So this is my first attempt or should I say my first month of joining Recipe Redux.  I was following some other dietitian’s blogs and saw they were apart of this site and I thought, “How fun, I gotta join!”  Basically it is a site for members to test their skills and post their own version of a healthier recipe each month according to the voted theme.  This month’s theme is featuring healthy brunch dishes, perfect for graduations, bridal showers, baby showers, etc. 

I decided to go for a Sweet Potato Bacon Egg Cup.  This is super easy and super cute for any party. 

I shredded one large sweet potato in my food processor, almost looks like carrots, or even cheese, eh?

Add a little sweetness with maple syrup! Just a touch really goes a loooong way!

Mold the shredded sweet potatoes into each cupcake well.  They do shrink so don’t be afraid to pack them in there.

Sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamin A, over 400 percent of the daily value to be exact!  They contain only 103 calories for a medium-sized sweet potato. Plus they contain good sources of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, fiber and many other vital nutrients. 

Add egg mixture to the cups and top with bacon and cheese.

I did add real bacon but only two slices that is equivalent to one serving for only 80 calories.  I also added sharp cheddar cheese.  I am a big believer of adding the real stuff but only a little bit . . .  Just chop up the bacon into tiny bits to give the best flavor into each egg cup!

The sweet potatoes sure crisp up very nicely – kinda like a crispy hash brown, yum!

Sweet Bacon Egg Cups  (Makes 12) Inspired/Adapted by Pioneer Women Has Egg In Hash Brown Nests

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, shredded

2 tbsp maple syrup

Dash of salt and pepper, optional

8 large eggs

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

2 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

1/4 cup shredded cheese

Preparation

Grease a cupcake tin with cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 420 degree.  Coat shredded sweet potatoes with maple syrup and salt and pepper  Place 3 to 4 tablespoons of shredded sweet potato mixture into each cupcake well and lightly spray with cooking spray.  Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.  In a bowl beat eggs and add chopped parsley. Pour mixture into each cupcake well.  Top with bacon and shredded cheese. Bake for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Nutrition Facts (per cup): 79 calories; 3 grams fat; 5 grams protein; 5 grams carbohydrates; 0.5 grams fiber

Today we acknowledge  Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day, where people across the world come together to celebrate the joy of food!   Today I am going celebrate food, fun and health with my kids. The kids and I headed to the store and as we were walking in I asked them to find three green foods, two purple/blue foods, two red foods and one orange food.  It was a fun little game for a 2-year-old and five-year-old. We picked up some pineapple, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, blackberries, plums, white peaches, celery, tomatoes, carrots, bananas and of course some other things (cookie ingredients for our garage sale tomorrow).  All three kids were amazingly well-behaved maybe because we play little games or maybe because I warned them before we headed into the store, haha. 

We came home and had an awesome lunch!  The kids tried all the fruits and vegetables we bought, yum!  Even though I dread, yes dread, taking my kids to the store it really helps to get them involved with food.  They were able to choose a variety of healthy foods they wanted to try and willing ate them for lunch! Hooray!

Food at play!

I would like to share an awesome recipe with you today from this week’s post, Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes. I just finished eating the last of them earlier this week and they still tasted delicious!

As my friends were taste testing these cupcakes last week, I told them I totally forgot the cream cheese icing!  But we all agreed they really didn’t need the extra icing so that is why I am leaving them as perfectly as they are . . .

I shredded about four organic carrots in my mini food processor and added pureed pumpkin – this treat is loaded with vitamin A!

They remain extremely moist and perfect for breakfast or snack on-the-go!

Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes (Makes 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup pureed pumpkin

3/4 cup shredded carrots

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning

1 cup white flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preparation

Cream coconut oil and sugar together.  Add brown sugar and white sugar gradually and cream well.  Beat in eggs until fluffy.  Add pumpkin and shredded carrots and combine. Stir in milk and vanilla.  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to creamed mixture.   Place batter in a greased cupcake pan.  Bake at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes.

