Healthified Trail Mix

UPDATE: You can now find even more healthified recipes & tips at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

I have great news for you! There is no longer a need to buy overpriced, bagged trail mix. Making your own trail mix is not only healthier but it is also cheaper and much yummier (since you can put in whatever ingredients you like the most).

How did I healthify it?

1. Instead of dried fruit sweetened with white sugar, I used unsweetened dried fruit.

2. Instead of milk chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate.

3. Instead of peanuts, I added almond and pecans. (Peanuts aren’t necessarily unhealthy, but almonds and pecans are a better option in my opinion.)

Trail Mix is a great snack and super easy to throw together. It’s also a great on-the-go snack.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried mango

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 cup dried plantains

Throw all the ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake to mix up.

Tip: When you are buying dried fruit, be sure to check the ingredients. Lots of dried fruits are made with plain ole’ white sugar-icky! Look for the ones that are either unsweetened or sweetened with cane juice. (Better yet, dehydrate your own!)

Delicious Greeen Smoothie

UPDATE: You can now find even more healthified recipes & tips at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

This smoothie is super tasty, but comes out looking a little ugly.

It’s a great way to get your day started or to give you a little boost during what should be afternoon naptime.

What’s so great about this smoothie?

Spinach is loaded with vitamins and nutrients, one of which is the amazing disease-fighting antioxidant beta-carotene.

Strawberries are loaded with Vitamin C.

Bananas are a great source of potassium and vitamin B6.

Ingredients:

2 handfuls spinach (or kale)

1 banana (fresh or frozen)

15 strawberries or blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1-2 tsp vanilla (depending on your taste)

1 cup of water

4-5 ice cubes

A couple shakes of cinnamon

Agave Nectar or Honey, to taste (Start with one tablespoon and add from there accordingly.)

Throw it all in the blender and blend on high until smooth.

Note: Be sure that your banana is ripe but not too ripe (starting to turn brown). If you use a banana that is too ripe, you will need to add more sweeter (honey or agave) to taste.

This recipe has been adapted from Dr. Axe’s Kale Shake.

Banana/Orange/Strawberry Smoothie AKA The BOSS

UPDATE: You can now find even more healthified recipes & tips at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

This is my favorite smoothie to have with healthified popcorn.

It’s also my go-to smoothie because I always have bananas, frozen strawberries, and OJ on hand.

Ingredients:

2 cups Orange Juice (freshly squeezed, organic, or my favorite Simply Orange w/ Mango)

10-15 frozen (or fresh) strawberries

1 frozen (or fresh) banana

5-8 ice cubes

1 cup water

Throw all the ingredients into the blender and blend on high until smooth. If your smoothie is a little too thick, just add water a little at a time. If it is too thin, add more ice cubes or frozen strawberries.

Enjoy!!

Linked to: Life As A Mom

BEST SNACK EVER: Healthified Popcorn & Smoothie

UPDATE: You can now find even more healthified recipes & tips at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

Smoothie and popcorn anyone??

I LOOOOVE to eat popcorn with a smoothie. Maybe it’s the whole salty/sweet thing, I don’t know. Either way, this is by far one of my favorite night time snacks. It’s filling but not too heavy.

Maybe you are thinking, Tiffany- how in the world can you “healthify” popcorn? Popcorn is on the list of almost every “healthy snack” list out there.

The ways that I “healthified” it are:

1. I made it in on the stovetop, not in the microwave. The jury is still out on the safety of microwave popcorn, especially in the “steam” that it releases when you open the bag.

However the fact remains that many microwave popcorn bags are lined with a coating that breaks down into perfluorooctanoic acid, a synthetic chemical. Also, the butter flavoring in microwave popcorn contains a chemical known as diacetyl. If you want the butter flavor, just use the real thing.(Read more here.)

If we are unsure about the safety of microwave popcorn, why not just spend a few minutes extra (and a few dollars extra) and make it on the stovetop?

2. I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil to cook the popcorn.

Here’s how ya do it:

Ingredients:

3 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup of popcorn kernels

Salt (to taste)

Melted butter (to taste)

Directions:

1.Melt coconut oil (if not already liquified) in heavy pot or stove top popper on medium heat. Add 1-2 kernels.

2. Wait for the 1-2 kernels to pop. (Once they pop you know the oil is hot enough to pop the rest of the kernels.) Add popcorn kernels to the pan.

3. Place the lid on the pot but leave it slightly ajar to allow the steam (but not your precious popcorn ) to escape. Shake the pot lightly until the kernels are all popped. (When the “pops” are about 3 seconds apart you know that the popcorn is done.)

4. Remove from heat and dump into a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt to taste and add butter to taste.

Note: I usually just put salt unless I am in a butter mood. When I am in a butter mood I melt about 1/4 cup of butter and drizzle over the popped popcorn.

Click here or here for smoothie recipes.

Honey Butter Recipe (YUMMY!!)

