Well it’s the “Weekend Eve” and I couldn’t be happier about it! We don’t have a whole lot going on this weekend too and that makes me even happier. Yay!
I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. We had a lot of fun. My three oldest kids went to various parties or hung out with friends and Kev and I took our three little ones (+ the doggie!) out Trick-or-Treating. We had a ball!
We live in a quiet cul-de-sac and don’t get too many Trick-or-Treaters at our house, so we just leave a bowl of candy on the front porch and we all go out Trick-or-Treating together. I love it!
I’m very sentimental, so I’m all about making and cherishing epic childhood memories. Halloween and Trick-or-Treating are some of the most epic childhood memories out there, so I absolutely looooove living it up with my kids!
We Trick-or-Treated for almost 2 hours and the kids would have loved to have kept going! My little 2 year old was in heaven. I don’t think any of my other kids were as enthusiastic about Halloween as he was when they were his age.
When I first dressed him up as Woody, he said “Yeehaw!” I wasn’t even sure he knew who Woody was. Ha ha! We pushed him around in the stroller most of the night, but he wanted to go to every house! We thought maybe he’d be okay with just going to a few of the houses, but NO, he was not okay with that. When the two bigger kids would head up to a door, the baby would protest and say “walk, walk!”
AND, when we got him out of the stroller, he would run up to the door as fast as his little legs could go. He’d say “Treat, Treat” and it was adorable. He was so excited!
It was such a fun night and I’m grateful the weather was decent.
When we got home, my poor 6 year old fell into a heap on the floor crying because Halloween was over. He said, “Now we have to take down all of the Halloween decorations.” He was sooooo sad. Halloween is his very favorite holiday (even more than Christmas!), so he was absolutely crushed that it was over.
As for me….I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!
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Well, I must say that I’m still doing well with eating a very healthy diet, but I haven’t been 100% sugar free since our trip a couple weeks ago. I’m okay with it though. I loved my Healthy Challenge and I learned a TON, but I think I’m going to call it done…for now.
I’ll probably create another fun mega challenge for the New Year, but for now I think I’m just going to continue to workout hard, eat well, stay away from most of the junk…but live a little too.
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Well, I’m happy to share a very awesome recipe with you guys today! It’s for The Best Protein Brownies and they are sooooo good!
I have to say that they aren’t as good as regular full sugar, full butter, full crap brownies, but considering how healthy they are….they are amazing!!
I love them!
Ya know, when I first started this blog over 5 years ago, I posted a “Miracle Brownie” recipe that I found on the internet. It’s a decent recipe, but it’s kind of weird too. However, that Miracle Brownie recipe has consistently been one of the top posts/recipes on my blog!
Super weird.
Soooo, I know there is a need for “healthy brownie” recipes on the internet. Hee hee. I have to say that this recipe is SO MUCH better than the Miracle Brownie recipe. It’s healthier and it tastes better.
I also have to say that about a year or two ago, I found a Protein Brownie recipe on a forum that I’m a part of. I tried the recipe and it was decent, but the brownies were a little dry and not quite sweet enough for me. Sooooo, I messed around with the recipe a few times and finally came up with this very yummy version.
Here it is!!
The Best Protein Brownies
(makes 20 brownies)
- 1 large sweet potato; cooked, peeled and mashed
- Note: I like to poke a sweet potato 5-6 times with a fork and then cook it for 7-8 minutes in the microwave, rotating it halfway through. I then cut a slit down the middle, scoop out all of the insides and mash it up with a fork.
- 5 eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut oil; melted
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 2 Tablespoons coconut flour
- 2 scoops chocolate protein powder (~66 grams)
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon all natural stevia (the kind with no added fillers….just stevia)
- If you would rather use something like Truvia, I would recommend using 7-8 packets.
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended!)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.
Mash cooked and peeled sweet potato very well with a fork.
In large bowl mix sweet potato, eggs, melted coconut oil, applesauce, honey and water.
In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, protein powder, cocoa, stevia, baking powder and baking soda.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
Stir in the chocolate chips (optional.)
Spread batter into 9 x 13 baking dish.
Bake for 18-22 minutes.
Enjoy!
These are so good guys! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! I do want to mention that they are quite dark in color, almost black. Don’t let it freak you out. They taste good….I promise!
Since most of my kids and hubby don’t appreciate my “healthy brownies,” I like to cut them up into individual squares, put them into a gallon Ziploc bag and freeze them.
Then when I want a brownie, I pull one or two out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave for a little bit and voila, yummy brownies! I love to top them with a little light whipped cream in a can or some plain Greek yogurt sweetened with a little stevia. Yum!
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! xoxo
- Serves: 20 brownies
- Serving size: 1 brownie
- Calories: 127
- Fat: 7
- Carbohydrates: 14
- Sugar: 6
- Sodium: 157
- Fiber: 3
- Protein: 6
- 1 large sweet potato; cooked, peeled and mashed
- Note: I like to poke a sweet potato 5-6 times with a fork and then cook it for 7-8 minutes in the microwave, rotating it halfway through. I then cut a slit down the middle, scoop out all of the insides and mash it up with a fork.
- 5 eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil; melted
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 2 Tablespoons coconut flour
- 2 scoops chocolate protein powder (~66 grams)
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon all natural stevia (the kind with no added fillers….just stevia)
- If you would rather use something like Truvia, I would recommend using 7-8 packets.
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended!)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.
- Mash cooked and peeled sweet potato very well with a fork.
- In large bowl mix sweet potato, eggs, melted coconut oil, applesauce, honey and water.
- In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, protein powder, cocoa, stevia, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Stir in the chocolate chips (optional.)
- Spread batter into 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Brittany says
Those browniessss omgaah!! Also, adorable costumes!
Melanie says
Ha ha, I’ve been loving these brownies!!! It’s so nice to satisfy the sweet tooth and not feel like I killed my body and diet in the process, lol!
fromtrextotigress says
Your kids are the cutest. I think one of my favourite part of Halloween is seeing the babies and children. Too adorable! I’m like your son. I hate when Halloween is over.
Those brownies look delicious.
Melanie says
I agree! I love seeing all the darling babies and kids dressed up for Halloween. It’s such a fun, albeit strange holiday! 🙂
Manicmom says
Oh, your baby is so cute! And your son’s melt down was sweet. I was out of town for Halloween, but we get lots of trick-or-treaters and I adore all the little kids. I usually shovel handfuls of candy into their bags and we run out!
(by the way, I think there’s something going on with your TMB button. I keep voting for you and it’s taking me directly to the home page, not the one where you need to confirm you’re not a bot …)
Melanie says
I love love love Halloween! 🙂
Thanks for the heads up about my TMB button. I think (hope) I fixed it. My blog has been a little bit wacko lately because I’ve been trying to switch it over to a secure site. It’s been a lot bigger pain than I thought it was going to be!
Kari says
I am low Carb, can I use pumpkin in place of sweet potato?
Melanie says
I’ve never tried that, but I imagine it would work! It might change the texture just a little bit. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
Diana says
Too many carbs for me with this recipe. I’ve made the Miracle Brownies and they just melt in your mouth! They are harder to make but worth it considering they are only 1 carb per serving.
Melanie says
Good point! I guess it really just depends on your diet and goals; if you’re living a lower carb lifestyle, the miracle brownies are perfect! <3