Greek Frozen Yogurt Chia Truffles (Guest Post by Free Spirit Eater)

Today I have a special guest on my blog, Kym from an awesome healthy eating blog Free Spirit Eater. She and I decided to do a recipe swap of sorts by using one of our recipes as inspirations. I was inspired by her awesome rice pudding cheesecake and created a similar one but different… I decided to switch some ingredients around and played around with the prep a bit differently. I created a Rice Pudding Protein Cheesecake with Berry Chia Jam. Check out my recipe on her blog here and let me know what you think.

Anyway, I’m letting Kym take over from here. Don’t drool too much!…..

“Hello there lovers of food, seekers of the next tastiest item to devour in seconds and coo over for days. My name is Kym. I am the author of Free Spirit Eater, the blog devoted to all things food, writing, fitness and photography. Nothing is off limits and my recipes portray that.

Once upon a time I graduated from culinary school and began cooking in professional kitchens in NYC and NJ. I stepped foot into the food writing biz by starting my food blog, then branching out to reviewing restaurants, developing recipes and taking photos along the way. My love for photography has branched out from just food to events, lifestyle, fashion, fitness and boudoir to name a few.

My recipes are usually on the low calorie side, satisfying and guilt free versions of some of my favorite foods or just experiments gone right. But Kamila and I are swapping recipes and I happened to be in a bit of an indulgent mood. So when trying to recreate her Chocolate Chia Pudding with my own twist, I added a bit of some childhood favorites into my dessert. But by shaping them into bite sized truffle pieces I can practice portion control while enjoying the melt in your mouth feeling from the gooey morsels.

I had been curious about trying Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt. So I purchased a pint of their strawberry shortcake flavor, crushed up some pretzels, smoked almonds, chia seeds, semi sweet chocolate chips and a splash of coconut milk. The tartness of the Greek frozen yogurt was made even more subtle by the coconut milk, and the addition of the almonds added a pleasantly smoky surprise. The chia seeds add a tiny pop when bit into with the pretzels and chocolate chips. For the final touch I melted some chocolate and made bite sized frozen yogurt treats.

Thank you so much Kamila for allowing me to guest post and taking the time to guest post on my site as well. Enjoy!”

Coconut Brownie for One (vegan/low cal/low fat)

As a girl living on her own, without a family to feed, I’ve come to really appreciate single serve desserts. One, I don’t have to make a whole bunch of whatever it is I’m craving and then feel obligated to overeat because I don’t want it to go to waste. Two, in case the recipe doesn’t work, I don’t feel bad because I didn’t waste a whole lot of ingredients. And three, I don’t have to share 😉

I’ve come to love coconut flour for its flavor. I’ve been craving something coconut-y… but I also wanted to use some more Arctic Zero as a topping. A combination of ice cream and cake is perfect. Obviously.

You would never guess this beautiful dessert is healthy. And the whole thing (WITH the ice cream) is under 250 calories. That’s the beauty of healthy baking. And the beauty of Arctic Zero ice cream which you can try to win if you enter in my giveaway. It’s worth it.

Peaches and Cream Ice Cream

Wow, you guys really wanna win the Arctic Zero prize pack, huh? I don’t blame you – it’s a huge giveaway! I’m just as excited about it as you are! Keep the entries coming 🙂 On to the post…

I actually have never had peaches and cream, but I think it’s a thing right? There is a song but I highly doubt they were talking about food in that one 😉 haha. Anyway, I recently received a gigantic package from Arctic Zero with all of their flavored pints and it got me thinking – what are some fun ways I could eat ice cream? So I decided to experiment with this a little bit.

One of the flavors is Vanilla Maple and I thought this would go perfectly with the one peach I had left. Delicious, juicy peach. I’ve been wanting to roast a peach and see how it works out. My George Forman needed cleaning though so I opted for the pan.

I didn’t add any oil or spray to the pan, simply because I didn’t think it was needed. I wasn’t trying to fry the peaches, just warm them up a bit. I’m also not a big caramelizer just yet – only did it once in my life. You could probably actually caramelize the peaches if you add some coconut oil and maple syrup while it’s frying, perhaps. I thought the combo was already so sweet tasting though, that it really wouldn’t need any extra sugar in there.

This recipe is shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Fit & Fab Fridays

Raspberry Mint Yogurt Bites

My parents’ garden is filled with raspberries. I love how easily they want to grow. Every day there is a ton of new ones ripening and they are simply delicious! No pesticides here, oh no. Why would we want to sacrifice taste to make sure a fruit is bug-free? Who cares if there’s a bug in there or if the raspberries come out big or small? I think flavor is what really matters in a delicious fruit.

