Energy Bites

This is another 'healthy' treat that I just love!  I usually have a bag of these in my freezer and if someone didn't know any better they would think I was storing raw cookie dough balls in there, they are just that good!  The beauty of these little guys is that you don't actually bake them, so less chances of messing them up!  You start with a bunch of yummy ingredients like oats, peanut butter, honey, flax seed, sunflower seeds, coconut and chocolate chips.

Throw in a little vanilla and salt for good measure.  Mix all of that up and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Using a cookie scoop, a spoon or your hands, make into balls.  I put them in pie tins or if my freezer is really empty I fill up a cookie sheet.  Freeze for an hour or so.  Can be left over night.

Once frozen I put all of them in a gallon sized ziplock bag and store them in the freezer.  When I want something sweet and I grab one or two and enjoy!  Now I keep them in the freezer since I think that keeping them in the fridge allows them to get too soft and the chance of them turning into one giant energy bite increase.  When I put 2-3 in a little bag for a treat at work I store those in the fridge, but try to let nothing squish them into one large bite.  These have a been a hit with everyone who has tried them.  Because they are so yummy, need to stay cold and are on the healthy side, I admit that I am not great about sharing them, but now all of you can make them for yourself!

Energy Bites
3 c. rolled oats (not quick)
1 1/2 c. peanut or almond butter
1 c. of honey or agave (agave is sweeter but doesn't seem to stay together as well)
1 1/2 c. flax seeds (can use whole or ground or a combo of both.  I typically use a combo of just the whole seeds)
1 c. shredded coconut (can use sweetened or unsweetened)
1 c. of sunflower seeds (can use salted or unsalted, I prefer salted)
1 1/2 c. of chocolate chips (any variety)
3/4 tsp. of salt
1 1/2 tsp. of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.  Roll into small balls and freeze.  Once frozen, store in ziplock bag in the freezer.  I can get about 90 bite sized balls from this size of a batch.  Is easily cut down for smaller batches.

This can be very versatile, swap out chocolate for butterscotch chips or add in dried fruit, the sky is the limit!

Nutritional Info:
Serving Size: 3 bites
Fat: 9 g.
Sodium: 62.7 mg
Potassium: 80.1 mg
Carbs: 17.2 g
Protein: 3.6 g.

Truffles

One of the treats that I really enjoy making are truffles.  I have made several different varieties and all taste good and are even more impressive looking!  I love that it requires no actual baking, which for me means less chances of messing them up!

The recipe for every type of truffle I have made is basically the same, a package of some type of crushed cookies mixed with a block of softened cream cheese.  Form into balls, dip in chocolate and garnish.  Keep cold until every last delicious morsel has been consumed!

The version I have made the most are Oreo Truffles, I always use double stuff cause if you ever need Oreo's for anything, double stuff is almost always going to taste better!  I have found that using a cookie with a filling ie: moisture of some type, means the filling will be more moist.  For the Oreo version I dip in white chocolate or if you live close to a Winco they sell vanilla melty's in bulk.  I then melt a little semi-sweet chocolate for a drizzle.

Another thing I love about truffles is how versatile they can be!  I have made the Oreo kind, but dipped them in mint chocolate chips for a minty version.  One day I will try them with Nutter Butter's and dip those in a dark chocolate, I know they will taste amazing! 

Now for the versions I have pictured.  The white with pink are frosted animal cookie truffles and the chocolate ones are actually a bit of a hybrid.  I'll give you that recipe shortly.  For the frosted animal cookies, I was using up a half of a block of cream cheese and used about 2/3 of a bag of cookies.  I would think that one whole bag would be perfect for one cube of cream cheese, they won't be too dry.  Form into balls, dip in white chocolate and I then added some red food coloring to turn it pink for the drizzle. 

Now, back to my hybrid truffles.  Cake pops seems to be all the rage, if I understand those, they are made by baking up any flavor of a cake mix, crumbling it once it cools and mixing it with any flavor of cake frosting.  After forming those into balls you dip them in chocolate.  They are tasty, but for me, I prefer things mixed with cream cheese.  So the chocolate truffles are actually a combination of a truffle and a cake pop.

