Honey-nut biscotti

Nut and Seed Biscotti from 101 Cookbooks
approx. 26 pieces, with 130 calories and 2.5g protein a piece


Biscotti takes practice. Let me tell you. I don't think I baked it long enough before cutting, so the loaf wasn't hard enough, and it was crumbling. Then I thought it was ruined because the thick pieces weren't getting crispy. But in the end, they crisped up fairly well and they tasted good. Slightly sweet, crunchy, and nutty.

I made the following variations to the recipe:
I used a mixture of sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, and poppy seeds. Instead of natural cane sugar, I used 1/3 c honey and 1/3 c granulated sugar. The calories listed above are based on these variations.

Good Morning muffins

Good Morning Muffins from Recipezaar
144 calories each when you make a batch of 17

The batter for these muffins smelled.....so good. Heavenly. Yum. They smelled really good when they were baking too. Now, my last attempt at muffins wasn't that great. Actually, it was really disappointing. So I was hoping for the best.



The verdict: they are good! Hallelujah. My sister said they taste like Christmas. That's because of the yummy spices in them. I would also compare them to a little carrot cake in muffin form. Except better, since I don't like carrot cake. I did use white-wheat flour in these, so they are extra healthy, don't worry. ;)

I had a heck of a time trying to photograph these. I think I finally got some decent pictures. Oh! One more tidbit...from my experience the last time I made fruit-y muffins, you should probably keep them refrigerated (if you have leftovers).

Cookie dough Brownies made with pumpkin

Ok...let me preface this by saying - this concoction is not health food in any way. This is not a 100-calorie pack. This is not breakfast. This is not what you eat for energy before a workout. However, even though this isn't healthy, this is an example of taking a ludicrously indulgent recipe and making it a little more healthy than it was.

So with that disclaimer, here are the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. Basically, in the original recipe, you take chocolate chip cookie dough, and you pour it onto brownie batter, and bake it all together as one glorious pan of chocolatey goo.

Now, here's where the slight adjustment comes in. I knew this recipe would have a plethora of calories, so I decided to soften the blow a little bit, by replacing the brownie batter with Hungry Girl's Yum Yum Brownie Muffin mix. Instead of brownie mix, get a box of devil's food cake mix, and stir in a can of pure pumpkin. And there's your batter. Don't add eggs or oil.


After that, I followed the recipe as is. The change of the brownie batter took off about 100 calories, and in the end, I cut each piece in 2 to make smaller portions, bringing the total to about 200 calories per brownie.

I find it laughable that Betty Crocker lists this recipe as having 48 servings. I ended up with about 26 pieces. (The brownie pictured is a double serving...imagine it cut in half.)

Anyway, these are delicious. Fortunately, we were able to pawn them off on some willing bystanders, so there's not many left in the house to tempt us.