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Soft Tortilla Bowl

11 Feb

I’m a bit delayed with this one but I finally got around to trying the Soft Tortilla bowls by Old El Paso. I’ve been wanting to try them for a while now but I don’t really make tacos so couldn’t justify randomly buying them.

I figured now was as good a time as any to buy the fixings for tacos soooooo I bought the bowls. I however have yet to buy the meat…so I still haven’t made tacos. *rolls eyes*

What I did do though was re-purpose them for breakfast, cause who doesn’t like a fun breakfast?

egg-taco-bowl

Because it is me I bought the whole grain bowls, hey, it lets me pretend I am making healthier choices. Don’t judge, that’s just mean. 😉

I scrambled an egg and two egg whites, tossed in some dill because, well…because I was making the eggs for me and I like dill in my eggs…that’s about how deep I get when making choices in the kitchen lol

The bowl is supposed to go in the microwave for 10 seconds according to the package, so obviously I did that. No reason not to, right?

Once it was done in the microwave I put some shredded cheese along the bottom, put the scrambled eggs in, topped with the rest of the cheese (I used 20 grams total of cheese, and yes, I weighed it out) then just for fun topped with 1 tablespoon of salsa.

Gotta say, I was quite happy with the results. Tasty. Protein and carb and dairy and I guess even veg since I had salsa on there…all good things! And better than it being all good things, it was all tasty things. Mmm!

Only thing is those bowls are small. They are mini sized so not like I couldn’t tell from the packaging they are small lol That’ll probably be okay when I actually make them as tacos because I’ll eat two but no way I am eating enough scrambled egg to fill two of those bowls, that is just too much egg. I have an egg limit and that would take me past it lol

If I hadn’t put some cheese on the bottom of the bowl I am fairly certain the heat and moisture from the scrambled eggs would have destroyed the structural integrity of the bowl and it would have been quite the messy meal. So whatever you fill yours with, I suggest putting something as a barrier along the bottom, whether it is cheese, or lettuce, or whatever your little taste buds desire. Unless of course you want it to fall apart when you pick it up and have all your fillings spill all over your plate, and your hand, and possibly your shirt…sure hope that isn’t your favourite shirt you are wearing! 😉

I am hoping to make some bbq shredded chicken in the next day or so and try that in the bowls. Or just buy some ground meat and make taco meat, then eat taco bowls like how they are meant to be used. Ya know, like normal people…

I can’t remember how long the package said they are good for once they are opened, I do remember that they need to be put in to a container of some sort (mine are currently in a Disney tupperware – in case you were wondering) and do not need to be refrigerated which if you think about it is a bit um…concerning? I mean yeah ok, they are sorta like bread, and bread doesn’t have to be refrigerated, but these aren’t really bread, and they last longer than bread would, so what is in them that has them lasting so long? I figure I don’t reeeeeally want to know so I am ignoring that little quirk. 😉

I’d classify the tortilla bowls as a good buy. They can be used for a lot of different things, you get 8 in a package, they aren’t freakishly expensive, and they taste good. Well ok, to be fair they themselves don’t have much of a taste, they are more the vessel for your other, tastier foods, but they are perfect little vessels and do a good job, which is all I ask of them.

Oh, and just an fyi, if you are on WW, one bowl is 2 SP, so yay! for a new, point friendly food. 🙂

 

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Cat vs Cookie

9 Feb

So there I was, sitting on my living room chair with two coveted Maple Shortbread Cookies. They cost me a whopping 6SP in Weight Watchers land so a definite treat.

The cat comes to sniff the first cookie. I’m ok with this because he likes to smell all my food but never tastes it. I am torn between he is sniffing for poison and if he ever smelled some he would save me by swiping the food out of my hand OR my food is so unappealing to anyone who isn’t me even a cat won’t eat it…

Anyways!

He comes to sniff the cookie. He sniffs for longer than normal. Weird, but alright. Then all of a sudden he decides to switch from sniffing to gnawing on the cookie! Doesn’t even try licking it first! Oh no, not him, just starts gnawing on it, like he could somehow fit the whole thing in his mouth. *rolls eyes*

So, being the supportive of personal growth person that I am I broke off the section of cookie that is now quite obviously never going in to my mouth and offered it to him. He nibbled it a bit then proceeded to ignore it in favour of giving himself a bath.

