butterscotch banana bread bites

I usually make muffins or quick bread with my extra bananas but decided to give these bites a try. These will make your house smell like delicious banana bread, have the gooey texture of a soft baked cookie, and are so sweet and delicious you wouldn't even know there isn't added sugar (only that in the butterscotch chips)! My roommate didn't believe me when I told him they weren't "real cookies." Without eggs, added sugar or oil these bites are guilt free and satisfy that sweet craving. They were gone in two days because I couldn't stay away!! I had them for dessert, breakfast, and a snack before my run! I get nervous trying new pre-run foods but these were great.

Makes ~12 bites

What you need:

2 very ripe bananas

1 C oats

1/4 C butterscotch chips

1/3 C shredded unsweetened coconut

1/3 C chopped walnuts

1 tsp ground cinnamon

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a bowl, mash the bananas and combine all other ingredients. 

3. Shape the mixture into round bites and place on a cookie sheet. The recipe should make about 12 bites. I sprayed my cookie sheet with Pam to make sure they didn't stick.

4. Bake for 15 minutes and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:
1 Serving = 1 Bite
Calories 106
Fat 6g
Carbohydrates 13g
Protein 2g
Sugar 6g
Sodium 6mg

If you want to warm them the next day, pop them in the microwave for 12 seconds, perfect!

Baked Cinnamon Pears [with vanilla greek yogurt]

With it being so cold lately, I have been craving a warm sweet treat. Sooo I tried my hand at some baked pears and LOVED THEM. It's healthier than a regular desert and is super easy to make. With some Greek yogurt on top, it's the perfect winter dessert.

Here's what you need:
4 pears
Vanilla Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBSP melted butter

Here's what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Skin, half, and core the pears.
3. In a bowl combine the butter, cinnamon, and vanilla and brush the pears with the mixture on each side.
4. Bake for 30 minutes on each side on a buttered 9 x 13 baking sheet, basting with the pan juices every 15 minutes.

5. Once the pears are done top with a spoonful of Vanilla Greek yogurt and enjoy!!

Banana Dark Chocolate Muffins

Things have changed a lot for me lately. I am no longer living at home with my parents... but instead have moved to Birmingham, am attending Samford University for graduate school (I am getting my Masters in Public Health and doing a Dietetic Internship), and am living with 3 boys. It's weird, I know.

One thing I have learned about living with boys is that they often buy food they have no real intention of eating. Example A: one of my roommates purchased 6 bananas. Bananas go bad quickly. He did not eat a single banana. What happened? I made 3 batches of banana bread and muffins. I think now they're buying bananas just because they know I won't let them go to waste. BUT they were delicious so here I am to share the recipe!!

Here's what you need:
1 stick (8 TBSP) butter
2 very ripe bananas
2 eggs
1.5 C flour
1 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
0.5-1 C dark chocolate chips (I just eye-balled it because I love chocolate and oftentimes go overboard)

Here's what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugar.
3. Beat the eggs and combine with the butter/sugar mix.
4. Mash the bananas and add to the mixture.
5. Mix in flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and baking soda.
6. Pour into muffin pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

I also made this into bread. I combined the ingredients exactly the same but baked the bread for about 45-60 minutes. Just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't burn!

Pumpkin Ginger Bread

I found this festive recipe on Pinterest (of course). I was craving something sweet for breakfast and this was the perfect thing. It made my apartment smell amazing and the bread went great with a hot cup of coffee this morning!

Here's what you need:

1-1/2 C sugar

1/2 C vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/3 C water

1/2 15 oz can pumpkin puree

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

Here's what you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. I used a smaller pan and had to make a few muffins with the excess batter. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs. Beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and clove.

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend until all the ingredients are mixed. 

4. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

My roommate even described this as the best thing I've ever made!

