100 Calorie Cocoa Cookies

My sweet tooth is taking over my life. Here's a typical scene from my life: I finish a totally yummy (and usually fairly healthy) lunch or dinner, I wash my dishes, I get out some homework, and BAM! It hits me. I need something sweet.

This sucks. Because if I don't have something sweet standing by then I make it my mission to find something or make something. This takes up time (and sometimes money) that I really don't have to waste, and my single-mindedness and insatiable need for dessert wins. Not anymore, my friend!

I go 10x less crazy when I make a batch of cookies or something to last me the entire week. This way I have something I can grab at the end of a meal and cross it off my list before it gets the best of me. But, this isn't the healthiest thing in the world and I'm still trying to cut down on the sugar. So what do I do? I play around with a new recipe that gives me the best of both worlds: something sweet and chocolatey, as well as something that won't send me into diabetic shock.

These cookies are chewy like brownies but still crisp around the edges. They're not too sweet but still chocolatey and they totally fulfill all of my expectations for dessert. 

100 Calorie Cocoa Cookies

(makes 12 medium-sized cookies)

¾ cup flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ cup Earth Balance

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

6 tsp nondairy milk (I used unsweetened plain almond milk)

Optional toppings: walnuts, peanuts, dried cranberries, dairy-free chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, coconut, etc.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet or fit it with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.
• In a medium-sized bowl, cream the Earth Balance, sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer.
• When fully combined, toss in the nondairy milk and pour in the small bowl of dry ingredients while the mixer is still running. Mix until completely combined.
• With your hands, form the dough into small balls, pressing them down slightly on the baking sheet.
• Optional: top each doughy disc with any number of toppings (see above for my picks)
• Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until desired consistency.

I do want to start coming up with some new healthy dessert recipes and utilize natural sweeteners like mashed banana and applesauce, but this recipe was crafted based on what I already had sitting in my pantry, and took hardly any time to whip together, so it's a start. Compared to the other treats I've been eating lately this will be a welcome shift! Now, I'm not much of a calorie counter, so I'm not entirely sure if this is accurate, but with the help of a handy website this is what I came up with:

(Bare in mind that this is without the optional toppings, but depending on what you choose you can still play around and create some fun combos while still sticking to the 100 calorie range)

Bonus pic of the cookies cooling by the open window because IT'S 73 DEGREES OUTSIDE! WOOHOO! 

Please ignore the disgustingly dirty window. There's no way of cleaning it when it only opens up that far!

P.S. I made another dragon bowl for lunch today and the leftover veggies I made yesterday are just as amazing reheated as they were when they were fresh last night. Just pop them all in a microwaveable bowl with the rice and tofu, heat 'em up, and then drizzle on the dressing and sprinkle on some mixed greens. Even easier when all the meal prep is already done!

Happy Monday!

Xoxoxo

Dragon Bowls: Grains, Greens, and 'Teins!

Lately I've been really feeling the dragon bowl. It's a great way to load up on fresh veggies and also use up any leftovers you have sitting in the fridge. I spent an hour on Sunday cooking all of the veg and cramming the fridge with carefully-stuffed tupperware, giving myself plenty of meal options for the coming week. The awesome thing about dragon bowls is that you can really throw just about anything in them – I usually start with some quinoa or brown rice, then toss in some arugula or mixed greens, and then I go wild with the veggies. Then, on top of some dry-fried tofu, I throw a little bit of dressing over it all. Yum! Healthy, filling, and flavorful.

You can't see all of the goodies but this baby is loaded with layers of veggies!

