Healthy Cookie Pie

I really feel like a lot of my post titles start with the word "Healthy". Not that that's a bad thing, it just shows how uncreatively I write.

So, I don't know if I've said it officially, but Hubs and I have been trying to eat much healthier this year. Not like a resolution or anything, just a subtle lifestyle change. More fruit &veggies, less meat, less refined sugar-type foods. It's going pretty good. However, not everyone is all about my new-found healthy-ness and sometimes I want to make something tasty for my amigos. Enter, healthy desserts. 

Chocolate Covered Katie is kind of a whiz at these things and I suggest that everyone visit her site. This is one of her creations, the first I've tried, and based on the results, I think I'll be using her many more times.

Poor smoothie-maker :-(

Also, this recipe is the reason I need to get a food processor. I blended everything in the blender and it took FOREVER. I had to do it in batches and I'm pretty sure it almost broke the poor smoothie-maker (what I've come to call our blender). [Side note - our blender was a wedding gift for Hub's parents and is one of my favorite things in our kitchen. It still works like a beast even though I abuse it.]

Deep-Dish Cookie Pie

Recipe from Chocolate-Covered Katie

Everything blended and ready to bake

• 2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) 
• 1 cup quick oats 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 T canola oil
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar 
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Blend everything (except the chips) very well in a good food processor (not a blender - lesson learned). Mix in chips, and pour into an oiled springform pan. Cook at 350F for around 35-40 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

I don't have a picture of a slice of the pie. You'll just have to take my word for it. It was good. Hubs couldn't tell it had beans in it. Someone with a super sensitive taster might be able to tell that it's not a super-lux dessert, but I doubt they'd pin point "beans!"

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie

I love this smoothie. It's for reals one of my favorites. It's just so decadent for breakfast and yet, so healthy. 


Unfortunately, I don't often measure when I make smoothies, so it makes it harder on myself to relay the yumminess to you. Feel free to adjust quantities higher or lower as you see fit.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
Serves 1


1 cup chocolate soy milk
1 Tbs espresso powder mixed in small amount of water (see photo below)
1 heaping Tbs of peanut butter
1/2 scoop protein powder (I use vanilla flavored)
1 scoop chocolate flavored greens powder
2 Tbs plain yogurt
2 Tbs dissolvable fiber
Ice


Mix everything in a blender, save the ice. Add ice to the mix while blending to thicken. Stop adding ice/blending once smoothie is at your desired thickness. Drink up!

This is not a pretty picture.

This is how much espresso/water mix I used - half of a half-sized ramekin's worth. 

Action shot. Before I added ice.

Final product. You can see ice in mine because I got impatient and didn't wait for it all to blend.

Roasted Broccoli

Shame. Shame shame shame upon me. I have no real reason why I haven't posted in almost a month. It's shear laziness. I've been cooking. I've been taking pictures of what I'm cooking. I just can't take the last step of putting fingers to laptop and posting. 
Shame.
But, as penance, I'm posting something (surprisingly) super yummy. Roasted broccoli. Now, I happen to lurve me some broccoli. I'll eat it almost every way except steamed. It just gets so mushy that way. 

The key for this is to make sure that it gets brown and crispy. That's what makes it so good. 


Roasted Broccoli

Serves 4

1 bunch broccoli
Olive oil


Preheat the oven to 350. Cut broccoli into bite-sized floretes. Arrange floretes on a roasting sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. 
Roast for 10 minutes, then toss. Continue to cook for 10 minutes or until tops start browning. 
Serve and enjoy. 

Hubs and I can put away almost an entire bunch of broccoli ourselves, but probably for normal people a bunch can probably feed 4 people. 

BALTS Sandwich

Now this is a sandwich. 
I see your BLT and raise you a BALTS - Bacon Avocado Lettuce Tomato and Sprouts sandwich.

Ingredients:
2 Slices bacon (cooked)
Sprouts
Lettuce
Tomato
Avocado slices
2 slices whole grain bread

Put everything on one piece of bread. Spread a little lite mayo on the other slice of bread. Put it on top. Consume.

Yum.

Healthy Cheesecake

My post titles suck. Let's just get that out of the way now. I was trying to come up with something cute and clever to call this cheesecake, but let's face it - it's a healthy cheesecake and that's what I'm calling it. 

Healthy Cheesecake
Adapted from Chocolate & Carrots

1.5 C low-fat honey graham cracker crumbs (about 11 sheets)
6 T unsalted butter, melted
2 C Stevia in the Raw (separated)
4 (8 ounce) packages 1/3 fat cream cheese
3 T unbleached all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 C non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 t vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Prepare a springform pan by covering the outsides and bottom with aluminum foil. This is to prevent water getting into the cheesecake later. As you can see from my pictures, I did this wrong. It wasn't until the cake was cooling that I realized the outside of the pan needs the foil. So I'm clarifying this for all my lovely readers.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter in a bowl. Push crust mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and just slightly up the sides.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Place the baked crust into a large baking dish. Bring a pot of water to a bowl. Set aside.

