Chocolate Raspberry Fudge

Chocolate and raspberry is a match made in heaven.

And these little fudge nibbles definitely taste like they came from heaven.  Definitely.

Why don't I just give you the recipe?  If you just make it, I bet it'll work out better then me trying to explain the delicious-ness.

So here you go:

Chocolate Raspberry Fudge 
(just a warning, this makes a small batch)

2/3 cup raspberries
3 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp shredded coconut
pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp applesauce

Blend all your ingredients together and then mix by hand if some parts are still dry.  Pour the batter-ish stuff (I'm not really sure what to call it) into a container and then stick it into the freezer until it's as hard as you want.

Trust me, this fudge is really good.  It just melts in your mouth, especially if you decide to keep it in the freezer for a while.

p.s.  You should really check out this blog.  More than half of the recipes I post on here come from it, including this one, and every recipe is secretly healthy.  What's not to love, right?

2 Brownie Recipe

I'll admit it, I love brownies.  They're are like the best food invented in the whole wide world.  Ok so maybe not, but they're still amazing.

Anyway, the one thing I don't like about brownies is the fact that you eat one, it tastes great, and then you have the whole darn pan staring at you, tempting you to pick up another.  I usually end up eating around six.

Put today I didn't want six.  So. . . I found a single serving recipe.  And may I just say, props to this recipe, because the 2 brownies I made tasted great.

Single-Serving Brownies
(makes, guess what, one serving!)

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp apple sauce
2 Tbsp milk (or another liquid like coffee or milk)

Mix everything together until it looks likes your normal brownie mix.  Pop it in the microwave for around 1 minute and you're done.  (p.s. the brownies will be ready when the top is spongy on top, but still a bit gooey)

Believe me, brownies are even better when they only take 2 minutes to make!

Citrus Tofu with Stir-Fried Veggies over Brown Rice

I recently discovered tofu.

Sure, I had heard of it before, but it was always described as some icky food that no one should never volutarily go near.  You know, like liver.

Then i took a trip to California.  I swear that place is like the home of all vegans.  Every resturant had some sort of tofu dish, and one night i went out on a limb and ordered one.  Guess what?  I really liked it.

So, i decided to make a vow to eat tofu at home too.  And this dish is part of my vow.

Citrus Flavored Tofu with Stir-Fried Vegetables and Brown Rice


For the tofu:
2 cups of firm or extra-firm tofu cubes (patted/pressed dry with paper towel)
1 1/2 Tbsp safflower oil for sauté
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup orange juice
1/8 tsp orange zest
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce


1.  Combine maple syrup, orange juice, orange zest, and soy sauce in bowl.  For extra flavor you can marinate the tofu cubes in the mixture for at least an hour – or overnight. If marinating overnight, add in another 1/4 cup orange juice.
2.  Add the oil to a sauté pan. When oil is hot, add in the tofu. Allow to sear on one side.  This should take around 2 minutes 
3.  Add in 2 tbsp of the liquid mixture. Reduce heat if the pan is over-sizzling. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip tofu as needed. Add the remaining liquid and sauté with movement to reduce the liquid. Continue sautéing until the tofu is crispy golden. 
4.  Add salt or pepper to taste if you want.


For the veggies:

I was pressed for time and cheated by just using a frozen stir-fried vegetable mix.  It tasted fine to me, but if you would rather make the veggies yourself just use whatever you like best.  The options are endless!

For the rice:

Cook it normally.  Nothing special here.

So there you go.  My vow to eat tofu at home as been fullfilled.  But that doesn't mean i'll stop making it!  It was delicious.  I encourage anyone (even someone who isn't so sure about tofu) to make it.

Baked Oatmeal Blueberry Muffin

Blueberry muffins are my one of my favorite foods.  Actually, anything containing blueberry's is on my favorite's list.

This blueberry muffin baked oatmeal recipe definitely deserves a spot on my list.  One near the top.

It's gooey, warm, and you can eat it for breakfast.  The perfect combination in my opinion.

So who wants to make one?

Here's what you do:

Baked Oatmeal Blueberry Muffin
(makes one serving)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oats
Sweetener ( I left this out, but some people might want it.  Taste as you go to get the right amount)
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup water (or milk)
A pinch of salt
Blueberries (add as many as you think you'll like, i added a ton, but not everyone likes that)
A pinch cinnamon
Optional: A dash of vanilla extract

Cooking Steps:
Preheat oven to 385 degrees.  Combine dry ingredients, then add wet ones.  Pour into one cup ramekin and bake for around 20 minutes or until the cake is as browned and firm as you like.

Then you eat it.

See how gooey and delicious it looks?

And here's a serving suggestion to all you banana lovers out there.  Try melting some banana and spreading it on top.  Healthy and good.

So, what are you waiting for?  Bake yourself an oatmeal blueberry muffin.  And don't share it with anyone!

p.s.  This recipe was partly inspired by this one

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

mmmmmmm, veggies

They just sounded so good tonight.

