Flourless Brownie Muffins

 I used to dislike chocolate very much. Sweets in general were not the way to my heart... until that fateful day when i got pregnant - i haven't been able to put them down since and that was 4 years ago!! So, frankly - i will not have chocolate of any kind in my house with the exception of my beloved chocolate Shakeology due to my lack of self control.

Awhile ago, i was perusing the Beachbody blog and was searching through sweet recipes to cure me. These CHOCOLATE MUFFINS caught my eye. Upon reading the ingredients, i realized i had all but one ingredient on hand - you guessed it - the chocolate. I had to go to the store and buy the dark chocolate chips. You don't even wanna know what happened next - BUT - i have to confess, every night i would go in the bag of chocolate chips and eat a handful of them. It's ridiculous, i know. Over time, the entire bag was gone and i still hadn't made any muffins. So - back to the store and this time - i used self control, made the muffins and haven't touched the chips since. (insert round of applause here). These dark chocolate muffins are delicious and surprisingly healthy.  XO

FLOURLESS BROWNIE MUFFINS

Total Time: 22 min.
Prep Time: 20 min.
Cooking Time: 12 min.
Yield:12 servings, 1 cupcake each
Ingredients:
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed
3 large eggs
½ cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Prepare 12 muffin cups by lining with muffin papers or coating with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
3. Place chickpeas, eggs, maple syrup, cocoa powder, baking soda, coconut oil, and extract in blender or food processor; cover. Blend until smooth.
4. Divide batter among 12 prepared muffin cups.
5. Top each muffin with about four chocolate chips; push into batter.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely and enjoy!

Going GREEN

GREEN SMOOTHIES have been the rage for awhile now and we decided to jump on the bandwagon of goodness. I'm a HUGE fan of smoothies; fruity, delicious ones:) And so I was a little hesitant to try my first green smoothie BUT I needed more nutrients in my life and thought a good green smoothie would help with my lack of cooking many vegetables. One of the MANY benefits to making a smoothie is that you can add anything you'd like to it! Here's one of my simple recipes that taste great!

Handful of Kale
Handful of Spinach
1/2 Banana
1 CUP Blueberries
2 TBS Maple Syrup or Honey (to sweeten it up)
Splash of liquid for blending - this can be: Milk, Coconut Milk, Almond Milk

*Makes 4 popsicle molds, may need to double depending on how much you'd like to make

YOU can tweak this however you'd like. Don't like an ingredient? Change it out for something you do like. Don't drink milk? Try yogurt or even coconut water. Add anything to this recipe that you think would taste good and/or benefit YOU! There are endless possibilities!

I made the above recipe and froze them into popsicle molds. My son LOVES popsicles. Making them has been more beneficial than buying ones with junk in them! After playing outside in Florida's hot sun, these are the perfect way to cool down.

 

Hopefully, your kids will be saying "mama more"

Banana with 1/2 Blueberry Muffins

I have tried making a lot of "healthy" muffin recipes and they're usually bland. I end up throwing them away after 2 bites. My son (who eats anything) wouldn't even eat them. Thankfully, my search ended after last nights batch. I took Martha Stewarts recipe for "Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins" and adapted it just a little bit to make it my own. I took out the word "healthy" (BUT, they are still healthy) and I added 1/2 in front of the blueberry because my son, who I previously said eats anything actually doesn't and he prefers raw blueberries:)

Banana with 1/2 Blueberry Muffins

1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ (I didn't have any so I made it without this)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup low-fat milk (can use any milk you'd like)
1/2 tsp honey
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries - It's one cup if you put blueberries in all of the batter.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. (This batch actually made more so I put extra batter in a mini-muffin tin)
2. Whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each egg. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork; stir in milk, vanilla, and honey.
4. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mix and banana mix to the butter mixture; starting and ending with the flour.
5. If you want to do half with blueberries and half without, pour half of the batter into the paper liners before you fold in the blueberries to the rest of the batter.
6. Cook 20-30 minutes.

YUM!