{Dairy and Gluten Free} Walnut & Chocolate Chip Brownie Cups

The brownies are coming right up. I wanted to share this tasty beverage with you too.

We made this frozen mocha coffee recently while exploring our Ninja options and it was delicious! The recipe was in the Ninja booklet (I used almond milk and excluded the sweetener). Easy and so tasty! 

I woke up to this sweet note on Valentines Day. Nick is up and out the door before I get up, so he left this for me. I loved it. Words of affirmation is one of my love languages:)

 

My heart melted. My Valentine is so sweet.

Here's the card I gave him. I saw it when I was at Paper Source and it spoke my thoughts exactly. He's the best. I tell him that quite often:)

Valentine Brownie Cups with Walnuts & Mini Chocolate Chips 
This is a Taste of Home recipe that I've adapted 

I made these previously (seen here), but now I've swapped out the ingredients so everything is dairy and gluten free. They're still just as delicious! I brought them to my work and Nick took them to his and they were all gone. We heard great feedback, which I was excited to hear! I usually feel self conscious that they'll be able to tell there's a swap of ingredients, but in this recipe, you really cannot tell anything different! 

I must admit that I made these because I wanted to use the cute cupcake liners I found at Michaels recently. Polkadot white and red, I just had to make something in these for Valentines day! The brownie cups were much easier than making cupcakes AND frosting. I made a wise decision:)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Earth Balance Soy Free butter - I hadn't tried this kind until my mom had it for me over Christmas and I think it tastes better than the original! It's dairy free too.
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate (to melt) - I used Ghirardelli 72% dark chocolate (dairy free!), found at Target. I actually used the individually packaged pieces rather than the bar since that's what I had - either would work!
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 4 eggs 
• 1 1/2 cups sugar 
• 1/4 cup honey [or you can add an extra 1/4 cup sugar instead - I like honey!]
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill all-purpose gluten free flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips  (I use the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips - dairy, soy, and gluten free!)

Here's the pretty mixing process of adding the melted chocolate to the batter

Directions:

In a microwave, melt semisweet chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Cool for 10 minutes. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until blended. Beat in vanilla, cocoa powder, and chocolate mixture; gradually stir in flour, nuts, and chocolate chips. 

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350° for 18-20 [mine took about 22] minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

I definitely recommend these tasty bites! Pin this image (and recipe) easily to Pinterest by clicking "pin it"! 

We enjoyed our Valentines day dinner last Saturday and went to Pizza Luce for the first time after checking out their dairy and gluten free options on their menu online. This pizza is entirely free of dairy and gluten! The crust was delicious and everything was great. Their cheese substitute is spread on the crust and is tofu and cashews blended. I didn't notice it at all (Nick tasted it a bit, but was fine with the overall taste). I'd definitely go there again, it was great! I loved not having to get a salad like I usually do these days when we eat out.


I met up with a lovely friend for coffee and boutique shopping yesterday. It was so nice to enjoy the quality time and checking out all of the beautiful things we saw at cute local boutiques. 


I ordered this necklace last week on a deal where you just had to pay for shipping, the necklace itself was free! It's from Fancy Frills - I used some of the last of my birthday money to treat myself:) It looks like the deal is still going on (through March 2nd) by the way if you're in the market for a new bubble necklace! My shipping was $9.

**Just a note: Instagram has a website now, so even if you don't have the app on your phone, you can see my Instagram photos (which I tend to post many of, and share some here on the blog) at this site! http://instagram.com/eatingexploringandenjoying I also have the 5 most recent photos posted to the feed on the left side of the blog (although you won't see them on the "mobile" version of the site).

Today's Pinspiration:

(found on Instagram, I'm unsure of who created it and deserves credit, but I like it and wanted to share!)

Randoms & Brownie Cups

Wowza, it's been a busy few weeks and I've been baking up a storm! 

Here are my latest: Brownie Cups (recipe below). I have so many tasty recipes to post and too little time to post them. First of all, some randoms to catch up on...

Fibro Update

• I've been feeling more energetic and less "foggy" than usual. It's been great actually! I've had a few people close to me testify that I've been sounding more myself lately which is a great confirmation to have. The last thing I want is to lose myself in this crazy thing. I have another chronic pain appointment in a few weeks for a checkup, one of my meds may change, but we'll see. 

• I was pretty down one night a few weeks ago about the costs of health insurance and feeling guilty to have inflicted these cost on my family. I was reminded quickly how it can feel for others who have much much worse conditions to deal with and much much more expensive treatments. Ours is a walk in the park in many ways compared to others. I just have an issue with feeling guilty about bringing this upon my family financially, emotionally, and everything else. I'm working on that and working on controlling my reaction to all of it.

We're not on Fire

• Though I've been able to see some smoke covering the horizon from fires west of Fort Worth on my way to work. I read today that over 1,000 homes in Texas have burned in the past week from all the fires. Much of the damage seems to be around the Austin area...

Cold Front

• Our tally for 2011 has hit something like 68 days at or above 100 degrees. We're really close to the all time high (I think it was 69 days), but we've got a cold front now and I'm not complaining. Although it'd be nice to make that record since we missed our consecutive 100+ degree record by just two days. It's been in the mid eighties for a high and it feels wonderful! Fall-like compared to the 100+ days we've become so accustomed to.

Power Out

•  Our power was out for nearly 3 hours last night and we have no idea why. The weather was clear and a very reasonable temp. Anyway, we had to get ready for bed by candlelight and it was actually a bit fun until it got so hot without AC or fans to keep us cool. What a reality check for things to be thankful for!

Trigger Point Massage

• I got this massage yesterday and it was wonderful! I'm so sore today because she dug into so many knots (but it felt sooo good). It made think I need to get these more often!

Brownie Cups
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Makes 18 cups

These need no introduction, just know they're awesome, husband approved, and so easy!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

4 ounces semisweet chocolate (to melt)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

4 eggs 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

1/4 cup honey [or you can add an extra 1/4 cup sugar instead - I like honey!]

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chocolate chips  

Directions:

In a microwave, melt semisweet chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Cool for 10 minutes. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until blended. Beat in vanilla, cocoa powder, and chocolate mixture; gradually stir in flour, nuts, and chocolate chips. 

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350° for 18-20 [mine took about 22] minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Cupcake Brownies Recipe