Chocolate & Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Pecan Bars (and the Plentils Giveaway Winner!)

Happy 4th of July, friends!!

Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. :)

Although it's probably too late for you to make these bars for the 4th, I would highly recommend that you make them soon... Perhaps for the next summer bbq you attend or the next group gathering you head to? I assure you that these will be a hit!!!

The recipe is adapted from Bakeaholic Mama's recipe for Brown Butter Oatmeal Pecan and Chocolate Chip Bars. A wonderful recipe! I followed the recipe pretty closely for the most part. I just decided to add some cinnamon chips in place of some of the chocolate chips. And I also omitted the ginger that's in the original recipe. Other than that, the recipe below is pretty much the same!

Ingredients:

-1 cup butter

-1 cup sugar

-1 cup dark brown sugar

-2 eggs

-1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

-2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 and 1/2 cups regular oats

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1 Tbsp. cinnamon

-1 tsp. ground nutmeg

-1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

-3/4 cup cinnamon chips

-approx. 3/4 to 1 cup pecan halves

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the butter. Brown slightly, until it starts to have a nutty, toffee smell. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside. In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, cream the eggs, sugar, and dark brown sugar together. Add in the vanilla, and slowly pour in the melted butter. Gradually mix in the mixture of dry ingredients until well-incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and cinnamon chips.

Grease a 13 x 9 pan. Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Press the pecan halves on the top of the dough. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 30 bars.

I reeeeally liked these bars! And they were quite the hit among the friends with whom I shared them. They had a very prominent cinnamon flavor to them. And they're incredibly moist and full of flavor too. There's pretty much nothing not to love about them. ;)

I actually don't often make treats that involve nuts, but the pecans were a great addition to these! I loved the way they were simply pressed into the top of the bars. They added a nice, slightly crunchy texture.

Seriously good.

And now, time to announce the winner of the Enjoy Life Plentils giveaway! Using random.org, the winner is Marcia! To answer the question of which flavor she thought she'd like best, Marcia answered: "I've never heard of Plentils. What an exciting discovery. I was going to go with the Margherita Pizza as my fav but then I got to the bottom of the blog and saw the Dill & Sour Cream and think I have to go with that!"

Congrats, Marcia! I'll contact you so you can choose your two delicious bags of Plentils. Woohoo!! :)

Oh, and friends? Don't forget about these chocolate and cinnamon chip oatmeal pecan bars... You'll want them as a part of your life. I promise.

Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

Hi everyone! Hope you all had an awesome weekend. It was another hot one in New England!!

Just want to remind you one last time...be sure to enter my fun Plentils giveaway on the blog! You're welcome to leave a comment and be eligible to enter the giveaway until 11:59 PM EST tonight, July 2nd. So head on over and leave a comment for your chance to win!

And now let's talk pancakes!! And more specifically, oatmeal banana pancakes. Pancakes aren't necessarily thought of as a super healthy breakfast, but this variation is definitely better for you than the "traditional" pancake. It's a wonderful weekend breakfast idea when you might have a little more time on your hands to put them together!

The recipe is adapted from a Taste of Home cookbook that I have. I'm actually going to list the original ingredients and the ingredients I used when I made these. The changes I made included adding cinnamon, substituting yogurt for buttermilk (simply because I didn't have buttermilk on hand), adding double the amount of vegetable oil, and adding a mashed banana...and that last addition is why I call them oatmeal banana pancakes. ;) The original recipe is for oatmeal pancakes, sans the banana.

Original recipe ingredients:

-1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. quick oats

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 egg

-2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

-1 cup buttermilk

In a small bowl, combine the oats, flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In another small bowl, beat the egg, oil, and buttermilk. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour batter by 1/3 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until the second side is golden brown. Makes 10 pancakes.

Barbershop recipe ingredients:

-1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. quick oats

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3/4 tsp. cinnamon

-1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 egg

-one 6-oz. container vanilla yogurt (fat free)

-3 - 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

-1 mashed, ripe banana (medium)

In a small bowl, combine the oats, flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. In another small bowl, beat the egg, yogurt, oil, and mashed banana. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour batter by 1/3 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until the second side is golden brown. Makes 10 pancakes.

