Tru Yoga Lifestyle

Christmas cookies, hot cocoa, mouse munch these are just a few of my favorite holidays treats! I am a baker at heart. I love nothing more that creating, baking and being in the kitchen. A BIG part of the holidays is being in the kitchen and I want to pass this along to my girls. I have come up with cleaned up versions of my holiday favorites and I cant wait to share them with you and yours!

 

Mouse Munch—This is a holiday super favorite of ours (especially my kids) so when I was thinking about how I could clean up our holiday treats this was the first recipe I got to work on. Let me WARN you this treat will not last long in your house, because it is the BOMB.COM!!

Ingredients:

• 1 large bowl fresh
• popped organic popcorn (about 5-6 cups)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4-1/2 cup organic dark chocolate
• 1/2 tsp. coconut oil
• Sea salt to taste  

Instructions:

1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small sauce pan warm the honey until it begins to simmer. Once honey is simmering remove from heat and add in the almond butter and whisk together.
3. Pour honey mixture over popcorn and gently stir to coat.
   Dump popcorn on to cookie sheet and spread it out to a thin layer. Sprinkle with sea salt( more if you like the salty sweet combo, less if you don’t).
4. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes to cool.
   
5. While popcorn is cooling melt your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 45 sec. Stir chocolate, if not melted cook in 15 minute increments until smooth. Mix in coconut oil to chocolate.
6. Take the cooled popcorn out of freezer and drizzle with melted chocolate. Return pan to freezer for 10-20 minutes.Now try your best NOT to eat the whole pan!Store popcorn in the freeze to keep it from getting soggy, if you have any left-over.

 

Egg Nog – Talk about a calorie dense beverage! I LOVE egg nog but pretty much stopped enjoying it because it was 1. To dairy ridden for me and 2. Wasn’t worth the extra calories to me. That being said, I still missed the flavor and that’s how I came up with this cleaned up alternative. Way less calories, dairy free and DELICIOUS!

Ingredients

• 2½ cup Unsweetened Original Almond Milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Cinnamon, to taste
• Nutmeg, to taste

• Coconut Whipped Cream(recipe below with Superfood Hot Cocoa)

Instructions

1. Heat a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the almond milk and vanilla and heat until it almost simmering; do not bring to a boil.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg white, sugar and cornstarch until frothy.
3. Temper the eggs into the heated almond milk. To do this, add about ¼ cup of the almond milk to the egg mixture, whisking quickly. Add another ¼ cup and whisk again. Tempering allows both liquids to come to the same temperature before combining them, so the eggs do not curdle.
4. Add the cooled down egg mixture to the almond milk, and whisk them to combine. Stir frequently until it begins to thicken, about 6-8 minutes
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.
6. Serve warm or chilled, and top with optional coconut whipped cream.

Superfood Hot Cocoa with Coconut Whipped Cream – I mean whats winter without hot cocoa?? Just plain boring!! This mix is dairy free, has no processed sugar, is rich in antioxidants, energy boosting and hormone balancing herbs(I promise you don’t taste them!).

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp Raw Cacao Powder
• 1 tbsp Coconut Sugar
• 1 tsp. Maca Powder
• 1/8 Himalayan Sea Salt
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch on cayenne powder )optional
• 1 1/2 cups milk of choice or water ( I use almond milk)

Instructions:

1. Warm milk over the stove.
2. Mix dry ingredients together.
3. When your milk begins to lightly boil mix in dry ingredients until smooth. Serve!

I like to top this with a dollop of fresh coconut whipped cream (recipe below).

Coconut Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut cream refrigerated
• 1 Tbls. coconut sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Refrigerate your can of coconut cream, this allows the cream to separate from the liquid.

1. Scoop out the cream from the can, make sure not to get any of the water in the mix.
2. Whip the cream on medium-high for a few minutes.
3. When the cream begins to thicken add the sugar and vanilla and continue to mix until desired consistency.

 

Raspberry Almond Thumb Print Cookies – Oh Linzer tart cookies how I LOVE thee! Did you know that I am a recovering cookie-a-holic? Oh yes every night I had to have my tea with a few cookies. It was my reward for a hard day of mommyhood and well just anything..lol. But all those nighttime treats where not helping me reach my fitness goals, more like they were sabotaging them! I have cleaned up a few of my favs and this is one, but I still have to make sure I don’t over do it and relapse (even if they are “healthy” cookies)!

 

I hope you enjoy my Healthy Holiday Treats as much as my family and I do. This time of year is not about depriving yourself of the things you love. Celebration, tradition and food all go hand in hand. There’s nothing wrong with doctoring up you favorite recipes so you can enjoy them guilt free too! For more of my Healthy Holiday recipes click on the link Healthy Holiday ebook to request a copy!

Happy Holiday’s to You and Yours!