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!

Saturday (and exercise inspiration!)

HI everyone--

I'm sorry I haven't posted much this week, I have made some food (which I'll work on posting now), but I've been really busy with different things. Now, if you ask me "what", I would probably reply, "I don't remember!" It's been one of THOSE weeks.

Anyways, I have managed to get back in the everyday workout routine starting last Saturday, and stuck with it all week. So, I have declared myself better! Until I get my nutrition posts done, though, here's some thoughts from workoutmommy:

Workout Motivation:

Do not forget to make time today for a workout. Do not make excuses, just get it done.
Need motivation and inspiration? Ok, think on these:
You WILL feel more energized after you workout. Get your blood pumping, heart rate racing, and enjoy your energy!
Swimsuit season is a mere 2 months away.
It will take you less time to get up those steps if you RUN! Save time and get fit!
Squatting on the wall is way more fun than sitting in a chair. Try it now. Go ahead, we’ll wait….
Each commercial break is about 2 minutes. How many push ups can you do during each commercial break?
Your kids will be very entertained as you jump rope, run or dance with them. My son loves it when I run around the yard with him. It tires him out and gives me a mini-workout.
Did I mention that swimsuit season is in 2 months?
and finally, life is too short to stay seated in that chair all day long!
So log off, get up and MOVE!

Have a healthy day gang!

Cupcake Hero Entry

I recently got introduced to a recipe website called Quirky Cupcake which has a montly contest called "Cupcake Hero" in which Laurie picks an ingredient theme of which you have to use in the either the cupcake, filling, or frosting (or all!).

When I saw this month's ingredient was "marshmallow", I just knew I had to enter! My kids love these butterscotch marshmallow bars, and I thought that I could re-create them in a cupcake. Ryan enthusiastically offered to be my taster, and Aaron offered to help me frost as needed!

I adapted an old recipe I have for white chocolate cake (don't remember the source), and a recipe I found at allrecipes.com for Chocolate Marshmallow frosting (substituting butterscotch of course). The results: well, my husband and kids could not get enough of them! Although they aren't on my diet, I tried a small bite, and thought we had a winner as well! Hope you all enjoy them! I doubt I'm in the same league as some of those other cupcake designers, but hey, it was fun to experiment with the recipe!

Butterscotch Marshmallow Dream Cupcakes

3 ounces butterscotch morsels

1/4 cup boiling water

1 1/4 cup sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs, room temperature, separated

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Place 12 cupcake liners in pan

Pour boiling water over butterscotch and stir until melted. Set aside to cool.

Sift together cake flour, baking soda, and salt.

Beat 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form; set aside in refrigerator

Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer running, add vanilla and butterscotch mixture.

Alternate adding buttermilk with dry ingredients. By hand, gently fold in egg whites into batter.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 way full (I got 12). Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Butterscotch Marshmallow Frosting:

1 1/2 T shortening

1 jar marshmallow cream (7 oz)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup half & half

4 oz. melted butterscotch chips

Mix together shortening and marshmallow cream, add powdered sugar, half & half, and butterscotch chips. Beat well, add additional half & half as needed to spreading consistency. Frost cupcakes, drizzle with butterscotch chips melted with canola oil if desired.

Pork Carnitas

One of Ryan and I's favorite restaurants is a local Mexican restaurant called Fiesta, near his work. We particularly love this Fiesta Platter, which has lots of different meats served fajita style, including some delicious pork carnitas.

I decided a while ago to re-create the recipe at home. After much research, I realize why it tastes so good. Traditionally, the pork is roasted all day and then cooked in lard at the end to add that nice crunchiness. This doesn't surprise me--I often thought it was so good it must be bad for me!

Anyways, after inquiring, I found out traditionally the meat is cooked in either regular coke (for the sugar), or beer, with homemade salsa often mixed in.

I've made it before with the coke and salsa, it was excellent! I decided to experiment a little more this time.


Ryan agreed to sacrifice a beer, and I found this interesting interesting salsa called "tequila lime" which had lower sodium than some other brands:

Here's the recipe:

Buy a large pork roast (I choose a lean variety of pork loin, make sure to check your labels!) and place in crockpot with the beer and salsa. Cook on low about 7 to 9 hours.

To get that "crunchy" outside, here's the trick: Break up the pork into large pieces and place in a shallow roasting pan. Place in over at 400 degrees, and cook about 20 minutes, checking after 15.

I like to serve it with sauteed peppers and onions:

These are fabulous! Serve with tortillas, and whatever condiments you desire!

Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Well, it was Friday night, and Ryan and were without children. Ryan was working late, so I decided to have a dinner ready for him getting home. You see, we had a big date to watch "No Country for Old Men".

