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B&D Toaster Oven Review and Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

I received my Black and Decker Toaster Oven from CNS stores last week.

I have to say that it shipped really fast, so kudos to them! Pretty sleek.  This is also a convection oven, which is pretty cool.  We were doing the standard bread toasting in it at first, but I wanted to see how the convection works.  A couple really nice features on this toaster oven are the long timer option (60 minutes) plus an “always on” option.  Good for baking things that need a longer time.

Not impressed with the baking tray, as it seems flimsy:

Seeing as we are awash in blueberries and I wanted to test the convection properties of this oven, I decided to play around with a buttermilk blueberry corn muffin!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/3 cup cornmeal
  • 2/3 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries

Spray a 6-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray (or use cupcake liners).  Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, applesauce, and sugar.

Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients:

Mix until just barely combined and then fold in the blueberries.  It is really important not to over mix this.

Divide up into the 6 muffin cups:

They will be pretty full.  Pop into the oven – or into the toaster oven:

I could hear the convection fan cycle on and off while this baked.  Guess that means it works 😀

Bake these for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Voila!

One nice thing about the convection as that the tops didn’t burn like can happen in a regular toaster oven.

Muffin stats:

Calories: 115 per muffin (awesome!!)

Fat: 1.5 g

Carbs: 22.5 g

Fiber:  2.5 g

Protein: 4 g

Best served warm.  These are a nice dense muffin.  With the low calorie count, these make a great snack (or have 2 for breakfast 😀 )

** Disclaimer:  I was provided a gift certificate to review a product from CSN stores.  All opinions are my own, however.

Protein punch and Nutrisystem

What a short work week for me!  Since I took off Sunday and Monday, that means I am done with the week already.  Yay!  It is also a rest day for me – one of those really difficult things to do.  To help my sore muscles out, I made a protein-rich brekkie that looks different than my usual!  In the bullet blender, I put:

1 egg, 1/2 cup of egg whites, 1/2 scoop (15 g) of unflavored/unsweetened whey protein isolate, a dash of stevia, 1 tbsp oats, 1 tsp cinnamon and blended up.

Poured over a preheated pan sprayed with nonstick coating.

This set up pretty quickly and when I was able to get a large spatula under it, I flipped it over.

Even without having coffee, I was successful – yay!  I wonder if I would have shown a photo if I didn’t make it…..

I made some of my blueberry sauce to put in the center after I folded it onto my plate and then used the rest on top.  1 tbsp of vanilla yogurt just for fun.

Quite good,  I don’t think I would even bother with the oats next time.  It had a firmer texture, much like a fritatta has.  It was kind of like a big thick crepe. The best part was where the blueberry sauce had soaked in.

This baby packed in 32 grams of protein and about 270 calories!  When I told John, he said I should just eat a steak next time….

Worked fast and furious today.   I decided to make a tasting plate of finger food so I could work through lunch (bad girl…).

This was really light and refreshing!

I had someone pose a question to me about Nutrisystem.   Really long time readers may remember that I did Nutrisystem a couple of years ago for about 6 months or so (not even sure I had readers back then).  It was after my big plateau (and regain) and I was kind of bouncing around from trying different things.  I knew WW just wasn’t working for me anymore (core or flex), and eDiets GI program was neat, but I was just so tired.  So tired of thinking about food.  So tired of having to plan everything and have the weight stay the same.  I was almost paralyzed with too much nutritional information.  So, I decided to do Nutrisystem.  I just wanted to go for a period of time where I didn’t have to think about anything.  I just ate what I was told when I was told to and could get my brain out of its funk.  And you know what?  It worked.  I did NS for about 6 months or so.  I did change it a little bit, as I ate a little more fat and and protein than I was ‘supposed’ to.  I also was not working out to the extent I do now, so it was okay.

A lot of people knock meal delivery programs without actually understanding what they are all about or how to use them properly.  Some people think the foods are full of chemicals because they are shelf stable.  They actually are not.  It’s the vacuum sealing process that keeps them shelf stable.  The food is processed, though – and I did not care for anything with a sauce on it (so I didn’t order it).   I really began to enjoy the guidelines that NS set of how to make a balanced meal and snack, with protein in everything.  It kept me pretty satisfied, so that is something I stick to now.  Some of the food was good, some really tasted bad to me, and some was kind of middling.  I don’t really think I would enjoy any of that food now because my tastes have changed so much, but if you eat a lot of Lean Cuisines and Smart Ones, you would probably do just fine.  I kind of ‘weaned’ myself off the program by alternating days of my own food with NS food until I stopped all together as I decided I was in an okay place again.

