Tag / Healthy cooking

by tessbrennan

Vegan Oatmeal Cupcakes

I am always looking for foods for my baby girl to take for lunches. Today, I made these.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups rolled oatsoats
  • 1 cup instant protein
  • 2 1/2 cups of mashed fruit (mashed ripe bananas or I used a combo of mashed peaches and applesauce)
  • 4 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
  • 2 1/3 cup water
  • 1/4 plus 1 tbsp oil (coconut, or other veg based oil)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • Optional add ins: cinnamon, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, ground flax, dried fruit

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 380 F
  • Line 14 cupcake tins with liners
  • Mix all dry ingredients in one large bowl
  • Mix all wet ingredients in a medium bowl (fruit included)
  • Mix wet into dry ingredients
  • Pour scant 1/4 cup of batter into each cup
  • Bake 21 ish minutes

These can be frozen and reheated

by tessbrennan

Protein Cookies–Not Yo Momma’s Chocolate Chip Cookie

What to pack for my daughter’s lunch? What to give her for a healthy snack? Chocolate Chip Cookies of course!  (But not what you are thinking.)

I work to be sure that my daughter gets a balanced diet every day.  I pack her lunch, out of necessity, every day of school, and I work to be sure that she gets a sampling of all the food groups.

Here is one of her new favorites – She calls them Cookies!

Ingredients:Protein Cookies

2.5 cups whole wheat Flour
0.5 cups Instant Protein
1.5 cups rolled oats (ground)
1.5 tsp baking soda
1tsp ground cinnamon
0.75 cups ground pecans
0.5 tsp salt
0.75 cups butter
1 cups brown sugar
1 TBSP Vanilla
6  large eggs
1 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350* F
  • In large bowl, mix dry ingredients through salt
  • In mixer – cream butter & brown sugar
  • Add vanilla and 1 egg at a time
  • Slowly add dry mixture until all blended
  • Stir in chips
  • Drop by scant 1/4 cups onto parchment paper lined cookie tray – flatten slightly (makes right at 24 cookies)
  • Bake 11-13 minutes until slightly browned on top
  • Cool on pan for ~5 minutes then use spatula to move to wire racks to cool.

I put cooled cookies in zip lock bags and store in the fridge to use in her lunches. They freeze well, but don’t normally last that long.

Here’s the amazing part!  The nutritional figures:

Each cookie has about 169 calories, 8.7 g of Fat, 18.1 g of Carbohydrates, 3 g of Fiber, AND… 6.5 g of protein!!!

Tasty treat AND good for you!  Dip them in milk for an extra special treat!

by tessbrennan

Spicy Vegetarian Chili–Tricked my hubby

So, I was asked to make a veggie chili for the teachers’ appreciation luncheon.  I decided to embark on the adventure, so I looked up many recipes, then compiled my own with my own style.

Veggie Chili-HealthyGreaseMonkey

This recipe made a really thick, hearty chili that was a tad on the spicy side and delicious!

  • 1.5 cups dried black beans
  • 1 cup dried red beans
  • 1 cup dried pinto beans
  • 1 cup dried garbanzo beans
  • 28 oz can Italian peeled tomatoes (chopped)
  • 28 oz can Rotelle original tomato/chili pepper
  • 1 red onion chopped
  • 1 zucchini chopped or shredded
  • 1 yellow squash chopped or shredded
  • 1/4 cup chili powder
  • 1 tsp of Cumin
  • 1 bell pepper chopped
  • 1 box of baby bella mushrooms sliced
  • 1 cup of chopped cilantro
  • Dusting of Cayanne (may not even be needed)
  • 2 1/2 cups of water + 6-8 cups
  • 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda

In a LARGE bowl pour all the beans, the baking soda & 6-8 cups of water and let beans soak for 4 hours plus.  (Ideally, I will let them soak over night.)

After soaking, pour into a colander and rinse beans thoroughly.

Pour beans into crock pot and add everything else to crock pot and stir.

Let cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Garbanzo beans will still be a bit crunchy, but that is your “meat texture”.   My hubby never realized that it was a meatless chili!

Veggie Chili

WOO HOO – SCORE ONE FOR MOMMY AND MEATLESS MONDAYS!!!

 

by tessbrennan

Zucchini Crust Pizza

This is a deep dish style pizza that I make for my family.  With the recent realization that gluten free is an issue, the zucchini crust is a big plus!  This allows us to have the pizza we miss while eating healthier choices!

