My Three Favorite Things All Rolled Into One

Pin It If you know me at all you would know that my three of favorite things are giraffes, nutrition, and dessert.  For those of you who don't know me, a quick look around my room would explain my giraffe obsession, my major in school would give away my passion for nutrition, and my collection of recipes would show you how much I love dessert. The reason I am sharing this with you all is because the recipe I am about to share with you rolls all three of these things into one delicious cake! 

The other day I was mindlessly browsing Pintrest when I came across a cake that looked like it was covered in giraffe spots.  It wasn't the creation of some artistic baker either.  The spots were baked right into the cake! SO COOL.  I knew I had to try their new technique out.

A few nights later I decided to test it out and let my residents be the official taste testers.  I promised one of my residents I would make him cake for snack, so it was a perfect time to try it out.  You are probably wondering where the nutrition part of it comes in now huh?  Pretty much anything I make in the kitchen I have to find a way to put a healthy spin on it. It is kind of a weird hobby I have and I enjoy the challenge.  To be honest, it really isn't that hard to lighten up a recipe with a few ingredient swaps or add ins once you learn what works.  Tonight's swaps and add ins included whole wheat flour, olive oil, honey, bananas, and zucchini.

For the recipe and technique on how to make the giraffe spots check out the recipe below! Enjoy and feel free to add your own special swaps and add ins. :)

 

CHOCOLATE BANANA ZUCCHINI CAKE

 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Whole wheat flour
3/4 cup All-purpose flour (or more whole wheat I just ran out)
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Honey
1/4 cup Olive oil
2 medium Bananas. mashed
1 medium Zucchini, finely grated (no need to peel, about 1 cup)
3-4 tbsp Unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Whisk together the eggs, honey, oil, and mashed bananas.
4. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined.
5. To make a giraffe cake scoop some of the batter into a plastic bag and cut off the corner.  Use the bag like you are piping frosting and draw the outline of giraffe spots into the bottom of a greased, foil lined 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
6. Stir the cocoa powder and zucchini into the rest of the batter.
7. Carefully pour the rest of the batter on top of the giraffe spots you made in the bottom of the pan.
8. Gently smooth out the top of the batter.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
10. Let cool for 10 minutes.
11.  Place a cookie sheet over the bottom of the baking dish and quickly flip the cake over.
12. Peel away the aluminum foil and voila! You have a nutritious-n-delicious giraffe cake!
Makes 18-24 servings.

Nutrient Packed Banana Muffins

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It's one of those days where I have this crazy urge to bake anything and everything. I should be working on something productive, but instead I find myself in the kitchen baking away.  I don't think my residents would complain too much about that.  That's one of the best perks of my job.  I can bake and bake and bake and I have plenty of people to eat it all!  They make wonderful taste testers.

Today I decided to do a little experimenting with a muffin recipe.  One of my roommates has been craving banana bread, so I am dedicating these muffins to her. Her other obsession lately has been applesauce, which is another reason I am dedicating these muffins to her. The applesauce I added was used to replace all the butter in the banana muffin recipe I used for inspiration.

Funny story about the applesauce.  One night while she was reading the ingredients list on the applesauce container, she looked at me and said, "How do they get apples in there!? They'd have to really squish them."...................... I about died.  Gotta love her.  I hope I don't embarrass her too much by sharing this with all of you.  I just couldn't help myself shes too funny. :) 

Bananas and applesauce are not the only nutritious ingredients in these muffins either.  They also contain squash, raisins, and whole wheat flour.  I can't say I have ever made muffins with squash in them before, but you can't even taste it in there.  I've been learning a lot about squash through my internship this summer.  I am working on implementing Farm to School by designing a Harvest of the Month program for the district. In doing so, I have research and created educational posters for a TON of different vegetables.  Check out the winter squash poster I made for some fun facts!

NUTRIENT PACKED BANANA MUFFINS



Ingredients:
1/2 cup Winter squash, mashed
2 medium Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2 large Eggs, whisked
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sweetener of choice (i.e. Stevia, spenda, etc.)*
2 tsp Vanilla
2 cups Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1-2 tsp Ground cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
1/2 cup Raisins (optional)

*Honey might work as well, but you would have to reduce the amount of liquid somewhere

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mash the squash, bananas, and applesauce together in a large bowl.
3. Whisk in the eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
5. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet.  Stir until just combined.  Do not over stir!
6. Fold in the raisins.
7. Scoop batter into a muffin pan.  (Note: I used muffin liners for easy clean up, but you can just grease the pan if you want)
8. Bake 15-20 minutes until done in the middle.
Makes 14 muffins.

I'm Back!

Pin It It feels so good to be blogging again!  This past year has been a whole lot of busy.  It's not like I haven't been spending time in the kitchen, I just haven't had time to make anything fun, new, and worth sharing.  Sad I know.

