Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Yes you read it right.  I said it. It is:

1. Chocolate

2. Cake

and

3. Can be made in a mug

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls - Yep

So I am kinda obsessed with pumpkin right now. I can prove it. I have pumpkin waffles, pumpkin butter, pumpkin coffee, and pumpkin creamer in my house at this very minute.  Needless to say, when I heard about making pumpkin cinnamon rolls, I had to try it.  This recipe was a lot of fun to create with my 4 year old. It is really easy to make and only bakes for 20 minutes. Try this out. You will NOT be disappointed.

Single Serving Vegan Brownie

A quick post to share something so delightful with you.  

I just discovered this amazing single serving brownie tonight and immediately came to the computer to share it with you guys.  

So easy to make.

So fun to make.

A healthy twist on a brownie.

And...no huge pan of left overs to trip you up all week.

Frozen Peanut Butter Treat (aka smudgies)

I have been using this recipe for months now and many of my challengers LOVE it. Kids love it, adults love it, and all the while we are eating something clean and healthy. I decided it was time for me to write it up and get it archived on my own personal little recipe book.  I only put my favorites on this blog so that I can find them easily and share them easily with you guys.  So here you go!  An awesome little treat for summer.

Kid Bake Vegan Cookies

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and saved it for a rainy day. I didn't know the rainy day would come so soon but luckily we had the ingredients on hand.  The recipe claimed that this was a great recipe to let kids do on their own because there were no eggs involved (meaning kids could lick away on the spoons without any worries).  

I let my 4 year old try this thing out. She did the dumping, stirring, mixing, and even putting on the pan.  My son was invited but he was more interested in:

1.  playing trains

2.  aggravating his sister while she did the cooking

Alas, we were able to make them and surprisingly enough they were delicious!!! My husband had at least 4 after dinner (I'm not condoning that I'm just saying he did it).

So the pictures for the post are not really of the recipe but more of my daughter cooking and the mess she made. But you know what? It was storming and this made her forget that we were stuck inside so I call it a win/win!

Here's What You Need:

-1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/8 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup salted butter softened (Ok I didn't have a whole stick of butter but it was close and I melted it because I am lazy)

- 1/4 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup honey

- 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Here's What You Do:

1.  Preheat oven to 300 and grease a cookie sheet to prepare

2.  Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside (be prepared to see flour fly!)

3.  Combine the butter, sugar, and honey and blend.

4.  Add in the chocolate chips and stir or blend but don't over mix

5.  Drop onto baking sheet (these will spread so spread them out - we didn't and we had a lot of separating to do) and bake 18-20 minutes (mine took 20)

I really was surprised at how yummy these are. I just figured it would be something the kids would nibble on for fun but I enjoyed them. I think it will be my go-to chocolate chip recipe from now on.

 

See no worries? They can lick away and I don't care. Pardon that we are in our swim suits in these pics. We made it half way to the pool before the thunder kicked in.  Let me know what you think if you try these out. And show me the mess your kids make baking!  Mine had a blast but it did require some clean up for sure.

Enjoy!

 Original recipe here:  http://www.smartschoolhouse.com/eats-and-sweets/chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-for-kids/2

Summer Fruity Ice Pops

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for SUMMER!!  This was a long winter and spring has proven to be a damp and dreary one.  I'm soaking up these warm days, as few and far between as they are, until those lasting summer days emerge!  I'm always looking for a freezer pop recipe because the ones in the store... even the fruit ones... are just so dang packed with sugar, sugar, and more sugar!  Is it just me or do they have a weird aftertaste? Why would you need to sweeten already sweet fruit??  So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this little gem of a recipe.  It is a breeze to prepare and delightfully refreshing without all the extra BLAH.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I pack my hubby's lunch for work every night. It is an easy way for us to use dinner left overs and save a few bucks (plus I figure if I have to eat at home - he can't be going out every day too right?) I digress.  I usually pack him a couple of cookies as an after lunch treat and we were out of his favorite kind this week, Fig Newtons. In a scramble, I looked up easy cookie recipes and found this gem. They are super easy to make, dairy free, grain free, and delicious.

