I Don’t Know How I Keep So Busy…

I don’t know how I can keep myself so busy. I work part-time, I work out full-time (usually mornings), I cook dinner most nights unless it is leftovers, I read/comment my daily blog reading, I hang out with my boyfriend, I text my friends, call my mom etc.. That doesn’t even sound like much, but I’m so BUSY! Today is my day off, I ended up doing 2 classes at the gym, 1 at 6am and another at 9am. Then I went to Earthfare for my $2 watermelon and a very slow stop at Sam’s Club to pick up goat cheese, spinach, mini bell peppers, asparagus, fish oil pills, pure vanilla extract and a light lunch at the Vita-Mix demonstration going on this week. I literally ate a free lunch which consisted of a fruit/veggie green smoothie, tortilla soup and a chocolate ice cream with avocado. Totally delicious and very healthy. I think I was there for 30 minutes? Luckily he stopped after the ice cream for a break and thank goodness because I was full!

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My birthday is a month from today and I’ll be turning 25. Oh lordie! My mom talked to me a few months ago about getting me a Vita-Mix and I couldn’t wait to tell her the deal Sam’s Club was giving. So right now she is in discussion with my father on getting me a Vita-Mix and I’m pretty sure that is my birthday present. Fingers crossed!

Oh and speaking of my mom, she is coming to town next Wednesday! I have her 5 days to myself and I can’t wait to hang out like we use to. I have a food tour planned in Athens, GA, shopping, coffee dates, healthy home cooking and happy hour!

As I type this I literally have several recipes to share. My camera is full of photos that need to be uploaded and shared with ya’ll. I just need to make time. Right after I post this I’m going to do a quick cleaning and get laundry going. I’m so glad I get to enjoy my 4th of July weekend, well I do have to work 5 hours on Saturday but it is an opening shift. No biggie!

So little ole me is very busy but not a moment goes by thinking about my blog. I love it so much and I want to do so much with it. I just need time. Why not like a 29/7 day? Is that possible? LOL

I love ya’ll and I promise a new recipe will be up soon.. but in the mean time my vacuum is calling.

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Busy Fallon!

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Protein Truffles

What is it lately with ME! My photos are off and the only thing I can blame is this apartment. There is no natural light near the kitchen or where our dining table is. If I make dinner, the photos will never be clear and a yellow tone. For instance, I made an amazing Mexican lasagna one night for dinner. It was so good but the photos were so bad that I refused to blog about it. Who else does that? Wish this place had better natural light.

Oh natural light, where art thou?

Then this recipe today was totally made up on the spot by me. I wanted to make my own nutella but healthier. I had toasted hazelnuts the other day and was inspired. I used cocoa powder, agave syrup, vanilla extract and coconut oil to loosen things up. I don’t know what happen but it turned out VERY gummy and not drippy,creamy like a peanut butter. I tried to spread it on bread for a photo, it was nearly impossible. It tasted really good though! LOL Maybe because I added a little water and ruined it! I just never saw it becoming super creamy and drippy :(.

So I was upset once again. Watched some TV shows like Cake Boss and the gypsy bride show.. I was inspired once again. Make these into truffles. I was still wanting to make them healthy and I needed to dry up the dough a little. I took vanilla protein powder and the nutella mess back into a food processor and it was finally easy for me to roll into balls. Placed them into the freezer and heated up dark chocolate with 1 tsp of coconut oil. I dipped the balls in the chocolate, let it set and I came up with Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Protein Truffles. They taste good, not too sweet and the hazelnut is very noticeable. I did nutritional stats on these babies, I rolled them into 12 balls and they came out to 165 calories each, with healthy fats, protein and dark chocolate! One truffle is the perfect bite and totally satisfying. Let me know if you try these out!