I thought of NS as a tool, and it was a tool that I needed to use at that point.  Just like any number of tools out there, like food trackers, pedometers, GoWear fit, bodybugg, protein bars, the scale, clothing.  Whatever.  It is something that helps you on the weight loss path.  It doesn’t do it for you.  Some people expect it to magically cure everything.  It doesn’t.  You still need to learn how to cope in real life without the food.  Again, the reason why so many people fail is that they assume once you go off the food, you can go back to the way you ate before.  So, that is my experience and take on it.

John made up lattes today:

And I busted out the rest of my lines to be done for the weekend!  Work on my new computer is great, especially when my company’s end is working 😀

Dinner time was something new – turnips!  I got some at the farmer’s market last weekend.  I need to do a whole GVE post on them.  I roasted them up in the toaster oven for about 20 minutes on 400.

Served along side some chicken with laughing cow and caramelized onions.  Sometimes meals at home are just better than what you can get out, you know?  Unless you pay an arm and a leg.

Tonight is a little weeding if it stops raining, then movie time with my hubby 😀

Tonight’s snack?

Granola bar.  Yum.

Easy blueberry sauce

I have a link to this in the recipe section, but thought I would give a step by step on making the sauce you see so often on here.

You can use any blueberries you want, but I happen to prefer Wyman’s because they are sweeter than other blueberries and they are the tiny wild ones, which gives you more blueberries in the sauce and makes it more cohesive, so to speak.

This is the big bag, too 😀

I weigh out 140 grams, which is one serving:

Okay, 1 gram over.  This is 80 calories of blueberries (another reason to like the little wild ones).

I set this on a little more than medium on the stove while I am cooking whatever these are going to go on.

In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold water:

When the blueberry mixture bubbles and has a nice amount of juice in the pot, dump in the cornstarch mixture, turn off the heat (if electric) and stir.

Stir as the sauce comes back to a simmer with the residual heat. It will thicken immediately.  Remove from heat and serve on waffles:

Or pancakes:

Or parfait-style Oats in a Jar

You can also put some granola on top for a quick cobbler-type dessert.

With the cornstarch, the topping is 90 calories.  You can add sweetener if you wish, but that’s why I like the wild blueberries because you don’t need it.  Honey would be nice for this, and also a touch of lemon juice.

This could also be done in the microwave.  I just don’t like to because it annoys me to start and stop the microwave and to keep having to check on it.  With the sauce pan, it’s easy to monitor.  That’s just me.  This takes about 5 minutes to make, so I do it fresh each time.

Enjoy!

Date Protein Balls – vegan

As promised, I am finally getting the protein date ball recipe up! Similar to my homemade larabar (Loribar) recipes:

These are quite easy to make.  I used medjool dates for this, so keep in mind they will vary a bit in moisture depending on the brand and type of dates you use.

Ingredients:

8 ounces of dates

2 oz of cashews or almonds (or any nut, really)

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

2 tablespoons dried unsweetened coconut

1 tsp cinnamon

30 grams of unflavored brown rice protein powder:

In a food processor, grind the cashews up to meal consistency.

Add the dates and pulse to chop, then spin until the mixture blends together:

You actually could form into balls at this point and have a basic Larabar.  Or continue on.  Add in the cinnamon and the protein powder:

Using your hands, knead the protein powder into the mixture as best as you can.  It will still be somewhat dry:

Add in the coconut oil (melted) and the coconut and knead will with your hands until everything is incorporated.  This takes a bit of time for the protein powder to hydrate with the oil.

Roll into ball size of choice, or press into a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap.  You need to use a lot of pressure to keep these formed, so I kind of press into ball shape.  In the loaf pan use something to help press the ‘batter’ in.  If using the loaf pan, lift out the batter and use a pizza cutter to cut into bars:

If you store these in the fridge, the coconut oil makes them nice and firm.  I could see dipping them in chocolate (did I say that??)

