Skinny Chocolate and Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

So one thing I have tried to do this year is to take my recipes and try to make them healthier. Not only that, my youngest boy has started to rebel and not eat his vegetables. I have never had to deal with this before. My oldest is one of the most adventurous eaters I have ever known. He is always up for tasting anything once....sometimes twice just to make sure he does or doesn't like it. My youngest, well lets just say that there have been many nights he has sat at the table for 30 or so minutes after everyone else has been dismissed just because he wont take one bite of his vegetables. I have never met such a strong-willed child ever. 

So, I still continue with the one bite rule, since he is only 3 I try not to force too much on him, but I have also got a little sneakier with adding vegetable puree to foods that I know that he will eat. Brownies, what kid turns down brownies...not mine!  Now once you find out what the main ingredient is in these brownies, don't put up your nose and stop reading. I promise you, these are some of the best tasting brownies I have had. Now they aren't going to be your super chunky, double fudge, gooey, caramel centered brownies, but they will satisfy that sweet tooth amazingly. 

Black Bean Brownie Ingredients:

1 Can Black Beans
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Eggwhites (or 3 Eggs in total)
1/3 Cup Pumpkin Puree (or unsweetened apple sauce)
1/2 Cup Natural Cocoa Powder
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Honey
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 1/2 Tsp Instant Coffee
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips (more if you wish)

Peanut Butter Swirl Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Honey
Pinch of Salt
Dash of Vanilla Extract

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.

Place all black bean brownie ingredients into your food processor and blend until smooth.

Spray an 8×8 baking dish with a healthy, non-stick cooking spray.

Evenly spread batter into baking dish.

On your stove-top melt peanut butter swirl ingredients and mix.
Dollop peanut butter swirl mixture with a spoon spaced out about an inch from each other onto the brownie batter.

Pull a knife back and forth through the batter creating your swirls.
Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from oven when baked and let set in the baking dish for about 10 minutes.
Gently cut brownies, serve and enjoy!
To store brownies it is best to first let them cool completely and then store them in a sealed tight container in the refrigerator.

Lemon water

First thing I do every morning is drink a large glass of lemon water. Not only do I love the taste of lemon water but there are many benefits in drinking it. It balances PH, keeps your skin clear and glowing, it kick starts your digestive system, helps with weight loss, and helps to control your coffee habit. Lemon is also a natural energizer, it hydrates and oxygenates the body so it feels revitalized and refreshed! Lemon water is an excellent source of anti-oxidants and vitamin C, which prevents formation of free radicals. These free radicals can cause death of the cells and rob electrons. It’s an excellent remedy for a hangover. Go on give it a try!

Its good for your stomach

Lemon can help relieve many digestion problems when mixed with hot water. These include nausea, heartburn and parasites. Due to the digestive qualities of lemon juice, symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, bloating and belching are relieved.

Great for your skin

Lemon is a vitamin C rich citrus fruit that enhances your beauty, by rejuvenating skin from within and thus bringing a glow on your face. Daily consumption of lemon water can make a huge difference in the appearance of your skin. It acts as an anti-aging remedy and can remove wrinkles and blackheads. 

Helps with throat infections

Lemon is an excellent fruit that aids in fighting problems related to throat infections, sore throat and tonsillitis as it has an antibacterial property. For sore throat, dilute one-half lemon juice with one-half water and gargle frequently.

Aids in weight loss

One of the major health benefits of drinking lemon water is that it paves way for losing weight faster, thus acting as a great weight loss remedy. If a person takes lemon juice mixed with lukewarm water and honey, it can reduce the body weight as well.

Helps reduce fever

Lemon water can treat a person who is suffering from cold, flu or fever. It helps to break fever by increasing perspiration.

Recreate: Almond Joy Lattes

A couple weekends ago I went out for an afternoon with a friend and our journey started at one of our favorite coffee hangouts, Port City Java. 

Ever since I have been introduced to Port City, it has quickly risen to the top of my list for coffee go-to's and has far surpassed my love for Starbucks, gasp! But Starbucks will always have my heart when it comes to pumpkin spice and eggnog lattes...no one does those like Starbucks.

Normally, I am just a large coffee, cream and sugar girl but my friend told me I had to try a drink called the Almond Joy. Oh yum. Let me tell you, one of the best lattes I have ever had. The downside, they are almost $5 a pop. That didn't stop me though. For almost a week, I stopped by and got one. I loved them so much I even instagrammed them, another one of my guilty pleasures.

Once I realized I had spent over $30 on these, I knew I had to find another way to fulfill this craving. So I started experimenting and came up with one of the best knock-offs I have ever created. 

Here is what you need:

• 1/4 oz almond syrup
• 1/4 oz chocolate syrup
• 1/4 oz coconut syrup
• Espresso (as little or as much as you want)
• milk
• whipped cream

Measure out the 3 different syrups and pour into your mug.

Add espresso.

Fill the mug the rest of the way with warm, steamy milk...leaving room for whipped cream.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Let me tell you…chocolate is the root of all evil, well  for me it is. I cannot go a day without some kind of chocolate. I know, I know, it is probably the one major reason why I actually work out. When I say I need it every day, my chocolate consumption usually consist of a small handful of dark chocolate chips out of the jar. I was cursed with an insatiable sweet tooth.

I try to find ways to incorporate chocolate into everyday foods I make but are still relatively healthy for me. The one thing that is always handy around my house are muffins. When I get in the mood for muffins, I bake until my heart is content, leave some out to eat and freeze the rest. Then wherever I want one, I can take it out, pop that baby in the microwave for a few seconds and voila, a nice warm muffin in about a minute!

