What I Ate Wednesday #28 – A Jewish Christmas

I can’t believe it’s the last WIAW of the year! 2012 has flown by faster than I ever thought possible and I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. I have absolutely loved seeing all of the posts and pictures with all of your holiday traditions. It definitely made me wish I was celebrating Christmas this year! But since we don’t, yesterday was a pretty normal day for us.. besides sleeping in on a Tuesday 😉

[Breakfast]
I reached the end of a jar of JIF Natural, so naturally my sweet breakfast scramble was dumped right in there! And of course, it was topped with a little extra PB and some homemade almond butter (I started with Chelsey’s recipe as a guide). A side of freshly brewed cinnamon coffee was more than welcome.

[Lunch]
I didn’t snap a shot, but we went to my parent’s house for “brunch”.. aka bagels, lox, whitefish, etc. Imagine it looked something like this..

Except I had a salad with chicken on top and some lox and whitefish on the side. My mom makes all of the fish herself, so I can never pass it up!

I also brought over a blueberry crisp that made almost exactly like my apple crisp. This time, knowing that it would be going into the oven the next day to warm it up, I decided to bring the blueberries to a boil on the stove with lemon juice, lemon zest, xylitol, and cornstarch to thicken it up. Then I refrigerated it overnight, topped it with granola right before going in the oven, and baked for about 20 minutes. It was heavenly!

And since I didn’t get to snap a picture of my lunch, I decided to share with you my gangster look. What can I say, it got warm in the car!

[Snack]
Homemade almond butter mixed with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter on celery sticks. Try this.. you won’t be disappointed!

[Dinner]
Leftovers galore! I mixed the last of my roasted squash and turkey stew with some Asian style tofu macadamia nut stuffing, quinoa, roasted broccoli, pecans, and a little chili sauce. It was delicious!

[Dessert]
Sliced apple with peanut fluff and 1/2 crumbled white chocolate cherry macadamia nut cookie.

I certainly didn’t have the typical Christmas day meals but they definitely hit the spot!

Food for Thought

What was your favorite dish this holiday season?

Roasted Squash & Chick Pea Baby Kale Salad

Have you entered my Just My Imagination giveaway yet? Only 2 more days!

I am an absolute squash fiend; winter squash in particular. Butternut squash is currently my favorite, but I’ve recently found out about so many more kinds to try! Over the weekend I finally got my hands on delicata. I’d say in terms of flavor, it compares to acorn squash, but it’s so much easier to prepare which instantly wins me over. Not to mention you can eat the skin which also makes it great for salads.

I don’t know about you, but during this time of year, along with some fun new desserts, I’m always looking for an equally fun and tasty salad to bring to holiday gatherings. And nine times out of ten, mine include squash!

Roasted Squash & Chick Pea Baby Kale Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
6 cups baby kale greens
1/3 cup raisins, craisins, or dried cherries
1 medium delicata squash; sliced
1 can chick peas; drained, rinsed, & thoroughly dried
3 tsp coconut oil; divided
3/4 tsp salt; divided
3/4 tsp ground black pepper; divided
1 tsp McCormick Fiesta Citrus Seasoning

For the Vinaigrette
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place sliced squash on one baking sheet and coat with 2 tsp coconut oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Place chick peas on another baking sheet with the remaining 1 tsp coconut oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 black pepper, and 1 tsp fiesta citrus seasoning. Bake squash and chick peas for about an hour, flipping the squash 1 or 2 times and tossing the chick peas around. When finished, the squash should be golden around the edges and the chick peas should be nice and crunchy! Let cool completely.

While the squash and chick peas are cooling, place all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. After everything has cooled, throw kale, squash, chick peas, and raisins (or other dried fruit) in a large bowl and toss with about 3/4 of the vinaigrette. Make sure everything is equally coated. Drizzle the last bit of dressing over top of the salad and top with a little freshly cracked black pepper. Serve immediately.

To make it into a more substantial meal, throw 4oz of your favorite protein on top!

Nutritional Information
Per serving, for 4 servings

218 Calories  /  6g Fat  /  35g Carbs  /  8g Fiber  /  12g Sugar  /  8g Protein

Food for Thought

What is your favorite holiday salad to share?

‘Tis the Season

In the spirit of the holiday season, I’m excited to, not only, announce the winner of my Hail Merry giveaway, but also announce another giveaway!

So without further ado, the winner of the Choco and Blonde Hail Merry Macaroons is... Emily!

Emily says :
These sound sooo good! I want to try the Blonde Macaroons!

Congratulations, Emily! And thank you so much to the wonderful people over at Hail Merry for sponsoring such a tasty giveaway!

