Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I would say one of the most popular desserts of all time are chocolate chip cookies. I’ve rarely seen people deny them out of distaste, maybe just out of nutritional reasons. Chris is always wanting some fresh-baked cookies, and I decided to be nice (rare moments, I kn0w). However, they wouldn’t be completely without a twist of health. These chocolate chip cookies have whole-wheat flour in them instead of regular, which adds more fiber into our diet! Who needs apples when you could have these cookies? Just kidding, kids… But truth be told, these are full of fiber, and not overdone with sugar and butter. These are perfect for summer days and sure to win you friends!

Gotta love these ingredients

Best part to eat

Boooom!

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

2014-05-13 21:52:18

Yields 18

A healthy spin on chocolate chip cookies

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

16 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

16 min

Ingredients

1.5 cups whole-wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup g. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a baking sheet
Combine dry ingredients in a smaller bowl
Beat sugar and butter together until smooth
Add in egg and vanilla
Slowly mix the dry into the wet mixture, but don't beat it too much
Fold the chocolate chips in
Roll up some dough and plop it in separate ball-type formations onto the baking sheet
Bake for 16-20 minutes

By Hungry and Fit

Adapted from Food 52

hungry and fit https://hungryandfit.com/

These are really darn good. Hungry has been eating them for every meal I kid you not. I tried to stop him…but there’s no stopping him with a handful of chocolate chip cookies and a gallon of milk. This recipe is so easy and these cookies are really good! Try them out and let me know what you think!

*Question of the Day: What’s your favorite kind of cookie?

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah being cute

May032014

Fancy Up Your Popcorn

I am popcorn-obsessed. I blame it on my family who always has it for any tv/movie event. Like about every night. So what do I do? Any excuse there is…there will be popcorn involved. Castle tonight? Popcorn, obviously. Recorded show on Food Network? Popcorn. Show at the Cinemas? Popcorn…that I sneak in (don’t tell!). I really like popcorn. But Hungry doesn’t really like popcorn (I know, it’s almost a deal-breaker). He’ll eat it if I start giving him some, but he would never start the pop himself. So as he was leaving to walk Noke one night before we were gonna watch a new show on Food Network, he asked me to “fancy up” the popcorn. Quest accepted.

Now I’m not talking about regular fancy. I came up with Toblerone-fancy. Yes, that Swiss deliciousness was taking a visit to our bowl of popcorn. It’s incredibly easy. I learned how to make “homemade” chocolate sauces from watching my mum as she would often like to drizzle it on our homemade ice cream sundaes at home.

I totally snuck one before I melted them down

Chocolate-Drizzled Popcorn

2014-05-02 18:24:55

Serves 1

An easy way to spruce up your usual popcorn

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Cook Time

5 min

Cook Time

5 min

Ingredients

1 bag of popcorn
1/2 chocolate bar (Toblerone for best results)
1/3 cup milk (can be any kind you like--we used whole)

Instructions

Pop the popcorn
Put chocolate and milk into a saucepan
Turn on medium to low heat
Stir fairly frequently at first and then let the chocolate settle into a sauce
Once a smooth texture, drizzle over the popcorn

Notes

You may have to play around with the amount of milk to chocolate ratio. You may have to add more milk or even tip some out. No worries, it will still be chocolate sauce no matter what!

By Hungry and Fit

hungry and fit https://hungryandfit.com/

There you have it. Simple, easy, and delicious. It was so good we started to eat it with a spoon! Yeah, we apparently don’t mess around. I’m looking forward to more ways to play around with our popcorn. Cinnamon and sugar sound like a good next step. Have fun when making this! And don’t forget to share! As always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS PUPPY PIC

Apr232014

Our “Staycation” in Pictures

You may have noticed that we have lapsed in our posting the past week. This is because my parents came in for an Easter visit! It’s been tons of fun. We did loads of stuff and there are tons of pictures that I still need to steal from other family members. Here’s a short snippet. But no worries, we are back in the saddle here at Hungry and Fit!

Spring has sprung!

We went to Estes Park…mum is modeling…

Mum made tons of lovely breakfasts

Noke got to enjoy the sun as the whole family gardened

EASTER!!

Noke cuddling

Rainbow!!

