It's finally January 31st. Hooray for making it through the seemingly longest month of the year! For me this month was long and cold but mostly restful and rejuvenating. The last half of 2012 was such a whirlwind for me and my family that January was a much needed 'down' month for us. Besides playing taxi-mom and going to the grocery store I practically became a shut-in during January! I'm proud to say that my month of rest and dedication has netted some great results! I'm down 7 pounds and up to 4-mile "long runs" and I feel great! I've been SO GOOD about Weight Watchers until....well, until this cake! Stupid cake. I mean, awesome cake. No, cake-that-broke-my-resolve. Er....healthy, tasty, not-too-sweet cake. Ugh....DELICIOUS CAKE! I'm still craving veggies and citrus so when I came across this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to make it soon. It's moist and slightly tangy and I managed to work it into my Weigh Watchers plan. One piece...yes. Two, three and four pieces...not so much. *sigh* Oh well. Weight Watchers is great, but I love cooking, baking and food too much to commit to it much longer. It gave me a great jump start to the new year and Half Marathon training so we're all good! Carrot Zucchini Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 24 pieces For the cake 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 eggs, slightly beaten 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup canola oil 1/4 cup honey 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot 1 cup shredded zucchini 1/2 cup chopped pecans For the frosting 8 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese 1 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon lemon zest (about 1 lemon) 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice **Tip: Zest your lemons while they are whole, before juicing. It is MUCH easier this way! Preheat oven to 350° F. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, ground ginger and baking soda. Stir with a whisk. Set aside. In a large bowl combine the eggs, brown sugar, canola oil, honey and vanilla extract. Fold in carrots, zucchini and pecans. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into an ungreased 13x9 baking pan. Bake for 25 or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan before frosting. Once the cake is completely cooled make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat until light and fluffy. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. Cut into 24 pieces.
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In 1998 I spent 15 days in Rome, Italy visiting my mom's aunt and uncle - Zia and Zio. The food, or 'magic' created in Zia Lucia's kitchen inspired me in so many ways. I was fortunate enough to take my now-husband back with my family in 2001 for 10 days. Zia Lucia's cooking was still out of this world and now Mike could finally understand just what it was that we all loved about her, them, Rome...all of it! Though I didn't get to cook with her I will forever be influenced by the love she put into every single creation she brought out of that kitchen. The simple "Italian Orange" as I like to call it, is a perfect example of how she can put together a fantastic tasting dish out of things you already have just sitting around your kitchen. At first I'm sure this combination sounds a bit odd do you, but TRUST ME! It's so delicious, refreshing and healthy! You'll make it again and again. I've been enjoying it at home for so long and decided it just wasn't fair to keep this little gem to myself, so today I'm sharing it with you! The Italian Orange Serves 1 1 orange, peeled and segmented 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil Sprinkle of sea salt, I use Fleur de Sel Place the segmented orange in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy! Source
Zia Lucia's original In continuing on with my healthy/citrus craving lately, today I'm sharing with you Orange Cranberry Muffins. When I was on Weight Watchers back in 2011 I had an urge to bake something (shocking, I know!) so I went searching through their website for something healthy, convenient and practical. I came across these muffins and just loved them! They are filled with dried cranberries and have a nice orange flavor. They are topped off with granulated sugar, which gives them the texture of a nice cake doughnut. The top is definitely my favorite part! I make a full batch of these and usually enjoy one fresh from the oven and freeze the rest. Once they are frozen I'll either grab one to go (they thaw out in about a half hour or so) or throw one in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. A muffin and some hot coffee - a perfect start to my day! Orange Cranberry Muffins Makes approximately 15 standard-sized muffins 2 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided 1/2 cup sweetened, dried cranberries 2 teaspoons orange zest 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup low-fat (1%) buttermilk ** 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted 1 egg, lightly beaten **If you don't have buttermilk on hand you can make a quick substitution by putting 1 tablespoon of acid (lemon juice, white vinegar, cider vinegar or white wine vinegar) in a measuring cup. Fill the rest of the cup with 1% or skim milk to make 1 full cup of liquid. Let sit 5 minutes. Stir and proceed to use in the recipe. Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray 15 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, cranberries, orange zest, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. In a separate bowl mix together buttermilk, melted butter and egg. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Spoon batter in prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Source Weight Watchers So, I've been on a major health-kick since the start of 2013. Back in January 2011 something clicked in my brain and I started Weight Watchers and stuck to it for 3 months. I lost 15 pounds and I felt amazing! I was happy with my weight so I let some of the good habits slide a bit. Then at the beginning of 2012 I was starting my blog and training for the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay. I tried half-heartedly to eat the Weight-Watcher-Way but just couldn't make it happen with all the yummy things coming out of my kitchen! This wasn't a big deal because I was running more than usual so my weight pretty much stayed the same. Enter the 2nd half of 2012. All bets were off. We went on a 3-week vacation (running was minimal...eating was plentiful), moved out of our townhouse, into my parents' townhouse and FINALLY into our new home. After getting settled in the new house we were faced with Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner (and leftovers) and lots and lots of Christmas goodies. That brings me to January 2013. This year I am back on Weight Watchers and I'm doing a great job so far! I'm also training for 2 half-marathons (that's 13.1 miles, people!). I'm also trying very hard to incorporate fun food and baking into my daily life in a healthy way. I'm going to do my best to bring you healthy and delicious recipes as well as the occasional sinful treat! Oh, one more thing, you should be forewarned, I've been craving LOTS of citrus and oatmeal lately! Today I bring you a Weight Watcher inspired Orange Ginger Scented Granola. Orange juice and ground ginger are both used in this granola, but I feel the flavor is delicate, not overpowering. I have been enjoying this granola served over plain, nonfat yogurt. It's great for a light breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. You could also serve it in a bowl with some milk, or just grab a handful as a quick snack on the go. Orange Ginger Scented Granola
2 cups quick oats 1 cup old fashioned oats 2 cups puffed rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies 6 tablespoons honey 1 teaspoon canola oil 1/4 cup orange juice 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup sliced almonds 1/2 cup mixed raisins Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix oats and puffed rice cereal together in a large bowl. Spread evenly onto a rimmed, non-stick baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once. Remove from oven. Allow to cool slightly. While the cereals are baking, combine the honey, canola oil, orange juice, cinnamon, ground ginger and vanilla extract into a 2-cup measuring cup. Mix well. Set aside. Place slightly cooled cereal back in the large bowl. Stir in the almonds. Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Spread evenly onto the rimmed baking sheet again. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cereal starts to brown, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir in the raisins and allow to cool. Once granola is cool, store in an airtight container. Adapted from Weight Watchers So, I've been making my own pizza for years - sometimes with a pre-baked crust from the store, sometimes with one of those refrigerated pizza crusts and sometimes with my own dough. Through the goods and the bads of pizza dough I always found one consistently bad thing - the sauce! I am not a fan of the store bought pizza sauces that come in jars and bottles, so I've tried half-heartedly to make my own pizza sauce time and time again. Sometimes I would use straight marinara sauce - didn't quite cut it. The next time I'd doctor-up my marinara sauce with a little oregano - still not quite right. To my surprise, internet searches for a pizza sauce recipe yielded nothing! In the end I'd resort to going back to store bought sauce because I just couldn't 'get it'. FINALLY, about a year ago I came across this recipe on Annie's Eats (I know I've said it before, but this girl's blog has seriously changed my life!) and it happened - I finally 'GOT IT'! This pizza sauce is ridiculously easy to make! If you have 5 minutes and a food processor you can probably whip up a batch out of your pantry right now! I find that this recipe makes enough to cover at least two pizzas. When I make a batch I usually use half and freeze the other half for another time. When using from frozen I suggest you reheat it gently on the stove for a few minutes to thicken it up a bit. The sauce tends to be a bit watery when defrosted from frozen.
