Health Tip of the Week: Glutton free Lara Bars

I have a couple of girl friends that are allergic to glutton and I see how hard it is for them at times to find good (and tasty) options so I always try to keep my eyes open for things they might like and I thought this was a great find.

My mom and I were in Costco and it was a sample day (I love those!) and we were trying some glutton free crackers and the sample man told us about these bars. We went searching for them and my mom decided she’d get a box and then if we liked them I’d get one too (they’re $13 for a box of 12 so it would suck if they tasted nasty). We shared the Key Lime bar on the drive home and it was amazing! I’m going to be having the Chocolate Coconut one today and it has only 5 ingredients, all of which I know and recognize (almonds, dates, coconut, coco powder, walnuts)


Check out their website and their Philosophy!

“Our Food Philosophy: Simple. Pure. Delicious.™



LÄRABAR firmly believes that the foundation of a sound mind, body and spirit is derived from what you eat. And what you eat is healthiest and most satisfying when it's in a whole, natural state. 

Our company name comes from an ancient belief that food falls into two categories:



BECKONING FOODS
which beckon consumption again and again, sapping the body of energy without any real health benefits, Today, they're called "junk foods."



HUMM FOODS
on the other hand, resonate with energy in a whole, natural state. When consumed, they cause you to feel vibrant and alive.

You can expect an unmistakable urge to humm after every LÄRABAR bar you eat.



Let the humming begin!”

The best pancakes I've ever had, and my attempt at syrup

Marshall and I bought this pancake mix a while ago and we finally tried to today. Marshall just got his wisdom teeth out so I've been trying to find food that are easy to eat and I thought pancakes would be a good treat.

I think pancakes are super unhealthy so these were for sure a good alternative. I almost felt healthy eating them! And you don't even notice the change in taste other then the lack of that doughy aftertaste you get from really sticky white flour foods.

I would for sure recommend this product! It's worth the money and I would definitely buy it again!

When I was in the middle of making the pancakes I realized that I had forgiven the syrup at my mother-in-laws place. What to do? I decided I'd give it a go making my own! Why not right? It couldn't be that hard right? It was super easy!

Syrup Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon maple flavored extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine the white sugar, brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir in the maple extract and vanilla, and remove form the heat. Let cool, and serve at room temperature. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Be aware that it may crystallize a little if the container is not completely airtight.

Source

And they turned out really really well too! I didn't have the maple extract but the syrup still tasted really good and I love that I know exactly what's in it too. Not at all healthy but at least it's lacking all those added in chemicals you'd see in the one you buy at the store!

I've shared this recipe at:
Monday Mmm...Desserts, Mangia Mondays, Made By You Mondays, Make a Food - E- Friend Monday 

Great Food Find: Seneca Apple Chips

My mom brought me a treat over last night when she came to watch the Oscars with me and Marshall and gosh, it was good!! I love apples, and I love chips, so this combo is the best!! I’m for sure putting these Carmel Apple Chips on my “Foods that cheer me up when I’m sad” list”

4th Annual Movie Marathon

My husband and I have a movie marathon every year for Christmas. It’s a tradition we started when we started dating and we’ve done it now for four years.

Throughout the year we write down movies when they come up that we want to see, or old movies that we want to see again. We pick 5-6 movies and spend a whole day watching. This year we upped the excitement a bit and opened a gift each and got a little more serious and had appetizers and Sucre A Crème & Skor Fruit Dip with apples (I’ll be posting that recipe soon!).

So I figured I would share our picks, and some great options for holidays appetizers

We watched this one last year too, and Marshall really liked it. I liked it but really didn’t feel like watching it again so Marshall (because he usually wakes up earlier then me either when we sleep in) watched it first thing without me, which I was totally ok with.

Marshall loves animated movies and cars, so there really was no fighting this one. www.pixar.com/featurefilms/cars

We saw the Broadway show of this and loved it! www.lesmis.com Marshall hasn’t even seen the movie so it was a “must” for the list this year, and I had forgotten how good it is!!

I was told this movie was super funny, but honesty, I didn’t find it that funny. I don’t see kids beating up adults and vice versa really funny (I know, I’m taking a joke too seriously, but I really don’t like the message of it you know?) www.fourchristmasesmovie.com

Can’t say I loved this movie, it moved sort of slow to me and it was gory in a mean sort of way, but I guess that was the point?

I didn’t realize that this movie was more like a documentary but I still really liked it and I would highly recommend the sound track! www.oncesoundtrack.com

And of course the appetizers!! We got then all from Superstore. Normally I’m not one for frozen appetizers, I find they can be a little sketchy, but these were really good! www.pc.ca