Healthy Chocolate and Peanut Butter Smoothies

 "A cheerful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22

It's no secret that I have a pretty big sweet tooth (blame my Papa, he is worse than I am!), and so when I'm trying to be healthy and lose weight, my Achilles heel is my cravings for something sweet. Fortunately, there's this thing called smoothies. Personally, I don't care if mine is icy or not, but I know a lot of people do, so there's plenty of frozen fruit and ice cubes in the world to achieve that frosty mug you desire.

Here are two completely different chocolate and peanut butter kinds of recipes for your sweet tooth, and since I'm counting WW points, I'll share those too:

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie
1 Banana, frozen, sliced (0pts)
1 cup of Chocolate Almond Milk (3pts)
1 tbsp of Better’n Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter (1pt)
3 Ice cubes*
_____
Total pts: 4
*Depending on how frozen your banana is, you may or may not need the ice cubes.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter covered Strawberry Smoothie
1/2 cup of frozen strawberries (1 pts)
1 cup of Trader Joe's unsweetened Almond milk (2pts)
1 tbsp of PB2 w/ Chocolate (1 pt)
1 tbsp of Hersey's unsweetened cocoa (0 pts)
1 pack of Equal
_____
Total pts:4

The first recipe is an older one. It takes a little prep, considering how most people don't just have bananas in the fridge. But on that particular day, I did. It was delicious, and satisfied my craving for something with chocolate.

The strawberry one is the one I made today. It was really good, and helped me make a little snack that would tide me over until lunchtime. I will say, though, that these are not husband approved. He's not a fan of smoothies or health food in general and so I tend to leave him out of it if I make one. His motto is if it tastes too healthy, it's going to make him sick. (Sure it is!) Fortunately, I just made enough for one today. :)

Thanks for tuning in, I'm off to have lunch and do some housework! I've got a bet with myself on how much I can get done today, so wish me luck.

Blessings to all of you on this very important Tuesday!

Love,
Casey

Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies

Okay, if you're a fan of Pinterest (like me) I'm sure you've seen recipes for these yummy cookies floating around on the boards. I witnessed these for the first time at a bridal shower I was helping to throw and was hooked. They're delicious, and you can tweak this recipe to your liking or to fit what is available in your kitchen. For my part, I had to do just that. Here is the original recipe. I had everything I needed, minus the creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks. What I did have plenty of was chocolate chips and peppermint extract, so I decided to see what happened if I just upped the chocolate chips and peppermint. I was pretty pleased with my results. Here's what I did:

Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies

Ingredients
1 bag of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1 egg
1 stick of unsalted butter (softened)
1 tsp of peppermint extract
6 drops of green food coloring
1 12oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips

This recipe is so simple, you'll be surprised how quickly you're done. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and combine all of your ingredients minus the chocolate chips. Be careful with the food coloring, a few drops is going to give you a light green, more is going to make these great for St Patrick's Day, if you catch my drift. Now the original recipe says to stir together the ingredients, but you've got a stick of softened butter to mix in a thick batter that has no liquid save for the one egg you've added, so I recommend using a mixer. I did. Make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated; your batter will be thick and sticky - like cookie dough (obviously). When you're satisfied with the batter, pour in the bag of chocolate chips and gently mix them with the mixer into the cookie dough. Use a tablespoon to transfer them, two inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I used parchment paper to avoid making extra dishes. This step depends on how thick you want and how many cookies you need. I made mine a little bigger because I'm lazy and didn't feel like making several batches or pans, so I only had twenty cookies, but you can make as many as three dozen with this mix. Bake for 8-11 minutes, allow to cool and set and then transfer to a container, plate, or your mouth. I chose the latter. :)

These came out very moist and soft, which is my favorite kind of cookie. I was really happy with them. The extra peppermint extract smelled strong as I poured it into the batter, but once cooked, it made the perfect mint cookies. This was definitely an effective substitute for mint chips. My girlfriend also used Andes Mint chips in hers and they turned out delicious too. They probably took me a total of 20 minutes to make with minimal clean up or hassle. These will definitely get made again. I think they'll be great for Christmastime and St Patty's Day, too!

Go whip yourself up some right now and thank me later!

Love,
Casey

Coca-cola Cake

Now for some baking! This is such a yummy and rich cake that is really easy to make. I like it as something really quick to throw together for get-togethers or just as something easy and to have as a dessert at home. The trick is, of course, that you have to like chocolate and Coke. Fortunately, I'm a big fan of both. Here's how I make mine:

Coca-Cola Cake 

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 sticks of unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 cups of mini marshmallows
1 cup of Coca-cola
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt

Glaze 
4 cups of confectioner's sugar (powdered)
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla 
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of Coca-cola

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9 inch cake pan (Sheet cake pan). In a pot, combine butter, Coca-cola, and cocoa and bring to a boil, stirring off and on to avoid clumps or settling at the bottom. Meanwhile, you'll want to combine your flour, white and brown sugar, and salt in a big bowl (Everything is going to eventually get stirred into this bowl so make sure you have picked one that can securely hold all of these ingredients). When your cocoa/cola (see what I did there?) mixture is boiling, remove from heat and pour into flour bowl, stirring it good. In a measuring cup, combine baking soda and buttermilk and stir well. This will get foamy and rise, so go ahead and pour it into your big bowl along with the eggs and vanilla. Whisk together and stir in marshmallows.

Transfer your mixture into your sheet cake pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes (or until fork/toothpick comes out clean). Let your cake cool for about 15-20 minutes before you begin with the glaze. Glaze will be runny enough without the added heat to keep it from thickening!

Take your pot that you used to make your first cocoa/cola mixture and start again, bringing butter, cocoa, and Coca-cola again to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and powdered sugar. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time while continuously stirring to avoid clumping. Pour this mixture right on top of the cake as a nice glaze. Allow about 15 minutes to set (if you can wait that long). :)

*This cake is also great with a few pecans (about a cup) in the glaze, if you like, or served warm with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream, which is my husband's favorite way to eat it.