I'm Peelin' the Love. Are you?

Hey y'all!  Have I ever told you what my favorite fruit is?  No?  It's the banana.  I love everything that I've ever tasted that's made with bananas.  Banana bread, banana sandwiches, banana in my oatmeal, banana ice cream, banana everything! 

Did you know that bananas are super healthy?

• They help regulate and/or lower blood pressure
• Studies have shown that kids who eat a banana a day are 34% less likely to develop asthma
• Bananas can help reduce the risk of childhood leukemia and they are associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer
• They support heat health and can help reduce a person's risk of cardiovascular disease
• They help reduce the risk of stroke, muscle loss, and preserve bone density and aid memory
• Lowers blood glucose levels in Type 1 diabetics and improve blood sugar, insulin and lipids in Type 2 diabetics
• Can be used to treat diarrhea

When I was contacted by Dole to be a Blog Ambassador for their Peel the Love Tour I was so excited.    What is Peel the Love?  It's a year long Dole campaign that celebrates the fun, irreverence, and whimsical side of bananas.  They are doing a Peel the Love "Banana Cabana" Tour that is traveling coast-to-coast.  It's going to cover 26 cities and luckily Jacksonville is one of them!

Here's the dates that they will be at the Winn - Dixies in the Jacksonville area. 

7/20 – Winn-Dixie (96076 Lofton Square Ct., Yulee, FL) – 10am-1pm

7/20 – Winn-Dixie (947 Amelia Plaza, Fernandina Beach, FL) – 3-6pm

7/21 – Winn-Dixie (450078 SR 200, Callahan, FL) – 11am-2pm

7/24 – Winn-Dixie (1545 County Rd. 220, Orange Park, FL) – 10am-1pm

7/24 – Winn-Dixie (290 Solana Rd., Ponte Vedra, FL) – 3-6pm

7/25 – Winn-Dixie (703 Chaffee Rd., Jacksonville, FL) – 10am-1pm

7/25 – Winn-Dixie (5647 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville, FL) – 3-6pm

Not in the Jacksonville area?  Click HERE to find out when the Peel the Love "Banana Cabana" Tour will be coming to a city near you!

Here's one of my favorite banana desserts.  I even made this for myself for dessert on vacation!



Grilled Peanut Butter Banana

Ingredients
1 banana
1 T PB2 mixed with .5 T water
1-2 T sugar free maple syrup
Cinnamon

Directions

1. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with pan spray
2. Slice your banana in half lengthwise and lay on the foil
3. Spread the PB2 on one half, sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle half of the syrup
4. Put the two halves back together, drizzle with the other half of the syrup, and wrap the tinfoil tightly around the banana
5. Place on the grill for 10-15 minutes until the banana is warm, soft and brown.
6. Let cool for 2-3 minutes before eating

{It can also be done in a 350 degree oven for 15-25 minutes}

Option 2:  

Directions

1. Wrap whole banana in sprayed tinfoil
2. Grill for 10-15 minutes
3. When it's cool enough to handle {but still warm} mush it with a fork
4. Lay out 8 graham cracker halves
5. Spread PB2 on 4 halves, and top with a chocolate square.  
6. On the other 4 halves spread a thick layer of the warm banana mush.  
7. Put a PB2 cracker and a banana cracker together

Voila!  A Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana S'more!  Perfect, healthy camping dessert!

What's your favorite banana recipe?  Are y'all going to join me at Winn-Dixie???  

An Ode To My Mother....Kinda

Growing up I remember my mother used to make a lemonade cake.  It was amazing.  Kind of sweet, super lemony, just great.  I'm a sucker for anything lemon.  So, when I thought about the Recipe Redux theme {Treasured Cookware}, this recipe came to mind.

There isn't a piece of cookware in my kitchen that WAS my mother's but, she has stocked about half of my bakeware throughout the years.  Every Christmas I get a new piece.  One of the things she bought me was my angel food cake pan.  

Honestly I used to hate angel food cake, until it was the ONLY cake I could eat.  Now I love it and love playing around with flavors and different ways of using it.  For this recipe I used sugar free lemonade mix since there is SO MUCH sugar in the cake and then the glaze has added sugar.  I prefer to not have a complete sugar bomb. Pink Lemonade would make this rather pretty too.

