Two New Recipes!

Alright, I'm back in action...I was busy in the kitchen this weekend and feel like I'm getting my motivation back.  The following recipes came completely out of the blue, well other than the fact that I knew I wanted to use protein in them.  I also learned a lesson....if you are making cookies and the cookie dough doesn't taste quite right, then don't even bother baking them!  This is what happened with the first batch of cookies that I tried to make.  I tasted the dough and when I couldn't "fix" it with additional ingredients I cut my losses and threw it out.  Luckily, the second batch was a home run.  :)

Promise that they don't taste burnt

Harvest Pancakes  (makes 8-10)

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 scoops egg white protein powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• almonds and dried cranberries to taste (or whatever else you'd like!)

Directions:

• Either mash the bananas and mix with wet ingredients or be lazy like me and put the banana and eggs in the blender and mix them together.
• Add remaining ingredients and mix. 
• Pour onto hot griddle (375 degrees) and cook for 2-3 minutes per side. 

 Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Protein Cookies (makes 24)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of old-fashioned oats
• 4 eggs
• 3 scoops of egg white protein powder
• 3 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
• 2 tbsp PB2 or natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (sub a banana or apple sauce???) 
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix all ingredients together.
• Shape into cookies and place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet
• Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes

One-handed Baker

Woof...today was a lot worse than yesterday.  My fingers look like sausages and I'm definitely hurting a lot more, but I'm staying away from the drugs and sticking with Advil.  Other than sleeping and watching tv I didn't do much today.

However, I did get some dijon mushroom chicken going in the crockpot, cooked up some brown rice and invented a new cookie recipe.  And let me tell you, the kitchen smells amazing!

Choco-Walnut Banana Coconut Flour Cookies (long name I know:))

Makes 12 cookies

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 mashed banana
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp xylitol brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all ingredients until well combined.
• Form into balls and place on cookie sheet (spray first)
• Bake at 350 for 24 minutes

Choco-Oat-Chip Protein Cookies

I think everyone had a sweet tooth tonight after eating chili, so we decided to check the back of the Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chip bag for a recipe.  We cleaned up the recipe and got baking!  We used stevia instead of sugar, xylitol brown sugar instead of regular brown sugar, unsweetened applesauce for butter, oat flour instead of all-purpose flour, and then we added in milled flax seed and egg protein.

Get you some!

The approval of a 4-year old!

Choco-Oat-Chip Protein Cookies
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 c oat flour
• 2 1/2 c old-fashioned oats
• 2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (Nestle Toll House)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 c xylitol brown sugar
• 1 c unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 c stevia
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp almond milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milled flax seed
• 2 scoops Vitol vanilla egg protein

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine all ingredients.  I'm lazy and don't like to combine the dry and then the wet and then mix together, but I'm sure this works better.  Oh well!
• Bake for 9-10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12-13 minutes for crispy cookies.  
• Cool for 1 minute and then enjoy!

Spanish-Style Sweet Potato Tortilla

I finally got around to trying a recipe that I had my eye on in my Clean Eating Quick and Easy Meals book.  It was in the 20 minutes or less section, but with the tweaking that I did to the cooking and amount of ingredients it took more like 35 minutes.  It was darn worth the wait though!

I love meals that you can throw together and then sit down and eat without prepping lots of side dishes.  I'm already imagining all kinds of variations of this one!

Before the oven

After the oven

My fancy schmancy plate

Spanish-Style Sweet Potato Tortilla
Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of sweet potatoes (2 large) peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 4 cups of spinach
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 5 whole eggs
• 6 egg whites
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 360 degrees. 
• Steam sweet potatoes for 10-12 minutes (I wrapped them in a wet paper towel and microwaved them for 9 minutes...then cut into slices and peeled skin off.)  
• Meanwhile, add olive oil to skillet and sauté onions over medium heat.  Once they get soft add in the spinach until it wilts. 
• In a large bowl, scramble eggs, egg whites, and salt and pepper. 
• Add the sweet potatoes and egg mixture to the skillet and slowly mix. 
• Heat on medium-high for 2 minutes. Then transfer skillet to the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until firm. 

And....just for good measure I decided to make my chocolate avocado mousse with strawberries and almonds for dessert! You can find the recipe here. 

Delish! 

GET YOU SOME!!

