Road Trip Snacks for Kids

Are you planning a road trip this weekend for the Labor Day holiday? Whenever we take vacations in the minivan, it seems that a huge part of the journey becomes about snacks. Everyone gets in the car and they're suddenly starving. Likely, it's out of boredom.

We tend to pack snacks and meals for the road to save money and now that we've stopped eating wheat, to keep us on track with eating gluten free. 

Instead of monitoring the snacks during the ride, I had the brilliant idea to pack a lunch sack full of snacks for each child for them to eat whenever they want to. If they eat it all in the first 30 minutes, they'll obviously learn to pace themselves. 

All of these are gluten free snacks...counter clockwise from the top: milk, fresh blueberries, carrots, apple slices, Lucy's GF chocolate chip cookies, a Larabar, a Babybel cheese, a fruit leather and a GoGo Squeeze applesauce. Adding in some turkey slices and some of this will be a part of the kids' lunch, too. Hopefully this will last us for a 6 hour car trip!

#80 - Organize the laundry room

I completed this item on my 101 goals in 1001 days list quite a while ago, but keep forgetting to post about it. In the picture above, I used to have short baskets that held random out-of-season things (swimsuits in the winter, gloves and scarves in the summer) but I grabbed these boxes from IKEA that fit perfectly. As in, there's not 1/4 of an inch to spare! I still need to label the bins, but one holds lunch boxes and picnic supplies (since we don't use them daily for school, just field trips and park days), one holds old towels that Mike randomly needs for work in the yard or garage, one holds adult winter gear and one holds kid winter gear. Not laundry room necessities, per se, but they need to go somewhere and this is as good of a place as any.

Here are the rest of the before and afters.

Before: cabinet above washing machine

After: decluttered and tidied up

Before: cabinet above dryer

After: I have no idea what to put up here now!

Before: above the "spare" fridge (that sounds ridiculous to say)

Before: this is the view from the door

After: (*huge exhale*)

I even bought hooks for the back of the door to hang {ALL OF} our aprons. And Kaylin's chef hat from an awesome cake-decorating birthday party. I also keep our broom, mop, iron and ironing board behind the door. I like hiding stuff.

Guilt-Free, Banana Pancakes

The popular recipe for The Biggest Loser Oatmeal Pancakes has become a staple in our house, but I've messed around with it when I ran low on cottage cheese or oats and my boys were still begging for more. Here's what I've come up with...we make these at least once a week!  I have to double this recipe for my hungry family.

This picture was taken before I began adding baking powder to the recipe. They're much fluffier now!

Ingredients:
1 c. rolled oats (GF, if needed)
1 c. cottage cheese (lowfat is fine)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. sugar (I use 2 packets of Xylitol or Stevia)
6 egg whites
2 whole eggs
1 banana (does NOT need to be ripe - the riper it is, the more banana flavor it will have)

Add all items to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour onto a hot griddle and flip when bubbles begin to form on the top of each pancake.

Yields 18-20 pancakes.

Do these pancakes taste like IHOP? No, they do not. But they don't taste gluten free, either. Worth a try!

#100 - Prepare 30 new recipes

My kids helped A LOT with these recipes, since my wrist has been broken for 6 weeks. This is the result of Jason "helping" stir the dry ingredients before I added moisture to the KitchenAide mixer. The mess covered every surface within 3 feet of the island. Chia seeds, cocoa powder, dried fruit bits...everywhere. It was so fun to clean up with one hand!

This item on my 101 in 1001 list was fun to complete, especially because I've been trying to find some gluten-free, even dairy-free and Paleo, recipes to make more regularly. I put an * next to the recipes that we've made (or will make) again. About 1/2 of the recipes were a huge hit, the other 1/2 were a hit with some of my family, but not everyone. ALL are worth a try!!!


Breakfast

* Paleo Blueberry Pecan Breakfast Cookies - I've made these again and again. A+!

* Paleo Pancakes - These have become the only pancakes I make for Jason. 2 eggs + 1 banana = gluten free, dairy free, grain free and perfect for his diet. I love them, but they were slow to grow on the rest of my family. Now, if we don't have cottage cheese for the Biggest Loser Pancake recipe (below), everyone eats these.

* The Biggest Loser Pancakes - OHMYGOSH these things are so good. And filling!!! I make them every weekend. Actually, I also throw in 2 bananas and 4 eggs to add some healthy fillers and the consistency stays perfect.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes - Thumbs up from everyone - I used gluten-free all-purpose flour. The only reason I probably won't make these again is because I avoid using GF flour or flour substitutes.