Seriously? He gave up a delicious Maple Shortbread Cookie to lick his own tummy. I think we can all agree he doesn’t make the best life choices.  😉

The travesty is that I lost about 1/4 of my cookie. My planned for, points already tracked, can not replace, cookie. 😦

Such a cruel world. *big epic sigh*

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Don’t let the innocent look fool you!

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Random Dessert

28 Jan

I have noooooo idea what to call this but names don’t really matter, taste does, and it turned out surprisingly tasty. Definitely going to make it again!

Looks wise though, um, yeah, so not pretty!

banana-pancake

Take one banana, it needs to have a little brown on the peel so it is easy to mash. Mash the banana, add two eggs, mix. You’ll have a runny mix that may be slightly lumpy, depending on how well you mashed the banana so mash it well!

Pour the mixture in to a frying pan, cook, flip, cook some more.

Top with PB2 that has been mixed back to peanut butter consistency, or use almond butter, or real peanut butter, whatever takes your fancy. Actually, I might not use normal peanut butter because it is made with a decent amount of sugar and the banana makes this sweet enough as is, the PB2 is not as sweet as real peanut butter so it is a nice counter taste to the sweetness of the banana. That’s just my opinion though…

My picture shows the banana pancake (that is my working title for now) covered in PB2, I should have taken a pic of it prior to topping it, sorry ’bout that.

I maaaaaay have accidentally burnt the one side, well, maybe overcooked is a better description of what happened, but it didn’t ruin the taste so bonus! Also, it is such a runny mixture that when I flipped it well, it basically turned into a big ‘ol mess , which is why I say it isn’t a pretty dish. I think if I cook it on a lower heat so it cooks more in the middle before burning on the one side I can flip it and it just might hold its shape…maybe?

The final consistency weirdly enough reminded me vaguely of custard, despite the fact it is in pancake form, I guess because it stayed so gooey, but a good gooey, nothing gross happenin over here, I promise! The PB2 was a great topping because the banana made the pancake sweet and PB2 is sooooo not sweet, together they matched perfectly. 🙂

So yeah, healthy snack / dessert / treat…whatever you want to label it. If you wanted to make it thicker and more filling you could probably add some oats to it, or if you want only the egg and banana in it but not as runny I suppose you could use just one egg. Tweak it whatever way you want, lemme know if you try something and it makes a tasty result! Sharing is caring people! 😉

 

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Costco Toys With My Heart

27 Jan

Oh Costco, you are so mean!

A while ago I wrote how they took away Kodiak Cakes from their stores. Devastation! Horror! Tragedy!

Well happy news, they brought them back so yay! Kodiak Cakes came back in to my life and I was a happy camper.

Costco, being worse than a jilted ex who keeps popping in to your life to mess with your head, has now discontinued another staple of my food world.

Devastation! Horror! Tragedy!

Costco, what are you trying to do to me? 😦

PB2, a food you may or may not have heard of, was most affordable if bought at Costco but sadly they have removed it from their regular stock. *pout*

Guess who blew their food budget out of the water to stock up on 4 containers of the stuff? This girl!

Yes ok, it can be bought at GNC and other health nut stores but in smaller containers for more money. Uh…no thanks! Hence stocking up today, before the last store in my area ran out of the last little bit of their stock.

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In case you have no idea what PB2 is lemme give you the lowdown. It is a peanut butter alternative, a powdered peanut butter. You can either add water to the powder to bring it back to normal peanut butter consistency or add it in powdered form to smoothies, oatmeal, all sorts of things.

Some of the ways I have used it…

(1) 2Tbls PB2 mixed with 1 1/2Tbls water so it is a bit runny, like heated up peanut butter, then I dipped sliced apples in it

(2) mix it with water to normal peanut butter consistency and spread it on my Kodiak Cakes (like pancakes), or on bread

(3) in powdered form put it in oatmeal, omg so good in oatmeal!

