Raspberry Sauce/Filling

Yesterday I had some extra kiddos coming over early in the morning.  One of them is only 8 months old, so he wasn't going to be caring too much about pancakes for breakfast...  But the other is 4, and then my toddler is almost 2.  So I figured I'd make a "special" breakfast.  Particularly because my husband likes to tease me about my cast iron pancake puff pan (the as seen on TV! one) that I have used only a very few times, yet continue to move around with me from home to home.  Well, here's the thing:  my dad got it for me many years ago, because he thought I would like it.  I'm kind of a sentimental person, so I hold on to things like that.  Plus, it is super cute!  And I just know my kiddos will appreciate the fun of having pancake puffs in the years ahead. 

But I decided it was a good time to make pancake puffs, since I'd have an older kid over at breakfast time.  And then I started thinking about how much fun it would be to actually fill the puffs (the pan comes with gadgets to help you add pizazz!  And one of those gadgets is a syringe type thing) with something yummy!  And I thought of my THRIVE Raspberries, and the recipe on the #10 can of THRIVE Raspberries for Raspberry Sauce.  So I decided to give it a try!

I will confess straight up that this did not go entirely as I hoped.  I was playing around with the recipe on kind-of short notice.  I decided to cut back on the water in the original recipe to hopefully make a thicker sauce which would do the trick.  Well, it really didn't quite.  It wasn't gel-like enough.  Which means I have learned I need to do some more research.  However, it was still a really fun experience, and the sauce just soaked into the pancake puffs and still made them delicious anyway!  So I'm still posting this and then I will hone the technique and post again when I've had 100% success!

I started out by making my pancake puffs with my THRIVE 10-Grain Pancake Mix (which was just pancake mix and water).  We love this stuff!  I also made up a few regular pancakes with the batter, since it wasn't vital that I have puffs ;). 

While making the pancakes, I started the Raspberry filling.  Here is the way I did it (which was basically cut the original recipe in half, except I significantly decreased the water):

RASPBERRY SAUCE/FILLING
1 cups THRIVE Raspberries
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar*
1/2 tablespoon honey*
1/2 teaspoon THRIVE Pure Vanilla Powder
1/8 teaspoon salt*
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Boil all ingredients in a saucepan until slightly thickened and syrupy (only I was trying to get it very thick, so I boiled longer).  Place sauce in a strainer over a bowl and push through, leaving only the seeds in the strainer.  Discard seeds.  Cover and refrigerate sauce before serving over desserts.  (Well, I actually used mine right away, which probably didn't help the lack of thickness!  Also, I didn't spend a lot of time on the straining.  I got a lot of sauce out for injecting into the puffs, but left the rest in the strainer with the seeds, and then spread it on my pancakes -- still yummy!)

I tried to get a close-up of the puffs so you could see the filling/sauce squeezing out a bit ;).

Cornmeal Cookies

Some days I just get in a baking mood.  And then I need to either freeze or give away what I bake.  Because I have an insatiable sweet tooth! 

When I became a consultant with THRIVE Life, one of the awesome things included in the consultant kit was the THRIVE Cookbook.  I love cookbooks.  So I have spent much time flipping through the pages of this cookbook, thinking about all the things I want to try.  One of those things that grabbed my interest right away was cornmeal cookies!  I'd never heard of putting cornmeal in cookies.  I was intrigued and knew I wanted to give them a go. 

So I did!

I shared them with one of my sweet customers, and she said it is one of the best cookies she has ever tasted.  If you don't like lemon, you'll want to steer clear.  But otherwise, these are a delicious treat!  And I even threw in an extra little something yummy :)!

CORNMEAL COOKIES
3/4 cup butter, softened (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup THRIVE Butter Powder + 2 tablespoons water)
3/4 cup white sugar*
1 tablespoon THRIVE Whole Egg Powder (plus 2 tablespoons water)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 cup THRIVE Cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder*
1/4 teaspoon salt*
1 1/2 cups white flour*
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or raisins -- I used cranberries)
1/3 cup white chocolate chips (optional -- these were my addition)

Preheat oven to 375.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in he egg, water, and lemon extract.  Mix well.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and flour.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine.  Stir in cranberries and white chocolate chips (if desired).

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookie bottoms are lightly browned.  Let cookies cook for 2 minutes on baking sheet before placing them on a cooling rack.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

These are yummy and just a different spin on a cookie!  Loved trying them out -- and love my THRIVE Cookbook!

