I Am...

...a lover of food. I enjoy looking at pictures of it, reading about it, and thumbing through recipes, but most of all, I love eating it. I enjoy savory, sweet & salty, and chocolate-y. 

That being said, a healthy mindset is not always easy to maintain. Especially since one of the things that I love to do most is bake. I really enjoy cooking dinners and lunches, but I LOVE baking. 

The minute I get home, I want to bake. If something is bothering me, I want to bake. It's not like I even do it so I can reap the rewards of a delicious homemade chocolate chip cookie, I just enjoy the process of baking and seeing others be delighted with the results.

While I am on this journey of creating a healthier lifestyle for myself, with everything in moderation, I am not giving up my love for baking, I am simply altering the ingredients. Finding substitutions for cravings.

Today I am going to share two recipes, one that I made, and one that is on my to-do list for this week's healthy sweet treat.

The first: 

Genius Blondies from Chocolate Covered Katie

(makes 15-20 squares)

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed) (250g)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• heaping 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar*
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup ground flax (20g) 
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (or other fat source) (see nutrition-info link below, for lower-cal options)
• optional: 1/3 cup chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients (except chips) until very smooth. Mix in chips, and scoop into a greased (or tinfoil-lined) 8×8 pan. Bake for 38-40 minutes. You want the blondies to look a little undercooked when you take them out, because they’ll firm up as they cool, and you don’t want them to get hard. (Note: you can probably sub any white bean for the chickpeas)

~

So, I made these. I don't think I'll be making them again. They were good for what they were, however I'm not so sure that I am ready to cross over into the ULTRA healthy realm of going vegan for certain things. On occasion I might, when I really need that sweet fix, but these did not satisfy me the way I was hoping. I somewhat had to force them down. Jaymes really liked them, which was surprising to me, so I might try them again. I also used ground flax meal instead of simply ground flax, but didn't see too much of a difference. It probably just added more carbs.

The next recipe I am very excited to try. I'll just post a picture of it for today and post details after I make them. 

Date, Cashew & Apricot "Brownie Bites"

Until next time...

~ Allyson