Christmas Cookies

Until last year I never did Christmas presents for the girls' teachers.  I don't know why but, I just didn't.  {Does that make me a horrible parent?}  But, last year I decided to do cookies for them. I figure that I would want edible gifts if I was a teacher.  {I mean seriously, how many "World's Greatest" or "#1 Teacher" mugs and knick-knacks does a teacher need?!??}

Last year I made "traditional" cookies, loaded with butter and sugar.  After the fact I decided that I wasn't being true to me by making them like that.  A vegan wouldn't buy eggs to make cookies with.  Someone who follows the Paleo diet probably wouldn't make non-Paleo cookies.  Why am I going to make cookies that I wouldn't even feed my kids??  I decided to alter all the cookies, except 1, to be low fat.  People love the flourless peanut butter cookies so I make them every time I need to bring cookies somewhere.  

Peanut Butter
From Martha Stewart
makes 16

Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
.75 cup sugar
1 egg
.5 t baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  
2. Mix together all ingredients
3. Roll 1 Tablespoon of dough into balls and place on cookie sheet
4. Bake for 12-14 minutes.  Rotate halfway thru.
5. Cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cookie sheet. 

Chocolate Chip
From: Happy Herbivore Light & Lean
Makes 16

Ingredients
.33 cup plain applesauce
.5 cup brown sugar
1 t vanilla
.25 cup nonfat milk
1 cup flour
1 t baking powder
1 T cornstarch
.5 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease cookie sheet
2. Combine all the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) in another.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet
4. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Drop on cookie sheet and bake 7-10 minutes.  Rotate halfway through.  

Oatmeal Raisin
Quaker Oatmeal "Raisin" Cookies
This recipe originally calls for chocolate chips but, I substituted raisins and dried cranberries for the chocolate chips
makes 5 dozen

Ingredients
2 cups pureed zucchini
1 cup brown sugar, packed
.5 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 T milk
2 t vanilla
1.75 cup flour
1 t baking soda
2.5 cup oatmeal
4 cups dried fruit (I used raisins and cranberries)

Directions

1. Heat oven  to 375
2. Mix zucchini puree and sugars together
3. Add eggs, milk and vanilla
4. Mix in flour, baking soda, and oatmeal.
5. Fold in fruit
6. Drop by the tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Banana Bread

Adapted From:  Cook This, Not That 350 Calorie Meals

Ingredients

4 ripe bananas (about 2 cups)

.75 cup Greek yogurt 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

.75 cup sugar (I start with .25 cups and figure out how sweet it needs to be)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.  (I used a 4 loaf mini pan)
2. Puree bananas, yogurt, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor
3. In a separate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients
4. Fold banana mixture into flour mixture
5. Pour into pan and bake for 50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  The mini loaf pans take about 35-40 minutes  (if the top starts to brown before the inside is. done then put tin foil over the top) 

Do you have any good healthy cookie recipes?  Do you alter normal recipes to make them healthier?

Look Everybody! I Made Gumbo...

and cheese-steak fries.
{Sorry for the shameless Princess and the Frog quote.  It's a favorite of the girls.  Okay, I can't lie, it's one of my faves too.} 

Gumbo!  Loaded with tomatoes, beans, onions and okra.  I served it over quinoa.  This dish was a protein and nutrient bomb (in a good way.)  This was another great recipe from Happy Herbivore.  It's on page 108 in the 30 minute cookbook.  (I'm not certain about copyright laws and all that so I'm not going to post the recipe).

I came up with this next recipe because I couldn't decide if I wanted cheese fries or cheese steaks for dinner.  Because I didn't want to decide and the kids were being no help, I combined the two.  Crispy, crunchy oven baked fries layered with mushrooms, onions roasted garlic and collard greens with some melted fat free cheese on top.  Sounds decadent right?  It only weighs in at about 320 calories and 1 gram of fat.  I also snuck in a couple carrots since cheese fries aren't exactly a "healthy" dinner.

Before Cheese

After Cheese

Super Veggie Cheese Steak Fries
1 large potato or sweet potato per person (I used a couple small ones instead of a large one)
2 carrots per person
1/2 lb of mushrooms per person, cut in half or quarters
1-2 onions sliced thin
1/4 - 1/2 cup of shredded fat free cheddar per person
1/2 - 1 cup of prepared collard greens or spinach per person (optional) {or any other veggie you want}

Directions

1. Boil potatoes/sweet potatoes in a large pot of water for about 5 minutes
2. Drain and cool
3. Peel carrots
4. Slice potatoes and carrots into fries (make sure they are all the same size)
5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with pan spray
6. Lay the fries in a single layer and spray with more pan spray
7. Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, flipping every 10-15 minutes until crispy and brown.  During the last 20 minutes put the mushrooms on a separate baking sheet and put them in the oven
8. Divide the fries evenly between the plates and layer with mushrooms, onions and other vegetables
9. Sprinkle cheese on the top and put in the microwave on high for 30-60 seconds until the cheese melts.

How do you like to jazz up your cheese fries?

Buddha Buddha Buddha

The weather was gorgeous this past week, up until Thursday when it decided to turn cold.  It's been great to be able to get outside without a jacket.  We spent the whole weekend playing on the beach.

Summer makes me think healthy.  We've been on a mega health kick as you know.  Dinner tonite was Buddha's Delight (page 116 in the Happy Herbivore cookbook)  I definitely suggest picking up a copy of the book.  It's incredible.  The Happy Herbivore website has some great basically fat-free recipes.  You should totally go check her out!

It was delicious.  Stereotypical "summer food."  Fresh, bright veggies and super healthy.  I had a photo for you but my phone decided not to upload it   : (

I have BIG news though.  By the time I get back from my trip to Virginia in the middle of February I will have signed up for my Personal Trainer's Certification.  Which means soon after that (I'm hoping before the blog's 1 year anniversary in March but definitely before May) I will be a personal trainer!  2013 is going to be an AMAZING year!

How's your year?  Is it looking good?  Has the weather started to get warmer where you are?