I first started with a baked up yellow cake mix.  I had made a cake, but had only needed one square pan so I baked up the rest separately with this recipe in mind.  Once it was baked and cooled, I crumbled it up, added 1/2 block of cream cheese, about 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree and maybe 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.

I was totally eyeballing this, if you decide to make it, you will probably have to do the same!  Looking back I wish I would have been a little more generous with the pumpkin and the spice as it seemed a little dry and not strong enough in flavor.  After these little guys were formed I did freeze them before dipping to keep them from falling apart in the chocolate.  When I need to melt chocolate for dipping purposed I always use my double boiler. 

It keeps me from accidentally burning the chocolate (which I have done before!) and gives me a large enough dish to work with when it comes to the dipping process. 

I don't have any fancy tools to coat the balls and get them on a cookie sheet, I just use 2 forks so that ideally any extra chocolate falls through the prongs.  Once I get all of them dipped the chocolate has usually hardened enough to do a drizzle.  I try and do a contrasting drizzle for the best looking effect. Now, just in case you don't already know this, if you need to add color to to some white chocolate, make sure you use food coloring and not just a liquid flavoring that isn't designed for chocolate.  It will cause the chocolate to seize.  I sadly learned this lesson the hard way!

I put them back in the fridge to make sure they are nice and firm before I package them for gifts or where ever their final destination lies!  I don't have a picture of this, but a cute and simple way to package these for gifts is just a clear plastic cup wrapped in clear plastic with a ribbon.  If you are in a serious pinch, a clear plastic cup and then one of those cheap fold and close bags with the sides of the fold slit open and then secured with a twist tie will do the trick.  The contents are so good no one will care that the packaging is less than ideal! 
Enjoy!

My favorite mixing bowl.

This is a short one, mainly about my favorite mixing bowl but to also tell you real quick how by making a couple quick changes a boxed cake mix can taste like a cake from scratch.  Hence all of the other ingredients in this picture!

So I saw this online and tried it out, not actually sure if it made the cake taste better or not, I really would need to try them out in a taste test to know for sure but maybe one of you can tell me what you think.  So, following the instruction on the box, increase the eggs by at least 1.  Use milk instead of water and in place of the oil use melted butter and double the amount.   Bake as usual.

Now, onto that multicolored bowl in the picture.  Several years ago my mom was cleaning out her kitchen cabinets to get rid of items she wasn't using.  This bowl was on the chopping block.  I saw it and wanted it!  It had grimy layer on the outside from sitting in top cupboard for too long, but I didn't care!  Now the house my mom lived in had once belonged to my grandma and grandpa.  After my grandma suddenly died when I was in fifth grade, our family moved in so my mom could take care of my grandpa.  After he passed away a couple of months after that, we stayed in the house.  Since that time the house has never truly been completely cleaned out of all of the items owned by my grandma and grandpa.  Most of the big or important items were divided and such after their funerals, but things like random mixing bowls stayed and became forgotten.  When I saw that bowl it reminded me of my grandma, so I had to have it.
I don't know how many years I have been using this for baking, but it is my favorite bowl!  It is the perfect size for cake mixes, goes in the microwave with no problems, fits in my dishwasher and my fridge when I need it to.  For almost every recipe I make, this bowl usually gets used at least once, if not more.  It's not a perfect bowl, it doesn't have a lid, it doesn't have a nice handle to help me pour more easily, but I still love it.  I know my grandma enjoyed baking, though I don't have a lot of memories of her baking in the kitchen, I still like to think that this old bowl links me to her and I think of her whenever I use it. 

Breakfast for dinner, a winner every time!

