Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

It's no secret that I love chocolate. I mean, I really LOVE it. It's like an obsession. Unfortunately it's hard to keep fat and calorie intakes down when you're as obsessed with sweets as I am so that's why I'm always looking for natural and healthy ways to cheat. :)

I came up with this recipe using my favorite chocolate banana bread recipe as a guide. The result? Low fat, lower in sugar, healthier chocolate zucchini muffins! And of course, I made them gluten free. I like oat flour because it is just ground oats so it bumps up the nutrition and the fiber but any flour will work. Cocoa powder is also a good source of fiber and antioxidants and the unsweetened kind comes with zero guilt and coconut oil is super good for you and the health benefits just keep rolling in!


Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Muffin Recipe:

2 eggs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 
1/4 cup milk of choice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour (I used oat flour. I like Bob's Red Mill because it is finely ground so it isn't gritty)
4 Cups Shredded Zucchini (about 3 small or 2 medium zucchinis)
1 cup chocolate chips (or more!)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a muffin pan with muffin papers. In a mixing bowl, mix all wet ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to bowl and mix once all are in. Once batter is mixed, mix in zucchini and chocolate chips. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

"Faux" Ice Cream Shake

I love cookies so it's no surprise I love cookie flavored things. I also love ice cream, (who doesn't really?!) so obviously I love the occasional shake. I say occasional only because it's like the caloric  equivalent of eating an entire tub of ice cream. Unfortunately for me a shake usually comes with a free side of guilt. (Anyone else?)

Today I was craving a shake (but didn't want to drink a tub of ice cream) so I made one from some healthy ingredients and the only "bad ingredients" were two Trader Joe's Gluten Free Joe-Joe's. I can feel good about that! It tasted so good and definitely hit the spot on this oh so hot Southern California August evening.

Here is my recipe for my healthier Gluten Free Cookies and Creme "Faux" Ice Cream Shake:

Ice - about 1/2 to 1 cup (I used crushed)
Soy Milk - about 1/4 to 1/2 cup (I used Trader Joe's Organic Unsweetened)
2% Fage Plain Greek Yogurt - about 1/4 cup
Stevia to taste (I used powder but liquid would work also)
Chocolate Sandwich Cookies - 2 (I used Trader Joe's Gluten Free Joe-Joe's) 

Can you tell I shop at Trader Joe's?! I love that store. I can feel good about their products, knowing they aren't full of chemicals and other nasty stuff. Food should be food, not a science experiment made in a lab.

Anyway, put all ingredients into a blender. I didn't measure anything. You can adjust the amounts depending on how thick or thin you want it.

Enjoy!

Healthy Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I LOVE cookies. I've said that before but it bears repeating because I really love them.

Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite, however, it's summer time and bikini season (Yikes!) and I'm trying to stuff my face with a little bit less junk these days, but a girl still needs a cookie! I like a soft cookie, rather than a crunchy one and thankfully I prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate which happens to be a little bit better for me (a tiny bit less sugar and fat and more antioxidants).

Tonight instead of trying yet another "healthy cookie" recipe I decided to try my own and I think they came out pretty tasty if I do say so myself. These cookies are gluten free, dairy free, free of refined sugar and are lower in fat and carbs and higher in fiber than "regular" cookies.

Healthy Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup almond flour (almond meal)

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup brown rice flour (the finely ground type)

1/4 cup quinoa flour

1/4 cup ground flax

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 to 1 cup of chocolate chips

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees about 10 minutes (or until edges turn golden brown).

I decided to use honey as the "sweetener" because I didn't want to use white sugar and I don't like artificial sweeteners and I have found that baking sweets with Stevia leaves them not tasking quite right. You could probably substitute agave or maple syrup just fine also.

Lazy Girl Fudge

I started my Valentine treat making today. I wanted to make some sort of chocolate but didn't want to commit to an all day ordeal of candy making. I work full time and I have a husband and a dog I like to spend my Saturdays and Sundays with so my weekend time is precious time but I do still love to bake, love to make candy, and love holidays - especially Valentine's Day!