Well just to give you all a little update on my life, this past week I moved from Winona, MN to Menomonie, WI.  In the fall, I will start working towards a masters degree in Human Nutritional Sciences at UW-Stout. I can't believe that just over a year ago I decided to change my major and come to Stout for grad school.  Where has the time gone!?  I feel like I was just moving into Winona and making new friends.  Now three short years later, I have graduated and moved on to the next step toward my dream job of becoming a dietitian.  It's so exciting!  Saying goodbye to all my friends in Winona on the other hand... was not so exciting.  :(  At least I know I am only an hour and a half away and some genius invented this wonderful thing called Snapchat. Haha!  I love being able to see them every day! 

Today I decided to make Whole Wheat Cranberry Orange Muffins for the residents at my new job.  It was actually my night off, but I couldn't resist heading up to the kitchen to make them a healthy snack for the night.  Man oh man did they like the muffins!  One was practically eating the paper liner trying to get every last crumb off and another snuck an extra muffin into his room and was sitting there eating it in the dark with a spoon.  Too cute.  Needless to say these muffins are taste tester approved!  I am excited that they are enjoying my healthy snacks. :)  They are going to learn real fast that while Kara's around they will learn to eat healthy!  Muhaha. Just kidding... well not really. :P

WHOLE WHEAT CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS

 Sorry, not the best picture I know. I was in a rush the residents were hungry!

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour

3/4 cup Brown sugar (seems like a lot of sugar, but it makes a lot of muffins)

2 1/2 tsp Baking powder

2 tsp Salt

1 cup Orange juice

1 cup Unsweetened applesauce

2 Eggs, beaten

2 tsp Vanilla extract

1/4 tsp Orange extract

2 cups Craisins

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

2. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners.

3. Whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

4. In a smaller bowl whisk the orange juice, applesauce, eggs, and extracts together.

5. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients.  Stir until combined.

6. Fold in craisins.

7. Scoop the batter into 24 muffin liners.

8. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until done in the middle.

9. Let cool before serving. Enjoy!

Makes 24 muffins.

 

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 125                        
Total Fat: 0.5 g
      Sat. Fat: 0.1 g                                    
Cholesterol: 15.4 mg
Sodium: 208 mg
Potassium: 62 mg
Total Carbs: 27.6 g
      Dietary Fiber: 2.0 g
      Sugars: 14.4 g
Protein: 2.3 g
Vitamin A: 0.5 %
Vitamin C: 5.0 %
Calcium: 1.6 %
Iron: 2.8 %



Pesto Gluten Free "Crackers" or "Crutons"

Pin It The concept of roasting garbanzo beans is certainly not a new one.  There a hundreds of roasted garbanzo beans on the web to try, but I decided to make up my own today and the results were amazing!  The garbanzo beans ended up with a great big crunch and a nice subtle pesto flavor with parmesan, basil, parsley, garlic, and onion.  They reminded me of little crackers, but you could also use them as a gluten free substitution for croutons on a salad.  I gotta warn you though...these little guys are packed with fiber!  I recommend being careful with your serving size or you may find yourself a little... shall I say... gassy?  Be especially careful if your body is not used to all that fiber.  ;)

I am excited to try other variations of this recipe!  So many options! Enjoy.

PESTO GLUTEN FREE "CRACKERS" OR "CROUTONS"

 

Ingredients:

1 can Garbanzo beans

Grated parmesan cheese

Basil

Parsley

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil spray

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Rinse and drain garbanzo beans.

3. Season the beans in a bowl and toss to evenly coat.  I don't really have measurements because I just kind of eyeballed it. 

4. Pour the beans onto a sheet pan and lightly spray with olive oil.

5. Bake for 20 minutes.

6. Stir the garbanzo beans around and bake for another 20 minutes. 

7. Make sure to occasionally check the beans towards the end to make sure they don't burn.

8.  Once they are pretty crisp, shut the oven off an leave them in there for another 10 minutes.

 

Makes 2-3 servings.

 



Refined Sugar Free Apple Pie Greek Yogurt

Pin It Quick post today I have lots of homework to get to... joy.  I could help myself this morning I just had to share this delicious breakfast with you!  This breakfast is super simple and easy to whip up in the morning.  Might I also mention that it is packed with protein making it a great start to your day? :P Enjoy.

REFINED SUGAR FREE APPLE PIE GREEK YOGURT

Sorry for the sad looking picture... like I said this is a quick post!

Ingredients:

1 medium Apple

Cinnamon

Stevia/honey (I used a little stevia, but you could omit this as well)

 

1 container Plain nonfat greek yogurt

2 tsp Honey (optional if you like the taste of plain greek yogurt)

 

Directions:

1. Chop the apple in to 1/2 inch chunks and put into a microwave safe dish.

2. Sprinkle cinnamon and stevia or honey over the apple and mix to evenly distribute.

3. Cover the dish with a plate or glass cover and microwave for 3-4 minutes stirring halfway through.

4. Meanwhile if you want your yogurt to be a little sweeter stir a little bit of honey in.

5. Once the apples are soft, mix them into the greek yogurt and VOILA!  Apple Pie Greek Yogurt!

 

Makes 1 serving.

 

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 223

Total Fat: 0 g

     Sat. Fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 10 mg

Sodium: 100 mg

Potassium: 406 mg

Total Carbs: 31 g

     Dietary Fiber: 6 g

     Sugars: 35 g (All natural sugar!)

