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

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.

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!

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.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

I'm craving sweets.  Real bad.  Lots of sweets.  Anything I can get my hands on really.  And this is happening during one of the worst possible times of the year - Halloween candy is EVERYWHERE!!  I overdid it yesterday and felt it in the afternoon.  But, nonetheless I woke up this morning with more sweets on the brain.  Pregnancy, sigh.  After a quick look on Facebook this morning, I found that Team ACT had posted a picture of her Super Easy 2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins and decided it was high time for some pumpkin in these parts!  One problem.  No cake mix.  Doh!  SO, online searching I went.  These from Kitchen Treaty are moist and delicious, just like the pumpkin muffins Team ACT made, but they do require a little more time.  Good news, however, (Miss Team ACT :)) ... they're even better if you add chocolate chips to the mix!!

Chocolate Chip Muffins - Soooo Good and Clean

In our quest to start eating less processed food, I stumbled upon these chocolate chip muffins.  OK, first disclaimer, they can be any kind of muffin you want, but I am a chocolate addict so they are always chocolate chip muffins for me.  Second disclaimer, they could be completely vegan, but let's remember I call myself "mostly vegan" so those are real chocolate chips.  If you want them to be completely vegan you can choose another filler.

Back to the muffins.  I tend to make a dozen on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and then we are ready with a good clean snack all week. I always eat them as my morning snack.  Kids love them in the afternoon.  My husband takes them to work.  

I have made them so many times it has become a science.  My daughter LOVES to help me make them and it actually does kind of help. I put the amount in the measuring cup and she just pours it right in.  Of course her favorite part is licking the spoon!

Whole Wheat Muffins - Ready for Mix-ins! : Freezer Friendly

I've been doing a lot of reading online lately about food, our ability to get food, and the kind of foods we eat.  I have high cholesterol.  At 28.  Had I not had Little One I probably wouldn't have learned this little tidbit and it might not have mattered as much to me.  Honestly, my whole worldview has changed now that I'm a mom.  This little life depends on me to be healthy... to set a good, healthy lifestyle example in food and exercise.  Now, I don't love eating healthy all the time (cheese is my weakness!!) and working out on a regular basis (ugh.  it feels soooooooo repetitive.  I just don't enjoy "the hurt" from working out.  But.  My mind has got to change.  I'm really trying to become better at these - for myself and for Little One.  

Now back from that tangent - I am trying to reduce the amount of processed (pre-made) food that we consume and to increase our amount of daily vegetable and fruit intake.  DH and I decided yesterday that we will cut out most fast food, especially if we're eating it because we're being lazy.  I read something a while back that has really stuck with me as it pertains to children and what they eat.  It was something along these lines... children aren't born with the taste and cravings for salty, processed, empty food.  They learn to like these foods because we feed it to them.  I fail daily at this, but it serves as a reminder to me to stop and think about what I'm feeding Little One.  

So you're a busy mom?  Hectic schedule?  Too many things to do in one day?  How can I possibly cook for my family to cut out some of the processed foods?  Check out this site and this site.  Tried and true places to start.

1) Start with freezer friendly meals.  

2) Set apart an hour a week to meal plan (look up some recipes you want to try!).  

3) Prepare your grocery list based on sections of the store.  I'm kinda crazy, but every time I go I always follow the same path.  This allows me to set up my grocery list the same way every time.  This little time I take to categorize my list based on section of the grocery store or aisle saves me A TON of time in the store and I don't have to backtrack.  

4) One weekend day (or week day - it doesn't matter... just sometime when you have childcare or you know your child can be easily entertained while you cook for about 30 - 45 minutes...) prepare your meals.  

5) Start with 2 or 3.  That's 2 or 3 more than you had before you started!  I try to pick meals or foods that have similar ingredients to save time on prep work.  Start small and slowly work it in.  If you don't like something you've made, mark that off the "to-try" list for next time.  If you like it add it to your "regulars" list.  You can do it!!  

I've found this site - 100 Days of Real Food - she has A TON of good ideas and recipes.  These muffins are from her site.  Little One LOVED them.  They aren't sweet like regular muffins - and it's super fun to be able to add your own different "sweet" fruit mix-ins.  Banana was our favorite (but we're a banana muffin kind of family!)  Let me know what you decide to mix in - the options are endless!

 

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.

Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins

I swear there must be some Thing in our house that says "Bananas.  Since you've just come in from the grocery store I now command you to become brown and mushy."  Good thing that's the exact type of banana you need for this recipe :)  

Side note: In my desperate attempt to buy bananas for the entire week for Little One, I tried out a trick I found on Pinterest.  To keep the bananas from browning as quickly, pull the bananas apart from the stem when you get home.  That's right.  I bought the absolute greenest bananas I could find on Friday night.  When I got home I separated each banana from the group until I had all single bananas.  I laid them out on the table.  And by the next Friday my banana was perfectly ripe and just starting to get the brown speckled dots.  Amazing.  

Back to the original story.  Take a look at these delicious bites.  Let me be the first to say - these aren't your traditional muffins.  They are dense, but oh so moist.  Perfect banana flavoring with a hint of oatmeal.  To me, it felt like you were eating a bowl full of warm oatmeal in muffin form!  My recipe made 18.  Between DH, Little One and I, we ate 6 {half of the first batch} while the second six were baking ;)  I kept the leftovers in the fridge and Little One would pull the bag out and ask for one any chance he got.  They were a definite hit!!

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!!

