yum – Page 29

Power Cookie

August 5, 2012July 31, 2012 by KTgreen

“The 17 Day Diet” sucks. It’s all about protein. Very little carbs. But as with most diets, I did find a few (very few) things to like about the diet. This is a recipe introduced in the 2nd phase of the boring diet. Since I thought the cookie was dry and tasteless, I changed it up a little. Here’s the original: http://www.the17daydiet.com/recipes/

Now, here is my disclaimer. I’m not a good cook or baker. I am too easily sidetracked and forget what I’ve added then stick them in the oven and go off to play on my computer. Until that smell of charcoal cookies makes it to my office.

But here goes….

I have read a few places that you CAN NOT heat flaxseed oil. It can cause stomach issues. So I replaced it with canola oil. The recipe is also just written crazy. I made it more readable — at least for me. Like it says to drop the cookies in 1 Tablespoon amounts and it makes 18 cookies. Totally wrong. I use my tablespoon scooper thing and I have 48 cookies. Also Dr. Mike wants me to bake the cookies for 20 minutes which creates total lumps of coal. I have replaced the Truvia with Whey Low. And last but not least, I dropped Dr. Mike from the name since I am not Dr. Mike.

POWER COOKIE

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together

½ c. Unsweetened Applesauce ( I buy those little premeasured applesauce containers because buying a big jar just goes to waste. And the small people that magically appear here will eat them without too much whining about eating something healthy)

2 T. Almond Paste (Since I’m not sure how long Almond Paste lasts in the fridge, I preroll the paste into 1 tablespoon balls and freeze them)

1 T. Vegetable Oil

1/3 c. Whey Low Sugar Substitute

¼ c. Agave Nectar

Beat in

1 egg

½ t. vanilla

Add

¾ c. Whole Wheat Flour (I keep this in the freezer, too. I don’t bake much!)

½ t. Baking Soda

½ c. Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

½ t. Salt

¼ t. Pepper

1 t. Cinnamon

Beat thoroughly

Stir in

2 c. Oatmeal

1 c. Dried Cherries (or any mix of dried fruit)

½ c. Sliced Almonds (I’ve also used pecans and walnuts. And I always bake them at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. They are so much tastier!)

Mix Well

Use 1 T. scoop and drop onto parchment paper covered baking trays. Flatten each cookie slightly with the back of a spoon or fork.

Bake 8 minutes.

Makes 48 cookies

65 calories each (I’m not sure how I came up with that calorie count so I wouldn’t actually rely on it too heavily)

Terry came down from his office to see what I was doing. I know he was hoping for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and quickly backed away when he saw the dried fruit. But a small person that was upstairs followed his nose to check things out. Hmmmm. Are there raisins in there? No. Dried fruit. Is that like raisins? Yes. You won’t like it.

But he went ahead and took a nibble. I was impressed with his bravery!

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle

August 5, 2012July 18, 2012 by KTgreen

It’s Wednesday, so it’s Michelle’s turn to post.

Coffee-Sugar

I LOVE coffee, not like, L O V E. The Boys know not to even address me in the morning until I’ve started on a cup. Problem is I like it ‘light n’ sweet’ (that’s ‘WaffleHouse’ for cream and sugar, please),..which equals fattening. Those calories add up over time. I tried Truvia in it. Nope. Then I gave Whey Lo a try, that was ok, but not worth the calorie savings. My downfall is brown Sugar In The Raw, my ultimate coffee sweetener. So I mixed them all. After a few combinations, this is what works for me.

Take that Truvia container you saved from last time – yes, I save them too. Good for little stuff. Add in 1/2 Cup Truvia, 1/2 Cup Whey Lo, and 1/4 Cup Sugar in the Raw. That’s it! Shake it up and keep it by the coffee maker. If you like it, use a Sharpie and write the combo on the bottom of the jar. I’m also a fan of the Land O’Lakes FatFree Half and Half creamer. Oh, and so is Max the cat.

Baked Penne Fun!

July 18, 2012July 17, 2012 by KTgreen

I’ve had this recipe “pinned” for months on Pinterest and never made it. It’s from marthastewart.com. I’m not that great of a cook, but how could I screw up Baked Ziti? Let me tell you how!

Click here to see the recipe: Baked Ziti

This probably shouldn’t be on my “Fit for Life” Tuesday but I had originally thought that this would be a healthy vegetarian dish. But I messed it up.

First, it called for “best-quality” tomato sauce. What is that? I bought a can of tomato sauce with a fancy Italian name brand on it. But when I started making the dish I realized that since it didn’t call for any spices–perhaps Martha meant a “best-quality” pasta sauce. All I had was Ragu and Prego. Not the best-quality. And also not fitting into my “Fit for Life” non-processed food living. Sigh.

Then I realized I had purchased penne, not ziti. At least it was whole wheat. And I had intended to get fresh mozzeralla and slice it into the ziti. Forgot about that. So all I had was Kraft. More processed food.

Ingredients — Here’s some of the ingredients. Lots of “processed” food which I’m not supposed to be using anymore! The wine is for the chef, not the penne.

Grating Parmesan — Terry always does the grating. We like to call him the faux chef. Even though he’s a better cook than me.

Ouch — Oh no, accident in the kitchen! Grate the parmesan–not the knuckles!

Dishes — The recipe called for 8 ounces of ziti, but the box was 13.25 ounces. We both decided that we shouldn’t waste those 5.25 ounces of penne! Now that I made the entire box, it didn’t fit in the casserole dish. So we dug out a bigger dish.

Terry — Since we made all of the penne, we needed more sauce. No more Ragu so we mixed in some Prego. That’s the faux chef’s other important job, opening jars and bottles of wine for me.

Spoon rest — Okay, this has nothing to do with the recipe, just wanted to show you the cutest spoon rest ever.

Me, trying to pretend that I have a clue about cooking.

Oven — Casserole just fits into the upper oven. Hmmm, since I made more than the recipe called for, do I need to cook it longer?

Finished Penne — Wow! That looks remarkably yummy!

Yum — And it was yummy! Despite all the changes, even I can’t screw up baked penne!