call me betty

Ryan has an exam this week, so he's been studying even more than usual. I know, I know, I didn't think it was possible either.
So that leaves me lonelier than before (and falling asleep on the couch every night this week while Ryan studies in our room.) So I've been drowning my sorrows in cooking and baking and practically loving every minute of it. I thought I would share with you all what I've made, because everything has been pretty darn good!

First I made these energy bites. Which isn't a new thing around here, but they are soooo good. And although I don't think they are as healthy for you as the lady who made the recipe claims, I wouldn't say they're bad for you.  And they are definitely much better for you than no-bake cookies. So it satisfies my never-ending craving for those bad boys. {HOW CAN A COOKIE BE SOOO DARN GOOD?!}
You can find the recipe here.
I add dry toasted, unsalted chopped up almonds. And I half-way toast my coconut because I like a little bit of crunch.

 For dinner tonight (and last night, because I made a whole lot more than I needed too) we had stuffed zucchini (and/or zucchini cups, depending on which night we're talking about.)
First I made them as cups, like the recipe says, but the zucchini I bought was much too small for that and I had a difficult time stuffing them. So then tonight, I cut the zucchinis in half length-wise, scooped out the guts, and then stuffed them. Mmm. Either way, it was delish.
You can find the recipe here.
I made it with ground turkey and used a yellow pepper instead of green.

Then, darn it, I had zucchini guts leftover. Whatever shall I do with those...so I made zucchini carrot muffins.
You can find the recipe here.
I added flax seed meal and golden raisins.

Then those muffins were so good, that I wanted to make more. I noticed the Braeburn apples that have been sitting in our fruit bowl for almost too long. I bought apples to eat with my awesome greek yogurt fruit dip (cocoa almond butter (or just almond butter, cocoa powder and your choice of sweetener) and plain greek yogurt), but I really didn't like these apples. I'm super picky with textures of food, and these apples were super mealy (or as I say, "pethy.") So I made apple carrot muffins.
You can find the recipe here.
I cut the carrots in half and added zucchini in its place (just because that's what I had on had), added 1 TBSP Canola Oil, and a bit of sugar (because they weren't sweet at all, kind of bland, but I think it was because of my choice of apple.)

 And I also made Kale chips for the first time. Yum!!
These are easy, just strip the kale from the center "rib" and rip it into good sized pieces (slightly bigger than a potato chip.) Add olive oil and a little bit of salt. Bake at 300 for about 20 minutes. They come out crispy and just as good as popcorn or potato chips but so much better for you! (I overcooked one batch of ours, which is why some of them look a little too brown and not so green.)

And while I'm sharing recipes, I remembered I never shared about the turkey quinoa meatloaf I mentioned a while ago. It was really good, and I made it extra pretty by making them mini in a cupcake tin. Then I topped them with cooked spinach and garlic mashed potatoes.
You can find the recipe here.
I used french onion soup mix instead of an onion,  and ketchup instead of tomato paste (but only because I didn't have any). I nixed the hot pepper sauce. And the topping was a little too sweet for me, so I'll probably change it next time I make this.

And there you have it! You can just call me Betty Crocker.