11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Day 9: Nutralive Raw Vegan Treats

Good morning! Today we have a rare Canadian treasure to share with you. We've only been able to find these in Toronto (probably because it's a Toronto based company), but the ingredients are so simple I'm sure you could re-create them in your own kitchen!

Just 100% dried fruit and nuts

Close up chewy

Here's some ideas for homemade raw foodie presents:

No-Bake Orange Pistachio Cookies

Coco-Expresso Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bites

Raw Carob Ely Treats

Raw Macaroons

Maple-Cinnamon Coconut Cookies

11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Day 8: Divine Mint Dark Chocolate + Vanilla-Banana Spinach Milkshake

Mmm mm mm! This shake is so deliciously creamy. The reason why it's a milkshake and not a smoothie is because of the almond milk, bananas, and vanilla protein powder. They just all come together to make a deliciously sweet vanilla drink. And I'm sure all you green smoothie-rs know, you won't taste the spinach!! :P

1 1/2 frozen banana, large handful of spinach, 1 scoop vanilla brown rice protein powder (you could substitute regular protein powder and splash of vanilla extract + stevia), almond milk to blend, top with cinnamon :)

Next on the docket of stocking stuffers is this Divine Mint Dark Chocolate, I love mint-chocolate, like a lot, so it was natural to include this vegan, fair-trade chocolate to the list.

And we got some corn for poppin' but still no snow! Come to think of it, this could be a stocking stuffer too! :)

11 Days - Day 6: PUR Gum + Peanut Noodles + Pudding

Day 6! I can't believe Christmas is like 6 days away, incredible!...I went out shopping today and got lots of ideas of things I can buy for the fam, but I kept second guessing the gifts and didn't end up buying anything! I plan on going shopping some more tomorrow, so we'll see if I can grow a pair and actually buy something!

Anyways my favourite type of vegan/sugar free gum is PUR. I've tried Glee Gum and don't like the texture as much as PUR, Glee disintegrates more quickly and doesn't hold its shape as well. A perfect stocking stuffer, for those who like to avoid aspartame, I know I do! :)

pomegranate-mint and spearmint, sweetened with xylitol!!

It looks like Jenn and I both had peanut parties without even knowing it! Here is a pudding Jenn made involving peanuts:

avocado, banana, carob, almond milk, topped with peanuts!

Peanut Noodles (inspired by Aarti Paarti) see original video. If you haven't gotten into Aarti's videos please do so! (This was before she became the Next Food Network Star, and won her own show)

The best part of this recipe, is that if you watch the video before you make it you'll have "Movin' Right Along" from the Muppets stuck in your head! :)

late in the day photography, still looks delicious! :P

Brown rice pasta (I used spaghetti)
4-5 stalks of asparagus, cut into strips (as shown above)
1/2 red pepper, sliced thinly
1/4 red onion, sliced
1 inch ginger
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Safflower oil, for frying

Sauce :
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tbsp lime juice
(I didn't add any, but you can add some sugar if you like!)

Boil pasta, drain, set aside. while pasta is boiling, slice up your veggies. Heat oil in a skillet on medium, add onion, cook until onions are tender, add garlic and ginger, continue cooking. Combine all ingredients to sauce in a small bowl. Once onions, garlic and ginger are cooked through, add sauce and sesame seeds to pan. Add in pasta and veggies. Combine everything together. Garnish with cilantro/sesame seeds.

This dish leaves you so full, and at first I was hesitant with the raw asparagus, but now I love it, I actually prefer it to cooked. You can also pack this as a lunch and it will still taste good cold, if you watch the video Aarti brings it for her friends to a movie viewing and it is eaten cold. Mmmm! So yummy, this is definitely a keeper!

11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Day 5: Bakery on Main

We're so close to Christmas! Only 7 more days and I STILL haven't done any shopping. It's typical me to leave everything to the last minute anyway. It'll get done though!

For Day 5 we've chosen:

BAKERY ON MAIN BARS

Bakery on main is an awesome new company that makes gluten-free cereals and bars that are super yums! I've been eyeing their products in the stores and finally got to try them.

