*NOTE: If not all of your kernels pop up- you can stick the HOT kernels back into the sack and return them to the microwave to continue popping. Just be sure the popped kernels are removed or else they will burn. 

I thought it was only fitting to have my little "snack-attacker" introduce this next gluten free recipe to you. She is the queen of snacks. In fact, it's the first thing she asks for when she wakes up in the morning: "Mom, mom! Can I have a snack..." She usually turns her lip down when I explain we eat breakfast for breakfast and not snacks. ;) 

So, in honor of her (and her gluten and dairy allergies) I wanted a good healthy snack that I wouldn't feel guilty giving her but one that also provides her with a good mix of protein and nutrients. I created this from our favorite nuts and dried fruits but feel free to adjust it to your needs. Allergic to peanuts? No problem. Simply sub them out for a different nut. 

If you haven't already tried it, making your own trail mix is so incredibly easy! In fact, I let my 3 year do the entire thing! She absolutely LOVES it and it helps her feel a sense of ownership so she's more likely to eat it. It's such a great and healthy trail mix. My husband and I love having it on hand for our snack-attack moments as well! 

You might be asking... Why make my own when I can just buy it? 

1. You can control the nutritional value. (No food-coloring covered chocolate candies...you know which ones I'm referring to.)
   
2. Adjust it to fit your dietary needs. (Some trail mixes contain peanuts or yogurt chips. Create a trail mix that fits YOUR needs.) 
3. It's cheaper! (Surprisingly, when you're adding in a lot of healthy ingredients you only need a cup or less of each to make a large batch of trail mix. Buy in bulk and you save even more!) 

So with all that said, I'll turn the time over to my little one to introduce this next recipe to you. 

Sometimes I get a little frustrated when I look at the back of prepacked items. It seems like they throw all sorts of unnecessary stuff in there! Let's take Honey Roasted Almonds for example, shouldn't it have only a couple of ingredients? And since when do you need soy to make Honey Roasted Almonds?! 

This next recipe is simple, yummy, and quick to make. Plus, you can save money doing it yourself! We purchase our raw nuts in bulk from Costco or Health Food Store bulk bins and then refrigerate the rest. (That saves us money too!)

You're going to love the smell of these babies and they taste just as good! They make a great snack and you can even throw them into a trail mix instead of food-coloring-coated-candies to help sweeten things up! 

Watch out though! These are highly addictive! My little Audrey ate 15 (I was rationing) and was she was still begging for more! 

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
Adapted by jalene from multiple recipes online

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups raw whole almonds
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used evaporated cane juice sugar)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Mix the sugar and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. 
3. Rinse the almonds and spread out on a cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes (stirring every few minutes and watch careful not to burn them.) Set aside. 
4. In a saucepan melt the honey, oil, and water together until it boils. Add the almonds and stir continuously for about 5 minutes. 
5. You can either sprinkle the salt and sugar mixture on top of the almonds or you can stir the almonds into the mixture. Spread the almonds so they are not touching out on wax paper to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. 

Sometimes I forget to post the quick little things we eat if we need a fast snack. This next one is a great in between meal for those hungry little eaters. You could even turn it into a meal depending on what you serve with it! We love to throw in avocado or replace the ham for cooked chicken. Whatever combination, it's sure to please! 

(Gluten Free, Can be Dairy Free)
Created by jalene

Ingredients: 

• Corn Tortillas (we use organic)
• Ham Slices (we suggest using Nitrate FREE, especially for kids and if you're pregnant)
• Cheese (use a Vegan alternative to be DF)
• oil (like olive oil or coconut oil)

Directions: 

1. Heat a large flat pan over medium heat. Add a little bit of oil and 1 corn tortilla. Top with meat and cheese then cover with another tortilla. Cook on each side for about 3-5 minutes or until heated and the cheese is melted. Slice & serve. Store leftovers in fridge. 

Peanut Butter has been on my brain lately! I've been craving it like crazy for some reason... (I'm pregnant by the way! I'll be 20 weeks tomorrow! Woohoo!) K, back to talking about peanut butter...I've even been sneaking it into my oatmeal in the morning, making frostings out of it, and adding it to my dinners at night... weird I know! (See the link below for a great Peanut Butter Pad Thai Dinner that has recently become one of our new family favorites!)

