Cookie Dough Truffles

I hosted a play date the other day and decided to make lunch for the lovely ladies (and toddler) who came to spend some time with us.  And, because I love cooking for people and providing dessert as well, I decided to try something I'd been wanting to try for a while with my THRIVE Classic Cookie Dough mix:  Cookie Dough Truffles!

I love cookie dough.  Even more than I like the cookies.  Being that I'm pregnant, I avoid eating raw egg.  But that's another way THRIVE Life keeps me happy ;)!  Because their Classic Cookie Dough mix has powdered egg in it, and that isn't raw egg!  So my toddler and I made these (she handled the sprinkles -- though I would say two truffles were generously sprinkled and the others were bare ;)), and they are so very yummy!

COOKIE DOUGH TRUFFLES
3 1/3 cups THRIVE Classic Cookie Dough Mix
1 cup THRIVE Powdered Butter
3/4 cup water
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips (depending on your preferences -- and you can sub for anything you prefer!)
12 ounces melting chocolate (I used chocolate almond bark)
Sprinkles, optional


Put first 3 ingredients in mixer (I used my stand mixer) and mix until it forms a dough.  Add chocolate chips and fold in.

Form into 1/2-inch to 1-inch balls and place on waxed paper (or silicone mats).  Refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes so they are easier to handle. 

Melt chocolate.  Dip cookie dough balls.  Sprinkle immediately, if desired.  Allow to harden.


Now, a couple notes...  One thing I noticed is that if there were any weak spots in the chocolate shell, the cookie dough would start squeezing through.  Although not a tragedy, they did kind of look funny ;).  And it may just be inevitable if you don't double-dip the truffles (which I didn't), because the dough isn't cooked, and the baking soda in the mix starts to expand -- as it's supposed to!  So it oozes out any weak spots. 

The other note:  These were a hit!  One of my friends who came, when I told them what I made for dessert, said, "Did you know that cookie dough is my all-time favorite?  Well, I didn't.  But I love it too, so it just worked out well!  These are so delicious, seriously.  And they are definitely going on my Christmas goodie list! They are super-fast and super-simple, especially because I only need 4 ingredients!

So if you are craving some sweet yumminess...  This will hit the spot!

"Frankenmuffins"

As I've mentioned before, I'm always looking for new yummy ways to get vegetables into myself and my toddler!  I recently came across this recipe for "Frankenmuffins" in a Family Fun magazine my friend Lea gave me.  I knew I wanted to try it out (even if it isn't quite Halloween-time yet ;)), and THRIVE gave me the incentive to do so one day when I realized I had all the ingredients necessary -- thanks to THRIVE Chopped Spinach!  So I tweaked the original recipe a bit, as the original called for fresh baby spinach, and I figured I wouldn't need as much spinach while using my THRIVE.  Below is the recipe as I made them.

FRANKENMUFFINS
1 cup white flour*
1 cup whole wheat flour*
3/4 cup sugar*
2 teaspoons baking powder*
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup milk*
3 cups THRIVE Chopped Spinach, rehydrated
1 large ripe banana
2 teaspoons THRIVE Pure Vanilla Powder

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 16 muffin cups with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients and stir with a mix until well combined.

In a blender, add the oil, milk, and spinach.  Puree until smooth.  Add banana and vanilla and blend until all is well combined.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until completely mixed (I used my stand mixer).

Fill each prepared muffin well two-thirds full.  Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes (mine took 17).

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

I seriously cannot say enough good things about these muffins!  They are delicious!  And they freeze amazingly well.  We will be making another batch of them tomorrow, because we ran out!  My toddler and I love to eat them as a snack, but I think they could even be used as breakfast.  And I just love that I'm getting extra veggies into both of us in a delicious way!  And I really love using my THRIVE Spinach in this recipe.  It's so super-easy to just scoop my spinach into the blender and add the liquids and blend!

Make-Ahead Golden Cornbread!

I've mentioned on other personal blogs before that our family tries to keep meal prep to a minimum on Sundays.  And this past Sunday, THRIVE Life helped me do just that with some make-ahead cornbread!  Because I had all the ingredients on hand -- and they were all dry ingredients! -- I made my cornbread mix Saturday night, put it in an airtight container, and just added water on Sunday!

The results?

Delicious!

GOLDEN CORNBREAD
1 cup THRIVE Cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar*
1 cup white flour*
1/2 cup THRIVE Butter Powder
2 tablespoons powdered milk*
2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder
1 teaspoon baking powder*
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1 1/2 cup water (to add when ready to prepare)

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until completely combined.

To prepare:  Preheat oven to 375.  Grease an 8x8 baking pan.  Add 1 1/2 cups water to dry ingredients and whisk together until batter is smooth.  Pour into greased pan.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes.  Allow to cool 15 minutes before serving.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

This cornbread was delicious!  I love that it can be prepared ahead of time and all I have to do is add water!  This makes for a great gift -- just add a pound of THRIVE Express Hearty Chili with Beans!  It's also great for once-a-month cooking, though I would recommend having it sealed pretty well in that case.  And even if you just know you're going to have a busy day the next day and you want your meal to be hassle-free, this is a great option for a side dish!  Prep it early and have it waiting for water, baking and eating!

Below is a picture of the mix I made Saturday night.  I just put the lid on that bowl and let it sit and wait for me until Sunday evening :).

And here's a close-up of the deliciousness!

Would you love to have ingredients on-hand to make your own mixes?  THRIVE is full of those handy ingredients!  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com and I'll help you get what you need!

Green Smoothie

So I've been wanting to do green smoothies for a while.  However, I lack a powerful blender, so I've always put it off as a "someday" thing. 

