Homemade Nutella

I love the nutty chocolaty combination of Nutella. However since trying to maintain a mostly whole food and refined sugar free diet, I cringe at the label on the store bought stuff. I have now managed to make my own version of Nutella. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

2 cups roasted hazelnuts with skins removed (put on a baking pan and roast at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes until skins start to crack, then rub skins off when still warm)
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
4 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons coconut sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup (this liquid helps improve the texture and helps the Nutella not to be too dry, and adds sweetness of course)
pinch of salt

Blend hazelnuts in a Vitamix or other strong blender/food processor until you have a nut butter. This makes about 1 1/2 cups of nut butter. Remove from blender and put into a mixing bowl. Add other ingredients and mix with a spoon until well blended. Store in an air tight container or jar. Makes about 2 cups.

Homemade Coconut Yogurt

4 cups of coconut milk either from the store or homemade
1/4 cup tapioca flour or coconut flour
1 tbsp. maple syrup (the bacteria need something to eat)
live culture (starter powder or 2-3 tbsp. coconut yogurt) or 2 probiotic capsules

To make your own coconut milk put 4 cups of water in a Vitamix or other good blender, add 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut. Blend for 2-3 minutes. It will separate if not used right away. Just stir or shake and it's not a problem. There may be some pulp, if you really don't want this you can strain it through cheesecloth but the pulp does make for a thicker yogurt. Plus you don't have extra clean up if you don't strain it!

Add flour to milk and heat in a pot on the stove to 160F, remove from heat and let cool to 110F, this will take 1.5-2 hours. once cooled add maple syrup and stir. Take 1/2 cup of milk and combine with live culture. Add this back into rest of milk. I use a glass jar to keep the milk in. I then put it in a warm 110F oven (if too warm it can kill the bacteria) and let it incubate for about 8 hours. The yogurt is not overly thick at this point. Put in the fridge and let it sit about 8 hours. It does thicken a little during this time. Homemade coconut milk does give a thinner yogurt than full fat canned milk. You could try making it in the crockpot like my other recipe here.

Gluten Free Quinoa Pancakes

about 3/4 cup cooked quinoa (I cooked mine in coconut milk but water is fine too)
1/4 cup coconut yogurt (I suppose you could use any soured milk or yogurt)
2 heaping tbsp. buckwheat flour
2 heaping tsp. white rice flour
2 tablespoons maple syrup,
1 egg or egg replacement equivalent
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Blend together in a Vitamix or other blender until well blended. Makes 4-5 pancakes. These pancakes really taste like real pancakes (ie: made with gluten) not gummy at all.

Quinoa Bars Gluten and Grain free

I found a wonderful recipe for a great snack bar that was gluten and oat free! I used the recipe found here and of course turned it into my own!

1 c. cooked quinoa*
1/2 c. sunflower seeds, ground finely in food processor
1/2 c. almonds, ground finely in food processor
1/4 c. dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
1/4 c. honey or maple syrup
1/4 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tsp. cinnamon
½-¾ tsp. unrefined sea salt
1 egg
1 scoop Vital Whey protein powder (optional)

Instructions
*Soak 1 cup dry quinoa overnight in water and either rinse and cook right away or set to sprout for 2-4 days. To cook: Mix with 2 cups milk or 1 can coconut milk. Bring to a boil, stir, and lower to simmer, covered, for 30 minutes (no stirring). This will make enough for two 9×13 pans of bars or you can eat the cooked quinoa on top of yogurt with blueberries, cinnamon, and maple syrup. You can also freeze extras for future batches. If you only want enough for one recipe, use ¼ c. quinoa and ½ c. milk. Simply mix all the ingredients together with a spoon or a mixer, then spread in a greased 8×8-inch glass baking pan. (I used a 8x!0 pan and just had thinner bars) The batter/dough will be rather moist; don’t worry. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes until firm to the touch in the center and browning on the edges. Cool completely in the pan, then cut into 16 2×2-inch squares. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

To make this my own I used pecans instead of almonds, dried dates for the fruit (1/4 cup was not enough, next time I will add more as these are not very sweet), used maple syrup (again I would use a little more next time), added 1 tsp vanilla, used egg replacement powder as per the box instructions, added 1 tbsp chia seeds, and added 1/2 tsp baking powder and omitted the whey protein powder. I cooked the quinoa with coconut milk as well. Since I have a sweet tooth, I did melt dark chocolate with coconut oil and drizzled this on top after baking to add some extra sweetness. I had made a second one as above but with cocoa and dried cranberries instead of vanilla, cinnamon and dates.

Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

Ever wondered what to do with your leftover porridge? Here is a good way to use it up. I got the original recipe here but of course I tweaked it a little!

2 cups cooked oatmeal ( I used oatmeal cooked with apples)
1 1/2 cups flour ( I used 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1 cup white flour)
1/4 cup sugar (omit if the oatmeal is sweetened)
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt (reduce or omit if you salted the water for your oats)
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil or melted butter
1/2 tsp apple pie spice (my addition)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (my addition)
1/3 - 1/2 cup whey - I found the batter too dry and needed to add more liquid to wet all the dry ingredients

Combine all ingredients and stir just until combined. Batter will be thick. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full and bake about 20 minutes at 375. Let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup 70%(or more) dark chocolate pieces
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup vanilla ice cream (we use our homemade ice cream but you could use any vanilla ice cream)

Melt butter and chocolates over in pot over low heat. Add sugar and stir. Increase the heat to medium and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir the ice cream into the chocolate mixture.

This stuff is amazing and versatile. It is great over ice cream, over desserts, or even just eaten with a spoon out of the jar!

Date Cranberry Pecan Bars

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped pecans minus 2 tbsp.
2 Tbsp. ground flax
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Add dates, and cranberries. Put 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed in a 3/4 measuring cup. Fill rest of cup with chopped pecans, add to above mixture. Stir until well mixed. Beat eggs until foamy. Add vanilla to eggs. Then add egg mixture to dry ingredients. Stir well. The batter will be thick.

Place batter into a greased 8″ square baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minute until center is set. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

Kyle loves to add vanilla ice cream and fresh pineapple to the bars, I think they are amazing on their own. Either way it's a recipe you have to try!