Apple Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Along with the rest of the country, I’ve been in pumpkin mode recently! A couple of nights ago, I was looking for healthy (well, healthier) pumpkin bread recipes and came across this one from Cooking Light!

I made several tweaks either (a) to make it healthier or (2) because I didn’t have the ingredient it called for. Here’s my revision, and I must tell ya… I was pretty excited with how it turned out! My subs are in maroon (go dawgs!) so you can see what all I changed!

>> WHAT YOU’LL NEED <<

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup chopped almonds
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Bread:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw
1/2 cup finely chopped apple
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup 0% Fage Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Cooking spray

>> WHAT YOU’LL DO <<

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare topping, combine first 4 ingredients until crumbly. Set the mixture aside.

To prepare bread, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 7 ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine the pumpkin and next 5 ingredients (pumpkin through eggs) in a bowl; add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

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Enjoy, and let me know what you think! I hope to get to make this again this week (since the first loaf has already disappeared!) 🙂

Have a great day!!

Banana Nut Freeze

Raise your hand if you love bananas!

Raise your hand if you can’t always seem to eat them quickly enough and have to end up freezing the last one of every bunch!

Cool– we are so much alike! And I have a great way to use those frozen bananas that might be piling up in your freezer!

I like to call this little frozen treat BANANA NUT FREEZE. It’s really healthy, INCREDIBLY delicious (but what with bananas isn’t delish?), and makes you feel like you’re eating ice cream!

BANANA NUT FREEZE
(This makes one larger serving or two smaller servings)

>> WHAT YOU’LL NEED <<

1 frozen banana
5 to 10 whole raw almonds (or more if you wish!)
3 TBL PB2 peanut butter protein powder
1 TBL honey
1/4 TSP vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain or vanilla unsweetened almond milk
10 to 12 ice cubes

>> WHAT YOU’LL DO <<

Throw all of these ingredients into a blender or food processor and mix them up real thoroughly! Then pour into your serving dish and enjoy immediately!

I really hope you enjoy!

(And if you like this recipe – or like the way it sounds – then you may also find THIS ONE to be a winner! Still one of my late-night sweet-craving satisfiers!)

Peanut Butter Mocha Protein Smoothie

What’s up y’all?

Happy happy Friday!!

I don’t know about y’all, but there are many days when I feel like I could use an extra boost. Extra caffeine, extra protein, extra dose of healthy… The list could go on and on!

For days like that, I’ve come up with a smoothie recipe that I’m sort of addicted to right now… I think I’ve had one every day this week, actually!!

>> What you’ll need <<

1 serving instant coffee (I like Starbucks Via)
4 packets of stevia
2 TBL cocoa powder
2 TBL peanut butter protein (I like PB2)
1/4 TSP vanilla extract
1/2 cup 0% Greek yogurt (I like Fage)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup ice

>> What you’ll do <<

Stick all of this in a blender and mix until smooth. Pour into your glass and ENJOY!

The finished product has about 160 calories and 18 grams of protein! Score!

I hope you like this as much as I do! If you try it and add any variations, I’d love to hear! Thanks for stopping by today and have an AWESOME weekend!!!

Little Baby Quiches!

It’s been a minute since I shared a recipe, so today I thought I’d share with you a Donahoo household staple! I’ve been making variations of this recipe regularly for probably 2 years now, and it’s one of my faves! Price loves it too!

It’s for crustless (in a way… turkey bacon ends up being the crust!) quiches in individual muffin-sized servings! They’re pretty easy, pretty clean (as far as processed ingredients go), low carb, and super good for you! They’re also VERY easy to vary up… There’s no hard and fast rule for what all you can put in these babies… I’ve varied them up 100 times! I’ll give you a pretty basic recipe (which still tastes awesome in my opinion!) then you can take it from that point and get creative! 🙂

>>> WHAT YOU’LL NEED <<<

12 strips turkey bacon
8 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbl. olive oil
1/2 small yellow onion, diced (frozen diced onions also work!)
3/4 cup chopped fresh spinach
2 cloves minced garlic
5 (or so) slices of deli turkey meat, cut up into small pieces
3/4 cup shredded cheese (any kind works, but I used low fat mozz)
3 large basil leaves, cut up. (dried basil works fine, too!)

>>> WHAT YOU’LL DO <<<

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray.

3. Line each tin with a strip of turkey bacon, which will end up looking something like this:

4. Beat the 8 eggs together in a bowl or large measuring cup, then add salt and pepper to the eggs. Set aside.

5. Mix the onion, spinach, garlic, chopped turkey, cheese, and basil in a bowl until it looks sort of salad-esque. Like this!

6. Take the salad-looking mixture and divide it evenly between the 12 tins, like so:

7. Then, pour the egg mixture evenly amongst the 12 tins. I might recommend doing just a little in each tin then going back and filling in the skimpy cups. I tend to always run out of this sooner than I think I will!

8. Stick the pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until you see the slightest bit of browning on the tops of the quiches! Once done, remove and allow to cool.

