Mini Grain-Free, GF, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan Chocolate Brownie Bites

I wanted to make something…..a brownie but way healthier…and while I was at it, why not make it grain-free, sugar-free, gf, dairy-free, etc? Why not? I know, I’m a little crazy. :) I like challenges though. :) So I used this fabulous recipe as a reference and then made changes as I needed/wanted. And these beautiful brownie bites (who look just like those heavy calorie and overpriced and over refined ones from your local grocery store are the result. The one with orange on top is a  mini brownie bite with “orange sorbet” (or, better known as a “scoop” (or teaspoon) of frozen orange juice concentrate.  They came out well, my only complaint was that they took a long time to cook and weren’t really very sweet (even for me.) Next time, I’d add in stevia or more agave and reduce some of the milk. Let me know if you try this and what you do. For now, I will include the changes you can make to make it better, too. :) (And next time I feel up to a challenge will experiment some more…and update you if I get better results.) Don’t let this discourage you from trying or experimenting with these though…..they are so close to perfect…especially since they are almost free of everything. but still full of goodness and of course, chocolate. :) Are you ready for the recipe? Ok, here it goes:

Mini Grain-Free, GF, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan Chocolate Brownie Bites

Ingredients:

1/2 c. +  sweet milk or dairy free sweet milk (Reduce to 1/4 c. if wanting a sweet brownie, and add 1/4. c. agave in it’s place)

1/8 t. xanthum gum

1/4 t. baking powder (Kelly’s recipe is grain-free)

1/4 t. baking soda

3.5 T. cocoa

1/2 c. peanut butter or other nut butter or seed butter (tip: if you want a peanut buttery taste, use peanut butter or sunflower seed butter. If you want something that will blend in better and not overwhelm the chocolate flavor, try almond butter or a seed butter etc.)

1/8 t. salt

1 T. agave (or eliminate and add 1/4 t. stevia extract if you want a sweeter brownie)

Combine the above ingredients. Grease mini muffin tins and spoon dough/batter into tin. Baked it at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. Time will vary depending on your oven and if you use the alterations or not.  Also, these are best cold or right out of the the freezer (just be sure to remove them from the pan first because it’s harder to get them out frozen!) You can also try with them with a sweeter ice-cream or something...like I mentioned I used orange fruit concentrate for sorbet…but for most people, I’m guessing another flavor of fruit juice concentrate would be sweeter and more complimentary…like…raspberry. Yum! :) Anyways, whatever wahy you make it, be sure to comment here or email me and let me know how you did it…I’d sure love to know! (even if it doesn’t work out for you…let me know and we’ll see what we can do.) I decided that this recipe had too much of a potential to not post!!! Enjoy and Experiment and let me know all about it! :)

Healthy Homemade Chocolate Frosty! (Dairy-free!) + GF and sugar-free!

Does anyone else crave those old favorite sometimes? I know I do. And often, I try to recreate them. This recipe wasn’t originally intended to be a frosty but as soon as I realized what it’s potential could be (ie. a frosty) I was more than excited. :) It tastes just like a frosty, with a hint of coconut. I even received thumbs up from my non-restricted diet friends..they even had seconds. :) Trust us, it is that good. I am going to give you both dairy-free and dairy-full directions so that you can use what you have and are able to tolerate. :) It is loosely based off this recipe…..

Ari’s Homemade Chocolate Frosty (Just Like Wendy’s!)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. honey, agave, or maple syrup


• 1-1/2 c. full fat coconut milk (DF) or (if not DF cream)


• 1-1/2 c. light coconut milk (DF) or (if not DF skim-2% milk)


• 5 T. cocoa

Mix all the ingredients together in a blender. Pour into your ice-cream maker and allow to turn until “frosty”-like. Serve immediately! ;) Enjoy!