Give this one a try! I promise - you'll never buy store bought pizza sauce again!! DIY Pizza Sauce 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl. Refrigerate (or freeze) until ready to use. Source: Adapted from Annie's Eats Change. A very powerful word. A word that means a lot of me and my family right now. There have been A LOT of changes here at Butter is Better over the past 6 weeks. We had been trying to sell our beautiful townhouse for well over a year so that we could move to a nice, single family home with a (tiny!) yard of our own. Finally, in August, we found a buyer for our townhouse! We were overjoyed and elated to finally make a move on the house we had been eyeing up for several months. Well, one thing led to another and the next thing we knew we were 100% moved out of the townhouse and moved IN TO my parents townhouse across the street (thank you mortgage company) for 2 1/2 weeks before closing on our new place. During that time the 6 of us lived in tight quarters but had tons of laughs and good times! Definitely an experience I hope my girls remember for the rest of their lives! So that brings me to today. Today I am, once again, a happy homeowner! We have been in our new house for 5 glorious days! There are so many things I love about the house...however...my kitchen is not one of them :( The kitchen is quite large with 9 foot ceilings which gives me awesome cabinet height (aka - storage!) but that's about where the love ends. The previous owners went with builder-grade material throughout the kitchen. The only plus side is that I will get to redesign everything to my liking in due time. The wait is going to be tough, but I have tons of ideas! How does an obsessive baker adjust to all these changes? By baking something of course!! A large portion of my kitchen is still packed in boxes so I am limited as to what I can bake, but I did keep a few essentials on hand. Based on what I had on hand, here is what I picked up at the grocery store the other day.... As a hard-core baker I could have been embarrassed by this purchase, but instead I laughed about how much I needed to bake something...anything!! Have you ever tried these? They are pre-made Nestle cookie dough that is already scored! I didn't even need to find my spoons to make this project a reality! Just break them apart and plop them down on a cookie sheet. Simple, right? Yes, but....bad things can still happen.... As you can see, my first batch (on the plate) is quite a bit darker than my second batch. This reminded me that every oven is different and it will take some time to get used to this new one. *sigh* Oh well, at least I can say I baked for the first time in my new house! Now, it's time to get cracking cause I have so many things I want to share with you! Some goodies to look for soon are Fudgy Sea Salt Brownies, Oatmeal Cream Cakes and Chocolate Ice Cream!
Oh, and for the record, the cookies were a hit with the family! Just goes to show you, you can never go wrong with Nestle Toll House Cookies! So, I remember years ago, it was Thanksgiving 2004. My parents and sister decided to join my husband and me at my in-law's house for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner my parents, sister and I drove to King of Prussia for some Black Friday shopping while my husband spend a few days with his dad at a hunting camp. I was so excited to go to King of Prussia Mall again! A place I had yearned to go to for years, then when I lived in West Chester I was able to frequent often and became quite familiar with this beautiful mammoth. This trip was also exciting for me because my husband and I had just signed the papers to buy/build a new townhouse with a shiny new stainless steel kitchen! After spending 12 hours in a mall full of endless choices I found myself leaving with two small bags. One bag from Pottery Barn with a few Christmas ornaments. And one bag from Williams-Sonoma with a shiny new cookbook filled with healthy recipes! A brand new kitchen and a new cookbook filled with HEALTHY recipes!?!? I could hardly contain my excitement! This could be life-changing! Fast forward a few months to when we moved into our new house with the shiny kitchen. At that point life was pretty crazy. Not only were we in the middle of a move, but I was also a few months pregnant with sweet little JP! Cooking was the last thing on my mind. And so the cookbook sat....sat on a shelf, then in a closet and most recently in a box in the garage. Sure, I'd made one or two recipes from it but for the most part, this book just got pushed aside for something else. A few weeks ago when I'd realized I'd eaten a few too many cupcakes I was tempted to buy a new, healthy cookbook. Just then I remember this little gem and started to search for it. I found it in a plastic tote in the garage and I'm so happy I did! Looking through it now the recipes seem FAR less involved and complicated as I thought they were back in 2004. Maybe it's because I'm a much better cook than I was then, but I think alot of it is because so many ingredients are so widely available today compared to 2004 (Broccolini?? Goat Cheese??). Overall, this is one of the easiest dishes I've ever made. There is very little prep work, it comes together very quickly and it's a perfect pasta dish for the warm summer months up ahead. If you don't usually salt your pasta water make sure you do AND make sure you use the recommended 2 tablespoons. You'll thank me later!! Pasta with Tomatoes, Arugula & Goat Cheese
