Skinny Banana Bread

Myth about whole foods:

Your food will never taste like the "normal" recipe does when you adapt it for whole food natural living!

NOT TRUE! I can't tell you how many awesome recipes I've been able to adapt to fit my lifestyle of whole food, healthy living! It is an amazing journey when you start, to feel your body actually love you for what you are putting into it...that feeling of happiness grows even more when you see your family love everything they are eating also! It's amazing.

So if you think you will be sacrificing taste and delicious comfort food to eat healthy, whole and natural...I'm going to prove you wrong with this revamp of my comforting banana bread! It was amazing! I made it for my husband who requested banana bread. Well the night I made it, he worked late. The kids and I slaved and slaved, then probably ate half the loaf (yes you read that right)  and then I tucked the rest away nicely for my husband to enjoy for breakfast and while he was in class!

When I got home from work the next day I asked him if he liked his banana bread, because it was all gone. He said he didn't even get ONE PIECE! I laughed so hard, between my kids and our babysitter the next morning they ate the rest of the loaf of banana bread! It lasted less than 24 hours!

So I promised I'll make it again soon for the hubs...

If you want a guiltless loaf of banana bread this is your lucky day! Originally this recipe contains 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 a cup of shortening! Yikes! This baby needed a makeover...Enjoy, I know you'll love it

Skinny Banana Bread

3/4-1 c raw stevia

2 T vegan margarine

1/4 c unsweetened applesauce

2 flax eggs- (2 T ground flax + 6 T warm water ) I also added about 1/4 tsp chia seed

3 ripened bananas, mashed

1 3/4 c whole wheat flour (or any flour you'd like)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1 tsp baking soda

2-3 T dark chocolate chips or nuts of choice

Cream together margarine and stevia, slowly add applesauce and continue to cream. Add flax eggs and mix well. Add bananas, mix well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Fold together well. Place in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until golden and fork comes clean (your house will smell amazing!)

Enjoy

Tastes Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies

So last night was a major craving night! I really wanted a nice homemade chewy, chocolaty chocolate chip cookie! Well, I pulled out one of my old cookbooks to see how I could revamp the recipe...even though the craving was strong I couldn't actually bring myself to follow the recipe (2 sticks of butter and almost two cups of sugar...no thank you) So I had planned to use a bunch of different things like dates, applesauce- things like that. Well after a quick look at my pantry I realized it was time for a shopping trip, but I moved forward anyway. I used honey and some vegan butter I had, I used one egg and one flax egg, but you can easily use two flax eggs, I did add a few tablespoons of raw cane sugar, I used whole wheat flour and you know the end result was awesome! Seriously the cookie dough smelled and tasted like traditional chocolate chip cookies and the report Derek gave me was they were like chewy Chips Ahoy....he did say he will always love the bean cookies the best!

So some subs that origianally I had planned on using...

applesauce in place of all oils

banana or flax eggs for egg replacers

and I had planned on using date paste to use for sweeteners...but here we are and it didn't go according to plan...

...does that mean I didn't eat them...heck no I just didn't eat the three I usually eat in one sitting! These are wonderful, if you're looking to clean up your chocolate chip cookies a little here you go!!! Amazing!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 c flour

3 T vegan margarine or 3 T c applesauce

3 T sugar in the raw or 1/4 c date paste

1/4 c raw honey or pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla 

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 egg

1 flax egg or you can use only flax eggs

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 c dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees! cream butter and cane sugar (if you are using applesauce and date paste just combine all wet ingredients and mix) add egg and flax egg to creamed butter, add vanilla and almond extract. Add in dry ingredients and to the wet ingredients. Mix well....this dough is thick, I had to get in there with my hands and knead it. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake for 10 minutes until golden on top.

Note: these didn't flatten very well so I would press the dough into a flat cookie before baking or just flatten them right out of the oven! Enjoy!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Breakfast for dinner is a favorite meal from time to time! Why not shake up the dinner table with breakfast! This meal doesn't consist of sausage, hash browns, bacon or eggs! This is filling, fruity, sweet, gluten free, and full of fiber and protein! And you want to the know the absolute best part? Kids devour this! No problem. My kids couldn't get enough. Ever since I discovered the recipe for the whole grain blender waffles I've been wanting to try this, I found this remake of the waffles from wholefoodmommies, they never let me down! I was so pleased, I only made a few tweaks to the whipped topping.