I am going to give a total for the entire batch, as you can determine how many pieces you get.  You can do probably about 2 to 3 dozen balls or so?

Batch total: 1102 calories, 49 g of fat, 146 g of carbs, 20 g of fiber, 39 g of protein.

I have to say that I love these!  Easy to pop, though – so be careful, since they are nutrient dense.  If you use a whey protein powder, you may not need as much coconut oil, so experiment away.  I use unflavored protein powder, as I really like the flavor of the dates by themselves, but let me know if you use a flavored one how it tastes!

Clean eats and no running.

Okay, I promised myself that I would eat much cleaner today, so here goes!

I woke up not too early this morning.  For the last couple days, I have been able to sleep on my stomach again!  For whatever reason, my herniated disk made it very painful to try sleep any way but on my back, which is my least favorite sleeping position.  So, that hasn’t meant the greatest of sleep for the past month.  The last couple of nights I have been able to be on my stomach, although not with a bent leg yet.  Funny how little things like that can make me so happy :mrgreen:

I needed some good super foods for brekkie, so that meant protein waffles!  I added some extra oat fiber to them, too.

Then hit the ground running with work.  Since I actually ate early – I was hungry for a morning snack, but I told myself it had to be clean!  So I made a mini green smoothie.

1 cup of spinach, 15 g of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 a banana, cinnamon, ice, and water.  It was pretty good, but I think raw spinach may not agree with my tummy.  I get rumbles whenever I have a green smoothie anymore.

Lunch time was a baked crabcake and a pear, which I ate while working.

That actually slows down my eating because I work by typing, so that means I have to put the fork down to work LOL!  The good side to a bad habit.

I filled up all the bird feeders the other day.  So many different birds on this one today from sparrows to gold finches to chickadees and a woodpecker (surprising!).  All day this was going on – but when I sat there with a camera to take a picture, all I get is this.

Had the usual latte for a snack, just as I finished up work for the week (early to boot – woo hoo!).

Plus an Attune.

After finishing this and a little goofing around, I went out for a walk.  Went to the high school track, and John followed to run.  I would say I am probably about 90% healed from the herniated disk at this point, but the last 10% is  the weakness/numbness.  I still am unable to run.  I can kind of shuffle for about 5 yards, but my leg just gives out, so I can’t do it.  Same reason why I can’t do split leg lifting of any type.  Walking is okay, but my thigh feels so tight when I walk.  Not sure why that is – I stretch and foam roll every day.  It’s funny how what seems to be the easiest form of exercise (walking) is the slowest to come back when I can bike pretty well and do most of lifting exercises.  I actually yelled at my leg to wake up last night LOL!

Anyway, I came back and had a nibble before cooking dinner:

I was in the mood for sweet potatoes tonight.  Going with more superfoods on my clean eating day.  I sliced one up, sprayed with nonstick spray and salt and pepper, then popped in the toaster oven on 400 for about 25 minutes.  Golden brown and delicious!

Those are shredded brussel sprouts on the side.  Funny that it looks like cauliflower in there.

I made up my dessert for later.  This is a pseudo protein cheesecake.

  • 32 g of fat free ricotta
  • 15 grams of strawberry protein powder (soy)
  • enough water to make it creamy
  • 2 chopped strawberries
  • cinnamon

This is chilling in the fridge now for during the movie.  About 100 calories and 14 grams of protein!

I think I will make it eating clean today!  I am reminding John not to let me snack other than this pseudo cheesecake.

Question:  What is your favorite sleeping position?

Carrot Cake Oatmeal and baby steps

Happy new week!  I am feeling a little better today.  I have come to the realization now that my leg is going to take a long time to get better. 😥   At least I am pretty much off the crutches, although moving at a snail’s pace.  I was able to stand long enough to take a full shower this morning, which was a big change.  My knee is still numb, though, which is really weird.

I had this idea for breakfast oats while reading Debby’s blog about putting zucchini in oats.  I thought – why not carrots??  So – I present to you Carrot Cake Oats!

