Baked Apples

Recently my friend posted on her blog a recipe from PBS for baked apples. Being that fall is slowly introducing itself this year, I am trying to get into the mood by lighting particular candles, putting up some decorations, and baking fall-tasting things!

Here is my version:

Ingredients:
4-6 baking apples (2 lbs)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Cut apples into cube-ish shapes (see photos), remove core.
3. Put in large mixing bowl and combine apples, cinnamon and lemon juice in the bowl, stir.
4. Place in baking dish, sprinkle brown sugar over apples.
5. Cook for 30 min, and enjoy!

I put mine in oatmeal, and I am serving it later with some vanilla ice cream!

Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice.

Warning: This dish is not at all healthy. At. All.

However, this dish was well-loved and was devoured in its entirety before I could put leftovers in the fridge.

“3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 Tablespoons fresh minced garlic
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast
2 cups steamed brown rice
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
______
Cheese Sauce
4 Tablespoons butter
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 Cups chicken broth
2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
Top with 1 1/2 Cups shredded pepperjack cheese
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Heat oil into a medium dutch oven
or pot over medium heat.  Saute onion, celery and carrots until
softened, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in chicken, both rices, salt, pepper and garlic salt.  Reduce
heat to low.
2.  To prepare cheese sauce melt butter into a medium saucepan over
medium high heat.  Whisk in flour, salt and pepper then slowly pour in
chicken broth whisking continuously.  Whisk until thick and nearly
boiling then stir in cheese until melted.  Pour cheese sauce into rice
mixture then transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with additional
cheddar cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted
through.  Serve.”

Dairy-free chocolate pudding (Sorry for the hiatus)!

If you’re lactose intolerant or just can’t handle thinking about the amount of calories you eat every time you gulp down a pudding pack – you should try this!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water
4 tbs cocoa powder
4 tbs brown sugar (add up to 2 tbs more if you want it sweeter)
4 tbs corn starch

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan without heat, the temperature of the water should help dissolve all the ingredients. Bring to a boil. It should take 1-2 minutes for the pudding to thicken, remove immediately as it starts to thicken. Serve and enjoy!

And, if you were concerned, it does still get the “skin” on top, if you love it like me. 

Summer Hiatus.

Hey all,

Sorry that I haven’t been posting very often lately, I have been quite busy packing up my house getting ready for the move in exactly one week! I’m very excited about the whole thing, but I haven’t been able to make many things since 99% of our cookware is in boxes. We have been eating off of paper plates and drinking out of plastic cups. 

However, I have been able to make one thing that has been a hit: frappuccinos.

This is how I make mine:
1 can low fat coconut milk
2 scoops vanilla protein powder
3 scoops sugar free hot cocoa mix
8 large ice cubes

Blend all ingredients, and serve immediately! Makes 2 24oz servings.

It’s really creamy, has lots of protein, and no added sugar! It’s a delicious way to start your day if you’re like me and can’t handle real food before 11 am.

Happy fooding! 

Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

A few people can vouch for me on this one. I love cookies. I love oatmeal cookies, specifically.
For my love of cookies I set out on the internet, as any good 20-something would, and found a few different recipes to make healthy, yet delicious, oatmeal cookies.

Here’s my take:

1 cup wheat flour (or oat flour)
1 1/2 cup quick oats (regular oats will not turn out right)
1/2 cup Stevia
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup raisins (can do less if you want less raisins)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 single cup of sugar-free applesauce (I use treetop, equal to about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup honey

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Mixture will be incredibly thick, and will require you to mix with your hands. Drop 2 tbs sized balls on cookie sheet, cook for 7-10 minutes at 350.

 

Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Since I was gifted cilantro by the wonderful Annie, I decided to search for some recipes that included cilantro, and I wound up finding this.
This post inspired me: click.

This is my version:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tbs garlic
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 can corn

1 can chopped tomatoes and chilies
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Cook quinoa.
2. Sautee onion and pepper, add garlic.
3. Stir in the quinoa, then pour in the chicken broth.
4. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper.
5. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and stir in the black beans, corn and cilantro.
7. Serve warm or cold.