Banana Nut Muffins

My LIttle One has a banana for breakfast every morning, so I have to keep a lot on hand.  This particular week we had 2 that we just couldn't eat fast enough.  Normal people would throw these away... but I guess that makes me not normal ;)  I started googlin' Banana Nut Bread recipes and found one that didn't use oil.  I was going to make the loaf of bread but when I looked up to see that it was 9:30 last night, I knew I didn't have time to wait for the hour cooking and then cooling time.  So I decided to adapt the recipe to muffins!  This recipe made 10.  In 12 hours 3 remain.  You do the math!! Our family of 3 is in looooove with these yummy muffins.  That's really all I have to say.  Try them for yourself!! Yum!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies

Happy Holidays!!  Yes.  The season has officially begun - it's my favorite time of the year!  We are having our first ever cookie swap.  So excited!  My wonderful DH was more than happy to be the guinea pig for my new recipe ;)  Let me tell you... we ate pretty much the entire recipe in one weekend.  I made these Friday night - Monday night there are 3 left.  Yep.  Good thing they're calorie free on the weekends... ah hem.  Haha!  Needless to say these scrumptious cookies are the ones I'm taking to the cookie swap.  Hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season - take some time to enjoy the small things this time of year!

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!)  

Banana Chocolate Pockets

Leftover wontons from this recipe.  Almost too ripe bananas.  Chocolate.  Why, yes please!  Crunchy.  Creamy.  Chocolate-y.  Banana-y.  Someone please catch my drool!  These couldn't be easier.

You need:

8 wontons

1 banana, thinly sliced

4 teaspoons, mini chocolate chips (or your choice)

dash of cinnamon

Spray your foil lined cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  In each wonton lay 2 banana slices and 1/2 teaspoon mini chocolate chips.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Be careful not to add too much so you'll have room to fold over your pockets.  Dip your finger in water and run it over two adjacent sides.  (You can see it in the picture on the right here.)  This acts as glue and holds the wontons together.

Fold the wontons into triangles.  I brushed mine with butter, but I don't think it helped to make them brown because they actually got browner where I didn't put the butter.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5 - 7 minutes or until golden brown.  I think I had to cook mine longer, but I don't remember :(  I'm trying to get caught up on all my blog posts!  I'll do better next time!

Last step: Enjoy!  

Just the right amount of sweet and crunch!

The Verdict

I foresee many wonton wrappers in my future.  The possibilities for stuffing are pretty endless.  Savory.  Sweet.  You name it.  I'll try it.  Yum!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ooey Gooey Dip

Love at first sight.  Sunday night, Little One is asleep, and I'm craving something chocolate.  The pantry is a little thin.  But then in all it's glory, I spot the peanut butter and a light bulb goes off.  It's sooooooo easy.  You can always keep the ingredients on hand.  And it looks like you're eating A TON of chocolate when you're not.  It definitely satisfies my chocolate cravings!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ooey Gooey Dip - My recipe

A heaping tablespoon of creamy peanut butter

A sprinkling of chocolate chips - I use Nestle dark chocolate chips (about 15 - 20ish chips)

A dash of 1% milk - yes, literally a dash - it doesn't take much!

Put the mixture in the microwave.  Microwave for 10 seconds, stir.  Microwave an additional 10 seconds, stir.  And enjoy!  Best enjoyed with a special someone (Remember if you're preggers, you can enjoy all by yourself because it's technically with a special someone ;)  Haha!)  I had a banana on hand because Little One eats them like they're candy.  It would be delicious on pretzel sticks, strawberries, marshmallows, just about anything.  Yum. 

Our current microwave is pretty powerful, so it might take yours an entire 30 seconds.  Regardless, stir every 10 seconds to keep from scorching the chocolate.  Oh, and be careful not to get any water into the chocolate or it will seize.  Then it's an ugly mess.  

The Verdict:

Get the ingredients.  Keep plenty on hand.  This will be a definite keeper go-to recipe.

Update - Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

An update worthy of another post.  Mmmmm {insert drooling mouth here}... My in-laws are in town and the Little One is asleep.  Yes, I said ASLEEP.  He's been asleep since 7:45.  A HUGE FEAT for one who holds out until 10:30 or 12:30, sometimes 2:30 at night.  I'm still holding my breath. I had a sudden urge for chocolate.  Surprise surprise.  I quickly searched the blog labels and found the 1 cookie recipe.  Ooh yeah.  This little baby right here. The updates I used: instead of 1 cup dark chocolate chips ----- 1 cup MINI semisweet chocolate chips instead of baking 11 minutes ----- bake 13 minutes for an even crispier cookie instead of melting the butter ----- I softened the butter with 15 second bursts in the microwave {because I was too stubborn to wait for butter to soften on the counter - a girl's gotta have her chocolate Friday night, heck - any night - fix :)} Cheers to Friday night! ~ p.s. ~   I had some dough left over - enough for about 4 cookies - and I stuck it in the freezer for a little experiment.  I'm trying it out for all you lads out there to see if we can freeze this delicious batter.  A frozen cookie readily available might just make any bad day better!  I'll let you know how it turns out!

Scratch Made Muffins

I've been looking for some scratch made recipes ever since I learned that most pre-packaged box mixes have trans fat in them thanks to some of the preservatives. Not to mention, the money you can save by whipping up your own batch of muffins.  The options are endless as to what you can 'throw in' them.  I wanted some muffins this morning, it is Saturday after all, and googled away to find some easy ones.

I came across this site.  It's true.  I tried her recipe, as is, and it makes a great base.  I added oats, chocolate chips, and cinnamon to my batch and made my own scratch made muffins.  She offers great advice on the different options you can change up to make your recipe more 'you'.