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

Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownie (GF)

Sweet, Tangy, mouth watering orange flavor perfectly balanced with rich dark chocolate is what will be in my personal heaven someday! I have had such a sweet tooth lately. I've been doing really well and haven't indulged myself too much! I decided to try and create something for alphabet days letter "V" that was a treat, but not full of sugar (I realize the only "V" in this is vegan). Even if I do use raw sugar, I still have to watch it.

Did anyone know that medjool dates are commonly used in place of sweeteners? I haven't used them for a long time, but today I was gung ho on using them to decrease my sugar amount in these decadent brownies! These were perfect to make use of my new cacao powder from my giveaway, be sure and enter, these products are sooooo worth it! Most of my gluten free brownies involve beans, not these ones these are very cake like and will be served often! The orange flavor was subtle, but showed it's self at the same time...perfection! I love chocolate oranges so I loved this flavor, however you really could use any flavoring you'd like, coconut, raspberry, almond, mint, peppermint...make these yours! The glaze is optional, but highly recommended. The reason it calls for being optional is...it does have sugar. I tried, but I have yet to perfect a good glaze without throwing in some powdered sugar. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to comment at the bottom! You'll thank me later after you try these, preferably nestled next to some berry soft serve!

Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownies

1 1/4 white rice flour +1 3/4 all purpose gluten free flour

(or 3 cups of whole wheat flour)

1/2 C cacao powder (or regular cocoa powder)

1 1/2 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C applesauce

1, 12 oz container of firm tofu

1/2 C non dairy butter, I used vegan smart balance

1/2 C pitted medjool dates

1/4 C agave

2 C almond milk

1 T vanilla

1 T orange extract

Glaze

1/4 C cacao powder

1/4 C powdered sugar

1/4 C agave

2 T non dairy milk

1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cacao powder baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and pitted dates to blender or food processor. Blend together for 20 seconds. Add remaining wet ingredients to the blender. Blend well for about 2 minutes to make sure tofu and dates are well blended. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients in the bowl. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes clean. 

while the brownies are cooling combine all your ingredients for the glaze. Once brownies have had time to cool spread the glaze over the top! Serve warm. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy

source: bring-joy.com

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

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

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!

No Bake Pumpkin Mousse Pie (GF)

 Okay, this may be a somewhat fast post...we're on mini vacation and heading to the lake ASAP for some fun boating and tubing....so here we go!

We've been at my parent's house for the night and I made this with my mom in mind. She's really cutting back her sugar intake at the moment and also has Celiac Disease, so she is all gluten free all the time. I knew that for our alphabet day "P" I wanted to make something with pumpkin, I had originally set out to make pumpkin cookies, but this mousse pie sounded a bit more fun! I think traditional pumpkin pie needs to run for cover this Thanksgiving! I had my mom be my critic since she is a pro at gluten free. She said it tasted really nice and she felt like it was healthy with no guilt. The original recipe is made with vanilla ice cream, I made it with bananas. She said if you want more of a dessert taste than use ice cream. We both suggest Coconut milk Ice cream, it's lower in calories, fat, it's vegan and it's all around healthier. If you'd like a yummy tasting no guilt, really healthy treat, follow the original recipe. Some things that are officially on my budget wish list since staying with my parents, a nice food processor and a nice fandangled camera!!!! Love it!

No bake Pumpkin Mousse Pie

4 frozen bananas

1 C canned pumpkin

1 T vanilla
1/4 C almond milk

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 C coconut sugar or agave

Crust

1 C almonds (or almond meal)

1/4 C brown rice Flour
1/2 C almond butter (or any nut butter)
1/4 C agave or honey
1/2 tsp almond extract

For the Crust: place almonds in food processor and process until they are a flour. It tastes better smoother and less chunky so if you'd like just use almond meal. Add processed almonds to medium bowl. Combine with brown rice flour. Combine agave, almond butter and almond extract to small bowl. Microwave for a few seconds until it's melted together slightly. Combine wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well, you're probably going to have to use your hands, so get in there and get dirty! Smash crust on the bottom of a spring form pan.
For the Mousse: Add bananas, almond milk and vanilla to  food processor and process until you have a soft serve consistency. Add pumpkin, coconut sugar, and spices to the soft serve and process until completely combined. Spread topping over the crust and place in the freezer to set up. *Personally I liked it better thawed out and more mousse like, so after it has set up, I would move it over to the fridge so it thaws a bit before eating it, but it you'd like it frozen go for it! Store in freezer or fridge, it should keep for 2 days in the fridge. Enjoy

*remember if you'd like to use already made ice cream try the coconut milk ice cream instead of the bananas!

