Gluten-Free PB Cup Energy Bites Recipe

If you have not caught on yet…combining peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite combination! Here is a simple recipe that I make every week…PB Cup Energy Bites! They are gluten-free, (which has been helpful with my recent gluten-free trial, see blog at Overnight Oats Recipe…A Gluten-Free Recipe for a New Patient ), only uses 5 ingredients and it is a no-bake recipe!

Gluten-Free PB Cup Energy Bites (Recipe compliments of chefsavvy.com. Thank you!)

Ingredients: 2/3 cup organic creamy PB, 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, 1 cup gluten-free old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup flax seeds, 2 tbsp organic honey

Directions:

1. Combine and stir all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 15-30 minutes (so they are easier to roll).
3. Roll into 12 bites and store in covered container for up to 1 week.
4. Indulge!

For another energy bite recipe, see blog at No-Bake Energy Bites

No-Bake Energy Bites

Ok, I’ll admit it… they sound too nutritious… even I was hesitant to to try these No-Bake Energy Bites! My husband picked them up while on a coffee run this summer. But… I actually loved them! Ironically, the local cafe had the recipe displayed on their counter and I took a picture. I decided to make them last week and they came out pretty good! I thought I would share on my blog for anyone else looking for a little energy boost… we could all use one these days, huh? Enjoy… and be energized!

No–Bake Energy Bites (Recipe compliments of The Nook Coffee House in RI)

Ingredients: 1 cup dry old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup peanut butter (I substituted Nuts ‘n More Chocolate Peanut Butter for extra protein!), 1/3 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1/2 cup flax seeds, 2/3 cup shredded toasted coconut, 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. First, toast the shredded coconut: preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread shredded coconut in a thin layer in a cookie sheet. Toast for 5-10 minutes in preheated oven until becomes a golden color. Let cool.
2. Stir all ingredients together in a bowl until thoroughly mixed.
3. Cover and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Once chilled, shape into 1 inch balls.
5. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

THANKS to The Nook Coffee House for sharing this recipe!

My Favorite Hostess Cupcakes – A Copy Cat Recipe

My all-time favorite lunch box snack when I was a child was the infamous Hostess Cupcake. A lot has changed since then, but once I started pinning recipes on Pinterest a couple of years ago, I kept seeing “copy cat” recipes for the classic Hostess Cupcakes. Finally, this past weekend, I purchased all of the ingredients I would need and asked my 12-year-old daughter if she would be interested in baking them with me. Of course she said yes, chocolate and baking cupcakes are two of her favorite things in this world. The recipe I used was more simple than others I have seen. I chose this recipe, along with substituting Devil’s Food Cake boxed cupcake mix for the base of the cupcake instead of making them from scratch. Thank you to Pinterest and orehateveryoudo.com for sharing the recipe (official recipe can be found here… https://www.orwhateveryoudo.com/2013/02/from-scratch-hostess-cupcakes.html/amp )

Hostess Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients: Devil’s Food Cupcakes (baked according to package), milk chocolate chips, marshmallow cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, heavy cream, butter, milk

Directions:  

1. Bake cupcakes according to package and let cool completely.
2. Using a Wilton Treat Corer or the bottom of a decorating tip, core the middle of the cupcake. Keep the cupcake piece aside to block off the filling afterwards.
3. To make the filling: Cream 4 tbsp of butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar together. Add 2 tsp vanilla and 1 tbsp heavy cream. Blend together. Add another 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 tbsp heavy cream and mix well.  Add 1 cup marshmallows cream and mix together well.
4. Fill a decorating bag (or large Ziploc bag) with the filling and cut of the corner tip. Fill the middle of each cupcake and then top it with the small cupcake piece that was removed earlier.
5. To make the chocolate ganache topping: In a small sauce pan, melt 1 tbsp butter with 1/2 cup heavy cream, until almost boiling. Pour over 1 cup milk chocolate chips, stir well until melted completely. Add 2 tsp vanilla, mix well.
6. Dip each cupcake into the ganache. Place cupcakes in refrigerator for 30 minutes for ganache to set.
7. To make the icing: Combine 1 stick butter, 2 tbsp milk, 2 cups powdered sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla and mix until well blended. (Note: I cut the icing recipe in half and it was enough for the amount of cupcakes we made) 
8. Fill a decorating bag with a small hole decorating tip. Make the classic swirl design (see photo) or whatever design you would like to use.

