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?

Foodie Friday: Kind Apple Crisp

Happy Black Friday! I hope you’re still stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner; that’s the way it should be.

This year, I jumped early to call my dishes for Thanksgiving. Usually I would just make some peanut butter cups and call it a day, but as I’ve become increasingly more interested in cooking and baking over the last year, I couldn’t wait to do more.

Knowing I was going to want to have a healthy option for my overactive sweet tooth, so along with my [unhealthy but completely necessary] peanut butter cups, I offered to make an apple crisp. And the best part? It’s so easy and versatile!

Kind Apple Crisp

Serves 12

Ingredients
6 medium apples [I used 3 braeburn & 3 granny smith]
1 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups Oats & Honey Clusters Kind Snacks granola
1 1/2 cups Maple Walnut Clusters Kind Snacks granola

Directions
Preheat over to 350°F and grease an 8 x 13″ pan. Peel and thinly slice all apples and toss with lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cornstarch. In a separate bowl, combine your 2 flavors of granola.

Lay all of your apples out in your pan and top with granola. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown and crisp.

If you want to make this ahead of time, take the crisp out of the oven after the first 3o minutes, let cool, and refrigerate. When ready to serve, bring the crisp to room temperature, then place in the 350° oven, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until warmed through and golden brown on top.

Top with vanilla bean ice cream and enjoy!

Craving an apple crisp but don’t have a group to feed?

This is a great recipe to make for two! Make this recipe with 1 apple, peeled and sliced, adjust spice quantities to your liking, and top with about 1/4 cup granola. I recommend baking in 2 separate ramekins for single servings. This will keep the baking time the same, but adjust baking time according to the size of your dish.

Nutritional Stats
Per serving without toppings

137 Calories  /  3g Fat  /  22g Carbs  /  4g Fiber  /  9g Sugar  /  2g Protein

Food for Thought

Did you contribute any dishes to your Thanksgiving table this year? What was your favorite dish on the table?

Recipe Remix: Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes

Last week, while scouring Pinterest for some new recipes, I came across this tasty breakfast option: Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes from My Little Celebration.

With my recent love for turning dessert breads into protein pancakes, as seen in my 2 recipes for Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes (and Take 2), I couldn’t help but get excited by this recipe! The one thing I did notice, however, is that they were definitely not protein pancakes. So I got to work!

Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes

Serves 1
Adapted from My Little Celebration

Ingredients
1/2 cup carrots, finely shredded
2 egg whites
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese
1 tbsp milk – I use almond milk
1/2 tbsp ground flax
1 scoop protein powder – I use Cinnamon Swirl About Time Whey
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of salt

Optional Toppings
Greek vanilla yogurt
Sliced almonds
Unsweetened shredded coconut
Walnuts

Directions
Put all of your ingredients, except the finely shredded carrots, into a food processor. Process until everything is fully incorporated and there are no lumps. Add the finely shredded carrots and pulse 2 – 3 times until the carrots are just mixed in.

Put your mixture into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, allowing everything to set.

After 10 minutes, preheat a skillet over medium heat and remove your mixture from the refrigerator. Once the skillet is preheated, split the mixture into 3 or 4 small pancakes and cook on the first side until medium sized bubbles form. When they’re ready to flip, you’ll know it. They will come right up!

Flip and cook another 2-3 minutes on the second side. Spread with greek yogurt, sprinkle with your favorite toppings, and enjoy!

Speak Up!

Do you prefer carrot cake or zucchini bread? Is there another dessert bread you’d like to see in protein pancake form? Tell me!

And don’t forget to enter my CalNaturale Svelte giveaway! The lucky winners are chosen this Friday!

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes – Take 2!

A couple weeks ago I posted a recipe for Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes. They’re absolutely delicious, but having oats in them makes them not so Tone It Up-approved, so I decided to play with the Tone It Up protein pancake recipe and figure out a way to make a new zucchini bread protein pancake that is equally as delicious. It took a few tries, but I found the winning combination!

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes.. Tone It Up Style!

Ingredients
3 egg whites
1/2 banana
1 packet Perfect Fit Protein or 3 tbsp protein powder
1 tbsp fat free cottage cheese
1 tbsp psyllium husk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 – 1 tbsp cinnamon; I like a lot of cinnamon!
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup zucchini, finely shredded

I find the psyllium husk and baking soda are key for having a nice, flippable pancake!

Directions
Finely shred your zucchini and squeeze all of the excess moisture out, as you would do with frozen spinach. This is very important because excess moisture will make your pancake fall apart!

Add all ingredients except shredded zucchini into a food processor and process until well combined. Toss in your zucchini and pulse a few times until it is just incorporated into the rest of the batter. You want to keep some of the texture of the zucchini!

Let the batter sit in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. This allows the batter to setup and thicken a bit so you’re left with an easier batter for flipping.

After refrigerating, preheat a small pan over medium-low heat and coat with non-stick spray. Pour your batter into the pan and be very patient! You’ll have a wait a few minutes while the first side sets and cooks part of the way through so you don’t have a messy flip. This is usually the time that I take to prep my toppings.

Ready to flip! Very carefully, inch your spatula under the pancake and slowly flip. It’s ok if some of the batter moves around because you’ll just cover it all up with the pancake after it’s flipped.

Cook about 2-3 more minutes on the second side and serve!

I’ve been loving a little drizzle of maple syrup, a couple sliced strawberries, blueberries, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. So delicious!

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite kind of pancake you’ve ever made?