Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yup, a tasty, healthy (ish) cookie. And chocolate chip to boot. Now, I use a lot of butte in my house and I'll be the first to tell you, this recipe will not become my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. But, for those times when I want a sweet treat and want to not spiral down the sugar-guiilt road, these cookies will come into play just fine. Plus, they are good recipe to have on hand when you want to take a sweet treat to a gathering but don't want to be harassed for "making everyone fat" (I feed because I love, not because I want you to buy bigger pants). Either way, I was thrilled with how this recipe turned out. Dave thought the chewy inside was tasty, but he said that they definitely tasted like a healthy cookie. But I thought they were nutty without actually having nuts in them and liked the crisp edge surrounding the chewy center. And for a healthy cookie, they taste great. Clearly, Dave hasn't endured the flavorless, dense cardboard that can be a healthy cookie.

Brownie Biscotti

After making the Very Vanilla Biscotti and enjoying it so much, I knew a chocolate version wouldn't be too far behind. So I took on this brownie version and holy crap. Yes, this biscotti is that good. Now, I'm not a coffee person, but I would imagine this would be the perfect pair with cappuccino or espresso. A wonderful chocolate flavor from cocoa powder and chocolate chips is exactly what I was looking for as the ultimate yang to the Very Vanilla Biscotti's yin. Again, despite the double baking, this biscotti is uncomplicated. I omitted the nuts from the original recipe, but I would imagine it would be wonderful with added walnuts.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Cups

I spent some of these snowy weekends recently filling our freezer with portioned meals that would be easy to pull together on a week night after work, particularly since the drives home have been a little rough lately between the rough weather and the standard commuter traffic. While I've made Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf before, I like this version because it was portioned out (so I could freeze it in meal sized packages to defrost as needed) and that it was stuffed with cheese, which was just plain awesome. Cheese, a crispy topping and a nice saucy flavor make this a delicious dish and great for a crowd, or for freezer-packing like I did. Serve with pasta or potatoes and make dinner easy.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's play a game where you try to jam as many things as possible into one cookie. Ready? I'm going to start with these sweet, soft, nutty cookies with peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Boom. Jam packed cookie for the win. At first glance, this may seem like a pseudo-monster cookie, but really it's different in texture and in flavor because it doesn't have the M&Ms, nuts or some of the other things indicative of a monster cookie. These peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are soft and the chocolate chips dot a peanut butter based oatmeal cookie so each element has a clear part to play in flavor and texture. Yes, these cookies are all good down to the last crumb.

Pizza Dip

Cheesy, gooey, flavorful pizza with all your favorite toppings just went crustless. But then you dip other crunchy things into it, so I guess it's not completely crustless. Unless you just want to eat it with a spoon. Which is totally an option. No seriously, I won't judge. But the crusty bread or chips or crackers really do go well with this dip, so maybe not so much with the spoon. I love dips for parties (and subsequent dinners from the leftovers) and this might be one of my new favorites. I made two versions--a veggie lovers with sauteed peppers, onions and mushrooms and a classic pepperoni. Both were fantastic on their own, but Dave thought they could have been combined for one ultimate pizza dip party. This dip is perfect in that way though because you can customize it exactly to your liking with your favorite toppings, or divide it up and have different flavors based on your crowd and preferences. Either way, it's a big bowl of pizza flavored yum.