WIAW.. Tortilla style!

Thanks to all who read my Smucker's Peanut Butter review yesterday! If you missed it, click HERE to read all of my thoughts on National Peanut Butter Day as well.

Today is not National Peanut Butter Day unfortunately, but it is Wednesday, and that should be a holiday all by itself. Because it's time for What-I-Ate-Wednesday!




IDK why this image isn't working, but...


I posted my eats so far below and I will post the rest later. Today's theme is tortillas because both my breakfast and dinner feature these awesome things. If you want to check out more of my tortilla ideas, click on this post: Just a Regular Day in the Neighborhood.

BREAKFAST
Breakfast quesadilla made with garden vegetable tortilla, vegan cheeze sauce, egg beaters and ground turkey. Plus almonds.

LUNCH
Everyone is probably getting tired of my bento boxes already, but... Not Me! So, for your enjoyment here is another Peanut Butter Lover's Bento Box (minus the pb). TL: Homemade pita bread, TR: Unsalted pistachios, BL: Turkey burger, lettuce and veggies to put in pita and BR: plain popcorn.




SNACK #1
Lots of random eats today, and lots of snacking that I didn't take pictures.

Last bit of stale popcakes.. :(



Strawberry and chocolate muffin concotions.


DINNER
Taco pizza made with broiled tortilla and topped with vegan cheeze sauce, ground beef and sauteed mushrooms, peppers and onions.

Cut into slices for easy munching while working on the computer.

SNACK #2

Banana ice cream topped with mixed frozen berries.

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PRESENT AND COOKIE LOVE

Santa Baby... Slip a present under the tree... For Me... I've been an awful good girl... Santa Baby... So hurry down the chimney tonight!

Santa Clause definitely came through this year. It was a great day:

First, my brother and I woke up at 5:30 to open presents. That's 5:00 AM people. We love Christmas. While waiting for my parents to get ready and come downstairs, we got our customary cinnamon rolls ready. Everyone had cinnabuns from a can but I made homemade cinnamon rolls from Kat's Health Corner the night before, popped them in the oven and baked. Tasty :)

Then it was time to open presents! (I apologize now for blurry pictures...)

First off is Cupcakes! Well, not an actual cupcake, but better: Cupcake-printed flannel sheets in my favorite color Pink. These will definitely keep me warm in the cold winter months.

I'm going to  get so hungry looking at these...

And while my bed sheets keep my BODY warm, this little buddy will be keeping my HANDS warm. It's an ongoing joke with my family and friends that my hands are always cold- Like Icicles! 

More pink!

I also got something I have been asking awhile for: a Pillow Pet. Mine is a purple lady bug with pink spots. The face is slightly creepy, however it will fit in nicely with my pee-wee panda Pillow Pet.

It's so soft and fluffy :)

I was especially pleased thus far... And then I opened this:

I looked to my parents and said, "Haha... I have the first one upstairs, but I haven't read it yet, now I'll need to!" Then they got this weird look on their faces. I dismissed it and opened up my next present: Paralnormalcy and...

I also got a wallet that I adored from Cracker Barrel.

Got to love Christmas. 

NEXT UP... I almost forgot I was getting this present, even though I was with my parents when they bought it on Black Friday. 5 dollars! It's for college though, so I just have to use my old food processor for now.

I just realized that I took a picture of this Spanish-side up!

After opening presents we lounged around for a while and then went to my grandparents' for lunch. 

And of course I wore some of my new clothes:

Purple striped sweater with Aeropostale skinny jeans and grey cami.

Fuzzy................................

These pink and red fuzzy socks didn't exactly match my purple sweater, but who cares?

Especially when you can't even see them because of these:

I also got brown, knit boots, but that pic was Way Fuzzy!

Much better  :)

 Oh, and I forgot to mention one of my favorite gifts:

 I love Scooby Doo! Especially on my head...

My new one is in the pink cover. Old one is below.

And did I mention I got an Ipod touch! This was pretty cool, but not super exciting because I already had an ipod touch. This is a newer version though, so unlike my old one, it has a camera and is NOT water-logged from my trip down Splash Mountain in Disney World. Score!

I also got Just Dance 3, which is so much fun! It will probably be my sole form of exercise for the next couple of weeks.

I saved the best for last: Scooby Doo CLUE.

This game combines two of my favorite things: Scooby and Clue. (Not to mention that this item is no longer in stores- My dad had to special order it off of Amazon). I have yet to play it, but it will be a great addition to my Clue Collection. These are the ones I have so far:

I am sure that I have a few more, but I don't feel like looking right now! lol... We used to have the Clue Jr. above, but I think we got rid of it because it was missing most of the pieces.

In case you couldn't tell, I love Clue! I was obsessed with the Clue Jr. books when I was younger.

