We've MOVED!

Hello!  We have moved and changed our name, can you believe it ya'all?!? You can now find us HERE at foodlove.

And PS - visit there today to find out how we made these delicious home made egg noodles.  YUM!

XOXO - Katie & Megan

Corn & Jalapeno Mini Muffins

The combination of flavors in each one of these mini muffins really packs a punch!  It’s a delightful combo of sweetness from the honey, a bit of heat from the jalapeños and hearty cornmeal.  These are perfect side to serve with tacos or any Mexican dish.  Try pairing them with the Crockpot Chicken Tacos we featured on the blog last week!

Servings:  16 (recipe will make a total of 32 mini muffins)

Size:  2 mini corn muffins

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  10-12 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent!

Ingredient List:

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

¼ cup flour

¾ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. sugar

⅛ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup milk

¼ cup honey

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 large jalapeños, seeded and diced

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese, reduced-fat

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Lightly grease a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.  Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.  In a separate, larger bowl combine the egg, milk, honey and melted butter with a whisk.  Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and stir until well mixed.  Fold in the jalapeños and cheddar cheese with a spatula.  Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 full.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Tip:

Serving these warm are a MUST!  Although you can save time and make these ahead of time, they really are best when they are just out of the oven.  Of course you can pop them back in oven to warm them up just before you are ready to sit down too!

XOXO Megan

Mock Tuna

What is Mock Tuna you may ask?  Easy, it is a meat tuna salad that doesn't include tuna, but still tastes like tuna salad.  Don't believe me?  Give it a try!  This dish is full of nuts, seeds and fresh herbs and is really quite remarkable.  It is a tad bit high in pp, but since it is full of so much protein you don't need much to fill you up!  It is also to fun and healthy not to share. It is adapted from this Whole Foods favorite.

Servings: About 8
Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Points Plus: 11pp
Prep Time: 8 hours + (seeds and nuts must soak overnight)
Cook Time: n/a
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup raw (unsalted) almonds
1/3 cup celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup dill pickles, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 T fresh dill, finely chopped
2 T maple syrup
2 T lemon juice
1 t. ground pepper
1/2 t. kosher salt

Instructions
Put sunflower seeds and almonds in a large bowl, cover with water, cover dish and let it set at room temperature overnight.

When seeds and nuts have soaked for adequate time, pulse them in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add celery, pickles, onions.  In a small bowl mix maple syrup, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Pour dressing mixture over over nut and seed mixture.  Stir to combine.  Serve with veggies for a healthy and filling lunch!

Tip
Cut the portion in half and eat this on a piece of whole wheat bread for a tasty 'tuna' sandwich!

Pancetta & Asparagus Pizza

I love to take my standard homemade pizza recipe and come up with a new variation!  As we were trying to use up things from our fridge a few weeks ago, I came up with the idea of pairing asparagus and pancetta for a non-traditional pizza.  The possibilities really are endless, see what you can come up with to use up ingredients from your own fridge!

Servings:  8

Size:  1 slice of pizza

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  15-20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

1 can of Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough, classic style crust

1 can pizza sauce (4 oz)

1 Tbsp. dried oregano

5 slices of pancetta

½ lb. asparagus, cut into ½ inch pieces

1 ½ cup shredded mozzarella, park-skim

½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Open the can of pizza dough and shape into a pizza shape, gently working the dough outward on a lightly greased pizza pan.  Cook the crust according to the directions on the package, which suggests you pre-bake the crust for 5-7 minutes first before you add sauce and toppings.  While the crust is baking, bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add the prepared asparagus pieces.  Boil for 3 minutes; then drain and rinse with cold water.  Take the pizza out and evenly spread the can of pizza sauce on top of the crust, spread almost to the edges of the dough.  Sprinkle oregano over the pizza sauce.  Next, add the cheese, then add the cooked asparagus and slices of pancetta on top.  Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the crust is a light golden brown.

