The Skinny on Salad Dressing

You think you are making a healthy choice at lunch. You go to the store, you grab a salad, you pat yourself on the back and then you pour approximately 2 tbs of  what appears to be a healthy dressing (balsamic vinaigrette) on your salad. Did you know those 2 tbs = 170 calories, 18g fat??? 

Here is an easy way to enjoy the flavor of the dressing and save yourself some from some of the fat and calories. If you put a teaspoon of the dressing on the salad and close the lid and shake you can have the yummy flavor throughout the salad using only a fraction of the dressing.

1 tsp= 28 calories and 3g fat!

Black Bean Brownies

 

Yes, you read that correctly.... Black Bean Brownies!!

When sweet cravings get the best of you it is always nice to have something to fall back on that won't knock you off the wagon. This recipe packs in over 60 grams of protein and melts in your mouth like the ultimate cheat meal, without the guilt!  

 

Fudgy black bean brownie goodness. That really is the only way to describe this decadent, gluten free dessert.

Summer Rolls

Looking for a light snack, a refreshing appetizer or a fun side dish? Try this quick and easy DIY Summer Roll recipe.

Ingredients:

Mango

Avacado

Jicama

Cilantro

Mint

Lime

Shrimp

Rice Paper

Dual Dinner Part 2: Chili

Chili:
Mommy's Meat Sauce
2 tbs Cumin
2 tbs paprika
2 tbs chili powder
2 cans kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn (optional)

Dual Dinner Part 1: Mommy's Meat Sauce

My goal is to have a  nutritious dinner on the table every night. With 2 children under 3 years old, a full time desk job, a Dog Treat Company, Personal Training Clients and sharing my favorite nutrition supplements my time is at a premium. In order to make sure I meet my goal I plan our dinners a month in advance. I also try to create recipes that can be used for more than one meal. I like to call them "Dual Dinners". This dual dinner starts off as a meat sauce and then the next night the left overs are transformed into chili (which I will give you the details on in a future post)!

Mommy's Meat Sauce:
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
32 oz tomato sauce
1 can chopped/diced tomato
2 bay leaves
2 tbs italian seasoning
1/2 cup chicken stock
1.25 lbs bison
1 tbs olive oil

Oatmeal Everything Cookies

I love spending time in the kitchen with my toddler and this vegan and gluten free cookie recipe is perfect for those little helping hands (and no egg, means no worries if they eat some of the raw dough). I like to call these Oatmeal Everything Cookies because you can add just about anything to them. You can make them Oatmeal Raisin or Oatmeal Pecan Choc Chip or Oatmeal Cranberry...

Cake Pups

Who doesn't love a good cake pop? Why should we keep all of the yummy goodness to ourselves, when our four legged friends deserve a delicious treat too?  Now you can make Cake Pups, for your dog...

 

What you will need:

1/2 pound all-natural peanut butter dog treats 

3 dozen rawhide sticks

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 stick of low fat cream cheese

2 tbs honey

1 tbs peanut butter

 -Mix all ingredients together until smooth

Carob Frosting:

1/2 cup unsweetned carob chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

-in a microwave safe dish, heat at 30 second intervals and mix until ingredients are combined and smooth

 

 Start by pulsing the peanut butter cookies in a food processor until crumbed. Add in a 1/4 cup of cream cheese frosting and continue to pulse.

Once a dough forms scoop out 1 tbs of dough at a time and form a ball on the end of a rawhide stick. (If you are having trouble forming the dough you can add in more frosting a tablespoon at a time to get the right consistency.)

Dip the dough ball in the cream cheese frosting and place in the refrigerator. Once the frosting has hardened repeat another 2 times. (If cream cheese frosting is too thick you can add in a tbs of water) The same dipping and refrigerating process can be done with the carob frosting if you prefer to use carob.

Decorate with a drizzle of frosting that has been colored with food coloring! Keep treats refrigerated until ready to serve.

Baked Brie with Apricot Filling

Tis the season for holiday parties and get-togethers. No one wants to show up empty handed but who has the time to make a gourmet dish for every event they attend? Well now you do! Here is a quick and easy appetizer (or dessert) that will have your friends and family calling on you to attend every party.

What you will need:
1 package frozen puff pastry sheets
1 8oz Brie round
Apricot filling
Sliced almonds
Rolling pin

 

Take the Terrible out of the Twos

There was a time when my house was run by a 3ft tall dictator. OK, who am I kidding, 50% of the time my house is still run by a 3ft tall dictator.

Yes, my 2.5 year old had taken over and I as the parent needed to take charge. In the morning getting ready for school and in the evening getting ready for bed had become a power struggle. We had no structure and we simply wanted to get our son off to school with clothes on in the morning (no shoes and Thomas the Train underwear outside of his clothes counts, right?)

I looked toward my inner kindergarten teacher and decided we needed to create a routine and I needed a visual aide that was interactive so he could feel involved. I turned to the bible for all things crafty, Pinterest, and started to create a plan.