Frozen Chocolate-Covered Banana Popsicles!

Alright, so summer is finally here; thus, it is time for healthy-ish summer snacks.  The best snack during the summer months is definitely fruit, but if you get all watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey-dewed out then here’s a nice cool treat you can try.

Ingredients:

Banana

Chocolate

Coconut Oil

Popsicle Sticks/Stir Sticks

Directions:

-Melt ¾ chocolate to ¼ coconut oil via double boiler method...

-Peel bananas then put a popsicle stick in it (you can also cut the banana in half if wanted)

-Either dip banana in the chocolate or drizzle chocolate over the banana

                -At this point you could sprinkle the chocolate with shredded coconut (or sprinkles so the kiddies think it’s cool).

-Lay the bananas down on a baking sheet and pop it in the freezer for an hour.

-Don’t try to lift the banana from the sheet by the stick – you’ll probably just crack your frozen banana, instead gently scrape the chocolate on the sheet around the banana until it is no longer stuck, or let it thaw for a few minutes then remove from the sheet.

These are definitely healthier than those freeze-ez or popsicles that are LOADED with sugar, and a tad more filling! They were a hit in my house, gobbled down as soon as they came out of the freezer.

Enjoy!

DIY Instant Oatmeal

Why waste your money on packaged oatmeal? Seriously…there’s nothing special or difficult about it. You can make your own breakfast oatmeal in two minutes flat and save yourself the 3-6$/box of oatmeal. While I appreciate that companies are providing organic oatmeal, I don’t appreciate the cost or all the packaging/waste that comes with it, especially when Organic Quick Oats are incredibly cheap!!

Solution….Make your own oatmeal!! How you ask? Easy.

-Hit your local bulk food store and buy some Organic Quick Oats.

-Add some dried fruits and nuts as much or little as you want.

            (That’s right, no more wishing there were more raisins in your cinnamon and raison oatmeal, or more pieces of dried apple in your apple cinnamon oatmeal!!).

            -you could also add flax seed, hemp seed, wheat germ, etc…

-Add some spices to taste (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, whatever…)

            -You can add a few tablespoons of raw/brown sugar to sweeten it, or just drizzle honey on after you’ve added the boiling water.

        And, yes, this cooks the exact same way as the packaged stuff, either by adding boiling water, or adding water and putting it in the microwave.

I’m partial to everything chocolate-coconut…

so here’s what I made.

Ingredients:

-1lb of Organic Quick Oats (cost me $1.09CAD   
   for 2lbs).

-3 tablespoons of Carob Powder (cost me approx. 

   $0.20), you can also use Cocoa Powder)

-1/4 cup of chopped carob chips ($0.30)

-1/2 cup of Shredded Coconut, sweetened or 

   unsweetened – it’s your call, (cost me $0.50)

-1/2 cup of chopped Almonds (roughly $1)

-1/4 cup of chopped Pecans (roughly $1)

-1/4 cup of dried fruit (a mix of blueberry,          
    cranberry and raisins) (roughly $1.50)

So for less than $5, I’ve got more food, and made just the way I want it with plenty of nuts, and dried fruit, and without the unnecessary ‘powdered milks’ and added starches or thickeners. For instance Instant Quaker Oatmeal has added salt, food colouring (e.g., caramel colour), “reduced iron” [? – I have no idea why], and added vitamin A (Vitamin A Palmitate).

While it might be true that none of the above will kill me, I just don’t know why it belongs in my oatmeal. Actually, it doesn’t belong in my oatmeal… and so it isn’t.  Is it in yours?