Mini Double Chocolate Cookies

It's "M" day, so I must honor the Disney Freak in me!!!!

Today is all about mini size!!! 

I've posted before that when I first was discovering healthy alternatives for baking and recipes I found beans to use in baked goods. At first I was disgusted and was sure that they would be gross and your cookie would taste like a sugary burrito!

Well I finally was brave enough to try a recipe and have now since made many different bean baked goods, two of my favorites are the Heavenly Bean Cookies and Butter Bean Scotchies! 

So today I thought about making one of these cookies but just making them into mini balls, after awhile I thought...no. They are both white bean cookies that are quite similar, they're delicious, but I needed to go out on a limb and try a different type of cookie with a different bean! I've made black bean brownies before since I have a gluten free recipe and I made them for my mom (I just need to make them again, take a picture and post them, they're great), but I've never used the black beans in a cookie!

After the cookie making today I can now say that beans in themselves could have their own cookbook. 100 ways to use beans in baking and cooking!!!! They offer protein, vitamins and they don't bust out they're flavor and make your sweets all beany. They can be bold when they want, and invisible when they want!

So obviously we had another bean cookie hit! They were cute, tasty, healthy, and chocolatey! Yay! They are about 30-40 calories a cookie due to the size and it'll depend on how many chocolate chips you use!!! You can't beat that. My daughter settled in the second they were out of the oven with her glass of almond milk, and popped down two cookies!!!!

Be brave, try these! I am such a fan of beans in my cookies and baking. These are not gluten free, but there are so many recipes available that use beans instead of flour for those who can't have gluten! I also feel that beans are an important part of a natural diet, so what better way to get them in than through a cookie!!!

Mini Double Chocolate Cookies

1/2 C oats

1 cup whole grain flour (I use spelt)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C cocoa powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C canned black beans

1 T bean liquid

1/8 C coconut sugar 

1/4 C Raw cane sugar

1/4 C agave sweetener

1/4 c unsweetened applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

4-6 T water

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

1/2 c. semi- sweet  chocolate chips

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add wet ingredients including beans to blender. Blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. If it is too dry add some more water, slowly!

  Drop by 1/2 table spoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. You can make them smaller if you want, but just make sure you lower the bake time! Let them cool about 5 minutes before taking them off the sheet! Enjoy

Strawberry Sweet Bread w/ Strawberry Glaze

Are you ready to get your grain on? This sweet bread was marvelous, but it is full of yummy grains, and a surprise ingredient....quinoa! Yes, cooked quinoa! I have never used quinoa in a baking before. I've seen the quinoa flour and pasta, however I've never thought to use cooked quinoa.

This recipe is a combination of many searches and mashing them all together to satisfy my tastes! I found some ideas at ohsheglows.com, poorgirleatswell.com, and my best friend google!  I knew a few things I wanted, I wanted it to be egg less, healthy (obviously), I wanted a glaze and I wanted a berry or fruit. I couldn't decide between strawberries or cherries for awhile, finally I decided on the strawberries (I do think cherries would be great in this too, with a cherry glaze...maybe some chocolate chips....light bulb!!!! Cherry chocolate chip bread!!! To be continued...)

Well after I had compiled a list of ingredients I stumbled upon the idea of adding cooked quinoa to your baking, since apparently it adds moisture, more healthy grains, and flavor! Hmmmm, well the purpose of my blog is to think outside the box when feeding ourselves and our families healthy. So I decided to try it. Whenever I make up a recipe I get very unorganized in my baking, maybe I should do a post on how to simplify baking and cooking so clean up is easier...it will say..."Don't bake like ME!"

