Kitchen of a Lazy Girl

K.I.S.S.!

2010-07-26T21:59:00.001-04:00

I tried baking a cake last night to bring to my coworkers. It called for 1 cup of oil. I used 1 cup of coconut oil instead of vegetable oil because I wanted it to have coconut flavor.

But I think the recipe is totally flawed! It ended up being such a greasy mess of a cake! Yuck! I realized I need to take a step back and go to the basics: simple, effective, delicious recipes. I have to remember: "K.I.S.S."

Keep

Simple

Stupid!!!

So, tonight I decided to make up for it and bake muffins... for the first time ever I actually created a recipe from scratch! My very own! I just threw together stuff I had in my apartment, but it was triggered by the two over-ripe bananas that had been sitting around.

Black-Eye Banana Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition and recipe here.

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 cup raw agave nectar

1/4 fat free yogurt

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

12 blackberries

3/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pan with non-stick spray.

Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix remaining ingredients except blackberries and almonds until smooth. Gently incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Spoon batter into each muffin well no more than 1/4 of the way full. Top with a blackberry, followed by remaining batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F until edges are golden, about 18 minutes. NOTE: The toothpick test isn't recommended because the blackberry will mess with the "clean" result! :)

Remove from the oven and keep in the pan for a few minutes before letting them cool on a wire rack.

After making these muffins, I felt really confident. I went for a bike ride and was so motivated and energetic that I decided to attempt making granola yet again! I've tried making granola not once, not twice, but three times in the recent past. Every time... I burned it. :(

But tonight was a success!

I didn't take any photos... maybe I will tomorrow while I enjoy a serving with my breakfast at work. It'll be low-quality (as my camera will be my iPhone!) but we'll see. Anyway, here is the recipe if you want to check it out!

Raw Shopping

2010-07-20T20:33:00.000-04:00

I'm very open to new dietary styles, choices, and options. In April 2009 I decided to eat a vegetarian diet for a month, just to challenge myself and learn how to cook in a different way than I'm used to. I found it surprisingly easy to do, so about a year later I decided to eat a vegan diet for the same reason that I did the vegetarian thing the year before.

Although I'm not at the point of wanting to do another culinary challenge just yet, I'm continuing to experiment with things I eat. I definitely consider myself a flexitarian, as I eat meat rarely; for example, I had some tuna for lunch, but before that I think the last time I had meat was... um... sometime last week? I'd say out of the protein I eat, 10% of it is meat/poultry/seafood. About 25% of it is animal by-products (dairy & eggs) and the rest is from grains, cereals, soy, legumes, beans, nuts, etc.

Since starting this blog and getting more well-versed in cooking, baking, and food in general, I started utilizing Google Reader to follow lots of foodie, gardening, fitness, health, and local Cincinnati blogs. One of the foodie/health blogs I recently began following is Raw Reform. Through the blog, I discovered their store: The Raw Food World

When I discover new things involving my passions (technology, gadgets, and of course food!) I want to buy buy buy!

So, I bought bought bought...

cacao nibs
coconut oil
chia seeds
medjool dates
shredded coconut
goji berries

Obviously all of it is raw. The package came with free samples of some vegan protein powder and a couple of supplements, though I'm not sure if/when I'll try either of them. Except for the dates and goji berries, I've never eaten or cooked with any of the other items.

I've since tried the cacao nibs, which kind of remind me of espresso beans (yum)! Once I get the rest of my kitchen tools and gadgets out of boxes, I plan on experimenting with the rest of the stuff. Nom nom nom!

Have you ever looked into raw foodism? What are your opinions about it?

Welcome to My New Kitchen

2010-07-18T15:16:00.000-04:00

As I said in a previous blog posts, I moved into a new apartment on the 4th of July weekend. My kitchen is ~~a bit~~ much smaller than my last apartment, but there are benefits: gas range, stainless steel counter top, and more windows (which means better lighting for photos).

So, without further ado...

Welcome!

My workspace!

Yup, it's small. Also, since taking the photo above, I put my microwave to the right of my range... temporarily. I have most of the cabinets full, but I'm waiting on my boyfriend to arrive for me to put most of it away.

See all of my appliances still in boxes? That's because my boyfriend is bringing a 3-tier shelf/cart that I will be using to hold my appliances (including my microwave), as well as other kitchen things.

This will help free up my counter space, which is very little as is! So, until then I will be using hard work (not my Kithchen Aid mxier!) to do my baking, cooking, etc.

I haven't baked anything and haven't even cooked very much at all in the 2 weeks I've lived here. With all of my appliances (except my microwave) and some of my cookware still in boxes, I've been unmotivated to make do with what I have at my disposal thus far. That is... until this afternoon!

First, I had to hunt through my two remaining kitchen boxes to find my mixing bowls, as well as hope when I found them that they were all still in one piece! Luckily they were! Now, it's time to bake!

Mocha Oat Mini-Muffins

Makes approx. 44 mini-muffins.

Nutrition and recipe here.

1.25 cups whole wheat flour
.75 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup dutch process cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
1 packet Starbucks Via coffee granules
.5 cup coconut oil
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup light soy milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all wet ingredients ins a small bowl and add to dry mix.

When combined, fill greased mini-muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins and let them cool on a wire rack.

If you want to make large muffins, bake for about 15 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

A [Belated] Patriotic Pie

2010-07-12T21:19:00.000-04:00

I made this for my coworkers the day before my vacation began. All of my bakeware was in boxes in preparation of my move. I didn't want to buy tons of stuff to bake with, or to use my cleaned oven, so a no-bake cake or pie was the only option!

Patriotic Creme Pie

Serves 8 to 12.

8 oz cream cheese

12 packets Truvia (or other stevia sweetener)

8 oz Sugar Free Cool Whip

1/2 cup raspberries + some for topping

1/2 cup blueberries (more or less...)

1 graham cracker pie crust

Blend cream cheese and Truvia until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip until completely combined. Take half of the mixture and put it in a separate bowl.

Take 1/2 cup raspberries and mash them up until juicy. Pour the smashed raspberries into one of the cool whip mixtures and stir to combine. Pour into the crust and smooth into an even layer. Top with the plain cool whip mixture and spread until it covers the raspberry mixture completely and is flat on top.

Arrange blueberries and remaining raspberries on top in any way you'd like... get creative! :) Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight is best).

I'm Back! - My Absence in Photos, Part 1

2010-07-09T18:55:00.001-04:00

I've been M.I.A. for over a week - I'm sorry! But, I have an excuse...

I was moving! I only moved 8 miles, but I needed all the help I could get, so my parents also visited. One of the first things I did was take my mom to Jungle Jim's: an incredible, unique, gigantic international food market north of Cincinnati.

Even on the outside, it's an eclectic-looking place! It's... uh... jungle-themed, obviously! Words can't really describe the ginormousness (hell, even "ginormousness" isn't a word and it's the only way I can explain this place!) of Jungle Jim's, so I'll show you [mostly] in photos I took during our visit:

Booze.

A hybrid banana-pineapple (seriously), and a giant turkey leg.

Some kind of weird fruit, and ghost chiles - the hottest pepper in the world!

Delicious sushi we bought and ate for lunch, and an 8-pack of duck heads (for under $2.50... what a deal!).

Um... instant spring rolls (??!!) and a can of "white gourd drink".

The biggest marshmallows EVER!!!

Our cart of goodies. Nom.

This is just a small, miniscule glimpse into Jungle Jim's; every time I'm there, I discover at least 10 new things! If you're in the Cincinnati, Dayton, eastern Indiana, or northern Kentucky area, definitely take a weekend afternoon trip there!

During my parents' trip here, a lot of food-related things happened: dinner, shopping, cooking, etc. I'll blog all about it... but right now I need to get back to unpacking!

Simple Frozen Decadence

2010-06-28T19:28:00.001-04:00

Since the beginning of my weight-loss journey over two years ago, I became a huge fan of smoothies. I had my basic recipe:

1/4 cup frozen fruit/berries
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup liquid (soy milk, almond milk, or some kind of fruit juice)

Easy peasy, but sometimes I'd add "eyeball" the amounts incorrectly and end up with a smoothie that was way too thick. It would sometimes just get stuck around the edges of my blender and I'd have to add more liquid to it just to make it pour-able!

Little did I know, what I was actually doing was making a frozen yogurt-like dessert! I've read on many blogs and websites of dairy-free "frozen yogurt" that uses frozen bananas, however I never tried it until Saturday. In the past three days I've made two versions of it (each amazing in their own way) and plan on making more!

The base of the recipe is simple:

1 frozen banana
a splash (approx. 2 tablespoons) of liquid, such as soy milk, almond milk, or juice

To make it into your own custom creation, just add some mix-ins!

Here's my Tropical Freeze version:

1 frozen banana
8 pieces Trader Joe's Frozen Mango Chunks (approx. 1 cup)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
a splash Trader Joe's Unsweetened Soy Milk

Blend it all together until it's nice and smooth!

For something a bit more decadent, I also made an Almond Cocoa Freeze:

1 frozen banana
a splash of Trader Joe's Unsweetened Soy Milk
1 heaping teaspoon almond butter
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
slivered almonds, optional (as a topping)

This one was so rich and chocolatey, I could barely taste the banana flavor.

My boyfriend absolutely despises bananas (and, believe it or not, he doesn't like any fruit *gasp!*) to the point that he can't even see them without thinking the room smells foul. I've read many places that this banana frozen treat doesn't taste much like bananas, but I definitely can taste it. I hope to find a way to camouflage the flavor so my boyfriend can enjoy this healthy alternative to ice cream! I'm also hoping to make ice pops out of this stuff, and maybe even swirl some kind of syrup, jam, jelly, or honey in it to make it more like the confections in shoppes and supermarkets!

What combinations or varieties would you like to see? I will try to make some of them and feature the recipe in future blog posts!

Cleaning the Pantry

2010-06-27T13:52:00.002-04:00

I'm moving to a new apartment in less than two weeks. Despite it only being 8 miles away, I still want to consume the foods that I have on hand so I don't have to rush perishables and frozen goods from here to there and worry about it going bad! (Maybe that's just an excuse to eat my kitchen clean, haha.)

So, for the past few weeks I've been food shopping very very little, only getting things like spinach or soy milk - things I go through quickly and eat regularly. Some stuff I still have yet to consume that I really need to are:

Frozen veggies
Trader Joe's Chili Lime Chicken Burgers (frozen, though I may try to pack those in a cooler because I doubt I can eat all 6 in the next week!)
Tofu
Carrots
Eggs
Carton of egg whites
Soy milk
Orange juice
Tofurky sausages
Greek yogurt

...and probably other stuff that I can't think of right now that's been sitting in my fridge/freezer for a while.

In an attempt to begin the pantry-purging, I made some vegetarian pot-pies earlier this week using some of the things from the aforementioned list (frozen veggies, tofu, soy milk).

Vegetarian Pot Pie

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition info here.

