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Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 23 Comments

Remember how I told you I couldn’t get these cookie dough cheesecake bars out of my head?!

A cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a cheesecake, these dessert bars are sure to be a hit!

Well, this past weekend I decided to whip up a batch since I was in change of bringing dessert to our cookout.

I started by making the graham cracker crust.

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Then I made the cookie dough. I added an egg to the cookie dough because it was way to crumbly and not dough like at all. I also reduced the amount of butter because cutting one stick in half is much easier than getting those two extra Tbsps.

DSC 9116Finally, I made the cheesecake filling. At the last minute, I stirred some extra chocolate chips into the filling, just because I love them ๐Ÿ™‚

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Then I spread the cheesecake filling on top of the graham cracker crust and topped it with pieces of cookie dough.

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Into the oven they go and out they come! Lift out the foil and slice into squares.

A cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a cheesecake, these dessert bars are sure to be a hit!A cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a cheesecake, these dessert bars are sure to be a hit!

Since I made a few adjustments to Jamie’s recipe,  below is the recipe I used:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 40 min

Keywords: bake dessert graham crackers chocolate bars

Ingredients (8×8 pan)

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs together and press the mixture into the bottom of the foil-lined pan. Bake for 6 minutes and set aside.

3. In a bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth Mix in the egg, followed by the flour on low speed. Stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Pour the cheesecake batter over the graham cracker crust.

5. Use your hands to form clumps and distribute the cookie dough onto the top of the cheesecake batter.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

7. Lift the bars out of the pan using the foil, slice and serve. Store in the fridge

*These can be served cold or room temperature.

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A cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a cheesecake, these dessert bars are sure to be a hit!A cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a cheesecake, these dessert bars are sure to be a hit!

I ate these warm, room temp and cold and I think cold was my favorite, but they were pretty good at all temperatures ๐Ÿ™‚

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Baking, Dessert

Grilled Quesadillas

May 29, 2011 by Lindsay 6 Comments

Last night I stopped and picked up some burgers for the hubby to grill for dinner. Usually we make our own burgers but we had a long day full of yard work and sometimes pre-made is just the way to go.

I’m not all about beef burgers, so I whipped up a tasty little ‘dilla for myself! And let me tell ya, it was GOOD!

It all started with this corn and black bean salsa I made.

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I made a big batch and took some over to my in-laws for a cookout we were having. My salsa is a bit different every time I make it, but for this batch I used two ears of sweet corn that I cooked on the grill, one can of no-salt added black beans, 2 small tomatoes, about 1/2 c red onion, several Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, the juice of one lime and two jalapenos. Since I made it the night before, it had plenty of time to develop a good flavor…and it was nice and spicy!

When I made my actual dilla, I started with some red pepper avocado slices.

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Then I added some salsa and a little bit of cheese.

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We picked up a new grill pan at Marshall’s this weekend that was much bigger than the one we had and I thought it’d be fun to see if I could grill the quesadilla and give it a nice crunchy crust.

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The result? Delicious! It got a little messy because I don’t put much cheese in my quesadillas so they don’t always stick together as well as they could. But nonetheless, the dilla was darn delicious!

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Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Open Faced Meatloaf Sandwiches

May 23, 2011 by Lindsay 11 Comments

Remember about 8 weeks ago when I spent a morning preparing meals to freeze? Well they’re still serving us well!

On Sunday I pulled a few slices of meatloaf out of the freezer and put them in the fridge to thaw. When I got home from work on Monday, I pulled the slices out and got to work.

Think meatball sub…but with meatloaf…and in sandwich form….

I started by putting the meatloaf slices in a hot pan to help warm them up, while at the same time giving them a nice crispy crust.

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Then I toasted a couple of hamburger buns that I dug out of the pantry and topped one half with a slice of meatloaf.

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I added a little bit of spaghetti sauce and some mozzarella cheese and stuck them in the microwave to melt the cheese.

Ta-da! Meatloaf sandwiches. These are definitely the knife and fork kind of sandwich though, because the meatloaf slices are pretty thick and the spaghetti sauce makes the bun a bit soggy…but it’s a nice contrast to the crispy crust on the meatloaf.

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You can just ignore that green stuff in the background. That’s bok choy, sauteed with some garlic and balsamic vinegar and WAAAAAAY too much red pepper. So much so that it was inedible. Whoops!!

Focus on the sandwich ๐Ÿ™‚

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That’s the good stuff.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Balsamic Grilled Veggies

August 8, 2020 by Lindsay 7 Comments

One of my absolute favorite things about summer is making kabobs on the grill. There’s something about cutting up all of the vegetables that I find very therapeutic. And I love threading them onto the skewers and picking out what pattern they’re going to go in.

Ok, so I may be a little weird….but that’s ok ๐Ÿ™‚

Usually I just put my veggies on plain, drizzle them with olive oil and toss them on the grill. Last night I wanted to change things up a bit, so I decided to make a little marinade.

Of course we were so busy yesterday that I didn’t even think about marinating the veggies until it was already dinner time and the hubby was getting ready to light the grill. Even though I knew I only had about 1/2 an hour, I was still confident I could whip up a quick marinade and give them a good 20 minute soak.

I started by dicing my veggies. Last night’s mix included zucchini, yellow squash, red/yellow/green bell peppers, onion and asparagus. *Side note, this was my first time including asparagus on my kabobs and it was awesome. Cooks perfectly along with the rest of the veggies! After dicing the veggies, I put them in a large tupperware container and added 1/2 c balsamic vinegar, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic and lots of black pepper.

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After putting the lid on and shaking things up, I realized that a ziploc bag would have been a much better choice…..so I transferred them to avoid a balsamic disaster! Every few minutes I tossed the bag around to help coat the veggies.

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Just before the grill was ready, I dumped all the veggies back into the container and threaded them onto the skewers.

