Guest Post: Guilt-Free Cookie Dough Bites!

Hello there! My name is Nikki Vergakes, a lifestyle blogger. I've been getting into recipes more often since I have time to cook, and I found this gem floating around. They're clean cookie dough bites. Perfect for snacking, or cheating clean! It's all of the cookie dough you want, minus the guilt. Also, minus the salmonella. 

I saw this on instagram, and I HAD to try it. Also, with my recent purchase of a food processor, I thought it would be easier than ever.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup oats

3 tablespoons honey or agave nectar

However many carob or dark chocolate chips you want! 

Directions:

1. Blend the cashews and oats until they become a very fine powder in either a food processor or blender.

2. In a bowl, add the honey/agave nectar, and the maple syrup.

3. Lastly, add the chocolate chips.

4. Place in a refrigerator until hardened, and enjoy!

These little bites look and taste like cookie dough, you won't want to stop popping them in your mouth. But pop all you want, they're completely guilt free! 

Black Bean Brownies

Before you say "ew" or "wtf" let me just tell you that you cannot taste the beans in this. They taste just like any other brownies, except maybe even more delicious because they come out a bit more dense and gooey. It's also one of the easiest recipes I have ever encountered and the clean up was AWESOME. The only ingredients you need? A box of brownie mix and a can of black beans. Yep. The total cost? $4. Double yep.

Ingredients:
Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix (I got it on sale for $2.99, but you can pretty much use any brownie mix)
Can of black beans (make sure they're plain and don't have any seasoning…)
Water

1. Open up your can of beans and rinse them out. I pressed some of the excess liquid out of the can first and then put the beans into a separate bowl. Rinse the beans a couple more times until they don't have much of that liquidy brown bean juice left. Then rinse out the can and pour the beans back in. Fill the can up with water.

2. At this point you want to puree the beans, leaving you with a gooey/liquid mixture of beans. You can use pretty much anything for this step, but it's obviously easier if you use something like a magic bullet or what I used, an electric mixer.

3. Now, pour your brownie mix into a larger separate bowl. Pour the bean puree in the same bowl and with a spatula mix together. Don't over mix! This step shouldn't take more than about 2 minutes, if even that.

4. Grease your pan if it's non-stick and pour the brownie mixture in, spreading evenly. Your oven should be preheated to the temperature noted on the brownie mix box (the mix I used said 325 degrees.) You're going to want to leave it in the oven for less time than what it says on the box. In my case, I cooked the brownies for about 30 minutes and they came out perfect. With brownies you usually want to take them out when they're still gooey (even if you think they're not ready) because as they cool they harden up a bit.

(note: I'm impatient, as always, and forgot to take a picture before digging in.)

That's it! Quick and easy. They're not exactly the "healthiest" brownies, but substituting beans for the oil and eggs certainly gives it a better rep. It's also added protein! Hopefully you're used to eating beans so these brownies don't give you some intense gas, haha. But seriously, watch out for that.

Eggplant Pizza (no crust needed!)

Do you love pizza as much as me? Is Italian food your guilty pleasure? Looking to add more vegetables into your life? Are you on a low-carb diet and just DYING without delicious warm bread?! Well then I got the perfect recipe for you. This is one of my favorite foods to make because it's pretty easy, doesn't take too much time or effort, and it's so freakin' tasty. Obviously like with any pizza, you can customize and change things up as you wish, but this is my version of Eggplant Pizza and I promise you'll love it!

Feeds about 2-3 people as a main dish and 4-5 as a side dish.
Total cooking time: about 1 hour, give or take 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant


• 1/2 cup of olive oil


• 1/2 to 3/4 cup of marinara sauce


• 1-1 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese


• 1/3 cup of bread crumbs (optional)


• seasoning to taste (garlic, parsley, oregano, etc.)


• a few pinches of salt

1. Rinse off your eggplant. Cut it into about 1/2 - 1 inch slices. Do not make them any thicker or else it takes longer to roast them! Place the slices onto a tray. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt onto the slices (do NOT overdo it!) This is meant to bring out some of the bitterness of the eggplant. Let them sit for 15-30 minutes.

2. Before starting this step, preheat the oven to 375°. Place the oil in a separate bowl to make it easier. I usually add my spices into the oil and mix it together to make it a bit simpler, but you can add your spices after the oil process. You can do this step with just a spoon but if you have a cooking brush definitely use that. Brush a layer of oil onto each side of the eggplant slices. Don't overdo it with the oil, but also make sure there's a good even layer on each side!

3. Place the tray of eggplant slices in the oven for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip EACH slice over so now the other side gets to roast. After about 10 more minutes (check every few minutes since every oven is different) take the slices out and flip em over again. Now they're ready for the sauce and cheese!

4. Place about a spoonful of sauce on each slice, depending on how big it is. How much sauce you put on is really up to you and what your preference is, but I suggest putting a medium layer on—enough to give it that pizza style but not so much that it makes the eggplant soggy.

5. Next comes time for the CHEESE! This is also up to you and how much you love cheese. I put enough so that the slice is covered but not overflowing with cheese. You can also add a few bread crumbs (panko would work best) to give it a bit of a crunchy texture. Once you're done with the cheese, the slices are ready to go back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how melty and "burnt" you like your cheese. I also suggest lowering the oven temperature to about 350° or 325° for this step.

Let cool for a few minutes and you're ready to eat your low-carb but delicious eggplant pizza!!! Enjoy :)

P.S. I don't have a picture of the final product because they're so good that I devoured everything before I got a chance to snap a pic :-x