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Protein Truffles
By Fallon

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups toasted hazelnuts, skinned
1/4 cup dark chocolate powder
3 tablespoons agave (any sweetener will work)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil, melted
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (approx~30grams)

Chocolate coating
2-3 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon extra virgin coconut oil

Direction
In a food processor pulse the hazelnuts until it starts to form into a nut butter. Ass Add in the cocoa powder, agave and vanilla extract. Pulse again until combined. You may need to get a spatula to scrape the sides. Slowly add the coconut oil by the  teaspoon. Once combined add in protein powder and a dash of salt. Pulse till combined and starts to form into a ball. It is done when the mixture can stick together. If you want it sweeter, add more.

Ready for their chocolate bath, after hardening up in the freezer.

On a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper roll mixture into 12 balls. Save a little for snacking ;). Add to the freezer to harden up. In the mean time add 2-3 ounces of dark chocolate to a microwave safe bowl. Melt chocolate in 20 second intervals. Give a stir in-between. Once melted, add in 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. This will give the truffles shine and make the chocolate harden.

Remove truffles from freezer and roll into chocolate. Place back onto the parchment and let harden completely. To make this process go faster place in the freezer. Then ENJOY!

   

They melt quickly!  

Enjoy!!

Fallon

PS: Yes I did type in ass when I meant add. One of those mornings!

Venetian Rolled Pizza

If you’ve been a Fallon’s Cucina reader since I started almost 2 years ago, then you might remember the Venetian Rolled Pizza I made for a Saturday night UFC event at my best friend’s house. This is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe I found on Food Network. You could easily add any ingredients to the rolled up pizza but I love the simplicity of spinach, prosciutto and mozzarella. I was actually rummaging through my book of recipes I have and I saw this recipe. I’ve been in the mood for pizza and it is a whole lot cheaper to make it at home! You just need REALLY good pizza dough. Luckily I’ve heard Publix makes a killer Italian pizza dough, so I picked a few up while shopping the other day. Delicious, delicious, delicious. I wish they had whole wheat pizza dough but I will settle for this. I would of made my own dough but I don’t have one of those nifty counter mixers anymore!

The Venetian Rolled Pizza tastes like something you would order in a restaurant. My boyfriend really like it but wanted a red sauce to dip his slices in. Which wouldn’t be a bad idea. So here is to making an old recipe once again and probably better photos this time around too! I’m going to go ahead and type it up but you can also view it over HERE as well.

Venetian Rolled Pizza
From Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
Flour, for dusting
1 pound pizza dough
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
7 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) torn baby spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt, for seasoning

Directions
Position an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of oven and preheat to 425 degrees F.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pizza to a 12 to 14-inch diameter circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella over the dough. Arrange the prosciutto over the cheese in a single layer. Sprinkle with the spinach.

Top with the remaining cheese. Take 1 end of the circle and roll the dough up into a thin cylinder, gently folding in the ends. Brush the dough with olive oil and season with salt. Place the dough, seam side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Allow the pizza to cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the pizza into 3/4-inch pieces and served.

       

After dinner we had 2 slices left. Oops ;) I only was able to get 10 slices out of it, probably because I didn’t have a rolling pin, so I couldn’t stretch it out enough!

Enjoy,

Fallon

Superfudge Brownies

My late Aunt Sandy when she passed away had so MUCH STUFF in her 1 bedroom apartment it was mind blowing. She loved everything. She collected antiques, perfume bottles, cookie jars and much more. She loved being in the kitchen but she loved being able to eat. Food was huge for her and it was her way of socializing and meeting people. We are kind of similar in a way about food and finding passion in something we love. It is apparent I love to cook, bake and try new things in the kitchen. I don’t mind sharing either and I like to bake for other people. That is what makes me very happy is when other people can enjoy it as well.

I also LOVE cookbooks. I guess you could say I collect those too? My aunt had several cookbooks and one of them was the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and Dessert Book. The book is pretty old and has loose pages, but it is one of my favorite cookbooks. It has recipes from some of their popular ice cream flavors and recipes for their chocolate chip cookies and brownies!