Angel Food Lemonade Cake

Ingredients
1 angel food cake (I normally use a box mix and make it myself but, you can use a store bought one)
.25-.5 cup sugar free powdered lemonade mix (depending on how lemony you want it)
1 cup powdered sugar
2-4 T water


Directions

1. Poke holes in the top of the cake with a fork
2. In a small bowl mix together lemonade mix and powdered sugar
3. Whisk in water and continue whisking until you have a nice smooth glaze
4. Pour glaze over the top of the cake making sure some of the glaze gets into all the holes.
5. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

An InLinkz Link-up

Easter Recipes

From:  Wide Wallpapers

2014 is a year of change.  Everything is changing.  I have gotten my certifications, Sunny starts school this year, I'm doing a fitness competition.  So many big changes!  After making the same holiday dinners for the past 3 years I've decided that since this is a year of change I'm also changing all my holiday dinners.  Easter is the first holiday that has food associated with it so, it starts here!

So, with that being said, here is the 2014 Easter menu.  Recipes follow the menu.

Main Dish
Simple baked Cobia

Grain
Herbed brown rice 

Vegetables
Roasted carrots
Asparagus (if the price isn't too high)
Salad

Bread
Yeast rolls

Dessert
Meringue nests with whipped cream and berries

_________________________________________________________________________________

Foil Wrapped Cobia

Ingredients
2 lb Cobia Fillet
Seasonings of your choice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Spray a large piece of aluminum foil with pan spray and lay fish down.
3. Spray again with pan spray and season then tightly wrap foil around fish.
4. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes until the fish is done.
5. Rest for 5-10 minutes before serving

Roasted Carrots

adapted from:  Ina Garten's Roasted Carrots

Ingredients
1 lb carrots, peeled
seasonings of your choice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Cut carrots into 1 1/2 inch chunks
3. Spray baking sheet with pan spray, lay out carrots in a single layer and spray them.
4. Season to taste
5. Roast for 20 minutes until brown and tender

Herbed Brown Rice Pilaf

Adapted from:  Herbed Brown Rice Pilaf
8 servings
Calories:  84.5
Fat: 0.5 g
Sodium:  592 mg
Potassium:  65.8 g
Carbs:  18 g
Protein:  1.6 g

Ingredients
1 small onion, diced
2 cups brown rice
5 cups vegetable broth or water, warm
2 T minced garlic
2 t thyme
2 t parsley
6 green onions, sliced

Directions

1. Saute onion in a medium saucepan until translucent.
2. Spray pan again with cooking spray, dump in rice, and coat with pan spray.  
3. Pour in broth, thyme, garlic, and parsley
4. Cover pot, turn stove to medium, and cook for 40 minutes. 
5. Turn off heat and let stand 10 minutes.
6. Fluff with a fork and stir in green onions

Meringue Nests

Ingredients
4 large egg whites
.5 cup sugar
.25 t cream of tartar
food coloring
8 oz tub of Cool Whip {you won't use all of it}
6 cups of your favorite berries, fresh or frozen {thaw if using frozen}


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Spray 2 baking sheets with pan spray and line with parchment
3. With an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until the whites reach soft peaks
4. Add in sugar and continue whisking until stiff and glossy.
5. Drop 4 mounds of meringue on each baking sheet and use the back of a spoon to make an indentation in it and spread them out to about 4 inches {you can also use a piping bag and pipe your nests}
6. Bake meringues about 1.5 hours, until they are dry, rotating halfway through.
7.  Cool completely then fill with Cool Whip and top with fresh berries.

Greek Yogurt FroYo

It was close to 80 today!  Spring is finally back!  I'm so excited.  The next week is supposed to be gorgeous and I plan on spending as much time enjoying it as possible.  

Monday was crazy.  So many exciting things happened.  My study materials came, I met with my trainer, my body fat measurer also arrived.  Tuesday was insane due to running errands and Mantha had her opening nite for the yearly musical that the school does.  Today my coach sent my first workout and meal plan.  My nutrition is super tight.  Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month, a month designated to focus on making healthier food choices for better overall health and wellness?  This year the theme for Nutrition Month is “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right,” which is easy when you include California dairy products. 