'

You've probably noticed that these pancakes aren't exactly light n' fluffy! They're definitely a heartier, thicker pancake. And I looooved 'em! The texture was actually a really nice change from the more traditional fluffy pancake. And they filled you right up too! I ate three pancakes, topped with some sliced strawberries and bananas and a drizzle of maple syrup, and I was super full. A breakfast that's filling, healthy, and delicious? Perfection.

The pancakes look like they might be burnt, but I assure you that they weren't. That color is just a nice, golden brown. ;)

I don't think I mentioned that these pancakes were also very moist. Another one of their great qualities!

So. Good.

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start today!

Strawberry Peach Honey Yogurt Pops

Before we get too far, have you entered my giveaway yet?! If not, be sure to head on over to my last post to enter...it'll only take a minute and you'll have a chance to win a super fun product from Enjoy Life Foods. ;)

K, now down to business.

I'm pretty much on a frozen dessert kick. I haven't baked in two whole weeks (who am I???). Part of that is because I've just been waaaay too busy and haven't had much time to spend in the kitchen. But the other part of that is that summer has arrived and it's been HOT in Boston! Summer + heat = frozen desserts. Clearly. :)

I saw these honey yogurt pops on Pinterest a few weeks ago and knew that at some point I wanted to give them a try. I didn't end up planning when I'd make them; it just happened somewhat serendipitously. I realized one day that I had all the ingredients to make them, along with a few minutes of "free" time, so I got to work on 'em! They really took no time at all (the freezing part is the longest portion of this recipe!).

The recipe is adapted from Joylicious. The original recipe is for honey yogurt berry pops, and it calls for a mixture of different berries. I had peaches and strawberries on hand, so that's what I used! Deeelicious and so refreshing!!

Ingredients:

-2 cups Greek yogurt (as you can see, I used Cabot's vanilla bean low fat flavor)

-1/2 cup honey

-1 cup mixed berries or mixed fruit (I used peaches and strawberries)

Instructions:

Mix together the yogurt and honey in a large bowl. Fold in your choice of fruit. Transfer this mixture into a container with a spout so you can pour it into your molds (or, you can use a spoon to spoon it into the molds). Fill your popsicle molds almost to the top, and freeze 3 hours or overnight. Remove pops according to package directions before eating (often, this involves running the molds under warm water for a couple minutes). This recipe made 8 popsicles for me.

Enjoy and feel refreshed!!!

I loooved the flavor of these pops. It was wonderful! And the peaches and strawberry combination was perfect. Such a wonderful summer treat! And rather healthy in the grand scheme of things too. :)

Mmmmm....

Perfect for those warm summer days we've been having!

What are some of your favorite popsicle flavors, homemade or store bought??!

Hope everyone's having a great week! :) 

Enjoy Life Plentils Product Review and a Giveaway!!

Hey friends! It's been several days since I've posted. Sorry about that! Life's kept me pretty busy lately. But don't you worry; I've got a fun product review and a GIVEAWAY for you today! Woohoo!

Who doesn't love packages at their doorstep? And better yet, who doesn't love packages filled with FOOD at their doorstep?!

I am a very lucky gal because I was recently able to sample yet another great product from Enjoy Life Foods....their Plentils. These chips are made from lentils, not potatoes. How cool is that?!? Such a unique product!

I love the added health benefit that comes with these chips being made from lentils. You probably already know that lentils are pretty darn good for you! They're one of the best sources of plant-based protein (and have many other great nutritional qualities). And this particular product has 40% less fat than the leading potato chip. Aaaaand, each of the four different flavors only has a mere 130 calories per serving. Nice!

Upon opening this fun package, I decided to dig right into the Garlic and Parmesan flavor. YUM! I was so pleasantly surprised by both the taste and texture of these chips. Both are awesome! The chips are packed with flavor and nice n' crunchy too.

The next day I enjoyed some more Garlic and Parmesan chips along side my salad for lunch at work. They were the perfect accompaniment to my bowl of greens and veggies. 