Tip:

A good tip to make sure the asparagus stays crisp is to immediately rinse your cooked asparagus with cold water to stop the cooking process.  I thought this really helped to keep the asparagus from getting too mushy before they finished cooking with the pizza.  It’s kind of a variation of the blanching technique with vegetables!

XOXO Megan

Home Made Potato Chips

Chips!  Who doesn't love 'em?? They are my junk food.  Any of them - well, any except sun chips because I consider those too healthy - HA! Anyways, everyone knows that they are deep fried potatos, and obviously unhealthy.  Let me ask you this...what if you lived in a world where you could eat about 100 potato chips for just 2pp? Well guess what?? That world exists!  My husband received the Pampered Chef potato chip maker for Christmas, and this past week we tried it out.  After a few batches I would say we perfected the recipe.  They seriously taste like kettle chips, but not as greasy.  They are delish and guilt free! Now, I know that not everyone has this amazing potato chip maker, so I tried to make them without it.  Well guess what?? They were almost as good.  I would still recommend buying his amazing kitchen tool, but if you don't have it, you can still make your own chips at home. Potato chips for everyone!!

Servings: 1 (heck, I could eat 100 potato chips)
Serving Size: 1 potato, I used a 4 oz potato which I would classify as 'small' and got about 100 chips out of it!
Points Plus: 2pp
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: About 5 minutes per batch, time varies depending on thickness
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: 5 stars - Excellent

Ingredients
1 potato, I used a 4 oz potato which came out to 2pp
Kosher Salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

Tools
Mandolin
Paper towel
Pampered Chef potato chip maker, linked above
OR
Parchment paper and a microwave safe plate

Instructions
Scrub your potato clean. Using a mandolin slice your potato into thin circles.  I used the second from the smallest thickness.  Dry the potatoes with your paper towel.

If using the chip maker, lay the chips on a single layer. The chip maker includes two levels.  So, fill each tray, stack them, and then put them in the microwave.

If you do not have a chip maker, lay a piece of parchment paper on a microwave safe plate. Again, be sure the slices are not overlapped.  Fill the plate and put it in the microwave.

In either instance, cook in the microwave for 3 minutes.  After three minutes flip the chips and sprinkle a desired amount of kosher salt on them.  Cook again for about 2 minutes. As you are cooking them feel free to check and remove any that you think are crispy enough. Continue cooking until all the chips are crispy. When chips are done, eat them all!

Tip
You could top these with any verity of seasonings.  Cayenne pepper, vinegar and salt, cinnamon! Next time, I would love to try to create sour cream and onion flavoring.  Check back for that one SOON! (or let me know if you have ideas of how to create this flavor)

Fun Fact
Did you know that 100 regular kettle chips could cost you around 31pp??

XOXO - Katie

Champagne Orange Bundt Cake

I came across this recipe on Pinterest as I was searching for a fun, festive dessert to serve on New Year's Eve.  The original recipe (found here) comes from the Muffin Tin mom's blog.  I wasn't able to find the orange mimosa flavored sparkling wine that her recipe calls for so I improvised and used a combination of champagne and orange juice instead - two ingredients you already need for the frosting!  I also chose to omit the sliced almonds to cut down on pp.  Enjoy this bubbly cake!

Servings: 10

Size: One slice of 1/10 of the cake

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 25-30 minutes

Rating: 4 stars - Very good

Ingredient List:

Cake Batter

1 box white cake mix

2/3 cup champagne

1/3 cup orange juice

3 eggs

Baking spray

Frosting

¼ cup champagne

¼ cup orange juice

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, champagne, orange juice and eggs until well combined.  Pour batter into a lightly greased bundt pan.  Bake according to the directions on the box, about 25-30 minutes.  Allow the cake to cool completely before you frost it.  To make the frosting, first combine the champagne and orange juice in a large bowl.  Add the powdered sugar a ½ cup at a time until the frosting reaches the consistency you are looking for.  It will be more of a glaze than a thick frosting.