I don’t know about you but I love Ben & Jerry’s. My favorite pint’s of love you can buy at the grocery store is their Karamel Sutra, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Half Baked, Phish Food, and Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch. I really want to try Milk and Cookies because I hear it is amazing! If anyone wants to send me free ice cream I’m definitely down!!! ;)

I also love Ben & Jerry’s missions to promote quality of life, use the finest quality of ingredients, practice good business and respecting the environment, and to be a sustainable company to profit both stakeholders and employees. That is amazing and you don’t find that from many companies!

I was in a brownie kind of mood and decided to make their Superfudge Brownies. It is a light and chewy fudge brownie that I love. These were one of the easiest brownies to make and nothing complicated about them at all. Only 7 ingredients that you should have in your kitchen if you love to bake. I promise you these brownies will be loved by everyone!

Superfudge Brownies
From Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream & Dessert Book

Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (I used unsalted butter)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

Direction
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and lightly flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. (I used a 9 x 9in square pan.)

Melt the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool in the pan to room temperature. If you’re in a hurry, you can quickly cool it in the refrigerator, but be sure it doesn’t get solid again.

Ice bath in the sink worked for me.

The fluffy eggs, with sugar added.

Beat the eggs and salt in a mixing bowl until very fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Fold in the cooled chocolate mixture. Add the flour and fold just until blended. (It is important to fold in the chocolate and flour gently to keep the batter as fluffy as possible.)

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. (I baked mine for exactly 28 minutes, once you smell chocolate permeating the kitchen that means they are done.) Let cool in the pan completely before cutting. Makes 9 brownies. I ended up with 12 brownies!

   

 

Fallon

5 Minute No Bake Nutty Butter Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars

First of all Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! I’m definitely missing my dad these days but I’ll be seeing him soon!

 

The title of these bars is a bit of a mouthful but they are very delicious! I found this bar recipe from healthy food blogger Anne at fANNEtastic Food. I love her blog because she incorporates healthy food and fitness. She stays true to who she is and I respect that. Her blog is very motivating and it motivated me to try her 5 Minute No Bake Peanut Butter Bars. I took her original recipe and tweaked it with ingredients I had on hand. They are a really tasty granola bar and they really do only take 5 minutes to make. The only thing I didn’t like about them is the chia seeds! I might just reduced the amount next time because they get stuck everywhere in your mouth. I had one on my break during work one day and I’m so glad I had a toothpick to pluck them out ;). I didn’t want to scare away customers!

They are a very soft granola bar as well, unless it was the nut butter I used. They fall apart easily, even if you keep them in the fridge. I’m going to add them to the freezer and she if that helps. I also added some extra salt to the mix because I was worried they would taste bland. Wrong!! Mine are a bit salty but in a good way since the dark chocolate balances it out. Dark Chocolate always makes everything taste better. Enjoy!

5 Minute No Bake Nutty Butter Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars
Adapted from fANNEtastic Food (link to original recipe)

Ingredients
1 & 3/4 cup gluten free rolled oats
1 cup crisp puffed wheat cereal (brown rice cereal works too!)
1/4 cup pepita seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/8 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup Nuttzo Peanut Free (creamy peanut butter would work best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 100 calorie dark chocolate bar (Trader Joe’s Brand) OR 1/8 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions
Add all the dry ingredients (oats to flaxseed) to a large bowl and mix them together.

In a separate (microwave safe) bowl, mix together the brown rice syrup, nut butter and vanilla extract. Microwave for 30 seconds. This will make it easier to mix and add to the dry ingredients since it’s really sticky.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix. Keep mixing until the wet binding ingredients are distributed all the way. This will take a few minutes but is well worth it. As Anne would say, put some muscle into it!

Pour the mixture into a shallow pan and flatten down. Top with chocolate and transfer to the fridge to harden up and then cut into 12 bars.

