Yummy Yogurt Gummies!

I finally mastered making homemade gummies with these yummy yogurt gummies! You guys, I have been trying to make homemade gummies for at least 3 years. First of all, I love gummies and wanted to make my own. Then, when I realized you could add probiotics to your homemade gummies (you know, for gut health), I was jazzed. But each batch was grosser than the first. I couldn’t even get Grace to eat them (and she eats almost everything).

But then, as I was spoon feeding Claire her second dish of yogurt this afternoon, my lazy self thought, ‘I sure wish she could feed herself yogurt’; and BAM, an idea was born. Yogurt gummies. To my delight, they turned out amazing! In fact, Claire and I already ate the first batch.

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A few notes on the ingredients:

  • Use good quality gelatin. Gelatin is packed with protein that is easy to digest. My youngest is a bit of a picky eater, and while I know I don’t need to worry, I still feel better when she eats more quality fat and protein. These gummies are a good way to get those in her little body.
  • Use good quality yogurt. I got this grass-fed yogurt at my local health food store and I love it. Grass-fed yogurt is higher in Vitamin K2, which most of us don’t get enough of. If you can’t get grass-fed yogurt, choose a good quality organic yogurt instead.
  • I used vanilla to flavour these, but you could use anything! Blend up some blueberries and strawberries to make berry yogurt flavoured gummies; or try frozen mangoes or cherries with a bit of lime juice. Don’t eat yogurt? Just use blended fruit as the entire base. Still delicious. The possibilities are actually endless.
  • I used these silicone molds for mine. They are reusable, easy to clean, and the shapes are adorable. You can also make chocolates in them (or these) for a fun little snack. Don’t want to wait? Pour the mix into a pan and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes (like Jell-o Jigglers from 1991).

On to the recipe:

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Yummy Yogurt Gummies

Delicious, healthy gummies you can make at home!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt (use one with fat, please!)
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup (adjust to your taste preference)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1 tbsp good quality gelatin

Instructions

  1. Stir the yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla, and sea salt together in a small pot or saucepan. 

  2. Sprinkle with the gelatin. Don't stir! Allow to stand for 3 minutes while the gelatin 'blooms'.

  3. Place the pot/pan on the stove on medium heat. Stirring frequently, heat gently until the gelatin dissolves (this takes about 3-5 minutes). 

  4. When gelatin is completely dissolved, taste it to make sure you like it. If not, adjust the sweetness or add a bit more salt. Remove from heat and spoon into your molds.

  5. Place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. They are done when you can easily pop them out of the mold. 

  6. Enjoy frozen or thawed! Yum!!!

Roasted Yam Wedges For Everyone (and a little bit on feeding babies, too)

I have a sweet little six month old now and she is devouring every single thing I feed her. For my first daughter, I followed the baby-led weaning method when starting solids. To make sure she got enough iron, I also spoon fed her fortified rice cereal. Now that I know more about nutrition and digestive development in babies, however, I know that feeding her well raised, grass-fed meat is a better alternative to feeding her grains (like fortified rice cereal) because her body can’t easily digest grains yet. So this time around, I am spoon-feeding her locally raised, grass-fed beef mixed with homemade bone broth (I’ll do another post on making that later!). But, I still love baby-led weaning because she absolutely wants to grab the spoon and wrestle food into her own mouth, and baby-led weaning encourages that! Plus,  I don’t really love standing there spoon feeding her, either.

But, I digress! In addition to giving her good quality beef ‘porridge’, I also feed her lots of food that we eat too because it is so much simpler than making meals for everyone individually. One of her (and my!) favourites is roasted yams. I use organic yams because those of us with lots of teeth will be eating the skin (I will peel them for the babe until she has enough teeth to chew them effectively, but peeling after cooking is much easier!).  Cooking them with the skin on is also a sure fire way to get extra fibre, beta-carotene, potassium, and iron – all kinds of good-for-you stuff! Once they are good and scrubbed, I drizzle them with avocado oil and sprinkle them with spices before roasting them until they are soft enough to gum :). This time around, I had some leftover 10 spice powder from Oh She Glows that I sprinkled on top. She’s gonna love them! And hopefully you do too!

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Roasted Yam Wedges

Crispy, salty-sweet, yam wedges sure to delight everyone!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 jewel yams (cut into quarters, legthwise)
  • 3 tbsp avocado oil
  • 2 tbsp 10 spice powder from Oh She Glows

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

  2. Line your biggest baking sheet with parchment paper

  3. Put yams on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle them with oil and sprinkle them with spices.

  4. Using your hands, coat each wedge with the oil/spice mixture until they are well coated.

  5. Bake for 40 minutes!

  6. Let them cool slightly. Then stand at the counter and eat them. Or share them with your kids if you don't eat them all first!

Crispy, Delicious Roasted Sweet Potato Bites

I decided a while back that this should be the year that I learn to love sweet potatoes. To be completely honest, I’ve never really liked them, mostly because I really love regular potatoes and given any opportunity to chose between the two, I always pick a good old spud. But once I was in nutrition school, I learned all about the nutritional benefits of varying your veggie intake and knew that I should give sweet potatoes a chance. Further, all of my healthy school mates love them and I wanted to be cool like them. And finally, they are high in beta-carotene (the precursor to vitamin A), vitamin C, and fibre (to keep you regular!).

So, to help me fall in love with them, I started roasting them which is a sure fire way to fall in love with most vegetables. I quickly peeled them, chopped them into bite size bits, tossed them in avocado oil (stable at higher heat cooking!), sprinkled them with spices, and roasted them. They turned out perfectly sweet and salty, and could even be spicy (if you’re into that ;)). Once these came out of the oven, I stood at the counter and munched on these tasty treats for a full 5 minutes. Then decided they needed a garlicky counterpart. A zesty chimichurri turned out to be the perfect accompaniment, not only in taste, but in health benefits as well. The parsley and garlic have powerful anti-inflammatory properties and lemon helps our bodies detoxify. Win-win!

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Crispy, Delicious Roasted Sweet Potato Bites

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (I used GIANT ones)
  • 3 tbsp avocado oil (use enough to generously coat the sweet potato chunks)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne (if you like it spicy)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350.

  2. Line the biggest baking sheet you own with parchment paper.

  3. Dump sweet potato chunks onto the parchment lined baking sheet.

  4. Drizzle the sweet potatoes with avocado oil and sprinkle them with salt and spices. Use your hands to rub the oil and spices into the potatoes, ensuring they are well coated. 

  5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potato begins to brown. Then stir them around and bake for another 20 minutes. The goal is to get them golden brown. You may have to cook them a bit shorter or longer depending on how large your potatoes were to begin with. That said, you want lots of browned bits because they are the most delicious.

  6. Let them cool quite a bit before you eat them so that they crisp up!

  7. Sprinkle with a little more salt and if you are feeling fancy, serve with a basic chimichurri sauce (recipe follows). You won't be sorry!

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Super Basic Chimichurri

Don't let the fancy name stop you from making this garlicky dipping sauce!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup good quality, extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley (finely chopped)
  • 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 clove minced garlic (or grated on a microplane!)
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt (more to taste)

Instructions

  1. Shake everything together in a mason jar!

  2. Enjoy!

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