Mocha-Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love coffee. I love chocolate. I love baked goodies (the healthy versions, of course). This recipe consists of all of all of these things. So by now you should have realized something.  And that is.. this recipe is awesome.

Oh. I almost forgot to mention that this recipe is free from any refined sugars, grains, gluten & dairy. BOO-YAH. …Who even says boo-yah anymore? Um. Moving on to the recipe before I embarrass myself any further…

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup pureed butternut squash
• 1 cup nut-butter of choice (peanut, almond, cashew, sunbutter, etc.)
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg (whisked)
• 2 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder
• 2 tsp espresso powder
• 1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips (or dark chocolate) (**I only only put 2 chips on top of each mini muffin, as I feel like there’s already enough chocolate in the muffins!)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350f/175c
• Steam/Boil butternut squash until it’s tender (you’ll be able to easily stick a fork in it)
• Use a food processor/blender to puree the butternut OR mash by hand (I’ve done both)
• Mix all ingredients together
• Evenly distribute batter amongst 24 mini muffins
• Bake for 15-20 minutes

Substitutions:

• Sweet potato in place of butternut squash
• Crunchy or smooth nut-butters – your preference
• Substitute another sweetener for the maple syrup (agave nectar, honey, etc)

Enjoy as part of breakfast, brunch, snack, dessert.. Hey, if you want them for lunch: go for it, who am I to judge? Though, I would recommend you accompany it with something a little more nutritious as well.

My excellent assistant, stirring away.

Sniff test! Yup, that’s good and chocolate-y.

Into the muffin pan they go! Bake for 15 minutes or so and..

Voila! Look at these cuties!

And a close up just to tease you.

..What are you still doing on here? GO MAKE THESE!

Pumpkin cream bars

There’s a few foods that I realllly love, and one of them is pumpkin.  It’s one of those versatile foods that you can cook it various ways, each tasting different.  This recipe is a dessert, that is guilt-free, and could actually be served as a breakfast/brunch treat as well – being that it’s actually not THAT sweet (but totally hits the spot).

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Perfect for a snack, pre or post workout, or even breakfast (though personally I would need something a bit more filling).

Goodies required:

• 1 banana
• 5 strawberries (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp peanut butter, or nut butter
• 1 cup spinach
• Handful of ice – for thickening the smoothie
• 1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
• 1 tbsp flaxseeds (optional)

Blend all of it together! Put the liquid and softer items at the bottom so that it blends together better.

Both seeds I listed are optional, however both have great nutritional contents so, why not add them? The same goes for the spinach; trust me, the first time someone suggest to me to put spinach in a smoothie I thought, ew! Would it even blend up? That would have to taste awful.  But in reality, you can’t taste it since there’s so much fruit in it – even it does alter the color a bit.  Give it a try, what’s the worst that could happen?! 🙂