  • 40 grams of oats
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup finely grated carrots
  • 10 grams chopped raisins
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup egg whites
  • 5 toasted pecans
  • 1 tbsp light cream cheese
  • 10 grams of powdered sugar (approx 1 tbsp)

Add the carrots, spice, and raisins to the water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.   Add the oats and cook for several minutes until almost done.  Whisk in the egg whites and cook for another minute.  In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar until mixed.  Top the oats with the cream cheese mixture and crush the nuts on top.

This was soooo good!  I think I would leave out the brown sugar next time, as the carrots are sweet enough on their own (I used baby).  But that is just me.

Calories for this bowl are about 380, and that will depend on the cream cheese variety you use.  So, a little calorie dense, but good for a post workout brekkie (not that I worked out or anything today….)

Slow work morning, so I got some things done at my snail’s pace around here.  I walk with tiny little steps, but I am getting around!   Lunchtime was egg salad – haven’t had that in a while!

With a yummy anjou pear.  These are extra good this week.  Just like the strawberries.

I was feeling some chocolate, so I had some of a Hershey bar.

I then proceeded to have the rest of the bar, and some graham crackers and a few dates.  Plus a latte.  Got kind of snacky today!  Hello????  What is up with that?  Must be all that extra movement I am doing. 🙄

I was able to do a little upper body work today, like some wall pushups and tricep/bicep work with dumbbells.  Can’t keep me down for long!

Dinner time:

Breaded clam strips (baked), plus maple glazed parsnips.  I am officially a fan of parsnips now!  I’ll post the parsnip recipe tomorrow.  It’s quite good 😀

Without the exercise in my day, I have this extra slot of time.  It would be nice to go out and do things, but I get tired easily, or tired of being in the same position for too long, at any rate.  I think I was snacking a little bit out of feeling blue about how long this is taking me to heal up.

Know any good card games?

Protein Cookies

These were pretty good.  They are very dense, likely due to the oat bran.  ** One caveat  – I think you need to use either soy, rice, or some other veggie protein for these, as it acts as a flour agent.  If you use whey powder, the batter is likely going to be too thin, but you could probably bake in in a pan that way and cut it up. **

Ingredients:

  • 2 scoops (60 g) of strawberry soy protein powder
  • 1 cup (120 g) of oat bran
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 small banana (100 g)
  • 1/2 cup natural applesauce
  • 2 egg whites (56 g)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, mix together the protein powder, oat bran, cinnamon, and baking powder.

In a small food processor (or Magic Bullet!), blend together the banana, salt, egg whites, vanilla, and applesauce.  You can just mash the banana and mix everything, but I wanted it really smooth so there would be no banana bits.

Add this mixture to the dry and mix well.  Portion out into 10 equal balls of dough and press flat onto a cookie sheet with parchment or silicone liner:

Bake for about 15 minutes and remove from oven.   This protein powder I have is actually really sweet, so I decided to top my cookie with a little plain cream cheese to eat.

Using protein powder that is 110 calories per scoop and 24 g of protein per scoop, the stats are as follows:

Batch makes 10 cookies (they were about 40 g each)

Each cookie (minus cream cheese) has 80 calories, 1.2 grams of fat, 12 carbs, 2 g of fiber, 7.5 g of protein.

I am interested in trying this with whole wheat pastry flour instead of oat bran.  I think that would make a more cake-like cookie.  Plus, different flavor powders will give you different flavored cookies.

Choco Protein Granola

This granola has a nice chocolatey flavor and 5 grams of protein per 1/2 cup!  I used whey protein powder for this. If you use a soy, you might need a little more liquid.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Rice Krispies
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup (25 g) sliced almonds
  • 4 tablespoons of coconut
  • 2 tablespoons of apple juice concentrate
  • 2 tablespoons of honey
  • 2 -3 tablespoons of water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 2 tsp of oil
  • 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (10 g)
  • 1 scoop (34 g) chocolate protein powder

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray or use a silpat liner.

In a large bowl, combine the Rice Krispies, oats, coconut, and almonds.

In a small bowl, mix together the the apple juice concentrate, 2 tablespoons of the water, honey, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in the protein powder and cocoa powder.  Mix really well to get out as many lumps as you can.  If the mixture seems too thick, add the extra tablespoon of water.  This mixture will be syrupy – like this:

Pour over the oat mixture.  I found it easier to mix this with my hands.  You can use a spoon or spatula, but you will crush the Rice Krispies too much.  Best to get your hands dirty 😀

Once thoroughly mixed, spread onto the prepared cookie sheet evenly.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so and breaking up large pieces of the granola.  When baking granolas, remember that they aren’t crispy when they come right out of the oven, but still somewhat soft.  As it cools, it gets crispy, so you don’t want to over bake it.