Tip:
I don't know about you, but I REALLY struggle when it comes to making frostings!  I think the key is to not have too much liquid so you don't have to add as much powdered sugar to even out the consistency.  That said, you could use slightly less champagne and orange juice in the frosting to make for a thicker frosting if you prefer. 

XOXO Megan

Veggie Pot Pie

When I think of chicken pot pie I think of an unhealthy dinner.  Traditionally it is heavy meaty mixture placed inside of a buttery pie crust or underneath a biscuit topping.  I am a firm believer that any food can be lightened up, so after some online research I came up with the below recipe.  Do people always eat pot pie in a bowl?  The flavor of this dish was A-mazing, but it for sure didn't turn out firm.  And maybe it isn't supposed to, but I would eat this pot pie for every meal if I could!  After making it I thought the portion size for pp was so-so, so....serve it with a side salad and fruit and you are good to go!

Servings: 6
Serving Size: 1/6 of pot pie, or about 1 cup
Point Plus: 6pp
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: 5 - Excellent

Ingredients
1 Pillsbury pie crust

Filling
1 T. olive oil
1 cup carrot, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup potato, chopped into small cubes
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup frozen petite peas
1.5 ounces (about 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup water
3 cups, lower sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 t. fresh thyme, chopped
Rosemary
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°. To prepare filling, add olive oil to a Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat. Add carrot, onion, celery, thyme & Rosemary; cook 8 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add broth and potato & mushrooms; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Combine flour and 1/3 cup water in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Return potato mixture to a boil. Slowly drizzle flour mixture into potato mixture, stirring constantly. Cook 1 minute or until mixture thickens. Stir in peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Spoon chicken mixture into an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Place dough on top of chicken mixture, pressing to edge of dish. Cut 4 slits in top of crust to allow steam to escape. Gently brush crust with milk. Bake at 400° for 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes.

Tip
I didn't make this into a chicken pot pie because I didn't have any chicken!  You could easily add chicken, or a different assortment of veggies, depending on what you have on hand!

XOXO Katie

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Do you need a quick, go-to recipe for making chicken tacos??  Look no further!  This is a really easy version that using the crockpot to produce perfectly tender shredded chicken that is full of flavor.  My good friend Jessica gave me this recipe; I added in some additional onion and jalapeno.  I'm not sure I will ever go back to making chicken tacos any other way because these are so good!!!  You can customize with whatever your favorite taco toppings happen to be, but look below for my suggestions for this recipe.

Servings:  10

Size:  2 tacos

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  4-5 hours

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent!

Ingredient List:
1 16 oz. jar salsa
1 packet of taco seasoning
¾ cup onion, chopped
¼ cup jalapeno, chopped
4 large chicken breasts
20 small flour tortillas

Optional Toppings (these are included in the pp value above):

1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese, reduced-fat

1 can (4 oz.) sliced black olives

½ cup white onion, chopped

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Add the full jar of salsa and taco seasoning to the crockpot; stir until well mixed.  Add in the chopped onion and jalapeno.  Finally, add in the chicken breasts and stir to make sure the salsa mixture is covering the chicken.  Set the crockpot on high for the first 2 hours and then finish on low for the next 2 hours.  Depending on how your crockpot cooks, wait until the chicken is fully cooked before removing to shred with a fork.  Add the shredded chicken back into the crockpot and cook on low or warm for an additional hour.  Serve with your favorite taco fixings and tortillas!  For the tacos above, I used 1 Tbsp. cheese, about 1/4 cup of chicken and just a sprinkle of olives per taco.  You can add as much onion and cilantro as you like! 

Tip:

Frozen chicken breasts work great in the crockpot!  If you haven’t had time to fully thaw out your chicken, not a big deal.  Just toss everything in the crockpot and set to low if you will be gone all day at work.  You will come home to a delicious smelling kitchen!