(4) in powdered form added it in to a smoothie

(5) made it in to peanut butter consistency and used it in a baking recipe

Basically anywhere you use peanut butter you can use PB2 for fewer calories, fat, etc.

I haven’t used it in anywhere near all the ways others have, a lot of people use it to make a peanut sauce for cooked dishes, which I like the sound of but have no idea how to make a normal peanut sauce let alone a modified version lol

A source told me when she lived in a small town and had no stores nearby to buy it from she ordered it online for about $8 a jar so I guess that will be something to look in to once my stockpile runs out. I reeeeeally hope by then Costco has come to their senses and brought it back though because seriously, taking it away, so mean!

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Crackslaw

26 Jan

Yes you read that right, Crackslaw, that is the name of a recipe I tried out. It is so named because it is supposed to be freakishly delish and addictive.

It is super tasty, and I guess I could see how it could become a frequently cooked dish, especially if you are someone cooking for a family and you have to find something that will at least partially please more than just yourself while not going crazy over your food budget.

It is a definite keeper. 🙂

The original recipe can be found here…

http://www.food.com/recipe/crack-slaw-low-carb-434863

I of course made variations because heaven forbid I make it exactly like the recipe said to! Mostly the changes were because I wasn’t buying new ingredients for a recipe I might never make again when I had slightly different versions that I figured would work just as well. Also, I have it on good authority it is a good dish for customizing, you can tweak it to your preferences and my preference was to not have to buy any more ingredients than absolutely necessary lol

The ingredients for my version are as follows…

1 package of Coleslaw mix (14oz bag)

2 gloves garlic, minced (I have the kind in a jar)

chopped white onion, I didn’t measure how much, just diced till I had a bunch, maybe 1/3 of an onion?

1/2 tsp tabasco sauce

shake of jalapeno flakes

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp white vinegar

2 Tbls soy sauce

2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil

1 pound extra lean ground chicken

So my changes were:

(1) it is supposed to be sriracha sauce, I didn’t have any, so I used tabasco

(2) it is supposed to be toasted sesame oil, same as above, I didn’t have any, so I used evoo because I had that already

(3) it is supposed to be 3 green onions chopped, I already had white onion on hand so I chose to use that

(4) it is supposed to be beef, I was going to get lean ground turkey but the lean ground chicken was the cheapest of all the meats so chicken it is!

(5) it is supposed to be Splenda but I refuse to use things like Splenda or Truvia so I opted for real sugar

(6) there is supposed to be ginger paste in there but I am not a huge fan of ginger so I left it out

(7) the jalapeno flakes aren’t in the original recipe, shrug, I wanted it a bit spicier than what I thought the tabasco sauce would get me and I had jalapeno flakes on hand so I shook some in

So ya know, some minor changes…but nothing I feel ruins the overall structure of the dish.

To make Crackslaw you…

(1) brown your ground meat, season with salt and pepper to taste (if you so desire…I don’t use salt when cooking and I forgot to use the pepper so I added that later)

(2) remove browned meat from the pan and set aside

(3) put oil in pan, sautee garlic, onions, and coleslaw until the coleslaw is at your desired tenderness…remember it will wilt down so you don’t need as huge of a pan as you may be imagining…having said that I almost overflowed mine so use a decently large one…

(4) mix the tabasco sauce, sugar, white vinegar and soy sauce together, pour in to pan, mix (this is where I added the pepper)

(5) add back in the meat, mix well, keep in pan until meat has come back up to serving temperature

If you want you can garnish it with more chopped green onion (uncooked of course), and more hot sauce, for those who like things spicier.

