Breakfast « eatingRD.com

July 21, 2009

ravenous

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Fitness/Health — Tags: pumpkin — Kristen :) @ 3:20 pm

Chris and I found a local cycling club called Green Valley Cyclists and we’re really excited to join. They post different rides throughout the week and each ride is labeled either an A, B, or C (+/-) depending on the average speed, difficulty, extra help/stops, etc. We decided to start out with a C ride this past Sunday to try it out, especially since I only have a slow mountain bike and only take a spin class once a week. Boy, did it kick my butt! ‘C’ rides average 10-12 mph and this one was 22 miles, their easiest ride ha! ‘A’ rides average 18-25 mph and are usually 30-40 miles with minimal stops. Maybe I could ride my car along side? I guess I have a ways to go for that one!

With my mountain bike I was slowing everyone down! I felt like I was pulling a giant piece of lead while everyone else was breezing by. It got really hot and windy towards the end and I thought I was going to keel over. I am also a very salty sweater and need to carry more Gatorade or those jellies with me to get more electrolytes. I was like one big salt-lick when all the sweat evaporated lol At least I powered through and finished 🙂 I think a road bike is the first thing on my list before I attempt another group ride, but it was a really good workout and fun to meet other cyclists. I wish I would have remembered to wear my HR monitor to see the calories burned. I was absolutely ravenous afterwards!! I could have practically eaten anything and continued to eat throughout the day. Does anyone else get like this with more intense exercise? I think I about cancelled out any of the calories burned and then some I got so hungry. But, I didn’t feel too sore the next day, so that must be a good sign 🙂

So before the ride I had an average sized bowl of cereal with a 1/2 banana (this is also the perfect post-workout fuel). During the ride I had 3/4 of a homemade bar. Right afterwards we had a chunky strawberry granola parfait thing from Jamba Juice, and then when we got home we had this . . .

Pumpkin Crème Brulee French Toast

This is the perfect brunch food that you can make in advance and it feeds a lot of people. I love brunch food! I first came across this idea at Nothing To It!, a great cooking school in Reno that I worked at for awhile in college. This place was sooo much fun, and I’d really like to do something like that again someday. I lightened this version up with some non-fat half-n-half and egg substitute. I also added some canned pumpkin and extra spices to warm it up!

Yield: 8-10 servings (but probably even more)

Ingredients

1 quart vanilla non-fat half-n-half (the original called for heavy cream!)
1 1/4 cups egg substitute
2 egg yolks
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 rounds of Hawaiian Sweet bread, sliced
5 slices whole wheat bread (I didn’t have enough of the sweet bread and had to use some of this)
butter and brown sugar for caramelizing on top

Mix the first 9 ingredients in a large bowl. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan and place 1/2 the bread slices in the pan like a jigsaw puzzle filling in all the gaps. Pour half of the custard mixture on top. Place the remaining bread slices in the pan (with the whole wheat in the middle) and top with the rest of the custard mixture. It will look pretty wet, but it will get absorbed when it sits. Cover and place in the fridge for 4 hours up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Let custard sit at room temperature for 30 minutes and then bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until slightly golden and no longer liquid in the middle.

Cut into your favorite shapes and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. I like an offset diamond shape. Put a little bit of melted butter on top, sprinkle with brown sugar and broil until the sugar browns slightly (Alternatively, you could sauté them). As it cools, the sugar will harden and get crispy like crème brulee. I like to serve mine with Greek yogurt for dipping, honey for drizzling and cinnamon for sprinkling. You could also mix a little pumpkin into the Greek Yogurt. Yum!

This dish is pretty filling, although it didn’t weigh me down and it definitely hit the spot after a long bike ride!

All together now . . . Since I had that fruit parfait earlier, I went easy on the fruit, but still had to have some of course! Added an egg in the background for some extra protein and fat. I just love egg yolk!

Do you find that you tend to eat a lot more if you are more active? Or does exercise not make you very hungry?

