Author: sweetrawfree

Perfect Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

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Do not let the name of recipe #14 fool you!  These babies are lactose-free, sugar-free, and 90% gluten-free!!  (And they can be made totally gluten-free if you like).  How is that for a super sweet treat?  And you would never guess it based on the taste.  They are AWESOME!  I got rave reviews on these. They disappeared in a flash, both to friends, colleagues, and as a result of my not being able to stop eating them.

Those who know me personally know that I adore autumn.  Everything about this season is awesome to me.  The feeling of new beginnings and anticipation that dances in the air.  The boots and scarves making a re-emergence.  All things plaid.  Roaring fireplaces becoming commonplace in homes once more.  Warm drinks a permanent fixture in peoples hands again.  Leaves the color of flames dancing on street curbs.  The air dipping into brisk and chilly territory, inviting everyone to spend more time cozying up.  Movie marathons and thick books are especially enticing.  AND, the explosion of all things pumpkin flavored!!

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Brookes Beauty Bowl

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Recipe #13 is the first one to fall into the “raw” category.  I named this one a “beauty bowl” because it is chalk full of good-for-you foods that are AMAZING for both the functioning of your body, as well as the way you look.  Allow me to explain.

In this particular dish, you will find:

Mango– chalk full of antioxidants that can help aid against cancer, unclog skins pores, a lot of vitamins and nutrients to help the body feel fuller, helps strengthen your immune system, and is a great source of iron.

Sweet Potato– keeps skin smooth and cell division running smoothly, regenerates collagen, great for healthy hair and beauty sleep.  Helps keep you feeling full without the glycemic spike that can contribute to blemishes.

Spinach– highly nourishing to the eyes and the liver, and it contains compounds that protect the lining of the digestive tract from inflammation.  Bone strengthening vitamin K is also found in spinach.

Pomegranate– awesome anti-aging powers are found in these tiny ruby seeds.  Prevents aging inflammation in the body, helps keep our circulatory systems young by boosting blood flow to organs and cells.  A powerful cleaner of lymph and blood for clear, radiant skin.

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Superb Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

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Alright, people.  Recipe #12 is a major gift.  This is, hands down, my personal favorite recipe to make and eat on a regular basis.  It is DELICIOUS.  One would never guess that this cake is chalk full of good-for-you ingredients.  It tastes like a fudgy, decadent, dense, rich chocolate cake.  However unlike a typical chocolate cake which is loaded with sugar, calories, bad-for-you fat and all sorts of things that are terrible for your body, this one is gluten-free, refined sugar-free and lactose free!!  It hits all three health points.

For about a month, I was whipping up this bad boy every weekend.  Its that good.  On second thought, you might not want to try out this recipe.  It will change the way you eat chocolate cake forever.  The recipe may sound and look slightly complicated to initial onlookers.  Dont worry, its not.  After making it twice, I have the process memorized.  Its super easy to throw together.  And then you have the awesomeness of a healthy chocolate cake in your house for enjoying alongside of your tea and coffee for the next week.  You’re welcome 😉

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Light Shrimp & Rice Dinner

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Recipe #11.  This one is an oldie but a goodie.  This photo was taken in my rookie period, during which I had ZERO experience with photographing food and was just beginning to get my toes wet.  So please excuse that this food photo isn’t quite up to par with my other ones.  That aside, this dish is simple but really manages to hit the spot.

Its gluten-free and sugar-free. It can be made lactose-free by omitting the cheese (though that would really change the nature of the dish).  You could substitute in goat cheese which would probably taste pretty good.

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Healthy Carrot Cake

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Here it is folks.  Breaking into the double digits with recipe #10.  This one is a fitting followup to the previous pumpkin recipe.  Carrot being another quintessential fall flavor.  Though its funny, I didnt always think that.  When I was younger, I thought carrot cake was repulsive.  Carrots in a cake?  Who would consider such a thing.  Vegetables were the vile things our parents forced us to eat in order to “be healthy.”  Not interesting, fun, nor tasty to a child.

Another one of the many great changes that come with age.  Embracing desserts made with vegetables, like this delectable carrot cake.  This version is a signifigantly lighter and healthier version as opposed to traditional carrot cake.  As you can see from the barrage of photos, I am particularly pleased with how this one came out!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

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Recipe #9 (get excited, its a good one).  It doesn’t get much more “New England” than this.  And being a born and bred New Englander myself, this is one of the many things I have longed for since having moved to Europe.

When a beautiful thing called autumn comes along which results in an fiery explosion throughout the trees (Google: New Hampshire during autumn.  You will see what I am talking about), the temperatures dropping steadily, consumption of hot drinks growing ever so enticing, boots, plaid and wool jackets coming out in abundance, scarves wrapping enthusiastically around necks and roaring fires beginning to occupy ones home hearth more and more often as the weeks continue to pass, one more stellar thing happens.

A massive onslaught of all things pumpkin flavored begins.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pastas, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins and cookies, pumpkin pancakes (wink, wink) and yes, pumpkin cheesecake.

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Sesame Brown Sugar Honey Glazed Salmon

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Recipe #8: there is nothing like a delicious, juicy fillet of salmon cooked just right.  Loaded with healthy fats, its super satisfying and filling, while somehow managed to feel light.  Its not a heavy food.  And of course as everyone knows, its so good for you.  I love this particular melding of flavors.  Be warned though, once you try this one, you might not be able to stop thinking about it until long after you’ve eaten it.

This dish is gluten-free, lactose-free and can be tailored so that its sugar-free as well (though the sugar in this one is minimal).

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Home Style Macaroni and Cheese

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Recipe #7.  Ok, I admit it.  This one doesn’t easily fit into the categories for my websites premise.  This dish is a bit of a special case.  The only claim I can make for it right off the bat is that its definitely sugar-free.  And you can absolutely make this dish gluten-free by purchasing gluten-free pasta!  By nature of the title though, its of course not lactose-free.  Not even close.  However, I can tell you that its more than worth it.

This was, hands down, my favorite dish for years growing up.  I would beg my Mom to make it multiple times a week.  She appeased me on this one pretty regularly (though thankfully not as regularly as I begged her for it), making it roughly once a week much to my child or teenage delight.  Whenever we had this for dinner, it made my entire day.  A smile remained plastered on my face for the rest of the evening, in my comatose state after consuming this deliciously cheesy dinner  (Yes, I was easily pleased and excitable as a child.  Some things don’t change much as we become adults, eh? ;-))

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Fantastic French Toast

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Recipe #6: to me, French Toast is the ultimate weekend treat.  Its nostalgic.  Its also romantic, in a breakfast in bed kind of way.  It feels like a sweet, and yet, it can be passed off as being not totally terrible for you.  Even in some cases, reasonably healthy (depending on how and what its made with).  This french toast is fluffy, ever so subtly vanilla flavored, so delicious.  I personally could not vouch for any brunch as being complete without French Toast present on the table.

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Buckwheat Cinnamon Honey Banana Bread

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Here we go with recipe #5.  Banana bread is such a nostalgic dish isn’t it?  I feel like most people, at one point or another during their childhood, were served banana bread by Mom.  Its a simple dish but so incredibly yummy.  This version is just as good as the one you remember, but its gluten-free, refined sugar-free and lactose-free.

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