Decadent Disguise

Hey friends! I've been pretty lax around the house this week, because I started working out with a trainer, and it's already kicking my patootie!  My first workout was Monday, and after an hour of lunges, squats, and all kinds of other body-weight strength training, every muscle in my body went on strike for about 3 days. I got up and went to Zumba on Tuesday, thinking a workout would help, but it just made my muscles hurt more.  It wasn't until I went back to the trainer on Wednesday that the muscles got stretched out enough to stop hurting. Today's much better, and I'm excited about the progress I'm going to make with my new regimen.

Anyway, today was the first day I really got back "on the wagon" (so to speak) with housework and in the kitchen. I had some friends over for coffee, and I wanted to make something delicious that wouldn't break the nutritional bank. I've been craving chocolate decadence, and hunting down a recipe that was healthy AND decadent has proven harder than I thought. And then I found these over at Dashing Dish. Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins. 120 calories each. If that doesn't get you, try this picture from the original post:

Yup, they're as delicious as they look, and mine looked just like that. Moist, chocolatey, and exactly what I've been craving. The recipe's simple, and comes out beautiful. They were a big hit with the girls, and I am all about having a dessert option that will actually ADD to my nutritional counter for the day rather than just pile on the sugar, carbs, and fat.

The only note I have about the recipe is that your mileage may vary when it comes to the oats.  Instead of using flour, the recipe calls for whole oats, and then you put the whole mess in a blender or food processor and spin til smooth. I used the amounts called for, and ended up with soup, not batter. I added probably an extra 1/2 cup of oats by the time I was done to get a consistency resembling brownie batter.  I added half the chocolate chips at the end, as she suggests, and they did turn out pretty, though I think in the future I'll just throw them all in and not bother with standing over the hot oven trying to put chips on top of half-baked muffins.

Here's the nutritional scoop. I think I'm gonna start calling these "You Just Think They're Sinful" muffins!

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Servings Per Recipe		12
Calories		121.5
Total Fat		4.1 g
	Saturated Fat	2.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.7 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		283.2 mg
Potassium		208.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate		25.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	4.3 g
	Sugars	6.5 g
Protein		3.6 g