Recipe Review: Cookie Dough Dip

Chocolate Covered Katie's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip is delish! A big hit with adults, kids, and everyone in between. I have made this dip twice and it is super easy. The recipe scores an 8/10 easily in my book. The only downside is that I have to try and not eat the whole bowl. You can find the recipe here. I just threw all the ingredients except the chocolate chips in my ninja and ninja'd for a good long time to smooth everything out.

The dip looks a little runny in these pictures but you can just pop it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes and it thickens up. Serve with graham crackers. Just be sure to keep the secret ingredient a secret... chick peas!

Recipe Review: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is in the air... and I had some left over pumpkin to use after I made chocolate chip pumpkin brownies last week...

And so we have chocolate chip pumpkin muffins! I found the recipe here (and you can too) from All Recipes. These muffins are moist, thick, chocolatey, and delicious. Super bonus: they are also low fat. The pumpkin takes the place of any oil or butter.

I followed the recipe almost exactly but I used white wheat flour, mini-chocolate chips, and sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar mix on top.

I give this recipe a 6/10. I love the festiveness of the orange muffin, but I prefer my muffins filled with fruit instead. :-) Also, after the muffin cooled it was a big spongey. It is great for the season though. I love that a muffin is practically a dessert that can pass as a good breakfast option too.

Happy Fall! I hope you all are staying warm. I'm using my oven as much as possible to help heat up the house!

Charleston Vegan Eats: Five Loaves Cafe & Mellow Mushroom

Can I just take a moment to say how beautiful Charleston is? Arguably one of the most beautiful places in the U.S. Look at this college campus! Can you imagine going to school here and then moving to INDIANA? 

While downtown Charleston a couple weeks ago we decided to check out Five Loaves Cafe. This place is good... especially if you are NOT a vegan. But it worked for us. We ordered the only 2 veganish items on the menu: Sweet Chili Glazed Eggplant Wrap and the Mediterranean Garden Wrap. They were both pretty good, but definitely not the highest highlight of our trip.

The place was pretty cute but I was so hungry I forgot to take pics of the food. So instead you get a pic of the table with a nice Lucille Ball quote on it!

One of the nights we needed a late night snack and I had heard a rumor that Mellow Mushroom had vegan cheese. The rumor was true! And the pizza was pretty stinking good. This is only the second restaurant made vegan-cheese pizza we have had, so it really was a treat for us! It has Daiya cheese and sun dried tomatoes on it.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Brownies

I found this fall-appropriate brownie recipe just in time for the cool weather to come rolling it. These brownies are so fudgey and delicious! Another great recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie. You can find it publicly posted here.

I give this recipe an 8/10. It was very easy and quick. I used all-purpose white flour instead of ww pastry flour and baked my brownies a little longer than Katie suggested: about 27 minutes at 330 degrees. My husband voted for a 7/10. After I tell him what is in the recipe he always changes his mind a little. I did add a little squirt of Hersey chocolate syrup before I baked these - a brownie habit (HFCS!) that is hard to break.