But yesterday I made some really awesome muffins with THRIVE Chopped Spinach in them (I'll be posting that recipe here soon), and I decided I was going to go ahead and try a green smoothie with the spinach, even without a super-awesome blender. 

I'm glad I did. 

I made it up as I went along -- and I'm sure there are ways to make it healthier.  But this was my first attempt, so I'm documenting it, because I -- and my toddler! -- are happy with it.  And now I have the ability to play around with it some more and try new concoctions! 

One really awesome thing was having all my THRIVE fruits to add in, along with the THRIVE Chopped Spinach.  It was easy for me to add a lot of healthy fruits to help make the smoothie more palatable.

So here's my recipe:

GREEN SMOOTHIE
2/3 cup THRIVE Chopped Spinach
2/3 cup THRIVE Pineapple Chunks
1/4 cup THRIVE Peaches
2 tablespoons THRIVE Simply Peach
1/4 cup THRIVE Strawberries
1/3 cup water
1 ripe banana*
1 1/2 cup milk*

Place first 5 ingredients into blender jar and pour water over to help moisten and rehydrate a little.  Add banana and milk.  Blend until well-blended and smooth.  Enjoy!

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

My goal is to get more vegetables into myself and my toddler.  THRIVE has been helping me immensely in this undertaking.  And while I am looking forward to one day having a more powerful blender to really get everything good and blended down...  I am glad I learned I can make a great-tasting smoothie even right now, with my not-so-powerful blender!

And I'm thrilled I had all these options to add to my very first Green Smoothie, thanks to THRIVE Life!  I mean, what's not to love about all my fruits (and veggies) already ready to use -- washed, sliced, and waiting for me to scoop!  Total time saver!

If you'd like to make your own green smoothies quickly and easily with THRIVE, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com, and I'll help you get started!

Granola

The other day, I saw my THRIVE Honey Crystals sitting amongst my home store, and I thought to myself, "I need to make some granola!"  And so I did :).  This is seriously a delicious granola recipe.  I pretty much kept snagging handfuls while it was supposed to be cooling.  I also enjoyed some as cereal this morning before my ultrasound.  Delicious!

I followed this recipe, generally.  But I made a few changes.  I will post my recipe below as I made it (with alterations).

HOME-MADE GRANOLA
4 cups oats*
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds
3/4 teaspoon salt*
1/4 cup brown sugar*
1/2 cup THRIVE Butter Powder
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon THRIVE Pure Vanilla Extract Powder
3/4 cup THRIVE Honey Crystals
2/3 cup water

In a large bowl, combine first 3 ingredients.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350.

In a small saucepan, add remaining ingredients and stir.  Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer 2 to 3 minutes or until honey mixture is thickened.

Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients and stir until well combined.  Pour onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned, removing to stir 2 to 3 times during cooking for even browning.  Allow to cool completely.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

Seriously, this stuff is awesome.  I made it once before for a THRIVE brunch party and did a yogurt parfait bar.  The granola was phenomenal on the THRIVE yogurts!  But it is also great as a cereal or as a snack by itself!

Meal in a Jar: Sausage Zuppa Toscana

I cannot take credit for the creation of this recipe (like pretty much all of the recipes I post ;)).  Thanks to my Relief Society President, who found some meal in a jar recipes and posted them to our Relief Society facebook page, though, I was able to enjoy it!  The recipe can be found here, along with some other meal in a jar recipes I haven't had the opportunity to try yet.  I will post the recipe as I fixed it (mostly the same, but a couple minor differences) along with my opinions on a few things :).

Also, please note that I saw this recipe today, discovered I had the ingredients to make it, and made it today.  I put it in the jar today too, to show how pretty it is.  I didn't seal it though.  I would recommend that you do seal the jars if you plan to store the jars for longer than a couple weeks.  I figure it's better to be safe than sorry!

SAUSAGE ZOPPA TOSCANA

Using a funnel, put ingredients in a quart-sized jar in this order (you may have to gently "jog" the jar as you add):

1/2 cup THRIVE Sour Cream Powder
2 cubes beef bouillon, crushed*
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup THRIVE Chopped Spinach
1/4 cup THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 cup THRIVE Instant Pinto Beans
1 cup THRIVE Sausage Crumbles
1 1/4 cup THRIVE Potato Chunks (dehydrated)

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

Add contents of jar to large pot.  Add 7 cups water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. 

I really liked this soup.  It was a tad on the spicy side for me (wondering what the hubby will say...  He hasn't tried it yet as he was at work ;)), but I address that in my notes :).

So here are some of my thoughts:

1.  I would make sure to use a wide-mouth quart-size jar if you have one.  The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 of the potato chunks.  I couldn't get them all to fit in the jar, so I cut back a little bit.
2.  I may try a different order for the ingredients in future, if I ever make them to seal.  Mainly because I think the powdered stuff on top of the bigger items (like the potato chunks) may "seep" in better and make it less difficult to fit everything.
3.  I will probably cut back to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper to lighten up a bit on the spicy.  But if you love spicy, keep it at 1/2 teaspoon!
4.  Given the above statement...  I don't recommend this for a toddler.  I didn't even attempt giving it to my munchkin, because I figured it would be too hot for her.
5.  I used beef bouillon, though the original recipe calls for chicken bouillon, because beef is what I had on-hand.  And I really wanted to try this recipe tonight -- and not go to the store!
6.  I reduced the suggested water to 7 cups.  Depending on how thick the leftovers get, I may choose to increase the water in the future ;).

I definitely think this is a keeper!  Love that I had all the ingredients on-hand.  And, literally, this took no more than minutes to put in the jar (and 10 seconds to put in the pot ;)!!).  Even if I choose not to "jar" this meal in the future, I will have dinner cooking within 5 to 10 minutes!  What's not to love about that!?!