So right around this time of the year, I realize that I have already blown off the commitments I made to myself at the beginning of the year. Pretty much every week – since Jan 1 – I’ve had all kinds of good intentions to eat healthier and go to the gym regularly. And let me tell you – I have done neither one :) I’m guessing I’m not alone in that.

The good news is, I think I have come up with an idea that’s actually feasible and sustainable. It just occurred to me that I can use my blog to support a healthier lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong I’ve been loving baking all these amazingly delicious treats, but I think I should mix it up a bit – include some recipes that are less sweet tooth friendly but just as tasty :)

So now that you are caught up on my post new year laziness, I’m going to pop my website’s healthy cherry with a new recipe – Skinny Blueberry Banana Smoothies. I love fruit – really who doesn’t – but I love it even more blended. At various points in my life I have been more or less on the smoothie thing, and recently its definitely been less. But, I’m going to dust off my blender and get to work so I can lose this natural winter coat I’m wearing lol. P.S. I went to the gym two days in a row!! Let’s get to it.

Makes 1 large smoothie or 2 smaller ones  

Ingredients

• 1 cup ice
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 small banana
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger – grated
• 1 tbs agave
• 1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt

Directions

1. Add all ingredients and pulse in blender until smooth

Do you love apple pie – because I do – but you know what, sometimes apple pie is just way to involved. And only the craziest craving will push me to spend hours creating a yummy pie, but what about your average everyday craving. What to do? Well, there is a brilliant, yet simple shortcut to enjoy all the goodness of apple pie without all the hassle. Apple pie crumble – quick and painless with an awesome pay off.

I’ve been making this for a while, but most recently the man and I, M ( I think its finally time I give him at least an initial :) had them for  dessert on V-day. So I have apple on the brain, and I think its only right that I share it with my readers. Oh and did I mention its gluten free, which in my mind makes it guilt free – but I know thats not actually true. Any how lets get to it, so you can soon find yourself fork deep in unapologetic deliciousness.   

Ingredients

• 5 small apples (I like Gala)
• 1 stick of butter – around room temperature
• 1.5 Cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats
• 1/2 Cup Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup packed brown Sugar
• 1tbs Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and liberally grease a small baking dish (about 8 x 10).
2. Peal and core apples and place them in the bottom of your baking dish. Sprinkle apples with tbs of granulated sugar.
3. In a medium sized bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. Slice stick of butter into 1/2 inch cubes. Using your hands work the butter into the crumble mixture made in the previous step. Mixture should appear coarse.
5. Pour crumble mixture, evenly, on top of apples, and bake in oven for 35-45 minutes, or until apples are soft.

Ok, so I’ve never really been a drink aficionado. I’m more of a throw some pineapple juice in with – fill in the blank – kind of girl. So, needless to say, I’ve never really had a favorite drink, until recently. Sometime last year, I had a gin and tonic for the first time and loved it. So if you ask me now what my favorite drink is, that would be it.

Now in general, I’m way more into sweets than I am into drinks, which is why I hadn’t thought about posting a drink recipe until now. But I thought, why not. So I came up with a simple twist on a classic cocktail. Lets get to it.

Ingredients

• 2 oz part  Gin (my fav is Bombay Sapphire)
• 4 oz Tonic Water
• 2 oz  100% pomegranate juice
• juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1 tbs simple syrup

Directions

1. Combine gin, tonic water, pomegranate limeade, and juice from half of a lime into a glass.
2. Garnish with a wedge of lime
3. Enjoy

Ok, I think I must be on a muffin kick. It’s kind of a testament to my personality, once I find something I like I tend to wear it out. But what is life really without a healthy amount of indulgence. I think I might repeat that to myself anytime I eat an entire box of something in one sitting, oops, or I’ve been listening to the same song for over an hour, double oops.

So, my absolute favorite thing to have for breakfast is french toast – love it, love it, love it. I’ve been wanting to share a french toast recipe, but I decided to think about it for a bit and give it a little twist. And here is what I came up with, they are cute, delicious, not too sweet, with a subtle adult  kick. Cognac French Toast Muffins. Lets get to into it :)

Ingredients

Muffins 

• 10 cups of bread (1/2 in cubes)
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 3 tbs cognac
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 2 tbs white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Toping 

• 1 tbs unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp  ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Grease a 12 inch standard muffin pan
2. In a small bowl whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, brown and white sugars, cinnamon and cognac
3. Evenly distribute bread into muffin cups, then evenly pour mix from step 2 on top of the bread in muffin cups. You may have to push the bread down to help you evenly distribute the mix.
4. Cover the muffin pan in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hrs. Preheat your oven to 350 about 90 minutes after you have placed your muffin pan in the refrigerator.
5. For the topping, combine butter, sugar, and ground cinnamon using a food processor. A couple of pulses should do the trick
6. Evenly distribute the topping across all muffins. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Place muffins on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes.
7. Enjoy them while they’re hot!

