Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

Today's recipe isn't technically a recipe, but it has become one of my favorite food treats.  I love that it gives me protein, but also tastes like dessert at the same time.  It is cheap, it is easy to make, is portable, and it can be changed to suit your tastes.

I discovered this recipe on Pinterest, and have not changed it very much.  This version is my favorite, but I have made other additions such as white chocolate chips, strawberries  blueberries, and different flavors of yogurt.  You can really do anything you want with it.  ENJOY!

Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

Recipe Source: The Suburban Girl Gone Country

1 small container Greek yogurt (I prefer vanilla flavor, but you can do use any flavor/brand you like)

1 healthy teaspoon peanut butter

1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips

a splash of vanilla (I really like vanilla)

a dash of salt (because I like the sweet and salty combination)

Combine and enjoy!  

I take this in my lunch and mix it all together right before I eat it.

Other flavor combinations include:

Vanilla Yogurt, white chocolate chips and strawberries or blueberries

Strawberry Yogurt, chocolate chips, vanilla, granola

Lemon Lime Yogurt, white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts

Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic Aioli Dipping Sauce

I am so excited to share this recipe with all of you today!  Why, you ask?  Well two reasons.  First, because today is Secret Recipe Club reveal day and I was assigned to an AMAZING blog and second, because the AMAZING blog is packed full of healthy, but delicious recipes.

The recipe I am in love with is Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic Aioli Dipping Sauce and it comes from Laura over at The Healthy Jalapeno.  Her blog is full of recipes that are made with fresh ingredients that are good for your body.  She says she has, "no special talents," but don't believe that because her food is awesome!  Every recipe she makes for her new hubby and herself looks tasty, with a capital T!  

I first contemplated one of her many smoothie recipes , because I am always in a rush in the mornings and need a filling, healthy breakfast.  Then I spent some time on her snacks page drooling over a ton of options for my wine book club, (doesn't this Carmelized Onion Tart with Gorgonzola and Brie look heavenly ) But, I finally listened to a craving I had been having and felt inspired to make  Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic Aioli  because I wanted some french fries to pair with my oven baked chicken fingers. 

These Sweet Potato Fries were a hit with my entire family!  They were sweet and a little bit spicy.  I loved the garlic dipping sauce so much that I decided to use it as a dip for bread later in the evening.   For the sauce, I added fresh garlic instead of granulated garlic, and used reduced fat mayonnaise and sour cream to reduce the calories and fat.  I especially like that these fries are easy to make, and can take the place of a regular fry anytime.  I have found my go to healthy option with this recipe! ENJOY!!

Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries 

with Garlic Aioli Dipping Sauce

Recipe Source: The Healthy Jalapeno

**Please note, I tripled the recipe so that I had enough fries for my family.  I am posting the recipe as I prepared it.  You may need to adjust your quantities depending on the serving size you need.**

Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

3 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into french fries

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons white pepper 

3/4 paprika
additional salt if desired for sprinkling over the top after the fries are out of the oven

Garlic Aioli 
**Again, cut this down or increase depending on the amount you are serving**

3 tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream 

3 large garlic cloves, very finely minced (you may use granulated garlic as well)

5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 400 F.  While it is heating up, line your baking sheet with parchment paper.  

In a mixing bowl, combine the oil, egg whites, salt, chipotle powder, pepper, and paprika.

Add the sweet potatoes and toss to coat evenly with the coating.  

Lay the potatoes on the baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake for about 20 minutes on one side and another 20 minutes on the second side or until tender and brown on the edges.  Sprinkle with salt and serve with garlic aioli or your favorite dipping sauce.

Lite Cheddar Broccoli Soup

For the last few weeks my part of the world has been enduring freezing temperatures   By freezing I mean highs around 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  If anything says soup weather, these temperatures sure do! So, for this month's Secret Recipe Club I chose this  Light Cheddar Broccoli Soup from I Am a Honey Bee.  I loved that Nicole, the blog's author writes a blog with recipes, restaurant reviews, and scrap booking posts.  It is creative and fun, and I loved checking in to see what new surprises might be posted.

On to the soup! Not only was this soup warm on a cold winter's day, it was great to try a recipe for a family favorite that is lower in fat and calories, but full of a TON of flavor.  It was easy to make, and it took little time or effort.  I stayed to true to the recipe and didn't make any changes other than the type of low fat cheese I used. ENJOY!

Lite Cheddar Broccoli Soup
Recipe Source: I Am a Honey Bee

2 heads of broccoli
3 cups  skim milk
2 cups chicken stock/vegetable broth
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
8oz of shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

Finely chop the broccoli including the stems. In a large pot, combine the milk broccoli and simmer about 10 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.  

Heat a small pot, and then sauté the onions with 2 tablespoons butter. When the onions are soft and translucent, sprinkle the flour in and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is evenly coating the onions.   Add the broth slowly and mix until all lumps of flour are broken down.

Add the broth mixture into the pot with the broccoli and milk.  Allow to heat through.  Slowly add the cheese until well combined.  Serve immediately. 

