Laughing Cow Sandwich

Ha ha ha ha....that title sounds too funny.

If you've never had Laughing Cow cheese you're missing out. It's great stuff. I buy the Light French Onion, or Light Garlic and Herb to use for sandwiches, wraps, or crackers. I buy the plain to spread on toast with fruit jam or use in place of a cream cheese spread. It's only 35 calories a wedge!

I usually do an open-faced one slice of bread sandwich to cut calories, but I was at the end of my loaf of homemade wheat bread and the slices were small so I used two. Spread with Laughing Cow and top with your favorite sandwich fixings. I used a generous handful of spinach, a sliced tomato, and 3 oz low-sodium deli turkey. The Laughing Cow adds moisture and is flavorful enough you can skip using any mayo or sliced cheese.

The sweet potato I made for the kids mac n cheese sounded good so I threw another one in the microwave to eat with my lunch.

Total cals for the whole lunch = 390

Doctored up Mac n' Cheese

My 5 year old, Tanner, loves this stuff.....

I don't want to get into food battles with my kids. I have some of their favorite "food-like substances"on hand and we'll pull them out and make them occasionally (LOVE Michael Pollan....I highly recommend reading some of his books if you've never heard of him, you'll never look at food the same way again). We do need to compromise though. I need to feel good about what I'm feeding them too. So, I doctor it up a bit.

I'm not a big fan of "sneaking" my kids vegetables. Yes, I put spinach in their smoothies, but they watch me do it and know it's in there. I don't see how they're going to ever learn to like vegetables if they never know they're eating them. I used to hate green beans growing up. I wouldn't touch them. I didn't have a green bean all through my youth and up until I was in my mid-twenties. I was served a side of beans in a situation where refusing them would have been rude. Lo-and-behold....I liked green beans....I liked them a lot! I just hadn't had them in so long that I didn't know I liked them. How many years did I miss out on eating green beans because of a remembered child-hood aversion to them? So, my theory is that if I want them to like vegetables I can't always disguise them, they need to know they're eating them. It's what works for me. I'm not saying my kids will eat plates full of vegetables without turning up their little noses.....Caeden won't touch lettuce, tomatoes, squash, and onions, Tanner doesn't like cucumbers, Weston doesn't like brocolli. I still serve all those veggies though, they can pick them out if they'd like, but I'm hoping with enough exposure someday they'll learn to like them. If it's not what works for you, or if you have a really genuinly picky eater that you're desperate to get veggies in their little diets, go ahead and hide or disguise them to your hearts content. All of us just do what we gotta do to keep our little ones healthy!

On to the "recipe"....

While the noodles are boiling I throw in some frozen peas in the water to cook at the same time.While the noodles and peas are cooking I throw a sweet potato in the microwave and cook it for 5-6 min. Then I scoop out the inside and mash it up.

I add the sweet potato to the mac n cheese with a little bit of butter and lowfat milk. My kiddos don't seem to mind the small chunks of sweet potato in there, but if you think your kids might turn their noses up at it, throw it in the blender with the milk and butter before you stir it in....they won't even know they're eating it.

Sometimes I'll do peas and drained can of tuna instead for the added protein.

Breakfast in a Blender

Cold boxed cereal is my nemisis. I hate the stuff. I don't eat it, but my family does.

It's expensive.

Everyone is hungry again an hour after eating it.

If it's healthy they won't touch it.

If it's "kid-friendly" then it's full of sugar.

We still have it a one or two days a week when mornings are too hectic for me to cook something, but I'm slowly trying to find fast breakfast ideas so I can eliminate the cereal from our pantry all together.

This idea comes courtesy of my younger sister.....no, that's not her. That's my oldest son, bed-head and all, drinking his breakfast.

I had some leftover tofu from the Asian Salad I made last week that I didn't quite know what to do with yet. Tofu Breakfast Shakes to the rescue! I don't use recipes for smoothies. They're usually just thrown together with whatever I have on hand. I'll use frozen berries, fresh fruit, juice, yogurt, milk, ice.....and now tofu. My one secret ingredient that I add to almost all my smoothies is spinach. You can't taste it, your kids can't taste it....so why not get a green leafy vegetable into their diet when you can? With a darker smoothie, such as this one, you can't even see it, but when it's a lighter smoothie, such as something made with banana it does turn the smoothie green. When my kids were younger I used to tell them they were Shrek Smoothies.....well, that was pretty cool so they drank them right up. Now, they're so used to me throwing that handful of spinach in it's not something that even fazes them anymore.

