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Yogurt, Granola, Berry Parfaits

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Sometimes I just want a really pretty breakfast and these yogurt, granola, berry parfaits are the perfect solution.  First of all, they are beyond simple to make and secondly, they are super delicious.  These parfaits are perfect for entertaining as well.  Think, wedding or baby shower, brunch with friends, holiday guests staying at your home.  The list goes on and on…but basically, we are just saying that you can serve something as simple as a yogurt, granola and berry parfait and look like a total rock star!  You can go as far as making the yogurt and granola homemade (we happen to have a delicious recipe for homemade granola right here at GTK) but you can also skip the making it yourself process and buy the ingredients for a time saver!

If you want to make your own granola, you are in luck.  We love our homemade GTK granola.  Double the batch so you have plenty to last you thought the week!

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/homemade-granola/

 

Yogurt, Granola, Berry Parfaits
 
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Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 2 C 0% Greek yogurt or yogurt of choice
  • 1 C granola
  • 2 C berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
Instructions
  1. Spoon 1 C of yogurt into 2 cups , divided. Top with ½ C granola and 1 C berries, divided. Repeat to make a second layer. Serve immediately
** Can also add granola forst followed by yogurt and berries if desired.

 

Cranberry-Orange Bliss Balls

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Anyone else obsessed with the cranberry bliss bars from Starbucks? I know there’s a fan club out there, they are ridiculously good.  I look forward to them every year…shameful, but true!  If you are a cranberry bliss bar virgin this is what you have been missing out on…a blondie cake base topped with cream cheese icing, dried cranberries and white orange drizzle.  Yeah, they SO good but NOT so good for your waistline.

Guess what??? We re-created our own healthy version and rolled them up into ballzzz.  If you are new to our blog, we love anything rolled up into a ball so we are adding this cranberry-orange bliss ball to the top of our ball list!! We used rolled oats, raw cashews and medjool dates as the base ingredients.  We added fresh orange zest and juice of an orange, coconut oil and a pinch of salt and let the food processor run.  Lastly we added dried tart cranberries and white chocolate chips.  We eliminated refined sugars, made the balls gluten free and somehow achieved a super decadent copycat Starbuck cranberry-orange bliss BALL!

Check out some of our other favorite balls by clicking on the links below:

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/chickpea-blondie-energy-bites/

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/white-chocolate-carrot-cake-balls/

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/lemon-merengue-pie-balls-peanut-butter-cup-balls/


Cranberry-Orange Bliss Balls
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 C rolled oats
  • ½ C rae cashews
  • 5 medjool dates, pitted
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
  • zest and juice of 1 navel orange
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • ¼ C dried cranberries
  • 2 Tbsp white chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Using a food processor add oats and cashews and mix until broken down. Add dates, coconut oil, orange zest and juice and salt. Pulse until completely combined.
  2. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Add cranberries and white chocolate chips and mix together with a spatula. Roll into equal size balls. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Pumpkin Bars (Vegan, Gluten, Grain & Refined Sugar Free)

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These pumpkin bars are a total game changer!  Does a delicious dessert that happens to be vegan, as well as gluten, grain and refined sugar free sound too good to be true?  Well, we are here to tell you that it’s not!  And not only are these beautiful little bars all of those things, they are freaking delicious too!!  You have to trust us here.  They are full of pumpkiny flavor, creamy and sweet. Sounds like a win to us.  Okay, let’s get down to business.  Here’s how you make these guys…

Start by soaking a cup of raw cashews in a bowl of boiling water for 30 minutes.  While the nuts are hangin out (that sounds weird), you can get going on the rest of the steps.  The crust is really quite simple.  In a food processor, add oats and almonds and pulse until broken down. Then add in the brown sugar, maple syrup, salt and coconut oil and process until nicely combined.

Line a 9×9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and press the mixture into the bottom of the pan.  You can use the back of a spoon or your trusty hands!  Be sure that it’s nice and even.  Pop this into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Once it’s all pretty and golden, remove from oven and set aside to cool. While the crust is cooling, you can start on the filling.

The filling is really easy to make.  Just put all of the ingredients into a food processor or a high powered blender and process until smooth.  Spread the filling over the crust evenly and bake for 40 minutes.  Cool at room temperature then transfer to the fridge for at least 4 hours before cutting into squares.

Warning: These pumpkin bars are highly addictive.  No worries though, eat up because they are actually good for you.  This doesn’t happen very often so take advantage people!!

Check out some of our other favorite pumpkin desserts below.

