Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Banana Buttercream Frosting

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Sarah S.

Banana and peanut butter just might be the best food combination (second only to Nutella and bananas…), so a peanut butter cupcake with banana frosting, sounds perfect! Usually, I stick to making cookies, since cookies are relatively straight forward to bake, but this cupcake recipe is simple enough for even a beginner like me. Next time, I’m going to replace the peanut butter with Nutella…and if all goes well, I’ll post the results!

The recipe (from Coffee and Quinoa) calls for almond milk, but I used regular 1% milk instead, which seemed to work well.

Ciao!

Sarah

Homemade Chewy Granola Bar Recipe

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Sarah S.

After the success of my first attempt at homemade granola bars (recipe here!), I found another recipe to try. This one isn’t as healthy (brown sugar included) but doesn’t crumble as easily and tastes delicious. I found the original recipe at mybakingaddiction.com (recipe here). I replaced the wheat germ with chia seeds, but I think flax seeds are also a good replacement.

Enjoy!

Sarah

Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Sarah S.

I can’t totally take credit for this recipe; I got it from a coworker after trying a batch of his. I did modify the recipe to fit my own tastes (substituting flax seeds for chia seeds and adding a bit more peanut butter and less honey). A great thing about this recipe is that there really is no limit to its variations. I decided to make my own granola bars instead of buying them because I not only wanted to save a bit of money, I also wanted to control exactly what I was eating in this snack. I always had trouble identifying store-bought granola bars that were truly healthy (“Is this more like a candy bar than a granola bar? What does whole wheat really mean in this bar?”). With my own homemade granola bars, I know exactly what I’m getting!

Granola Bars

2 Cups Quick Oats

1 Cup Protein Powder

1 Cup Chia or Flax Seed

1 Cup Dried Cranberries

1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl, then add:

1 1/2 Cup Natural Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup Honey

Press the mixture into a 9X13.

Depending on how crazy I get with the chocolate chips or cranberries, I’ll add in extra peanut butter or honey to firm up the mixture.

Store in the fridge to help keep from crumbling.