In a large bowl (or kitchenaid mixer if you have one) add a bunch of peanut butter.  This is probably around 1 1/2 cups or so...doesn't really matter.
 Add a tsp of vanilla and a tablespoon or so of honey, then add in all your almond meal and mix together.

After adding all the almond meal, it wasn't quite thick enough and since I didn't feel like grinding up more almonds (my cheap processor is going to make me go deaf!) I just turned to mixer on low speed and slowly added a little powdered sugar until it formed into a ball, it didn't take very much at all....maybe a 1/4 cup?  And you could leave out the powdered sugar and just add more almond meal for a healthy snack.
Roll into small balls (or ovals to make easter eggs) and place on a tray or plate, cover with plastic wrap and set in freezer.  You can enjoy these just like this, they are not too sweet but still a super yummy treat.  You'll satisfy your sweet tooth without feeling sick after because the peanut butter is decently sweet and that little bit of honey adds some sweetness as well.
 To take these a step further...and it's worth it...add a cup of your chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute, stir, then microwave at 30 second intervals stirring each time until smooth.  Using a fork, roll your chocolate chip peanut butter balls in the melted chocolate and then set back in the tray.

Once they are all covered, set in the freezer again to harden the chocolate.  We just kept ours in the freezer and ate them cold because they were so yummy like that, kind of like eating frozen cookie dough but better, and they were still soft, not too hard from being frozen.

My husband is not big into sweets but he was totally into these and my daughter was obsessed with them as well, so I was pretty excited with how yummy they turned out without having to use anywhere near as much sugar as traditional peanut butter balls.

Hello out there....if anyone is still there!  We are alive over here, however we had family come visit, then went and visited family...pretty much the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving just happened at warp speed.  But we are back and Scrappy Saturdays will be back on this weekend too.
After not posting in so long it's almost hard to know where to start so I thought I'd start with a recap of our Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving day started with these

 For her other great thanksgiving breakfast menu recipes including this one, visit Silvana's Kitchen!


And our Day Ended with this


Both were super yummy and delicious, along with everything else we had in-between.  My husband cooked the actual meal and did a great job on everything.  I sure am Thankful for such an awesome hubby!!!  And I'm thankful for all the great resources, including Silvana's recipes that make eating gluten and dairy free easy and delicious!  We had company over for Thanksgiving and they said they would have never guessed everything was gluten and dairy free.

I did make ONE thing for the actual meal from a recipe my sister gave me. I made this the night before and I  want to make this everyday, just to make my house smell like this.  Now I'm desperate to find the perfect candle that smells like this...cranberries, apples, vanilla, cinnamon and clove! *I left out the raisins.

homemade cranberry relish

Heat the peanut butter, corn syrup, sugar and "butter" over low heat in med-large pot and stir.  Bring to a boil and then quickly remove from heat.  Add the Rice Chex (or other crispy rice cereal) and stir with a spatula till cereal is coated and then press into an 8x8 inch pan.  For topping, In the same pot while it is still warm, I like to add a rounded tablespoon of peanut butter and about 1/3 cup dairy free chocolate chips such as ghirardelli semi-sweet or 60% chocolate chips and stir till smooth and pour and spread over the peanut butter crispy treat.

 I like to line my pan with parchment paper so it's easy to remove and cut.  

Another heavenly recipe that came out of the Cooking For Isaiah Cookbook: Gluten Free and Dairy Free recipes by Silvana Nardone.  The picture of this dessert in the book is actually what compelled me to purchase it over other cookbooks I was looking at.  I could not WAIT to try this!  I made this at my moms house which was perfect timing because we picked the first batch of raspberries from her immaculate garden and they were TO-DIE-FOR!  I never knew raspberries could be THAT good and I'm determined to plant some raspberry bushes at our home next summer!  I give this recipe a round of applause!  The meringue is the kind your would have atop a lemon meringue cake...light and crisp on outside but super soft on the inside.  The only thing I didn't do was sprinkle with icing sugar...it didn't need it.  This gluten free dairy free layer cake is the best summer dessert I have ever had and will be using this recipe again and again!  Although I'll have to find fresh raspberries...I've never had store bough raspberries taste like these.  Anyways, I am still loving this book...maybe one of my most useful favorite book purchases ever! (along with natural baby and childcare)