The California Milk Advisory Board, which represents more than 1500 dairy families, is celebrating “dairy good” nutrition by asking Recipe ReDux members to “lighten up” some of their favorite recipes with California dairy.

In addition to calcium benefits, dairy in any form – whether it’s low-fat milk with cereal, a yogurt parfait, a smoothie, or egg and cheese sandwich – packs protein – which helps keep you full until your next meal. The California Milk Advisory Board and their nutrition partner, The Dairy Council of California, understand that dairy plays a vital role in contributing to an overall healthy diet and in support of National Nutrition Month wants to encourage everyone to adopt healthy food habits with dairy.

Recipe ReDux members are being challenged to lighten up their favorite recipes using at least one California dairy product as an ingredient in recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, side dish, snack, appetizer or dessert. 

Real California Milk and dairy products are sold nationwide and can be identified with the Real California Milk or Real California Cheese seals on packaging. California is the number one dairy state in the U.S., producing more butter, milk and ice cream than any other state. California is number two in cheese and yogurt production. 

I decided to lighten up one of my favorite desserts, frozen yogurt.  I love this recipe.  Sweet, creamy frozen yogurt that is actually healthy.  Yes, you heard right!  HEALTHY!
  The girls asked me to turn it into milkshakes for them.  

Fat Free Mixed Berry Frozen Yogurt
Makes approximately 2 quarts (8 - 1/2 cup servings) 
Calories:  99
Fat:  0.2
Carbs:  15.5
Sugar:  13.3
Protein:   8.5

Ingredients
.5 cup skim milk
.25 cup fat-free dry milk
2 T sugar
2 t plain gelatin
1.33 cup skim milk
2 cups mixed berries {I used a mixture of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries}
.66 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
2 cups California fat free plain Greek yogurt


Directions

1. In mixing bowl combine .5 cup skim milk and dry milk
2. Put bowl and beaters in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.
3. While the bowl is in the freezer puree strawberries with the sugar. {you can leave some out and dice them if you'd like some chunks}  Set aside
4. Bring the bowl out of the freezer and beat on high until it reaches soft peak.  Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  Refrigerate until ready to use
5. In a saucepan combine gelatin and 1.33 cups of milk.  Let it sit for 1 minute then cook over low heat until gelatin dissolves.  Set aside
6. Combine strawberries, gelatin, vanilla and yogurt.  
7. Fold in whipped dry milk.
8. Freeze in an ice cream maker and place in freezer for at least 1 hour

What's your favorite warm weather dessert?  

I received a gift card to offset the expense of my ingredients. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

An InLinkz Link-up

Staring at a Blank Screen.....

I have had a major case of writer's block.  It probably doesn't help that a few super awesome recipes I wanted to share with you have failed miserably.  {Yes, even I have failures} The past few days I've been trying to work on a few different posts.  Every one is really difficult for me to write.  

I'm a lover of a few different things:

1. Carbs
2. Breakfast for Dinner
3. Breakfast Sandwiches

I occasionally get cravings for McDonald's breakfast biscuits.  The sausage one was my favorite.  When I get that craving I make them for dinner.  Unfortunately I can't just crack open a can of biscuits like many people do.  I make my own biscuits.  I've shared the recipe with you before.  But it's a "stupid simple" recipe.  So simple you cacn't mess it up.  2 cups of flour, 8 ounces of sour cream or cottage cheese, .25 cup skim milk and 1 Tablespoon baking powder. 

For dinner the other nite I decided to add an extra healthy spin to it.  I added shredded vegetables.  I used squash and carrots but, I bet other vegetables would work well too.  Broccoli or cauliflower would probably be perfect in this.  I'm also betting that this could be done using Gluten Free flour.  Or Bisquick.  If youo  use Bisquick then omit the baking powder.  

Vegetable Biscuits
Makes 10
Calories:  117
Fat:  0.4
Carbs:  22.3
Protein:  5.6

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
8 oz fat free cottage cheese
.25 cup skim milk
1 medium yellow squash, grated
5 baby carrots, grated
1 T minced garlic

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Whisk together flours, and baking powder
3. In a separate bowl mix together cottage cheese, milk, squash, carrots and garlic
4. Stir wet ingredients into dry {I ended up using my hands to mix it}
5. Dump dough onto a floured cutting board and knead a few times.  
6. Roll out and use a cookie cutter or glass to cut out biscuits
7. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes

Luckily my kids like vegetables.  But Kaylee said the oddest thing to me when we were eating these.  She said "I don't like to know what's in my food before I eat it."  She is so used to me using unusual ingredients that she doesn't want her opinion on them swayed by knowing what the ACTUAL ingredients are.  

