Food Friday - Breakfast or Dessert!

From Tracey G.

This is one of those recipes I am so glad I ran across and so glad I tried! I absolutely love it and have since realized the base batter would take blueberries really well too! That was Harry's idea, he doesn't like raspberries much because of the seeds, admittedly I am not a seed fan either, but I love raspberries too much to let it stop me! (But I do buy seedless jams when I have that option!) I think just about any berry would work really lovely in this now that I stop to think past raspberries and blueberries.

It does call for almond milk, and the first time I made these I happened to have some around and have had it around since because I really do like the stuff. But I suppose if you don't have it, regular milk or skim would work well too. It's worth a try anyway!

I originally made these to use up some frozen raspberries I had on hand and some ricotta cheese I had left-over from another recipe I'd made. It's so nice when something like that happens, and you end up with a lovely product to show for it!

There's really not too much to say about the recipe. It initially sounds like a bit of work, but it's really not and does come together rather easily. The only thing sort of time consuming is whipping the egg whites up, first time I did it by hand, lol, I now make that aspect of it in the stand mixer, just to save some time - they're whisking up while I'm getting the rest of the stuff going.

This is another recipe I found courtesy of Taste Of Home in one of my magazines!

Lemon-Raspberry Ricotta Pancakes

(found here: Lemon-Raspberry Ricotta Pancakes)

Yield: about 24

1 1/2 cups cake flour or all-purpose (I've only used all-purpose)

1/4 sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla flavored)

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

3 large eggs, separated

2 tsp grated lemon peel

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (I've only used frozen)

Whipped cream, maple syrup and additional raspberries

1) In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk the almond milk, ricotta cheese, egg yolks, lemon peel, lemon juice and almond extract until blended. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened . In a clean small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into batter. Gently stir in raspberries.

2) Lightly grease a griddle;  heat over medium heat. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle. Cook until bubbles on top begin to pop and bottoms are golden brown. Turn; cook until second side is golden brown. Serve with whipped cream, syrup and additional raspberries.

Nutritional Facts - 3 pancakes (calculated without toppings): 203 calories; 5g fat (2g saturated fat); 79 mg cholesterol; 254mg sodium; 31g carbohydrates (7g sugars, 2g fiber); 8g protein


from Kris B.

Hands down, breakfast is my favorite meal.  I'm not always fond of mornings, but breakfast food of any kind always makes me happy.  During the school year, however, I am a creature of habit - vanilla yogurt topped with cheerios and blueberries, a banana, and the obligatory cup (or two) of coffee every morning.  Now that it is summer, our morning routine is a bit less structured.  Translation: I am not teaching any 7:30 am classes so I am more coherent and creative when it comes to fixing and eating breakfast.   And now that my hubby is retired, breakfast may have more variety even when I go back to school in the fall!  That is exciting.

The best thing about summer eating in general is all of the fresh veggies and fruit.  It all looks so good at the market.  I was trying to think of a good way to use all the fruit I have in a creative breakfast, without just making a fruit bowl as a side.  When my kids were little, I used to make "fruit pizza" - sugar cookie dough, vanilla frosting, and fruit topping.  I decided that I wanted a variation on that that didn't begin with a cookie base.  Don't get me wrong; sadly, I would be perfectly happy to eat cookies for breakfast, but neither the scale or my waistline would be very happy with that choice. Lol!  I searched for a recipe that had a healthier "crust."  I found one that is perfect!  It is created from cereal and rolled oats.  The "sauce" is cream cheese and powdered sugar.  The toppings are the fruit of your choice.

This is probably not the recipe I should have chosen to share this week.  I week ago, while dicing figs for a fig compote,  in addition to cutting the figs, I also sliced my finger, which required a few stitches.  Because of this unfortunate encounter with my knife, I am not allowed to use knives at the moment. :-)  As you can tell, there is quite a bit of sliced fruit used here.  Since my husband placed the moratorium on knife use, at least for me, he got to slice all of the fruit.  I am glad that he was willing to help.

Whether it is scrambled eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, or fruit tart, I will eat breakfast foods any time of day for any meal.  This fruit tart is no exception!  And like the sugar cookie fruit pizzas that I made for my girls, this also makes a fantastic snack or dessert as well!

INGREDIENTS
For the base
1 Cup breakfast cereal with flakes (I used vanilla-almond Special K.)
1 Cup rolled oats
1 Cup sweetened coconut
3/4 Cup honey or maple syrup  (( used honey.)

For the "sauce"
8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 Cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or other extract, starting with 1/2 tsp and working to taste)

For the topping
Fruit of your choice (I used strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, peaches, and banana

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a 9 inch tart pan with cooking spray and set aside.  *Do use cooking spray rather than butter because the tart is refrigerated before serving.  If you use butter, it will harden and the tart will be difficult to remove from the pan.

Use a rolling pin to crush the cereal into crumbs.  mix them with the oatmeal, coconut, and honey or syrup.  Press this mixture into the prepared tart pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool completely before adding the next two layers.

Using a mixer, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and extract.

Once the crust is cooled, spread the cream cheese mixture on top.  Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

While the crust and cream cheese chill, slice the desired fruits.  Remove the pan from the refrigerator and arrange the fruit on top, pushing it gently into the cream cheese mixture.  Return the completed tart to the fridge for about 30 minutes.

To serve, remove rim from the tart pan and slice into ten pieces.

Nutritional Facts : 270 calories; 6.3g fat (4.1g saturated fat); 10mg cholesterol; 144mg sodium; 52g carbohydrates (38g sugars, 2g fiber); 3.9g protein

***I also can't type very well with the stitches in my finger, so I apologize for any typos here!

Food Friday - High In Goodness, Low In Calories

from Kris B.

