Nutella-Yogurt Fruit Dip

In case you haven't noticed, I kind of have a thing for Nutella. But let's be honest here: it's not exactly the healthiest food in the world. However, when you combine it with protein-rich, fat-free Greek yogurt and use it as a dip for fruit, it takes away a little bit of the guilt but still tastes amazing. This dip couldn't be easier and is SO delicious. It is thick, rich, and creamy--I think it tastes kind of like Nutella cheesecake.

Use it as a dip for fruit--I love it with bananas, strawberries, oranges, and apples, and it's also good with fresh pineapple, kiwi, and probably any other fruit you can think of. We also dipped pretzels, marshmallows, and graham crackers in it. I even used some as a topping on some whole-wheat waffles with strawberries and bananas, and I think it would be amazing stuffed inside of crepes. You really can't go wrong here--anything dipped in this magical stuff is bound to be delicious!

 
Nutella-Yogurt Fruit Dip

1/2 cup Nutella
1 cup Fat-Free Plain Greek Yogurt

Mix until completely combined. (If the Nutella is extra thick I microwave it for about 10 seconds so it's easier to stir.) Serve with fresh fruit for dipping. Refrigerate any leftovers for up to one week.

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Since it's National Pancake Day, I figured that I would come back from my extra-long hiatus and actually post a recipe to celebrate today! I made these a couple days ago and could not stop eating them. I ate a couple for breakfast with maple, and then found myself snacking on them plain for the rest of the day. My almost-two-year-old daughter was giggling when I gave these to her because she was so excited (they combine her two favorite things: bananas and chocolate), and she would have eaten the rest of the batch if I had let her. They were addicting, delicious, and fairly healthy. I'll definitely be making them again soon! (And hopefully, when I do make them again, I'll get a better picture. I was trying to snap a picture on my phone while Lilia was begging to eat another one!)

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
barely adapted from She Bakes Here

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp white sugar
1 Tb. ground flax seed (optional, but it adds lots of awesome health benefits like omega 3s and fiber!)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup water
2 tbsp  oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed (I hate the texture of banana lumps in baked goods, so I use an immersion blender to totally liquefy the banana, but mashing them with a fork is fine too!)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk in wet ingredients until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle. Cook until bubbles appear and hold their shape, then flip and continue cooking another 1-2 minutes on other side. Repeat with remaining batter. Makes about 10 pancakes.

Peach Cobbler Muffins

When I was growing up, my grandpa had an orchard. I remember him growing apples, peaches, and cherries, and whenever we went to his house it seemed like there was always some kind of fruit that he had out, ready to share with us. I remember going out to the orchard during the summer and helping pick cherries, and eating them until my stomach hurt (he probably lost more money on the cherries we ate than he made from the ones that we picked and he was able to sell). I remember as summer faded away and fall approached, getting excited to see the boxes of apples and peaches and knowing that my mom would be canning them and we'd be eating them all winter long.

Although my grandpa's orchard has long since been turned into a housing development, I still find myself looking forward to the changing of the seasons and the delicious fruit that comes along with it. Luckily for me, the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree" and my dad shares his dad's love of growing fruit, and he has planted all sorts of fruit trees in his backyard. He keeps us well stocked with fresh, flavorful, homegrown fruit and we always look forward to going to his house to see what good things he has to send home with us that week.

The past couple of weeks, he's been sending us home with fresh, ripe, juicy peaches. My little 16-month old absolutely loves fresh peaches, and could easily eat at least one a day by herself, so we go through peaches fast around here. Last time he sent us some peaches, though, I was able to hide a few from my daughter and make these muffins, and I'm so glad I did! They were the perfect good-bye-to-summer and hello-to-fall food. They were moist, juicy, cinnamony. They captured the deliciousness of peach cobbler exactly, but in a portable, healthier, breakfast-approved way. The streusel is totally optional (if you want the muffins to be even healthier, feel free to omit it) but we loved it with the streusel on top. We all devoured these, and the neighbors that I shared them with also gave them rave reviews. These are definitely best the first day, so make sure you have someone to share them with, or cut the batch in half because it makes a lot. Either way, just make sure you make these while you can still get fresh, juicy peaches--you won't regret it!

Peach Cobbler Muffins
makes 24-28 muffins

wildly adapted from here

muffins:
3 cups flour (I used half whole wheat and half regular)
1 Tb. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup oil
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups peeled, pitted, and diced chopped peaches

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

In large bowl mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In separate bowl mix the oil, applesauce, eggs, and sugar. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist. Stir in milk. Fold in the peaches. Spoon into prepared cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Top each muffin with 2 - 3 tsp. streusel (recipe below) and press down lightly with fingers to adhere the streusel to the muffin batter. Bake 20-25 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back when you touch them and toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean.

Streusel topping:
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into small pieces

Combine all ingredients with fingers, fork, or pastry blender until it resembles small crumbs. Use as directed above.