The whole chocolate for breakfast thing went over so well last week I was orignially going to do a Chocolate Banana Smoothie, but alas, we were out of bananas. I happened to have frozen raspberries in my freezer though and it ended up tasting like a chocolate raspberry truffle...mmmm!

Tofu Smoothie

tofu (however much you want to throw in there, if you have silken tofu that works best, but I used firm with it and it still turned out just fine)

milk

2-3 Tb cocoa powder

frozen berries (or banana.....whatever you have on hand)

a handful of spinach

honey (to taste, I always start with just a little bit and add as needed, you'll be surprised how much sweetness you can get with just fruit)

Throw the tofu in the blender and keep adding milk until it's the consistancy you want. Add the other ingredients and blend :-) If you'd like especially thick and frosty add some ice.

This is great because the tofu packs an extra protein punch to keep them feeling full. This would be a fabulous and fast after school snack as well.

Super Bowl Treats!

Actually we don't watch the Super Bowl (gasp!), but everyone else gets good eats on that day so we have some too! This recipe was shared by my good friend Chris. This woman is amazing....AMAZING! She's lost 100 lbs and managed to maintain that weight loss for years now. She's proof that it can be done. I actually met her, and a few other wonderful gals, on an online running forum and we've since became great friends. We finally got to meet last year and all run a race together in FL. This March we're meeting up again and I can't wait!

From left to right: Chris, me, Char, and Regina.....I seriously love these ladies!!!


These brownies have NO flour in them, but you'd never guess that. Guess what replaces the flour? Black Beans. Yep, you read that right. Black Beans. I admit my expectations for these weren't real high so I was very pleasantly suprised at how they turned out. They aren't a real fudgy brownie, definitely more of a cakey texture, but we served them with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and everyone thought dessert was great!



Chris's Black Bean Brownies


1 (15 oz) can black bean, rinsed and drained


3 eggs


3 Tbl vegetable oil


1/4 c. cocoa powder


1 pinch salt


1 tsp vanilla extract


3/4 c. white sugar


1 tsp. baking soda


1/2 c. chocolate chips


Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips, in a blender. Blend. Pour into a greased 8X8 pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake 350 for 30 min. Easy!

Veggie Quiche with Potato Crust

This is great because you could make it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's delicious! My kids eat it right up and don't even complain about the veggies (except for the oldest who fastidiously picks out every tomato he comes across). This is supposed to be made in a pie dish, but I've never been able to get it to all fit in one so I use a round 9 inch cake pan.

Veggie Quiche with Potato Crust

adapted from For The Love Of Cooking

2 potatoes peeled and sliced thin

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 chopped onion

1 zucchini, sliced

2 c. fresh spinach

2 carrots, shredded

1 tomato, diced

1/4 c. feta cheese

1 tsp dried basil

4 eggs

8 egg whites or 2 c. Egg Scramblers

1/4 c. milk

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Spray pan and line the bottom with potato slices, bake 10 min. Saute onion in olive oil 4-5 min. Add zucchini, spinach, and carrots and continue sauteeing for 3-4 more minutes. Combine eggs, basil, egg whites, milk, and S&P in a bowl. Sprinkle the tomato and feta on top of the potatoes. Add sauteed veggies. Pour egg mixture over the top. Bake for 40 min. Let sit 10 min before slicing. Makes 8 servings @ 125 calories a serving.....so go back for seconds!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal

My oldest son used to love oatmeal. I mean LOVE oatmeal. He could eat it 3 times a day and be perfectly happy. This went on for a couple of years. Then, overnight, something happened and he has since professed to hate oatmeal and won't hardly touch the stuff. I should just let it go, but oatmeal really is the perfect breakfast food. It's fast, filling, and healthy.....what more could a busy mom want?

