Go Seize the Day: Baking

Baking

Oat Pancakes with Raspberry Peach Compote

11:22:00 AM

Baking

Easy & Delicious Healthy Banana Bread

11:05:00 AM

Baking

Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

8:53:00 PM

Baking

Chewy Peanut Butter Date Granola Bars

6:34:00 PM

Here we go again! Yet another recipe containing two of my favorite ingredients of all time-- oats and peanut butter. This time I've created a chewy granola bar that contains dates for sweetness and texture, peanut butter for protein and the perfect nutty flavor, and a mixture of crispy rice cereal and oats for substance. Sounds pretty tasty if you ask me. These bars are simple, yet delicious. Less is more sometimes, right? Oh and I almost forgot, chunks of 70 percent dark chocolate are scattered throughout the bars! Are you convinced? If so, give it a go! And if not, take a look at how easy this recipe is and you might just change your mind.

Wrap these bars up and take them to work or school or grab a bar out the door for a quick breakfast on the go. You can even eat one as a post meal dessert! Feeling creative? Form the granola mixture into balls before baking and eat them as energy bites instead of bars.

Recipe

Ingredients

2/3 cup chopped dried dates
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cup Kellogg's Special K cereal, chopped (or rice crispy's)
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup 70% dark chocolate bar, chopped (or dark chocolate of choice!)
1/4 cup peanut butter powder (mixed with water to create peanut butter consistency)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1/3 cup water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine dates, oats, cereal, and ground flax. In a small bowl, combine prepared peanut butter powder, creamy peanut butter, vanilla, honey, egg, and water. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until well coated and combined. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper and leave enough draped over the sides to act as handles. Pour mixture into pan and press into an even layer covering the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let bars cool completely before removing from pan using the parchment paper handles. Cut bars into desired shape and store in an air tight container or wrap individually and store in the fridge or freezer!

Enjoy!

Baking

Healthy Gingerbread Granola

2:51:00 PM

Baking

Pumpkin Pecan Cranberry Granola

2:24:00 PM

Baking

Healthy Pumpkin Oat Muffins

1:21:00 PM

Baking

Healthy Blueberry Oat Bars

9:02:00 PM

Baking

Chickpea Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

5:57:00 PM

Kick off the New Year with these fudgy, guilt free blondies!

It's the new year and the pattern is always the same. Everyone has a newfound spark of energy and motivation to eat healthy and workout. I've been enjoying the daily newspaper articles on nutrition and the fact that my Pinterest feed is now entirely made up of healthy recipes. I can't say I've been enjoying the packed parking lot at the gym, but hey, what can you do. I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon and share a healthy treat that you can save to your Pinterest board and share with your friends (haha no pressure)!

This peanut butter blondie recipe sure is tasty! You would never guess that the base is chickpeas. Go ahead and make it for your friends and family, they'll never know your secret! You can even try giving them to your kids if they are picky eaters... sneaky chef to the rescue! Reveal the secret ingredient after the first bite or never tell them at all :).

The best part about this recipe is that it is so simple to make! Just throw everything (except the chocolate chips) in a food processor, blend until smooth, and bake. It's that easy.

What are you waiting for? Give these quilt free treats a try and stick to your New Year's Resolution at the same time!

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 T pure maple syrup
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except for the chocolate chips (do not use a blender if possible, they tend to not blend as finely). Blend until completely smooth. Once ingredients are blended, stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter in a greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. The blondies will look a bit underdone when you first take them out of the oven but they will set up after they cool. Store blondies in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Baking

Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Granola Bars

8:55:00 PM

Baking

Healthy Pumpkin Spice Granola

3:47:00 PM

Baking

Football Cupcakes

4:54:00 PM

Get ready because these football inspired cupcakes are a real TOUCHDOWN!

These cupcakes are great for the Super Bowl, football theme birthdays, or any other sporty occasion. The decadent chocolate fudge cake with homemade cream cheese frosting will be a crowd pleasure for sure.

I made these cupcakes for the Super Bowl this past weekend. I brought them to a football themed party and they fit right in with the theme. I used a box mix for the cake, which wouldn't normally be my first choice but it made the baking process way faster; which was great because I was short on time. Any cake recipe and flavor will work well for these cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting was perfect with the chocolate flavor, and would work with most other cake flavors as well. I will also include the tools that I used and the process for decorating the cupcakes below.

Recipe

Makes 24 cupcakes

Bake time ~ 15 mins

Total time ~ 60 mins

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup water

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees if you are using a shiny metal pan or 350 degrees if you are using a dark nonstick pan. Line pan with cupcake liners or spray with canola oil. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, oil, and water on high speed for 30 seconds then low speed for 2 mins OR beat batter vigorously by hand for 2 mins (scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally). Spoon batter into cupcake pan (a little more than half full). Bake cupcakes for 14-19 mins, until toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pan for about 5 mins, then move to cooling rack where you should let them cool COMPLETELY before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

7-8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
4-5 tablespoons butter (room temp)
green food coloring**

Using a rubber spatula, cream together the cream cheese and the butter. Add powdered sugar gradually and fold/cream together. Set aside a small amount of white frosting to save for the yard line design. Add green food coloring to the rest of the frosting until you reach your desired color.

**If you don't have green food coloring, fill a cup with a few teaspoons of water and add green sugar sprinkles to the water. Microwave until the water starts to boil, then stir the sugar and water together until it dissolves. The water/green sugar solution should have a syrupy consistency. You will need a lot of green sugar in order for it to make your frosting dark enough, but this is a great alternative to food coloring if you don't have it on hand!

Decorating

Materials:

2 piping bags (or heavy duty gallon sized ziplock bags)
piping tip (either a closed star or an open star piping tip)
green cream cheese frosting
white cream cheese frosting
toothpicks
football printouts

Attach the star tip to one of your piping bags, then full it with green frosting. Full the other piping bad with white frosting, and cut a small piece off the end of the bag. Using the green frosting, cover your cupcakes by piping a small amount of frosting all over the cake in dot motions. Press, release, and pull the bag up in a fluid motion. Once all of the cupcakes are covered in green frosting, carefully pipe the yard lines onto the cake. Remember, the yard lines are in increments of 10, from 10-50. Cut out the footballs and glue on either side of the toothpicks so the football is double sided. Place in the cupcake, and you're finished!