Gifts

Phew- I'm so glad its time for bed :). After work today I taught turbo and then ran what seemed like an endless number of errands! I made the strawberry shortcake type muffins I posted about last Saturday to bring to my Grandma's house tomorrow! My Grandma has a HUGE sweet tooth! I then made up some of Sarah's granola for part of my father's day gift! I added craisins into the mix once it was finished baking. I then put both my father's day gift for my dad and my gift for my cousin Lindsey's bridal shower together.


For my dad- I bought him an awesome long sleeved Columbia fishing shirt (my dad's a big into fly fishing). I then added a jar of almonds and the granola. All together:

For my cousin Lindsey- I bought her some of her baking stuff off her registry (cookie sheets, cake pans, muffin tins, etc). I then added two homemade bread and brownie mix jars and a bag of chocolate chips. The basket doesn't look as cute as I was hoping, but I still am pretty happy with the gift.
The mixes were put together as follows:

California Corn Bread Mix
This is a sweet, cake-like corn bread that is delicious with honey butter.

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder

In a large glass or ceramic bowl, stir all the ingredients together. Store in an airtight container.

Attach this to the Jar

California Corn Bread
Serves 4 to 6

1 package California Corn Bread Mix
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the corn bread mix in a large mixing bowl and add the eggs, milk and butter. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Poor into a greased 8-inch baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Blonde Brownies

Delicious blonde brownies to give as a gift, with brown sugar, chocolate chips, and pecans or walnuts.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 to 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 cup (about 8 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

PREPARATION:

Make the mix:
In a 1-quart canning jar, layer the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt (a wide-mouth canning funnel makes this a little easier). Shake jar just slightly to level layer. Add half ot the brown sugar, then half of the nuts and half of the chocolate chips.
Repeat layers with remaining brown sugar, chocolate chips, and nuts.

Directions for gift:

Blonde Brownies

• Blonde Brownie Mix
  
• 1 stick butter or margarine (4 ounces), room temperature
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350, grease and flour a 7x 11 or 8 inch square baking pan.

Melt 1 stick butter, let cool slightly. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 1 egg, melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add contents of jar and mix with a wooden spoon until well blended. Spread batter in prepared baking pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

I got both ideas from websites- I will try to search for them and post another day.

Sarah- I love the meme! I promise to do it when I get back on Sunday or Monday!

Everyone have a fabulous weekend!!

Afternoon/Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Hello Everyone! Happy Friday!! Does anyone have any good plans for the weekend? I am going up to my cousins bridal shower. I am very excited to see my mom and all of my other relatives! I am working on putting together her gift and will post a few pics when I have it all set! This afternoon was filled with random activities. I came home and did some laundry and then Josh and I took Frank to the vet. He has a skin infection in his left paw and has to take all kinds of medicine= yuck! Hopefully he'll start feeling better soon! His paw is bothering him so much that hes putting no weight on that leg. After the vet, housework continued and then I tried a new enchilada recipe from Robin Miller. The recipe was pretty good, but a little bland. I may try to kick it up a bit next time!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
1/3 cup prepared salsa-mild, medium or hot
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1 1/3 cups shredded Monterey jack and or Cheddar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 2 minutes. Add chicken and saute 5 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Stir in black beans, green chiles, and salsa and simmer 5 minutes, until sauce thickens and reduces. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Arrange 4 tortillas on a flat surface. Top each tortilla with an equal amount of chicken mixture. Roll up tortillas and place side by side in a shallow baking dish. Top tortillas with shredded cheese (1/3 cup per tortilla).

Bake enchiladas 15 minutes, until cheese is golden and gooey!

Spin/Hungry Girl

I went to spin this morning and my legs feel spectacular! I was excited to get my workout out of the way early! My dog is having some issues with his paw so I needed an open afternoon to take him to the vet!

If you guys do not receive the daily hungry girl email- you need to check this out. She lists some chain restaurant high calorie/high fat/high sugar counts for products you may be eating!