This next recipe is a great PEANUT BUTTERY breakfast granola bar. You can make a batch, put them in their own individual baggies and then they're a great quick-grab breakfast or snack. They're versatile as well so if you like or dislike certain ingredients, you can simply sub them out! The bars kind of remind me like an oatmeal cookie rather than something healthy... so as long as you don't tell your kids, they wont know the difference! 

This recipe calls for brown sugar and I typically create my own so I can use my organic evaporate cane juice sugar as the base. (The link is provided below as well so you can try it out if you'd like!) Making your own brown sugar is surprisingly super simple. 

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
Created by jalene but inspired by a recipe from The American Dietetic Association

Makes 9 squares
Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (I make my own)
  
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (I used organic & unsweetened)
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
• 1 & 1/2 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped dates (you could sub raisins)
• 1/4 cup chopped plums 
• 1 Tbsp flax seeds
• 2 Tbsp any nut of your choice, chopped

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8x8 pan with parchment or oil with coconut oil. 
2. In a bowl combine the brown sugar, peanut butter, oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Then stir in the remaining ingredients. 
3. Spread the mixture into pan, pressing it down with a spatula. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Allow the bars to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes then remove from the pan and cool the rest of the way. (They taste yummy hot but if you don't want them to crumble while cutting, allow them to cool first.) Cut into squares to serve. Store unused bars in an airtight container.

I've been craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lately but the problem is I rarely buy gluten free bread. It's too pricey and often goes DRY fast. I can make my own bread (and have some great recipes for it-see below) but there's a QUICK way to satisfy my craving! RICE CAKES. You heard me. Those weird patty looking things that healthy people eat. If you haven't tried one in a while, you should! They may surprise you. They're gluten free and come a HUGE variety of flavors. They have a great shelf life so you don't have to worry about them like you do bread. It's my go-to when I have a snack attack. 

Gluten Free, Dairy Free
Created by jalene

Ingredients: 

• Brown Rice Cakes
• Organic Peanut Butter
• Organic jelly (I used raspberry)

Directions: 

1. Spread on the peanut butter & jelly & eat! ;) Super simple, super yummy.

What do you like on your rice cakes! Share with us below:

Happy Halloween! 
I'm sure your child tonight is going to get all sorts of treats! The trick is knowing which ones are gluten free! I found a great UPDATED website that you can use as a guide. You can even print it off for easy reference. It comes to us from the great people @ about.com. Click the button below to see this year's Halloween Gluten Free "SAFE list". 

I saw a variation of this next recipe on Pinterest except they used marshmallows instead as teeth. They weren't very scary. They looked more like Grandma's dentures accidentally fell out. Cute, but not very healthy (the marshmallow part). If you're striving NOT to give your child high fructose corn syrup, try this next treat instead! It put a smile on Audrey's face. She guessed that they were "Lions...roar!" so I just let her go with that since she probably doesn't know who Dracula or even vampires are for that matter. :) 

In the recipe I'm going to teach you how to BLANCH ALMONDS. Don't be scared. It's super easy and kind of addicting fun. Weird I know, but we had a blast doing it. By "we" I mean I was enjoying my craft when my husband jumped in to help because he thought it looked like fun! You can even use your blanching skills to make your own almond milk! See my recipe HERE. 

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Contains Nuts)
Created by jalene

Makes 8 sets
Ingredients: 

• 1 red apple (I recommend organic!)
• Organic Peanut Butter, Cashew Butter, almond butter, OR My Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
• 16 raw whole almonds
• water for boiling & small saucepan
• ice cubes

Directions: 

1. Bring 1 cup of water to boil over medium heat. Drop the almonds in the boiling water and boil for 1 minute. (Do not over boil or your almonds will turn soft).  Immediately drain and place the almonds into a small bowl of ice cubes and water. Allow to stand for about another minute and then drain. The skins should POP right off. Set aside the blanched almonds on a paper towel. 
2. Wash and dry your apple and then cut into 16 wedges. (I use my apple cutter and then slice the 8 wedges in half to make 16.)
3. Lather your favorite butter of choice in between 2 slices and then stick in your "teeth" (aka blanched almonds). Walla! Scary teeth or lion teeth. Depending on who's looking at them.  :)

PS- Don't forget about the FREE GIVE-A-WAY going on right now! Enter to win today!