And so did mozzarella cheese.  But then again mozzarella cheese always tastes good to me (except after a really rich dessert, then it just sounds icky)

Anyway, i decided to throw together the classic tomato and mozzarella salad.  However, i had no basil so i just threw in cucumber and baby arugula instead, and ta-da a yummy salad to have for dinner (and for lunch, which is what happened because it tasted so good)

Side Note: This isn't exactly a recipe.  It's more of a concept which can inspire all sorts of different dishes.  

Here are the basics:

Mozzaella, Tomato, Arugula, and Cucumber Salad 
(Just add in however much you want of the following)

• Mozzarella Cheese Log
• Tomato (whatever type you feel like)
• Persian Cucumber
• Baby Arugula

Slice the mozzarella into cubes.  Slice tomato and cucumber.  Put mozzarella, tomato, cucumber, and arugula into a bowl.  Add some sort of dressing if you want (i didn't use any) and then eat your salad up!

Nutella Pudding, with a secret ingredient

pud·ding
 [pood-ing]

noun

1.

a thick, soft dessert, typically containing flour or some otherthickener, milk, eggs, a flavoring, and sweetener: tapiocapudding.

2.

a similar dish unsweetened and served with or as a maindish: corn pudding.

3.

British . the dessert course of a meal.

This dessert is all the good stuff from the definition above.  Except it has no flour or eggs, and no added sugar other than Nutella.

Trust me, it's good!

In all honesty, this was sort of a failed recipe.  I was attempting to make cookie dough dip, but the texture just wasn't right.  It sure did taste yummy though, so i dubbed it a pudding and decided to post it right away.  And as promised, Here you go:

Nutella Pudding
(makes one relatively big serving)

3/4 cup chickpeas
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Nutella
Start with 1 tablespoon milk and then add more as needed
About 1/3 of a banana
2 or 3 tablespoons oats

Here's what you do:

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until you get it as smooth as you want.  Then just pour it out into your desired dish.  Above the pudding is pictured with whipped cream and chocolate chips, but you can add whatever you want.  However, i really recommend the whipped cream because it tasted really good mixed with the banana and chocolate.

And in case you're wondering this recipe is very loosely inspired by this one

Here's another idea that i'm currently trying out:  Stick your pudding into the freezer and turn it into an ice cream-ish dessert.  I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds promising, huh? :)

Who wants an Apple Chocolate Muffin for breakfast?

I've had oatmeal as breakfast for the past week.

Don't get me wrong, i love oatmeal, but I'm all oatmeal-ed out. . . at least for a bit.  Instead, i wanted a muffin for breakfast; a muffin with chocolate (because along with too much oatmeal, i have been very deprived of chocolate chips).

So, because i didn't have any chocolate chip muffin recipes in mind, i went to my trusted friend Google.  The results provided many yummy looking muffins, but i ran into a problem: each recipe yielded too many chocolate muffins (yes i did just say too many chocolate muffins, i'm surprised too).  I modified my search and came up with a Chocolate Covered Katie recipe:  a single serving Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Muffin.

I just modified the recipe to not include pumpkin, and voilà, just what i wanted.

Apple Chocolate Single Serving Muffins

inspired by CCK Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Muffin

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 tablespoon apple sauce

a big pinch cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/16 teaspoon salt

A little over 1/4 table spoon chocolate chips

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix ingredients and pour into oiled muffin pan (just remember no metal in the microwave).  Microwave for around 90 seconds, frost (if desired), and then eat greedily.

There you go, the perfect little breakfast for a day when you need to quickly get out the door.

Enjoy it!

Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf

I wanted to try quinoa tonight.  But, i had a little problem.

I was feeling like a meat eater. And most quinoa recipes are salads.  Now that just wouldn't do.

So . . . i had to look extra hard for something that involved some sort of meat to fit my craving.  And finally, VICTORY!

Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf
(makes 5 servings)

1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, diced
1 (20 ounce) package ground turkey (there's that meat i wanted)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon water

Here are the steps:

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and all the water has been absorbed.  This should take 15-20 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat an oven to 350 F.
3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook until the onion becomes clear and translucent.  Remove from heat to let cool.
4. Stir the turkey, cooked quinoa, onions, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well combined. The mixture will be very moist. Shape into a loaf on a foil lined baking sheet. 
5. Combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl. Rub the paste over the top of the meatloaf.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, around 50 minutes. Let the meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

The original recipe comes from http://allrecipes.com.  You can find it right here if you like.  it's basically the same thing with just a few small differences from the recipe above.

 It tasted realllllllly good.

Pumpkin Squares

For some reason I woke up today wanting pumpkin.

And, i found a ton hidden in a cabinet so i went ahead and found a recipe to make up some pumpkin bars.   However, i decided i liked squares more, and thus the pumpkin square was born.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Squares
(makes 15-20 small squares)

Inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg (or a vegan substitute like a flax or chia egg)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Combine and mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Combine and mix wet ingredients in a different bowl, then combine and mix again.  Spread into oiled loaf pan and bake for around 15 minutes.

They look good, huh?

Go ahead, make them.

Who says you can't have pumpkin in April?