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June 30, 2009

refreshing twist and some experiments

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Dinner,Lighter Fare — Tags: Asian, granola bar, soup, whole grain, wine — Kristen :) @ 4:01 am

I cannot wait for my car to get done at the auto shop; it seems like it’s been forever! I returned the rental car on Friday because I didn’t want to keep paying for it, but now I feel bad bumming rides from people. It’s tough not having a car here. I would take public transportation, but that is pretty much non-existent here in Vegas. When we went to Portland, their public transportation system was amazing and we could get pretty much anywhere in the city really quick. It normally only takes me about 20 minutes to get to work, but if I took the bus system here it would take 2 1/2 hours! No thank you!

I made some granola bars this weekend with the recipe from Angela at Oh She Glows. I just love her blog, and she has some great, healthy baking recipes. She also just opened up her own bakery (how cool!) in Canada, and is working on getting her products distributed here in the US. While I can’t reveal the recipe, all I can tell you is that I can’t wait to order some of her goodies! I didn’t have some of the ingredients, so I substituted and added some other things. I also baked them for a bit to help harden ‘em up. Wow, they are sooo good! Really just like granola bars you would get at the store, chewy and yummy. I foresee I’m going to be tweaking my own recipe again 🙂 Thanks Angela!

I also made another batch of Gina’s Granola. I just can’t get enough of this stuff! I tweaked it a little bit too just for fun to experiment. Here’s what I put in this time . . .

½ cup whole wheat flour
2 cups oats
¼ cup ground flaxseed
½ t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla extract
1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp peanut butter
¼ cup honey
3 tbsp brown rice syrup (you can also use honey)
2 tsp brown sugar
½ cup chopped mixed, roasted nuts
if you want to add dried fruit, add it after baking

Simply combine the first 6 ingredients, through the spices in a large bowl. Combine the last 5 ingredients (except the nuts) in a microwave safe bowl or small pot, and heat slowly until melted. Combine the dry with the wet; mix well and stir in the nuts. Place on a flat cookie sheet and press down. Bake at 325 for approximately 20-25 minutes (I like mine crunchy!). Let cool and break apart to enjoy on pretty much anything! Yum!

During the summer there is nothing like a refreshing dinner to make you feel satisfied, yet not overly stuffed. Gazpacho is just the thing! It’s surprisingly filling because it is mostly fluid and packed full of nutrients. Not to mention it is so easy to make and only about 100 kcals per serving!

Watermelon Gazpacho

(adapted from CookingLight)

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

6 cups cubed seeded watermelon, save 1 cup for the end
1 cup chopped peeled English cucumber
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped green onions
3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
2 small shakes of cayenne (careful, this can be hot!)
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup sweet Riesling, optional (we had a glass with dinner too!)
greek yogurt or goat cheese for topping

Preparation

Combine first 10 ingredients. Place half of watermelon mixture in a food processor or blender, and pulse 3 or 4 times or until finely chopped. Or you can use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency directly in the bowl (such a good tool!). Add the blended soup back to the rest of the soup. Stir in cranberry juice, Riesling and last 1 cup of diced watermelon. Chill well. Top with yogurt or goat cheese when ready to serve.

Oh man, this was really good and refreshing! There was a nice kick from the cayenne and all the contrasting flavors blended very well. It filled me up pretty good surprisingly. I also decided to have some sautéed chicken potstickers on the side with the help of good ol’ TJ’s. I definitely want to make this again because I don’t think our weather is going to be cooling down anytime soon ha! I think it’s already gotten to 106.

I like my soups chunky. I was wishing I had some avocado too, because I think that would work very well 🙂

On top of the potstickers I drizzled some peanut satay sauce. It was about a tsp of peanut butter, tbsp of hoisin, tbsp soy sauce, glug of rice wine vinegar and a tinzy bit of toasted sesame oil, yum!

Is public transportation accessible where you live, and if so, do you use it?

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June 25, 2009

leftovers galore

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Dinner — Tags: pasta, yogurt — Kristen :) @ 12:14 am

Man, this week seems to be draaaging! Maybe because last weekend just got away from me with all the party planning and I’m really looking forward to the next one?? But, heck weekends always usually seem to just fly. Anyone else agree? I just want to say a big thank you to all of you who liked my photos. It’s still a work in progress, and I will certainly be eating A LOT of cold dinners in the future!

Speaking of cold dinners . . . it’s been so dang hot here that all I’ve been craving is cold things . . . smoothies, fruit, or a nice big bowl of yogurt, cereal and frozen fruit like this . . .