I had originally planned to make waffle fruit pizzas, which I still plan to do, but unfortunately the first few waffles I ruined somehow. Really how is that possible it's not that hard to watch them on the waffle iron. Anyways, I ended up following the original trifle idea and it was wonderful. We are using these for "Y" day, yes I skipped "X" I mean really, that's a hard one. We're calling these "Yummy" Waffles! Okay, it works. I have a great "Z" meal planned....and yes it really does start with "Z"!

 I do think the pizzas would be fun though! After I put this together I thought "This is so pretty!" This is a perfect brunch or shower dish! No one even needs to know it's GOOD for them! Go ahead, be the talk of your next get together with this beauty!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Waffles

 2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw almonds or cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

 

Combine all ingredients to the blender and blend on high until it is well combined. Pour generous amount to waffle iron. The waffles should be a dark brown, then they are done. 

 

Whipped Topping

 12 oz silken tofu

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 C maple syrup

1/2 C non-dairy milk

1 tsp vanilla

 

Combine everything to the blender and blend until it is well mixed. 

 

Tear small pieces of waffle and spread onto the bottom of a trifle dish or bowl. Add desired fruit in a layer. I used mango, strawberries, and grapes. But any type of fruit would be awesome. Top fruit layer with whipped topping and repeat for two or three layers! Serve chilled. Enjoy

* If you'd like a vegan option take out the honey from the waffles and use 2-3 dates or agave

Hawaiian Haystacks

As summer is kissing this year good-bye I feel the need to take full advantage of all the delicious, sweet fruit out there! Pineapple is one of the greatest gifts given to this earth! Okay, I'm sure there are a lot of other awesome things, but isn't pineapple so delicious!

I mean you throw it in some ice cream or make a tropical smoothie and you can be sitting on beach getting tan while there's a blizzard going on outside (I don't know why you'd eat ice cream during a blizzard, but in case you do...I'm sure that's how you feel)

Tonight I was missing Hawaiian haystacks. We haven't had them FOREVER! I also haven't made them with anything but cream of chicken soup before or without ham....and those two ingredients just aren't going to fly with me anymore. So I tried two sauces. The ginger vinaigrette and I made a creamy version of the dressing by using cashews. I'm still not sure which I like better. I'm also very open to another saucy idea so leave a comment if you have a tasty creation! I was satisfied with the Asian swing of these haystacks, and honestly I didn't miss the ham...yes you can do meatless and have a flavorful meal! Enjoy the last big of summer with chunky, tangy pineapple over your haystacks....you can thank me later :)

Hawaiian Haystacks

2 C uncooked Brown rice

1 C green onion

1 pineapple, chopped

1 C sweet peas

1 C corn

1 onion finely chopped

1 C shredded carrots

Rice Chow mein noodles, tortilla strips ( I used these) or nuts for some extra crunch 

* other toppings

Black Beans

Red Bell Pepper

Mango

Broccoli

Mushrooms

black olives

cashews

Ginger Vinaigrette Recipe 

Cashew Ginger Dressing

1/3 C raw cashews

1/2 T ground ginger

2 garlic cloves

1/3 C soy sauce

1/4 C almond milk

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook rice in rice cooker until very tender. Two options: you can leave your vegetables raw or if you're like me and have an onion texture issue you can saute some together for a stir fry taste. I sauteed the onion, peas,  carrots and corn for 5 minutes in a skillet to tenderize the vegetables. For the Cashew dressing add all ingredients to blender and blend for 2 minutes until completely smooth. Add pineapple, choice of dressing, and vegetables to the rice. Top with chow mein noodles. Enjoy

Vegan Strawberry Cobbler

Okay here is my promised, not forgotten "U" day! Alphabet days is coming to close. I switched up "V" day and today because I was so anxious to share the Rumbi Salad. This is also a stretch for the letter "U", I'm going to pretend to call it strawberry upside down cake, but really it's a cobbler...it's no big deal!

Have you ever sat in your quiet house, if you have kids, after the kids go to sleep and just had a craving for something sinfully delicious to enjoy while escaping into your favorite TV show? Introducing this cobbler! That is exactly what I experienced last night! I needed something sweet, but healthy so I could sit and soak up the drama of Army Wives....okay yes I love Lifetime shows, it's not a problem!!!! This was such a fast prep work I couldn't believe it, and the end result fit my need. This will not be as sweet as traditional cobblers, however the upside is you can eat two servings without so much guilt! I'm all for that. This would be delicious with some vegan ice cream snuggled right next to it, melting all over the place with the warm cobbler!

