"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!