From the Kitchen Friday: Cookies for Breakfast?

Happy Friday! Now that you have gotten to know me a little more, you know my passion for nutrition and for cookies!  Recently, I had a friend of mine ask if there was such a thing as a healthier cookie (because I guess mine were adding a few inches to the waistline) and of course I said yes!  Combining my passions make me happy, so I decided it was time to share my breakfast cookie. 

Cool has a delicious one too that she will share during a later post, but I thought this was perfect timing with all the buzz about the importance of eating breakfast.

 

Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. You need something to kick start your metabolism in the morning, otherwise your calorie burning furnace gets started too late in the day. Many people think they need to have an elaborate meal for breakfast but it doesn’t have to be. It just needs to have balance, meaning you need a good high fiber carbohydrate with a good quality protein. By the way, coffee and/or soda do not count!  However, a nice black cup of coffee compliments my delicious cookies very well, go ahead and have a cup! 

 I bake up a batch once a week to have them ready to go when I am running late. They are also great as a quick snack or when you have a sweet craving.  Who would skip breakfast if they knew they could have cookies?

The Right Start

Get the day off to a great start by making a good breakfast a part of it.  Breakfast is truly the most important meal to eat. 

Studies show kids and adults who eat breakfast are more likely to:

 

§  Concentrate better with problem-solving skills used in reading, writing and math

§  Have healthier body weights

§  Have lower blood cholesterol levels

 

Follow the 3R’s to help yourself make healthy breakfast choices.

 

Rev Up Metabolism

Breakfast simply means to “break-the-fast”.  Your body tends to burn fewer calories as you sleep.  Burn more calories and jump-start your metabolism by eating breakfast.

 

Reach For Protein and Fiber

Smart breakfast choices should include two or three foods groups.  Include protein and fiber in your breakfast to keep you feeling full longer.  Our bodies love carbohydrates.  They are easy to digest and give quick energy.  Proteins take a little longer to digest, therefore providing energy when the carbohydrates are gone.

 

Ready-To-Go In One Minute

Don’t have enough time in the morning to eat breakfast?  Here is a great recipe for a breakfast cookie to start the day!  

 

Blissful Breakfast Cookies

Makes 12 cookies, or 6-2 cookie servings

All You Need:

·         1 c unsweetened applesauce

·         2 large mashed ripe bananas

·         2 tbsp agave syrup

·         ½ c dried mixed berries

·         ½ c sliced almonds

·         1 c fresh strawberries, finely            chopped

·         1 tsp pure vanilla extract

·         2 tsp cinnamon

·         1 scoop of low-sugar vanilla whey protein powder

·         1½ C old fashioned rolled oats(certified gluten free if necessary)

All You Do:

1.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare one baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.      In a bowl stir together the applesauce, mashed bananas and agave syrup.

3.      Add in the dried fruit, nuts. fresh fruit and vanilla.

4.      Sprinkle the mixture with cinnamon and protein powder, and then stir in the oats. When combined, drop 12 - ¼ cupfuls on the prepared baking sheet.

5.      Pat the cookies down to the shape and size you like and press all the goodies that may have fallen out of the cookie back so it bakes well.

6.      Place cookies in the oven and bake for 30 minutes till golden, rotating the sheet around half way through baking.

7.      Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes on cookie sheet then place cookies on a baking rack to cool completely (about an hour)

8.      Then you are going to bake again, but the place the bottom of the cookie facing up, so you are baking the bottom. Repeat steps 6 and 7.

-Crazy

 

 

Making It Monday: The BEST Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Who doesn't love a good burger?  With Labor Day celebrations just around the corner, I know many of you will be firing up the grill to celebrate our last days of summer, so why not add a different twist to your burger menu for the party?

Why Buffalo Chicken?  Well Buffalo Chicken has all the great components of one of the most tasty burgers you will eat:  meat, cheese and spice. Pure burger bliss and yes, dietitian approved!

Ground chicken:  It is a great tasting and healthier substitute for ground beef and I personally like the taste of it better than ground turkey. Some tips for using ground chicken:  1) It does get a little gooey, please don't overwork it and always coat your pan or grill rack with a little non-stick cooking spray or canola oil to prevent it from sticking. 2) Most ground chicken is >93% lean and it will dry out if cooked to long. Make sure to watch the video to see my trick to keeping the burger moist and delicious! 3) Ground chicken is complimented well by a little seasoning. Use the same seasonings you use for regular burgers and get the same, great flavor. I recommend using half of what you normally do if there is sodium in your seasoning because of the high sodium content of the buffalo sauce we will slather on these burgers. 

