'W' is for Walnuts

(source)

... as in honey-roasted walnuts!  Sorry no picts but we made these at a friend's house and didn't have my camera around.  They turned out so yummy that we actually went to the store to buy all different kinds of nuts!

Ingredients:

• 1c walnuts, roughly chopped
• 2 tbs. honey
• 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
• dash of salt

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a microwave safe bowl, mix together honey, cayenne pepper and salt and microwave about 15 - 20 seconds or until honey runs thin.

2.) Add walnuts to the bowl and mix well until all walnuts are coated with honey mixture.

3.) Spread walnuts on baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through baking time.

4.) Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

'V' is for Vanilla

 (source)

 ... as in vanilla-chocolate banana protein muffins (that's a mouth full of a name)!

Word of warning: these came out HORRIBLE! The texture was all wrong, the taste was all wrong, and I just didn't like them at all.  I was going to throw them out but the boyfriend insisted on trying one and said to just keep it... it's edible and he'll eat it if he's starving.  Geez... he makes like we have no food to survive on.

Ingredients:

• 1c oats, divided
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 2 scoops chocolate protein powder
• 3 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 4 tbs. chopped raw almonds
• 0.25c cacao nibs
• 1 mashed banana
• 0.25c unsweetened applesauce
• 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbs. honey
• 2 tbs. agave nectar
• 1 tbs. instant coffee powder

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degree.  Spray muffin tin with oil and set aside.  In a food processor, blend 0.5c of oats to make oat flour. 

2.) Combine oat flour, remaining oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, salt, almonds and cacao nibs in bowl.

3.) Blend banana, applesauce, vanilla, honey, and agave in food processor until smooth.

4.)  Add wed ingredients to dry and combine well.  Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake 13 - 15 mins. **Do NOT over bake.**  Cool and store in air-tight container in refrigerator.

Mini-Review
OMG these were horrible!  Seriously, I don't even know how to fix them to be "okay". FAIL!

'U' is for Udon

 (source)

... as in curry udon!

HOLY!!! Do you even remember this ABC's of Food thing I was trying to do... umm... back in 2009?!?!  Three years later and it's still not completed.  Well, I plan to change that.  My goal is to finish up this list THIS YEAR!  (I really want to finish this by summer, but since the list has taken 3 years so far, I think trying to finish by summer is a long shot.)

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

• 5 oz. thinly sliced pork
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c carrots, julienned
• 4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 5 cups water
• 1/3 c soy sauce
• 1/4 c mirin
• 2.5 tbs corn starch
• 2 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
• 4 cups udon noodles, cooked
• 1 piece konbu

1.) Pour 5 cups of water into a large pot and add konbu piece.  Bring water to boil remove konbu; set konbu piece aside.

2.) Heat oil on medium heat in a saute pan and cook pork.  Add onion and carrots and saute until softened.  Add mushroom and curry powder and cook until fragrant.

3.)  Add water from pot to pork and vegetable mixture (to loosen any "goodies" stuck to the bottom of the pan) and pour into pot of water.  Add soy sauce and mirin and stir.

4.)  Simmer on medium heat for about 10 - 15 minutes.  Mix cornstarch in a cup of water and add to pot to thicken.

5.)  Add green onions and serve over cooked udon noodles.

Mini-Review
This was good... but not as good as all the ramen shops found everywhere in Hawaii.  It was good enough that Anthony and I ate it all before we realized we didn't take pictures.  Next time.

Tasty Thursdays: Paleo Banana Bread

Original recipe found here.

My recipe was tweaked a little bit, only with the amount of butter and walnuts used.  Everything else stayed the same.  Oh, and I turned them into muffins instead of a loaf.

Nutrition facts:
Makes 12 muffins
1 muffin = 176 calories (recipe can easily be tweaked to lessen the calories, ie. egg whites instead of whole eggs, no walnuts, etc.)

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 over ripe bananas
2 cups almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup crushed walnuts

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper wrappers.
2.) In a medium bowl, combine first four ingredients, mixing well.
3.) In a large bowl, combine last four ingredients and mix well.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and fold to combine.
4.) Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick pierced into a muffin comes out clean.

Weigh-in Wednesday + Paleo recipe

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 128.6
Current weight:  129.4

Current loss:  +0.8
TOTAL LOSS:  -47.0

Not disappointed at all.  Inches are still going down and since I'm in a muscle building workout program, the number on the scale will fluctuate.

Speaking of workouts...

PR hit in back squat:  155 lbs.  
That puts me between "intermediate" and "advance" according to these standards.  Not bad if my body weight keeps dropping and the barbel weight keeps increasing.

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Protein Cinnamon Swirl "Bread"

For this yumminess, I  followed this recipe by Jamie Eason but switched out the oat flour for almond flour and tweaked a little bit of the directions.  The end result was really good, but a little too sweet for me so next time I'm cutting the stevia in half.

Nutrition facts: Makes 16 squares

1 square = 55 calories, 1g fat, 8g carbs, 5g protein

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup stevia

1.5 cup almond flour

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites

1c unsweetened almond milk

1 4-oz jar baby food applesauce (or no sugar added applesauce)

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 pan with olive oil.

