recipes but more often than not it is Angela's recipes that get me making a mess in my kitchen.  Our house smells like fall and that at least feels a bit like halloween.

This recipe is vegan and soy free. Angela's recipe calls for pumpkin puree but since my mind is still foggy from a nasty cold I have been fighting I found myself half way deep into the recipe until I remembered the important ingredient I needed  CRAP.... and then quickly I improvised.  Enter a nice big orange Yam.  The recipe also calls for pumpkin pie spice of which I did not have in my spice cupboard but luckily Angela provides a quick recipe for this as well... I  have also amended this since I have discovered I REALLy don't care for nutmeg OR cloves.  But without these two it still is an outstanding pumpkin spice if I don't say so myself.

Pumpkin Pie Spice:

-4 tsp cinnamon

-2 tsp ground ginger

-1 tsp ground allspice

Angela's recipe also calls for:

-1 tsp grated nutmeg

-1/2 tsp ground cloves

...if you are into those sorts of things (gag)

Gingerbread!

1 TBSP Chia seeds

3 TBSP water

1 Cup cooked Yam

1/3 Cup melted coconut oil

3 TBSP pure maple syrup

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1/4 Cup blackstrap molasses

1 2/3 Cup all purpose flour

1 TBSP pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 Cup raw pumpkin seeds

Method:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

prep bread pan with parchment paper OR prep muffin tins

In a small bowl mix together chia seeds and water and let sit for maybe 3 mins.

In your blender carafe, add all wet ingredients.  Dont forget to add your chia blob (this is your egg sub and it works like a dream  ALSO adds nutrition to your recipe :)
Blend till combined and smooth.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add wet ingredients from blender.  Mix just till combined. Once batter is in your loaf pan or in muffin tins sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.  

Cooking time for muffins is 22 mins.  For a loaf give it about 50 mins. 

Happy Halloween Y'all!  

xoxo Ashie girl 

Blueberry Spelt - Millet Muffins

Today is the last day of a very beautiful week off from work.
The weather has been beyond amazing.  I am so grateful to have had my brother and sister in law with us for this week.  Their visit was a very special one since they brought with them their 5 month old baby girl Kate.  To say she is precious and beautiful is just the tip of the ice berg.  She is  as sweet as pie, beautiful, and calm natured.  She remains unquenchably happy while fighting jet lag, heat and baby exhaustion.  Top all that off with the most fierce case of FOMO I have ever witnessed and you have our Kate :) Our Boden has graduated from grade five and has started his summer of achieving glory.  Paddle boarding is slowly becoming an activity we are able to enjoy more and more and I feel as though I have caught up on some much needed R & R.  I even a managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Quadra to visit my parents and my best friend Fairleigh.  This was much needed since we see each other never.  Three hours just wasn't enough.  Still missing her.....

My car was full as I headed home from the island with fresh Quadra island cherries and Raspberries and a new pile of vegan magazines that my mom collects for me with brand new recipe inspiration.
Since I have been home I have tackled two recipes that both turned out awesome and work perfectly for the busy week ahead.  I made and froze 'oh she glows' veggie burgers and these yummy blueberry muffins.  I modified this a bit to suit what I had on hand and they tuned out really yummy.  I am thinking they will be perfect grab and go healthy food for Boden :)

If you are able to wake up early to brave turning on your oven I hope you will give this recipe a try!
They are packed with antioxidant power of blueberry and Goji berries and crunchy millet.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Spelt flour (I used ww)
1/3 cup millet
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar (I used regular sugar since but wished I had this healthy alternative)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp sea salt

2 small banana's, mashes
3/4 cup + 2 TBSP coconut milk (I used almond)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup frozen blueberries (I was lucky enough to have fresh ones)
1/2 cup goji berries (I have never tried these...totally yummy..sort of like dried cranberries)

pre heat oven to 350
lightly coat a 12 cup muffin pan or line with muffin papers

Make Muffins:

In a large bowl, using a fork, stir flour with millet, coconut sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
In another bowl, stir bananas with coconut milk until blended.  Stir in maple syrup, vinegar, and vanilla; then lastly stir in coconut oil.  Pour over dry mixture and stuf just till mixed.  Fold in blueberries and goji berries.
Divide mixture between cups in muffin pan and bake for 25 minutes.  Muffins will ruse only slightly above fill level. These are a dense and flavourful snacking muffin!   Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Buckwheat Chia Pancakes

Happy Monday All!