Toppings:  When topping this burger use highly flavored, quality toppings. I do like use reduced-fat blue cheese crumbles and blue cheese dressing, less fat but same great taste. I do not skimp on the wing sauce because this really makes the burger. The broccoli slaw has much more flavor and crunch than regular cole slaw, not to mention higher nutrient quality. When choosing your bun, just remember to shoot for a bun around the size of your fist. I would rather have more meat/toppings than extra bread. 

These burgers are great leftover as well, so don't be scared to make a few extra. Just leave the saucy sauce off and add it when you reheat it later. Put this on your list for Labor Day and for any of your favorite upcoming tailgate fiestas!

-Crazy

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Serves 4 1/4 cup rice vinegar 1/2  tablespoon sugar 8 ounces broccoli slaw (about 4 cups) 1 pound ground Smart Chicken 2 teaspoons McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning 3 scallions, finely chopped ¼ cup finely chopped celery 1 tablespoon Hy-Vee olive oil ¼ cup Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce 4  hamburger buns, toasted¼ cup chunky low-fat  blue cheese dressing n medium bowl, whisk together vinegar and sugar. Add broccoli slaw and toss until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate until needed. In large bowl mix together ground chicken, steak seasoning, scallions, and celery. Wet hands, and form into four, 1-inch-thick burger patties. Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add burgers and cook for 5 minutes on each side, or until internal temperature is 165° F. Remove burgers and transfer to a plate to rest. Decrease heat to low and add buffalo wing sauce to pan. Return burgers back to sauce in pan, turning to coat both sides, about 1 minute. You can also grill these on medium flame for 5 minutes on each side. Warm sauce on low heat and dip the grilled burgers into the sauce. Place burger on bottom of toasted bun, and top with marinated broccoli slaw. Drizzle with blue cheese dressing and top with hamburger bun top. Adapted from: https://www.cafetecumseh.com/Recipe.aspx?recipe=gluten-free-buffalo-chicken-burgers&type=Entrees

Being resourceful on vacation!

Okay I know we said we were going to be on vacation but I just had to share my cooking experience from last night dinner.

So I am on vacation in Louisville Kentucky with my family because my husband is participating in the Ironman today.  Now if you are an athlete or have ever trained for anything you realize that nutrition is just as important as training.  For this reason, and the fact that there is 11 of us, we like to plan our meals when traveling.  I know some of you are going to say that going out to eat is the fun part of vacation and I would agree with you sometimes.  Going out to eat with 3 kids, 4 and under isn't what it used to be, plus it can get pretty expensive since we are not huge fast food fans.  So for this reason on "family" vacations we plan meals.  

These meals are always easy and crowd pleasing.  On our meal board this weekend we had pulled pork sandwiches, walking tacos, and of course the carbo loading dinner feast the night before the big race, where I had made up pasta, a very veggie and meaty marinara sauce to top it with, some bag lettuce, bread, and some cooked carrots.  
 

 

Like I said it has to be easy because you are on vacation as well.  I cook all of my food a couple days beforehand and then freeze them.  This helps when packing the cooler because your food acts as ice for the other food you bring.  I then bring a large and a small crockpot to heat up the meals each day.

With all the planning that goes on before vacation, there is always going to be some kind of obstacle that vacation throws at you!  Like how could I of planned on the refrigerator in the hotel room freezing some of our food?  So when this happens you can either freak out and throw all the frozen food out, find a grocery store to buy all new food or you can take the "cool" approach looking around the hotel to see what you can use to cook these foods so that people will eat them still.  

Hmmmm what can I use?  I got it, every hotel room has a coffee maker!  This acted as my steamer to cook the carrots.

 They didn't turn out that bad.  If I had a microwave or stove I would of cooked them a little longer but sometimes you just have to roll with what life gives you. And I know you all have the same question, and I will just say "no, they did not taste like coffee, they tasted like steamed carrots!"

You know what they say, "when life gives you frozen carrots, put them in a coffee maker and cook them."  Okay maybe nobody ever said that but I do know that I have heard "don't waste food" and "be resourceful" and so that's what I did!

Now I need to get some shut eye so I can cheer loud in a couple hours for my ironman!

What have you cooked in a hotel room before?  

-Cool

Making it Monday: Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms

Are you the type of person that loves pizza and would eat it everyday if you could?  High five because I am too!  Because I try to advocate for change in your same old "usual" dinner and try to inspire you to spice up your kitchen recipes, I have a pizza recipe that is still cheesy and full of ooey-gooey deliciousness but a little lower in carbs and chalked full of vegetables.  This must be too good to be true!