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

These breakfast cookies are a big hit in my clean eating challenge groups. They are filling, delicious, and kid friendly.  Not only that but these cookies are completely clean and vegan so you know what you are eating and you know it is good for you.  I give these to my kids without any concerns.  I do need to admit - we don't actually eat them for breakfast - we eat them all day long!  I think they would make a great breakfast warmed up with a dab of peanut butter on top but we haven't tried it yet. We usually have these as an afternoon snack or a treat after lunch.  They really are a versatile cookie and you can use whatever you have in the pantry to make it work for you. I am going to include the original recipe but I'm writing up how I make them personally (and you know it is going to include some chocolate).

Super Easy (not just for breakfast) Breakfast Pizza

When I stumbled across this recipe I had no idea it would be so easy.  So so so easy.  Today it is snowing (again), my kids are sick, and we are bored.  I decided it would be a good day to pull up the thousands of recipes I have saved on the internet and start trying one out.  Elli and I decided the breakfast pizza was the way to go.  The reason this works is because you will most likely have all of the ingredients on hand.  If not, it is super versatile and you can make it however you want.

No more talking!  Let me give you this recipe that will 100% become a staple on our list. I envision it for dessert, for fun lunch, even for dinner (who doesn't love breakfast for dinner!?)

Here is what you need: (kinda because you can really do this however you want!)

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-1 tsp baking powder

-2 stevia packets (I didn't have anymore stevia so I used another sweetener we had on hand) or 2 tablespoons sugar

-1/2 cup water, juice or milk (I used 2% milk but to keep it vegan use almond or soy)

-2 tablespoons applesauce (or coconut oil, mashed bananas, vegetable oil...)

-1/8 tsp salt

-You can add any spices you wish. I added a dash or two of cinnamon but you could do pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, you name it!

-And the fun part:  Add in a few handfuls of whatever you want.  We added in 1/2 banana sliced and couple handfuls of mini chocolate chips. You could do blueberries, strawberries, walnuts, raisins, chopped apples, and the list goes on!

 Here is what you do

-Grease a round pan really well so it doesn't stick.

-Mix all ingredients together and then pour into prepared pan

-Place in NON PREHEATED oven at 425 for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (mine took exactly 10 minutes)

It looks delicious even without toppings!

Now have fun with toppings. Today I melted the Cinnamon Cheese spread I had and spread that on top (just one wedge). Then I added sliced strawberries and powdered sugar.  Seriously - this is breakfast? Both kids loved it and ate it up.  

This was delicious on top but I'm sure any cream cheese would work.

Who WOULDN'T want to eat that for breakfast?

OK you try your breakfast pizza and tell me what you add to yours.  I'm thinking next time I'll add walnuts and top with bananas and cinnamon. Or what about mini chocolate chips topped with nutella and bananas?  Oh man or what about mini chocolate chips topped with peanut butter and banana.  Yep I have a lot of baking to do!  I may very well be making this tonight for dessert while my kids are sleeping since they ate it all this morning and didn't want to share very many bites with their mom.

I want to let you know the original recipe came from Chocolate Covered Kate. I love her blog. I use it all the time. She takes desserts and makes them healthy.  She is all about chocolate and all about health. She should be my best friend. Really.  I haven't tried a recipe from her site that I didn't love.  Check it out!

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2010/04/12/the-breakfast-pizzert/

Happy Breakfast!

Vegan Blondie Brownie

I hesitate to put the word vegan in the title because I don't want any skeptics.  These things are GOOD - really good. How do I know? I had my father in law try "a brownie" and he liked them. After that I told him they were made from chickpeas and he still ate several more. So trust me when I say, these things are good! So good in fact that I made them again today because I just HAD to have them. And yes, I HAD to have them.  This is actually a quick recipe and I plan on making them often simply because my kids think they are cookies but they are so clean and healthy they can eat them all day and I don't care!

Please please please give it a try - you won't be disappointed.  

