Healthy Cookie Cake..made fresh today

I have made several of these and have the recipe on here under recipes.  I made this one today for Lindsey and thought I would show you how easy this is, step by step.  Once you eat  this healthy version, you will never buy the junk ones again! 

Here is the recipe and the steps are below.  Lindsey doesn't like chocolate icing, so hers is with the buttercream only.

Chocolate Chip Cake
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup sucanat sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar (it has to go in there or it doesn't cook right)

2 sticks of organic butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 large organic free range eggs

1 pkg of organic semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine sugar, butter, and eggs in a mixer and mix until creamy. Add flour, baking soda, vanilla, and salt and mix. Stir in chocolate chips. Spray a 9x19 inch pan with eat clean cooking spray. I like the pampered chef bar pan. Spread mixture in pan and bake about 20 min or until golden brown. Be careful not to over bake.

I let mine cool completely and decorate with icing of my choice. I sometimes will by store bought and pipe it on there. I have also made my own and colored it myself...this is the unhealthiest portion of the cake. Remember sugar is a treat so it needs to be limited.

Healthier Icing:
The deal with buttercream is that sugar is brown and the frosting is a brown color..so just to warn you :)
Buttercream
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup organic butter
1/2 cup sucanat sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Keep in the fridge.


Chocolate Frosting
2 Tbs of organic cocoa powder
1 Tbs coconut oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup organic butter
5Tbs organic milk
2/3 cup sucanat sugar
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Keep in the fridge.

Ok..I grind my own flour.  Don't flip out and not look because that sounds scary.  Just buy your own whole wheat already ground.  I just like to get the most nutrition and benefits out of my grains.

Soft white works best for cakes and cookies

There it is, pour it in, take off the lid, it comes out as whole wheat flour.

Mix the butter,eggs, vanilla, and sucanat and brown sugar

Add fresh flour,baking soda, and sea salt

Stir in chocolate chips

Spread on a 9x13 inch bar pan..I lined this with parchment paper so that I could take it out for Lindsey.

Baked about 17 min in my oven, brown at edges, but soft in middle
Let it cool completely before decorating.

I made the buttercream frosting..so easy..and I colored the icing with gel colors.

I piped it on with the pampered chef icing piper..no I don't work for pampered chef..they just have great long lasting
bakeware! :)

Here are some more that I have done below

Dream Fields Pasta

Dream Fields pasta was introduced to me by my friend Selena at Dr. Rogers office.  One of the nutritionist told her about it.  It has a low glycemic index.  The pasta is very good!  They have it just about every grocery store around here.  They have many different ones to choose from.  This is the spaghetti noodle.  I don't eat a lot of pasta, but I try to eat these or the brown rice ones like in my eat clean baked ziti recipe.
Dreamfields contains 41 grams of carbohydrates per serving. However, its formula and unique manufacturing process protects all but 5 grams of carbs in each serving (2 oz. dry) from digestion.

Read How It Works

As much fiber as two cups of raw broccoli. Dreamfields has 5 grams of fiber per serving (similar to whole wheat pastas). Much of the fiber in Dreamfields comes from inulin, a 100% natural prebiotic fiber. Prebiotics like inulin may help promote healthy digestion.

A very low glycemic index of 13 to help manage blood glucose. Studies have shown that a low glycemic index diet may be an effective way to help manage weight when combined with regular exercise and a
reduced calorie healthful diet.

Grown Up PB & J

I love my September Strawberries from Glenmary Gardens in Bristol.  They are so sweet and juicy and wonderful.  Here is another idea for using them.
I love Peanut butter and banana..so here is a grown up version of PB & J...leave off the jelly and just add the fresh fruit of your choice.  Fresh Strawberries on peanut butter is so delicious!

Baby Steps Friday..Sept 23rd..eat more low glycemic fruits and veggies

Not all fruits and veggies are create equal.  When you eat your 5 servings a day..you better pay attention to what 5 you are eating. Some are higher in sugars and starches than others.   The glycemic index is is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels.  Carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion and release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream have a high GI; carbohydrates that break down more slowly, releasing glucose more gradually into the bloodstream, have a low GI.
You want to eat foods with a low GI.  They satisfy your hunger longer and they help minimize food cravings, and help stabilize your blood sugar.

Here is a list fruits and veggies in order by their value...

Fruits
Apple 34
Grapefruit 36
Peach 40
Orange 47
Pear 47
Grapes 62
Kiwi 83
Banana 89
Pineapple 94
Watermelon 103

Veggies

Asparagus <20
Broccoli<20
Cabbage <20
Celery<20
Cucumbers<20
Spinach<20
Lettuce<20
Mushrooms <20
Okra <20
Green Beans<20
Squash <20
Zucchini<20
Tomatoes 23
Sweet Potato 63
Peas 68
Carrots 70
Corn 78
New Potato 101
Potato, baked 158

All foods have a glycemic index, to check a table or for more info go here:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/370501-low-glycemic-foods-meals/

Healthy Strawberry Freezer Jam..two versions (one is sugar free!)