Bring the oven to 450°F.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese until loose (just a few seconds). Mix in the sugar and flour, just until blended. Mix in the eggs, one egg at a time, beating well in between. Beat in the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract. Pour into the crust (it’s okay if it is still warm).

Pour the water in the large baking dish surrounding the springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce heat to 250°F and bake for another 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, take off the aluminum foil (easier if it's on the outside, fyi.) Using a knife, loosen the cake from the rim of the pan.

Allow the cheesecake to cool for about 5-10 minutes until cool enough to handle. Remove the sides of the springform pan.

Chill in the refrigerator.

Serve when cool either plain or with toppings of your choice.

Hubs and I each had a piece when it was still warm last night. It was surprisingly yummy and fluffy. Today, after chilling all day,  it was denser and more cheesecake-like. 

Yummy close up.

The taste is really good. It does taste of Greek yogurt, so I may have to experiment with stuffs to help cut that. And it tastes slightly of sweetener, but it's not overwhelming like a chemical sweetener would be. Next time I make it I'm for defs going to double the graham crackers. I need more crust. 


But the best part? I ate a whole piece today and didn't feel like crap afterwards. It's definitely lighter and not calorie-laden like regular cheesecake is, but you still get the creaminess. 


So, yes. Make this and eat it all. It's cool.

Honey Chicken

I can almost always eat Chinese food. I love it. All the time. But there's usually loads of sugar in the sauces and we can't have that now, can we?


So I gots ta do it myself.


Honey Chicken
(From A Full Measure of Happiness)


1 & 1/2 lbs chicken breast (boneless, skinless)
3 T honey
2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 egg
1/4 C cornstarch
1-2 T veg oil
2 C broccoli (thawed from frozen or fresh)


Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and set aside. Mix the egg and cornstarch. Pour over the chicken to coat. Combine the honey and soy sauce and set aside. 

Warm the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook the chicken (about 7-10 minutes). Add sauce and broccoli and cook until the sauce thickens, just a few minutes.

Ta da. Super simple. Serve over rice. 

I would make this honey chicken a lot more often, but I ran out of cornstarch and keep forgetting to buy it. 

Kale & Salmon Pizza

So, I'm still battling a cold. I know, I know, and yet, here I am. Posting the pizza I made (like a champ) when most human-shaped humans would be one with the couch and snuggly blanket. ...I might be there now, but whatever. Like a champ, remember?

Pizza

So, confession time. These pictures are of the first time I made this pizza. It was good. But I knew I could do better. So I made it again. And it was goooooooooood. So, pretend that these pictures are of a much better pizza that looks similar to this one.

Kale & Salmon Pizza

1 can Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough

2 tomatoes, sliced then halved

handful of shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 a bunch of kale, torn into small pieces

olive oil

1 can of salmon, boneless & skinless

Preheat oven to 400. Unroll pizza crust onto a greased pizza pan/cookie sheet. Coat with olive oil. Bake for 8 minutes. Sprinkle cheese onto pizza crust. *Only use a small amount, 1/4-1/3 cup, not even enough to cover the whole crust.* Cover pizza with kale. There should be enough small pieces so that you can't see the crust through the kale. Place tomatoes and salmon on top. Sprinkle olive oil all over. Bake for 6 minutes. Enjoy.

See the kale in this picture? The pieces were NOT small enough. Make them small. Trust me. And use a lot more kale than I did. It's worth it.

Also, there will be more tomato. 

See how scrawny this one came out after making it? You can see whole patches of crust. The second one was better. I'm sad I didn't take pictures of that one. But come on, I have a cold people!

(Healthier) Hash Browns

So, I've got a wicked backlog of food I need to post. But the excuse du jour is that I have a cold. So, instead I'm posting the comfort food I've been making the last 3 days. (Seriously, for lunch today, I just had a plate of these.) 

Slice 

Slice again

Cube and oil

Once done

Perfection

Healthier Hash Browns
Serves 2 (or 1 if it's a sick day)


1 baking potato, scrubbed
Approx 2 Tbs of Olive oil


Preheat oven to 425. Slice potato into coins. Slice coins into sticks. Slice sticks into cubes (ish). Put potato cubes on baking sheet and coat in olive oil. Cook for 20 min, tossing halfway. They may stick to the pan (see picture 4). It's fine, just unstick them and continue. Let cool, serve with ketchup.  