Nutrition Facts: 90 calories; 2 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrate; 2 gram fiber; 2 grams protein

One thing I have realized after leaving my job is that I miss talking about food/health to others.  At my previous job I used to hold classes and make a meal for 12 to 45 people. During the class I would show them how to make each recipe, talk about products and include a bunch of nutrition tidbits while serving the class.  I was a one-woman show with my head cut off by acting as the dietitian, chef, comedian/entertainer, hostess, waitress and dish-girl.  Through all the hustle and bustle I really enjoyed teaching these classes and I think it showed!  I remember just dropping after each class and sampling the leftovers as I looked onto the giant pile of dishes, but luckily my “high” after each class got me through the dirty work.

My passion for food, well, healthy and simple food is something that I just can’t get enough of so I decided to have a play date with some friends from my daughter’s school.  With seven kids and five mothers I enjoyed every minute of entertaining (and getting to talk about nutrition, thanks friends for listening). I think I enjoyed it more than my daughter!

Here are the moms enjoying some girl time while the kids play!

Of course I wanted to make more recipes but sometimes I forget I have a baby and two busy kids plus a house to clean, haha!  But less is more, right?  I made Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes, Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes and Buffalo Chicken Dip.

I really wanted to include some veggies in the Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes and still make it super yummy so the kids would actually eat them!  I made them the night before and thought they were a flop but somehow they magically turned delicious overnight.  Maybe they were just too hot to taste all the flavors, eh? They are super moist!  I have left them on a plate for about 4 days and they still taste fresh and moist, seriously!  WOW! I can’t wait to share the recipe with you in an upcoming post this week!  Oh and by the way, the kids did eat them.  They did however reach for the chocolate cupcakes first and then ate the pumpkin carrot cupcakes second .

From previous post, I included the Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes on the menu and every kid gobbled them up!

As for the dip I wanted to make a savory Buffalo Chicken dip but I wanted to make it super easy by throwing all ingredients in a crock-pot.  I was very brave and did not test this recipe out before well, now I say brave it was really just lack of time. Thankfully and luckily the dip turned out because I was left with just  a little bowl of leftovers, yay!  The dip was super simple with just a few ingredients: light cream cheese, Greek yogurt, shredded chicken, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, light mayonnaise and a ranch seasoning packet.

I was pretty amazed how delicious the dip tasted.  At first I just thought my friends were being nice by eating it, ha –  I will definitely be making this super easy dip very soon!

Crock-Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients

2 cups shredded chicken

8 oz light cream cheese

6 oz low fat Greek yogurt

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1 packet ranch seasoning dip

1 tbsp hot sauce

1 to 2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending upon how hot you like it!)

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a crock-pot and cook on LOW for 1 hour.

Here are some of the products I used in the dip.  The Simply Organic ranch seasoning was moderate in sodium and I was able to pronounce all the ingredients!  The Greek yogurt add a great source of protein and calcium while adding a wealth of creaminess to the dip.

Now that is my kind of recipe – super simple!  I will warn you to be very careful about the sodium content in hot/buffalo sauces.  Oh my word!  Some sauces contain half of your daily value for sodium in just one serving! I was totally shocked!   Now the serving size is two tablespoons which can be quite a bit of heat for most people.  In this recipe I added only one tablespoon of hot sauce and added some cayenne pepper to finish the kick of the dip without all the sodium.

Moms and kids just eating away!

I enjoyed sharing the recipes with my friends plus I talked about the latest book that I am reading, “The 8-hour Diet.”  I have been doing some research on fasting and the science behind it is pretty interesting.  I will share soon!

Gotta love those little hands digging for more. . . I think each kid left with chocolate lips, so cute!

What a fun day sharing food, fun and friendship! I totally need to do this more, maybe I will make more new friends. 

Ahh . . . chocolate . . . yum . . . chocolate cupcakes – that is just what I was craving!  I was seriously dreaming about this recipe and right when I woke up I put the recipe to the test! Luckily, the recipe worked out and the cupcakes were a hit with every recipe taste tester: friends, kids and hubby! 