Take non-organic strawberries for example – they barely taste like anything. Regular strawberries seem to have no flavor to me, similarly to many other berries as well as cherries. But try an organic berry and your world will be blown. The flavor is so intense and complex it simply bursts in your mouth and your tastebuds dance in joy as they have never danced before! Now that’s a celebration of fresh fruit!

Combining raspberries with fresh mint leaves seemed like a great idea. Adding yogurt to the mix, similarly how I did with the chocolate-covered yogurt bites a while back was the basis for the creation. This delicious snack does a great job at cooling you down on a hot summer day all while delivering important antioxidants and protein from the yogurt.

Gotta love quick (kinda) and easy summer desserts. This is why summer is my favorite. Nothing in the world beats fresh home berries. Yum!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Pudding Filling and Chocolate Frosting (low calorie!)

Happy Father’s Day!

My dad is a huge fan of cream-based desserts. He loves all of those creamy fattening desserts such as eclairs, but is a sucker for Wuzetka, which is a Polish cake that has chocolate cake layers on top and bottom and in the middle it’s a very thick cream. He always buys that cake when they go grocery shopping in Polish deli stores. My mom hatess it. The cake is so fattening and it doesn’t really even taste all that good when it’s made in a store anyway. The way we remember it, from Poland, was much much better. Especially when it’s homemade.

Well I totally went off track. I’m not even making this cake for Father’s day. I don’t think my culinary experience is high enough to tackle this just yet. One day though, I might. A healthier version, of course. So for today, the cupcakes I made (of course it’s cupcakes, of course, haha) were inspired by Wuzetka.

It’s a deep chocolate cupcake with a homemade vanilla pudding filling and a chocolate frosting. While this dessert looks and tastes completely sinful, it really isn’t! Healthy chocolate frosting tastes just as good as the butter laden one, if not better, and it definitely makes you feel better about eating it guitlessly. The delicious creamy pudding filling is a wonderful contrast to the deep chocolatey cupcake. The outcome is simply wonderful.

Not one person could tell this cupcake had such incredible stats. A cupcake that has 4g of sugar? And only 120 calories for such an amazingly sinful-tasting treat! How’s that for “indulge without the bulge”?!

Now this is my take on a cream dessert – make cupcakes, and make them healthy 🙂

Molten Lava(-esque) Mocha Cake for One

This delicious microwave cake only looks and tastes sinful. Seriously, it tastes more than sinful. I feel like it’s a cheat day. Or worse, like I’m going off-track with my healthy eating. But thankfully, it couldn’t have been further from the truth – this delicious microwave cake is not only quick and simple, it is also probably the healthiest mug cake I’ve ever had. As far as I know anyway.

It started with a craving for chocolate… hard to figure out how to use that, it wasn’t just a simple chocolate craving. Actually, I initially wanted my chocolate chip cookie protein pancakes but I had no chocolate chips, and for some odd reason I kept thinking they required liquid egg whites which I’m currently out of. I didn’t check, they actually don’t require any egg whites because the recipe is vegan, haha. Oh well. Anyway, I really wanted that melty chocolatey feeling of a dessert… I also wanted it right NOW. I remember I made the peanut butter chocolate cake for one a while back and thought it would be a perfect thing to do it again. Except different this time. Changed enough to satisfy my cravings exactly.

While I’ve never had a real molten lava cake, I have no idea if this is what it would actually look or taste like. I only know from pictures. But either way, to ME this was a molten lava cake. I think it only has to be a cake with melty chocolate inside right? Whatever. It tasted phenomenal and it satisfied my craving. I have no idea if you would be able to take this out of the ramekin like in all those pretty pictures you see everywhere but let’s be honest – who cares about the appearance when the taste is amazing? Plus you’re clearly alone if you’re making this — this is not a very impressive recipe to make for a gathering. Hence the “for one” 😉

This tastes AH-MAY-ZING with some raspberry reduced-sugar jam on top. Oh man! Imagine this – melty chocolate and cold raspberries… Oh man, Oh man. You don’t even know what you’re in for!

Happy Mother’s Day – Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes with Red Wine Buttercream Frosting

First of all, I’d like to wish every mother out there Happy Mother’s Day! I know you put so much work and effort into raising your children and I want to say a big thank you, for putting up with us throughout the years! Also, I wish happiness to all of the women out there that want to be mothers or were going to be mothers.. sometimes things happen, but it’s the feeling! You still get to celebrate mother’s day! Thank you for being you! You are all wonderful women, inside and out! This post is dedicated to my own mother, Renata. I love her so much. I seriously don’t know what I would do without her. I can’t imagine life without her – she’s a dear friend and a wonderful mother.