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Then I gave them all a nice little sprinkle of McCormick’s Grill Seasoning for some added flavor.

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Then I turned them over to the grill master!

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Balsamic Grilled Veggies

by Lindsay L

Keywords: grill side healthy vegetarian vegetables summer spring

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • black pepper
  • mixed veggies

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Place veggies in a large ziploc bag.

Pour in the marinage and mix well.

Marinate at least 30 min.

Place veggies on skewers and grill to desired doneness.

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While he was busy arranging his hamburgers and the veggies on the grill, I quickly sliced some potatoes, microwaved and seasoned them and popped them on my grill plate to accompany the veggies!

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The veggies had great flavor even after just a quick marinade. If you’re good at planning ahead, give them an even longer soak for a deeper flavor!

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Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Almond Graham Banana Bites

August 8, 2020 by Lindsay 30 Comments

The hubby and I love to buy bananas at the store. The problem is that they seem to change color SO quickly, that if we’re not totally in the mood to eat them, we usually end up with a few brown ones on the counter.

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This is usually fine with me because I love banana baked goods ๐Ÿ™‚ Today, however, when I found myself with several speckled bananas I just wasn’t in the mood for plain old banana bread! Problem.

Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!

I put out a tweet to find out what some of my twitter friends like to make with their bananas. Check out some of these delicious responses:

alicialindsaymariasarah

Can I just say YUMMMMMM to all of that?!

However, even though all of those sounded delicious, they all involved just a bit too much work for my energy level today. After checking out the Epicurious app on my new phone, I settled on frozen banana bites. After checking out the bananas further, I realized the tops of two of them were open and they were all gross inside. Good thing I had another two to work with!

These tasty little treats couldn’t be simpler. Start by peeling your bananas and cutting them into slices. Most of mine were about an inch but this isn’t an exact science!

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Prepare your toppings. I decided to used crumbled graham crackers and almonds. I do love the banana-graham cracker combo. Remember my soft serve? I crumbed a graham cracker into a bowl and roughly chopped some almonds. After mixing the two together I was ready to go.

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Next melt some chocolate. You could use chocolate chips, or bar chocolate like i did. Dip a banana chunk into the chocolate, then use a spoon to spread some chocolate around the sides.

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Stick the chocolate covered side into the bowl of toppings and gently press them into place. Set them on a plate, topping side up.

Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!

Put them in the freezer for a couple hours and voila, dessert is served! The possible toppings for these are endless! Try mixing some peanut butter into your melted chocolate or topping with things like mini m&ms, crushed oreos or butterfingers, shredded coconut or chocolate chips!

Almond Graham Banana Bites

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 5 min

Keywords: raw snack dessert healthy vegetarian banana chocolate graham crackers no bake

Ingredients (variable)

  • bananas
  • dark chocolate
  • graham crackers
  • chopped almonds

Instructions

1. Peel & slice bananas into bite sized pieces

2. Melt chocolate & dip one end of each piece into chocolate.

3. Dip chocolate covered end into chopped almonds and graham crackers.

4. Freeze.

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Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!

Aren’t they just the cutest bite-sized treat?!

Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!Banana slices dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds and graham crackers make a delicious, healthy, kid-friendly snack!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Dessert, Snack

Carnitas Taco Pie

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 10 Comments

Last week while I was reading blogs, I came upon this recipe from Tessa @ Handle the Heat. I’d been looking for something to do with the pork tenderloin I had thawing in the fridge so I thought I’d giving it a whirl using pork instead of beef.

Use the crockpot to cook the pork and this Carnitas Taco Pie comes together in no time!

I made a spice rub using chili powder, cumin and paprika and rubbed it on the pork. Then I seared all sides in a hot pan before transferring it to my crockpot.Then I added lots of garlic (about 4 cloves), 1/2 an onion, a jar of hot salsa and about 2 cups of veggie broth.

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After about 6 hours in the crockpot on low, I removed the pork and shredded it with two forks.

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When it was time for dinner, I decided to use the pork to make a taco pie of sorts. I pulled out a cake pan and greased the bottom. Then I started with a whole wheat tortilla. I added a layer of pork, then topped it with another tortilla. For the next layer I used some leftover corn and black beans, along with a little cheese. Another tortilla, more pork and another sprinkle of cheese and into the oven it went! Since nothing really needed to cook, I just used the oven to melt the cheese and warm everything up. I had planned to add some enchilada sauce as well, but I didn’t have any!

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While the pie was in the oven, I made some fresh guacamole. When we were ready to eat, I cut us each a wedge of pie, and topped them with a blob of guac!

Use the crockpot to cook the pork and this Carnitas Taco Pie comes together in no time!

Carnitas Taco Pie

by Lindsay L

Keywords: slow-cooker bake entree healthy avocado black beans pork

Ingredients (Serves 4)

  • 1.5 lb pork tenderloin
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 c onion, diced
  • 1 jar of hot salsa
  • 2 cups veggie broth (or chicken broth)
  • 3 whole wheat tortillas
  • 1 c black beans
  • 1/2 c corn
  • 1/2 c low-fat Mexican cheese
  • enchilada sauce & guacamole optional

Instructions

1. Mix together the spices and rub all over the pork tenderloin.

2. Sear all sides of the tenderloin in a hot pan with some EVOO.

3. Place the pork, garlic, onion, salsa and broth in a crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.

4. Remove the pork from the crockpot and shred using 2 forks.

5. Grease the bottom of a cake pan and place a tortilla flat against the bottom.

6. Add a layer of pork and top with another toritlla.

7. Add a layer of black beans, corn, 1/4 c cheese and enchilada sauce (if desired).

8. Add another tortilla, more pork and another sprinkle of cheese and place in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

9. Remove from the oven, slice and serve topped with guacamole.

*Notes:

-You may not use all the pork and thatโ€™s ok!

-I think my cake pan was 8 inches and the tortillas fit in there perfectly.