Accidental Muffins

What a busy day! After work today, I decided to take Body Pump before I had to teach Turbo Kick. Jill's pump class was awesome (man are my legs feeling it) and teaching Turbo after wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be - although by the second half I was pretty tired! After class, I stopped by Michael's to pickup some gift wrap stuff for my cousins bridal shower this weekend and also for some baskets I am putting together for Father's day! I then shot over to Josh's softball game. I came home to make some chicken to serve with salads, as well as to make these quick oatmeal biscuits. Since it was a Quaker oats recipe, I thought they would be delicious. As I was mixing the ingredients, I could tell the texture wasn't right. I added some additional oats and threw a few in the oven for a test run. They came out very flat and not very biscuit like! I added some additional flour, oats, and brown sugar and baked them in muffins tins. They turned out pretty well thank goodness! No recipe for this set of accidental muffins, only a picture. Have you had any cooking disasters or almost disasters?

Review: Amy's Spinach Feta in a Pocket Sandwich

After seeing one of my other Amy's reviews, Sarah recommended I try Amy's Spinach Feta in a Pocket Sandwich. Now I like spinach and enjoy all of its wonderful health benefits, but I wasn't sure I would love this much spinach. I cooked up my pocket in the microwave and it was delicious! The spinach and feta are kind of pureed together and the taste is magnificent! I think the pocket would have been better if I had done it in the oven or toaster oven because the crust was a little soggier (I prefer a crispy crust) but regardless I really enjoyed it. I wish the product had a little less saturated fat but overall a wonderful delicious lunch for 260 calories!

http://www.amyskitchen.com/products/category_view.php?prod_category=8

Mini Turkey Meatloaves

It feels great to start the week off on a Tuesday! After work today, I did a little bit of cleaning and then taught Body Step. The class was packed and I really sweat up a storm! I came home and made some mini turkey meatloaves inspired by this Eatingwell.com recipe.

Mini Turkey Meatloaves

1 1/4 lb ground turkey
2 tablespoons egg beaters
1/4 cup bbq sauce (or ketchup)
1/3 cup oats
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
3 tablespoons milk
Chopped onion (desired amount)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients. Coat 8 muffin cups with cooking spray. Form the mixture into 8 balls and place in the prepared muffin cups. (Optional- top balls with additional bbq sauce or ketchup). Bake meatloaves until their internal temperature reaches 160°F, 25 to 30 minutes.


I served my meatloaves with steamed vegis. They were delicious! A little crunchy on the outside but moist on the inside. I did not place any bbq sauce or ketchup on top of the meatloaves before I baked them and instead served them with a side of bbq sauce.

I also made more granola based on Sarah's recipe. The slow cooking is key! I love this recipe- awesome job Sarah!

Weekend/Taco Pockets

Hooray for three day weekends (I wish it was a four day weekend ;) ). Sunday I did some house work and then Josh and I took Frank over his friend Mojo's house for some slip and slide. Watching two bulldogs in water was hilarious. You can see Mojo has some sweet slip and slide skills in the second picture.



I also found packaged dip and dots at the food store this weekend, which Josh enjoyed on Sunday.

Today, we had a two hour class at the gym! We did twenty minute segments of different classes- body step, legs, turbo kick, arms, bosu, abs and stretch. It was an awesome workout and a lot of fun. We had five instructors teach different segments of the class. I taught turbo! Afterwards, I enjoyed an iced caramel macchiatto with skim milk from Starbucks outside in the sun. It was wonderful! I did a few more errands and some house work and then attended a bbq. For the bbq I made Rachel Ray's Taco pockets with ground turkey. Instead of cooking them in vegi oil, we did them up on the grill. They were delicious! I ate mine with lettuce and taco sauce.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 pounds ground sirloin or ground turkey breast
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon (a palmful) ground cumin
1 tablespoon, (a palmful) dark chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce
4(12-inch diameter) soft flour tortillas
1 cup mild taco sauce
1 heart of romaine lettuce, shredded
2 small plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 cups shredded monterey jack

Directions:
Combine ground meat with onion, garlic, spices, and salt and form 5 patties (I made 5 instead of 4 so they would fit better in the tortillas). Grill burgers, turning once until no longer pink.
To make a taco pocket, blister a flour tortilla on a hot griddle pan for 30 seconds on each side. Place tortilla on dinner plate and spread surface with 1 /4 cup mild taco sauce. Pile shredded lettuce, tomatoes and a handful of cheese in center of tortilla. Top veggies and cheese with cooked taco burger patty and wrap tortilla up and over patty on all four sides. Turn square pouch over and cut from corner to corner, making 2 taco pockets that will not crumble and drip like traditional tacos.