I am submitting this to this June 2010's Go Ahead Honey, Dairy-Free Delights

Sugar-Free and Egg-Free No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake!!! (and opt dairy/gf!) and a lesson in frugality…:)

They say necessity is the mother of invention, well, I say, frugality is the mother of invention in this case too! This weekend, I was headed to a baby shower and wanted to bring a yummy dessert that I could enjoy too but others wouldn’t notice was "healthier”. :) I was also searching for something I could make with what I had on hand since it is nearing the end of the semester and I am trying not to buy much more. So, as fate would have it, :) I went to a breakfast that morning for my church and afterwards, they asked if anyone wanted any leftovers. I said sure! I always do. :) This is  one of those things that I feel no shame in doing and it allows me to gain a little extra food here and there and stretch my budget and frugality better. So, question was though, what to do with it when I got home.

 

Here’s what I was given:

1. a couple of already cut-in-half bananas that needed to be eaten or used quickly
2. about 7 mini muffins (not sugar-free or GF but I planned on bringing them to the party or giving them away or something!… and they were MOSTLY lemon and 2 were chocolate chip)
3. a tub of original cream cheese
4. a tiny tub of whipped berry cream cheese (again, not sugar-free, but I would use it for the party somehow!)
5. three blueberry bagels (again, not sugar-free, but I was going to figure out a way!)

So, what would you do? I was like…ok, I could eat the bananas. I ate one or two of the halves and decided….I need to use the others…So I just left them there for a moment and started thinking. I looked at my cream cheese….oh, yum! Cream cheese….I haven’t afforded myself that in a long time…check the container…almost full (nice!) but no way I’ll use this all……what can I use it for? Cheesecake! Now it says on the container, don’t use for baking. So, why not make a no bake cheesecake? :) And that’s where it really started….

I looked around for ideas and remembered seeing a recipe for no-bake cheesecake on my gelatin box. So gaining inspiration from there I created this recipe. The cheesecake became chocolate because I also needed to use up the rest of my chocolate sauce that I had made from the other day. :) Plus, what girl doesn’t like chocolate? :) 

And then there’s the crust….what to do, what to do….hmmm…it would be kind of awkward to bring 7 little mini muffins to a party…what if I used them as crumbs instead of using cookie crumbs or graham cracker crumbs (as in the traditional crust recipes out there, both of which I didn’t have, nor have time to make). Brilliant, if I do say so myself. Wanting to reduce the fat content a smidgen,  take away at least some of the strong flavor of the lemon muffins, save money on butter, use up the bananas, I added a mashed banana to the muffin crumbs. I then added the butter. I tasted it….Hmmm…still lemony. Just not quite right yet…and though I’ve heard you can put chocolate and lemon together, it just didn’t fit, plus it seemed too wet. So, I added cocoa…and pressed it in a pie plate since I didn’t have a spring form pan. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how I roll! :)

And the results? They loved it. I got several compliments at the shower. And, yes, though I realize it wasn’t the exact ideal ingredients (the crust had sugar and white flour which I never use), it was mostly for others, still a lot healthier than your average cheesecake  and the fact that I was able to use up my free ingredients was the big deal for me.

 

Oh, and what did I do with those bagels and whipped berry cream cheese? I used a tiny gingerbread boy cookie cutter and cut about 30 or so gingerbread boys from them. I then piped the whipped berry cream cheese on them to make them look like little girls with bows and dresses. I had cute pictures…but I accidently deleted them.

 

Anyways, sorry for being so long winded, but I just had to share what I was able to do with this recipe! (which for me to make cost me almost nothing!)  But here’s the recipe….

 

 

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 1 and 1/4 c. chocolate sauce*
• 1 package unflavored gelatin (if you can’t use…try agar agar)
• Original cream cheese spread (1 lb tub) or about 14.5 oz regular block cream cheese (soften) or equivalent amount of dairy-free cream cheese
• 1 t. vanilla

Crust:

• 3-4 T. butter or 3-4 T. earth balance
• 1 banana, mashed
• ~7-8 mini muffins (GF or not) or 3-4 regular size muffins, crumbled
• 1/4 c. cocoa

 

Directions:

• Mix together crust ingredients. Press into pie plate. Use as is or cook at 300 for 20 mins if you desire a soft-half baked crust. After doing that tough, I think it would be just as great/better raw. :)
• Boil and mix with 1 package unflavored gelatin, stir well. Set aside.
• Whip cream cheese with vanilla. Slowly add in sauce. Blend. Pour into prepared crust. Let set for 3 hours or until set in the fridge.
• Top with bananas and serve as is or with extra chocolate sauce.