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This was the first time I’d done pork tenderloin in the crockpot and the hubby has since declared that shredded pork is now his favorite way to eat pork and he will no longer eat it any other way ๐Ÿ™‚

Use the crockpot to cook the pork and this Carnitas Taco Pie comes together in no time!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Dinner

Loaded Brownies

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 9 Comments

Recently, my father-in-law found a new job after being out of work for a while. We went out to dinner to celebrate but I wanted to bring him some dessert. He’s a big brownie fan, so that’s where I started…but I knew I wanted to take it up a notch.

He’s also a big of Reese’s peanut butter cups so I decided to go with some sort of peanut butter brownies. After some googling, I found this recipe. I don’t make brownies from scratch all that often so I don’t really have a go to recipe.

I made a special trip to the store to track down some mini Reese’s pb cups. In addition, I decided I didn’t want to put peanuts in the brownies. I was planning to chop up some Snickers and use those instead. However, when I got to the store, Butterfingers were on sale and Snickers weren’t. Annnnnnnd my mind was made up.

I started by making the brownies.

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Two things:
1. I crushed up about 8 fun size Butterfingers and mixed those in just before putting the batter in the pan.
2. Lining your pan with foil when making brownies is pretty much the best idea ever. I’m ashamed to say I’ve never tried it before.

After the brownies cooked, I put them in the freezer to cool. Then I got to work on the peanut butter frosting.

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One thing:
This made A LOT of peanut butter frosting. I ended up only putting about half of it on. Then I threw the rest away. (Remember that…we’ll revisit it later).

Then I started on the chocolate frosting. I spread the chocolate frosting over the pb frosting, topped the brownies with chopped Reese’s and photographed away….

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Now let me let you in on a little secret. I hate tasting things while I’m cooking/baking them. I never eat raw cookie dough. I don’t lick the extra frosting off the mixer beaters. Until recently, I never tasted my sauces while cooking. I just threw everything together and hoped for the best. I can’t really explain why I don’t like tasting things, other than to say that I think I’m so afraid they won’t taste good, that I want to prolong that discovery as long as possible. Weird. I know.

Anyways, as you may have guessed, I didn’t try these brownies, or either frosting, until they were completely assembled. The result? Brownies- great! PB frosting- AMAZING. Chocolate frosting- BARF. The chocolate frosting, if you could call it that, was essentially just butter and cocoa powder, with a little bit of powdered sugar. And let me just tell you…it tasted like straight butter. I gagged a little bit while eating it. Then I went outside and pouted for about an hour.

I was angry with myself for not tasting the frosting earlier. After I regrouped, I came up with a new plan. Remove the chocolate frosting. You’re probably thinking I’m a little bit crazy at this point…and I’d be inclined to agree with you. But I really wanted these brownies to work out. So I plucked all of the chopped Reese’s off the brownies and set them aside. Then I carefully scraped off as much of the chocolate frosting as I could without removing the peanut butter frosting.

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Obviously I couldn’t get it all off….but I did my best. I removed enough that I knew I could just mix the rest into the pb frosting and that would overpower the butter taste. Don’t you think a little of that extra pb frosting that I THREW AWAY would have come in handy right about now? sigh….

Anyways, I wanted to add a little something extra to the top to take away from the fact that it was now kind of a weird light brown color from the mix of tan and brown frostings….so I crushed up a couple more Butterfingers and after putting the Reese’s pieces back on, I sprinkled the whole thing with Butterfingers and voila! Good as new.

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Loaded Brownies

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate peanut butter bars

Ingredients (9×9 pan)

Brownie Layer

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 8 fun size Butterfingers, crushed

Peanut Butter Layer

  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

  • 1 cup Peanut Butter Cups, cut into quarters
  • 2 fun size Butterfingers, crushed.
  • your fav chocolate frosting

Instructions

Brownie Layer

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 X 9 inch baking pan with foil and butter the foil.

2. Melt butter and chocolate in the microwave. Then beat in the sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt

3. Add the flour and stir until combined. Then stir in the Butterfingers.

4. Spread the batter in the prepared pan

5. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes.

6. Cool the brownies to room temperature.

Peanut Butter Layer

1. Using an electric mixer, beat together the peanut butter and 1/4 cup softened butter in medium bowl.

2. Beat in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. The mixture should be very spreadable.

3. Spread over the brownies.

Topping

At this point, either use your favorite chocolate frosting recipe and add a chocolate layer before sprinkling with chopped Reeseโ€™s Peanut Butter Cups, or add the pb cups and sprinkle with crushed Butterfingers.

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My father-in-law texted me the following the next day:

“The brownies are unbelievable!!! Should call them death by peanut butter/chocolate brownies. Too good :)”

And the day after that, he texted me this:

“Your brownies are the best I have ever had ever!”

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You get the idea.

Go make these now.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Shrimp Cobb Salad

May 1, 2011 by Lindsay 17 Comments

I would imagine that most of you who read this blog subscribe to at least one food magazine. Everyone has their favorite. Mine happens to be Cooking Light. It’s like an old friend to me…always there…dependable…never lets me down ๐Ÿ™‚

When I got the most recent issue and saw this Shrimp Cobb Salad on the cover, I knew I had to have it. Sure enough….during my next trip to the grocery store I picked up some frozen, pre-cooked shrimp and got to work.

Here’s my version. Couldn’t be easier! Since the shrimp are already cooked, it comes together in a snap!

I started by sauteing some garlic and onions in a hot pan. Then added some frozen black beans and some leftover chickpeas, along with the shrimp. I seasoned the whole mixture with lots of paprika and a little cayenne pepper. Some Old Bay also would have been delightful!

DSC 9303When everything was warm, I spooned it onto a big plate full of baby spinach.

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I topped the salads with avocado slices, yellow bell pepper strips and some fresh tomatoes!

