Samoa Cookie Smoothie/Shake

So, my last post was focused on the lovely birthday cake that I made for my lovely, Samoa loving sister (link there). Bottom line? I seem to have been swallowed in a caramelly, chocolatey, coconutty phase. With the cake neatly polished off and not a single crumb in sight, I knew I was going to have to return to square one to satisfy my cravings (our neighborhood seems oddly devoid of door-to-door girl scouts. Where are they when you need them?)

And, since I am completely in love with smoothies that basically taste like milkshakes (oh, the magic of frozen bananas!) I thought, "It's time food a protein smoothies...samoa style."*

*I don't think I actually literally thought this. My mind went something more along the lines of "Ahhh, Hungry!! FEED ME!!" I get grumpy without my snacks.

It looks a lot more chocolatey than it actually is (I didn't want the chocolate flavor to overpower the caramel and coconut), but trust me on this: it's a keeper in my long smoothie line up. Psst... it's only 120 calories, too! You could probably only eat about 2 actual samosa for that amount, and feel a lot less satisfied!

SAMOA COOKIE SMOOTHIE

(this recipe could easily be double for a more hearty post-workout snack)

1/2 frozen banana

2 T. fat free cottage cheese

1/3 scoop vanilla whey

1/3 cup almond milk (add more for thinner)

5-6 ice cubes (add more for thicker)

1 tsp. cocoa powder

1 drop butter extract (optional)

2-3 drops coconut extract

1.5 T. Torani sugar free salted caramel syrup

Pinch Xantham gum

Blend everything but the gum until smooth. Add the gum to thicken it up and blend again until you reach desired consistency. You can always add more banana/ice/cottage cheese to make a larger volume/ thicker shake.

I topped it with coconut to make it look pretty :)

Are you hungry thirsty now?

Healthier Samoas Cake

It was my sister's birthday this weekend, and I really wanted to make it special. So, what did I do? Cooked of course! I wanted to give her a beautiful, delectable cake that she would salivated over. Literally. Okay, maybe not, but still.
Ever since we were little girl scouts in our cute little brown vests, her favorite cookie has been the samoa. (Mine is a tagalong, in case anyone is curious, which you're probably not) Shortbread covered in caramel and toasted coconut, drizzled with chocolate...I'll admit, it's pretty yummy. (Still doesn't beat chocolate and peanut butter in my opinion thought!) So I decided I'd try and make a cake to rival that cookie!

It's not a super great picture, I know, but it truly doesn't do the cake justice. It is just an iPhone camera after all though, so be sure to reserve judgement until AFTER eating it.

And, bonus, you can eat more than one slice without feeling TOO guilty, because I decided to healthify it just a little!
Normally, a butter and sugar-laden cake dripping with dulce de leche, sweetened coconut, buttercream, and chocolate would certainly put a dent in your daily calories...I don't even want to know how many a single slice has. This, on the other hand, is in no way low calorie, but for a cake it's pretty darn good as well as having significantly less fat, calories and sugar than the traditional version.

Move over girl scouts, samoa cake is coming to town!

HEALTHIER SAMOAS CAKE

1 box sugar-free devil's food cake mix

1 can (12oz) diet coke

25-30 pitted dates, soaked in water

Pinch Salt

 2 T. Torani Sugar Free Caramel Syrup

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1.5 ounces dark chocolate

1/2 T. Light Margarine or Butter

1. Grease a Bundt or angel-food cake pan WELL and preheat oven according to package directions. You could also make it as a regular cake, but I think this looks more fun.
2. Mix cake mix and diet coke in a medium sized bowl until all lumps are gone. Pour into greased pan and bake as directed (it may take a few extra minutes than 'normal')
3. Meanwhile, put the dates, caramel syrup, a pinch of salt, and about 1-2 Tablespoons water in a food processor and blend well until there are no chunks and you get a thick, caramel-like paste. You may need just a bit more water, so adjust as necessary.
4. When cake is done, spread coconut flakes on a cookie sheet and toast in oven, about 5-7 minutes. Check on them frequently and "stir" or move them around often because the coconut will burn easily! You want it to get lightly tan but not too crispy
5. When cake has cooled, take it out of pan and frost using the date caramel you made. Then cover it with toasted coconut. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave 30 seconds, stir, and microwave in 10 second intervals until melted. Pour in stripes over cake, like on a samoa cookie.

