Secret Recipe Club: Chocolate Quesadillas + a Giveaway

I'm so excited today for a number of reasons.
First, we had such a lovely weekend. We celebrated both Shaun's mom and my mom's birthdays on Friday and Saturday. There was so much food, so much cake and just a really nice time. Yesterday, we did a little urban hiking through Jersey City and spotted the first signs of spring. I think I'm ready for the week!

Secondly, I'm thrilled today to host a sweet giveaway from SlimKicker!

They are generously offering a free slow cooker to one lucky winner.

SlimKicker turns your diet/fitness goals into a level-up game.  When you join, you get points as you count calories, track your fitness, and participate in challenges. To enter to win, see the end of this post!

And thirdly…today is Secret Recipe Club reveal day! I was very excited to receive The Freshman Cook as the blog from which to pick a recipe this month. I really enjoyed searching through Teri's blog for something to strike my fancy. Fortunately, many of her recipes looked fantastic and it was tough to pick just one :) When I came across her chocolate quesadillas, I knew it was meant to be.

This is the perfect recipe for me since it was easy to make into one serving, since someone whom I live with doesn't eat sweets. And that's why desserts for one rule the world!

This quesadilla came together in about 5 minutes and was ooey, gooey and delicious. So rich and sweet and I really enjoyed it. Oh and my version is about 8 Points+ per serving. Don't mind if I do. Especially since this little bit of yumminess is incredibly filling.

Chocolate Quesadilla for One
*Adapted from The Freshman Cook
Serves 1, 8 WW Points+
1 6" whole wheat tortilla
1 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp milk chocolate chips
20 mini marshmallows
cooking spray

Spread the peanut butter all over one side of the tortilla. Place the chocolate chips and marshmallows on one half of the tortilla and press them down into the peanut butter.

Fold the tortilla in half. Spray a skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the tortilla and brown on both sides.

Smoosh it down a little so that it gets all sticky and ooey gooey inside. Once the inside is melted, remove from pan, place on cutting board and cut in half. Enjoy immediately, preferably with a glass of milk.

Oh and the original recipe included bananas. I left them out because I've been feeling slightly banana'd out lately, but any additional fruit would also be delicious. Or some shredded coconut. Yum.

Yum. Thanks Teri for this awesome recipe!!

Now...to enter the giveaway!

To win the slow cooker from SlimKicker, please leave a comment telling me how you keep yourself motivated to stay fit and I'll choose a winner on Thursday. I stay motivated by thinking about myself in a bathing suit…that pretty much does it!

For extra entries:

1. Head over to SlimKicker, join a challenge on the site, and leave a comment telling me which one you joined

2. Like The Avid Appetite on Facebook and leave another comment telling me so

3. Follow @theavidappetite on Twitter and leave another comment telling me so

I'll announce the winner on Thursday! Good luck!

Questions of the Day:

How was your weekend?

What is your favorite dessert for one?

A few things you should know...

It's What About Me Wednesday! So I'm rounding up a few random things about me that hopefully you will find interesting :) If not, just tell me to go back to the food already. Hope you enjoy!

1) I’m not a huge candy eater. Though I adore desserts and have to have something sweet after dinner almost every night, candy just doesn’t do it for me. The only candy that will do it every time for me is Reese’s peanut butter cups! Give me those or give me nothing. Our trick or treaters don't stand a chance of getting any of those at our house this year.

2) I used to have an almost crippling fear of flying. My youngest sister Christine can tell you all about it since she’s endured way to many clammy hand holds on flights to Aruba than one child should ever have to endure. Luckily the key to this first statement is used to. I have done so much flying for work and vacation over the last 2 years that I’ve had no choice but to woman up and accept flying...and dare I say even semi-enjoying it? I realized that if I wanted to be a world traveler and successful business woman with a carefree ‘tude, the fear of flying just had to go.

3) I have to - HAVE TO - make the bed every day. I cannot get into an unmade bed. I simply cannot. I will even make the bed right before I get into it if I have to. The rest of my home could be a total disaster, but as long as my bed is made I’m a happy lady. Even Shaun has gotten into making the bed if only so I don’t freak out am happy. As every man knows happy wife = happy life.

