Chocolate Banana Muffins

Chocolate for breakfast?  Yes, but don’t panic because these muffins are low in fat and calories!   Finally, a tasty muffin that I can eat and not feel guilty about it. These muffins are the perfect combination of banana bread and chocolate decadence.     🙂 Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe (Makes 12 standard size muffins) Ingredients: 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup low fat buttermilk 1 large egg 1/3 cup honey 2 tablespoons oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 and 1/2 cups mashed …

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Black Bean & Chicken Chilaquiles

Some of the best conversations with my husband have happened at Mexican restaurants.  We love Mexican food but it’s usually a treat because many of the dishes are not diet friendly.  Like almost everyone else, we too are on a constant quest to lose weight.  Since I splurge my calories at dessert time, it’s important to eat healthy dinners.  Here enters this “healthified” black bean and chicken chilaquiles dish! The original chilaquiles dish uses full-fat cheeses and fried tortilla strips.  While that sounds absolutely fantastic, my waistline would not be happy with me.  This dish is light and tasty and any fan of the …

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Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

I was organizing the food in my kitchen cabinets and I found that I had some macadamia nuts.  Hmmm, I wondered how could I use these up?  I instantly thought of Pepperidge Farm’s Sausalito Milk Chocolate Macadamia cookies and that inspired me to make these delicious chocolate macadamia nut cookies.   I should have been thinking of a healthy way to use them since I’ve been on a health kick lately but dessert wins again.    🙂 Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies Recipe (Makes 24 cookies) Note on the preparation time: The dough is chilled for 2 hours. Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter (equivalent to 1 …

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Homemade Granola

Granola is awesome.  Yup, that’s a fact.     😉   Let’s see.  It’s tasty and it can be eaten in a variety of ways to suit your mood. I used to eat store-bought granola all the time until I started reading labels.  Many of the ones in the store are full of sugar, fat, and processed ingredients.  What?!  I was shocked.  A food that is typically sold as “healthy” isn’t always so.  That taught me it is important to read food labels.  Most store-bought granola isn’t doing me any favors on my weight loss journey, so I stopped eating …

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Strawberry Muffins With Crumb Topping

I think I’m obsessed with muffins.  Wait, let me re-phrase that…I AM obsessed with muffins!  I have been eating them for breakfast every day lately.  It’s not the worst thing in the world to eat for breakfast, right?     😉 My husband tells me that I’m basically eating a cupcake without frosting.  Oooh, frosting on muffins.  He may be on to something.  Can I consider this a low calorie cupcake then since there is no frosting ?     😉 I don’t have a favorite one yet but these strawberry muffins come pretty close.   Maybe I should re-name these the “Incredible Strawberry Muffins.”  That’s …

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