Scrumptious Whole-Wheat Banana Date Muffins

We had dates and bananas that needed to be used. Okay maybe the dates didn’t need to be used since they last forever, but I’ve been wanting to try this. Like my other muffin recipe (which this one is actually based on), it’s super simple and quick to do. I threw this together late last night after a leg workout. It’s very healthy, estimated at about 167 calories with 3 grams of protein and fiber! Not too shabby.

Prep Time: 7 minutes
Bake Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
10 dates
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
3/8 cup honey [a little more than 1/3]
2 eggs
2 bananas mashed
1/4 cup hot water

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together dry ingredients: whole-wheat flour, salt, and baking soda

Chop up your dates, 5 into little pieces, 5 into long quarters

Put dry ingredients to the side and get a bigger mixing bowl. Put the olive oil and honey into big bowl and whisk!

Crack both eggs and drop them in. Whisk away!
Now, mash your bananas so they are nice and smooth. Scrape the bananas into the wet mixture
Add the finely chopped dates (don’t put in the long date quarters)

Slowly stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, alternating with pouring in hot water

Grease your muffin tin and pour them in. Make sure they don’t overflow, but you want them high enough so they puff over the top when baked.

Top each muffin with the quarter slivers of dates we cut ahead of time as a garnish!

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Mine took about 17 minutes

And enjoy! Oh they are SO good warm right out of the oven. And of course, before I brought them into work, I had to taste test them. And…I approve! Another fail-proof recipe to enjoy and not feel the slightest guilt eating them.

BONUS KITTY PIC

Nymeria cuddling Chris

Apr212013

Ridiculously Easy and Healthy Oat Chocolate Chip Raisin Drops

This one has no sugar or flour…OR EGGS. Wait, what? How is this possible? You got me, but it worked and here they are…delicious, warm, and gooey. I got it from this awesome blog, and added a little bit to it. I’m amazed at A) How healthy these are (just choc chips + raisins for sweetness), B) How easy it is (took me 5 minutes to assemble), and C) How good they are! You can play around with the recipe, add or subtract, have fun with it! And you don’t have to feel guilty eating them. A healthy, nutritious (delicious) snack awaiting your baking:

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Baking Time: 12-16 minutes

Ingredients

2 large bananas
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup oats
handful of raisins
small handful chocolate chips [optional]

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
Mash up the bananas til they’re smooth and gooey

Mix bananas with oats in a medium-sized bowl
Pour in the cinnamon and then fold in raisins and chocolate chips

Place little rounds on a greased cookie sheet and place in oven for 12-16 minutes

Deeeeelicious!

And that’s it. What’s an easier baked good than that? PLUS with it being so healthy! I’m very happy I found this recipe and I have a feeling I will be frequenting it. Cheers! And stay hungry and fit!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sleepy Sajah

Apr112013

Pretty Darn Healthy Enchiladas

So I got this McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook from one of my clients who so generously and sweetly gave it to me. We both have a passion for cooking (hers having a more professional side of actually owning a restaurant) and so one day she gave this book to me as a gift “just because.”

And she specifically pointed out a recipe, “Spanish Rice Enchiladas.” As usual, I diverted somewhat from the recipe because I think you should make each recipe your own. I ended up making another batch right after because Chris was still hungry for more. Check it out–it made for two meals for two!

I ADDED CHEESE

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: About 4-6 normal people (makes 10-12 enchiladas)

Ingredients

1 cup rice (cooked, I use a rice cooker)
1/2 yellow onion
5 oz. spinach
beans of your choice (we had white)
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 clove garlic
1/4 block cheddar cheese (can be any kind but I lurve cheddar)
10 to 12 corn or flour medium tortillas (we used both kinds)
1 can enchilada sauce (16 oz)
salt & pepper
avocado (optional)

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Chop up that onion. Doesn’t have to be fine pieces, but small enough to eat comfortably in the enchilada

Put the water and the onion in a saucepan and stir. I put some garlic in there too. Heat the onions up until they’re soft
Once onions are soft, put the spinach in the saucepan. I added some salt and pepper here to season it up because I love flavor.
Grate a good amount of cheese, depending on how cheesey you want your enchiladas

Once the spinach is softened, take the saucepan off the heat.
Stir in the rice, cumin, and soy sauce. Make sure it is all mixed around so it’s well-balanced

Pour 1 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish
Put the rice-onion mix and cheese down the center of your tortilla

Roll the tortilla and have the folded side placed down. Keep doing so until casserole is full like sardines in a can.

Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce atop the enchiladas
Put in the oven for 30 minutes. This number worked perfectly for me. Just make sure the tortillas are cooked and the cheese is melted, which it most certainly should be
If you’d like, which I always do, chop up some avocado and put it on top

They are messy and delicious. The above picture is the second batch I made after Chris still wanted more. It’s that easy to do. We got to enjoy them while watching a great episode of Chopped All-Stars, where our girl Sunny Anderson won. Anyways, this is a quick, DELICIOUS (seriously) recipe full of fiber and protein to enjoy with others. And there will probably be leftovers too, just don’t eat them 30 minutes before a workout like I did the next day.

Drool attack

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah and I both cried while I cut up the onions. For some reason, Nymeria didn’t. I felt so bad, but didn’t think I should give him human eye drops.

Cheers!

Apr082013

Abma’s Farm: Baked Goods Wonderland

This is one of the many posts you will be receiving about our trip to and from New Jersey–Chris’ home. Since it’s mid-morning, I decided to start with Abma’s Farm. A magical place filled with baked goods and hungry farm animals. It’s a farm, nursery, petting zoo, and marketplace all in one! It is always a necessary stop for us when we visit. And it was, too, when I would visit him from New York while I was still in college.

It was our…third food stop of the day, and I think we got there around noon or 1 o’ clock. This day (Friday) was a special treat because two of my friends from college either drove all the way from the city (Jordan) or took the train all the way up from South Jersey (Kathleen). Hadn’t seen them in six months or so, and it was amazing to see them again. Another friend, Hilary, was about to drive from Connecticut as she was planning, but then got very sick, so she’s visiting this summer here in Boulder instead! We also got to have Chris’ good friend, Po, around with us pretty much the whole day. Awesomeness. See pic below of Kathleen (left) and Jordan (right) and one of Hilary and I.

Kathleen and Jordan

Hilary and I

“Po” with a delicious donut

“Team Gluttony”

Anyways, onto the important stuff–the FOOD (just kidding, guys, love ya). This place has all sorts of delicious items like mozzarella cheese, pies, peppers, and so forth. But what you come to Abma’s for is the BAKED GOODS. And especially from the baked goods, is their cinnamon donuts. Literally right from the oven which is a building away (about 50 feet from the marketplace). You see them bring a big batch in and it’s hard not to gobble less than four down at once. It was Easter weekend, so it was packed–which means lots and lots of baked goods. Everything tastes very fresh and, baked goods-wise, everything is pretty well-priced. It’s hard to beat and it’s definitely hard NOT to pig out. Which we of course did.

So tasty

Then there’s the farm animals which are usually adorable and hungry. In the case of today, where there were 10x more people than usual, they weren’t so hungry–but they were still pretty cute. Abma’s has room for pigs, ponies, mules, goats, chicks, chickens, and more! It’s always fun to see them and give them treats.

To summarize, Abma’s has it all. It’s always a place we’re excited to go to and leave feeling happy and full. The animals are always cute and make funny noises, the baked goods are always fresh, and the marketplace is always full of anything needed to be eaten. If you haven’t already, check it out when you’re in North Jersey!

Cheers!

BONUS KITTY PIC

“Katt” — Get it?

Apr042013

Spinach Feta Pie Recipe [NO CRUST]

This is another one pointed out to me by Mary Kate and it took two tries to get it just right. The second try was delicious and I hope to make it again and again–it’s healthy, nutritious, filling, and yummy! Though the ingredient list may look long, it really does not take much time at all! The recipe comes from here . Check it out:

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

10 oz frozen spinach
1/2 cup scallions
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp parsley
1/2 cup feta
2 tbsp grated cheese (something akin to Romano, Parmesan, etc)
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and oil up your cooking pan (I used a bread tin)
Thaw out the spinach. Cut up the dill, parsley, and scallions.