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Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Mexican Spring Rolls

December 9, 2020 by Lindsay 33 Comments

This week we’re focusing on simple dinners. 1) Because they’ve become a necessity in my life and 2) Because they’re awesome.

In case you haven’t looked at the calendar lately, it’s already May! You know what that means? Cinco de Mayo is coming up! I thought I should whip up a Mexican-inspired recipe to get you guys in the mood.

Last week I threw some chicken breast in the crockpot with some broth and let them cook on low for 6 hours. Then I shredded them with two forks, froze half the chicken and stuck the other half in the fridge. (Side note: Katie calls these chicken boobs. Literally made me laugh out loud when I read her post the other day.)

When I got home from work today, I took some chicken out of the fridge and added some barbeque sauce. Then I pulled some black beans out of the freezer, defrosted them and mixed them with some corn and about 1 Tbsp of chopped cilantro.

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Next, I soaked a spring roll wrapper in warm water until it was soft. Then it was time to build the roll! I started with the bbq chicken, added the corn and beans and topped it off with a little bit of Mexican cheese and some avocado slices. I would have added tomatoes too but I was fresh out! Then I carefully rolled everything up, tucking in the ends as I went.

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Slice in half and enjoy! It’s not the prettiest thing to look at but it sure tasted good. I loved the flavor of the fresh cilantro with the bbq sauce.

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I enjoyed mine with some green beans and an orange….not Mexican in the slightest ๐Ÿ™‚

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These could easily be made with regular tortillas….I’m just kinda obsessed with spring roll wrappers. 

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Granola Cookies

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 20 Comments

Currently I have a bit of a granola surplus on my hands.  I recently took a bit of a hiatus from the grocery store and I ran out of Greek yogurt (my favorite vehicle for enjoying granola) so I knew I needed to get a little creative and use of some of it up in a different way.

For some reason granola cookies sounded SO good. I wasn’t even really sure if that was a thing….but the thought of adding all that crunch to a cookies was intriguing. I did a little googling and came upon this recipe.

I made a few changes, including using sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter, using whole wheat flour, reducing the sugar and butter and adding raisins and chocolate chips.

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You can use whatever kind of granola, nut butter and mix-ins you have on hand!

Here’s what you do:

Cream the butter, sugar and nut butter together until fluffy. Add the baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the egg and vanilla.

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Using a spoon, stir in the flour and granola. Add the dried fruit and other mix-ins and stir until just combined.

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Use a cookie scoop to transfer the dough to baking sheets. Use a fork to flatten the cookies before baking.

Granola Cookies

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 10-12 min

Keywords: bake dessert healthy peanut butter chocolate cookie

Ingredients (3 dozen)

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup nut butter of your choice (sunflower, peanut butter, almond butter)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups granola
  • 1/2 c raisins
  • 1/2 c chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and nut butter until light and fluffy. Add the baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

3. Mix in the egg and vanilla.

4. Stir in the flour and granola. Add the dried fruit and chocolate chips.

5. Using a cookie scoop, drop mounds of dough onto baking sheets.

6. Use a fork to flatten the cookies and bake for 10-12 minutes.

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These Granola Cookies are crunchy, salty and sweet all at once!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Baking, Dessert

Balsamic Onion & Jalapeno Turkey Burgers

August 8, 2020 by Lindsay 21 Comments

So remember when Erica posted these Jalapeno Cheddar Turkey Burgers?

Well, I tried really hard to wait patiently for nice grilling weather so I could make some burgers on the grill….but apparently we’re heading straight into another week of rain, so this weekend I just gave into my craving and made a batch of burgers indoors.

I was drawn to her recipe because I just so happened to have a random jalapeno that needed to to be used up. However, over the past couple of years, I’ve had a few issues with making things so spicy they they are almost inedible. So, I knew I wanted to tone down the spice a bit.

I’ve also been thinking about making burgers stuffed with caramelized onions for a while now. While I didn’t end up doing that exactly, I used that idea to make my own burger.

Here’s what I did:

I diced up about 1/2 c onion and put it in a hot pan. I made sure not to stir it too often so that it started to caramelize.

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After the onions began to caramelize, I added some balsamic vinegar.

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The onions soaked up almost all of the yummy balsamic! I removed them from the pan and set them aside to cool.

Next, I put 1 lb of lean ground turkey in a bowl, added one jalapeno (minced) and two cloves of garlic. When the onions were cool enough to handle, I added them to the bowl along with about 1/4 c shredded low-fat Mexican cheese and some McCormick’s Grill Seasoning.

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When everything was mixed together, I had five nice sized burgers:

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Balsamic Onion & Jalapeno Turkey Burgers

by Lindsay L

Keywords: grill pan sear burger sandwich entree healthy turkey

Ingredients (4-6 burgers)

  • 1/2 c onion, diced
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 jalapeno, minced
  • 1 tsp McCormickโ€™s Grill Seasoning
  • 1/4 c low-fat Mexican cheese

Instructions

1. In a small pan, caramelize the onions. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir to combine.

2. Combine the turkey, onions, jalapeno, seasoning and cheese in a small bowl.

3. Form into 4-5 patties.

4. Cook on the grill or in a pan, top with cheese if desired and serve.

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I cooked them in a pan and topped with some pepperjack cheese when they were almost done. Yes, I tear my cheese to fit the size of the burger. I hate when it drips down over the sides and gets in the pan!

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Now I’ve gotta tell you, my friends, I’m not one to get all that excited about burgers. I don’t eat them if they’re beef and usually when I cook burgers for the hubby I end up eating something else. In fact, the night I made these, I didn’t even eat one. But I did eat one the second night and let me tell you…these are GOOD! I was only planning on eating half a burger along with a bowl of Nutrition Soup, but after I ate the first half, I put that soup right back in the fridge and ate the other half! I love the flavor the onions give them…and the jalapeno gives them a little kick, but not a ton of heat.

