Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips Snack Packs ***Giveaway***

Have you heard the exciting news?  There's a new allergy-friendly treat in town, and although it's small in size, it's a BIG deal. 

Enjoy Life has just introduced their new single-serving snack packs of dairy free and nut free chocolate chips (actually free of the top 8 allergens)! These cute snack packs are perfect sizes to pop in lunchboxes, in special snack boxes for school, or in backpacks and purses. They're also a wonderful allergy-friendly option for HALLOWEEN!  

We are SO excited to hand out chocolate chip snack packs as part of our allergy-friendly treats this Halloween. Of course we are also going to display our teal pumpkins and offer non-food treats! I mentioned on Instagram that painting teal pumpkins has become an annual tradition in our house now. I hope you've found some fun with the Teal Pumpkin Project too.

How can you use these fun snack packs in other ways?

Well, I am also Homeroom Mom at Little Guy's school (which means I get to plan their class celebrations - so helpful for food allergy reasons!). I plan to use the snack packs as class treats to fill up these mini pumpkins...along with festive pencils and notebooks for each kiddo too.

Have you had both kinds of Enjoy Life chocolate chips in these snack packs? The dark chocolate are a little bigger and have more of a pure chocolate/cacao taste (less sweet).  The semi-sweet mini chips are just that...sweet and mini! My kids like both, but slightly prefer the semi-sweet mini chips. I prefer both :)

Now that I have you drooling, are you ready to enter the giveaway? Enjoy Life is kindly offering to give 5 winners each one BAG of mini chips (with 12 snack packs inside each bag!). The giveaway ends on Sunday, October 23 at midnight, so be sure to enter ASAP now!

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Thank you to Enjoy Life for sponsoring this post and sending us some yummy snack packs!

Mason Jar Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Parfait

I have another DELICIOUS dessert idea for you using Enjoy Life's new brownie mix. We've been having so much fun with this mix!  I posted another fun recipe earlier this week for a Birthday Brownie Banana Split. Then I used four of our brownie muffins to create another food allergy friendly dessert, Mason Jar Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Parfaits. And can you believe it's gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free and food allergy friendly?

This dessert might sound fancy. "Parfait" anyone? But it's seriously easy.

It's really just a layered dessert full of food allergy friendly ingredients. Your non food allergy friends and family will LOVE it. They won't be able to tell the difference!

Ingredients:

• 4 muffin sized Enjoy Life brownies
• 2 cups frozen raspberries
• 2 boxes So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk 
• 8 Tbsp powdered sugar
• Optional: Enjoy Life chocolate chips and cocoa powder to top it off

Directions:

• Put So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk in bowl and refrigerate overnight.
• Bake the brownies as directed on the box. I used muffin tins to bake the brownies instead of a pan. I filled the muffin tins about 3/4 full, which made 10 muffin-sized brownies. I baked them for 20 minutes. Just watch the muffins closely as they bake since ovens vary.
• Microwave 2 cups frozen raspberries for about 10 - 15 seconds, until they're a little bit defrosted.
• Beat 8 Tbsp powdered sugar with refrigerated So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk until well combined and somewhat fluffy until you make a coconut milk whipped cream.
• In each mason jar, layer 1/3 brownie, spoonful of coconut milk whipped cream and spoonful of raspberries. Repeat until you get to the top of the mason jar. Top with cocoa powder and Enjoy Life chocolate chips if you desire.

I refrigerated these and our family enjoyed them after dinner. They are definitely a TREAT!

You might also like these desserts:

Birthday Brownie Banana Split: Vegan and Gluten free

Chocolate Pretzel Peppermint Bark

SunButter Chocolate Cups

Vegan Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Thanks to Enjoy Life for sending me a box of their Enjoy Life Brownie Mix to test out. This post contains affiliate links.

Chocolate Cocoa Popcorn: A Sweet and Salty Treat for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day this week calls for a fun, sweet treat recipe, right? Well, I have a great sweet AND salty treat that's easy to make and also fairly healthy. I made Martha Stewart's Cocoa Popcorn recipe, but I made it dairy-free and food allergy friendly. It's a great mid-day snack or after dinner treat while watching a movie. Portion control is the only problem with this recipe. I betcha can't eat just one handful!

Here are the ingredients I used. Notice the ripped bag of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips? Yes, we love them that much! Rip them open and eat...nom nom.

Here's the popcorn before adding the Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. It was tasty even without the chocolate chips!

Here's the final sweet and salty chocolate cocoa popcorn.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups plain popcorn (no salt and no butter)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp Earth Balance butter - melted
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

The best part about a popcorn recipe like this? You can switch around the amount of ingredients to you liking. Less sugar and more cocoa powder?  Try it!  Add other things like sunflower seeds or cereal to make a trail mix like snack? Sounds wonderful!

Directions:

• Pop the popcorn. Here's my favorite way to do it.
• Melt the butter 
• Measure and mix the sugar and cocoa powder
• Pour the butter onto the popcorn and mix in the sugar and cocoa mix.