Strawberry Cupcakes, Granola

Its been a nice Saturday so far! I taught this morning and then went food shopping. Afterwards I came home and had some relax time with Josh and Frank.

Afterwards I tried Kath/Sarah's recipe for Granola- it is super delicious and I am so excited to have a big container of it for the week!! The recipe can be found here.
Next, I used a Giada recipe to make AMAZING strawberry cupcakes. I am bringing them to a bbq we're going to tonight. They look and taste amazing!


1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix (recommended: Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe)
1 1/3 cups water
6 tablespoons egg beaters
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (6-ounce) containers fresh raspberries, cut in half or 1 (16-ounce) container fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for dustingLine 18 muffin cups with muffin papers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, water, egg whites, melted butter, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a large bowl for 2 minutes, or until the batter is well blended. Using about 1/3 cup of batter for each cupcake, spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake the cupcakes until they are very pale golden on top, about 15 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely on a cooling rack.

Using a fork, coarsely mash 1 1/2 containers of raspberries in a medium bowl. Beat the cream and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar in a large bowl until firm peaks form. Fold the mashed raspberries into the whipped cream.

Remove the muffin papers from the cupcakes and cut the tops off of each cupcake. Spoon the raspberry whipped cream atop the cupcake bottoms. Place the cupcake tops on the cupcakes. Dust with more powdered sugar and serve with the remaining berries.

Tagged!

How fun! Melissa from Melissa's Journey tagged me to do this fun little survey-here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

My five facts:

1. My husband is more than a foot taller than me (I'm 5'1", hes 6'3"ish).

2. I have lived in seven states: New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

3. Whenever I eat carrots I get the hiccups.

4. If I could eliminate calories from any food it would be tortilla chips and salsa.

5. I have a bulldog named Frank, if we ever decide to get a second bulldog I want to name him beans.

Now it’s my turn….I choose to tag: Alison Conklin, Chalene, Kalyn, Sarah, Jenn

Review: Amy's Bean & Rice Burrito

I'm so antsy for this day to be over already!! For lunch today I had Amy's Bean & Rice Burrito. The burrito was delicious! The level of spiciness was just right (not too hot, not too bland). I really enjoyed this product and recommend you give it a try :)

Turkey Stirfry, 3 day weekend?

Ahhhh....we're almost there- three day weekend! I taught Body Step today for the first time in two weeks and I was exhausted afterwards! I swear that is one of the hardest workouts! Afterwards I did some laundry/ironing action. I also made the turkey stirfry I posted about here. Anyone have fun plans for the weekend? Tomorrow I am getting my haircut and then out to eat with friends. Saturday I am teaching Turbo Kick and Saturday night we're going to a party at a friends house. Sunday we may go see Indiana Jones. Monday, 2 hour class at the gym (I'm teaching Turbo Kick for a portion of it) and then possibly another bbq at a friends house! Fun Fun! Can't wait for the weekend to start!!!!

Wawa Salads, Diet Coke

If you live in the mid Atlantic area, I'm sure you have been to a WaWa. I first encountered the WaWa/Sheetz concept when I moved from New England to Pennsylvania for school. At that time, I thought the idea of getting real food from a gas station was nasty (i.e. overcooked/old hot dogs). Wawa and Sheetz completely changed my perception! Wawa now has made to order salads. Since I was absent minded this morning and forgot to pack the biggest part of my lunch, I ran to Wawa and ordered up a salad. I must say, everything was so fresh and tasty it was awesome! I ordered romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, sliced onions, dried cranberries, shredded colby jack cheese and sunflower seeds. I topped it all off with fat free honey Dijon dressing. If you have a Wawa near you, I recommend trying their salads!