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Okay, and now because you have been nice and have patiently waited through my Christmas Present ranting, here is a new cookie recipe. It's not the one that I promised yesterday, but it's super easy, quick and I just made them literally 30 minutes ago:

Healthy Mexican Wedding Cookies

*Also known as "Snowball" cookies*

Serving size: 1 small cookie       Servings: 16       Calories: 78       Carbs: 9g       Fat: 4g       
Protein: 1g      Sodium: 11mg       Sugar: 3g

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 Tbsp almond milk (or skim milk)
• 1/4 cup + 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• dash of salt
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped (other nuts like pecans or almonds would work fine too)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine canola oil, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Add the flour and mix well.
4. Stir in the walnuts and use your fingers to make sure they are evenly distributed.
5. Then make 16 small balls out of the dough and place on a sprayed cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 9 to 13 minutes.
7. Let cool for at least 3 minutes, then roll in the remaining 3 Tbsp of powdered sugar.

Mexican Wedding Cookies are my favorite Christmas treat!

These cookies are normally laden with unhealthy saturated fats and tons of sugar, but these are low in both. Normal mexican wedding cookies call for a 1/2 cup of butter for every cup of flour, but this recipe is butter free, dairy free and vegan! I decided to make them as a last hurrah! before Alex's sugar free challenge starting January 1 (link at right). ENJOY.
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Do you have any favorite holiday cookies? Are they healthy or do you use Christmas season to indulge?

What did you get for Christmas? My favorite present was not necessarily my most expensive one... Anyone else feel that way?

Are there any questions you would like to ask me? If so, ask below, email me, or make a comment on my about page!

MY FIRST WIAW

So, up until this point my posts have been one recipe only. After looking through Kat's Health Corner and LactoseFreeLizzie's gorgeous eats however, I decided to check out what WIAW was all about!

And here is my first WIAW... (tell me if I did it wrong)








BREAKFAST
This morning I had to go to the hospital to have some blood work and an ultrasound done. Yay! Needles. Apparently before an ultrasound you are not allowed to eat or drink anything after 12:00 pm the night before. I'll post more about the results later. For now though, just know that the only thing on my mind was FOOD. I was famished by the time we were done, and more than ready to eat breakfast. The technician said that food tastes better after not being able to eat for a few hours. Right she was...

Egg beaters, unsalted sunflower seeds and fruit salad (170)

LUNCH
Today I tried to use up some of our miscellaneous veggies and leftovers from Christmas lunch at my Grandma's, which explains my turkey soup. I found the cookie dough cake recipe from LactoseFreeLizzie. I've been having stomach issues lately whenever I eat dairy (lactose intolerance maybe...?) so I have been looking at her blog for ideas until my test results come back.

Soup made from leftover turkey, water, veggies and garlic/onion powder (123)

LactoseFreeLizzie's Cookie Dough Cakes made with apple chunks. Topped with peanut butter! (139)

SNACKS #1
My parents finally let me eat some Greek yogurt today, to see if it affects me at all. About 10 minutes later my stomach got all bubbly, but no pain, so we'll see what happens next!

Baby carrots with peanut butter. (93)

Cooked apple chunks topped with Greek yogurt and cinnamon. (85)

DINNER
I just love Baked Falafel!

Pita bread with falafel and tomato sauce. Turkey and sunflower seeds on the side. (283)

SNACKS #2
Unpictured: Protein cookie dough cereal from Fitnessista and a few nibbles. (222 calories)

I should have mentioned by now that I have an obsession with peanut butter... I just thought my blog's title was pretty self explanatory. Below are some really low-cal snacks (1/4 c. cereal + 3/4 tbsp = 110 cal). The microwave muffin is based off of an idea from LactoseFreeLizzie's idea: 1/4 cup flour + almond milk + 1 Tbsp grain-sweetened chocolate chips + 1 tsp peanut butter = 175 calories... Microwave for 45 seconds to achieve DELICIOUSNESS)

Kashi Go Lean cereal with peanut butter. (110)

Healthy microwave chocolate chip muffin with peanut butter. (175)

Made more because yesterday's got soggy! (210)

And that concludes my WIAW... unless I have another snack before bed, which is very likely! (Edited to add: I did have an apple peel and some more bites of my apple cookie dough cakes- Totally healthy of course!)

*Finishing Mission Impossible III as we speak  I write*

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Tomorrow I will post my recipe for healthy sugar cookies so stay tuned to be ah-mazed!!!

Question #1: Have you done WIAW yet? Any tips or suggestions for a newbie?

Question #2: Are you lactose intolerant? When did you discover it and what were your symptoms?

Question #3: Have you watched the new Mission Impossible yet? I personally can't wait. I love action flicks!

AN EASY MIDDLE EASTERN RECIPE

I have an obsession with foodgawker. Admitting you a have a problem- That is the first step to recovery... except I don't want to recover. Foodgawker is awesome. Checking foodgawker is part of my daily schedule, especially it's "healthy" tag section. I rarely ever make the recipes I see on there, but they provide wonderful inspiration!

And yesterday I was inspired, by this. Falafel from Honey What's Cooking.

Then I realized that falafel sounded familiar so I did some more searching and realized that they happened to be on my "to bake list" from Chef Katelyn.

I didn't use either recipe persay, but gathered my inspiration from those two blogs as well as a cookbook entitled: Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cooking (by Sanaa Abourezk).

Falafel is made with tons of oil, but this recipe is oil free and baked in the oven!