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A bonus to using a bag of coleslaw rather than shredding your own cabbage is it comes with other veggies mixed in already but if you are really anti carrot you could always just shred a cabbage…ya weirdo 😉

It is dead easy to make, and because it is so flexible with what you put in it you can make it as tasty or as bland as you like. I ate a serving of it the day I made it then portioned out the rest for two more servings. I could probably have divided it up to 4 equal portions but the day I made it I was super hungry and took a bit more so I opted for 3 equal portions so I could calculate the Weight Watchers points easier. Cuz hey, this is all about me, right? 😉 Just like with pasta the flavours got stronger as it sat so when I heated up the leftovers it was noticeably spicier than my first meal.  Thank you jalapeno flakes! 😀

So yeah, I’d say it is a good dish to make. The ingredients aren’t too expensive to procure, the meat cost me $7 and the ready made coleslaw cost $1.47. I was lucky that I already had the other ingredients, or at least things that could stand in for the other ingredients, so minimal shopping had to be done. Bonus is most of the ingredients are things you’d have on hand anyways, like the garlic, oil, hot sauce, jalapeno flakes, soy sauce, etc, so you’d probably only really need buy the meat and coleslaw and maybe one other ingredient depending on how low you are running on other items…I’ll have to buy the garlic next time since this used up almost all I had left. But you get my drift right? Easy to make. Fairly cheap to make. Makes a large portion so if you are feeding a family it is definitely a cost effective dish to make, and if you’re feeding yourself you’ve just food prepped for 3 to 4 meals, depending how you divide it up. Go you go!

Oh, and if you are on Weight Watchers, my version, divided in to 3 portions comes out to 8 Smart Points a serving.

 

 

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Kodiak Cakes

7 Jan

Oh Kodiak Cakes, how I will miss you!

Kodiak Cakes, in case you don’t know, are a high protein pancake / waffle mix that make a pretty decent pancake. I don’t have a waffle maker so I can’t say from actual experience how the waffles made with this mix are but I’m sure they are also good.

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An Aunt Jemima pancake they are not! Don’t be tricked in to thinking they will be just like the pancakes you get from iHop or that you ate growing up as a kid, before we all got convinced white flour is devil food and never to be touched *rolls eyes*

Despite not being like a “real” pancake, they are good, and a less guilty indulgence on a lazy morning day when you have time and the inclination to whip up some pancake goodness.

Sadly though, I ate my last Kodiak Cake today and will not be buying more. Not because I don’t want to be buying more, but because Costco has stopped carrying them (meanies!) and the closest place to me to buy them is a Safeway that is an hours drive across the border into the States. sigh.

Every time I am in Costco I ask if they have them back yet, maybe nagging them will change their minds?

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Kodiak Cakes covered in PB2, Mmm!

So there they are, my last two Kodiak Cakes, I savoured every bite, *wistful sigh* Oh, and no, I don’t eat them with syrup, I regret to inform you I stopped eating syrup due to the high sugar content, ugh, who have I become? 😉 Instead I took two tablespoons of PB2 powder, added water, made it pretty close to peanut butter consistency and spread it on the Kodiak Cakes when they were still hot. It actually tastes good despite my being all whiny that I no longer eat syrup lol I use PB2 on a lot of things, quite the useful little food!

If you live somewhere that still has access to Kodiak Cakes I highly recommend giving them a try, and hey, if you end up not liking them send the rest of the mix to me, I’ll eat it! 😉 lol

(fyi, that is a joke! )

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Day 2 of 12

21 Dec

Alrighty peeps, it is Day 2 of the 12 Days of Fitness and I’m sure everyone has been active today, right? Right!

I was up earlier than any human being should be when on vacation but that is what happens when you are staying with parents who wake up early…and when you are going to a morning WW meeting lol

Today was a happy day, went to my meeting, down a pound, entered a new weight decade, out for brunch with the parents, ate a delish meal at Cora’s. It was a random mixture of healthy and non-healthy foods, as most meals out are.

I got Theo’s Omelette which is an omelette filled with oh so many vegetables, covered in cheese, and served with a side of potatoes, fresh fruit, and toast. I asked them to make the omelette with half the normal amount of cheese because restaurants always seem to drown food in cheese and I think it came out with a pretty decent amount.

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After brunch it was errand time, borrowed my Dad’s car for a while and bonus points for me, I returned it in the same condition it was in when I left the driveway. 🙂

This evening after dinner I realized that even though I had parked far away and walked when going to all the shops I hadn’t really done anything worthy of being called exercise so I grabbed one of the exercise dvd’s I brought and started working out.