I think everyone has a go to meal when it is the end of the day and you need to make dinner but don't have a lot of energy or too many options but you want something yummy, this is that meal for me.  I am a lover of breakfast foods so when I can have these amazing German Pancakes with Buttermilk syrup for dinner, I am happy!  I find myself at my sisters a lot around dinner time and we both love this meal and probably have it 2-3 times a month.
It comes together pretty fast and is actually really easy to make and get in the oven for a fast dinner.  You start by putting some butter in a baking dish and popping that into the oven while it preheats.  While the butter is melting, you blend up the flour, eggs, milk, vanilla, salt and a dash of cinnamon.  Once the butter is melted and the oven is ready, you simple pour your dough mixture into the man, don't mix in the butter!  Pop that back in the oven for about 25 minutes and when it's done, it looks kinda like this!

We have found that depending on the size of the pan, it will look very different!  This is just a half batch since it was only for us and my nephew Sam.  You can serve it with any fruit you have on hand, whip cream is always a nice touch but my favorite topping is Buttermilk Syrup!

Growing up, we always had maple syrup for all breakfast bread related items.  I'm not actually a huge fan of maple syrup but would eat it when there weren't any other options.  Now this syrup, is actually a close cousin to caramel, so it turns the most boring, mundane items into dessert! 

This is another simple recipe that comes together pretty fast.  Start with butter, buttermilk and sugar, heat in a LARGE pan on the stove until boiling. 

Remove from the heat and add vanilla and baking soda.  The chemical reaction you get by adding soda causes the syrup to get really foamy, hence the need of a large pan.

If in doubt how big of a pan to use, go bigger just in case!  It is better to clean a larger pan after the fact than to have to clean a sticky mess from your stove!  We didn't pour this out of the pan until it was cooled, otherwise you could see the layers of syrup and foam, but trust me, it looks beautiful! 
*Update, I made this again last night and got a couple more pics!

Looks so yummy there!

This is a half batch again, a little bit goes a long way and we didn't want it to go bad.  It can be stored in the freezer and then small portions heated in the microwave as needed.  It doesn't get solid in the freezer but it will help it last longer.  Of course the idea of having any to save for later means you can't sit down and eat this with a spoon!  It is good on ice cream, any breakfast breads or anything that would taste better with a sweet and wonderful sauce/syrup.

German Pancakes:
4 T butter or margarine
6 eggs
1 c. flour (can use 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour)
1 c. milk
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon

Cut up butter and put into a 9x13 pan, put into oven and preheat to 400.
Put the rest of the ingredients into your blend and blend into everything is mixed and the flour has dissolved.  You could mix this together in a bowl with a hand mixer, doing it in the blender just makes it easy to transfer to your baking dish.
Once mixed and your butter in the oven is melted, pour into your pan.  Do not mix the butter into the dough mix. Bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Cut and serve immediately



Buttermilk Syrup
1 1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
3 c. sugar
1 t vanilla
1 T. baking soda

Combine butter, buttermilk and sugar in large saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved it comes to a boil.  Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and baking soda.

Chocolate Coconut Bars

As I mentioned, I had a busy weekend of baking and another recipe that uses crushed chocolate wafer cookies.  For some reason, I went the longest time without truly discovering the amazing taste of toasted coconut.  That has changed and lately if I find a recipe that involves toasted coconut, I make sure to add it to my list of recipes to try.  This one kinda reminds me of Girl Scout Samoa's, but so much easier than all of the copy cat recipes that are floating around out there.

To start, we need some more crushed chocolate wafer cookies.  Once crushed, mix with melted butter or margarine and sugar.  When I do recipes that involve mixing a crust and then pressing it, I find it just as easy to actually mix it in the pan I am going to bake it in, saves me from washing one more bowl. 

Press into a 9x13 size pan or a good 10x15 pan.  I opted for the smaller pan as I don't have a heavy duty 10x15.  Since this crust gets baked for about 10 minutes I didn't want the pan doing that annoying pop thing when it kinda gets warped in the oven.  Note to self, I need a good 10x15 pan!
Anyway, press that crust mixture into your pan and bake.  It then needs to cool off for about 20 minutes.  This is when it gets really easy.

Sprinkle that crust with 1 cup of pecan pieces and chocolate chips.  Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk over the top and then sprinkle with your shredded coconut.  Bake for another 10-15 minutes until the coconut is lightly toasted.  Now, this is when real willpower comes into play, you need to squash the urge to pick off all the glorious looking coconut and eat it then and there! 