Goldfish Crackers found their way back into our pantry: A Non-GMO update

They’re back!!!
My children have been obsessed with Goldfish Crackers since they were toddlers. Back in January 2015, I learned about GMO’s and switched out my family’s diet to a non-GMO and organic diet. One of the 1st items to go was Goldfish Crackers. My kids were not very happy with me and would continue to whine (although I did find a comprable cracker snack by Late July Brand and I buy them weekly.) Fast forward to this week, my cousin sent us a text that she found Goldfish Crackers at Target that were non-GMO and Organic! It was probably the happiest day for my kids so far this summer vacation! We ventured to Target yesterday and they stocked up! And guess what… They look and taste the same! Thank you Pepperidge Farms!
For information on my family’s transition to a non-GMO diet, please check out my blog post Lunch Box Makeover

Back to School – A Lunchbox Makeover (Repost)

Moms and Dads…It’s  Back to School time, which means back to packing lunch boxes every day!In our home, it is a challenging task with my picky eaters. Here is a Lunch Box Makeover my family went through this past March. Click here for the blog post https://homesweetmamamia.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/lunchbox-makeover/ .  It shares a list of Non-GMO snacks we switched to in our home.  So, for all of my new blog and social media followers, I thought I would re-post it for Back to School time.

Happy Packing!

Lunch Box Makeover

  

I have always considered myself a conscious grocery shopper when packing my kids’ lunch boxes. I always bought snacks that were labeled either natural or organic, whole grain, no high fructose corn syrup, nut free or not processed in a nut facility, low in calories, fat and/or sugar, no added growth hormones, high in calcium and fiber, and/or healthy options…all while trying to keep the cost down. Well, about 8 weeks ago, while visiting another mom, she made a comment to me about GMOs in Goldfish Crackers and trying not to feed them to her kids…and that is how the Lunch Box Makeover began!

What are GMOs?

I am not writing to persuade you or prove that GMOs are harmful. I am only writing to share the process I have gone through to educate myself and to try to eliminate GMOs in my kids’ daily diets, as best as I can. I thought I would start with their lunch boxes!

GMO stands for genetically modified organisms, which are added to approximately 80% of the foods we eat, and I, a mom for 10 years, never even knew about them. When I heard about this, I searched GMOs on the internet and quickly became educated on what they are and how I can try to eliminate them from our diets. My research brought me to many websites, but the one site that I continue to refer to is http://www.nongmoproject.org/. (Please note that I have not been endorsed to speak on behalf of this topic, organization, or website. This is solely my personal opinion and choice that I thought I would share with other parents.)

The Lunch Box Makeover began as I opened my pantry cabinet and reviewed the snacks that I buy every week and pack each day in their lunch boxes. Looking at my daughter’s lunch box, 90% of her lunchbox contained GMOs… my son’s was 62%.

My kids have probably been eating Goldfish Crackers since they were 1 year old. And, I can honestly say, we would go through 2-3 bags a week, between a lunch box snack and their go-to after-school snack. It is my go-to snack I bring to play dates we are invited to, serve them at every play date and party we host, and I even hand out snack bags as one of our Halloween treats for kids as a “healthier option” than candy. Goldfish Crackers were the first to be eliminated.

