Homemade Nutella

It is better to make your own nutella without that nasty palm oil!

1 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup powdered milk
1 Tbsp. mild-flavored honey
pinch salt
1 heaping cup chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, or chips
1 scant cup chopped milk chocolate, or chips

On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the nuts in a 400ºF for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and their skins begin to pop. Transfer to a tea towel, gather into a bundle and rub together to remove as much of their skins as possible. While warm, transfer to the bowl of a food processor and blend until they go from finely ground to pasty and thick, like natural peanut butter.

Meanwhile, warm the milk, powdered milk, honey and salt in a small saucepan just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat. In a glass or stainless steel bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave), melt the chocolates, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate to the ground nuts and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well blended and as smooth as you can get it. Makes about 2 cups.

Spicy roasted chickpeas

Makes 4 servings

What You'll Need: 

1 15.5 ounce can chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

What To Do:

Heat oven to 450 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Drain and rinse chickpeas and put them in a bowl.
Add oil, salt, and pepper to chickpeas and mix well. Spread them on baking sheet in one layer.
Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.
Remove pan, shake around to ensure that the chickpeas brown evenly, and return to oven for another 15 minutes until brown and crunchy.
Enjoy warm or at room temperature!
You can use  any of your favorite spices ex: cumin, curry, paprika, garlic powder

Cherry berry frozen mojitos

Cherry-Berry Frozen Mojitos

Ingredients:

1 (12oz) package of frozen cherries
1 cup frozen strawberries
4 oz light rum
1.5 oz mint-infused simple syrup (I used store-bought syrup this time, but you can easily make your own by melting sugar and water in a pot and steeping fresh mint leaves in the syrup)
1 cup club soda
1  oz lime juice
1/2 tray ice cubes (Optional – the first batch, I used ice cubes, the second batch I forgot them. Both turned out well and tasted more or less the same, with the same consistency, so it’s up to you if you want to add these!)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender.
Blend until smooth.
** At this point, taste the mixture to see if you prefer more of any ingredient. Too sweet? Add more lime juice. Not sweet enough? More simple syrup. Thicker than you like? Add some club soda. Or rum.
Pour, serve, enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars

I love granola bars but hate the additives and preservatives when buying from store so I decided to make my own all natural bars. These are like nutrigrain bars without the fruit jam. These are so easy to make and you can add any kind of dried fruit, nuts and seeds to it. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars 

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups old-fashioned/rolled oats
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup raisins and dried cranberries
*optional 1/2 cup pepitas

In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes.
Add egg; beat well.
Stir in flax and honey.
In a small bowl, combine the oats, flour, cinnamon and baking soda; stir into creamed mixture just until blended. Gently stir in raisins, dried cranberries , pepitas  and Press into an 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350° for 14-18 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned.Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Almond vanilla oatmeal banana smoothie

I love my vitamix,  I make healthy drinks and soups in the vitamix. It is so worth the money if you can swing it. You can buy a refurbished one for half price too. After my taebo workout yes with billy blanks, he inspires me, I drink a smoothie packed with protein to replenish my muscles.  Heres the recipe: put in blender in this order
1cup almond milk (vanilla flavored) or you can add 1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp cooked oatmeal or can be uncooked
1 tbsp almond butter or any nut butter you prefer
1 banana
Cinnamon as much as you like
You may add honey or agave to sweeten
1 tbsp chia seeds, this will thicken smoothie and give you energy (optional)
4-5 ice cubes
Blend in vitamix/blender on low variable speed and increase to 10 until smooth, pour and enjoy
* instead of ice you can use a frozen banana this will make it thicker but dont forget so does chia seeds
To your health!

Vegan chai tea

Vegan Chai
Makes 4 large servings or 8 small servings
Ingredients: 8 cardamom pods
6 pieces of star anise
1 small stick of cinnamon
6 cloves
1 small bulb of fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
4 Tbs of jaggery sugar (This is an unrefined form of sugar readily available in India. You can substitute agave, honey or leave out the sweetener completely!)
4 tsp of black tea powder ,You can use loose black tea leaves instead.
6 cups unsweetened organic soy milk
Preparation:
In a large pot, bring eight cups of water to boil. Add the cardamon, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.Let the spices boil for five minutes to release their flavor. Reduce heat to a simmer.Add black tea powder and sugar. Let simmer for three minutes.Add soy milk. Let summer for another two minutes.Pour through a tea strainer directly into a mug and enjoy.