Tag Archives: Barleans

Chocolate Banana Bread #Choctoberfest

Posted in bread and muffins, breakfast, dessert, Uncategorized by

Note: I received complimentary product for this post. All opinions are my own.

New, inventive recipes are always fun – but sometimes you just want a classic.  We love banana bread around here. Add in lots of chocolate, and you’ve got a treat that barely lasts 24 hours.

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It was also a great opportunity to showcase another favorite of ours – Barlean’s Butter Flavored Coconut Oil. Whether or not you’re a coconut oil fan, you should give this a try. It’s what converted me! It really does have a fabulous butter flavor – you won’t miss the real thing.

Lots of other chocolate goodness this way, too! —>

ChocolateBananaBread3

Chocolate Banana Bread
(from Chelsea’s Messy Apron)
Makes 1 loaf

1/3 cup old fashioned oats
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1/2 cup coconut oil, measured melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup mashed bananas, approx. 2-3 bananas
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup white whole wheat flour or plain white
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips dark chocolate chips for healthier
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Run the oats through a blender or food processor until the consistency of flour.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg and yolk. Whisk in the yogurt and coconut oil. Whisk in the vanilla and sugar. Stir in the mashed banana.

To the same bowl, add the oat flour, salt, baking soda, flour, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for an hour, until a knife inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool before removing from the pan.

Fresh Corn Salsa (5)

Mint Chocolate Mousse #Choctoberfest

Posted in dessert by

Note: I received complimentary products for this post. All opinions are my own.

Choctoberfest is, by default, a pretty indulgent event. Barlean’s is a great, healthy spin on the chocolate theme so I’m always excited to work with them as a sponsor.

This recipe is a dessert – but it’s not one you’ll feel guilty indulging in. Once chilled, the texture of this mousse is perfectly fluffy. It gets it’s flavor from two Barlean’s products – and they also pack it with flaxseed oil, greens, and other good stuff. A total win-win – especially when you have chocolate-loving little ones.

This also can be easily adjusted to your taste – leave out the mint, go light on the mint, make it super minty – do what you love!

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Mint Chocolate Mousse
(a Kate’s Recipe Box original)
Serves 4

1 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp. Barlean’s Essential Woman Omega Swirl Chocolate Mint Flavor
1/4 cup Barlean’s Greens Powder Chocolate Silk Flavor
1 Tbsp. mini chocolate chips

In a stand mixer, whip together the coconut milk, Barlean’s Essential Woman Omega Swirl Chocolate Mint Flavor, and Barlean’s Greens Powder Chocolate Silk Flavor until light and fluffy. Pour into four small bowls or ramekins. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

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See today’s other #Choctoberfest recipes here:

Here we go! It’s #choctoberfest with Imperial Sugar!

Posted in chatter by

Choctoberfest-2015-1

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, because it is the official start of #Choctoberfest. This is the third annual food blogger celebration of all things chocolate, made possible thanks to our gold sponsor, Imperial Sugar, and the other sponsors listed below.

Over 70 bloggers are participating in #Choctoberfest 2017 and will be posting 200+ chocolate recipes over the next week. Keep your eyes peeled, visit any of the blogs listed below, or use the #Choctoberfest hashtag on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to follow along. You can also check out our #Choctoberfest Pinterest board, where we post chocolate recipes all year long.

You can also enter to win our #Choctoberfest prize pack. Thank to our amazing sponsors who are contributing the following items for the prize:

  • $100 gift card to Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar
  • 1 case of granulated white sugar (40 pounds), 1 case of light brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of dark brown sugar (24 pounds), and 1 case of powdered sugar (24 pounds) from our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar
  • 16 oz Barlean’s Butter-Flavored Coconut Oil, 9.52 oz canister of Chocolate Silk Greens, and 8oz bottle of Essential Women Omega-Swirl Chocolate Mint from our silver sponsor Barlean’s
  • 300-piece Lindt LINDOR Truffles gift bag (you choose the flavors!) from blog sponsors The PinterTest Kitchen

This prize pack is valued at over $450! To enter, simply follow participating sponsors and bloggers using the below giveaway widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stay tuned to see the delicious recipes bloggers have cooked up using Imperial Sugar and Barlean’s products. Thank you also to Davis Chocolate and Rodelle for being #Choctoberfest shoutout sponsors! Watch Instagram and Facebook to find out more about about their chocolate products.