I finally found an oatmeal that he'll eat.....little did I know all I had to do was add chocolate. I should have figured this one out a long time ago. He's his mothers child! We'll eat anything if you add chocolate to it! You should have heard him when he came in the kitchen for breakfast...."chocolate? we get CHOCOLATE? for BREAKFAST?" he usually only gets chocolate for breakfast at his Papas house.....he thought he'd scored big time.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal

2 c. boiling water

1 c. rolled oats

1/4 tsp salt

1-2 Tb brown sugar

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-2 Tb peanut butter

Combine oats and salt with the boiling water. Simmer 5 min. stirring occasionally. Stir in brown sugar, chocolate chips and peanut butter, simmer 3 more min. Serve in bowls with a splash of milk.

Oatmeal and Wheat Flour Blueberry Pancakes

I've made these for my family quite a few times. My kids love them! I think they're so tasty I just eat them plain and hot right off the griddle.



Oatmeal and Wheat Flour Blueberry Pancakes



1 c. whole wheat flour

2 Tbl brown sugar

2 Tbl baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 c. dry oats

2 c. buttermilk (or almond milk)

3 eggs, beaten

1/4 c. applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c. frozen blueberries



Preheat griddle on a low temp. The batter is runny with these and they take a few minutes to cook so you don't want to burn them!



Mix oats and butter milk, set aside. Whisk eggs, applesauce and vanilla together. Mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Gently fold in blueberries.



Pour batter 1/4 c. at a time onto skillet sprayed with cooking spray.

86 calories a pancake

Fresh Coconut Cake

February 2nd was my birthday. And that mean I can make/eat whatever treat I want and calories don't count, right? My hubby would have gladly bought or made a birthday treat for me, but I requested to make my own. I had my eye on this recipe for coconut cake for a while .... but I needed a special occasion to indulge in something that sinful! The cake was a little bit of work, but it turned out divine!

There was also a LOT of it, I'm talking a 15" cake with all 3 stacked layers. I couldn't keep my paws off of this stuff in the days following my birthday so I finally wrapped the rest up and gave it away. The fresh coconut really gave it a great moist flavor and the frosting was so smooth it was like silk. Yum! If I'm going to eat a treat I try to make sure it's worth it and this was definitely worth it!

I found a great tip for grating fresh coconut. Heat your oven to 250 and cook the coconut 10-15 min. Take it out, let it cool and crack it open. The meat should pull easily away from the shell. Carve off the brown bits and push it through a food processor to grate. SAVE YOUR COCONUT MILK.....you'll need it for the recipe.

Fresh Coconut Cake

adapted from Allrecipes

3 c. all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 c butter, softened

2 c. white sugar

4 eggs

2 c. grated fresh coconut

1 c. milk or as much as needed

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp rum extract (optional)

1 tsp coconut extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans. Reserve coconut juice and add enough milk to make 1 cup, set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside

Cream shortening and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add flour mixture, alternating with coconut mixture. Add extracts. Fold in coconut.

Divide batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 30-35 min. Let cool 10 min. remove cakes from pans and set on a rack to cool completely. Make frosting.

Frosting

1 c. white sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1 pinch salt

1/4 c. water

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp rum extract (opional)

1/2 tsp coconut extract (optional)

2/3 c. butter, softened

2 c. sweetened shredded coconut (or you can continue to use fresh)

In a saucepan combine sugar, cream of tartar, salt and water. Bring to a boil and cook to soft ball stage (240 degrees).

Beat egg whites on high speed until stiff, but not dry. Add syrup slowly to egg whites beating constantly. Add extracts.

In a large bowl, cream sugar well. Add egg white mixture 2-3 Tbl at a time, beating well after each addition.

Spread icing between each layer of cake and sprinkle with coconut.

Store at room temperature. Don't stick it in the fridge like I did or your frosting will harden :-)

Lentil Barley Vegetable Soup

I love to make a big pot of soup in the winter months and then keep reheating it for lunch during the week. It's comforting, economical, easy, and satisfying. Here's another recipe from Trainer Momma



Lentil Barley Vegetable Soup

adapted from Trainer Momma



10 c. water

5 tsp Better Than Bouillon (this stuff is the best!) or bouillon granuals

1 c. dry barley

tsp. parsley

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. tarragon

1 tsp. curry

1 c. lentils



Simmer covered for 1 hour.