Here's a dish that is really easy to make, tastes great, and fits into my healthy eating perfectly. I adapted it from one I got off allrecipes.com

3 large chicken breasts, sliced into large pieces
1T olive oil
1 can tomatoes with green chilis
1 can tomatoes, no sodium added
1 cup chopped artichokes (or artichoke tapenade if you have it)
1/3 cup sun-dried tomato pesto

Saute chicken slices in olive oil until lightly browned. Remove from skillet and keep warm.

In same skillet, add the 2 cans of tomatoes, artichokes, and sun-dried tomato pesto. Bring to a simmer, and add chicken back in. Cover, simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes longer, until sauce is nice and thick.

Serve over pasta, or as Ryan prefers, mashed potatoes! I like to serve it with french green beans!

Here's the pesto and artichokes I used:

Here's the chicken simmering!

Easter Sugar Cookies

Poor Aaron stayed home again today with me--he still has a bad cough. Frankly, both of us were a bit blue, I was down due to frustration over this lingering bronchitis, and plus it hit me as I was reading some of my morning blogs I look at that I had done pitifully nothing for Easter for the kids.

Now, I don't consider myself Martha, where I need to handweave baskets for them and paint eggs using a brush I made from my horse's hair or anything, but I do like to do up the holidays a little. However, being restricted from my car for several days and basically confined to home has put a damper on my planning.



However, I remembered this morning that I had bought new cookie cutouts for spring, with an easter bunny and egg in the pack (a few more spring ones too, but we'll do those later). I also remembered I had broken down and bought a Wilton cake decorating set recently at a weak moment at Michael's when I thought I could be Martha. So, why not try them out! I used my standard sugar cookie dough recipe, but it holds up well, and doesn't need chilling beforehand (hence why it is my standard these days). It was given to my mom from her friend Suzanne. I wasn't up to anything tricky in the decorating pack, the next weekend when my mom visits we can do the spring cookies and try something fancier.





Easiest Sugar Cookie Dough



Preheat over to 350.

1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup sugar
Mix together and add 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla (or almond if you prefer).
Sift 2 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.

Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick, and bake the cut-outs for about 8 to 10 minutes at 350.




Here's Aaron helping make the dough! Notice his M&M apron - he is quite the chef!








Here they are coming out of the oven (Aaron is hiding under the counter from the camera!)





Here we are decorating! I used a buttercream frosting.








Here are our finished products--not too bad! HE was in charge of the blue sprinkles, I was in charge of the yellow outline.

Quest for homemade Graham Crackers

Well, I was reading the oxygen website and they posted that graham crackers are OK on occasion as clean eating (see here!). This excited me like nothing lately--wow, graham crackers as eating that is allowed, and not even really a treat! Yeah!

So, of course the obsessive part of me decides that I won't eat just any graham crackers, that it would be better for me to make my own, so I could control the ingredients and make good substitutions as appropriate.

The first one I tried a few weeks ago, based on this one on baking delights. Instead of white flour, I used whole wheat pastry flour, substituted smart balance stick butter for the butter, used 1/4 cup splenda brown sugar blend, and substituted agave instead of honey. The results were a very good flavored cookie, but I personally could not get it rolled out into anything that looked decent. I'm not sure if I did not refrigerate enough. Or it might have been the whole wheat flour substitution.

Next, I tried this one yesterday. Now, I liked the idea of this one because it used canola oil, and molasses for flavor, with little sugar. I did make it using graham flour, water, but soy milk does sound good. Now, I really liked the taste of these, and you didn't have to refrigerate the dough, but personally I couldn't roll them out right again. They turned out good, just very mis-shapen! I won't even post the pictures! But, Aaron ate them right up, as did I! I might have had problems because I used graham flour, which is courser than whole wheat, so I might try these next time with whole wheat.

So, I decided to look on Hodgson Mill website for a recipe, and found this one that is posted for cooking on a pizza sheet - perfect! The recipe was similar as others, and I made similar substitutions (canola oil for butter, whole wheat flour for white flour, agave for honey). Taste was good, and pressing out into the pizza pan was much easier. I didn't get it to cover the whole pizza pan though.

The bad news: Everything was going so well! But, I didn't keep a close eye on this batch and they got too brown!!!! Drats, oh, well, luckily I have the ugly ones left over from yesterday to comfort me. I'll try again!

Healthier Brownies

Hi all--

I'm slowly getting better, but last night I had some serious chocolate cravings that would not go away. As such, I decided to try a recipe I had seen blogged about on baking delights, called brown rice syrup brownies.

Here's the link to the mighty foods website where it was located. So, I made up a batch, except I used unsweetened baking chocolate, as I had no bittersweet, and I did use whole wheat pasty flour. I used 1/2 cup walnuts as my nuts, and no other add ins.