Hangover Smoothie

Let's say you have a situation in which you, the reader, are at a friend's house with your significant other and your dog watching your favorite sports team on TV. And then you start drinking, because, hey, you're hanging out and having fun. And then you keep hanging out and drinking because your team wins after a very exciting very long shoot-out and they never win a shoot-out and hey, look! Holiday Nog!

Not as innocuous as it seems. Beware.

And then, way after the point of no return, your friend asks your significant other "Hey, what time is your flight tomorrow?" and then you remember that he has to be on a plane in fewer than 12 hours. Crap.
Wait, where was I going with this?


Oh, yeah. Hangover Smoothie.


So, I've really been into smoothies for a few weeks now. Like, make one everyday kind of into them. I figured (given that this particular morning the mere thought of any kind of food gave my tummy the heaves) I could slurp down some goodness and it would cure all my ills. So, I blended. 


Now, I'm going to give you my "recipe." But, smoothie making is not an exact science. Be loose and liberal with your measurements. 



For example this is a scoop of OJ concentrate:


See? Be loose and liberal. It's a smoothie. Not actual science.




Hangover Smoothie


1/2 cup Orange Juice 
2 scoops frozen orange juice concentrate (the 100% juice kind)
2 spoonfuls yogurt
2 tablespoons fiber powder (e.g. Benefiber, Brand X dissolvable fiber)
20g protein powder (vanilla or unflavored)
1 scoop greens powder (preferably orange flavored)
ice


Blend until smoothie-like consistency.Drink up, take some vitamins and aspirin, and watch 8+ hours of Biggest Loser on Netflix. 

Action shot.

Ok, so it's not pretty. But it's tasty. Put it in a pretty glass with a straw. That's my prescription anyway. 

Breakfast Salad

Yes, it's a breakfast salad. Now stay with me - I didn't say you have to eat it for breakfast. I'm sure a lovely, educated person such as you has heard of brinner? 

This lovely image is Romaine lettuce, grapes, bacon, buttered toast, and 2 panko-crusted fried hard boiled eggs. Now, the recipe, from Circle B Kitchen, is for soft-boiled eggs, but I don't like runny yolks. 

Tip: When you fry the eggs - put them in the oil with a spoon or something to turn them over. Otherwise, they will stick to the bottom. 

Even though these are fried, they aren't greasy, and they do taste amazing. 


Mmmmm.... breakfast salad. 

Amazingly Healthy Sweet Potato Bake

Man, I'm so freaking buzzed right now. Buzzed with how awesome my dinner was! What?? Betcha didn't see that one coming.

So I've been craving sweet potatoes all day. I spent an hour on Foodgawker searching for ways to make a sweet potato into a whole meal, because that's all I wanted to eat. (I found a few.)

So anyway, I found Mama Grubbs Grub's recipe for Sweet Potato Foil Packet Tacos and it was almost exactly what I wanted. But not quite.

Using that recipe as a jumping-off point, I put in each foil packet:

• 2 cups(ish) sweet potatoes cubed-ish (see photo above) - approx 2 whole potatoes. BTW, there is a lot of ish-ing in my cooking tonight.
• Handful of fresh spinach (torn)
• 3 TBS (ish) of black beans (totaling 1 whole can)
• 1 heaping TBS (ish) of chopped tomatoes (totaling 1/2 can)
• 1/3 of 1/3 of a grilled chicken breast (Feel free to omit this. I had this leftover in the fridge and kind of just threw it in. It would be yummy and perfect for a Meatless Monday dish w/out it. It would be equally yummy with more grilled chicken.)
• 1 pat butter
• dash salt

Look how beautiful it is! All the colors! This dish is like a rainbow of yummy.Fold up the foil like a burrito.Bake for 25 minutes. Enjoy over rice/tostada/soft taco shell. I cooked gummy rice, but a tostada would be superb next time.

I can't stress how yummy and filling this was. I almost couldn't eat all of mine. But I powered through like a champ.

Grilled Caprese Sandwich

Ok - super easy. And super yummy.

Basil pesto + fresh mozzarella + tomato (leave everything at room temp - that way it all warms & grills together).

Olive oil on each side of the sandwich. Grill on the Foreman.

Yum yum. I love this sandwich.

Tortellini & Corn (Salad?)

There are some recipes so simple you think they can’t be good. You think “this is so easy! It can’t (very quickly) become something I want to make over and over and over.” Or maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, this has become one of those for me.

I only have two pictures of this all coming together because I basically threw everything in a pot and mixed it up.

This is my freshly chopped basil:

Garden fresh! I’m not showing you the other picture because it’s just a pot boiling.

I ate this cold for lunch twice and it was deelish. I used frozen corn (a sweet corn, though. I think it makes a difference).

The recipe is here from Taste of Home.