Terrific Thursday

Today has been brilliantly productive, I must say. I woke up feeling like a whole new woman! No nausea, no stomach pain, nothing! I guess yesterday must have been a fluke. I wonder if I pulled something doing Yoga. I was moving my buns and the Gaiam Weight Loss Yoga tape I have is pretty intense. I may have just overdone it. I feel great today!

There is only one day left in September and that means just two recipes left! Today's (which is freaking AWESOME) and tomorrow! WOW! I can't believe it! Tomorrow my mom is coming over and I have a fairly busy day at work...but the recipe will make up for everything, it's AWESOME!

Peanut Butter Muffins with Strusel Topping
Makes: 18 Muffins (1 muffin = 1 serving)

Ingredients

2 cups All Bran cereal
1 3/4 cups Skim Milk
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup Splenda for Baking
1 tbsp baking powder
1 medium banana, mashed
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup egg whites (approx 1 large egg white)

For topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions

1) Stir together milk and cereal, allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2) Sift flour, sugar, baking powder into a large bowl. Create a well in the center.
3) Add banana, peanut butter, oil and egg into cereal mixture then add to the well in the dry ingredients.
4) Stir until ingreidents are just moist.
5) Spoon into greated muffin tins approx 2/3 of the way full.
6) Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over muffins.
7) Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8) Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Breakdown

 

Saturday September Recipe

Well it's almost 10am...and I've already been to work and back, ate breakfast, cleaned the house, and finished my patient charts up. I feel like I'm very accomplished today! I also feel like I need a really long NAP. One of my favorite cooking methods of all time is using my crock pot. I am not going to lie...I'm obsessed.

I have three crock pots.

You heard me. THREE.

Don't believe me? Seeing is believing! This picture was taken at my mom's house. And yes, all three of them were going at once. The holidays are a great time to pull out the crock pots! Other great times including: Monday-Friday, Weekends, Holidays and OF COURSE Leap Year!!! How easy is it to throw some things in the crock pot at 10am when you're well caffinated and awake...and have dinner ready without extra dishes and slaving over a hot stove!

So without further ado!!! Today's recipe of the day!

Slow Cooker Turkey Sloppy Joes
Servings: 8 cheesy open faced sandwiches

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey (93%)
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar (12oz) Heinz chili sauce
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayanne pepper (or to taste, I added a whole one)
2 cups 2% milk reduced fat cheddar cheese
4 whole wheat hamburger buns (open faced sandwich)

Directions

1. Coat a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray, cook the turkey, onions and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. If there is liquid in the bottom of the pan, drain.

2. Transfer mixture to a 1 1/2 to 2 quart slow cooker. Stir in chili sauce, jalapeno pepper, Worchestershire sauce, oregano, cumin, paprika, cayanne (Salt and pepper to taste if desired).

3. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

4. Approximately 10 minutes before serving, add in shredded cheese and allow to melt.

Nutritional Breakdown

 

A delicious supper that the whole family will love made before 10am? I think so.

Enjoy! More slow cooker recipes to come :D

Monday Recipe

Hi all,

Today is the first live update I've done for a couple days. I'm writing this from my grandparents' house! It's been a tough couple of days for food. I've done okay but I definitely could've done better. My grandparents don't have a microwave and so I can't really bring my Jenny Craig food. I can't stand the salad kits, they're nasty...so I've been doing meals on my own. I packed my cereal and brought that with me and I brought measuring cups. It's just hard...my grandparents eat on a rigid schedule and they get very upset if you eat snacks. You will catch hell if you get caught eating between meals...

So I'm just doing the best I can. We'll see what the scale says on Wednesday!

I figured today that we could switch gears and try something sweet. Something to use up those end of year veggies that are in overbundance for some!!!

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
Makes: 24 Brownies

Ingredients

3/4 cup Canola oil
1 1/2 cups Splenda for baking
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

For Frosting:
1 cup cool whip free
1 pkg sugar free chocolate pudding mix (Jello)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine butter, splenda, egg and beat with a handheld mixer. Beat in yogurt and vanilla.

2. In a seperate bowl combine flour, cocoa, salt. Gradually add the dry ingrients into the wet, stirring well. Add shredded zucchini last.

4. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Cook at 350 for approximately 40 minuntes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5. In a seperate bowl combine cool whip and pudding packet, beat with a handheld mixer until smooth.

Nutritional Breakdown

Yummy brownies with veggies! Can't get much better than that!

Calm before the Storm

Hi all!

While others are out pillaging and panicking, I am enjoying a quiet Saturday morning at home. I slept incredibly poorly last night, I don't know what it was! I was energized and wanted to do some cleaning (not really appropriate at 1am...) but I forced myself to sleep. At seven on the nose, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to greet the day! I wanted to share my delicious breakfast with everyone because it would be a perfect match for anyone who's following a plan--and it's delicious.

Waffles. Delicious sweet waffles...with butter and syrup. Yes! I went to Stop and Shop and bought Low Fat Homestyle Waffles (Serving size 2 waffles) and Vermont Sugar Free Maple Syrup (sweetened with splenda). Syrup was 15 cals per 1/4 cup serving...and I didn't even HAVE that much! I ate 1/8 of a cup on my waffles and they were syrupy and drippy and yummy! It was just what I wanted and needed AND was very filling!! Here's the breakdown!

Click me to make this readable without a magnifying glass!
Analysis done by SparkPeople.com

And my delicious waffles were eaten on one of most expensive pieces of china in my kitchen (why yes, it is a Barbie heart shaped plate). I won't even tell you the price I paid for this gem at a yard sale. (Hint: It rhymes with 'tree'). And now to make everyone drool! It was a delicious, healthy breakfast that is JC friendly, diabetic friendly, and easy to make! I was thinking next time I might get Morningstar Farms veggie sausage and have two links for 80 calories as a "splurge" meal on the weekend. Honestly, it's not much of a splurge since I usually have trouble getting anywhere near 2000 calories and those little veggie sausages are packed with goodness!

Mmmm waffles!

Hope everyone has a safe, healthy weekend. I will update my blog as I can. CL&P (electric provider) called this morning and said they expecting several days of power outages but they would prioritize based on electrical needs (do you think blogging counts? No, I didn't think so either).

Have a great day!