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
2/5 block of extra firm tofu
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk
1 package Bird's Eye Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray 4 ramekins with non-stick spray and set aside.

Cook Bird's Eye vegetables according to instructions. Cut tofu into small cubes and toss with paprika until coated. Add remaining veggies and remaining ingredients (except puff pastry) and mix until combined.

Evenly distribute the mixture into the ramekins. Cut puff pastry into quarters (4 squares) and top each ramekin with one square. Cut a few slits (be creative how they look!) into the top of each puff pastry. Brush some egg white on top of each puff pastry (this isn't shown in the nutrition info).

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Now, I think I need to get back to cleaning and packing. Luckily my mom is arriving on Tuesday (my dad arrives on Saturday) to help me finish up my packing and cleaning and to provide much-needed assistance with the move itself! Maybe they'll help me eat my food, too...!

An Exchange of Goods

2010-06-20T20:28:00.001-04:00

A coworker of mine has a fun little agreement with me that began in April. I made a butterscotch cake for the Keeneland horse race for a group of people I barely knew (as I was invited by a friend, yet knew nobody else!). One guy in particular was commenting on how great the cake was and told me that his mother makes her own apple sauce and has been doing so for years.

Since then he has brought me a jar of his mom's apple sauce with one catch: I have to make something with it, and as payment I get to keep the rest of the jar of apple sauce for my own enjoyment. I happily agreed!

I've baked muffins for him the first time around but because of our schedules never really working out with one another, it wasn't until last week that he could get another batch for me. The muffins I made last time weren't that great, so I decided to take a different route: bars.

Apple Oat Bars

Makes 20 bite-sized bars.

Based on this recipe.

Filling:

3/4 cup apple sauce

1 cup dried apple rings, chopped roughly

Base/Topping:

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar Splenda blend

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

2 egg whites

1/4 cup melted margarine

1/4 cup apple sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 baking dish.

Mix together filling ingredients and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients. Add melted butter, followed by all remaining wet ingredients.

Press half of the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan, as evenly as possible. Spread filling over crust. Top with remaining oat mixture, pressing evenly so it covers all of the filling.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool before cutting.

Fill-You-Up Breakfasts

2010-06-06T20:36:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to broaden my breakfast horizons lately. I want to try to stay away from boxed cereals, frozen waffles, and other foods that my lazy self normally enjoys and stick with whole foods. I'm no hippie (or maybe I'm in denial...) but I like cooking from scratch, so why engorge in boxed foods? I need to embrace my creativity... with minimal work, haha! Anyway...

Usually I use my over-ripe bananas to make banana bread; but, honestly, after a while it gets pretty mundane to just make banana bread all the time!

I decided to come up with a random breakfast food a couple of weeks ago using some bananas that were nearing their end.

Banana Pan-Cakes

Makes 6 Cakes

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup ground flax meal

2 ripe bananas

1/2 tsp cinnamon

a spash of soy milk

I mashed up all the ingredients together. It kind of looked like sticky oatmeal cookie batter while tasting like banana bread!

Form them into 6 patties (or however many you want) and brown them in a skillet. For me this was about 5 minutes on each side. Yum!

Next up, I really enjoy the idea of things cooking themselves while I sleep. A while ago I tried to make crock-pot oatmeal and failed miserably. This time I decided to stay away from the heat as to avoid further disappointment.

Maybe this isn't traditional muesli but it tastes good (and is good for you!) and I don't know what else to call it.

Lazy Girl Tropical Muesli

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition information is here.

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt

16 pieces frozen mango chunks

3 packets Truvia sweetener

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/3 cup unsweetened light soy milk

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. It'll be really thick. Cover with a lid and refrigerate overnight.

I've made this a couple of more times with fresh diced up strawberries and kiwi, coconut, and sunflower seeds. It's very versatile, so use whatever you have on hand!

Memorial Day Weekend (And Bad News)

2010-06-06T11:28:00.000-04:00

I lost my camera, which makes me really sad. I have a bad habit of losing things that I like, and this is one of those moments. I took it with me to Texas last weekend while I was visiting my brother, sister-in-law, nieces, and nephew. I have a lot of photos of a great weekend, as well as photos of the amazing food that we ate that I was hoping to share with you, my readers!

Unfortunately all I have are these photos that I took with my iPhone, but if I find my regular camera I will post the better photos as well. (Here's to hoping...)

My sister-in-law is Vietnamese and cooks the greatest Asian food I've ever had. This was my lunch the first day I was there: Vietnamese soup of some kind. It wasn't pho... but I forget the name. Broth, sprouts, cilantro, beef, noodles, and hot sauce on top.

My two nieces preparing some chicken dumplings, and the finished product (that I actually cooked!) which ended up pretty good. I was really flustered because, well, my sister-in-law sets the bar high with her cooking and I didn't want to disappoint!

For our first dinner there, and our next day's lunch, we had a crawfish bake!

Corn, potatoes, crawfish, dumplings... all of it spicyyyy because that's how we roll in our family! My lips were on fire, but it was totally worth it.

I really really hope I find my camera, not just because of the photos on it but also because I really don't want to be spending more money on things! I have a back-up camera but it's very unreliable and the quality isn't as good as my other one.

I have some other recipes, photos, and things to post here that I've been procrastinating doing, so hopefully that'll buy me time to find my camera!

LOST (...in baking)

2010-06-02T20:36:00.000-04:00

The series finale of LOST was just over one week ago. It was my favorite show on TV and the finale was awesome (at least in my opinion; others definitely feel differently!). In the past, I've baked some stuff for LOST, but definitely nothing compared to what I brought to my friend's finale party!

The best thing about this cake is a combination of two things: it looks complicated, but it's really a very basic technique!

LOST Finale Cake

1 box white cake mix (I used Reduced Sugar Pillsbury)

1 box dark chocolate cake mix (I used Reduced Sugar Pillsbury)

1/2 batch Creamy Vanilla Almond Icing + 1/4 cup Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder

1 tub creamy vanilla frosting (I used Reduced Sugar Pillsbury)

2 ounces Semisweet Baker's Chocolate

blue food coloring

green food coloring

Follow directions for cake using two 8" round cake pans (for each flavor of cake). I made the following substitutions:

Margarine for the butter
Unsweetened apple sauce for the oil

Let cakes cool completely before frosting. In the meantime, make the frosting (link above) by adding the cocoa powder before you add the powdered sugar. Set aside.

Also, make yourself the numbers... not just any numbers... but the numbers! ;) Melt the chocolate, put it in a piping bag (I used a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off of it), write the numbers on a piece of parchment or wax paper, and put in the fridge until hardened.

When cakes are cooled, stack them on top of each other.

I made 2 round chocolate pieces, one round white cake piece, and one square white cake piece (which will come into play later). My white layer was a bit wider than the chocolate so I trimmed it to fit.

Next, find something round to trace that's about half the diameter of the cake rounds. Mine was a cookie jar lid.

Using a knife with small serrations, I cut through all the layers of the cake at the same time. I repeated this through the one layer of square white cake. (You can use another round, but I only had 3 round cake pans, haha!) Then you'll have a core.

Rearranged the core to be the opposite of the outer ring. So, the outer ring is black-white-black and the inner ring is white-black-white. I used the black cake to make the dome on top, carving it as best I could. In between each layer I put the previously-made chocolate frosting to hold it all together.

I dyed 3/4 of the white store-bought tub of frosting blue (for the water) and the other 1/4 I dyed green (for the island's jungle).

First thing's first: let me explain why I'm not using home-made frosting. I didn't have the stuff, and I always keep an emergency stash of boxed cake mix and pre-made frosting for emergencies! If you want to make your own frosting, I always say go for it!

Now, it's time for the "crumb layer" of frosting. When frosting most cakes (especially when they've been cut into, like the dome "island") you'll get tons of crumbs in the frosting. So, I used about 1/4 of each frosting and did a thin layer, then let it sit for a little while (about 10 minutes) so the crumbs would stick more to the cake.

See the difference? :) All you need to do now is grab the numbers, and put them on the outside!

Now, what's with all of those cores and layers and stuff on the inside? Well, check it out!

For all of you LOST fans out there, I used three main themes from the series in this cake:

Black vs. White (the two kinds of cake)
The Island (the colored frosting)
The Numbers (the chocolate on the outside)

Dorky? Yes. Yummy? For sure! You can make boxed mixes into fabulous baked goods by just using simple techniques!

Subway Series Super-Simple Cupcakes!

2010-05-24T22:05:00.001-04:00

All you need to make a delicious, easy, not-too-bad-for-you cake (or cupcakes) are two ingredients:

12 ounces diet cola

1 box cake mix

That's it. If you've never heard of this or tried it, I bet it sounds weird. The first time I did this was about a year ago and I was really doubtful. At the time I used Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper and devil's food cake mix. (This time I used Diet Cherry-Vanilla Pepsi and devil's food cake, as you can see above.)

I mean... look at that! It looks so weird! But, when you mix it up a little and the carbonation dies down...

...it looks like regular [cup]cake batter. Go figure!

Give it a try and be creative with it! I've heard using diet cream soda with french vanilla cake mix tastes delicious. And that diet orange soda with vanilla cake mix tastes like a Creamsicle. Just beware of any potential color changes - don't use dark cola with a white cake mix unless you want a confusingly brown cake!

The full nutrition information for a 16-serving batch of this wonderful recipe can be found here.

Subway Series Cupcakes

Makes 16 Cupcakes

12 oz diet cola

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 batch Creamy Vanilla Almond Icing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with 16 paper liners.

Combine both ingredients until combined. Distribute batter evenly into liners (about 3/4 full) and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center. Let cool completely before frosting.

I used the above mentioned Almond Icing recipe but colored 1/4 of it orange (for the Amazin' Mets), left 1/4 of it white (for the stupid Yankees), and the remaining half was dyed blue (because both teams have blue as their color). Because I used liquid food coloring, it needed a bit more powdered sugar to hold the shape when the stars were piped on them; otherwise, the frosting recipe was followed completely and yielded great results! I've had horrible luck with frostings, but I think this will be my go-to recipe as it is easy to remember (equal parts cream cheese and butter, then powdered sugar until desired consistency... so simple!) and tastes great.

Oh, by the way: the Mets won the series 2-1. I'd like to think my cupcakes helped. :)

Hello Dolly!

2010-05-23T18:19:00.000-04:00

I've seen so many recipes for Hello Dolly bars, so I created my own version for a party last weekend. It ended up being more like a chewy candy bar because I used what I had on hand.

The recipes I'd seen call for coconut, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips; I used coconut, M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, and Heath Bar crumbles. Sugar, sugar, sugar, and more sugar! I also drizzled some dark chocolate on top of them to make them look prettier.

(Oh, don't forget that the whole mess is covered in condensed milk, which turns to dulce de leche when baked!)

Here's the basic recipe from Smitten Kitchen - I definitely recommend giving these a try! Even my ooey gooey horribly unhealthy version was awesome enough to quickly disappear at my friend's party! They were surprised, however, because I generally bake/cook healthy things... and these bars were anything but! I didn't bother calculating the nutrition information until a couple of days later because I knew I wouldn't be able to enjoy them knowing how bad they were!

