Pumpkin & Peanut Butter!

Breaking News! I have been informed that November is Peanut Butter Lovers Month! Move over "No Shave November",  peanut butter is much better than your scruff. I feel it is my obligation and PB duty to eat a healthy dose of peanut buttery goodness every day this month. *Sigh, a tough mission but someone's gotta do it.

Apart from being a pb-onanza kinda day, it also happens to be filled with the sweet scent of ohmygoshpumpkinbread! coming from my kitchen. Pretty sure yankee should jump on the bandwagon with a candle named that.

I REALLY wanted to make pumpkin pie, but with Thanksgiving right around the corner I witheld the urge, and went to next best thing. Pumpkin Bread. Heaven.

Pumpkin Bread
adapted from Skinny Taste
serves 16 slices

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
2 egg whites
1 1/2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and coat a loaf pan with cooking spray. My loaf was a little short for my liking in a 9x5 so I would recommend an 8x4 pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, salt, and baking soda.

In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add to the dry mixture and mix until combined.

Pour into prepared loaf pan, and bake for 50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted.

Slice and enjoy with a good dose of peanut butter of course! Or cream cheese. Yes, cream cheese. Don't knock til you try it. You'll thank me later..

Bonus news is that it's only 85 calories per slice! If you prefer a bit of a bigger slice, cut it into 12 for 113 calories a per serving. The OCD in me made me slice it out just to be sure I didn't count half the loaf as a slice. Because I would.

Eat some peanut butter and Happy Veterans Day!!





 

The Chocolate Underground.

Happy Monday! Loving the weather change (or the taste of), with a mild day of 80 degrees. Last night's run was perfect too. Who knew running in 90 degree weather could be so much harder?!

Sunday-funday was spent baking up a masterpiece with the roomie, Annedra. Knowing that I am on a mission to make ever "Southern" recipe sparked the brainchild of a red velvet cake. How original. Creative. Innovative. Please tell me you're picking up my sarcasm....

What IS a fun and creative spin on this classic Southern dessert has been blowing up Pinterest like my phone on a saturday night (that means I get a lot of calls 'cause I'm so popular), is the idea of a BLUE velvet cake. Now we're talkin! But not any ol' blue cake we took it a step further in ode to the great Velvet Underground.We decided the "blue" went with "Pale Blue Eyes", and the Blue Velvet Underground Cake was born!

Soo I can't give you the recipe, since it's a "family secret". Aka I didn't really remember or measure the ingredients. What I can tell you though is that we used an entire bottle of blue food coloring, and half a bottle of chocolate syrup. Despite the abundance of artificial ingredients, we balanced it out by with some pureed blueberries. Pure moist, delicious cake. Topped off with homemade cream cheese icing and a banana. If you don't get the reference, you don't deserve to know! But, I'll tell you anyway, just this once. Andy Warhol + Velvet Underground = Best Buds. Andy Warhol + famous painting = wilty banana. Add blue velvet underground cake = sum of my sunday night.

Pre-baking. What color would you call it?!

Shout out to Madmoiselle for assisting in the cake production

Action shot of frosting by Annedra!

Velvet Underground, Warhol cake

We of course listened to the Velvet Underground while baking this delicious cake, which made it even more "authentic". A nice walk around the neighborhood of course balanced out our inhalation of the cake beforehand : ). Granted, it was a bit greeny-blue, I dedicated it to myself, being of a blue-green eye colored gal.

Gooey split view of the Cake!

Since I do like to give recipes, here is one that I made for breakfast this morn. No pictures, but I can assure you it is one bowl of delicious oats. Again with the oats, I know but who in the food blogging world isn't obsessed with oats?!

I made my own version of PB Fingers, Uber Chocolaty Overnight Oats. The addition of yogurt makes this breakfast more pudding-y, and chocolate never hurt anyone!
Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup milk
1/4 plain non-fat yogurt
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (or 1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder)
1/2 banana sliced

Just mix in a bowl, store in the fridge overnight, and enjoy your breakfast waiting for you patiently the next morning! I topped mine with a scoop of peanut butter of course.

Enjoy the rest of your week!!

Back in the Litchfield Groove

Ahhh! Home Sweet Home, for the time being. I finished my internship at UCONN this past Sunday, which was a blast. Learned a lot, and met a lot of really cool people. It is weird to think after 2 months there, I may never return : ( If anyone is interested in foodservice, especially at college/universities I strongly suggest the NACUFS internship. It's paid, a lot of fun, and you learn so much!! So glad I made the choice to pursue it.

As soon as I finish getting settled back in Litchfield, I will be off and running (well rather driving 21 hours!) to my new home for the year down in Montgomery, AL. My dietetic internship with the Department of Education awaits me, and leave the 27th of July. So long sweet summer, hello sweet tea!

For the time being, to keep me busy since it's not like I have my whole life to pack away into my little car I wanted to share a new summer recipe I made. It's a fruit salad, but a little different than your run of the mill grapes, cantaloupe, and strawberries. I was originally going to use watermelon, but since peaches and plums were on the discount rack at the grocery store I thought I would give them a try. I'm always one for a bargain! The result was delicious and a nice change after eating my weight in cantaloupe and honeydew.

Fresh Fruit Salad
makes about 3 cups


5 medium peaches, washed and chopped
5 medium plums, washed and chopped
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 sprigs fresh mint, chopped
pinch of sugar (optional)


I started by chopping up the fruit, and placing in a large bowl.  My peaches and plums were reeeallllyy ripe (hence the discount shelf), so they were a bit soft, but they were really sweet. I think I would prefer them to have more of a firm texture so I would try to use fruit that isn't overly ripe.