3 large white potatoes, diced

2 large carrots, chopped

1 c. frozen corn

1 c. frozen green beans

1 c. frozen peas

1 bunch brocolli, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped



The great thing about this recipe is it's so adaptable. Trainer Momma uses canned carrots, corn, and green beans instead of frozen. You can add whatever vegetables you like or omit ones you don't have on hand. We served it with Simple Whole Wheat Bread (recipe coming soon!) and it was a warm delicious dinner.

1 serving = 160 calories

Post-Workout Breakfast

After a good workout your body needs a good mix of carbs and protein in order to recover. If you don't adequately eat after you break a healthy sweat you'll crash later. Trust me, I've learned this one the hard way. Right now this is my go-to post workout way to refuel. Most of the time I workout first thing in the morning so I eat a light snack: either a piece of fruit, a small whole grain muffin, or a slice of whole wheat bread. After my workout I'll eat my recovery meal/breakfast. This is quick, good, and keeps me full until lunch. You could make any cereal/fruit changes you like, there's endless possibilities with this one.

Yogurt Parfait

1/2 c.dry oats, grapenuts, Fiber One Bran cereal (or any other whole grain cereal)
1 cut up apple
6oz. Greek yogurt (I do plain, but you could do vanilla)
cinnamon/nutmeg

with apples/Fiber One/ and plain yogurt = 215 calories! That makes me happy :-)

Mix it all up and enjoy! I was thinking just this morning that instead of apples and cinnamon, sliced bananas and a sprinkle of coconut would be delicious.

Veggie Burgers

We try to eat vegetarian dinners about 3 nights a week, that's not a hard and fast rule, sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. It healthier, it saves money, and it helps us get our daily 5 servings of veggies in. Tonight I made Carrot Burgers and we served them with Baked Sweet Potato Fries. I'm stuffed and the whole plateful of dinner was under 500 calories. These babies beat Bocca Burgers hands down! I found the recipe from Allrecipes, but I made several changes to make them my own. Get your food processor handy and these will come together fast! (If you don't have one, shred the carrots and finely chop everything else)



Carrot Burgers

adapted from Allrecipes



1 1/2 c. shredded carrots

2 eggs beaten

1 stalk celery, shredded

3 Tb shredded onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. sugar

1 med. cooked and mashed sweet potato

1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs

olive oil



Combine all the ingredients and cook in a skillet with a little coating of olive oil. Serve on buns and make up just like a hamburger.

I had mine open-faced on a whole wheat bun with dijon mustard, lettuce, and tomato. My photo doesn't do them justice. They were excellent and very filling!
I plugged them in at 13 grams fiber and 86 calories a serving (without the bun and fixings)....can't beat that!

Granola

This is probably the best tasting granola that I've ever had. It's yummy stuff! I ate it topped on some Greek yogurt today and I felt like I was eating dessert!

Power Granola

from Cooking Light

2 cups regular oats

1/3 c. ground flaxseed

1/4 c. chopped walnuts

1/4 c. slivered almonds

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 c. orange juice

1/3 c. honey

1/4 c. packed brown sugar

2 tsp. canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 c. Craisins

Preheat oven to 300. Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Combine orange juice, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan and heat just until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in oil and vanilla. Pour over dry mixture and stir to coat. Spread mixture over a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 10 min.; stir well, bake another 15 min. Stir in dried cranberries (I didn't read the directions very well and added the cranberries with the dry ingredients and baked them.....still turned out fine).