ZucchiniCrustPizza by HealthyGreaseMonkey.com

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 shredded zucchini
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 Tbsp Shredded Parmesan cheese (I prefer Parmesan Regganio)
  • 3 oz. shredded mozzerella cheese (I’ve also used shredded mexican blend, cheddar, colby jack, or whatever I have laying around in my cheese drawer.)
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp basil
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 lb ground beef (can also use ground chicken or turkey)
  • 1 finely chopped onion
  • 2 oz uncured Canadian Bacon (gluten free) pre-cooked & chopped
  • 2 cups of spaghetti sauce
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • handful of fresh baby bella mushrooms sliced
  • whatever other veggies you like on your pizza
  • 4-8 oz of shredded cheese of your liking (or what you have on hand)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
    • Let zucchini drain in a strainer for 30 minutes or squeeze zucchini in a clean dishtowel or paper towel to remove some of the moisture
    • Mix first 7 ingredients (zucchini-3 oz cheese) in a bowl.
    • Grease an 8×11.5 inch, glass, baking dish
    • Press mixture firmly into bottom of dish so it is equally thick throughout.
    • Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees
  • While crust is baking
    • Brown ground beef with the onion, garlic, & pepper
    • Chop the Canadian bacon into bite size pieces
    • Add Canadian bacon & spaghetti sauce to pan and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.
  • Remove crust from oven
    • Pour on the sauce, evenly across crust
    • Add mushrooms or other pizza toppings
    • Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, to your liking.
  • Return to the oven to bake for 30 minutes at 400 or until it is heated throughout.  Cheese should be belted and browned to perfection.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes before slicing and serving. 
  • A pizza cutter and spatula work GREAT for serving

We have used pepperoni in the past, but now need to locate a corn free/gluten free option so lil bit can eat too!

by tessbrennan

Grilled Cajun Maple Mahi Mahi

My hubby’s boss went fishing down off the keys and caught some dolphin fish.  Tim asked me to prepare it for the grill, so here is what we did, and in my opinion, it was FABULOUS!  Tell me your experience.

It did help that the fish was uber fresh, too.

Ingredients:

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 1/4 tsp dried oregano
2 1/2 tsp paprika 1 1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper 1 tsp onion powder
2 4 oz fillets mahi mahi, rinsed & patted dry 3 TBSP maple syrup

Directions to make Cajun Seasoning:

  • In a small bowl stir together salt, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, and thyme until evenly blended
  • Place extra in an air tight container for future use.

Directions for putting together the Mahi Mahi:

  • Heat the grill to about 300 degrees
  • In a bowl, stir the maple syrup and 1 1/2 TBSP of the Cajun seasoning.
  • Brush the Maple syrup mixture over the mahi mahi fillets.
  • Cook the mahi mahi on the grill until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 5 minutes per side

We had chunks of the fish and that worked wonders as well!

by tessbrennan

18 meals from my 12 pound Turkey.

I saw several news stories this Thanksgiving about the amount of turkey people throw away after the holiday.  It’s a known fact that the most expensive food you buy is food you throw away. So I thought I would share with you how we got 8 meals and turkey stock for 10 more meals for my family of 3 out of one 12 pound bird.

I roasted it for 4.5 hours (1 hour longer than the package said to because it wasn’t done yet)

Suntan_turkey

Meal:

  1. Sliced turkey breast hot from the critter, fresh from the oven.
  2. Turkey sandwiches at a nearby theme park with swiss & mayo & mustard.
  3. Turkey casserole (whole wheat pasta, frozen peas, fresh carrots, cream of anything soup, french’s french fried onions)
  4. Turkey burritos (homemade refried beans, fresh made pico de gallo, cheese, Daisy Sour Cream)
  5. 5-8 are yet to be determined, the turkey has been frozen in 1 pound, cooked portions in ziplocks for a quick addition to any meal.
  6. The other 10 meals I will use this turkey in, will be in the form of turkey stock/broth.  I have 10 16 ounce portions frozen flat in my freezer to use when a recipe calls for stock.  I know what’s in it and what is not.

I will blog on the recipes and the process for dividing this bird up sometime this week as I have to head off to my other job for a bit.