XOXO Megan

French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

Sunday night dinner.  I had ambitions to make a veggie pot pie but really just got too lazy! Instead we whipped up this easy recipe using some fresh blueberries that I had bought at the store earlier in the day.  It turned out great and, it is always fun to have brinner! 

Servings: 2
Serving Size: 2 pieces and half of the blueberry sauce
Points Plus: 2pp
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: 4 stars – Very Good

Ingredients
1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries
½ T. sugar
½ T. lemon zest
½ T. lemon juice
4 pieces low calorie bread
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T. fat free milk
½ T. vanilla
Cooking spray

Instructions
Put the first four ingredients in a sauce pan and turn heat to low.  Cook for about 8 minutes, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is a soup like consistency (it is super easy to make a low cal berry sauce that is delish by the way!). Spray a griddle pan with cooking spray. Beat your egg, egg whites, milk and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Carefully dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture to coat, and fry for a few minutes on each side until the bread is golden brown.  To serve, place two pieces of French toast on a plate and top each with ½ of the blueberry mixture, which will be about 1/3 cup.  You could also top with 2 T. fat free cool whip for no additional points plus.

Tip
You could try this with any type of frozen or fresh fruit that you like. Blueberries will breakdown to a great ‘saucy’ consistency, but any fruit will be delish!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Before learning how to eat healthy I had no clue how easy it was to make yummy veggie soup.  I have tried many recipes over the years that really are just veggies and bullion (or stock), and they almost always turn out amazing!  This recipe from Skinnytaste is so easy and is one of my favs.  I love mushrooms (not everyone does ;), and this soup is great paired with half of a sandwich for lunch.  Also, it is only 2pp per serving.  Pretty amazing if you ask me!

Servings: 5

Servings Size: 1 1/4 cup

Points Plus: 3pp

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients

3 tbsp flour

4 cups water

3 chicken bouillon cubes

5 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced

8 oz baby bella, sliced

1 celery stalk

Fresh ground pepper

Raw scallions

8 T. soft goat cheese

Instructions

Put water into a heavy stock pot and bring to a boil.  Add flour slowly, whisking as you go. Set pot to medium heat.

Add celery, mushrooms, chicken bouillon and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until veggies are soft, about 30 minutes. Remove and toss celery.  Using your immersion blender, blend to the consistency that you enjoy.  If you don't have an immersion blender take a few cups of the soup out and put it into your blender, and then return to the pot.  Continue cooking a few minutes longer.  I served my soup with a few raw onions and a dab of goat cheese (because I didn't have any sour cream.  

Tip

Bouillon has a TON of salt and maybe that is why I love it so much (I love salt which is bad, I know).  Don't fear, I am on the hunt for a better bullion.  I have found a few recipes for DIY that I am going to test out in the next few weeks.  I have never found a stock that I think tastes as good as bullion, so if you have one, please let me know what it is and I will give it a try!  Add the bouillon slowly.  If you like your soup less salty you might not need 3 cubes.

Banana Bread Bites

Portion control is REALLY important to being successful!  This recipe is perfect for helping you practice good portion control.  I took a tradtional banana bread and sliced it like usual, but then cut each slice into perfect, bite-sized pieces!  You could serve this for house guests with some fresh fruit for a healthy, low pp breakfast.

Servings:  16 (Assuming 1 regular loaf cut into 8 slices)
Serving Size: 3 banana bites
Points Plus: 3pp
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook/Bake Time: 55-60 minutes
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine the baking soda, flour and salt making sure it's well combined.  In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar and eggs.  Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, followed by half of the mashed bananas; stirring until well combined after each addition.  Repeat with the remaining flour and banana mixtures.  Gently fold in the walnuts with a spatula.  Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray.  Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick will come out clean.  Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack.  Cut each slice of banana bread into 6 bite-sized pieces to get the pp value above.

Tip:

This recipe will make one regular sized loaf and 2 mini loaves.  Another good tip for portion control is to freeze half of what you make so you aren't eating the full recipe at one time.  Banana bread freezes really well AND it will save you time next time you have company coming into town!

