Pumpkin, Puffs, & Cookies

Last night was a night full of foodgasms and for that it deserves a re-cap.

1. I tried my first Jamba Juice Pumpkin Smash (added banana) and it was all I dreamt of and then some!
2. For dinner I made Janetha’s Chicken Puffs, which were simple and delicious (I’m told). For myself and my son, I made a vegetarian version! Which were also quite yummy, and this I know for myself!
3. My son made chocolate chip cookies from scratch ALL BY HIMSELF! He surprises me every day!

So on which one of these lovely topics shall I begin? Let’s stick to the above order.

After running to and fro for last-minute costume essentials for Adam, we just had to make a pit-stop at Jamba.

16 oz. Pumpkin Smash + Banana + Energy

I managed to spill this on my lap in the car. But that didn’t make it any less tasty.

When we finally walked in the door, we were hungry hungry hippos! (Remember that game?)

As per usual, I turned to blogs for dinner inspiration.

Chicken Puffs were bookmarked and everyone agreed that they were the winner. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Ingredients:

• 3 thin-cut Chicken Breasts (boiled for about 10 minutes)
• 1 container Chive & Onion Cream Cheese
• 1/2 Yellow Pepper
• Salt n’ Pepper
• 1 Package Crescent Rolls

Boil the chicken and let it cool. Shred the chicken (with forks or by hand) and mix with softened cream cheese, peppers, and spices.

Roll up into the crescent rolls and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

We didn’t have breadcrumbs, so we rolled these in crumbled up Whole-Wheat Ritz Crackers. Worked like a charm.

The vegetarian version?

Chickpea Puffs

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 4 Light Queso Fresco & Chipotle Laughing Cow Cheeses
• 1/2 Yellow Pepper
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt n’ Pepper
• 1 Package Crescent Rolls

Sautee chickpeas in olive oil.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Roll up into crescent rolls and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I spy Janetha’s blog in the background! It served as our directions for the meal! Thanks girl, your step-by-step tutorial was perfect!!

Holy yum! The Chicken puffs were a big hit! And the Chickpea puffs were pretty tasty themselves!

Throughout the night we realized that ‘puffs’ is such a fun word. Really. Say it ten times. It’s funny, right? We thought so. :)

How about some dessert action?

Since Adam was the self-proclaimed dessert chef, I took the role of photographer. Because every cooking session needs a photographer, right?

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies (Whole-wheatified)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 t. Baking Soda
• 1 t. Sea Salt
• 1 C. Butter, softened
• 3/4 C. Sugar
• 3/4 Brown Sugar
• 1 t. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Organic Eggs
• 2 C. Nestle Toll House Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In our case, it was already heated from the Puffs!

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Use a mixer to beat together butter, sugar (white & brown), and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy.

Add eggs one at a time, mix well after each addition. Slowly add in the flour mixture while continuing to mix.

Once you’ve added all the flour mixture, fold in the chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Things got a little messy at this point. But I still had to follow the hands-off, pictures-only policy!

The finished product. Pretty good, eh? Should he open a bakery? Or would that be breaking some sort of child labor law?

Baking cookies is a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it. Eating cookies is also a hard job, but I guess I can handle it.

^ To take to the grandparents. You know, we have to share the calories wealth.

Happy Halloween!!

<3 Stefanie

 

Mini Frittatas

As promised, here’s a simple, healthy, and delicious breakfast recipe!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3 whole eggs, 1 egg white
• 1/2 chopped Red Pepper
• Handful of chopped spinach
• Laughing cow cheese wedge
• 1 Morningstar Farms Veggie Patty
• Cupcake Pan
• EVOO
• Optional: Nutritional Yeast

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Crack eggs, whisk with a fork, and set aside. Add salt and pepper and nutritional yeast, if desired.
3. Chop veggies.
4. Microwave veggie patty for 30 seconds, then chop into pieces.
5. Grease cupcake pan with EVOO. (I used my Misto and sprayed them.)
6. Layer veggies and veggie patty into each section of the cupcake pan.
7. Pour eggs into each section.
8. Bake for approximately 12 minutes. Broil for 2 minutes to ensure tops are cooked through.
9. Enjoy!
10. I needed an even number.

Using a measuring cup makes pouring the eggs much easier!