I'm going to try this cobbler in our dutch oven soon and see how the end result turns out. You can use any fruit you'd like. I was going to use peaches, but Derek requested that I didn't, he just isn't a peach fan that crazy guy! So I pulled out the strawberries. It was wonderful too. Please excuse the pictures, it was dark outside and my house lighting is just the pits, it looked amazing and tastes even better!

Vegan Strawberry Cobbler

Crust

3/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C coconut sugar (optional)

1/4 C agave

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

5/8 C almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

Filling

4 C chopped strawberries frozen or fresh

1/8 C  coconut sugar

1 T chia seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all the filling ingredients in a 9x9 baking dish and place them in the oven to heat while you mix the crust ingredients.

 Pull baking dish out of the oven and pour crust mixture over the top.

 You can sprinkle top with raw cane sugar if you'd like but that is optional. Bake for 30 minutes until crust is baked all the way through! Serve warm! Enjoy

Peach Crumble Muffins

Muffins are such a fun breakfast to make. You can make them super bad for you, or you can add wholesome ingredients and make them a welcome guest to your stomach!

My friend from work handed me a delicious looking bag of fresh peaches from her tree yesterday! Some of them didn't make them home, I ate them! Some of them barely made it in the front door, the kids ate them! Others are being saved for peach soft serve, they will be eaten! But this morning a select few were made into a delicious peachy crumble muffin! I didn't look at a recipe for these muffins, this is all me. I was very happy how well the sweetness in these muffins complimented the grains so much! I'm happy to serve them to my family, even though my crazy husband doesn't really like peaches, how can that be?

He ate them though and said they were good, he added they weren't his favorite like the zucchini muffins, but they were good. For someone who doesn't like peaches, that makes me perfectly happy!

All the grains rolled and snuggled next to the sweet peaches and syrup call for one great start to the morning! Feel good about your food without sacrificing taste! It's a wonderful feeling!

Peach Crumble Muffins

2 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C cooked quinoa 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 T cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet 

1/4 C maple syrup (or agave)

1 tsp vanilla

1 C almond milk

1/4 C applesauce

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 C chopped peaches

1 Flax-Chia egg (1 T ground flaxseed, 1 tsp Chia seed + 3-4 T water)

Crumble Topping

1/2 T coconut oil

1/8 C coconut Sugar

1 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make flax-chia egg and set aside into small bowl. Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Mix remaining wet ingredients with flax egg and add to dry ingredients. Fold ingredients together well. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Add crumble ingredients to a small skillet, mix together until all the oil is melted and absorbed into the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle topping over the top of the batter. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving! Enjoy

Cookin' Maniac- and Freezer Meal

Okay wow, I don't even want to look at my stove, oven, kitchen for the rest of the night. Okay, I really do enjoy cooking, but it's been a cooking day!

First, I whipped up the Rumbi Voodoo Salads for Lunch, Now, well lets just say I've been making cashew cookies and trying not to enjoy eating them too much while I'm making them. I also made a freezer meal out of my Quinoa Garden Burgers. 

I found a tutorial on a blog for a good way to freeze and reheat garden burgers, so I thought it would be awesome to have a quick meal when we're having a busy day. After you make your burgers, you place them on a cookie sheet,

Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about an hour. Then remove them and place them in a plastic bag. Be sure to separate them with parchment paper and to suck out the air! Awesome.

My little brother has chosen to serve a mission for our church (we're very proud of him). On Sunday we are having a huge farewell party. My mom who has Celiac, requested the cashew thumb print cookies! I made a lot of these little babies! I tried to get some different varieties to make them really fun! 

Some of the changes were:

Peanut Butter Chocolate

Cinnamon Spice

Raspberry

and Blueberry! 

I really hope everyone enjoys them, the Cinnamon Spice one I think is my new favorite. You simply add cinnamon and nutmeg to the dough, then sprinkle cinnamon on top before you bake them! Easy!

To get started I got ready, by getting ready I mean getting the kids to sleep, hopping into my comfy pajamas, 

getting my entertainment, thank you Harry Potter going at it! 