XOXO Megan

Happy New Year + MAKEOVER + Creamy Crock Pot Tomato Soup

HAPPP-py New Year!  It's a new year ya'all!  Time for a fresh start, a fresh attitude, a fresh YOU! Joining forces to start EAT ME with my cousin was one of the most exciting and motivating things I did in 2013, and I can't wait to continue to inspire each of you to eat your way to a healthier lifestyle in 2014.  Will this be the year that you reach your health goals?  Will it be the year you fit into those jeans?  Will it simply be the year that you just BEGIN to learn about eating healthy and take one step to doing so by following this blog? Will it be the year that you get into the kitchen for the first time and learn that cooking your own wholesome meal tastes so much better than anything you could pick up at a drive through?  All of these are good intentions (a word I prefer over resolutions), so get EXCITED! This is YOUR year! (ok I am tearing up I have to stop)

With 2014 we bring you.....our UPDATED layout - hurray!  We are pretty proud of how this turned out, especially considering our skillz in the kitchen heavily outweigh our HTML blog design skillz.  We are learning and always open to feedback, so let us know what you think!

We have a lot planned for 2014 including some fun recipe makeovers, contests, and guest posts. But for now, I bring you our FIRST recipe for the New Year!

Get out your SLOW COOKER!  The crock pot is something that I am super intimidated by.  I don’t know why, I think it is because there are too many possibilities (and I don’t love meat).  I challenged myself to find a delish New Year’s Day recipe to show you that eating healthy can be FUN AND super-duper easy.  The addition of these itty bitty teeny tiny grilled cheeses makes this comforting meal a must. This recipe is adapted from Skinnytaste.

Servings: 6

Servings Size: 1 1/2 cups soup + ½ grilled cheese

Points Plus: 5 pp

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Rating: 5 stars - Excellent!

Photo from Here

Ingredients

Soup

1 t. olive oil

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 cup finely diced onions

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, with juice

1 tsp thyme

1/4 cup fresh basil

3 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (or vegetable for vegetarians)

Parmesan or Romano cheese rind (optional but HIGHLY recommended)(Easy to find at your local health food store such as Whole Foods)

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 3/4 cups fat free milk, warmed

Salt + Pepper

Itty bitty teeny tiny grilled cheeses

6 reduced calorie bread

3 Kraft singles

Spray Butter

Cooking spray

Directions

Soup

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil and add celery, carrots, onions and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes then add to slow cooker.

Pour the juice of the tomatoes into the slow cooker, then roughly crush the tomatoes with your hands; add to slow cooker. Then add your chicken stock, cheese rind (if using) thyme, basil, and bay leaf.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours. After 6 hours remove the cheese rid and, using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. If you don’t have in immersion blender 1) get one 2) be very careful, I have made a huge mess while trying to do this because blending hot soup is hard people!.

Melt the butter over low heat in a large skillet and add the flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 4 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in about 1 cup of the hot soup, then add the 1 3/4 cups of warmed milk and stir until smooth. Pour back into the slow cooker and stir. Add salt + pepper to taste.  Cover and cook on low 30 more minutes.

Grilled Cheese

Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray. Lightly spritz one side of each piece of bread.  Working in batches if necessary, place 1 piece of bread butter side down on pan, top with one piece of cheese and one piece of bread butter side up.  Cook grilled cheeses until brown and toasty.  When sandwiches are finished cut each in half, and then each half into 8 small sandwiches. 

To Serve

Place ½ cups of soup into a bowl and top with 8 tiny grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Tip

Have you ever added a parmesan cheese rind to your soup for a low calorie boost of creamy flavor? The parmesan rind is the hard part of fresh parm that you would normally throw away.  Next time you have one layin’ around, stick it in your freezer to pull out during an upcoming soup making sesh.  OR – you can buy these at your local health store such as Whole Foods or co-op.  I found one for 66 cents!

Enjoy & Happy New Year!

XOXO - Katie