But, you only live once, and it isn't like I ate the whole batch myself!

My tip for you tonight: when baking something decadent, overly sweet, or generally unhealthy -- it's a treat! Enjoy it... with friends!

In other news, I created a Twitter account for this blog, so please follow me!

Feelin' Fancy?

2010-05-17T21:10:00.001-04:00

I decided to try creating a fancy version of something basic: cornbread! I took a spin on the more common jalapeno-cheddar cornbread and made it with feta, basil, and a little bit of jalapeno instead. I also omitted all added oil and used grated zucchini instead. It was still incredibly moist, so you won't miss the oil at all, believe me!

Fancy Pants Cornbread

Makes 12 Muffins

Nutrition information is here.

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
3/4 cup grated zucchini (approx. 1 zucchini)
2 egg whites
4 basil leaves, finely chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
1.5 jalapeno peppers, diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick spray.

Mix dry ingredients until combined. Add wet ingredients and mix. Pour equally into 12 muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until crowns are golden.

These were best served immediately. The next day they were good, but the feta when at room-temperature was kind of weird. Next time I think I'll omit the feta and stick with a more melt-able cheese! Otherwise, it was a great success... even my coworkers liked them!

Breakin' In The Mixer: Multigrain Pizza Crusts

2010-05-14T18:37:00.001-04:00

I mentioned in my last post that I'd be making these pizza crusts when my Kitchenaid mixer arrives. Well, yesterday when I came home from work, I had a pleasant surprise at my front door!

Needless to say, everything I originally planned on doing (cleaning, calling my parents, etc.) was thrown out the window and I got to work on those pizza crusts!

It definitely tested my patience with this recipe. I'm not use to working with yeast... and it requires a lot more waiting than I'm used to! I followed the recipe almost exactly, save these minor changes:

I didn't have any sesame, poppy, or other seeds on hand, so I omitted them.
I didn't have dried onion, so I used 2 heaping tablespoons of Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb.
I used ground flax meal instead of flax seeds.
I only had 1/4 cup of oil (not 1/3).
I brushed the top of the crusts with vegetable oil and sprinkled dried oregano on top before baking.

Regardless, they were yummy! The recipe yielded 16 individual-sized crusts. I saved 4 in some parchment paper, 1 in the fridge, 6 in the freezer, and 4 I brought to work for a friend of mine. Yes, that only adds to 15... so what did I do with the 16th one?

I made a pizza, of course!

Green Monster Personal Pizza

Serves One

1 Multigrain Pizza Crust

1/2 haas avocado

2 tsp minced garlic

5 asparagus spears

8 leaves of baby spinach

1 oz. feta cheese

Top the crust with garlic, followed by spinach and asparagus. Crumble feta cheese on top as evenly as possible. Bake at 400 degrees F for 5-7 minutes or until crust gets golden on the edges. Remove from oven and top with avocado.

Yum!

Warning: Under Construction!

2010-05-14T11:31:00.002-04:00

I am messing around with a new blog template during my lunch break today. Things are going to look weird for a while, but I anticipate some good results! Be patient with me during this change.

Thank you!

Stick With What You Know

2010-05-13T08:29:00.001-04:00

When I first began food blogging, I did so in a healthy way: finding healthy alternatives for ingredients in restaurant cuisine that could be easily made at home. Thus came Fast Food Facelift.

Now that I've switched to this blog, I've forgotten my roots. I am a health nut at times... more times than not, so it seems! I need to get back to that! I love baking decadent desserts and such, but I do need to re-focus and do what I honestly love even more than caramel, cakes, and cookies: making tasty, healthy dishes that even the most inexperienced cook with the tiniest kitchen can prepare!

Last night I posted a blog about switching from Blogger to Wordpress. I created my new blog, transferring my posts here to the new one. I really do like the features of Wordpress, but I feel like it has less customization, doesn't allow advertising, and prevents me from using some of the widgets I enjoy and find useful on Blogger. So, again, I'm going to stick to what I know... by staying here on Blogger.

That being said, I'm trying to figure out what will be the first dish I'm making with my new Kitchenaid mixer! I really want to try something with meringue, but I think I should start with something a little simpler that I already have the ingredients for and something I'm more familiar with: bread.

I'm terrible at kneading. I get tired, bored, and... well... lazy!!! Now that I'll have my mixer (and a dough hook!) I'll be able to let it do a lot of the work for me! I'd made bread a while ago and although it was extremely tasty, it made WAY too much for just one person! Two loaves! WTF am I supposed to do with two loaves of bread! I offered some to coworkers, but they are more enthused about sweets rather than whole wheat artisan bread. *grumble* I used the bread as long as I could before it went bad, but I'm not doing that again unless I find a smaller recipe, have friends who want to buy my bread, or...

...make pizza dough!

I found this recipe on Cheeky Kitchen's blog and the whole idea of it! Lots of nutrition, lots of fiber, and it makes a lot BUT it can be frozen for later use!

It requires waiting for dough to rise (another thing to test my laziness and impatience, ugh) but I hope and think in the end that the results will be worth it! I'm busy Friday and Saturday, so I'll probably make them on Sunday... or if I'm feeling up for it, I'll make it tonight (if my mixer arrives today as planned)... we'll see!

A Childhood Dream

2010-05-12T07:19:00.000-04:00

Since I was a child, my mom and I would watch cooking shows together. I've always seen this magical, do-it-all machine on so many of these programs: the beloved Kitchenaid stand mixer.

Oh, how I wanted one! My parents didn't have one. Our home economics class we took in junior high school didn't have them. My grandparents, aunts and uncles, friend's families.... I swear nobody owned one! I never even used one myself in my 24 years!

Recently I won a contest on SparkPeople! My prize: a $250 gift card on Amazon.com!

Originally I told myself I'd save it for a couple of months until I move into the more bike-able city of Cincinnati and buy a bike. However, my 6-year-old self screamed at me the other day. "Buy the mixer!" she told me. "You can finally buy it! What's stopping you??" I further convinced myself that buying a bicycle should be done in person, not online.

Next thing I knew...

I bought it!!!

I got it in Gloss Cinnamon. It should arrive by Thursday. I'm absolutely enthralled!

I had some money to spare with my gift card, so I also purchased some reusable produce bags and reusable drinking straws. Goin' green (or at least pretending, haha)!

Well, I'm going to be late for work. I just had to scream this off the rooftops!

Spring Roll Tutorial

2010-05-10T22:18:00.000-04:00

Oh, spring rolls, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

They're so easy to make!
They're versatile: you can be creative and put nearly anything in them!
They're healthy (if you use the right ingredients and don't fry them, haha)!
They're fun to make!
And, of course, they're delicious!

So, here's how I do my egg-rollin':

Buy some rice paper. I'm pretty sure you can find this in the "international" aisle in your local major supermarket chain (Kroger, Safeway, Stop & Shop, Walmart, etc.) from a number of different brands. I got these at an international supermarket, though.

Choose some fillings. I'm all about well-balanced meals so I make sure I have some veggies and some protein; in this meal, I chose tofu sprinkled with paprika and chili powder, and some julienned carrots and zucchini. I've also used everything from tuna with spinach and avocado to shrimp with zucchini and arugula, and everything in between. Whatever you have on hand is just fine, believe me.

Add some pizzaz. Soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, mustard... whatever you want. But, I must say this: I am absolutely in love with Trader Joe's Satay Peanut Sauce. Love love love love love! I can't say enough about this stuff. It is godly. I use it with rice noodles, stir fry, and even as a substitute for pizza sauce when making home-made pizzas! Obviously, I use it in spring rolls as well, haha. I also use some crushed red pepper flakes to add a bit more spiciness. :)

Ready... assemble! First, you need two plates: one with water, and one without water. The one with water is used to soak your rice paper. The sheets are very thin and look opaque when you first see them. They need to be thoroughly moistened to be useable.

I never soak more than 2 sheets at a time because they tend to get stuck together if you have too many in the water. I let them sit for about 2 or 3 minutes, or until it is very very flexible... it kind of feels like skin when it's ready to be used. I pick up the sheet and shake it off gently, just a little, to get the excess water off of it.

Place the sheet on the empty non-watered plate. I usually let it sit for about 30 seconds before using so that the starch in the paper comes out and allows it all to stick together later. From personal experience, working with wet rice paper makes it really hard to keep your filling contained, and the edges won't stay sealed.

Now, here's the fun part:

Add your ingredients (don't forget the sauce!) in the center of the rice paper like this. Fold the bottom of the sheet upwards.

Fold one side inward...

Fold the top downward...

Then roll!

I make bento lunches for work and spring rolls are very common in them!

There you go! Now, go forth and make spring rolls!

Carb Addiction? Maybe!

2010-05-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

I'm realizing more and more as I look at the foods I'm eating on my SparkPeople nutrition tracker that I'm totally enamored with carbohydrates. Not necessarily white sugar (as I tend to use Truvia in my coffee, baking, etc.) or breads, but I eat lots of cereal, oatmeal, fruits, and other things that are high in carbs and naturally-occurring sugars.

But, since I've been baking and cooking more frequently due to this blog (more so baking than cooking!) I've been completely carb-crazy beyond what I've been previously!

Anyway, here are some delicious creations that were pretty simple! One is my very own creation, and one is from another blog.

Strawberry-Banana Flax Pancakes

Makes 6 Pancakes

1 cup Heart Smart Bisquick mix

2 tbsp ground flax meal

1 banana, mashed

3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk

4 strawberries, diced

2 packets Truvia sweetener

1 egg white

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Make pancakes with a 1/4 cup measuring cup and cook until brown on both sides.

I don't think these need any syrup because when you get a bite that has a bit of strawberry in it, you get a punch of sweetness! Man, Bisquick is awesome -- perfect for lazy folks like myself!

Cocoa Banana Cupcakes

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Taken from Love and Olive Oil.

This was really simple to make! Substitute apple sauce for the oil and Truvia for the sugar and it will be not-so-bad for you in the end... right? (Haha.)

Do You Like/Want/NEED Le Creuset??

2010-05-06T22:35:00.000-04:00

Go here to enter for a chance to win a 2-Quart Le Creuset batter bowl!

Plus, follow her blog closely - it's pretty fantastic! Great photos and recipes galore!

The Best Cookie Ever... Indeed!

2010-05-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

A while ago I had stumbled upon this recipe. Obviously with a title of "My Favorite Cookie Of All Time" I had to give it a try!

Now, I love caramel. I've only recently (within the past year) begun enjoying chocolate, but no matter how much chocolate there is in the world, I'll always want the ooey gooey creaminess of caramel. Knowing that the caramel is the special part of this cookie, I went along with the recipe and bought the exact caramels in it from CC Confectionary.

It came with some samples, too: orange dreamsicle, and chocolate truffle. Both are amazing, so I knew I was bound to enjoy the Madagascar vanilla variety.

