No Bake Nutella Oatmeal Cookies

No bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies have always been a favorite of mine. Especially with all of their gooey, chocolatey, peanut buttery goodness! While I love them when they are chilled in cookie form, my favorite way of eating them is with a spoon when they are warm and gooey! So good! And incorporating Nutella was certainly something I was excited about trying!

This recipe is incredibly easy, and I feel like good pass as a pretty healthy treat!

Makes 1 batch, whatever that means to you. It depends on how much you eat with a spoon. Or maybe that's just me... :)

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/4 cup peanut butter or other nut butter of choice

3/4 cup Nutella

2 cups oats

Melt butter in a saucepan on low to medium heat. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and milk. Stir in the peanut butter and Nutella, and add the oats last after the peanut butter and Nutella have melted. Once everything is evenly mixed, form into balls and put them on waxed paper to refrigerate. Or, embrace their gooey deliciousness, it's up to you!

Have a delightful Friday/weekend! You deserve it!

One Crust Blueberry Pie

One of the things I love most about summer is fresh fruit! It seems like so many wonderful things are in season and so delicious! Blueberries, peaches, watermelon, and cherries are all some of my summer favorites! And when we purchased lots of blueberries from Trader Joe's, I jumped at the opportunity to make a pie! However, I wanted to make a pie that was very wholesome, delicious, and even healthy! And it was all of those things! It is a little different from your typical blueberry pie, since there is only one crust, which is composed of whole wheat flour and canola oil instead of white flour and butter. Also, the filling is essentially just blueberries, along with a little flour, sugar, and cinnamon. And it was soooo good!! And easier than I expected too, so that was a nice surprise! It took less than 15 minutes to prepare.  I guess the saying "easy as pie" rings true! :)

Makes 1 pie (8 inch)
Ingredients:

for the crust:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt if you're into that (I'm not haha)
2-3 tablespoons cold water

for the filling:
3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

To make the crust, mix the flour, canola oil, and water together until all of the flour is moist. Add more oil if it seems dry. Then, mold the dough into the pan you will use to bake it in the shape/thickness that you want it. You could get fancy if you want, but I kept it basic.

To make the filling, mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon, and then add the blueberries. After everything is mixed together, pour the filling into your prepared pie crust. Put a little butter or margarine on various locations on the top and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the crust browns and the juices start bubbling.

And enjoy! :)

Whole Wheat Crepes

After my host mom in Granada made me such delicious crepes, as soon as I returned to the US I knew I wanted to make some too! This recipe is definitely very easy, delicious, and healthy.  Well, depends on how much Nutella you use. :) Win win win!

This recipe made 8 crepes.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• Nutella! (or whatever you wish to fill your crepes with)
• strawberries and bananas
• chocolate for drizzling

To begin, mix together the eggs, butter, milk, water, vanilla, sugar, and flour. Heat up some butter or oil on a pan on medium heat. Pour between 1/8 and 1/4 of a cup of batter into the center of the pan and pick up the pan and turn it to make a very thin layer that covers the bottom of the pan. Cook both sides until lightly browned.

Spread with Nutella and put the strawberries and banana down the center of the crepe. Fold edges over, and drizzle chocolate over the top.

Bon appétit! 

Key Lime Pie

It is clear that the weather this past year has been unseasonably warm.  Throughout the winter, I kept telling myself that the worst was coming, and that I should brace myself and keep my winter clothing ready just in case.  However, now that it is almost April, I feel as though it is safe to say this mysterious cold front we had been anticipating is not going to come.  And, to embrace the delightful-summer-like Spring weather, why not make a Key Lime Pie?

Makes 1 pie

Delicious Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (and nearly fat free!)

Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite foods, especially during the winter!  The past few days my family and I enjoyed these amazing cinnamon rolls as part of our movie nights and they went over very well!  Also, it works great to double the dough recipe and put it in the fridge for another day!  While traditional cinnamon rolls are very high in fat and low in nutrients, a few tweaks in the recipe omitted nearly all of the fat, and almost all of the ingredients have nutritional value of some sort!  The all-star ingredients in the recipe are pumpkin puree and applesauce, which replace butter or oil completely and leave the cinnamon rolls super moist!  Also, the rolls are made with whole wheat flour for added fiber.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I can't believe the month of October is nearly over!  That being said, I knew I needed to post a pumpkin recipe, and these pumpkin cupcakes are delicious!  These cupcakes have very little fat due to the pumpkin and applesauce, and you can't tell that whole wheat flour was used!

Chocolate Almond Oat Snack Balls!

I am sure everyone can relate to the times when you are extremely hungry and craving something sweet instantly. Being a college student, this is a great recipe I created for these "must eat right now" moments!

Chocolate Almond Oat Snack Balls