Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries

I recently picked up a bag of organic frozen sweet cherries which are delightful just by themselves right out of the freezer (at 2.25 calories each) and I've also been chopping them and adding them to my plain Greek yogurt which is just too wonderful to describe. But...I'm always looking for healthy recipes that include dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is one of those treats that really satisfies me with small quantities because it's so rich. I also find that treats that are frozen are much easier for me to control portion sizes. So today I got this really bright idea to melt some dark chocolate chips and coconut oil and to dip the frozen cherries in it. Heaven in a bite, let me tell you. So if  you're looking for a little treat after dinner, at 25 calories each these fit the bill perfectly.

I used the Lilly's no sugar added mini chips because I had them in the freezer. To be honest, they're not my favorite brand. I usually use the Enjoy Life chips even though they're higher in calories because they just taste much better and they don't have any weird added ingredients. Whatever chocolate you use, just be sure to adjust the calorie content of them.

The cherries I used are the Great Value organic frozen ones from Walmart but any organic sweet cherries will work.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips of your choice
2 tsp coconut oil
35 frozen sweet cherries


Directions:

Line a small cookie sheet with parchment.

Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in the top of a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler then use a small pan over another smaller pan with warm water in the bottom pan. Be sure to use low heat. Too hot, and the chocolate will congeal.

Spear a cherry with a skewer and dip it in the chocolate. Tap the side of the pan to knock off excess. Push the cherry off onto the parchment.

Repeat with all the cherries. You will have to use a rubber spatula at the end to scrape the chocolate off the pan and kind of smear it on the last couple cherries.

Place the pan in the freezer to firm the chocolate and then store in a plastic container. These are 16 calories each with the Lily's chips and 25 each with the Enjoy Life ones. They are delightful!

De-lite-ful Blueberry Muffins

Muffins are the one thing that I've really missed since starting Noom. Muffins are one of those things that I'm not satisfied with only one. If I can't have three, I don't want them. And I'm talking normal size muffins here, not those gargantuan things you get in bakeries. So I started looking around for a lite muffin recipe that I could play with.

Most lite muffins that I've made are small, dense, dry, and totally unappealing. I started out with a recipe for 100 Calorie Banana Craisin Muffins from recipes.sparkpeople.com but by the time I got to today's version, it's completely different. So without further adieu, here is the best lite blueberry muffin I've ever had.

De-lite-ful Blueberry Muffins - 89 calories each (yes you read that right)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup packed Swerve brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 medium bananas, mashed: 1 cup
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup egg whites (I used the refrigerated box kind)
1 cup fresh or frozen thawed blueberries

Directions:

Mix the sugar, soda, salt, cinnamon and flour in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine well and remove any sugar lumps.

Mash bananas in small bowl and add applesauce, milk, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir quickly just to combine. Fold in egg whites till no white streaks remain. Stir in blueberries.

Fill 12 muffin tins lined with papers. You will have to pile it up in the middle and you will think they are too full but these muffins don't rise a lot so it's fine. Bake 375° for 15-20 minutes or till golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. At 15 minutes mine were done so don't overbake these. Remove to cooling rack immediately. Let cool slightly before serving.

Notes: Be sure to use whole wheat pastry flour. If you use regular whole wheat flour they will be more dense. If you don't have any, you can reduce the flour by a tablespoon or two and be sure to sift.

Use very ripe bananas for the sweetness. I ran short 2 tablespoons and filled the rest of the cup with greek yogurt which worked great.

Work quickly in your mixing as overmixing causes muffins to be tough.

You can use regular 1% milk but you have to adjust the calories. I like the nutty taste that almond milk gives these.

If you don't like sugar substitutes, you can replace with real sugar, just add the calories to the total. I don't use sugar substitutes that often but I really like the Swerve brown sugar. It tastes and behaves exactly like real brown sugar and it's naturally sourced from plants.