That's it! The entire cake has about 2600 calories (like I said, it's not light by any standards), but compare that to this samoa cake, which has a whopping 7,850 calories for the entire cake!! That's a lot, so even a modest slice probably has 300-400 calories. My cake has only 1/3 the calories, so even with a pretty large slab you get about 200 calories and all the delicious flavor! Take that!

Hazelnut Mocha Frappacino Smoothie

In case you couldn't tell, I've been on kind of a smoothie kick. They're a great way to sneak in some extra fruit, protein, and, if you can handle it, veggies…Unfortunately, green smoothies just weird me out, so either I need to buy an opaque cup and blender to make them with, or I'm just sticking to the tried and true.

And since I'm a poor college student who is still using her iPhone as her blogging camera… well, I think you can probably guess which of those choices I'm opting for. But hey, I love salad, so I make up for it right?

Evidently, salad loves me right back. Pictured above is a nice little combo I got at a falafel place in Cambridge, MA- plain old green salad topped with enough hummus to make even ME happy (and it was AMAZING hummus. So creamy. I need a recipe) and 4 huge falafels! Plus, a smile, which is priceless in my book.

These past couple of days I have been craving Starbucks HARD. Despite the less-then-optimal weather conditions, this girl is in need of a nice cold frappacino. My dirty little secret… that's the only thing I ever order from Starbucks. Can I really call myself a coffee snob? I'm a fake ! *dramatic sob*

Well, on to the recipe. Coffee snob or no, it's delicious. It's so thick and creamy that I wanted to call it a shake, but it's also a candidate for a smoothie, AND a frappacino. I was going to make the title some ridiculously long thing, but that's neither her nor there (okay, it was going to be Smoothakacino. There. I said it.)

Hazelnut Mocha Protein Frappacino

1 packet instant coffee grounds 

6 large ice cubes (probably a cup?)

1/2 frozen ripe banana

2 T. cottage cheese

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 scoop vanilla whey powder (or chocolate)

1/2 T. dark chocolate cocoa powder

2 T. Sugar-Free Torani Hazelnut Syrup

Pinch Xantham Gum (can omit, but will be icy)

Blend everything but the gum together until smooth. Add the gum and blend until thick. You can always adjust the amount of ice and milk to suit your preferences

Slurp that sucker up and enjoy! It's about 150 calories and 15 grams protein!

Drowning in Syrup

I have a confession to make:
I have a bit of a cool-unnecessary-food-item addiction.
I'm the person who, while grocery shopping, ends up with an extra 1/2 cart full of items I'll never use that I saw at the end of the aisles and thought "Oohh, that looks good!" And then it sits in the cupboard uneaten for three months until it goes bad.
But that won't happen here:

Torani sugar free syrups. Yes, five bottles of them. No, I'm not ashamed. After much deliberation, I purchased: Chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter, hazelnut, salted caramel, and s'mores. Wouldn't it be awesome to add just a bit of these to a smoothie or oatmeal and get a completely different flavor?

The verdict: thus far, I've tried peanut butter and cookie dough…and I'm not all that impressed. The flavor of the peanut butter is really weak, which is such a bummer because I would probably GUZZLE that thing in a heart beat if it did. Okay, maybe it is a good thing. And the cookie dough is… not very chocolatey. It's got a great smell, but really it just made things sweet, not cookie-doughy. The jury's still out on the other three flavors…

Still, I am determined to continue using them anyway. I bought them, I paid good money, and I will consume. Just let this be a warning: pick your flavors carefully, and don't get your expectations too high.