9. Once cooled enough to handle, try one! See how ya like it! I hope you love it! 🙂

Like I mentioned earlier, these are easy and fun to vary up each time you make them! I’ve chopped up sun-dried tomatoes (and even regular tomatoes!) and added them in, used rosemary instead of basil, used ham instead of turkey, used Tony’s or Ranch seasoning in addition to salt and pepper… There are a million ways you can make these your own! 🙂

We usually eat a couple of these for breakfast, or take them as a snack for before or after lunch. They’re easy to pop in the microwave and heat up real fast! And they store beautifully for a few days in a freezer bag in the fridge. They usually don’t last more than 3 or 4 days at our house, though! 🙂

If you try this out, please come back and let me know what you think! I really hope you like it!! And I REALLY hope you have a GREAT weekend! 🙂 XO!

Carrot – Grapefruit – Mango Smoothie

I stumbled across a wonderful recipe via Pinterest the other day that I’ve already enjoyed twice since Monday! It’s from a blog called Katie at the Kitchen Door and it’s for a Carrot-Grapefruit-Mango Smoothie!

The color was what initially drew me to it. Then when I saw the list of ingredients, my hunch that the recipe was healthy was confirmed!  The only ingredients are carrots, mango, and grapefruit, plus a little water, ice, and optional sweetener (which I did add. Two pinches of stevia to be exact!)

 Check out the full recipe here so you can be sure to get your proportions right! Hope you love it as much as I do! It’s PERFECT for this time of year and might be even more perfect as those temps keep rising!

Drink up!

Almond Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Over the weekend, I had a hankering for something sweet. (What else is new?) I wanted to make something that I could enjoy without feeling too bad about it, so of course I went to my favorite recipe source — Pinterest! — and searched healthy cookie recipes! I stumbled up on this one by The Minimalist Baker that looked and sounded awesome! As I was reading through the ingredients, I saw a thing or two I wanted to change/add, so I did, and I love how they turned out! (Even Price liked them! This is rare when it comes to my healthy baking.)

WARNING: There is a little block of time where you have to chill the dough, so beware! These aren’t your regular mix, bake, eat cookies! That extra waiting step just about killed me! (This girl loves cookies and wants them as soon as she can possibly have them…)

ALMOND COCONUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(makes 18)

>> What you’ll need <<

1 1/4 cups ground almonds (which I do in the food processor until the almonds are basically a powder)
1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 cup stevia
1 egg
3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional, but why not add an extra shot of healthy to the mix!?)

>> What you’ll do <<

> In a large mixing bowl, stir together almond powder, dark chocolate chips, coconut, baking powder, salt, stevia, and chia seeds.

> In a separate bowl, beat egg until uniform in color and doubled in volume.
Whisk in the coconut oil and vanilla.

> Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix until just combined.

> Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or even overnight. (I chilled for 30 minutes.)

> Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

> Shape dough into 1-inch balls, place on baking sheet with 1-1/2 inch space in between each. Press down slightly with a spatula to flatten a bit.

> Bake for 7 to 8 minutes then use a spatula to press down the tops again.

> Bake two additional minutes until tops start browning.

> Remove from oven and let cool at least 5 minutes before serving.

> ENJOY!

If you try these and make any modifications, come back and tell me! I’ll definitely be making these again, and would love to try them out with your little twist! 🙂

Have a great day!

Tastes Like A Reese’s…

A couple of weeks ago, I shared one of our favorite healthy recipes that we grew to love during January Health Month. I had a couple of people ask if I had any other desserty recipes that tasted great but were super healthy and I DO!!

This recipe is for a little milkshake-esque treat that tastes like a Reese’s shake but has under 100 calories!! It’s got protein, no sugar, no dairy, lots of antioxidants and, most importantly, LOTS of FLAVOR!

AND. It’s really simple!

>>> WHAT YOU’LL NEED <<<

2 tablespoons PB2 Peanut Powder
1/2 tablespoon Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 packets of Stevia
1 cup of Unsweetened Almond Milk (It can be plain or vanilla… Just make sure it’s the kind with only 30 calories per cup!)
8-10 Ice Cubes

>>> WHAT YOU’LL DO <<<

Combine all ingredients into a blender and mix! Pour into a glass and enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! It really is so good!! And I believe the total calorie count is only 80. Doesn’t get much better than a rich tasting dessert for only 80 c’s if you ask me! 🙂 Even the hubby would agree!

Clean & Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Around our house this month, we’re all about healthy. We’ve actually teamed up with my brother and his wife Katie and have started January Health Month. We’re all trying to lose a few pounds and inches while getting healthy.

We’re working out consistently. Trying to limit processed carbs. Eating as few desserts as possible. Cutting back on alcoholic drinks. Drinking more water. And WISHING we could eat bad food!

Yes. Health Month is in full force!

To add more variety to what we can eat without feeling bad about ourselves, we’ve been forced to get creative. And this Paleo Pumpkin Recipe is one of our FAVES! We feel like we are eating something sweet and bad for you, but it’s really 100% healthy!