Speaking of becoming a consultant...  There is seriously no better time than now if you have ever considered becoming one!  THRIVE Life has just revamped their Consultant Kits and restructured everything.  It's amazing!  Enough that I sort of wish I was just now signing up ;).  Except for all the fun I've already been having as I've built up my own home store!!!  So if you have any questions about being a THRIVE Life Consultant and want to know more, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!  I'd love to tell you why I love what I am doing!

Tropical "Sauce"

So this is a totally Nilla-made recipe.  And so I had to come up with a name.  I'll explain its origins shortly ;).

A few weeks back, I bought my toddler one of those squeeze pouch things while we were at the store.  Usually I get her these when we're close to nap-time and I don't want her to fall asleep on the way home.  She loves them and doesn't get them often, so they are a treat.  I like that I can get the ones with vegetables in them, and I feel like I'm having a mommy win, because she's getting extra veggies!  So on that particular day, the one I chose for her was something along the lines of carrot, mango, and orange.

Which got me thinking...  I could totally make something like that!

So yesterday, I decided to try it out.  And I decided to use some THRIVE goodies to help me!

TROPICAL "SAUCE"
1/2 cup THRIVE Pineapple Chunks
1 ripe banana*
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup THRIVE Carrot Dices
1 teaspoon THRIVE Honey Crystals
2 1/4 cups water

Place all ingredients in a blender and allow to sit about 5 minutes (to soften the carrots).  Blend until it is a nice orange color and there are no large chunks of carrots left (about an additional 3 minutes).

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

So here's why I'm calling it "sauce," though I clearly don't use it as a sauce from the picture.  I got the idea from applesauce.  Because, though I was trying for a smoothie consistency, this has more of an applesauce texture and consistency.

Now here's the thing:  I'm a pretty picky eater when it comes to taste.  And I thought this wasn't bad at all.  The first taste gives you that citrus zing, but then it mellows as you continue to eat it.  It's a great way to get carrots.  But I can't only trust my taste-buds.  Because, I think, when you have created something yourself and have a lot invested in it... well, it's easy to become biased in your opinion.  So I always let my husband and daughter be the real judges.

My husband's verdict:  it's pretty good.  He felt like it was missing something, but couldn't pinpoint what.  He tried adding a bit of mint extract to his, but said that was a mistake.

My toddler's verdict:  after tasting it, she wanted me to put the whole bowl at her spot at the table so she could climb up in her chair and eat it.  She was, in fact, quite offended when I took the majority of it to add to a smoothie today (pictured below).

So I'm pretty excited about my tropical sauce.  Because it means today, I got spinach and carrots into my toddler without her realizing it :).  (And I got them into myself too -- but I totally knew ;)).

Anyway, so today I put what was leftover from yesterday into a smoothie (the stuff my toddler wanted to eat).  I can't post a recipe for that, since I just threw stuff together and didn't measure.  But I can tell you what was thrown in -- just not amounts ;).

1 cup (approx) of the Tropical "Sauce"
1 large handful baby spinach
strawberry yogurt
THRIVE strawberry yogurt bites
milk
4 strawberries, sliced

I actually added too much milk, I think.  It was a little less smoothie-like.  But still tasted good.  And my toddler loved that too.  So I think it was a win :).

And this is just some of how I use my THRIVE!  Actually, having these ingredients on-hand has not only made things faster and easier for me, but has also helped me to be more adventurous in the kitchen! 

Mint Chocolate Milkshake

Today was National Mint Chocolate Day.  And anyone who knows me knows I think there are no finer combinations than mint and chocolate.  That taste... it's a beautiful thing.

So, in celebration of this wonderful day (because how could I not celebrate it!?!), I made a mint chocolate milkshake and used my THRIVE Gourmet Hot Cocoa Mix. 

I even shared it with my husband and toddler.  Rave reviews all around!  So here's how I did it:

MINT CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk*
6 ice cubes
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract (depending on your preference)
3 tablespoons THRIVE Gourmet Hot Cocoa Mix
6 Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies
1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream

Place everything in the blender and blend until it looks like a milkshake :).  Then drink it up!  You can even garnish it with an additional Girl Scout Thin Mint.  But that's not required ;).

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

So, here's to you, mint and chocolate!  You'll have a special place in my heart forever ;)!

Easy Fruit Salad

One of the things I love most about having my home store through THRIVE Life is the fact that I have a home store!  Does that sound redundant?  Probably.  But there have been many times when I've had the automatic thought, "Oh that recipe sounds good, but I don't have x ingredient." 

But then I remember my home store -- and I realize I do have that ingredient after all!!!