2.) In a large bowl, combine stevia, almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt and mix well.

3.) In a medium bowl, combine egg whites, almond milk, and applesauce.  Combine with dry ingredients and fold together until incorporated.

4.) In a small bowl, scoop out about 1/2c of batter and combine with cinnamon.  Set aside.

5.) Pour batter from large bowl into pan, then drizzle batter + cinnamon (from step 4) into pan.

6.) Bake 25 minutes.

Tasty Thursdays: Yogurt dip!!!!!

Good morning!  This isn't a recipe post like most "Tasty Thursdays" but I have to share this new-to-me find:

I've read about it on other blogs but could never find it here in Hawaii but at last... my Costco finally brought it in (and with the coupon in this months coupon book = SCORE)! 

This jalapeno yogurt dip is so yummy.  And not just "healthy" yummy, but yummy-yummy!  It almost taste like cream cheese and has a little kick to it cause, DUH, it's jalapeno.  Anthony and I bought this huge 24 oz. container this past weekend and it's already half-way gone.

It's a good thing my parents are Costco members - and don't like spicy things - cause we stole their coupon so we could buy more.  And by "stole" I mean call-my-mom-the-second-the-yogurt-dip-touched-my-lips-to-see-if-she-still-had-her-coupon. 

So far, I've used it on eggs, as a veggie dip, as salad dressing (thinned out with some salsa)...

... and on top chipotle spiced chicken breast.

If you have a Costco near by, go there now and buy it!

No Costco coupon?  Who cares... it's fricken worth it (and not expensive at all).  We'll be going back to buy TUBS of these later this month.

Tasty Thursdays: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes about 40 1-Tbs. size cookies)

• 1c flour
• 2c quick oats
• 1t baking powder
• 1/2t baking soda
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 2t pumpkin pie spice
• 2T butter, room temperature
• 1/2c white sugar (I used stevia in place of white sugar.  Be sure to use the correct conversion if you decide to go this route)
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 6T pumpkin puree, fresh or canned
• 2t vanilla extract
• 1/2c cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.

3.)  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars.  Beat in egg, pumpkin puree and vanilla.

4.)  Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture, mixing until no flour streaks can be seen.  Stir in cacao nibs.

5.)  Drop dough onto baking sheet in 1T amounts.  This dough doesn't spread out so you can place them fairly close together.

6.)  Bake 12 - 15 minutes or until tops are slightly brown.  Cool on baking sheet 3 - 4 minutes then move cookies to a cooling rack.  ENJOY then store in an airtight container.

 

And what better way to enjoy your pumpkin cookie baking than to drink some pumpkin spice tea?  YUMMY!

Weigh-in Wednesday and turkey meatballs

Starting weight: 176.4
Last week weight: 135.2 
Current weigh: 137.4 

Current loss:  +2.2 

TOTAL LOSS: -39.0

Tough Christmas weekend with LOTS of food.  Back to it this week...

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Italian Turkey Meatballs (in the slow cooker)

This recipe came from a website which is quickly becoming one of my favorites: SkinnyTaste.com

Why do I love this recipe?  It's fast, easy, and you don't have to brown the meat on the stove before you put it in the slow cooker (I know it gives it added flavor and crusty-ness but I'm more of a one-pot kinda cook).  I did change some things in Gina's original recipe (like switching out parsley for baby spinach in the meatballs) but this was super yummy!!  Definitely made it into my regular recipe rotation.

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes 10 servings of 5 meatballs each)

• 20 oz. ground turkey breast
• 20 oz. lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp salt

For the sauce:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 8 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 56 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp black pepper

1.) In a large bowl, combine first 9 ingredients.  Mix well with your hands and form 1/8 cup meatballs.  For this, I used a 1/4 measuring cup and just divided each scoop into two... and I employed the boyfriend to roll the meatballs for me.  =)

2.)  In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and brown garlic.

3.) Add browned garlic and olive oil to your slow cooker.  Add remaining ingredients for the sauce into the slow cooker and mix.

4.)  Add uncooked meatballs into the sauce, cover and cook on low 4 - 6 hours.

 Before cooking...

... and after cooking.

5.) Serve over pasta or zucchini "pasta" and ENJOY!

Sweet Potato Pie recipe

This recipe came from a website which is quickly becoming one of my favorites: SkinnyTaste.com

Every recipe I've tried from Gina's site (I've made about 6 so far) has turned out supper yummy!  Check it out!

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(source)

For this recipe, I used purple Okinawan sweet potatoes because they are readily available in my grocery store, so don't be thrown off by the purple color of the pies.  Your pies will come out to whatever color potatoes you use.

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes 1 pie, I doubled the recipe in the pictures because I needed to make two pies for Thanksgiving)

• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk (I used almond)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and start washing those potatoes.  Once washed, place potatoes in a large pot with water, making sure all potatoes are under the waterline.  Cover the pot and set on high heat to bring water to a roaring boil.  Lower the heat (but keep the water boiling) and boil sweet potatoes until completely cooked (30 - 45 minutes).  A fork comes in hand to poke the potatoes to check for "doneness".