I did not even waste time trying to take a good picture of this bowl of deliciousness.  I couldn't wait to snap a shot with my phone and dig in.  I read about this concoction over on PB Fingers and knew that I couldn't wait to try it.  The combination of ingredients were so bizarre that I knew it was perfect for me;)

Here we go:

Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse

• 1 ripe avocado
• 3 1/2 tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 3 1/2 tbsp honey

Scoop out the avocado meat and place in food processor with cocoa powder and honey.  Blend for about one minute or until it begins to look like mousse.  Top with whatever you'd like!  I used almond slices and strawberries.  Lick the food processor clean:)

I'd highly recommend that you make this much for each person who will be eating.  I consumed the entire mixture in 2 minutes or less, and called Jennie during to process to freak out about how fricken awesome this recipe is!  Healthy fats, cocoa, and a natural sweetener....couldn't ask for much more on a Thursday night!

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies

Thanks to Chocolate Covered Katie, I tried my own version of her healthy cookies last week.  They were easy to make and disappeared within 24 hours;)   I had to use slightly more oats then she called for, otherwise they were too gooey. 

Not too sweet...kind of like banana bread.

yep, I ate all those.

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Breakfast Cookies

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• scant 1/2 cup applesauce or over-ripe banana (mashed)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 T raisins (or other dried fruit, or even chocolate chips)
• 3 T black walnuts
• pinch salt if desired (taste the dough to decide)
• 1 packet stevia

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the banana with the nut butter, then add all other ingredients and mix until well-combined. Shape into cookies and bake for around 14 minutes.

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

So they aren't my grandmother's PB balls, but they are much healthier and I am loving them!  I'm only allowing myself 1 or 2 a day, but they are perfect for when I need something sweet and satisfying. 


Tiffani Bachus’ Peanut Butter Protein Balls (from Oxygen Magazine)
Ready in 5 minutes • Makes 14 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder (I used vanilla egg protein)
• 3 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 3 tbsp dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Mix together all ingredients. Should be the consistency of Play-Doh. Roll into 14 small balls. Refrigerate to firm them up, overnight for best results. Enjoy!

Nutrients per serving (1 ball):

Calories: 84, Total Fats: 5 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 3 mg, Sodium: 28 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 8 g, Dietary Fiber: 1 g, Sugars: 6 g, Protein: 4 g, Iron: 0 mg

Rum Cake

Along with the PB bon bons I also made two rum cakes yesterday.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without this treat!

I would recommend using a metal pan because this one soaked up some of the glaze!

Rum Cake

Ingredients:

    * 1/2 cup chopped pecans
    * 1 (18 oz) package of Butter Recipe Golden cake mix
    * 1 (3/4 oz) vanilla pudding mix
    * 1/2 cup water
    * 1/2 cup oil
    * 1/2 cup light rum (or more if you are like me!)
    * 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour bundt pan and sprinkle the nuts on the bottom. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix for two minutes. Pour in pan and bake at 325 degrees for one hour. With a few minutes of baking left begin making the glaze.

Hot Rum Glaze

    * 1 cup of sugar
    * 1 stick of butter
    * 1/4 cup of rum
    * 1/4 cup of water

Put all ingredients in sauce pan and boil for 3 minutes. Pour glaze over cake while cake is still hot and in the pan. Let set for 30 minutes before dumping cake onto a festive plate. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Bon Bons

One of my fondest memories growing up was going to my Grandma Mary's house in Woodstock for Christmas.  Not really because Christmas was a big deal there, but because she and my grandfather owned a family restaurant that they actually lived above for as long as I can remember.  Grandma Mary was always baking up something delicious.  I remember sitting at her kitchen table while she made what seemed like hundreds of peanut butter balls.

A year ago a former teacher from my school made peanut butter bon bons for a school function and for the first time in  years I was taken right back to my childhood.  They tasted EXACTLY like Grandma Mary's PB balls.  After pleading for the recipe I finally got it and put it into action yesterday!  I think Grandma Mary would be pleased with the results!

Going into the freezer.

Dipping!

