Power O's Bars

This Power O's Bar was inspired by a YouTube video but that video didn't give out the measurement so I had to experiment with it.  I was short of chocolate chips hence mine was only covered 1/3 of the bars.  No worry though, the measurement that I gave below should be enough to cover the whole thing without fail.  Haha...

Anyway, I think this is a great way to finish up the half box of cereal that has been sitting in the pantry for ages.  I was attracted to this Power O's that was made with beans and non-GMO verified while I was shopping few months ago where they were given out sample to try at the store.  It was on promotion and did I say made with beans and non-GMO verified, so I was sold!  But my girls hardly eat them and prefer bread to cereal as breakfast so I have to make this into something that they couldn't resist and yet nutritional to them.  So, here it is!

Cocoa Almond Butter

As you know, I have been making my own jam/preserves and learning that making homemade nut butter is also very easy hence I set it out to give it a try.  My girls loved Nutella so I added cocoa powder into my experiment.  It didn't taste very good at first so I tried adding some brown sugar and gave it a taste.  It also felt a bit thick so I added a little peanut oil to make it smoother and the above was the result of it.

We really liked it and when I am out of the almonds, I might try it with peanuts since peanuts is a lot cheaper. I bet you can experiment with different nut for a different nut butter taste as well.  Happy trying!

Crispy Almond Cookies

Wow, how time flies!  Another Chinese Lunar New Year to be celebrated and this year is the year of the Horse!  I just realized that I have been blogging for the past 9 years and next year will be my 10 years anniversary!!  WOW!  My blog is getting old and hopefully I am not.  Haha... I really have to thank my readers who have supported my blog and who have come back to read my blog over the years even though I am not a good writer and I don't take beautiful pictures.   Nothing seem to change much over the years blogging wise, except I am now into a healthier eating life style and even simplified cooking method and recipes.  Also just to let you know that you can also follow me on Tweeter, Pinterest and Facebook for the latest blog update.  I hope after so many years, I still have more new recipes to share with you.  Okay long story short, hereby wishing all of you a healthy new year!  Eat healthier, eat healthy, eat more colorful food, eat more variety of superfood, eat more whole fresh food, cut down and minimize processed food and exercise for a HEALTHIER YOU!!  Money is nothing without health, so work on your health first and the rest will come into place.  HAPPY CHINESE LUNAR NEW YEAR!!!

As the name implied, this almond cookie is crispy!  I always made the melt-in-the-mouth peanut/cashew/almond cookies in the past and I wanted a change.  This year I wanted some crispy almond cookies, so I created this recipe.  This was actually my second attempt, my first attempt failed miserably resulted in a soft and melt-in-the-mouth almond cookies (so not sharing my failed attempt here).  I also wanted this recipe to be easily made (as I am famous for!), so out with my food processor!!  You can use your Kitchenaid mixer as a substitute.  Just add and mix and viola and not many things to wash later too.  Very easy and the dough can be easily shape and cut as well.  I didn't even use a roller to roll the dough, I just flatten it with my palms, but if you want an even shape, use your roller!  ;-)

Homemade Almond Milk and Almond Meal

 

When I learned that almond milk is actually very easy to make, I wanted to make it at home.  Problem is I have to wait until the raw almond is on sales so that I can stock up.  If not, making the almond milk at home can be more expensive that buying the non-GMO Silk's almond milk.  The above is what I made with 1 cup of raw almonds, it only lasted for two days.  Only my two girls have a small glass of almond milk with Milo in the morning and my husband and I only use it in our morning coffee, so frankly we don't drink a lot of milk to begin with.  We drink water throughout the day, milk is just for breakfast.  I can certainly stretch my dollar by adding more water.  I saw that some add up to 8 or 10 cups of water per 1 cup of almonds.  That would be cheaper than buying but to me it would be very diluted.  I used 3 cups of water and I still find it quite bland when compared to store-bought (the next time I would try 4 cups and stretch it to 3 days).  Nevertheless, nothing beat homemade as the ingredients are only water and almonds.  Store-bought one added a lot more stuff in their ingredients list which I would gladly avoid if I can.  

If you like, you can actually season your almond milk with sea salt, raw honey, agave, pure vanilla extract, dates, etc.  But I just want to keep mine plain.  Homemade almond milk does separate, so shake well before use.  Or if you can afford it, I think 1 cup of raw almonds to 2 cup of water is the best ratio.