I had one such experience the other day.  I had made a breakfast casserole for dinner, but felt like I wanted something else to go along with it -- otherwise the plate would look kind of bare!  I had recently purchased some fresh strawberries which needed to be used up, plus I had bananas and red grapes (also in need of being used).  So I thought of the fruit salad I make for every large family gathering we attend.  It's such a simple recipe, and it's so delicious!  This time I would just have fewer fruits in it than usual, and no big deal...

Then I remembered I had some extra fruits after all!  I could add my THRIVE Raspberries!  And that's just what I did!  I just threw them in dry and let them get all soggy from the yogurt!  I've done this multiple times with yogurt parfaits, and I love how they turn out when they are allowed to sit and soak up the yogurt!  Saves time, too, since all my THRIVE foods are washed and ready for me to use!

So here's the recipe I made the other day.  It's very simple, and we always get a lot of compliments about it.  I'm actually pretty excited to try this with more THRIVE fruits in the future and see how it turns out, because I could actually make this fruit salad with all THRIVE ingredients, and I think that's pretty awesome!

EASY FRUIT SALAD
1 large banana, sliced*
1 cup red grapes, rinsed and dried*
5-6 ripe strawberries, rinsed, dried, sliced*
1 cup THRIVE Raspberries
1 cup strawberry yogurt* (or yogurt flavor of your choice)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Allow to chill for 1/2 hour and serve!

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

This was a perfect breakfast-y complement to our breakfast-for-dinner casserole :).  And in the future, when I have them on hand, I'll be adding apples* and blueberries*!

THRIVE Sugar Cookies

As my little girl gets older and able to do more (she is almost 22 months now...), I find that she wants to do more.  Which makes sense ;).  So I've recently tried to find new activities she and I can do together.  One of the activities we recently tried was making sugar cookies.  And, conveniently, I had my THRIVE Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix, which meant I only had to mix together 3 ingredients!  It made the mixing fast and easy -- and my little girl was able to help add the major part of the ingredients (the cookie mix).  She loves to be involved in all aspects ;).

I followed the recipe on the #10 can of the mix, which called for butter, and egg, and water in addition to the cookie mix.  I opted to use THRIVE Butter Powder, because I love that stuff!  And because I didn't have any softened butter and I didn't want to wait! 

We also opted to do roll-out cookies, so she could try her hand at cutting out shapes (which was an interesting experience for me, but she loved it!).  So we actually added a little extra flour as well.  Again, the recipe is on the can :).

Anyway, we frosted some of the cookies with canned chocolate frosting (because I had some in the fridge) and did some sprinkles (another learning experience for mommy!).  And then we delivered most of them to friends.  Because they were delicious!  And I didn't need them hanging around the house with my extreme sweet-tooth!

Dinner and Dessert -- With THRIVE Help!

I love THRIVE Life foods.  For a number of reasons.  But I don't use them exclusively.  And that's just because I have a lot of the ingredients on hand already, which I didn't purchase through THRIVE Life.  Or they are items not available through THRIVE Life.

But when I do have those THRIVE goodies on hand to help me out...  It's just awesome!  Because I am often able to shave 5 or 10 minutes off my meal prep, simply by not having to chop onions or clean and chop celery, etc.

Yesterday, I was making dinner for my family as well as taking some to a friend who recently had surgery.  And THRIVE Life helped me out!  Here are all the THRIVE Life Ingredients I used in yesterdays dinner (and dessert!):

For dinner, I made Salisbury Steaks, mashed potatoes, and purchased a pre-made chopped salad kit (just for something a little different).  Dessert was chocolate chip cookies. 

(sorry for the sideways picture!)






I love these chocolate chip cookies!  I have made them before using THRIVE Butter Powder as well, but this time, since I am running low on the butter powder (need to get that on order!), I used regular butter.  You can find the recipe here. 

I love that THRIVE Whole Egg Powder allows me to eat raw cookie dough guilt-free when I'm pregnant ;).

The THRIVE Chopped Onions saved me some time for the Salisbury Steaks, and the THRIVE Potato Beads saved me a ton of time!  I didn't have to wash, peel, chop, or boil potatoes!  I just brought water and milk to a boil with some butter and a couple other seasonings and added in my THRIVE Potato Beads, and voila!  Side dish was done!  And I love that!

Don't get me wrong:  I am excited about all the things I can prep ahead of time using so much of my THRIVE Life ingredients.  But even on the days when I'm just using a few of the awesome THRIVE ingredients to cut some corners and save myself some time and effort, I'm grateful to have my home store of delicious THRIVE Life foods!