Friday and Food!

I told ya'll that I've been enjoying cooking again, however, I've also, since the holidays, been a little lax in watching my diet. Not that I've gone overboard mind you, or have gained any real weight, but I can tell by how my body is feeling that I've not been conscientious about putting healthy things into it! Too many cookies, candies, chips and dips and glasses of wine..oy! LOL!

I have been feeling out of sorts for a little while now and decided, yesterday in fact, finally, that I needed to get back to my regular way of eating, of eating regularly and healthy (skipped one to many meals these past couple months and that doesn't make for a good metabolism) and of cooking better foods. I want Mandi to start eating better as well, if she adopts these healthier habits now, it will save her health and life in her adult years.

So, I think I'll start a "feature" if you will, on my blog about my adventures into healthier cooking. I would like to update this feature every Friday (trying to think of a name to call it..LOL), even if I cook something on a Wednesday, I'll share with ya'll on Fridays...today being my first day! Yay!! Some of these recipes will be my own creations, others will be ones I find and test out and like! I have a little of both for you today!

First, I'll just share with ya'll what I had for breakfast, which is a regular item on my breakfast menu at my house. I made myself a yogurt parfait. I take a container of Weight Watchers Vanilla Yogurt (seriously, it's really good and the bonus is totally low cal!), then I mix in 1/4 cup of fruit (this morning it was blueberries..LOVE blueberries) and I added about 7 raw almonds that I coarsely chopped. YUM! Paired it with my cup of decaf coffee while I played on the internet!

Lunch today is another regular menu item. First, let me just say that a little over a year ago I purchased myself a panini grill, which, is my FAVORITE appliance right now! Seriously, this thing rocks! Mine is by Cuisinart and it has griddle plates as well as the panini type plates. Yesterdays pancakes were made using the griddle plates, made it a cinch!



Okay, back to lunch...I used my panini grill for this one. I took about 3/4 of a small zucchini and sliced it up (cut the slices in half too), about 3/4 of a yellow, crookneck squash, sliced the same, and a handful (maybe 1/3 cup) of mushrooms. Put them all into my saute pan that I had sprayed with a little olive oil, added some garlic salt and cracked black pepper..don't get me started on my love of cracked black pepper...what a flavor, and then sauted them all up.



When they were almost done I then took a whole wheat, low carb, high fiber tortilla (mine are from La Tortilla Factory) and heated it in my panini grill (which was already preheated and waiting to go!)...this takes just a minute or two. I then filled my tortilla with the veggie mixture, topped it with a pinch of reduced fat, shredded cheese and viola! A veggie taco! Added to my lunch as a 1/4 cup of low-fat cottage cheese (I use a 1% milk cottage cheese) into which I added another 1/4 cup of blueberries! Yum..and what is nice is that you have a few veggies left over to nosh on if the taco isn't enough to fill you up! Totally healthy lunch, providing you with fiber, vitamins, veggies, fruit and dairy and hardly any fat at all!



While surfing food sites and healthy eating sites this morning I came upon a yummy sounding recipe for Lemon Raspberry Muffins. Made with whole wheat flour as well as all-purpose flour (I try to keep my white flour type foods to a bare minimum). I picked up some really phat raspberries today at the grocery store...



and turned them into these: Lemon-Raspberry Muffins



I let Mandi be my taste tester and her verdict was a thumbs up! I admit, I took a small bite, I mean a cook has to try her creations right? LOL..and they are really tasty! Not too sweet and a nice tangy bite to them from the lemon and raspberry combination! Added bonus is that one muffin is under 200 calories! Score!! I'm hoping my girlfriends Cathy and Amy will enjoy them tomorrow as I am bringing some to our scrapbooking day at Cathy's!

I'm looking forward to sharing my kitchen adventures with you all and hope that if you see something you like and give it a try you'll let me know what ya think! Now to start thinking about dinner tonight...hummmmm!

Until next time,
blessings!