3/4 pound ziti, fusilli or cavatappi 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 2 cups loosely packed arugula 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved 1 garlic clove, minced 1/4 cup (1 ounce) fresh goat cheese, crumbled Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt to the boiling water before adding the pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Before draining pasta, reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Drain pasta, mix in arugula and place in a warm bowl. While the pasta is cooking, add olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil heats up add tomatoes to the pan and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, season with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Place over warm pasta. Add crumbled goat cheese, tossing to combine all ingredients. Add a little of the reserved pasta water if the dish is a bit dry. Season with fresh ground pepper to taste. I admit it. Coleslaw is not something I usually enjoy (unless it's served on a Primanti's sandwich, but that's another kind of blog!) I usually pass it up at picnics and push it to the side of my plate when it arrives unannounced at a restaurant. I was reluctant to try this recipe but I needed a side dish for the Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and this looked easy and had mostly ingredients I already had on-hand. I'm so glad we tried this! It's tangy and refreshing - it tastes healthy and sinful at the same time. It's the perfect complement to the chicken sandwiches and I think it would go wonderfully with any summer picnic dish! Lightened-Up Classic Coleslaw Serves 6 1 5.3-ounce container nonfat Greek yogurt (or 1/2 cup) 1/4 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat is fine) 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1 tbsp honey 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 16-ounce bag pre-shredded coleslaw mix 2 tsp caraway seeds (optional) In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Add the coleslaw mix and the caraway seeds, if using. Toss to coat. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to an hour.
Source Very slightly adapted from So Easy, by Ellie Krieger Today I want to share with you a newly discovered recipe from a cookbook I've had for a while. This recipe is a take on tasty, comforting pulled pork sandwiches, but it uses chicken instead. The original recipe called for a store-bought rotisserie chicken and a quick stove-top execution. I decided to make some modifications and give this a try in the crock pot using fresh chicken breast. To my excitement the meal came out amazingly tasty with perfectly balanced flavors! An added bonus is that both of my toughest critics (JP & Bean) gobbled up their dinner! We even had enough leftover to make sliders for lunch the next day! This sandwich paired with some lightened up coleslaw just screams summer to me. I am planning on doubling this recipe and taking it to some picnics this summer along with some homemade hamburger buns (which I swear by these days!) I'll be sharing those recipes with you all soon! Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Makes about 6 regular sized sandwiches or 10-12 sliders 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast 1 medium onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce 1/2 cup water 1/3 cup cider vinegar 5 tbsp molasses 1/4 cup tomato paste 1/2 tsp liquid smoke 1/4 tsp black pepper Place all ingredients in a slow cooker set to low. Cook for 5-7 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred on a plate with two forks. Return shredded chicken to slow cooker and stir to combine. Serve on hamburger buns. Source Adapted from So Easy, by Ellie Krieger Lately I've been trying to healthy-up my diet a bit. I haven't fully committed to Weight Watchers again (I just can't find the motivation) but I'm trying to add more fruits and veggies into my diet. This recipe is great because you can whip it up in about 5 minutes when you're rushing to get out of the house for work and school The crispy tartness of the apples and the creamy sharpness of the cheddar makes it feel like a very indulgent meal but when you're done eating it you feel really good about what you just ate - no guilt here! So, now that you have those flour tortillas in your fridge, you have no excuse not to enjoy a healthy start to your tomorrow! Apple Cheddar Quesadillas
Makes 4 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced 4 small tortillas - about 8-9 inches in diameter 4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place one tortilla in the pan. Take 1/4 of the apple slices and fan out over one half of the tortilla. Sprinkle 1 ounce of cheese over the apples. Fold the tortilla in half over the cheese and apples. Weigh down the tortilla with a small heavy skillet or an ovenproof plate topped with a heavy can. Cook until the cheese melts and tortilla is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Cut in half and serve warm. |
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