4) I love paper. It’s true. Shaun says I should have worked at Dunder-Mifflin. I would have settled for the now defunct Kate’s Paperie. All of that clean, delicious stationary brimming with possibilities. And don't even get me started on journals. I love.

5) I wear contact lenses during the day and change into eyeglasses almost as soon as I get home from work every day. I know that I should bite the bullet and get Lasik, but it weirds me out. Plus I got new glasses and they are super cute. I’m fairly certain there are no blog pics of me with glasses. Maybe I need to get on that one...

6) I just painted my nails in Deborah Lippman Dark Side of the Moon. I love this color so much and I adore this brand of nail polish. It goes on so smooth and beautifully!

7) I'm leaving for Albuquerque tonight! I'm still not totally packed and have to head off to work for a half day. I have a totally delicious, easy and healthy recipe coming at you tomorrow and perhaps a few updates from my trip (that is, if this rainy weather goes away before our flight this evening! Ahh!). If you missed my ABQ moodboard, be sure to check it out on The Peach & The Pit! I love everything on it!

That's it for me today! Hope you enjoyed this installment of What About Me Wednesday and if you have any questions you simply need to have answered, shoot them my way for next week's post!

Questions of the Day:

Do you have a fear of flying?

Tell me something about you!

psst...Christine is blogging about her groovy college digs over on The Peach & The Pit! Hope you'll check it out!

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Marshmallow Oat Bars

Hi, Monday. It's been a long time since I last saw you. I think I'm ready for you today. A little.

Hi friends! I have to tell you something. I've been holding out on you on a few things. First, Shaun was away all last week. He was in Sweden for work for 7 days. I hated it. I was solo for the entire week. I may have gotten to watch many, many Friends reruns and I may have gotten to eat pumpkin pancakes for dinner (twice). But I missed this guy! It's so nice to have him back home with me :)

 

I also teased you on Friday with tales of chocolate marshmallow oat bars. I hope you're not mad at me.

I made these for my bro-in-law's birthday last weekend. I created them on a whim. I wanted to make something delicious and decadent and a little over the top. Those always make the best desserts, don't they? I was also in the midst of saying goodbye to Cat, and thus rummaging through my cabinets trying to keep oh-so-busy while she left us trying to devise something with what I had on hand. Oats? Good. Marshmallow? Good. Chocolate? Goooooood.

These bars literally came together in minutes. I imperfectly threw them together, tossed them in the oven and they were ooey gooey in no time. I let them cool about 85% of the way, and then cut them up, wrapped 'em and took these little bars of heaven to Steve's birthday celebration. I liked them. A lot.

Chocolate Marshmallow Oat Bars
*bar base adapted from Betty Crocker Cooky Book's Date Bars
3/4 C shortening, such as Crisco
1 C brown sugar
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C old fashioned oats
1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips
2 C mini marshmallows
3/4 C sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 13x9" pan with foil (one strip lengthwise, one strip widthwise), letting the foil hang over the edges. Grease well. Mix the shortening and sugar together in a bowl. I used my stand mixer, but a hand mixer (or even by hand) would work too.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Beat into the shortening & sugar mixture. Stir in the oats. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the greased pan.

Melt the chocolate (I do it via microwave) and carefully spread over the oat dough. Top with marshmallows and pour sweetened condensed milk over it. Top with remaining oat dough.

Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool and set. To cut up, remove from pan by using the foil as handles. Peel away. Cut off all the edges and then cut into bars. Devour discarded edges immediately. Subsequently devour bars.

 

Don't mind if I do.

I think you could come up with lots of ways to enjoy these bars! Different chocolates, candies and flavors could easily be in the center of these bars! I love them!

Questions of the Day:

What other fun combinations would you put into these oat bars?

What do you do/eat on a solo weekday night?

psst...I'm blogging about learning to sew over on The Peach & The Pit today...I'm all domesticated and stuff now :)