Baked Bananas + Chocolate

 

I have got a serious treat for you on this bright and sunny Monday.

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I received We Heart Vegan - an all-vegan blog, as you may have guessed :) Though I do not usually use 'vegan' ingredients such as Earth Balance, I love any chance to make a naturally vegan recipe and thus when I stumbled across Brittany & Julie's recipe for baked bananas with chocolate I simultaneously swooned and got hungry. I loved reading Brittany's journey to veganism and her honest approach to making this life change. 

Meanwhile...I made these bananas and they were oh.so.good. I mean, what's not to like? Bananas, chocolate, nuts...yum. I made a few slight changes based on what I had on hand and the result was a decadent yet not unhealthy delicious dessert. I think this will be my new go-to dessert!

Baked Bananas + Chocolate

*Adapted from We Heart Vegan

3 ripe bananas

1-2 Tbsp flour*

3 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp peanut butter chips

2 Tbsp chopped walnuts, or nuts of your choice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel the bananas. Cut them in half and then slice each piece length-wise. Dredge the bananas in flour and lay on the baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, flip, and bake for 8 minutes more.

In two separate bowls, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. I just did this in the microwave in 30 second increments. Drizzle the melted chips over a stack of bananas. Top with chopped nuts. Devour immediately.

*Note about flour: The original recipe called for coconut flour, but I used all-purpose since that's what I had. The flour did not all melt away, though I shook it off. I would recommend going with the coconut flour, or just omitting altogether. End note. ;)

Have a great Monday everyone!

What's your favorite {semi} healthy dessert?

Do you make vegan dishes?

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

It's time for March's Secret Recipe Club reveal!

I took the month of February off from the SRC, thinking that it might be too much of a commitment with a brand new baby. I was right.

Even March has been a tough one with a little six week old cutie pie to take care of. When I was assigned Debbi Does Dinner Healthy as my blog of the month, I was immediately smitten with so many of her recipes...they look incredible! Of course, I went straight to the desserts to find what to make for this month.

Since I have incredibly limited time on my hands these days coupled with my new Weight Watchers commitment, I knew that her cinnamon sugar pretzels would be absolutely perfect for this month's recipe.

At just 4 Points+ per serving, these pretzels are really a treat. I used salted pretzels as the base, which made for a super delicious sweet + salty combination. And since they came together in a snap, this has become one of my favorite recipes to date.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

*Adapted from Debbi Does Dinner Healthy

1 16oz. bag pretzel twists

1/3 C granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp olive oil

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, toss the pretzels and the oil together. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar together. Pour over the pretzels and combine to coat.

Spread pretzels on baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes. 

Let cool and enjoy!

Thanks Debbi for this awesome recipe! I've been devouring pretzels like it's my job!

Individual Egg Cups

It's Monday...and not only am I over 38 weeks pregnant, but I'm just about 9 days away from my due date.

Can you believe it? It's the final stretch now and the countdown has really begun over here. Shaun and I spent another weekend soaking up some free time with casual errand running and a viewing of Argo on Saturday afternoon. (Side note: O.m.g. it was amazing. Go see it if you haven't!)

I'm just happy that I've made it this far, especially with enough time to participate in this month's Secret Recipe Club. We took a break last month due to the holidays and I really missed it. In case you aren't familiar with it, the each month the Secret Recipe Club assigns each blogger with another blog in the group. The blogger then chooses a recipe from the assigned blog to make and talk about on the big reveal day. 

I love seeing what other bloggers come up with. It's a great way to find new blogs, make new friends and try out some fun recipes! When I was assigned Cook with Sara and stumbled upon her individual egg bakes, I knew this was the perfect recipe, especially since Shaun loves eggs in the morning. Since I'm not exactly doing a ton of cooking on a daily basis, I thought these would be a great egg dish for him to just reheat in the morning before work.

And the verdict?

Cheers all around!

Even I, of the non-egg eating variety these days, really loved these little egg cups. They stayed nice and moist and reheated in the microwave beautifully. I plan to make another huge batch of these this week so that we can freeze some and have them once the baby arrives.

Individual Egg Cups

*Adapted from Cook with Sara

4-6 slices deli ham, torn into small pieces

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp seasoning salt (or more to taste)

1/2 tsp dried parsley

black pepper

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until fluffy. Add in the seasoning salt, parsley and pepper and whisk to combine.

Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Divide the shredded ham between the cups. Pour the egg mixture over the ham, dividing between all cups. Top with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until puffed up and the tops are cooked through.

Yields 12 egg cups; 2-3 egg cups per person

Thanks to Sara for this awesome recipe! And if you haven't already, be sure to head over to her blog and do some reading...she's got some truly A-mazing recipes on there!