March 9, 2010
Quickie: Best Bran Muffins ever?
I haven’t eaten enough bran muffins to say if these are the best ever but these muffins are pretty damn good. In fact, I thought they tasted a lot like these molasses cookies, which are a favorite of mine. Any muffin that tastes like a cookie is a win for me, so I liked these a lot.
March 3, 2010
Individual Chicken Pot Pie
I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to post this recipe. I’ve been making it since last year . It’s one of my favorites and something I make regularly. I have another more traditional chicken pot pie recipe which I like a lot, but that recipe is most certainly not low fat so I don’t make it as much (usually only after holidays to use up the extra chicken/turkey). This recipe is a lighter version of chicken pot pie, but it tastes just as good. I got it from the Weight Watchers website and while I’ve made some modifications to it, it’s still pretty light, especially compared to other chicken pot pie recipes you’ll find.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love using ramekins to make individual portions of my favorite recipes. I’m not so good with the portion control so I like having things portioned out for me in advance. It’s just easier that way. You can make this in 4 small ramekins (10 oz.) or 2 large ramekins (20 oz.). I got some large ramekins recently, so I’ve …
February 15, 2010
Tasty and Heart Healthy Waffles with Blackberry Syrup
I got up yesterday wanting to make a special breakfast for Brandon on Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t have to look to hard find something I wanted to make: my new favorite waffle recipe practically called out to me from the page in my cookbook and I couldn’t resist. In the past waffles were reserved only for special days because despite how yummy they are, they aren’t the most healthy breakfast in the world. Since Brandon and I are both dieting, waffles would normally be out the question. But now that I’ve found this recipe I can make waffles every weekend and we don’t have to feel guilty about eating them!
These waffles are half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour, wheat germ and ground flaxseed (which is especially heart healthy). But despite sounding very…well…wheat-y, they don’t taste like it all. They taste like normal waffles, except that the whole wheat adds another dimension to them. These are sweeter, lighter and fluffier than my normal waffle recipe. I usually drown my waffles in syrup, but I’ve found with these I don’t want to. …
February 9, 2010
Lentil Soup (with Bacon!)
Yep, I’m still obsessed with soup and things I can make in my Dutch oven so this recipe called out to me as I was flipping though the cookbook’s pages.
Also calling out to me? Bacon! Put some bacon in anything and I’m there. There’s not a lot of bacon, though, so this is still a relatively healthy soup. And if you took out the bacon it would still be hearty and filling thanks to the lentils and the vegetables.
With the exception of the lentils, which I personally had never eaten or bought before I made this recipe, it doesn’t have any other specialized ingredients. I had everything already sitting in my kitchen and I definitely prefer recipes where I can use ingredients I already have. I hate, hate, hate, buying a special ingredient for a recipe and then having the leftovers go bad or sit in my pantry collecting dust. (And now that I know I like lentils, I’m finding new recipes to make with them so they’re becoming a pantry staple along with kidney beans and black beans.)
February 4, 2010
Quickie: Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Smores
I’m doing Project 365 this year, which is a challenge to take a picture every single day for a full year. It’s a month in and I’m already starting to run out of ideas of what to take pictures of. Last week I was sitting in my kitchen trying to come up with something, but my mind kept wandering to dessert (this is not unusual). Then I realized: I should take a picture of dessert! Perfect.
This is my favorite go-to snack. I always have all the ingredients in my pantry and when I’m having a chocolate craving I can make a couple of these in 5 minutes, which is much faster (and healthier) than making up a batch of cookies or brownies. It’s not a mind-blowing dessert or anything, but when I posted this picture on flickr a lot of people commented saying how good it looked, so I decided I should share it with all my wonderful foodblog readers as well! Because maybe you guys have never thought to add peanut butter to s’mores? Seriously, peanut butter makes everything better.
January 25, 2010
Easy Greek Chicken Casserole
The main reason this recipe caught my eye is because it’s a one pot meal that you can make in your Dutch oven. I’ve been wanting a Dutch oven for years and finally got one for Christmas so anytime I see a recipe that mentions a dutch oven, I’ll almost always give it a try. I couldn’t afford one of those uber expensive Le Creuset’s
January 19, 2010
Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup
I didn’t used to be a fan of soup. I don’t know if that was one of those things that I turned my nose up at when I was a kid or if my mom just wasn’t a soup person and so she never made it. Regardless, the only soup I ate for years and years and years was Campbell’s chicken noodle or tomato. But when I started cooking for myself, I figured out two important things about soup: It’s generally healthy (even the creamier ones still have vegetables) and it’s really easy to make. Throw some stuff in a pot and you just made soup! I realize that making soup probably isn’t a big deal for some people, but for me, who only ate soup from a can for 20 plus years? Making homemade soup is something I feel proud of, the same way I feel about making homemade bread.
This winter I’ve been craving lots of soup since we finally live in a place that gets cold, so I’ve been expanding my soup repertoire. I usually make it once a week but I’ve …
