Wheat and Dairy Free Snacks

Last entry I promised that I would give you a recipe for some almond and hemp milk and a healthy mini-muffin recipe.

I am sure most of you know how many calories there are in the muffins and treats you get at coffee shops. They contain lots of sugar and fat. Maybe that is why they taste so good? They also do not contain many actual "healthy" ingredients.

If you are trying to get off wheat and dairy - which is a good idea - then here are some recipes that can help the transition.

Almond Milk

• 1 cup of soaked organic raw almonds (these are sometimes called "natural" almonds). They have not been roasted or salted. Soak these overnight in filtered water.
• 3 cups of filtered water
• 1 tsp of pure vanilla
• Honey or agave nector added to taste
• a pinch of cinnamon (optional)

You will need a blender for this. Add the water first, then the rest of ingredients. If you don't have a really powerful blender then you might want to cut up the almonds first. Blend until mixture is well mixed. You will still see small chunks of almonds (probably). Pour the almond milk through a very fine strainer or cheesecloth (a nut bag is great if you have one). The liquid that comes through the strainer or cheesecloth is the almond milk.

You can make chocolate milk by adding organic cocoa or cacao powder (raw chocolate and very healthy for you!). You may want to add some more sweetener or some dates when blending the almond milk with the cocoa or cacao powder. Do this in your blender.

Hemp Milk
You will do the same as above except use hemp hearts and water, vanilla and sweetener.

• 2 tbsp of hemp hearts
• 2 cups of water
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• Sweetener to taste

Blend together in blender. You can also then add cocoa or cacao powder to this also. You don't really need to strain it. You may want to do a smaller batch using 1 tbsp hemp hearts and 1 cup of water.

Healthy Mini-Muffins

• 2 cups of flour of choice (Kamut, spelt, ground almonds, etc. or combine a few)
• 1 egg or oil (I like grape seed oil)
• Madjool dates chopped up (3 or 4, depends on how much you like them)
• Soaked nuts (walnuts, chopped almonds, pecans, etc)
• Sunflower and pumpkin seeds
• Cinnamon, nutmet, salt (all to taste)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Sweetener of your choice and to taste (careful - if you use dates or raisins you do not need much  honey or sweetener)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add dats and mix. Add egg or oil and vanilla and mix. You want the batter to be the consistency of muffin batter so add almond milk (or another liquid) to make the batter the proper thickness.

You don have to worry too much about measuring the ingredients. If you have baked before you know what muffin batter is supposed to look like. It is runnier than cookie batter but still thick. It is hard to screw this up unless you add too much liquid and it gets too runny or you add too many nuts and seeds and the muffins do not stick together. If too much liquid, add more dry ingredients.

Pour mixture into mini-muffin tins. You can also make this thick and try making cookies. I have done both. Every time I used to make these they turned out a bit different. Write down the ingredients and how much you use and you will know what you need to adjust for next batch.

You can really add anything to this recipe once you have the base.

Let me know how they turn out!

Remember - these are healthier than the ones you buy at a coffee shop but eating 5 at a time is probably still too much. You will notice they are quite filling if you have a lot of healthy nutritional ingredients in them.

Enjoy!