Hope you try and enjoy this tasty little treat. 

Doing anything fun this Valentine's Day? We're hopefully going to the circus this weekend if (this currently very snowy and icy winter) weather permits!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

If you don't know by now, I'm a little obsessed with pumpkin.

I've posted a number of pumpkin recipes on this blog because:

• I love the taste of pumpkin.
• Pumpkin is healthy (Some people call it a superfood because of it's Vitamin A, fiber and other amazing nutrients!).
• Pumpkin is a great egg substitute. It gives egg-free baked goods a wonderful moist quality, and it holds everything together so well!

I knew I had to share these AWESOME pumpkin chocolate chip muffin tops with you.  I call them muffin tops because they're almost like the thick and dense top of muffins...the part that many people eat first and love the most.

Oh, and they're also gluten-free and free of refined sugars.

I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite food allergy friendly baking cookbooks. I wish I could say they're vegan, but I did use honey in them!

Recipe
*Makes 12 muffins (I doubled the following recipe and made 24 muffins. They go fast in our house and I like to have some to freeze!)

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 and 2/3 cups oat flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 cup (or more or less!) Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips 

Liquid Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup soymilk (or ricemilk or coconut milk - any milk will do)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (you could probably use 1 cup honey or 1 cup agave nectar, but I chose to try half of each
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp canola oil or vegetable oil

Directions:

• Mix all the dry ingredients (a whisk or electric mixer makes it easier)
• Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well
• Spoon about 1/3 cup of the mix into greased muffin tins until you fill up the 12 tins. I greased the tins using my trusty Misto Olive Oil Sprayer.
• Temperature: Bake at 350 degrees. 
• Time: Set your oven for 27 minutes, and check to see the muffins are golden brown. My oven took about 28 minutes, but ovens do vary.
• Makes 24 muffins.

Also, I've been the guest pinner on WeGo Health's "Healthy Eating" Pinterest Board all month. I'm actually kind of sad this is my last week as I've had tons of fun! I've been actively seeking out healthy recipes and finding some great eats on Pinterest!

If you aren't following me already, please follow my Mamacado Pinterest Board for lots of food, family and fun!

Products included in the post you may like:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

My husband and I love Kashi granola bars as a snack or quick breakfast (plus a banana) on the go. However, I can't seem to find any nut, dairy, gluten and egg free granola bars for my son. Solution?  Make them myself!  I found the recipe for these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars here, and they're so tasty that I haven't tried any alternate recipes.  These bars are probably even better than store-bought granola bars since they're homemade, less processed, and include less "junk" than store-bought granola bars.

They may be more of a fall-time treat since they use pumpkin, but they're a staple at our house year-round.  They also freeze really well.  I just cut them into toddler size squares, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them in a large ziplock bag to freeze.  I defrost one or two on the counter overnight, or even in the microwave if I need one quickly.  They taste great even after being frozen.

I found this recipe here. I stayed true to most of it, but made a few minor changes.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 3 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup honey (agave nectar works too)
• 3 Tbsp oil (I used Smart Balance this time) **This is updated from my original post - you need 3!
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Craisins

In one large bowl combine: oats, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

In another bowl whisk together: brown sugar, pumpkin, honey, oil and vanilla extract.

Pour mixture over oats and stir well, then add chocolate chips and Craisins (other add-ins would work well too if you can eat them!  I'd love these with almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds or other dried fruit).

Line your 8x8 or 8x11 pan with parchment paper as I did, or spray it with oil or cooking spray.

Put your pan into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut them however you like - in bar shape, squares, etc.

REALLY delicious!

Banana Sunbutter Frozen Pops

Bananas are a major staple around our house for breakfast, recipe add-ins (great substitute for eggs) and as snacks.  But what to do with a banana that's past its prime like this one?  

Make Banana Sunbutter Frozen Pops of course!

This is definitely a fun way to use up those bananas.  First, cut your banana into 4 slices (depending on the size of your banana, or how big you want your pops to be!).

Then push your popsicle sticks into the banana pieces.

You could use any kind of popsicle stick (I even used a chopstick once, but that's not necessarily toddler friendly).  I found these lollipop sticks at Michael's that worked well. 

Then, spread your Sunbutter (or nut butter of choice) all over the sides and top of the banana. Doesn't have to be perfect - just slather it on!

Then roll your "Sunbuttered" banana in anything you choose!  I chose two sweet options and two cereal options.  Here they are in order"

• Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
• Enjoy Life Flax Cereal - add a nice crunchy texture
• Sprinkles
• Gluten-free Rice Krispies

The cereal options could be used as a great breakfast alternative, and the sweet options are great for dessert and for fun!

Put your pops on a piece of wax paper on a plate or tray, cover, and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Here's what they look like after they've been frozen for a few hours - frosty and tasty!

I have fond memories as a little girl of buying a chocolate covered banana from the ice cream truck that drove around my neighborhood during the summers. My son currently can't eat anything from an ice cream truck, but he can definitely eat these Banana Sunbutter Frozen Pops!