We used another VitaMix from Vitalicious. This time the BlueBran. Alone it’s good but not my favorite. It’s super sweet with a very bran texture which is fine but I thought adding a little chocolate would make it even better. I’m happy to say I was right. ;)

The toddler and I have been snacking on these for a few days. The size is right, the cocoa powder balances the sweetness and the additional blueberries and chocolate chips give you a surprise in every bite.

You do need the mix for this recipe and you can purchase it online by clicking here. Be sure to use my Roni’sWeigh code for 10% off anything in the Vitalicious online store.

Here’s what little guy and I did…

• 3 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 box of BlueBran VitaMix (Muffin Mix)
• 4 tbsp Dark Chocolate Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (20g)
• 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries (70g)
• 2 tbsp mini chocolate chips (28g)

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Line a standard 12 cup muffin pan with baking cups.

Whisk together the egg white and water until frothy.

Add the Mix, cocoa powder, chips and blueberries to the egg whites and mix well.

Scoop about 3 tablespoons of batter into each baking cup.

Bake for 23-27 minutes until firm.

Disclosure: Vitalicious is a paying sponsor of Roni’s Weigh. They do send me free products from time to time but the opinions expressed in the post, as always, are my own. I am a fan of their mixes because they are one of the few I can find that are made with whole grains.

Sorry, I’m a little excited. I whipped up this chocolate dipping sauce as an experiment for my waffles this morning and it came out better then I expected. It will be awesome as a dip for strawberries. Here’s the story. . .

The little guy and I decided on waffles this morning. So I whipped up a batch of quick whole grain banana pancake mix as I had some overripe bananas on hand. We use this recipe in the waffle iron all the time. While cooking, I glanced online for other ideas to use up the rest of the brown bananas and I came across Thinking Outside the Loaf: What To Do With Overripe Bananas. They talk about melting them in the microwave. Before I even finished the article, I jumped up and made the chocolate sauce.

It wasn’t as smooth as I thought it would be but I’m thinking my banana wasn’t actually ripe enough. Either way, it was absolute chocolaty yumminess. I sat in the kitchen dipping waffle piece after waffle piece wondering why I haven’t thought of this before.

• 1 overripe banana
• 1 tsp Unsweetened Special Dark Hershey’s Cocoa
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Peel the banana and place in a microwave safe dish.

Nuke it for a minute. It will look like this.

mix it up. . .

Add the cocoa and vanilla. If it’s too thick add water at an ounce at a time. I used 1oz. Pop back into the microwave for 30 second.

Whisk to help remove any lumps then dip away! :)

The little guy wanted nothing to do with it. He enjoyed his waffled with low sugar jelly. Honestly, I didn’t force the issue as I kind of wanted it all for myself. ;~P

Here’s nutrition information for the whole batch.

I made a shake after my workout tonight and I have no problem declaring it my favorite immediately. That is how GOOD it was. However, the toddler did not agree. His exact quote was "it’s yucky." Wonder where he learned that word from. ;~)

Let me start at the beginning. If you’ve been following along I took my hand at some homemade almond milk after trying some store bought and falling in love. Then I tried it again, this time changing up my straining procedure and making some cookies in the process. Well, today, I made the milk the same exact way just adding a little bit of flavoring. Before blending the almonds I added a 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp almond extract and 1/2 tbsp of agave nectar (you could use honey). I was pleasantly surprised! The hint of flavor added was awesome! At least I thought so. The toddler didn’t agree. He prefers his almond milk straight up. That’s cool with me, next time I’ll keep it simple. :)

Ok, back to this shake! When I got home from the gym, I decided to make a quick protein shake. Here’s what I did…

• 4 oz of vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tbsp agave nectar (21g)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (5g)
• 1 scoop unflavored protein powder (I used Any Whey)
• 4-5 ice cubes

Blend everything until smooth! I used my bullet. Can’t get much simpler then that!

For me the hint of vanilla, almond, banana and chocolate was an amazing combo! The nutritional information is a little shaky as I’m not quite sure how to calculate for homemade almond milk. In my rough estimates I’m getting about 200 calories for the whole recipe, 4 WWPs.