So when I took my treasured chocolate chip muffin recipe and healthified, yep just made that up, it I was so impressed with how wonderful it turned out. I promise, these will not let you down and will satisfy any sweet tooth.

Here is what you are going to need:

·         1 cup whole wheat flour

·         ½ cup of good quality cocoa powder

·         2 tsp of baking powder

·         ¼ tsp of salt

·         ½ cup of sugar

·         1 cup of plain Greek yogurt

·         3 large eggs

·         1 tsp of good vanilla

·         ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce

·         ½ cup of dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350. Place your liners in the pan, this recipe makes about 16 muffins.

In a large bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and combine.

In a stand mixer, begin mixing yogurt, eggs, vanilla and applesauce.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until they are just combined. Do not over mix.

Fold about ½ of the chocolate chips in by hand.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each liner with batter. With the other half of the chocolate chips, sprinkle them atop all the muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Let them cool for a bit and enjoy!

All Natural Orange Vinegar Cleaner

Lately I have been testing a few cooking and cleaning ideas I have seen around pinterest, lately.  Some of them don't work, but some are great.  I found this cleaner with vinegar and orange peels to be a good one and thought I'd share it.

Here is a little info about the cleaner.

First of, this is definitely not a new idea. Vinegar has been used for cleaning for a long time.  My mom taught me to add it regularly to the laundry.  I sometimes run it in a dishwasher load, using it in the jet dry dispenser. 

Why does vinegar work? It is because vinegar is a mild acid and can dissolve mineral deposits.  This is why many people with hard water clean their shower heads with it.
Vinegar is also found to be 99% effective against germs and bacteria.

Orange oil, which is produced from the peel, is also an effective and all natural cleaner.
It works because it is a natural solvent.  Solvents get rid of gunk really well.

Now where you put the two together they make home-healthy, efficient cleaner. 

And the orange makes the smell of the vinegar more tolerable.

source

All you are going to need for this is:

• A mason or canning jar with lid
• White vinegar
• Orange peels

Place you orange peels into your jar.

Pour in the white vinegar.

Leave some space at the top if you plan on adding more peels to the jar.

Close it up and leave it for a week to 2 weeks.

When it’s finished, take out the peels and put your orange infused vinegar into a spray bottle. 

Top it off with water.

Now you have 2 options, you can keep your cleaner strong or you can water it down.

If you follow the directions as-is, it will turn out to be a strong cleaner.

OR, you can use 50/50 water and orange-vinegar for a less strong cleaner. It is all up to you!

Jalapeno and Cheddar Scones

Bread and plain biscuits can get a little old at the dinner table. This weekend while I was out, I decided to run into Trader Joes. Of course I bought a lot of unnecessary things, I was able to grab about a 1 lb of fresh jalapenos for about $2.

Now, I love jalapenos. One of my favorite snacks is to cut them in half and put a dollop of cream cheese in the middle. Peppers have more vitamin c in them them oranges, so I makes sure to try to eat a couple everyday.

It was a cold evening and it was the last day my husband was going to eat dinner with us before he had to leave again for work, so I thought I would cook up some of his favorite foods. My oldest asked for biscuits and I decided to get a little creative. 

I used 2 whole jalapenos and to my surprise, my 2 boys and husband demolished all the scones by the end of dinner...a success I might say.

Here is what you will need:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup fine milled corn meal
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 6 ounces (1 1/2 cups packed) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided (1 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup)
• 2 tablespoons diced fresh jalapeños (more or less to taste)
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream, plus extra for brushing

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, salt, sugar, cayenne, and baking powder. Stir in 1 1/4 cups of the grated cheddar cheese and the diced jalapeños.

2. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the cream. You just want everything to get wet enough so that the dough will be sticky and clumpy.

3. Turn the dough out onto a surface lightly dusted with flour. Knead the dough just a few times - maybe only three or four pushes. You just want it to come together.

4. Form the dough into a rectangle about 3/4-inch to an inch thick. Cut it in fourths and then cut each one in half making 8 triangles. 

5. Pace on a parchment lined baking sheet, with at least an inch or two between the biscuits. Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little more cream. Top the biscuits with a sprinkle of the remaining cheese.

6. Bake at 425°F for 11-12 minutes or until golden and the cheese is nicely melted.

Homemade Nesquik Mix

Every child I have ever met prefers chocolate milk over regular milk. Chocolate milk is definitely a staple in my house. My children have an issue gaining weight, how tragic right?!?, so I have always been told by there doctors to let them have chocolate milk made with whole milk because it could help put a couple pounds on them. Needless to say, I still have slightly underweight children. 

We have had every kind of chocolate milk mix in my house. Everything from the liquid form, the powdered, I even got on the Ovaltine kick there for awhile. 

Just like many other things I feed my children, one day I so happened to read the ingredients in the chocolate milk mix and it was a little disturbing to see all the crap, yep that's right crap, that goes into making it. Even I indulge in the occasional glass of chocolate milk and I was never aware of what goes into it.

There started my hunt on how to make my own! You are going to be so surprised on how easy it is to make, and probably wonder why you have been spending so much money on it at the store. I know I did. 

Grab a mason jar or any other container you have on hand. I try to keep an array of jars in my cabinet. This so happens to be a mason jar that my honey came in.

Grab your 3, yes that's right 3, ingredients. 

2/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of cocoa

just a pinch of salt

           Here is a single batch.                                                      This is a triple batch. 

Now shake!! And there you go. Your own homemade chocolate milk mix.

The only advice I give is that the mix has a small problem completely dissolving into the cold milk. So here is what you can do. Put a heaping tablespoon into your cup. Add a tiny bit of hot tap water and stir it, allowing the mix to dissolve. THEN add your cold milk. Go ahead, go enjoy a cold glass of chocolate milk this afternoon!