Tonight I did the 5 Mile Walk dvd by Leslie Sansone, it is a “walk at home” dvd which means you are walking on the spot, or forwards and backwards, or side to side, in random combinations and taking her word for it that eventually you have walked 5 miles. I tend to jog for large parts of it, and incorporate more arm work, so I get a better work out.

walk-at-home

The woman, Leslie, is so annoying, ugh. But she keeps you moving which is the important part. Normally I play the dvd on my laptop with the volume down low and watch something on tv while walking but my mom joined me this evening so we kept the volume up high and we kept being told to “walk! walk! walk!” lol  😀

My fear that I would fail this challenge by Day 2 has been relieved. Now on to figure out where to fit something in on Day 3!

Did you work out today?

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12 Days of Christmas Fitness Challenge

7 Dec

Tis the month to gain ridiculous amounts of weight super fast if not careful! With so many social gatherings, and treats, and just general feelings of wanting to eat alllll the food this month it can be easy to wake up January 1st and realize your jeans aren’t fitting quite as well anymore.

I so don’t want that to happen to me!

Yes I know that being healthy is 80% what you eat and only 20% exercise but let’s be real here people, there will be food aplenty all over the place and I am sure I will end up eating more than planned.

So the idea is to help minimize some of the food damage I will end up doing by ensuring I stay active this month.

Here is the plan…

12-days-of-xmas

The challenge begins December 20th and goes to December 31st. You don’t have to be out there running marathons, or making massive gains at the gym, I’m not looking for crazy changes in fitness activity. All I’m looking for is fitting exercise in to the daily routine over those days when so many of us skip exercising.

Just because there are a million and one things to do over the season doesn’t mean we should stop finding time each day to take care of ourselves. How else do you expect to enter 2017 feeling your best if you load up on food in this last month and don’t at least try to burn some of it off?

Some ideas for exercise could be:

  • a walk around the block
  • mall walking if you are somewhere cold
  • during the commercials do some squats, or sit-ups, or planks, or push-ups, or whatever you are able to do
  • take the stairs instead of elevators
  • park far away from the doors of the places you are going
  • snowball fight! build a snow fort! basically anything with snow!
  • pop in an exercise dvd
  • play tag with your kids, or nieces and nephews, or your friend’s kids

You get the idea!

So who is with me? Who is willing to try reeeeally hard to make the time everyday, for 12 days, over the busiest time of the year, to be good to ourselves and fit some exercise in to our days?

C’mon, you know you want to!

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Pulled Chicken

17 Nov

I cooked and it didn’t suck! Yay!

I saw a recipe on YouTube I wanted to try but couldn’t find one of the main ingredients when I was in the store today so I randomly decided to try making pulled sweet & smoky chicken in my slow cooker.

I’ve had my slow cooker for a while but never quite got around to using it. My intention was to try out slow cooker desserts, of which I have heard many a good thing! but well, yeah, didn’t happen, shrug.

But hey, why not try cooking in it today, right?

The inspiration for this meal was this…

Sorry for the ripped package, I forgot to take a picture before I oh so delicately opened it lol This is Club House brand seasoning mix for sweet & smoky pulled chicken. Mmm!

The recipe on the back made it seem super easy. Boneless skinless chicken breast, mixed with ketchup, water, brown sugar, and the seasoning mix. Pop it all in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Remove it from the slow cooker and tear the chicken with two forks, put it back in the slow cooker to fully coat the chicken and bring it back up to a hot temperature, then serve on a bun.

I did everything the recipe said to, except I halved it. I own a small slow cooker, and I’m cooking for one person over here, an 8 portion dish is a tad much for me!

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See? Tiny slow cooker!

Oh! I lied! I also kinda changed the meat, but not really. It is supposed to be 2 pounds of chicken breast, I used 1 pound of chicken breast fillets. Same bird, same section of the bird, just cut a bit, and cheaper. I thought the thinner cut might be the better choice because of the size of my slow cooker, also, it came in packages closer to the size I needed where as the chicken breasts were all packaged in larger amounts and I didn’t want a bunch of extra raw chicken lying around, what the hell would I do with that?