Sorry for the lack of pictures - I had a sick kid and couldn't take pictures while prepping but I really wanted to get this recipe to ya!

Here's What You Need:

- 1 can garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained!)

- 3/4 tsp baking powder

- 1/8 tsp baking soda

- level 1/4 tsp salt

- 3/4 cup brown sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 cup quick oats

- 1/4 cup peanut butter

- 1/2 cup chocolate chips 

Here's What You Do:

- Preheat oven to 350

- Blend all the ingredients (except chips) until very smooth in a good food processor (not a blender)

- Mix in chips and scoop into a greased 8x8 pan and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top

- Bake for about 30 minutes

 (they will look a little under cooked when you take them out but they firm as they cool and you don't want them to get hard!)

Please let me know what you think of these. Try them! Be brave!  You will like them - I promise.  

Don't forget our challenge. This thing is awesome! 21 Days to focus on nutrition, clean eating, and how to live a healthy balanced life style.  Comment here for more info!! 

Original recipe here:  http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/18/chocolate-chip-blondies-and-theyre-good-for-you/  

Check out her blog - awesome good stuff there!

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

As I have mentioned before, I am constantly working to get the processed foods out of my house and start making my own things for the kids and for me.  This isn't something I'm doing over night. It is a small steady change that I work on. I am busy, my kids are crazy some days, and some days we just need a quick easy snack. But then there are times when I can try out a new recipe and I embrace those opportunities.  This was one of them.  We tried out making the no bake peanut butter bars.  Now you know I posted another peanut butter bar recently here, and this is very similar. The difference is this one is sturdier.  You know for a real snack - a nice heavy snack that will tide you over. The Cheerio one is a bit light and definitely not as filling as this one.  I like both because I like to mix it up.  

Here is what you need:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup honey

3 cups quick cook oats

Here is what you do:

1  Melt the honey and peanut butter over medium heat until smooth

2.  Mix in the oats and remove from heat

3. Stir well

4.  Press into 9x9 pan

5.  Let cool (I refrigerate mine but that is how I like them. They do not have to be refrigerated!)

Verdict? These were delicious and perfect for everyone. The kids like them for snacks, I eat them for a night time treat, and Daddy takes them in his lunch to work.  Score! Clean, easy, and home made. 

Enjoy!

original recipe here:http://www.food.com/recipe/natural-no-bake-peanut-butter-energy-bars-163297?layout=desktop

Frosted Mint Brownies

Welcome to December!  I can't believe it's here already.  We go from Thanksgiving to BOOM. Christmas.  I must say, I kind of like it, but it makes me feel a little more rushed this holiday season.  I have been craving sweets....... but with Little Two I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so I can't have sweets (or just have to enjoy them in VERY VERY limited quantities).  These gems are already packaged up and ready to send off with DH to work.  I've had a little bite.  And can I tell you that little bite was AMAZING!!!!! Ahh.  Even better than how they taste is how simple and easy they are to come together!  

Just look.  Yes.  Just look.

Simple & Sweet Sugar Cookies

DH and I have had the conversation recently about sugar cookies.  They're his favorite.  We've been together for over 13 years and this is the first I've heard of it.  You learn something new every day, right?  I've got to admit I love his classic style because I'm all about "doctoring" up everything to the max... you know like triple chocolate fudge and chocolate chips and Oreos AND almonds in my ice cream ;)  The man loves himself a simple sugar cookie with a sugary crust.  Ahh, I'm in love. In honor of his recent birthday, I decided I'd try to make him these.  I have never made homemade sugar cookies, thinking they'd be really hard to make.  We've been settling for the slice and bake variety.  Which albeit are good, but have some weird ingredients.  Yeah. These have sugar, butter, flour, eggs, vanilla, baking soda & the weirdest thing... cream of tartar ;)  I think he about died when he tasted the first one hot out of the oven.  Crunchy from being rolled in sugar and a sweet buttery vanilla flavor... Swoon.  Birthday score for me! This recipe makes A TON.  I got 46 medium sized cookies to be exact.  So... I made 20 and froze the rest for my very own homemade version of the slice and bake variety!  Disclaimer:  I don't have pictures of steps along the way in case these didn't turn out.  The original recipe calls for a stand mixer and mixing "just so" and I didn't have time last night to do all that.  Well, folks, I'm glad to say you don't have to!  These turn out FABULOUS with a little elbow grease!! YAY!