2.)  When potatoes are cooked, run under cold water and let them cool for about 10 - 15 minutes.  Once cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins off the potatoes, throw naked potatoes into a bowl, and mash them up.   

Note- You will be using a hand mixer to mix the rest of the ingredients together, but it's easier to get out the lumps by now.

3.)  Add butter, sugar, milk, eggs, spices, and vanilla.  Using an electric mixer, mix until smooth.

4.)  Pour mixture into a frozen, unbaked pie crust and spread evenly.

5.) Before putting the pies into the oven, Anthony helped me make a pie shield to protect the crust from burning.  Simply take a piece of foil, trace the BOTTOM (not the top) of a pie dish and lay foil over the crust (like first picture in step 6, below). 

6.)  Bake at 350 degrees for about 55 - 60 minutes.  Remove the pie shields with about 10 - 15 minutes left of baking to brown the crust edges. Use a knife to pierce the middle of the pie to check if completely baked (knife should come out clean).  

7.)  Let the pie(s) cool completely on a cooling rack (about an hour or so) and refrigerate - longer the better - before serving.  ENJOY!

Weigh-in Wednesday and Nut-butter Banana Wrap

Starting weight: 176.4
Last week weight: 139.0
Current weight: 138.6
Current loss: -0.4
TOTAL LOSS: -37.8

With Thanksgiving this past weekend and T.O.M (which makes me gain anywhere from 0 - 3 lbs. of water) this week, I'll totally take the 0.4 lb weight loss.  Hoping next week is a loss, too.

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Nut-butter Banana Wrap
A recipe really isn't needed for this simple snack.


Instead of using a tortilla, I used swiss chard leaves, smeared them with a tablespoon of almond butter, a drizzle of honey, and wrapped them around half a banana.  The swiss chard leaves don't add much flavor, it's just another sneaky way I like to get in more veggies (and less processed food/carbs).

Weigh-in Wednesday and Protein Ball Recipe

Starting weight: 176.4
Last week weight: 142.4
Current weight:141.6
Current loss: -0.8

TOTAL LOSS: -34.8

Weighing in on a different scale than normal so can't really tell if this is a legit loss.  Next week I will be back to my normal scale.

I have noticed physical changes over the past month or so... most notable in my hands and legs (weird, right).  My quads and hammies are definitely getting back their definition and I can slowly start to see my wrist bones and veins on my hands.  This can most likely be because of my recent workout (muscle pump) but I'll take it! 

And this baby is slowly making it's way back too!!

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Protein Peanut Butter Ball

This recipe was originally found on this website but here's my version.  My version is a little too sweet for me so I'm constantly tweaking it till I get the taste and consistency right.  Right now this is my most recent recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1/4 cup nut butter (I had plenty of peanut butter to use but normally I stick with almond butter)
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup agave

Mix all ingredients together.  Scoop out 1-tablespoon size portions and store in the refrigerator for about an hour to set.  THAT'S IT!!  Using the recipe above, it will make about 10 protein balls, or 5 servings.  I always make them in batches of 20 balls or more... the boyfriend and I like them a lot. =)

Turkey Veggie Chili Recipe

As promised, here is the turkey chili recipe.  Sorry there aren't many pictures... forgot to take them while I was making the chili.  

Anthony and I use double the amount of red pepper flakes and throw in some cayenne pepper because we like things spicy.  If you use canned beans, I would suggest not adding any salt until you're ready to eat because we use dried beans in our recipe and don't need any salt.

We usually top off our chili with a little bit of cheese and greek yogurt... totally taste like sour cream and adds a super nice creamy taste to the chili. 

Ingredients:
(this recipe makes about 8 servings)

• 1 tabelspoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1.5 lbs. ground turkey
• 1 can (15 ounce) no salt added diced tomatoes with chilies
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup dry kidney beans (or 1 15-ounce can kidney beans)
• 3/4 cup dry black beans (or 1 15-ounce can black beans)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tabelspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground pepper
• salt to taste, but I skipped on the salt and you can't tell the difference
• whatever veggies you have lying around that need to be used like TODAY (I rolled with half a zucchini, a hand-full of mushrooms, half a red bell pepper, and about 5 cups of baby spinach all chopped)

1.) If using dried beans, rinse well and soak kidney and black beans overnight.

2.)  In a medium pot, boil enough water  to cook your ground turkey (this is not the 2 cups of water called for in the ingredient list.  After draining out the water you used to boil the ground turkey, you still need to add 2 cups when you combine all ingredients).  Yup, boil it. 

I learned that this is the best way to get ground meat to cook in the smallest pieces as possible... so you have more meat pieces in your chili.   Thank you, Food Network!

3.)  Drain out the water and throw ALL ingredients into a slow cooker (don't forget your 2 cups of water).  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or cook on high for 4-5 hours.

4.)  That's it!!

Before cooking...

... after cooking.

Nutrition info (will be different if you use canned beans and different veggies) for one serving: 269 cals, 9g fat, 2g saturated fat, 56mg cholesterol, 352mg sodium, 21g carbs, 9g fiber, 22g protein.