Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

I have found the greatest healthy food blog ever! Thanks to Caitlin over at Chocolate Moments. It’s called Dashing Dish. She has all sorts of recipes that are foods you crave with a healthy spin on them. I have already tried some of her smoothies/milkshakes, and they are great!  test out Her smoothies use cottage cheese in place of yogurt which saves you on the sugar and adds in some extra protein to keep you feeling fuller longer.

Since, I have been on this Valentine’s kick, tonight, I decided I had to try out her recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Muffins.I think these little babies would make the best Valentine’s Breakfast!

Here’s what you will need:

Old Fashioned Oats, eggs, strawberries, Stevia, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Greek Yogurt, Aluminum Muffin Liners

I did have to use some plain yogurt because I didn’t have enough of the Greek yogurt. I don’t think it affected it too much, so just use whichever you like best. Also, you do need to use aluminum liners instead of the paper ones or else you will have a sticky mess.

First up, mix together everything except strawberries in a food processor or blender until the oats look smooth. I started off using my mixer then realized this wouldn’t work because it wouldn’t break up the oats. So, I transferred everything into my blender. This helped out some, but really it’s not a huge deal if the oats aren’t smooth.

Okay, don’t stress like I did at this point. It will turn out just fine even if it looks a little on the gross side. I was about to chuck it all, but I licked the spoon and it tasted amazing, so that was encouraging.

Last, you need to stir in the sliced strawberries. Save some of the strawberries to place on top of the muffins before you put them in the oven.

Don’t these look amazing! Bake them for about 20 minutes at 400.

Yummy and healthy!

The best part about these little guys is they use oats instead of flour so no bad carbs, yogurt instead of butter/oil so no bad fat, and Stevia replaces all the sugar! They don’t taste like your average run of the mill funky health food where all the good stuff is left out and you know it. There is only 92 calories and 2 Weight Watchers points in them. Dashing Dish lists all the calories and Weight Watchers points to go with her recipes.

ENJOY!

INGRDIENTS:

• 2 & 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 & 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp Stevia (or 3/4 cup of sugar)
• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 2 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400. In a blender or food processor combine all ingredients except strawberries. Mix until well combined. Then transfer to a mixing bowl and add in strawberries. Now, scoop mix into aluminum foil muffin liners. This should make about a dozen muffins.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies!!

I have had the munchies all day long and tonight was craving something sweet. My husband makes the best chocolate oatmeal cookies, and I twisted his arm into making me some. Yay! If you have never experienced these cookies before, let me tell you they are the absolute best ever!

Here’s what you will need:

Sugar, oatmeal, peanut butter, milk, butter, cocoa powder, and vanilla

 

Over medium heat combine 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup milk, 2 cups of sugar, and 3 Tbsp of cocoa powder. Bring this up to a simmer. Once it starts simmering time it for 60 seconds then remove from heat. The 60 seconds part is crucial find a stop watch…no joke.

While everything is heating up, measure out 1/2 a cup of peanut butter, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 3 cups of quick oats. This will get thrown in after everything else has simmered for 60 seconds. And if you were wondering, JIF is the best peanut butter out there.

Now, throw the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats into the pot and mix everything together.

The hubs and his trusty side kick Jack:)

Scoop them out on wax paper and let them cool. You have to scoop out some at this point to “test” for everyone’s safety. This is my favorite time to eat them:)

ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups quick oats
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 stick of butter
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot, combine butter, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder. Melt together on medium heat. Bring this to a simmer. Once it starts to simmer, let it simmer for 60 seconds. Then remove from heat and add in oats, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix everything together and scoop out onto wax paper. Let cool then enjoy!

Hello Dollies

More Christmas Baking!!

Tonight, I needed to bake something for our Math Department Christmas Party/Last Day of School Party. I originally planned on making Red Velvet Cookies, but I ended up baking them yesterday for my students, so I was back to the drawing board. I have been craving chocolate all day, so I decided to make Hello Dollies.These are somewhere between a cookie and a brownie, bottom line they are amazing-trust me. I have no idea where the name for these cookies/brownies came from, but this is what my Mom and Matt Matt have always called them. (I have seen some similar recipes floating around on Pinterest that say they are like Somoa Girl Scout Cookies.) My mom always made these for us when we went to summer camp, came home from college, and when my brother graduated from boot camp so there is something comforting about them. I will warn you they are addictive!

Graham Cracker Crumbs, Butter, Chocolate Chips, Coconut, Pecans, Condensed Milk

 Once you have gathered up all the supplies, you first need to melt a stick of butter in the microwave.

Mmmmm butter:)

Now, pour the butter in a 13×9 baking dish and sprinkle 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs onto the butter. Make sure you pack the graham cracker crumbs down into the butter so you have a nice crust.

Next, sprinkle about a cup of coconut on top. If it looks like you need a little more or less than a cup of coconut just adjust the amount.

