Peanut Butter S'mores Bake

I originally found the recipe via pinterest on Baby Gizmo Blog, and though it was delicious, I thought it needed some sprucing up. While I was getting the ingredients together I changed the recipe for the graham cracker crust. I didn't take exact measurements, but the one's I have estimated should work well enough for the crust to come together. It's hard to mess up, so I'm sure no matter what happens, it will turn out just fine.


Ingredients:

• 9 full graham crackers, crushed into fine crumbs *
• 1 1/2 c. oat flour *
• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 spoonfuls molasses
• 2 large Hershey chocolate bars 
• 1/2 c. peanut butter (ish... I didn't measure it the second time I made it)
• 7 oz. marshmallow cream (fluff should work too)

* I, separately, ground up the graham crackers and the 1 1/2 c. oats in the blender to get them into a flour-like consistency; a food processor would work as well. 

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 baking dish (pam works fine)

Beat the butter, sugar, and molasses until well blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

Add the salt, baking powder, graham crackers, and oat flour; mix until well combined.

Add the oats and flour until you have a good dough, with a slightly crummy consistency. You may need to add a little more flour, but if you're not sure, then don't. It's better to be sticky than too dry.

Press about 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the baking dish. Put the chocolate bars on top of the dough, side-by-side.

The original recipe says to melt the peanut butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds to make it easier to spread on. I, being lazy because I didn't want to wash dishes and was pressed for time,  just spooned some globs of PB onto the chocolate and smoothed it out as evenly as possible. It doesn't need to look pretty, as no one is gonna see it.

This picture is when I did melt the peanut butter in the microwave
the first time I made it. As far as taste goes, it didn't make a wink of a difference.

Heat up the marshmallow cream (in a separate bowl - NOT in the container) and spread it over the peanut butter.

Take the remaining dough and press it out on the counter in small portions and piece together on top of the marshmallow. (The original recipe said to roll the dough onto wax paper and peel it off on the top. This, in theory, sounded like a good plan.. but when it came down to execution, it looked AWFUL - pictures below)Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Let cool before cutting, otherwise it will be a sloppy mess - but it will still taste yummy if you can't wait ;)

First time I made it - trying to get the
top of the crust on in one piece... Fail.

Second time I made it - piecing the top layer together. PERFECTO! :)

Buono Apetito!

Greek Style Spaghetti Squash and Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

  Spaghetti Squash: Serves 3-4

• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 3 c. cooked spaghetti squash*
• 1/2 c. cherry tomatoes
• 2 c. roughly chopped spinach
• a clove or two of garlic (more if you love it as much as I do.. just make sure you don't have a hot date the next day!!)
• 1/4 c. feta cheese
• salt 
• pepper
• cayenne pepper (if you like a little spice)

1. Heat coconut oil, garlic, and cherry tomatoes a large skillet over medium-high heat until tomatoes begin to burst. You may have to keep moving them around occasionally to keep them from burning; you may also help them to burst by using a wooden spoon to press against them (especially if you're hungry and impatient like I usually am). 
2. Add the spinach until its a little wilty. Not fully wilted, cause it will continue to cook/wilt as you go
3. Add the spaghetti squash. You can honestly add as much or as little as you want - it's like 42 calories per cup, so dive in!
4. Stir everything together and make sure spaghetti squash is completely heated through. 
5. Add feta and mix thoroughly. 
6. Add salt and pepper to taste & serve!

*To cook spaghetti squash: preheat oven to 350. Cut squash together lengthwise. Take out the seeds now - it's much easier than after they cook. Place the squash cut-side down in a baking dish; put in the oven for about 60 minutes. After cooling for about 10 minutes, use a fork to get the meat out of the squash. (I usually do this in advance - I'll get a 4 lb squash, that way I have it on hand for the week!)

Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes: 

• large head of cauliflower
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese

1. Cut cauliflower into large chunks and put into boiling pot of water for approximately 10 minutes - until tender. 
2. Strain and immediately place into food processor.
3. Add butter and cream cheese and process until smooth and creamy - you may have to help it along by mixing it every now and then. 
4. Add salt and pepper to taste - I garnish my servings with 1 Tbsp plain non-fat chobani. It's very similar to sour cream, but so much healthier for you.

You can get creative with it and add different spices like chives and garlic to make it even more tasty!

Banana Oat Pancakes

 I love love love breakfast. This is no secret to anyone that knows me. I could eat breakfast for every meal of every day and be okay with it. So, when I originally saw this recipe on Pinterest, I fell in love with it. These pancakes looked so fluffy and delicious, and with some extra ingredients, they're a little fancier than your average pancake.

The original recipe is from a website called cookie + kate. I had originally planned to just make the pancakes as per the recipe, but I usually have a hard time following directions - my mom can tell you that ;). I made a few tweaks and made it more delicious! (Well, I can't really say that its more delicious, because I never tried the originals...)

My work station... with crutches. Ha.

Banana Oat Pancakes Yields: 9-10 pancakes

• 3 small bananas 
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted (you can use butter if you don't have coconut oil)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp raw honey (or regular - I just have a mild obsession with raw honey), syrup
• 2 Tbsp almond butter (or any nut butter you have on hand)
• 1/2 c. cooked quinoa
• 2 eggs *
• 1 c. oat flour *
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 c. almond milk or preferred milk (optional

*I have extra large eggs, so I used one egg and one egg white

*if you do not have oat flour, you can put one heaping cup of old fashioned oats into a food processor or a blender until it makes a flour.

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, coconut oil, lemon juice and honey.
2. Mix in the almond butter; then beat in the eggs.
3. Stir in the quinoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg until thoroughly mixed.
4. Mix in the oat flour until thoroughly moistened. Optional: mix in the milk to make the batter less thick.
5. Let the batter sit for about 10 minutes. Begin to heat a cast iron skillet over medium low heat. 
6. Pour pancakes into the pan. I used a 1/4 c. measuring cup to do make this easier, and to make the pancakes relatively even. Cook for 3 minutes on one side then flip to cook about 70 seconds on the other side. 
7. Serve immediately or keep warm in a low temperature (170 is the lowest mine will go) oven. 

I served mine with a peanut butter maple syrup. For 3 pancakes, I put 1 Tbsp peanut butter in a small bowl in the microwave for about 35 seconds. When it was melted, I mixed 1 Tbsp syrup into the peanut butter and immediately poured over the pancakes. (Do not put the peanut butter and syrup into the microwave together; that will cause you to make a peanut butter caramel. Not that I did that...)

If you're not a peanut butter fiend like I am, these would be well garnished with some sliced bananas and some chopped pecans.

Enjoy!