Chocolate Yogurt

A while ago I found some recipes for making different flavours of greek yogurt.  It was the chocolate that got my attention - I love chocolate.  Well I tried it, and it was alright.  I liked it, it was great while I had it, but I wasn’t going to rush out and buy greek yogurt to make more.  This may have been for a couple of reasons - I could still taste the “tang” of my yogurt, the is that I am just not used to the thicker texture of the greek yogurt.  It might be the brand I using, I am not sure, but I have found that the flavour will give me issues and I already am a texture eater.

To get to the point of all this though, I recently tried this again with our regular yogurt.  I had bought strawberries as I thought I had some greek yogurt left from a dinner I had made the week before that I wanted to use.  This seemed like a great plan with some strawberries for snacks.  However upon arriving home, the container of yogurt was not to be found - I must have used it in smoothies one morning to get rid of it, oops.  Not wanting to give up on my chocolate snack for the week, I grabbed some of my vanilla yogurt.  The result was fantastic, I love it.  It tastes like a nice dark chocolate mousse, and is light and airy.  Actually this really reminds me of a chocolate mousse.  It is like dessert.  I know that this is not as healthy as the greek version (which is still good), but I am going with it.  It is nice to know that I can make it with the yogurt I keep on hand for everything else and I don’t have to pick up anything special.  


Chocolate Yogurt.  
1 cup vanilla yogurt (I used a french vanilla, but it shouldn’t make a big difference)
2.5 tbsp coco powder

Directions: Mix the coco powder and vanilla together.  Enjoy!

Note: Use your favourite yogurt, I use Astro Original yogurt, it is nice and thick and doesn’t use any of the fake sugars.  I find it is thicker than the other brands I have tried, but not as thick as a greek yogurt.

Chocolate Greek Yogurt
1 cup greek yogurt
2-3 tbsp coco powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp maple syrup

Directions: Mix the ingredients together until well blended.  Enjoy.


Reviews:
I like both, but the most popular is the recipe made with vanilla yogurt.  I have also made this with vanilla greek yogurt and it also turned out as well.  A great snack for dipping fruit in or just eating with a spoon.

Apple Stars

These were my favorite snack as a kid, my brother and I would always ask our Dad for apple stars for our evening snacks. We didn’t always get them, and we usually fought over who got the one with the best “star” when we did get them. Eating these now takes me back to those memories and always makes me smile (plus I can always have the best “star” now that my little brother and I no longer live under the same roof). They are a quick, simple treat and not all that bad for you.

Ingredients:
1 apple
½ to 1 tsp brown sugar
dash of cinnamon

Directions:
1. Slice the apple in rings through the core, remove the seeds from the inside of the apple.
2. Lay the apple slices on a flat surface and sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the apples.
3. Serve and enjoy!

Cookie Dough Dip - Peanut Butter

I was playing on pinterest (my goodness what an addiction that is) and came across a recipe for a healthy cookie dough dip. I am trying to get some healthier snack foods in the house as i know I like to snack throughout the day rather than eating a large meal 3 times a day. the only problem with that, is that I tend to grab whatever is easy - which means I need to get my but in gear and have some healthy snack food on hand. This seemed perfect for the days that I am craving something a little sweet.



Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
⅓ tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp milk
½ cup brown sugar
⅛ tsp baking soda
⅓ cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In a food processor combine all ingredients,but the chocolate chips, and blend until smooth.
2. Mix in the chocolate chips.
3. Enjoy!

Reviews:
This is a great dip, that tastes a lot like a mix between a chocolate chip cookie and peanut butter cookie dough. You can’t even tell that there are chickpeas in there! I tried it on a couple people and they both loved it.

Pumpkin Pie Hummus

Fall is in on the way - it is getting cooler outside and the leaves are starting to fall off the trees. This time of year always has me wanting to make comfort food, start packing away food for the winter and bake. One of my favorite ingredients to play with in the fall is pumpkin. I was playing on Pinterest and saw some pumpkin dips popping up so I thought I would try and make a somewhat healthy alternative to pumpkin pie. I ended up with a pumpkin pie hummus - eaten on a graham cracker this really does taste like pumpkin pie, but full of protein, fiber and iron!