Hello Spring? Is That You?

The last week has been crazy!  Gorgeous one day, rainy and gross the next.  I love being outside and so does Sunny.  On every nice day we've either had errands to run, stuff to do, or I haven't been feeling well so I've promised her to goto the park the following day.  The following day it has rained each time!  Today was one of those rainy days.  

Despite the rain it's been warm the past week also.  This means {atleast to me} that winter is finally over!  And no more winter means that I can start planting my seeds.  I started my seeds today.  I'm growing peas, watermelon, dill, sunflowers, spaghetti squash, spinach and a few other things.  I'm not trying to go completely wild and I'm only planting stuff that I will eat.  I still need to pick up carrots, corn and a few different varieties of berries.  My goal is to actually eat the things I grow.  Last year I didn't use many of the vegetables that came out of my garden.

As a celebration for my new set of vegetables and the warm weather coming I made a loaf of carrot raisin bread.  It was so good!  I had to tear myself away from it.  {I'm seriously a carbo-holic}  This bread would be awesome for breakfast.  

I think you need to go run to the store and pick up the ingredients for it and make it.   

Carrot Raisin Bread
Adapted From:  Clean Eating Magazine  (/)
Serves: 8
Nutritional information follows

Ingredients
.75 cup whole wheat flour
.75 cup all pourpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
.5 T ground cinnamon
.66 cup grated apple
1 cup grated carrot
egg substitute equivilent to 1 egg
1 single serve Greek Yogurt (I used toasted coconut vanilla)
.5 cup sugar free maple syrup


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan
2. Whisk together dry ingredients
3. In a separate bowl stir together wet ingredients, carrots and apple
4. Mix wet into dry
5. Spoon into baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (mine took about an hour)

I've got big news, and A LOT of new recipes coming for you in the near future.  I'm really excited to share all of it with you.  Share something with me.  Are you planting anything this year?  Do you prefer to be indoors or outdoors?  

Ken's Pistachio Pasta

My husband loves to cook.  I'm always surprised at how creative he is in the kitchen.  He can open the pantry or fridge and come up with an amazing dish no matter what is in there.  

A few weeks ago I entered a contest that I needed to use pistachio's in the recipe.  Ken made a recipe too.  I was very impressed.  He literally went to the grocery store and thought this up off the top of his head.  I really wish I could be as quick in the kitchen as he is.  One of the categories was "kid friendly."  He actually made this with the kids in mind.      

Ingredients
1 lb tricolor rotini
.5 cup shelled pistachios
3 beer brawts
1 (16 oz) jar garden vegetable pasta sauce
.5 onion, diced

Directions

1. Cook rotini according to package directions
2. Crush pistachios and set aside
3. Heat pan over med-high
4. Remove casing from sausages and crumble the meat.  Cook until meat is done 
5. Drain the sausage fat from pan, add in onion and saute until translucent
6. Pour in pasta sauce and heat 
7. When pasta is done, drain, put into a bowl and sprinkle 1/4 of the crushed pistachios on top
8. Top pasta with sauce mixture and then top with remaining pistachios 

The kids really liked the pasta.  I love getting them to describe food to me.  The words that they gave me were "creamy", "a pleasant saltiness", "rich" and various other words you don't expect from a kid.  I am totally raising a clan of foodies and I love it.  

Sometimes I look at my relationship with my kids and think about how the relationship with my parents has changed over the last almost 30 years.  I can honestly say I never had a bad relationship with my parents.  As a teenager I thought we actually had a good relationship.  I wasn't a perfect kid but, I still loved my parents {98% of the time}  

As I grew older and had kids I started to appreciate my parents alot more.  Being an adult and raising kids is HARD!  You never realize how easy your parents make it look until you have kids of your own and have to do it all.  My parents helped me out alot when Kaylee and Mo were younger.  I will never be able to even begin to repay them for everything they've done for me.  {But that is another story, for another time}

I really hope that my girls' and I have just as good of a relationship over the next 70 years as I have had with my parents.  