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/pumpkin-trifle-with-graham-cracker-crust/

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-with-maple-glaze/

Pumpkin Bars (Vegan, Gluten, Grain & Refined Sugar Free)
 
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Serves: 16
Ingredients
For the Crust:
  • 1 C rolled oats
  • 1 C raw almonds
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • ¼ C coconut oil
For the Filling:
  • 1 C raw cashews (soaked in a bowl of boiling hot water for 30 minutes)
  • 1 15oz can raw pumpkin
  • 1 15oz can refrigerated coconut cream - white solids only
  • ¼ C pure maple syrup
  • 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • kosher salt to taste - approx ¼ tsp
Instructions
For the Crust:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Using a food processor add oats and almonds and pulse until broken down. Add remaining ingredients and process until combined.
  3. Line a 9x9 inch rimmed baking pan with parchment. Spread mixture evenly on the bottom of the pan. Use the back of a spoon or hand to press the crust to the bottom of the pan evenly.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and set aside to cool. Keep oven set at 350.
For the Filling:
  1. Using a food processor or high powered blender add all filling ingredients. Process until smooth. Spread filling over the crust evenly.
  2. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temp. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before cutting into slices to serve.

Peanut Butter Chia Chocolate Protein Cups (Vegan & Gluten Free)

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I’m a slightly obsessed with these little cups of heaven.  Chocolate mixed with peanut butter, um yes please! I will never ever turn down a chocolate peanut butter combo of anything…ever.  We added the powerhouse ingredient, cacao powder, to turn these into chocolate.  We also added rolled oats and chia seeds, these little chocolate peanut butter cups are packed with a TON of protein, they will satisfy your sweet tooth and they are filling.  Oh, and they are gluten free and vegan.  Yep, these are pretty much too good to be true.

You can prep these in 10 minutes flat, let them set in the freezer and before you know it you will be in peanut butter chocolate heaven. I know we say this all of the time but really and truly you NEED these in your life.  Friends don’t let friends miss out on something this delicious, so we are just being a good friend!


Peanut Butter Chia Chocolate Protein Cups
 
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Serves: 10
Ingredients
Layer 1:
  • 3 Tbsp natural peanut butter
  • 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 3 Tbsp cacao powder
  • 3 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • ½ C rolled oats
  • 2 Tbsp chia seeds
Layer 2:
  • ¼ C natural peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan over low heat add peanut butter, maple syrup, cacao powder, coconut oil, vanilla and salt. Stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in rolled oats and chia seeds.
  2. Line mini muffin liners in a mini muffin tin. Distribute layer 1 evenly into the 10 cups. Place in the freezer.
  3. In a small saucepan over low heat add peanut butter, maple syrup and coconut oil, stir until melted.
  4. Remove protien cups from freezer. Add layer 2 evenly over the top of each protien cup and return to freezer. Once frozen place protein cups in tupperware and store in the freezer.

No Bake Coconut Macaroons

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Coconut macaroons have always been one of my absolute favorite treats.  Growing up we used to go to Mexico every year as a family…grandparents included!  Some of my very best memories from those trips was the time spent playing cards with my Grandpa and walking to the market with my Mom and Nana to pick up coconut macaroons, which were made fresh daily.  While I don’t think we could ever really recreate the taste of those macaroons, we have come up with our own “healthy” version of coconut macaroons. Aside from being made with healthy ingredients, the best part is that they are no bake and take all of 10  minutes to put together. Big bonus points for that, right??

The secret ingredient in our macaroons is one of our favorite ingredients, coconut manna. Coconut manna is simply pureed coconut, that’s it…not other additives.  The flavor is rich and velvety and slightly sweet, just like eating a coconut.

In a saucepan you want to add the coconut manna, a little bit of coconut oil, almond milk and pure maple syrup.  Allow those ingredients to melt down and simmer.  Once you’ve reached a simmer remove from heat and add vanilla extract, unsweetened coconut flakes, rolled oats and salt.  Mix everything together with a spatula until combined.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and use a cookie scooper to spoon out even sized macaroons. Melt chocolate and 1 tsp coconut oil in the microwave.  Mix together and drizzle over the top of the macaroons.

 

Place in the freezer for about 10 minutes until set, pull them out of the freezer and you are in macaroon heaven!! Store macaroons in an airtight container in the fridge.  There you go, coconut macaroons with a healthy spin!!