Some darn good food…

Good view of Boulder

Mum made scones

Mum being ridiculous

Eldorado

Poor Noke

She gets revenge

Good Indian food

Good Korean food

Fit’s parents…miss them already

Feb142014

Homemade Scones and Cream Recipe

This recipe is perfect for Valentine’s Day if you want to create a treat for the special day! Some of my favorite Valentine’s Day memories involve my dad putting those little candy hearts allll over the house and me getting to look and find them. Onto the yummy stuff. I have watched my mum make her scones year after year growing up throughout my childhood, but I never actually made them myself. Sure, I helped her put on the jam or whip the cream, but I was just helping, not creating. I was thinking of what I wanted to bring to work for Valentine’s Day (I’m not a huge proponent of this day because it’s normally too gushy, but I always like an excuse to make something yummy), and then it came to me! Mum’s scones! Simple, delicious, and not too sweet. Looking back, I have to laugh, because when I asked mum for the recipe, and then when we were FaceTiming while I was making it at 6:30am (5:30am her time–sorry, Mum!), the way she actually did it was completely different. Here is a family recipe, rooting back in New Zealand that promises to not be too heavy or sweet but a definite crowd-pleaser.

The finished product

Scones

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Baking Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 20 scones (40 halves)

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 level tsp baking powder
1/2 stick butter
1 1/4 cup milk

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 450 degree F
Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a big bowl
Heat the butter in the microwave for 5 seconds and then chop up into itty bitty pieces. Throw those pieces into the flour mixture and start rubbing it in until it gets gritty similar to bread crumbs

Pre-rubbed

Now slowly pour the milk in, mixing as you pour. It should end in a dough-like consistency

Put a dusting of flour on a large cutting board and knead it out, but not a lot. You want them an inch, inch and a half thick

Now cut them all at once, vertical lines and then horizontal lines into two inch pieces. Place on the baking sheet, no greasing needed

Check on it after 8 minutes and until 10 minutes. Check the bottom of them, don’t let them burn. After you take them out of the oven, they should cool for at least 10 minutes before you put the toppings on them

All cooked!

Okay, so while they are cooling….let’s make some cream! Super easy.

Cream

Creation Time: …1 minute

Ingredients

1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sugar

Directions

Put ingredients into bowl and beat them until it turns into the whipped cream you know and love

NOW to put it all together! This is what you’re going to need to finish these puppies up…

jam (any kind you like)
chocolate

Directions

Cut open the scones into halves and lay them out
Spread jam on each one (yes, takes some time)
Dollop the cream on each one (you can make it pretty by spreading it out, I didn’t)

Use a grater that can grate super finely and grate chocolate over the scones. I added some red sprinkles to make it more Valentine-y

And you’re done. I know this was a long post, but it actually doesn’t take that long and is worth it ten times over. These were a HUGE hit at work and they don’t leave you feeling guilty because they are certainly not heavy nor are they too sweet. That’s why Americans sometimes don’t like these kind! I am very proud to have successfully produced these, they taste very close to my mum’s. Whip these up for this lovey-dovey weekend and make people happy! You can thank my mum, not me! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Sleeepy baby

Feb042014

Healthy, Delicious Kale Dip Recipe

This past week, I bought way too much kale. Chris was so nice, he didn’t say anything, but seriously–there’s only two of us! The Super Bowl was nearing and you’ve got to have dips while watching football, can’t get much more American. I do love spinach artichoke dip, but neither were in my fridge and I believe in using what you’ve got! So I grab my enormous bag of kale and set to work on a dip! It was adapted from this recipe. This dip recipe is simple and, more importantly, delicious! It tastes like spinach and artichoke dip, but with more of a sharp flavor mixed in with that garlic creaminess. Oh, did I mention that it’s healthy too?! Read on.

Total Prep & Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

3-4 big fistfuls of chopped kale
6 oz of nonfat greek yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
small pinch of red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove
salt to taste

Directions

First, chop up your kale and garlic into very thin pieces. Try to get all the stems of your kale out.
Heat up a pan with some olive oil in it and then toss all your kale and garlic in. You can put the salt over it now. Cook until kale turns its dark color, about 4-5 minutes, stir now and then.

Pour the kale garlic mixture into a food processor if you have one, or if you don’t (or don’t know how to use yours yet–cough, not me at all) then just put it in a bowl and get ready to use a beater! Before you start beating, blending, or mixing, put in the greek yogurt, lemon juice, and pepper flakes! Stir up that mixture as much as you can until it’s relatively smooth!

Beat it! (Thanks, mum, for the hand mixer!)

And…serve. Yeah, it’s that simple. Once you get a hang of the chopping, then it’s a breeze.