* Primal Banana Bread - A perfect pre-workout snack or breakfast on the go.

* Grain Free Muffins - These will be a new staple in our freezer! Yum. For real.

Main Dishes

* Grain Free Cauliflower Pizza Crust - I was shocked how good this was. Shocked. Not crispy like a traditional crust, and not sturdy enough to pick up, but my whole family gave it a thumbs up. The chicken pesto version went over better than the sausage and mushroom with marinara, I think because the pesto was so flavorful that it overpowered the taste of the cauliflower.

Creamy Ham and Sweet Potato Soup - This was doomed from the beginning, as my family doesn't love sweet potatoes. At all. But personally, the taste grew on me. Regardless, I won't make it again.

Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls - Tasted like a quinoa version of Chipotle bowls.

Greek Pizza on Pitas - My family choked this down, I loved it. 

Paleo Tropical Turkey Meatballs - My family hated these at first, until I gave them some Tastefully Simple Honey Teriyaki Sauce to dip, then everyone, especially the kids, were begging for more. Good thing, because I doubled the recipe and froze the extras!

Crispy Quinoa Bake - This was very similar to my Southwest Quinoa Casserole that I make, but more steps and more dishes. We'll stick with my go-to recipe instead.

* Homemade Taco Seasoning - Kinda spicy, but very good! I'll use less red pepper flakes next time.

* Pioneer Woman's Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks - I substituted the pasta for brown rice pasta and the heavy cream for evaporated milk and it was DELICIOUS. As in, Ryan and Kaylin ate 3 and 4 bowlfuls, respectively, and asked me to make this for dinner every single night. A+...and why have I never cooked with leeks before this???

Desserts

* Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Dough Balls - I made these before I started keeping notes of my recipe reviews, but I do remember that they were delicious. I used mini chips instead of regular to cut down on the chunkiness of chocolate in every bite.

Clean Frozen Banana Cream Pie - I'd give this a B-.

Clean Pumpkin Pie - My kids actually loved it...Mike didn't. 

* Avocado Chocolate Mousse - Very rich, so I actually use only 1 T. honey, but Mike thinks he can taste the avocado. I can't. It's the perfect chocolate fix for this sweets-deprived girl!

* Healthy Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip - YUM!  We've made this again and again. The link is broken, but it's basically 1/4 c plain Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp peanut/almond butter, 1 tsp honey and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Trail Mix Balls - Not a huge hit, but my family ate them.

Gluten Free Fruit and Nut Energy Bars - These were okay, not awesome, but edible. The ingredients were pretty pricey, so I made sure none of them went to waste.

GF Fruit Tart with Honey Vanilla Custard - This was delicious, but a huge pain because of the constant "stir or it will burn" pressure. Won't make it again.

* Raw Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars - I will be making these all the time once I have two free hands! Stirring this thick mixture one-handed with a broken wrist was a joke!

No Bake Paleo Cookies - We added 1/2 oats to these, so they were gluten free, but no longer Paleo. Everyone loved them, but they melted if not eaten quickly.

* "Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Bars" - Yum, will make these again and again.

Brownies (yes, it's own catagory)

Clean Eating Brownies - These separated into two weird layers. I don't think Ryan whisked the ingredients enough. I would try making them again - they were soufflé-like.

Sweet Potato Paleo Brownies - Made with melted chocolate (chips), cooked sweet potatoes, honey, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and just 1 T each coconut oil and coconut flour. I left out the cocoa powder (we ran out) but adding a little extra coconut flour (unsweetened, shredded coconut in a coffee bean grinder) and some chocolate chips on top.

Zucchini Paleo Brownies - Made with almond butter, grated zucchini, honey, egg, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips.

* "Best Gluten Free Brownies Ever" - Made with almond butter, eggs, agave nectar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips.

Chickpea Brownies - Made with Starbucks Via, garbanzo beans, eggs, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, sugar (we used agave nectar) and canola oil (could use coconut, but we followed the recipe for this ingredient).

GF Fruit Tart with Honey Vanilla Custard for July 4th

Grain Free Muffins

Grain Free Cauliflower Pizza Crust
(with 1/2 soy cheese for Jason and 1/2 regular mozzarella with mushrooms for Mike)

Ryan making No Bake Paleo Cookies