We are two and half weeks in to our “weight reduction plan.”  With encouragement from another, both of us are doing pretty well staying within our allowed calorie range each day and not feeling hungry.  There does, however, come a time when we want a sweet snack, not a reward necessarily, but a sweet something that we can eat and enjoy and not feel guilty about having had.  It is from this place that we bring you this week’s recipes.

I like cake, but I am not a big fan of frosting.  Even though I have a powerful sweet tooth, most frosting is even too sweet for me.  I often scrape all but a thin layer of the frosting from cake and cupcakes.  I know.  It sounds like a waste; however, often there is someone nearby that has the exact opposite preferences - they love the frosting but not the cake.  It works out for all involved!  Lol!  When I make cake at home, I don’t go to the trouble of making frosting  unless I have to.

A favorite cake at our house is angel food cake.  No one expects it to have frosting.  Perhaps a dollop of whipped cream, and some kind of fruit and it is perfectly dressed and good to go.  Angel food cake is also low in calories abd fat free!  This recipe weighs in at 146 calories per (naked) slice.  Adding fruit and a little whipped cream ups that at little, but this treat still comes in far below the average for most desserts.

INGREDIENTS

12 eggs, whites only) or 1 1/2 cups egg whites)

1 Cup flour

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

1 TBS lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and half (3/4 cup) of the sugar.

Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until  foamy..  Add the salt and cream of tartar.  Continue to whisk until soft peaks form.  Add the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar a little at a time.  Once stiff peaks have formed, beat in the vanilla, almond extract, and the lemon juice.  

Using a spatula, stir the sifted flour and sugar into the egg white mixture 1/4 cup at a time until all is incorporated.  Evenly spread the batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan (tube pan).

Bake for 50 minutes or until cakes feels slightly springy to the touch and is golden brown.  Remove from oven and invert the pan on a glass bottle to cool.  Once cooled, loosen the cake from the pan with a metal spatula and invert cake onto a plate.

Eat the cake as is, with a little non-dairy whipped cream (if you are watching calories) and fruit.  Or, if you must, drizzle with a glaze or sauce of your choice.

Makes 12 servings

146 calories; 5g protein; 39g carbohydrates; 2g fiber; 29g sugar; 0 fat; 0 cholesterol; 100mg sodium


From Tracey G.

As we come to the end of Week 3 (I've rounded up, lol) in the new Mindful Eating challenge as I like to call it, it's occurred to me that we need some healthy sweets as well occasionally. I'm not a big sweet eater, but sometimes I just gotta have it! Cupcakes, cakes, frosting and so forth. I want to be prepared for such things and have a few healthier alternatives in my bag of tricks. Not that that means I'm not going to enjoy the real deal occasionally, after all there's nothing off limits, it's all about moderation. I would just like a few healthier alternatives to old favorites and some new just-because-they-sound-good healthier things at my disposal.

Recently, I bought myself a subscription to Eating Well magazine, if their magazine is half as informative and helpful as their website, it will be deemed a good move on part! I just got my first issue this past week and this was one of a few recipes in it I decided I was going to try. I did a bit of a hunt around the internet for blueberry pound cake recipes - wanting to see how much this one might differ, and from most of the ones I ran across, this had about half the calories of most, as this comes in at about 303 calories per serving according to the recipe notes. And the 1-inch thick slice - as pictured in my photo, that is considered a serving, is really a pretty good size!

Aside from it being really yummy, it's also a one-bowl recipe - nice! It came together easily, which is always a bonus. I also know it was a hit with my boys - Harry told me that I deserved 63 kisses for it, where he came up with that number as being a good rating is beyond me, but I'll take the kisses and he took a second slice! Hubby asked me if it was easy to put together, which I've come to learn is code for "so, will you make this again because it's really good!"!

I did have to make one major change because I realized I didn't have the ingredient - it calls for 1.5 cups of white whole-wheat flour, I didn't have any, so used unbleached all-purpose. And a minor change was I used frozen blueberries - they aren't the greatest in the stores this time of year fresh, so frozen are always a staple I have on hand. 

Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

Courtesy of Eating Well Magazine and can be found here: Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

8 Servings

3/4 cup granulated sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 large eggs, at room temperature (see tip below*)

3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

2 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice plus 1 tsp, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 c white whole-wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen)

2 tbsp packed confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x5-in. loaf pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until creamy**. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and beat in ricotta, lemon zest, 2 tbsp lemon juice and vanilla until just combined. Sprinkle flour on top, then evenly sprinkle baking powder and salt over the flour. With the mixer on low speed, beat until almost combined. Add blueberries and  gently fold into the batter. Transfer to prepared pan.

3. Bake the cake until starting to brown around the edges and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake, then invert it onto the rack. Carefully turn it right-side up. Let cool completely.

4. Clean the bowl, add confectioner's sugar and whisk in the remaining 1 tsp lemon juice until smooth. Brush the glaze on the cake.

Serves 8: One 1-inch thick slice each

Nutritional information: Calories 303, Fat 11g (Saturated Fat 6g), Cholesterol 96mg, Carbohydrates 45g, Total Sugars 25g (added 21g), Protein 8g, Fiber 3g, Sodium 319 mg, Potassium 124mg

*This is a trick I've used for ages to get eggs right out of the refrigerator to room temperature quickly, that they suggest as well: Place the eggs (in the shell) in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 5 minutes. I usually do that first when I start a recipe that needs room temp eggs, so that by the time I'm ready for them, they are ready for me!

**They do note that for best cake texture to make sure you beat it long enough together to look creamy, and the time it take can vary. I never really did see "creamy", but it still turned out well for me!