Healthier | Eat Your Heart Out

Thai Chicken Pizza

March 6, 2013 by Stephie 11 Comments

Growing up, my mother made it a point to cook dinner for our family every night. Eating out was rare, eating dinner together was a nightly ritual. My first memory of having a frozen pizza? High school. And I’m fairly certain it was at my boyfriend’s house. I was in college before I figured out that this was not necessarily the norm for many of my friends – they thought that I was the weird one to have a mom who actually cooked, instead of relying on take-out or prepared foods.

So when my cooking adventures inspired one of these friends to cook dinner for me this past summer, I was like a proud momma. And the meal was so good, I insisted she email me the recipe! I had forgotten about that recipe until recently, when I suddenly found myself craving some of that Thai Chicken Pizza. I dug up that recipe the next day, did some tweaking, and feasted on Thai Chicken Pizza for the next three days.

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Filed Under: Main dish Tagged With: Chicken, Healthier, Main dish, Pizza, Thai

Chocolate-Covered Mango and Coconut

February 13, 2013 by Stephie 20 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope you remembered to plan ahead with your dessert…but with all of that planning ahead, you may have woken up in the middle of the night and realized that you forgot to make treats for someone! Maybe it is your child’s teacher, your hair dresser, your personal trainer, or just your favorite co-worker.

Or maybe your cousin slipped on some ice and shattered her wrist, and you simply want to make her a little something to say, “I love you!”

Never fear, these chocolate-covered dried mango and coconut strips are the perfect treat to pull together at the last minute. Not to mention that they’re pretty (I just love how the freeze-dried strawberries add such a beautiful pop of color!), tasty, and much lighter than the super rich chocolate desserts that most people are surrounded by this time of year.

This is really one of those “non-recipes”: Just take some dried mango and dried coconut (or any dried fruit of your choice), dip the pieces in some melted chocolate, and sprinkle with some crushed freeze-dried strawberries. Let the chocolate set in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes and you’re ready to package them up in cute heart-covered bags (it’s those details that count!) and give them out!

No one will ever guess that these were a last-minute creation.

Ps: To all of my single-lady comrades out there today, this one’s for you. Or, alternately, this one. You’ve got your girlfriends, homemade treats, and Beyoncé. That’s all you need.

Chocolate-Covered Mango and Coconut

Ingredients

8 ounces dried mango slices
8 ounces coconut strips
6 ounces chocolate chips, melted
2 tablespoons crushed freeze-dried strawberries

Instructions

Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Dip each piece of dried fruit in the melted chocolate. Shake slightly or use a butter knife to remove any excess chocolate. Place the dipped fruit on the baking sheet, and sprinkle with a small amount of the crushed strawberries.
Once all of the fruit has been dipped and sprinkled, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, until chocolate has set. Package and give away!

Filed Under: Candy, Snacks Tagged With: Chocolate, Fruit, Healthier, Holidays

Broccoli Cheese Soup

January 28, 2013 by Stephie 15 Comments

This morning I did something that, until this moment, completely terrified me.

This morning I handed in my letter of resignation at work.

I do not have anything officially lined up for when I leave.

It was absolutely one of the biggest leaps of faith that I have ever taken. Yet I am standing firm in the belief that this was the right move for me, and that God will provide.

I find it highly symbolic that when I walked into work this morning, it was gray and rainy and generally crappy outside.

When I walked out of that meeting – feeling lighter, and less stressed than I have in months – it had stopped raining and the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds.

You can tell me I’m crazy {you’d be right}, but I’m choosing to believe it was a sign.

I don’t know what this next chapter of life holds for me, but I do know this: There will be plenty of food. Starting with this soup.

Remember last week when I said that your freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread would be fabulous with some soup? This is the soup I had in mind. And here’s what’s really great about it: it’s loaded with veggies and, without any cream, is lighter than other recipes you might encounter. Don’t get me wrong – I loooooove those versions, but sometimes you just need something a little lighter.

Besides…then you can have an extra slice or two of bread.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 large bunch broccoli
2 large carrots, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Cut the broccoli into florets. If you want, you can also dice up the tender parts of the stem. Set aside.
In a large dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and onion, sautéing until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and sauté one more minute.
Sprinkle in the flour, stirring to combine. Cook for one minute, then slowly stream in the stock and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat to low. Add in the broccoli and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until broccoli is tender.
Using an immersion blender (or carefully transferring the soup to a regular blender, about ⅓ at a time), blend soup until it reaches your desired consistency. Add salt, plenty of freshly ground pepper and the cheese to the blended soup, stirring over low heat until cheese is melted. Serve warm, preferably alongside some freshly baked bread.

