Valentine's Day Treats (GAPS/SCD/Paleo Marshmallows and Gummy Candies!)

With a new baby due to arrive any day now....I wanted to make sure I had some special Valentine's Day treats ready for the boys (ones that wouldn't hurt Toby's tummy).

With Toby's restricted diet (no sugar/no grains, etc etc), it's a little tricky to come up with treats that both taste yummy and look fun enough to pass for "special Valentines" . 

But...I think I pulled it off!!!! 

I tweaked a couple of recipes that I'd tried around Christmas time, and just changed them to heart shapes and pink/red colours :)

 I thought I'd share these two recipes with you, because they are such a HIT with our boys, and are completely tummy-friendly :) As in, no sugar, no food colouring, sweetened only with raw honey treats.

And to top it all off, they both contain grass-fed, super healthy GELATIN....which is a pretty amazing "ingredient".

Just to list a few things gelatin is good for:

Heals gut lining/prevents leaky gut (which then in turn helps a plethora of problems including food allergies, etc)

Helps foods digest easier when eaten with other foods (due to gelatin's ability to attract liquid molecules, which then help food travel through the digestive system without causing problems), 

Helps with arthritis/joint pain by building up cartilage, 

and heck...it's even made up collagen, which then prompts the body to build up more collagen (yay...anti-aging benefits!!)....need I go on? ;)

First up...

Raspberry Lemon Gummy Hearts/Lollipops

 I found this super-easy, 5 minute (literally) recipe here and made a couple of changes.

3 tbsp Grass Fed Gelatin Powder (I bought this brand)

3 tbsp Raw Honey

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

2 tbsp Raspberry Juice 

(I used frozen raspberries and heat them up in a saucepan with a little bit of water, then let them boil/reduce for a minute or so and strain to get the juice)

2 drops Young Living Lemon Oil 

(excellent immune-boosting health benefits, as well as anti-bacterial/fungal/viral properties)

I just followed the instructions on the Mommypotamus blog (lots of awesome GAPS/PALEO recipes on her blog!...definitely worth a peek).

I found some heart shaped silicone moulds in our local kitchen store, as well as little Valentine themed "lollipop" moulds at the Daiso. They both turned out really well, and I'm always surprised at how easy it is to pop the gummies out of the silicone moulds (they come out so perfectly and are pretty much indestructible!)

Recipe #2....

Fluffy Peppermint Marshmallow Hearts

Another recipe that I found on Mommypotamus and just did some minor changes...

1 cup Filtered Water (split into two half cups)

3 tbsp Grass Fed Gelatin Powder

1 cup Organic Honey

1 tsp Vanilla extract (I've also used vanilla bean seeds in the past, which worked really well)

1/4 tsp salt

3 drops Young Living Peppermint Oil (excellent digestive/stomach benefits)

1 Packet all-natural (no artificial food colouring) carnival sprinkles for sprinkling on top! (OPTIONAL)

These are a little more time-consuming to make than the gummies, but don't be intimidated!! They are super easy. You do need a candy thermometer, tho. At least, it's easier if you have one. If not, you'd probably be safe with boiling the honey/water/vanilla mixture for about 10 minutes.

Directions are here at the Mommypotamus, for the original "plain" vanilla marshmallows.

Once I followed her directions, and spread my marshmallow cream into the pan, I sprinkled the fun sprinkles on top, and let it set for about an hour. Then..I used a little heart cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes. This part is a little tricky...but I found it was easiest when I lightly greased the inside of the cookie cutter with butter (it didn't stick to the marshmallow so badly!). 

I put the marshmallow hearts into little parchment paper mini muffin liners, as well as a few gummy hearts and lollipops, and boxed them up all cute and Valentine"y" :) 

They look super cute, and I can't wait to see the boys' faces when they get to gobble them up :)

Happy Valentine's Day,  everyone!!

xoxo