Aw...raspberry and chocolate. A match made in heaven wouldn't you say? 

This next recipe should probably be illegal from being considered as a breakfast item. It's more like a snack...that is a yummy dessert! Whatever it is, and whenever you choose to eat it, it's amazing! The flavors of the chocolate, hazelnut, and raspberries all mixed together are HEAVENLY. And can you believe it's all gluten and dairy free! What more could you ask for? ...Maybe for me to drive to your house and make it for you? Ha ha...sorry folks, all I do is supply the recipes. You'll have to do the rest.  ;)

You can click on the pictures below to be taken to each individual recipe or use the links in the recipe below. 

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Contains eggs)
Created by jalene

Ingredients: 

• my gf df crepe recipe
• my chocolate hazelnut spread recipe
• fresh raspberries

Directions: 

1. Add a thin layer of the chocolate hazelnut spread onto a warm crepe. Add the raspberries and roll up the crepe like a tortilla and serve. OR instead of rolling, you can add another crepe on top and cut it into wedges like a pizza. Walla! A healthy, yummy, indulging snack. 

When I visited Paris a few years ago (while I was still eating gluten) one of my favorite memories was getting a crepe right across the street from the Eiffel Tower. (You would think my favorite memory was seeing the actual Eiffel Tower, but when you get right close up to it it's a big metal thing painted an ugly brown color. Ha ha. Not what I was expecting...)

Anyways, there was this little crepe stand big enough to have a stove and a man in it and that's about it. I remember LOVING how fast and effortlessly the crepe maker could pour and spread out this giant crepe almost a foot and a half wide! He had so many different choices of fillings to choose from and I remember looking over one of them and thinking... "Hmm.. ham and cheese on a crepe? That's a weird combination." I mean ham and cheese totally go together like peanut butter and jelly but to me crepes were desserts! Sweet treats filled with even more of a sweet treat! Why would I put ham and cheese in it? Weird. But intrigued, I decided to try it and you know what...it was AMAZING!  

Now, at home years later (and gluten-free n loving it), we still enjoy this "treat!" Of course my crepes aren't as HUGE but they are gluten and dairy free! 

These crepes are great because you can either have it for breakfast or just as a snack. Add some veggies and it's a meal! Enjoy! You're going to heart this one. 

(Gluten Free, Can be Dairy Free)
Created by jalene

Ingredients: 

• 1 recipe of my Gluten Free Crepes (But instead of 1 Tbsp 100% pure Maple Syrup- change to only 1/2 Tbsp and increase sea salt to 2 pinches instead of 1)
• Hormel Nitrate Free Ham
• Mozzarella (or to make DF use Vegan Mozzarella)
  

My crepes are FREEZABLE so if you have any extra crepes simply stick them in between wax paper and place into a freezer safe baggie. Then you can make this recipe FAST the next time! 

Craving one of these? Try my strawberry-banana smoothie instead! No, McDonald's smoothie does not contain gluten but it does contain dairy from the "low-fat yogurt." Not only is my smoothie recipe Dairy Free it's Sugar Free too! (That is besides the sugar found naturally in the strawberries and bananas.) 

The best part of this recipe- it's SO versatile. It can be a smoothie, frozen into ice cream or even popsicles! 

PS-If you want a good read sometime you should browse through the nutrition facts of McDonalds. It's crazy what they put in things. Take French Fries for instance...

"French Fries: Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to
preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK. *(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients)"

YIKES! 

At least with this next recipe you know you're getting REALLY real ingredients...

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free) 
Adapted by jalene

Makes 2 cups
Ingredients: 

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 cup sliced banana
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp gluten free vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Throw it all into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. ;)

To make popsicles: 
Follow the directions above and then pour into popsicle molds. Freeze for at least 4-6 hours or overnight. 

To make ice cream: 
Follow the directions above except use FROZEN bananas as well as frozen strawberries. Mixture will be THICK. Put it into the freezer to harden more or enjoy right away!