Strawberry Breakfast Parfait

I recently did a post about a Breakfast Parfait that used mangoes. My husband doesn't like mangoes and they aren't always available so I was looking for other options. This week Whole Foods had organic strawberries on sale so I decided to adapt the breakfast parfait for them. You could also do the same with fresh blueberries when they are in season, or peaches or nectarines. Just make sure to adjust the calorie total for the fruit.

Breakfast Parfait: 361 calories for the whole thing

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Old Fashioned Oats,
95 calories
1 cup Fage 0% Greek Yogurt, 130 calories
2 Medjool Dates, 41 calories
1 tsp Earth Balance Organic Buttery Spread, 26 calories
1-1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries, 69 calories

Make a granola mixture by melting the Earth Balance in a skillet and adding the oats. Stir over low heat till fragrant and golden. Finely chop the dates and blend in with the oats. Sprinkle cinnamon if desired. Add just enough water for the oat/date mixture to begin to bind together in clumps, about a tablespoon or two at the most. Stir over low heat just till water is absorbed. Set aside.

Dice mango. In glass, spoon about a third of the yogurt. Add about a third of the mango. Sprinkle a bit of the granola mixture. Repeat layers.

Tasty Microwave Popcorn Popper - A Product Review

One of the gripes I have with microwave popcorn is that even with the fat-free or light versions, it's more calories and popcorn than I want to eat by myself and I don't always have someone to share it with. While shopping at Walmart the other day (she cringes because she hates Walmart but needed a fast place to get a lot of things,) I happened on this very cool snack-size microwave popcorn popper. It was only $8 and change so I decided to spring for it on the chance that it might work.

The popper has a maximum capacity of 1.5 quarts. The directions say to fill the silicone floppy lid to the line with kernels, then dump them into the popper, but I only wanted a 60-calorie snack. I had regular Orville Redenbacher popcorn kernels in the cupboard and the nutrition info for it says that 3 Tbl of unpopped kernels is 120 calories. So I took 1-1/2 Tbl of kernels, put them in the popper, put the lid on and stuck it in the microwave. No oil, no butter, nothing but popcorn. I set the microwave on the popcorn setting (our microwave is 1100 watts) and watched and listened. It took almost 2 minutes for it to slow to the recommended 2 second between pops. It would take longer with a smaller microwave. The popcorn was delicious. I did end up with a little more than a 1/2 tsp of unpopped kernels which would reduce the calorie count some, but I attribute this to the fact that this jar of popcorn has been in the cupboard for awhile. The lid has little holes in it so that if you're splurging and want buttered popcorn you just put the butter in the lid and it melts as it pops, dripping perfectly into the popped corn.


The features that I like the most about the popper:

• It's perfectly sized for a snack and I can control the amount depending on how many calories I have in my calorie budget that day
• You can use plain, organic kernels so you don't end up eating a bunch of chemicals that are in normal microwave popcorn or even bagged popcorn
• It's easy to clean
• It has silicone around the glass, on the handle, and the lid so it's easy to handle getting in and out of the microwave

In short, it's a 5-star score!

Waldorf Salad

Waldorf salads are one of those things that you rarely think of when you're looking for a light lunch. But, well I was a bit bored with my go-to meals and looking for something new on this bright, spring day. This crunchy, sweet/sour salad really fit the bill. As always, I've listed brand specific products but you can substitute others as long as the calorie totals for the ingredients match. Also, most things are in weights because I've just found that to be more accurate when trying to control portions, but I've estimated sizes for you as well.

Waldorf Salad: 320 Calories

1/4 C Fage 0% Greek yogurt, 33 calories
1-1/2 tsp white wine  vinegar, 1 calorie
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp Swerve or other granulated zero calorie sweetner, if desired.
102 g of chopped Honeycrisp apples (1 small), 53 calories
58 g of red grapes (about 18 small), halved, 40 calories
50 g of sliced celery ( about 3 stalks), 13 calories
26 g of chopped walnuts (about 3-1/2 Tbl), 172 calories
1-1/2 c of chopped crunchy lettuce like Iceberg, 8 calories

Place yogurt, vinegar, salt, pepper and sweeetner in bowl. Mix well. Test seasoning and adjust. Add remaining ingredients and stir to coat with dressing.

Grab and Go Blueberry Bars

My Fitness Pal is a pretty good source of healthy recipes, so when a good friend of mine told me she was looking for some bar recipes to keep in her car for after work, My Fitness Pal was the first place I turned. These Grab-and-Go Blueberry Bars are a delightful tote-along snack.

