Lately I’ve been trying desperately to curb my massive sweet tooth. I’m trying to cut back on my bad habits (hey chocolate!) and pump more fruits and veggies into my diet. Still, there’s no way I can cut out sweets completely. I would totally lose it and go on a binge reminiscent of that scene in Chocolat where the Comte de Reynaud ends up curled up in the front window of the chocolate shop with his face covered in chocolatey evidence (if you haven’t seen this movie, you must. Gypsy Johnny Depp. Chocolate. French village. Need I say more?!).

Instead, I’m trying to find sinfully delicious options that trick me into thinking I’m having a terrible treat when really, they’re pretty healthy.

Enter the banana-cocoa-peanut butter smoothie my friend Janine told me about. Pinterest is full of similar ideas (I also found this one that I want to try there). What I liked about the one Janine told me about was the addition of peanut butter. If you ask me, chocolate + peanut butter = heaven.

I played around with the recipe a bit and have finally gotten it down pretty well. Here’s what you do:

• 1 frozen banana (when mine start to turn black I peel them, put them into ziplock bags and throw them in the freezer for smoothies)
• 3/4 cup of almond milk
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1/3 cup of peanut butter (I use Smucker’s Natural. It’s delicious)

Throw it all in the blender (I recommend putting the milk in before the cocoa or peanut butter to make sure everything mixes nicely) until smooth. You can either drink it immediately OR put it in the freezer for a few hours. I promise you it’s worth the wait.

If you want it a little soft and creamy (think chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Yuuuuuum!) put it in for 3 or 4 hours. If you want to try it as more of an Italian ice, leave it in overnight. If you decide it’s too hard for you, just let it sit out a bit. Honestly, you can’t go wrong. Any way that you eat this is ridiculously tasty.

Do you have any go-to recipes that trick you into thinking they’re sinfully delicious? Please share!!!

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painted pumpkins, stenciled pumpkin, and floral centerpiece pumpkins

Now that Halloween has come and gone, you have to use up your ridiculously gorgeous decorated pumpkins before they get all nasty on you.

To me, pumpkin is such a deliciously cozy smell and taste. It makes me think of being all curled up under a warm blanket with a chunky knit sweater and a comfy pair of slippers. It’s so comforting!

I’ve been trolling the web for tasty pumpkin recipes and decided to spread the joy of my findings to you:

1 homemade pumpkin pie spice :: 2 pumpkin spice latte :: 3 pumpkin butter :: 4 pumpkin cream cheese muffin :: 5 pumpkin spice cannoli :: 6 pumpkin hummus :: 7 pumpkin pasta :: 8 no bake pumpkin cheesecake sandwich cookies :: 9 pumpkin spice cupcakes for two :: 10 pumpkin Nutella cupcakes

Don’t they all make your mouth water? From sweet to savory, I kind of need to try them all! I might just have to have a pumpkin party.

Do you have any favorite pumpkin recipes for me to try?