Heaven:)

Peanut Butter Bon Bons (makes 28)

 Ingredients
•    ½ cup of butter
•    ½  cup of natural peanut butter
•    2 cup of confectioners sugar
•    4 squares of chocolate candy coating

Directions
1.    Cream butter and peanut butter together.
2.    Gradually add confectioners sugar until dough forms.
3.    Roll into 1-inch balls and freeze.
4.    Melt chocolate and then dip the centers until covered with chocolate.  Place on wax paper and refrigerate.

Gluten Free Healthy Apple Crumble Pie

I finally got around to using the rest of our apples from Carter's Mountain for a yummy apple crumble pie.  We've been using the apples up as snacks, but there were just enough left to use for the pie that I have been promising.  I took a few hints from recipes online and came up with my own gluten free healthy version.  No butter, no sugar....

Filling

Before adding the crust

Getting ready for the oven. And guess who was too excited that I forgot to take a picture before we devoured it?!

Gluten Free Healthy Apple Crumble Pie

Ingredients

Filling:

•  4 granny smith apples, thinly sliced
• 1 golden delicious apple, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup of Stevia
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• sprinkle of brown sugar

Crust:

• 2 cups of spelt flour
• 6 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon Stevia
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Combine oil, water and salt.  Whisk together.  Add in spelt flour until evenly moist. Use half of this mixture to coat the bottom of the pie dish.
• Combine all of the filling ingredients in one large bowl and toss until evenly covered with spices.  Pour into pie dish.
• Use the remaining crust to cover the top of the filling.  I made this more of a crumble than a covering.  Brush with egg white and then sprinkle with Stevia and cinnamon mixture.  
• Bake for 20 minutes on bottom rack at 425 degrees.  Reduce to 325 degrees and bake an additional 30-40 minutes until the apples are soft.  
• Let cool for an hour before serving.

5 nights in a row!

We may have set a new record in the household...5 nights of actually cooking homemade healthy meals at home.  Nope, no eating out.  No picking up a pizza.  No surviving off of oatmeal or cereal for dinner.  And, guess who did all of the cooking other than a little prep work and the baking this afternoon?  I've been working my butt off at school, walking in the door and getting straight to work.  I haven't even completed one television show all week other than Modern Family because I am just too tired.  On the flip side, the food has been great and we've saved a pretty penny.

Rich baked Halloween cupcakes for me this afternoon for my activity at school tomorrow.  Hope the kids don't mind decorating a few that are a wee bit brown.  Whoops.  I can't complain since I didn't have to bake them.

While in a baking frenzy Rich also came up with his own version of a healthy cookie....Oatmeal Pumpkin Delights.  They were not only delicious, but also very filling which is important around this place.  I ate one and didn't want my dinner!

Soooo good!

 Oatmeal Pumpkin Delights

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
• 2 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup of pumpkin
• 1/3 cup of egg whites
• 1/3 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of Stevia or other natural sweetner

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix all ingredients together on medium until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed (approx. 2 minutes)
• Form into 1 inch balls and smash flat with a spoon
• Spray cookie sheet with baking spray and space dough two inches apart on sheet
• Bake for 15 minutes
• Let cool and enjoy!

 For dinner I whipped up another recipe from http://www.pbfingers.com/....Squash Casserole.  The prep time was a little more than I wanted to deal with tonight, but after Rich devoured half the casserole by himself I think it was worth it.

Cook squash with the sausage, onion, garlic mixture for 8 minutes

Homemade breadcrumbs from two slices of whole wheat bread.

Fantastic one dish meal

Squash Casserole
Serves: 4 people
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces chicken sausage, chopped into small pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 4 cups sliced yellow squash (about 1 pound)
• 2 slices wheat bread
• 6 ounces Greek yogurt (I used vanilla flavored which made it sweet)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese pizza cheese
• Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook sausage, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until onions become slightly soft, about 4 minutes.
3. Add squash to sausage mixture and cook on medium heat until squash is slightly soft, about 8 minutes.
4. Place the bread in a food processor, and pulse until coarse crumbs form to measure 1 cup.
5. Stir Greek yogurt and cheese into sausage mixture. Spoon into a casserole dish coated with cooking spray.
6. Top with breadcrumbs. Spray breadcrumbs with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.
7. Cool and enjoy.

Good day = Chocolate

Despite the kids leaving and it being a Monday, today was actually a pretty good day.  I hit the gym early and did a heavy lifting day (chest and shoulders) thanks to the new pre-workout supplement that came over the weekend.  I didn't have time for cardio, so I got in two miles on the track at school during my sports conditioning program and then got in another two miles during planning this afternoon. 

