This Vs. That

Every healthy website has guides on how to make healthyswaps in order to cutout some of the fat and calories in recipes.  I thought I'dtry a new piece that shows you MY personal favorite swaps.  As I've told youbefore I'm a total peanut butter addict.  A bowl of peanut butter with a few scoops of jelly was not an uncommon lunch for me.  I didn't realize that besides having roughly 860 calories it also had over 48 grams of fat and atleast 40 grams of sugar!

Recently I came to a realization.  Jelly is fruit {kinda.}  Why don't I put REAL fruit on my peanut butter PB2 sandwiches instead of jelly or jam?

Real fruit is so much more beneficial than jelly, jam and preserves.  

1 cup of sliced strawberries

Calories: 54

Fat: 0.5

Sodium:  2 mg

Potassium:  254 

Carbs:  13

Fiber:  3.3

Sugar:  8

Protein: 1.1

1 Tablespoon Smuckers Seedless Strawberry Jam

Calories: 50

Fat: 0

Sodium:  0 mg

Potassium:  0 

Carbs:  13

Fiber:  0

Sugar:  12

Protein: 0

I know what you're thinking. "But the jam is pureed and the strawberries are sliced."  Okay, let's look at another set of numbers

1 cup of strawberry puree

Calories: 76

Fat: 0.7

Sodium:  2 mg

Potassium:  355 

Carbs:  18

Fiber:  4.6

Sugar:  11

Protein: 1.6

So see that??  A cup of puree is healthier than 2 tablespoons of jam.  The calories, sugar and carbs are significantly lower, and you'll get in some extra fiber and protein.  You'll be doing your body a major favor by swapping your jelly for fruit.

The trick is to make sure that your fruit is super ripe and sweet.  And don't limit yourself to just strawberries!  Any fruit will do.  I've put almost every different type of fruit on my sandwiches.  I actually haven't found one I DON'T like.  And doesn't this look delicious???

What do you like on your peanut butter sandwiches?

Recipe Redux -- Have Snacks Will Travel

Recipe Redux time!!  This month's theme?  Travel snacks!  I love that it was set for after I got back from vacation.  I made 3 different travel snacks.  Granola bars, apple chips and squash chips.  All three were delicious.  I have a cavity I found out about right before the trip so, eating them was a bit painful at times but, it honestly didn't stop me.  

I rarely make apple chips anymore because I can eat 3 or 4 apples worth of chips in 1 day!  I'm addicted to them.  

Granola bars before they were cut

Granola Bar
Makes 8 or 16
Calories: 127 / 63
Fat: 0.8 / 0.4
Carbs: 29.8 / 14.9
Protein: 3.8 / 1.9

2 1/2 cup Quaker multigrain cereal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 + 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cup dried mixed fruit
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup pumpkin puree {NOT PIE FILLING}

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees and spray an 8 x 8, or 9 x 9 pain with pan spray (choose which size depending on how thick you want them)
2. Stir together the cinnamon, syrup, vanilla., banana, pumpkin.
3. In a separate bowl combine the fruit and oatmeal.
4. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry and stir together until the cereal is completely coated
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the are slightly dry on top
6. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes then put them on a wire rack to finish cooling.  Cool completely, then cut. 

Apple Chips

For some reason I didn't get an AFTER shot of my apple chips
Ingredients
Apples

Directions

1. Core and slice apples.  {I used my mandolin}
2. Toss the apples in some lemon juice. {to keep them from browning}
3. Dehydrate for 12-18 hours
4. Cool before storing

Acorn Squash Chips

Before

After

These were a pain in the butt to slice!  So I only did a quarter of the squash and roasted the rest for my dinner the next nite.  They took about 4.5 hours in the dehydrator. They tasted kind of nutty.  Needed a bit of salt.  So, if you want to add a bit of flavor (and don't mind a bit of fat) I'd toss them with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt.


What kind of snacks do you enjoy when you travel?  Do you take store bought or home made?


