How To Make Carob Candy Bars and Nut Clusters

I've tried to find carob candies in health food stores and diet sections of the grocery store to no avail, so I've resorted to making my own. The best thing about doing this is that you get exactly what you like! Today I'm just doing candy bars and nut clusters but at Christmas time I'll do some filled "chocolates". Here we go!

It all starts with a bag of Sunspire brand Carob Chips which I buy by the case from Amazon because my store no longer carries carob chips without milk and over-refined sugar, and the price is good.
Empty one 10 oz. bag of chips into a glass bowl with high sides or a large glass measuring cup. Using glass will help protect the carob from becoming too hot.
Add 1 1/2T. Coconut Oil
And 1/2t. Vanilla Flavoring or Peppermint, etc. (does not need to be oil-based)
Sweeten to taste if desired with 1 packet Xylitol or Stevia
Set into another bowl with medium hot tap water, not boiling. Remember that getting carob too hot will cause it to become stiff and chewy so warm only enough to gently melt carob. Stirring will help the chips melt with less heat and will blend in the other ingredients. Once the chips are melted and you're into your candy making, don't add more chips. Remelting means reheating, so wait until you use up what you've already melted and then start again with more chips. This melted carob can be used over ice cream like magic shell, or proceed to make candy bars.

Spoon a little of the melted carob into a chocolate mold. They have some that are meant specifically for candy bars or use whatever shapes you like! Tap the mold on the table lightly to remove air bubbles and place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
Remove the mold from the freezer and gently loosen the hardened carob. When inverting onto the foil, catch the candy bar and set it down to keep it from breaking. It will be brittle.
If you want to divide the bar, wait until it warms to room temperature. Using a straight edged sharp knife, carefully cut the bar. If you are going to store the candy to serve later, wrap in foil and keep in a cool place or in the refrigerator.
If you are making nut clusters simply drop nuts into melted carob and stir to coat the nuts. I used roasted and salted peanuts. Drop by spoonfuls into candy cups or onto waxed paper. Cool and harden in the fridge or freezer. Store in covered container.
Now, when everyone is having a sweet treat, you can have one too! Or, you can share your goodies with your friends and family, helping them to learn to enjoy something a little healthier.
PS. If the carob turns grey it is only from being cold. Simply let it warm or you can use a blow dryer to warm it and it will brown right up! And by the way, chocolate does the same thing and can be fixed the same way, too :)

Orange Ambrosia Cup How-To

This little fruit cup is both easy to make and impressive, and I'm no whiz at cutting fancy shapes out of fruits and veggies! First of all I measured from the top of the orange down about 1 1/2". This left enough of the orange to make a nice sized cup. At that point the orange measured horizontally at 10" around. The scallops on my flower cookie cutter are 1 1/4" so this meant I could evenly draw 6 scallops.

Next I cut the top off the orange with a citrus knife taking as much of the ink off with it as I could. The rest of the ink I washed off carefully with water and a scrubbie thingy.
Then I cut and scooped out the fruit of the orange and put the pieces into a bowl for use in the fruit salad.


After getting the orange cut up I added a small banana, sliced, stirring it to coat the slices with orange juice preventing them from turning brown, and 4 cut up strawberries. The empty orange had about a 1/2 C. capacity and this little fruit salad fills 2 orange cups very nicely. I think I could have put more fruit in the cup than the picture shows. Of course you can fill this little cup with whatever combination of fruit is your favorite. I put a little coconut ribbon on top before placing the strawberry.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

How-To Get The Kids To Eat Their Vegetables?!

Everyone already knows about putting peanut butter in celery, topping it with a few raisins and calling it "Bugs On A Log". Then I thought maybe an apple could be cored at the top and center only, leaving the bottom closed and filling it with peanut butter and raisins, but that's a fruit and not a veggie! A while back our family brainstormed this very problem of how to encourage the kids to at least be willing to give those vegetables a try and here's what we came up with:
~ Veggies-On-A-Stick. Use a little toothpick and line up cherry tomatoes, olives, squares of bell pepper, or whatever you think you can get away with!
~ Disguise them by blending them into sauces, like carrots into spaghetti or tomato sauce (compatible colors). They can be chopped tiny and hidden in meat loaf, meat balls and casseroles. We have been known to blend spinach into our citrus smoothie! (And yes, that's my poor blender pitcher that got melted when I took it somewhere and was left to drain on the stovetop!) Here's what I put in my Citrus Smoothie:
1 Can Pineapple with juice
2 Oranges
a handful of Fresh Baby Spinach (The older it gets the stronger the flavor)
and 2 C. Ice
You can start out with less spinach and gradually increase the amount to give the kids a chance to get used to the flavor. But it's a nice sweet way to eat your greens! This makes at least 2, 2C. servings.
~ Veggies get a very nice flavor when sauteed in coconut oil, plus you get benefits like, 1. It's a fat that doesn't harden with higher temperatures, and 2. It actually helps with weight loss!

~ Let the kids become involved with food. Allow them to grow a vegetable or two in their own corner of the garden. They can help prepare their own salad. Let them create! Some parents become concerned when their kids want to "play" with their food, but if that play will encourage them to eat it (and isn't too messy), why not?!

~ Here is also a place to go for a chart to help them want to eat a rainbow of veggies!

I can't promise what will work for your youngsters, but maybe these little tips will help get your juices flowing and you'll come up with something innovative and new. Then you can share those with me! ...PLEASE?

You can click here for Google Image's, "kids veggie creations", or click below for photo sources and lots more info:

Rainbow Chart.............carrot butterfly................. pirate.................girl with garden cabbages

Fun Fabulous Fruit!

What person out there doesn't enjoy picking up a cold piece of their favorite fruit on a hot summer's day and biting into it's cool mouthwatering sweetness? Or drizzling a bit of milk over a warm fruit cobbler or crisp? Fruit is wonderful all by itself, just as God created it, or YOU (or better yet, the kids) can get creative. There are so many things that can be done with fruit. It's breakfast time here at my house, so off to the kitchen to do just that ~ create...! ...OK Here they are:

Poking two holes in the apple will make it easier to get the pretzels in for the ladybug's antenae, and the raisins are stuck on with peanut butter.

It doesn't take much fruit to make these little critters so use your leftover canned fruit to make this yummy Mixed Fruit Cobbler:
In a sprayed 8" square pyrex put remaining fruit from -
1 15 oz Can each of Fruit Cocktail, Pears and Peaches drain juice (about 2C.) into a saucepan, cutting the fruit halves into slices
Sprinkle with Raisins
Add to the juice in the pan -
2 T. Corn Starch
4 Packets Truvia, or sweeten to taste with other sweetener
1/4 t. Cinnamon, if you like
Bring the juice mixture to a simmer stirring constantly until it bubbles and thickens. Pour it over the Fruit. Now you're ready for the topping:
1 C. Flour (I use whole wheat)
3 Packets Truvia or Sweetener to taste
1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
3 T. room temp. cube margarine
1/2 C. Milk
Stir together and drop by tablespoonfulls onto the top of fruit. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. If desired, pour a bit of sweetened milk over warm cobbler to serve. Options: If you don't want to take the time to make a cobbler, the fruit can be spooned over waffles or pancakes. You can also add the leftover pineapple to the cobbler which is yummy, but this time I'm saving it for a smoothie!