No, you are not allowed to ask me how one does that!  Best idea is to cut and serve as soon as it is cooled so you can pick it off your own piece or better yet, serve up half and keep the other half for yourself!

Chocolate Coconut Bars
3 c. finely ground chocolate wafer cookies or graham crackers, could use a combo
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. butter or margarine, melted
1 c. pecan pieces
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 c. sweetened shredded coconut

Mix crush cookies, sugar and butter together.  Press into pan or cookie sheet (can line pan with parchment paper).  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle crust with pecans and chocolate chips.  Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top.   If using the 10x15 pan, make sure the milk doesn't drip over the edges.
Sprinkle with coconut and bake for 10-15 or until coconut is nicely toasted.  Let cool before cutting into squares. 

Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins

Last week I wrote about Overnight Oats, these muffins have become another breakfast staple for me.  In fact, I like these even more!  They totally taste like I am indulging or cheating, but I'm not!  Made up mainly of oats, banana's and greek yogurt, they aren't nearly as unhealthy as one would think by looking at them or devouring one!
To start, I put my oats in my blender to grind them up, add in the yogurt, honey, eggs, flax seed, baking powder and greek yogurt.  I like to use the Greek Gods brand.  Works great for this and for making ranch for dipping.  Now this recipe calls for 2 ripe bananas.  I don't always have time to make these when my banana's are ripe so I freeze my banana's in chunks.  When the time comes, I take out what appears to be 2 banana's worth and pop them in the microwave until they are soft enough before adding them to my blender.

After blending up all of the ingredients I toss in a handful of pecan pieces and a handful of chocolate chips.  Both are optional.  I only pulse my blender after that as I don't want those last two items to get chopped up any more.  Once they are blended its time to get those babies in muffin tins.  You can choose to either line your muffin tins or spray them generously.  Here is a handy little tip for you, if your dishwasher is either empty or has dirty dishes in it, place your muffin tins on the opened door before spraying.  Keeps your hand clean and keeps the buttery spray from getting on places you will eventually need to clean up!

Ok, so your pans are sprayed and your dough is ready to go.  This is when I'm glad I used my blender as it makes pouring it into the muffin tins so much easier.  Based on the size of my muffin tins, I get 18 of these bad boys.  Right before putting them in my oven I go ahead and sprinkle a couple more pecan pieces and chocolate chips on top since they are yummy and make them look that much better! 

Side note, I love eating dough of almost any variety.  I know there are fears about raw eggs, but I have been doing it for 30 years and never had a problem!  This dough is also tasty so feel free to give it a little try!
Anyway, pop these in the oven and bake them for about 15 minutes or so, depending on the size of the individual muffins.  I usually end up rotating them at the 15 minute mark and bake for 3 more minutes or so.
Take them out, use your willpower to let them cool off at least 5 minutes before ripping into one! 

Not sure if this picture does it justice, but these are really very good!  Especially when the chocolate is still nice and gooey!  If these don't get consumed in the first day, store them in the fridge. 

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins:
2.5 cups old fashioned oats 
1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 TBSP ground flax seed
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas 

Start with oats, grind until fine in blender or food processor.  Add the rest of the ingredients until well blended.  
Optional: Add handful of pecan pieces and chocolate chips.   Blend quickly.  
Pour dough into well greased or lined muffin tins.  Top with additional pecans and chocolate chips, if desired.  Bake 15-18 minutes until toothpick comes or clean.   

Nutritional Info 2 muffins: 
Fat: 6g
Calories: 216
Carbs:37.4
Protein: 5.6g
Cholesteraol: 47.8mg
Sodium: 243.8mg
Potassium: 134mg

Chocolate Candy Bar Goodness

OK, so the official title of this recipe is just Chocolate Candy Bar and I did add the goodness, but it just seems fitting!  It was my friends birthday and I had volunteered to make something yummy.  She didn't have any specific requests and I immediately thought of this one as I have made it for my family a couple of times and everyone loved it.  It has a little bit of everything and it is pretty easy to put together.  The bottom layer of this are crushed chocolate wafer cookies, some butter and sugar. 