So many bars to choose from

Check out the texture yo.

The pb+j was naturally our favourite. Chewy and soft = optimal bar texture.

11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Day 4: Tia's Bakery

Wow this week went by fast. Today's stuffer comes from Tia's bakery; a gluten-free bakery that makes super yummy cookies and cakes. We had the opportunity to try the oatmeal raisin and peanut butter cookies and man were they good! They had that chewy texture of a freshly baked cookie that I've really been missing since going gluten-free.

Our favourite was definitely the peanut butter:

Santa doesn't need these....;)

Nothing is better then cookies in your stocking!

Here's some pics of what we've been eating lately. (No recipe today :( )

Cocoa-berry pudding: Avocado, frozen cucumber, cocoa, berry powder, stevia

Zuchinni noodles cooked in marinara sauce

Tempeh on salad w/ creamy tahini sauce

11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Gingerbread Oats + Day 3: Ginger Chews!

It's ginger time! One of my favourite christmas cookies is gingerbread, so I attempted to create a breakfast that would taste just like the in-famous gingerbread (I also have a jar of molasses in the fridge that I don't know what to do with so that played a roll as well ;)

1/2 cup pure rolled oats
1 cup water

(Boil water first and then add oats. Bring to a simmer until water has evaporated)

3 tbsp of coconut sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
Drizzle of molasses
Sprinkle of nuts

A great way to start a ginger day!

And now for Day 3 of our Healthy Stocking Stuffers:

THE GINGER PEOPLE GINGER CHEWS

These chews are so addictive! They come in lots of different flavours (Peanut is our favourite). When you chew them they actually get hot in your mouth from the spiciness of the ginger. It's awesome.

Haha love that ginger guy

Gingy!

Is everyone ready for the holidays? I can safely say that I am not. But it's coming!

11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Day 2: SENCHA Green Tea Mints

It's funny I went through this phase in elementary school where I was obsessed with gum and mints. I always had to have them on me. I for some reason had this goal of trying every single flavour of "Trident". I was also obsessed with wintergreen lifesavers. Oh to be young again....

Now that I've discovered that the gum I used to chew when I was little has asparthane in it I've made the switch to more natural ways of freshening my breath and keeping my chewing muscles strong.

This is where SENCHA GREEN TEA MINTS come in!

These mints come in a little zippy pencil case thing...re-usable much?

These mints use xylitol for sweetness instead of that sketchy asparthane stuff

Am I spelling asparthane right? There's no suggestions in spell check...

Ooops it's aspartame.

Lot's of different flavours too! Pear is our favourite.

I made some ginger-molasses granola the other day and thought what a great homemade gift that would be! Just pour your homemade granola into a jar and tie with a ribbon!

Ginger-Molasses Granola (this is for our e-book so sorry no recipe!)

More granola recipes to give:

Hazelnut-Hemp Granola

Raw "Superfood" Granola

Pomegranate-Coconut Granola

Buckwheat Granola

11 Days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers - Day 1: Anita's Organic Mill

We decided to do 11 days of Healthy Stocking Stuffers! Hopefully these posts will give you guys ideas on what to give the hard core health freak foodie for Christmas. You guys probably could tell we are product fiends. Every time there's something new at the health food store we simply HAVE to try it. We don't post products that we don't believe in and we hope you guys enjoy looking at all the obscure, new health foods we've been discovering.

So first on the docket:

ANITA'S ORGANIC MILL BREAKFAST BOOST!

We are loving this breakfast boost! It has buckwheat groats (for crunchiness) Chia and Hemp seeds (for omegas) sunflower seeds (for heartiness) and dried cranberries and currants (for sweet chewiness)

I love how there's no added sugar to the cranberries, it's just purely dried.

We found lots of ways to use this booster:

Pumpkin Pudding: pumpkin puree, banana, vanilla brown rice protein powder

Bananas and apples w/ tahini and breakfast boost!

Any self respecting health foodie would jump for joy if they found this in their stocking! I know I would.

Watch out tomorrow for another stocking stuffer! :)