 

As I was starting the process of making the bread, I had those negative thoughts come into my head, just like with the veggie kabobs, I kept thinking, your taking a risk with just mashing together multiple recipes, you just finished doing a budget post and now here you are going to waste all your food!

Well I'm here to tell you when the negativity bug comes knocking, punch him! A lot of times when we have just a basic idea in mind, sometimes that is when we create our tastiest creations! I will admit I've never been awesome at glazes, they never seem to get really thick for me and they tend to absorb into baked good a lot, not that it hurts the flavor it just doesn't look as pretty. I let things cool and everything so if anyone has any tips let me know! This bread turned out really tasty! I really enjoy things where you can taste the health of it, but it still has an enjoyable sweetness to it! And this had it all for me. The glaze made some bites taste almost like a doughnut...I mean that is awesome right! It was a pretty pink color, so as soon as I saw it I thought, 'what a nice Valentine's Day Bread' and it would be, but we'll enjoy it in July as well :)  Okay enough chit chat, on to the recipe! Enjoy this, just save some for everyone at your house :)

Strawberry Sweet Bread w/ Strawberry Glaze

2 C flour (I used whole grain Spelt Flour)

1 C quinoa, cooked

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 T ground flax seed

2 T raw cane sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

3/4 C almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)

1 C strawberries

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/4 C agave 

1/4 C raw honey (you can also use maple syrup)

1/3 C oil (I used olive oil)

Glaze

1/2 C confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

4 frozen strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook quinoa completely. Set aside to cool. Combine almond milk, vinegar, agave, honey, almond extract, vanilla, and oil to a small bowl. Set aside while you combine the dry ingredients. Add all dry ingredients, except strawberries, and including quinoa to a large bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well until blended, add strawberries. Be careful not over mix the Spelt flour, it's a delicate flour. Pour dough into a bread pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until completely cooked through. Remove and let cool on a cooling rack. After bread has cooled slightly, begin to assemble glaze. Add sugar to a small bowl. Make sure strawberries are thawed (I actually microwaved mine for a minute to make them mushy) Smash out as much juice as you can and pour it into the sugar, try and keep as many chunks out as possible, I ended up with about 4-5 T of liquid. And after awhile I had even more, that I didn't use, so if you want a lot, keep mushing them! Pour glaze over the top of the bread! Enjoy

*Question for everyone, I've noticed there is a debate whether or not honey is vegan. I know it's made from Bees so I guess in that sense I see how it isn't, but I would love others opinions, I'm not sure if I should call things that use honey vegan?

Tootie Fruity Freeze Cups

It was a nice hot day today, so after dinner I wanted to make a treat that would cool us down. It still is "F" day for our alphabet days and we are honoring fruit today, so what more could I do than a delicious fruit cup. I wasn't sure how they would turn out, since I just invented them today :) Well, I invented the filling, for the crust I used the berry pie crust and just put in a cupcake pan instead of a pie dish! It worked out really great, they actually popped out easily, that's the part I was most worried about do you know what else is great, they are gluten free and vegan, what do ya know! 


*I also think if you want to do a revamp of the berry pie you could put it in cups like these and have mini berry pies!!!!

 I did a banana filling, and after you pop it in the freezer for a couple hours it comes out much like a banana Popsicle in a crust...Next time I think I'm going to puree all the fruit and turn the whole thing into a fruit freeze instead of topping it with the fresh fruit, not that it wasn't good, I just want to shake it up! Go ahead and play around with it, it's quite simple to make, it just needs time to set up, make it your own! Enjoy

Tootie Fruity Freeze Cups

1 recipe of berry pie graham pie crust (link above)

1 fresh banana

1 frozen banana

1/3 C agave or raw honey

2 T fruit jam (optional)

1/3 C almond milk, or any non-dairy milk

2 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

cut fresh fruit

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pie crust according to directions. Smash crust into cupcake pan. Bake for about 8 minutes. Watch closely, these are smaller so they will burn much faster! Set aside to cool slightly. Add frozen banana and almond milk to blender and blend until broken up and blended slightly. Add fresh banana, agave, jam, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend until very smooth and no banana chunks. Add contents of blender to a small saucepan, heat over med heat, add cornstarch and cinnamon, whisking constantly, until it seems quite thick. Pour banana mixture into the crust cups and put in the freezer for about 2 hours to set up. Remove from freezer and top with any fresh fruit you'd like. I used raspberries and nectarines! If you don't like it so frozen, take it out earlier so it more of a soft banana filling! 

