Yams and Apples

I got this quick-and-easy recipe from the "Curves Fitness and Weight Management Plan" book a couple of years ago. I make it several times a month.

This recipe is:

• delicious
• inexpensive
• EASY
• highly nutritious
• did I mention that it's EASY??

Ingredients:

1 29-oz can of yams

2 small or 1 large apple diced

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter

Directions:

Mash the canned yams in a casserole dish.
Add diced apples and cinnamon, stir.
Top with dollops of the butter.
Cover and cook in microwave on High for 5 minutes.

Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator.

Makes about 8 servings

I just can't say enough about this recipe. It provides all the sweet yumminess of candied yams without all the sugar. It is sooooo good!

So go write "big can of yams" on your shopping list right now, and make the recipe this week!

Chicken, Vegetable, and Orzo Soup

Mark and I both love this Weight Watchers recipe I tried out last week.

Chicken, Vegetable and Orzo Soup

(click on the title for the recipe)

One of the vegetables in the recipe is fennel. I haven't cooked with it much before, but I'm finding that I like it. A lot. It cooks up kind of like onion, has a mild flavor. Mmmmm....

Another little trick to the recipe is to add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the soup just before serving. Gave the soup a lovely little tangy flavor.

I bought one of those little roasted chickens at the deli section - Mark helped me cut up the meat and we used that in the soup. It was really delicious.

I also added 2 cups of spinach leaves, cut up, just before adding the lemon juice. It added some nice greens, and I will definitely do that again.

This recipe makes 8 servings, which is quite a lot for just the two of us, but it kept well in the fridge all week and made for delicious, healthy "left-over" lunches.

I made a batch of my favorite bran muffins to go with this wonderful soup.

Easy Healthy Fruit & Yogurt Parfait

Katie featured her Easy Healthy Fruit & Yogurt Parfait over on The Red Kitchen blog this week.

It makes a delicious, filling, healthy, lo-cal breakfast to eat at home or on the go.

Thanks for a great idea, Katie!

Looking for a healthy new granola to try? Mark picked this one up in the health food section at Fred Meyers this evening. He likes it because it contains molasses instead of honey.

210 calories per 3/4 cup serving
6 Weight Watchers points

Easy Berry Smoothie (2-4 points)

Easy Berry Smoothie (2-4 points)

• 2 cups mixed berries*
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 2 cups fat free milk

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend to desired texture.

The entire blender full of smoothie is 4 points.  The glass you see above has about 1/2 that much.  So if you only have one glass, it's only 2 points!

*I bought a big bag of frozen mixed berries from Costco which made this really easy (and much cheaper than buying all those berries fresh).

Okay, so maybe you noticed that I snuck in an entire cup of spinach.
But can you see it now?
Me either.
Nor could I taste it.
So pack it in and give yourself some extra nutrients for no extra points and no funny taste!

Aside from the couple of spoonfuls I snuck in before I took the picture, this is the entire amount of smoothie it made.

Also, this is random, but if you have a lame blender (like me) and it dissuades you from making smoothies, just add more liquid.  Chances are, it'll run just fine.

Homemade Coconut Macaroons!

I love coconut macaroons. But with the average store-bought cookie clocking in somewhere between 3 and 5 Weight Watcher points (up to 160 calories per cookie)...and those are the ones without the chocolate dip...it's hard to justify them as a healthy snack choice!

Enter this healthy Coconut Macaroon Recipe. It's been on a 3x5 card tucked into my cookbook forever...I don't know who to give credit to, but I tried the recipe this weekend, and it's a keeper! After I calculated the recipe's points and figured out that these cookies are only 1 point each, I decided to whip up a batch.

You know what's even better than being low in calories/points? Super easy-peasy to make!! I kid you not. You can whip them up in 10 minutes or less, then sit back and wait for the timer to go off.

Yummy!!

OK, I know this photo makes them look like white blobby puffballs, 

so you are just going to have to take my word for how good they are.

Slightly crunchy on the outside, fluffy and moist on the inside...mmmmm!

Coconut Macaroons
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
dash salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and spray a cookie sheet with Pam.
Beat the egg whites, vanilla, and salt until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the sugar, beating until soft peaks form.
Fold in the coconut.
Drop from a teaspoon 1/2" apart on the greased baking sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
Cool on wire rack.

Makes 20-24 cookies.

1 hike ≠ 1 milkshake

Mark and I went on a glorious fall afternoon hike yesterday. We hiked steadily--a good pace, uphill and down--for 3 whole hours!

Whew! I was a hiker grandma, for sure!

I was careful with my food choices, and carried a healthy, nutritious, low-points lunch.

Wonderful exercise and healthy food. Win-win, yes? Ummm...no.

Because by the time we got back into civilization, I had waaaay too many rumblies in my tumbly.
After hiking 3 hours, I could certainly justify a small milkshake, right?

Wrong.

When I got home and entered my exercise and my snack into my Weight Watchers points tracker, I ended up regretting my milkshake.

Hiking for 3 hours = 9 activity points
1 small McDonald's vanilla milkshake = 15 food points

Oops. Lesson learned. Next time I'll take a little more (as in, quantity) healthy food with me!

Hot Cocoa with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (2 points)

Hot Cocoa with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (2 points)

• 1 cup water (0 points)
• 2 TBS hot cocoa mix (2 points)
• 2 TBS chocolate chip ice cream (0 points*)

Fill a mug with 1 cup water.**  Heat in the microwave for 1-1 1/2 minutes.  Spoon hot chocolate mix into water and stir.  Top with ice cream and enjoy!

*No joke!  The ice cream really doesn't count if you only have 2 TBS.  Sweet!

**I actually used a little less than 1 cup so I could leave enough room in my mug for the ice cream.