Filed Under: Main dish, Soups Tagged With: Broccoli, cheese, Healthier, Main dish, Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Turkey and Corn Chowder

January 2, 2013 by Stephie 9 Comments

It’s the new year!

And that’s all I’ll say about that. Trust me, you’ve read it all already anyway, and I’m sure you’re tired of it at this point. So let’s just move on with our post-holiday recovery, shall we?

You can’t kid me – you might want to lose some of that holiday weight, but we all know that you don’t really want to be eating salads for the rest of January. We also know that you’ve got some leftover turkey squirreled away in your freezer from the various recent family dinners. And to top it all off…it’s cold. And what you really want is some warm, creamy soup.

My friend Julia recently made some gorgeous, creamy corn chowder that I instantly knew I wanted to make. Not only is this soup chock-full of veggies (you could even add more if you like), it also makes use of some of that leftover turkey…and the best part? There is only 1/2 cup of half and half in the entire recipe. That’s right, this recipe manages to produce a creamy, delicious, comforting soup without adding significantly to your waistline. It’s exactly what we need to start off this new year.

Adapted from The Roasted Root

Turkey and Corn Chowder

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into pieces
1-2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag frozen corn
1 quart chicken broth, divided
½ cup fat-free half and half
2 cups cooked, diced turkey
Black pepper to taste

Instructions

Place about half of the corn kernels in a blender with 1 cup of the chicken broth and all of the half and half. Blend until smooth and creamy; set aside.
In a large dutch oven, cook the bacon pieces until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels. Pour the fat into a small bowl.
Return the pan to medium-high heat. Add in about 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat and the butter. Add the onion, carrots, and potato, cooking until onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Sprinkle the flour over the cooked vegetables and stir to combine. Cook for about 1 minute, then slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Stir until thickened, then add the rest of the corn, the blended corn mixture, the turkey and the cooked bacon. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Filed Under: Main dish, Soups Tagged With: Chicken, corn, Healthier, Main dish, Side dish, Soup, turkey, Vegetables

Treats for Santa: Secret Weapon Gingerbread

December 10, 2012 by Stephie 7 Comments

Do you like the “Be a Good Cookie” spatula that I used in these photos? Right now, OXO is partnering with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, and 50% of the proceeds from each Good Cookie spatula will go towards pediatric cancer research! Hop on over to OXO’s site to pick up one for you and maybe one or two to add to your Christmas gifts this year.

____________________________

I don’t think it’s any secret how Santa maintains his belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly.

I mean, I don’t know what the missus is feeding him the rest of the year, but just one night of eating as many cookies as he does cannot be good for one’s metabolism.

That’s the problem with Christmas cookies: they’re around for the entire month of December, and yet just one or two nights of eating cookies for dinner (or, um, breakfast…) can entirely ruin your diet for the year.

Crap.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t indulge this holiday season. Not at all! I’m just saying that after your 6th holiday party, you might start feeling a little sluggish if you don’t take a step back to occasionally think about what you are putting into your body.

That’s why these gingerbread cookies are going to be your new secret weapon. I took a traditional gingerbread cookie recipe and I cut out half of the fat (and thus a significant number of calories) and replaced it with applesauce. I also slightly reduced the molasses and replaced some of the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour.

And guess what? You would never know.

Seriously! You could take these slightly spicy cookies to any party this season and they would get demolished right alongside their counterparts – no one would be any the wiser.

You know what else is great about these cookies? They are made on the stove top, which means that you don’t have to wait for the dough to chill. Which means that you can go from dreaming about gingerbread to eating gingerbread in under an hour.

That’s my kind of cookie.

{Don’t forget to vote for me in the TopDog photo competition! Just click here and hit “boost” – that’s it! Voting ends a 11:59 pm (EST) on December 12.}

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run.

Secret Weapon Gingerbread

Yield: Approximately 40 smaller cookies, or 20 large cookies

Ingredients

⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup molasses
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ teaspoon salt
1¾ cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large heavy-bottomed pot, combine the brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and white pepper. Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat; remove from heat and immediately add the baking soda and stir well. (The mixture will foam up…just keep stirring!)
Add the butter a couple of chunks at a time, stirring to combine between each addition. Once all of the better has been added and has melted, stir in the applesauce.
At the point, the mixture should still be warm but not hot. Add the egg and stir. Finally, add the salt, then the flour. Stir until the dough comes together – the dough should be very soft and still slightly warm.
Roll out on a well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters or use a large glass to make round cookies. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.