For a year and a half I’ve been trying to convince The Beast that we should get a puppy. Once or twice a month I’d bring up the possibility of adopting a puppy, and he would say it would be too much work, that we should wait until we have a house with a yard etc., and then I would respond with the ever-convincing argument of “but I waaaaaant one hong kong service apartments for rent!”

I don’t know what happened on Thursday night to change the flow of this conversation we had repeated so many times, but when I said, “I want a puppy” he responded with “Okay, let’s get a puppy.” What? Wait, is this a trick?

24 hours later, we brought the cutest puppy in the world into our home. Her name is Teia (Tay-uh), she’s just over 8 weeks old, and is going to be so spoiled it’s not even funny. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that there’s been an onslaught of puppy pictures over the past several days. I’m sorry if this annoys you, especially because I don’t see

That face! I can’t get over it. It’s also been really fun to see how much Ryan loves her. He’ll call “dibs” on her when we sit down to watch TV, he’ll gush about how well-behaved she is, and when I say “So you’re okay with this dog thing, huh?” he’ll look away and respond with a sheepish, “Well she’s a pretty sweet dog, so…” 1, 2, 3…awwww Underfloor Heating .

Anyway, this weekend I pretty much did nothing except hang out with her, because I couldn’t help myself. Then, The Beast left for Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon and took Teia with him so she wouldn’t have to be alone while I was at work on Monday and Tuesday. I felt SO SAD. Seriously, it’s embarrassing and pathetic how much her absence impacted my mood. So, obviously I had to bake something to take my mind off of my sweet puppy being 3 1/2 hours away from me.

Enter these little muffin tops. I’m calling them “muffin tops” because they’re smaller and less of a snacking commitment than full-sized muffins. I wanted a bite of sweetness that was both gluten-free and lower in refined sugar than most muffins. These are perfect for dipping in coffee or munching on at 3pm when you need an afternoon pick-me-up. Not only do these guys include a trifecta of tastiness (banana, peanut butter, and chocolate), but each muffin top has just 140 calories and 5 grams of protein. Maybe they don’t make up for my puppy being gone, but they are pretty cute as far as baked good go bravo audio, eh?