Healthy Recipes-Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Although we don't usually consider cookies when we're talking about eating healthy, anyone who's ever been treat deprived knows that they key to success is having a few yummy treats when the cravings hit. These cookies are full of oatmeal and made with white wheat flour. My kids devoured them and had no idea they were even healthy. This will be the only post for this week because I will be out of town. See you next week!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Picture and recipe from My Kitchen Cafe

*Makes about 4 dozen cookies

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

1 ¼ cups sugar

1 ¼ cups butter

3 eggs

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups white wheat flour

2 ½ cups oats (you can use either rolled oats or quick oats - I prefer the texture of quick oats in this recipe)

2 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (you could even use dark chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Cream butter and sugars together. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in dry ingredients and mix well, then stir in chocolate chips. Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto greased (or lined) baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Sincerely,

The Fit Mamas

Healthy Recipes- Garden Style Lasagna

Just because you're eating healthy doesn't mean you can't eat delicious food. I love Recipe Girl's website. She has so many yummy recipes. She has specific sections for Low Carb, Low Fat, and Weight Watchers too. Everything from breakfast to dessert. If you've never tried a veggie lasagna this is a great one!

GARDEN- STYLE LASAGNA
www.RecipeGirl.com

2 cups chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped zucchini (about 8 ounces)
2 cups chopped yellow squash (about 8 ounces)
2 cups thinly sliced carrot (about 8 ounces)
2 cups chopped broccoli (about 6 ounces)
1 tsp salt, divided
½ cup flour
3½ cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
dash of nutmeg
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1½ cups 1% low-fat cottage cheese
2 cups (8 ounces) pre-shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
9 pre-cooked lasagna noodles, divided

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Spoon onion mixture into a large bowl.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and yellow squash; sauté 4 minutes or until tender and just beginning to brown. Add to onion mixture.
4. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced carrot; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add chopped broccoli; sauté 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add to onion mixture. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt; toss well to combine.
5. Place flour in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add ½ cup Parmesan, remaining ½ teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg; stir until smooth. Stir in spinach.
6. Combine cottage cheese and 1½ cups mozzarella; stir well. Spread ½ cup spinach mixture in bottom of 13×9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over spinach mixture in dish; top with half of cottage cheese mixture, then half of vegetable mixture, and about 1 cup spinach mixture. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining spinach mixture on top of noodles; sprinkle with remaining ½ cup Parmesan and remaining ½ cup mozzarella.
7. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Servings: 12

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 286
Calories From Fat (26%) 75
Total Fat 8.32g
Saturated Fat 4.52g
Cholesterol 26.10mgS
odium 704.12mg
Potassium 529.39mg
Carbohydrates 33.45g
Dietary Fiber 2.99g
Sugar 7.77g
Net Carbohydrates 30.46g
Protein 20.01g
WW POINTS: 7
Recipe Source: Adapted from Cooking Light

Sincerely,

The Fit Mamas

Healthy Recipe--Lowfat Oatmeal Banana Bread

I love to bake. It's like therapy for me. Sometimes though, the things we bake aren't the healthiest. Take an innocent sounding recipe like banana bread. For a small slice we're talking anywhere from 200-500 calories and sometimes lots of fat. The solution? If you're trying to watch fat and calories you can almost always find a healthier version that still tastes good. Bonus, this recipe also has good for you oatmeal. I love Joy's description of her banana bread so much, I just pasted her whole post here.

I’d like to introduce you to Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread. If this bread were one of your dear friends from high school, it would be that friend who wore old lady shoes because they were the most practical, and played the trombone, and was the super smart editor of the school newspaper. This bread would be the friend that was super sensible, and sweet and just downright made you feel good about your day.
Go ahead, think of this Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread as your friend… and then it eat. No, there’s nothing weird about that.

This bread is packed full of happy, heart-healthy oats, cinnamon spice and crazy ripe bananas. It’s just the thing to throw together over the weekend, slice up, wrap individually, and freeze for breakfast for the entire week. I just grab a slice from the freezer as I’m running out the door, and by the time I have a chance to eat it, it’s perfectly defrosted. Of course the microwave and toaster oven work wonders too.

Low fat Oatmeal Banana Bread

Joy the Baker

makes 1 loaf of 10 slices, 4 points per slice

- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 3 tsp canola or walnut oil

- 1 large egg, beaten

- 2 medium egg whites, beaten

- 3 large bananas, ripe

- 1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients including the oats and cinnamon.
In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add oil and whole egg and mix thoroughly.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Batter will be fairly thick.
In a medium sized bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until medium stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions.
Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice loaf into 10 equally sized slices.

Sincerely,

The Fit Mamas

Healthy Recipes--Strawberry Banana Protein Shake

I know I've mentioned on my cooking blog that I eat a lot of oatmeal. I really try to keep my breakfasts simple. For me, if I start my day off eating healthy it makes me feel better and motivates me to eat healthy for the rest of the day. Also, I workout first thing in the morning so my breakfast needs to replenish all the calories I've just burned off and fuel my body for the rest of the day. Besides oatmeal another one of my favorite breakfasts is protien shakes. They are quick, filling and delicious. This is one of my favorites. You can vary the fruit and flavor of protien for variety.




Strawberry Banana Protien Shake

1 cup (8 ounces) Light Vanilla Soymilk *see note below*

1 serving protien powder (this varies depending on which protien powder you buy, usually 1-2 scoops) I LIKE CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA

1/2 banana, sliced

1/2 cup frozen strawberries, slightly thawed

1/2-3/4 cup ice



Put all ingredients in blender. Blend until desired consistency is reached. Serve immeadiately.




Approx. Calories : 275


Calories will vary depending on which protien and milk you use




*You can replace the Soy Milk with skim milk, but the Vanilla Flavored Soy Milk adds sweetness.*







Sincerly,

The Fit Mamas