*Just so you are aware, the filling thaws quickly. So if you have left overs cover and store in the freezer.

French Toast Dunkers

Good Morning and Happy "F" day! I have a few fun things planned for this day, I am focusing on fruit today, since fruit is an amazing thing in this world, so beneficial and tasty! So some fun facts about fruit:

-Fruits are excellent sources of fiber and simple sugars, but remain very low in calories...so eat up

- Fruits contain provide lots of soluble dietary fiber, so it helps ward off too many fats, but also helps in digestion... and prevents getting plugged up if you know what I mean

- Fruits are full of anti-oxidants, they can help our bodies prevent diseases, cancers, and help our bodies immune systems fight against these ailments!

-Fruits with a blue or deep purple pigment, acai, blueberries, black grapes, have been known to help prevent cancer, premature aging, and also may linked to dementia/Alzheimer's prevention

-Fruits have so many vitamins and minerals that they promote cell regeneration...which turns into slower aging!!!! 

Did you know fruits did all these things? We all know they are healthy, but these are just some of the reasons why they are healthy. I think we should have more than the standard food pyramid servings! I really try and tie them into every meal, and many snacks!!!!

Okay so now onto breakfast...I decided to make French Toast Dunkers with berry puree as a dipping sauce, I thought they turned out really great, my kids loved them too. If you don't want to do the berry puree then use maple syrup! I liked these since they were super quick, and not quite as messy with my kids believe it or not, whenever I give them pancakes or waffles with syrup it always gets all over them and my chairs, counters you name it. These, however, seemed to be a much easier clean up...which I vote for.  If you'd like a vegan recipe for french toast, check out this recipe right here...it was also a huge hit!

French Toast Dunkers

3 slices whole wheat or whole grain bread

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Slice the bread into 1/2 inch strips. Combine egg whites, cinnamon, and vanilla to small bowl and whisk until mixed very well. Lightly grease skillet with coconut oil. Heat skillet to med. heat. Dip strips of bread into egg mixture until both sides are coated. Let excess drip off. Place strips on the skillet and cook until both sides are brown, about  a minute or two on each side! Serve with berry puree dipping sauce or maple syrup, Enjoy

Berry Puree

2 c fresh berries

3 T maple syrup

1 T raw cane sugar (optional)

Place all ingredients into blender and blend until completely pureed. Serve as is. 

Energizing Overnight Oats

Well for "E" day in the alphabet days I decided to have breakfast waiting for us in the morning, with "Energizing" overnight oats...okay okay, I'm stretching the "E" a little bit, but I was going to make an egg white omelet, but I want to save my veggies for a pasta salad I'm making for a baby shower, and we are going to be super busy around dinner, which I had planned something like eggplant parmesean or enchiladas, but those will just have to wait!

So the idea for overnight oats came from ohsheglows.com she has a lot of overnight oat recipes, but how to make this "Energizing" overnight oats and why! Well I don't know about you, but my kids wake me up super early, my husband gets home super late sometimes so he wakes me up, not on purpose, then my kids wake me up looking for breakfast...and last night and this morning I knew would be no different and since we're on the go today there is no time for any R&R, so instead of feeling weak and possibly getting a caffeinated beverage I decided to start the day out right with some natural sources of energy! So the specific things added for energy:
 Raspberries, these little babies are chuck full of natural energizers through all the vitamin C these berries contain and good carbohydrates! One cup of raspberries provides 50% of your daily vitamin C intake for only about 50 calories! It also gives you 14 g of carbohydrates! So you can feel awake from the get go!

Bananas, again bananas are an excellent source of good carbs and vitamin C but also potassium which can help regulate your blood sugars, if your like me sometimes I get spikes if I'm not eating the way I should and go into dizzy, shaky spells! Bananas provide us with 30 g of carbs in a single banana, 15 % of our vitamin C intake, and 13% of our potassium intake!