Ready for the oven!

Ready for my belly!

I enjoyed my mini frittatas atop a toasted Arnold thin spread with hummus. Whereas, the bf enjoyed his popped into his mouth straight from the pan!

Whatever floats your boat.

A huge benefit to making individual frittatas rather than one big one? You can make a variety all at once!

Want different veggies or real sausage? Easy.

Want extra cheese? Easy again.

Want yours spicy? Easy, add crushed red pepper!

You get the point. Another perfect meal for a family with mixed eating styles. It just so happens that everyone was good with what I decided to add. This time at least.

Calorie breakdown, just in case you’re interested.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 mini frittatas

Amount per Serving

Calories 58

Calories from Fat 24.8

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 2.75g

4%

Saturated Fat 0.83g

4%

Cholesterol 107.5mg

35%

Sodium 87.33mg

3%

Total Carbohydrate 2.4g

0%

Dietary Fiber 0.83g

3%

Sugars 0.83g

 

Protein 5.4g

10%

Est. Percent of Calories from:

Fat

42%

Carbs

16%

Protein

37%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

Let me know if you try it!

Have a great day!

<3 Stefanie

Homemade Nut Butter

Good morning/almost afternoon! Happy Saturday!

Thank you so much for all the sweet comments about my son! I’m happy to report that he is feeling 100% again!

I can’t believe October is almost over! And it’s almost trick-or-treating time!

Yesterday afternoon, I ventured into the world of homemade nut butter. OH.MY.GOSH. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back.

Pecans are my favorite nut, so naturally I chose to make pecan butter!

I used this as a guideline:

Sounds easy enough, right?

All this went into the Vitamix:

• 3 C. Raw Unsalted Pecans
• Apple Pie Spice
• Vanilla Extract
• Stevia

Success!

I think I’ll call this Apple-spiced Pecan Butter. Unique, no?

Of course I had to try it immediately. It was warm straight outta the blender.

I topped half a toasted Arnold thin with the pecan butter, sliced banana, and butterscotch chips. So creamy and delicious!

What type of nut butter should I make next? The possibilities seem endless!

I think Cherry Vanilla Almond Butter will be the winner. I have seen that on-line somewhere and the flavor combination stuck with me.

After a glorious 2-hour nap, I decided it was time to get my sweat on.

Cold temps + limited time leads to the treadmill!

I did a quick 2-mile interval work-out that looked like this:

Distance	Incline	Speed
.20	4.0	4.0
.20	1.5	6.0
.20	1.5	6.2
.20	1.5	6.4
.10	1.5	6.6
.10	1.5	7.0
.20	1.5	6.0
.20	1.5	6.2
.20	1.5	6.6
.20	1.5	7.0
.10	1.5	7.4
.10	1.5	8.0 <—killa!

After that it was shower time! That 8.0 speed left me dripping!

We went to our favorite Thai restaurant for dinner. It’s been a while, but it was as good as ever!

It’s one of those quaint old-school authentic restaurants, which usually means they have the best food! This place is no different.

We started out with 2 pots of Jasmine tea. Isn’t tea so much better from a restaurant? I’m not sure why, but I can’t get enough!

Appetizers:

• Vegetarian Egg Rolls (Adam & I)
• Chicken Pot stickers (the man & my niece)
• Vegetable Soup (so simple, but so good!)

The usual thumbs-up approval picture!

Meals (to share):

• Vegetable Fried Rice
• Pad Thai with Tofu
• Curry Fried Rice

Dessert:

• Coconut Ice Cream (we all dug in too quickly for a picture!)

Yummy Thai food babies for all.

We hit up Redbox for Friday the 13th and called it a night.

Now I’m relaxing in my jammies, catching up on blogs, and drinking pumpkin spice coffee.

I have something yummy in the oven for breakfast! Recipe to come. But you know me: it’s simple, healthy, and delicious! That should be my recipe tagline, no?

Today’s agenda:

• YMCA (For a much-needed strength work-out)
• Lunch at an amazing little café.
• Local Library (overdue books, yikes!)
• Homework (I have 3 exams & 2 papers due next week.)

Have a great day loves!

<3 Stefanie

What are your Halloween plans? I’ll be taking my son trick-or-treating and doing some “candy-checks” for sure.