‘

I would serve warm or luke warm, although you can refrigerate for a few days if you aren’t going to be using it right away. I liked this dish so much I made two batches! The garlic creaminess mixed with the sharp flavor of the kale is a winner in my book. And unlike with other dips, there’s no sense feeling guilty about it because it has all great ingredients! This one will come up again, I can assure you. Try this recipe out to stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: What’s your favorite dip?

Oct302013

Powell’s Vegetarian Chili

It has been cold in Boulder. I know Chris likes it, but I’m not a huge fan of 30 or 40 degree weather. However, there are remedies to this! Such as hot chocolate…tea…oh and, VEGETARIAN CHILI! We would eat this a lot at home when I lived with my parents and it was always so tasty and gave that perfect sense of warmth and comfort. And I never realized how easy it was to make until I started cooking for my own. This chili lasted us a few nights and for a few lunches, keeping us warm against the turning seasons. This recipe comes from my family. It’s easy, healthy, and vegetarian-friendly.

Prep Time: 15-20 min
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
1 large green or red pepper
1 package of mushrooms
1/2 onion
2 tbsp oil
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tbsp paprika or chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 15 oz. can red kidney beans
1.5 cups zucchini
1 10 oz. package frozen corn
shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Okay long list of ingredients, but it is super simple. First let’s chop up all the mushrooms, garlic, pepper, onion, and zucchini

Chopped veggieeees

Stir the garlic, peppers, mushrooms, and onions in a deep pot with oil until veggies are tender
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, paprika, and cumin. Stir it and heat to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low. Then add the beans, corn, and zucchini. Simmer those until the veggies are tender

Add however much cheese you want into the chili and stir until it melts. Serve hot with sprinkled cheese on top!

🙂

We usually have it alongside some cornbread. It always fills me up with a sense of home and happiness. I know I will be making it more as the days get colder. The second day we had it, Chris added some ground turkey into it and it was also delicious! This recipe is incredibly easy, delicious, and healthy. Use this recipe to stay hungry and fit!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Cuddle buddies forever

Oct012013

Our Weekend in Pictures

Sorry for the no-Monday post, but I was busy studying and Chris was busy scuba-diving. I thought I would share the weekend in pictures…enjoy!

Chris getting his scuba certification

Great start to a Saturday…

Visited tons of farms and went pumpkin picking

Little Salvation Army visit…

Obviously visited the Humane Society…

Chris almost took this guy home

Awwwwwwwww

Video games

Castle marathons

Going to the Flatirons Mall and enjoying some Sarku

Grocery shopping

Some home-cooked meals

Study snacks (totally stole this from Chocolate Covered Race Medals)

Not to mention WORKOUTS

Chris surprised me with a 3-course meal from one of our favorite restaurants, Dagabi Cucina

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BONUS KITTY PIC

^.^

Jul052013

A Healthy Take on Risotto: Mushrooms and Onions Please!

As you know, I’m in an extreme clean-eating phase right now, prepping for contest. Thus, I can’t always cook or bake what I want. I’m okay with it, I’m staying strong and working hard—and I actually enjoy the food, even though it may be bland to some. Anyhow, I found a delicious recipe that fit my macros with some to spare—without skimping on flavor. I used brown rice instead of risotto or white rice. Chris had about three servings of this—he loved it and made me promise I would cook it again. Did I mention this is vegan?

The recipe I found here, was kind of intimidating. It was a lot of steps and different instructions for seemingly the same ingredients. However, I gave myself a good hour and next time I make it, it will take half the time. When I do something once, I learn quickly and usually adept the next time around. I learn by doing, just how I am. This recipe is extremely altered that I don’t even want to base it on that link, but that’s what inspired me. I can’t say I’m a genius, because I don’t come up with ways to make it better, I am just making do with ingredients I have (or don’t have). Alright, let’s get started.

Prep Time: 25-45 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4 normal people (for us—fed me and Chris…3 servings)

Ingredients

1.5- 2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups vegetable broth
1 yellow onion
1 package brown mushrooms
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (use fresh if you can)
as much garlic as you want (I used elephant garlic, so…A TON)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cups boiling water
½ cup dry white wine
salt & pepper

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F
Cut your onion in half. Put one half to the side and leave one half on cutting board.
Slice up your mushrooms and clean them. Put them into a hot-water-proof bowl and pour the boiling water on top.

Steeping mushrooms

Turn to the half of the onion on your cutting board and dice it up into little pieces. Mince or cut your garlic here too. What better combination than this?

Chop chop chop

Get a deep pot ready—one that can go into an oven. Heat the two tablespoons of oil in the pot on medium heat. Put the diced onions and garlic in. Cook for 8 minutes or until nice and soft. ENJOY THAT SMELL.

