Crock-pot Cranberry Orange Sauce! ~Only 4 Ingredients~

A simple recipe that's a great treat, snack, or tag a long to a meal. I honestly didn't know that this would turn out as amazing as it did. I thought this recipe would be a good substitute to the alternative, which is a can filled with who knows. But it turned out so filled with flavor and zest! I will honestly make this again just for a snack. My kids really enjoyed it as well. I can't wait to learn how to put recipe printouts on my blog. I love that about other blogs.

Crock-pot Cranberry Orange Sauce

2 bags fresh whole cranberries (12 ounce bags)
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sweetener, I used xylitol. ( You can also use honey, coconut sugar or stevia)

1. Place all ingredients in crock-pot, stir to blend together.
2. Cook on whichever setting you choose, I used high for 3 hours
3. Serve warm or chilled


Enjoy!

~Honest Motherhood

Yummy Pumpkin Pie {Gluten Free w/ Dairy free version}

 Pumpkin pie is a favorite dessert of mine. I could eat it all year round. BUT I wanted to make a healthier version, so all the sugar didn't cancel out the benefits of eating pumpkin. AND I also needed a gluten free version, which in my opinion whether your gluten intolerant or not its a healthier version for you.

Wheat is not healthier in my opinion anymore, through my research in fact switching from white to wheat doesn't really make a difference, especially if your buying commercially made breads. Most wheat is genetically modified, AND its basically nutritionally void. I know that eating "whole grains" or carbohydrates is part of a balanced diet based on the USDA recommendations, but the USDA also recommends GMO's, and they are NOT safe. Lets try to think outside the box, literally :). Lets view carbohydrates  in broader terms then bread. Vegetables have carbs :) Rice has carbs and is gluten free :) Potatoes  and sweet potatoes have carbs. Quinoa has carbs. Oatmeal has carbs.

ANYWAYS, I've cut out the wheat and trimmed the sugar way done without taking away from the taste :)

Yummy Pumpkin Pie {Gluten and Dairy Free}

Crust
1c unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2c  Gluten free oats {Oats are naturally gluten free but some are made in places with wheat, so check package :)}
3.5 TBSP Coconut oil
2 TBSP honey

Filling
1c pumpkin puree
1/2 c  unsweetened almond milk or other milk substitute
1 tsp REAL salt
1 tbsp honey
1 egg
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Homemade whipped Cream
8oz Heavy whipping cream
1/4-1/2cup stevia or syrup {or your choice of sweetener}
1 tsp Vanilla

 For a dairy free version:
How-to Make Whipped Coconut Milk Cream

Preheat oven to 350

 Okay to begin, lets make the crust. Measure out your oats and coconut flakes and add to a blender or nutribullet, use a low speed or your two blade cutter. You just want to make grind it up into a kind of flour but not make it creamy.

Once its has become like a flour, you can add your coconut oil and honey. Place in your baking dish and spread out like a crust.

Next is the filling, add pumpkin puree, almond milk, salt, honey, egg and pumpkin pie spice in your bowl and mix it up good. Then pour into your crust.

Bake @ 350 for about 20-25 minutes or until your filling in firm and crust is a bit browned.

You can eat it warm, if it is really crumbly put in the fridge for about 30 minutes so the crust can firm up a bit. i have made this twice so far and the first time the crust was fine, but the second time it was more crumbly, so i just put it in the fridge for a bit.

Lastly make your whipping cream. Use blender or beaters for this. Only add heavy whipping cream and whip or blend until it thickens up. then add other ingredients.

Your all done. Enjoy your almost guilt free pumpkin pie with homemade whip cream :)

~BEST Homemade Healthy Fruit Jelly EVER!!~

So recently I wrote about high fructose corn syrup and how it is in EVERYTHING including most jellies. Before I found this recipe I was buying jelly from the farmers market and from Woodmans, a local store that carries Wisconsin based foods. The ingredients contained only real sugar, but now since starting my science based nutrition program I'm also trying to cut sugars where ever I can. So here is a great recipe for homemade jam.

You can always change the amounts to sweeten more or less, or to make more. I started out with a small batch but plan on making more. With three kids we do and will go through many PB &J's :)

Homemade Fruit Jelly

1cup frozen raspberries, or mixed berries or whatever berry you like
1-2 TBSP Honey
 2 tbsp of chia seeds

Either you can let your frozen fruit sit out for a few hours until its thawed and ready to be mashed or you can throw it in a pot and cook on low heat until it thawed and soft. I prefer to let it just sit out because then I'm not killing any nutrients by cooking it and you can say its a RAW food :)

Once fruit is thawed, use a fork and mash it up until its mostly chunk free, but a few fruity chunks are fine.

Add 1-2 TBSP of honey and mix. I would start with one TBSP and taste test. Then add to your liking.
Finally add 2 TBSP of chia seeds and mix. Wait about 5-10 minutes and the chia seeds will have expanded into gel like pieces which really makes this like Jelly.

Store in an cleaned used jelly jar. I used my store bought Jelly jar, and cleaned it out after i used it all and put my new Healthy Homemade Fruit Jelly in it.

Berries have tons of antioxidants, chia seeds are a great source of healthy fat and protein, and honey is a great natural sweetener. The vitamins present in honey are B6, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and certain amino acids. The minerals found in honey include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc. Honey also has a low glycemic index which is helpful to those with diabetes.

Here are some links on the nutrition of berries, chia seeds, and honey:

http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/lindsey-duncan-nd-cn/chia-ancient-super-secret
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-nutrition.html
http://www.driscolls.com/nutrition-health/berry-nutrition-facts