Now, if you are lucky enough to have a Winco nearby, you can find these in the bulk section.  I love buying baking ingredients in bulk!  I bought more than I needed for this recipe because I have another coming up that also uses them.  While still in the bag I dropped it around a bit, beat it up a bit and pounded on it a bit.  Don't do this too much in that bag, that twist tie won't keep your crumbs in!  I love to bake, but I have a tendency to be a bit messy!  So I then put a bunch in a bowl and crushed it with my pastry blender.  Crush the cookies in any manner you see fit.

Now, after adding the melted butter and sugar, press into your pan.  For this occasion I used my 9x9 pan, but the original recipe is for a 9x13 pan.  I will give you the amounts for both.  I actually adjusted the filling amounts as I like my layers thick!

After you get that pressed in, put it into the fridge for 20 minutes to get a little hard.  The next layer is my favorite!  Mix 1 8oz package of cream (can use light or regular) with 8oz of cool whip.  I found French Vanilla on sale and used that this time, but any basic variety will work.  I also had some extra sweetened condensed milk on hand and poured some of that in for good measure.  Once that is thoroughly mixed you spoon and spread that onto of your crust layer.

Next, come a healthy layer of toffee chips.  The recipe calls for crushed Score or Heath bars.  I prefer to buy the bagged variety.  I chose to use the plain toffee chips for this middle layer.

Next comes a chocolate layer in the form of chocolate pudding.  I used the large, 6 servings size box of Instant Pudding.  Mix that with 1/12 c of milk till smooth and pour on top of the toffee chips.  Let that sit for about 5 minutes before finishing off with another 8oz of Cool Whip.  Pop that into the fridge for at least 2 hours before you need to serve.  You can also make this up the night before and let it sit over night.  The final step is to sprinkle another layer of toffee chips, for the final layer I do use the toffee with the bits of chocolate on it.  You could also use a crushed up Heath or Score bar.

Go as light or heavy on this as you want!  Looking at this pictures, I am realizing I went way too skimpy!  Still tasted great though.  I do love this dessert for how light it is, but very yummy! 

I mean look at those layers!  How could you resist?  Since this is a dessert and I really don't want to know the nutritional information on it, I'll skip that but here is the recipe with notations for cutting it in half.

Chocolate Candy Bar Goodness:
3 c. finely crushed wafer cookies (2 cups for the half version)
1/2 c of sugar divided (1/3 c for half)
1/2 c of margarine, melted (1/3 c for half)
8 oz of cream cheeses at room temperature (don't change when cutting in half)
2 8oz containers of cool whip (didn't change when cutting in half)
1 c of chopped chocolate coated toffee candy bars divided (or however much suites your fancy)
3 c. of cold milk (don't use soy or almond milk!)
2 pkg. (4 servings) instant chocolate pudding

Mix crushed wafers, melted butter and 1/4 c. of sugar and press into 9x13 pan, refrigerate for 10-20 minutes.
Beat cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Gently stir in half of the whipped topping. Spread evenly over crust; sprinkle with 3/4 cup of the chopped candy bars. Set aside. Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. Pour over candy bar layer. Let stand 5 min. or until thickened.
Spread remaining whipped topping over pudding layer. Refrigerate 2 hours or until set. Top with remaining 1/4 cup chopped candy bars. Store in refrigerator.

As I mentioned, I like my layers thick, so when making the smaller pan, I didn't really cut all of the ingredients in half.  Feel free to make those adjustments based on your personal preference. 
Enjoy!

Rescuing me from dating nightmares!

