I feel like a broken record. Another snow day. Another day stuck inside. Today we made the best of it and I kept my complaining to a minimum. We made Valentines, watched an episode of Sesame Street, built 100 block towers and “cooked” in Liv’s kitchen…among a lot of other things.

I like involving Liv in baking when I can, but for now that usually lasts a good 30-50 seconds. She helped me mix some ingredients and then had better things to do. This is the first snow day that I actually baked something…I don’t know what I was waiting for.

Lindsay posted this recipe for grain free chocolate coconut chia bread and it looked delicious. I went to make it and realized I had to tweak it quite a bit to fit what I had in the house and to be able to share it with Liv (because of the protein powder factor in LC’s recipe.)

I love this recipe because it has very little sugar in it. Lindsay’s has no sugar, but I decided to add 2 tbsp, which is barely anything per slice. (Makes about 15 slices, which is less than 1/2 tsp per slice from the turbinado sugar)

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Just a note: This bread isn’t overly sweet (more like mildly sweet), but with the banana and chocolate chips it doesn’t need to be. If you like your banana bread on the sweeter side, you can up the sugar to 1/4 cup. I will be enjoying this tomorrow morning with a glob of peanut butter. It goes perfectly with a cup of coffee…I had to test it out to make sure for you.

Toddler approved!

Let me know if you make this!

Good morning!

How are you?  We’re doing just fine over here…getting ready to come up on 2 months of Olivia’s life. And by getting ready, I mean slapping on that 2 month sticker and taking a slew of pictures…basically a normal day for us.

I think like everyone else, we’re soaking in the mundane right now. A day filled with nothing at home with my precious girl? I’ll take it, thank you very much.

I’m trying to get some holiday baking in. I usually have a super long list, but this year, it’s not that long. I’m only making a couple of things for now, but who knows, it may grow. It really depends on Miss Olivia. I try and cook/bake while she’s napping in the afternoon, but lately her afternoon naps have been a time for me to do work or let her nap on me.

I did want to share what I’ve made already and what I plan on making during the rest of the week.

So far I have made:

Chocolate Dipped Cookie Dough Balls

Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Coconut Snowflakes  (From Lori & Michelle on Cara’s Cravings!)

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Crisp Truffles  (I used brown rice this year = amazing)

Is there enough chocolate here yet?

I still plan on making:

Chocolate Cocoa Thumbprints

Cranberry Pistacio Biscotti

I might make:

Almond Peanut Cacao Truffles

Reindeer Bark with Goji Berries & Cacao Nibs

Yum. And a very special thank you to Lindsay for sending me her cookie list! If only I had more time…

On another note:

• Today is your last day to enter our Blissful Eats granola giveaway! 
• If you love Carla like I do and wonder how she stays so healthy and fit..then all your prayers have been answered. She finally has an E-book on how she did it! 

 

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 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (makes about 38 2 inch cookies)

Inspired by Mama Peas Dough Balls

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 3 tbsp butter at room temperature (or earth balance if keeping it vegan)
• 1 1/4 c. natural peanut butter
• 1  c. turbinado sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1  t. salt
• 2.5 c. spelt flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup almond milk (I used vanilla unsweetened)
• 1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl combine all of the dry ingredients, oats, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Then add coconut oil, peanut butter, almond milk and butter. Mix well to combine. Add in chocolate chips. Scoop onto baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

(I used a cookie scoop for these and it worked well.)  

Don’t forget about our holiday special of 15% off your holiday order of $10 or more using code HOLIDAY at checkout! and you can now order the 2 oz granola on our site! www.blissful-eats.com. We are now certified organic, GF and kosher!

And another special from Integrative Nutrition! There is a $1,500 off tuition scholarship, 12/10-12/14 I can’t think of a better gift than an IIN education, can you? Message/email me for details!

Last Friday I celebrated my 28th birthday. It was a very special one for me; my first as a mom. I can’t believe how much has changed in a year. I am so so thankful for what I have…I literally couldn’t have asked for anything else; although I certainly didn’t turn down the gifts I recieved.

I’ve been searching a lot of blogs, looking for new recipes to make. I always find amazing things on Lori & Michelle’s blog. After deciding between about 4 things I finally settled on a variation of chocolate chip cookies. I saw on their facebook page someone had made these cookies using garbanzo flour and I had some, so I wanted to give it a try.

I made some changes to the recipe to fit what I had in my pantry.

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*If you want your cookies less chewy, in a food processer, process the oats into a flour.

** I love the taste of these cookies and like the added protein from the garbanzo bean flour. You can tell they are made with this flour, so if you don’t like the taste of chickpeas/socca, then use either all oats or sub for a different flour like whole wheat.

Thanks to Lori & Michelle for this great recipe. Next up is their banana chocolate chip blondies. Yum.

Let me know, or the twins know, if you make these cookies! I think a new batch is due to be made!

Happy Tuesday!