I decided to make some chocolate walnut fudge truffles, using my "Lazy Girl Fudge" recipe.

I call it that because it's the most stupid simple way to make fudge. My mom taught me. And if you know anything about my mother, you know I would never start a sentence with, "My mom taught me how to make [any type of food] ..." She doesn't cook or bake or make candy unless it's just melting things together. She makes the most amazing chocolates and chocolate covered things (like chocolate covered caramel apples ... yum!) but it's all melt and use type stuff.

All you need are two ingredients to make this fudge and whatever nuts or other add-ins you want. It works for making truffles, fudge, and even fudge sauce because you can control the consistency.

All you need is a bag of your favorite chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli 60% Double Chocolate chips) and a can of sweetened condensed milk (I check the ingredients when I buy it because there are some not-so-main-stream brands that contain chemicals). Chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. That's it!

Melt the chips in a glass container in the microwave at 20 - 30 second intervals at first, stirring after each, then decrease to 10 - 15 second intervals as it starts to become almost melted. Be very careful not to leave it in too long so you don't burn it. Once it's melted, pour in a little sweetened condensed milk, stir, and check the consistency. Keep adding more of the milk until you get your desired consistency. The more milk, the less firm. It will get a little firmer as it cools so it is a good idea to take a little bit on a spoon and put it in the fridge for a few minutes to test it. You can microwave the mixture after it has set up if you need to.

After I got my "fudge" to the consistency I wanted (a little firmer than regular fudge because I knew I wanted to roll it into balls) I stirred in some chopped walnuts. I formed balls and then rolled them in Valentine sprinkles and set them on wax paper to set.

Delicious!

Eat Cake!

They say, whoever "they" are, that when you're a bride-to-be and you're shopping for a wedding dress that "you just know" when you've found THE ONE. That you'll put it on and get emotional and just have this avalanche of feelings come over you saying, "This is the one." That never happened to me. I tried on every type of dress: mermaid, A-line, fit and flair, princess, ballgown, etc. I never felt more strongly toward one or another. I knew I wanted a dress that wasn't uptight and I knew that I liked lace and I liked the airiness of tulle so I went online and just bought one that I liked without putting too much thought into it. Like I was picking out a cocktail dress or something. I also didn't want to spend the average cost of a wedding dress ($28,000 according to CNN!) because it literally gets worn for just a few hours! It's a dress, not a diamond! I was so not a bridezilla. (Lucky for my husband!)

I just wanted to marry my love. I did want to have a wedding, rather than just go to the courthouse, because I felt that such a momentous occasion deserved a little bit of a celebration. I was planning the wedding myself, and we were paying for the wedding ourselves, so in a sense the dress was just another item on the checklist that was needed to have a wedding!

Me being me, the cake was a very important item on the wedding "To-Do" list. Being gluten free meant that I'd have to find a gluten free cake baker who could actually make a delicious cake that didn't taste gluten free. That seemed to be a tall order. I toyed with the idea of just getting a regular cake but that would've meant that I wouldn't have been able to eat any. No thanks! So as usual I ended up taking matters into my own hands and made my own wedding cake. Gluten free without compromising texture or flavor - the only way!

I made a vanilla cake with very finely chopped edible organic roses. I frosted it with a rose flavored buttercream and topped it off with assorted organic edible flowers. It was delicious if I do say so myself. Half of it is sitting in our freezer ... it used to be about two thirds but one day I had a craving and thawed it to have a piece. I know we're suppose to save it and eat it on our one year anniversary, and we will, if it's still there! I guess what I'm trying to say is I guess I'm just not the sentimental type. I used to be but the older I get the less I seem to care. What matters most to me is the big picture - that I married the love of my life, I had a wedding, my friends and family were there, and we ate cake! And most importantly I never had a single doubt or second thought about marrying my husband. It just felt like the natural thing to do.