I love it when the fruit gets all melty and flavors the yogurt and the cereal gets slightly soggy, but still has a slight crunch! Yummy stuff. Plus Chris has been getting home at 10 during the week with summer school, so preparing this is really a cinch. I get so excited for Fridays now when we actually can cook and be together. I think it’s going to be calzones or pizza and some good ol’ vino this Friday.

Because we had a ton of leftovers from the housewarming party, I tried to plan this weeks meals around them (aside from the bowls of yogurt!), and decided to make a simple caprese mac and cheese. We also had lots of liquor left, including a giant thing of vodka, coconut rum, sweet tea vodka, cranberry and pineapple juice. I think we need to have another party just to use it all! Good thing that stuff never goes bad 🙂

This is a lightened up version of mac and cheese, so that the noodles aren’t drowning in it, but are nicely coated. I actually didn’t mind eating it cold either.

Caprese Mac and Cheese

Yield: 4

1/2 box of your favorite pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
2 tbsp flour
2 cups of milk (I used non-fat)
about 2 cups of your favorite cheeses (I think I added goat cheese, herbed brie, sharp cheddar, aged gouda, and parmesan
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
salt, pepper, all-purpose seasoning to taste
anything else you can find in your fridge to throw in!
I also topped it with some breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 375. Start boiling the pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, heat up the oil, add the shallot and sauté until golden. Add the flour and cook a few minutes. Slowly add the milk while whisking. Slowly simmer and whisk until the mixture thickens. Turn the heat to low or off and add all your cheeses, basil, tomato, seasonings and other stuff you can find. When everything is melty and yummy, place in a pan, top with crumbs and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Closer . . .

Closest! . . .

What do you like to eat in the summer time when it’s so dang hot?

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May 27, 2009

hello kitchen my name is . . .kristen

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast — Tags: eggs, granola, quinoa — Kristen :) @ 3:46 am

After eating out too much, searching for any kind of coupons we could find, and scrambling to make random things to eat like peanut butter and jelly and cereal for dinner throughout the moving and transformation process, I missed cooking terribly! This past weekend, and starting now, I feel like I’ve gotten acquainted with my new kitchen . . . finally! And I think we are actually going to work well together.

My new kitchen isn’t gi-normous, but it is pretty efficient for an average kitchen. I have a good amount of counter space to work with which is near the gas stove (it doesn’t heat the whole house . .yay!) and garbage can, so I don’t have to move too far to get things. I am loving the pantry and new fridge space too! We actually have some shelves in the fridge that are still empty. Definitely beats the packed freezer, stacked just right so everything didn’t come tumbling down ha! When I look around at ‘our’ house, I get smiley to think that I actually have a house. It’s really weird to me actually and I’m still getting used to the idea.

I have to say that there are definitely many surprises to home ownership, and not a day goes by really when something new doesn’t come up that needs to be done, fixed, changed, bought . . . and bought again! I swear there is always something to buy and I’m wondering where the heck the stimulus money went? The other day the medicine cabinet fell out of the wall and shattered everywhere. Well, there goes another 100 bucks! We’ll have to slow down on our projects now, but everything feels settled and livable. The painting is all done except the guest room, laundry, molding and touch-up! Let the saving and frugal decorating begin! We still have to get a dining table and I also bought some drapes on sale. It’s coming together and it feels good to see a little, yes little, lull in the future 🙂

Chris and I went on our first bike ride from the new place the other day and there are tons of bike paths to choose from! We are so happy to have such easy access to them. Our other place was right off a busy street and shopping centers. While the shopping was very convenient, it wasn’t very pleasant on a bike to get to a decent path away from all the traffic. Yay for long bike rides!

I’ve been wanting to make Gina’s Granola recipe forever now because it looks like just the kind of granola I like . . . nice and crunchy, stuck together in chunks, almost like a bar. And let me tell you it was all that I thought it was going to be . . . perfect! I actually baked it in too small a pan, so I crumbled it on a cookie sheet and baked it some more. Then I made the mistake of going to the garage to organize and I forgot about it! It got a little toasty, but it was still oh so good. I had to restrain myself (and Chris) from devouring the entire batch. I think I will make a double batch next time so it will last us at least a week. Wow, thanks Gina! I’ve been looking for a granola recipe that is like Bear Naked that won’t break the bank and I’ve finally found it.