1/4 c. = 93 calories

Asian Tofu Salad

Right now I have a serious girl-crush on this woman. She's awesome. Lately, I've been doing a lot of recipes from her blog so I'll probably be posting quite a bit from her. For me, lunch is usually a big ol' bowl of veggie soup, or a monster salad. Now that could get boring real quick. BUT there are so many incredibly tasty and easy soup/salad recipes out there! My taste buds stay happy! Here's one I tried last week and it was so delicious I'm using up the leftover tofu in my fridge and making it again today, I'm going to try it with the Teriyaki and pineapple. For anyone who has never tried tofu I just have to say, don't knock it 'till you try it....my kids even love it. The salad may look involved, but it's not. It can be thrown together in 10 min.....it's worth those 10 min. :-)

Asian Tofu Salad

adapted from Trainer Momma

2 cups spinach (or your greens of choice)

3 oz. firm tofu, drained and patted dry

1 Tb hoisin sauce (or Teriyaki)

1/2 cup assorted chopped bell peppers

1/4 c. green onions sliced

1 orange peeled, segmented, and cut into chunks (or pineapple if you're doing Teriyaki)

1 Tb almonds

1/4 c. edamame (steamed in the microwave)

shredded carrot

1 Tb La Maison Organic Lemon Ginger Sesame Dressing - or your Asian dressing of choice, this is my fav and I buy it at Costco

Spray a pan with cooking spray and put the block of tofu in it when it's hot. Fry until brown and a little crispy. Add the hoisin sauce and cook a couple of more minutes. Take the tofu out of the pan, set it aside and keep warm. Add the bell pepper and cook until tender.... let them soak up any remaining hoisin sauce in the pan (it's good stuff, we can't waste it!). Layer the spinach green onion, shredded carrot, and edamame on a plate. Top with the hot tofu and peppers. Finish of with the oranges and a sprinkle of almonds. Drizzle the dressing over the whole salad and enjoy!

Good stuff here:

13 grams of fiber, 21 grams of protein (this baby keep you full!) and 418 calories for the whole thing!

A Recipe Blog

I've been toying with the idea of starting a recipe blog for a long time. I would love to organize some of the zillions of recipes I make. Also, I'm constantly asked for recipes and I usually never get around to sending them so this is an easy way to share them with everyone!

I love to cook.

I love love love lurrrve to cook.

Being in the kitchen is my zen zone for the day. Once upon a time I even wanted to cook for a living so I attended 18 months of culinary school.....I had no interest in the restaraunt scene, I wanted to work in catering, but I soon realizedthat if I continued on that career path I'd either be earning minimum wage as a prep cook, or if I was lucky enough to own my own business I'd spend the majority of my time supervising before said prep cooks and doing paperwork. Blech.

For some hands on experience I did work as a catering lackey for a couple of summers and realized that when I worked in the kitchen for a job a lot of the enjoyment went out of it. It's no fun to prepare the same ol' recipes day after day for massive crowds......ever cut assorted fruit for 600 people? I have. It's not my idea of a good time. So, I limit my kitchen creations for my lovely family and wonderful friends.

The second part of my cooking journey came a little over a year and a half ago. I decided to cut almost all processed food from our diet (notice I said almost.....moderation in all things, I will never give up graham crackers, they've been a favorite treat since childhood). We don't own any farm animals (thank heavens) so of course we purchase processed dairy (although I've recently started making our own yogurt....more on that later), some bread, pasta, I always have canned beans and canned veggies on hand for a quick throw-together meal. Occasionally I have a busy night where a bottle of Ragu gets pulled out, but 90% of the time I'll put in the time and effort to make a homemade marinara instead. I like knowing what's in my food, I especially like knowing what's in my kids food, so if I have the time I prefer to make it myself. It's been a learning process and I've started getting more creative because I've learned how to adjust recipes to make them healthier and lower in calories. I'm not one of those women though..... you know, the perfect ones who would never let a grain of sugar cross their lips..... I don't cook healthy ALL the time. Sometimes a girl just needs to get her full-fat, full-sugar, full-on-chocolate fix and I definitely have those moments and have made some pretty awesome deliciousness when they hit, so I'll occasionally post some naughty food too....hey, this is MY blog so anything goes, right? :-)

I do create some of my own recipes, but I love to hunt through cookbooks and stalk cooking blogs for meal ideas as well. One pet peeve of mine with the cooking blogs are the ones who don't give credit where credit is due....I will always credit the source of my recipes, or at least link back to where I found it.

One disclaimer I need to throw in is I AM NOT a photographer.....really. I have no talent in this area. None. But everyone likes pictures of food so I'll do my best :-).

Let's get cooking!