Update 2: Homemade Almond Milk the Video!

The toddler added the sprinkles which creates a nice crunch on top. I think next time I’ll add a handful of chocolate chips for a bonus. Especially now that I calculated the nutritional information to find each muffin is less then 150 calories!

• 5oz dried prunes
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (45g)
• 1/4 cups cocoa powder (20g)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 scoop unflavored protein powder (I used 20g of 100% Any Whey)
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small sauce pan add the prunes with enough water to cover them. Boil for 5 minutes and then simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and protein powder. Set aside.

Line a 6 muffin tin with muffin liners. Spray with non-stick spray in desired. (I used aluminum liners, they didn’t stick at all!)

Drain the prunes. They should be soft. Puree them in a food processor (I used my Magic Bullet). Add the banana, vanilla, and molasses, blend until smooth.

Pour the prune mixture in a bowl. Whisk in the egg. Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just combined. If you are adding any chips, do it now.

Divide the batter into the 6 muffin tins and bake for about 17 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Nutritional Information is just the batter, no sprinkles or chips as I would make them plain for myself but they make a great starting point to let the kids have a little fun. I don’t mind adding sprinkles or chocolate chips to a whole grain muffin base with no added sugar. :~)

As for the corn muffin topping I used the Golden Corn VitaMix Corn muffin mix from Vitalicious. They send me products from time to time to try and review. This is one of my favorite VitaTops and the mix is just as good. I guess you can call this my "semi-homemade" idea. Of course you can make your own topping or use a different mix but the nutritional information may be different. Note: Vitalicious is a sponsor of my weight loss blog, Roni’s Weigh. If you want to try their products be sure to use RonisWeigh in the promo code field for 10% your order.

• 1 medium sweet onion chopped
• 8 oz lean ground turkey raw (99% lean the best)
• 1 jalapeno pepper diced small
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp dried cilantro
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 large green pepper chopped
• 1 large red pepper chopped
• 1 medium sized zucchini chopped
• 1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes undrained
• 1 small can (6oz) tomato paste
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 egg whites
• 5 oz of water
• 1/2 package Golden Muffin VitaTop mix (185g of the mix)

Heat a medium-large pot over medium-high heat and spray with a bit of non-stick cooking spray. Add the onion with a bit of salt and pepper and cook until just turning transparent. Add the ground turkey and break apart while browning. Stir in the chili powder, cilantro, cumin and garlic powders. Lower the heat to medium.

While the turkey is cooking chop your veggies and add them to the pan as you finish. Once all the veggies are mixed in add the can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste and cocoa powder. Continue stirring to incorporate all the ingredients. It will be thick and may take a few minutes.

Once everything is well combined lower the heat to medium low and continue to cook uncovered for about 20 minutes.

While the chili is cooking prepare the mix. In a large bowl whisk the egg whites and water until just frothy. Weigh out half of the corn muffin mix (185g) and add it to the egg white mixture. Stir until just combined.

Pour the chili into a casserole dish, around 9×7 inches. Spread it evenly to fill the dish. Now plop the corn muffin batter on top of the chili spreading it like you would ice a cake. You should have just enough to cover the chili. Sprinkle with a bit of chili powder.

Now you can bake immediately but I actually made it ahead and baked about 2 hours later in a preheated 400 degree. Bake until the corn muffin mix is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 30 minutes.

Remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

As for the nutritional information, I’m shocked! I had to double check it as the servings are a nice size but the calories are pretty low. If anyone wants to double check the numbers I’d appreciate, I’m a bit skeptical but excited! lol

Well… I’m SO happy with the results! The toddler and I had a BLAST making them, they tasted great and they are SUPER light! Even the husband liked them and let me tell you, he’s not easy to please on the cookie front.

The thing I like most about these cookies is the versatility of the dough. It’s super easy to work with. The thinner you roll it out the crisper the cookie. Use it with cookie cutters, roll into balls and squish with a fork, even top with sprinkles (one guess who’s idea that was) :)

• 1 cup (120g) Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/4 cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp (20g) molasses
• 1 ounce fat free cream cheese
• 1 egg

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.