Fun Fall Snack for Kids

It was my turn to make snacks for preschool this week and this always intimidates me for some reason (just being honest). I guess I just want all of those little people to just love it.  So since it was close to Halloween, I looked up some fun fall snacks for the kids.  I stumbled across this Chex mix and apparently the kids loved it.  I made this and stuck it in some little ghost treat bags. Little One said it was very good and I figure that is a stamp of approval.

Doesn't this look delicious?  The wonderful picture is by a friend who made this yummy treat last night after we talked about the recipe together.  She makes it look so good here I'm about to go make another batch of it!

Here is what you need:

1.  6 C of chex mix

2.  1 C pretzels

3.  6 tablespoons butter melted

4.  1/4 cup brown sugar

5.  1 tsp cinnamon

6.  1 C Reese Pieces

7.  1 C mini marshmallows

8.  1 C candy corn

Here is what you do:

1.  Preheat the oven to 275 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.  Melt the butter in microwave (well that's how I did it because I'm lazy).

3.  Combine the Chex mix and the pretzels in a large bowl.

4. Pour the melted butter on top of the cereal and combine until evenly coated.

5.  In a small bowl combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and then pour onto cereal mixture until evenly coated.

6.  Spread the cereal mixture onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

7. Allow to cool completely and then mix in the candy treats!

Delicious!  This is perfect to take to a Halloween Party (which is what I am doing this weekend). It is also great for little treat bags for kids. Even better? Let the kids help you make it.  It is a fun recipe that they can help create.

Enjoy!

Our upcoming challenge and YOU are invited! Leave a comment to get more information.

Original recipe taken from:

http://stickafork.net/2012/10/fall-snack-mix/

Broiled Grapefruit Dessert

These are easy peasy to make and delicious to eat!  Broiled grapefruit are all over the internet these days it seems.  A quick google or pinterest search will yield lots of different recipes.   Bottom line is, these make for a great and healthy, light summer dessert.  I was surprised at how sweet the tangy grapefruit became when broiled in the oven for a few short minutes.  Try it today and let me know what you think!

Broiled Grapefruit

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit

1 tsp brown sugar

dash of cinnamon (I used pumpkin pie spice)

1) Cut grapefruit in half.  If they don't sit level, trim a little off the bottom rind.  Top with brown sugar and cinnamon.

2) Stick it under the broiler (set on high) for 3 minutes, or longer if you want a darker caramelized crust.  Just keep a close eye on it!  The broiler makes me nervous! Haha!  These pictured were under for 3 minutes.

3)  Let cool slightly and serve with dinner.  In this case, some fajitas!

The Verdict

I loved these!  DH wasn't sold quite so much.  But I was pleasantly surprised at how sweet the bitter grapefruit became.  I thought it would be weird to have a warm citrus, but it really made this feel like a fancy dessert.  The only problem was we couldn't figure out how to eat it!  DH tried to dig it out with a regular spoon.  I, on the other hand, gave up and picked mine up, ripped the peel off, and ate it as-is with lots of grapefruit juice dripping everywhere!  I'd definitely suggest a grapefruit spoon.  Can you tell we're not big grapefruit eaters? ;)  Let this new and inventive way to eat a grapefruit make its way to your dinner table tonight!

Chocolate Frozen Banana Pops

Or I like to affectionately call them "Hello Summer - I miss you - Please come back - Chocolate Frozen Banana Pops" ;)   I don't know about you but these frigid days lately have been a little too much.  And today it's 60 degrees?  Saturday, yep, it's gonna be 30.  Weird.

Alas.  Make these SUPER easy fun treats.  And pretend.  Just pretend.  You may have to crank up the heat in the house, but pretend you're on a tropical paradise!  DH and I were looking for some sweet, easy on the wallet and waistline, dessert options.  These fit the bill!  Yum.

