There’s a lot of amazing things about the fall. The weather allows us to bust our adorable boots out of the back of our closet, rock sweatshirts without looking like you just rolled out of bed, all the amazing colors that break up the monotony of dreary, overcast days, (my birthday!), and, oh, yeah, amazing freaking food. 

Today being one of those perfectly chilly days, I decided to make something I’ve never made before, but sounded absolutely wonderful: APPLE CRISP!

What You’ll Need:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of oatmeal (I got apple cinnamon flavored to add a little something extra!)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 softened, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup melted butter 
• 4-5 large apples (depending on size of your pan)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Equipment:

• 8x8 inch or 9x13 inch glass baking pan
• Apple wedge slicer
• Veggie peeler
• 1 large bowl for apples
• 1 small bowl for crumble mix

Steps for apple-y success!!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peel all apples, slice into wedges, then slice the wedges into thin halves. (You will end up with 16 wedges per apple.)
    
3. Place all wedges into a large bowl. 
    
4. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and pour over apple wedges. Set bowl aside.
5. Mix flour, white sugar, and brown sugar into a small bowl. 
6. Add SOFTENED butter to your dry mix and smash until a crumbly consistency and there are no large clumps of butter.
    
7. Butter your glass pan and layer the apples along the bottom of the pan.
    
8. Gently, without disrupting the apples, smooth your crumble mix over top until apples are fully covered.
    
9. Once covered, drizzle melted butter over top.
    
10. Place finished product into the oven and allow to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until apples are soft.
11. Remove and cool for a few minutes, then enjoy! 
    
    For added yum factor, put apple crisp over vanilla ice cream! 
    
     

I had a rough day yesterday, so when I woke up this morning I decided something. 

I needed chocolate.

Lots, and lots of chocolate.

I’m not typically one of those people who relies on food to make them feel better, but today I just wanted something comforting to gnaw on. I promised several people that I’d post my recipe for chocolate chip banana bread today, so I’m going to. However, I did some tweaking and created something that, I’m not gunna lie, I’m pretty damn proud of. So without further ado, let me introduce you to…

SUPER chocolaty chocolate chip banana bread!!!

What you’ll need:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp (margarine will NOT work. You can, however, use my favorite trick substitute and use 1 1/2 cups coconut oil!)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tablespoon Sprite (can use water if you don’t have Sprite/7 up/etc.)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• OPTIONAL: If you like banana nut bread, feel free to add some chopped walnuts for that extra nutty yummy flavor! :)

Instructions for chocolaty success!!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease your bread pan and set aside.
3. Mash your bananas with a fork in a small mixing bowl (if your bananas are not as ripe as they need to be, put them on a cookie sheet and place them into your preheating oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until peel is brown.)
4. Cream your butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Once smooth, set aside.
5. Add egg, sour cream, applesauce, and vanilla to the bowl with your mashed bananas and mix thoroughly.
6. Place both mixtures into one bowl. Add baking soda and mix.
7. Now add your cocoa powder, flour, and Sprite or water and mix thoroughly (done best with an electric mixer!)
8. Finally, add your desired amount of chocolate chips and give it another good mix.
9. Pour mixture into your prepared bread pan and smooth out. Sprinkle a few loose chocolate chips on the top before placing it in the oven.
10. Allow to bake for 45 to an hour (depending on your stove) or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool, and enjoy!

For some added flair, sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar over the top before serving!

I know I said I was only going to post on Sundays and Wednesdays, but I had “one of those days,” and needed a little baking therapy. So far this week I’ve made brownies, chocolate chip banana bread, and pumpkin muffins, so I decided to make it simple and comforting and just make your plain ol’ chocolate chip cookies. Mostly because I had leftover chocolate chips laying around. 

Normally when we make cookies we just follow the Nestle Tollhouse recipe that comes printed on the bag when you buy the chocolate chips. However, that recipe has recently kinda sucked a big one for us and I decided to do some research on the subject. Apparently recipes for chocolate chip cookies are pretty uniform across the board, so I did some tweaking and refining and, not to toot my own horn, think I came up with a pretty good end product. 

Heart Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup coconut oil or butter (melted)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Sprite or Sierra Mist (if you don’t have either, you can use water… will explain more thoroughly below.)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Egg Beaters
• Chocolate chips

Directions for SUCCESS!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt your coconut oil (or butter) in a medium sized microwaveable container. 
3. Measure out flour and salt into a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Once coconut oil is melted, pour in white sugar, then add the brown sugar and mix until smooth.
5. Add Egg Beaters slowly, distributing evenly and mixing until smooth, then add vanilla extract and continue to stir.
6. At this point, add your Sprite to your sugar mixture, and your baking soda to the flour/salt mixture you set aside. If you don’t have Sprite, mix baking soda and 1 tablespoon of water together until it’s mostly dissolved, then add it to your sugar mixture. The carbonation in the Sprite helps make the cookies a little more “airy” on the inside.
7. Pour your mixture into the bowl with the flour, salt, and baking soda. 
8. Add your desired amount of chocolate chip cookies and mix. I’m not going to tell you how many to use, because it will always be up for debate. I would eat the whole bag before I start baking if I didn’t need them.
9. Place spoonfuls of dough onto a LIGHTLY greased baking pan and place in your preheated oven.
10. Allow to bake for 10-12 minutes or until a soft brown.

Allow to cool, then ENJOY! 

*This recipe is NOT gluten free. However, if you would like to make it gluten free, the all-purpose flour can easily be replaced with rice or coconut flour!