I have a party to go to tonight so I figured it'd be a good time to try these cookies. I had all the ingredients... why not?

I made some teenie changes, though.

Firstly, I chopped up the 3 ounces of 72% dark chocolate I had leftover from the ganache I made last time and used it in place of the chocolate chips.

Also, despite thinking that I had all the ingredients, I'm actually completely out of granulated sugar. Because the recipe only calls for 3 tablespoons of the stuff, I assumed 3 packets of Truvia would suffice (and it did).

These were so simple to make! (And the dough tasted yummy, too, haha.)

There were a few casualties, though. Next time I make these (and I definitely will make these again!) I will work on my caramel-containing technique. I ate the very very exploded one (in the right-hand photo) because I don't want to bring an empty cookie to the party... and because I wanted a snack... and it was delicious!!!

Definitely make these, all you lazy people! It's so simple and yummy!

Hello, Foodie Blogroll!

2010-04-29T21:51:00.000-04:00

If you check out my sidebar, you'll see a fantastic new feature: The Foodie Blogroll!

I'm pretty happy to be a part of it. Hopefully I'll learn lots of new things from other foodies and food bloggers, and even better -- get more followers!

Flavor-full, photo-full, and recipe-full!

2010-04-28T20:20:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted any recipes, and for that I am so sorry! Despite this, I have been baking like crazy lately, so this post will be full of many delicious recipes!

But, first...

My last recipe that was posted was a layered minty brownie. Despite the components of them tasting very good that night, when I brought them to work it was kind of disastrous. The frosting slowly melted while at work. It only took about 10 minutes out on my desk for it to start getting really messy. My coworkers also gave it mediocre reviews. Edible, but not delicious, so I don't think I'll make these again.

Determined, I continued on with the baking and came up with many other delicious things to compensate for this semi-failure.

Apple Doughnuffins

About 15 Muffins

Based on this recipe.

Full nutrition is here.

For muffins:
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
.5 cup sugar
3 packets Truvia sweetener
.25 tsp ground cinnamon
.75 cup light plain soy milk
3 tbsp egg whites
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

For topping:
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Earth Balance spread, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin tray with non-stick spray.

Mix all wet ingredients until thoroughly combined, followed by dry ingredients. Distribute evenly in muffin tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until it passes the clean toothpick test.

For topping, melt the margarine. In a separate bowl mix the cinnamon and sugar. When muffins are done baking, brush tops with melted margarine and dunk in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve immediately or let cool.

Fun fact: The apple sauce I used was home-made by a friend's mother! It's so so so yummy! I named them "doughnuffins" because they are extremely airy like a doughnut!

What I learned: These muffins stuck to the paper liners. I never used to use liners, but decided on a whim to try them a few months ago. I loved how little clean-up there was after baking (hell, I'm lazy, so this was great!) but now I know that the less butter there is in something, the more it will stick... and holy crap... these were practically PLASTERED to the liners! Whoops. Now I know.

So, this was a bit of a failure, too, but what you could separate from the liner was yummy!

Mocha Brownies

Makes 32 Squares

Based on this recipe.

Full nutrition here.

Because I precisely followed the recipe (for probably the first time ever!) I'm not going to post the full recipe here. I even used all of the ingredients... even heavy cream! *shock!* The only thing I did differently was use two 8x8 glass dishes instead of one 13x9 dish. Because I'm a dork, I know that the usable square inches is nearly identical so I figured it wouldn't affect it too much... and I was right!

These were a complete and utter success!

What I learned: Firstly, I made ganache for the first time! This taught me patience, yet again.

Heating the cream on medium-low heat took a while, especially staring at it waiting for the bubbles to start forming. Letting the hot cream sit on top of the chocolate for 5 minutes was absolutely painstaking! In the end, it was totally worth it and it yielded a creamy, delicious ganache!

I also used a pastry bag for the first time! I only did some simple dots of ganache with a #4 tip, but it was still fun to use!

In the middle of the large dot in the center is not a jelly bean - it's a Trader Joe's Espresso Pillow! These things are delicious just as a snack, but they totally worked with this brownie treat!

Finally, I learned that sometimes the full-fat, original recipes can be the best. I was told by many of my friends and coworkers that this is the best recipe I've ever made. A few wanted the recipe, too, and I totally gave credit to the original!

Strawberry-Banana Bread

Makes 12 Slices

Loosely based off of this recipe.

Nutrition info is here.

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
.25 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup agave nectar
1.5 cup diced strawberries
2 tbsp ground flax meal
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 bananas, mashed
2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp light plain soy milk
1 tbsp quick oats

Spray the bottom and sides of a loaf pan with non-stick spray. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, mix the diced strawberries and agave nectar and set aside.

Mix together the mashed bananas, vanilla, flax meal, soy milk, apple sauce, and eggs in a large bowl. When combined, add the strawberry-agave mixture and mix.

Add all remaining ingredients to the mixture except oats. When everything is mixed together, pour into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle oats on top.

Bake for 20 minutes. Cover with foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Remove bread from the pan and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing.

...isn't strawberry season the best season??!! :)

Blog-Loving!

2010-04-23T12:47:00.001-04:00

Lazaro Cooks! has nominated me for the "I Love Your Blog" award! Congrats, Lazaro, for having such a yummy and awesome blog and for sharing the award with me!

Rules:
*Post the award on your blog*
*Link the person who has given you the award*
*Pass the award to 15 other blogs you’ve discovered*
*Remember to contact the bloggers you’ve nominated*

In no particular order...

I love your blogs! Keep it up, and spread the award!

A Busy Baking Weekend

2010-04-18T22:33:00.003-04:00

This was a busy, busy weekend for me. I had two events to bake for on Saturday, then I had to contemplate a delicious treat to make for my coworkers tomorrow. Be prepared: yummy photos ahead.

Event #1: Keeneland Tailgating

My goal was to come up with something not easily perishable or melt-able (since it was going to be sitting out in the sun for long periods of time) but easy to share among a large group. I took this recipe and made it my own:

Cinnamon Butterscotch Cake

Serves... many!

For cake:
6 oz (weight) unsweetened apple sauce
6 oz (approx. 1 cup) whole wheat flour
4 oz brown sugar
4 oz granulated sugar
2.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3 tbsp light soy milk

For butterscotch glaze:
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup light soy milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 8x8 glass baking dish with non-stick spray.

Mix the apple sauce and sugars until combined. Add eggs. When completely mixed, add in cinnamon and baking powder.

Slowly add in flour, alternating with milk. Pour into the baking dish and bake 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center.

Remove from the oven and put on a cooling rack. While cooling, prepare the glaze.

Heat soy milk until boiling (I did this in the microwave). Put butterscotch chips in a glass mixing bowl and pour the boiling milk on top of the chips. Let it sit for 3-4 minutes then vigorously mix until smooth. (If it needs to be melted more, put the bowl in the microwave for 15 second intervals, mixing after each time in the microwave, until everything is melted.)

Let the liquid sit for 5 minutes to thicken a little bit, then pour over the entire cake as evenly as possible.

You can serve immediately, but I recommend letting it sit overnight so the glaze can penetrate the cake and harden a little. When cooled, cut and serve!

Event #2: BBQ

This one had to also be able to sit in a car during the tailgating, since my friend and I were heading straight to a mutual friend's house immediately after the horse race. It had to also be able to be shared, and because my friends have been spoiled by my baked goods lately, it had to be different than anything I've made for them before. I chose to give this recipe an almond twist.

Almond Butter Filled Cocoa Cookies

Yields approx. 32 cookies

For cookies:
1½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup margarine, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup light soy milk

For filling:
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup natural creamy almond butter

Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a small bowl. In a large bowl, cream white and brown sugar with margarine. Combine wet and dry ingredients. It will be a little dryer than your average cookie dough because you'll have to manage the dough in your hands.

In a separate bowl, combine the almond butter and powdered sugar.

With your hands, scoop up about 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter and form it into a disk. Place about 1 teaspoon of the almond butter mixture in the center of the disk and fold the sides of the disk up, smoothing out the seam. Place on the cookie sheet seam-side down.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.

Event #3: Spoil My Coworkers

I've sort of been baking my coworkers things that I know they'd like. Now I'm thinking about myself. One of my favorite combinations is mint and chocolate, and I've been wanting to take a stab at cream cheese frosting, so I used this recipe and this recipe as inspiration for this funky-looking confection.

Icy Cool Layered Brownies

32 servings

Brownies:
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup sugar
12 packets Truvia
3/4 cup egg whites
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp almond extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 lb powdered sugar
8 tbsp Earth Balance spread at room temperature
1 package 2/3 Philadelphia cream cheese (8 oz) at room temperature
1 tsp peppermint extract
24 drops blue food coloring

Chocolate Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp Earth Balance spread
2 tbsp fat free sweetened evaporated milk
1 oz 72% cacao bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Heat oven to 325-350 degrees. Grease 13x9 glass baking dish, or two 8x8 glass baking dishes.

For brownies:

Stir together apple sauce, sugar, and almond extract. Beat in eggs egg whites. Add cocoa, flour, and baking powder; beat until well blended. Pour batter into pan and bake 30-35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides and toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

For cream cheese frosting:

Beat together butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and pepperment extract. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you have used it all and the frosting is smooth. Pour over cooled brownies and chill.

For the chocolate glaze:

Melt chocolate and butter in double broiler, mix with powdered sugar and add milk one tbsp at a time.

Pour glaze over frosted brownies. It didn't cover all of it for me, so I took a toothpick and swirled it around to give it a fun swirly look.

Currently they are in the fridge getting solid so I can slice them easier. These are the only things I've yet to taste... but based on how each component tastes separately, I'm confident it will all come out okay!

One Big Lesson Polenta Has Taught Me

2010-04-15T21:08:00.003-04:00

I attempted making polenta for the first time tonight and learned a few things along the way.

I used a 4-to-1 water-to-cornmeal ratio that I found in my Joy Of Cooking book for making polenta, cutting it down to two 1/4-cup servings. Browned 3 tbsp minced garlic, wilted some baby spinach, then added 2 cups of water on top. Brought it to a boil, added 1/2 cup of cornmeal, stirred constantly until thickened, and stirred in some black pepper and dried basil.

My original goal was to bake it, so I poured the partially-cooked polenta in an 8x8 glass dish, topped it with 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, and put it in a 350 F preheated oven for 30 minutes. I cut it into quarters and sandwiched some pan-seared tofu that I crumbled and added to tomato sauce (a fake-"meat" sauce, I guess, haha) to make it like lasagna.

Believe me, this is not a success story! Here's the #1 thing I learned from this: Patience.

I started off good. Really, I did! I patiently stirred the polenta as it cooked in the boiling water for exactly 10 minutes. I patiently waited the full half hour for it to bake in the pan. I even waited for it to cool to room temperature before cutting. Go me! However, The polenta was still runny on the bottom when I cut it, so I put it in a 400-degree oven on the bottom rack for 5 minutes. I saw it sizzling and took it out... then I was impatient.

