Simple Cereal Bars -Gluten Free!

✨Simple Cereal Bars ⁣✨

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Bonus: They are gluten free and can be refined sugar free!!! ⁣

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Recipe: ⁣

—Bars—⁣

2 cups Cheerios ⁣

1/4 cup maple syrup ⁣

2 tbs honey ⁣

6 Tbs creamy peanut butter -natural works best! ⁣

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Melt maple syrup, honey and peanut butter together (stove top or microwave) ⁣

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Fold in Cheerios and press into a parchment lined baking dish;⁣

In the shape of a square. Refrigerate 30 min, best overnight.⁣

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—Chocolate topping—⁣

1/2 cup chocolate chips —I used @lilys_sweets  to keep it refined sugar free. ⁣

1 tsp coconut oil⁣

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Mix together and microwave 30 sec at a time and stir, until melted together. ⁣

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Pour over set cereal bar and freeze 30 min. ⁣

Cut into squares and enjoy! ⁣

Store in the fridge. ⁣

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Andes Peppermint Brownies w/ a Twist!

These were.....wait for it...

AMAZING!

Once the fudgy, gooey, minty, bliss enters your mouth you're enjoying a little slice of heaven. 

 After reading that you probably are thinking to yourself, "Man, I can't enjoy those (all though I really really want to) because fudgy, gooey, minty, bliss comes with too much guilt (approx 300 cals worth of guilt) which is not worth an extra half hour-plus at the gym."

 Well my pessimistic friend, 

I have some good news

 EAT AWAY. 

Because these amazing, friends, I mean AMAZING brownies are made with.....

 wait for it.... (Name that show)

 not oil, not butter, not eggs.....

 So what????? 

 BLACK BEANS!

 Gahhhh I know!

 "WHAT" you shout out loud.

 "YES" I say.

 Fibrous, delicious, healthy black beans. 

With the serving size of 10 *see picture below,
These brownies,without mint topping, run ~139 cals per brownie square, and 219 cals with mint topping.

I cut them  even  smaller and got ~20 brownies (108 cals with mint topping!!!!) because I was feeding a large group.

So with all that awesomeness being said: 

 Bake and be amazed.

Ingredients: 

Brownies 
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 cup cocoa powder 
1 cup granulated sugar 
1 can reduced sodium black beans (with liquid) 

Mint topping 
1/2 package of Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips 

Directions:

Preheat  350 F.
Line a 7x11 baking pan with parchment paper with enough parchment hanging over the edges to grab at--helps with removal.

In a food processor, first blend 1 can of beans with liquid, sugar, and cocoa powder until a creamy dark liquid. Then pulse in flour,salt, and baking powder.

Pour batter into lined baking pan and bake for 25 min. or until knife comes out fudgy not runny. (you'll know). 

As soon as the brownies come out of the oven cut them to the size you desire. Then, evenly pour mint chips over hot brownies. As they begin to melt, take a knife or spatula and swirl around to make cool, minty designs. Then run your knife through the pre-cut slices again  to keep the brownies separate as they cool and the chocolate hardens:

Let cool for 10 min before placing in the fridge to harden chocolate more. 

To serve, let sit out for an hour or so to help cut through the harden chocolate layer--no cracks. ( I did think about per-slicing while the chocolate was still hot and that might do the trick to help prevent cracks...try it out and let me know what you think)

ENJOY!!!!

 

Mini Deep Dish Apple Pie

       We were out to dinner and finishing up our delicious main course when the waiter graciously, but of course conceived well before we even received our drink orders, asked if we would like to try their apple pie or chocolate molten cake for dessert.

            Now my husband and I hardly, and I mean, it better be our wedding anniversary or a new decade birthday do we get dessert at a restaurant, but both of us looked at each other with eyes yearning for some apple pie...but of course we said no thank you.

              But a craving doesn't get away that easy with this foodie, so as soon as the waiter whisked away our dishes in order to bring us our check I said, don't worry honey I'll make some apple pie!

And thus these beauties.

Simple, single serving, deep dish apple pies. Just the right amount smother that craving with sweet, cinnamony apple bliss.

Ingredients
Dough
1 cup-whole wheat pastry flour
1tbs cold butter, diced
1tbs white sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbs cold water

Filling
2 small granny smith apples (mine were really small 1 large will probably work), diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1tbs sugar
drop of vanilla

egg white, for wash (or milk)

4 (half cup ramekins)

Directions:
Lightly spray the inside of ramekins with cooking spray, set aside.

Mix together the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in diced butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture looks a little crumbly. Add in 1tbs of cold water and a time and fold mixture over itself to form a dough. The dough should be slightly wet, and completely sticking to itself. 

Place dough on a well floured surface and kneed together 10-15 times, then let rest for 5-10 min. 


Meanwhile, dice apple(s) into small bite size pieces and then toss apple pieces, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl, set aside. 
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Now take the rested dough and divided into 8 equal balls. 
(I rolled my dough into a ball, and then cut it in half, and then cut that half in half, and so on so forth).