The next flavor I decided to dig into was the Margherita Pizza. Another deeelicious flavor! Loved 'em.

As always, these Plentils are like other Enjoy Life products; they're free of the eight most common allergens (wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish, and shellfish). You may remember this from my other Enjoy Life product reviews on the blog (Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks, Double Chocolate Crunch Granola, Not Nuts! Seed & Fruit Mix, and Crunchy Cookies). I am continually impressed by how delicious Enjoy Life makes these allergen-free foods!!

Now, I also tried the Light Sea Salt flavor, but somehow I didn't take any pictures of this flavor! It actually ended up being my favorite flavor so I must have just eaten the chips too quickly to snap a photo. Oops! Actually, I have to say that I did not eat the entire bag of sea salt chips by myself (although I think I could have!). I brought that bag into work and shared it with several coworkers. And they all loved 'em too!!

And finally, the Dill & Sour Cream flavor was also fantastic. If you're a potato chip fan, you really need to give Plentils a try. You won't miss the potatoes; I promise!! Thank you so much to Enjoy Life for sharing yet another great product with me.

Now, onto the fun part...the GIVEAWAY! One lucky reader will be able to win two bags of Plentils. And the winner can choose which two flavors too! Fun, right?! Thought so!

To be eligible for this giveaway, simply leave a comment on this blog post and tell me which flavor you think you'd like best! Remember that you can choose from Dill & Sour Cream, Light Sea Salt, Garlic & Parmesan, and Margherita Pizza.

The giveaway will be open until Monday, July 2nd at 11:59 PM EST. I will choose one winner on July 3rd and will email the winner to notify you and let you choose your two winning flavors. U.S. mailing addresses only, please.

Ready? Set. Go!

Leave a comment and let me know which flavor of Plentils you think you'd like best!

:)

Dark Chocolate Chip Brownies

Remember last week when I shared that deeelicious recipe for homemade chocolate oreo ice cream? Well, this post is all about the perfect item to pair with that ice cream. Today I have for you a super easy recipe for dark chocolate chip brownies. If you don't agree that brownies and ice cream go together, well then...you might want to switch to reading a different blog. ;)

Haha, just kidding!! Stay here. But honestly, who doesn't love brownies and ice cream together?!?

As I mentioned in my post about the ice cream recipe last week, I had plans to make the ice cream two weekends in a row. And that I did. I made the chocolate oreo ice cream for dessert when Mike and I celebrated his birthday (happy belated b'day, Mike! :)) and Father's Day together with his parents this past weekend. To go with the ice cream, I made these brownies. Talk about a classic pairing!

This brownie recipe is a slight variation on the "best brownies" that I've previously posted on the blog. If you've ever looked for an easy, yet delicious, from scratch brownie recipe, look no further. The basic recipe for these is great! It's my go-to brownie recipe when I need to make a batch in a flash. What I love about this recipe is that it's a one dish, no fuss recipe. You don't even need an electric mixer. There is honestly nothing not to love about this recipe!

The ingredients below are specific to this variation of dark chocolate chip brownies.

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

-3 large eggs

-1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

-1 cup granulated sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1/4 tsp. baking soda

-1 and 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 13 x 9 baking pan. Melt the stick of butter and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a heavy duty, medium-large saucepan (I used a 2-quart pan) over low heat. Stir until smooth.

Remove pan from heat, and let sit for a couple minutes. Add the eggs to the pan and stir. Next, stir in the flour, sugar, vanilla, and baking soda until smooth. Stir in the 1 and 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares. Makes 24 - 30 brownies, depending on the size you cut them.

The inside of these brownies was moist and dense. Perfection, in my mind!

You know, you could easily make these brownies into "dark dark" chocolate chip brownies by substituting 1 cup of dark chocolate chips for the semi-sweet chips. I'm a huge fan of dark chocolate, so I may just have to do that next time!

And as I said, we enjoyed the brownies with some homemade chocolate oreo ice cream served over top.

What's not to love about this?!

Exactly.

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Hope you're all staying cool in the heat this week! ;)