I cut it again and it looked, uh, better (I guess). I tried using a spatula to take the first 1/4 of it out and onto my plate. I basically slopped it on there and rearranged it into the square it once was. While moving it from the dish to my plate, it started dripping off the side of the spatula and, stupidly, I tried catching it. Because I was too impatient to wait for it to cool this time around, the molten mush burned a few of my fingers.

After assembling the layers of "meat" sauce and polenta (and taking the photos) I was so freaking starving that I shoveled the first bite into my mouth. You'd think the feeling of the semi-burned dots on my hand from the previous incident would have told me, "Hey, stupid! Blow on it, or just wait a second for it to cool down!"

Nope, I burned the hell out of the roof of my mouth. Fan-freaking-tastic! (Note the sarcasm...) This was a yummy dish, flavor-wise, but definitely needs some perfecting before I'm confident enough to share it with others!

Impressive [yet easy!] Tuna Cakes

2010-04-14T19:51:00.001-04:00

Seafood doesn't have to be difficult. This recipe calls for so few ingredients (which I bet you have most of in your kitchen right now) that whipping it up is a complete cinch... not to mention, it looks much more complicated to make than it actually is! Took me around 15 minutes from start to finish to YUM.

Easy Peasy Tuna Cakes

Serves 2

1 five ounce can of tuna (I used Trader Joe's no-salt-added variety)

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

2 egg whites (or one egg)

1 cup baby spinach

2 tbsp spicy brown mustard

2 tbsp ground flax meal

2 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp white wine

Drain the tuna. Wilt the spinach. Set aside half of the bread crumbs.

Combine all ingredients (except the bread crumbs you set aside) in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Form into 4 equally-sized patties and lightly coat each side of the patties with remaining bread crumbs. (Use more if necessary.)

In a pan lightly coated with cooking spray, brown cakes 4-ish minutes on each side or until golden over medium-high heat.

Oh, yes. Totally nom-nom-nom-worthy!

Full nutrition information here.

Gimme gimme gimme!

2010-04-13T21:18:00.004-04:00

Must. Get.
Puff pastry dough! Sure, sounds so basic and "duh"-worthy, but while browsing through recipes linked to on Tastespotting, so many of the yummy and easy ones call for puff pastry dough! It seems to be so multi-faceted (in that it can be used in both sweet and savory recipes) that I obviously must buy some in the near future!

Just. Purchased.

A Norpro 18-Piece Pastry Decorating Kit! I feel like this will be very useful since I've recently become a fan of baking. Making some filled stuff and frosting things a lot nicer than I have been should be fun! I have a bit of an Amazon gift card to spend so it went towards this lovely item!

In somewhat related news, I'm going to start a new page on my blog that will show what I currently use in my kitchen and things that I want to buy (whether feasible or not, haha). I'm also going to be working on updating the "Favorite Foodie Finds" page... I just need to think of some other things to throw on there, or just get out more and discover things worthy of blabbing about!

Overnight Failure

2010-04-13T07:11:00.000-04:00

I wasn't prepared for disappointment this early in the morning. That pot with the brick-like object in the middle of a cloudy liquid? That's my crock pot as it was about 15 minutes ago this morning after an attempt at Overnight Oatmeal.

Epic fail indeed! About 85% of my steel-cut oats were nicely burned to the side of my crock pot, most of which was actually burned.

I was hoping that this morning I would be able to blog about how cooking oatmeal overnight is a great solution for those too lazy to make a nutritious breakfast in the morning. In the words of Borat... NOT! The only thing I did differently in this recipe was that my oats spent closer to 9 hours in the crock pot rather than 7-8, but 1/4 inch thick layer of burned oats doesn't just happen in one hour!

What to do, do? I need a quick breakfast with minimal effort!

Plain ol' oatmeal in the microwave.

1/2 cup quick-cook oats

1 cup water

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 packet Truvia

approx 2 tbsp Craisins

approx 2 tbsp chopped walnuts

Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl, stir to combine, microwave for 2 minutes, and enjoy!

I'd consider this a learning experience, but I used the last bit of my steel-cut oats (which means I need to buy more) and the Overnight Oatmeal was supposed to yield 8 servings; that's 8 meals down the drain... literally!

Epic fail this early in the morning? Yikes. At least my last-minute oats were yummy.

Tastespotting

2010-04-12T06:56:00.000-04:00

Tastespotting was the main inspiration for me to have a regular food blog. I discovered it last Wednesday or Thursday, and on Friday I started this blog. Obviously a huge motivator for me!

Well, I submitted my first photo yesterday of my Sweet Potato Brunch but it was rejected. :( Something about composition and lack of sharpness on the photo. Was I bummed? Yes. Did I give up? Hell no!

I submitted another version of the photo and it was approved!!!!!

I am beyond elated right now! It's not as gorgeous or elegant as 90% of the foods that appear on there, nor was the photo taken with a $1200 DSLR camera (rather my $150 point-and-shoot)... but it's on there! I feel like part of an elite little foodie group (and I'm okay with blowing this out of proportion because I'm happy, okay?), haha.

Anyway, this is a great kick-off for the week. Thanks for the comments thus far! If you ever want to e-mail me, you can also feel free to do so!

A Lazy Girl's Best Friend

2010-04-11T20:28:00.007-04:00

The first time I've ever used parchment paper was yesterday afternoon when baking crackers. I've always substituted "parchment-lined cookie sheet" with "spray with Pam" due to sheer laziness, but now I think I'll always use parchment paper when I can! It's awesome!

I also used parchment paper when baking my version of Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Strawberry Cream this evening. I've been eyeing this recipe for a while and have all of the ingredients, except for strawberry preserves. All I did was substitute what I did have on hand: raspberry preserves!

Also, to cut back on the oodles of sugar, I cut the sugar in half and used 12 packets of Truvia. Sure, it was minimal since the cream has so much sugar in it, but you really can't tell because... well... the cream totally sweetens things up!

If you ever try this recipe (which I highly recommend!) just be forewarned that the amount of filling that the recipe makes gave me way too much for the number of cookies I yielded! I have at least half of it still in my fridge... I don't think I have enough cocoa to make another batch of cookies for it, but I'll have to find something to do with it. Maybe vanilla cupcakes? Any suggestions will be more than welcome!

I have a feeling my coworkers are going to love me tomorrow when I bring these goodies in!

Full recipe & nutrition here.

"Who bakes their own crackers??!!"

2010-04-11T10:12:00.000-04:00

That was a friend's reaction when I told him I baked crackers yesterday! But, it was another way to use my leftover sweet potato cubes that are patiently awaiting to be eaten.

I based these crackers off of this recipe; the only subsitutions I made was to use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Cooking & Baking instead of butter, whole wheat flour instead of white, soy milk instead of regular milk, and I used my own set of spices (black pepper, salt, nutmeg and lots of garlic powder!) instead of coarse salt, sesame seeds, etc.

I didn't have some of that stuff on hand... and I'm lazy... so there's no way I'm going out to just buy things I'm only going to use for this one recipe!

Full recipe and nutrition information here.

A Brunch For One

2010-04-10T12:02:00.006-04:00

Leftovers comprise about 75% of the food I eat. I live by myself (for now) and because it's difficult to find single-serving recipes, I make batches of food and refrigerate/freeze the extra portions.

Last weekend I bought some sweet potatoes and Thursday night I realized if I didn't use them soon, they'd go bad. I cubed them, baked them with minced garlic and olive oil, and the pot of sweet potatoes sit in my fridge waiting to be used.

I used some of them in last night's recipe but have a lot left over! I've never had sweet potatoes as part of breakfast, so figured a good after-gym brunch was in order!

I recently bought ramekins... and by "recently" I mean "yesterday", haha. I was so excited to use them today!

Sweet Potato Brunch
Serves One

1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, cubed

2 tbsp salsa

1 ounce part-skim mozzarella

1 slice whole wheat bread (I baked this bread with whole wheat flour last night), cut into cubes

1 egg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a ramekin with non-stick spray. (I forgot to do this because I'm a moron and now I have a ramekin with cheese stuck to it. So, don't make my mistake!)

Put the cubed sweet potato and bread into the ramekin and top with salsa. Tap the ramekin on a hard surface a few times to distribute the salsa throughout. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 7 minutes. Remove foil, crack the egg on top of the mixture, and bake uncovered for another 5 minutes or until egg white is mostly cooked and yolk is still a bit runny (mine was getting pretty golden on top).

Top with cheese and bake until melted and golden, which took about 3 minutes for me.

Serve immediately!

Full nutrition information here.

A Welcoming Soup

2010-04-09T19:17:00.000-04:00

I have a blog entitled Fast Food Facelift where I makeover fast food dishes in a healthy way. I love the blog and the comments and the followers of it, but I'm lacking inspiration and motivation to keep with such a stringent theme. That is why I've started this blog.

As you can see, despite just having created this blog today, I have imported all of my old posts from Fast Food Facelift. I still plan on and hope to continue making over dishes as I have done with my old blog, but I want to make them a feature of something bigger: my love of cooking (and my newly-found love of baking!) overall.

This new blog is called "Kitchen of a Lazy Girl" because I'm lazy and love to cook. A pretty accurate title, yes?

It is for this reason that I've entitled my first entry of this blog as I have: "A Welcoming Soup"

This soup is fragrant, which welcomes you to the kitchen. It has a great orange hue that invites your curiosity to taste it! It has a sweetness that welcomes you to enjoy it through the slightly spicy finish.

It's very multi-layered in taste and content, but it is extremely easy to make! I hope you all enjoy this soup as much as I did while creating (and eating!) it.

Sweet Potato Split Pea Soup
makes 2 servings
250g cooked cubed sweet potato
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup split peas (dried)
1/4 cup lentils (dried)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cups hot water

Cook the sweet potato cubes however you see fit. (I simply peeled and cubed them, then put the cubes in the oven until done. I weighed the sweet potato cubes AFTER I cooked them!)

In a small pot, add the water to the lentils and peas. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes with the lid tilted to let off steam.

While the peas are cooking, process the sweet potatoes, garlic, and salsa in a food processor, blender, or immersion blender. When the peas are cooked thoroughly, add the spices and sweet potato mixture to the pot (do not drain the water). Stir to combine.

Raise heat to bring the soup to a boil, then lower to low, cover, and let it simmer for 5 minutes or until soup is thoroughly hot!

Serve immediately.

Facelift Number Thirteen - [vegan!] Marble Cake

2010-03-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

I love Starbucks. Yes, I'm one of "those people" who order complicated-sounding drinks and, yes, I even have a Starbucks Gold Rewards Card. It's about time that I try one of their baked goods!

Now, as a warning, I completely forgot to take photos during the cooking process. I am SO sorry! It's a really simple 6-ingredient recipe, so I think you guys can handle it, but after this one I will be back on track with the photo-taking!

