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

MY THOUGHTS ON SUGAR-FREE

I just recently finished a Sugar Free Challenge, hosted by Alex over at her sugar free blog.

Here were the rules of the Challenge:

Don’t eat any sugar for 10 days. This includes honey, molasses, syrups, artificial sweeteners (like Splenda), sugar alcohols (like maltitol or xylitol), and no refined sugar.

After reading this long list of don'ts, you may be asking yourself why anyone would ever give up sugar, but actually it's pretty easy when you have a great archive of sugar free recipes at your disposal from Alex. (It also helps that I've done this before for Lent...)

If you are still wondering: Why Sugar-Free? Here are a few facts about sugar that I have learned from my searches on Yahoo!

The average American consumes 180 pounds of sugar in a year.

Uhh.... wow! If that number is not staggering enough, think about this: There are two cups of sugar in a pound. Now do your mental math.

In case your mental math isn't the greatest, I'll help: 2 cups x 180 pounds = 360 cups of sugar per year.

That is almost a cup of sugar per day! And do you know how many calories are in a cup of sugar? Almost 800.

Now, let's move on to another statistic that may shock you. Approximately 32 percent of Americans are obese, which is up from the estimated 5 percent who were obese in the year 1890.

Guess how many pounds of sugar those people ate?

90.

Still not great, but much more manageable with a 1/2 cup of sugar per day and only 400 calories. This shows that an increase of added sugar in our diets can definitely be considered as a cause of weight gain.

That is why I am doing this sugar-free challenge. Besides being totally fun, and of course A CHALLENGE, I wanted to go sugar-free so that I can improve my lifestyle. After this challenge was over I didn't stick with it, but I will definitely never go back to the huge amounts of sugar I used to eat a couple of years ago.

Before I tell you what I DID eat, I'll leave you with one more fact about sugar:

According to some of the leading nutritionists in America, the average person should consume no more than 40 grams of added sugar per day. This does not include sugars that come from fruit, veggies, grains or occur naturally in dairy products however. Added sugar simply means sugar that is not found in your whole foods from day one. To me, these sugars are white sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave syrup and molasses. (I don't count artificial sweeteners as sugars, but they are STILL not healthy).

So, after my ramblings of what I haven't been eating, here are some examples of what you can enjoy while staying sugar free:

Microwave spaghetti squash dinner!

Low-Fat Chicken and Dumplings

I plan on posting the recipes for the spaghetti squash and dumplings soon, but time seems to always get away from me, and I have found that my attention span is sometimes very short :) These recipes are worth the wait though.

And don't fear...

There is a recipe that I AM going to post tonight. It took many tries to perfect, but I am extremely happy with the final result. 

Sugar-Free Apple Date Bread

Servings: 16 slices

Adapted from my One Bowl Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 60 grams pitted dates (or 1/3 cup)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup egg beaters (or egg replacement)
• 1 Tbsp canola oil (can be ommitted)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 200 grams diced apples (or 1 1/2 cups)

Directions:

1. Dice the apples and set aside.
2. Place the pitted dates and water in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on medium heat for 2 minutes.
3. While the dates are soaking, measure out the applesauce, egg beaters and canola oil in a medium bowl.
4. Place dates (without excess water) in a food processor and blend with skim milk. Then combine with other liquid ingredients.
5. Place one cup of flour in the bowl of liquids. Measure out the baking soda and salt on top. Add the second cup of flour and mix slightly.
6. Next add the diced apple and mix the batter until all flour lumps are gone.
7. Spray a large loaf pan with nonstick spray and pour in batter. Even out with spoon or spatula.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Thoughts:
At only 86 calories a slice, this apple date bread would be great for breakfast, accompanying a meal or just as a snack. My favorite way to eat this bread is with of course, peanut butter!

NATIONAL FOOD DAY

Did you know that today is National Food Day? Yea, neither did I until I looked at today's Hungry Girl Newsletter...

October 24 marks the first National Food Day EVER and to celebrate I am going to post  recipe by the best foodie in the whole world. My Great-Grandma Sigler. She was an original foodie before the term "foodie" even existed.

She passed away this Spring, but in no way has her influence on me ceased. Her overwhelming kindness and love have been passed down to my grandma, to my mother and then to me. She will not be remembered just for that though, but something else that she left behind... Cookbooks!

Full of delicious delicacies that she gathered from decades of old newspapers and magazines, shared desserts between families and friends and of course those from her own creation, these cookbooks entitled: Recipes of Mildred Sigler are a staple in my kitchen.

And today's recipe was one of her most requested recipes of all time. Banana Nut-Bread.

Now, the original recipe was wonderful, sweet and moist, full of delicious bananas, nuts and... Shortening?

Okay. Obviously some adaptions had to be made before I could post it on my "healthy" blog, right?

Not to worry though, because this healthified recipe still maintains the same moistness and flavor of the full fat version.

Also, to make things even better, it can be made in one single bowl (thus its title).


One Bowl Banana Bread

Adapted from Mildred Sigler's Banana Nut Bread

Makes 16 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 bananas (400 grams)
• 1/2 cup egg beaters (2 eggs or egg replacements)
• 5/8 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 cup all purpose flour (120 grams)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (I use salt sense)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (120 grams)
• 1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl and the combine with the egg beaters, sugar and oil.
3. Measure in the white flour, baking soda, salt then the second cup of flour. Mix together. Add optional nuts if desired.
4. Bake for 1 hour in a large (9x5) loaf pan.

I hope you enjoy this banana bread as much as my family has over the years. This is the first, but definitely not the last post that I dedicate to her, as I hope to share many more of her awesome recipes with you in the future.

Happy FOOD DAY!

Note: I will post the nutrition facts tomorrow. Think about this- A slice of banana nut-bread from Starbucks is 490 calories!