Frozen Yogurt Berries

Heeeeelllllllooooooooo!  Lots of new things going on with OurGreeneHome lately!  Let's see here - I've started a Facebook page, revamped my Etsy store and sold my FIRST official order!  Of course, don't forget you can also hop on over and find us on Pinterest too.  Join us to see what's up!!  I guess there's been a lot of time to sit and think about what the new year will look like around these parts.  Unfortunately I haven't been cooking much lately thanks to DH and Little One being sick basically for the whole month of January so far!  Boo.  Poor fellas!  A touch of pneumonia (DH) and conjunctivitis (Little One) about did us in last week.  Thanks to my trusty teacher immune system, I've been playing mommy, wife, and most importantly nurse - doling out lots of hugs, Kleenex, and medicine.  SO.   Sorry for the absence of blog posts!  Now you know why ;)  Thankfully, they are both on the mend now.  February is looking up!

Here's a tasty treat that I tried thanks to a Pinterest find... I made it last week because I knew I had the ingredients on hand.  We were looking for sore throat remedies and healthy sweet treats... and quite frankly I was going stir crazy!  Haha!

These are easy peasy.  Seriously.  And seriously good.  The yogurt makes the berries creamy and the sweetness from the honey pairs well with the tangy berry bites.  These frozen yogurt berries would be so good on top of frozen yogurt ice cream, pound cake, angel food cake, and remember these?   Drizzle with a hit of melted chocolate for a less-than-sinful treat! Sign.  Me.  Up.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

These tasty treats are good for the Little One and with the addition of some of this ooey gooey chocolate peanut butter dip they become a sweet treat for Mom and Dad!  You can't even taste that they're loaded with zucchini!!  You can use these as breakfast muffins - they'd be delicious with a hot cup of coffee AND you can top them with some icing to fulfill your sweet tooth that {at least for me} rears its head after dinner!   Enjoy these universal muffins!!

Sugar Coated Nuts

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Last year was our first Thanksgiving away from family, and quite honestly, more than a little sad.  So I was determined to have a more lively holiday this year.  We invited several other families over to our house who also live far away from home. Our little town home soon overflowed with love, laughter, and little kid squeals!  Just what a good Thanksgiving feast needs :) I had good intentions of taking pictures of my Thanksgiving preparations... aaaannnd I totally forgot!  Good thing, this year I made some tried and true recipes from the blog, with the addition of one new one.  I made turkey meatballs, twice baked potatoes - added a little milk and it worked great!, roasted asparagus, and some honey-glazed carrots.  The carrots ended up not getting syrupy like the recipe suggested, but I just poured off the excess liquid and ended up really liking the hint of sweet / tangy from the honey/vinegar mixture.  They were a hit!  I had hopes of making these babies - but realized I got the wrong kind of dough and I sure as heck wasn't going to go back to the grocery store with all those crazy people!!  I ended up just making a regular pumpkin pie... my first!  The back of the can instructions worked great!  All-in-all, we had stuffing, rosemary yeast rolls, sweet potato souffle, spiral ham and more desserts than we really needed!  But it was all so delicious!! And everything worked out great.  I've always wanted to host Thanksgiving at my house - and this year I did!  Hopefully this will be a new tradition that we can continue. These sugar coated nuts are my grandma's recipe.  I only make them once a year - Thanksgiving.  She always has these out on her kitchen counter anytime we visit between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It's really the only thing she makes that I can replicate.  Everything else is going to take some trial and error.  You know, it's hard to follow a "little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you cook it until it looks right" kind of recipe.  But once you master the 'grandma recipe', precious memories are passed down from one generation to the next. Hope you enjoy these tasty treats!  Just be careful because they're ridiculously addictive ;)

Wonton Dessert Stacks

A super simple dessert to go with a super simple supper!

The idea of this dessert could totally be built and made into whatever flavor combination you like!  (Hint: I'm thinking next time adding a chocolate element... mmmm... mouth watering!)