Chocolate Peanut Butter Fruit Tortilla

For nearly a week straight I was on a fruit tortilla kick. Since wrapping a banana up in a tortilla just wasn’t going to cut it I went peering through the cabinet. That’s when the light bulb went off and I decided to make a chocolate peanut butter concoction using PB2.

I put 2 tablespoons of PB2 into a small bowl and mixed it together with a little bit of water. I then drizzled in a teaspoon of sugar free chocolate syrup and combined the two. I then smeared the chocolate peanut butter mixture onto half of a tortilla – then topped with a sliced banana and strawberry.

I grabbed the wrong tortilla for these (each tortilla was 3 points plus a piece) so it made this little gem 4 points plus values. If I had purchased the correct tortilla, it would have only been 2 points plus.  The only thing that could’ve made this better would have been grilling it up to make it ooey, gooey and crunchy.

Almond Breeze Unsweetened Chocolate Almond Milk & Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana-Berry Smoothie

After going on a hunt, and I mean month long hunt, for the Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Unsweetened Chocolate Almond Milk I FINALLY stumbled across it at Whole Foods.  The funny part of this hunt is, once I finally found it and purchased it, I noticed it starting to pop up on my local grocery stores shelves.  So now, I no longer have to scour the earth for it – I can go to the closest grocery store!

Oddly enough I’m not a fan of milk (bad experience as a child in school), at all, but I LOVE chocolate milk.  As a kid chocolate milk was the only type of milk anyone could get me to drink.  As an adult, I still have a weakness in my heart for chocolate milk.

The greatest part about this almond milk is that 1 cup is only 1 points plus value.  Sure, it’s unsweetened, but if you’d prefer the type with the sugar in it there is a version sold in the refrigerator section as well as in the cardboard containers that can be stored on shelves.  I decided to make smoothies with it because who doesn’t love a chocolate smoothie?

Serves 1.  2 Points Plus values.

• 1 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
• 2 tablespoons PB2 (or you can use the chocolate pb2 if that’s what you have, same points plus)
• 1 packet of equal (or any sugar substitute – optional)
• 1 banana
• 4 strawberries
• 5 ice cubes

Add all your contents to a blender and blend until smooth.  Serve up in your favorite beverage glass or travel mug.  The mixture when blended makes about 25-30 oz smoothie which is quite a lot!

QUESTION:

Have you tried the unsweetened chocolate almond milk?

Chick Pea Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who would have ever thought it was possible to make a delicious dessert out of chick peas?  Certainly not I at first because I admit I was a little skeptical and well, quite concerned.  I’d heard a lot about chick pea cookies from folks who follow a clean eating lifestyle.  I finally got to the point where I decided I’d try it and if it were repulsive, I’d only be throwing $1 in the garbage because I had all the other ingredients at home in the cabinet.

After whipping these cookies together and baking them, I found they were simply delicious.  Almost, too delicious.   I will say they are best warm, straight out of the oven. Although with a cooled cookie, I would probably heat it the microwave to warm it up for a few seconds.  I did share these cookies and my mother turned out to be the biggest fan of them (which surprised me).  My sister-in-law tried them and was shocked to find out it was made out of chick peas!  The honey, peanut butter and chocolate chips really do steak the show.  The texture is really soft, the outside getting a little bit of a crisp from baking, but it’s like an ooey gooey cookie on the inside.

 

Serves 18. 2 points plus per serving

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup chick peas (14.5 oz can), drained, rinsed and dried
• ¼ cup honey
• 8 tablespoons PB2
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Rinse and drain chick peas. Lay out on napkins and roll around to dry eliminating all water and moisture from the outside of the chick peas.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine PB2 and water in a bowl, stirring together to make a peanut butter consistency.

Add chick peas, honey, baking powder, vanilla, and PB2 mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Transfer to a bowl and fold in chocolate chips.

Spritz a baking pan with non-stick cooking spray, or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Drop large rounded teaspoon full balls onto your baking dish.  My batter was able to make 18 cookies.

Bake for roughly 8-10 minutes until golden brown.  You can tell they’re done when the bottom of each cookie is slightly golden and the mixture forms more into a “cookie” consistency.

Amazon Haul: Tajin & PB2

I’ve grown to truly love Amazon because I can get items I cannot find in stores and I can also get items I can find in stores for cheaper on Amazon.  Those things range all across the board but two of my recent “food finds” I purchased are a newbie and a repeat purchase.  The first item I went on the hunt for (after calling various stores and asking different produce managers) was:

Tajin – a seasoning produced by a Mexican company.  The spice is a blend of chile peppers, lime and salt which is a spicy tangy mix to sprinkle over fruit. I admit when I first saw Tajin popping up on my Instagram feed I was intrigued, but a little scared.  I can sometimes be sensitive to spice (depending on the pepper) but I decided I’d give this a shot.  It is a lot cheaper if you can find it at your local grocery store, but since Amazon was the only place I could find mine, I bit the bullet and ordered it even though it was slightly more than it would have been if I could have found it in a store.

