Chocolate Chip Dip

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Chocolate Chip Dip

This recipe smacks of sweet serendipity. Many years ago I found a version of this recipe in, I think, a Kraft holiday cookbook. It was supposed to make a dessert-style cheese ball and I planned to make a few as gifts for friends and family. But when I used margarine instead of butter, it came out soft and gooey and dip-like, not ball-like. It was so yummy — and the girls loved eating the "mistake" — that I never tried making it the correct way, with butter. It's always been a hit any time I've served it, for adults or kids! This is great with graham crackers, graham stix or apple slices.

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Low-Carb, Low-Sugar Blueberry Muffins

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Low-Carb, Low-Sugar Blueberry Muffins

My husband and I recently agreed it's time to face reality: We eat far too much sugar, consume way too many carbs. We are now on a mission to minimize our consumption of both in hopes of increasing our energy levels as well as — we hope — our longevity.

Learning how to cut the sugar, cut the carbs has a steep learning curve, let me tell ya. After 35+ years of loving all things sugary, white, carb filled (and scrumptious... though unhealthy as all get-out), I'm struggling to find healthier foods we actually enjoy eating. 

I finally found success with these scrumptious muffins. The secret: almond flour, Splenda, and coconut oil. The surprise: My husband raved about the taste without me even prodding. Success indeed!

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Homemade Bagels

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Homemade Bagels

Bagels are king in our house. Far more appreciated—and eaten—than doughnuts and gooey pastries. This is an adapted recipe, a melding of one from Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook and the one included with my bread maker. Yes, I used the bread maker for the kneading, so this recipe is geared toward placing the ingredients in that, but you could surely make them without one.

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Best Basic Brownies

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Best Basic Brownies

Over the past three decades or so, I've tried and tweaked more brownie recipes than I can count. They never turn out the way I want. Too dry. Too mushy. Too hard around the edges. Too much trouble. Then along came a recipe that was close and after a few tweaks resulted in just what I hoped for: the best basic brownies. This is my tweaked recipe. It's basic. Which is how I like my brownies. But it goes from basic to BAM! with stir-ins or toppings for non-basic brownie lovers.

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Easy Apple Turnovers

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Easy Apple Turnovers

Apple season has arrived and so did recently a bag of sweet, crunchy, yummy organic honeycrisp apples from Wacky Apple Organic orchards in Hotchkiss, Colorado. I shared a few with my apple-loving daughter and her hubby, munched a few with my hubby, and made these easy apple turnovers — using refrigerated crescent rolls — with others. So good! Thank you, Wacky Apple!

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Summer Squash Streusel Muffins

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Summer Squash Streusel Muffins

My oldest daughter has been generously sharing with me the bounty of her garden, especially the abundant zucchini and summer squash. I have a couple zucchini dishes I regularly count on — Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Cobbler in particular — but hadn't yet found a pleasing way to prepare summer squash as a sweet treat. (My husband eats squash only when hidden in baked goods... so the need for such was real.) I recently came across a summer squash bread that came close to what I sought. Converting it to muffins and topping with streusel resulted in all that I'd hoped for: a more-healthy-than-some-treats afterschool snack for grandkids or a tasty breakfast goodie for grownups.

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Strawberry Muffins

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Strawberry Muffins

I am an unabashed sucker for strawberries. You, too? Then you will surely love my scrumptious strawberry muffins. 

These breakfast time—or any time—goodies are sweet but not too sweet, simple, and made from scratch using everyday ingredients most cooks have readily on hand. And they're chock full of fresh, flavorful fruit. (Which makes them healthy, right? Meh... close enough for me!)

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Cinnamon Chia Seed Coffee Cake

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Cinnamon Chia Seed Coffee Cake

Chia seeds have exceptional health benefits, so I've been working hard to incorporate the poppy seed-like bits of goodness into as many foods as possible. This one turned out to be the most tastiest so far. The coffee cake can be eaten any time, but served with fresh fruit, it makes a relatively healthy and definitely filling breakfast.

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