Baked Falafel

Servings: 6       Serving size: 5 patties       Calories: 86       Fat: 1g       Carbs: 17g 
Fiber: 3g       Sugar: 1g       Protein: 5g       Sodium: 139 mg

Ingredients:

• 1 can low sodium chickpeas, washed and drained
• 1/2 large vidalia onion (about 1/3 cup)
• 2 Tbsp egg beaters (or one egg white)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp low sodium baking powder
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp dried cilantro
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• dash of cumin
• dash of paprika
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• salt if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the onion into large pieces and chop in a food processor. 
3. Add half of chickpeas and the egg beaters. Process until smooth. Then add the rest of the chickpeas and puree.
4. Prepare a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. 
5. Measure out the dry ingredients from the flour to the pepper and combine. Add salt to taste if desired.
6. Scoop out heaping teaspoonfuls of the chickpea mixture and form into balls (30 small or 20 medium-sized). Spread out evenly on the baking sheet and flatten out with fingers or spoon.
7. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip onto other side and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until done.

Serving suggestions:

Chef Katelyn suggests serving it with ketchup like vegan chicken nuggets.

Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine and Honey What's Cooking suggest serving it in a pita bread with sliced tomatoes and hummus/tahini sauce.

This is how I served MINE:

Chopped Falafel patty and tomato puree in a whole wheat pita bread from Trader Joes.

Then I stored the remaining falafel in a plastic baggy to keep in the fridge:


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Question #1: How would you serve falafel? I don't really eat ketchup anymore because it is so high in sodium and added sugars, but I usually used no-salt added tomato puree in place of it. Here the falafel takes on a veggie burger type of use. Maybe next I will make larger patties to put in between slices of bread. Thoughts?

Question #2: What healthy holiday recipes are you making for Christmas? I have a batch of low fat sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator ready to roll out and bake tomorrow. My plans also include healthifying Mexican Wedding Cookies, Gingerbread cookies and chocolate chip cookies

STEPS TO A HEALTHIER, HAPPIER THANKSGIVING

For those of you preparing to indulge in your Thanksgiving Day feast by bringing out your stretchy sweaters and fat jeans, STOP! You can eat healthy during this holiday season without over doing it and eating everything you enjoy.

 Source: Here

Here are three simple steps to a healthier and happier Thanksgiving dinner:

1. Eat your usual breakfast.
Do not skip any meals to save calories for later in the day. This will only make you overeat and will end up working to your disadvantage by making you consume more calories than if you were to eat all of your other meals like normal. Eating a breakfast and snack that is rich in protein and fiber will keep you full and satisfied until your big meal. (If your "big meal" is dinner, eat a healthy lunch and protein rich snack).

2. Chat up your friends and relatives to burn extra calories.
Nothing is worse than sitting around like a couch potato at holiday parties. Getting up and walking around burns more calories than sitting, which will help to offset the extra calories that you are going to consume. And, no matter your age, don't be afraid to participate in that game of pick-up football outside. If you can't throw a football to save your life and are the farthest thing from a social butterfly (like me!!) plan an exercise earlier in the day, or go Black Friday Shopping! You can burn about 180 calories per hour while shopping. If you shop for four hours, you could burn 720 calories. That could burn off my whole Thanksgiving meal!


3. Choose your food wisely and with moderation in mind.
Is sweet-potato casserole your favorite Thanksgiving side dish while you eat mashed potatoes just for tradition sake? Great! Instead of indulging in two fattening dishes just get one serving of your favorite and savor every bite. If there is a relish plate or fresh salad bowl fill half of your plate with these veggies to reduce the amount of unhealthy food you pile on. Next comes the meat. Should you choose turkey or ham? It doesn't matter, as long as you choose your slice wisely. Get white, skinless turkey breast to get the leanest cut. Watch your serving size for both meats however. Remember that a 3 oz serving is the size of a deck of cards. And as for dessert? Well, I can't tell you to just eat fruit like I am doing, so I will advise you to pick two desserts only. Maybe its one small slice of pumpkin pie and one cookie. Eat them until you are satisfied and don't be afraid to leave some crumbs (or whole cookies... whatever floats your boat).


If you prefer stricter guidelines, here is a good healthy example of some things you can eat for Thanksgiving without breaking the calorie bank:
- skinless turkey breast (120 calories, 1 gram fat) vs. ham slice (140 calories, 7 grams fat)
- mashed potatoes and gravy (125 calories, 5 grams fat) vs. sweet potato casserole (190 calories, 4 grams fat)

I also found a helpful link HERE for all of you dieters out there to easily count up your Thanksgiving Dinner in one big swoop (Plus it tells you how much to exercise to burn it all off... Awesome, no?)

Then, after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I will be posting a revision on the classic...

Apple pie.

Of course, Healthy Apple pie!

Meanwhile, here is a sample meal plan for Thanksgiving Day:

Breakfast: Fruit Parfait

Snack: Sugar-Free Apple Date Bread

 Lunch: THANKSGIVING FEAST!

Snack: Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins 

(or other high-fiber snack)

Dinner: Chicken Wrap with apple slices

Dessert: Chocolate "Chick" Blondies