Anyway, onto the facelift, to show you can still have your cake and be vegan, too!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Nasoya Silken Creations Dark Chocolate
1/2 cup Nasoya Silken Creations Vanilla
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp + 2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
1.5 tsp + 1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup + 3/4 cup all-purpose unbleached enriched flour

LET'S COOK!

Basically, you're making two different cake batters, then layering them. Easy!

Chocolate batter = chocolate Nasoya + 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp apple sauce + 1.5 tsp baking powder + 3/4 cup flour

Vanilla batter = vanilla Nasoya + 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp apple sauce + 1.5 tsp baking powder + 3/4 cup flour

Pour in an greased 8x8 glass dish in any order you see fit (I put vanilla on the bottom and chocolate on top). Stick a knife in the batter and swirl around a bit to marble it -- the more you move it around, the more "marble-y" it'll look.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F. If you want to frost it, let it cool first!

FACELIFT RESULTS

238 fewer Calories (-68%)
13g less fat (-100%)
6g less saturated fat (-100%)
75mg less cholesterol (-100%)
28g less carbs (-53%)
4g less protein (-67%)
1g more fiber (from 0 to 1g!)
376mg less sodium (-74%)

Okay, again it seems I inadvertently reduced the protein. Despite this, if you were to eat 3 servings of the made-over marble cake, you'd get the same 6g of protein protein and still have less fat, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, and Calories!

Full recipe is HERE. Don't forget to keep sending e-mails and commenting... and now follow us on Twitter @FFFacelift!

Facelift Number Twelve - [vegan!] Calzone

2010-02-18T19:53:00.000-05:00

As I said in my last post, I am challenging myself to eat a vegan diet (note: not a moral thing, just a dietary thing) so I've made over a huge-portioned dish from one of the largest pizza fast food chains: the P'Zone from Pizza Hut!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

(click to view full-sized image)

And that's just half a calzone!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag Trader Joe's Whole Wheat PIzza Dough
2 oz Trader Joe's Soy Mozzarella Cheese
4 oz Gimme Lean Ground Sausage Style
3 cup Spinach
.5 cup Tomato Paste (so salt added variety)
1 cup Zucchini, sliced
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (more or less, to taste)
1 tsp olive oil
a bit of whole wheat flour (for dusting your work surface)

LET'S COOK!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook the spinach, zucchini, and Gimme Lean in a pan. (I cooked each separately, despite being shown together here.)

Lightly flour your working surface and flatten out half of the pizza dough into a circle, like a mini-pizza. Hopefully yours will be rounder than mine, haha.

Then top half of the round with half of each of the following ingredients...

garlic...

tomato paste & seasonings...

spinach...

zucchini...

Gimme Lean...

and cheese!

Fold the empty side of the dough over, roll the edges, and press with a fork to seal. Brush a little olive oil on top and repeat all of this with the other half of the ingredients.

Lightly flour a cookie sheet and put the calzones on it. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden. But... keep an eye on them! When I was baking them, about 10 minutes through I noticed they were browning really fast, so I put foil on top for the rest of the baking. I liked them when they looked nice and golden like this...

Of course, the best part is the inside...

Now, eat!!! This makes 4 servings (1/2 calzone per serving, just like Pizza Hut). Yum!

FACELIFT RESULTS

Though it varies on which P'Zone you compare it to, this vegan version has around half the Calories, 1/4 the fat, ZERO cholesterol, twice the fiber, and even though the sodium is much higher than I like to have even in two meals, it's still between 200 and 600mg less than Pizza Hut's P'Zone! There's a bit less protein, but when you're not eating a half-pound of Italian food, that should be a given! Think about it: ignoring the sodium, you could basically eat an entire vegan calzone (2 servings) and still be consuming less fat, Calories, cholesterol, and carbs as well as more than quadruple the fiber than Pizza Hut's!

You can find the full recipe HERE!

Enjoy, and continue sending me emails at FastFoodFacelift[at]gmail[dot]com and commenting in this blog!

Facelift Number Eleven - Sweet and Firey Tofu

2010-01-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

Happy 2010, everyone! In celebration of a newer and healthier year for you all, I've answered a request I've gotten a few times from you guys: make a vegetarian version of a fast food dish.

I'm not much of a fan of Chinese food and never have been; however, it's hard to escape Panda Express when you go to a mall or airport. My boyfriend loves a lot of their food, so I decided to undertake their SunFire Chicken dish... but with a vegetarian twist.

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

INGREDIENTS

2/5 block Trader Joe's Extra Firm Organic Tofu
1 cup pineapple chunks in juice (not syrup), drained
1/4 medium red onion
1 tsp Trader Joe's Chili Pepper Sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 fl oz orange juice
1 tbsp pineapple juice
1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp honey

LET'S COOK!

I cut up the tofu into die-sized pieces and blotted the excess moisture from them on a paper towel.

Toss the tofu pieces in orange juice until coated.

Put the tofu in a bag with the panko bread crumbs until the pieces are coated.

Bake at 425 degrees F until golden. Now, for the veggies and sauce...

Chop up onion into large pieces and put in a pan with the pineapple. Cook on medium heat until pineapple browns a bit and the onions are cooked yet still crunchy.

Mix the remaining ingredients together until combined. A little goes a long way!

Combine all of the components together until coated in sauce. Enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

217 fewer Calories (-50.7%)
5g less fat (-72.2%)
4g less saturated fat (-100%)
0mg cholesterol (-100%)
22g less carbs (-41.3%)
5g less protein (-27.6%)
no difference in fiber
349mg less sodium (-94.4%)

I definitely didn't mean to decrease the protein, but if you add another 1/5 block per serving to this recipe, you'll only increase 100 Calories (per 1/5 block of tofu) while increasing the protein like crazy! Or, serve this on some quinoa for a great carb with tons of protein!

Full recipe HERE. Keep commenting and sending me e-mails as well!

Have a happy and healthy new year!

Facelift Number Ten - Easy Peasy Mocha Frappe

2009-12-13T17:32:00.000-05:00

I guess I owe you all another apology since I did not post the facelift I had done last week until, well... now. So, I'm very sorry for waiting so long to do this!

If you are like me and millions of others around the world, coffee from Starbucks is quite the addiction, especially their frozen concoctions. Here is one of my old favorites, re-done for your enjoyment!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Note: Just for fun, I made this exactly how I'd order it -- Grande with no whipped cream.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup coffee
1/2 cup Edy's Fat Free Yogurt Blends, Vanilla
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 packet Truvia sweetener (optional)
ice cubes

LET'S COOK!

As the subject of this blog post says, this is very very easy!

Put all ingredients in a blender. (My blender is a really amazing single-serving one by Fit-N-Fresh. I own a lot of their products and they're awesome!) I started with 2 ice cubes, as I wasn't sure how the consistency would be with more.

Blend until smooth! If you like you're thicker, add more ice cubes and blend until it's to your liking.

See? I told you it was easy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

137 fewer Calories (-52.7%)
2g less fat (-54.3%)
1g less saturated fat (-55%)
23g less carbs (-43.1%)
no change in protein
5g more fiber (from 0 to 5!)
177mg less sodium (-77.1%)

This was a really delicious and extremely quick treat to make! You can always make it to your own liking. If you want to make it minty, add some peppermint extract. If you want it even more chocolatey, use chocolate frozen yogurt instead of vanilla. The nutrition change will be negligible!

Full recipe is HERE. As usual, shoot me an e-mail or leave me a comment (or two!) with suggestions, comments, ideas, etc.

I will not be posting another facelift until sometime in mid-January 2010 (wow, how time flies!) so I wish you all the happiest of holidays. Be safe and enjoy the time with family and friends!

Facelift Number Nine - Chili's Southwestern Egg Rolls

2009-11-08T19:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so much for your patience! As I explained in my last blog post, last weekend was my birthday and Halloween so it was busy!

I've done a previous facelift for a Chili's dish, but until today I haven't attempted my favorite appetizer of theirs: Southwestern Egg Rolls. My boyfriend and I would split this as an appetizer nearly every time we'd go to Chili's in college. It's so yummy, but as you'll soon see, it's so easy to make at home!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

INGREDIENTS

For wontons:
16 wonton wrappers
.5 cup canned corn (no salt added variety)
.5 cup black beans (low sodium variety)
1 cup baby spinach
1 tsp minced garlic
1/8 haas avocado
1/2 tsp Trader Joe's Chili Pepper Hot Sauce
1 tbsp cilantro

For sauce:
2 tbsp nonfat greek yogurt
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
juice from 1/4 of a lime

Ready? You better be!

LET'S COOK!

Cook the spinach with the garlic until wilted.

Rinse the beans under cold water for 1 minute and dry on a paper towel.

Put spinach, corn, beans, hot sauce, and cilantro in a food processor and...

...blend until combined and beans are broken down a bit.

Dice 1/8 of the avocado.

Put a teaspoon full of the mixture in one wonton and top with a couple of pieces of avocado.

Lightly moisten two edges of the wonton and fold in half, pressing down lightly so it's sealed. (I keep a small bowl of water next to me so I can just dunk my finger in it to use for the wontons.)

Moisten one of the corners of the wonton and pinch it to the other corner.

Arrange on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes at 400 degrees F...

...until golden brown!

For the sauce, mix the yogurt, Mrs. Dash, and lime juice until combined.

Makes 2 servings of 8 wontons each and half of the sauce for each serving. Enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS
Remember this is for one 8 wonton serving!

635 fewer Calories (-69.8%)
55g less fat (-96.1%)
14g less saturated fat (-100%)
14g less carbs (-18.8%)
15g less protein (-53.7%)
1g less fiber (-17.1%)
1499mg less sodium (-76.5%)

If you were to eat all 16 of these wontons and all of the sauce, you'd still have consumed less than half of the original's Calories, sodium, fat, and saturated fat!

Similar to other facelifts of mine, protein and fiber decreased, which was not intentional. You could counteract this by adding some kind of meat substitute (just watch out for the sodium!) but you can just pair this with brown rice for some more fiber, or quinoa for fiber and protein.

Full recipe HERE and, as usual, please leave a comment here or on SparkPeople or e-mail me at FastFoodFacelift@gmail.com with your ideas, suggestions, critiques, etc.

Birthday delay & bento boxes!

2009-11-03T19:29:00.000-05:00

I apologize profusely for not posting sooner!

This weekend was Halloween and my birthday, so needless to say I did not do a facelift!

I plan on making my next dish this weekend (11/6-11/8) so keep checking back. :)

In other news, I've been on a hunt to find a better way to pack my lunches to work. In order to keep tabs on my portion control, I have a huge drawer full of a variety of plastic containers in many sizes and shapes. They're great and I enjoy them (along with my awesome thermal lunch bag) but I've always been intrigued by bento lunch boxes.

In essence, bento boxes are like lunch boxes in Japan. They come in a variety of sizes based on gender and age in order to allow for proper portioning of your meals.

One of the most endearing things about bento is how artistic it can get! I joined the flickr bento group to get some inspiration and have read through and am now following BentoLunch.blogspot.com.

