Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

My sister found these on the website she recently has become obsessed with toneitup.com It's a great way to find healthy recipes and workouts! And these cookies are actually healthy AND good! The original recipe didn't have chocolate chips in it, but we can't go without our chocolate!! Enjoy these delightful cookies!

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of perfect fit protein mix( or another kind of Vanilla protein powder, 1 scoop)  
• 1 cup of dry oatmeal
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup (or more!) chocolate chips
• Optional (cinnamon, nuts, cranberries, etc) we also added a tablespoon of brown sugar because it is lovely

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Spray cookie tray with non-stick cooking tray
• In a medium bowl, mash up bananas WELL with a fork
• Add the protein, and mix (you may need to add water to get the right consistency)
• Now add and mix the oats and chocolate chips or additional add ins to the mixture
• With a spoon drop dough onto the cookie sheet and slightly press down on the cookies to flatten
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown
• And enjoy!!!!

German Chocolate Bundt Cake

My Dad's favorite cake is German chocolate, so for his birthday I made him one. I found this recipe on theshadyporch.com and it is so moist moist and YUMMY!!! There's not many ingredients and I just used a boxed cake mix, but if you'd like to use a homemade one go for it! But this is scrumptious! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of your favorite German Chocolate Cake mix( and eggs, oil, water, etc on back of box)
• Two 15 ounce containers of Coconut Pecan Frosting
• Crisco for greasing the pan

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease bundt pan well (or it will stick when you flip the cake)
• In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, eggs, oil, and water according to package
• Add 1 container of the Coconut Pecan frosting to the mixture, stir and mix well
• Pour batter into the bundt pan
• Bake for about 45 minutes (test with tooth pick of fork)
• Allow cake to COOL
• Flip over onto a cake stand or large plate
• For the glaze heat the other frosting container in the microwave in microwave safe bowl for 10 to 15 seconds
• Stir until smooth and drizzle over cake( you may still need to use a knife to evenly spread throughout cake
• Slice and enjoy!! ( It slices better when fully cooled)

Chicken Parmesan

This is one of my favorite meals in the world to eat! The recipe is from the Pioneer Woman so of course it must be good! I would have to say the sauce for this recipe is the best sauce I have tasted! But the chicken is soo delicious too! It has a few ingredients, but it's pretty simple and fun to make. I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (plus more to taste)
• 1 package of boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (or 6 breasts pounded to uniform thinness)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 or 3 14.5 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 pound thin linguine
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (2 teaspoons)
• Sprinkle of Parsley

Directions:

• Wash the chicken and set aside
• Mix together in medium large bowl flour, salt, and pepper
• Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides then dredge chicken in flour mixture, set aside
• In a very large skillet over medium high heat, melt butter in olive oil until sizzling
• Place the pieces of chicken in the skillet and fry until nice and golden brown on both sides

• Remove from skillet, set aside and keep warm (wrap with aluminum foil on plate)
• Without cleaning skillet, on medium low heat, add onion and garlic, saute for 2 minutes, or until the onion starts to brown
• Pour the crushed tomatoes in, stir to combine
• Add sugar, then add salt and pepper to taste
• Add 1 cup of Parmesan

• Stir and reduce the heat to low (3 to 4), and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes 
• While the sauce is simmering, cook the noodles according to package (and garlic bread if you'd like)

• Individually top with the noodles, chicken, then sauce and Parmesan and enjoy!

Additional option: After simmering the sauce you could then lay the chicken breast on top of the sauce and completely cover them with the remaining cheese. Cover skillet and simmer until cheese is melted ( about 5 minutes). Then place this on top on the bowls or plates with noodles. My family is to impatient to do this, but it would be worth the few extra minutes!

Healthier Blueberry Pancakes

Today is my Dad's Birthday and my sister wanted to make something special for breakfast, and what better to make than pancakes? And the plus side is that they are healthy! We got the recipe from notyouraveragecollegefood.com and its very simple, healthy, and tasty! My dad even liked them and that's saying something! I hope you love as much as me and my family did!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Directions

• Heat pan on medium high heat
• While the pan is heating, mix together the yogurt, egg, flour, and baking soda, mixture will be thick

• Lightly butter the bottom of the heated pan, it should sizzle
• Spoon about 1/4 cup of mixture into pan, use spoon to spread into a circle

• Put several blueberries on top of the batter
• Flip pancakes when the batter starts to bubble

• When you hear the blueberries sizzle, the other side should be done, repeat with remaining batter( makes about 12 mini pancakes)
• Top with syrup and butter if you like and enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I always loved when my oldest sister made these when I was younger or one of  my mom's coworkers made a batch to share. I combined my sister's recipe with one I found on Pinterest and it turned out great!If you like chocolate you will love these! They make quite a few servings, but I promise they won't last long! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of butter
• 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon or so of vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 3 cups of quick oats

Directions:

• Combine the butter, sugar, chocolate, and milk into a medium saucepan
• Mix together over medium heat until boiling
• Boil for 1 minute 
• Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and peanut butter
• Then stir in the oats until combined
• Drop about spoonful for each cookie on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or a lined muffin tin ( I was out of wax paper and used aluminum foil instead)
• You can leave them at room temperature to set , but I HIGHLY suggest you refrigerate for about an hour before eating and keep remaining cookies refrigerated  

Broccoli Slaw "Pasta"

This is a healthy alternative to pasta that actually tastes good! I ended up eating it all myself, but it could easily br divided into 2 or 3 servings as a side. I found the recipe on Pinterest from Popsugar's website. Which is an awesome website for healthy recipes or exercises. But I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did! It's really simple!

Ingredients:

•  1 12 ounce bag of broccoli slaw
• 1 cup of your choice of tomato soup
• Your favorite seasonings
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of Parmesan or Italian blend cheese
• 1/4 cup of water

Directions:

• Heat a pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray to medium high heat
• Add slaw and the water, stirring occasionally
• Cook until water has evaporated and slaw has slightly softened, 5 to 8 minutes
• Add the soup, spices, and cheese
• Stir and continue to cook until hot, 3 to 4 minutes
• Season to taste and top with more cheese if you'd like and enjoy!!

Brisket

My first ever Brisket was delicious thanks to the Pioneer Woman! It was my first time tasting and making a brisket and it was sooo good! She calls it "Tangy Tomato Brisket" and it was so juicy and tender! It's a pretty simple recipe too as long as you have patience! I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 5-8 pounds beef brisket ( I used 9 pounds because they were out of the smaller sizes,you can ask the butcher to trim the fat or trim it yourself)
• 1 20-24 ounce bottle of ketchup 
• 1 package of dry onion soup mix
• 1 cup water
• Any spices you'd like, but it is wonderful without any!

Directions:

• In a medium bowl mix together the ketchup and onion mix 
  
• Mix in the water and other spices and set aside
• Now you can trim any excess fat and put the brisket in a large pan, I used a heavy duty aluminum pan as directed by the pioneer woman 
  
• Then pour the mixture onto the beef and make sure every part, front and bottom side to side, has been covered!
• TIGHTLY wrap the top of the pan with aluminum foil and refrigerate over night
• The next day preheat your oven to 275 degrees
• Then, with the aluminum foil still tightly on, put the brisket in the oven!!
• At the half way point of the cooking, I flipped the beef over but that is totally optional
• I cooked mine for 9 hours, but I would do 1 hour for every pound

• To check if it is done, put two forks in the middle and it should easily spread apart (fork tender)
• Slice then keep warm or serve!!!

This goes great on hamburger buns! And if you are in a hurry you don't have to marinate it overnight, it just allows for more time for the flavor to set in.