Chocolate Banana Brownies

I love brownies. They are one of my most favorite desserts. 

What I don't like about them is that they are normally not healthy. So, what does a girl do when she wants brownies? Make a more healthier version of it, of course. 

Don't get me wrong. Brownies are unhealthy, but they are okay to eat in moderation. To make them healthier, make a few substitutions and it'll still taste good. Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3 cups confectioners sugar (2 cups regular sugar, or use raw sugar. The confectioners sugar has cornstarch added to it, hence, the more you need to add for the same amount of sweetness)
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, protein powder, sugar and baking powder. 
3. In another bowl, mix together the bananas, peanut butter and milk. 
4. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients while mixing. 
5. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. 
6. Bake for 40 minutes. 
7. Take it out, let it cool and enjoy. 

I hope you guys enjoy these brownies! 

What recipe would you like me to "healthify"? 

Do you like the combination of chocolate and banana?

Stay tuned for a really simple pizza recipe (Don't worry. You don't have to make your own pizza dough). It'll be up later this week. I made it yesterday and it was yummy! 

Vegan Brownies and a fun food shopping day

Dajia hao! How are you guys doing today? Well, I'm going very good, thank you very much. I've had a fun day. It was definitely more eventful than the rest of the summer days I've had since I came from China. I'll talk more about later in the post but for right now, I'll talk about my favorite thing: dessert.

Anyway, I made vegan brownies yesterday! Don't these look delicious? 

Well, they were! These brownies were very good. They are chewy but they are not dry, which surprised me. They have no fat in them. I ate them today and they still taste good and have the moisture. 

I've been looking for healthy versions of the foods I love, so I decided to try to make them. I love brownies, but I don't like how they have all the fat and sugar in them. Brownies have an unusually high amount of both. However, even though my vegan brownies have no fat, they are high in sugar. But, hey. Which sounds healthier to you? High fat and sugar or no fat and high sugar? You may say it depends on the kind of fat but oh well. At least these are healthier than the other brownies. 

And, guess what? They have applesauce and bananas in them. Now, aren't you guys surprised? It still tastes like a really good brownie too. So, now, here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the apple sauce, banana and vanilla extract. 
3. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. 
4. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The batter will be thick. Then, add the chocolate chips if desired. 
5. Pour into a greased pan and bake for 35 minutes. 
6. Use the toothpick test to see if the brownies are done baking. 
7. Let it cool and then cut into pieces. 
8. Enjoy. :) 

I also made a shirt yesterday. But, I will post that tomorrow. It's a cute racer back shirt that you can wear to workout in. But, for now, you can hear all about my day today. 

So, I went around my university campus today with my cousin, who showed me around. After that, we went out to eat at L&L Hawaiian BBQ. Before I really got into health foods, I would order the chicken katsu, macaroni salad, rice and that stuff. That's at least half a day's worth of calories! But, now, they added healthier options. They have the healthy plate options and I ordered the garlic shrimp one. It came with brown rice and a salad. It was actually pretty good. I added soy sauce to the rice though. Here's a pic:

Looks delicious, huh? I was so psyched that they actually had a healthy menu! This was only around 270 calories. 

After eating this for lunch, we went to Sunflower Farmer's Market. My cousin goes there a lot and I've never been there before. He bought these organic baked apple cinnamon chips that I tried and they were delicious. I just had to buy it from there and I did. 

They had such a huge selection of healthy things! I was in heaven. Vegan, gluten free, you name it. They had it. Their bulk selection is really nice too! I love their salad dressing assortments and their granola bar assortments. I also love their snacks, cereals and everything! I had such a hard time choosing what to buy! I mainly wanted to buy items so that I can snack on them while I'm at school. The university food is expensive and I don't want to waste money buying their food. That's why I want to buy lots of snacks from here. Healthy snacks. Here's what I ended up buying:

I jut had to buy the apple cinnamon smiles cereal. It was just too cute! It's a generic brand but the nutrition isn't bad either.  As for the Clif Crunch Bars, I've heard good things about them. I've tried other Clif brands, including the regular Clif, Luna Bars and Mojo Bars. It's about time I tried their Crunch ones. For the Larabar, it said that the Banana Bread is a discontinued flavor. I don't know if it's true or not, but I bought one just in case it was. And, I've just heard many things about the Shirataki noodles. And, I've already told you guys about the apple chips.

Now, here's the pictures of the salad dressings and some other things:

So, what's your guy's favorite dessert?

Where do you like to go grocery shopping?

What are your favorite healthy snacks?

