Shhh! They are good for you!

My cousin brought me three zucchini from her garden. 3 GIANT foot long baseball bat thick zucchini!! What to do? What to do? Muffins!! And how about Chocolate in them too?!? YES!!

The first thing I did was grate all of the zucchini. I discovered through looking at over a dozen recipes that you can freeze grated zucchini to use at another time. I ended up with almost 12 cups grated zucchini! Woohoo!!

I mentioned in previous posts that I've been trying cut down on the amount of refined and processed foods we eat. And I am moving our family towards a more gluten free diet (I'm not quite ready to give up bread though!)  So I did an online search and looked at recipe after recipe. I found a bunch of great recipes, but most were complicated or had unusual ingredients. Here is the recipe I ended up creating based on what I have in the house:

Cocolicious Zucchini Muffins
DRY INGREDIENTS:

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup almond meal

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

WET INGREDIENTS:

2 cups shredded zucchini (squeezed dry)

3 Tbsp flax meal + 9 Tbsp water (or 3 eggs)

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup raw honey (or use agave if you are looking to make these vegan)

Non- stick cooking spray

Chocolate chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350* and grease your muffin tin (makes 12 muffins)

2) In a food processor, pulse oats & almond meal until a fine flour is achieved.

3) In a medium sized bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients making sure there are no lumps & everything is combined. Set aside.

4) In a large bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Then stir in the dry.

5) Divide the batter evenly to achieve 12 muffins. The cups will be 2/3 to 3/4 full.

6) Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted cones out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

And here are the coco zucchini muffins in all their dense cocoa good for you tasty glory. You'll notice I decided to pile some up with chocolate chips - I put them on right out of the oven so that they are nice and gooey. Try them, I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU! 

Chocolate Peanut Banana Goodness!

I'm in love with my vitamix blender. I'm using it almost everyday. Smoothies are the bulk of what I make in it, but I cannot wait to make soups in it this fall!

This morning I was in the mood for something sweet & creamy, but I wanted to keep it healthy. I had some chocolate coconut water that my hubby accidentally bought, so I started with that. Next I threw in some peanuts, some yogurt, some chia seeds, and a banana. I let it blend until everything was smooth. Oh. My. Goodness! So tasty! And good for you too. Yay!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup chocolate coconut water

1 T. chia seeds

1 T. chopped peanuts (or peanut butter)

1 heaping T. honey Greek yogurt

1 banana

DIRECTIONS

Put everything in your blender. Process until smooth & enjoy. Makes one meal replacement smoothie.

Oh-My-Goodness-Cookies!

Dessert for our family dinner night was so tasty! Maple bacon chocolate chip cookies! Maple, bacon and chocolate in a cookie!! How could these be bad, right? They kind of have the taste and texture of coconut macaroons. We munched on these with some Prager port.  My husband downed several with a glass of milk. I think they would be fabulous with an afternoon latte. Again, how could this be bad??

INGREDIENTS:
(Makes 12-15 small cookies)
2 cups fine ground blanched almond flour*
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 slices of bacon (cooked and chopped into small pieces)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon canned full fat coconut milk

*(I used Bob's Red Mill blanched almond flour - fine. But for an even finer texture, run the flour through a spice grinder or food processor.)

Directions:
1) Fry the bacon until crispy. Cut into small pieces & cool completely.
2) In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda and salt until well blended.
3) Now add the bacon pieces and chocolate chips to the almond flour mixture. Toss to coat.
4) In a separate smaller bowl, combine and lightly beat together the oil, maple syrup, vanilla and coconut oil.
5) Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, mixing till well combined. The dough will seem be wetter and grainier than your average cookie dough.
6) Using a cookie scoop, form cookie dough into equally sized balls and place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for at lest 30 minutes or freeze until ready to bake.
7) Place cookie balls onto a parchment or silicone lined cookie sheet at least 2 inches apart.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 11-12 min.
8) Remove from oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring.

Parfait cravings...

Cruising recipes on Pinterest can be dangerous indeed! I've drooled over many chocolate trifle concoctions in the evening while I avoid making eye contact with the mounds of laundry waiting to be folded and put away. The other night I was really craving chocolate and my darling husband offered to go to the store. I had been thinking about a chocolate parfait for days and so I knew just what I wanted him to get. I'm all about doing things the easy way... and did I mention I LOVE mason jars? Well here is what I threw together from store bought items:

INGREDIENTS*:
Brownie Bites
Chocolate Pudding
Cool Whip
Chocolate Sauce

PROCESS:
1)  Take a mason jelly jar, or wine glass if you want to be fancy, and drop a brownie bite into the bottom (I find it works best if it is upside down so that the skinnier bottom part is face up.)
2)  Drizzle chocolate sauce over the brownie bite so that it fills in the gaps between the brownie and your mason jar.
3)  Spoon a giant dollop of pudding on top and smooth to the edges.
4)  Next spoon a giant dollop of cool whip on top and smooth to the edges.
5) repeat steps 1 through 4.  You should be at the top of your jelly jar.

You can eat it right away, but it is SO much better if you can wait and let it sit in the fridge overnight. It gives the brownie a chane to soak up some of the chocolate sauce and for everything to get chill. You can make them a few days in advance so they would make a really simple and cute dessert to bring to a dinner party or picnic. After all, everybody loves parfait!

*If you are looking to make this lower calorie you could use the fat free sugar free pudding, fat free sugar free cool whip, and Nabisco "famous chocolate wafer" cookies. Layer the jar the same way.