Best smell ever

Drain the steeping mushrooms but save the liquid!
Push the onions in the pot to the side, turn on medium-high heat, and put the mushrooms in. Do not stir. Let them cook for 5 minutes and then turn them over, doing the same no-stirring and let cook on this side for 5 minutes. If a crust forms, that’s totally okay—kinda what you want.
Add in the rosemary, stirring so it gets in the mushrooms and onions.

Add in the brown rice and let cook for 4 minutes

Turn the heat to high and add the white wine, vegetable broth, balsamic vinegar, and steeped mushroom liquid

Mushroom liquid

Mix around and get anything sticking to the pot up and off
Mix in salt and pepper to taste

Bring to a boil, put on a lid, and then put into the oven for 35 minutes.
While the wonderful mixture is cooking, coat a pan with oil and start caramelizing the other half of the onion. Cut that onion in moon-slices and once oil is heated, put them in, and salt it. Do a low heat until the mixture is ready. Yum!

Onions caramelizing

Take the risotto mixture out and let sit for a few minutes. Now, see, I get kind of impulsive when I cook and don’t always take everything into consideration when I convert a recipe for my own needs. Sure, I cut the onions from 4 to 1, but did I cut down the vegetable broth? Of course not. So, I’m sure the liquid was supposed to soak into the rice and just have solids left. However, ours had plenty of the liquid left—and we liked it that way (we used the delicious stuff to cook stuff the next day)
So, do it our way, use a spoon or some kind of utensil to scoop out the rice, onion, and mushroom mix out of the “soup.” Plate it and put the caramelized onions on top.

Came out absolutely wonderfully

Don’t forget to have some greens on the side!

It looks like a lot of steps, but many of these steps take about 10 seconds. Please don’t be intimidated by this because it really is SO delicious. And easy once you get the handle of it. So it’s not exactly risotto because I use brown rice. However, this makes it healthier—a complex carbohydrate with plenty of fiber to keep you full and slowly digest and absorb into the blood stream. Let me know if you have any comments or questions. Use this recipe to stay hungry and fit!

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Jul012013

Kiwi Recipe: Bubble and Squeak [Leftover Magic]

If you know me, or if you’ve been reading long enough, you’ll know that I’m half-Kiwi (meaning half “New Zealandish”). My mum is from New Zealand and thus I grew up with a lot of different cultural things coming from her. As you know, New Zealand is a part of the Commonwealth, and so it takes things from England and either keeps it the same or changes it. New Zealand, by the way, is the best place ever with the best people ever, and we can’t wait to someday move there (dual-citizenship comes in handy). Alana, what’s this back story for?! It’s for the recipe I’m about to share with you, Bubble & Squeak.

You can read that link if you’d like, but I’ll give you a short description here. Many mornings, if we had leftover mashed potatoes from the night before, mum would make me bubble and squeak. It’s a little different than the one you’ll read about in that link, because my mum would normally just use potatoes (if you have other leftover vegetables like carrots or broccoli, you can use them too). She would put the mashed potatoes into a cast-iron skillet and just continually let them cook, then scrape them, cook them, scrape them. This results in a delicious manner of browned mashed potatoes, as best as I can describe. Once it’s browned all over, you serve it on some toast and pour lemon juice over it. My mouth is watering as I write this and making me miss home! Alright, let’s get down to the details.

Yum, ready to go!

Prep Time: 0-2 minutes
Cooking Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients

leftover mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes, that’s what is in these pictures. You could even have boiled taters and mash them for this specific meal if you really want)
toast
lemon

Directions

Take out mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or any leftover vegetables out and mash them into the potatoes

Mashed up white sweet potatoes

You can salt and pepper it if you wish. Now cast-iron is best, but make do with whatever you have. Put that vegetable mix or mashed potatoes into the frying pan. You can put a little oil in if you wish, but really we just want to let it brown and keep scraping it and turning it. So, turn up the heat!

Put on a piece of bread to toast
Once you’ve gotten your mash nice and brown, go ahead and serve right on top of the toast. Drench it with lemon juice (we squeeze lemons on top).
You can cut it in half and eat it like toast or just use a fork and knife

Yum, ready to go!

It is sooooooo good. And it’s such an easy thing to prepare for any meal. The combination of tastes between the lemon and browned mash makes you want more and more. This is something I will continue to use and thank my mum for making it for me during my childhood. This is a sure-fire easy recipe to keep you hungry and fit!

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BONUS KITTY PIC

Sajah getting a nice bath

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!