How has YOUR relationship with your parents changed over the years?

Chinese New Year

Every year I tell Ken that I'm going to make a Chinese dinner in honor of the Chinese New Year he replies with the same 4 words, "but we're not Chinese."  Yes Ken, I know, we're Korean.  Yes, he's half Korean.  He is the reason I love Korean food.

This year I told him that we were having Korean in order to celebrate Seollal, the Korean lunar new year.  Seollal is the first day of the Korean Lunar Calendar.  It falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice.  This day is about family and ancestors.  It's one of the most important Korean holidays.

2014 is the year of the Horse.  According to the Official Korea Tourism Organization,

"Every year is represented by one of the 12 zodiac signs, which take the form of animals known as Sibijisin. These signs change with every new year and rotate over a 12 year cycle. For a fun activity at the beginning of each year, people, especially elders, analyze the relationship between their birth year zodiac sign and the new year's sign to find out their fortune. 

The year 2014 is referred to as "Gaponyeon" or "The Year of the Horse." The horse is the seventh in the group of twelve guardian animal deities collectively known as the Sibijisin, which literally means "twelve (sibi) gods of the earth (jisin)." People born in the year of the horse are said to be open-minded and have a cheerful disposition with a good sense of humor. They are likely to achieve success in any activities they undertake. However, they can be somewhat self-centered and must beware of trifling away money on pleasures."

For more information on the Sibijisin check out the links at the bottom of the post.


So onto dinner.  I pulled out my tried and true Korean cookbook.  The Complete Book of Korean Cooking by Young Jin Song.  I love this book.  I have used it too many times to count to make myself many Korean meals.  {Buy it HERE}  I decided that I wanted my favorite noodle dish, Japchae,  and fried zucchini (hobakjeon.)  Unfortunately Japchae was the 1 recipe that is NOT included in the book.  So, I turned to the internet and found a recipe on Korean Bapsang.  Get the recipe HERE for the Japchae and the recipe for the fried zucchini HERE.

Japchae

HobakJeon

The most time consuming part of all of these dishes was the chopping.  I was in the kitchen for nearly an hour chopping, slicing and dicing.  After all that is done the meal comes together quickly

Everything turned out delicious.  Yet, it all paled in comparison to my mother-in-law's cooking.  Me making Korean dishes is alot like when I make a recipe of my mother's.  It doesn't have exactly the same flavor as my mother's or my mother-in-laws.  Maybe I'm lacking the same love that they made it with?  Ken raved about it to his mom, who was very impressed.

Below are some links about the Lunar New Year celebration in Korea.  Did you make anything interesting for the Lunar New Year?

KoreanTourism.org: Seollal (Lunar New Year) Celebrations in Korea

KoreanTourism.org: Sibijisin Story

Samantha Birthday Cake Recipes and Birthday Recap

The initial plan for today was a trip to the zoo {hello calorie burner!} but, due to yucky weather we had to change our plans.  I am the Queen of Plan B.  I always have a plan B especially for activities that are going to be outdoors.

Buddie had an appointment to be neutered today so our day started early because his drop-off was scheduled for 8:15. Breakfast was a special raspberry coffee cake. After we dropped off Buddie I surprised Mo by picking up Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 so we could have lunch and a movie.  The movie was really cute.  I'm thinking there will be a movie themed dinner in the future.

After the movie we headed over to the Allure European Day Spa.  They were awesome with the girls.  Each of the girls got a manicure, pedicure, hair cut and the stylist even did a really cute braid for each one.  

When we got home I started on dinner.  Mo decided that she wanted tacos for her birthday dinner.  I used Boca soy crumbles for the "meat" and seasoned it using Mrs. Dash Taco Seasoning.  I also made taco shrimp using baby shrimp.  I seasoned it with chili powder, paprika, onion powder, minced garlic and cumin.  It worked really well.  After dinner was cake a presents.  Mo is obsessed with One Direction and panda bears {do you know how hard it is to find things with pandas on them?}  Her cake was a panda bear cupcake cake with I love 1D written on it.  She asked for half of her cupcakes to be chocolate and the other half to be strawberry.  I was really amazed at how well BOTH of these recipes worked.  The chocolate cake was just as moist as a tradional full fat cake and the strawberry cake tasted like strawberry ice cream.  I did the standard Cool Whip frosting.  The recipe for all 3 are below.  