This recipe is amazing.
Okay... I say that in many MANY previous posts but this one really takes the cake
the PAN cake that is
Har har...sad I am a dork
I discovered this simple but beautiful recipe while hunting for a new buckwheat pancake recipe this morning.
You see....I crave carbs.  But I reeeally want high quality carbs.
High protein...high fibre...gluten free..and dairy free too.
Do you think this is too much to ask?
NOPE!
Enter the best lil protein pancake recipe I have discovered yet.
They are quick to make and the only real mess is giving your blender canister a rinse.
These will be the prefect little carb on the go I need to get me through my busy non stop days.
The blogger I have to thank for this little gem is Kim Lam of Lettuce Be Happy

Thank you KIM!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Buckwheat Flour
1 1/3 Cup Almond Milk
1 Large Banana
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 tsp Salt
4 tsp Chia Seeds
2 TBSP Melted Coconut Oil 

Make em:
SO easy!
Pop all the ingredients in your blender in no special order.  Blend to combine. Make Pancakes.
ENJOY!
xoxo
Ashie Girl

Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies that are't so healthy your kids wont eat them

That is a long title for these cookies...
I often make VERY healthy healthy fare....
No sugar..no gluten..
I am thrilled with the healthfulness of these snacks
Guilt Free is TOTALLY what I am always looking for
BUT when you are a kid...you sorta need yummy AND sweet AND fun
I try to find balance including traditional sweets and treats in our cupboards
BUT my Real REAL goal is to fuel my family with healthy homemade
treats that they WILL actually EAT
Will ActuALLy EnjoY
...and keep coming back for more
IS THAT Too Much to AsK???
These cookies are it!
Loaded with healthy ingredients
with just enough sweet stuff to trick them ....errrr I mean to satisfy
I mean ....
I would NEVER trick my family into eating something pretending it was a yummy treat while sneaking healthy ingredients in testing their tastebuds to see if they will notice
All moms do this....right?

OK the cookies...Mostly healthy and no sneaky stuff I promise


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 Cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon 
1/2 tsp course salt
2/3 cup coconut oil, warm up to liquify
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (seeeeee I told you they were super fun!...I am like the best mom)
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 
2 1/2 cups old -fashioned rolled oats
1 cup organic raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Whisk flour, oat bran, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl
In another bowl, whisk oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Stir wet ingredients into dry then mix in oats and raisins
Roll 2 TBSP of dough into a ball, place onto parchment lines baking sheet about 2 inches apart
Bake until golden brown, 10-13 minutes
Let cool on baking sheet 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
Makes 2 dozen

Enjoy
xoxo
Ashie Girl

SO the muffins I made last week were such a hit in the lunches I decided I would make more this weekend :)

Boden said he loved the Buckwheat Apple Banana ones….but let me know that Alli Hart makes the absolute BEST chocolate muffins he has ever ever tasted….not trying to steal mom of the year from my lovely friend Alli but now I was totally inspired to make a chocolate version that still fit in with my healthy snack crusade…so I scoured the internet and found this recipe…so get your muffin tins out and start baking! 

 Ingredients

• 3 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup maple syrup (honey or other natural sweeteners will work too)
• 3/4 cup coconut oil, warmed to liquid
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (Iused sour cream expiry date was creeping up!)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2  eggs
• 3/4 cup milk 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil muffin pans or line with paper liners.
2. Use a whisk to combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Use whisk to combine all wet ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and whisk until ingredients emulsify and become uniform. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Spoon batter into muffin pan until cups are 2/3 of the way full. If using chocolate chips, drop a couple on top of the muffin batter.
5. Cook muffins for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the centre cleanly. 

Enjoy!

xoxo 

Ashie Girl 

Protein Bites!

These are awesome little bites that feel like a treat! 
They are grab and go energy that your kids will love too!

Ingredients: 
1 cup gluten-free oatmeal
1 cup coconut flakes (more for rolling your balls in after they are formed)
1/2 cup ground flax seed 
4 scoops chocolate protein powder (Arbonne Essentials)

1/2 cup almond butter
1/3 cup Maple Syrup or agave nectar(Wholesome Sweeteners)
Splash vanilla

Unsweetened almond milk for consistency 

To make your Protein Bites:

In a large bowl mix together first 4 ingredients till combined

Next in a medium sized bowl mix together the next 3 on the list

Mix both these ingredients together then finally add your almond milk…mixing together the ingredients with your hands adding almond milk till you are able to form balls.  Roll balls in shredded coconut if desired.  Chill in fridge.