UPDATE: You can now find even more healthified recipes & tips at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

I made some dinner rolls tonight and thought they’d be delicious with some honey butter which I wasn’t quite sure how to make…until now! It turned out delicious and next time I may add some vanilla and/or some cinnamon.

1 stick of butter softened (but not melted)

2- 2 1/2 tbsp honey

Mix together by hand with a fork or with immersion blender until fluffy. (My awesome hubby got me an immersion blender for Christmas and it made this mixture nice and fluffy!)

The BEST (& Easiest) Applesauce Bread Recipe

 

UPDATE: You can now find even more healthified recipes & tips at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

This is a recipe I picked up many moons ago when I was a housekeeper for a family of 10. I used to make this in batches of 6 loaves but have broken down the recipe below for just 1 loaf of delicious, melt-in-your-mouth applesauce bread.

The great thing about applesauce bread is that it is super easy to throw together! If you are looking for a great baked good gift to give for Christmas-or any other special occasion-then look no more!

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup maple syrup (or maple sugar)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

Butter (to grease pan)

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl with wooden spoon.

Grease bread pan with butter. Pour mixture into pan.

Bake 35-40 minutes. (Stick a toothpick in the middle to be sure it’s done. If the toothpick comes out clean, it’s time to take that baby out of the oven.)

Allow to cool in pan for appoximately 30-45 minutes. ( I can never wait quite this long but if you can, it is worth the wait. )

Turn out & slice. This bread also freezes really well!

Healthified Hot Chocolate

 

 

I am a hugeeeeeeeeeee hot chocolate fan…especially during these cold winter months. However, hot chocolate, especially the packaged versions we buy in the grocery store, are not at all good for us.

For that reason, I was sooooo excited when I found a recipe for Honey Peppermint Hot Chocolate on the Well Fed Homestead.

This recipe is not super sweet but it is ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh soooooooooooooo yummy and instead of sugar, it is sweetened with honey. 

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Homemade Chocolate Chips

I recently happened upon a blog that has quickly become a favorite of mine. It’s called Heavenly Homemaker. The name itself brings me hope that it is possible to be a heavenly homemaker instead of a frazzled one (which I’m sure I may be on some days).

Besides having great posts, my very favorite part of the blog is the recipes section (which is where I found this amazing chocolate chip recipe).

Now I won’t be munching on these oh so sweet morsels everyday, but I would much rather prefer throwing some homemade chocolate chips into my occasional batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies than using store bought chocolate chips with a list of ingredients longer than the Great Wall of China .

I wanted to share this jewel of recipe with you because it’s easy, cheap to make, and about as healthy as you can get when it comes to chocolate chips . Happy Cooking!

Click here for the recipe and instructions.

Yummy Carrot-Orange Juice (and Sale on Organic Carrots)

Hey Hnb fam~ I told you I would be back sporadically once I got “used to” this whole pregnancy thing . The morning sickness is finally gone so now I am getting back to healthy eating. It’s nice to be able to eat more than toast and mashed potatoes.

I went for a quick Publix run today and found Organic Carrots for $0.99 per bag. These are usually $1.99 so it’s like getting 2 for the price of 1. I bought 2 bags and since it’s just me and the hubs- that’s quite a few carrots to down . Therefore, I thought I’d try my hand at carrot juice. This actually turned out pretty yummy so I thought you may like to try it out as well.

Carrots are an excellent source of fiber, beta-carotene and Vitamin A, among other things.

Yummy Carrot Orange Juice

*Makes 2 full glasses*

2-2 1/2 cups all natural orange juice

8 whole carrots

Agave Nectar to taste ( I used about 1-2 tsp)

5-8 ice cubes

Wash carrots and then cut up carrots into 1-2 inch pieces. (This helps the blender to do it’s job.) Put ingredients into blender and blend on “Crush” option or high for 2-3 minutes. I blend mine until smooth. The consistency will be gritty but smooth. If it’s too gritty for your taste, strain in a strainer before pouring into glasses. The hubs and I prefer not to strain it but it’s up to you.

Yummy AND Healthy Strawberry Lemonade

With all these heat, I have been craving Strawberry Lemonade…unfortunately, Strawberry Lemonade is made with not-so-good white sugar.

This week I am going to try out my own version of this recipe from epicurious. Basically, I am just substituting the sugar with agave nectar…this should be yummy ! I’ll let you know how it goes.

You should note that when replacing agave nectar for sugar, it’s about 1/2 cup agave for every 1 cup of sugar.

Here’s what I’m gonna do:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 lb strawberries (1 1/2 cups), trimmed and halved
• 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 5 lemons)
• 1/2 cup (plus 1-2 tsp) agave nectar
• 3 cups cold water

Purée strawberries with 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then force through a fine sieve into a bowl to remove seeds. Heat agave nectar with about 1/2 cup water on stove top until agave is melted.  Stir together strawberry purée, remaining lemon juice, agave nectar mix, and water in a large pitcher until agave nectar is dissolved. Taste, then add agave if desired. Serve over ice.