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Oh, if you’re wondering why it’s cut up like that, it’s because the hubby informed me -just as I was about to get up and make these burgers that I’d been planning in my head ALL DAY- that he wanted something light for dinner…like tapas. Well, that just wasn’t happening. So cutting his burger into “burger bites” was my solution. Makes the burger seem less overwhelming!

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Serve with some roasted fingerling potatoes and you’re good to go!

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Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Dinner

Goat Cheese, Spinach & Bacon Stuffed Chicken

October 24, 2020 by Lindsay 36 Comments

“The best chicken I’ve had.”

That’s what the hubby said to me last night while eating this. He said “Bean, this is the best chicken I’ve had.” I said, “Ever?” He said, “Yes.”

So there you have it. It’s that good, and it couldn’t be easier. Inspired by this recipe from Tessa that I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks, here’s what I did. I was too lazy at the time to pull up the recipe again….but it turned out just fine ๐Ÿ™‚

I did some prep work in the afternoon, before I left for work. I grabbed a handful of fresh spinach, diced it up and put it in a bowl with a little bit of water. After 2 minutes in the microwave it looked like this:

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I scooped the spinach into a paper towel and wrung out the excess water before returning it to the bowl. Then I added a few tablespoons of goat cheese, and two strips of turkey bacon, diced, that I cooked up on the griddle.

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Mix it all together and set it aside. I had three chicken breasts thawed out in the fridge so I cut slits in the side (kinda difficult since they were thinner than I thought they were!) and divided the mixture between the three breasts.

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I knew I was going to bake these, but I always like to pan sear chicken for a little extra flavor. Bonus this time because, after seasoning with paprika and black pepper, I just plopped them on the griddle I cooked the bacon in for a little more bacon-y flavor. I didn’t even feel bad doing this since turkey bacon makes WAY less grease than regular ๐Ÿ™‚

I put the chicken in a greased, glass baking dish, covered it with foil and stuck it in the fridge. Then the hubby popped it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degress while I was on my way home from work, along with a sweet potato I had diced up! When I got home, dinner was almost ready.

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If you want to be extra fancy, slice it up so it looks pretty…but I’m not gonna lie, I only did this for you guys! Hubby got his piece whole on the plate.

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So there you have it! It’s good stuff, give it a try ๐Ÿ™‚

Goat Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Chicken

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Keywords: bake entree chicken goat cheese spinach

Ingredients (Serves 3)

  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup fresh baby spinach
  • 3 Tbsp goat cheese
  • 2 strips turkey bacon, diced
  • paprika and black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Roughly chop the spinach and place in a small bowl with 1/4 c water. Microwave on high for one minute. Drain excess water.

2. Add the goat cheese and bacon to the bowl with the spinach and stir to combine.

3. Cut a slit in the side of each chicken breast and stuff 1/3 of the mixture inside each one.

4. Sprinkle with paprika and black pepper and sear both sides in a hot pan (Optional: cook in the same pan you cooked the bacon in for added flavor).

5. Transfer the chicken to a greased baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

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Finally, thanks to everyone who commented, texted, tweeted, called and facebooked me a happy birthday!! I had a wonderful day and am lucky to have such great people in my life.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Chicken

The Nutty Pepper Stirfry

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 22 Comments

We all know I’m a big fan of stirfrys. And for some reason, right after I go to the grocery store, I can’t help but crave one! I think it’s because my fridge is stuffed so fun of delicious looking vegetables and they’re all I can really think about eating.

But yesterday I took my stirfry to a whole new level. First of all, I had a plethora of peppers. I picked up a poblano and cubanelle pepper this week just because they looked good….and yellow peppers were on sale for $1 each so you know I buy at least 4 every time I’ve been in the grocery store since that started! Add a red pepper and you’ve got yourself a pepper explosion!

Before I went to work, I chopped up all of my peppers, along with some broccoli, onion, green beans and carrots. I put them in a tupperware with some garlic and threw them in the fridge. Then I sliced up a leftover chicken breast from our weekend grilling. When I got home from work, all I had to do was heat up the pan and toss everything in.

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I wanted to change things up a little bit and a peanutty sauce was sounding really good. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but I thought I’d give it a whirl.

I added 1/4 c peanut butter and 1/2 c vegetable broth to a small pan, along with some soy sauce and ginger and heated it up, stirring until smooth. Then I added a little cornstarch to thicken it up. First taste test? Blah. It definitely needed something else. I added a little more vegetable broth, a pinch of brown sugar and a splash of orange juice and voila! Deliciousness.

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You could also pour the sauce over the stirfry before serving, but I’m a control freak when it comes to sauces so I like to serve mine on the side.

After the veggies cooked to crisp tender, I added the chicken to warm it up. I also added some chopped cashews for a nice nutty crunch!

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Serve the stirfry over brown rice and top with peanut sauce.

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I didn’t really measure stuff as I was adding it to the sauce, but here’s my best guess as to the amount of each ingredient I used:

Nutty Pepper StirFry Sauce

by Lindsay L

Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients (1 cup)

  • 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
  • 3/4 c low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp orange juice
  • 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until thickened.

Serve over stirfry.

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Enjoy!

–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Loaded Spinach Salad

November 7, 2013 by Lindsay 26 Comments

This, my friends, is TBS.

The. Best. Salad.

EVER!

Actually, it’s so good that I’ve eaten it for dinner two nights in a row. That’s right. The exact same salad. And quite honestly, I’ll probably eat it again tonight. What can I say…I’m a creature of habit. In fact, if it weren’t for my hubby, I wouldn’t have a food blog…because I’d just eat the same four things over and over…and no one wants to see that. So for his sake (and yours!) I usually try to get a little more creative in the kitchen.