BBQ pulled pork

I wish I would have taken a picture of this but I didn't think about it!! This is the best pork recipe I have ever tasted. I got the recipe from Cody's aunt and cousin on their blog tablefornineandcounting.blogspot.com

3-4 lbs boneless pork ribs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cloves garlic minced
1 lg onion sliced
1/2 cup apple juice
1 bottle (15-18 oz) BBQ sauce

Lightly grease crockpot. Wash boneless ribs trimming off any excess fat. Pat dry.
Put sliced onion on bottom of crockpot. Mix dry ingredients and garlic together and rub on ribs. place ribs in crock pot then top with apple juice. Cook on low 8-9 hours, drain, shred pork. Add BBQ sauce and cook 1 more hour.

*Here are a few tips I learned last time making this. I used 2 lbs pork ribs this last time and did not reduce the rest of the recipe except for the onion (used 1/2 onion). I used a little more apple juice and it seemed to work better. I did not open the crock pot to check it and it seemed to be more moist. The BBQ sauce I used was Sweet Baby Rays Original- that's our favorite! I used approx. 1 1/4 bottles of BBQ sauce to the 2 lbs pork this time, that seemed to make it more moist and have more flavor.

Healthy Canadian Bacon Pizza

I got this recipe from the diet "Live the Life" courtesy of Cozette and Nyra. This is definitely one of my favorite recipes and so easy so I wanted to share!
1 low cal-carb whole grain pita pocket (Kangaroo brand from WinCo is what I used)
2 TB pizza sauce
2 TB onion of choice
8 zucchini slices
3 oz cooked chicken
1 slice deli turkey
2 TB pineapple chunks (No sugar added)
2 TB mozzarella cheese (I used the part skim milk kind)

Cook in oven on pan with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes (I cooked it 20 min then watched until the edges were crispy).

Cal. 272
Car. 28
Fat 4
Pro. 32

Enjoy!! Cody even liked this one!

S'mores Bars

I know it's completely shocking to see a new post on here after four months of absolutely nothing. I'm currently 20 weeks pregnant and I've been ridiculously sick my entire pregnancy. I haven't been cooking nearly as much as I was before (what with food sounding repulsive and all) and when I do actually whip something up, it's usually a tried-and-true recipe that is already posted on here because I know I'll like it. I'm finally feeling a little more like eating and wanting to get back in the kitchen, and I've been doing a lot more cooking. I have lots of pictures and recipes to post, and hopefully I'll find some time (and energy!) to get some of them on here.

I thought this would be a great welcome-back-to-blogging recipe to share with all of you. I remembered seeing these on another food blog a year or so ago and when I was thinking of a treat to make for our 4th of July barbecue, I knew that these would be the perfect treat. They are easy to throw together (no bonfire required!) and everyone loved them (you should have seen the looks on everyone's faces--kids and adults--when I brought these in the house, we couldn't wait to finish lunch so we could dig in to these). They are definitely not healthy, but in small doses for a fun summer treat I think they're totally worth the splurge. Enjoy!

S'mores Bars
adapted from food.com

1 bag (16 ounces) mini marshmallows, divided
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips or chunks (I used chopped Hershey's bars so they'd feel like authentic s'mores)
5 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
5 cups graham-flavored cereal (like Golden Grahams)

1. Line 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper. Spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Reserve 1 1/2 cups mini-marshmallows. Combine remaining marshmallows, chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup in a large pot over low heat. Stir continuously until completely melted and combined (watch carefully as chocolate burns easily). Immediately stir in cereal. Cool slightly, then stir in 1 cup mini marshmallows.
3. Spread into prepared pan (I found it easiest to do this by scraping it out with a rubber spatula, and then pressing it into the pan with fingers sprayed with non-stick cooking spray--the cereal mixture is really sticky!) Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup marshmallows over the top of the bars.
4. Cool completely, then cut into 20-24 pieces (they are really rich so you don't want to cut them too big). Sit back, relax and enjoy the taste of summer s'mores without having to stand over a fire in the heat trying to get your marshmallow cooked to perfection!

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Corey loves meat and potatoes, but for some reason I don't make them very much. However, I started making roasted potatoes a few months ago and Corey has been in heaven. It doesn't matter what I serve them with (in fact, a couple of nights ago I just made the potatoes and veggies and he was still happy. If you know Corey, you know it's all sorts of incredible for him to enjoy a meal without meat!) I finally perfected the recipe and Corey made sure that I wrote it down so that these ("best potatoes you've ever made") make it on to our dinner table more frequently.

Herb Roasted Potatoes
Serves 3-4

2 lbs. baby red or yellow potatoes, washed and quartered
2 Tb. olive oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely minced (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. dried parsley (or 2 tsp. fresh)
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 Tb. Parmesan cheese, grated

Combine all ingredients in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and shake until well coated and combined. Spread potatoes evenly on baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until crispy, stirring halfway through. Enjoy!