Recipe

Chocolate Berry Pudding Surprise

1 · Oct 28, 2014 ·

+ Chocolate Berry Pudding Surprise +

Who doesn’t love to be surprised?

I ADORE a good surprise!!

This last weekend, I was hanging out with some of my favorite people…

This is my friend Sara Nitta and her sweet family. You may recognize her from The Biggest Loser season 11.

Isn’t she a cutie!! We were sitting around chatting the other day, talking about my blog work and stuff. I told her that I had a fun post coming up with Tofu…

Yes, tofu!

I already had a game plan in play and I was ready to share about my tofu adventure. To be quite frank… I really like tofu. I have never shied away from a dish because it had tofu in it.

I love having a plant based protein in my diet. I love that it can take on whatever flavor profile that you want. Did you know that? Tofu doesn’t have a flavor of it’s own. It’s a blank canvas. It takes on whatever flavor you give it.

Worried about the texture… Don’t!

You can get Mori-Nu Tofu in several different textures. If you like a firm tofu that you can season and pan sauteé, you’ll want to go with an extra firm tofu. You like a lighter, creamier feel? Then I would go with a Silken Soft Tofu. The softer tofu is perfect to add to smoothies, dips and sauces. You can even get a lite Tofu with lower calories and fat, but still packed with protein!

What makes Mori-Nu Tofu from Morinaga special, is it’s innovative packaging. With their special box system, you can keep your Mori-Nu Tofu right in your pantry for up to a year. It’s shelf stable and perfect to keep on hand for all kinds of recipes. Not only is is shelf stable, it’s verified Non-GMO, Kosher, Gluten-Free and doesn’t have any preservatives.

Now, when I told Sara about my Tofu recipe, she immediately said… You should create a dessert!

WHAT!

A dessert? For real?

I had a great savory recipe all ready to go, but this intrigued me. Sara had just returned from a week at Fitness Ridge and she told me about these parfaits that they served for dessert at the resort. She loved them! When she asked what the secret was to this creamy dessert… They told her, the secret was the tofu!

YEA, for real!!

She challenged me to come up with my very own parfait…

This is how I came up with my Chocolate Berry Surprise!

This is such a simple dessert to make… AND, it’s packed with protein so it’s not just empty calories. The funny thing, you would NEVER know that it had tofu in it!

First thing I did was throw my Mori-Nu Tofu into my mixer and mixed it up well. Then I a large Jell-o Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix and then continued to whisk on high speed. The mixture then turned into something that looked like brownie mix. Then I slowly added 1 1/2 cups of cold milk. You could even use Almond or Soy milk if you like to keep it dairy-free. Place the pudding mix into the refrigerator to chill.

Then all you have to do is layer your pudding with berries, granola and Cool Whip for a fun parfait!

Now, thanks to Sara, you have a tasty dessert that is packed full of protein and you can feel GREAT about indulging a bit!

Ready to add a little Tofu into your life?! You can check out all kinds of recipes and ideas at Mori-Nu’s Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter feed.

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Mori-nu. The opinions and text are all mine.

The Classic Jif Peanut Butter Cookies Giveaway

3 · Oct 20, 2014 · 6 Comments

+ This Classic Jif Peanut Butter Cookies Giveaway sponsored by Jif® Peanut Butter +

As much as I love old recipes dolled-up with fun new ingredients, I am a huge fan of the classics. Sometimes you don’t need to mess with a good thing. I have fond memories of my Mom baking peanut butter cookies when I was a kid. Everyone tends to lean towards the classic chocolate chip recipe when it comes to cookie baking, my Mom sure did. When she broke out of the norm and baked peanut butter cookies I thought I was something pretty special. Don’t get me wrong… I love a good chocolate chip cookie, but there was just something extra special about baking those peanut butter cookies with my Mom. I would push a chair up to the counter and my job was to press the cookies with the fork. I thought had made it to the big times then…

I would dip the fork into a bowl of sugar and then gently pressing the cookie with the fork creating that classic peanut butter cookies hash tag!

Ahhhhh, sweet memories! Have you baked peanut butter cookies with your kiddos lately?

Here’s a link to the perfect Peanut Butter Cookie recipe from Jif®

What an even bigger excuse to make some scrumptious Peanut Butter Cookies? How about a fun GIVEAWAY from the folks at Jif®!

