Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies

As most of you know, I love running.  I found this treat on Sally's Baking Addiction that she made when she was training for a race.  I loved the idea for multiple reasons: 1. It is a great treat 2. It has peanut butter and 3. It's gluten free!

Camp training is officially over! Yay! This past week, we had training where we learned about safety, how to work with kids, and other fun ideas for camp.  The last three days were spent mostly at the camp site preparing it for the kids.  I am the site director and so I was in charge of making sure everything was prepared, but I was also concerned with getting my staff to get to know one another and work well together.  I found that my school of education classes and classroom experiences were super handy.

First, I thought about my goals for camp training: getting everything done, know all the names of the staff members, get to know them on a more personal level, have fun.  I wanted to do this and I wanted all the staff members to do this.  I spent some time every night before training planning out a rough schedule for the day (much like a lesson plan) where I made sure that my goals were met through the daily activities I planned. For example, on the last day I had the staff create graphic resumes.  This is a fun activity to do for any group or class.  All you need are some markers and paper.   Then you have everyone draw a rough sketch of their face in the middle of the page and then represent themselves in pictures around the page.  Then, we went around and explained our drawings.  Some things to think about: what colors do you pick and why? and, How comfortable are you with drawing and did that affect you during this activity? This activity gets people a little out of their comfort zones, but it is also fun and allows for a lot of creativity.  Plus, this is the art project that the campers will be doing on the first day.  So, I had the staff do this so that they could get to know one another, have a model of the art project for the first day, and be able to tell the campers about themselves on the first day.  I found that my goals were met through this activity because the counselors became aquatinted with one another, got something ready for the first day of camp, and had fun! Here's what mine looked like...

So pretty right?

My other strategy for bringing people together is going to be pretty predictable: food! And this is where that treat I was talking about earlier comes into play.  Two of my counselors have gluten allergies.  For the last day of training, I was feeling really good about my staff and how things were going and I wanted to show them my appreciation.  So, I made them the Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies (with some adaptations)! It was perfect because it was a healthy little treat that provided energy and everyone was able to enjoy them!

Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease an 8 by 8 inch baking dish.
2. Place all the ingredients expect for the peanut butter in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.  Microwave the peanut butter for 30-40 seconds in the microwave, place spoonfuls on top of the batter, and, using a knife, swirl the peanut butter into the batter.
3. Bake for 25-20 minutes, or until sides start to puff up and the middle is no longer mushy.  Cool for a LONG time (overnight) or stick in the fridge for a few hours.  This stuff is going to be super fudge-y (and completely delicious!)
Enjoy :)