Original Recipe

Peanut Butter and Butterscotch Balls

I like keeping a batch of these treats in the fridge as much as possible. They're perfect before a morning run or on the way to class. They stay good for about a week, taste delicious, and you won't regret grabbing a second one. 

Here's what you need:

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 1/4 C oatmeal

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C peanut butter

1/3 C light maple syrup

1/4 C no-sugar-added applesauce

1 TBSP vanilla extract

1/4 C butterscotch chips

Here's what you do:

1. Combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, and salt. 

2. Mix the peanut butter, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla extract until well combined.

3. Combine the two mixtures and the butterscotch. 

4. Scoop into balls. Refrigerate or freeze. Enjoy!

Original Recipe

Nutella Rice Krispie Treats

BEWARE: these are particularly addicting. One of my favorite new things lately, Nutella Rice Krispie treats. I made these for a few friends and we could not eat enough (we didn't even have left overs for the next day).

As if I didn't put Nutella on enough things...

Here's what you need:
6 C Rice Krispies
3 TBSP butter
1 bag marshmallows
3/4 C Nutella

Here's what you do:
1. Melt the butter and marshmallows in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir/melt in the Nutella.
3. Add the Rice Krispies and stir until completely combined (you may have to use your hands).
4. Let cool. The Nutella will make it even more sticky than regular Rice Krispie Treats so it will definitely need this cooling time.
5. Enjoy!

Confession: I made this exact recipe two days in a row. I'm tempted to try with half peanut butter and half Nutella, yum!

[Greek] Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt

As the weather is getting warmer, I am craving ice cream more and more. I am trying SO hard to resist, but sometimes you just have to have something cold and sweet. I stumbled upon this recipe and it looked simple, quick, and looked to me like a healthy alternative to my cravings! It took less than 15 minutes and I already had all the ingredients needed. It was fate.

Here's what you need:
1/2 C unsalted butter [softened]
1/2 C packed dark brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C dark chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
1 C Greek vanilla yogurt (I used Chobani)

Here's what you do:
1. Mix the butter and sugars until soft and fluffy.

2. Add in the vanilla extract.
3. Mix the baking soda, salt, and flour in a separate/smaller bowl. Pour in the chocolate chips.

4. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter/sugar mixture. Mix in the yogurt.

5. Pour into a separate container and freeze overnight.

Makes about 2 cups! Enjoy!!

Original recipe: http://recipesweet.net/chocolate-chunk-cookie-dough-frozen-yogurt/

Oreo Truffles

Here's a simple yummy truffle recipe! It is definitely not the healthiest thing ever made, but it is sure to be great at a party. It only has 3 ingredients and takes barely any time at all.

Here's what you need:
1 package of Oreos
1 small container of cream cheese
1 package of semi-sweet baking chocolate squares

Here's what you do:
1. Mash up the Oreos (minus 6-7 Oreos to prevent the truffle from being to dry) until fine.

2. Mix in the entire container 8 oz container of cream cheese.

3. Roll into small balls and chill until firm.

4. Roll in melted chocolate and chill again.

5. Enjoy!

Note: the extra Oreos can be used as garnish to make these truffles a little more fancy!

Very Berry Pudding

Last Thanksgiving my Aunt Barbara and I came up with this pudding concoction and it was a big hit at our family dinner! We wanted a lighter alternative to the pies and cakes we were having, so this is what we came up with. It's simple, easy to make your own, and totally delicious.

Here's what you need:
3 boxes of Vanilla Jello powder boxes
2 containers of Cool-Whip
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup raspberries
Large serving bowl (I used two smaller ones)

Here's what you do:
1. Prepare the Jello according to the box. Make sure to be thawing the Cool-Whip.
2. Once the Jello has been chilled you can begin layering the pudding. First make a small layer of vanilla pudding. Then sprinkle the berries evenly across the layer.