I also decided to make a quinoa-crusted friquisha. I call it friquisha because it’s a cross between a frittata and a quiche. The filling is very versatile and you can practically add anything you have on hand to make it your own. I like to roast a bunch of veggies and then I have some leftover for other meals during the week. Paired with a nice side salad, this is a refreshing twist on dinner that can also work well for brunch or breakfast on the go the next day.

Quinoa-Crusted Frittata

For the crust:

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup chicken broth or water
1/4 cup parmesan
1 egg
salt, pepper, all-purpose seasoning

Preheat oven to 425. Boil the broth or water, add the quinoa, simmer and cover for about 12-15 minutes until tender. Let cool slightly, add parmesan, egg, cheese and seasoning and mix. Place into a 9-in pie plate (I use silicon) and bake at 425 for about 10-15 minutes until firm and golden.

For the filling:

1 cup egg substitute
4 eggs
1/4 cup non-fat half-n-half or milk or greek yogurt
2 apple chicken sausage links (or your fav), chopped and sautéed in pan until golden
various roasted veggies (I used zucchini, sweet taters and mushrooms at 425 for about 30-40 minutes)
1/2 cup sharp cheddar
crumbled herbed goat cheese (I used TJ’s brand)
salt, pepper, all purpose seasoning

Simply mix the egg sub, eggs, half-n-half, goat cheese and seasonings in a bowl. Put one layer of veggies, sausage and cheddar down over the crust, and alternate with the egg mixture. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 and bake for another 25 minutes depending on your pie size until golden and poofy. Enjoy with a nice side salad!

For dessert, I had some angel food cake and some strawberries. Although some vanilla ice cream would have been nice, I topped it with a dollop of TJ’s greek honey yogurt. Yum! I could only eat 1/2 of this and Chris took the rest.

There will be a surprise coming to us on Sunday, a new little visitor . . . stay tuned!

How do you cope with the stresses of work, school, life, moving or whatever it may be?

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April 14, 2009

busy times and mang-oats

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Projects — Tags: mango, oatmeal — Kristen :) @ 3:38 pm

Either I’m super busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off, or else there is not much going on. Does that happen to you? Sometimes it seems that everything all of a sudden culminates around a certain time . . . and this time it’s NOW! The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy and I apologize for the lack of posts. I would so much rather blog and read blogs all day!

In House News . . .

We are hoping to sign papers on Wednesday to get the keys on Friday. On Thursday we want to get all our paint supplies rounded up. Friday is time to prep everything for painting (I’m not looking forward to this because taping off is half the battle!) Saturday and Sunday we are going to be PAINTING like crazy people and hope it doesn’t look icky with uneven lines (fingers crossed). The next weekend will be for touch up and a family birthday party, and have we even started packing yet?? The weekend after that will be dedicated to carpet/couch cleaning and the big MOVE! But that’s not all . . . finals are the next week, along with Chris’ graduation and his grad/my b-day party! Whew, there is a lot going on! We also ordered the laminate flooring, but that won’t get here till after graduation, so that will be our next week’s project. I think Home Depot has become our second home!

This weeks grocery shopping was very frugal ($35 for two!) because, not only am I trying to save as much as I can, we have a lot of leftovers in the freezer that need to be used up. One of them being Lamb Daube Provencal. I thought I would serve it with some nice corn bread for dipping tonight.

I wanted to highlight my oats this morning, I call them Mang-oats, featuring the tropical love of my life . . . MANGO!

These guys are not only taste like the tropics they are great for you too. In 1-cup sliced, there’s nearly most your Vitamin C needs and 3 g of fiber, super filling!

Here’s how I like to slice mine: First cut off both ends to see how the direction of the pit in the middle is going. Take your knife and cut along the pit in a oval shape. Once you get the fleshy sides, I cube them with the skin still on. Then you just have to cut the cubes off into the bowl. Yum!

Mang-Oats

Serving for Two:

1 3/4 cup non-fat milk
2 tbsp raisins
hefty sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon
1 cup quick oats
1/2 mashed banana, the other half sliced on top
splash of vanilla extract, or any other tropical extract
1 mango, cubed (see above)
Favorite toppings: I topped mine this morning with ‘mix my granola’, scoop of TJ’s peanut butter, a scoop of cottage cheese and mango. Some shredded coconut would be great too!