This lovely recipe is a hybrid of 2 or 3 I’ve found, adapted to make it super healthy!

PALEO PUMPKIN MUFFINS
( makes 12 )

>> What you’ll need <<

1 1/4 cups of ground almonds (which I do in the food processor until the almonds are basically a powder)
1 15 oz. can of 100% pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
3 tbl. stevia
1 tbl. honey

>> What you’ll do <<

– Preheat the oven to 350.
– Grease muffin tins with non-stick spray.
– Use electric mixer to combine all ingredients.
– Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin tins.
– Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
– ENJOY!

These things are SO good warm out of the oven with a little Smart Balance spread on them… They’re also good just at room temp in the middle of the work day! 🙂 YUMMO!!

Hope you have a great day!!! Thanks for stopping by!

Savory Green + Protein { Smoothie Recipe }

I’ve made this smoothie a couple of times over the course of the past few weeks and I LOVE it!! It’s really different… Not your typical smoothie… But if you like drinks in the V8/Bloody Mary category, then there’s a good chance you’ll like this savory green veggie smoothie!

It’s loaded with vegetables and protein, so it’s super healthy. I’ve let it serve as lunch before, by itself!

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 – 3 whole tomatoes (I use 3 medium heirloom tomatoes)
3 cups of raw spinach
1 cup plain greek yogurt
2/3 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
1 stalk rosemary, de-stemmed
5-7 basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s seasoning
2 pinches salt
2 pinches red pepper
1/2 – 1 cup of ice cubes

Here’s what you’ll do:

Place all ingredients in a blender and mix it all together! Easy! This makes one pretty big serving, or two smaller, more socially acceptable sized portions.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you give this a go, and how you like it!!

Fall Isn’t Far { Guest Post }

Hey y’all! So how busy have you guys been lately? ‘Cause my life has been so hectic I hardly know what day it is.

I’m writing for Laurel this morning in the dark, at 6:15 AM. The air here in Virginia is so chilly for an August morning (66 degrees) that I feel the urge to start wearing a jacket to work. I can sense fall coming, and I’m so excited.

I did a post on my blog recently. A sort of lookbook for fall staples I think every girl needs in her closet to prepare for the cooler weather. And since writing that – and especially with our Hampton Roads temperatures dropping daily – I’ve been thinking about everything else I can’t wait for with the upcoming months. And this will probably help you get to know me a bit better. Fall is my favorite season because I get to do all the things I love with all my heart.

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Probably my biggest thing is coffee. If you follow my blog, Coffee Rings & Southern Things, you know I love my coffee (obviously). In the summer, it’s just too dang hot to enjoy it outside. I love sitting on the porch in the wee hours of morning, watching the sky turn pink, with a delectable cup of brew warming my hands. Obviously I’m a morning person, as I’m sitting here so early typing this. But there’s nothing that goes more perfectly with morning time than a cup of delicious coffee. Or eight.

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I can’t wait to go to Colonial Williamsburg and stroll around, just to take it all in. The leaves changing and the feel of cooler air. The smell of fires burning throughout the town. The people, dressed in costume to give that Colonial vibe. The men, tipping their hats at me when I walk by, as if I’m some sort of lady or something. It’s all so beautiful to me. I mean, you’d have to visit Virginia in the fall to know what I’m talking about. But it’s definitely one thing I’m going to miss when I move with DJ to Mississippi.

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One thing I always look forward to is the Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes. There’s just something so perfect about them. It’s not fall until I’ve had one, so move aside, y’all. I gotta get me one, pronto! But it’s not even just coffee. I’m also kind of a beer snob, so every year, my go-to is Sam Adams Octoberfest. It’s just that pumpkin and spice thing that means it’s fall. I love it.

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For our anniversary, DJ and I had talked about going to Gatlinburg, TN. It’s the halfway point between his hometown in Mississippi and us up here in Virginia, and it’s about an 8-hour drive. Not too bad, considering we can stay in the beautiful mountains and relax. But we never made it. Money has been tight lately and we just couldn’t go. We ended up camping down the street from us in Newport News instead. But Gatlinburg looks so gorgeous for fall. Hopefully we’ll get down there before we move to Mississippi next year. Or maybe we’ll hang out there for a bit on our way down.

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I love cooking. And I love eating healthy. I was originally going to do a health-related post for y’all today but I got sidetracked, obviously. I blame it on the ADD. But this butternut squash soup looks delicious. If you search Pinterest for “Fall Cooking,” you get a lot of cool results for special recipes that work great for the upcoming season. Soups are probably my favorite go-to in the fall.

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Still on the subject of cooking, I found this idea on Pinterest when I searched for recipes and I think it’s a great idea. In an ice cube tray, freeze red wine for cooking when needed. I love cooking with wines because they add such great flavor to a dish. And this is great too, because I won’t have to keep a whole bottle of wine in my fridge for those moments. Rather, I can keep a bottle of white for me to drink while I’m cooking. Ha!

So do you love fall like I do? What excites you the most about it?

Until next time, be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and on my blog, of course,Coffee Rings & Southern Things!