3. Carefully spread the Cool-Whip across the berries.

4. Make another layer of Jello, except this time put a layer of Cool-Whip next and finish off with a layer of berries.

Originally, my Aunt and I only included the strawberries but I think the blackberries and raspberries were a nice touch. Blueberries also would've been tasty! I tried to arrange the berries nicely so it looked pretty! My teachers would be so proud :)

Make it healthier: opt for sugar free or low fat Jello and Cool-Whip! It'll taste nearly identical to the regular kind.

Healthy Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cutie Cookies

My dear pal Alana is famous for her healthy cookies. She makes different kinds all the time and they are amazing!! I always beg her to bring me some because I eat a handful and don't feel bad about it. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but they're just too delicious! Her latest concoction are these cutie cookies. Made with apple sauce and molasses instead of sugar, and whole wheat and oat meal flour instead of all-purpose, these cuties are an indulgence that won't make you feel guilty!

Here's what you need:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat meal flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter

Here's what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
3. Cook for 7 minutes or until they look golden brown.
4. These cookies have M&Ms baked on top but anything would taste delicious on these!

Dark Chocolate & Marshmallow Crescents

Yes, another crescent recipe, I just can't get enough of them!!! I've made meals, desserts, and snacks from these things. Seriously, it is the easiest thing and never fails to satisfy my cravings!

For my latest crescent creation I combined dark chocolate chips and marshmallows with the crescent dough. I placed the chocolate chips and a few mini marshmallows onto one end of the dough and rolled it up like a typical crescent. With the oven set to 375 degrees fahrenheit, I baked the rolls for around 10-12 minutes. SO yummy!!!

I ate these for both dessert and breakfast!! Do you have any creative crescent roll recipes?

Nutella Cookies

My sister must have read my mind yesterday because, as I was starting to make my nutella pillows, she texted me about her Nutella cookies. They looked amazing!! Ek was very proud and wanted me to share her fantastic cookies with everyone else! She was a smarty and realized the Nutella had enough sugar so she didn't need to add the sugar that the original recipe recommended.

Here's what you need:
1 cup Nutella
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg

Here's what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Mix all ingredients together and form mixture into balls.

2. Place onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes.

3. Let cool and enjoy!

Too bad I'm not at home or we would have a kitchen full of Nutella goodies!!

... my love for Nutella is getting a little out of hand.

Cinnamon Dusted Nutella Pillows

I discovered this recipe this morning and whipped these together tonight. My love for Nutella has definitely been shining through lately. I've written about so many recipes with Nutella that it probably looks like the only I eat!! These delicious rolls can be for both breakfast and dessert. I made only 8, but made certain there were some left for the morning. They were super easy to make and only require 3 ingredients!

Here's what you need:

Pillsbury reduced-fat crescent rolls

Nutella

Cinnamon sugar

Here's what you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Unroll the crescent dough and spoon 1 tablespoon of Nutella onto the dough.

2. Roll the dough up, making sure all edges are closed. Cover rolls in cinnamon sugar.

3. Place onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes.

 Nutrition facts:
190 calories
9.5 g fat

Peanut Butter and Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies [Sugar-Free & Egg-Free]

Rainy days make for a perfect afternoon of baking! I found this recipe a few weeks ago and decided today was the day to try it out. When I see recipes for sweets that are a little healthier, I'm always anxious to give them a try! Being such a sucker for sweets, making cookies healthier validates eating a dozen (or two).

Here's what you need:
3 large bananas
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats (to make the recipe gluten-free, opt for gluten-free oats)
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2-1 cup dark chocolate chips

Here's what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine mashed bananas, peanut butter, olive oil, and vanilla is a large bowl.

2. Mix dry ingredients in another bowl.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.

The original recipe called for all-natural creamy peanut butter, but I used crunchy and it turned out fine! The cookies were really good and tasted almost like huge granola bites. They weren't as sweet as cookies, but that means I didn't feel guilty eating them either! All-in-all the cookies were a perfect addition to my rainy day and I will definitely be making them again!