From page 127 of the Healthy Treasures Cookbook. I’ll post this recipe since it’s online over at the author, Annette Reeder’s, blog.

Carol's Brown Stew

2 pounds of lean beef — cut into cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups water — boiling

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic — minced

1 medium onion — sliced

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Dash allspice or cloves

1 tablespoon sucanat with honey

6 carrots — quartered

1 pound small onions

2 potatoes — cubed

Thoroughly brown meat on all sides in oil. Add water, flour, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, bay leaves and seasoning. Simmer 2 hours. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking. Add carrots, onions, and potatoes. Cook till done. Makes 6-8 servings. Very good on a cold winter day. Courtesy of designedhealthyliving.com

My notes: The book version of the recipe calls for 6 cups of water vs. the 4 cups called for here. 4 cups may not be enough – just depends on how thick you like your stew, I suppose! I left out all of the onions because my guys won’t eat them. 6 carrots is a lot. I put in three large carrots and it was carrot-y enough. I served this over rice and it was a hit. Great flavor!

Kids and hubby rating: 4 stars!

From the Healthy Treasures cookbook:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is actually my second batch. The first batch disappeared so quickly that I wasn’t able to get any pictures! These are great as a snack, dessert, or even breakfast!

My notes on this recipe: it’s a small batch, but doubles well. The first time, I used coconut oil because olive oil in a sweet muffin sounded gross to me. It was pretty coconut-y. The second time, I doubled the batch and used half olive oil, half coconut oil. Came out great. Be careful not to over-bake. I used regular chocolate chips and they were fine.

Kid and hubby rating: 5 stars!

Yet another winner from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog! I made this for game night last night and everyone loved it! In fact, next time I’ll make a double batch because this was gone in no time!

My insight: about 4 regular Hershey bars will work just fine. I bet you could use a layer of chocolate chips, if times were desperate. Also, there’s not much dough. Use what you need to make a decent bottom crust, layer the chocolate and marshmallow, and then dollop the remaining dough on top. Butter/flour your fingers and spread the crust out. If there are holes or shallow spots, the marshmallow fluff will seep through, but don’t panic! The marshmallow will turn an amazing golden brown and no-one will know it was meant to be any other way!

Yum! It was Ben’s birthday yesterday and he loves peanut butter. I ran across this recipe and knew right away I had to make it for him. This dessert isn’t hard to make and is very rich. Everyone needs just a small sliver of a slice so it can really go a long way.

I served this and a salad for dinner tonight and it was a hit!. Try it out!

I’m still loving all the recipes I find over at The Girl Who Ate Everything! I’ve yet to be disappointed! Be sure to check out her recipe index so browse by category!

Quick, Easy, Yummy!

I like this recipe. It makes just a small batch, which is fine. These cookies have just the right amount of sweetness, in my opinion.

Here’s the original recipe.

And here’s my modified version.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies (with Honey)

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (a pinch more depending on the moisture of the mix)
1 1/2 cups of Large Flake Rolled Oats (smaller flake is ok too)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Wet ingredients

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 egg (beat with 1 Tbsp Water)
1 tsp Vanilla
1 banana
1/4 cup shredded zucchini

Preparation:

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together. Hint: when measuring out the honey, spray the measuring cup with oil or baking spray–your honey won’t stick).
Mix the wet stuff with the dry stuff. If the mixture seems too wet, add a bit of flour. If it isn’t binding together very well, you may wish to add an egg white.
COOL the mix for 20 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 335 degrees (lower temperature due to the honey in the recipe which will burn more easily).
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto your baking sheet (I recommend lining the baking sheet with parchment paper). Press down with a fork to ensure even cooking.
Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes or until golden on the bottom of the cookie. The cookies freeze very well and make a great snack! Enjoy.

Yummy!

I’ve been trying to do more baking again. My goal is to find healthy, but yummy recipes so that I can serve real breakfasts to my guys in the morning. I hate serving them cereal and oatmeal gets old after a while. I found this recipe and was pretty stoked at how healthy-ish it was already, and felt pretty certain I could make it even healthier.

I used whole wheat flour, cut the sugar in half, used coconut oil in place of vegetable oil, and didn’t use powdered sugar on top. They were just sweet enough and could easily be made sweeter by dusting them with the powdered sugar or even by drizzling a (perhaps caramel) glaze on them. Mmmm.

Mini Baked Apple Donuts

I like this banana bread more for the fact that it calls for whole wheat flour. The chocolate taste isn’t overwhelming. You could easily add some chocolate chips to up the choco factor, if you like.

I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and reduced the sugar. It was still good – not very sweet. Also, this was a bit dry so next time I’m going to add another banana and probably reduce the baking time a bit.

Chocolate Banana Bread courtesy of allrecipes.com