Category Archives: WIAW

Sweet n’ Spicy Snack Mix

Posted in Food, Recipes, WIAW by

Let’s be honest, the reason I made this recipe is because I had all of the ingredients (except the Rice Chex) in the pantry. So you might, too!

This sweet n’ spicy snack mix is a perf semi-healthy snack to munch on. And since it’s homemade, it could pass as a fancy nut mix to set out before a dinner party, but is also chill enough to eat with the bf while watching a hockey game.

I’m lovin’ the the flavorful crunch and  the fact that it’s a little healthier than store-bought chex mix.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

sweetnspicy5Ingredients:

  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup pecans
  • 1/2 cup cashews
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 3 cups tiny unsalted pretzels
  • 1 cup Rice Chex
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine pecans and cashews on a jelly-roll pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and stir in baked nuts with the butter in a medium bowl. Add syrup, pretzels, and cereal and stir.

In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, 1 teaspoon thyme, cinnamon, red pepper, and salt.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over nuts/pretzels. Toss gently to coat well.

Spread in a single layer on jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon thyme. Cool completely before serving.

sweetnspicy1

sweetnspicy2Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I ate Wednesday!

Maple Pecan Granola

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

granola5You know I love to complain about how expensive granola is.

Ever since I started eating clean, I have been a granola fiend. Granola makes me super happy – but my wallet? Not so much.

My fam has been telling me for months that I should make my own, but since granola-making seemed like a foreign art to me, I stuck with buying a bag a week from Whole Paycheck Foods for seven bucks a pop.

But I finally gave in last week and forced my brother to send me the recipe for homemade granola that he and his gf use.

I changed it around a teensy bit and love the results! It tastes just as good as the store-bought stuff, but at half the price.

Yay for cost efficient granola!

granolaingreds

granolastep1

twotraysgranola1Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup milled flaxseed
1/4 cup prunes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300F.

Stir together oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Add canola oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.

Mix everything up with your hands.

Spread the mixture in a thin, even layer on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and pour back into the mixing bowl. Stir in pecans and flaxseed, then put back in oven for 15 minutes.

Take the baking sheets out of the oven and stir in prunes.

granola3Thanks as always to the newly preggers Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

No-Bake Cookie Dough Bites

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

Though I was totally down for some “dirty eating” on girl’s night last Friday [insert Ben and Jerry’s pint here], my BFF Nancy steered me back in the right direction. 🙂 I’m glad she did, because these no-bake cookie dough balls were just as tasty as any ‘real’ junk food.

Thanks for inspiring this clean eating recipe, Nance! (And for making most of it….)

cookiedoughballs3

nobakecookiedoughballsThis recipe was adapted from Averie Cooks.

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 C cashews
  • 1/3 C oats
  • 2 tbsp agave nectar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 C dark chocolate chips

Yields approximately 14 cookie dough balls

Directions:

Pour cashews and oats in to blender and blend into a flour-like consistency.

Add the agave nectar and vanilla extract.

Blend again.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Transfer dough into a medium bowl and roll into balls.

cookiedoughballs5

I’m totes bringing a second batch of these babies to book club! Get excited, ladies.

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

Recipe Roundup

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

I had something fun in the works for you today for What I Ate Wednesday, but it didn’t end up happening.

Since I don’t have a cool new recipe to post, I figured I’d go old school and roundup my past recipes for you!

I promise to eventually add these to a page at the top of the blog for easy access.

Maybe it will give you something new to make this week. 😉

Breakfast

Breakfast Burrito
Overnight Oats

Entrees

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Cheat Day Chili
Crabby Summer Salad
End of Summer Pasta Salad
Grilled Chicken Kabobs
Pesto Pasta Salad with Chicken
Quinoa Sliders

quinoaburgers2 Shrimp Paella
Spinach Burgers

Sides

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

sweetpotatofries1Cinnamon Baked Apples

applessquare

Old Bay Zucchini Chips

oldbayzucchips

Quinoa Pizza Bites
Red Potatoes

Snacks/Dessert

Blueberry Bread

blueberrybread3

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones
Chocolate Covered Apple Wedges
Dark Chocolate Turtles
No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites

chocpboatmealbites

Pumpkin Protein Bars

Smoothies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
Homemade Green Machine

Blueberry Bread

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

Lately (ok, ever since the Holidays) I have been eating a shit ton of store bought treats for snacks at work. Power bar after power bar and cookies galore.