So then, I wanted to make her something special. While we all try to be healthy, we take some days “off” and celebrate with non-healthy options, unfortunately. I guess it’s okay to indulge sometimes though, right? Still better than buying completely processed foods! Even if your own baked good or dessert isn’t the healthiest, at least you know exactly what goes in it – because you are the one that made it! So I got to thinking… my mother loves to drink red wine. I love to make cupcakes as a celebration (because they are just so cute and fun!) so why not combine the two? That’s exactly what I did.

I did not come up with these recipes – I didn’t even want to try to change these recipes up, I’m not experienced enough to do that just yet. So they haven’t been changed from the original. The outcome is wonderful. It is perfect for any red wine drinker!

The cake part tastes primarily of chocolate, with a nice deep flavor, but finishes with a subtle wine flavor kick. It leaves a wine taste in your mouth. Together with the red wine buttercream frosting, the wine flavors are even more pronounced and create a deliciously sinful dessert – a chocolate red wine cupcake with red wine buttercream frosting. It tastes just as elegant as it sounds.

Chocolate Chia Pudding + SweetLeaf Stevia

Today I am sharing something that tastes so indulgent but is actually really good for you. Don’t you love those treats? They are just the best. I sometimes get random night cravings – they suck. I’ll eat perfectly well all day but then as soon as night hits, I get cravings. It might be partially because I start getting bored – and food thoughts creep into my mind. So sometimes I ignore them successfully. However, sometimes they are so loud, I am unable to. I must satisfy that darn craving. Chocolate.

So why not satisfy it guit-free? Chocolate pudding. You could make the Chocolate Pudding with avocado. That one is delicious… but you don’t always have avocado on hand. So then you could make something else – chocolate chia pudding. Chia has wonderful properties which soak up the liquid they are in, making it into a gel/pudding consistency. This one was simply perfect.

Plus it was perfect for the new Chocolate SweetLeaf Stevia liquid drops I got in the mail recently. Good way to try them out, they were the perfect addition to this recipe. By the way, I was pretty excited when I got this in the mail – I got both the chocolate and root beer flavors. I’m psyched for the chocolate – it gives the perfect chocolatey flavor with sweetness of stevia. I’m totally sold on liquid stevia products by SweetLeaf – they don’t leave a weird aftertaste and taste delicious.

Chocolate PB&J Cupcakes (vegan)

My roommate is graduating and moving out! So sad 😦 Although I’ve only known her for a semester, I know I’m going to miss her so much. She was a great roommate and an awesome friend – we all hung out together all the time and had a blast.

I noticed that she is all about Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches. She eats them basically everyday. So I thought, why not make her cupcakes? I’m looking for opportunities to bake for others so I can get rid of all of the AP flour and granulated processed sugar I have. I don’t want to use it for myself since I’ve shifted toward more wholesome and cleaner foods. So this was a perfect opportunity.

The cupcakes are actually, accidentally, vegan! My first time making vegan cupcakes and they turned out much different than I expected. The texture was different from a regular cupcake but none of the flavor was sacrificed. The cupcake is a perfect combination of peanut butter and jelly flavors along with deep chocolate. The cupcake part is much more moist and soft than I expected but that makes this dessert taste even more sinful – delicious delight. Good thing I didn’t make a lot cause otherwise I would definitely have had more than one.

CONGRATULATIONS to my gorgeous roommate, Joline! She will knock em dead in DC! I know it.

Side note: Have you entered my giveaway to win a box of PROBAR Fruition Superfood Snacks?? Well do it! There’s still time! 🙂

Chocolate Almond Muffins

Hey everyone, I hope everyone spent their Earth Day well. I met up with my parents and aunt and we made a visit to the Botanical Gardens. I haven’t been there in 2 years now, I think. Unfortunately, there was some event set up going on and almost all of the areas of the gardens were closed. Such a shame. I did get to snap some pictures though, so if you’d like to see some they can be found on my photo blog. Let me know what you think.. Here’s a preview.

Anyway, I’m all out of my bran apple muffins and need a new vegan breakfast that can be quick. Today marks the end of my vegan challenge but I have decided to incorporate as much veganism into my life as possible – especially limiting dairy and eating more veggies than before. While my body didn’t respond necessairly bad or good to the challenge, I found myself being more anxious than before. I have no idea if this can be contributed to the dietary change or not. I did also notice that I would not be bloated very often which was awesome.

So here is another muffin recipe for you guys to introduce into your breakfast or as a snack. Preferably with peanut butter. Everything’s better with nut butters.. mmmm.

Chocolate. Almonds.

They are low in calories and fat. And they are vegan!

They are very fluffy. Nice light snack or breakfast. Yum.