Lemon Cheesecake Bites

I'm so excited about these cheesecake bites... they're exactly what I needed to get through holiday party season!!

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered Swerve or other sugar substitute
• 2 tablespoons coconut cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla stevia
• pinch salt
• 3 teaspoons lemon extract
• few drops of natural yellow food coloring
• 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
• 1 Lily's dark chocolate bar (3oz)

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer blend the cream cheese and Swerve together until smooth.
2. Add the coconut cream, stevia, salt and raspberry extract, natural food coloring until combined well.
3. Slowly add in the coconut oil and continue to blend on high until it's incorporated.
4. Scrape down the edges of the bowl to make sure it's all mixed well.
5. Refrigerate this mixture for 1 hour.
6. Using a 1 1/4 inch mini cookie scoop (or something similar) scoop the batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet, it should make about 48 balls.
7. Freeze these for at least 1 hour.
8. When you're ready, break up the Lily's into small pieces and place in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until completely melted. Pour over the top of the cheesecake balls.
9. Refrigerate for another hour.
   
   
   
   Keep refrigerated until you're ready to enjoy!
   
   

Coconut Chocolate Bites

This is the first sweet treat I have made in a very long time, and the first I had eaten in a month. I made one batch and took half to a party where they were a hit. They were so popular in our house and with our guests I had to make a second batch just 2 days later!



I'm excited to be back and even more excited to share this first of my sugar free, gluten-free recipes!




Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Coconut Butter (or manna)
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
2 Tbsp Swerve (either granular or powdered will work fine)
1 Lily's dark chocolate bar (3oz)

Seriously, that's all you need. These are so easy!

Directions:
1. In a small to medium saucepan melt the coconut butter and coconut oil over low heat stirring occasionally, be patient, don't crank it up.
2. While you wait line a mini muffin tin with 24 paper liners.
3. When the oil and butter are melted stir in the Swerve until dissolved.
4. Turn off heat. Add the shredded coconut and stir to incorporate.
5. Pour the coconut mixture into the paper liners, I find that using a measuring tablespoon gives just about the right amount for each cup and is an easy vessel that doesn't make too much of a mess.
6. Put the pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes (or longer...).
7. Whenever you're ready to continue, break up the Lily's into small pieces and place in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until completely melted. Pour over frozen coconut candies*.


*I like to use a teaspoon for this. A half full teaspoon (not measuring spoon, just from the silverware drawer) is about the right amount, the chocolate pours easily off the end of it and you can dab the tip of the spoon into the middle of the poured chocolate to make it spread out evenly.


Let the chocolate harden and enjoy!! These can be stored on the counter for a week or refrigerate or freeze them for long lasting goodness!

Rustic Apple Oven Cake

On a lazy New Years day at our friends homestead we lounged around playing games and making all sorts of amazing food. Wonderful for breakfast or dessert, this was the belle of the ball.

Peppermint Bark

This is my daughters favorite treat around the holidays.  It is incredibly easy to make and it's always a crowd pleaser!

Zucchini Muffins

I love zucchini bread, so why not zucchini muffins? They're appropriately portioned and portable, what more can I ask for?! Well, if you were going to say they should also be moist, delicious, and full of flavor then we've hit the proverbial nail on the head.

Chocolate Chips Ahoy!

For days I was craving something sweet and I just couldn't quite put my finger on what was going to satisfy. Of course it was sometime around 3am when I realized what it needed to be, and this was it. The picture is bad, but these cookies are awesome! They have great flavor and remain soft yet crisp. It's too bad they're gone, because I could really go for one right about now!

Coconut Chocolate Bars

You love coconut? You love chocolate? Well then, these are the treats for you!

 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

What the wha? Yeah, you heard me right, I said no bake cookies. If you need something that isn't going to take a lot of your time or you simply enjoy super soft peanut buttery goodness, this one is for you.

