Now Every Day Can Be a PAYDAY!

Candy.  I used to looooooove candy.  Well, I still looooooove candy, but it does NOT looooooooove me back.  Nope.  Not at all.  I know all the cool bloggers out there say stuff like "oh ever since I gave up sugar/sweets/crack etc, I can't stand the taste of it anymore!  It's positively grotesque to me now!" and so on.  That's great for them.  I'm happy for them.  Yay.  But me?  I miss candy.  Bread, meh.  Pasta, barf.  Even cereal and granola, two staples of my diet in my previous life, I can easily do without.  But candy?  Now that, I miss.  


One of my faves was PayDay.  I had a lot of faves, I also loved Baby Ruth, snickers, anything with dark chocolate, and a bunch of other crap.  Speaking of crap- do you know what PGPR is?  Take a look at the ingredients in a "chocolate" bar next time you see one.  Chances are, you'll see PGPR on the list of ingredients, and for sure if it's a Hershey's product.  What is it you ask?  Oh just an ingenious lab-created replacement for real cocoa butter, as in, the main ingredient in CHOCOLATE.  Yes, you see, why actually use real cocoa butter and chocolate in your CHOCOLATE bar if you can use something cheaper, artificial, lab-created, and a pitiful approximation of the real thing.  So if you are eating a Hershey's chocolate bar- well, sorry, but you're really eating Polyglycerol polyricinoleate.  Want to know more?  Read this.


Oops, sorry for that crazy tangent.  I really just wanted to talk about candy, and how I used to devour it, and love it.  But you know what?  I can make candy.  With real ingredients.  Without sugar.  That tastes awesome.  That is stupid easy to make.  Nothing artificial or gross.  You can pronounce everything in it.  It won't send you into sugar shock either.  And it's better than any flippin' PayDay I ever had.  If I can give up candy, so can you.  Try this, and you'll see.  It's so much better!

Homemade PayDay that isn't full of sh*t
8-10 medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup salted peanuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tbsp pastured butter


Pulse your dates and peanuts until peanuts are teeny tiny specks.  Then, with the motor on, pour in your vanilla, and drop in some salt and your butter.  Pulse until just incorporated.  Spread mixture out onto wax paper and press flat with your hand.  Refrigerate for a few hours, then cut up as desired.  These are insanely good.  You know how sometimes you make a recipe, and you're almost disappointed by how good it is?  Because that means you are going to eat more of than you should?  That's how I feel about this.  So make it at your own risk.  But still, scarfing down a bunch of this stuff is a million times better than eating some artificial piece of junk made like a year ago in a factory halfway across the world.  #AmIRight?


Enjoy GFG's, XoXo

Date Caramels, No Added Sugar

These Date Caramels are super yummy.  What- did you think I would go the rest of my life without caramel?  Sad!  No thanks.  These are an amazing approximation.  And a great jumping off recipe for many others- you could make this into a frosting, syrup, use it as the base for a cookie, or cut them up really small and sprinkle them over whatever you like.  Dipped in melted unsweetened chocolate they become gourmet dark chocolate candies!  Yum!

No Sugar Date Caramels
1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews
1 cup loosely packed pitted dates
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsalted organic/grassfed butter

In your cuisi, pulse cashews until finely ground.  Add your dates and turn on your processor, and add your vanilla in through the spout as it whirs.  Once the dates are completely broken up, add your butter and pulse until it's well dispersed and the whole mixture is glossy.  You'll spread the mixture out on wax paper and press together into a circle, with about a 1/4 inch thickness.  Let this cool in the fridge for a few hours, then cut into squares, bars, or form into balls!  Want some delicious sea salt caramels?  Sprinkle some sea salt over them and press lightly to make sure the salt sticks.

How fun are easy, no-bake recipes like these?  I love them.  You could opt to leave out the butter, they would be more like cashew cookie lara bars basically.  I think using RAW unsalted cashews in this recipe is absolutely necessary.  Any other nut and the flavor would be totally different.  Though still delish of course.  But try this with almonds or walnuts and it's another story entirely.

What's your favorite way to use dates?  Any recipes to share?  XoxoGFG

Happy Valentine's Day GFG's!

Vday was never really my thing.   To me, it's right up there with Secretary's Day (or worse, Bosses Day) or Groundhog Day or something.  But since having a family and a little dolly who is my Valentine 365 days of the year, I have come around a little bit.

Valentine's Day used to mean plenty of chocolates, followed by a stomach-ache.  And I loooooooooove chocolate.  There has got to be a way to still have some chocolate candy on Vday, right?

Right.  Ok now maybe these candies don't look quite as pretty as the kind that come in a red heart-shaped box (ok so they look like ass) but who cares?  They're homemade.  And I suppose if I took more than three-seconds to form they'd look halfway decent.  Whatever.  They are chocolate, and they are candy, and I'm stoked!  Here's what you do-  first, make this.  That gives you sugar free chocolate, which can be made into bars, bites, or even chocolate chips.  Rather than use agave or stevia drops, I used my trusty sugar free vanilla syrup.  Ok- got your chocolate all ready?  If it's not melted already, re-melt it.  Then, you'll another tablespoon of coconut oil, and another tablespoon of SF vanilla syrup.  Quickly, dump in some shredded coconut, chopped pecans, and cut up dried fruit- like cherries, or apricots, or whatever.  Mix everything together, then form into little shapes on a piece of wax paper.  Let cool a few hours et voila!  Chocolate candy.

Pecan Chocolate Candies
melted SF chocolate, recipe here
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tbsp SF vanilla syrup
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped dried fruit

If you wanted to make them really special- you could dust them in some cocoa powder, or shape them into little hearts.  Or make a chocolate ganache to drizzle over.  Super yummy, no cooking involved.  Happy Vday, XoXoGFG