Eating cake is a natural thing to do also. Not just at weddings, not just at parties, not just on your birthday, but whenever the heck you feel like it. I'm a proud supporter of giving in to cravings. I honestly believe that eating a little bit of cake whenever you want probably keeps you from eating an entire cake one day because your willpower just can't take it anymore!

Here is my all time favorite go-to vanilla cake recipe: Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cake Recipe.

Whenever I want to make a flavored cake (like cotton candy!) I use this recipe and just add flavorings.

If I'm making it for regular people (people who can eat gluten) I use regular cake flour. If I'm making it for me or someone like me and it needs to be gluten free I substitute the flour with my own gluten free cake flour mix. I use a mixture of brown rice flour, potato flour, tapioca starch and xanthan gum but there are many gluten free flour mix recipes out there as well as pre-packaged flours that will work.

"A party without cake is just a meeting." - Julia Child

Healthy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin snickerdoodles ... because everything in the fall tastes better with pumpkin!

I don't know how you feel about cookies, but I love them. My first word, besides "Mama" and "Dada", was "cookie". No lie. I'm sure I didn't pronounce it with it's full and proper enunciation but you get the point. Aside from cupcakes I would say that cookies are still a top ranked baked treat of mine.

The only problem with cookies is that they're filled with everything "bad" (which is why they taste so good!) like butter, refined sugar, and white flour and they hold basically no nutritional value. I'm sure everything would be fine if I had tremendous willpower and could stick to having just one cookie, every now and then, but I can't. I love cookies and I need them in my life on a regular basis. That's right, I need them! I don't however, need the empty calories and extra sugar with a side of diabetes so I enjoy making healthier versions of cookies. Unlike my husband I am willing to compromise a little bit of flavor and/or texture to have a guilt free treat which is usually a factor when making "healthy" cookies. As it turned out though, he did like these pumpkin snickerdoodles ... which are also gluten free and vegan.

Healthy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

(Adapted from this recipe. )

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond flour (or almond meal)
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup protein powder (Vanilla flavor. Vegan powder if you're keeping the recipe vegan.)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
Optional: 1/4 - 1/2 cup all natural white chocolate chips

For Rolling:

2 tablespoons raw sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the dry ingredients together.
In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix well. The mixture will be stubborn, work it to moisten everything well.
Roll batter into balls.
Mix cinnamon sugar coating in a small bowl and roll each ball into the mixture.
Place on cookie sheet. Press down slightly with the palm of your hand; these cookies don't spread.
Bake for 10-13 minutes or until bottoms are golden.

Pumpkin Crazed Snack Attack

I love snacks! I'm not the type to get through the day on three square meals. I get hungry between meals! One of my favorite healthy snacks to have is Greek yogurt. My favorite is Fage Total 2%. It has protein and calcium and is absolutely guilt free but so delicious it almost tastes like dessert. Almost. Like I mentioned in my last post I try my very best to stay away from artificial ingredients; unfortunately most flavored Greek yogurts have a list of ingredients that don't impress me so I take matters into my own hands and create my own flavors. Making my own flavors also allows me to control the sugar level. Have you seen the amounts of sugar in flavored yogurts?! I don't know about you but I'd rather save my sugar for real sweets like a chocolate bar!

I start with the plain yogurt and sprinkle a stevia packet in there to sweeten it up and then top it with sliced fruit or granola or both. Sometimes if I'm feeling super indulgent I add a drizzle of honey. Or if I'm not feeling fruity I'll mix in a little all natural peanut butter or almond butter, some vanilla extract and a sprinkle of chocolate chips! It's fun to experiment and come up with new flavors for whatever mood strikes.

Lately my mood has been pumpkin! I'm obsessed! Nothing says fall like pumpkin flavored everything and I know I'm not alone judging by all of the pumpkin flavored products that show up on store shelves around this time every year. I've been indulging my love for pumpkin in many ways but one way is my all natural, sugar free pumpkin yogurt. Here is my "recipe":

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree (canned)

1 - 2 stevia packets

1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Tastes great topped with granola! And/or a drizzle of 100% pure maple syrup!