Magical Chocolate Pudding

It sounds most unusual but tastes delicious. The kids will love it. Who would have thought . . .
Tastes & Treasures Cookbook has Strawberry Spinach Salad but this takes healthy to another level.

Magical Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:
1 medium banana, frozen (it makes the pudding more creamy when frozen)
Flesh from 1/2 medium or 1 small avocado
1/3 cup strawberries, hulls removed
1/3 cup kale, chopped
2 dates
2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder (raw if desired)

Directions:
Put everything in a food processor, and process. Serve immediately or allow to chill in the refrigerator first.

Thanks to bitesizedthoughts.com for recipe

Cookie Dough Balls

Want to leave a special treat for Santa? If he is anything like me, he will love these with a glass of milk.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted cashews
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup oat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1.5 tbsp natural cane sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp pure maple syrup (or a bit more if dough is too dry)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions: In a food processor, add the cashews and oats and process until it forms a fine crumble. Now add in the salt, sugar, and flour and process for a few seconds more. Add in the maple syrup and vanilla and process until combined. It will be sticky, but this is normal! Add in your chocolate chips and stir by hand or process. Form into balls. Store in freezer.

Yield: 1 cup packed cookie dough

Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/03/18/chocolate-chip-cooke-dough-blizzard/#ixzz2neH0G1ky

Banana Bread at Master Gardener Class

Always wanting to learn about growing plants in the desert, I started the U of A Master Gardener class at ASU's extension office yesterday. Very interesting and informative and fun. The instructors are so good at presenting the material, it makes you want to go out and dig in the garden. The best part was finding out that fellow Historical League member, Bonnie Newhoff, is my mentor for the class. So right away I knew someone. The mentors brought a "snack" to serve buffet style at the 10:45 am break and Bonnie prepared Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from the cookbook. She knows the cookbook very well as she was instrumental in organizing and testing the recipes prior to printing. The snack turned out to be a feast of fresh fruits, deviled eggs, pastries, cheeses and breads. Didn't need any lunch yesterday.
Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 or 3 bananas)
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the bananas, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and beat until blended. Add the flour mixture and mix just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.
Spoon the batter evenly into two greased 5 x 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 2 loaves.