Summer time treats are either high in sugar or high in empty calories.  My favorite treat is frozen bananas which mimic great ice cream and are full of fat free goodness plus potassium.  And did you know that our bodies retain extra fluid in the hot summer months and potassium helps to flush out excess fluids and toxins.  Little powerhouse bites!

INGREDIENTS:  
3 - 4  Small Bananas cut into 1" bites
6 oz Dark Chocolate chopped
1/2 tsp Coconut Oil
5-6g of Unflavored Collagen Peptides Protein (usually 1/2 scoop) 
Sea Salt Flakes
Toothpicks or small skewer sticks

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:
1/2 C Chopped Nuts
1/2 C Chopped Unsweetened Coconut
1/2 C Chopped Dried Fruit

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place cut bananas onto a parchment lined cookie sheet FREEZE for 1 hour.  

2. Using a small saucepan, bring water to a soft boil and place a metal bowl over to create a double boiler.  Melt the chocolate and coconut oil over the double boiler till just melted, then stir in Collagen.  Do not over cook otherwise your chocolate will seize up. Remove from heat.

3.- Remove frozen banana bites, insert a toothpick or skewer stick and dip in the melted chocolate/coconut oil.  Place back on the parchment paper.  Sprinkle the top of the banana with a few grains of sea salt.  Then roll in your favorite topping.  Be creative.  Chopped nuts or unsweetened coconut are perfect but did you know that chopped dried fruit like acai berries, strawberries or goji berries will add nutrient dense flavor?

4. Place back in freezer covered till ready to eat!


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Barbacoa Beef - By Juli at Paleomg! 
-Get to know Juli & all she posts on www.paleomg.com You will be thrilled that I introduced you...I made this recipe this week during a snow storm.  Just amazing and so quick to throw together. 

Prep time:  15 mins Cook time:  9 hours Total time:  9 hours 15 mins   Ingredients For the first round of cooking

• 1.5-2 lbs Grass Fed Beef Rump Roast, trimmed of extra fat (if you’d like)
• 6-8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2-4 bay leaves
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup vegetable broth
• 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• ½ red onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from the can of chipotle peppers)
• 1 container of chopped mushrooms (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste

For the second round of cooking

• 1 16oz can tomato sauce
• 1 12-16oz can green chiles
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Pull out your crockpot. Actually, just leave it on your counter like me. It gets used a lot. If it doesn’t, shame on you!
2. Add to your crock pot: garlic cloves, bay leaves, apple cider vinegar, broth, chopped onions, cumin, chipotle peppers and sauce, mushrooms, salt and pepper, and rump roast. Mix ingredients around to help coat the rump roast.
3. Cover and let cook for 6 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Run a fork along the rump roast at the end of cooking to make sure it is done and easily shreddable (word? I don’t think so).

Once the roast is done cooking:

1. Use a couple forks to shred the meat in your crockpot.
2. Discard the bay leaves.
3. Add in tomato sauce, green chiles, and spices. Mix thoroughly
4. Let cook on high for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Cherry Lime Popsicles
from Skinnytaste.com

Servings: 4  Serving Size: 1 popsicle • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 3 pts Calories: 122 • Fat: 0.2 g • Carbs: 31 g • Fiber: 2.4 g • Protein: 1.3 g • Sugar: 27 g
Sodium: 0.2 mg

Ingredients:

• 1 lb cherries
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice

Directions:

Stem the cherries and remove the pits.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the cherries with the water, sugar, and lime juice, and cook until the cherries are very soft and cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.

Puree the cherries and their liquid and put the mixture through a fine sieve.

Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

by CAROL at ditchthewheat
-Dairy Free,  Gluten Free, & Low Carb
The unique feature of this recipe is that it is sweetened by nature.  The banana was the only source of sweetness.  Amazingly, this was a first for me!  I was making up this recipe and I had Xylitol in front of me ready to be mixed in the bowl but then I held back.  I thought maybe if I use more banana it will be fine.  The added benefit (beside more nutrients) was that it bulked up the recipe from 2-3 waffles to 8 waffles.  I used a whole medium banana which equals 23.85 net carbs according to fatsecret.com.  Remember that is divided by 8 waffles.  The banana only adds 2.98 net carbs each.  The flax seed is 0 net carbs. 

To me the Banana Waffle tastes like a light fluffy banana muffin.  I love it!  

Banana Waffles Recipe:
*Makes 8 waffles.  1/8th of a banana per waffle. ·        
2 eggs ·        
1 mashed medium sized banana ·        
¼ full fat coconut milk ·        
¼ cup of ground flax seed ·       
2 tsp of baking powder

Instructions: 1.    In a bowl whisk the eggs. 2.    Add the mashed banana, and coconut milk and mix. 3.    Add the flax seed and baking powder and mix. 4.    Let sit for a few minutes. 5.    Pour the batter into the waffle maker.  6.    The waffle maker should tell you when it is done.  If not it takes a few minutes to cook. 7.    Eat!

Serve with your choice of syrup.  I used natural peanut butter. Enjoy, Carol

Nutrition Information Based on Fatsecret 1 Waffle = Fat 3.85g, Net Carbs 3.53g, Protein 2.55g, Calories 65.13

Avocado Egg Salad
From the lovelies at www.Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Size: 1/2 cup • Old Points: 3 pt • Points+: 4 pt (w/ light Flatout 7 pts)
Calories: 154.7 • Fat: 11.7 g • Protein: 9.3 g • Carb: 4.6 g • Fiber: 3 g • Sugar: 0.5 g
Sodium: 132 mg (without salt)

Ingredients:

• 4 large hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 4 hard boiled egg whites, chopped (discard the rest)
• 1 medium hass avocado, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp fat free plain yogurt
• 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped chives
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• pinch freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Combine the egg yolks with the avocado, light mayo, yogurt, chives, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mash with a fork. Combine with egg whites and adjust salt as needed.

I would add some bacon to the mix...