All Done with Holiday Feasting!

December 27th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (0 Comments)

This particular Christmas, I went to three different dinners over the course of 3 days. Lots of calories were eaten, and there were plentiful white carbohydrates and some unhealthy fats and sugars. Yikes!

It only happens a few times per year, so I don’t worry and neither should you ;-)

Day 1: Southern cooking for lunch (I had roast turkey with gravy, beans/peas, and turnip greens. A quick Starbuck’s stop for some jet fuel black coffee with a dash of cream. For dinner was a creamy seafood soup, half a turkey sandwich, and cranberry cookie pie.
Day 2: Christmas Eve with my family: Fruit, followed by a workout in the morning, then some spicy black beans for a mid-morning snack/early lunch. Snacked on nuts and baked goodies (cookies, biscotti) at my family’s house. I had to hurry up and make an apple pie for the next day. More jet fuel black coffee. Dinner was a delicious lasagna, small salad, and a meatball! More cookies for dessert.
lasagna and meatballDay 3: Woke up and had some black coffee, a banana that I shared with Nala (the dog), and a biscotti. Opened presents, then ate some of the delicious and healthier egg and vegetable casserole that my Dad made.
vegetable egg casseroleCan you see that apple cake in the background? Psycho Holiday Baker made it of course, and it is a traditional apple cake my Italian grandmother used to make. 2 pieces of that were eaten later…

Also had some fresh fruit, and then we were on the way to North Georgia for another feast!

Dinner: Roast turkey, spoonful of mac ‘n cheese, spoonful of dressing, green bean casserole, cranberry salad, steamed vegetables, deviled egg, and wine. Dessert was the apple pie I made, and some more cookies.

Later on we got hungry again and had some snacks: Pimento cheese and wheat thins and some raw veggies with a spinach dip. Probably got so hungry because of our expert Taboo game we had going on. Brain fuel. Final score was 73 to 80.
high taboo score

Day 4: In the morning I had a small cinnamon roll and some All Bran. More jet fuel. For lunch, I shared a small portion of Mr Cyclist’s turkey sandwich, ate a few bites of veggies, and 2 deviled eggs. For a snack, I had some homemade Chex Mix which is super tasty. Sometime later on I had another cookie.

For dinner that night, I made a detoxifying kale dish to get in some veggies for the day. Munched on a few nuts a little later.

kale and artichoke bake

In general, my normal diet is much higher in fruits and vegetables, so I noticed the lack of them in my diet for the past 3-4 days. Less energy overall. And it is mostly just the added sugars that I am not used to in high quantities.

I did my best to eat as well as I could and still enjoy the foods and eat the foods I don’t usually get a chance to eat! That is what it is all about–portion control, eat slowly, enjoy your food, think about the taste of your food, and remember to eat your 5-9 fruits and vegetables on the non-Holiday occasions. :)

baked kale with onion and feta

This kale recipe was made from frozen kale, sauteed onions, spinach, spoonful of cream cheese, garlic, small amount of feta, marinated artichokes, and some spices.

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Healthier Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

December 19th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

A favorite Christmas cookie in my family are the peanut butter kisses. They are gone before you know it!

holiday cookies

So, I decided it was time to cut the sugar a little, and keep it a little healthier! (less healthy version above, healthier version below)

healthy peanut butter kisses

Only 54 calories per cookie!

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz white sugar (I weighed these out on a food scale)
  • 1.5 oz Stevia
  • 4 oz packed light brown sugar
  • 1.5 Tbsp. real maple syrup
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup reconstituted powdered peanut butter (used PB2, and added water back in to make it creamy)
  • 4.25 oz whole wheat flour
  • 2 oz white flour
  • About 36-40 dark chocolate kisses.

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  2. Mix your wet ingredients. Then, add your dry ingredients. Stir to combine. You can use a mixer if you like.
  3. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or use parchment paper. The dough will not be as thick as regular cookie dough, so just spoon out heaping teaspoons onto the baking sheet. It is OK if they are no perfectly round.
  4. Bake 10 minutes. Meanwhile, unwrap your kisses so you can press them into the center of the cookie as soon as they come out of the oven.

light peanut butter cookies

Perfect! They definitely have a different texture–more moist, almost cake-like. Mr. Cyclist walked in the door, and took one look and said they “look healthy”. Whatever that means… Haha. I don’t care. They are satisfying to me! Enjoy.

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Psycho Holiday Baking: Take 2!

