Date Night Deep Dish Cookies

My husband is a peanut butter cup fiend.  He prefers the holiday shaped varieties because (according to him) they have the ideal peanut butter to chocolate ratio.  My mother-in-law gave him a huge bucket filled with football shaped ones (which look suspiciously like the Easter egg variety) for Christmas so I've been "helping" him drain the contents.  The other night I had a wicked craving for a deep dish gooey pizza cookie so I decided to put some of those "football" cups to use.  I placed them in the freezer for about 15 minutes so that I could chop them up into pieces and went to work.

You can substitute the candy in this recipe for your chocolate/toffee/other sweet of choice.

Date Night Deep Dish Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp non-fat plain greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 C chopped peanut butter cups (if gluten intolerant, use a belly friendly candy!)
• 1/2 C flour (I use Better Batter, a gluten free blend)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 3 Tbsp light agave syrup (or 1/4 C brown sugar)
• 3 Tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg white

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two ramekins with non-stick spray and set aside.
2. Mix flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. Beat butter, yogurt and sugars in a mixing bowl for approximately one minute on a low-medium speed. 
4. Add egg white and vanilla then blend for another 30 seconds
5. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl.  Make sure the ingredients are blended together, approximately 1 minute on low-medium.
6. Fill each ramekin just over halfway full
7. Bake for approximately 17-20 minutes, depending on how gooey you like your cookie
8. Remove from the oven and serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream :)

Game Day Turkey Chili

This Christmas my mother-in-law gave me a nifty baking pan that forms bowls.  I had a super craving for chili and thought... jalapeño cornbread bowl... filled with yummy chili... genius!

Turkey Chili

Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey (I found ground breast meat to keep the "others" factor out of the meat)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 can reduced sodium black beans, drained
2 cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 red pepper, diced
2 tbsp cayenne pepper (omit or lessen if you do not like it spicy)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp kosher salt
black pepper to taste

Directions

• Add oil and garlic to large sautee pan and heat.
• Add onion and ground turkey to pan and brown. Drain any fat from the pan and place the turkey mix into a crock pot
• Add remaining ingredients to the pot and combine.
• Set crock pot on low to cook for 8 hours or on high for 4
• Enjoy!