I went on Amazon.com and found some really cute and handy bento sets! At one point I had 5 or 6 of them in my shopping cart, but I limited myself to getting the following two:

Zojirushi Mini Stainless Thermal Lunchbox
I like this one because it keeps the taller cylinder's contents hot and separated from the rest of the meal. Also, it comes with that cute bag and chopsticks.

Japanese Style Bento Box Lunchbox w/Chopsticks
This one is more traditional bento and also comes with chopsticks.

To stay with the classic bento style, I also got some veggie cutters and rice molds:

I'm thinking about heading to Michael's crafts to get some other supplies, but these were all really good deals and I'm very excited in anticipation for their arrivals!

So, what do YOU use to pack your lunches? Do you bring your lunch to work, or do you buy?

Facelft Number Nine - Revisiting Taco Bell

2009-10-25T18:43:00.000-04:00

I know my last facelift was a Taco Bell item, but let me explain why I'm revisiting this fast food joint.

My boyfriend loves (LOVES!) the crunchwrap supreme and it's really not that complicated of a dish. I've wanted to do a facelift of this crispy, meaty, spiced meal-on-the-go but I was going to wait for a great moment to do so.

On SparkPeople.com we are having a contest that seems to be right up my alley: come up with a healthier recipe for a fast food item. The winner gets a blender that retails for over $400!

So, I've pulled out the stops and decided that this is the moment to unveil what I believe is my best facelift yet... and I can't wait to make this again for my boyfriend!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Let's do this.

INGREDIENTS

For four servings:
4 Mission "Plus" Heart Healthy Flour Tortillas
4 Old El Paso Corn Tostada Shells
1 pound 96% extra lean ground beef
.5 cup water
2 tablespoons minced garlic
6 oz tomato paste, no salt added
4 tbsp fat free sour cream
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle blend
.5 teaspoon Goya Sazon seasoning (1/2 packet)
1 tablespoon Trader Jose's Salsa Autentica

LET'S COOK!

In a deep pan, brown the garlic.

Add ground beef, brown, drain fat, and return to the pan.

Add Sazon, Mrs. Dash, tomato paste, and water.

Stir until combined and bubbling, cover, and set aside.

Spread 1 tablespoon of sour cream on a tostada shell.

Put one tortilla in a pan on medium heat and top with 1/4 of the meat mixture and 1 tablespoon of salsa.

Put the tostada on top with the sour cream side facing down.

Fold the edge of the tortilla around the tostada shell.

Flip the whole thing over and let it cook a little longer (about 2 or 3 minutes)...

...and take a big bite! (Hopefully you use the other 3 servings to make one for your friends!)

FACELIFT RESULTS

174 fewer Calories (-32.1%)
9g less fat (-43.8%)
3g less saturated fat (-47.1%)
40mg more cholesterol (+133.3%)
799mg less sodium (-57.1%)
32g less carbs (-45.6%)
2g less fiber (-36.7%)
12g more protein (+75%)

Okay, okay... yes, there's more cholesterol, but it's not too obscene. Also, the decrease in fiber is obviously not intentional.

You can reduce the amount of cholesterol by using ground turkey (which I wanted to do, but the store only had 80/20 and I wanted at least 93/7) or a meatless product (I was thinking of using Gimme Lean but it would have brought up the sodium a lot) instead of the ground beef. Increase the fiber by adding more veggies like onions (which I don't like) or lettuce (which I forgot to buy... whoops!).

Overall, this was REALLY delicious and writing this blog made me want to have another!

Full recipe is HERE. As usual, please leave a comment here or on SparkPeople or e-mail me at FastFoodFacelift@gmail.com with your ideas, suggestions, and critiques.

Wish me luck with the Spark People contest! I hope this delicious recipe is a winner!

Facelift Number Eight - Nachos Bell Grande

2009-10-18T21:03:00.000-04:00

I used to adore Taco Bell. I know, I know, it's notorious for serving some of the poorest excuses for cuisine out there, but I loved it. What can I say?

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

42 grams of fat?? Yup, this needs a facelift... stat! (Wow, that rhymed. Not deliberate. Sorry.)

INGREDIENTS

1 oz Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Tortilla Chips
.25 cup black beans
1 oz light shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle
2 tbsp Trader Jose's Salsa Autentica
1 tbsp fat free sour cream

LET'S COOK!

Rinse the beans. This helps get as much of the added salt off of them as possible.

Put the beans in a food processor until they are a bit broken up.

Put the chips on a foil-lined baking sheet and top with beans, Mrs. Dash, and cheese. Broil until...

...cheese is melted and chips are golden!

Top with sour cream and salsa!

FACELIFT RESULTS

518 fewer Calories (-68%)
35 grams less fat (-83%)
5 grams less saturated fat (-83%)
1 grams less trans fat (-100%)
20 mg less cholesterol (-67%)
443 mg less sodium (-35%)
45 grams less carbs (-58%)
8 grams less fiber (-67%)
8 grams less protein (-42%)

As usual, I didn't mean to decrease fiber or protein. Whoops!

Also, take note that the sodium amount is most likely a little bit off because this does not take into account that I rinsed the beans for a minute before putting them in the food processor. According to an article I read, rinsing beans in cold water for 1 minute decreases the sodium by about 25%. If this is true then the amount of sodium in the beans went from 215mg to 161mg, decreasing the sodium for the whole dish from 808mg to 754mg.

In addition, I recommend making your own tortilla chips. I meant to do this but forgot to buy tortillas at the store; so, I used some of the Trader Joe's Guiltless tortilla chips because they were on hand. The sodium will decrease a little by not using pre-made tortilla chips!

If you want to add some protein, feel free to add any meat or non-meat protein to it!

All-in-all this was a really great light lunch that I paired with a small spinach salad. Yum!

Full recipe can be found HERE. As usual, leave a comment here or on my Spark People page, or shoot me an e-mail with any suggestions, comments, or criticisms! Thanks!

Facelift Number Seven - Dessert Time!

2009-10-12T18:35:00.000-04:00

Firstly, I'm so sorry for being late with this week's facelift. Though I do not have a fever anymore, I'm still working on getting back to 100% health; I'd say I'm at 90% now. I honestly took it easy this week with the dish; it's a really really easy-to-make yet delicious dessert, and although I based it off of a dish at Uno's, I'm pretty sure you can find a Brownie A La Mode at plenty of other restaurants!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Mind you, this is only showing one serving. Each bowl is actually two servings so if you don't share it with someone, double the numbers above! Yikes!

Let's do this...

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons No Pudge Brownie Mix (original)
2 tablespoons Trader Joe's Greek Nonfat Yogurt, Plain
1 packet Truvia
.5 cup Edy's Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt Blends
1 wedge Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate with Ancho & Chipotle Chilis & Cinnamon

LET'S COOK!

Mix Greek Yogurt, No Pudge mix, and Truvia together until...

...completely combined! Microwave according to directions (1 minute, or until done).

Grate one wedge of the chocolate.

Top brownie with frozen yogurt and sprinkle chocolate on top. Enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

Assuming you only eat one serving of the original...
180 fewer Calories (-49%)
18g less fat (-90%)
10.5g less saturated fat (-87.5%)
60mg less cholesterol (-100%)
152.9mg less sodium (-69.5%)
27.8g less carbohydrates (-48.8%)
1.4g less fiber (-70%)
2.4g more protein (+60%)

Okay, so decreasing the fiber is an oops on my part. To counteract this, in hindsight I'd add a tablespoon of ground flax meal, which is one of my favorite things to add to baked goods!

Full recipe HERE.

Thanks again for being so patient with this blog post. This weekend I anticipate being on time!

Don't forget to keep commenting here and on my Spark People page, as well as e-mail, your suggestions and criticisms to me!

Facelift Number Six - Sweet and Spicy Asian Chicken

2009-09-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

I didn't want to do the same fast food chain two facelifts in a row, but I had the ingredients for this dish around my apartment and figured it would be a quick, easy, and delicious thing to try (and it was!): Wendy's Sweet and Spicy Asian Boneless Chicken Wings. This is also one of my boyfriend's favorite fast food dishes. :)

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

(Guess which one is the advertisement and which is a consumer-taken photo! Haha.)

Time for a facelift!

INGREDIENTS

4 ounces chicken breast
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 egg white
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp low sodium teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional if you want less spiciness)
cooking spray

LET'S COOK!

Preheat oven to 375F. Cut up chicken into nugget-sized pieces.

Mix paprika and flour together in a bowl.

Lightly beat egg whites in another bowl.

Toss the chicken in the flour until coated. Coat lightly in egg whites, then...

Put the chicken in a bag with the bread crumbs and toss until coated.

Spread the chicken pieces out on a aluminum foil-lined cookie sheet (spray with cooking spray, too). Bake for 15 minutes, flip the chicken, bake for another 5 minutes or until...

Golden!

For the sauce, mix together the remaining ingredients (honey, Tabasco, red pepper flakes, black pepper, teriyaki sauce), then toss the chicken in it.

I served it on top of brown rice with a side of steamed broccoli.

FACELIFT RESULTS

232 fewer Calories (-42%)
16g less fat (-86%)
3.5g less saturated fat (-100%)
9mg less cholesterol (-12%)
2046mg less sodium (-81%)
28g less carbs (-41%)
No change in protein or fiber

This just goes to show that you don't need your deep-fried nuggets to be drowning in tons of sauce to have a spicy and sweet meal. This stuff packs a lot of flavor in such a small amount of sauce; there's just enough to lightly coat the chicken, so trust me: it doesn't need any more!

Full recipe HERE. As usual, leave me a comment or send an email with any suggestions for future facelifts!

Facelift Number Five: Wendy's Famous Chili

2009-09-20T19:27:00.000-04:00

Wendy's is notorious for having one of the healthiest fast food dishes: their chili. Can I make it even better, or is the original as good as it has been said to be?

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Get your crockpot ready... it's time for a facelift!

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces ground buffalo
1 medium red onion
1 can low sodium dark red kidney beans
1 can low sodium canned corn
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons black pepper
5 pieces sun-dried tomatoes

LET'S COOK!

Dice the onion and cook them in a pan on medium-high heat until...

...they look browned like this!

Dice up the sun dried tomatoes.

Add all of the ingredients (including the onions and tomatoes) to the crock pot and mix. (Note: I drained the liquid from the corn but I did not drain the beans. The bean liquid adds good flavor, but with the corn liquid is too sweet and watery.)

Cover the crock pot. Cook on high for 2 hours, stirring every half hour. Then cook on low for 2 hours, stirring every half hour. Serve hot!

FACELIFT RESULTS

No change in Calories
2g more fat (+19%)
1g more saturated fat (+23%)
6mg less cholesterol (-11%)
1031mg less sodium (-83%)
4g less carbs (-13%)
No change in fiber
1g more protein (+2%)

Have I failed? It depends on what you want to concentrate on.

Sodium, cholesterol, and carbs have been lowered (which is a good thing for many people, especially if you're watching sodium!) but if your concern is fat, then maybe you're bothered by the 2 grams that are in my version.