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Baked Marshmallow Bananas

The dessert I made for our Iron Chef competition was so simple.  I'm not going to lie, I picked Baked Bananas with Roasted Marshmallows because it's what I wanted for dessert.  It would have been prettier if I had a blow torch to roast the marshmallows with.

Bananas have a whole bunch {pardon the pun} of health benefits.

• The average banana has 467 mg of potassium.  It may prevent high blood pressure and atherosclarosis.
• They protect against stomach ulcers
• Slow digesting
• Good source of fiber
• Helps your eyesight
• Promotes kidney health

This dessert hits the spot for me though.  Healthy, sweet, simple, and it has a bit of crunch.

Baked Bananas with Broiled Marshmallows
1 banana
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon (depending on taste)
1 T sugar free maple syrup
1/4 cup mini marshmallows (enough to cover the top of the ramekin)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Spray small ramekin with pan spray
3. Slice banana into small chunks in a medium bowl
4. Sprinkle with cinnamon and maple syrup and toss to coat (or you can just put it all ontop of the bananas in the ramekin)
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes until soft. 
6. When it's done turn broiler to HIGH and top bananas with marshmallows
7. Place ramekin back in oven on top rack and broil for 1-3 minutes until marshmallows are brown and charred {watch them carefully!!  They go from slightly brown to burned VERY quickly}

I personally like mine slightly brown and Ken likes his basically burnt.  How much you roast them is your personal preference.  I bet that apples would also taste good under the marshmallows.  

What other fruits would be good topped with marshmallows?

Take 2.....Just as Delicious as the First

Doesn't that look yummy? Like a big piece of french toast.  

A normal slice of bread pudding has around 300 calories and 10 grams of fat depending on the flavorings.What if I told you that the bread pudding I made tonite had Under 100 calories and .7 grams of fat?  That's cutting out 66% of the calories and 90% of the fat!  

It was still creamy, rich and a bit crunchy.  Reminiscent of french toast.  After the success of the savory one on Sunday I decided to give a sweet one a go.  You can top this one with additional berries, syrup, powdered sugar, melted jam/jelly,   chocolate syrup, or even melted peanut butter.  This could also double as a dessert, just top it with some whipped cream.

Mixed Berry Bread Pudding
20 servings (2 personally filled me up)
Calories: 86
Fat: 0.7 grams
Carbs: 15.9 grams
Sugar: 5.7 grams
Protein: 6.23 grams

Ingredients
1 loaf reduced calorie wheat bread
1.5 c egg substitute (6 eggs)
4 c skim milk
2 T sugar 
1 c sliced strawberries
1 c blackberries
.25 c blueberries
1 c raspberries

Directions 

1. Cube bread
2. Whisk together egg substitute, milk and sugar
3. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with pan spray
4. Put half of the bread in the dish
5. Sprinkle half of the berries on top of the bread.  Do another layer of bread then finish off with the berries
6. Pour milk mix ontop and make sure that all the bread is wet
7. Put in the fridge for atleast an hour or overnight (I actually did it last nite)
8. Take out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan on baking it (this will prevent the dish from shattering in the oven)
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes (60 minutes covered 15 minutes uncovered).  If the top isn't brown enough for you then turn on your broiler and broil until brown (I put my broiler on high and leave the pan on the lower rack)

 I think this is going to be a new revolving recipe in the house.  There are so many variations I want to try to this.  Cocoa powder, different fruits, the possibilities are endless!  

What do you think would be good in a bread pudding?  

National Banana Bread Day

Bananas.  One of my most favorite fruits.  I actually eat a banana 6 mornings a week (occasionally 7.)  So when I found out that today was National Banana Bread Day I couldn't help but jump on it!  I wanted to put my own spin on the day though.  Banana Bread Pops using my new never been used cake pop pan.

Why make pops?  Well, for one, I wanted to use my pan and since we are on the health train in this house, cake doesn't make an appearance often anymore.  I also like to do things differently.  I like to be unique.  Plus, it's conveniently pre-portioned for you!