It’s a lot easier to just buy already made and packaged snacks at the grocery store to take on the go.

This needs to stop asap. 

Remember when I used to bring homemade pumpkin protein bars and vegan scones everywhere?

I need to get back into that habit.

    •  It’s healthier – you know exactly what is in your food – all natural, nothing processed.
    •  It’s cheaper – each baking episode yields way more food than buying individual bars at the store.

The problem is that I’m tired of the old recipes I used to make.

Cue new delicious and nutritious blueberry bread! I’m definitely taking this as my afternoon snack this week.

blueberrybread3Recipe adapted from The Lemon Bowl. 

Ingredients: 

    • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
    • 1/2 cup wheat germ
    • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
    • 1 cup blueberries – fresh or frozen
    • 1/3 cup splenda or sugar substitute
    • 3 tsp baking powder
    • 1 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1 2/3 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
    • 3 eggs (use 2 eggs, 1 egg white)
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F and grease a bread pan with cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl: oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, sugar, and wheat germ.

Beat together eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract on medium speed with a mixer. Gently stir in the dry ingredients.

Fold blueberries into the batter and pour into the bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Let the bread cool completely before serving.

blueberrybread1

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday! 

Healthy Lobster Mac and Cheese

Posted in Food, Recipes, WIAW by

This “recipe” is quintessential CNG because it is ridiculous little kid/comfort food and is super easy to make.

Ok, so really – this is a work in progress. I definitely like the idea of this dish but I think it needs to be tweaked a teensy bit in the future to make it perfect. I’m thinking along the lines of baking it, casserole style. Prepare yourself for some future revamps of healthy lobster mac and cheese.

Ingredients:

  • boxed mac and cheese
  • fake lobster (i.e. fish flavored lobster flakes → pretending this is not fish)
  • old bay seasoning
  • garlic powder
  • salt and pepper to taste

It’s healthy because of the wheat noodles. Yeah. Healthy.

anniesmacandcheese

lobstersmartDirections:

Cook boxed mac and cheese as directed.

Season “lobster” with old bay, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Mix together and serve.

lobstermac3I actually ate mine with wheat pita chips as noodle scoopers on the side.

Tuna says I’m weird, but just go with it.

lobstermac2Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

Do you know of any good ways to spruce up comfort food?

 What weird food combos do you like? 

DNF Banana Chips

Posted in Clean Eating, Recipes, WIAW by

Ummm…guys? I have something to tell you.

I had a What I Ate Wednesday fail. #wiawfail

wiawfailI made a new recipe to brag about today and it sucked.

Here’s the deal.

Last night I attempted to make banana chips. You know, the kind at the store for like $5.99? Well,  I was really excited because I saw a homemade recipe for them online.

I’m not going to tell you which blog I found it on because I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus.This is serious business.

This was the recipe (basically):

Ingredients:

  • 3 or 4 bananas
  • 1 lemon

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 200º F
  • Slice bananas
  • Squeeze lemon juice on banana slices
  • Bake the bananas for 90 minutes

Easy enough, right? How hard can it be to chop up some bananas and put them in the oven?

bananachips1Hard, apparently.

They were slimy and gross and smelled like rotten bananas. I thought they might harden in the fridge overnight. Nope. They just made my apartment smell like rotten bananas.

I feel like it has got to be the recipe though…or perhaps I am just cursed when it comes to bananas.

Anyway, why am I posting a shitty recipe?

Let’s think about this from a running blog perspective. If I ran a marathon (ha) and didn’t finish it (DNF in running lingo), I would probably still post about my marathon and how it sucked and what I leaned from it.