Melissa has inspired me to post up one of my current "goals". I think it is great to set goals for yourself along the way, whether they be food, exercise, or anything else! I think writing this one down will definitely help me stick to it! Since I was young I have always loved diet coke! In fact in college, I drank a ridiculous amount of diet coke! Since college, I have buckled down and for the last year or so, I have had about 1 can of diet coke a day. I have decided to cut back even more and only allow myself to have diet coke when we eat out (which is about one time per week). I started this about a week and a half ago and so far so good! I have been drinking way more water and I have substituted crystal lite in place of diet coke at dinner time (when I'm most tempted to have a diet coke). I will keep you posted on my progress! Do you have any goals? How do you make sure you stay on track?

Broccoli dish

Good Morning

How is everyone? Hope you're having a good Thursday(almost Friday :))!! Last night I taught Turbo and then did some relaxing. I watched a good bit of the American Idol finale (is 2 hours really necessary?). What do you guys think about the winner? I was sort of indifferent this year. I liked the younger David and think hes a much better singer, I just have no idea what kind of album he'd put out? I think older David has a better shot at really making it. Anyways, it was nice to veg out!! I make bbq chicken last night with this broccoli bake recipe. The broccoli was good but I think it needs more almonds and maybe just a teaspoon or two of oil. I'm going to redo the recipe a bit and try it again. I will post it once I think it tastes right :)

mmm...bread

I'm so glad its already Tuesday night-work is a little slowwww this week. After work today it was housework day! I cleaned the whole house, did laundry and ironed. I also tried a new brown recipe (I can't find the original link- sorry!!!). This bread is super moist and tasty. I'm not sure whether I like this or my other brown bread recipe better...I might have to have a bread-off, haha. We ate the fresh bread with salads and chicken with bbq sauce.
Oatmeal Quick Bread

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 c. quick cooking oats
3/4 c. finely chopped pecans
1 1/4 c. sweetened applesauce
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in brown sugar, oats, and pecans. In a small bowl, beat the applesauce, oil, eggs, and milk together until well blended. Combine applesauce mixture with flour mixture, stirring only until dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Bake 55-60 minutes.

Burgers and Corn

Busy Monday! I finished work and took Jill's turbo kick class- which was fabulous, as always! Afterwards, I went to Josh's softball game! It was a great game that went into extra innings and Josh's team won! Afterwards I made hamburgers. I used 93% lean beef, added a couple tablespoons of bbq sauce, and a sprinkle of Montreal steak seasoning. They were delicious- I ate mine on a half a bun with low sodium provi cheese, a half a banana, and corn on the cob! Fun, all-American dinner.

Review: Amy's Organic Black Bean Vegetable Soup

Ah, Monday! Today has been ok so far! I had a z bar for breakfast and wayyyyy too much coffee. For lunch I had an apple and Amy's Organic Black Bean Vegetable soup. I love black bean soup so I was very excited to try this and I was pretty disappointed. The soup tastes somewhat watered down and there aren't any whole black beans! There was a nice variety of vegetables but overall I wasn't really thrilled. I'm a fan of more hearty and spicy black bean soups.

Pancakes/Lettuce wraps/weekend

Happy Sunday. I am sad the weekend is coming to a close but I had a good one. Friday I took Jill's Body Step class (which was full of variety and was awesome) and then we went out to eat for my friend Melanie's Birthday (happy birthday mel!!). Saturday morning I went food shopping, taught Turbo Kick, and then went to coffee with Nik and Jill (which is always a good time!!). The remainder of Saturday was spent doing errands and relaxing! Josh had taped all my favorite tv shows for me while I was on travel (which was awesome) so we watched them all!! Sunday morning a friend of Josh's little brothers stopped by because he was in the area. I made a breakfast of banana chocolate chip pancakes (pam-cakes pam-cakes) for all of us using this recipe (sorry no pic!!):

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1/4 cup egg beaters
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or you can substitute applesauce)

1. In large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder; mix well.
2. In medium bowl, combine milk, egg beaters and oil; blend well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not overmix)
3. Preheat electric skillet to 375 or skillet on stovetop to Medium, Medium High. Spray pans with Pam.
   
4. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter into hot skillet. Place on top banana sliced thin and chocolate chips (if desired). Turn when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Turn only once.