This recipe was taken out of my handy-dandy very loved Cook This, Not That!  350 Calorie book.  It made 36 cake pops and one large muffin.  For the nutritional I just put in 36 servings so, it's actually a bit lower in calories then the facts say because I'm betting the muffin was equal to 3 or 4 pops.

Ingredients 4 large ripe bananas
3/4 cup grated carrots (you could also use zucchini, but if you do make sure you squeeze out all the water)
2 cups white or whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup of each)
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I actually used fat free vanilla regular yogurt)
Egg substitute equivalent to 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Direction

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mash your bananas (I like to give them a whirl in my food processor to make sure they are fully smushed)
3. Mix together the bananas, yogurt, egg substitute (or egg whites), and vanilla
4. In a separate bowl mix together carrots, flour, baking soda and baking powder.
5. Stir dry ingredients into the wet
6.  Spray your cake pop pan and fill each hole with batter
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until done
8. Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then place on a cooling rack
9. Repeat steps 6-8 until all your batter is gone.

Look at the calories.  It's crazy!   Only 44 calories per serving and 0.1 gram of fat!  These are going to be my new snack for after the gym.  

January's Seasonal Produce and How it Can Help Your Health

Fresh Veggies!

January is here. [DUH!] So that means that certain produce has come into season.  I've put together a list of the produce that's available and some of the health benefits.

January
Avocado
Passion Fruit


January-March
Bell Pepper  -- Carotenoids, Various vitamins, phytonutrients, fiber, folate, antioxidants, potential anti-cancer effects

Broccoli -- Cholesterol lowering, detox-regulating, various vitamins and minerals, folate, fiber, potassium, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer nutrients, digestive support, eye health, skin support

Cabbage -- Cholesterol-lowering, cancer prevention, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, digestive tract support, cardiovascular health

Cauliflower -- Various vitamins, folate, potassium, fiber, digestive support, detox support, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular health

Celery -- Anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, various vitamins, folate, potassium, fiber, digestive health, cardiovascular health, cancer prevention

Eggplant -- Fiber, various vitamins, brain health, antioxidants, cardiovascular health, free radical protection

Grapefruit -- Various vitamins, lycopene, antioxidants, promotes optimal health, lowers cholesterol, prevents kidney stones, cancer protection, repairs DNA

Guava --  Antioxidants, lowers cancer risk, lowers diabetes risk, helps eyesight, folate, regulates blood pressure, helps thyroid, increases enzyme activation, relaxes muscles and nerves, brain health, skin health

Lettuce --  {Romaine} Various vitamins, Folic acid, folate, fiber, omega 3's, heart healthy

Mushrooms (Available year round) -- {Crimini} Selenium, vitamins, potassium, immune system support, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, cardiovascular health, anti-cancer

Oranges (Available every month but July & Aug) -- Various vitamins, fiber, lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, antioxidants, immune system support, cardiovascular disease protection, promotes optimal health, prevents kidney stones, anti-cancer, prevents ulcers, lung protection, arthritis protection

Peanuts (Available every month but Dec) -- Folate, heart healthy, antioxidants, reduces the risk of stroke, anti-cancer, gallstone prevention, brain health, lowers risk of weight gain

Radishes -- Detoxifier for liver and stomach, urinary tract health, weight control, cancer prevention, helps skin, helps liver, reduces swelling, controls fever, respitory tract health, protects gallbladder

Snap Beans/Green Beans -- Vitamins, Fiber, antioxidants, folate, cardiovascular health, anti-inflammatory, diabetes prevention

Squash -- {Winter} Vitamins, fiber, potassium, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, promotes optimal health, regulates blood sugar, cardiovascular health

Strawberries -- Vitamins, Fiber, cardiovascular health, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, lowers blood sugar, anti-cancer, brain health, digestive health

Sweet Corn -- Fiber, Various vitamins, antioxidants, digestive health, blood sugar regulation, potentially anti-HIV

Tangerine -- 

Tomato -- Various vitamins, fiber, antioxidants, cardiovascular health, bone health, anti-cancer, lycopene


Most of the information found on this site was obtained from WHFoods
WikiNut