The results--they were OK for a healthier version of brownies. Ryan managed to scarf some of them down, of course he did add a plop of cool whip on the top to his. Needless to say, a small piece did cure my chocolate craving.

Let me know if anyone tries them. You'll have used brown rice syrup in the granola I posted about before.

Healthier Carrot Cake Muffins

Still stuck at home, this morning I was searching for something new to bake, and I remembered this recipe on the back of my Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pasty Flour that I had been meaning to try - it was for Carrot Cake, and the label was that it was the "Grand Prize Winner" on a recent natural foods baking contest. Here's the link on the website.

For those like me who try and eat clean, which of course includes a healthy breakfast, muffins in the world are kind of our nemesis--I'm constantly amazed at the people that think these are good for you. Although some can be, most are filled with fat, sugar, and few beneficial foods (maybe a few blueberries).

Since I knew I'd be sending this to my husband's work, and cake isn't as easy to divide up, I decided to try and make this recipe into some healthier carrot cake muffins. Here's the recipe as I made it, I actually doubled it for 24 muffins, but I wrote it below for 12 since I figured that is what most people would use. I reduced some of the sugar, used 1/2 applesauce for the oil, substitued some egg whites, deleted the walnuts and didn't make the frosting, instead I sprinkled cinammon sugar on top after they baked.

I ate 1/2 of one, and I thought they were very good, nice and light! I think they'd be really nice for visitors in the morning or for serving with tea in the afternoon. Since I made some adjustments and deleted some things, the nutrtition information on Bob's website isn't valid, I plugged it into a nutritional calculator and came up with 112 calories each with 24.9 g of carbohydrates, 12 g of sugar, 0.7 g of fat, not including the sprinkling on top. But, each has 27.3% of your Vitamin A requirements for the day!

Whole Grain Carrot Cake Muffins

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup applesauce (I used unsweeteend)

1 whole egg

2 egg whites

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinammon

Mix together above ingredients and then add the following:

1 cup whole wheat pasty flour

1 cup grated carrot

8 oz. crushed pineapple

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

(I mixed the baking powder and soda with the flour first before adding)

Fill 12 muffin liners almost full to the top.

Bake for approximately 18 min at 350 (check after 15) until a toothpick comes out clean.

Here's what they looked like right out of the oven:

If you want, frost with cream cheese frosting, or for something lighter, sprinkle with a little cinammon sugar mixture.

Egg Whites - The Perfect Protein

Back to the subject of my eating healthy, I've discovered that I really enjoy eating egg whites. I know it sounds crazy, but I really like them. I would have never guessed, since I think egg yolks used to be my favorite part of the eggs. However, egg white protein is a slow-digestable protein, which means it is good for giving my body sustained nutrition over a longer period of time. It's not that great for right after a workout though, when your body needs fast nutrition. There are better protein choices for that time.

Here's a link to some more information about eggs and nutrition.

Anyways, someone recently at work asked me about my healthy eating, and I replied "lots of egg whites for protein, since I lift weights so much". To my amazement, he got a puzzled look on his face, took about 1 minute pause, and said "What do you do with all the yolks?"

So, I guess the word is not out there yet about liquid egg whites in the grocery store. Here's a photo of one of the brands I use:

For these, 1 egg white is equal to 3 T of product. Since I'm in weight training mode (meaning I have to get in at least 150 g of protein a day), I usually make 1 whole cup to get enough protein (1/4 cup = approx 7 g. of protein). I really like scrambled egg whites, for variety I add in spinach, chopped mushrooms, green peppers, etc.

But, I do also like hardboiled eggs. Lately I've been buying the omega eggs at Costco, however, they've been out recently. Of course, we are all going broke buying eggs these days, but alas, I must. Here's the picture of the box:

So, I'm trying these today hardboiled (minus the egg yolk of course). For my concerned co-worker, don't worry, I don't think anything will be harmed by throwing away the yolk! Although, if anyone has any suggestions for cooked yolks, feel free to send them my way (of course, this is probably unlikely since I think I've had few hits on this blog so far - Hi Mom!)

For those of you that still like yolks though, remember 1 egg has over 50% of your daily cholestorol limit. You might try one whole egg scrambled with 2 egg whites and see if you notice a difference!

I am going to try and sneak this brand into my husbands scrambled eggs in the morning though--25% less saturated fat!

Weekend Turkey Chili

We've had a brutal week here at our house. My husband got sick with a cold Sunday, I came down with it Wednesday, and Friday our 6 year old son Aaron had also fallen victim. It's one of those annoying illnesses where you just feel horrible, run fevers for days, and have a sore throat/coughing spits at any given moment.

