Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Today also happens to mark the one-year anniversary of Almonds & Avocados!
Happy One-Year Blogiversary and Surprise Chocolate Cupcakes!!
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Tag Archives: almonds
Chocolate Caramel Popcorn–A vegan and gluten-free treat!
It’s no secret to those who know me that I have an unhealthy relationship with popcorn–unhealthy in that I find myself giving in to popcorn cravings on a more-than-regular basis (think multiple times each week and sometimes more than once in a day), and then once I begin eating it, I don’t know when to stop. To be perfectly honest, I actually do know when I’ve had too much popcorn, but I keep eating it anyway until I feel as though I’ll burst if I eat just one more teensy-weensy kernel….
I can’t help myself. It’s just so good!
Spiced Almond Cranberry Bars with Vanilla Icing
Hey guys! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
I also hope you’ll forgive me for taking a couple extra days away from the blog over the holiday weekend. I’ve worked in retail for so long that I’ve never had an extended break around the holidays. With the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas being the busiest shopping season of the year, I always worked every day leading up to and immediately following the holidays. This year though, because I’m back in school and only working part-time, I’ve been blessed to have almost an entire week off! Besides working only 2 days this past week (I couldn’t escape Black Friday) and working a bit (a very little bit) on essays and projects, I’ve had the opportunity to really relax and spend some quality time with my hubby and my family! For that, I’m truly thankful! It’s been amazing getting to turn off my morning alarm, to leisurely play around in the kitchen, and to catch up on the millions of movies and episodes of Modern Family I’ve been wanting to see. More than anything though, I’ve truly valued the time with my husband. We’ve only been married a year and a half, but I’ve come to understand that simply spending time together is absolutely crucial. We’ve spent so much time together recently that it’s a miracle we haven’t driven each other completely crazy! Instead, it’s brought us closer than ever before. Oh yeah, please forgive me for being a sentimental schmuck, too 
After such a wonderful and relaxing week, yesterday I was finally ready to get back to work (homework, that is). With the semester winding down, these next few weeks at school are going to be brutal. I’ve tried to prepare myself, though–at least in the food department. One of the more productive things I did last week was to come up with easy, healthy snack bars that I can take with me to class or the library to hold me over when those pesky pangs of hunger strike.
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Sweet & Salty Trail Mix
Happy National Trail Mix Day!
I realized recently that nearly every day is a different food holiday, and I couldn’t be more excited! To me, that’s just genius. I mean, who doesn’t want to celebrate food every day?!?
When I discovered that National Trail Mix day was today, I simply had to pay homage.
It’s funny–there have been a few different occasions when I’ve explained to people that I eat mostly vegan/vegetarian and they’ve responded, “So do you eat trail mix all the time?” The truth is, no, I actually don’t. In fact, it’s been years since I’ve eaten trail mix. But, I must say, when I made a gigantic batch of trail mix in honor of today, I realized that I have been seriously missing out!!
I’m definitely a salty/sweet girl. If I eat anything overly salty, then I have to balance it out with something sweet, and vice versa. As you can probably tell, it’s a vicious cycle that typically ends with a full and aching belly. When I was growing up, Peanut M&Ms were my all-time favorite because each bite was a satisfying blend of both flavors. So, when it came time to make some homemade trail mix, my first objective was to include the salty/sweet element that I love so much!
Yesterday, after tossing all of my favorite ingredients together, I snapped a few quick pictures, poured some trail mix into a bag, and headed out the door to go to class. Thursdays can get a bit hectic for me and lunch is often difficult, but this trail mix really hit the spot!
Trail mix is quite possibly the easiest snack in the world to create. Choose any ingredients you love and simply toss them together! Just to give you an idea, I’ve included a recipe for the trail mix I made (and inhaled) yesterday…
Sweet & Salty Trail Mix (vegan and gluten-free):
- 1 cup mixed nuts (I used almonds and walnuts that had been soaked and dehydrated–you can read about the importance of soaking here)*
- 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used a mix of coconut flakes, cranberries, and goji berries)
- 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (I used Chatfield’s All Natural Carob Chips)
- A couple Tbs. of buckwheat groats (again, I used soaked and dehydrated)*
- A couple Tbs. of seeds (I used sunflower seeds, soaked and dehydrated)*
Instructions: toss everything together in a large bowl or sealed bag. Enjoy!