BUT since the hubby has been busy with work for the past few nights, I’ve allowed myself the indulgence of repetitive eating ๐Ÿ™‚

So let’s build this salad, shall we?

Start with about 2 cups of baby spinach. Add 1/2 c quinoa. Then pile on the toppings. This should include, but is not limited to:
-strawberries
-red peppers
-apples
-red onions (forgot these the first night!)
-roasted sweet potato

Top with sesame ginger dressing and dig in!

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Lather, rinse, repeat for night 2!

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I enjoyed the other half of my red pepper and the other half of my apple on the side each night! Protein, veggies and fruit- oh my! There’s not a single thing about this salad that I don’t LOVE ๐Ÿ™‚

So tell me, what’s your absolute favorite salad topping?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

2 Hours of Food Prep on a Sunday

October 26, 2020 by Lindsay 32 Comments

This is what two hours in the kitchen on a Sunday morning can get you:

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That would be 10 meat muffins, 6 turkey burgers, 1 pan of lasagna (baked in 3 individual pans) and 2 containers of spaghetti sauce.

Also known as “what the hubby will be eating on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings for the next several weeks.”

Spring quarter starts today, and since I’ll now be gone on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I knew I needed to prepare some simple meals for the hubby…unless I was ok with him eating an entire frozen pizza two nights a week! That doesn’t exactly jive with my “Dietitian in training” status so I got to work.

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I started with the meatloaf and the turkey burgers. Since they have pretty similar ingredients, it was easy to make them at the same time. I opted to cook the meatloaf in muffin form to make it easy to store in individual batches.

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While those were cooling, I got to work on the meat sauce for the lasagna. As usual, I added a ton of vegetables and garlic. After they had been sauteing for a while,  I added two big cans of no-salt-added crushed tomatoes and a can of no-salt-added fire roasted diced tomatoes to the pan.

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While the sauce simmered, I cooked the lasagna noodles and mixed together the frozen spinach and ricotta cheese. I had to trim each noodle by about 2 inches so that they would fit in the disposable pans I bought, but I knew it would be a lot easier to store the three separate pans than it would be to make room for an entire pan of lasagna in my freezer. I essentially put one “row” of my typical pan of lasagna in each container.

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I covered each one with foil and into the oven they went for 30 minutes. Once everything was cooled, I got it ready for the freezer. I wanted to divide everything into typical “dinner portions” for the hubby so I paired the turkey burgers and split the meat muffins into 3, 3 and 4. This will make it easy for me to simply grab a bag out of the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge so that all the hubby has to do is heat it up. For the lasagna, I can take out on pan at a time and he can eat half for dinner and the other half for lunch.

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I divided the remaining sauce into two tupperware containers so I can just pull one out and defrost it for an easy spaghetti dinner during the week!

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Later in the afternoon, I did some more prep work. I cooked a big batch of quinoa to eat throughout the week and I roasted a couple cans of chickpeas (one of my favorite snacks!) so that I could pack them to munch on between classes.

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Last week, I saw Heather’s post for Crunchy Green Split Peas and I was immediately intrigued. I’ve never cooked split peas myself and have no conscious memory of ever eating them…although I suspect my mom probably made them when I was younger…but they’re packed with protein and fiber so I decided to give them a try. Like lentils, you don’t have to soak them- just rinse them off, put them in a pot with some water and let them simmer for 20 minutes or so. Since I was already roasting the chickpeas, I decided to do the same to the peas. I patted them dry, sprayed them with olive oil and seasoned them, then stuck them in the oven at 400 degrees F, stirring them every 10 minutes or so until crunchy.

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The result? They’re good! I saved half of them after cooking so I can try them non-roasted. I’ll have to get back to you on my opinion.As for the roasted kind? Perfect to munch on mixed with my chickpeas.

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If you close your eyes and use your imagination, they taste just like candy buttons. Remember those?!

candy

Ok, so not exactly….but the size and shape are dead on!

So there you have it! I’m ready to face this quarter head on ๐Ÿ™‚ Now you tell me- have you ever had split peas? What’s your favorite way to eat them?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Homemade Wheat Thins

February 23, 2015 by Lindsay 45 Comments

An easy, homemade version store-bought Wheat Thins!

**Pictures updated 2/2015**

Over the weekend I made a batch of Homemade Wheat Thins thanks to a deliciously simple recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. They were simple to make and taste even better than store-bought! If you’re a cracker lover like me, give them a try!

These easy, homemade Wheat Thins taste even better than store bought!

 

What’s your favorite cracker? Have you ever tried to make it at home?

Enjoy, my friends!
–Lindsay–

 

Filed Under: Snack

Curried Turkey & Lentil Burgers

December 9, 2020 by Lindsay 18 Comments

Ever since Kerstin posted these Indian Saag Naanburgers about a month ago, they’ve been lurking in the back of my mind. I had some ground turkey in the fridge that was ready to be used today, so I started brainstorming.

I thought about an Indian Turkey & Lentils dish that I made a few weeks ago and thought it might be fun to use 1/2 the package of turkey and then add some lentils to the burgers.

Then I remembered these Sweet Potato & Pecan Burgers that I also had bookmarked from Cooking Light. I pulled them up to refresh my memory and realized that they actually got pretty bad reviews, especially for a Cooking Light recipe! But still, I believed I could incorporate some sweet potatoes into my burgers. I mean, curried roasted sweet potatoes are one of my favorite things after all!

So off I went to the kitchen to attempt to combine those three recipes!

I started by cooking the lentils. While they were simmering, I put the turkey in a large bowl with some garlic. I microwaved a large sweet potato and scooped half of it into the bowl. I added some spices,  panko, onion and some Chobani. Finally, I threw in the lentils. Then I dug in, mixed everything together and formed some patties!

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I stuck them in the freezer for about 45 minutes, pan seared them on both sides and popped them in the oven. See my handy dandy thermometer?!