Mo had a great day.  Here are all the pictures from the day:

Chocolate Cake
adapted from Hershey's "Especially Dark" Chocolate Cake Recipe

1.5 cups sugar
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
.25 cup cornstarch
.75 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
egg substitute/egg whites equivilent to2 eggs
1 cup skim milk
.5 cup pureed zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325.  Grease muffin tins.  (The recipe says it makes between 28 and 30 cupcakes)
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl mix egg substite/egg whites, milk, zucchini and vanilla
4. Stir wet ingredients into dry
5. Pour in water and blend well
6. Put batter into muffin tins and bake for 30-35 minutes
7. Cool  in pan for 10 minutes then finish cooling on a rack. 

•  

Strawberry Cake

Adapted From Paula Deen's 1-2-3-4 Cake Recipe

1.5 cup sugar
2.5 cup flour
.5 cup cornstarch
1.5 T baking powder 
1 cup strawberry puree
egg substitute/ egg whites equivilent to 4 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1 t strawberry extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease 24-30 muffin tins
2. Mix together dry ingredients
3. In a separate bowl mix your wet ingredients
4. Stir your wet into your dry
5. Fill muffin tin 3/4 full and bake for 30-35 minutes.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then place on a rack to finish cooling

Frosting

8 oz Cool Whip

1 package Pudding

1 cup milk

Directions

1. Whisk together milk and pudding mix
2. Fold in Cool Whip
3. Place in fridge for atleast 30 minutes before using.

How do you celebrate your kids' birthdays?

Something It's Not

January 23rd, 1/23, 123.  Don't you wish everything in life could be as easy as 1,2,3?  I know I do.  But, you know what's easy?  Saying "happy birthday."  It's my mommy's birthday!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  She's the one who taught me how to cook.  She showed me nothing is hard and she's one of my biggest supporters.

Winter has finally settled in down here.  Mornings and evenings are in the 30's and the afternoons are only getting up to the low 60's (if we're lucky.)  I can honestly say I did NOT move to Florida for this weather!  It beats the winters in Virginia any day though.

Winters aren't easy for me.  I'm not a winter person.  My body wants to shut down.  Honestly I think in my previous life I was a bear.  I really wish I could start hibernating. Okay, enough about how cold I am.

I find that altering a recipe to taste like something else isn't easy.  But, I managed to make a pizza that has the same great flavors as lasagna.  Yes, LASAGNA!  I'd love to say that this recipe was born from pure creativity and that fact that I'm that awesome but honestly, it wasn't.  It was born from lack of time.

Lasagna Pizza

Ingredients
1 recipe of pizza dough
2 oz fat free ricotta
2 onions, sliced thin
16 oz mushrooms, sliced
.5 - 1 cup tomato puree
7 oz vegan sausage (I use Light Life Gimmie Lean Sausage)
16 oz fat free mozzarella cheese
3 cups spinach (optional)

Directions

1. Saute the mushrooms and onions separately
2. Roll out pizza dough and spread a thin layer of ricotta
3. Spread half the sauce on top of ricotta layer, cover with mushrooms and onions and the sausage, half the mozzarella, the other half of the sauce, put the spinach on now (if you're using it)  and the rest of the mozzarella.
4. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 25 minutes until the crust is brown and the cheese is melted.

Every Day is a Good Day For Pizza

Recipe Redux day!  The theme for the January is Pizza Party.  If you type "pizza recipes" into Google, it finds 99,400,000 results.  Did you know that pizza is a $32 billion industry?  $32 BILLION!!  That's crazy.  Pizza is a $32 billion industry and you can't find a fat free pizza {I actually found a company that mail orders fat free pizza and I have contacted them to see if I can't review their product for you.  I'll keep you updated}  

I love pizza.  I love to eat it and I love to make it.  It's a blank slate that you can customize as much - or as little- ask you'd like.  You never have to eat the same pizza twice.  I watch alot of cooking shows and read alot of cooking blogs so, I've seen quite a few pizza combinations. But, really there are 4 main components to a pizza.  The crust, the sauce, the toppings and the cheese.  Here are just a few options for pizza:

Sauce
Alfredo
Tomato
Pesto
Minced garlic/garlic paste

Vegetable Toppings (honestly most vegetables work on a pizza)
Mushrooms
Onions
Olives
Green Peppers
Spinach
Jalapenos
Banana Peppers
Tomatoes
  
Protein Toppings
Pepperoni
Sausage
Chicken
Ground Beef

Cheese 
Mozzarella
Cheddar
Feta
Ricotta
Any hard cheese that you can grate


There are many ways to put these pizza parts together.  There's a traditional pizza, deep dish, a stromboli {basically a rolled pizza}, and a calzone {a folded over pizza}

I have many many pizzas {pizza night is a monthly thing in our house} and I have eaten many pizzas.  Ken's favorite when we were living in Virginia was a white pizza from Reynolds Street Bar and Grill in Alexandria.  CLICK HERE for a link to their website.  I've never actually had a favorite place for pizza but, before I became the Fat Free Queen my favorite pizza was a Barbecue Chicken Pizza.  {Which you can actually make VERY low fat using vegan chick'n}  

With 5 people in the house it's hard to decide on pizza toppings.  Luckily, we can all agree on mushrooms and onions.  On the days that we have time I like to let everyone make their own personal pizza.  A couple Fridays ago I had a serious craving for pizza.  Friday is one of our eat-on-the-run days.  We have to be at cheer AND swim at 5:00 so dinner is eaten in the car.  

Pizza isn't really a car food.  I made calzones so  that the mess would be minimized. Everyone in the house enjoys BFD (Breakfast For Dinner) so I made breakfast calzones.  Scrambled eggs, melty cheese, sauteed mushrooms and onions, vegetarian sausage and tomato sauces wrapped in crunchy, yet soft pizza dough.  Perfection!

Breakfast Calzones
Serves 5
Calories: 455
Total Fat: 1 gram
Cholesterol: 10 grams
Sodium: 1,053
Carbs: 70 grams
Fiber: 7.6 grams
Protein: 39 grams


Ingredients
10 egg whites (or equivalent egg substitute)
5-10 slices of fat free cheese
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 onions, sliced
1 recipe for your favorite pizza dough
1.25 c tomato sauces/pizza sauce/pasta sauce
5-10 oz vegetarian sausage (I used light life)



Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Saute onions until soft and translucent (7-10 minutes)
3. Saute mushrooms 5-7 minutes
4. Divide pizza dough into 5 portions and roll out into circles
5. Cook eggs
6. On one half of the dough layer: .25 cup sauce, eggs, cheese, sausage, mushrooms, and onions.  Fold other side over filling, crimp closed, cut 2-3 slits in the top (so it can vent), spray top with a bit of pan spray
7. Place on a greased sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown

With the Super Bowl coming soon you could even make these mini and serve them as an appetizer!  

The Possibilities of Pudding

Simple, healthy, low calorie dessert.  Those words aren't found together very often are they?  I always bounce around with my favorite dessert.  For a month it will be fruit with cream, another month it's broiled bananas, another month it's something else.

My new favorite dessert is pudding.  Simple packaged pudding.  It's light in both calories and feeling, it's quick and it's really easy.  Best of all?  You can customize it to your liking.  Jello makes 8 different flavors of fat free, sugar free pudding mixes.  Jello's sugar free, fat free pudding has 80 calories in 1/2 a cup and even if you add 2 tablespoons of Fat Free Cool Whip you'll only add 15 calories.  So, for 95 calories you get a pretty substantial, yummy, cheap, easy dessert.  There's a different flavor for every mood.  I've listed some of my favorite flavor combinations below.  

Combinations

Chocolate 
Any berry (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries)
PB2
Bananas

Banana
Bananas
Cinnamon
Raspberries
Strawberries

Butterscotch
Rum extract

Cheesecake
Orange
PB2
Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)

Pistachio
Cherries
Cranberries
Lemon

Vanilla
Bananas
Berries



Now that I've given you some examples get to the store and pick up some pudding!!  

Are there any flavor combinations I've forgotten?  What do you like to add to your pudding?