Zucchini Bread

One of my FAVORITE things to do is to take something totally delicious (bonus points if it involves chocolate) and sneak some healthy things in there - like little health ninjas. 

This Zucchini bread is packed with so much whole-grainy, vegetable, fiber-y, chocolate-y goodness you will probably become a kick-butt ninja yourself.

Or at least want another piece. Either one.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 c. honey
1 large banana, mashed
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbs. flax
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large zucchini, grated
1/2 c. chocolate chips, dried fruits, or nuts.

Preheat oven to 350 and get out everything you need.

Start with your mashed banana and grated zucchini.

Then add your eggs, honey, and vanilla.

Stir in your brown sugar.

Next stir in your flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Your batter should look a little something like this. 

Now you can throw in whatever you want! I added in 1/2 c. chocolate chips, chopped dates, raisins and pecans. You could add different nuts, dried fruits, anything you like! 

Mix it all up and don't forget to throw in your flax seed!

Put it in your loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. (50 is usually perfect for me!)

And there you have it!  Doesn't that look SO GOOD? This stuff is great for breakfast with a glass of almond/soy milk or as a dessert! 

Apple Pie Cookies

I made an apple pie once. After working all day, I was left with a disaster zone for a kitchen and an undercooked pie I just couldn't get right. So, instead of reliving that traumatic experience, I decided to put the goodness of apple pie into a cookie! And WOAH were these good!

You will need: 

2 eggs
1 egg white
1/2 c. butter
1/2 apple sauce
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 rolled oats
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 large fuji apples (about 2 1/2 cups, chopped)
1 Tbs cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup pecans chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

Makes about four dozen.

Preheat the oven to 375 and get out everything you need.

Mix together your whole wheat flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

 Set aside your dry ingredients and beat together your butter, apple sauce and brown sugar.

It should then look a little something like this:

Then beat in your 2 eggs and egg white. 

Next chop up your apples

 and your pecans.

 Mix it all up!

Spoon up your dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Leave a little space between each.

Bake for 11-13 minutes! mmmmmm! Don't these look good? Keep yourself a stash because the minute you share these with anyone they will be GONE!

Until next time on "Hannah-puts-yummy-things-in-cookies-and-sings-like-a-black-lady-while-she-bakes"

Chicken Vegetable Lasagna

If I were to be a classic 1950's housewife my name would be Martha. I'd be married to Chip and we'd have 2 beautiful children, Kathy and little Johnny. Chip would come home from a long day at work, complaining about taxes and I would greet him at the door with this meal, right here, on the table.

Seriously, guys, this chicken vegetable lasagna will knock your socks off AND it won't make you feel guilty for having seconds (or thirds... ).

you will need:

2 24 oz. jars of pasta sauce
2 carrots diced (about 1/2 c.)
1 stalk celery diced (about 1/2 c.)
3 kale leaves, chopped  (about 1 c.)
1/2 green pepper, chopped (about 1/2 c.)
1/2 red onion, diced (about 1/2 c.)
1/2 eggplant, sliced
1 med. zucchini, sliced
1 pkg. lasagna noodles
1 cup mushrooms sliced
3 large chicken breasts, chopped (about 2 c.)

 Preheat the oven to 425 and get out everything you will need.

 Start by chopping up your kale,

 Carrots,

 celery,

 green pepper,

 and onion.

Mix it all in a big bowl with your pasta sauce and your chicken. (I forgot to include this step... I KNOW, i know... i'm still working on the "being a real blogger" thing.. but dice your chicken and brown on the stove for about 10 min. - It doesn't have to be completely done. It will cook more in the oven.)

When it's all mixed up it should look a little something like this:

 Then get your eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms.

 Slice it up as thin as you can.

 Put a thin layer of plain sauce on the bottom of the pan.

 Then lasagna noodles.

Then sauce.

Then eggplant,

Then sauce.

And then more noodles and more sauce

Then zucchini.

Then sauce

Then noodles, sauce, mushrooms and sauce. (PHEW. As if you needed all those pictures. Basically just follow the "sauce, noodles, sauce, veggie" pattern.)

Cover with foil and throw it in the oven for 40 min.

Then remove the foil and bake for another 10 min. If you are a lucky son of a gun who can eat dairy (I hate you), you can add some mozzarella cheese on top for the last 5 min. or so. But you really don't need it. This lasagna will make you run to the closest southern baptist church and sing praises to Jesus.

So there you have it kids! "knock-your-socks-off-sing-praises-to-jesus-kiss-your-momma-its-so-good"chicken vegetable lasagna.

 BAM. Now go eat your vegetables.

Spinach raspberry cookies

Yeah. That's right! Freaking SPINACH RASPBERRY COOKIES

Woah. Woah. Woah.
I can already feel your skepticism through my computer screen. Your mind is being blown. "Spinach isn't supposed to be sweet!" Right? WRONG.

I know, I know, It sounds crazy. But I swear on my great granny's skull tattoo, that these are delicious AND packed with protein and fiber, not to mention some omega-3's.

So, to keep the steam from coming out of your ears I'll get on with the recipe.


I adapted this recipe from here.

You will need:

1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. apple sauce
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas), drained and rinsed
       **I used these whole. You can also put them in a food processor or blender
2 cups  chocolate chips (I used dark)
3 TBS flaxseed
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
a few handfuls of raw spinach (about 1 cup cooked)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
about 1 cup of fruit (I used raspberries and blueberries) 

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

First things first. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get out everything you need. 

Then, In a large mixing bowl beat your brown sugar, butter, and applesauce until it looks a little something like this:

Don't worry about lumps, we'll take care of that in a minute. Next, beat in the egg whites and vanilla. Now this is where you're going to think I am a crazy person. Add in 2 cups of dark chocolate chips and 1 can of drained chickpeas (garbanzo beans). 

Then mix in your flaxseed,

 cinnamon, 

 And nutmeg.

Your dough should now look like bean dip! Hooray!

Set your bean dip aside and get ready to sauté up some spinach. I used about 3 handfuls of spinach. Chop it up. 

Use a small amount of olive oil. just enough to coat the pan.

 And fry it up! It took about 3 minutes to get it to look like this: 

Then throw it in your dough. By this point, your dough (and your kitchen) will be smelling like a hobo's sweaty armpit. TRUST ME. THIS WILL WORK.

Mmmmm bean dip. Mix it up and try to convince your roommates that you're not drunk and you're doing this on purpose. 

Then add your whole wheat flour,

Oats,

And baking soda. 

Your dough should look like this. SO appetizing right??

I then separated my dough into 2 bowls. One for blueberries and one for raspberries. But if you're only using one, ignore this step. 

 I used about 1 cup of raspberries (1 1/2 6 oz. packages)

It will turn your dough into a lovely shade of pink... sort of.

 I forgot to take a picture of the blueberries before I mixed them up. I'm sorry, i'm not a real blogger. HOW COULD I FORGET THAT? 

Whatever you know what blueberries look like. Here's the dough after it's all mixed up. 

Spoon them on a cookie sheet (I greased it a little with coconut oil), leaving room between each cookie. 

 Throw them in the oven for 11-13 minutes. (13 was perfect in my oven!) And enjoy!

 I mean COME ON! Don't these look delicious!? 

Until next time on "Hannah makes gross things delicious and screams like a crazy woman while she bakes."