Low-Carb Peanut Butter Cups

Ya'll, I love peanut butter cups. They are one of my very favorites and something I missed terribly on this low-carb lifestyle. I HAD to find a way to make a peanut butter cup that would actually taste good and satisfy my craving. These hit the spot!

Ingredients:

3 T. sugar-free peanut butter

2 T. PB Fit or other peanut butter powder

1/4-1/2 t. coconut oil

1 bar Lily's chocolate, broken into pieces (any flavor works here, I use almond milk chocolate)

Line a mini muffin tin with 6 liners. Mix peanut butter and peanut butter powder in small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine coconut oil and chocolate pieces. Melt in microwave (can also use double-boiler), stirring every 30 seconds and being careful not to overcook. 

Once chocolate is completely melted, fill each cupcake liner 1/3-1/2 full with chocolate. Divide peanut butter mixture into 6 equal chunks and place on top of melted chocolate. Drizzle extra chocolate mixture on top. Freeze for 45 minutes, then keep refrigerated or frozen. I usually double this recipe and keep them in the freezer, popping one out when I need something sweet. Enjoy! 

Yes...they are as good as they look! 

Canning Season Is Upon Us!

A few weekends ago, I had one of those moments. My husband and I looked down at our breakfast plates and then looked at each other. "You're turning into your Nona," he said. Yep, there we were eating homemade biscuits, bacon, homemade sausage gravy, and some of my canned applesauce that I had heated up on the stove. It was a Nona breakfast for sure. What can I say? I learned from the best!

Where did that strawberry jam come from, you ask? That's more to my "turning into Nona" story. I've been making jam with her since I was young and for the first time, I decided to try it without her help this year to see if I could do it. Much to my surprise...success!

One of my besties and I picked berries in the morning. They have the BEST berries at Fulton Farms! So sweet and delicious, and reasonably priced if you pick them yourself. Then we came back to my house to try our hand at jam making. Did I mention we listened to some good ole Emmy Lou Harris, just like I always have with Nona?

Well, we were far from perfect and it took a loooong time for the canner to get hot enough (novice mistake, lol), but in the end, our jam is seriously delish! If I remember correctly, I think we got roughly 20 pints to a gallon of berries (with a little leftover to eat!), or about 40-45 of the smaller 8oz jars.

 

Pure goodness in a jar! Strawberries (picked and canned the same day), sugar and some pectin.

Breakfast is Served

Last summer, when I had zucchini coming out my ears, I wanted to think of a way to use it over the winter. I made the following recipe and everyone (even my non-fruit/veggie eater) liked it, so I packaged my zucchini accordingly.

I finely grated all of our extra zucchini throughout the summer and froze 1 cup in each baggie. This way, all I had to do was thaw it out and dump it in.

 

 

Zucchini Muffins

 

Combine these ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (you can use less, but we love cinnamon)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

* I always toss in some ground flax seed, as well

 

In a sperate bowl, combine these ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini

1/4 cup cooking oil

 

Add dry mixture to zucchini mixture and stir until just moistened. Batter might be a little lumpy.

 

This recipe can be used for bread or regular sized muffins, but we like to make mini muffins! For mini muffins, I bake at 325 (350 for light pan) for 12-18 minutes, depending on your oven. This makes around 35 mini muffins, give or take a few.

 

 

 

And for added fun (and calories!), we like to make icing to go on top. Mix together a little melted butter, powdered sugar and milk until it reaches the consistency you want. Sometimes we make it thinner and it acts as more of a glaze, and other times we thicken it up like icing.

 

 

 

Also, on a completely unrelated note...my little guy started reading today! He was able to sound out all of the words on this page in his kindergarten workbook by himself. And considering that my baby girl knows all of her letters and their sounds, I'd say she may not be too far behind him! Mommy's pretty proud! <3