I love this recipe! So delicious!

Tonight I practiced for the new body step and did some more errands. For dinner tonight, I tried something new- Turkey and Lettuce wraps. I enjoyed them but Josh was not a fan of the sauce. I think I will try making these again, but I will use a basic stirfry sauce instead. I based the recipe on this link.

Turkey/Lettuce wraps

5-minute brown rice
2 teaspoons oil
1 pound 93%-lean ground turkey
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 head Boston lettuce, leaves separated
1 15-ounce can bean sprouts

Prepare brown rice as directed on box, set aside

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until the turkey is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice, sprouts, water chestnuts, broth, hoisin sauce, and spices; cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

To serve, spoon portions of the turkey mixture into lettuce leaves and roll into wraps!

Red Eye/Beef and Broccoli/Cauliflower

After a red eye flight, I'm back! It was my first red eye and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I probably got about 3 hours of on and off sleep on the plane. I took an hour and a half nap this afternoon and am trying to hold off on any more sleep until after Lost! I think I will take tomorrow off so I can get back to feeling more normal :) Tonight I made the beef and broccoli recipe I posted here. Instead of just broccoli, I added cauliflower tonight and it turned out awesome! Anyone have exciting plans this weekend? I have to teach on Saturday morning, but other than that the weekend is pretty open- I hope its nice!

M.I.A

Sorry I have been MIA! I am on travel for work for in the dessert-not very exciting haha. I hope to have a post up tomorrow :)

Day off/Manicotti/Frustration

Hello!

I had a pretty good day today because I had the day off of work- yayyy! I cleaned the whole house, went to spinning, and made some delicious manicotti. The only bad part of my day was trying on the dresses and skirts I ordered online. I ordered the same size in 2 dresses and a skirt. The first dress was huge, the second fit perfect, and the last was a little small. Now what is up with that- arghhh. Oh well :) I'm glad the one dress fits- its very cute! Any who here is the incredible lower fat recipe I used for the manicotti:

Ingredients:

8 ounces manicotti (6 shells), uncooked
1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup reduced fat egg substitute, beaten
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
1/3 cup fat free mozarella cheese 2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (26 ounce) jar low fat, spaghetti sauce
Grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Prepare pasta according to directions and drain. In medium bowl, blend ricotta, Parmesan, half of the mozzarella, egg substitute and green onions.

Stir in parsley and pepper.

Stuff pasta with cheese mixture.

Spoon a layer of pasta sauce in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and arrange filled manicotti on top of the sauce.

Pour remaining tomato sauce over pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and the remaining mozarella.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Weekend/Buffalo Chicken

First off, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! Especially to both my mom and Josh's mom (two of the best!!) We are so sad we couldn't be with you guys today but hope you had wonderful days :)

We decided this was the weekend for some house updating/cleaning. Josh's friend Jeremy was a real life saver, helping us with all our chores! We painted some newly installed trim and doors that our dog had chewed up as a puppy. We also repainted our garage, touched up a bundle of spots throughout the house and cleaned out various rooms! The place is looking amazing! I am so glad all the work is done (for the most part). It was really rainy here all weekend- so it was the perfect weekend to be inside getting stuff done. Frank was not excited that we were working so hard as he prefers to lay around.
For dinner tonight I made buffalo chicken (a whole foods recipe) and place d it onto of greens, homemade croutons and almonds. They were delicious and light:

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins


Marinade

• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup cider vinegar
• 1/8 cup tomato catsup


Crust

• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, seasoned or plain
• vegetable oil for spraying

Combine marinade ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place chicken in the marinade for ten minutes. (It may also be marinated the night before and stored, covered, in the refrigerator).

Remove chicken from the marinade and gently press it into the breadcrumbs, rolling well to evenly coat chicken strips. Spray a baking dish with vegetable or olive oil and place strips on the baking pan, being careful not to overlap the strips. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown. Serve with a favorite dipping sauce or additional hot sauce.

Review: Amy's Organic Black Bean Burrito

Friday=awesome. I am so glad it is Friday! I have to teach Hip Hop after work today and then it is weekend time!