Somewhere along the line in my life, I decided the cure to such an illness is SPICY FOOD! My favorite food of choice in years past would have been chinese food, but since there isn't any take out that fits in my lifestyle anymore, and I didn't have a good recipe, I opted for turkey chili instead.

Turkey chili is a great recipe when you are trying to eat clean. It has lots of protein, fiber, vegetables, and of course tomatoes are great anti-oxidants. As such, I'm sure that it will cure us all.

I've made this once before, and even my red meat loving husband ate tons of it - so I think anyone could enjoy it! Here's my recipe, I modified it slightly from one that I found on Baking Bites to make it my own. Enjoy!

Jennie's Turkey Chili

3 lb. ground turkey
1 12 oz. can reduced sodium chicken broth
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 T worchestire sauce
1 T hot sauce (less if you don't like hot)
1.5 T favorite steak rub or seasoning
2 cans tomatoes with green chilis
2 small cans tomato paste
1 12 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup favorite barbeque sauce
1 small can green chilis (optional if you don't like hot)
3 cans kidney beans, rinsed under water (I choose reduced sodium)

Directions:

In giant soup pot, brown meat under medium heat. Drain off fat and rinse meat with water.

Put meat back in pot and add chicken broth, onion, both peppers, worchestire, hot sauce, and steak rub seasoning. Let simmer under medium heat for about 10 minutes, until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.

Add tomato ingredients and barbeque sauce, reduce temperature to low and simmer for approximately 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add in rinsed kidney beans, and continue simmering for at least 1 to 2 hours.





Here's what it looks like after that!



Serve with shredded cheese, chopped onions, or anything else that normally goes on chili. Myself, since I'm eating clean, I just eat this!

The Search for the Perfect Granola

About January, when all the other resolutioners came back to the gym, I had a different resolution (already at the gym most of the time, I really couldn't go anymore than I do). I decided to try and eat healthier, or "eat clean" as Tosca Reno says. I was inspired by my early morning gym workout friend Tami who is going to enter a figure competition in August (go Tami!).

Thus started a brutal "must get rid of all sugar and eat natural" dieting phase. As someone who ate pretty healthy before, but still enjoyed an occasional cookie, it was more challenging than expected . . . However, the results paid off, and by the first week of March I had my bodyfat tested and I was under 20% - yeah for me! Unfortunately, this is about the time that a diet of tuna, egg whites, and oatmeal alone isn't cutting it anymore, so I decided I needed to start finding some recipes for food that are still wholesome, but a little more interesting if I was going to manage to keep doing this without gnawing off my arm at some point

Thus started my search for the perfect granola. The aforementioned Tami was the first person who turned me onto this wonderful food with a recipe that I found was originated with Alton Brown - here is the link to that recipe on foodnetwork. However, the butter plus all the honey wasn't so good for fitting in to my diet.

I modified it slightly, but using 3/4 cup canola oil, some brown sugar splenda blend, and using Agave nectar instead of honey (for those of you that don't know about Agave, you should start using it RIGHT AWAY--fabulous!). The results were very good - definately not granola bars, pretty clumpy.

However, it still seemed high in oil to me. So, I turned to Anna at cookie madness for her granola recipes. Her new one definately seemed better - tried it and it was fabulous! Very sweet, loved the pecans. Made a small batch at first, then a bigger batch the next time. Worked great, loved it! Very crisp and clumpy.

Again though, still seemed like a lot of oil. Another commentor to her asked about a recipe called Andy's Deerfield Granola - after some searching, it turns out it originates in Nigella's Feast. And it only has 2 T oil! I may have met my match - I modified it slightly, used flax seeds instead of sesame, and made a 1/2 batch at first, but it has good promise so far!

below is my 1/2 batch measurements:

Andy's Deerfield Granola (as modified by Jennie)

Preheat over to 300 degrees
Line a large roasting pan with parchment paper

2.25 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole unsalted almonds
1/2 cup unsalted, untoasted sunflower seeds
1/3 cup flax seed (I used the dark ones)
Combine in large bowl and set aside

Wet ingredients:
1T canola oil
1/4 cup brown sugar splenda blend
1/3 cup applesauce (I used unsweetened)
1/4 cup agave nectar (can use honey)

1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1 tsp cinammon
1 tsp vanilla

Mix wet ingredients together, and pour over dry ingredients. Mix well until evenly coated, then spread in a thin layer on roasting pan.

Bake in over approximately 45 min, stirring once at 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, break up large chunks and add stir in 1 cup of dried cranberries.

Store at room temperature for up to a week, or in the freezer.

The picture is of it the next morning - as you can see, it's not as clumpy as some granolas. But the taste is excellent!!!