Here is a complete list of all the bloggers participating in #Choctoberfest 2017, so you can see the recipes they are posting throughout the week:

The PinterTest Kitchen ♥ Fix Me a Little Lunch ♥ Savory Moments ♥ Crumbs in my Mustachio ♥ House of Nash Eats ♥ Bake It With Love ♥ That Recipe ♥ Hardly A Goddess ♥ Cooking With Carlee ♥ A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures ♥ Body Rebooted ♥ Cindy’s Recipes and Writings ♥ The Redhead Baker ♥ Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice ♥ Sweet Coralice ♥ Seduction in The Kitchen ♥ Cooks&Books&Recipes ♥ Everyday Eileen ♥ Under My Apple Tree ♥ Family Around The Table ♥ Bottom Left of the Mitten ♥ The Spiffy Cookie ♥ Fairyburger ♥ Join Us, Pull up a Chair ♥ Jonesin’ For Taste ♥ Jane’s Adventures in Dinner ♥ Take Two Tapas ♥ Jennifer Bakes ♥ The Unlikely Baker ♥ Hostess At Heart ♥ Karen’s Kitchen Stories ♥ Kate’s Recipe Box ♥ Kelly Lynns Sweets and Treats ♥ Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen ♥ Chocolate Slopes ♥ Little House Big Alaska ♥ Makes, Bakes and Decor ♥ 2 Cookin Mamas ♥ That Skinny Chick Can Bake ♥ Books n’ Cooks ♥ Mildly Meandering ♥ Living Ideas ♥ Restless Chipotle ♥ Get the Good Stuff! ♥ The Weekday Gourmet ♥ An Affair from the Heart ♥ West Via Midwest ♥ Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt ♥ The Bitter Side of Sweet ♥ Cookaholic Wife ♥ Daily Dish Recipes ♥ For the Love of Food ♥ The Saucy Southerner ♥ Cook’s Hideout ♥ By the Pounds ♥ Tramplingrose: Cooking, Baking & Ranting in Small-Town South Dakota ♥ Sarah Cooks the Books ♥ Chef Sarah Elizabeth ♥ Fantastical Sharing of Recipes ♥ Sarah’s Bake Studio ♥ The Pajama Chef ♥ Frankly Entertaining ♥ Long Distance Baking ♥ Palatable Pastime ♥ The Freshman Cook ♥ The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine ♥ A Day in the Life on the Farm ♥ Wendy Polisi ♥ Tampa Cake Girl ♥ My Southern Sweet Tooth ♥ Canning and Cooking at Home ♥ Full Belly Sisters ♥ SuperSizeGuy.com ♥ Our Good Life ♥ The Life Jolie

 

Cranberry Honey Banana Bread #RecipeMakeover

Posted in bread and muffins, breakfast, dessert by

Disclosure: I received products from Barlean’s free as part of #RecipeMakeover week. All opinions are my own.

While I’m pretty decent at whipping up a healthy dinner when need be, my baking projects are decidedly different.  Tackling a makeover of one of my most-frequently-baked items – banana bread – seemed like the perfect challenge.

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As I was working on this recipe, I turned to products from #RecipeMakeover sponsor, Barlean’s. Their Butter Flavored Coconut Oil can be subbed 1:1 for butter – so that was a great place to start. Roasting the bananas brought out some more natural sugars, and using Barlean’s Digestive Blend punched up the flavor while adding some good-for-you stuff to the bread (it’s a mix of ground flaxseed, chia seed, quinoa, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a pumpkin blend that is remeniscint of pumpkin spice!) My added sweetener here was a local cranberry honey (fun fact: New Jersey is the 3rd biggest cranberry producing state in the US!) – I Iiked the flavor it added, but if you don’t have this available any honey would be great in this recipe.

The result? A banana bread that was really good – and much better for you than my usual go-to loaf.

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Cranberry Honey Banana Bread
(a Kate’s Recipe Box original)
Makes 1 loaf

4 medium bananas
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Barlean’s Digestive Blend
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ginger
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup melted Barlean’s Butter Flavored Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Cranberry Honey (or regular honey)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line  a baking sheet with foil. Prick the banana peels with a fork, place them on the baking sheet, and roast for 15 minutes. Remove to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, Barlean’s Digestive Blend, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, Barlean’s Butter Flavored Coconut Oil, and honey until well combined. Mash bananas and add to the wet ingredients – stir until well combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until the everything is just moistened.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Welcome to #RecipeMakeover Week!

Posted in chatter by

Recipe-Makeover-Logo

After a long winter of heavy dishes and sweets, spring is the perfect time to get back to the basics – delicious, whole foods and dishes packed with fruits and veggies that are great for you.