December 17th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

The annual psycho holiday baking has begun! Once a year around Christmastime, my Mom aka the Psycho Holiday Baker whips up about a dozen different kinds of cookies in about 1 or 2 days time.

chocolate dipped snowmen cookies

 

And they are fancy cookies, too! Not just chocolate chip, or simple sugar cookies, but baked goods that take a little more skill ;)

holiday baking

This was just the start of our baking…

I cringed at using so much sugar, white flour, and butter. Not my style. However, I plan to whip up some healthy treats this coming weekend! These are the sinful treats. And just remember, that is what they are–treats!

chocolate melted snowmen cookies

On Sunday, we made:

Italian cookiesEarlier that day, it seemed like my cat ate all the sugar because she was climbing all over the Christmas tree!

cat climbing Christmas tree

Luckily, the tree is still standing because she only weighs about 5 pounds!

cat climb Christmas tree

Haha!

Well, today I am off to do some Christmas shopping, and then get a workout in. I will be back this week to post some healthier Christmas treats!

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Sam’s Spinach

December 12th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

“I ate a pound of spinach”… said no one ever. Until now.

Mr. Cyclists aka Chef Sam cooked a creamed spinach dish. He started with a 2.5 pound bag of fresh spinach from Costco. And yes, at meal time he ate quite a bit of spinach. I don’t really know if it was a whole pound!

Anyway, he based his recipe off of this Food Wishes YouTube site:

Don’t freak out. We did not use all this butter. Sam reduced it to a total of 2 tablespoons (or slightly less) in this recipe. He also used whole milk instead of cream, and added some extra fresh chopped garlic. Everything else was pretty much the same!

And, it turned out delicious!

We ate it with some homemade salmon croquettes.

Look at those chunks of garlic. Mmm.

What we realized is that the spinach to sauce ratio is fairly healthy. You are able to eat a lot of healthy greens, and much less creamy sauce.

Do you have any favorite cooked spinach recipes?

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Male vs. Female Portions

December 7th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Dietitian | Healthy Living - (2 Comments)

I often come across female patients who attribute their weight gain to matching the portions of their significant other. We simply don’t need to eat that much! I always recommend using smaller plates, and thinking about eating 50-75% of what your man is eating. This all depends on your size, his size, and both of your activity levels.

For example, I sit at a desk all day, and get in about 30-60 minutes of exercise most days. Mr. Cyclist also tends to be at a desk a good part of the day, but when he goes to exercise he does about 60-150 minutes!

So, our portions end up looking something like this:

His:

Pasta, turkey meatballs, lots of brussels sprouts!

Mine:

I always try to put a small amount of food on my plate, and then go back and get more after I see how I feel. And I did. Got another bite of turkey meatball and a few more bites of veggies :)

Another thing I am working on is eating more during the day, so that I don’t feel the need to eat a larger portion for dinner.

PS- This is a great time for brussels sprouts to be in season!

Do you have any tips or tricks for your portion control?

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Light Baked French Toast

December 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (3 Comments)

I rarely make french toast since it takes a while if you are baking it in the oven. But, when I do make it, get ready for some deliciousness!

I took a bite of my piece already!

You can use any type of bread as long as it is crusty. I put in a slice of Ezekiel bread for myself. But, this was mostly white Italian style bread. You could do the entire dish with Ezekiel bread if you wanted! And the great part is that you can put the bread in the casserole still partially frozen.

Half Ezekiel, half white bread here.

Light Baked French Toast

Serves 3–You can easily double this and make in a 9×13 pan instead.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups skim milk (or any milk you prefer)
  • 4 egg (could use some egg whites if you want even lighter)
  • 1 Tbsp. good vanilla
  • 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, and then some for dusting on top
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. butter or Earth Balance to grease the bottom and sides of pan, PLUS 2 tsp. butter for the top of the casserole
  • Half a loaf of crusty bread (whatever you prefer)–preferably, a natural bread
  • pinch of salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  2. In a small square baking dish, grease the bottom and sides with your butter or Earth Balance.
  3. Slice your bread in 1-1.5 inch slices. If the bread slices are already sliced, then layer in double slices. Add the bread to the baking dish and make sure it is compactly arranged. You can cut up a few cube slices and stick in the empty spots of the casserole to keep everything in place.
  4. Whisk your eggs, vanilla, milk, and cinnamon. Pour over top of your bread in the baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a tiny pinch of salt.
  5. With 1 tsp. sugar, dust over top of the french toast. Cut tiny slices of butter/Earth Balance and place on top of the french toast.
  6. Bake 45-60 minutes until all the liquid is cooked or absorbed and the top has become lightly golden.

Serve with real maple syrup, fruit, fruit compote, agave, or honey! You can easily make variations on this with bananas, or other fruits, or pecans, etc.

Yum yum yum. The reason this recipe is lighter is because I cut out the heavy cream, reduced the butter significantly, and reduced the sugar to only 5 grams of sugar for the entire recipe.

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