Boil the milk, raisins, spices together in a large pot. Add the oats and mashed banana; stir. Cook until desired consistency, about 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat, add extract and all your favorite toppings!

Here’s a picture with all the paint swatches and project plans in the background . . . wish us luck!

Do you have any good tips for painting textured walls and keeping lines straight?

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April 8, 2009

glorious oats

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast — Tags: oatmeal — Kristen :) @ 6:18 pm

I love oatmeal for breakfast in the morning! Not only is it a nutritional powerhouse, it is super filling and usually keeps me content till lunch time even when I eat breakfast at 6:30am. Love that!

I have to say I prefer the quick-cooking oats better than the regular for some reason. Is that blasphemy? I like my oats really thick and dense and they seem to give it my kind of consistency. The regular oats get too goopy for me for some reason. I also really enjoy steel-cut oats for their dense and chewy texture. The only thing with these is that they take so darn long to cook!

I found the perfect thing at Trader Joe’s the other day. . . Quick cooking steel cut oats! It says they take 8 minutes, but I cooked them about 15 minutes, just until slightly chewy.

So I decided to make my oatmeal triangles with these and a little 7-grain cereal from Bob’s Red Mill. They turned out really good and cooked in 1/2 the time. Sweet!

Oatmeal Triangles (take 2)

Yield: 8-10 servings (2 triangles)

1 cup quick cooking steel cut oats (TJ’s brand)
1/2 cup 7-grain cereal mix (Bob’s Red Mill brand)
2 cups non-fat milk and 1 cup water
1/3 heaping cup chunky cinnamon applesauce (I used my crock-pot apples)
1/4 cup raisins, or your fav dried fruit
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of clove (careful cloves can be really powerful!)
You could also add some pumpkin, mushed banana, dash of vanilla extract . . .

Directions

Place milk, water, applesauce, raisins and spices in a large pot; bring to a gentle boil. Add the oats and 7-grain cereal; stir. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick, about 15-20 minutes. Adjust for seasonings if needed. I always seem to add more cinnamon!

Place mixture in a 9 x 13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Place in the fridge overnight uncovered. In the morning, preheat oven to 425. Cut the oatmeal into squares and then triangles (or any shape you like!) and place on a greased pan or silpat. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden.

Serve with your favorites! I like cottage cheese, yogurt, fresh fruit, slather of peanut butter, drizzle of honey, sprinkle of nuts, and cinnamon . . . the possibilities are endless!

I even make an egg sammy with the triangles. They’re also great for a hearty breakfast on the go when you don’t have time to cook oats in a pot every morning. Yum! There’s some cottage cheese under there somewhere.

I found this interesting article about when I discussed having nutrition facts labels available at restaurants. This study found that having them actually does influence people to make better choices, who would have thought?

What do you think about labels in restaurants? Do you have any unconventional oat usage?

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March 28, 2009

Pumpkin Waffled French Toast

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Dinner — Tags: pumpkin, waffle — Kristen :) @ 3:24 am

I love having breakfast for dinner sometimes! It puts a nice little spin on things and is so delish. For my French toast, I don’t usually sauté it in a pan, but I like to put it in a waffle iron because it gets a nice and crispy crust on the outside while still slightly gooey on the inside. . . . the perfect combo! This time I decided to try a pumpkin flavored batter. I first saw this great idea from Lee, who made it here and also from Body Mind Soul (both great blogs I may add!) I just thought the pumpkin was such a great idea, thanks! There is a nice hum of pumpkin flavor in the background, but not too strong. I had a little bit of the batter left over, which I think I’m going to put in oatmeal next time! I also like to use Trader Joe’s cinnamon swirl bread to give it added cinnamon flavor because I’m a cinnamon addict! Greek yogurt is the perfect medium for dipping and I’m loving the strawberries coming in season. Even though I don’t eat bacon that often, there is nothing like the real thing and is perfectly fine to eat every once in awhile. It tastes so yum!