I believe I used every mixing bowl I own tonight, but I had so much fun, experimenting and I feel very much prepared with a freezer meal ready to go~ 

It makes eating healthy so much easier if you take a few hours and prepare ahead of time. Freezer meals are so awesome! If you have a healthy meal waiting for you in the freezer it can help decrease your temptations a  lot! 

I hope you all can develop a passion and love for healthy meals, that's when daunting baking days, like today turn more into a fun time than something I have to do. I really had fun giving the cookies some fresh spins, because I love making wholesome things! 

However, my dirty dishes.....they'll just have to wait until the morning :)

 

Rumbi Voodoo Salad

Today I decided to throw my kids for a loop and instead of doing "U" day we'll do "V" for alphabet days!!!

Honestly....it's because I just couldn't wait to try and recreate this salad.

Island foods to me have the most amazing flavors! I adore the sauces with fruit pour over coconut rice or noodles! I feel like I'm sitting on a sandy beach sipping pineapple juice with my little umbrella every time I eat a savory bit of coconut or mango! Delicious.

Well although my husband and I don't eat out much for the mere fact that we can't find a whole lot of healthy foods when we eat out, I did fall head over heals in love with my last salad from Rumbi Island Grill. If you haven't eaten there it's awesome! Unfortunately it doesn't span the country. It's only found in a few states in the West. But no tears....that is why I've recreated the salad for you here! So you can bring this savory salad with tangy dressing to your own dinner tables. I changed a few things from the original salad. It had feta cheese crumbled over it, but I didn't put it in my own. I also added nuts and seeds to mine as well as a few mandarin oranges! So tasty

This salad does include chicken. If your are looking for vegan options or vegetarian, it's simple to just take the chicken off. It will still be amazing, I promise! If you enjoy Asian sauces or ginger you will drink this dressing by itself!  Enjoy

Rumbi Voodoo Salad (2 salads)

4 C romaine lettuce

1 C tortilla strips

1 C cooked chicken, cubed

1 C raw cashew nuts

1/2 C almonds

1/4 C sunflower nuts

1/4 C celery

1/4 C mandarin oranges 

Ginger Dressing

1 T ground fresh ginger root (if using already ground ginger use 2 T)

1/3 C olive oil

1/4 C rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C low sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 T honey

Place lettuce on plate and top with remaining ingredients in the desired amounts. 

For the dressing, place all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend for one minute until everything is very well combined and there are no chunks. 

Pour a tablespoon over salad! Enjoy

Optional toppings

Carrots

broccoli

feta cheese

rice noodles

beets

corn

beans

rice

quinoa

etc.

source: Rumbi Island Grill

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Crisp, chilled lettuce. You complete me! Summer is a beautiful time to take advantage of green salads and all the wonderful nutrients they give our bodies~

I also love lettuce wraps. I love having everything I would put on a sandwich without the bread and it really gives people with a gluten free need a list of tasty options.

These passed few days I've felt myself stretched thin and I am feeling it in my muscles today. I probably know I haven't been drinking as much water as I should be and I might have been eating too much of my mint carob fudge! When I make these silly decisions I feel it in my back. The only way to describe it is it feels almost like a charlie horse right in the center. Luckily I work in an environment where I'm surrounded by occupational therapists and physical therapists. However, I still came home really sore, but at least I've been guzzling my water like a maniac today :)

When the soreness sets in I bring out the Crock Pot! Simple, no brainer, dinners! This was totally simple and totally tasty! I savored each bite and loved the lettuce wrap addition! We used quinoa as our grain filling and it was perfect! I love flavor without a lot of ingredients that I had to think about and throw in. This meal contained basically my two favorite things, lettuce and quinoa. ~bliss! Play around with this, it's the slow cooker, you can do almost anything you want :) Enjoy

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

1 lb organic boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 C water

1/2 C low sodium teriyaki sauce

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 C cashews (optional)

1 head bibb or romaine lettuce

Combine all ingredients to Crock pot except the lettuce. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. Serve with quinoa or brown rice. Wrap chicken and grain in lettuce leaves. Use remaining juice from Crock pot as a dipping sauce! Enjoy

 

Baked Apple Spice Mug

I've already kissed summer good-bye in my mind and I'm wishfully dreaming of the holidays. The smells, the tastes, the fun! I love spice smells, it makes me want want to grab my sweater, curl up with a book and drink a hot beverage! Then I bring myself back to reality and remind myself it's still 100 degrees outside and my AC is on! 

