Baked Falafel

I really love hummus. As such, I find any excuse to buy a new brand of it at the store--I think I'm obsessed at this point! Anyways, I found a new jar of it at Safeway yesterday that was just the garbanzo beans, garlic, and spices added--the olive oil was not added in yet, and the instructions said to add it in to taste.

Well, as you can guess, this made the calorie and fat content much better, so I bought it and took it home. Turns out, by itself this isn't such a great idea, but mixed with a littl nonfat yogurt and diced cucumbers, it made a pretty tasty sauce for what I believe would be perfect for falafel.

Here's the ingredients I am talking about:

Traditional falafel is fried, but I was looking for something a little lighter. I found a recipe on bakingbites for "baked falafel", you can find it here. I followed it exactly, although my picture doesn't do it justice!

Applesauce Coffee Cake

Earlier in the week, Ryan had been saying his co-workers keep complaining because I always send treats to his work, and it was making them gain weight. I love to bake, and although I am trying to do recipes that are healthy and nutritious, my kids love me to make them an occasional treat that doesn't fit into those categories (how they get me to do his is bat their eyes at me and tell me I'm the best mom in the whole world). Being the sucker that I am, I usually cave and make whatever they request immediately! Then I send the rest to his work.

So, I guess I feel bad for Ryan's work, and always want people to heat healthy. As such, I decided to make them all a treat that was a little less over-the-top than some of the previous ones.

It came from cookiemadness, and Anna called it "Applesauce Streusal Coffee Cake". It's delicious--I pretty much followed the recipe, but I did use the 1 cup applesauce instead of adding sour cream. You can find the recipe here. The picture is mine coming out of the oven--beautiful isn't it!

Betty Crocker Cookie Mix Recipe with Healthy Ingredients!

Hi all--

The 2008 finalists for the Betty Crocker Cookie Mix Recipe Contest have been posted, and can be found here on the website. You can vote for your favorite.

I looked over the recipes, and one caught my eye--"Wild Blue Energy Chews". They start with the oatmeal cookie mix, and add things like toasted wheat germ, egg whites, canola oil, etc., making them a little more nutritiously sound than some other recipes.

Here is the link - I made them for my biking class on Friday, and they got rave reviews. I did substitute raisins for the blueberries, and I didn't add chocolate to mine, but they were fabulous! Recommended highly--remember though, still lots of sugar and sodium. So enjoy one and give the rest away!