I had leftovers from Sunday night for lunch and half of my mini loaf for a snack along with one of my freshly picked apples from Carter's Mountain.  This evening I whipped up sweet potato turkey meatloaf and some more sweet potato wedges.  Rich had quite the sweet tooth so I made some healthy black bean brownies. I altered the recipe from All-Recipes pretty darn dramatically to make them as healthy as I could.  The result? Rich LOVED them.  I think I may have to hide the rest tonight.

Good carbs and protein all in one!

YUM!  I may have some on whole wheat bread for lunch tomorrow;)

Sweet Potato Turkey Meatloaf
Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground turkey (can substitute ground beef if preferred)
• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. oatmeal
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp.  mustard
• Slightly less than 1/4 c. ketchup
• Slightly less than 1/4 c. barbeque sauce
• 1/2 tbsp. garlic salt

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cook sweet potato. (I do this by wrapping a sweet potato in a damp paper towel and microwaving it for 7 minutes on high.)
• Remove sweet potato peel before or after cooking, depending on cooking method. (I just scooped out the sweet potato flesh when it was done cooking.)
• Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
• Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and place meat mixture in pan.
• Cook for approximately one hour or until meat is done. 

*Adapted from http://www.pbfingers.com/

Looking good...

Gotta have those chocolate chips!

  Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons apple sauce (in lieu of oil)
• 4 tablespoons of milled flax seed
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup Stevia natural sweetner (in lieu of white sugar)
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray an 8x8 square baking dish with baking spray.
2. Combine the black beans, eggs, apple sauce, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, flax seed and Stevia in a blender; blend until smooth; mix in walnuts; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Sunday Night Dinner

Well, if you all thought I was crazy about fitness/nutrition before, I've really gone off the deep end now. I basically wiped out all foods that are not clean and made a grocery list 75 items long.  This was done after picking the most appealing clean diet meals I could find on fitness blogs, etc.  After hitting up two grocery stores I came home with lots of yummy nutritous food.  I didn't waste anytime trying out the new recipes either!

Sunday night dinner included cashew crusted salmon, sweet potato wedges, and green beans.  I made oatmeal banana mini loaves for dessert/breakfast.  If I do say so myself, all of the above were a hit!  Now that the kids are gone there were even leftovers for lunch today and probably tomorrow as well.  That isn't stopping me for cooking and baking as I type though;) I always change up recipes to make them my own and of course add my favorite milled flax seed to everything!

Cashew Crusted Salmon (1.25 lbs)

Can you smell that wild caught Alaskan goodness?

Cashew Crusted Salmon (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb. wild caught Alaskan salmon
• 2/3 c. raw cashews
• 2/3 c. parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. basil (optional)
  
• 1 1/4 tbsp. olive oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Combine cashews, parmesan cheese, basil and olive oil in a food processor and pulse until mixture is fine.
• Top a cookie sheet with foil and place salmon on top of the foil.
• Top salmon with cashew crumbs and place another sheet of foil over the salmon, sealing the fish within the foil.
• Bake for 12 minutes before removing foil and baking for another 3 – 5 minutes, until topping is slightly brown and fish is fully cooked.

*Adapted from http://www.pbfingers.com/ 

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

 Baked Sweet Potato Wedges (serves 2-4 people)
Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil
• Dash a of sea salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 415 degrees
2. Wash and slice a large sweet potato
3. Place wedges in a plastic bag with a tablespoon or two of canola oil, sea salt, and pepper.  Shake until thoroughly covered.
4. Put wedges on foil covered cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  
5. Flip and bake for an additional 10 minutes. 

My delicious plate!

Oatmeal Banana Mini Loaf

Banana Bread Mini Loaves (makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons milled flax seed
• 1 tablespoon greek yogurt
  
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 egg white
  
• 1 tablespoon apple butter (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Stir oats, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl
3. Add banana, egg white, and apple butter and mix until there are no clumps
4. Spray mini loaf pans with baking spray and pour batter into pan
5. Bake 15-18 minutes, until loaves are set and spring back when touched lightly on top

*Adapted from http://www.pbfingers.com/


Off to take out tonight's meal from the oven!