Protein: 18 g

Vitamin A: 2%

Vitamin C: 21%

Calcium: 23%

Iron: 4%

It's Almost Too Pretty to Eat!

Pin It Hi! I'm back! Miss me? I thought so. :P I can't believe we are already three weeks into the semester. It has gone so fast! Time can slow down any minute now... Well since I don't think time is actually going to slow down anytime soon, I better make this post quick. My to do list is growing long and longer by the minute, but I still wanted to take the time to share this super yummy recipe with you all.

This veggie dish requires minimal cooking skills and yet looks and smells like it came from a 5 star restaurant. I just can't get over how pretty this dish is! I will be the first to admit that sometimes my healthy recipes don't look so appealing...

Example #1: Southwestern Squash

 

Example #2: Guacamole Soup

 

Example #3: Eggplant Lasagna

 

But don't let the pictures fool you these are all delicious recipes!  They probably just aren't the best dishes to bring to a party. :P  No worries though because you don't have to go to your Superbowl party today empty handed!  The recipe I am sharing with you today is mouthwateringly beautiful.  Yes. That right.  I said mouthwateringly beautiful.  Enjoy!

 

VEGGIE DELIGHT

Recipe adapted from For the Love of Cooking.

 



Notice how this recipe is worth of more then one picture?  I told you it was pretty!  :)

Ingredients:
1 large Sweet onion, cut into chunks
1/2 large Rutabaga (or 1 small one), peeled and cut into thin slices
1-2 Zucchinis
2 medium Roma tomatoes
1-2 tsp Minced garlic
Salt
Black pepper
Dried basil
Dried thyme
Olive oil cooking spray
2-3 tbsp Shredded parmesan cheese

Pre-baking.

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Saute the onions in a small fry pan with a little olive oil until golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, wash, chop, and prep veggies to be layered.
4. Spread the onions in the bottom of a round baking dish.
5. Using what ever pattern you want layer the veggies in a ring and fill in the middle.
6. Sprinkle the garlic, salt, pepper, basil, and thyme over the top.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.
8. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for another 30 minutes or so.
9. Poke the rutabaga with a fork to check for doneness. If it still feels pretty firm, cover the dish with a glass cover or aluminum foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
10. Continue to check the veggies for doneness every 15 minutes until all the veggies are tender, but not mushy. I baked mine for about 1 hour and 45 minutes total.
11. Enjoy!
Serves 6-8 people.

Nutrition Facts:
*Remember this is a rough estimate based on 6 servings.
Calories: 64
Total Fat: 2.2 g
Sat. Fat: 0.7 g
Poly. Fat: 0.2 g
Mono. Fat: 0.8 g
Cholesterol: 2.8 mg
Sodium: 58.2 mg
Potassium: 294.3 mg
Total Carbs: 8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g
Sugars: 6.5 g
Protein: 2.4 g
Vitamin A: 8.2%
Vitamin C: 35.4%
Calcium: 6.6%
Iron: 2.7%

2012 You have Been Good To Me

Pin It Now that 2013 is here I think 2012 deserves a little recognition for being such an eventful and adventurous year.  2012 definitely had it's ups and downs, but for the most part it was a great year.  Here's a look at a few (ok maybe more than a few) of my favorite memories:

WINTER 2012

I celebrated the new year with some amazing friends.  What a night!

Early on in the year, I changed my major. Again. This time I know I am on the right path. I still can't figure out why I wanted to do anything besides being a dietitian, but I know God had a plan in mind when he brought me to Winona. I have meet so many awesome friends here. What is even more awesome is how much closer to Jesus I have grown because of them all. God has blessed me in so many ways this year I can't even begin to list them all.  This is a picture I photoshopped for a video I made a friend a few years ago.  I thought it was very fitting for this. :P





I started a new chapter in my life titled "My Twenties." I feel so old saying that I am in my "20s". Yikes. Where has the time gone!? To celebrate a few roommates and I took a trip to Rochester to do a little shopping and go out to dinner.

I can't forget about my trip to cheer my sister on at state either!  Love that girl.

 

SPRING 2012

This past spring my family and I went to Puerto Vallarta for spring break.  This was by far the best vacation I have ever been on. 

Another "first" of 2012 was my adventure tandeming with my bestie.  We rode all around downtown and laughed at all the people who were staring at us.  What an adventure!

Having to say goodbye to some of the best roommates in the world at the end of the school year was one of the hardest parts of the year.  These girls have taught me so much and they have grown to become my "Winona Family".  Miss them all so much!

SUMMER 2012

Summer 2012 was also a big change for me because it was my first summer living away from home completely on my own. I got a job at the hospital here working in the kitchen and took a few courses to get ready for graduate school. Organic chemistry is not a fun class to cram all into one month let me tell you. I did manage to still have some fun this summer with many trips to see my family. :)

Gorgeous Winona summer nights.  It was uber hot living without air conditioning in the third story of a house, but nights like this made it so worth it.