Happy Holidays Giveaway!

I know many, if not all, of you are familiar with KIND Snacks. If not, you should definitely familiarize yourself with this brand immediately.

“KIND is a brand of all natural whole nut and fruit bars made from ingredients you can see and pronounce and it’s also a movement that gives new purpose to snacking.”

I’ve been lucky enough to try almost all of the flavors of bars and I can honestly say that they are all incredible. So much flavor and it certainly doesn’t hurt that they’re natural! They have recently partnered with Arianna Huffington, Bobbi Brown, and Grace Potter for a program they’re calling “Snack & Give Back“.

They are selling limited edition KIND cubes put together by each of these women and donating a portion of the proceeds to a charity of their choosing. In the spirit of the holiday season, I have been given the opportunity to offer my lucky readers the chance to win one of these boxes! After looking at each of the boxes and researching all of the causes, I decided on Bobbi Brown’s box, Eat Pretty Powerful.

“A portion of sales of the cube will help KIND fund a new KIND Kitchen at the Broome Street Academy, a public charter high school that prepares New York City’s most vulnerable young people to graduate with Regents diplomas.”

While all of the causes are benefiting wonderful organizations, I truly believe in cooking as an outlet. To have the ability to give at-risk youth such incredible opportunities is such an amazing gift. And right in time for the holidays! I hope you not only consider entering to win a box of your own, but also consider gifting a box in support of one of these charities.

One reader will be the lucky winner of a cube containing 20 bars:

• 5 Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt
• 5 Cashew & Ginger Spice
• 5 Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Pecan [my personal fave!]
• 5 Madagascar Vanilla Almond

How to Enter

You have up to 5 chances to enter! Be sure to leave separate comments for each entry. Entries will be accepted through Thursday, December 13th, 11:59 pm EST. A winner will be chosen on Friday, December 14th.

1. Leave a comment telling me which charity you would choose to support if you purchased a box. (Mandatory)

2. Follow @KINDSnacks and @BarrAndTable on Twitter and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

3. Like KIND Snacks and Barr & Table on Facebook and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

4. Follow Barr & Table on Pinterest and leave a separate comment telling me. (Optional)

5. Tweet “I entered to win a @justbobbibrown Eat Pretty Powerful @KINDSnacks box from @BarrAndTable! http://wp.me/p2mo7x-df #SnackWithPurpose” and leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet. (Optional)

*Winner has 48 hours to contact me and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

**Images and quotes taken from KINDsnacks.com and HailMerry.com

What I Ate Wednesday #25 – Healthy Holiday Recipes

Have you entered my Hail Merry Macaroon giveaway? Only 2 more days!

I can’t lie, my meals have been pretty less-than-interesting over the last week. I’m a creature of habit and when I do a lot of food prep on Sundays, I tend to eat a lot of the same meals during the week. But I’ve been having fun in the kitchen and am happy to be sharing a couple healthy Hannuka recipes just in time for the holiday!

[Breakfast]
Like I said, creature of habit. I’m still going strong in my Sweet Breakfast Scramble obsession!

[Lunch]
Tone It Up‘s Carrot & Pumpkin Soup and a Jamie Eason turkey meatloaf muffin. This was seriously the easiest lunch and so delicious. I didn’t mind having it almost everyday.. in fact, I enjoyed it!

[Dinner]
Sushi! It was a nice night for a date so we hit up a happy hour for a glass of wine (or beer) and some delicious sushi.  I didn’t snap pictures of the edamame and pork shumai but they were delicious, as always. Salmon and avocado wrapped in cucumber is also always a great choice, but my treat roll was the crab stick, cucumber, and avocado topped with more avocado, salmon, tuna, and a little eel sauce. SO yum! Nathan got pork yakisoba and it was equally as wonderful. If you’re in Baltimore and looking for good sushi, I highly recommend Naname Cafe!

[Snacks] not pictured
Apple, Madagascar Vanilla KIND Bar, and 1/2 of a blueberry ricotta muffin. I love having 1/2 muffin in the afternoon to help hold me over.. so tasty!

Onto the fun stuff!

I’m so glad we’re sharing healthy holiday recipes because I just tested a few for Hannuka!

Sweet Potato & Zucchini Latkes

Makes 18 latkes

Ingredients
1/2 cup zucchini, shredded and drained
2 cups sweet potato, shredded
2 large egg whites
2 tbsp coconut flour* [I use Bob’s Red Mill, but you can sub other flour if you don’t have coconut!]
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp xylitol* + extra for sprinkling [You can sub regular sugar or other sugar substitutes]
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, shape into 18 equal balls, and flatten into pancakes. Bake about 1 hour, flipping half way through.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack. Sprinkle with a little extra xylitol and cinnamon and enjoy!