Happy Thanksgiving & thank you for reading.  May you find yourself Feeling Good Fast!

by tessbrennan

Pico de Gallo–Our weekly version

Pico de Gallo
I use this stuff on EVERYTHING! It is important that we increase our raw veggies so we have more fiber in our diet and raw so we haven’t cooked the nutrients out of them!

I like to make a big batch once a week and then eat it on everything from omlettes to burgers, chicken, anything else that could use some relish or some kick!

Pico de Gallo

  • 3 good sized tomatoes (preferably organic – I prefer big uglies) Sliced and diced very small.
  • 1 large onion minced or diced very fine
  • 2-4 jalepeno peppers minced. (this can be adjusted to your liking, we also use our organic, home grown chili peppers for this as well.
  • 1/2 a large bunch of fresh cilantro (leaves only) minced up

Mix it all in a big bowl and let it sit at room temperature for at least an hour for the flavors to meld.  FABULOUS stuff!

Stores well in the refrigerator for a week to a week and half. I eat it on everything!!!

by tessbrennan

Healthy Pumpkin Bread

We purchased a big pumpkin from the store and I was really worried about how it was going to cook up, since many sites say not to use the large pumpkins.

Well, it worked GREAT! We got 3 quarts of pumpkin puree’ and it is delicious.  We froze 1 1/2 quarts, made the following recipe with 1 pint, saved a pint for smoothies, and are making pumpkin muffins tonight with the other pint.

How we puréed the pumpkin.

half pumpkinPumpkin puree

Cut the pumpkin in half, set it in a baking dish with a 1/4 inch of water in it.

Bake the pumpkin 1/2 for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Take it carefully out of the oven so as to NOT splash HOT water all over yourself, flip the now cooked and soft pumpkin over into a large bowl and then scoop out the inner flesh.

I scoop the flesh into my blender and blend until it is puréed then dump it into the bowl and repeat until I have it all done.  This pumpkin yielded 3 quarts of pumpkin puree.

Now for the Pumpkin Bread Recipe. (leave the oven set at 350 degrees F)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of pumpkin puree
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup veg. oil
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup of water
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup organic raw sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 cups of unbleached flour

 

  1. In a large bowl, I mix the pumpkin puree, eggs, oils, water, & sugar until it is very well blended.
  2. In another bowl, I whisk together all the dry ingredients.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until JUST blended.
  4. Pour into oiled bread pans. (I used coconut oil to grease them)
  5. Bake for about 50 minutes in my preheated oven and they were perfect.
  6. Loaves are done when a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
  7. Cool loaves on a wire rack, slice and serve!

I hope you enjoy this bread as much as my family and co-workers have!

Pumpkin bread

Here is what the puree looks like in my freezer.  I freeze it in ziplocks in 2 cup servings, so when I want to make a recipe that calls for a can of pumpkin, I have my own pure pumpkin to cook with. Smile

pumpkin in the freezer

by tessbrennan

Gluten Free Banana/Zucchini Bread

Delicious, healthy, gluten free bread recipe.  It stays moist and so very yummy!  My family and co-workers LOVE it!

 

IMG-20120819-01765

 

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs 1/2 cup instant protein
1/2 cup applesauce 1 cup Buckwheat flour
1/4 cup grape seed oil 1 cup rice flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup white sugar 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
2 med. grated zucchini 1 tsp nutmeg
3-4 med ripe bananas 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup dried cranberries (optional)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

PUT IT TOGETHER

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease & flour two 8×4 inch bread/loaf pans.
  2. In large bowl, beat eggs until frothy & light yellow. Add oil, brown sugar, white sugar, grated zucchini, bananas, and vanilla; blend together until well combined. (My kitchen aid mixer works well for this.)
  3. In a separate bowl mix instant protein, flours, spices, baking powder, baking soda, & salt.
  4. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients in big bowl.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared loaf pans.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes with our oven.
  7. Allow to cool in the loaf pans on wire racks before removing & serving.

Enjoy this tasty treat! It stores nicely in plastic bags in the fridge, or freeze a loaf to enjoy in the future.

 

by tessbrennan

Hearty, Healthy Chili Recipe

School starts on Wednesday of next week and I am starting a new part time position at a friend’s Insurance Agency, so I decided today would be a good day to begin preparing “heat and eat” meals.  Enter, Hearty, Healthy Chili Recipe.

In my 6 quart slow cooker I layered. Continue reading →