 Labor Day camping with my second family at "The Shed"

Car problems.  Yep this one is definitely not one of my favorite memories of 2012, but sure made for an adventurous year!  Even after several flat tires, a broken suspension spring, and more somehow my good ole grand prix is still kickin and ready for 2013.

FALL 2012



 

While saying goodbye to my old roommates was sad, saying hello to my new ones was exciting!  It's definitely been a change, but I love these girls just as much and am blessed to be living with them this year.



END of 2012



I got accepted into UW-Stout's graduate human nutritional sciences program!! I am sad to be leaving my home here in Winona and a little nervous to start all over again, but at the same time I am super excited to start all my nutrition courses. All my classrooms are kitchens! Love it!

My roommate and I were in the newspaper in an article about the big snowstorm we had!

To wrap up the year of 2012, I got to spend Christmas with my family in Winona for a change.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family.  I don't know what I would do without them!



I could go on and on with memories of 2012, but I should probably get to the food part of this post.  As a celebration of the new year I put a little spin on my classic garbanzo bean bars by adding a little sunbutter and a few bananas to change up the flavor a bit. 

CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA BEAN BARS

(What a name huh?  I didn't know what else to call them!)

 

Ingredients:

15 oz can Reduced sodium garbanzo beans, rinsed

2 small/medium Bananas (make sure they are really ripe!)

1/4 cup Sunflower seed kernels

1/2 cup Old fashion oats

2 tbsp Honey

3 packets Stevia

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Baking soda

A few dashes of salt

1/4-1/2 cup Dark chocolate chips

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Rinse the beans and add them to a food processor or high powered blender with the bananas and the sunflower seed kernels.

3. Puree the mixture until it just starts to come together and then add the oats.

4. Continue to process the mixture until smooth.

5. Add the honey, stevia, eggs, and vanilla and process again until just combined.

6. Add in the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and process for another 30 seconds.

7. At this point you can stir in the chocolate chips by hand.  I choose to use them as decorations on top instead, but I think next time I will mix them in instead. 

8. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan and spread evenly with a spatula.

9. Bake for 10-15 minutes until a toothpick can come out clean when poked in the middle.

10.  Let the bars completely cool off before serving. Enjoy!

Makes 24 bars.

 

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size: 1 bar

Calories: 60

Total Fat: 2g

     Sat. Fat: .5g

Cholesterol: 14mg

Sodium: 87 mg

Total Carbs: 9g

     Dietary Fiber: 1g

     Sugars: 4g

Protein: 2g

Vitamin A: 0.5%

Vitamin C: 1.5%

Iron: 2.0%

Calcium: 1.1%

 

 







One Pot Wonder Beef Stew

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Do you know what the one good thing about cold wintery day is?  Warm soup/stew.  When the weather keeps you inside (and when your house is as cold as the frozen tundra), there is no better way to warm up than making a big batch of fresh stew.  Plus it makes the house smell wonderful! 

 

I choose to make the beef stew out of the Comfort Foods Fix cookbook my aunt and uncle gave me for Christmas.  All the recipes in the book were already healthified versions of America's favorite comfort foods, but of course I had to add my own special touch to make this stew even better for you!  I don't even know how you could make this even healthier than it already is.  It is full of a variety of vegetables, is decently low in sodium for a stew, has high quality/local meat in it, has a good amount of my two favorite things (fiber and protein), can be make all in one pot leaving you limited dishes, and it doesn't even taste "healthy".   How much better can it get?!

 

The only thing better than sitting down to a big bowl of this stew on a cold day is doing so with your friends and family.  Sadly, my family is 4 hours away and most of my friends are home for winter break.  Luckily, one of my roommates is here taking a class over break, so I thought I would surprise her when she got home after a long day of class.  I even got all fancy and set the table with the new napkins and table runner my grandma cross-stitched for me.  :)  What a perfect dinner. 

ONE POT WONDER BEEF STEW

  

Ingredients:

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Ground black pepper

1/4 tsp Paprika

1 lb Venison, cubed

2 medium Onions, chopped

1 medium Rutabaga, peeled and cubed

1 large Carrot, peeled and cut into coins

1/4 cup Water

1 cup Mushrooms, chopped

2 tbsp Tomato paste

4 cups Natural beef broth*

2 cups Green peas, frozen

 

 *Broths can contain a lot of scary ingredients so make sure you find a good one! Or you can always make your own if you are feeling ambitious.

 

Directions:

1. In a pot large enough to hold about 10 cups, brown the venison with the salt, pepper, and paprika.  Cook over medium heat until all sides of the cubes are brown.

2. Meanwhile get all the vegetables cut up and set aside.

3. Once the meat is cooked scoop it out and set aside in a bowl leaving the juices in the pot.

4. Saute the onions in the same pot with the venison juices until tender and slightly golden.

5. Add the rutabaga and carrot to the pot and mix then in with the onions.  Add about a 1/4 cup of water to help create steam to cook the vegetables.  Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are starting to get tender.  Don't cook them all the way yet! 