Cranberry Walnut Chocolate Chippers

This is a nice simple cookie. They are light and airy right out of the oven and if you can make them last long enough they become crisp outside and stay fairly soft inside. The flavors are understated so even though it sounds like there is a lot going on it this cookie, it works. This would be a fine addition to your holiday cookie collection.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

As I hurried through the grocery store in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning I accidentally grabbed a can of pumpkin pie mix instead of pumpkin puree. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it, but I wanted to use it up before it got lost in the back of the cupboard. Obviously it was time for some wonderfully moist, tasty, muffins.

Coconut Pumpkin Tapioca

 

The pumpkin theme has been going strong around here lately and apparently it hasn't gone unnoticed. One of my super fun, food loving, coworkers sent me a request for this so of course I had to make it. Not being a big tapioca fan I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out, but it was actually quite good, I think the coconut milk really makes it. It can be served hot which gives it a delicious rice pudding feel or chilled for what I'm told is nearly perfect tapioca pudding.  I'll let you be the judge of that.

Pumpkin Bread

It's that time of year when everyone is dusting off their favorite sweaters and drinking their seasonal lattes to convince themselves they're really okay with the fact that summer is over. So what better way to use our freshly made pumpkin puree (or canned if you must)  than to make pumpkin bread?

Raspberry Cobbler

This cobbler is so easy to make it almost feels like cheating.  I brought this to a dinner party and it was a hit!  I didn't get a great picture because I was simply too busy enjoying good friends and good food around an outdoor fire. I promise you, it's as beautiful as it is delicious!!

Lawnmower Cookies

Breaking your lawnmower at the end of June is not exactly good timing, everyone is busy, including the repair shop.  After a couple of no-shows by people I had hired on Craigslist the yard was starting to get a little bit overgrown, and on my street the look of  your lawn determines your neighborhood status.  Enter my awesome neighbor. For the month of July he mowed my lawn. (Insert awkward pause.) No, really, the grass looked great and I was able to maintain my "average" status without slipping into the "oh, they must be renters" category. Well, It's August now. The mower is fixed and has resumed it's job of hogging up about a quarter of my garage, and sadly, there is no more need for someone to do my lawn for me. 

It was time to come up with an appropriate thank you for the neighbor and what better for a married man with a couple of young boys than cookies.  These are really called Ultimate Chocolate Chippers and are from  The All-American Cookie Book, a great resource with an overly patriotic name.

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

It was almost a week ago now that I was having a few beers with my friend Mikey when he said to me, "Oh hey, I have rhubarb in my garden for you.  You can make something for your blog."  Of course I was excited because, at least that I can remember, I've never made anything with rhubarb.  Then he tells me, "Oh, I also have this rhubarb recipe out of the New York Times, an upside-down cake, maybe you can make that?"  I'm a couple of beers in at this point so I give him a, "Hell yeah!" and we carry on.

Not Banana Bread

While reeling in the deliciousness of the Gold Medal Plantain snack I made yesterday I was racking my brain to come up with a way to use the 4 ripe plantains I had waiting for me in the kitchen.  Since the ripe plantain is new to me, and it's much like a banana, I decided to make bread.  I had no idea what I was doing and I wasn't sure it was going to turn out, but it did!  I think you're going to love it.

Gold Medal Plantains

Oh the Plantain.  No need for this little jewel to remain a mystery.  When they're green they're starchy, almost like a potato.  When they're yellow with brown spots they look like bananas, and are just starting to sweeten up a bit.  When they're black, really really black, they're ripe.  Yes, they look disgusting at this point and not at all like something you would want to put in your mouth, but it's all a disguise.  Inside is a lovely piece of fruit that's just waiting to be turned into some sort of treat.  Don't balk at this.. I completely understand what you're thinking.  I'm one of those people who likes bananas on the firm side, just barely yellow.  When my bananas get brown spots, I'm no longer interested.  But black?!  Unless I was making Banana Bread I would never consider a black banana, which is exactly what you will think you're looking at.  This is different.  You're going to have to trust me on this one.

I've never had a plantain make it to fully ripe status in my kitchen (see above phobia of black bananas) so I'm pretty excited that yesterday my lovely housemate (who works in a produce market!) brought me a bag of ripe plantains to play with!  I'm pretty busy with work right now so I haven't had a lot of time to figure out what I'm going to do with all of them, but I managed to bust out a sweet little treat with one this afternoon.