Pumpkin Waffled French Toast

Yield

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

1/2 loaf TJ’s Cinnamon Swirl Bread (about 6-7 slices) or your favorite french toast bread
1 cup vanilla non-fat half-n-half (TJ’s brand) or you could use plain and add some vanilla extract
1/3 heaping cup of canned pumpkin
1/2 cup egg substitute
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Various sides: I chose an egg with a sprinkling of cheese, good ol’ bacon, greek yogurt for dipping and strawberries.

Simply place all the ingredients into a pan and mix together well. Soak each bread slice in the mixture and place onto a pre-heated waffle iron on the highest setting, sprayed with cooking spray.

When each one is done and golden, place on a sheet rack on top of a cookie sheet, and place in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.

A nice close-up! The texture is amazing with the pumpkin!

I actually can’t wait to have this for breakfast again tomorrow, slathered with some peanut butter maybe?!

What’s your favorite breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?

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March 5, 2009

snacky wacky

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast — Tags: granola bar — Kristen :) @ 6:13 am

At any given time during the day, someone could ask what I have in my bag or purse and I will always have some kind of snack! Whenever I go out for errands or anything outside the house I always have to bring something along just in case I get stranded for hours with nothing to eat . . .heaven for bid! It is really important to eat something every 3-4 hours and not go too long without. This really keeps the metabolism going, our sanity in check and our brains from getting drained and fatigued. I always get ‘cranky’ if I don’t eat consistently! It doesn’t have to be something big (and really shouldn’t be), but just something to feel energized and not too ravenous by meal time.

I first found out about these bars from The Chic Life, who adapted them from Ellie Krieger, and thought I would try my hand at them. I always like to get some kind of bar at the grocery store, but they are just so darn expensive! With these bars, the initial cost is higher to buy all the ingredients, but over time I can make batches and batches of these for the fraction of the price of bars bought in the store. And they really taste great and wholesome without funky ingredients added. I do have a few notes added that I want to try next time to reduce the calories/fat a little bit more.

Instead of using store-bought apple sauce, I tried to make my own apple butter! (or apple goo as Chris likes to call it) It turned out really good and I used it in this recipe. I also like to mix a scoop in my morning oatmeal or have it as a spread on a turkey and cheese panini. It lends a wonderfully rich apple flavor. Place about 2 lbs of peeled and cored apples (I used a bag of empire from TJ’s), a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon and raisins all in a crock-pot. Pour about 2-3 cups of apple cider on top and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Let cool and refrigerate!

Homemade Granola Bars

Ingredients

1 cup 1-minute quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (pastry if you have it, but I didn’t)
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup non-fat dried milk powder
1 tsp cinnamon (of course I like to add more!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or crock-pot apple butter – see above note)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten to mix
1 egg white
3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup finely chopped walnuts and pistachios or your favorite mix
3 tbsp ground flax seed
Cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ, milk powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cranberries, flax seed, and nuts.

Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray (mine was a little bigger). Spread the mixture (as flat as possible) into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 minutes. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars. The flavors intensify even more after a day or so. These are wonderful mixed in some non-fat greek yogurt or use them for dipping!

Nutrition Facts compliments of nutritiondata.com. This is a great website to look at the nutritional profile of thousands of foods and analyze recipes.

A Few Notes for Next Time:

-If I use 2 egg whites instead of the whole egg and reduce the canola oil down to 2 tbsp, the total kcals would be reduced to 220 with 10g of fat. These are pretty moist already, so I’m going to give it a try!

I went to visit a good family friend the other day and look what they gave me!!! Every July their family goes to Alaska and catches tons of wild fish from salmon, halibut, cod and red snapper. I am sooo excited to get cooking with it! I don’t eat as much fish as I would like because it can be so darn expensive, so I am really looking forward to making lots of fish in the near future . . . stay tuned!

Any ideas on your favorite fish recipe?

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February 18, 2009

how could I forget!

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Comfort foods,Dinner — Tags: chicken, chickpeas, oatmeal, pasta, soup — Kristen :) @ 3:58 am

I forgot to mention the greatest thing about the marinara and pasta recipe is . . . . lots of leftovers! Not only does it taste even better the next day, it saves on time and money.

One of my favorite ways to use the marinara sauce in another recipe is Chicken, Pasta and Chickpea Stew adapted from CookingLight. It tastes like it simmered for hours when you use the crock-pot marinara from my last post.

