Deceptively Delicious Chocolate Pudding-with Avocado

Prep: 5 min.

Total: 9 min.

Serves: 8-10

* 1/2 cup trans fat free soft tub margarine spread

*1 cup avocado puree

*1 cup confectioners sugar

*1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* 1/4 cup of cornstarch

In a medium saucepan, melt margarine over low heat. Stir in the avocado puree, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Cook, mash well with a silicone spatula to smooth out any lumps of avocado, until the mixture thickens, 3-4 minutes. Off the heat, gradually stir in the cornstarch. Serve warm.

Healthy Breakfast...COOKIES!

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup (1 small jar) strained carrot baby food
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
1/3 cup craisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces, lightly toasted in a dry skillet for 2 minutes, until fragrant and chopped
Directions
Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Combine butter, oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, scraping down sides if necessary, until sugars have dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, carrot puree and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, craisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using between 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

It's Raspberry Season

I love love raspberries. They may be my very favorite berry of all. I am leaving for Virginia tonight, so I wanted to use my raspberries up in some muffins, and I found yummy recipe online from Real Simple.

Serves 12 Hands-On Time: 15m Total Time: 45m
Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
* 3/4 cup whole milk
* 1 large egg
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (I always dump in more vanilla)
* 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat it with cooking spray, vegetable oil, or butter.
2. In a medium bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and combine. In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla. Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined; the batter will be lumpy. Toss the berries with the remaining flour in a bowl. Gently fold the berry mixture into the batter.
3. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining sugar. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Lemon Sugar Christmas Cookies

I love these cookies so much more than your average sugar cookie. Here is the basic recipe. (Note: I thought there was a mistake when I didn't see eggs or baking soda... but they don't have either.. I guess you can't go wrong with 2 1/2 sticks of butter :).
-4 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp allspice
-1/4 tsp ginger

- 2 1/2 sticks butter softened
-6 oz cream cheese softened
-1 cup sugar
-1 tbsp lemon peel zest
-4 tbsp juice of lemon.

Mix dry ingredients and butter mixture separately. Slowly add dry to butter mixture. Chill dough for 2 hours before rolling. Cook for 8-10 minutes on 350. They taste better when they are soft.. so I lean towards the 8 minutes as long as the bottoms are a little brown. These are awesome with cream cheese frosting. I just googled cream cheese frosting and used the first recipe from allrecipes (I halved the recipe and had plenty). The only thing that I altered from the cream cheese frosting recipe, is that I added a little bit of fresh lemon juice.

A Taste of Thailand: Chicken Coconut Curry Soup

I love Thai food. Ironically, most of the food was too spicy for me when I went to Thailand (like the mildest curry made my nose run), but I love the flavors. I was shocked that Sofia loved this soup so much. She asked for seconds. The only thing that I modified was that I cut the noodles in half and cooked rice to pour the soup over to make it more mild for kiddos. I also didn't add Coriander or Chilies ( I was worried it would be too spicy and hot). This will be made again for sure!!!

Yield

7 servings (serving size: 2 cups soup and 1 lime wedge)
Ingredients

* 4 cups water
* 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
* 1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
* 1 (5 3/4-ounce) package pad thai noodles (wide rice stick noodles)
* 1 tablespoon canola oil
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
* 2 teaspoons red curry paste
* 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
* 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
* 2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 1 pound)
* 1/2 cup chopped green onions
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 2 tablespoons fish sauce
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* 4 small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 7 lime wedges

Preparation

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan; cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.

2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and the next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime wedges.
Nutritional Information

Calories:
315 (22% from fat)
Fat:
7.8g (sat 3.7g,mono 2.2g,poly 1.3g)
Protein:
29.3g
Carbohydrate:
30.9g
Fiber:
2.4g
Cholesterol:
62mg
Iron:
3.2mg
Sodium:
841mg
Calcium:
78mg

Apple Buttermilk Pancakes that will rock your world!!!

I modified this recipe that I found online!! I have made this recipe 3 times in the last week. It is so yummy. Serve with Pumpkin butter, fresh real maple syrup (gotta stay away from that high fructose corn syrup), or applesauce. You could also easily modify this recipe and substitute the applesauce for pumpkin puree, banana....or whatever else best fits with the season. The kids love these, and so do I!
INGREDIENTS

* 3 cups whole wheat flour
* 3 tablespoons white sugar
* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups buttermilk
* 1/2 cup milk
* 3/4 cup Applesauce
* 3 eggs
* 1/3 cup butter, melted
*1 peeled apple sliced into thin little bite sized pieces.


DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, applesauce, eggs and melted butter. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. You can flick water across the surface and if it beads up and sizzles, it's ready!
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. Do not over stir! Toss in apples and stir into mixture. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/2 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Baked Pumpkins

I just tried this recipe tonight (found off of Eric and E's blog), and it was awesome. I had a hard time knowing ahead of time how big of a pumpkin this would fill, and I ended up filling 5 total!!! (3 tiny ones pictured, and two that were about 5 pounders). Anyways, it makes a lot. Hurry and make this while you can still find pumpkins!!
Dinner in a pumpkin

1 smallish pumpkin (or several smaller ones... Sofia loved eating her own)
2 lbs. sausage or ground meat ( I used ground turkey italian sausage).
1 onion
3 cups cooked wild rice
8 oz baby bella mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz sliced water chestnuts
Good glug of worcestershire sauce

Cut off a lid on the pumpkin and clean out. Slice onions and saute until tender, add meat and worcestershire and brown. Combine meat mixture with remaining ingredients and spoon into hollowed pumpkin. Put lid on, place pumpkin on a baking sheet and cook at 350 for 1 hour or until the inside meat of the pumpkin is tender.
Enjoy eating the pumpkin meat as well.