• Brown rice: I try to keep a container of rice or quinoa in the fridge at all times, that way it's easy to make a meal when I'm not feeling all that inspired.
• Mixed greens
• Dry-fried tofu: this is a super basic way of cooking tofu, but lately I've been trying to cut down on the amount of oil that I cook with. Dry-frying is great, oil-free cooking option. You basically press the tofu like you normally would, and cut it into whatever shapes/thickness your recipe or heart desires. Then you just heat a pan on medium-high heat, throw the tofu in, and use a spatula to press down on each piece to suck out any remaining moisture. This will make a really funny sound that always reminds me of the screaming mandrakes from Harry Potter. So this tofu is quick, easy, and entertaining. Press down on the tofu a few times, until the bottoms brown. Then you flip and do the same on the other side.
• Maple roasted brussels sprouts: I made a batch of Chloe Coscarelli's Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts late last week and figured they'd make a good addition to my dinner. I didn't have any hazelnuts on hand, but they ended up being really scrumptious.
• Asparagus: Usually I roast my asparagus with a good amount of olive oil, salt, and pepper, but this time I thought I'd try something new. I'm normally not a huge fan of boiling vegetables, but I decided to try it and I'm glad I did. I cut the spears into 1-inch pieces, boiled them up until they were fork-tender, then tossed them with a touch of olive oil and s+p.
• Kale with onion and garlic: I love love love kale, and garlic is obviously amazing, but traditionally I've been pretty anti-onion. I don't know what it is about onion, but for whatever reason I've spent the better part of my life avoiding them unless they are in a super flavorful dish like yellow curry. That's all changing now! I'm slowly introducing onions to my taste buds, convinced that you can train your palate to like foods if you stay persistent. And this combo is goooood. Saucepan, medium heat, a touch of olive oil. I chopped up a few cloves of garlic, a medium-sized onion, and threw them in, letting them brown with a healthy dose of cumin. Once these bad boys become translucent beauties (and fill your kitchen with a lovely scent), throw in a bunch of chopped up kale and ¼ – ½ cup of water to deglaze the pan. Mix it around a bit, throw a lid on that sucker (leaving a crack for steam to escape), and let it all cook together until the kale is wilted and a beautiful color. Drain the water and you're good to go!
• Carrots: A thin julienne has been my method of choice. Get those babies looking like matchsticks and toss them in just about anything.
• Peanut lime dressing: Taken from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Appetite for Reduction, this dressing is basic but heavenly. Lots of store-bought dressings are loaded with tons of unnecessary shenanigans, so I try to whip up my own whenever a recipe calls for it. I normally use this one with Moskowitz' Pad Thai Salad (SO GOOD!), but I happened to have some of this sitting in my fridge nearing the end of its prime. Turns out, it serves as a perfect binding ingredient for all of the other parts of the bowl. Super simple: ¼ cup peanuts, ¼ cup lime juice, ½ cup water, 2 tbl agave, 2 tbl soy sauce, and 1 tbl chili-garlic sauce. Throw it all in a blender and buzz away! It's a super light, thin dressing, but I much prefer that to thick globs of dressing.

Load up a bowl with your grains, your greens, and your 'teins (protein. Duh.) and drizzle some dressing over the whole thing. A little goes a long way in this case. And there you have a super green, healthy, and absolutely delicious meal that fills you up and leaves you feeling good afterwards. Win win!

xoxoxo

I'm Aliiiiiiive!

I'm baaaaaack!

It's been a long week. A week filled with a ton of the following: peppermint tea with lemon juice and agave, popsicles, chocolate chip pancakes, and green smoothies. I've been kicked in the ass by a brutal virus since late last week, and I'm finally turning the corner. You know what sucks? Having a crazy sore throat, earaches, and headaches ON TOP OF a painful crick in my neck. Needless to say this left me eating some pretty uninspired meals.

Today I celebrated my renewed health with some kick ass food. I went back to The Cinnamon Snail. 

YAYYYYYYY!

This time I made good on my promise to try some of their savory menu items. I chose the lemongrass seitan sandwich, but I'm sure I could have selected anything and I would have been happy. This grilled baguette had deliciously spiced seitan, curried cashews, spicy wasabi mayo, arugula, and chili sauce, and I devoured it as soon as I came home. The cashews added a slight crunch and the wasabi mayo gave it a kick that helped clear out my sinuses. I've been cooking a lot of tofu lately so it's been a while since I've had seitan, and The Cinnamon Snail definitely did not disappoint. I'm glad that I ate my sandwich in the comfort of my own home because the chili sauce dribbled down all over my face and I know that I probably looked crazy and food-obsessed. But it was goooood.

I didn't go wild with the sweets this time, but I couldn't walk away from the truck and NOT get dessert. The donuts just stared at me! So I got another maple glazed coconut donut and it was just as good the second time around. I don't know about you guys but whenever I'm sick I just crave sugar, and no matter how hard I try to subsist on kale, sprouts, and tofu, my sweet tooth takes over my ailing body and demands that I eat an insane amount of pancakes and the wonder/horror that is the single-serve-chocolate-cake-in-a-mug phenomena. Now all that's left of my virus is a tired spirit, a slight cough, and a raspy voice that I'm trying to tell myself is sexy. It's really not.

Thanks Cinnamon Snail for welcoming me back to the land of the living! xoxoxo