Chicken, Pasta and Chickpea Stew

(adapted from CookingLight)

Yield

6 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups soup and 1 tablespoon cheese)

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1 cup thinly sliced celery
3/4 cup small diced carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 cups crock-pot marinara (from the previous post)
1 cup canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
3/4 cup uncooked small pasta (I used mini farfalle)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used 1/4 lb extra lean ground beef this time and it was plenty!)
6 tablespoons shaved fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add celery, carrot, and onion to pan; cook 12 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add broth and next 4 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with cheese if desired and serve with an ooey gooey grilled cheese sandwich for dipping!

Nutritional Information

Calories: 237 (27% from fat)
Fat: 7.1g (sat 2g,mono 3.2g,poly 1.5g)
Protein: 15.5g
Carbohydrate: 28.1g
Fiber: 5.8g
Cholesterol: 29mg
Iron: 2.5mg
Sodium: 724mg
Calcium: 138mg

And if you can imagine it, with the leftover pureed beets from the beet cakes I made ruby red oatmeal! I’ve never tried this before, but it actually wasn’t too bad!

For two people:

1 3/4 cups non-fat milk
tons of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice (I like it warm and spicy)
2 tbsp raisins
1 cup quick oats
1/3-1/2 cup pureed beets (washed and peeled)
1 tbsp of dark honey
1 banana (1/2 mashed in and 1/2 sliced on top)
1 pear to chop on top
2 tbsp toasty walnuts
scoop of TJ’s toasty peanut butter and more cinnamon for sprinkling

I start with the milk, spices, raisins and beets and warm them to a small boil, then add the oats, 1/2 mashed banana and honey; stir to combine. Keep stirring and let it thicken to desired consistency (I like it thicker than most). And then top with your favorites! Yum and look at that ruby red color!

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done with an ingredient or a recipe? Did it turn out really well or absolutely terrible?

Comments (0)

February 9, 2009

one recipe, so many possibilities

Filed under: Blog,Breakfast,Dinner — Tags: eggs, pizza — Kristen :) @ 4:01 am

Pizza dough is the best when it comes to stretching your food dollar and its a lot of fun too! With just this one whole wheat pizza dough recipe, which I first featured here, when we made calzones, we made 5 pizzas this time around! Making your own pizza is great too because you can put pretty much any kind of topping you want on there and experiment with other ingredients or leftovers that you need to get rid of.

For 4 of the pizzas we used:

pasta sauce from TJ’s
sautéed in a pan until golden – 3 chicken sausage links, 2 small cartons of crimini mushrooms, 8 oz of chopped spinach (about half a bag), 2 shredded carrots, garlic powder, and italian seasoning.
Couple of handfuls of mozzarella cheese and sprinkling of Parmesan

For the last pizza we used:

Leftover lentil daal from this recipe as the sauce

Leftover falafel patties from this recipe

Shredded mozzarella and a sprinkling of garam masala

This last one may sound weird, but it tasted really good! Any variation of pizza is only limited by your imagination and the ingredients you have on hand. I did have some canned pumpkin in the fridge, but decided I might try that one next time.

Chris is brave when it comes to throwing the pizza dough in the air. I’m too scared I’m going to drop it!

Another great thing about pizza is that we had a little leftover from the filling, so I decided to put it into an omelet the next morning. If you don’t have an omelet pan like this one, it is really the best pan ever!! For those of us (uh . em . . me), who haven’t really mastered the art of big omelets with just a regular pan, this is the best invention. It was actually my step dad’s pan first and for the longest time when I would come home to visit I wanted to secretly steal it, but he would always say I was crazy! Then one visit he said it was all mine and I was so excited. All you do is . . .

Whisk 3-4 eggs and season with your favorite spices
Pour it evenly into each side of the pan sprayed with pam
Top each side with your favorite omelet fillings and some cheese
Let it get nice and set, flip the pan to close, then flip one more time
Voila! you have a big fluffy omelet that comes out perfect every time! It is quite big, so Chris and I split it.

This was a hearty breakfast with the good quality protein and kept me feeling full till lunch time!

What are your favorite pizza toppings?

Comments (0)

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Yield

Ingredients

Preparation

Nutritional Information

February 9, 2009