6. Add the mushrooms and cook for a couple more minutes.

7. Before adding the broth, stir in the tomato paste to coat the vegetables.

8. Pour in the broth and stir everything together.

9. Turn the heat down to low and cook for 60-80 minutes stirring occasionally.

10.  Add the frozen peas and cook for another 5 minutes until peas are tender.

11. Grab a spoon and enjoy on a cold wintery day! 

Makes about 7 cups.

Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 159
Total Fat: 2 g
     Sat. Fat: 0.5 g
Cholesterol: 12 mg
Sodium: 416 mg
Total Carbs: 16 g
     Dietary Fiber: 4 g
     Sugars: 7 g
Protein: 19 g
Vitamin A:8%
Vitamin C: 40%
Iron: 17%
Calcium: 5%

You Can Have Your Cookie and EAT It Too!

Pin It Isn't being home for Christmas great?  I think it is.  You learn to especially appreciate it when you don't live at home anymore. What could possibly be better than spending time with family and friends and holiday baking?  Mmmm just thinking about it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I'm such a sap when it comes to Christmas.  Haha.

I was FINALLY reunited with my two partners in crime from high school while I was home.  Love those girls!  We decided to have a little fun together by decorating Christmas cookies.  Decorating Christmas cookies is one of my favorite childhood memories. My dad would always help us mix up the dough and cut a bunch of fun shapes out.  Then he would mix every color frosting under the sun for us and my sister and I would go to town decorating the dozens upon dozens of cookies.  As we got older we even started to get pretty detailed and creative in our decorations.  So much fun! 

I really wanted to blog about this tradition, but there was one minor problem... sugar cookies are not exactly the healthiest thing in the world and I mean this is technically a healthy food blog.  I tried to make a healthier whole wheat cookie last year, but they ended up looking like African America gingerbread men.  Not that that is a bad thing, but I have to be honest they tasted like cardboard...even with a thick layer of frosting on the top. 

This year I was ready to take the sugar cookie makeover challenge head on.  A little substitution here, a little less of this, a little more of that, a pinch of this here, and a blob of this there.  Perfection!  I was on a bit of a time crunch so I couldn't take the time to roll out the dough and cut out fun shapes, but this dough definitely could be rolled out if you so desire. 

 

HEALTH(IER) SUGAR COOKIES

Adapted from Enlightened Cooking

 Never mind the three frosted graham crackers... we were just trying to use up the frosting.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup White whole wheat flour

3/4 cup Unbleached white flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Salt

3 tbsp Unsalted butter (The real stuff! No chemicals please!)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 large Egg

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1/2 tsp Almond extract

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Sift together the first four ingredients (flours, baking powder, and salt).  If you don't have a sifter you can just use a whisk.

3. In a small pan brown the butter over low heat until golden.  Make sure to keep stirring to avoid burning the butter.

4. In a medium glass bowl combine the browned butter, sugar, and oil with an electric mixer. 

3. After about a minute, add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium-high for another two minutes.

4. Turn the mixer down to a low speed and slowly add the flour mixture until combined.

5. At this point you can either refrigerate the dough to make rolling it out easier or you can scoop small evenly sized balls onto a cookie sheet.  Make sure to flatten them out with the bottom of a cup before baking.  I made sure to dip the bottom of my cup in some flour before pressing on the dough to avoid sticking. 

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Be careful not to over bake! 

7. Let cool completely before frosting.

8. You can use whatever frosting and candy decorations you would like for these cookies.  We choose to make a simple frosting out of some milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. 

Makes about 15 cookies.

 

 

Isn't my little reindeer cute?  I used walnuts for the antlers. :)

 

Nutrition Facts:

*Does not include frosting or decorations

Calories: 100

Total Fat: 3.5g

     Sat. Fat: 1.5g

     Mono. Fat: 1g

Cholesterol: 18mg

Sodium: 47mg

Total Carbs: 24g

     Dietary Fiber: 1g

     Sugars: 6.5g

Protein: 2g

Vitamin A: 2%

Vitamin C: 0%

Calcium: 1%

Iron: 3%

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

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Happy November everybody!  Man I can't believe how fast this semester is going.... Only a few weeks until Thanksgiving, a couple more weeks until finals, and by then before you know it Christmas will have come and gone and it will be 2013!! Yikes. Ok I am getting ahead of myself, but I tend to do this a lot.

 

This reminds me of my Wednesday morning runs with Alyse...

Me: Hey! It's Wednesday!

Alyse: Woo! It's practically Thursday!

Me: ...Which means it's practically Friday! Hello weekend!
...This is usually followed by a huge lack of productivity because "Hey it's practically the weekend!"
Anybody else have this problem?

 

I don't know why I am always wishing the time away because usually at the same time I am always whining about not having enough time to do the things I want... Uff-da.

Annnyywayss.... back to what is important.  Thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  Why you ask?  Because of the food!  Mmmm.  Turkey. Cranberries. Stuffing.  Pumpkin pie. Squash.  Sweet potatoes...yikes.  The last three things I listed reminds me of the issue I had last fall when I turned orange due to a beta-carotene overdose.  I can't help that all my favorite foods are orange!  Even though this was a whole year ago, I still get comments about looking a little orange once in awhile.  Whoops. 