 

If you noticed I used Nuttzo Peanut Free in the bars, probably not a good idea either. There were already chia seeds in this nut butter and I added more. I don’t think the taste of this nut butter did much for the bars either. Creamy peanut butter or almond butter that has been roasted and a little salt would taste so much better!

 

Enjoy!

Fallon

Eggplant Ricotta Bake

This is a dish I’ve made many times back home with my family and a little before I started my own blog. I found the recipe for Eggplant Ricotta Bake from the Proud Italian Cook. Her food is absolutely fresh and always delicious. I love this dish she created because it is light and so easy to put together. After we enjoyed several leftover nights of eggplant parmigiana, I still had 2 massive eggplants to cook or else I’d have to throw them away. You know me, I don’t waste food at all. I whipped up this fabulous meal in no time, served with some flatbread crackers and artichoke dip from Trader Joe’s and a huge green salad with chickpeas to round out the entire meal.

 

To get this wonderful recipe please head on over to one of my favorite blogger’s the Proud Italian Cook and get her recipe for Eggplant Ricotta Bake. I of coursed used my homemade red sauce for this recipe and I encouraged you to do the same. Unless you know a store brand that taste just as good as homemade. Then go for it!

Buon Appetito!

Fallon

Another HOT and Delicious Dinner

I swear I thought I was done with baking huge dishes in my oven after having this baked pasta dish because I was practically sweating while eating dinner that night. Now that eggplants are in season I couldn’t help myself when my boyfriend mentioned that eggplant parmigiana sounded kind of good. That is of course one of his favorite meals and he actually likes my version! My sauce making skills are going pretty well too. This time around I added in some beef spare ribs with the Italian sausage. It added a nice flavor to the sauce, that was lacking in my last red sauce when I couldn’t find beef spare ribs. I let the sauce simmer for a few hours, easy as that! Might as well make plenty extras of sauce to freeze for future meals and that way you aren’t always cooking red sauce.

The ribs and sausage cooking away, making my red sauce taste delicious.

Oh yes, back to my eggplant parmigiana. I followed my favorite recipe here, with a few tweaks to the original version.

Baked Whole Wheat Eggplant Parmigiana
By Fallon

Ingredients
4-5 eggplants, sliced slightly thick (I ended up using 1 HUGE eggplant, it was HUGE.. trust me)
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
100% Whole wheat flour
Salt and pepper
Whole wheat Italian style bread crumbs (homemade works too)
Extra virgin olive oil
Red sauce (homemade is the best or use your favorite store brand)
Goat cheese (or mozzarella cheese)
Grated parmesan cheese
Fresh basil, julienned

Direction
Begin by washing your eggplant and slicing thick slices with skin on. Place in a colander and generously sprinkle salt to release the eggplant bitterness. After 30-40 minutes rinse eggplant off and lay on paper towels to dry.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil, to prevent from sticking and make extra crispy eggplant. Make your assembly line for eggplant dipping. Start with the flour seasoned with salt and pepper, whisk the eggs with salt and pepper and the bread crumbs. Take a slice of eggplant, dredge in the flour, dip into the egg and into the bread crumbs. Shake off any excess flour, egg and bread crumbs respectively and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all eggplant has been breaded. You may need to prepare an additional baking sheet. I don’t recommend smashing it altogether onto one sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly brown. Usually 15 minutes into baking I will flip them over, so both sides are nice and crispy. Remove from oven and let cool. Continue to keep the oven on to finish the dish.

 

In the mean time you should already have the red sauce warmed up and ready. Sauce up a glass casserole dish or lasagna pan to bake the eggplant parmigiana. I decided to use goat cheese over mozzarella. It was a nice change and added that creamy, pungent flavor goat cheese is known for. It felt like a summer dish with the addition of the goat cheese. Start with a layer of eggplant, top with sauce generously and sprinkle goat cheese on top. Continue until all eggplant is used up and your last layer is cheese.

My favorite brand!