Beautiful chopped herbs/veggies

Mix the feta, parsley, dill, spinach, scallions, and grated cheese into the pie/bread dish

Beat the two eggs
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, salt, and olive oil

Pour into the pie dish with the rest of the ingredients and mix it around. Feel free to put in some pepper or other spices in that you would like as well

Ready for the oven

Pop it into the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes. Mine took closer to 30 minutes. Just keep checking on it to see if, when you put a fork in the center, it comes out clean of batter.

And that’s it! It takes no time at all to whip up and it’s a very rewarding meal to cook. Try it out–and you can even use fresh spinach too, depends on what’s best for you. Cheers and enjoy!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Ridiculously cute picture of Nymeria

Mar252013

The Easiest Healthiest Dessert Recipe Ever: Sweet Baked Pears

I really need to cut down on these title lengths. Anyways, to the recipe. I discovered this recipe through a program I work with at the YMCA, called MEND. It’s a free program to fight childhood obesity and change the lifestyle to a healthy one at home. It’s been very successful! During each session, the participants get a MEND “cookbook”–a compilation of MEND-friendly (aka HEALTHY) recipes. This is from there. This is a guilt-free recipe. It’s basically fruit, cheese, and cinnamon. ENJOY!

Finished product

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients [serves 6-8 people]

6 pears (if you’re less-hungry people, you can use less)
1 1/3 cup ricotta
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
Wash the pears and cut them into halves

Scoop out the seeds and most of the middle

Put the pears on a baking sheet (no oil required) and put in the oven for 20 minutes
Let’s now turn our focus to the mixture. Put all the other ingredients (ricotta, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and agave/honey) into a small-medium bowl and mix! Feel free to taste

Put the mixture into the fridge to chill until you serve.
Take out the pears from the oven after 20 minutes
When ready to serve, put dollops of mixture in the hollowed part of the pears!

And that’s IT! Seriously amazing, delicious, and you don’t feel bad eating it because there isn’t any crap in it. This is a recipe I will be frequenting. I whipped it up very quickly after a gym session before we went to a friend’s house for dinner–it’s amazingly simple for how delicious it is. Enjoy!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Someone’s sleepy…

Mar222013

Eatery Review: Piece, Love, & Chocolate

We came across this adorable Boulder eatery while enjoying a nice warm night (compared to the winter we’ve been getting). We were actually strolling around after a dinner, wanting more food (the name is HUNGRY and Fit, remember?) and we stumbled upon this cute joint. I’ve passed it before and always wanted to step in. So we did.

The outside of this adorable place…hard to see but they have little tables and chairs to sit at

As soon as I stepped in, I was reminded of my friend, Mary Kate, and her mom who owned a candy shop. Same smell, but instead of being Irish themed, this was allllll about chocolate. They had some chocolate brownie samples out (I am the absolutely sucker for samples of any kind, it’s a problem), which were delectable! I may or may not of had more than one–oops. While Chris looked over the goodies, I looked around the rest of the shop–there was so much going on.

They had every kind of chocolate you could imagine (some of it pricey, but probably because it’s all homemade) and the whole theme was centralized around the Southern Americas where cocoa comes from. Really a great experience. Eventually, after exploring the little shop (when you walk in, you can see the kitchen in the back), we decided on a hot chocolate for me and two cookies for Chris.

The hot chocolate was a mild flavor, free of any added sugars or nonsense–perfect for keeping me warm on the walk ten blocks home. The cookies were also good, we got a regular and a gluten-free, both tasted homemade. We would love to come there when they bake them fresh!

So if you’re in Boulder, and you’re out to town on Pearl St. or Spruce, stop by this adorable candy, chocolate, and goodies shop. I know we will again. I’m eager to try more treats!