10kfinishIt should be the same thing for food blogs, don’t you think? Not everything you make is going to be delicious. Blogs shouldn’t just about our successes –  they’re about our failures too.

I’ve tried some new recipes lately that I am just not a fan of. I could refrain from posting anything I don’t really love, but I want to! I want to show you what I did and share
my thoughts with you.

Ok, so my thoughts this week: What I Learned From My DNF banana chips…

I need to start making my own recipes.

Let’s get confident in our food skills and be creative. Who’s with me?!?

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

sweetpotatofries1If I had to pick one food to eat on a desert island every day for the rest of my life, I would choose french fries.

I certainly love noshin’ on a tub of fries, but it’s definitely not the best thing for  my waistline.

Subbing in sweet potatoes instead of regular french fries makes all the difference health-wise, as sweet potatoes are considered a “super food”(source). Sweet potatoes are chock full of antioxidants and vitamins that our bodies need daily.

Fries and super food in the same sentence? Yes, please.

This spicy recipe is adapted from Cookie and Kate (Um, I like that blog name!)

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp hot chili powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into fries.

Place the uncooked fries into a mixing bowl or a plastic bag.

Add cornstarch, olive oil, and additional seasonings and spices to your bowl/bag o’ fries. Mix everything so that the fries are evenly coated.

Pour the fries onto a baking sheet(s) covered with parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet(s) and spread the fries in a single layer with some breathing room.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Take out and flip the fries with a spatula.

Put back in the oven and bake for 15-20 more minutes. Remove when fries are crispy.

Add ketchup and enjoy!

sweetpotatofries2Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

If you had to pick one food to eat on a desert island every day for the rest of your life, what food would you choose?

Quinoa Sliders

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

When I brought these quinoa sliders to our Christmas lunch, I kept joking to my family that they better enjoy them because I was never going to make them again! They were quite labor intensive and set the fire alarm off not once, but thrice (I forgot to turn the stove fan on).

quinoaburgers2But then I tasted them.

Alas, I shall be making them again. Maybe this weekend?

This recipe was adapted from How Sweet It Is.

quinoasliders3Makes 10-12 sliders

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 C uncooked quinoa
  • 1 C cooked chickpeas
  • 12 wheat slider buns
  • 2 avocados, sliced for topping
  • 1/2 C chipotle mayo for topping
  • 1/2 C mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 C wheat bread crumbs
  • 1/2 C chopped carrots
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 large egg + 1 egg white, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 3 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Cook quinoa.

Add green onions, carrots, garlic and cheese to a separate bowl. Add bread crumbs and mix.

Coarsely chop chickpeas and add to the mixture.

Add in cooked quinoa and stir.

Then add the beaten egg and egg white, salt, and pepper. Mix well, then form into slider sized patties

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. Place 5-6 quinoa patties in the skillet and cook until deeply golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Flip the patties and cook the other side for 5 more minutes. Remove, add new oil, and cook the remaining patties.

Serve with chipotle mayo and sliced avocado.

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

P.S. Have you entered my BIC Bands Giveaway yet??!

Dark Chocolate Turtles

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!

Here’s a little snack that I brought to my family Christmas party yesterday. These tasty turtle bites are just a little bit of an indulgence before gettin’ serious about healthy eating when the New Year comes.

Between prep and cooking, these babies only take a few minutes until you can shovel them into your mouth by the handful.

pecanturtle2This recipe was adapted from SELF magazine.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 16 mini whole wheat pretzels
  • 16 dark chocolate-covered caramels (like Rolos)
  • 16 pecan halves

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place wax-paper on a baking sheet. Spread pretzels on the baking sheet.

Plop a chocolate caramel on the center of each pretzel.

Cook in the oven for 2 minutes – you want the chocolate caramels to be a little soft, but not too melty!

Remove tray from oven and add pecan halves on the top of each chocolate covered pretzel.

Put the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden.

pecanturtle3Super easy and delicious. Yum!

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!