Crazy and I decided to both do the "Making it Monday" segment this week to give you a great recipe but also maybe entertain a little more.  I mean we do call it Crazy Cool in the Kitchen!

Check out the video at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvQZYx4DBZw&list=UUsmwo9grv25f6hT7CipnI9A

or if you just want the recipe, we have provided that as well below!  Enjoy!


-Cool


Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms

4 Portabella mushrooms, stemmed and cleaned
1/2 c. Balsamic or Italian dressing
1 lb. Turkey Sausage
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 c. Zucchini, diced
1/2 c. Green Pepper, diced
2 cloves, minced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 c. Marinara
1/3 c. Parmesan, shredded
1/2 c. Mozzarella, shredded

Coat the mushrooms in dressing, and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet over medium heat cook sausage for 3 minutes.  Add in the olive oil, zucchini, green peppers, and garlic until meat is thoroughly cooked about 7 more minutes, until there is no pink.  Drain meat, if needed, and add the marinara, italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese to the meat mixture.  Take one mushroom and stuff each one with 1/2 c. of meat mixture and cook in the oven for 10 minutes.  Take the mushrooms out and top with the mozzarella cheese.  Place back in the oven to melt cheese about 6-10 minutes.

From the Kitchen Friday: Kids Eat Right

August is a busy month of getting in last minute vacations, shopping for school supplies, and enjoying the last days of summer.  It is also the month celebrating Kids Eating Right. Kids Eat Right is a national campaign starting in 2010 offering resources and information to the public to encourage nutritious and healthful eating amoung children and families. This campaign is near and dear to my heart because it's helps everyone eat healthier but in a creative and delicious way. 

We all love kids and we all want them to be healthy and happy. But many of us just don't where to start when getting creative in the kitchen, finding easy recipes and inexpensive ways to shop for these kinds of foods. This campaign helps with all of these things. I will use a lot of the great recipes from the website on this blog and I hope you check out this great resource: 

http://www.eatright.org/kids/

 

You really do not have to spend a lot of money and you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen to have foods kiddos enjoy. Another thing to get kids interested  in the foods they eat, is to get them in the kitchen and cooking!  Have a day where your kids help make dinner every week. Have a day each weekend that the kids are involved in family snack time. And it can be all ages. Young children can help you stir or pour and older kids can be your sous chef. 

Cool and I love to do cooking classes for all ages. Look for our monthly cooking class starting this fall, bring your kids and start eating right! Get the kids into the kitchen and whip up this delicious and easy recipe this weekend:  

Easy Fruit Pizzas

1 package of Blueberry Belvita Cookies

1 6-ounce vanilla Greek yogurt

20 fresh blueberries

1/4 cup low-fat granola (I like Bare Fit Vanilla Almond)

Evenly distribute yogurt onto the 4 cookies. Place 5 blueberries on each cookie and then sprinkle with granola. 

Yum. Have a great weekend!

-Crazy 

"What the What?" Wednesday and Popsicles for Breakfast

Have you ever seen something that looks so easy that you think, "Why didn't I see this sooner? Obviously that is a great idea that I should adopt for my everyday life."  And when the idea is also easy, cheap cost effective,  healthy, and fun for the whole family, that's when you just have to say "What the What?  Why am I not doing this!" Okay so I'm going to give you not a mind blowing recipe today because I don't really even have a recipe for this but it's more of a mind blowing idea that you can have popsicles for breakfast!

Yeah I said it, POPSICLES FOR BREAKFAST.  Sorry, I get a little excited, I didn't mean to yell.  If you have kids or even if you are a kid at heart, don't you feel like your mind has been blown?  Popsicles for breakfast is a win win situation that will leave your kids happy and full and parents happy because they know that their kids are getting a nutritional on the go breakfast that doesn't take much time in the kitchen.

So I received these popsicle molds for a gift quite awhile ago and never used them.  Then one day I looked in my fridge and saw a couple of Greek yogurts that need to be used up.  I put a couple of them in the mold to freeze overnight and it changed my mind of this little gadget.  These little molds are perfect to make Greek yogurt breakfast pops.  Okay I know you don't have to just eat them for breakfast, you can have them for a snack or dessert, but when do you ever get to say you had popsicles for breakfast?  Check out this "cool" idea!

This is all you need!

 

All you need to do is get two containers of yogurt.  They can be the same kind or different, it's your call, it's your popsicles, it's your breakfast.  I decided to go with a blueberry/ strawberry mixture to get a couple different flavors that compliment each other.  I decided to go with Siggi's yogurt because it is nice and creamy, it's lower in sugar than most yogurts, lower in fat, and higher in protein so that it keeps the kiddos full throughout the morning.