Peanut Butter Pudding (Naturally GF and sugar-free! Vegan! And opt. dairy-free)

This pudding is very good and very good for you too! It doesn’t contain eggs or sugar!

It comes from the same author and cookbook as my recent post about sweet milk. (Sweet and Natural Desserts without Sugar, Honey, Molasses, or Artificial Sweeteners by Janet Warrington.) I am going to quote the recipe below (from pg 131) and then add my own comments.

   

“Peanut Butter Pudding

It is good to focus on the simple things that give pleasure. My friend, Dale, expresses appreciation in the simple things. He is especially fond of perfect bananas so, while preparing this pudding, Dale come to mind not only because of the perfect banana it contains, but because it is such a simple pleasure to make and eat.

Preparation time: 10 minutes to prepare, 45 mins to chill

Yield serves 3 (1/2 cup servings) or 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients: 1 small (7 3/4 inch) perfect, ripe banana

1/2 cup Nonfat Yogurt…

1/2 c. peanut butter, natural style

1/4 tsp. vanilla

pinch salt, optional

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Process on low then high speed until smooth.

2. Pour into four individual serving dishes and refrigerate.

3. Serve Cold.”

 

This is even more delicious then it looks, I promise! You could sub any nut butter for the peanut butter or sun butter. I imagine you could sub coconut butter (mmm!) for the peanut butter too. As far as the yogurt goes, use any yogurt you desire…full/nonfat and dairy-free or not! And for your banana, use what you got. It will taste good no matter what!

I used a food processor to blend it. I also thought it was very thick and peanut buttery, so if you like it that way, great! If you prefer a little thinner (it will get thicker in the fridge over time too), add a little more yogurt. Still tastes great!

I didn’t put it in the fridge for 45 mins…more like 5…because I couldn’t wait. :) It was still good though. It gets thicker though as time goes on.

Let me know if you try it and any variations you come up with! :) Enjoy!

Homemade Reese's (Peanut Butter Cups)! :) (refined sugar-free)

Oh my peanut butter chocolaty goodness! These are like heaven and are about 1,000 times better than the original things. Plus they are about 100 times better for you too.And frugal. :) Warning: These are very rich but very addicting. :)

Not convinced these are better for you? Take a look at the store-bought varieties ingredients: Milk Chocolate (Sugar; Cocoa Butter; Chocolate; Nonfat Milk; Milk Fat; Lactose; Soy Lecithin and PGPR, Emulsifier)High Fructose Corn Syrup; Peanuts; Sugar; Dextrose; contains 2% or Less of: Coconut Oil; Dairy Butter (Milk)Nonfat Milk; Glycerin; Salt; Mono- and Diglycerides; Molasses; Natural and Artificial Flavors; Soy Lecithin; Sodium Bicarbonate; TBHQ (Preservative)Disodium Phosphate.

Can you say yuck? What are you putting in YOUR body? Try these instead……

Here’s the recipe/recipe review (modified a just a wee bit with much thanks from this source):

CHOCOLATE: (I would double this next time---as you can see in the picture the peanut butter overtakes the chocolate [even for this lover of peanut butter it was a bit much] - but if you may want it that way, go right ahead and leave it as a single recipe.)

• 1/2 c. cocoa powder
• 1/4 c. melted butter (the real thing! or earth balance, or coconut oil as suggested in the original recipe)
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/8 – 1/4 c. honey/agave

Combine all ingredients. Stir. Pour half of the chocolate into a square pan or molds (I used a mini muffin tin….but will want to use foil muffin papers next time…as they still stuck some when I tried to get them out.)  Place in the freezer.

Now, make the peanut butter:

• 3/4 c. creamy peanut butter (natural)/ or other nut butter or sunbutter
• 2 T. honey
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/4 c. c. melted butter (the real thing! or earth balance, or coconut oil as suggested in the original recipe)

Spoon peanut butter filling into each mold or over the top of the chocolate. Put back in the freezer for a few minutes.

After a few minutes, use leftover half of the chocolate and pour it over the peanut butter…..place back in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Remove from molds/ or cut into pieces and enjoy! (If you use butter vs coconut oil, it is normal for them to be soft…so be sure to only take out what you need at a time because they get soft fast…store in the freezer or fridge for best results.)