I just ate my first Amy's Organic Black Bean Burrito and it was delicious! The burrito tasted very fresh (even though it had been frozen) and all of the vegetables were terrific! I can't believe I just ate something vegan and loved it! I can't wait to try the other varieties!!

BIG Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Garden Risotto

After work today, I taught Body Step today and then came home and did some cooking! Josh's friend Jeremy is visiting this weekend and I like to make sure I have something fresh baked in the house when we have visitors! I always get irritated when i make cookies and they cool and become flat. So I read this website and adjusted the quaker oatmeal chocolate chip recipe to make my cookies big! The final recipe I used was as follows:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2	pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened (Josh's mom always told me to make really good cookies you HAVE to use butter and after many batches of cookies- I agree!!)
1 1/2	cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2	cup egg beaters
2	tablespoons skim or 1% milk
2	teaspoons vanilla
1	cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4	teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2-1/2 to 3	cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
2	cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.	Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugar until creamy. Add egg beaters, milk and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda and powder mix well. Add oats, chocolate chips and nuts, if desired; mix well.
2.	Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 10-12 minutes for a chewy cookie (depends on the size/your oven!). Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

The cookies are thick and delicious!

I also made Ellie Krieger's amazing garden risotto. I adjusted the recipe just a little (I didn't add spinach because I had SO much asparagus and peas). You can find the recipe here.

Marinara Polenta Bake

Hello, Hello! Its basically Thursday, which is awesome! Tonight I taught Turbo Sport again- this is such a great release! It is an amazing workout! Afterwards I went to Josh's softball game. For dinner I made another polenta bake based on this recipe: http://eatingwell.com/recipes/polenta_vegetable_bake.html

I can best describe this as tasting like a mushy piece of pizza- so good! I modified the recipe a bit:

Marinara Polenta Bake

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small zucchini, finely diced (or baby zucchini or squash, add additional vegetables if you want)
10 ounces baby spinach
1 1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce, preferably lower-sodium
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 3/4 cups Yellow Cornmeal
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided

2 chicken breasts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degree F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Boil 6 cups of water, add in cornmeal. Turn heat to low and cook, stirring constantly for 15 minutes.

3. Boil another pot of water and cook chicken breasts until cooked through (no longer pink). Cut into cubes.

4. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add spinach; cover and cook until wilted, stirring once, about 3 minutes. Add in cubed chicken, stir in marinara sauce and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.

5. Place polenta in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese, top with the zuchinni/spinach/chicken mixture and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake until bubbling and the cheese has just melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Review: Healthy Choice Garden Vegetable Soup

I have been eating this soup about once a week for a month now and I love it (http://www.healthychoice.com/products/ew_product_detail.jsp?m=products&s=Soup&t=NA&ProductId=1754&Product=Garden%20Vegetable&ProductTypeId=50&IngredientId=15&RegionId=1&ProductCatId=17&ProductSubCatId=2)
There are tons of vegis and beans and the broth is awesome!

I wish this soup had even less sodium but for 240 calories a can, it is pretty delicious!

Filler Post- Banana Oatmeal

Sorry I don't have a big post today! For cinco de mayo yesterday, I made chicken quesadillas and refried beans. Tonight, my super sweet husband took me out to dinner (I had to teach until 7:30 so he suggested we go out afterwards so I didn't have to cook!).

I have been making a good deal of oatmeal lately. I love oatmeal, especially with bananas! If you love oatmeal too, may I suggest the following: http://www.katheats.com/?p=2660

I will have a good post tomorrow, I promise!

Review: Amy's Organic Minestrone Soup

I am trying to move towards eating more organic foods for a number of reasons. Today I tried Amy's Organic Minestrone Soup (http://www.amys.com/) for lunch and it was really tasty! I love the noodles in the soup! There was just the right combination of starches and vegetables! I feel full, but not tooooo full. I ate pretty much the whole can and for 180 calories, you can't go wrong! I look forward to trying more of Amy's awesome products!

Chocolate Cupcakes, Banana Bars, Steak and Corn

Great and busy weekend! I taught Friday and Saturday and spent most of the rest of weekend running around getting housework and errands done! Josh went to a bachelor party up in PA on Saturday. He returned today ready for a nap and Frank was excited about it....