My kids are picky eaters, they always have been, and their snacks and lunches are always the same few options, so I would rotate them each day. I started on my non-GMO grocery shopping journey with a list of what they currently pack and I tried to replace each item. Some products were hits and some were misses. It has been 8 weeks since we started our transition to a non- GMO lunch, and we have almost completely replaced each GMO item. Here is the list I worked from:

Previous Snack Choice	New Non-GMO Option
Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Crackers (original)	Late July Organic Saltine Crackers
Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Crackers (cheddar)	Late July Organic Cheddar Squares
Rold Gold Pretzel Sticks or Snyder’s Snaps	365 Crunchy Pretzel Sticks
Nabisco Teddy Grahams (various flavors)	Barbara’s Organic Snackimals Cookies (various flavors)
Frito Lay Tostitos Bite Size Tortilla Chips	Green Mountain Gringo Organic White Corn Tortilla Strips
Boom Chicka Pop Popcorn or 365 Popcorn	Same
365 Veggie Chips	Same
Clif Kids’ Cereal Bars (various flavors)	Same
Kellogg’s Special K Cereal Bars (Vanilla Crisp & Chocolate Pretzel)	Cascadia Farms Organic Vanilla Chip Chewy Granola Bar
Ocean Spray Craisins Cranberry Snacks	Simply Balanced Organic Cranberries *
Nature’s Promise Organic Raisins	Same
Stonyfield Organic YoKids Yogurt Tubes (any flavor)	Same
Yoplait Original Yogurt (French Vanilla)	Stonyfield Organic YoKids Blueberry Yogurt Tubes
Okios Greek Yogurt (Orange Cream)	Stonyfield Organic YoKids Blueberry Yogurt Tubes
Sargento Mozzarella Cheese Sticks	Horizon Organic Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Ritz Crackers	Late July Organic Classic Rich Crackers
100% Whole Wheat Bread (no high fructose syrup, various brands)	Still taste testing replacements
Stop & Shop Honey Graham Crackers	Erewhon Organic Honey Grahams
Nutella Hazelnut Spread	Justin’s Hazelnut Spread, Nuts ‘n More White Chocolate Peanut Butter, & Nuts ‘n More Coconut Chocolate Almond Butter *
Barilla Pasta (all Natural) with Land o’ Lakes Butter	Replaced butter only at this time to Earth Balance Organic, still serving Barilla Pasta
Fruits and Vegetables (various & some Organic brands)	Same
CapriSun 100% Juice (various flavors) Juice Boxes	Bake to Nature Organic, 365 Organic & Nature’s Promise Organic Juice Boxes
mini-water bottles (various brands)	Same

*Not non-GMO verified

Some issues that I have come across…

• Some of the non-GMO and/or organic brands are products that are processed in a facility that also manufactures nuts or not nut-free. This opens up another issue for our school lunch policies that all classrooms are nut-free. Lunches, however, can have nuts or be processed in a nut facility. (This may vary at your child’s school or day care). So, I have to educate my kids as to which snacks can only be eaten in the cafeteria.
• It is not possible to eliminate every non-GMO snack while at other houses, eating out at restaurants, on vacation or just for convenience purposes.
• Most of these non-GMO items are more expensive than their competitor. There aren’t many sales or coupons for these brands. The packages tend to be smaller, as well. I do not tend to stock up on the items, which results in more frequent trips to the market.
• It is not as convenient to shop for the items. Many are specific to one retailer, so it eliminates the one-stop shopping, which is usually what I prefer.

What to look for when shopping for non-GMO snacks…

• “GMO free” or no GMOs written on label
• Non-GMO Project Verified logo
• Organic brands (replacing snacks with an Organic Only option, if you cannot locate a non-GMO and organic option, is a better option.) Note: Not all organic products are non-GMO, and not all non-GMO products are organic!

So, it has been 8  weeks and my kids still talk about Goldfish Crackers and continue to ask me why they had to change their lunch boxes…it is a learning process and I don’t know how long these changes will last, but for now, I am working on making our daily eating habits slightly healthier for everyone one step at a time! Over the last few weeks, I have also started changing over our breakfast foods and various other condiments/additives, such as sugars.

I hope this has helped you learn a little more about GMOs and now you can take all of the information and make a decision that works for you and your family. I know I learn something new everyday!