Adoption journey

Over the past year, the Lord has been growing, teaching, and challenging our family in so many ways! We are responding to the Lord's leading and are expanding our family through the adoption of a precious baby!

Monday, July 4, 2016

Eating Clean on a Budget: Snack Time!

While I try to feed my boys substantial nourishing meals, they are somehow always hungry in between meals! One of my boys has this internal clock and he always asks for a snack at 2pm. I am always looking for simple economical and healthy snack for my boys! I wrote a post on snacks two and a half years ago, but our diet has changed from gluten free to grain free since then. If you can eat grains, you may enjoy some of the granola and gluten free homemade cereal bars.  My new favorite granola is Young Living's Einkorn granola!

Many of our current snacks revolve around fruits, veggies, seeds, beans and nuts. We also love frozen snacks for 100 degree South Carolina summer afternoons!
NUTS & SEEDS
While there are many foods we avoid, we are thankful that we an eat all nuts and seeds... a couple of my guys are crazy about peanut butter! A simple snack for my boys is a bowl of cashews or another type of nut. My 4 year old likes to add raisins to his cashews and my 9 year old adds sunflower seeds to his cashews for a "trail mix".
Roasted pecans are a crunchy sweet snack!  I mix unrefined coconut oil and honey (3:1) and add a pinch of pink salt, 2 drops YL Cinnamon Bark EO. I toss with a couple cups of raw pecans and baked 45-60 minutes (stirring occasionally) at 275 degrees. 
Roasted pumkpin seeds are a great sweet or salty snack! We use coconut oil instead of butter in this recipe. We also roast cinnamon pumpkin seeds with the same recipe as pecans.

Stove top popcorn is a classic afternoon snack! We add yummy healthy twist to our popcorn with EOs. I pop 1/2 cup organic popcorn in 3 TBSP of coconut oil. After popped, I add Thyme and Rosemary EO infused olive or coconut oil (2 drops each EO to 4oz EVOO), pink salt, and 1-2 TBSP nutritional yeast (gives it a cheesy flavor). I've served this at oils classes and to my hungry boys... always a hit!
Homemade Lara Bars are a huge hit and family favorite! Our favorite recipes are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Snickerdoodle. I can't wait to try Pecan pie and Peanut butter and jelly flavors!
DIPS
Whether we're dipping veggies, chips, or a spoon... dips are a great snack! My three and four year olds will grab a bowl of guacamole and eat it with a spoon! I make a super simple version of guacamole with a smashed avocado and my seasoning blend (pink salt, pepper, granulated onion & garlic, cayenne pepper). When entertaining, I add a few more ingredients to guacamole.
Hummus is another easy dip that goes great with veggies, sweet potato chips or organic blue corn chips. This fun "pink hummus" is a cool twist on hummus!
Slow cooker refried beans are a great snack or meal!

FRUITS & VEGGIES
My boys go to snack has always been fruits & veggies. They know they can always grab an apple or a tomato on their own (my oldest eats tomatoes like apples:) When our spring/summer garden is growing, out boys eat sugar snap peas right off the vine.
Peanut butter (or cashew butter) logs with celery, banana or apple are a great protein and fruit paired snack.

 COOL TREATS
We love to cool off in the hot summer with a frozen treat! While we stay away from the sugar and artificial colored/flavored store popsicles, we have several great recipes my boys LOVE at home! The "Pina Colada Popsicle" is our most used recipe and we almost always have a stash of these in the freezer.  Here are several Paleo popsicle recipes.


Strawberry Limeade Slushies are another wonderful HEALTHY treat! My boys love the taste and I love the health benefits! 

This NingXia Red Slushiue recipe is great as a slushie or frozen into push up pops!
my boys LOVE NingXia push up pops! Look closely for the little one trying to snag big brother's pop!
Here's another fun variation on antioxidant rich NingXia popsicles!

SWEET TREATS
Unrefined coconut oil is a wonderful healthy fat and is great for supporting metabolism! I try to get at least 1-2 TBSP of this good oil daily! This wonderful chocolate recipe helps our entire family get our daily servings!
I spoon Skinny Chocolate into lined mini muffin tins, add a dollop of peanut butter and freeze. I pop out and store in the fridge. We enjoy getting a serving of healthy unrefined coconut oil in this sweet treat!
I also enjoy a peppermint twist on Skinny Chocolate!

I LOVE cooking with my Young Living essential oils! They are labeled dietary supplement and the ONLY EO brand that I trust to ingest. If you're interested in learning more about essential oils, leave me a comment or get started here!