So someone asked me, "What are you doing with all those strawberries you keep getting in September?"..Well, I am eating them and I am making two different versions of jam.  This would make a great Christmas gift idea.  I made on with honey and one with truvia.  If you look at a freezer jam recipe for strawberries, the traditional ones have 6 cups of sugar! Good grief, don't even lick the spoon!! I don't use white sugar, I could have substituted the sucanat sugar, but I wanted to do honey and then one sugar free.  So here are my two versions...and they are GREAT!!

Here is an important starting note..YOU MUST BUY PECTIN FOR LOW-NO SUGAR NEEDED

Got this at walmat..it says for low or no-sugar, if you use regular pectin thses recipes will not gel, it will be runny!

Strawberry Freezer Jam with Honey

4 pints of strawberries
1 cup of apple juice
1/2 cup water
1 package or 3 tablespoons of no-added sugar needed pectin
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 cup honey

1. Clean and stem strawberries. Mash one layer of berries at a time in a large bowl, you may also chop them if you like it chuncky, or blend them in a blender if you like it smooth.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk together apple juice, water , and pectin.  Bring t o a boil for one minute.
3. Add honey and lemon juice to berries and stir well.  Add in hot pectin mixture and stir well again to make sure everything is combined.
4. Ladle into clean jars and screw on lids. Let sit in the refrigerator for a few hours to set up and then transfer to the freezer to store. 

Strawberry Freezer Jam with Truvia..SUGAR FREE

2 pints of fresh strawberries
2Tbs lemon juice
5Tbs of the no-sugar needed pectin
40 packages or a little less than 1 cup of truvia

1.  Prepare your strawberries how you would like them (mashed, chopped,. or blended)and measure out 4 cups.
2. Add pectin and truvia to a bowl and stir together.
3.  Place the strawberries into the bowl with the pectin and truvia and stir for 3 minutes.
4. Ladle jam into clean freezer jars and place in freezer on enjoy now.  When filling the jars, leave about 1/2 inch head space to allow for food expansion during freezing.

Freeze up to a year or refrigerate now for up to 3 weeks on both recipes.

Here are some photos from both I divided this is to a half and half experiment.. I like both versions, but the truvia one is great! No sugar, no guilt!

chopping mine up..a like chuncks

 cook the honey recipe stirring with a wooden spoon

adding lemon juice

adding honey

Here is the truvia one

Ladle in to jars

Yummy finished jam!

Why turkey bacon is bad....

Turkey Bacon vs. Pork Bacon

If you are going to eat bacon, which I do when I do my low carb days, eat pork bacon.  Why?? This is where reading your nutrition labels and knowing what to look for is so important.  First of all, turkey has to go through a lot of process to "look" like pork bacon.  Additionally, while turkey is indeed a leaner meat, turkey bacon isn’t made from 100 percent bird: One look at the ingredients list will show a long line of suspicious additives and extras that can’t possibly add anything of nutritional value  It's also higher in sodium and preservatives, and you are not saving many, if any,  fat grams if you look at the label. 
Pork bacon is just that..pork bacon. Stick to foods the way God made them.. bacon comes from a pig.  There are healthier choices of pork bacon.  Look for nitrate free and organic bacon.  Apple Valley and Hormel are both good brands available at Ingles.  It has low fat grams and low sodium, which comes from sea and celery salts instead of nitrates.  I like to fry a whole batch up and keep it in a container ready to heat.  Ready made bacon is full of sodium nitrates and preservatives so fry up your own.

Eat Clean Chicken Salad

I am very chicken salad picky.  I have 2 recipes that I like to fix now..this is a new one..it has greek yogurt instead of a bunch of mayo..and no sugar..mmmmm

Eat Clean Chicken Salad #1

1.5 lbs of chicken breast cooked and diced (about 3 large chicken breasts) I cook mine by boiling it in water until no longer pink.  Don't get the already to go chicken breast with all the chemicals and additives in it, cook it your self so that it is just chicken...
1 cup grapes
1/2 cup pecans chopped
2-3 stalk celery chopped
1 Tbsp mayo (I use a healthy mayo or you can make your own, Duke's is good) I don't buy low fat
1/4 cup Greek yogurt unflavored
1 tsp agave syrup
1tsp apple cider vinegar
1 packet truvia
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds

• Boil chicken until no longer pink. Cut in to chunks or shred.
• Mix yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar,agave,poppy seeds, and truvia
• combine this with the chicken and remaining ingredients

That's the official recipe but....I don't do anything like I'm supposed to..so here is what I did.  I just cut it all up. mixed it all in a bowl and it was great!

All my ingredients

boiling chicken

Grapes and Celery

chicken chopped

adding pecans

cider vinegar,truvia, and  agave

mayo

poppy seeds

Greek yogurt

Yummy finished salad

On an Ezekiel wrap

with some lettuce and tomato

my finished plate