Sanity Space - In the kitchen????

 After having cooked for the family for well over twenty years I've become a little tired with preparing and making meals. The added complication of food intolerance has magnified that feeling to the point that  the kitchen is currently NOT my favourite place!

However, given a munchy attack....the space to experiment (with no one else around) and not being under any time pressure, I quite enjoy making some mess and throwing some things together. I don't particularly like following recipes though... I'm more of a "see a picture...like it... and figure out how I can make something look like that with what I have in my kitchen cupboards" type person. I have a gluten free, egg free, dairy free board on Pinterest that I like to pin recipes  on to that I use for some inspiration. https://www.pinterest.com/jadebie/gluten-free-egg-free-dairy-free/


My "sanity space" in the kitchen began with a chocolate craving.... so I searched my cupboard and  found some Almonds, dairy free chocolate chips, dried mulberry's (I like these because they taste quite a lot like caramel to me), and pumpkin seeds.
Due to the casein intolerance I have, I normally buy 70% plus dark chocolate. Over time I have found a few brands in the health food shop that work and are labelled  gluten free, dairy free and  soya lecithin free....it was a tricky endeavour! However I have managed to find a few supplies that I like. For baking I like the chocolate chips in the picture below.   

 In my recipe today I used:-

 2 cups of Almonds, 

2 cups of dairy free chocolate chips, 

1 cup on mulberry's

1 cup of pumpkin seeds

 ....Mixed everything together in my favorite heart shaped bowl that the hungry boy bought me for my birthday...

 ....and melted the chocolate chips in a bowl over a pan of hot water

 Next step is to mix the melted chocolate in with the dry mixture until everything is coated...

 ...and spread the mixture out on a baking tray lined with some grease proof paper (baking/waxed paper?)

You can leave it to set and harden in a cool place so that the chocolate won't lose its luster but I just whack it in the fridge to ensure that I can eat it a lot quicker. That's pretty much it!  Very quick and simple!

When it's ready... just break it in to chunks and enjoy....ideally before anyone else gets to it.... it doesn't last very long so if you want to have some hanging around a bit longer you may want to double or triple the quantities.... or put it in your favourite hiding place!

Why not experiment a bit yourself and add some more things you find in your cupboards.... just be creative. You could also use the ingredients from a few snack packs  for extra speed! Hope you have some Sanity Space time real soon.

Jx



This snack contains lots of nutrition ..... Its packed with antioxidants, fibre, zinc, magnesium, vitamin E to name a few. If you would like to learn more about the nutrition in the varying ingredients you can visit the links below.
 https://nuts.com/driedfruit/mulberries/premium.html
 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/30/pumpkin-seed-benefits.aspx
 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/269468.php