Chia seeds, chia seeds are full of the omega 3 fatty acids which provide a whole list of benefits for our bodies, but also providing energy to our muscles and organs!

Almond Milk, the almond is a great source of protein which provides the energy our bodies need! Combined with the almonds from the super bars this breakfast is full of proteins. Almonds are known at times to have more protein than some meats, but with the good fats included!

So there is a lesson on some foods that can give you the natural pick me up without turning to refined sugars and caffeine! Now onto breakfast...I need to top these with something crunchy, so I used some left over super bars from yesterday. They are really soft in the morning, so if you don't like that texture add something crunchy and it's just like cold cereal to me!

Energizing Overnight Oats

1 1/2 c of raspberries

2 c oats

2 c almond milk

2 T chia seeds

1 tsp ground flax seed

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract or vanilla

1 banana chopped, (add in the morning)

1 cup granola (add in the morning)

Combine all ingredients except banana and granola, into a dish. Mix together and put in the fridge overnight, or over 3 hours. In the morning top with banana and granola! That's it, enjoy! Add anything else you'd like, fruit, nuts, make it your own!

*Gluten Free option use gluten free oats

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

These were AWESOME! I debated whether I should put them on here, they aren't the worst thing you can eat, but they aren't the healthiest recipe I've got on here, but I have a crush on them and my family does too, so I had to share them. I got the idea from a doughnut recipe at this link, but it turns out I don't have a doughnut pan, and apparently no stores near by choose to carry a doughnut pan. So I played around with the idea of a bunt cake, but then I didn't know how long to bake it, then I thought of doughnut holes, but the batter is to thin you can't form the ball...next thing I know my husband just walks in a takes one look at my predicament and says "why don't you just do cupcakes!" ding ding, they would bake the same amount of time as the original recipe and the glaze would be really nice on them. I tweaked the flour just a bit in my recipe, but they still tasted great. I don't know if I got a cookie vibe, so try them out and let me know if you can think of something else to call them. I also think they would be great without the chocolate....whhhhaattt did I just say that? Yes, I think the cinnamon and other sweet flavors make it nice without adding chocolate! But you decide for yourself!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

1/2 c non-dairy milk

1/4 c earth balance (or another margarine) melted

3 T applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)

1 c all purpose flour (I used Spelt Flour)

1/2 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c  semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Glaze

1/4 C + 1 T non dairy milk

1/4 c cashew butter

2 T margarine, melted

1/4 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk wet ingredients in medium bowl. Sift in dry ingredients and mix together. Fold in chocolate chips if using. Fill greased muffin tins 1/2 full and bake for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile place all glaze ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until all combined and smooth. When cupcakes are done, remove and let cool for about 15 minutes before you put the glaze on. These will keep about 3 days! 

*tip don't add glaze until your ready to eat one to avoid the cupcake from getting soggy!

Chocolate Dream Cookies

Have you ever just thought of an idea for a recipe but had no idea where to start? Well that's what happened here. I thought a chocolate cookie with coconut flakes would just be wonderful, but how would I make it natural, and healthier? I could've jumped on my friend google and probably found a trillion different recipes, but I decided to take on the challenge myself and see if it was even possible for me to invent a cookie from my head! Well I'm happy to say after two tries I think I have a winner! The first batch to me had a great flavor but they were super dry...like take a bite, drink something, take a bite etc. So that had to be changed asap! My son, absolutely loves these...he sits at the counter where they are cooling just trying his hardest to reach too bad he's only two feet tall! These were pretty simple, once I had my flow going and figured out the ingredients I needed to make these.

I had originally planned on using eggs, but when I went into my fridge...well they were all gone. So that is where the beans come into play, so just to let you know they may work fine with 2 eggs, they may not I haven't tried it. If the beans don't sound great (you can't taste them I promise) then try some eggs, better yet try a flax egg (1 T ground flax see +2-3 T water, simmer together 5 minutes and cool)...let me know how it goes! I still think you should get out a glass of almond milk with these...who doesn't like milk with chocolate!

