Chocolate, Coconut, Oatmeal, oh my!

Today, I had a craving for some cookies.  I've been working out lately to get into shape for my trip to Florida in March.  So, after all my hard work, who was I to deny myself some sweet deliciousness?

The other day, I pinned this recipe.  I think that's when my craving began.  It's all my favorites combined!  I finally gave in today and made some chocolate coconut oatmeal cookies.  I didn't have dark chocolate and I didn't want to go to the store, so I went with what I had- semisweet.  And they are delish!  Bonus points, they have coconut in them, so R won't go near them.  Score!

Besides these photos, I also made an awesome Vine video for you, but it somehow deleted itself.  Bummer.  I'll just have to make another and upload it later.

Anyway, if you've got a sweet tooth and you're hankering for a delicious cookie, give these a try.  They are so worth it!

Recipe Box: Pumpkin Bread

At the beginning of the fall, I bought a can of pumpkin.  One can.  I planned to scour the internet for THE BEST pumpkin recipe of all time.  I knew I had to make it good since I only had one can of pumpkin to use.  I know, I could always buy another can, but we're on a budget people.  So, I looked and looked.   And I kept coming back to good, old fashioned pumpkin bread.  You really can't beat it.  So, today, I took my one can of pumpkin and put it to the best use I know.  Pumpkin bread deliciousness.  Also, I have now written the work pumpkin so many times, it's starting to look weird.  You how that happens sometimes? Pumpkin.  Pump-kin. Punk-pin.  Pumpkin.

Anywho, I digress.  Here is the delicious pumpkin bread recipe from the Streaming Gourmet blog.  Below is the same recipe with a few alterations.  I made muffins instead of bread so that I could freeze half of them.  I also cut the recipe in half so that's why there are lots of fractioned measurements.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white APF
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 baking soda
1/4 baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (softened to the point of almost melting)
1 large egg
1 egg white
8 oz. pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a muffin tin with PAM-a-lam-a-ding-dong.  Mix together the flours, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Set aside.
Whisk together the butter, sugar, and eggs until fluffy.  Add the pumpkin and stir until well combined.  Slowly add in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Batter should be fluffy and not runny.
Fill 12 muffins cups and bake for 20 minutes of until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Now, settle down with a muffin, some butter, and a big glass of milk.  Enjoy your hard work.  You deserve it.

Monday Sweet Tooth

Normally, on a Monday, I would do a super exciting weekend recap.  However, my weekend was super boring.  Also, I may have had one glass of wine too many and now I'm too sleepy to write anything exciting.

BUT, I will tell you this- I have been hankering for something sweet for the past couple of days.  Normally, I keep sweets around the house (cookies, Christmas tree cakes, pumpkin muffins, etc.) for an after dinner snack.  I always have to have something sweet after dinner.  But, I've been trying to eat healthier lately, so I purposely have not brought any sweets home.  Not an easy task considering I work one block away from an amazing bakery.

ANYWAY, the other day I saw these on Pinterest and knew I needed to make them soon.  Today, I cracked.  And let me tell you, I didn't regret it for a second.