Jif® Peanut Butter Cookie Prize Pack Giveaway

Here’s what you may win from Jif®, this is a $80 Value…

Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter
Crisco® Baking Sticks All-Vegetable Shortening Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
Jif® apron
Customized J i f® cookie j a r
J i f® branded fork for cookie imprint

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Brownie Ghosts

2 · Oct 12, 2014 · 9 Comments

+ This spooky Brownie Ghosts are brought to you by Pillsbury Baking +

I love the whimsey that this time of year brings. There is just something special about Halloween and all of the cool little treats you can make for your little ghouls and goblins. This super cute treat is so easy to make, you can even do it with your kiddos.

All you need is a box of Pillsbury Brownie mix, some Cool Whip topping and some of the super cute candy eyes.

Mix-up your brownie mix according to package directions and then bake in cupcake liners rather than your typical brownie pan. Reduce your baking time a bit to account for the smaller size. I baked mine for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Next, fill a pastry bag that is fitted with a jumbo round tip with Cool Whip. (I order all my baking supplies from Sweet Baking Supply, love that shop!) Then I pipe the ghosts on top of the brownies. They don’t have to be perfect. Ghost come in all shapes and sizes, don’t ya know.

Then I place the candy eyes on my cute ghosts.

Isn’t it so cool how you can whip something up so easy with your kiddos and feel like a ROCKSTAR! No advanced skills needed here, just a little box of Pillsbury and a little spooky love!

For more fun baking ideas, visit the Pillsbury Baking site or their Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram feeds. Each of these sites are packed full of ideas that can turn your ho-hum cake mix into something aaaamazing!

Disclaimer // This post is sponsored by Pillsbury Baking. All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. However, I want you all to know that I will never promote a product or company that I do not love and use in my normal day to day life.

Almond Pumpkin Spice Steamer Recipe

6 · Oct 7, 2014 ·

Today, I stumbled upon something AAAAAMAZING!!

A little back story. I’m not a coffee drinker, however I love a good warm drink like hot chocolate, Choffy or a simple hazelnut steamer. I love the fall and I have always felt a bit envious of all you PSL lovers out there. For those of you who don’t speak Starbucks, that’s the iconic Pumpkin Spice Latte that appears at Starbucks this time of year. It has always been so intriguing. I started to think about how I could create my own PSL experience and I came up with this… The Almond Pumpkin Spice Steamer!

Yes, you will thank me after you try this sinfully simple treat!

Two ingredients, three minutes, some optional garnish and you are enjoying the flavors of the season. I use Light Silk Almond Milk. Why you ask? Well, first off it’s…

• 60 calories per serving – 60 calories for 1 whole cup!

• 50% more calcium than dairy milk

• Excellent source of vitamin E

• Absolutely no cholesterol or saturated fat

• Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg and MSG

• Verified by the Non-GMO Project’s product verification program

• No artificial colors, flavors or funny business

On top of all of that, it tastes great! I thought it would be the perfect base for my steamer experiment.

The next ingredient can be a little tricky. Getting ahold of some pumpkin spice syrup to add to your steamer. Here are your options…

Sweet talk your Starbucks barista into giving you a cup with just a few hits of the liquid gold (yea, I’m not above that at all!) I have been known to pay for a Tall PSL minus the L.
I have found a lovely Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup by Archer Farms at Target. I’m sure that’s a seasonal item, so go and grab some quick. It’s in the coffee isle at your local target.
You can order some Torani Pumpkin Spice online. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! If you are a pumpkin lover, you can find some pumpkin spice syrup.

Now, all you need to do is pour your Silk Almond Milk into a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Gently warm your Almond Milk until it starts to steam. This will take 3-4 minutes. As soon as you see steam remove from the heat.

Pour into your mug and add a splash or two of your Pumpkin syrup. Start with a little bit and add until you have your perfect pumpkin flavor. Top with whipped cream and some pumpkin pie spice and voilá, you have fall in a cup! If you want to keep this dairy-free skip the whipped cream topping and it’s the perfect dairy-free autumn treat.

For more Silk ideas, visit their Facebook page. For all kinds of Silk fun, sign-up to receive Silk news and special deals right in your in-box! Seriously, check it out! This month they are giving away a CAMERA. Go join the Silk fun!!

What’s your favorite fall treat? Are you part of the pumpkin craze or are you holding out for egg nog?

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

Recipe

Here’s a link to the perfect Peanut Butter Cookie recipe from Jif®

Jif® Peanut Butter Cookie Prize Pack Giveaway

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