 

No Bake Coconut Macaroons
 
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Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp almond milk
  • 2 Tbsp coconut oil + 1 tsp for chocolate
  • ¼ C pure maple syrup
  • ⅓ C coconut manna (coconut butter)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ C unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 C rolled oats
  • ¼ C dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
  1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add almond milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, and coconut manna and bring to a low simmer. Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt, coconut and oats and stir to combine.
  2. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Use a cookie scooper to scoop out batter onto cookie sheet. Melt chocolate and 1 tsp coconut oil in the microwave until melted. Drizzle the chocolate over the top of the macaroons. Freeze for 10-15 minutes to set before serving. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bars with Date Caramel Topping

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These bars are bananas, B A N A N A S!!  (Now that song is in your head, your welcome!)  But really, it’s time to put those over- ripe bananas to use!  And this time it’s not banana bread.  This time you are gonna kick it up a notch and switch it up a bit.  You are going to break out of that comfort zone and try something new.  These banana oatmeal chocolate chunk bars with date caramel topping are deliciously sweet, moist (yep, there’s that word) and made with wholesome ingredients that eliminate the guilt but don’t compromise the flavor!  Too good to be true?  Nope!

There’s a good chance that you have most, if not all  of the ingredients to make these bars sitting in your pantry and fridge right now!  If not, just be sure to add them to your shopping list because you know you will have ripe bananas in your near future. You won’t believe how easy these bars are to make!


Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bars with Date Caramel Topping
 
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Serves: 12 bars
Ingredients
  • 2 over-ripe bananas, mashed with fork
  • ¼ C coconut oil
  • ½ C dark brown sugar
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 C rolled oats
  • ½ C whole wheat flour
  • ¼ C semi sweet chocolate chunks
For the Date Caramel:
  • 8 medjool dates (approx 1 C) pitted
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8X8 pan with coconut oil spray.
  2. In a large bowl combine bananas, coconut oil, brown sugar, egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add salt, baking soda, flour and oats and mix until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and bake for 18-22 minutes, slice into bars once cooled.
  3. While the bars are baking, assemble the date caramel sauce. Soak pitted dates in hot water for 5 minutes, drain water. In a blender, cuisinart or using an immersion blender add all ingredients and blend until smooth. Spoon date caramel sauce into a ziploc bag with a tiny hole cut in the corner. Drizzle the date caramel sauce over the bars and serve.

Lemon Blueberry Overnight Oats

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Did you tune in to 3TV Your Life A to Z today to see Courtney whip up these lemon blueberry overnight oats? Overnight oats are the perfect solution to hectic mornings with no time to make breakfast.  Spend 5 minutes the night before and you will have a hearty, filling and super YUM breakfast to chow down on before heading out the door to conquer the day.

Overnight oats are one of our favorite things to make because we can experiment with so many different flavor combinations. Search overnight oats to check out some of our other combos we love, and we are always adding more. Using the oats to milk ratio you can easily create your own flavors, whatever you like…you can’t screw this recipe up!  Simply dump all of the ingredients into a bowl, mix, cover, refrigerate and eat the next morning.  Easy peasy blueberry lemon squeezy!


Lemon Blueberry Overnight Oats
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1½ C rolled oats
  • 2¼ C milk almond milk - or milk of choice
  • 1 Tbsp chia seeds
  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1½ tsp lemon zest
  • 1½ Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • ½ C fresh blueberries
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until combined. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Add more milk the next day if needed to reach desired consistency.

Mixed Berry Crisp with Coconut Cream

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Our favorite mixed berry crisp with coconut cream is all your’s. Looking for the perfect winter dessert to serve your guests for NYE?  Well, look no further!  We have the answer for you.  You are going to want to make this berry crisp with coconut cream because it’s like the best thing EVER!!  These sweet berries that become hot and bubbling in the oven topped with the warm buttery crisp are so insanely perfect we can hardly stand it.  Wow… getting a little overly excited about a crisp…so what, no shame here.  But really, when you mix the blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, and top them with oats, butter and brown sugar, then bake them in the oven, you just can’t go wrong.  And don’t even get me started on the way this dessert makes your house smell when it’s baking!  I wonder if they have a berry crisp candle…I’m sure they do, they have a candle for everything.  Not that a candle even compares to the real deal in the oven…it just made me wonder.  I wouldn’t buy one anyway though.  I prefer the smell of the real crisp in the oven.  One of the ingredients that really changes the game in this dessert is the ground ginger!  Crazy huh? But trust me, it really gives it a perfect bite. This one happened at my house on Christmas Eve and the family was freaking out!  It doesn’t take much these days! Something as simple as a berry crisp and I’m like a food hero!  I’ll take it!