Well....I'll still take the hot beverage, just with my shorts and t-shirt on! 

I actually developed a little bit of a sore throat today and was wanting something soothing for it. I didn't just want hot water and lemon though, that just wasn't enough. So I went back into dreamland and thought spiced baked apples would be amazing! This drink was not whipped up in 5 minutes, but I had my thoughts toward my goal and I went for it. It paid off!

First my house smelled absolutely amazing! My kids had no idea what was in the oven but they said waiting patiently for it to be removed. They knew it had to be some rich, tasty, treat! 

Second, it really wasn't that hard, I just had to wait for the apples to bake! 

If you are like me and your ready to bring some fall into the house, go ahead and whip this up. Who cares if your kids are outside running through the sprinklers....I don't!

Baked Apple Spice Mug

  

1 apple, peeled and chopped

1 T cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

a mug full of almond milk!

Preheat oven to 375. Place the apple into a small baking dish sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves over the apples. Bake for 20 minutes or until the apples are the tenderness you'd like. If you'd like them in small chucks you can always blend them after they are baked, just blend them with the milk. 

Heat milk in microwave for about 90 seconds. Add spiced apples to the mug and stir so the spices combine with the milk. Sprinkle top with cinnamon. 

*if you'd like to have more a tea like drink do half and half with the water and milk.

 

Raspberry Chocolate Freezer Bites

This summer has been perfectly mild most days. It has had a few scorchers, but I have felt that it has been sunny, comfortable perfect frozen treat weather.

As I said in my earlier post I had planned on making something involving raspberry and chocolate...okay the excuse was because we are learning the letter R but mostly it's because I am a fool for raspberry flavor...okay okay and chocolate!

In my mind the simple recipe was going to work out perfectly. It was going to form round little pieces of chocolate that would be sinfully delicious and put DOVE chocolate to shame :)

....this little dream land didn't work out so perfectly. My original thought didn't set up for some reason...it was crazy. It was just a nice tasting liquid blob for over two hours. So I had to really think and brainstorm on how I could get this creation to set up nicely. After some extra ingredients added in, I finally was able to get it to solidify, but if you leave them out too long they do start to thaw very quickly! They turned out really yummy and they will be a fun freezer snack whenever the urge hits for a sweet!

Raspberry Chocolate Freezer Bites

1 C fresh raspberries

3/4 C dark chocolate chips

1/2 C oats

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 T almond butter

1 banana (optional, banana can help things mold. I personally didn't use one)

Add raspberries to saucepan and heat over medium. Stir until they are a liquid. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Stir until chocolate is melted. Spoon mixture onto cookie sheets covered in parchment or wax paper. Place in freezer for 1-2 hours to set up. Keep covered and store in freezer. 

 

*you could also use carob chips if you prefer

Silken Protein Shake

Is anyone not really a huge breakfast eater? I know sometimes I'd rather have a nice smoothie or something instead of something larger. In the blazing summer it's always nice to cool down with something cold and silky in your mouth! If you leave this in the refrigerator for a few hours it turns into a pudding! So you could make fruit parfaits or something for breakfast. I found this recipe here

I have a slight confession, I was terrified to try this! As some of you might be! The way it turned out....well it tasted like a peanut butter, chocolate protein shake! Ah, sigh of relief. My kids wanted it as a dessert they thought it was so tasty, (my little mad did get really frustrated with the slowness of a straw, we moved on to a spoon :)

I've taken a challenge through this blog to do things your afraid of during august. Oh this is so small, just trying something that sounds yuck to me. It's all about the principle behind it though. I'm learning through this lifestyle to branch out, try new things, go against social norms at times. It's increased my confidence to try new things as well as dig up old passions that I have let just kind of fizzle out!

One of those dreams and passions was to always be a published author. I'm finding that is a passion or desire for a lot of people! Well over the last few weeks my husband and I have been working on a project together. An eBOOK! We've designed a fun book on living a healthy lifestyle while living with a tighter wallet! I am so excited to launch this. I find myself just writing all my passion about healthy living into those pages and I can't wait to share them with a larger audience! It's going to a rip roaring party on here on launch day, it's still a few weeks away, we're still learning about all the marketing and things like that!