No Bake Protein Bars.

As I was thinking about how my dad, who loves peanut protein bars, is unable to eat peanuts any longer I kept thinking to myself, “what could I make that wouldn’t have peanuts in it, but where I could incorporate peanut butter?”

I got a grand idea, of course.
This is a mixture of a few different recipes that I threw together.

Peanut Butter Protein Bars

Part 1:
1 cup oats
2 cups protein powder
1/2 cup raisins (optional, or other dried fruit if you prefer)

Part 2:
1 cup peanut butter
1 tbs honey
2/3 cup milk

Step 1: Mix all dry ingredients from part 1 in a bowl
Step 2: Mix all non-dry ingredients in a microwaveable bowl, microwave for 30s-1m (depending on the power of the microwave or consistency of the peanut butter)
Step 3: Mix all ingredients in a bowl, you will need to mix with your hands, it gets quite thick quickly and could end up breaking a mixing spoon (I got pretty close to breaking mine).
Step 4: Put into casserole dish, pie plate etc etc and refrigerate for 2-3 hours (I do overnight).
Step 5: Cut and serve!

Per bar:
20 grams of protein

These are amazing, no added sugar, and lots of protein! Perfect for a breakfast alternative when you don’t like to eat much in the morning (like me).
Also, both my sister and my dad can’t have nuts, so I thought this would be something that they could try at home (especially my dad) because he likes to eat minimal food in the morning as well (wink, wink mom!).

Lemonade – Homemade Style!

Summer is creeping up around the corner and I like to make home made lemonade that quenches thirst and is very low in calories – so it’s relatively guilt-free!

Here’s my take on lemonade:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
6-ish lemons (1 cup lemon juice)
Lots of ice

1. Boil water with sugar until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Fill up your 2 quart pitcher with ice (so the beverage will be ready to drink immediately)
3. Pour juice from lemons into sugar mixture, stir
4. Pour over ice
5. Add water accordingly
6. Drink it up!

   

Tuna Noodle/Quinoa Casserole.

I have been searching through our pantry and freezer to figure out what is next on our food agenda.
What I found? Tons of frozen broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and cans of tuna.
So of course the first thing I thought to do: TUNA CASSEROLE!

Let me tell you a little story.
I have never been one that really liked any kind of casserole but I have found myself quite enjoying the taste of something creamy and “homey”, if you will.
My parents were never big on casseroles and I have maybe eaten 3 casserole dishes in my whole life prior to coming to college. With that said, once I started living on my own I realized how easy casserole dishes are. You can make the entire thing up the day/night before you actually want to eat it and you can just pop it in the oven for a short while and voila! you have an entire meal ready for you when you get home. The trick with casseroles is trying to make them healthy and delicious. This is something I have been struggling with, but of course, nowadays, we have our trusty Pintrest!

Off to Pintrest I went and I found this amazing, healthy dish:
4 cups pasta OR cooked quinoa (if you want the added protein)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 10 oz cans of fat free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
2 6oz cans of tuna, packed in water, well drained
1 cup milk
1 10 oz can of sliced mushrooms (I used  1 cup freshly chopped)
1 bag of frozen broccoli/cauliflower medley
1 can peas
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated cheese

The original recipe: here.

Old Trusty.

My old trusty is my Crockpot. Between Jeff and I, we only have about 10 hours of free time during the week and we don’t want to spend those precious hours always cooking.

So today, I made a taco soup recipe that has been helpful to me in the past.

2 cans of new potatoes in water (no salt added)
2 cans of kidney beans (would normally use black but we were all out) (no salt added)
2 cans of corn (no salt added)
1 cup celery
1 cup onion, chopped
1 package of Taco Seasoning (low sodium)
3 cups of water

We are excited to be eating cleaner and vegetarian/vegan when we can. I hope you enjoy it too!