Since the original recipe makes 8 portions and I made half the recipe even I can do the math that means what I made would equal to 4 portions. Lemme tell ya, it made 4 reeeeally big portions!

I put the entire contents of the meat and sauce in a measuring cup to see how much it made, it was 2.5 ounces or 2 1/4 cups which I attempted to then measure out, on my kitchen scale, so I’d properly divide the meat and sauce but um yeah, that so didn’t work…sooooo I guesstimated *rolls eyes*

So here is how much ended up on my sandwich…

pulled-chicken-sandwich

And here is how much ended up in my tupperware container…

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I suppose if you don’t care for meat, or pulled meat, or meat in sauces, the above pictures won’t look good to you but to me, they look delicious. Mmm!

The dish turned out quite good.  🙂 Easy enough even I could make it, and a tasty end result, yay!

For all you Weight Watcher people out there, one serving is 7 SP. For those of you not on Weight Watchers, I have not calculated the nutritional information, sorry! 😉

I didn’t do anything fancy with it, just put it on some toast and made a toasted sandwich. I know in restaurants they usually put coleslaw on pulled meat sandwiches, and it is crazy delish, but I didn’t think to get any and lets get real here, I didn’t need to add even more to this sandwich, making it even more unhealthy lol

I’ll probably eat one more serving of it tomorrow then freeze the rest. I may really like this sauce but that doesn’t mean I want to eat it 4 days in a row, seems a tad excessive.

The ease of making this meal, and how good it made my apartment smell makes me think I should use the slow cooker way more often. I just might have to try some experimenting over here! 😀

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Late Night Baking

11 Nov

Most people, when they notice it is 12:30am think, “hmm, maybe I should go to bed” I noticed it was 12:30am and thought “hmm, maybe I’ll try out that new recipe I’ve been staring at”.

Which is why, at 1:15am I was comfortably seated in the living room with a cup of tea and two muffins fresh from the oven. Mmm! 😀

Now, before anyone thinks I am claiming this recipe as my own, this is NOT my recipe! It is from the website http://www.drizzlemeskinny.com so go there to see it in full. 🙂

The recipe I tried out is Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Muffins. Quite the mouthful to say! lol

These are a Weight Watcher friendly recipe, each muffin is 3SP. For those not on Weight Watchers, each muffin has a breakdown of:

Calories 103, Fat 3.9g, Sat Fat 1.2g, Carbs 14g, Fiber 1.8g, Sugar 3.4g, and Protein 3.8g

It is important to note that nutritional information doesn’t include the bananas – don’t ask why, its a Weight Watchers thing lol 😛

The muffins have egg, egg whites, brown sugar, plain greek yoghurt, mashed banana, light peanut butter, vanilla, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and mini chocolate chips.

I made some minor changes, of course! lol I used PB2 instead of real peanut butter. I also took regular chocolate chips and chopped them down instead of buying mini chocolate chips, that is mostly because I am cheap and didn’t want to buy mini chocolate chips when I had perfectly good regular sized ones in my pantry lol. I used a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips because in my opinion the mixture of the two tastes better than using just one.

Oh, one other thing I did differently, but by accident, I kinda, sorta, forgot to put the vanilla in. Oops!

I don’t usually make mistakes when baking so I’m kinda shocked I forgot the vanilla…guess that is what happens when I bake at 12:30 in the morning…though I’ve done that plenty of times so I guess it isn’t really an excuse…*rolls eyes*

The strongest flavour is the chocolate, so if you like chocolate you’ll probably like these. The texture is more moist than what I am used to with muffins, not in a bad way, just something to get used to. I think if I make them again I would keep them in the oven an extra minute or two, or put in a bit more oatmeal or use slightly smaller bananas, to make them a little less moist. It is all about tweaking, so it is an easy fix, just fiddle till the batter seems right. 🙂

Enjoy!

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yes those are halloween muffin papers, don’t judge! and of course the pic isn’t in focus, sigh.

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