 

Speaking of foods rich in beta-carotene, you should really try these dark chocolate brownies.  Holy yum.  I made these for our F.A.N. (Food and Nutrition) Club meeting and I would say they were a hit.  These would be awesome to make if you are looking for a fun new Thanksgiving dessert.  Try em out and let me know what you think!

 

DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BROWNIES

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Pumpkin puree (from a can)

2 Eggs

1 tbsp Olive oil

1/4 cup Blackstrap molasses

1-2 tsp Vanilla extract

1 cup White whole wheat flour

1/4 cup Granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/4 tsp Cloves

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Salt

1/3-1/2 cup Dark chocolate chips

 

Optional:

Powdered sugar

Milk

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, oil, molasses, and vanilla until well combined.

3. In another smaller bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour into a greased 9 in pie pan or 9x9 in baking dish.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.   If a toothpick does not come out of the middle clean after 20 minutes, bake another 5-10 minutes until the middle is set.

8. Let brownies cool completely before cutting and serving.

9. If you want you can mix a tiny bit of milk with some powdered sugar to create a glaze to drizzle over the top of the brownies.  I would highly recommend this is you are used to eating overly sweet desserts because the brownies alone are not overly sweet.

Makes 16-20 servings.

 

 

 



Merrytrickortreatandbethankful Day Cupcakes

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The Christmas decorations are out!  It's that time a year again when everyone starts whining about the stores having all their Christmas stuff out already when it is not even time for Halloween, let alone Thanksgiving, yet.  Personally, I love Christmas and wish we could celebrate all year round.  If it wasn't for our society's taboo of listening to Christmas music in August already, I would have had it blaring a long time ago.  It just makes me so happy!

 

To make everybody happy my friend Andrea and I decided to make cupcakes that incorporated all our favorite Fall holidays. 

Here's what we came up with:

Pumpkin = Halloween (orange)

Cranberries = Thanksgiving

Chocolate and frosting = Christmas

 

Creative huh? We thought so. :P  To be honest I was a little hesitant about putting chocolate, pumpkin, and cranberries together, but these turn out awesome!  They were supppppper moist and flavorful.  I highly recommend trying these out.  Plus they are healthy...well maybe minus the brown sugar...but the holidays are all about indulging a little right?!
 

 Here's a quick overview of the ingredients that make these cupcakes NUTRITIOUS-n-Delicious:

Olive oil

Pumpkin

Applesauce

Honey

White whole wheat flour

Cinnamon

Dark chocolate chips
 

If for some odd reason you need an excuse to make these, bring them to a holiday party or work.  I am sure they will be a huge hit! 



 

MERRYTRICKORTREATANDBETHANKFUL DAY CUPCAKES

Taking pictures of white frosting is hard!  Looks like a white blur... Also note our cute cupcake liners!

 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp Olive oil

1 1/4 cup Canned pumpkin

1/2 cup Unsweetened applesauce

2 tbsp Honey

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 cup White whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking soda

2 tsp Ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp Ground cloves

1/4 tsp Allspice

3/4 cup Craisins

1/2 cup Dark chocolate chips

 

4 oz Cream cheese (We used fat free)

1/2 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tbsp Powdered sugar

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Beat the brown sugar, oil, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, egg, and vanilla together until smooth.

3. In another bowl stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.

4. Slowly add the dry into the wet ingredients while mixing.  We use my Kitchen Aid of course! Love that thing.

5. Fold in the craisins and chocolate chips.

6. Scoop the better evenly into 12 cupcake/muffin liners in a muffin pan.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Make sure to poke the inside of a cupcake to see if it is done.

8. While the cupcakes are cooling, beat together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar to make the frosting.

9. Once the cupcakes are cooled you can frost away.

10. Enjoy a cupcake with the flavors of all your favorite holidays all rolled into one.

Makes 12 cup cakes.

 

 

Nutrition Facts:

No these cupcakes are not healthy enough to be eaten for breakfast, but they have wayyyy more nutritional value than a normal cupcake.  Plus they are packed full of health enhancing ingredients!

 

Calories: 193

Total Fat: 7 g

     Sat. Fat: 3.3 g

     Mono. Fat.: 1.8 g

Cholesterol: 18 mg

Sodium: 200 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 47 g

    Dietary Fiber: 3 g

     Sugars: 21 g

Protein: 3.5 g

Vitamin A: 14.4%

Vitamin C: 5.4%

Calcium: 3.7%

Iron: 4.6%

 

Reason #23490980 Why I Love Fall: Apple Crisp

Pin It This is going to have to be a really quick post, but I've been itching to get back to blogging!  So here it goes!

Today I was finally reunited with my bestie in the kitchen.  The two of us in the kitchen is a dangerous thing sometimes...

Exhibit A: Butter on cabinets on the opposite side of the kitchen.

Exhibit B: Cucumber carvings.

 

Exhibit C: Someone needed some discipline.

