Healthy food art
Get your creative juices flowing, and you can turn fruits and veggies into treats that are not only art but allergen-free for your July 4th picnic. You will need some of your favorite red, white and blue fruits and veggies; cookie cutters that have a patriotic theme; and homemade rice crispy bars.
Fruits and veggies with the red, white and blue theme include watermelon, red bell peppers, bananas, jicama, apples, purple carrots and blueberries. Cookie cutter shapes might include stars, rockets, firecrackers, flags and more.
Take those fruits and veggies, and turn them into food art with your cookie cutters and skewers. As an example, use a slice of watermelon about one-inch thick and press a star-shaped cookie cutter through it. Take the star of watermelon and top it with a blueberry. Make several of these on skewers and push them into rice crispy bars on the bottom. You can use your cookie cutters on the rice crispy bars too to create interesting shapes. Or take a whole bunch of fruit/veggie/rice crispy skewers and push them into whole pineapple for the base and use this as a centerpiece.
You can freeze your fruit/rice crispy treats and add a chocolate hardshell coating. Heat two cups of allergen-free chocolate chips, add ¼ cup coconut oil and stir until smooth. Dip frozen fruit pieces and rice crispy treats into the chocolate coating and place in the fridge or freezer to harden.
Here’s a five-ingredient rice crispy bar recipe.
Ingredients:
3 cups rice crispies
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
½ cup plus 2 T. nut or seed butter of your choice such as sunbutter, almond butter, peanut butter
½ cup sticky sweetener such as honey, agave or brown rice syrup
Here’s what you do:
Melt the seed/nut butter, sweetener, salt and vanilla in a pan on the stove or bowl in microwave. Pour the melted mixture over the cereal and stir well to coat all the cereal.
Line a pan with wax paper and spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Place a second sheet of wax paper on top and press down firmly. You also might like to form the mixture into balls.
Freeze the rice crispy bars for half hour or more before cutting into bars or cutting into shapes with cookie cutters. Store in the freezer or fridge
Fruits and veggies with the red, white and blue theme include watermelon, red bell peppers, bananas, jicama, apples, purple carrots and blueberries. Cookie cutter shapes might include stars, rockets, firecrackers, flags and more.
Take those fruits and veggies, and turn them into food art with your cookie cutters and skewers. As an example, use a slice of watermelon about one-inch thick and press a star-shaped cookie cutter through it. Take the star of watermelon and top it with a blueberry. Make several of these on skewers and push them into rice crispy bars on the bottom. You can use your cookie cutters on the rice crispy bars too to create interesting shapes. Or take a whole bunch of fruit/veggie/rice crispy skewers and push them into whole pineapple for the base and use this as a centerpiece.
You can freeze your fruit/rice crispy treats and add a chocolate hardshell coating. Heat two cups of allergen-free chocolate chips, add ¼ cup coconut oil and stir until smooth. Dip frozen fruit pieces and rice crispy treats into the chocolate coating and place in the fridge or freezer to harden.
Here’s a five-ingredient rice crispy bar recipe.
Ingredients:
3 cups rice crispies
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
½ cup plus 2 T. nut or seed butter of your choice such as sunbutter, almond butter, peanut butter
½ cup sticky sweetener such as honey, agave or brown rice syrup
Here’s what you do:
Melt the seed/nut butter, sweetener, salt and vanilla in a pan on the stove or bowl in microwave. Pour the melted mixture over the cereal and stir well to coat all the cereal.
Line a pan with wax paper and spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Place a second sheet of wax paper on top and press down firmly. You also might like to form the mixture into balls.
Freeze the rice crispy bars for half hour or more before cutting into bars or cutting into shapes with cookie cutters. Store in the freezer or fridge
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