Then, top the coconut with a cup of chocolate chips. I definitely had to “adjust” this amount and use a little extra:)I also like to use the milk chocolate chips,but the recipe calls for semi sweet morsels.

Looking good!

Time for some nuts! Again, the recipe calls for a cup of pecans, but I only used 1/2 cup because they are so stinking expensive. I think it turned out just fine with only a 1/2 cup.

Last thing to do is  drizzle on a can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. My Matt Matt says Eagle Brand tastes better than a store brand, so you have to use Eagle Brand.

Ready for the Oven!

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Make sure you check it at 25 minutes and keep an eye on it. Once it starts getting a little brown around the edge and bubbly its done.

Looks so Yummy!!

I haven’t ever made these on my own, but it was super easy and turned out great. I had forgotten just how good these were until I tested one out. You definitely need to give them a whirl!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1 stick butter
• 1 can (14oz) evaporated milk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350. Melt the butter in the microwave. Then, pour butter into a 13×9 baking pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on top of the butter then press down to create a crust. Now, layer the coconut, chocolate chips, and pecans in this order. The does matter so that everything will bake up together well. Last thing to do is drizzle the sweetened condensed milk on top of everything. Then pop in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Happy Thursday!

Andes Mint Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My favorite part of going to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town is getting 3 Andes mints when we go to leave. I don’t know why I love this so much but I do! This is the only time I eat Andes mints, so when I ran across this recipe I knew it was a winner. Over at The Small Things Blog, she was having guest bloggers share their favorite cookie recipes all week and this is where I stumbled across this little gem. I have really enjoyed sifting through all these fun cookie recipes this week and definitely plan on trying a few more.

Here’s what you will need to round up:

It took a while to get all this stuff arranged just right

Flour, milk, cocoa, Andes chips, chocolate chunks, brown sugar, sugar, baking soda, butter, vanilla

Combine butter, sugar, and packed brown sugar in a mixer. Make sure everything is nice and well combined.

Pour in the milk and vanilla,  mix some more.

Now, throw in flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Watch out when you start the mixer or the flour and cocoa powder will end up all over the kitchen and you! I’ve experienced this…not cool.

Last thing to add is the Andes baking chips and the chocolate chunks. I did about half and half of each, so that was 3/4cup each. If you just wanted to use one or the other you definitely could adjust to suit your taste. I also have seen peppermint chips that would also be yummy! Once you’ve added this scoop out the cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Ready for the oven!

This recipe made about 2 dozen cookies.

Yummmm

This was my favorite cookie recipe from the weekend. I usually don’t just go crazy over mint and chocolate, but it was amazing with the Andes mints!

Cookies!!!

I may have a case of cookie overload on my hands! I hope everyone eats them at the Christmas party tonight because I do NOT need to bring all these back home:)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup + 2 TB butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 TB vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup Andes baking chips
• 3/4 cup chocolate chunks/chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Then combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar and mix well. You want to make sure that the sugar and butter mixture is light and fluffy not clumpy. Now, add in milk and vanilla. Once this has combined in, add flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Be careful when you start the mixer back up…no flour explosions! Last, add in Andes mints and chocolate chunks. Scoop out cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. This will make 2 dozen cookies.

Hope everyone is having a HAPPY WEEKEND!

Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, tonight we are going to our church’s Christmas party, and I have decided to test out a few cookie recipes I’ve discovered. The first one is Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip that I found here.  This was a really easy recipe and most of the ingredients are already in your pantry.

All you need is red velvet cake mix, flour, eggs, butter, and white chocolate chips.

First, beat the butter in your mixer until soft.

Then, slowly add in 1 cup of flour and a box of red velvet cake mix. Once the flour and cake mix has incorporated add in 2 eggs.

Make sure everything gets combined

Last thing you need to throw in is the white chocolate chips (about 1&1/2 cups).

Final Product! Try not to lick that spoon:)

Now all you have to do is spoon them out onto an ungreased cookie sheet. If you had a little ice cream scoop, that would really help out here. I just used two spoons, but I ended up with some monster cookies. Not that this is a bad thing:)

Here I am scooping away!

This recipe makes about 30ish cookies depending on the size. If mine had have all been uniform, I probably would have had close to 3 dozen. They need to bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

These cookies just look Christmasy!

Santa worthy cookies!

My husband LOVES anything Red Velvet (his groom’s cake was red velvet), so he was really looking forward to testing this recipe out. He seemed to enjoy eating the leftover batter, so I would say this recipe was a success!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box – red velvet cake mix
• 1 cup – all purpose flour
• 2 sticks – butter {softened}
• 2 egg
• 2 cups – white chocolate chunks {chips}

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter until softened in a mixer. Then, slowly add in flour and red velvet cake mix. Once all this has combined together, add 2 eggs to the mix and mix well. Last thing to add to the mix is the chocolate chips/chunks. Spoon cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

HAPPY BAKING!