Let cool and enjoy!

Stats using my whey protein powder (120 cal per scoop and 25 g of protien)

Per ounce of granola:

120 calories, 3.2 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein.

Sweet Potato Dense Muffins

Okay, I had to call these dense muffins because that is how they came out.  Almost biscuity.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of white flour
  • 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, whichever)
  • 1.5 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup of milk (I used 1%)
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
  • 1.5 tsp of liquid oil
  • 1/4 cup of fresh cranberries, chopped (25 grams)
  • 1/2 oz of pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375F.  Prepare a 6 muffin tin pan with either nonstick spray or liners.  I used the larger muffin tin size, so I got 6.  In a medium size bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, spice, salt, and baking powder.  In a separate small bowl, beat together the milk, egg whites, oil, and sweet potato until smooth.

Add the wet mix to the dry and stir a few times, then add in the nuts and cranberries.

The mixture may seem a little dry (mine did), but I just mixed a little more.  You don’t want to over stir or the muffins will be tough.

Divide evenly into muffin cups:

See how thick this batter is?  Maybe a little more milk might make them rise better?

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  I would start checking at 15 minutes.

Breakfast is served:

Nutrition per muffin:  Using 1% milk for this and making 6 muffins out of the batch:

Calories 161.4
Total Fat 3.4 g
Saturated Fat 0.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Cholesterol 1.0 mg
Sodium 28.0 mg
Potassium 174.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 29.5 g
Dietary Fiber 2.5 g
Sugars 2.8 g
Protein 4.5 g

Strawberry Avocado Dip

Did you know that February 24th is National Tortilla day?

Driscoll‘s has shared with me a salsa recipe, which sounds interesting.  You can put this in a tortilla wrap with some grilled chicken for a complete meal.

Strawberry Avocado Salsa
Prep time: 15 minutes
Makes 3-1/2 cups

1 package (16 ounces) Driscoll’s Strawberries
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple tidbits or chunks
1 small avocado, pitted and diced
1/2 to 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon onion salt
Rinse and hull strawberries. Cut into 3/4-inch cubes.
Drain pineapple, reserving juice.
Combine pineapple, 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, strawberries, avocado, jalapeño to taste, balsamic vinegar and onion salt. Let stand 10 minutes for flavors to blend.

Serving suggestion: Combine remaining pineapple juice with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. Use to marinate halibut steaks or chicken breasts for 20-30 minutes. Grill or broil until done. Serve with Strawberry Avocado Salsa.

Nutrition Per Serving (2 tablespoons):  18 calories, .81g total fat, .10g saturated fat, .24g protein, 2.73g carbohydrate, 0mg cholesterol, .73g fiber, 31mg sodium

Healthy Tip: Strawberries and avocado make a versatile salsa that’s great with chips, fish or chicken. Serve the same day it’s made for the best color and flavor. After working with jalapeño peppers, always wash your hands well with soap and water, being careful not to touch or rub your eyes; the pepper oils can burn!

Let me know if you try this!

Fun tortilla facts:

  • The corn chip recipe was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by Texas businessman Elmer Doolin.
  • Tortilla Chips were first popularized and mass produced in southwestern Los Angeles in the late 1940s by Rebecca Webb Carranza, who, with her husband, owned a Mexican deli and tortilla factory.
  • Misshapen tortillas were rejected from the tortilla manufacturing machine, and she turned them into chips—cutting them into triangles, frying them and selling them in snack-size bags.
  • Tortilla chips can be colored blue, red, or the traditional yellow, each color representing the type of corn it is made from
  • Tortilla chips are the second most consumed salty snack in America, second only to the potato chip
  • In 2007, the combined U.S. sales of Doritos and Tostitos varieties exceeded $1.4 billion, this is a volume of about 1.5 billion pounds (D’oh!!!)  😯

One of my favorite tortillas is the Smart Carb wrap by Tortilla Factory.

Question:  What type of tortilla do you like?