The Best Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I've made these twice this week. They are light and fluffy, simply scrumptious! 

Chosen for us by size by my husband, I snagged the biggest one (how embarrassing!), he got the medium and our little one happily gobbled his- unaware of the size difference. I tried to glam up the picture on photobucket because the lighting was bad and I'm not a professional photographer, but trust me, these babies are beautiful IRL. :)

The Best Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

1.5 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup water
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil, vinegar and water. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and blend. Scoop into greased muffin tin and bake at 350F (180C) for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out relatively clean. Cool for as long as possible, then enjoy!

These are about 100 times more delicious than my older recipe. The egg made them too dense for my liking- maybe better for a brownie pan. Let me know if you these! :)

Mushroom Spinach Alfredo Lasagna

I love white sauce lasagna's and this one is my new favorite! Hope you like it as much as we did!


Mushroom Spinach Alfredo Lasagna
inspired by this recipe

Ingredients:


6 oz fresh spinach, chopped (or you can thaw frozen and pat dry)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
8 oz ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt (this makes it pretty flavorful, use less if desired)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 jar of Alfredo sauce, divided (Newman's Own is our favorite)
1/2 box lasagna noodles
1 egg


Directions:


Boil lasagna noodles according to package directions for al dente preparation- be sure not to overcook them. Add some vegetable oil to your boiling water to prevent sticking. 

• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Combine spinach, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, egg, salt and pepper in large bowl; set aside.

• Spread 1 cup Alfredo sauce in 9 x 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle extra cheese if desired. 

• Layer 4 lasagna noodles, then 1 cup Alfredo sauce and 1/2 the ricotta mixture; repeat. Top with remaining 4 noodles and Alfredo Sauce, then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

You can double this recipe and use a  9 x 13- inch pan as well. Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday 9/19

I have fallen off the wagon with my meal planning since we've been back from NZ, so this week is the first in a long while that I am happily participating in Menu Plan Monday and it sure feels good to be back!
 Here's our menu for the week of 9/19-9/25. My goal is to keep our grocery bill below $100 this week (I used to be so good at this- must get back on track!)- right now, my estimation is that it will cost $99.29....so we will see. Here we go!

Breakfast Options:

We always have some sort of coffee in the morning... either brewed Yukon blend or iced espresso with almond milk.

1. Bagel with peanut butter and/or fruit preserves
2. Egg in a Hole
3. Oatmeal with fruit and nuts
4. Pancakes (James' favorite)
5. Zucchini Slice

Lunch Options: 

1. Bean Burritos
2. Quesadillas (family favorite for lunch)
3. Tuna Melts
4. Baked Potatoes
5. Leftovers from Dinner

Snack Options:

1. Chips and Salsa
2. Pretzels or Triscuits and cheese
3. Smoothies

Dinner Options:

1. Lentil Shepherd's Pie
2. Miso Soup and Veggie Sushi
3. Mushroom Gougere and brown rice
4. Vegetable Tian and brown rice
5. Un-Baked Ziti and salad
6. Spinach Alfredo Lasagna and salad
7. Pizza and salad

Dessert Options:

1. Banana Nut Muffins
2. Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins (recipe coming soon)

Beverage Options:

1. Water
2. Iced Tea

Vegan Pineapple Banana Mango Smoothie

I recently discovered that using coconut milk in smoothies makes them taste more tropical and refreshing compared to using cow's milk or the thicker option- almond milk. Give it a try!

Vegan Pineapple Banana Mango Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 Banana (frozen is best, but not necessary)
1/2 cup frozen Mango
1/2 cup frozen Pineapple
1-1/2 cups milk of choice (add less or more to achieve desired consistency)

Blend it all up, pour into a glass and enjoy! We love smoothies and have been experimenting with different fruit combos. Sometimes it is inspiring to look at Smoothie King's menu for new varieties to try.

Now all you need is to use your imagination and pretend you're sitting on the coast of somewhere beautiful in a hammock!