Cheers! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Cuddle monsters

Mar112013

Peanut Butter Oat Bars

This is such an easy delicious recipe. Mary Kate sent this recipe to me–I altered it a little bit and boy is it goooooood. And it’s such an easy recipe, I whipped it up extremely fast. And there’s no added sugar that you have to pour in, making them healthy little things full of protein. Look below for the recipe and directions. This is one you won’t want to pass up and you only need about 25 minutes to do it.

Prep Time: 7 minutes
Bake Time: 18 minutes

Ingredients

1.5 cups of oats
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of agave nectar
1 egg
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
small handful of chocolate chips

Directions

Grease a baking sheet and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix the flour and oats together

Go ahead and put the wet ingredients in (the egg, peanut butter, and agave nectar) and mix
Fold in some chocolate chips

Spread out on the baking sheet

Ready to bake

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes (mine took 18). You want it to bake until it starts to brown slightly

Wait until completely cool to cut and serve.

Enjoy! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

Feb172013

Decadent Chocolate Peanut Clusters

If you’re not an idiot like me, this recipe is so easy. Just wait and watch. The taste to ease ratio is OUT OF THIS WORLD! I originally saw the recipe on the delicious Hip Foodie Mom blog, and she got it from another blog, here. As always, I didn’t follow exactly to the recipe, and it turned out beautifully. This is such an easy recipe, great way to impress/feed the loved ones at home, work, and elsewhere. Listen up!

Ingredients

a bunch of chocolate [I used about 12 oz], the better quality chocolate, the better quality finished product (I used two different kinds of Ghirardelli Chocolate, milk and truffle)

peanuts
microwave/hot water

It started snowing pretty heavily as I was making these

Directions

1. Depends on the chocolate, but unwrap them and put them in a medium sized bowl.

2. Put in microwave and take out every 30 seconds to stir. Depends on your microwave and chocolate for the length of time that it takes to actually melt down. Mine took six times, so 3 minutes total. Try not to eat too much of it at this point (whoops)

3. Now this is where you don’t want to be an idiot like me. I actually DE-SHELLED about fifty peanuts, making this process take twenty minutes longer. Do the right thing and just get a bag of already de-shelled peanuts. Slowly stir them in, make sure they’re really mixed!

4. Get a baking sheet with wax paper across, and drop spoonfuls a few inches from each other.

5. Put in fridge for at least 1 hour. I left mine in all day and they turned out beautifully.

Our fridge!

6. Take out and serve! When I put them away, I put them back in the fridge so they wouldn’t melt.

Now you see how easy this recipe truly is, as long as you don’t personally de-shell all the peanuts . Let us know if you have any comments or questions. As always, stay hungry and fit. Cheers!

SLEEPY KITTENS

BONUS KITTY PIC

Jan292013

Healthy Whole-Wheat Honey Banana Muffins

If you couldn’t tell by the title, this recipe is very healthy. There is no sugar and no refined flour. AND THEY TASTE GOOD. I wouldn’t lie. This is my first time baking muffins from scratch, so I’m very pleased. I found the recipe here, altered it slightly and cut in half because I only have a 12-count muffin pan. And this was all the while watching Fawlty Towers!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 17 minutes
Yields: 12 beautiful muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
2 bananas mashed
1/4 cup hot water

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and grease the muffin pan
Put the whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl and mix.

Put the dry ingredients to the side and get a bigger bowl where everything will end up. Put in the olive oil and honey and whisk well.

Once that is well mixed, drop in those two eggs and mix mix mix!

Once those are beaten, then add the mashed (MASH THEM) bananas into the mix.
Now the dry ingredients are ready to make friends with the wet ingredients. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients, alternating with pouring in a little of the hot water you measured out before. Mix well!

Mix all ready to go

The mix is delicious by the way–had way too much of it before it hit the oven. Go a head and pour the mix into your muffin pan. Fill it as high up as you want–it all depends on how big muffins you’d like.

Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Mine cooked in about 17 minutes. Try going for 15 minutes and test them.

And here they are. The texture turned out wonderfully, the taste not overpowering, and the structural integrity strong. Very excited about these.