If you do not have a popsicle mold you can get one at any retail store for about $10-15, or you can use cute little dixie cups and then put a plastic spoon in it for the handle.  Easy peasy!  Whatever you do, just start eating these popsicles for breakfast!

Step one (if using two types of yogurt), mix the two containers of yogurt in a bowl 

Divide the yogurt into the molds, or Dixie cups.

Drop the mold or cups a couple times on the counter.  This will take out some of the big air bubbles and compact the yogurt into the bottom of the mold.

There's still going to be some air bubbles but it's okay!

Put the top of the popsicle mold on, or this is when you would insert the plastic spoon straight into the dixie cup.

Place them in the freezer for at least 4 hours, but preferable overnight.

Take them out and get prepared for the reaction on your kids' face when you tell them you are having popsicles for breakfast.

You just have to turn the cover a little.  If it sticks I run it under some warm water for a couple seconds and the cover comes right off.  If you are using dixie cups, just tear the paper off!

With the fake ice cream cone handle they look like you are having ice cream for breakfast!

Enjoy and Happy Wednesday!

-Cool

Making It Monday: National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

Hold up!  When I found out today was National Chocolate Chip Cookie day, I knew this post was perfect for me! I love to make cookies.

 Cookies are my favorite dessert (besides Key Lime Pie). I know we all have our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, so I am just going to offer some of my tips for a great cookie.

(I had some help in the kitchen today!) 

So let's get started. First and foremost, the most important ingredient in baking is love. I am serious!  Don't laugh!  I remember baking because I had to versus because I wanted to. The cookies turned out so much better when I wanted to, because I put a lot of love in the cookies I make. I do not bake for just anyone and never bake cookies because I have to. Just a little baking wisdom for ya.  

Now, start up your oven to 350 degrees.   Next you need to start with quality ingredients:

I am a dietitian, but I do not skimp on great ingredients. How do you make a cookie healthier? You make a quality cookie and eat less of them. Done and done! 

I start by creaming real butter and sugar. One of my tricks is to cut back on the sugar by 1/4 for both brown and white. I also recommend setting out your butter for about 30 minutes to an hour before making your cookies. Do not let your butter get too soft though, it may result in very flat cookies. Use unsalted butter so then you know the amount of sodium you put into your cookies. If you use salted butter, you will be unsure of the sodium content.

Add your pure vanilla extra, please please do not use imitation. And I like to use extra of it to add extra sweetness instead of the sugar, about 2 1/2 teaspoons. 

Add each egg seperately and wait until it is mixed thoroughly into the creamed mixture. 

This is how your batter should look so far.   Up next are the dry ingredients...

 

I am a firm believer in measuring out ingredients exactly. Use a knife to get your flour measurements and baking powder measurements exact. I use baking powder because I like a softer cookie. I think baking soda makes a cookie more on the crunchy/crumbly side, so if you're into that..go for it! 

Whisk your dry ingredients together or sift them together. This adds a little air and will also create a lighter cookie. If you like a more dense cookie, skip this step.

Now add the dry ingredients in 4 different steps so it blends well (and so flour does not fly all over the place, yep learned this the hard way).

Now for the chocolate chips. Again, here is where quality counts. Chose a high quality chocolate that has at least 60% cacao. This gives it a richer chocolate flavor and the chips melt in your mouth. Oh and put the whole package in, no need to measure! 

I love parchment paper lined cookie sheets because of 2 reasons: the cookies never stick and I have to use minimal work cleaning up my pans. I do drop cookies because I love the imperfection of a dropped, homemade cookie. When I go to eat a cookie, if it's imperfect, I know it is homemade and most likely made with love. I am very skeptical and don't trust the perfect cookie, it kind of reminds me of the perfect person. They just don't exist! 

After baking the cookies for about 10-12 minutes, slide them off the cookie sheet and let cool on a cooling rack or countertop.

And the best part is breaking them in half and watching the gooey chocolate love in the middle. 

I hope your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe makes you and the special people you make them for, smile. Little pieces of imperfect heaven....and lots of love.

-Crazy

Chocolate Chip Cookies

All You Need:

10 ounces 60% Cacao Chocolate Chips 
2 sticks of unsalted butter, slightly softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

All You Do:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Sift flour with baking powder and salt; set aside. 

3. In mixer, cream butter with sugars at medium speed for 2 minutes. 

4. Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Mix on low speed until incorporated. 

5. In 4 steps, graduate blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. 

6. Remove bowl from mixer and manually stir in chocolate chips.

7. Drop by tablespoon onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.