Latest From the Kitchen

Once I had a year of running behind me, I started paying better attention to my food intake both in quantity and quality (Yes, it took a year. No, I don't wish I'd started earlier ... I picked one focus then moved to another. Doing both at the same time would have ensured double-duty failure for me.).

Anyway, I keep my eyes and ears open for new things to try that are both yummy and don't completely undo a run. So, when a friend posted a recipe from the A Healthy New Dawn Facebook page for 37-calorie brownies, I wanted to try them!

Cutting to the chase, I just can't get past the after-taste of the stevia-based sugars. I wish I could, but I can't. If that is of no issue to you, this recipe is totally worth making. If you are turned off by the after taste, blow off today's entry, and join me tomorrow to celebrate the drop-in 10K run!

Here's the recipe with my notations in purple:

3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt (I used vanilla for the first batch and found the sweet of the vanilla and the sweet of the applesauce way too much. For round two, I used plain Greek yogurt.)
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
1/2 cup Old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup any natural/stevia-based sweetener that pours like sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup applesauce (I blew this off entirely for the second attempt, and it was a good call even with switching yogurts!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a square baking dish (I made mine in mini muffin pans). Combine all ingredients into a food processor or a blender, and blend until smooth (about 1 minute). Pour into the prepared dish, and bake for about 15 minutes (10 minutes for mini muffin cups). Allow to cool completely before cutting into 9 large squares. MMMMMM.......

These aren't bad, for real. And, probably in the plus column, I can eat one and walk away because I am not interested in amplifying the after taste. And, given the 37-calorie status of cutting the batch into 9 squares, the picture of my muffins represents well under 100 calories. That's not bad news.

Just because I don't like something doesn't mean there's no merit to it. This might be just the thing to satisfy someone else's sweet tooth! They're very easy, so they're worth a go if you just want to give 'em a whirl.

In the meantime, I'm gearing up to get up and out early for tomorrow's event! I'm totally looking forward to it, so I'll be here with a recap after the morning run! See you then!