After I got all my errands and housework done, I experimented with a few new recipes. Hungry Girl always puts up some recipes that look crazy to me, so I finally decided to try one. I made these chocolate cupcakes. They turned out pretty well for 108 calories (I used the low sugar devils food mix).

HG's Death by Chocolate Cup Cakes

Ingredients
2 cups moist-style chocolate cake mix (half of an 18.25-oz. box)
Two 25-calorie packets diet hot cocoa mix
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
2 tbsp. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1 tsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1/8 tsp. salt


Directions
Place chocolate chips and the contents of both cocoa packets in a tall glass. Add 12 ounces of boiling water, and stir until chips and cocoa mix have dissolved. Place glass in the freezer to chill for 25 minutes. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Once cocoa has chilled, give it a stir and mix with all other ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whip batter with a whisk or fork for 2 minutes. Line 12 muffin pan with baking cups. Evenly spoon batter (which will be thin, but don't worry!) into pan. Place pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Makes 12 servings.




I also made banana chocolate chip bars. I used this recipe: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/182/Banana_Bars12197.shtml, but instead of shortening, I used applesauce. They are delicious.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 bananas -- mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Desired amount of chocolate chips.

Directions
Oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9" with Pam. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl cream brown sugar and applesauce. Beat in bananas and vanilla. Gradually blend in dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Bake for 30-35 minutes.


For dinner I made steak and corn on cob. I brushed the steak with a little bit of olive oil combined with garlic powder. This is a picture of Josh's plate.

Cream of Caulifower Soup

Yayyy my taping is over! I think it went pretty well. Once I got home from Body Step I made some delicious cream of cauliflower soup. I made it with mostly 1% milk and some cream. I made it based on this recipe: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1748,157177-249201,00.html

Cream of Cauliflower

1 (16 oz.) bag cauliflower
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. onion
1 (16 oz.) can chicken broth
4 tbsp. margarine or butter substitute
4 tbsp. flour
2 1/2 c. milk (skim or 1%)
1/2 c. dairy cream
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (or desired amount)
1/2 c. ground Parmesan cheese

Combine vegetables and chicken broth. Heat to boiling, lower heat and simmer 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, melt margarine. Add flour, mix, then add milk and cream to make a white sauce. Stir sauce into vegetable mixture and add basil and ground red pepper. Heat until soup thickens, 20 minutes. Stir every once in a while. In last five minutes, add ground cheese.

I served my soup with low fat bread sticks.

Cliff Kid Z Bar

I have been seeing a lot of bloggers talking about the cliff kid Z bar so I had to try one! I usually eat Pria bars and have been pretty satisfied with their flavor and low calorie count. However, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to pria after trying cliff kid z bars! I had the Chocolate Brownie flavor and it was delicious! For 120 calories I think they are the perfect pre or post workout snack or even breakfast! I ordered a whole box of the chocolate chip and can't wait for them to get here!!

http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_clif_kid_zbar/1243

Ambrosia

Hooray for Thursday! Only two more work days this week! I taught Turbo last night. Class went well but I am very excited to launch Turbo Sport next week! I think the class will welcome a dance-less Turbo Kick. Tonight I have to tape my Body Step for review! I will let you know how it goes tomorrow!

I remember the first time I had ambrosia when I was little- I was over my grandmothers and she gave me a little dish of the mix. I looked down and thought it looked awful and told her I probably wouldn't eat it. She told me to just give it a little try. Now my grandmother and I have the same sweet tooth so she knew I was going to absolutely love it! As I've grown up, my sweet tooth has decreased.....a little, but I still love Ambrosia. I found this somewhat healthier Ambrosia recipe and hope you like it:

Ambrosia (recipe from http://healthy.betterrecipes.com/ambrosiafruitsalad.html)

• 1 cup seedless red grapes
• 1 cup seedless green grapes
• 1 8 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained
• 1 8 ounce can fruit cocktail, drained
• 1 firm banana, sliced
• 1 8 ounce container low fat vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Method

In a large bowl gently mix together the first 5 ingredients. Fold in yogurt, marshmallows and coconut. Serve chilled.