 

 

Linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, DIY Tuesday, Homemaker Monday, Mouthwatering Monday,

Chocolate Crepes with Chocolate Sauce and Strawberries

Just pretend I posted these for Valentine’s Day ok? This is what I had intended too….shhh…I’m a little behind….. :)

Whether for Valentine’s Day or for any occasion, especially those special ones….this makes a delightful breakfast or dessert.  Top with whip cream if you have it on hand and can eat it. :) Besides, this recipe is "frugallyrich" because you use what you have on hand and don't need to purchase any special ingredients...and it is healthy! as always! :)

The crepe recipe was altered from this recipe. The rich, dark chocolate syrup is my own creation.

Ingredients (crepe):

• 1 cup flour (whole wheat or GF mix)


• 2-4 tbsp  unsweetened cocoa powder (depending on how strong of a chocolate taste you desire-start with 2)


• 1 tbsp honey/sweetener


• 1 1/2 cups  milk


• 2 eggs


• 1 t. oil

Heat a pan on medium heat.   Mix wet ingredients. Then add dry ingredients. Grease pan. Pour scant 1/4 c. batter into pan and lift the pan off the burner, moving the batter around until you have a thin crepe.

Top and fill with strawberries and

Rich Dark Chocolate Syrup

• 3 T soft butter


• 1/2 c. cocoa


• 4 T. agave/honey


• 6-8 T. water (to your desired thickness.

Combine all ingredients and serve over crepes. Use leftovers for chocolate milk or ice-cream (cow, almond, soy, etc).

Mini Easy Little Cheesecakes

 

Don’t these look good? And the best part too is that they are really simple and relatively healthy to make:

• One “slice” of cheese from a box of Original, Laughing Cow, Creamy Swiss (or other flavor),3/4 oz. Soft Cheese Slices OR cream cheese cut up into wedges

 OR  for a DAIRY-FREE OPTION try Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese or Follow Your Heart Organic Vegan Cream Cheese (again, cut up into wedges etc)

• 3 chocolate chips (I used Sunspire Grain Sweetened)
• Chocolate Syrup (cocoa powder, honey, and a little water will do the trick in a pinch)
• Peanut Butter (that’s the tan stuff you see- my pb is made from a powder- it’s not as yummy but anywho…)

Arrange your slice of “cheesecake” on a plate. Top with your favorite toppings or those mentioned above. Relax and enjoy! :)

Healthy Chocolate Cookies with Homemade Peanut Butter Chips!

Or, How to get your chocolate peanut butter fix all in one stop! :)

Note: I made a small batch since I was adapting this from another recipe and also didn’t want too many cookies around. :) This recipe makes about 10 cookies though…Feel free to double or triple it according to your needs and wants.

Ingredients:
1/4 (~2T) banana, mashed
3 T. honey/agave

1 T. milk/water/dairy-free milk
1 T. cup melted butter/earth balance/oil

1/2 cup flour (whole wheat/GF flour blend)
1/4 c. cocoa

(Or if you want to make these as a basic cookie, use 3/4 c. flour and no cocoa)

pinch salt
1 /4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. homemade peanut butter chips

Preheat your oven for 325*. In a small bowl, (if you are making 1x the recipe, a cereal bowl can be used) mix together the wet ingredients and then add the dry (minus the chips). Spoon the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies if desired and then add chips. :) Cook for about 15 minutes.

PS. These are very satisfying with the chips added. If you don’t use the chips, they might be a little bland and not as sweet. I would suggest adding additional sweetener in that case.

Recipe Review: FUDGE! Refined-Sugar-Free Carmel-like Peanut Butter Fudge/Truffle

I tried Comfy Belly’s homemade peanut butter fudge recently! It was so good! I followed her recipe except I used 3/4 c. honey instead of 1 c. honey and used my low-fat peanut butter that I get and finish at home here. It was really sweet-even with less honey. Next time, I think I’ll experiment with 1/2 c. honey instead and maybe some extra water/peanut butter .  Be sure to watch it though- I burned the butter/honey mixture the first time! :/ :)

 

 

ALTERATIONS:

For those of you who are dairy-free, sub coconut oil or earth balance for the butter.

