Dark Chocolate Nut Butter Rice Crispy Treats--

I was actually an adult before I had a rice crispy treat. My mother was a lentil bean feeding hippie throw back when I was little. We did not have a lot of the junk food treats like Twinkies, ho hos or rice crispy treats. Different world out there today, less people prepare their kids snacks and more people purchase fast food. When I pack my kids lunches I always wonder if they will be looking over at what the other kids are eating and wish they could have it, too. I know I did, no one when they are little likes to be left out. Though--a lot of school peers loved to trade some of their food for my mothers Zucchini muffins--bonus for me!

Anyway, school is about to begin here in NH and with the foods schools are offering I try to make sure I have a variety of healthier choices at home to be packed into the lunch pail. This week we tried out some gluten free organic rice cakes. Now, I will admit just because it is organic does not make it healthy for the body. What it does do though is provide a better advantage to the body in processing the foods and allocating the nutrients to where they belong. our body is not looking at the artificially created food product and wondering just what the heck it should do with it. So--this is a good reason to even make treats organic. In this recipe we include the fats of peanut butter to fill the child up longer and of course help they remain focused at school. Slow down that food fuse to allow for a nice burn rather than an energy surge and a crash of fatigue 60 minutes after snack. I also used brown puffed rice cereal since it is gluten free and has more fiber.

Puffed Rice Bars
serves 16
3 cups Organic Puffed Rice Cereal
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
8 marshmallows OR 1/4 cup Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 cup raisins
1 ounce dark chocolate

Combined peanut butter and marshmallows and heat in a microwave for 2 minutes. Stir the mixture until smooth--you want to make sure the marshmallow has melted and melded with the peanut butter. Then add in the puffed rice and raisins--blending so the cereal is coated. When I did this it did not look at all like it would form bars, it looked like the cereal was barely coated at all but when you press this into your pan it will stick wonderfully--trust me!
So--press firmly into a pie plate or a 9x9 baking dish. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and spread evenly on top of the newly created treat and cut into even pieces before the chocolate cools. I made palm sized pieces, or 1.5"x1.5" which ended up being about 100 calories each.
My kids devoured these....DEVOURED--so I plan on making them on Sundays and quickly putting them into containers for the lunch bags so they won't be gone by Monday.

Per Serving
Calories- 98
Fat- 4 grams
Carbohydrates- 13 grams
Protein- 3 grams

Um, yeah this is cake and I am on a diet--do you have any carrot sticks?

So many people love chocolate cake to a level some may deem--unnatural--comfort food, libido enhancer, symbol of love and affection etc. Chocolate cake--just those words can send a dieter into thoughts of cheating and remorse. You can also find numerous "healthy" versions of chocolate cake on many recipe sites. Recently I was surfing the web and found a recipe that looked decent enough for me to try and prepare for my family. It had real chocolate, real sugar and such a wonderful blend of espresso with it that I had to try it out. Well, I was rewarded with the same let down many of the dieters of the world have shared when trying out a recipe which has removed the love from the food. I mean, eating a healthy chocolate cake still has to have the same sensuous experience to it or what would be the point? We already know where the carrot sticks are in the fridge, right? Why do we want a "carrot stick" version of a lusted after comfort food like cake? We don't. So--I modified the recipe with so much success I would like to report this as " A chocolate cake your husband would even request you make. Your kids won't even know and they will be licking the frosting off the plates and begging you for just one more piece!" The average slice of a frosted piece of chocolate cake has over 600 calories. The same size portion of this rich cake is less than half of those calories! (Yeah, that means you can have 2 pieces!) Yes, we even included the gluten free recipe alterations!











Rich Mocha Cake with Creamy Cheesecake Frosting
Serves 12

Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour (sub in rice flour for gluten free)
1/2 cup pastry flour (sub in coconut flour for gluten free)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients:
2 Whole eggs
2 Egg whites
2 tbs melted butter
1 tbs canola oil
1 1/2 cups non-fat Vanilla yogurt
1 tbs espresso powder melted in 2 tbs hot water
2 Oz. dark chocolate melted
1/3 cup Agave syrup

Heat over to 350 degrees and spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Combined dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl whip eggs, whites, butter, oil, vanilla and syrup on medium speed. Add in the yogurt and espresso to the wet mixture blend thoroughly. Slowly add in melted chocolate until fully incorporated. Begin adding the dry mix 1/2 cup at a time while blending on medium speed. Pour blended batter into the greased cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow cake to fully cool before frosting.

Cheesecake Frosting

1 package low fat cream cheese at room temp.
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients and whip on medium high speed until the rich frosting texture is accomplished. Frost this bad boy and serve it up!

Calories per serving: 255
Carbohydrates- 33 grams
Fats- 9 grams
Protein- 6 grams

Gluten Free Blueberry Sponge Coffee Cake

Wow--another gluten free recipe! This was also another hit with the family and made the entire house smell like warm cinnamon happiness--we like that!

First let's cover the gluten free flour recipe that was given to my by my cousin Anne who suffers from Celiac's disease as well as a self proclaimed "Foodie" If you read Squeaky Gourmet's blog or own our cookbook, rest assured you are also a "Foodie".

Gluten Free Flour
2 Cups rice flour (brown or white rice)
2/3 cups Potato Starch
1/3 Cup Tapioca Starch
2 tsp Xanthan Gum

Sift together and store in an air tight container. Now when a recipe calls for flour, you can use this for the gluten free version of that recipe.

Blueberry Sponge Coffee Cake
Serves 12
2 cups Gluten free flour mix
4 large eggs
1/3 cup warm water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbs honey
2 cups frozen unsweetened blueberries
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 teaspoon liquid Stevia

Topping:
1 tbls cinnamon
2 tbls Sucanat

Preheat oven to 350 degree. In a stand mixer add the eggs and whip until thick and pale yellow. Mix the warm water with the honey and then add to the eggs. Add in the vanilla, stevia and almond extract to the egg mixture continuing to mix on medium speed. Add flour and fully blend. Fold in the blueberries.

Place in a lightly buttered glass pie plate. Sprinkle topping over entire batter and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Calories per Serving-190
Carbohydrates- 38 grams
Fats- 2 grams
Protein- 4 grams