 

Ok, it’s really no surprise that I love sweets – they are and will forever be my kryptonite. I know that’s the story for a million other people out there, so I thought I would put together a recipe to help me and all the other people out there do the whole “only in moderation” thing.

I love a good brownie, and what I love more is a good brownie whipped up in about 5 minutes with stuff you most likely already have in your pantry. So let’s get to it, so you can indulge responsibly.

Ingredients

• 2 tbs flour
• 3 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs canola oil
• 2 tbs cocoa
• 1 tbs milk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 oz dark chocolate (70%)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Finely chop dark chocolate and set aside.
2. In a small bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder.
3. Now add in canola, milk, vanilla and chocolate. Mix until fully combined
4. Spray the inside of a small ramekin with cooking spray and pour in the brownie mix.
5. Heat in a microwave for 1.5 – 2 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

 

I have never been a huge fan of chocolate, don’t get me wrong if you put it in front of me I will eat it, but I certainly don’t crave it in that stereotypical way. However, I do have a special place in my belly for white chocolate….yum! So it was only natural that when I decided to put together a hot chocolate recipe that I’d make it  with white chocolate. And since I loooove Lindor Truffles, why not use that as my source. Fair warning, if you don’t have a sweet tooth, this recipe is probably not for you. I’m hoping maybe it will convert some people though. Lets get into it.

Ingredients

•  3  White Lindor Truffles
•  1   cup of milk
• 1/2   tsp vanilla
•  Dash of salt

Directions

1. Bring milk to a simmer in a sauce pan over medium heat
2. Add in White Lindor Truffles, allow them to fully melt
3. One truffles have melted add  in vanilla and salt

Makes 1 serving

I love cookies and honestly I haven’t met one cookie that I didn’t like, except Oreos – I just don’t get it. Like most of the foods I love, my obsession for cookies is somehow tied to childhood. When I was a kid, I hung out with my mom all the time, and one of our rituals was going to the Citadel Mall in Charleston, SC every month. I grew up in a small town so going to the mall involved driving for an hour and a half. So anyway, every time we went I got a sugar cookie from the Great American Cookie Company – needless to say cookies and I go way back. So it just makes sense for me to start posting stuff about cookies – starting with a classic sugar cookie recipe.

So I forgot to mention that this past summer I went gluten free for about 3 months for a bunch of boring reasons. Since then I’ve been kind of on and off with it and I’m basically only gluten free when it’s convenient – and it’s never convenient. Since the new year I’ve sort of recommitted to – at the very least – eating less gluten. So I thought, why not make my first cookie recipe post a gluten free one. I wish I could take full credit for this recipe, but I can’t. Much of the credit belongs to the sugar cookie recipe on the back of Target brand sugar, which just happened to be delicious. Let’s get into it.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (I picked up some from Trader Joe’s)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Then combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl – set this aside for now.
2. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter together until it’s creamy. Then add the egg and vanilla, continue to mix until it’s fluffy.
3. Pour your dry ingredients into your sugar/butter mixture and mix until well combined.
4. Roll cookie dough into small balls – about 1 inch. If you want a flatter cookie you can press the balls out on your cookie sheet, but if you prefer a more mounded style cookie let the oven do the flattening.
5. Bake 8 -10 minutes, you want the edges to be golden. Cool cookies for a few minutes and enjoy!

Makes around 4 dozen cookies.

 

I’ve already professed my love for bread – I really love it. As a kid, one of the first things I learned to make on my own were semi-homemade blueberry muffins. Ever since then, I can’t find a muffin that I like more. Problem is muffins aren’t exactly the best way to use my calories, so I came up with a healthier alternative – blueberry muffin oatmeal. I’m already a big lover of oatmeal so the combination was a no brainer for me. So for all you blueberry muffin lovers out there, try this healthier alternative that still gives a little of that special something.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup  Old fashioned oatmeal
• 1/4 cup  Blueberries
• 2 tsp   Granulated White Sugar
• pinch of  Salt
• 1/8 tsp  Vanilla
• 1/2 tbs   Butter
• 1/2 cup   Almond Milk
• 1/2 cup  Water

Directions

1. Bring water, almond milk, and salt to a boil over medium heat
2. Add in blueberries, sugar, vanilla, and butter
3. Continue to cook on medium heat for 5 minutes

 

Blackberry Lemon Butter

I love bread, and what goes better with bread than butter – basically nothing. Sometimes, though, plain butter can be kind of bland. So I thought I would come up with a very simple solution to make it a bit more exciting. Check it out.

Ingredients:

• 8    tbs (1 stick) of unsalted butter
• 1     tbs of blackberry preserves
• 1/2 tsp of lemon zest

Directions:

1. Allow one stick of unsalted butter to reach room temperature – you want it to be soft, but cool to the touch
2. Using a mixer with a paddle attachment (stand or hand mixer) whip butter until it’s soft, about 30 seconds on medium speed
3. Add 1 tbs of blackberry preserves and mix until blended, but don’t over mix – you want it to have a nice marbled look.
4. Mix in 1/2 tsp of lemon zest

Spread on your favorite bread and enjoy!