I thought I would share an entertaining and crazy story from my dating past.  Over the years I have often times turned to the internet to find love.  Can't really say I have ever found love but I have found some very special guys!  I am a firm believer in going out with someone for a first date, even if you aren't entirely sure if it will go anywhere because you never truly know what the future holds and what could happen.  I learned that lesson from one of my best friends who married someone who started out as a blind date, that she actually never wanted to see again after that first date!  But back to my story, along with the idea of going on a lot of first dates, I also believe that an hour or so for dinner won't kill anyone, it is just an hour!  Well, that idea has been tested to the extreme for me, twice.  So much so I engaged the help of friends who just so happened to have a dire 'emergency' and only my presence would solve all of their problems.
The first date took place at Thanksgiving Point.  We met there and started walking around the grounds and gardens, it didn't take long for him to start making negative comments about Utah Mormons.  Well, as most of you know, I am born and raised here in Utah, and am a Mormon so I played devils advocate until he stopped.  By the way, this guy is also LDS!
He then moved onto the topic of the military and started making negative comments about those who choose to serve in the military.  Once again, several of you know that I have 3 brothers that have or are currently serving and I am very proud of them for doing so.  When I mentioned that I had brothers serving, he jumped off that topic pretty quickly and moved right on over to how bad things are in West Valley City and how high the crime rate is.  At the time of this date I was living on the east side of the valley, but was born and raised in the heart of West Valley City.  In fact, one of the nicknames I once heard for my high school was Drive By High!  When he took a breather from that negative rant I informed him about where I had grown up and gone to school.  He finally stopped talking and hopefully realized that negative rant after negative rant was getting him no where with me!  He then took a break to use the restroom and I promptly contacted one of my roommates to enlist her help in ensuring that my dreadful date wasted no more of my time that night!  My fast thinking friend invented a car accident and she desperately needed my help.  I took the call from her while standing in front of him and both of us acted the part to make sure everything seemed legit.  I have no idea if he believed me or not, he didn't argue about the date ending nor did I ever hear from him again, but either way it finally ended!  I know that using deception to end a date isn't recommended and I don't endorse that, but at the time I just didn't know what else to do!  Hopefully he learned a lesson that being negative, regardless of the topic, just isn't attractive when out on a date. 
Since this post is long enough, I will share the second story about needing to be rescued another time!

The start of something new....

I am new to the world of blogging but after the encouragement of some friends I decided to start my own blog and post about my creations in the kitchen and also decided to share some my antics in the dating world.  I am in my 30's and still single, so I have a lot of crazy dating stories!  Who knows how long I will keep this up but it's worth a try!
To start I want to share with you one of my new favorite breakfast items.  I have been making this for a couple of weeks and just love it, Overnight Oats.  If you search Pinterest for this you will find lots of variations and the possibilities are endless.  The idea is by soaking raw oats overnight in a mixture of at least some milk plus other ingredients, in the morning they will be soft enough to eat without any cooking or any other prep required that morning.  The first one I tried was called Chunky Monkey.  It has the oats, milk, vanilla, plain or honey flavored yogurt, 1/2 of a banana, some peanut butter and a handful of chocolate chips.  The next morning it is ready to go and then I had some pecans for a nice crunch. 

Now, this may not look amazing and appetizing that you want to lick the screen, but it is tasty!  I mean c'mon, peanut butter, banana, chocolate chips and pecans, it is hard to go wrong!  I have found that it is a tasty, easy and filling breakfast that is great to just grab and go.  It only takes a couple of minutes to throw together the night before.  I use soy or almond milk and a low carb yogurt from Smiths called Carb Master helps it to not be too high on the unhealthy scale but still makes for a hearty breakfast.  I have actually been trying to have larger breakfasts and smaller dinners in my never ending quest to be healthy when possible. 
Here is the full recipe:
Chunky Monkey Overnight Oats
1/3 cup of old fashioned oats
1/3 cup of almond milk
1 container of vanilla, plain or honey yogurt
1 T of peanut butter: creamy or chunky
1/2 banana
handful of chocolate chips

Now, you can get creative and try different flavors of yogurt and mix-ins based on what you have in your kitchen.  I love this one enough I figure why mess with a good thing?!
In case you are interested, here is the nutrition breakdown:
Fat: 23g
Carbs: 45g
Protein: 16g
Cholesterol: 10mg
Sodium: 260mg
Potassium: 457 mg