Top with a handful of shredded parmesan and place into oven for at least 10-15 minutes. When the cheese is bubbling the dish is done. Remove from oven, garnish with basil and let cool before serving.

 

The blue placements just don’t work for meals with red sauce, sorry!

I cooked up some spaghetti to serve alongside. My boyfriend enjoyed Italian sausage and beef ribs with his meal as well. This was a winner once again! He doesn’t even know I used whole wheat flour and bread crumbs or that I added in some egg whites instead. I love how versatile this meal is and I didn’t feel like a slave to the kitchen. It was a quick, healthy and delicious meal for a Sunday night dinner. This was worth the extra sweat once again. ;)

Enjoy,
Fallon

PS: I also just learned how to avoid double spacing whenever I hit the enter key on Windows Live Writer. I have to hit shift and enter at the same time. DUHH FALLON!

TSRC: Strawberry Crumble Bars

This time around for The Secret Recipe Club I was assigned the lovely blog Six Kilos of Pumpkin. It is so hard not to send a message and get to know someone. Instead you have to skim their blog, read older posts and get to know them that way. One thing I did notice was anything she put in the oven was in Celsius temperature. Oh oh! I felt a challenge coming on because I knew I’d have to make several adjustments to whatever recipe I was making. Some of her wording was a little different, like mince must be ground beef. That took me a second to figure out. ;)

I was expecting to find a lot of pumpkin recipes (hence the blog name) but instead I found out she eats gluten free and she keeps her recipes simple. I’m currently trying to be a good girl and if I bake anything it has to be something healthy like granola. I found her recipe for Boysenberry Crumble Bars that was originally adapted from another site that made them 100% gluten free. I skimmed both recipes and saw some changes she had made from the original so her dad could eat them since he didn’t eat gluten free. I would of loved to add coconut to these bars but my boyfriend literally hates coconut! I ended up using fresh strawberries mixed with some peach preserves and extra virgin olive oil instead of butter.

Everything baked up really well, tasted fabulous but after 1 day they were SO MOIST they literally were crumbled up bars. I made sure to convert the oil just right to butter ratio but I’m sure I could of used a little less. I also would of baked it up in a 9 x 9 square pan, then a 9 x 13 pan because it is just too large, IMO. That might be why the bars were so crumbly. Oh well, they made a fabulous topping with plain Greek yogurt. Oh and that almond crumble topping was AMAZING! It was my snack since I had so much leftover of it. ;) Plus my boyfriend liked it and that meant these weren’t going to waste. YAY!

I’d just make the crumble again and use it as granola!

If you would like to be a member of The Secret Recipe Club please click this link here. It really is a blast and it gives you an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone.

Strawberry Crumble Bars

Adapted from Six Kilos of Pumpkin

Ingredients- Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract

--------- Fruit Filling

1 1/2 cups of strawberries, halved

3 tablespoons peach preserves (any flavor would work, not necessary though)

--------- Crumble

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2/3 cups sliced unsalted and dry toasted almonds

1/2 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract

Direction

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper. Make sure to have a little overhang which will help when removing the bars from the pan and to cut them.

Combine all ingredients from the first section except the oil. Add in the oil a little at a time to get a sandy consistency. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and pat down to make a firm base. Bake for 7 minutes or until golden brown.

In a separate bowl smash the strawberries with the peach preserves. Once the crust has cooled a bit add the fruit topping to the crust. Distribute evenly. The peach preserves made it rather runny and couldn’t be detected after it was baked up. The strawberries were definitely sweeter though!

For the crumble, combine all the ingredients into a small bowl. Add the crumble to the top of the bars evenly. Save extra to enjoy as a snack. The almonds make this crumble!

