Coconut Chocolate Chip Bars

My first attempt at coconut flour was a bust!  I attempted to make Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread.  I found the recipe at AVERIE COOKS.  It looked so delicious, and I wanted to make it more healthy. I replaced the flour with coconut flour (cup for cup).  The bread was soooooooo dry........

Yuck.

I am not one to waste food, but I ended up throwing this one out.  I really wanted to make coconut flour work.  I have been hearing about the benefits of coconut flour and coconut oil, so I wanted to learn how to use them.

Here is a quick run down of their benefits:

• Helps Prevent Obesity
• Improves Heart Health 
• High in Dietary Fiber 
• Low Glycemic Index (GI)
• Reduces Sweet Cravings 
• Improves Digestion and ma
• Quick Energy Boost 
• In addition, coconut contains No Trans-Fats, is Gluten-Free, Non-Toxic, Hypoallergenic, and also contains Antibacterial, Antiviral, Antifungal, and Anti-parasitic healing properties.  Coconut helps to aid and support overall Immune System functions. (source)

 So tonight, I was determined to make something with coconut flour that does not suck, I found blog that states:

"Typically with coconut flour you need to use several eggs because the coconut flour holds an insane amount of moisture. When I say several, it means 4-6 per recipe; that’s a lot of eggs and I didn’t want these bars tasting like an omelette. Instead I opted to use only two eggs plus a little coconut oil and honey (or maple syrup) to help bind the bars and keep them super moist."

Ohh!  That is why it did not work.  So tonight I created Coconut Chocolate Chips Bars 

The Best Coconut Chocolate Chip Bars

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

You'll be amazed by how delicious and easy these bars are.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/3 cup honey, agave nectar or maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs, slightly beaten

¼ cup milk (or substitute for your favorite non-dairy alternative)

1/2 cup coconut flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips (or your favorite dairy free chocolate bar chopped into chunks)

1/2 cup coconut flakes, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together coconut oil, honey, vanilla, eggs, and milk. In a separate medium bowl whisk together coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined and batter is smooth. Fold in chocolate chips, reserved a few tablespoons for sprinkling on top if desired.  Also, now is the time to fold in your coconut flakes if desired.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until edges are golden brown and knife comes out with a few crumbs attached. The batter may look like it's not all the way cooked but it will be. DO NOT OVERBAKE or it will result in dried out bars and no one likes that! I baked mine for 20 minutes and they were perfect. Cool bars for at least 10 minutes so that they settle a bit, then cut into squares.  Eat, Smile, Share.

XOXO

RileyTime

Spicy Chicken Chili... with lots of beans & corn

(source)

I have been craving chili and I wanted to make it healthier with chicken instead of the usual ground beef.  So tonight I spent about an hour (longer than I cooked) finding a recipe I liked.

I specifically wanted it to be a tomato base and not a white chili.  I also really wanted to have canned tomatoes (I love the chunks) and corn too.  So I ran across this recipe:

Quinoa Chili 

on Damn Delicious

And I had an avacado!  Doesn't the picture look awesome.

This is the recipe I made, inspired by that Damn Delicious Quinoa Chili....

Spring roll Mozzarella Sticks

I found a recipe for a "different" mozzarella stick.  I really wanted to try this recipe.

Click on photo for the original recipe.

So, when I was at my local Asian Market, Mom's House, I picked up some spring roll wrappers.

I recently bought fresh mozzarella.  I LOVE fresh mozz.  BUT, when I make these again, I will stick to the original recipe and use string cheese.

Caution: Fresh Mozz has a high water content - which causes a volcanic eruption of hot mozzarella water to come spurting out when you bite into them.  OUCH!

Also, the egg roll wrappers have a different texture that would work well with this dish, so I might try those next time too.  Either way, Jared and I really liked these.  Here is what they looked like...

Kitchen Sink Spring Rolls

Since the spring roll package came with like 50 wrappers, I have decided to make spring rolls for dinner.  I do not have a lot of meat and vegetables, so I will call these...

Kitchen Sink Spring Rolls

...because they have everything, but the kitchen sink in them.  (Side note:  I also make kitchen sink soup that is AWESOME!  Just don't ask me to repeat it)

So for this dish, I started by grilling some chicken thighs that were in my fridge.  One they were grilled almost all the way through, I diced them up into a small dice.  I diced up a left over chicken sausage from last night's dinner (Spicy Mango with Jalepeno  - Chicken Sausage... yum).  I diced up left over BBQ onions and peppers from dinner 2 nights ago (recipe here). Added all of this and shredded carrots (diced) to a saute  pan.  I cooked this over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Kitchen Sink Filling

Next I brushed a cookie sheet with vegetable oil, and preheated the oven to 425 degrees F.  You can also deep fry these, but I wanted to save the calories.  (Did you see my appetizer?!)

While working with the wrappers, make sure you have them covered with a damp cloth.  I just wet 2 paper towels, rung them out, and laid them on top.

 Add a couple scoops of filling to the wrapper...

fold the middle over the filling, then fold in the sides...

Wet the top corner with a little bit of water on your finger, and finish rolling.  Place them on the oiled baking sheet.

Brush the top of each with a little oil, and bake for 20 min.  To make them extra crispy, flip after 10 min.

Kitchen Sink Spring Rolls

Serve with your favorite utensil and dipping sauce.  Enjoy!

The morning after

Is the best part of baking muffins.  See what I mean...

Toasted with Butter

Right out of the pan

What to do with brown bananas? Buy some more...

Recently I have been staring at my last banana, which is too brown to eat, but perfect for banana bread...

I was shopping at Randall's Farm today... which I love!

I found reduced bananas.  They were $0.79 for all of these!  and look how perfect they are...

So I came home and decided to make banana bread... muffins

I don't like how the bread takes so long to make, and the pan is harder to clean.  So I went with muffin tins with cupcake foils in them.  I did spray them quickly with baking spray so they wouldn't stick.  The great think about this recipe is ONE BOWL!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Then start by adding 3 or 4 bananas to the bowl.  I like it to be really banana-y, so I added 4.

You can mash them with a fork, or just squish them with the back of your wooden spoon.  Then melt 1/3 cup of butter...

and add it to the bananas...

Next you will need to add one cup of sugar, one egg, and one teaspoon of vanilla (very easy to remember).

After those are mixed in sprinkle a pinch of salt, and one teaspoon of baking powder on top, and mix in.

Finally, add 1.5 cups of flour to the mix.  I used 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour.  I know, with all the butter and sugar, who wants to be healthy now.  But I actually like the taste of it.  How you make your's is up to you.  Now is also a good time to sprinkle in some ground flax seed if you like.

Then spoon the batter into your muffin tins.  As you can see I do it with a mini ice cream scoop.  I LOVE this scoop.  I use it for cookies, cupcakes, muffins, etc.  It helps me make them all the same size, and therefore cooked equally.  I used 2 scoops with this, and it filled them about 3/4 of the way up.  Perfect.

Now, bake for about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven (and how much you filled your muffin tins).  I checked them after 20 minutes and they were just right.

Now go make your own, because Jared and I are not sharing ;)

Creating a logo for our business...

After many many trials and tribulations with creating a logo.... It is now complete. I spent many hours researching ideas, begging for someone to design it, playing with fonts, etc. After that, I threw caution to the wind and started creating.  And my friends, we have a logo...