Marbled Chocolate & Matcha Candy Cups

September 15, 2017 Amanda Plott

This post was sponsored by Crisco® Coconut Oil as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

So, over a year ago now I had made these amazingly delicious PB&J Cups that were some of my most favorite homemade candies ever. Party because they were so good, and partly because they were - well - more wholesome for being homemade. These Marbled Chocolate & Matcha Candy Cups are no different.

They chocolate used here is a dark chocolate, which instantly gives you a few more benefits than most other chocolates. And to make it even better, I filled them with a matcha butter that is perfectly balanced with the swarms of white chocolate to give just the right amount of sweetness without being an overkill...

Matcha & Strawberry Bran Muffins

April 25, 2016 Amanda Plott

I've been playing with matcha more and more lately, trying to find clever ways to integrate it further into my daily life. So far I've made everything from Gluten-Free Matcha Waffles to Strawberry & Coconut Matcha Chocolate Bark. Today I decided to try my hand at another baked matcha treat; muffins! After all, who doesn't like a good muffin for breakfast?

So, what's so great about matcha? Plenty.

One cup of matcha has the nutritional content of 10 cups of regularly brewed green tea. And that's not all. It has 137 times more antioxidants in it too. Meaning it detoxifies your body and calms your mind naturally. It enhances your mood, boosts metabolism, and burns calories. All in a mere cup of tea...

Matcha Waffles (Gluten Free)

March 5, 2016 Amanda Plott

So, this is what I've been up to pretty much each morning this week. I've made these waffles three times now, adjusting the recipe and tweaking it to get it to where I wanted it to be. The first time I made them as a test run, they turned out beautifully. But, the second time I made them - they were a huge flop.

Yes, even I make mistakes in the kitchen!

That could have been mostly my fault though. Honestly, my heart wasn't in it that morning and my mind was elsewhere and focused on other things going on in my life. I'm pretty sure in looking back that I left something out at some point and ended up with a waffle iron full of raw inedible goop. Whoops!

This was my third attempt with these waffles after a few final changes and a more careful eye for my measuring and accounting for each ingredient...

Strawberry & Coconut Matcha Chocolate Bark

February 5, 2016 Amanda Plott

Valentine's Day is approaching quickly and I'm all for a little guilty pleasure every now and again. Especially when it involves a special holiday of sorts. Although, if I'm going to have any sort of treat, I always tend to throw in a few health aspects just to make it more guilt free. And this matcha chocolate is no exception!

I'm a pretty big fan of chocolate bark, in fact it's a pretty dangerous thing for me to make because tends to go pretty quickly around here. I've been toying with matcha powder for a few weeks now after buying my very first bag of it, and I have to say, it's good stuff.

I've even gotten my mom onto the matcha train too! So much so that she's asked me to come up with ways to add it into foods rather than just drinking it all the time...

Skinny Matcha-Monster Smoothie (Sponsored)

January 14, 2016 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BestBlendsForever #CollectiveBias

My mom is not only one of my friends, she's really my very best friend and she has been for as long as I can remember. Of course, just like any other set of besties, that doesn't come without our occasional squabble. She's my complete opposite in almost every way, even down to our hair color.

I stuck out like a sore thumb as a child. A perfectly blonde and blue-eyed fair-skinned child among a gaggle of dark brown hair and beautiful olive complexions. And although it sounds like it, I wasn't adopted. That's just how things turned out as my mom remarried when I was four years old.

All of my life I've known my mom to be one of the softest and sweetest souls out there. She's the sort of person that would give any of her friends and family anything and everything just to see them smile and be happy. She's kind, generous, easy-going and all about fun. On the other end of things, I'm independent, stubborn, and sometimes rather brash. I'm a perfectionist to the core and entirely a homebody. See? She's my complete opposite, hah!...

Skinny Matcha Granola

January 8, 2016 Amanda Plott

There's two things that I haven't tried before, making my own granola and matcha. Okay, well... I have tried matcha since my favorite tea room here dusts it over their fabulous brownies, but outside of that - no. I've had my fair share of green tea, but matcha is different. Since I haven't tried it before, but have heard good things... I decided to do a little research.

At the end of my research, I ended up buying myself a package of the green stuff.

Matcha is made by using specially shade-grown green tea that's then ground down into a find green powder. It's supposed to be effective in improving mental focus with it's higher amounts of theanine. The theanine and caffeine together help to give a boot of energy without causing the crash that comes with the caffeine in coffee. The antioxidants are what I'm after though!...