Healthy Homemade Fruit Snacks ~ No sweetener added!

After my first attempt a few days ago, I have been hounded by people wanting my recipe for these. They needed a little tweaking and I finally got some made this afternoon that I am really happy with.

Here is the recipe to make your very own fruit snacks!

Version #1
1/3 cup fruit juice concentrate (I used frozen orange juice)
2/3 cup water
3 Tablespoons Unflavored Grass-Fed Gelatin

In a small saucepan, mix the juice concentrate and water together and stir gently until blended over low heat. Slowly shake in the gelatin and use a whisk to blend so that the gelatin does not get clumpy. Whisk gently until just warm, do not let it get to a simmer or boil.

Pour carefully into waiting molds. I use silicone molds from the Dollar Tree but if you don't have any handy you can pour them into a shallow glass dish and cut them into bites. Let them set in the molds for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator. They should easily pop out and be ready to enjoy!

Chillin in my refrigerator

Version #2
1 cup premade juice (I used Cranberry from a jar I bought at the store)
3 Tablespoons grass-fed gelatin


In a small saucepan heat the juice over low heat. Slowly shake in the gelatin and use a whisk to blend so that the gelatin does not get clumpy. Whisk gently until just warm, do not let it get to a simmer or boil.

Pour carefully into molds or glass dish. Let them set for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator before popping out and enjoying.

These are not super sweet (which is how we like things at our house). If you would like them to be sweeter then you can add a Tablespoon of raw honey when you are warming the juice at the first step.

What I love most about these, is how healthy they are. One batch made me 20 fruit snacks. There are 18 grams of protein in three Tablespoons of the gelatin so there is almost one gram of protein per fruit snack! What store brand could you possibly get that from?!

Last week I made a giant gummy bear while I was making these. It was a fun treat for mommy!!



Paleo Carrot-Orange Muffins

I do a lot of juicing. I love the way fresh juiced fruits and vegetables taste, its just so refreshing!!

I also hate to throw away any of the pulp, it just seems like such a waste. A while back I started making a gluten-free "Pulp Bread" (get the recipe here). But now that I am grain-free I needed to get a batch that was grain and sugar free. Here is what I came up with. I have to say that I surprised myself with how good these taste!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Cashew Flour or Almond Flour
1/4 cup Organic Coconut Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon Organic Molasses Unsulphured
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cups apple sauce (I used homemade peach sauce)
4 organic eggs
1/4 cup melted organic coconut oil
2 Tablespoons Orange Juice
2 cups pulp from juicing (I used pulp from a carrot-orange-ginger juice) or you can sub 2 cups grated carrot
10 dates, pitted and finely diced

Add all the ingredients into a large bowl in the order listed. One they are all in the bowl, use an electric hand mixer to blend everything together. Don't over mix it, just blend until everything is mixed.

Spoon the batter (it will be thick and dense) into paper lined muffin tins. (My batch made 18 muffins)
Bake at 350F for about 20-22 minutes until they are lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from muffin tin and let cool on wire cooling rack.
*Note: These are more dense and have more moisture in the center of them than normal muffins do.

I hope that you enjoy these as much as my family does. They have such a sweet flavor to them that if I hadn't made them I would have sworn they had sugar in them. 

Lemon-Dijon Chicken ~ Paleo

Yesterday I made the most delicious chicken that I have ever eaten! It was amazing!! Here is the recipe for the marinade that I made, most of these items you should have lying about your kitchen which is great. I am not a of making a trip to the store for one thing.

Lemon-Dijon Marinade
1/2 Tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I zested one medium sized lemon and then juiced it. Zest first!!)
2 Tablespoons Spicy Dijon Mustard (I used Trader Joe's brand as it has no sugar)
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Organic Maple Syrup
1 Tablespoon Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried (or fresh) basil
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon dried (or fresh) rosemary

In a one cup measuring cup (I used a half pint mason jar) add all of these ingredients together and stir with a fork to blend.

Place your chicken drumsticks (my pack of organic drumsticks from Trader Joes had 5 in it) in a bowl and then pour the marinade over them. Place in the refrigerator and allow to sit for 4 hours. During that time rotate the drumsticks occasionally to spread around the marinade.

When you are ready to bake, move the drumsticks to a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil with a cooling rack on top. Place the chicken the cooling rack and then spoon extra marinade over the top.

Bake at 375 F for about 1 hour (be sure that your chicken is completely cooked and reaches a proper internal temp of 165F).

I served this for dinner with fresh kiwi (my daughter's favorite fruit) and some wilted kale. You can snag the wilted kale directions here.

It was a complete crowd pleaser!!