In the end, make home-made chili as a treat for you and your family on cold, rainy days. It's fun to get creative in the kitchen, which is one of the main points of this blog. It takes a few hours in a crock pot to get all of the flavors out without using too much added sodium products, so if you don't have the time to wait, then Wendy's is definitely a smart choice!

The full seven-serving recipe can be found HERE. Keep the comments and e-mails coming!

Facelift Number Four: I'm thinkin' Arby's!

2009-09-13T18:13:00.000-04:00

This past Wednesday I had to travel for work. On the road, my coworkers decided Arby's was a good choice for a bite to eat on the road. I got a roast chicken sandwich thinking it was the smarter choice there (I had never eaten at an Arby's before, and I've cut out fast food from my diet, so maybe I was just kidding myself) only to find out that after the Roast Chicken sandwich and a small order of fries, I'd eaten far more Calories than I'd thought, in addition to an obscene about of sodium and fat. Yuck!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

INGREDIENTS

Sandwich:
1 Arnold's Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin
3 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked
.25 cup Great Value reduced fat shredded Fiesta Blend cheese
.5 cup baby spinach
1 teaspoon Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle blend

Fries:
1 medium sweet potato
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 teaspoons Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle blend
2 teaspoons minced garlic

LET'S COOK!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel sweet potato and chop into fry-sized pieces.

Put the fries into a large zip-top bag and add olive oil, Mrs. Dash, and minced garlic. Shut the bag and toss until coated.

Spread the fries onto a layer on an aluminum foil covered baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, flip the fries, and bake for another 10 or until browned.

Now, for the sandwich...

Take the sandwich thin and put the mustard on one half.

Slice the chicken and put it on top of the mustard, topping it with the shredded cheese and Mrs. Dash. Toast this and the other half of the sandwich thin until cheese is melted and delicious.

Add the spinach, then...

Pair the final product with the fries, and enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

Sandwich, left; Fries, right.
Combining both:
335 fewer Calories (-45%)
27g less fat (-72%)
3g less saturated fat (-44%)
1256mg less sodium (-71%)
32g less carbs (-40%)
3g more dietary fiber (+50%)
5g more protein (+17%)

Unlike my last two facelifts, protein has increased from my facelift!

Also, just so you're aware, I decided to get a rotisserie chicken at the supermarket today instead of cooking a chicken breast. Rotisserie chickens are so quick and easy, not to mention versatile. Your money goes a long way with this delicious purchase! I have chicken salad for lunch tomorrow and still have a whole breast, both wings, and both drumsticks to go through for the rest of the week.

Thank you all for being so patient with my vacation last weekend putting a little delay on this blog. I appreciate the fact that I still gained some followers and got some comments on my blog and my Spark Page. Continue to comment and e-mail your suggestions!

Sandwich recipe HERE and fries recipe HERE. Note: the fries recipe is my old, original recipe that makes 3 servings.

Facelift Number Three: A BIGGER Mouth Bite

2009-08-30T18:59:00.000-04:00

Chilis sure makes some really delicious food, especially their burgers. In a past life I'd gladly eat any of their Big Mouth Burgers... but the lowest Calorie one has 820 Calories and 44 grams of fat! And that is just the plain "Old Timer" burger, too, which is just a burger, tomato, lettuce and mustard on a sesame seed bun - no cheese, no bacon, nothing! I decided to take on the unhealthiest of their burgers... four mini-burgers called "Big Mouth Bites".

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Now it's time for a facelift!

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces 98% lean ground ostrich meat
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 Arnold's Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins
4 mini-slices Sara Lee Aged Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 slices Butterball Lower Sodium Turkey Bacon
1 California haas avocado
2 tablespoons light sour cream
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend
1 teaspoon paprika
(Ignore the dressing that's in the photo; I ended up omitting it.)

LET'S COOK!

Chop up the onion. If you have a food processor, use it! These pieces I chopped ended up being a little too big.

Combine the onion, garlic, Southwest Chipotle Mrs. Dash, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.

Form mixture into 4 patties.

In another bowl, combine the avocado, sour cream, paprika and Mrs. Dash Table Blend until...

...it looks like this! Set aside.

Cook the bacon.

Cook the burgers.

Toast the Sandwich Thins and top with 1 tablespoon of the avocado spread and the bacon (crumbled).

Put one mini-slice of cheese on top of each burger and let it melt.

Place one burger on each Sandwich Thin and enjoy! Recipe makes four burgers; two burgers = one serving.

FACELIFT RESULTS

Burger, left; Guacamole Spread, right:
Combining both:
1186 fewer Calories (-75%)
80g less fat (-82%)
22g less saturated fat (-80%)
2354mg less sodium (-80%)
76g less carbs (-73%)
2g more dietary fiber (+25%)
25g less protein (-40%)

Again, it looks like protein went down. Definitely not my goal.

Now, you may wonder why I chose ostrich. Firstly, I like interesting game and I was curious when I saw the ostrich meat at a local international food market. Secondly, I've heard great things about it and how great of a healthy alternative it is from beef.

Feel free to use whatever meat product you prefer: ground chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, or even Gimme Lean. Gimme Lean is pretty delicious - I've used it a few times and although it has a good dose of sodium, it's a great meatless alternative if you need it.

As far as improvements to this, next time I try this out I will be sure to flatten the patties a bit more so they cover the entire Sandwich Thin. Otherwise this was extremely delicious and very filling!

Avocado spread recipe can be found here and the burger recipe can be found here.

If you have any suggestions for other fast food items for me to give a facelift, leave a comment or send an e-mail to FastFoodFacelift@gmail.com!

Second Facelift: Panera Bread's Chicken Chipotle Sandwich

2009-08-23T18:26:00.000-04:00

I had originally wanted to choose a different protein than chicken, as I did a chicken pasta dish for the last facelift, but I have always been intrigued by Panera Bread. Many believe since it is a sandwich, soup, and salad joint that it is automatically healthy. One look at their nutrition information tells you something completely different!

So, I decided to choose the item with the highest Calorie count: the Chicken Chipotle Sandwich

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Now, it's time for a facelift!

INGREDIENTS

4 ounces skinless boneless chicken breast
2 slices Butterball Less Sodium Turkey Bacon
1/2 fresh poblano pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
sprinkle of garlic powder
1 sundried tomato
1 tablespoon fat free sour cream
1 teaspoon Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 slices Sara Lee "45 Calorie & Delightful" bread
2 slices Sara Lee Aged Sharp Cheddar Cheese "Custom Slices" (approx. 20g)
1/2 cup baby spinach

LET'S COOK

Remove seeds and white flesh from the half poblano pepper and finely mince.

Rub the minced garlic, garlic powder, and minced poblano on all sides of one chicken breast. Let it marinate in the refrigerator in a zip-top bag while the prep continues.

Mince the sundried tomato and mix with the sour cream, mustard and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

Cook the chicken.

Cook the bacon, slice as shown, and set aside with the chicken. Now, it's time to assemble!

In a medium-heated pan, put a slice of bread and top with cheese, then...

Chicken...

Bacon...

Spinach...

Spread the remaining bread with the sundried tomato spread, then...

Top the sandwich!

Toast on the opposite side, serve, and enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

671 fewer Calories (-63%)
43g less fat (-78%)
9g less saturated fat (-59%)
0g trans fat (-100%)
35mg less cholesterol (-24%)
1869mg less sodium (-73%)
60g less carbs (-68%)
2g more fiber (+48%)
2g less sugar (-32%)
10g less protein (-10%)

Okay, okay, so I didn't exactly want to lower the amount of protein, but 44g is still a significant amount to have in one meal. Protein is very good for you, keeping you fuller longer, especially with fiber and water.

The original sandwich has no spinach, but I added it for nutrients and because I don't like tomato (which is on the original). Add whatever veggies you'd like! I don't think this sandwich is very spicy, so I think next time I'll use jalapenos instead of the poblano pepper.

When eating this, I couldn't stop thinking about how delicious it was. I probably took only 5 minutes to eat it because it was a very savory sandwich! I've never had the Panera sandwich, but just looking at the pictures, I must say that mine definitely looks better. If only I had a panini press, I could add some awesome grill marks to it!

Full recipe can be found here. E-mail me your meal suggestions to FastFoodFacelift@gmail.com or by leaving a comment in this blog. Thanks for reading!

"Kids Eat Free" Fast Food Marketing

2009-08-18T09:55:00.000-04:00

[full article from USA Today]

If your kids can eat for a discount at a chain restaurant, are you more willing to eat there? How about if they can eat for free?

Apparently many fast food patrons feel that it is quite the incentive to indulge in the huge and unhealthy portions at IHOP and Fazoli's, among other restuarants.

I can completely understand how it is appealing to eat at these places if you have kids and they can get a free meal; what would normally be a $80 meal for a family of four could easily turn into a $40 meal. With the assistance of MyKidsEatFree.com, families can find some really great offers.

One of the best that I found in my area (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky) was at Lone Star Steakhouse where two children can eat for free (off of the kids' menu) when one adult entree is ordered. Not too shabby!

But, even though these deals are pretty fantastic (or should that read fantastical?), they are a marketing scheme and some may say it promotes the complacency that comes with convenience.

What do you think?

First Facelift: Rattlesnake Pasta

2009-08-16T18:46:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite dishes that I used to get frequently in college was the Rattlesnake Pasta from Pizzeria UNO. I'd happily eat one of these (as would my boyfriend) and we'd split a dessert afterwards.

BEFORE THE FACELIFT

Mind you, this is the pasta only: no breadstick! Also, don't forget that the one plate is two servings, so double all of those values!

It's time for a facelift!

INGREDIENTS
12 ounces chicken breast
8 ounces Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Penne
2 cups baby spinach
.25 cup Philadelphia One-Third Less Fat Cream Cheese
.25 cup fat free sour cream
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
.5 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle blend

LET'S COOK

Start cooking the pasta.

Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces and spice it up with Mrs. Dash, pepper, and garlic powder.

Cook the chicken in olive oil and minced garlic.

Slice up your jalapeno pepper after removing ALL of the seeds AND the white flesh!

Put the peppers in a medium-heated saucepan with olive oil and minced garlic.

Add the spinach and cook it...

...until it completely wilts, like this.

Add all of the creamy ingredients (milk, cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan cheese), pepper, and garlic powder and stir until creamy.

Add the chicken.

Add the cooked and drained pasta.

Enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

Basically...

296 fewer Calories (-45%)
29g less fat (-77%)
12g less saturated fat (-84%)
41mg less cholesterol (-41)
5g more fiber (+153%)
2g more protein (+7%)
904mg less sodium (-84%)

And, in my opinion, it was pretty delicious! It was very, very filling and was the perfect portion size. The spices were great especially since I didn't use any added salt. (You could add salt if you feel the need, but in my opinion the cheeses add enough sodium.)

You can find the full recipe here!

This is just the first facelift of many. Please, remember to e-mail FastFoodFacelift@gmail.com or leave a comment with some dishes you would like to see have a facelift!