PB2 in the big mamma jamma package!  PB2 is a powder peanut butter which gives you the flavor of peanut butter, without all the fat and calories associated with regular peanut butter.  2 tablespoons of this stuff (powder form) is 1 points plus value. Amazing!  I’ve used it with cool whip to make fruit dips, I’ve used it to make peanut butter pie and I’ve used it in smoothies.  The possibilities are truly endless with this stuff.  I made a couple peanut butter pies (there’s also a chocolate PB2 which is amazing BTW) and NOBODY knew it wasn’t “real” peanut butter.  I stick to buying my PB2 off Amazon because I sometimes have a hard time tracking it down and after finding a different brand in Whole Foods I found it was way more expensive in store than online.

QUESTION:

Do you have any great food finds you purchase online?

Skinnytaste’s No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie

When I saw this recipe on the Skinnytaste website I knew I had to make it.  I printed out the recipe and put it on my potential Easter dessert list.  My boyfriend mentioned that it would probably be wise to make the dessert before Easter to try them just incase it wasn’t a hit (I think he really just wanted peanut butter pie).  So, I picked up the ingredients and decided to substitute the Better n Peanut Butter for PB2.  I used the exact same measurements (1/3 cup PB2) although I did mix it with about 2 tablespoons of water just to make it into a smoother consistency.  The points plus values are still the same even with this particular substitution.

The pie is outstanding and was a hit at dinner.  It’s got a really nice airy consistency and taste just like a peanut butter pie should.  Smooth, creamy and delicious.  It was so good my mother asked me to make the pie for Easter.  In fact she asked me to make TWO pies for Easter so since I had chocolate PB2 and regular PB2, I made one of each.  Both are fabulous and both were a hit at Easter.

You can find the original recipe here: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/02/skinny-no-bake-peanut-butter-pie.html

QUESTION:

Have you tried Skinnytaste’s Peanut Butter Pie?  If so, have you substituted the Better n Peanut Butter for any other peanut butter?

Snack: PB2 Dip

This is a delicious little snack I whipped together because I had whipped cream and strawberries in the fridge. I can’t say I gravitate towards strawberries and whipped cream – but I wanted the dip to have a different flavor.  Since I had purchased my PB2 on Amazon I decided to experiment with it.  I typically use my PB2 in smoothies and in dessert recipes, so I thought this could either be good or a complete fail.  Thankfully, it turned out to be an A+.

I put 1 ounce of fat free whipped cream into a bowl along with 1 tablespoon of PB2.  I mixed it together until well combined and then garnished with my cut up strawberries.  It was seriously delicious! The only thing that could have made it better would have been a little drizzle of chocolate syrup.  Then it would totally have a peanut butter cup theme going on.

The dip was a 2 points plus snack and totally worth it.

QUESTION:

How do you like to use PB2?

Chocolate Peanut Butter, Banana, Cherry, Strawberry & Almond Milk Smoothie

This is one of my delicious smoothies I created on a whim and am just not getting around to post about it.  One great thing with me is when I’m in the mood for a smoothie; whatever I have in the kitchen (fridge, freezer and countertops) is fair game as long as it’s not saturated in sugar sauces.  Sometimes I swap out the liquid for almond milk, skim milk or just plain water.  It really depends on how pointy I want to keep the smoothie at.  Other times I add in a yogurt along with my fruit (this usually entails adding cinnamon) and water.

This is one of the most delicious smoothies I had made and the greatest part is it was only 2 points plus values!  It had a perfect chocolate peanut buttery taste along with that rich, fresh taste you get from fruit.  It was delicious and incredibly filling.

Here’s what I used to make it:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

6 ice cubes

2 tbsp chocolate PB2

1 Banana,

4 Strawberries

3 frozen cherries

1 Equal packet

The greatest invention since sliced bread: PB2

While on Instagram I kept seeing all these photographs of this stuff called PB2.  PB2? Pfft, okay. I’m a foodie by heart, but a critic. Initially my brain said – how in the world can you take something like peanut butter that tastes fabulous and make it a powder and make that equally fabulous? Declined!  I mean I’ve tried powdered eggs before and those were a double thumbs down.

Well, I kept seeing this PB2 stuff all over Instagram … and curiosity got the best of me (partly because I am obsessed with Amazon shopping) so I found a 2-pack of both the regular peanut butter and chocolate so I purchased it.  It was shipped to my house and upon receipt … I admit I was a little skeptical but excited.  I waited a few days to try it and then added it into a smoothie (figuring that would be the safest bet).

To my surprise the stuff was AMAZING!  It gave my chocolate banana smoothie this yummy peanut butter taste and I was immediately hooked. Powdered peanut butter that has the taste of peanut butter but without all the fat? Oh my!!

So I started experimenting – adding it to different things to make dips, to make pies, to make more smoothies and each and every time it’s been amazing.  It gives me that peanut butter flavor I love so much.  Since I follow Weight Watchers, peanut butter can get pretty high in points so I typically avoid it as much as I can – but 2 tablespoons of PB2 is only 1 points plus. Heaven I tell ya, HEAVEN!

QUESTION:

Have you jumped on the PB2 wagon? If so, what were your thoughts?