*Even though it sounds like I did a lot of soaking and dehydrating, I had all of the ingredients ready in my fridge because I had done the soaking/dehydrating previously and in large batches. Don’t worry, if you don’t want to do this extra step, you don’t have to! I just do it because it helps with digestion, but it’s certainly not necessary.
Although I love traditional trail mix (like the one listed above), I also had to include my other favorite trail mix recipe: last week, I shared my Easy Oat Cookies (AKA Trail Mix Cookies). These cookies are so addictive that I made three batches last week and ate two entire batches all by myself. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m horrible when it comes to sharing food.
Aside from noshing on trail mix all day, I plan on making these delicious cookies again tonight to celebrate. I just love holidays
Easy Oat Cookies (AKA Trail Mix Cookies)
Two of the things I quickly remembered when I returned to school: 1) breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, and 2) easy, healthy, and portable snacks are essential. Without a filling breakfast, I find it hard to focus because I’m constantly calculating how long it will be before I have an opportunity to eat again, and without healthy snacks, I feel tempted to hit up the snack machine for some seriously unhealthy treats (Peanut M&Ms–I’m looking at you).
Fortunately, these Easy Oat Cookies (AKA Trail Mix Cookies) are healthy enough to enjoy for breakfast and sweet enough to fulfill my cravings for treats. While I typically enjoy making my breakfast smoothies, there are some mornings when homework or a faulty alarm clock (at least I tell myself it’s faulty) get in the way.
Unfortunately, I made these cookies two nights ago with the intention of taking some with me when I start class on Monday and ended up eating ALL of them. I gave a few away to coworkers yesterday so I don’t feel quite so bad, but yes, that’s a lot of cookies for one person. They’re just SO GOOD! I couldn’t stop myself!
So, I’ll be making another batch very soon and this time I’ll try to restrain myself more. In fact, I can make batches of these cookies as often as I want because they’re super easy to make!
The first thing I always do is assemble most of my ingredients. I used gluten-free oats, but regular oats will do if you don’t have issues with gluten.
Once I had mixed up all of the ingredients, I shaped the dough into cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet:
Then I sat back and relaxed, and thirty minutes later I had beautiful, delicious cookies! I couldn’t help myself, I had to sneak a cookie while they were cooling off The cookie smell wafting through my house was just way too tempting…
I’ll admit, these are not the most beautiful cookies in the world, but what they lack in beauty, they make up for in taste!
The best part about these cookies: you can eat them completely guilt-free. Ok, I did feel a little guilty while I was eating cookie #9 last night (after eating dinner and a huge bowl of popcorn). Please don’t judge me. I wouldn’t have felt so bad if it hadn’t been for the fact that I ate for three straight hours. It was while I was eating that ninth cookie that I realized I have a serious food addiction. But who can blame me when you’ve got these babies just sitting in your kitchen, waiting to be eaten!
Still not convinced to make these cookies? Not only are they easy to make and gluten-free, they’re also vegan and contain no added sugar. That means you can even pack them in your little one’s school lunch–they’ll be so happy to have a cookie and have no idea that it’s actually a healthy cookie! It’s a win-win situation! You can even get the kiddos involved in making these cookies–they can easily toss the ingredients into a bowl, stir, and shape them with their hands (and we all know that getting hands dirty is always fun)!
Hopefully by now I’ve convinced you that you NEED to make these cookies
Easy Oat Cookies (AKA Trail Mix Cookies)
Author: Rachel Gutierrez
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: approx. 15 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup old fashioned oats, ground into flour using a food processor or a coffee grinder
- ½ cup old fashioned oats (not ground)
- 1 Tbs. ground flaxseed (optional)
- ⅓ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ¼-1/2 tsp. salt
- ½ cup almonds, chopped or pulsed in a food processor just until broken up
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup cranberries (fruit juice sweetened are best; alternatively, sub with raisins)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the dry ingredients (oats through almonds) in a large mixing bowl and stir.
- In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas, then add the applesauce and vanilla extract. Stir until completely combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well (I used a spatula to do this). Then, add the cranberries and mix until evenly distributed. Let the “dough” sit for at least five minutes to allow it time to thicken and the oats to soften.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the mixture–about 2 Tbs. at a time–onto the parchment and mold into cookie shapes.
- Place the cookies in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes. When the cookies have browned, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on a cooling rack.
- When cool, serve and enjoy! You can also save these cookies in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to five days.