Oh! And another exciting thing about today is that fact that I got to use my new Kitchen Aid!!  Being the bakingoholic that I am, I've been drooling over one of those puppies at Target for a long time now. Luckily enough, I have super AWESOME neighbors that gave me one that they didn't have a use for.  When they told me about it I was as excited as a kid who just got tickets to Disney World.  Haha. No, but seriously... :P

Inspired by the beautiful fall colors and weather we've been having, we decided to bake some apple crisp today.  YUM.  Mmmm and the aroma it filled the house with was heavenly.  Nothing beats the smell of cinnamon and apples in the fall.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

APPLE CRISP

Inspired By: Healthy Food For Living

(Back to quick cell phone shots...sorry!)

Ingredients:
1 Large apple, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
1/4 tsp Guam gum (or 1/2 tsp Cornstarch)
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon

1 tbsp White whole wheat flour
2 tbsp Old fashioned oats
1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
Dash salt
1 tbsp Olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Prepare apple by peeling, coring, and slicing it thinly.
3. Dump apple slices into a small greased baking pan/dish.
4. Toss the apple slices with the guar gum (or cornstarch) and cinnamon.
5. In a small bowl combine the flour, oats,  sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
6. Mix in the olive oil until the mixture just starts to get crumbly.  If it doesn't you can always add a little more oil (no worries olive oil is good for you!).
7. Spread the topping mixture evenly over the apples.
8. Bake for 15 minutes and check the crisp.
9. Bake fore another 15 minutes or until topping is crisp.
10. Dig in! (Share only if you want to...)
Makes 1-2 servings.

Nutrition Facts:
Sorry friends I don't have time to calculate this today...gotta get to my 6 page report!

Low Carb Eggplant Lasagna

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 Man oh man do I miss blogging!  Now that school has started again I have been crazy crazy busy as I am sure the rest of you are. It's not that I haven't had time to cook (a girls gotta eat ya know!)... it's just that I haven't had time to photograph and blog all my new creations.  So sorry!  Hopefully I'll be able to share at least a few of my latest picture-less creations. 

 

Today I am going to share my recipe for Low Carb Eggplant Lasagna!  Like my Low Carb Stir Fry, this is a great way to get some extra veggies in your diet while reducing your carbohydrate intake.  This recipe is also super easy to customize to your own likes and dislikes.  Want cheese? Go ahead and add it!  Don't have venison?  Try lean ground turkey!  Despise mushrooms?  Why not try peppers instead!  Use your imagination and make it your own.  Best of luck and enjoy!

 

LOW CARB EGGPLANT LASAGNA

(Dairy, grain, gluten, and nut-free)

Ingredients:

1 large Eggplant, sliced the long way into 1/3-1/2 inch slices

1 lb Ground venison, cooked

3/4 cup Spaghetti sauce

6 Baby portabella mushroom caps, chopped

1 cup Frozen spinach

Fresh or dried basil

Oregano

Garlic powder

Onion Powder

Salt and pepper

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

2. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish/pan.

3. Layer the eggplant on the bottom of the pan.  You may have to cut a few piece to get it to cover the bottom better.

4. Top the eggplant with a layer of 1/2 the venison, 1/2 the sauce, seasonings to your liking, 1/2 cup frozen spinach, and 1/2 the mushrooms.

5. Repeat layers with remaining 1/2 of the ingredients.

6. Bake for 20-30 minutes uncovered.

7. Remove lasagna from the oven and cover with aluminum foil.

8. Bake for another 30 minutes.

9. Poke a fork into the eggplant to check for doneness.  If it still seems hard bake for another 10 minutes and check again.

10. Once the eggplant is tender let lasagna rest before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

 

 

 

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 189.6

Total Fat: 6.6 g

     Mono. Fat: 2.1 g

     Poly. Fat: 0.4 g

     Sat. Fat: 2.3 g

Cholesterol: 41.6 mg

Sodium: 286.9 mg

Total Carbs: 14.9 g

     Dietary Fiber: 5.7 g

     Sugars: 7.4 g

Protein: 19.3 g

Vitamin A: 17.8%

Vitamin C: 15.4%

Calcium: 7.4%

Iron: 20.2%



Veggies So Delicious They Taste Like Candy

Pin It This past week my aunt and uncle happened to be in the area for an organic farming conference so we were able to hook up and have lunch together.  We went to this cute little cafe and enjoyed a delicious lunch.  It was so much fun to catch up with them and talk about our latest cooking creations and nutrition research.  One of the best parts about the day (besides actually being able to visit and spend time with my aunt and uncle) was getting a load of vegetables from my uncle's ginormous garden.  Cucumbers. Carrots. Zucchini. Beets. Tomatoes. Lettuce. Peppers. Onions. Garlic. Nutrition nerd heaven.

Sorry about the poor picture quality...I was too excited to take the time to get out my good camera and spend some time taking pictures.

At first I was kind of nervous to bring it all home to my roommates being as our fridge is already packed as it is.  Sharing a fridge with 4 other girls gets a little crazy sometimes... but we made it work no worries! The girls were actually almost as excited as I was about all the free vegetables.  It didn't take long before they were enjoying fresh salads and sliced cucumbers. 