Melt the butter, chocolate chips and molasses over very low heat or in a double boiler. Stirring constantly.

Once the chips and butter are melted, remove from heat. Started beating the chocolate mixture on low adding the fat free cream cheese and egg. The cream cheese may seem lumpy. Beat for about 2 minute until smooth, although you will see some white specks from the cheese. Continue to beat, slowly adding the flour mixture. Once the flour is all incorporated the dough will be thick and sticking to the beater. Don’t worry it’s easy to remove.

Take half the dough and place it on parchment or wax paper (I sprayed the wax paper with a bit of spray just in case) top with another strip of paper and roll out to 1/4 inch or less. The thinner you roll the crisper the cookie will be but the harder to work with.

Once you have it rolled out, lay the dough (still in the paper) on a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer. It will be easier to work with. Repeat the rolling process with the second half of dough.

Remove the first from the freezer, peal away top wax paper and cut using your favorite cookie cutters.

Pace on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Note: Instead of rolling out you could hand roll the dough into half inch in balls and then squish with a fork, similar to peanut butter cookies.

Since it these were snow day cookies I thought I’d share some candid shots I took while waiting for the cookies to bake. :)

As for nutritional information, I was able to get 40 cookies. So I’m estimating 3 cookies a serving.

Here’s how I made the batch in the video. Remember, take the idea and run with it! :)

• 6 won ton wrappers
• 1/2 cup fat free ricotta cheese (124g)
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp stevia powder (or other sweetener to your tasting)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp almond or vanilla extract
• dusting of cocoa powder, stevia or powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the wrappers into tube shapes sealing with a bit of water. Stand them upright on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. (see video for demonstration)

Mix the ricotta cheese, stevia, cinnamon, cocoa powder.

Plop the cheese mixture in a ziplock bag, snip off the corner and fill won ton tubes.

Sprinkle with cocoa powder and stevia for effect. :)

Actually, I can’t lie. I was the one who wanted them. When I asked he said…

"I don’t like chocolate pancakes. I only like regular pancakes."

Ahhhh what does he know. He’s three. Plus he’s never even had chocolate pancakes. I made them anyway because once I got them in my head I couldn’t get them out. :)

Now, let me warn ya. My idea wasn’t to make an overly sweet cake. Actually I purposely kept them a bit bland knowing I’d be topping them. See, my theory is by not presenting overly sweet things to the toddler he won’t get that taste for it. Just like salt, if you don’t eat sweet stuff every day then when you do you really only need a little bit to satisfy the craving. It’s also like milk. When we were kids we drank whole and I remember skim being, well, yucky. Then slowly we started shifting to skim and now I think whole is gross. It’s all in what you are used to.

Sorry, I got off track didn’t I? Anyway, I am very happy with my first attempt at these. I took my old Quick Whole Grain Banana Pancakes and just modified slightly. And added a topping of course! Here’s how I made them this morning.

• 1 overripe banana
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup (75g) fat free yogurt
• 1/4 cup water
  (water and yogurt can be replaced with 1/2 cup (4oz) skim milk)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (20g)
• 1/2 cup (60g) whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat white)
• pinch of powder sugar for presentation (optional)

Mash the banana in a medium bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, yogurt, and water. Whisk until a bit frothy and smooth.

In a smaller bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder. Sift it into the banana mixture. Mix until just blended. It will be thick.

Plop with a tablespoon and smooth the batter into small cakes in a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cook about 1-2 minutes a side, bubbles will form when ready to flip.

Easy Blueberry Topping

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp stevia (or your sweetener of choice)

Place all ingredients in a small pan over medium heat. Stir frequently. once blueberries thaw and mixture gets thick add a tbsp of water. Stir to incorporate. Keep warm over low hear adding water if it gets too thick before serving.