Baked Ham and Egg Cups

Let me tell you a secret.  I didn't used to eat breakfast. I know, I know, it is the best meal of the day.  I always made sure my kids ate it every morning because I wanted them to have a good start, but I just couldn't find the time to eat it myself.  Instead, I would drink my soda and grab a snack about 11 a.m. to hold me over until lunch.  

On the rare occasion when we made a big breakfast, or went out to eat breakfast, my go to meal was ham and eggs with hash browns and sourdough toast.  It was always wonderfully delicious and perfect in every way--at least in my opinion.  With my commitment to eating healthier this year, my ideal breakfast 

ins't a good option anymore. 

I know that I need protein in the mornings.  I have been eating a lot of hard boiled eggs and fruit, which gets a bit boring.  Insert this recipe for Baked Ham and Egg Cups, and the boring stops.  They have the flavors of my favorite breakfast, but without the additional fat from frying everything in oil or butter. In fact, the original recipe states they come in at 100 calories each (depending, of course, on the type of ham and toppings you use.)

I have to say I'm in a bit of breakfast heaven right now.  They little babies are delicious.  The eggs are soft and full of flavor from cheese and ham.  But, my favorite part is the crispy edges that the ham gets from the heat of the oven.  Oh, my goodness they are good!

Now, some of you might be thinking the same thing I thought when I saw these for the first time, "it looks complicated to make."  But, the good news is that they aren't hard at all.  They are easy, and relatively quick to assemble.  Not to mention, they can be customized to your tastes so everyone in the family gets eggs their way without a lot of hassle.  If you want them runnier cook them less, I prefer mine almost completely set to ensure the whites aren't slimey.  I think I might try them for a light lunch with a green salad very soon!  Please, go try them, and ENJOY a delicious breakfast!

Baked Ham and Egg Cups

Inspiration: The Nest

Eggs

Thinly sliced ham 

Salt/Pepper

Parmesean cheese (or cheese of your choice)

Green onions

Heat your oven to 375 degrees.

As the oven heats, lightly spray your pan with non stick spray.  Line a muffin tin with 2 slices of ham, slightly overlapping them.  Break one egg into each muffin cup.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cheese.

Bake for 10-18 minutes depending on your oven, the pan, and how well done you want your eggs.  I set my timer for 10 minutes and then kept an eye on them until the whites were firm.

Gently remove from the pan, top with green onions, and serve with any side you wish!  ENJOY!

Green Monster Smoothies

About a month ago my mother in law called me out of the blue and asked, "Do you want a tread-mill?"  to which I replied, "ummm, yes?"  And within the hour I had a treadmill in my garage just waiting to burn all those unwanted calories off of my ever growing hips.


Fast forward a  few weeks to when my mother in law was cleaning out her cabinets and stumbled upon a smoothie maker still in the box and never used.  She asked me if I wanted it or not, and, after considering what I had planned for dinner that night (NOTHING), I quickly snatched it up and became a hero when I made fruit smoothies and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner.  Thus, our love of fresh fruit smoothies was born in my kitchen.  


There are millions of ways to make smoothies both healthy and un-healthy.  So far ours have been relatively healthy.  We have been making them by tossing in fruit, ice, and milk or yogurt and blending away.  But, now I feel an obligation to create a REALLY healthy smoothie to have after I run walk the calories away on my new treadmill and become a healthier version of me.

Thanks to Pinterest it didn't take me long to find a recipe for a healthy smoothie.  What I like about this recipe, well all smoothie recipes really, is that I can change it up.  I can mix in any combination of fruit that I want and know that I am getting a ton of healthy vitamins in one meal.  I'm not so good at eating vegetables, especially those dark green ones that doctors tells us to eat, so the spinach is a great thing for me. I can't really taste it at all, but yet my body is benefiting from all the healthy goodness that spinach offers.

 Iowa Girl Eats, where this recipe came from, states:

• Spinach is fat free, cholesterol free, low in calories, and very low in sodium
• Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin A, C, K, iron, fiber, folate, and lutein
• Leutin is an antioxidant that promotes good eye health, and may help prevent cancer of the liver, ovaries, colon and prostate, and even dementia.
• Dole lab tests found spinach juice has twice the chlorophyll, eight times the calcium, six times the magnesium, 10 times the potassium, 15 times the vitamin C and 43 times the vitamin A of wheat grass juice

I stayed pretty true to the original recipe substituting only non-fat milk for the Vanilla Almond breeze and using only 2 cups of spinach.  Using less spinach reduced the bright green color of the original recipe, but that is OK,  it was YUMMY!  My children, as well as three of their friends, tasted it and said it was good, but no one was overly excited about it like I was.  Next time I think I may add a scoop of protein powder, omit the peanut butter, and throw in a few strawberries and blueberries.  YUM!

So go on, mix one up and ENJOY!  

Green Monster Smoothies

Recipe Source: Iowa Girl Eats

1 frozen sliced banana
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt
1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or other kind of milk)
4 cups baby spinach (or more, or less)




Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.