So last week we had a little play date with some friends and we brought these cupcakes over to their house.  I literally just pulled them out of the oven and packed the kids in the van.  My daughter carried the cupcakes inside as little snowflakes fell from the May sky. I am so glad there is no more snow!  My friend asked about the cupcakes and as always I say, “They are a bit healthier by cutting down on the fat and sugar.”

I have learned not to go too drastic with ingredients when I want to transform any decadent recipe  into something good-for-you – a little change can really make a difference!

I used dark brown sugar to give a rich sweetness.

I love mini chocolate chips because just a tiny little sweetness can make any baked-good go from ordinary to outstanding! Of course I added a little extra chocolate chips on top and it was perfect!

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes (Makes 18 cupcakes)

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup applesauce

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp mini semi sweet chocolate chips, divided

Preparation

Cream butter, applesauce, sugar and applesauce together.  Add brown sugar and white sugar gradually and cream well.  Beat in eggs until fluffy.  Stir in milk and vanilla.  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to creamed mixture.   Add chocolate chips.  Place batter in a greased cupcake pan. Sprinkle cupcakes with remaining mini chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes.

Nutrition Facts: 113 calories; 3 grams fat; 15 grams carbohydrate; 1 gram fiber; 3 grams protein

By the way . . . you might need to make an extra pot of coffee when enjoying these cupcakes.  I think I made three more pots of coffee the day I made them, oops!

A crazy name for something so simple but to me it reminds me of a dish I made when I was probably thirteen, ah yes, Bubble Pizza!  This was a recipe my sister introduced to me from an old parish cookbook.  I totally forgot about this recipe and decided to put my own twist on this dish by using premade (frozen)whole wheat rolls.  As you can see I cut each roll in quarters.

I always have these whole wheat rolls in my freezer at all times!  I can easily whip up a personal pizza for the kids and I or they make wonderful roll, I love bread!

In a greased pan, place all the little bits of dough in a baking dish and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes.  You may say why not just spread out the dough instead of cutting up the dough, eh?  But, the little bits of dough puff up adding more of that yummy, soft bed of pizza crust heaven!  The sauce dips down in between each bit of dough, ahhh . . . and the pull-apart dough balls are extremely easy to eat!  And yes, I am the one that always finishes up my kids’ (and my hubby’s) pizza crust.

Add any topping you like – I used sweet pepper, mushrooms, spinach and Canadian bacon (very lean).

Place sauce and topping and then add cheese!

Let’s not forget about some nutritional highlights:

• Tomatoes (marinara sauce) contain all four major carotenoids: alpha- and beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene.  Lycopene is a major antioxidant, known to help fight cancers, such as pancreatic and prostate.
• Mushrooms are loaded with nutrients including: B vitamins (riboflavin, niacin), selenium and even vitamin D.  Some studies have shown mushrooms may help reduce the risk of colon and prostate cancer.
• Sweet Peppers are a mere 40 calories per 3-oz serving and 3 grams of fiber!  WOW! Plus 35% vitamin A and 260% vitamin C!  If you don’t care to put them on your pizza they are super tasty for a snack!

Bake at 375 degrees for an additional 10 to 12 minutes or until cheese melts.

A very hearty meal!  My two-year-old son took a bit and then said, “Mmm . . . good Mom!”  My daughter said I was a good food maker! And . . . (drum roll pleeeease!) my husband it was good, too!  He even had a second helping!  What’s not to like, it is pizza!  Just a tad healthier but we don’t have to let anyone know that, hahahaha!

Bubble Pizza

Ingredients

9 whole wheat dough balls, thawed

1/2 cup marinara sauce

10 slices Canadian bacon, optional

1/2 cup diced mushrooms, optional

1/2 cup diced sweet peppers, optional

1/2 cup chopped spinach, optional

1 cup shredded cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.  Cut each dough ball into quarters.  Place dough into a greased baking pan and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and top with sauce, topping and cheese.  Turn oven to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 12 minutes.