Here’s the toddler chowing down on the cake while watching Lazy Town. He didn’t want anything to do with my topping so he ate them plain like cookies. Notice I have to now take pictures in his natural habitat as he’s not as easily amused as he once was. :)

To serve place 2-3 cakes on a small plate and top with a dollop of the blueberries. Now, I actually got 10 cakes out of the batter but I can see others getting 8. I make them quite small. So I’m basing the nutritional info on 4 servings. That would be 2 cakes each if you got 8 cakes. What you see pictured is a little less then a serving.

I can’t lie I love these cookies. I’ve made a few batches getting things just right and MAN they are awesome right out of the oven. I’m a warm cookie gal all the way. Give me a gooey chocolate cookie out of the oven and I’m in heaven and these cookies TOTALLY hit the spot.

Anyway, I was so excited about them the toddler and I made a batch for this weeks video. Baking with him is one of my absolute favorite things to do and when he’s taste testing whole wheat and oatmeal cookie dough I think it makes it all the better. :)

Here’s the video… recipe to follow…

The Recipe

• 1 cup whole wheat white flour (120g)
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa (20g)
• 1 cup old fashioned oats (80g) (ground or unground your choice)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses (20g)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 oz fat free cream cheese
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (30g)
• 1/4 cup 56g mini chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, cocoa, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Place the sugar, butter and cream cheese in a bowl and beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg beat again until blended finishing the wet ingredients.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, beating at low speed just until combined. It will be REALLY thick. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated stir in walnuts and chocolate chips as best you can.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lined with parchment paper. The dough will be sticky, try to flatten a bit as the dough will not melt as much as traditional chocolate chip cookies. Makes at least 36 cookies (3 dozen).

Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Cool for about 2 minutes before enjoying the warm cookie! :)

To make more festive or involve the kids more, add sprinkles just before baking!

I have to thank my friend Laura who suggest I freeze my brown bananas. Normally I use them for pancakes or muffins but freezing them never occurred to me. So I peeled one, wrapped it in plastic wrap and froze it. (Note to Laura: it didn’t brown!) :~)

Today I pulled it out, put it in the blender with some yogurt and chocolate. Oh My Word! DELISCIOUS!

• 1 medium frozen banana
• ½ cup plain non-fat yogurt (114g)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (5g)

Place all ingredients in the blender (an upside down one would work great). Blend until well combines and thick. It will come out a frosty-like consistency.

Be warned you will have to work it a bit. There is not that much liquid. If you are using a traditional blender, stop it every few seconds and stir to move the banana around the blades. If you are using one of those upside down blenders (like the magic bullet) give it a few good shakes during the blending. Try not to add any extra liquid it will change the thickness.

It melts fast so eat right away! I sprinkled a little cocoa powder on top for effect. :~)

I made it up yesterday being bored and stir crazy. I never realized how much I depend on the toddler to keep me going in the morning. This week without him has been rather bland. So to shake things up, I experimented in the kitchen!

I heard of people using quinoa for sweet dishes before but I’ve only tried it for dinner. Discovering it just a few months ago I love having a rice alternative. Well, now maybe I’ll have an oatmeal alternative too!

I love the texture of the dish and it’s chocolaty without being too sweet, my favorite. I’m sure you could use regular skim milk and and some chocolate syrup but I happen to have light chocolate soy milk in the fridge (another new thing for me) and it worked great!

• ¼ cup dry quinoa rinsed (66g)
• ½ cup light chocolate soy milk (4oz)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (6g)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Whisk all ingredients in a small pot over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Lower to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 12 minutes until the quinoa absorbs most of the liquid. Serve!

I garnished with mint leaves to make the picture look prettier and I loved the chocolate mint bite!

Unlike my other quick smoothie idea this one uses plain non fat yogurt instead of the flavored stuff with the artificial sweeteners. That being said, I needed to sweeten it somehow and one packet of Stevia worked perfectly!

• 1 banana peeled
• 5 frozen strawberries
• ½ cup nonfat unflavored yogurt
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1 packet of Stevia

Blend all ingredients together!

Serve!

I use a hand blender as the top down approach helps me not have to add extra liquid. If you use a traditional blender, you may have to add a splash of water or skim milk to help it along. It is super thick!

As you can see, the toddler is a HUGE fan. HUGE!