For those of you who are peanut free, try a different nut butter.

For those of you who are nut-free, try sun-butter.

For those of you who are vegan, try it with agave, maple syrup, etc.

Let me know what you come up with! :)

Soft and Chewy, Healthy! Chocolate Chip Cookies

WOW! This is the first time in years I’ve had a chocolate chip cookie! It’s amazing! And my first try worked! :) They were so good I ate way too many! and burned my tongue. :) I think these would be great too with the alterations listed but I was excited that they turned out so well with whole wheat flour and no refined sugar. Give them a try and let me know what you think!!! :)

They aren’t quite as sweet (just a little bit less sweet) than your normal cookie but they do the trick for me! :) Hence, the burnt tongue and disappearance of a 1/3 (ok…ok…1/3 sounds better…I ate 6! :) They were that good!) of my cookies! :)

Amazingly, Yummy, Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Ari (me) based of this recipe

1 cup whole wheat flour (or GF flour blend)

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted butter(or melted earth balance, melted coconut oil, etc)

1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used grain-sweetened, which are sugar-free)

Preheat the oven to 350*F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together honey, vanilla extract and butter until well combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Place spoonfuls of batter on cookie sheets and bake for 13-17 (no more than 17- the maximum actually gets you a very crisp cookie with a tiny bit of a chewy center) minutes for soft chewy cookies. I would guess 15 minutes is about perfect. Cookies will set up as they cool. :) Makes 12-15 cookies.

ENJOY! :) Serve with a glass of cold milk! :)

Chocolate Banana “Ice cream”

To make this simple ice-cream, all you need is a little sweetener, water,  cocoa (1/4- 1/2 c.) and four frozen bananas. Add the frozen bananas in chunks, to your ice-cream maker or food processor and then add cocoa and sweetener (preferably liquid) to taste.  Then add water until it reaches the right consistency. Serves 2-4. YUM!

Recipe Review #5: Super Easy (and yummy) peach crumble

Have some peaches that need to be eaten up? I sure did! I was looking at a dessert I could make that my family may enjoy even though they in no way eat the same as I do. I came across this recipe by Gluten-Free Goddess and had to try it.

The verdict? YUM! Thank you for the recipe!

Here's the only alterations I made or how I followed it:
For the topping:

• I used oat bran for the oats (I thought these would be interesting to try for texture and easier to digest) Make sure they are GF though if you have celiac!
• 2 T. oat flour
• 2 T. dark agave
  
• no walnuts or mesquite
• pinch of cinnamon
  
• 1/2 t. vanilla
  
• 2 T. earth balance (not melted)

In the peach filling, I didn't use arrowroot because I didn't have any on hand. I used 2 T. light agave.

Anyway, everyone of my very picky eaters (that would be my siblings especially) loved it. Most of them asked for seconds and thirds!

GF, DF, and Sugar-Free Rice Krispie Treats!

Mmm, gooey rice crispy treats! My favorite! I missed these guys for a while . Anyway, I found a recipe (and then edited it) and “marshmallow” type treat I could eat these with.

Here’s my recipe.

Ingredients:

3 c. Erewhon Brown Crispy Rice

1.5 t. Earth balance, ,melted or extra virgin olive oil

slight more than 1 c. of Suzanne’s Rice Mellow Creme

Stir Rice Mellow Creme and “butter” together on the stove until combined. Add the brown rice crispies and pour into a greased 8×8 square pan. Let cool. When it’s hard enough to eat and cut, serve. If not, place in the freezer for a few minutes or until hard enough. Cut, serve, and enjoy!

Recipe Review #2: Healthy! Guilt-Free Key Lime Pudding!

Here it is! The recipe that the most of you requested! Key Lime Pie Pudding! I got this recipe from Ricki’s dietdessertndogs website. See the original (almost the same recipe) here. I give her all the credit for this recipe and thank her for it! It is definitely nutritious and delicious! Thanks Ricki!

Ingredients:

2 small or 1 large chopped ripe avocado

3-4 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

stevia to taste or 1/4 cup agave

Pour all of the ingrediants into your food processor and blend! Serve immediately! And enjoy!