Anyways, this month if you'd like to share in her challenge. Step out of the box and do something you've pushed way back in your mind that you've always wanted to do or do something your afraid of! Even if it's as simple as trying a new ingredient in a recipe!

Silken Protein Shake

19 oz of silken tofu

4 T cocoa powder

3-4 T agave

2 heaping T of peanut butter

3-4 frozen bananas

Combine all ingredients into high powered blender. Blend on high for about 2 minutes until everything is combined! Refrigerate left overs. Enjoy

           

Carrot Muffins

This morning was a good day for muffins. I'm tired of my kids eating so much cold cereal, so I've set a goal to make some different breakfasts to shake it up a bit. I didn't know what type of muffin to do, then I saw I had a bag of shredded carrots and thought, yeah that would be good. I decided to make carrot muffins. I did a quick search here and found a good sounding recipe. I did change some things around. I really liked how they turned out, my son ate 1 1/2, but my daughter was not thrilled to see carrots in her muffins. It did turn into a battle. I had to do the typical lines..."You need to eat one bite before you get down, just try them you'll like them, you can pull the carrots out." Things like that. It probably was my fault I didn't cut up or shred the long shredded carrots at all. I know if they were hidden better it wouldn't have wigged her out so much. I don't know what the deal is though she loves carrots. Hmmm... oh well I guess it's just one of those things.

These were pretty simple to make, but next time I will make the carrot chunks A LOT smaller. I didn't mind it, but I guess I can see why kids get weirded out when they see big stringy vegetables poking out of their breakfast :)

Carrot Muffins

2 C whole grain flour (I used spelt)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 C coconut sugar

1/2 C ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C applesauce

2 C finely shredded carrots, very fine :)

1/4 C raw honey

1/2 C almond milk

1 T apple cider vinegar

1/3 C semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients into medium bowl. Mix carrots, honey, milk, vinegar, and applesauce in small bowl. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into greased muffin tip so they are 3/4 full. Bake for 18 minutes, until tops are golden. Enjoy!

No Bake Mint Carob Fudge

Does the Transiberian Orchestra ring a bell with anyone? Well I LOVE them, yes I know they are a Christmas band, but today my daughter wanted me to play her "ballet" music! She is a ballerina whenever the they are on the ipod :)

So I decided today would be great day to make a vegan fudge since we were dancing around to Christmas music in August! I've decided to start preparing for my holiday baking. I want a lot of healthy recipes to throw around for my own family and to also bring to parties and whatnot. I also have never used carob chips or carob powder in place of cocoa, so I thought I'd give it a go, I changed a few things from the original recipe here. Carob has less calories than cocoa does so all the better. I had to add mint to these, I was saddened though I thought I had peppermint extract, but no I didn't. Oh well, I dug around a little bit and found my mint extract, so it'll do.

 These fudge squares turned out super chewy, it was not the texture I'm used to. My mom's fudge is very dense and not so chewy. I really, really enjoyed the taste I would like to discover a way to not make them quite so chewy though. Next go around I will use peppermint and maybe top them with a peppermint whipped topping or candy cane pieces....we'll just have to see. Fudge is like a staple Christmas treat for me! I think over the next few months these little babies are going to kick my other fudge recipes out of the water! Awesome!  I suppose if you didn't want to try the carob powder, cocoa would work fine too.

Mint Carob Fudge

1 C maple syrup or other liquid sweetener (agave)

1 C carob powder

1 C peanut butter

1 T vanilla

1 T mint extract

2 T cornstarch

1/8 C chia seeds

Combine sweetener and peanut butter in small sauce pan. Heat until melted together. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Spread fudge in the bottom of a pie dish or 8x8 baking pan. Put in fridge to set up for about 2 hours before cutting. Enjoy!

Whole Grain Blender Waffels (Gluten Free)

Good Morning!!!!!!! It's Saturday and there is no where else for me to go this morning except lounging around eating AMAZING food with my sweet little family! The weekends are when I usually try and make a larger breakfast, obviously because I have more time in the mornings!

A few days ago my husband told me he was craving some big, syrupy, waffles or pancakes...I think he wanted a lot of butter included in that too :) well I couldn't help him with the butter but I could help him with the big, syrupy waffles!!!! I found these tasty little things here and I only changed one ingredient since I didn't have any concentrate juice and I was out of dates! So what did I add....honey. Super simple but I think they tasted wonderful, they're gluten free so I think that's saying something!