Before going into the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes, then let rest in the baking pan for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool on a cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

I haven’t really baked with extra virgin olive oil before but lately I’ve been using it a bit more since I don’t have canola oil. It distributes such a unique and flavorful taste to these bars. It isn’t overly pronounced in the bars and thanks to the dark brown sugar, they are rich and sweet. If only I had some vanilla ice cream to eat with these crumble bars…

Fallon

Baked BBQ Pork Ribs

A few weeks ago I made baked BBQ beef ribs in my oven. We thought they turned out pretty good for being baked in an oven. I shared with you the rub I made and felt like the cumin was a bit overpowering but other then that it was pretty tasty. The rub recipe made a ton so I had to store it in a glass jar for future use.

I decided to try my baked ribs again with the same rub and use pork ribs! I’m not a fan of pork chops or a pork tenderloin but being my boyfriend loves meat I have to change it up for him. I’ve tried pork ribs in restaurants before from someone else’s plate and I actually like them. I like to eat my meat off a bone covered in BBQ sauce! But chicken on a bone grosses me out.

Long story short, the pork ribs came out AMAZING and we both agreed that these tasted way better then the beef ribs. The rub with the too much cumin couldn’t be detected at all with the pork ribs. So I can now say that this rub is best on pork and baking these pork ribs in the oven produced a moist and succulent rib!

 

Click HERE for the rub recipe. That link will also explain to you how to bake your ribs in the oven! Very easy, peasy. ;)

Fallon

Oh and Happy SUNDAY! My favorite day of the week. ;)

Seedy Energy Bar with Almond Butter, Dried Fruit and Dark Chocolate Chips

This wonderful energy bar was inspired by a past granola bar I’ve made and blogged about. That was a REALLY good granola bar and somehow I haven’t made it since. I am now determined to continue making my own homemade granola bars. I love how versatile they are because I can add the ingredients I really like. Dried apricots are one of my favorite dried fruits. They aren’t super sweet and they make for a great snack. I only enjoy the organic Turkish variety because the un-organic kind doesn’t taste as good. Other ingredients like almond butter and dark chocolate are items in my daily diet. My inspiration for my seedy energy bar were adding in flavors and tastes I enjoy. This is a great pre or post-workout bar that offers protein and healthy fats to fuel your body in a healthy way. These bars are also 100% gluten free because I purchased the Bob’s Red Mill gluten free rolled oats for all my bar making. No tummy aches for me!

Seedy Energy Bar with Almond Butter, Dried Fruit and Dark Chocolate Chips

By Fallon

Ingredients

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup raw pepita seeds

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon whole golden flaxseeds

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1/3 cup Thompson seedless raisins

1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup creamy almond butter

1/4 cup stevia

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

Direction

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8- inch or 9-inch square pan with cooking spray OR line with parchment paper with a slight overhang for easy removal.

Spread oats, pepita seeds, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds and sesame seeds on a large baking sheet. Bake until the oats are lightly toasted and the nuts are fragrant, shaking the pan halfway through, about 8-9 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add raisins and apricots, toss to combine. (You could add the chocolate chips now but they will melt, I’d recommend waiting to mix them in at the very end.)

Combine almond butter, stevia, brown rice syrup, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently, until the mixture bubbles lightly, 3-4 minutes.

Immediately pour the almond butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until no dry spots remain. Quickly add and mix in the chocolate chips, if you haven’t already done so. Transfer to the prepared pan. Lightly coat your hands with cooking spray and press the mixture down firmly to make an even layer. Refrigerate until firm for 30 minutes, cut into 8 bars.

Crunchy, nutty, seedy, chewy, chocolaty and perfectly sweet. This was my first time using brown rice syrup and I love this sweetener. A little goes a long way. I tried the syrup when it was melted into the almond butter.. ummm that tasted fabulous like a healthy caramel if that is even possible!

I also added a new category on my recipe page called Healthy Snacks. I added all my healthy baked good items under the category because I’m anticipating on adding a lot more healthful items to my blog.

They hold their shape very well.

    

I’d love to know what the nutritional stats are for these bars but the website I use isn’t very good anymore. Do you know where I could calculate the stats online?

Fallon