Chocolate Dream Cookies

1/2 c vegan margarine (or I've used smart balance, lite)

1/2 c coconut oil

1 c cane sugar

2 c whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c coconut flakes

1 cup agave nectar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 c cocoa powder

1/4 c applesauce

1/8 c almond milk (optional)

1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream cane sugar, agave, coconut oil and margarine in small bowl. Add to blender along with remaining wet ingredients. Blend until smooth. Whisk together dry ingredients in medium bowl, add in wet ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Roll dough into small balls and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees! 

*these won't really flatten out thin, they stay more in the ball form. If you'd like them flatter before you bake them flatten them with your hands.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Rainy weather always brings a sweet tooth for me, I don't know what it is! I just want to get into sweats, with a treat and watch a movie with my family! Today was no different....the rain hit and I left work with the intention of whipping up something sweet and popping in a Disney movie with the kids :) Well because of the holiday I wanted to clean it up a bit with the sweets, but I still wanted the taste...just not the waist right :) Well I found this recipe on Chef Chole's website, and loved the idea. I changed a few things around to make it even a little bit cleaner than the original, I was completely happy with the results, you can find the original recipe right here.

  These are really easy to make, you just need to wait a bit for them to chill and set up! These are keepers though in my recipe box :) Start by creaming the sugar and margerine, then adding the rest of ingredients and mixing it all together to form the dough

 

(Happy kids during this step)

Now comes the waiting game, you need to let the dough chill for about an hour before making the balls! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

1/2 c vegan margarine (or a I'm a fan of smart balance, non-vegan)

2/4 c coconut sugar

1/4 c lite brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 T vanilla

2 T water

1 1/4 Spelt Flour (or all purpose flour)

1/3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

12 ounces semi sweet chocolate (for dipping)

Line cookie sheet with wax paper. In medium bowl beat with mixer margarine, sugar, vanilla, salt and water, until creamy. Add flour and chocolate chips until smooth and combined into a dough. Place dough in refrigerator for 1 hour until chilled. 

Roll chilled dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes. Meanwhile melt remaining 12 ounces of chocolate on stove top or microwave. Dip cookie dough balls in chocolate and remove with two forks. Place balls back onto cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator until chocolate is firm, about 20 minutes. Keep in the refrigerator until serving. 

Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Pancakes w/berry syrup

     

Happy 4th of July everyone! I love this holiday, it's always full of family, parades, and food! Well I plan to bring some health to my festivities today, but without losing any taste! The first meal...breakfast! What better fourth of July breakfast is there than pancakes! I got the base for my recipe from this link These are going to be strawberry banana pancakes any other day, but just for the holiday I added some blueberries, they were good in the mix, but I think I'll just keep them classic strawberry banana pancakes! They turned out great we all had at least three and my made up syrup was awesome on top too! Even my husband who is strictly maple syrup didn't have any maple just the strawberry sauce!!! So here is the first of my fourth of July deliciousness! They were super easy and I'm happy to say they worked very well, just like boxed pancake mix (I had a disaster last time I attempted homemade pancake, this result was much nicer!)

Festive Strawberry Banana Pancakes

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour (I mixed Spelt and Wheat)

1/2 c shredded coconut

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

5 cut strawberries

1 banana

3/4 c almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 T maple syrup

3/4 c warm water

Mash together strawberries and banana in small bowl and set aside. Whisk together all dry ingredients in medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients into small bowl and whisk together. Add banana/strawberry mixture to wet ingredients and mix together. Add wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix until all lumps are gone. Heat skillet over med heat. Drop pancake mix onto skillet and wait for bubbles to form before flipping. Heat pancakes until golden brown on each side. Makes about 10 small pancakes. Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Syrup

5 strawberries

1/2-1 banana (depending on if you want it creamier)

1/3 c maple syrup

1/8 c raw honey

1/4 c almond milk

handful of shredded coconut (optional)

Combine all ingredients in high powered blender. Blend until desired consistency is achieved. It will be runny. If you'd like it not quite as runny add more syrup, or you can use 1/4 c of corn syrup.