Whenever we'd stay over at my parents house and we had pancakes or waffles my mom always had her "special" pancakes or waffles that were gluten free! We never tried them, since they were sure to be nasty (even though she just loves them) well if they taste like these gluten free waffles I think I may just battle it out over the gluten free "special" waffles with my mom :)!  These are quick and easy and ready in a matter of minutes. You throw everything all at once into your blender (you need a high powered one, I've got some links for blenders at the bottom) and a minute later you have your waffle batter! These are wonderful served with either maple syrup or my strawberry syrup that you can find here Easy Peasy!

Whole Grain Blender Waffles

2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal (I used corn meal)

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients into blender and blend on high for one minute or until everything is very smooth and blended together.

 Pour batter into a heated waffle iron. They are done when they are very brown and slightly crispy on the outside! Serve warm with fresh or frozen fruit on top!! Enjoy!

Fresh Raspberry Soft Serve

Ice cream. Do I miss not indulging in creamy, sugary ice cream from Farr's or Ben and Jerry? NO! Want to know why, because I can make this baby!

It's fast and it satisfies! It's also full of completely natural ingredients. Challenge yourself to try using bananas for your soft serve instead of using cream! It really is wonderful. So do I still think dairy ice cream tastes good....you bet I do. Is it worth it to me? Nope it's not. I'd rather eat a huge bowl of this and not finish it, than give myself two small scoops of other ice cream with maybe a small amount of toppings and then leave myself wanting more, but I can't have more because then I'll kick myself for it later! No thanks, it's more fun to eat as much as I want :) I made this after the kids went to bed because I was in a selfish mood and wanted it ALL FOR MYSELF! So I snuggled in from of the computer ate my huge bowl and worked on my eBook! Talk about De-stressing....for me at least. Enjoy this, I know you will!

Raspberry Soft Serve

1/2 C frozen raspberries

1-2 frozen bananas

almond milk, just until you get the consistency you want, I used about 1/4 C.

fresh raspberries to top it with

Place bananas and raspberries in the blender. Slowly add milk while blender is going until you reach the soft serve consistency. You may have to scrape the sides of the blender! Top with fresh raspberries and enjoy. 

Sub out raspberries for any fruit or berry you want!

Crock-Pot Orange Chicken

Alrighty, so right after the post about me possibly following a Vegan diet, here was dinner tonight...Orange Chicken :)! Well it's a work in progress.
This actually was very, very tasty. We used this for our "O" day for Alphabet Days. I loved the orange flavor so much I didn't want to share! It's a very simple recipe too which makes it all the better! Throw it in the crock-pot for a few hours with everything and there you go. I served ours with quinoa and green beans. It actually tasted like orange chicken, I don't know about you but whenever we would go out and get Chinese and we would order orange chicken, it never tasted like orange, it tasted just like a saucy chicken. I don't know it's been awhile since I've gone out for Chinese, maybe things have changed!

My kids were being funny tonight, I don't think it was the flavor, but they wouldn't eat. My daughter kept telling me she wasn't hungry and just didn't want to eat, I don't know they've had about 500 bananas and strawberries today maybe that's why. Here's a picture for a budget post. I ran to the store after work since we were a little low on fruits and I walked out with a stock pile! When things are on sale stock up, freeze, bake whatever! I got all this for under $15, the strawberries were $1 each at Smith's and the raspberries were $1.50, raspberry soft serve tonight, probably!!!! Sorry, for people all over the country and world, I don't know about your prices or if they would be similar at other Kroger stores. To save some money though take advantage of sales on produce and store it accordingly when you get home! I bought this many bananas because my kids are monkeys, seriously these might last us 4 days at most!

 Anyways  I enjoyed this recipe a lot. Perfect freezer meal and perfect for those busy days! It also makes your kitchen smell amaaaazing! I hope you enjoy it!

Crock Pot Orange Chicken

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 navel orange with skin

1/4 C raw honey

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 C low sodium Teriyaki sauce (optional)

2 T cornstarch

Add chicken to crock pot. Peel orange and add peels, squeeze as much juice as possible from the orange as possible. Add cumin, honey and teryiaki sauce if your are using it. Cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot when it is finished add cornstarch to the sauce to thicken it up. Serve with brown rice or Quinoa! Enjoy