Skinny oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

We are in the middle of a tropical storm and since we have all been stuck inside the house for two days now, a batch of cookies seemed to be in order. If I’m gonna be trying to not get blown away (and by trying I mean watching the weather channel and browsing Pinterest all day), I might as well be enjoying homemade cookies while I do it.

I love chocolate chip cookies, but like most of you know – cookies usually contain an obscene about of butter in them. This in turn makes them extremely fattening and diet UNfriendly. Two of these cookies only add up to about 190 calories and contain just 6 grams of fat.

Ingredients
Adapted from Skinnytaste

1 cup flour (whole wheat, white, whatever..)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbl butter, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar (granulated, Stevia, raw)
1/2 cup brown sugar, unpacked
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick cooking oats
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Once combined, mix in egg, applesauce and vanilla.

Combine flour mixture with oats and carefully add the dry ingredients into the wet. Mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack once removed from the oven.

Enjoy!

For all of you who are curious as to what kind of weather this storm brought us in Naples, here is a glimpse into what we dealt with.

Looks scary right? False. Not scary at all. Actually, it barely even rained.

Luckily we didn’t get anything bad at all. Hopefully Isaac doesn’t bring too much destruction to New Orleans or any other states.

Almond Joy oatmeal

Your mornings just got a whole lot better thanks to this. Who would have thought you could basically eat a candy bar for breakfast and it be a healthy and filling way to start the day? Well friends, this recipe is for sure one you will want to save.

Ingredients

1/2 cup light coconut milk (you can use soy, almond, cow’s milk, or water here too)
1/3 cup whole grain oats
2 Tbl slivered almonds
1 Tbl coconut
1 Tbl dark chocolate chips

Bring coconut milk to a boil in a small sauce pan. Stir in oats and cook for one minute. Remove oats from pan and place into a bowl. Top with almonds, coconut, and chocolate chips. You can add more milk at this point if you want it looser.

Enjoy!!

Healthy breakfast banana bread pudding

Bread pudding is no longer just for dessert. This lightened up version uses non-fat milk, only two eggs, and mashed bananas to make it a perfect way to start your day!

If you aren’t into the bananas in this recipe, you could definitely substitute another fruit or just leave out the fruit all together and have a cinnamon spiced bread pudding that would be just as good!

Ingredients

8 sliced of bread (I used a mixture of whole grain and sourdough)
1 cup non-fat milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 banana mashed
walnuts, optional

Cut or tear bread into 1-2 inch pieces. Butter a baking dish and place bread inside.

In a bowl, combine milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, walnuts and mashed banana. Pour over bread. Press down on the bread so that it is submerged in the milk mixture. Allow to sit for an hour. I let mine sit overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy straight out of the oven, at room temperature, or cold!

Skinny Mac and cheese & the love of my life

Most of you who follow this blog have met or at least have heard of Bruin. He is undoubtably the most amazing, sweet, adorable and loving boy in my life. And…he is my one year old Boston Terrier. I don’t talk about him too often on here, but – like food, he is a huge part of my life.

We recently moved from Charlotte (where I adopted him) to Naples once I graduated from college. And no surprise to me, he LOVES it here. He gets to spend so much time with his friends Rocco and Sydney (my parents’ Australian shepherds), and gets so much love from his Gigi (my mom) and his grandpa. I thought it would be nice to share this picture I recently took of him so you all can see what an adorable little guy he is.

Like I said above, Bruin is my main man. BUUUUUT, this mac and cheese is pretty dang special too. I keep this one close to my heart and love it almost as much as Bruin.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
3/4 lb whole wheat penne
4 cups fresh spinach
2 cups fat free milk
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup low fat cheddar cheese
1 Tbl whole wheat flour
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs

Boil water and cook pasta according to directions on the box. I tend to undercook it just slightly since it will cook for a little while longer in the oven.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a sauce pan, heat butter and oil together and add onion. Cook until onion begins to soften. Sprinkle in flour and cook, stirring the entire time, for about a minute. Slowly pour in milk and bring to a boil. At this point in should begin to thicken. Whisk in ricotta cheese, parmesam, and cheddar. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta, spinach, and hot cheese sauce. Stir until combine and spinach has wilted.

Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray and pour in pasta. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until top is brown and cheese is bubbling.

Enjoy!!!

Baked “fried” chicken

I cannot tell you how many times a week I crave fried chicken. It must be because I lived in North Carolina for the last three years and got used to all that southern goodness. I didn’t really indulge in it that much while I lived there, but when I did – I reeeeaaly indulged. I’m talkin deep fried, greasy chicken, BBQ sauce all over my face, pure sugar sweet tea indulging.

Needless to say, I don’t eat those things in Florida. Not just because we can’t get food like that here, but because I would be huge if I did eat like that. That’s where this chicken comes into play.

It’s crispy. It’s crunchy. It’s baked?? Yup! Baked chicken that has that same crunchy texture we love from fried chicken. These are much healthier and way easier too!!

Ingredients

1 large chicken breast cut into 4 or 5 pieces
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
1 pinch cayenne
1 pinch paprika
1 tsp brown sugar
salt/pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbl flax meal
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Non-stick spray

In a large bowl, combine yogurt, cayneen, paprika, salt, pepper and chicken. Toss to coat and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a rack on top of a baking sheet and spray the rack with non-stick spray.

In a shallow baking dish combine breadcrumbs, flour, flax, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Remove pieces of chicken from yogurt mixture one at a time and coat with breadcrumb mixture. Lay onto rack. Spray the tops of each piece of chicken with more non-stick spray (this will help them get golden brown).

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes and then flip each piece of chicken. Bake for another 12 minutes. Chicken should be cooked all the way through and golden brown.

Enjoy!!