Ingredients:
1 cup chick peas (about 1/2 a can)
¾ cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp all spice
⅛ tsp ginger
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp molasses
3 tsp maple syrup

Directions:
Combine the ingredients in a blender or food process and mix until smooth.

This is a starting point - taste it and see if you think it needs any more spice or sweetener, I change the amounts a bit depending on the day and what I am wanting.

I love this spread on graham crackers!

Reviews:

I enjoy this and a friend ate ½ a batch in one day and then proceeded to demand the recipe, so it must be pretty good!

Cheesecake Filled Strawberries

We got invited to go to a friend’s house for supper in the afternoon. Now what to bring, I always bring desert – but what on earth do I have time to make with only 1.5 hours from the time I get home until supper, and I needed to stop at the grocery store. Hmmmmm. I was in the middle of the cheesecake phase after having made mini freezer cheesecakes earlier in the week, and when I saw that strawberries were on sale, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I know I have seen this someplace, but I can’t remember were, and I can’t find the post so I did my own thing.

Ingredients:
Fresh Strawberries
4 ounces (1/2 brick) of cream cheese
½ cup sugar
½ cup whipping cream

Garnish:
Graham cracker crumbs

Directions:
1. Wash and hull the strawberries, then set aside.
2. Beat the cream cheese until fluffy and smooth, then add in the sugar and continue beating until it is creamy.
3. In a separate bowl beat the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
4. Fill a pastry bag (or Ziploc bag with the corner cut out) with the cream cheese mixture and pipe into the hollowed stawberries.
5. Touch the top of the strawberries (with the cream cheese exposed) into the graham cracker crumbs.
6. Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Variation: These would be great with melted chocolate drizzled over them as well.

Reviews:
These were delicious, I couldn’t stop eating them. This is a nice light cream cheese filling that isn’t too heavy and compliments the strawberry very well. Our friends enjoyed them and we had no leftovers to take home.

Cinnamon Apple Chips

Cinnamon Apple Chips

With 120lbs of apples sitting in my apartment, and knowing I could only make so many pies before my freezer and friends were full, I had to find other ways to deal with the apples. One of the people at work offered to lend me a dehydrator – this sounded like a fantastic idea, they would keep for quite a while and would be easy to store.

Ingredients:
4-5 Apples (I used both Gala and Mac apples. Both were tasty, so just pick if you would like something sweet or a little more tart).
½ to 1 tbsp sugar (prefer brown, but white is tasty as well)
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions
1. Peel and core the apples. Slice into thin slices (I did all of this using my Apple Peeler, Corer Slicer – this little gadget has been a life saver for dealing with all these apples).
2. Sprinkle the rings of the apples with the sugar and cinnamon.

3. Lay on the trays of the dehydrator. Leave a small space between each of the rings so they won't stick together.
4. Dehydrate for about 6 hours at 135F. The apples will be dry but pliable when they are done (ie they shouldn’t be sticky to the touch or squishy, but won’t snap if you bend them).
5. Let cool to room temperature (they will become a little more crisp) and store in an airtight container.

Reviews:
Everyone has loved these chips, and they disappear quickly after I put them out. I am making a lot more of these than originally planned because they have been so popular.

Chocolate Pretzels

I was looking for some yummy snacks to make for a holiday party, and I love chocolate covered pretzels, but hate doing all the work of dipping them in chocolate. Then I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and just tweaked the recipe a little (used rosebuds instead of kisses).

Round/Square pretzels
Chocolate rosebuds
Holiday Smarties

Place pretzels on a cookie sheet ( I covered it with tinfoil to avoid sticking to the pan), onto each pretzels place a chocolate rosebud.

Bake in an oven heated to 275F for 2 minutes (until the rosebuds still hold shape, but are melted). Remove from the oven and press a smartie to into the top of each rosebud.

Cool in fridge for 10-15 minutes until chocolate has solidified.


These are delicious and so easy to make, we love them. They are so cute and festive, and look great put in a bowl for any occasion. I definately plan to make these again, and I hope to try melting a rolo on top instead of a rosebud.