Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Photo of the bars I made


Gluten Free Fruit and Nut Bars
My kids love granola and fruit bars so I tried my hand at a homemade healthier recipe and they were a hit!!!  Here's the recipe I tried and will modify again to include more nuts and maybe some seeds in the future batches.  Enjoy!!

  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 tbsp coconut flour
  • 1 tbsp almond butter
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/3 cup coarse-chopped unsalted almonds
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips or chunks cut up
  • 1/3 cup chopped dried organic fruit - I used a blueberry, strawberry, cherry mix
  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a small square baking pan with parchment paper hanging slightly over each side (for easy removal).
  2. In a bowl, add honey, coconut flour, almond butter and salt and combine.
  3. Coarse chop all the almonds and any other nuts and seeds you wish to add and put into the mixture.
  4. Chop the dried fruits into small coarse chunks and add to the mixture.
  5. Next add the small chocolate chunks to the mixture and stir all together.
  6. Put the mixture into the parchment-lined baking dish. Fold the excess parchment paper and evenly press the top of the bar mixture firmly to pack-in the ingredients so they hold together better after baking. Then, peel back the parchments flaps from top of bars. 
  7. Bake for 20 minutes. Then remove from oven and allow to completely cool on stovetop for approximately one hour (or until bottom of baking dish is room temp).
  8. Place in fridge to continue cooling. (Do not freeze as it makes it impossible to cut the bars without them crumbling.) Once cold, remove dish from refrigerator. Then, run a knife along the two edges without parchment. Using the parchment paper ends, lift the bars from the baking dish and place on a cutting board.
  9. Cut into 8 bars and individually wrap and store in the fridge or freezer. Then you can easily take out what you need and place directly into your child’s lunchbox (or yours) – no need to thaw. However, for best results, bars should be kept cold so they do not become over-sticky. Simply include an ice pack, if placing them in a lunchbox, or taking them on the go.


This recipe was adapted from one I found online and yields a small amount of bars.  Perhaps double and add any fruit, nuts, coconut, and seeds to try new variations.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Life Ameliorated goes broad.  After many side conversations with friends and a lot of encouragement, Life Ameliorated has broadened from a blog to include a website of information.  Join us at: http://lifeameliorated.weebly.com for more information.


Sunday, January 12, 2014


Roasted Side Dish

Well to be completely honest this begin as yet another attempt in pursuit of making amazing veggie baked chips.  Fail from the start....I pulled out the wrong slicer for my King Kutter and ended up with thin curls of Sweet and Russet Potatoes, Carrots, and Zucchini.  So from there I just went with it.

Drizzled them all in olive oil and sprinkled on the following:
Paprika
Turmeric
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Celery Salt
Mustard Seed
and ground Rosemary

Baked at 425 on several pans (to get a thin layer) turning over only once and keeping a watchful eye to catch them before they burned.  Approximately, 15 minutes.

Decided at the last minute that a yummy garnish would be some roasted Chickpeas so out came the can of Garbanzo beans.  Rinsed and Drained
Also drizzled in EVOO
Paprika
Garlic
S & P
and Celery Salt
Baked at the already 425 degrees for 10 minutes and popped them into the center of the mixture.

Ended up being a super super yummy way to sneak in some protein and veggies for the kids!!!