Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This is the time of the year when I start getting summer squash weekly in my CSA share.  One fun way of enjoying some of the squash is to hide it in delicious & healthy chocolate muffins.

I use this Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffin recipe and make it with or without the nuts.  Either way the muffins are delicious and we find them plenty moist - not needing any margarine to enjoy.   Adults & kids alike enjoy them for breakfast or dessert.

My yield on this recipe is 18 muffins.

Happy Birthday!

My husband and I recently celebrated a monumental birthday.  I was excited to have an occasion to try a recipe for a healthy cake that everyone would enjoy.  I think I found one (let's just say my husband helped himself to more than a couple pieces...)

Chocolate-Orange Cake
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/12/chocolate-orange-cake.html

Here's the cake, 10 mins. out of the oven

I made the cake at night, after the kids were in bed, and let it cool overnight.

The next evening, after dinner, I made the glaze, right before serving.   The only tweak I made to the recipe was to use more orange juice when making the icing - especially the orange icing.  2 teaspoons of orange juice seems like the minimum needed.

The finished product - ready to serve!

I love that this yummy cake is less than 200 calories per serving, with just 1 gram of fat!    

It's blackberry picking time!

I took my boys blackberry picking today at a local pick-your-own farm.   We had fun picking & tasting the berries and brought home over 4lbs of berries.  Then the challenge came - what to do with all these berries?!?   I searched around until I found a recipe that called for 2lbs of fruit and adapted it for our use.   It turned out delicious!!!  I really had to hold myself back from eating 1/2 the pan!

Low-Fat Plum Cobbler
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/06/low-fat-plum-cobbler.html

I substituted the blackberries for the plums in the recipe.
I don't buy soy yogurt but do have 6oz containers of So Delicious Blueberry Greek Cultured Coconut Milk, so I substituted with that.
I substituted 1 Tbsp of Truvia Baking Blend for the stevia in the recipe.   I also sprinkled just a pinch of this over the raw berries before I spread the batter on top.

The end result was a delicious & healthy dessert.   The only downside with substituting berries for the plums is that berries release a lot of liquid while being cooked, so the baking pan had quite a bit of delicious warm berry juice in it.  Next time I may try adding a mixture of liquid & corn starch to the berries (before the batter is spread on top) to thicken that up.  Or maybe I'll just pour all that berry juice over my frozen yogurt and eat it that way!

Healthy & Tasty Shamrock Shake

It's March so that means my favorite (since childhood) item is back on the McDonalds menu - the Shamrock Shake.  Unfortunately, with ingredients like corn syrup and artificial flavors & colors... it's really not a healthy choice at all.    I've been experimenting at home with some healthy mint shake recipes and have found that they're super easy to make and quite tasty too.     The secret ingredient it make the shake beautifully green & healthy is.... spinach!     My son remarked tonight how amazed he is that I can put ingredients he doesn't like into the blender and turn it into something he really likes!

The recipe I'm recommending to you I adapted from a recipe from One Green Planet.   If you are not vegan and consume dairy - you could get a very yummy shake by substituting regular milk & vanilla greek yogurt in this recipe.

Mint Chocolate Chip Shake
Ingredients

• 1½ cups nondairy milk of choice (for nut-free, use hemp or coconut milk)
• 6oz cup of So Delicious Chocolate Greek Style Cultured Coconut Milk
• 1 medium, very ripe banana, peeled and frozen overnight
• 2 big handfuls fresh spinach leaves
• ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 to 2 pitted dates (or 1 tablespoon sweetener of choice)
• 1 heaping tablespoon cacao nibs

Instructions

1. Combine the milk, greek yogurt, banana, spinach, dates, peppermint extract, cacao nibs in a high-­speed blender and blend until smooth.
2. Serve immediately.

Pre-blending

Minutes later - ready to drink!

Chocolate Deliciousness

We all love chocolate.   I am so excited to have found some healthy vegan chocolate desserts that the entire family loves.

Two-Bite Banana Brownies
http://lowfatveganchef.com/vegan-valentines-day-dessert-two-bite-banana-brownies/
My pickiest eater will never eat a banana, but he couldn't stop popping these in his mouth - so this recipe is definitely a winner.   I'm going to need to get a few extra mini muffin pans so I can double or triple the recipe - these didn't last long in our house!  

I used White Whole Wheat flour and ground flax seed because that's what I had on hand.    I didn't need to spray my Pampered Chef mini muffin pan as it's already non-stick.


Double Chocolate Cupcakes
http://www.forksoverknives.com/double-chocolate-cupcakes/
I was happy to have a cupcake recipe that we all can enjoy.   They were enjoyed with or without the frosting.   I knew this one was a winner when my oldest son wrote "these are yummy" on the recipe!

Low Fat Apple Swirl Loaf

This vegan treat can be made wheat free by using spelt flour.   Spelt flour is expensive (over $2/lb) but it works well.   I omit the oil in this recipe and it turns out great.  

We've eaten this for a dessert or along with breakfast.
http://plantpoweredkitchen.com/recipes/recipe-low-fat-apple-swirl-loaf/

Chocolate muffins... or are they cupcakes?

Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins
http://dashingdish.com/recipe/triple-chocolate-chunk-muffins/

These muffins are so yummy that they can be served as dessert!

To make things simple, I just add the chocolate chips at once (in step #3)... I actually think they taste better this way.  

Chocolate chip cookies with beans?!?

Butter Bean Cookies
http://happyherbivore.com/recipe/butter-bean-cookies/

These cookies are very popular with everyone.  Don't worry about the beans... you don't actually see the beans in the cookies, they are pureed and used as a butter/fat substitution.

I use my Vitamix instead of a food processor when called for in the recipe and I think they turn out great.

The liquid in bean cans kind of grosses me out, so I drain and rinse my beans and then use water in the recipe when the reserved liquid is called for.

The interesting thing I've found in "healthy" low-fat baking is that when you remove traditional sources of fat (like butter and oil), the batter does not behave the same while baking... ie. the cookies don't really "grow" much while baking.  They pretty much stay in the same size & shape... so you don't need to put much space between them on the baking sheet.

Finally, I found it easier to double the recipe... gives us some leftover cookies to enjoy for the next couple of days.   I prefer to eat them heated up in the microwave for a few seconds... just so the chocolate is a little bit melty.  Yum!!