To take a little load off of the fridge I decided to roast a bunch of veggies right away. In the mix went several beets, some carrots, and a pepper. I've never really had much experience with beets being as my mom absolutely hates them, but I asked my uncle to bring a few so I could try them.  Guess what??  I LOVED THEM! They were so sweet and flavorful I couldn't keep my hands off the plate as I was trying to take pictures.  Yummy! 

I think roasting vegetables is one of my favorite ways to cook them (nothing tops grilling of course).  I don't know what it is about them, but the tender centers bursting with flavor and crisp toasted outsides is just something that cannot be beat.  Plus it couldn't be easier to chop up a bunch of veggies, toss 'em in some olive oil, season with a little salt and pepper and throw 'em in the oven. It's hard for me to even call this a recipe, but I just had to share the beautiful bright colors of the roasted vegetables and my new love for beets.  Seriously you need to try them this way!

Note: I'm warning you right now.  Roasted veggies are as addicting as candy.  The other night I cut up a whole zucchini, several carrots, and a whole onion...and ate it all...only me right?  "Only Kara the crazy vegetable girl would do that."  No... I'm serious these are so good it can happen to you too!

GARDEN FRESH ROASTED VEGETABLES

Ingredients:

Olive oil

Seasonings (Salt, pepper, basil, etc.)

Vegetables of choice

*I just used salt and pepper on mine this time and used 2 red beets, 1 golden beet, 1 pepper, and several carrots.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

2. Wash and cut up vegetables into 1 inch or so chunks.  I like to cut my carrots in half too for faster cooking.

3. Lightly toss veggies in olive oil on a cookie sheet lined with foil (for easy clean up).

4. Sprinkle on desired seasonings.

5. Bake 10-15 minutes, stir, and repeat until the edges are getting crispy and the middles are soft.

SO PRETTY!

*I have no idea what how many people this serves...if it was me it'd only be 1-2 servings...but I really like my veggies.  I don't have nutrition facts either due to too many recipe variations, but feel free to calculate your own if you are curious. :) ENJOY!





Sweet Potato Breakfast Bake

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Good morning everyone!  I hope you are all waking up and enjoying a nice healthy breakfast this morning.  I know I am!  I love going to bed at night know I have a delicious breakfast waiting for me when I get up. 

Normally, I am not in the mood to make myself an extravagant meal in the morning.  Takes too much effort when I'm still groggy from the last night's sleep... especially during the school year.  How am I enjoying such a delicious breakfast then you may ask?  Leftovers!  Seriously.  For those of you cooking for one or even for a family, leftovers can be the best thing ever.  Cook a big batch, scoop individual potion sizes into containers, store in the fridge, go to bed, wake up, pop one of those babies in the microwave, and dig in!  Easy peasy! (Note: I even skip the microwaving step all together with the recipe because I love it cold.)

Lately I've been making egg bakes for the week, but decided I needed to change it up for a few days.  This is when my Sweet Potato Breakfast Bake recipe was born.  Mmm. I just finished my last bowl as we speak and I'm kind of sad.  I loved the soft texture...kind of like a mixture between a muffin and pumpkin pie....interesting comparison I know, but still so good.  Plus the raisins add a special touch of sweetness with every bite.  Nuts would also be a great addition to this recipe for those of you who like a little crunch!

SWEET POTATO BREAKFAST BAKE

Ingredients:

1 large Sweet potato

1/2 cup Almond meal (Fine ground almonds)

1/2 cup Sesame seeds, ground into a flour

2 tbsp Flax

1 tsp cinnamon

Nutmeg

Cloves

Allspice

1 tsp Baking soda

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat 375 F degrees.

2. Cook the sweet potato in the microwave or the oven until very tender.

3. In the meantime, add the almond meal to a food processor to grind into a finer flour (you can omit this step if your almonds are already pretty fine).

4. Transfer the almond meal to a mixing bowl and add the sesame seeds to the food processor.  Process into a flour like texture.

5. Mix together the almond meal, sesame seed flour, flax, spices, and baking soda.

6. Scoop the cooled sweet potato (you don't want it to cook the egg right away!) into food processor along with the egg and vanilla and puree.

7. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.

8. Fold in the raisins.

9. Pour into a grease 8x8 baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes.  I took mine out when a fork came out clean, but it ended up being pretty soft in the middle when I cut into it.  I thought it was actually really good that way; however, if you don't want a gooey casserole you can try cooking it longer for a drier cake like texture.

Makes 6 decent sized breakfast servings.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 227

Total Fat: 13.2 g

     Mono. Fat: 3 g

     Poly. Fat: 3.5 g

     Sat. Fat: 1.6 g

Cholesterol: 54.5 mg

Sodium: 251 mg

Potassium: 290.6 mg

Total Carbs: 23.4 g

     Dietary Fiber: 4.8 g

     Sugars: 10 g

Protein: 7.4 g

Vitamin A: 36%

Vitamin C: 1%

Calcium: 18%

Iron: 17%

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