Blue Kalamata Pizza

This is my favorite pizza recipe. It's cheesy, tart, zesty and downright delicious! It's super light compared with it's saucy counterparts and I love the thin crust with these toppings.

Blue Kalamata Pizza

Ingredients:

Mozzarella cheese, shredded (1.5-2 cups)
Blue cheese, crumbled (1/4-1/2 cup)
Kalamata olives, sliced
Mushrooms, sliced
Purple onion, sliced
Olive oil
Pizza Crust

Cover your hands in olive oil and knead your pizza dough. Spread it out on your pizza pan and add the mozzarella cheese, blue cheese crumbles, olives, mushrooms and onion. Bake at 375 F until golden brown. Does it get any easier!? Share and enjoy with a yummy white wine!

Copycat Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte

This is the recipe we use for our home-made iced vanilla latte's. We make them nearly every day during the summer months and are more than happy to say that we enjoy them nearly as much as Starbucks without handing over a $10 bill. Having our home smell like Starbucks every afternoon is a great perk!

Ingredients:

Vanilla syrup, from Starbucks or you can make your own (we alternate)
1 cup milk of choice, we like almond, coconut and dairy
Starbucks Espresso beans, ground (decaf or regular)
Ice

We love our Cafe Roma Breville espresso maker. We have used it for several years and it still keeps pulling shots for us. Though it was pricey, we've never had a problem with it and it has saved us tons of money over the years. It was the perfect housewarming gift to ourselves.

If you don't have an espresso maker and don't mind the difference in taste, you can use instant espresso with similar results. I used instant espresso in New Zealand and though it did the job, I found it to be bitter- though that could have been the one brand I found. These look pretty good! Needless to say, I was thrilled to have my espresso maker back here in the US.

Grind your espresso beans and pull your shots. We pack ours pretty firmly, and my favorite shot takes about 20-25 seconds to pull. 30 seconds and it will be bitter!


 In your favorite cup, pump three pumps (three tablespoons) of vanilla syrup. Add one cup of your milk of choice.

Add ice. Quickly dump your shot over the ice and admire.

 


Then, stir it up and enjoy thinking of yourself as a savvy barista. 

secret tip:
 when I buy our espresso and coffee beans every 2 weeks or so, I always ask for two iced Venti cups with lids and straws. I've never had to pay for them and it's never been an inconvenience. So don't be shy!

Honey Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter cookies are my favorite kind of cookie. David prefers oatmeal raisin any day, and up until I baked these, he was turned off to any kind of peanut butter cookies- the very smell of them baking was revolting to him. I always found that odd because he loves peanut butter on bread!

Needless to say, I haven't baked any in a while, but in an effort to reduce our costs on pre-packaged foods, I avoided buying Oreo's this time around the grocery store, and when James asked for a cookie, I knew we had the ingredients on hand for these. Boy are they delicious! David loves honey, so I think the smell of honey softened the smell of the peanut butter and the absence of the smell of egg helped too! He actually really liked these, as did James, and of course they both had a dark chocolate button pressed in the middle. Actually, James had many, including this one:

Honey Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup honey (use brown sugar instead if preferred)
1/2-3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or earth balance/whipped spread
1 egg or flax egg (works great!)

1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Chocolate kisses or buttons, optional

Directions:

Mix sugars, honey, peanut butter, butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in dry ingredients. Place bowl in freezer until oven is preheated to 375ºF (190ºC). Shape a tablespoon or teaspoon (size is up to you) of dough into a ball and place on the sheet. Give space to spread. Using a fork dipped in flour, make a criss cross, and add a chocolate kiss or button to the middle (Toddlers love helping at this part*). Place on an un-greased baking sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cookies will be soft until they cool, so transfer to rack (or mouth*{As well as this part}) carefully. 

Now if only the weather would cool off, I can't take many more 110ºF days! Some rain would be lovely too. Hurry up Autumn!