Gently begin forming the balls of dough into small disks by either gently pressing them down with your  palm or rotating them between your thumb and index finger.

Then gently roll out into a thin, flat disk then place and press them to the inside of prepped ramekin--it's okay if the dough sides spill over the edges.

Repeat with the remaining dough balls, pressing three more into the bottoms of the ramekins and saving the other four to top the mini pies with.

Take your prepped mixture and evenly distribute the mixture into each of the ramekins. 
Then take the rolled out dough and lay them over the top of the ramekins. Gently press and or pinch the sides of the dough to the ramekin to enclose the pie. 

Decorate the tops of the dough with slits to release the steam. Then gently brush the tops with egg whites or milk.

Place mini pies on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 min, until tops have a nice golden color. 

Remove and let cool for 10 min. 

ENJOY!!!

Question: What's your favorite kind of pie?

Brownie Bits: For your Ice Cream!

Ice cream can really hit the spot when you have sweet craving but don't want to feel weighed down by the cakes, cookies, and bakes. 

And now days, you can buy healthy ice cream, or better yet, frozen yogurt, with half the sugar/fat and never feel the guilt (just look out for the fake additives in some of them).

BUT, I also love ice cream with other dessert things in them...brownie bites, cookie dough, gummy bears...okay, I add those in myself...but really, having something to nibble on while you swivel cold creamy sweet ice in mouth is a wonderful experience.

But alas, those fillings come with a heavy calorie price that add up REALLY fast--No matter how healthy you try to buy your ice cream.

So I made an alternative.

This delectable alternative came when I was craving chocolate and ice cream at the same time (yes, it can happen). 
In my freezer I had all natural strawberry and slow churned vanilla bean: two great combos for chocolate. However, I didn't have any chocolate sauce to drizzle and really wanted some more "bite" to my dessert.

So I made my bites, swirled them into a cup of the two ice creams and enjoyed each bite with a bit of chocolate brownie bliss.

Mhmm.

Ingredients
1-2 tbs cocoa powder (More powder equals larger bits)
1 tsp + more almond milk
1 tsp coconut oil


Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small bowl or cup and mix very well. The mixture will clump up but should still be gooey.
I popped mine in the microwave for ~20 sec.
Add more milk if you want it more runny.
Then plop mixture on top of ice cream.
Mix well.
The brownie mixture will harden upon contact with ice cream making each bite full of delicious brownie bits for you to enjoy.

                                                            ENJOY!!!!

                                       up next: cookie dough bites! oh yeah.

Quinoa Granola

Quinoa Burns.

The first food experiment making this granola was a failure. 

Burnt to a crisp being only 15 min in the oven.

So note to self, and all, DO NOT bake uncooked quinoa at the temp of 400 degrees for 15 min. 

However,

 the second attempt  was amazing!!!!

I decided to cook the quinoa and then bake it at the lower temp of 300 (bumping it to 350 once I knew it wasn't going to burn) and it turned into a batch of cinnamony, sweet pebbles of bliss. 

It works well as a topping for yogurt, smoothies, and ice cream!!!! 

This could even be eaten as a cereal; ALL coupled with  ample amounts of protein and fiber.

Bake away my friends

Ingredients: 

1 cup quinoa, cooked
1 tbs cinnamon
1tbs honey--add more if you want it sweeter or brown sugar!
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Pat dry cooked quinoa with paper towels 

--It's okay if not completely dry--

Place cinnamon, honey, and vanilla in a bowl.

Mix in quinoa with a spatula until well combined. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dump cinnamon/honey quinoa mixture on it and spread out.

Bake in 10 min intervals for 30-45 min. 

Every 10 min stir/flip quinoa. 

It will slowly bake into a deep rich brown and crunchy mix. 

Let cool for 2 min and transfer into a air-tight container for freshness--that is if you don't eat it all right then and there

ENJOY!!!!

** this is a very very versatile recipe! Feel free to add anything you want to the granola to suit you taste**

Single Serving Apple Crisp

Have a microwave?

Have 60 sec?

Want an EASY dessert?

Make this!  

Ingredients:

• 1 small apple

• 2 tbs brown sugar

• 2 tbs oats

• 1  tbs flour

• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 tbs butter (I used apple sauce!)  

 

Directions:
 Dice apple into small pieces and place in a small bowl. Mix 1 tbs of brown sugar and 1/2 tbs flour and 1/8 of cinnamon with apples. 
Mix oats, 1/8 cinnamon, butter (or apple sauce), rest of flour and brown sugar in another small bowl. Place apple mixture in a small baking dish and top with oat mixture.
Place in microwave for 60 sec. (all microwaves are different so adjust accordingly) 

*Note: I split this mixture between two small ramekins so I could share with my husband...but feel free to eat it all, no judgment here. 

 
Top with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. 

Enjoy!!!! 

you could trying baking it too: @325 5-10 min!