Vegan Brownies

Hello everyone! How are you guys today? I'm sorry for not posting for a while. I've been really busy with AP tests and school. The tests were hard but I managed to push through. What's fun is that on Friday, we learned how to dance the salsa en la clase de Español. With all the AP testing done, we don't have much to do in my AP Spanish class. I got an A on the final (and it was all handwritten free response, no multiple choice) and now, we have to make a movie about one of the stories we've read during the year. It'll be fun. My group is going to make a movie about Jaque mate en dos jugadas.
Also, in my Anatomy and Physiology class,  we're learning about nutrition, since we just studied the digestive system. I've learned some pretty surprising stuff from Mr. Warren, the teacher. I'll post more on what I've learned in my next post.
Anyway, on other news, I'm pondering on whether I should become vegan or vegetarian. I really want to eat healthier and more natural. Also, it'll help me lose some weight for the summer. However, having Asian parents, who think that meat, white rice, and vegetables are a must, it'll be hard. They don't agree with that kind of eating, unless the person has health problems. I'll eat vegan, or at least vegetarian, as much as I can, but we'll see how my parents will react. The idea came to me yesterday when I read Cassey's post from Blogilates, talking about how a vegan diet can be more beneficial for your health and challenged readers to try a vegan diet for 2 weeks.
So, with that, I decided to make one of my favorite desserts, brownies. However, not just any brownies. I'm talking about healthier, vegan brownies. After researching more about a vegan diet, I decided to make changes to my current recipes for brownies and make them vegan. They're actually delicious. Enjoy. :)

Ingredients:

• 1   1/4 cups whole wheat  flour
• 1   cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2   cups brown sugar
• 1   cup unsweetened cocoa powdr
• 2   tsp baking powder
• 1/2  cup olive oil
• 1  1/2 cup water (or non dairy milk)
• 1/2  cup mashed banana
• 2   tsp vanilla extract
• chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. 
3. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. 
4. Mix the dry ingredients INTO the wet ingredients. 
5. Pour into a pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. It depends on what size pan you use and how you divide it. 
6. Wait for it to cool before cutting it into squares. Enjoy.

 Enjoy the brownies. :)

So, how was your weekend? 

What's your favorite dessert?

What's your opinion on being vegan or vegetarian?

100 Calorie Whole Wheat Brownies

Hey everyone! How are you guys doing? I've been doing okay. I've just been stressed out with school. However, I did get my Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. Delicious!
Anyway, I made brownies this weekend! I love brownies. What's even better is that these brownies are a lot healthier. There's whole wheat and it's only 100 calories! My little brother hates it when I try to make desserts healthy, but he didn't even notice with these. He actually likes them.
These brownies are cake like brownies, but they're still really good. I guess if you want less cake like ones, add less liquid and don't add as much baking powder as I did. I just like mines really thick in size.
My uncle compared these to the Fiber One Brownies, which are 90 calories. He says that mines taste a lot better. :) He said for me to send them my recipe. He's funny. Anyway, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder*
• 2 tsp baking powder (can use less if you want)
• 2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water (optional)

*If you want to use 1 1/2 cup cocoa powder, you have to add the water. 

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan and some cupcake pans. 
3. In a bowl, combine the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar. 
4. Next, mix in the wet ingredients. 
5. First, pour the batter into 12 cupcake molds. Then, pour the rest into the baking pan. 
6. Place the cupcakes on the bottom of the oven and the baking pan ones on top. Bake for about 30 minutes. Use the toothpick test to make sure it's cooked all the way through. 
7. Cut the brownies into 24 squares. There should be a total of 35, including the cupcakes. This will make it 100 calories each. Enjoy. :)

Healthy Brownies

Hey you guys! Today's recipe are healthy brownies. I'm into healthy things, and this was my first experiment of making healthy desserts. As it turns out, these brownies turned out pretty good. These were initially for the Healthcare Club (Health Club for short) that I created at my school so that students will learn healthier habits. I'm still quite please with my first attempt at making these brownies and these brownies still look pretty darn delicious. They don't look healthy, huh? Well, anyway, enough about me ranting. Here's the recipe for the brownies. Enjoy. :)


Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup UNBLEACHED all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup olive (or canola) oil (can increase to 1 cup, if you want moist brownies. 1/2 cup was dry)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract. 

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flours, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. 
3. Mix in the water and olive oil. 
4. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract. 
5. The batter should be a bit more liquidy than other brownie batter. Mines turned out a bit dry with 1/2 cup oil, so, I suggest adding 1/4 cup more. 
6. Grease a baking pan and evenly pour the batter in. 
7. Bake for about 30 minutes
8. Use the toothpick test to make sure the brownies are cooked all the way. Let it cool, and cut it into 30 pieces. Enjoy.