Healthy Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies and NuNaturals Stevia Giveaway

Hey Friends!

I can't let January pass us up without a new, super healthy YUMMY cookie recipe!

This one is REALLY good my friends :-)  AND...... I do not feel in the least bit guilty having two (3, 4 maybe 5) of these for breakfast. Ha!  You can easily make these gluten and sugar free if you want.  

The SECRET to making these (and lots of other) healthy cookies is make sure and use REALLY ripe bananas.  Regular yellow bananas just won't do the trick.....they have to be over ripe and soft! I always keep a zip lock bag of peeled, over ripe bananas in my freezer.

What I enjoy most about these cookies is they have this great dense texture - an almost hearty feel. The chocolate isn't so bad either - hee,hee.  I will also tell you, these are even BETTER the next day (another fact with a LOT of healthy cooking recipes) I put them in a zip lock bag and refrigerate them.

Selina's Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

18 cookies

2 RIPE bananas

4 Tbsp NuNaturals Cocoa Syrup (or the mint syrup if you adventurous!)

(or 3 tbsp unsweetened Cocoa Powder sweetened with 3 tsp NuNaturals Stevia )

3 Tbsp egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c almonds ground to an almond flour

2 cups oatmeal divided (1/2 c turned to oat flour)

6 scoops (or 90 grams total) protein powder (regular, vanilla or chocolate is fine)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Dash of salt

1/2 c chocolate chips 

*you can use healthy sugar free chocolate chips and gluten free oatmeal for health issues if you want!

First mix wet ingredients together.  In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together.  Combine the wet with the dry and mix well. (It's best to add chocolate chips at the very end, lightly stirring them in)  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. (slightly undercooked is WAY better than overcooked for these cookies)

Nutritional Info for one cookie:
Calories - 106
Protein - 5.9
Carbs- 13.5
Fat - 3.8
Fiber - 1.4

Macros: 48% carb/ 21% protein/ 31% fat

I am sold on them, one of my favorites for sure.  (And one of my FAMILIES favorite, yes, I even got the "yummy approval" from my kids!)

NOW for the GIVEAWAY - YAY!

I have quite a few friends going off sugar so I better see you guys enter - ha! 

FOUR readers will receive a huge gift package of:

Bottle of Cherry Vanilla NuStevia liquid 

50 packet box of NuNaturals Nustevia White Stevia  Packets

Bottle of their new NuStevia Cocoa Syrup  

Bottle of their NuStevia Mint Cocoa Syrup

AND a fun free bonus product. :-)

NuNaturals can't ship to PO Boxes BUT they can now ship WORLDWIDE :-)  You can fill in just 1 entry or all 4.  Either way, I think it will be pretty great odds of winning :-)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you want a few other healthy recipes to use or pin,  here are a few great ones from past posts:

Uber Healthy Gluten Free Almond Cookies

Healthy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie:

Slightly Healthier (but still a bit naughty) Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Here's to staying healthy in 2015 - Enjoy my friends!  

See full disclosure policy for links.

Home Decor Ideas - Decorating with Lanterns

Hi Friends!

Every once in a while, there is a home decor accessory that seems to be TIMELESS and always looks great no matter where you put it.  Yes, decorating with clocks is definitely timeless (hee,hee) but lately I've noticed so many GREAT decor ideas using old iron/wood lanterns as that timeless, classic accessory.

Let's take a look and be INSPIRED! 

I love how they filled the lantern cage with ambient candles.  When I went to New Hampshire my friend had some electric candles that I inserted into a lantern she had hanging around her home.  

The BEFORE and AFTER pictures!

And for us COLD weather folks (the snow is non stop here!) look how COZY the lanterns make this front porch dusted with snow.  I am not sure there is a better accessory for creating a rustic and homey ambiance. 

How about inserting a plant into a lantern base - it could look like a mini terrarium!  Laura from The Given Life said she used a .99 cent fern from Michaels craft store.

I LOVE this fun outdoor picture below. How creative to use old wine barrels as side tables - it fits perfectly.  And look how much the lanterns add to this setting! 

Here is another BEFORE and AFTER of my NH friends console table fully accessorized.

Take a look - Up close you can see we used a cute decorative lantern with an automatically lit tealight.  You can usually buy great accessory lanterns at Michaels Craft Store. Don't forget to grab a 40% off coupon by doing a Google search before you head out to that store!

Decorating with lanterns can warmly enhance ANY outdoor space.

And only because I mentioned CLOCKS to be another timeless accessory - I had to add this super fun, GIANT kitchen clock.

And this BEAUTIFUL country living back porch clock!

What is your favorite "timeless" home decor accessory?  

Enjoy!

My Favorite Tried and True Pinterest Recipes Off Pinterest

Hey Friends!

Pinterest is awesome but it cracks me up!  I'll see recipe boards with THOUSANDS of "delicious" recipes pinned and you just know those people (including me) after an hour of pinning,  pull out the Mac and Cheese because all the time spend that they were supposed to cook just went to pinning the amazing recipes.  ;-)

So, with this post I just wanted to write MY favorite Pinterest Recipes that I have actually tried and agree with the little sayings beneath it when people write "this was the absolute best, nothing beats this recipe!"  (please tell me you have tried some of those "best" recipes and it tasted nasty, you know they just WROTE that, and it never was the best - hee,hee)

Here are my favorite's that I have tried and either put on my blog or just pinned them to my Recipe Pinterest board.



Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I make these ALL the time!  They are so stinkin easy and healthy.  The perfect snack or breakfast and they taste GREAT.

Coconut Sticky Chicken

Please just tell me you will try this :-)  It's SOOOOO yummy!!!!

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Casserole 

I LOVE this recipe - and it's a vegetable and REALLY healthy!  I shouldn't love it as much as I do.   (And just so you know, it's not just me that loves it - hahaha, my PICKY husband thinks it should be a holiday staple!)  

BEST Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal

Let's just say......the texture in this bread is to DIE FOR!  You will not be able to stop at one piece - guaranteed :-)

BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies (unlike others!)

Alright - this one is AMAZING as the recipe does something no other recipe does.  It uses BROWNED butter....yes, you actually cook your butter a little bit and it gets all carmelly.  Honestly, you will NOT be disappointed in these.

I also did a post on my favorite tried and true beauty products that might just become your newest favorite products too.  (some have changed my life - hee,hee)

Now go on and PIN this post for later when you actually have TIME to make one of these delicious recipes! hee,hee! No, all of these recipes are very easy and not very time consuming. (You're Welcome!)

OH, and tell me if you try any of these and what you think!!!  I'd love to hear if you agree with me :-)

Follow Selina {CreativeJuicesDecor.com}'s board Recipes: Meal snacks and applitzer Recipes on Pinterest.

Enjoy!

Feel free to follow my Pinterest Boards. :-)