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I topped the burgers with some pepperjack cheese and a tomato slice.

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The results?! Good!  After reading the reviews of the sweet potato burgers, I was worried that these would be soft and mushy. If you’re comparing them to straight meat burgers they are definitely softer, but considering the ingredients, they turned out better than I expected. The pan searing gave them a nice brown outside. I baked them because I was worried they would fall apart if I flipped them too often in the pan, but I think they would have been fine. Next time I’m going to try pan searing them the whole way….or maybe grilling them if I get brave!

I thought about making the saag topping, but got lazy. However, I told the hubby about it and he thought he would enjoy it so I’ll definitely add that next time! You could also add more spices to the burgers, perhaps some paprika or  even some bbq sauce?!

Curried Turkey & Lentil Burgers

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 45 min

Cook Time: 20 min

Keywords: bake pan sear sandwich entree burger healthy lentils turkey Indian

Ingredients (6-8 burgers)

  • 1/2 lb ground turkey
  • 1/2 large sweet potato
  • 1/2 c cooked lentils
  • 1/4 c onion, diced
  • 1/2 c panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 c Chobani non-fat Greek yogurt
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Stab sweet potato with a fork all over. Microwave on high for 5-6 minutes. Cut in half length-wise and let cool.

2. Add turkey, lentils, onion, garlic & half the sweet potato to a large bowl.

3. Add spices, panko and yogurt.

4. Using your hands, mix everything together and form into patties.

5. Place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.

6. Choose desired cooking method. Pan sear or grill until turkey is cooked through, or pan sear on both sides and bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

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Best part? Leftovers for lunch!

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What’s the most creative burger you’ve ever made?!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Tex Mex Barley Bake

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 12 Comments

 

A few weeks ago, I came across a recipe for a Tex Mex bake that involved barley in the March issue of Rachel Ray’s Magazine. I’d been thinking about using barley as my pick of the week for a a couple weeks and this seemed like a good way to ease into it since the hubby adores Mexican.

I wasn’t totally digging Ray Ray’s version because it had snap peas in it, which I’m all about, but not in a dish like this…I also had 1/2 lb ground turkey that I needed to use up, so I made my own version.

Here’s what you do:

Start by cooking your turkey with some garlic, onion, mushroom and green pepper. Then add some black beans, tomato and corn. I seasoned the mixture with cumin and cayenne pepper.

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While that’s cooking, cook your barley. I found quick-cooking pearl barley at my grocery store and decided it would be perfect. Just boil water, add and let simmer for 10 minutes.

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Add your barley to the meat mixture and remove from heat. Then, melt 1 Tbsp butter in a pan and add 2 Tbsp flour. Whisk together for 1 minute, then add some warm milk. Bring to a simmer, then added some shredded pepperjack cheese and stir until melted. Then add the cheese mixture to the meat mixture. I used 1 1/2 c milk and about 1 1/2 c cheese, which is a reduced amount compared to what Rachel used. I didn’t even end up using all of that once I had the cheese mixture made. It’s up to you how cheesey you want to make it. I probably would have been fine with about 3/4 c milk and 1 c cheese.

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Transfer the mixture to a baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover, top with crumbled tortilla chips and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

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Tex Mex Barley Bake

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 15 min

Keywords: bake saute entree healthy ground turkey barley black beans Mexican

Ingredients (Serves 4)

  • 1/2 lb ground turkey
  • 1/2 c green pepper, diced
  • 1/2 c mushroom, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 c onion, diced
  • 1 can (no salt added) or 1 1/2 c black beans
  • 1 medium tomato, diced
  • 1/2 c no salt added corn
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 c cooked barley
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 3/4 c skim milk, warmed
  • 1 c pepperjack cheese, shredded
  • tortilla chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine garlic, onion, green pepper, mushroom and turkey in a large skillet over medium heat.

3. Add black beans, corn and tomatoes and cook until turkey is cooked through.

4. Cook barley according to package directions and add to meat mixture.

5. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and whisk for 1 minute.

6. Slowly add milk and bring to a simmer.

7. Add shredded cheese, stirring until melted.

8. Pour cheese mixture over meat mixture and stir to combine.

9. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

10. Remove foil, top with tortilla chips and return to oven for 10 minutes.

11. Serve warm.

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I served mine with roasted balsamic asparagus for the hubby and sauteed balsamic kale for me!

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Serve with extra chips, or over extra chips like taco salad:

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In conclusion, the hubby would like you to commiserate with him because he has consumed almost his entire Costco-sized bottle of Cholula. Waa waa….

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So tell me, are you a hot sauce fanatic?

Hope you guys enjoy this recipe. I thought it was delicious and I’m sure the hubby will be eating the leftovers in a taco for lunch tomorrow ๐Ÿ™‚

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reader Request: Banana Cookies

August 10, 2020 by Lindsay 11 Comments

Hold on to your socks, folks! Because this recipe could possibly knock them right off!

My friend Sarah told me via The Lean Green Bean facebook page that she was looking for a recipe for banana cookies. She told me they could have peanut butter and chocolate chips and even oats! I personally love banana baked goods. I’m constantly making banana bread and banana muffins, but i’d never tried cookies before so I was super excited. The hubby, however, was not so excited. He doesn’t like banana baked goods. In fact, he’s requested that I place a moratorium on reader requests for anything banana.

You know what that means? Keep them coming!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyways, I began my cookie quest by doing a little google research. As usual, I couldn’t find anything that was striking my fancy….so after getting the basic idea, I did my own thing.

They turned out great! So here’s what you do:

Start with your butter and sugar:

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Look who I caught sneaking in for a taste:

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Add your egg, bananas, peanut butter and vanilla. My bananas were super soft so I didn’t even bother mashing them first. I made these last week and wanted to make sure there were still some left on Superbowl Sunday so Sarah could taste the finished product. To make sure this happened, I waited until Thursday to make the cookies and my bananas were ready to use on Monday. Hence, my bananas were super speckly. But that’s fine, perfect for baking:

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Stir in your dry ingredients and add your chocolate chips:

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Scoop them onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes.

