the best part of any meal

Okay everyone, let's be honest with ourselves. The best part of any meal, is dessert. You just can not tell me that you don't look forward to that something sweet at the end of every meal (oh please don't tell me that- it can't just be me)! As I've mentioned before, I have something of a sweet tooth. Yes, while I crave a salad for lunch on most days, and my afternoon apple is something I seriously look forward to, nothing hits the spot like some good ooey gooey chocolate, peanut butter, sugary treat. Eating dessert honestly makes me happier than a lot of other things --the smile that spreads across my face as I bite into the first forkful of cake, or first spoonful of ice cream is a mile wide.

And thus, since I aim to make my friends and family happy as well, I often find myself filling their belly's with delectable baked goods too (plus, if I ate all of everything I made, we would have a serious problem on our hands). As I've said before, when having a meal with friends, I typically take on the challenge of dessert. Last weekend I was having dinner at a friend's house. Everyone was bringing a few things to add to our Friday night dinner. As my boyfriend likes to tease me about, I can never make just one thing -I always have to bring two. I don't know what it is, but I hate coming with just one dessert, one salad, whatever it may be. After volunteering for the dessert course, I realized that there were still other things I wanted to make, so I also offered to make a grain of some sort. My rice dish turned out beautifully, and I've included the recipe below as I promised my friend I would, but in my opinion, the dessert was truly the best (elevated by the fact that I also brought fresh grapes- yum!)

This recipe was truly inspired by thinking about what ingredients I had in my kitchen, and how I could throw them into one delicious bite. When I'm short on time, and want big flavor, I often turn to making bar cookies, blondies, or brownies. Baking this way saves you the time of scooping out each individual cookie, and baking in batches (if like me, you always make more than a dozen cookies...if anyone would like to buy me a larger oven, that would be superb)! Not only were these bars easy to make, they were SO good. The best part about them? Other than the chocolate, they are pretty healthy. They could definitely be made into snack bars by removing the top chocolate layer (but really, would you want to do that?). Try them out yourself, and add in any type of nut or chip that you would like. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

 Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares

1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup natural cinnamon apple sauce
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup gluten free flour mix (you could use regular flour here, or whole wheat flour!)
1 cup rolled oats (I used gf oats- make sure if you are baking these gf, you double check that your bag is marked gf)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (I was making these non-dairy, but regular milk would be fine here)1 cup dark chocolate chips

everything yummy, rolled into one

...and topped with chocolate

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
In a bowl mix the peanut butter and sugar on high with your electric mixer until combined and fluffy (about 2 minutes)
Add in the vanilla extract and apple sauce and mix until combined
Add the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda into the peanut butter mixture slowly on medium speed
At this point the dough will start to look crumbly and clumpy
Add the milk into the dough and mix until just combined
Fold 1/3 of the chocolate chips into the batter using a spatula
Transfer the dough into a greased 8x8 inch baking dish and spread evenly, pressing the dough down with the spatula
Bake for about 18 minutes or until the dough begins to set and the top begins to brown
Turn off the oven, and top the squares with the remaining chocolate chips
Place the dish back into the oven (with the heat off) and let it sit for about 5-7 minutes, or until the chips start to melt
Pull the dish out and spread the chocolate over the top of the bars
Allow chocolate to cool and set. As soon as it is set, cut into bars and serve!
Enjoy!


Lemon Dill Wild Rice

2 cups of wild rice (I used a blend that had white, brown, purple, and black rice)
1 small handful of fresh dill leaves (remove from stem)
1 medium lemon
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow summer squash, cut into 1 inch matchsticks
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan, toast up your rice on medium heat for about 2 minutes
Add 4 cups of water and bring the rice down to a simmer, covering and allowing to cook covered for around 25 minutes or so (or until the rice is fluffy, but still a little nutty)
Season the rice with cumin, garlic, salt and pepper
Zest 1/2 of the lemon into the rice, and juice 1/2 of the lemon into the rice as well
Add the tomatoes and squash to the rice and stir to combine
enjoy!