This week, I’ve joined forced with 40+ of my food blogger friends to present #RecipeMakeover. During this week, we’ll all be sharing our favorite better-for-you alternatives. Follow along on any of the blogs below or with the hashtag on social media to find nutritious dishes that are packed with flavor.

I’m going to be concentrating on re-working some of our family favorites using less sugar, healthier preparation methods, and even sneaking in some good stuff to dessert.

A huge THANK YOU to our sponsors, who have made #RecipeMakeover possible! They’ve provided a number of awesome products that you can win by entering our #RecipeMakeover giveaway below.

Just follow the instructions below, and you could win the following prize pack:

  • Butter-flavored coconut oil and digestive blend from our sponsor Barlean’s – Barlean’s butter-flavored coconut oil is an organic, dairy-free alternative that can be used as a 1:1 substitution for butter. Their digestive blend is an organic, vegan combination of flaxseed, chai seed, quinoa, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a proprietary pumpkin blend, that is delicious sprinkled into salads, smoothies, oatmeal, and more.
  • Sampler pack of original, mesquite, and applewood Smokin O’s from our sponsor Smokin O’s – Instead of frying, choose a healthier cooking option like grilling! Smokin O’s is an innovative new product that allows you to add a natural wood taste even if you are using a propane grill, and they work great in charcoal grills and smokers too. No soaking, no mess, no wait – just delicious wood flavoring from a 100% natural product with no binders or chemicals.
  • 4 flatbread pizzas from our sponsor American Flatbread – Choose from any of America Flatbread’s 15 all-natural, handmade pizza varieties, available at your local grocery store. These pizzas feature 100% organically grown wheat crusts and are topped with fresh herbs, vegetables, and cheeses (no rBST growth hormone!). They’re all-natural, with no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, and handcrafted from scratch and par-baked in wood-fired ovens.
  • 5 containers (48 oz) of ice cream from our sponsor Turkey Hill – Ice cream for a health food event? Try out their line of no-sugar-added products for a sweet treat without the guilt or their line of light ice creams, which have a rich taste with a fraction of the fat. They also have a rainbow sherbet option, which is Vitamin C and naturally low in fat. These all make great dessert options for special occasions. Turkey Hill also believes in implementing green initiatives to cut down on waste, reduce packaging, and minimize outputs into the environment.
  • 15 tuna creations pouches from our sponsor StarKist – StarKist tuna pouches all have at least 13 grams of protein, and their BOLD line now includes three gluten-free varieties: Tuna Creations® BOLD Thai Chili Style; Tuna Creations® BOLD Jalapeño; and Tuna Creations® BOLD Hot Buffalo Style.
  • Mueller Spiral-Ultra 4-Blade Spiralizer from blog hosts, The PinterTest Kitchen – this 4-in-1 gadget allows you to spiralize your favorite veggies, and it also has extra attachments for a juicer, mandolin and grater.

This prize pack is valued at over $200, and one lucky winner will get it all! This giveaway is open world-wide except where prohibited. A winner will be randomly drawn on April 29, at the conclusion of #RecipeMakeover, and the winner will be contact via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to all of our participating bloggers. Click the links below to find out what recipes they’re cooking up for #RecipeMakeover:

The PinterTest Kitchen • Fix Me a Little Lunch • Rosie Discovers • crave the good • Zesty South Indian Kitchen • That Recipe • The Domestic Dietitian • Authentically Candace • Eat, Drink, Be Healthy! • Body Rebooted • Cindy’s Recipes and Writings • Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice • Feeding Big • Natural Contents • Seduction In The Kitchen • Everyday Eileen • Family Around The Table • Fairyburger • Jane’s Adventures in Dinner • Kitchen Counter Chronicles • Kate’s Recipe Box • Kelly Lynns Sweets and Treats • Chocolate Slopes • Little House Big Alaska • Makes, Bakes and Decor • 2 Cookin’ Mamas • Meadoe Out on a Limb • Strawberry Blondie Kitchen • Mel Claire • Cookaholic Wife • For the Love of Food • The Saucy Southerner • Cook’s Hideout • Two Lazy Gourmets • Ink and Sugar • Cookingwithsapana • The Chef Next Door • Sarah Cooks the Books • Chef Sarah Elizabeth • Frankly Entertaining • Palatable Pastime • Our Good Life • The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine • A Day in the Life on the Farm

Stay tuned to see all of the delicious recipes bloggers create during #RecipeMakeover!