Stephanie Heymann Photography

 

 

Berry Crisp with Coconut Cream
 
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 5 Cups mixed berries (we used 1 heaping cup each of fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries)
For the Berries:
  • ½ teaspoon corn starch (mixed with ½ teaspoon warm water in a small prep bowl to make a paste)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the Crisp Topping:
  • ½ cup flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup oats
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 5 tablespoons chilled butter
For the Coconut Whipped Cream:
  • 14 oz can coconut cream (we like Trader Joe's brand)
  • ¼ C powdered sugar (may adjust depending on sweetness preference)
  • ½ tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375°. In a medium bowl, combine berries with corn starch mixture, sugar and lemon juice. Stir until berries are well coated.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine ingredients for the crisp topping. Cut the chilled butter into cubes and use your hands to mix until you have a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle evenly over the berries.
  3. Bake in center of oven for about 40 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
For the Coconut Whipped Cream:
  1. Chill can of coconut cream in the refrigerator overnight. At least 15 minutes before making the cream, chill beaters and bowl in the freezer (not mandatory but helps keep the cream chilled when making).
  2. Remove the coconut cream from the fridge, making sure to keep the can upright - do not shake. Removed hardened cream from the can, leaving any liquid behind and place in mixing bowl. Beat until creamy, approx 30 seconds. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and continue to beat for about a minute.
  3. Top berry crisp with coconut cream. Refrigerate remaining in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 10 days.

White Chocolate Raspberry Overnight Oats

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White chocolate raspberry overnight oats are another favorite. Once again, we did some flavor experimenting with the overnight oats and we found another total winner!!  Boom! The way that the raspberries and the white chocolate chips compliment each other is perfection.  What is better than a quick, beyond easy peasy, delicious, and oh yea, Good For You, breakfast?  Not much actually! Whoever invented overnight oats is brilliant!  They can be jazzed up in just about any way that you choose and have the added benefit of being very filling.  The chia seeds are packed with fiber, protein, and Omega 3 fatty acids and will keep you feeling fuller longer.  Don’t believe us?  Please give these a try and we’d love to hear what you think!


White Chocolate Raspberry Overnight Oats
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1½ C rolled oats
  • 2¼ C vanilla almond milk
  • ½ C fresh raspberries + more for serving
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla yogurt chips or white chocolate chips
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp honey + more for serving if desired
  • 1 Tbsp chia seeds
  • pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredient together thoroughly. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Add more milk the next day if needed to reach desired consistency

Coconut Cookie Dough Bites

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Coconut Cookie Dough Bites on TV! Lights, Camera, Action! What a fun day shooting a segment for Your Life A to Z on Channel 3TV.  We had the best time with the Channel 3 A to Z team and loved every minute of it!

Courtney representing GTK!

We had the opportunity to demonstrate how to make these delicious coconut cookie dough bites and we are not gonna lie, they are seriously the bomb! Might be why we chose to debut them on TV!  Ha! Patting our own backs but really no shame here.  They are so easy to make and have the added bonus of being healthy and not overly indulgent!  They are made with real, wholesome ingredients and are the perfect snack for a busy lifestyle. We also might have a little obsession with the Nutiva coconut manna…we use it in a lot of our recipes.

This creamy decadence is sweet but not too sweet, yum!  If you have 5 minutes and a food processor, you can make these awesome little bites of happiness! Blend, roll into bite sized pieces and voila!  Store in the fridge for an easy grab and go.

Check out some of our other recipes like this!

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/pumpkin-dark-chocolate-balls/

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/almond-roca-balls/

White Chocolate Carrot Cake Balls

 

Coconut Cookie Dough Balls
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 C oats
  • 10 medoolji dates pitted
  • ⅓ C coconut manna - (can purchase at Sprouts, Whole Foods or Amazon)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • if desired 2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips, chia seeds, raisins, white chocolate chips, etc
Instructions
  1. In a food processor add the oats and pulse 5X. Add dates and pulse until mixed. Add coconut manna, vanilla, maple syrup, pulse until mixed. Add salt to taste and mix with one last pulse.
  2. Remove contents into a medium sized bowl. Add any other desired ingredients (chocolate chips, chia, etc) and mix. Roll into golf ball size balls, repeat until mixture is gone. Place in tupperware container and store in refridgerator. Good for up to 1 week, although they never last that long!!
  3. Good Thyme Tip ? - If dates are looking a little dry, soak them in hot water for 10 minutes to plump them back up before using in your favorite recipe.