Nutritional Stats
Per pancake without toppings

21 Calories  /  0g Fat  /  4g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  0g Sugar  /  1g Protein

Baked Sufganiyot

Makes 12 minis

If you’re not familiar with sufganiyot, they are jelly-filled donuts that are a staple during Hannuka. But of course jelly-filled donuts are not exactly on the healthy treats list, so I wanted to create a more figure-friendly way to enjoy these tasty treats.

Ingredients
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 large egg white
1/4 cup xylitol* + extra for sprinkling [You can sub regular sugar or other sugar substitutes]
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk [I use Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk]
4 tbsp your favorite jam [I used blackberry preserves]
~1/2 – 1 tbsp agave nectar*
~1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F and grease mini muffin pan. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients from flour through milk until just incorporated.

Fill each muffin tin with about 1/2 tbsp of mix to just cover the bottom. Place about 1 tsp of jam in the middle of each “donut” and then top with the rest of the mix. Bake for about 12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean (minus the jam!), turning half way through.

Remove from the oven and let cool about 5-10 minutes. Drizzle with agave nectar and sprinkle with cinnamon and xylitol. Enjoy guilt-free!

Nutritional Stats
Per mini “donut”

52 Calories  /  0g Fat  /  14g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  5g Sugar  /  1g Protein

*These ingredients can be found on iHerb.com. Use code ZAF482 to receive $5 off of your first order.

Food for Thought

What are some of your favorite holiday recipes? Do you go towards the healthy options or the unhealthy treats?

What I Ate Wednesday #17 – Holiday Recovery

I love getting together with my entire family for meals. It’s great to see everyone, catch up, and eat good food. Ooooh, the food!

Jewish holiday meals always include brisket, some sort of poultry, whether it’s chicken or turkey, often there is fish, usually salmon, matzah ball soup, vegetables, kugel, an assortment of desserts, and the list could go on and on. To say I overeat at these dinners would be an understatement.

I always tell myself, “1 piece of this, 1 piece of that, a couple little bites of this, a couple little pieces of that… you can always go back for more.” And I do. I take a little bit of everything and always go back for more. What can I say? My family knows how to cook and I’m going to take advantage of it when I can!

So after two Rosh Hashana dinners, I find myself trying to recover and pick up the pieces of my “has-been” healthy eating habits.

[Breakfast]
Tone It Up pumpkin protein pancake topped with peanut fluff and, with all of the benefits of ACV (courtesy of Brittany at Eating Bird Food), I knew I had to have my bombshell spell. Steering clear from the grains for a day or two will definitely help, so I put the oatmeal on the back burner. Get it?! 😉

[Snack] Not Pictured
I found out that I’m not a huge fan of vanilla Greek yogurt without any fruit or granola in it. And unfortunately I had no fruit or granola in sight, so I went for the next best thing. I mixed in a tablespoon of no sugar added Swiss Miss. What, you don’t have a container of Swiss Miss at your desk?!

[Lunch]
The only good picture of the day. Salad topped with veggies and roasted salmon. The salmon was leftover from Rosh Hashana dinner and man, my mom did an awesome job! It’s a little smokey and a little sweet. And luckily I have some more leftovers to hold me over through the week!

[Snack]
It was a sad, sad day as I finished my very last Premier Protein shake. The vanilla is awesome and I will definitely be making my way over to Sam’s Club as soon as I can to get more!

[Dinner]
Chipotle honey lime chicken with coconut oil roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli. This chicken was so good! Nathan tasted the sauce and I got an “oh yea!” in approval and that’s when I knew I’d have to share the recipe with all of you! You know what that means.. check it out this Foodie Friday! 🙂

[Snack]
I just feel the need to apologize for this picture. It’s not a pretty one, but it was so tasty and hit the spot after a hard interval workout, courtesy of Julie at PBFingers! I mixed 1/4 cup Chobani vanilla Greek yogurt with 1 tbsp peanut flour, 1 packet stevia, and 1/2 tbsp vegan carob chips. Then I mixed in a chopped up apple and sprinkled a little cinnamon on top. Yum!

[Goals]
In the spirit of continuing with my previous goal of beating my 5K time of 26:08, I ran my second 5K on Sunday. Unfortunately, this one didn’t have a chip time, only a gun time. But according to MapMyRun on my phone, I had the exact same time and pace as my first 5K. And I have to say, that while I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t beat my time, I’m still pretty pleased that I did just as well. Next up, 5K on September 29th. It’s on!

Speak Up!

What is your favorite holiday meal and what are your favorite foods that go along with that meal?