DSC 7639While Poco likes to sneak in during the baking process, Marcus prefers to just wait until the cookies are baked before he tries to steal one. They keep me on my toes:

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Banana Cookies

by Lindsay L

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 12-14 min

Keywords: bake dessert healthy banana chocolate peanut butter

Ingredients (approx 30 cookies)

  • 1/2 c peanut butter
  • 1 egg
  • 2-3 mashed bananas (about 3/4 c)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 c white sugar
  • 1/4 c brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 c oats
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 c chocolate chips
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 c whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 c AP flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugars. Add the egg, peanut butter, vanilla and bananas and mix until well combined.

3. Mix in flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and oats until just combined.

4. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Scoop onto cookie sheet at bake 12-14 minutes.

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The result? Delicious. The only things I might recommend are that if you really want the peanut butter taste to come through, add a bit more. It’s pretty faint in this version. And don’t add too many chocolate chips because they can overpower the taste of the bananas.

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So tell me, do you like banana baked goods?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Homemade Nutrigrain Bars

June 25, 2021 by Lindsay 44 Comments

Normally I’m pretty good at managing my time. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say I’m great at it. I’m a  busy girl, and I do a pretty good job of getting everything done on time, and in an organized fashion.

I’m also slightly obsessive. Obsessive compulsive when it comes to things like checking three times in a row to make sure my alarm is set, or that I did in fact put my keys in my bag. Other times I get obsessive about ideas. Like the time I decided, despite the fact that I had just started 3 weeks of vacation, that my office need to be cleaned and organized at one o’clock in the morning. Or the time I decided I needed to scrapbook an entire year of  photos in 2 days. Or the time I found a wallet that I was in love with but was too cheap to pay for and I decided I needed to find one at half the price they were selling it in the stores. You get the idea…

So yesterday, when I decided that I HAD to make homemade nutrigrain bars, nothing was going to stop me. Did I have other things I should have been doing instead? Yes. Do I have a huge biochem test next week that I should be studying for? Absolutely. Am I supposed to be writing a dietary menu for a renal patient and doing a 9 page case study for my practicum? Yep. Did any of that stop me? Absolutely not.

It all started on the bus ride back to my car after class. I don’t usually eat Nutrigrain bars because they higher in sugar and they have a super long list of what I view as unnecessary ingredients. But occasionally I buy them for the hubby because he likes to have things to snack on. Yesterday I was a little out of sorts and running behind and I grabbed one of the bars on my way to class. As I sat there on the bus eating it, I started thinking about fig newtons. And how they were sort of similar. And how I loved them as a kid. And how I want to try this recipe for them. Sidetracked.  And how I loved them. See what I mean about being out of sorts? What it boils down to is that I decided that I was quite capable of making my own version of homemade nutrigrain bars and that’s what I spent my evening doing. (After I took a 3 hour nap because I am feeling pre-sick and am trying to fend it off…but let’s not talk about that).

After doing some googling and not finding any recipes that I deemed super healthy, I made up my own but these two gave me a starting point: Jenna’s Fig Newtons and Carrie’s Almost Nutrigrain Bars.

Here’s what I came up with:

Combine some greek yogurt and brown sugar. Add an egg and some vanilla. Stir in some flour and oats, baking powder,  baking soda and cinnamon.

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Freeze the dough for a little bit and then press it out into nutrigrain sized rectangles (Yes I’m aware that that’s not very precise…deal with it!) Use a knife to cut off the scraggly edges.

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For my fruit filling, I used the leftover blackberry jam I made back in December when I was making these blackberry oatmeal bars and had stored in the freezer until now.

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You could also make your own by mixing some frozen berries with a little bit of sugar and letting it boil away ๐Ÿ™‚ Or just use store bought.

Spread some fruit on the rectangles, fold the dough over the top and pinch the seams to seal.

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Bake and enjoy! I literally closed my eyes when I opened the oven because I was afraid the blackberries would have leaked out everywhere, but they didn’t! This was as bad as it got!

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I did learn, however, that if you’re going to put a little dough patch over a place where the dough split when folding, you should spend a little time making it blend in instead of just slapping it on there, or it will look like a tumor after baking:

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The result? They’re not bad guys! Considering I didn’t use any butter or oil and very little sugar! They puffed up a bit more than i thought they would, but that’s ok. I thought I was putting too much filling in, or that the filling would be too watery but it stayed put! The shell is chewy. It’s been my experience that using greek yogurt in baking makes things chewy. And the shell doesn’t have as much flavor as if I had used some butter or a little more sugar, but i’m used to doing that with my baking so it tastes pretty good to me!

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[print_this]

Homemade Nutrigrain Bars

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c oats
1/2 c plain Chobani greek yogurt
1 egg
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1) Mix the yogurt and brown sugar on medium for 1 minute.
2) Add the egg and vanilla.
3) Stir in the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
4) Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 30 min.
5) Divide the dough in half, put half back in the dough back in the freezer.
6) Roll or press the dough into a rough rectangle. Trim off the sides and cut into squares that are approximately 3 or 4 inches by 4 inches.
7) Spoon some fruit onto the square, fold dough in half and press seams to close.
8 ) Repeat with the rest of the dough.
9) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

*Makes 8-9 bars

[/print_this]

So tell me, how would you tweak this recipe but still keep it healthy?!

DSC 7833DSC 7834

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

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Lindsay Livingston The Lean Green Bean Healthy Living Tips and Tricks

I'm a Registered Dietitian and mom of three from Columbus, Ohio. I use this blog to share simple, healthy recipes, nutrition tips, and an honest glimpse of motherhood!

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