Grab and Go Blueberry Bars: 144 calories per bar, 1/12 of an 8x8 pan

For the blueberry jam:

1 1/2 cups blueberries,10 cals per serv
1 1/2 Tbl chia seeds, 8 cals per serv
1 Tbl maple syrup, 5 cals per serv

For the bars:

1 cup oat flour, 41 calories per serv
1 cup old-fashioned oats, 12 cals per serv
2 tablespoons sugar, 8 calories per serv
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, 4 cals per serv
1/4 cup maple syrup, 17 cals per serv
1/4 cup melted coconut oil, 39 cals per serv

Lightly grease an 8x8 pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Cook the blueberries, chia seeds, and 1 Tbl maple syrup in a small pan on medium, smashing the berries with a potato masher as they heat. Stir and cook till mixture thickens. Set aside to cool.

Blend enough oats in a blender or Magic Bullet to make 1 cup of oat flour, or use a commercial oat flour.  Mix  oat flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Blend applesauce, remaining maple syrup, and coconut oil in a small bowl. Add to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Set aside a heaping half cup of the mixture. Spread the remaining mixture in the prepared pan. Spread blueberry jam on top of oat mixture. Spread the remaining oat mixture on top of the blueberry mixture. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes or till the oats are golden brown. Cool completely before cutting. 

Rice: A Random Tip

My excuse for not following a healthy eating plan while we lived on our boat was the difficulty in cooking separate meals for me and my husband. My husband is skinny and can eat pretty much anything he wants without gaining weight, and he detests all cooked vegetables, whole grains, etc. I, on the other hand, love cooked vegetables and all things whole grain.

It turns out, after following Noom's psychology lessons about why I overeat and choose the wrong foods and portions, that it was just that—an excuse. There is always a way to accomplish something if you want it bad enough.

So since we've returned to land and I have ton of time to do this, I've found that just some small preparation steps help to secure my success. One of these is pre-cooking rice. I like brown rice, and it's certainly better for you than white rice, but my husband only likes white. So every once in a while I cook up two pots, one brown, one white, and I measure out 1/2 cup servings of each onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Then I flash freeze it and dump them into a Ziploc. When we have rice with dinner, I just pop one in the microwave for a couple minutes on medium heat, and it's done. If I had to wait the 20-30 minutes for rice to cook, I'd be reaching for other, less healthy, alternatives. Score!

Palmini Pasta: A Review (Gluten Free)

Every once in awhile I happen on a good product and I like to pass along the info. I have several friends who are gluten intolerant, and since many GF products are full of starches and chemicals, when I happen on a GF product that is actually healthy, I usually take a look at.

I happened on this Palmini Pasta the other day and bought a can of it. Palmini is just Hearts of Palm in pasta shape. I like things that are clean one-ingredient products, so this intrigued me. After doing a bit of research, I found that there are tremendous health benefits to Hearts of Palm. SELF Nutrition Data has a really great breakdown of the nutrition content.

So I used mine as a base for marinara sauce into which I mixed peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and topped with parmesan cheese. Here is my take on it:

There is a lot of sodium in it because it's canned, so I rinsed it very well and soaked it in fresh water for a bit prior to heating it. This seemed to do the trick.

This stuff is great for soups and stews because it never turns to mush the way traditional pasta does when overcooked.

It has virtually no flavor to it, so it blends well with other flavors.

One can is two very decent servings or one huge one, 20 calories per cup (yes, you read that right.)

It's great for diabetics because it has a very low glycemic impact.

It doesn't provide the nutrients that whole wheat pasta does so it's important to be sure to compensate elsewhere.

I highly recommend Palmini whether you're gluten intolerant, diabetic, or just want a decent volume pasta dish once in a while. Enjoy!

The Emergency Box

One of the reasons that I've succeeded at the Noom weight-loss program is that I've had time to plan and prepare. I'm not working outside the home currently so I have an abundance of time to plan out my meals for the day first thing in the morning. But, occasionally, plans change and daughters need help with granddaughters, and a soccer game goes longer than expected...well you get the picture. So this leaves me hungry, and hungry without planning can lead to disaster when trying to lose weight. Enter stage left: The Emergency Box.

I found one of the many plastic leftover boxes that seem to leap out of my cupboard any time it's opened, and began to measure out chopped vegetables to a total of 50 calories. I keep this box filled at all times, front and center in the fridge, ready to grab. If I'm going out somewhere that there's even the remotest chance we'll be late for a meal, I tuck it into my bag. If I'm home, and I just get really hungry right before dinner, I grab it so I can happily crunch on veggie sticks instead of licking the spoon a hundred times while cooking. I know that I can eat the whole box, and the worst damage I'm going to do is 50 calories. Score!

Emergency Box: 50 calories

The photo above is today's Emergency Box. I put a fork next to it so you can guage the size of the box. It's a 2 cup box. I vary the veggies each day to include some of the following:

Carrot sticks

Celery sticks

Radishes

Cucumber slices

Red, yellow, or orange pepper slices
Green pepper slices

Cauliflower

Broccoli