{Easy} Gluten and Dairy Free Seven Layer Bars

Seven Layer Bars are one of my very favorite Christmas goodies. We spent Christmas this year at my Grandparents in Florida. With all holiday craziness and travel no one really found time to make many holiday treats. After a whole day of vacation without a single, safe Christmas cookie I had to do something.

The small town in Florida that my Grandparents live in have very little gluten or dairy free options so I had to get creative. I had seen this recipes for Seven Layer Bars and although they look absolutely delicious, I didn't have enough patience or appropriate ingredients to make them. Target was my only shopping option so I took to the aisles with the classic Eagle Brand Milk recipe to see what substitutions I could find.

For the crust, I found these Annie's Gluten and Dairy Free, Snickerdoodle bunnies. They were a bit sweeter than normal graham crackers so I when I mixed in the butter I added a some more cinnaman hoping to dull it down.

Luckily they had Enjoy Life chocolate chips! I honestly like these better than regular chocolate chips any way. I used the whole bag at various stages of layering so they bars were extra chocolatey!

The condensed milk was the hardest to step by far. I found this recipe for Vegan sweetened condensed milk. I used 1 can of  coconut milk and 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup. I simmered it at a low heat for about 30 minutes, I think it definitely could have cooked a bit longer but I was antsy. 

Full Recipe: 

1 1/2 cups (about 1 bag) of Annie's Snickerdoodle Cinnamon and Sugar, Gluten Free Bunny Cookies (crumbled)
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 package of Enjoy Life, Dairy Free Chocolate Chips
1 1/3 cups of flaked coconut
1 cup of chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups of Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk

Pre-Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x9 baking pan.

Mix together crumbled cookies, cinnamon and melted butter. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle in half the bag of chocolate chips and half the coconut.


Pour condensed milk over the bars. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips, coconut and nuts evenly over the top.


Bake for 25 minutes. Let bars cool completely before cutting or refrigerate for firmer bars.

They went so fast (eaten by my non-Paleo/food allergy family) I almost didn't get a picture of the final product!

                                         

Banana Bread

I've been craving banana-y things in the recent months. Specifically chocolate and bananas. Took a trip to Mexico earlier this summer and had the most amazing chocolate dipped frozen banana!

My "substitute" for not having the patience to dip my own bananas has been Chocolate Chip Banana muffins. Definitely not paleo, but fine in moderation ;) I've brought them to work to win people over and everyone loves them!

Paula Deen's Banana Bread {in muffin form}

1 cup of softened Butter

1 1/2 cups of Sugar

4 Eggs

3 cups of All purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda

1 teaspoon of Salt

2 cups of Mashed Bananas

1 cup of Chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and fill 2 muffin tins with muffin holders
2. In a medium bowl and with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring well. Add bananas and pecans, stirring just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 30ish minutes, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans, and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Love Day

Valentine's Day is coming up! I like Valentine's Day in the sense of its a fun day to celebrate the love you have for all the people in your life. However, I don't think its the greatest for relationships. If you're both Valentine's Day people, GREAT but if you're not it usually ends up with a lot of this:

To avoid the pressure of Valentine's, I think it's better to take most of it away and promise eachother to just be a little more loving and appreciative when it's needed. It means a little more with less of a "Here's some flowers. It's Valentine's Day." and more "Here are some flowers. Thank's for doing that favor for/thinking of/being there for me /just being you."

I think it should be recognized, but cute and cheesy, yet relevant. Stick with the basics. Flowers, chocolate, candy, jewels if you're feeling generous. Something that represents your relationship is even better. Dinner at your first date restaurant, picture of you together in a nice frame. More of a "Yay we love eachother, it's Valentine's Day" and less of a "Here is a tree of roses on top of a champagne mountain crusted in diamonds!" situation.

Here are some of my favorite gift ideas:

1) Printstagram
I did this for Sweetest Day, which unbeknown to me no one celebrates on the West Coast. I wanted something that was representative of things we've done together and he loved it.

2) Kate Spade Valentine's Day Bracelet

Guys, Kate Spade really did all the work for you here. Encompasses sparkles and meaning in one little gift for your lady. You can't really go wrong with any jewelry.

3) Good Chocolates

No, not Russell Stover or Godiva, something nice. I love Chocolatier Blue, their boxes are so elegant and chocolates so unique (and beautiful)!

4) Fancy Under Things

I love lingerie. Silk and lace and bows and extra padding! Even though it usually doesn't stay on very long, there is something about being out to dinner, all glammed up and having a little secret underneath your clothes that the world (and, even better, your Lovely) doesn't know about. 

Shopping for this is a sensitive subject for some people in terms of size, coverage and body image so maybe offer to take her shopping for some and pick out something you like for her to try on. Let her pick without telling you and it's still a surprise for you ;)  Just a heads up Victoria Secret doesn't let gentlemen in the dressing rooms so you'll have to hit a department store or boutique shop.

I've been swooning over this color blocked set from Fleur Du Mal!