Next I zested the lime, cut it in half and squeezed the juice into the bowl with the fruit. Add the zest as well.

Use just the leaves of the mint sprigs, and chop. Add to the fruit. I rarely ever buy fresh mint, but it is soo refreshing, especially if you add some to a glass of iced lemonade!

If your fruit isn't as ripe, adding a pinch of sugar, and mixing helps to give the salad enough sweetness. Cover, and store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the flavor party to start.

There you have a new take on the classic fruit salad. I love experimenting with new fruits, and I bet this would be good with pretty much any fruit. I mean come on, who doesn't like fruit salad?!

Hope to keep updating, and will be sure to add a southern addition to the blog as my internship starts. Excited to meet the new roomies and get settled in to the southern lifestyle.

Happy Wednesday!

Mother's Day For MJ

Happy Mother's Day! I'm surrounded by many lovely mothers so not being one myself (believe me I can wait!) is fine by me. Shout out to the many moms in my life (MJ, Ashley, Lauren, Nana, Grammy), I wish you a splendid day filled with coffee, breakfast, and maybe these delicious cupcakes! Those who know me know I call my mom MJ, and have since High School. It stands for Mama Jane, which has no relevance to her actual name of Diane, but it stuck! My friends now know her as MJ, and you do as well!
 I've seen these cupcakes on countless websites, and always sounded like an interesting cake to make, and after seeing it on one of my favorite food site Skinny Taste, I decided it was time to try it! They're called hummingbird cakes, and are much like a carrot cake, but uses crushed pineapple and mashed bananas instead of carrots. My mom loves flowers and birds alike, so I felt these were very fitting for a Mom day treat. I changed the original recipe a bit to fit my taste, and also cut it in half since 2 dozen cupcakes were a bit excessive.

Hummingbird Cupcakes
adapted from Skinny Taste, makes 1 dozen


Cupcakes:
3/4 cup White whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1 T oil
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Mashed banana (about 2 medium bananas)
8 oz can Crushed Pineapple, drained
1/4 cup Chopped walnuts


Frosting:
3 oz Reduced-fat Cream cheese
1/3 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 drop green, 1 drop yellow food coloring


Start by preheating your oven to 350, and coating a muffin tin with non-stick spray, or lining with cupcake liners.

Next, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, and vanilla. Add the pineapple, banana, and walnuts.

Add the wet mixture into the dry, and stir until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to the muffin pan, and bake for about 12 minutes, rotate the pan and bake another 12 minutes or until fully baked.

Let the cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan then remove and cool on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes cool, time to make the frosting!  This is when the cheaper bars of cream cheese come in handy since they have the measurements right on the package as opposed to trying to measure 3 oz from a tub. If that is the case 3 oz is 6 Tablespoons. Simply combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl, and mix with an electric mixer until fully combined.

When the cupcakes are fully cool, top each with the frosting. I made these a shade of green to go with the flower theme. A trick my dad that always taught me when frosting cakes was to dip the knife in a cup of warm water then the frosting to make it spread evenly. I topped each with a nice buttercup and flowers and decorative sprinkles.

Enjoy the day, and sink your teeth into these decadently nutritious cupcakes! Each has about 140 calories, and added nutrition from the whole wheat flour. Guilt-free for Mom-my! (Yes I'm THAT cheezy!)

Oh, Hey Blog. It's me!

Sooo haven't had a new post in a while. No excuses, but rather let's get to the recipe! This is in spirit of the upcoming holiday. While I will never give up a slice of apple pie on Thanksgiving, when you crave that similar taste on regular occasions, you can try my 5 minute Apple Pie. It's a simple recipe for a deceptively healthy recipe.

First of all, obtain an apple of your choosing, I really like a Gala or Cortland. And of course the MacIntosh.  Then it needs some liquid to cook in. Instead of using the traditional butter, I use a fruit juice instead. The one pictured is an apple juice concentrate since that's what I had on hand, but I usually use Orange Juice. You'll also need lots of cinnamon, and a little bit of brown sugar. Some special equipment you need is a apple corer or I used a melon baller. Or anything to get the core out.

Next you want to core the apple, using whatever method and put it in a microwave safe bowl. I use a pretty deep bowl to prevent spillage. 

Now you want to add all the good stuff. Start with adding about 3 Tablespoons of the juice or a little less if using juice concentrate. I usually pour it into the middle of the apple. Then I add about a teaspoon of brown sugar in the middle of the apple as well. Then I top the whole thing with about 1/2 a tablespoon of cinnamon. Now I'm a cinnamon fanatic, but if you're not so much feel free to adjust. You can also add other typical apple pie spices such as nutmeg.

Now you want to microwave it for about 1 1/2 minutes. You want the apple to be softened, but not mush. I then flip it over, so that the bottom that was soaking in the sauce is on top, and the other side gets to soak. Now it is ready to eat! Sometimes I add granola to create a apple crisp-ish dish. Also, I sometimes add a drizzle of maple syrup or a dollop of vanilla ice cream/frozen yogurt, but feel free to try new things. And like always enjoy!

Now I know it is not nearly as decadent as the real deal for a similar flavor, you are saving quite the calories! Here's a comparison for fun.

Typical slice of Apple Pie:  300 calories, 15g fat, 2g fiber

5 minute Apple Pie: 130 calories, 0g fat,  3g fiber.

These are estimates, but you get the idea of calories saved.

Hope you enjoy, and plan for another recipe soon!