A Sweet Ending

To end a long and hard week of school, I decided to make a delicious dessert recipe.  I chose to make a low calorie vanilla cupcake with rasberry frosting.  This cupcake contains a mere 79.6 calories, whereas the typical cupcake has 179!  Thats 100 calories less.  This recipe uses egg whites, salt, honey, vanilla extract, Greek yogurt, whole wheat flour, baking powder, low-fat cream cheese, and fresh rasberries.  This cupcake is the perfect ending to any meal, especially a party or game-day meal.  They are extremely easy to eat when on the go because they are small and simple to eat and make.  I recommend this recipe to everyone!

After researching for several weeks, I have learned that greek yogurt is a healthy ingredient to incorporate into cooking.  It is extremely low in calories, and extremely high in protein.  I am going to continue looking for recipes in that I can use greek yogurt to lower the calories and increase the nutrients and protein.

This weekend I am going to research and relax.  It has been a very busy week, and next week I will continue cooking new recipes to add to my final cookbook!

RANDOM FACT: Eighteen ounces of an average Cola drink contain as much caffeine as a cup of coffee.

Nacho Average Meal

Today was another very busy day for me!  I have been studying for my midterms coming up this week as well as cooking more recipes for my final healthy alternatives cookbook.  Today, I chose to make healthy nachos.  I am still going with the theme of game-day food and finger foods.  These nachos had all the same taste as the fatty and oily nachos you can find at any game or restaurant.  This recipe called for baked tortilla chips, veggie chili, salsa, soymilk, fat-free cheddar cheese, The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese, fat-free cream cheese, and fat-free sour cream.  Within 20 minutes I was done! Quick, easy, and healthy.  What could be better?  This recipe has about 216 calories, compared to the 440 calories found in the average order of nachos.  I was very pleased with the outcome of this recipe!

As part of my WISE project, I have vowed to make my lifestyle healthy, not only by eating, but also by exercising, and researching the benefits of different foods.  So far, I have been very consistent with running or going to the gym to keep my body healthy.  Today, I had my trainer and learned new ways to use weights to tone different parts of my body.  I loved it!

As for now, I am going to go continue studying for my midterms coming up this week.

RANDOM FACT: On the average, each American Consumes 117 pounds of potatoes, 116 pounds of beef, 100 pounds of fresh vegetables, 80 pounds of fresh fruit, and 286 eggs per year.

Layer Off The Calories!

This week I am creating a variety of foods that are perfect for game days.  They are all finger foods, and can be enjoyed by many people.  Today, I decided to start with the traditional mexican eight-layer dip.  When I found this recipe online, I knew that it was perfect because usually it is layered with calories and fat, but not this one.  For this recipe, I used lettuce, fat-free sour cream, heated black beans, butternut squash cubes, tomatoes, onion, red pepper, veggie shreds, taco seasoning, and lime juice.  For the meat component of this dish, I used a BOCA burger to keep the calories from building up.  For one cup of this dip, there are only 100 calories! It's a great and easy way to start a party. 

This week I have been researching various components of the food pyramid.  The recently updated food pyramid incorporates all food groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and meat and beans.  This pyramid ensures that by eating the correct amount of servings, you will have a healthy and balanced diet.  Not only does this pyramid discuss the appropriate amount of servings one should consume, but it also depicts a ladder running up the side.  This symbolizes the importance of daily exercise, for at least 30 minutes per day. 

Today, I turned in my WISE midterm video, so hopefully it went well!  For the rest of midterm week I am going to continue making recipes that can be considered "finger foods" and great for company or game day!

RANDOM FACT: Apples are more efficient than coffee at keeping people awake in the morning.

Busy Busy Busy...

To wrap up my busy week of cooking, I decided to end with a sweet treat!  Using regular oats, I made oatmeal raisin cookies.  Among all kinds of cookies, these have long been my favorite, minus the heavy calories, of course.  But, the cookies I made today have less than half the amount of calories and fat that the regular ones have.  I used regular oats, whole-wheat flour, raisins, brown sugar, Splenda, light whipped butter, applesauce, egg whites, vanilla extract, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  With these ingredients there is a mere 125 calories in one LARGE cookie!  Compare that to the average 296 calories!  These cookies tasted amazing.  When I distributed them to my family, I had some requests to make the cookies without the raisins.  So, next time I will make a batch of half and half: half with raisins and half without.

Not only have I been deliberately working on my recipes and research, but I have also been busy working on my WISE midterm.  For the class, we are required to make a 2.5 minute video that gives an overview of my project.  I don't make movies on the computer often so this has been relatively challenging for me.  I have been actively trying to figure out the details of how to use the movie maker program.  However, after working on it for hours, I think I finally got the hang of how it works.  Hopefully the final project turns out well! 

For now, I am going to continue working on my video so I can have it ready on time.  This weekend I am going to continue brainstorming recipes, specifically finger foods!  Stay posted to see what I come up with!

RANDOM FACT: I bet you didn't know that the world's oldest recipe is for beer!

Nuts About Healthy Eating

Today has been another successful day of my WISE experience!  Going along with my current week's theme of nuts and grains, I decided to make a loaf of banana-nut bread.  Banana bread is a quick bread whose main ingredient is mashed bananas.  This tasty treat did not become popular until around the 1930s, the same time that housewives accepted baking powder as a fast leavening ingredient for quick breads.  Banana nut bread is especially popular among the people of Australia.  Because I have always loved the taste (not the loads of fat) of banana nut bread, I decided to bake a healthier version that I found through my research.  This recipe has only 140 calories and 5 grams of fat, whereas the original banana nut bread has 430 calories and 16 grams of fat!  I used whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, sugar, canola oil, egg whites, bananas, skim milk, vanilla extract, and walnuts.  If you prefer pecans, those have relatively the same nutritional information as the walnuts.  After about an hour and a half, I was ready to eat this bread.  Not only is this version much healthier and diet-friendly, but it is also much tastier!

I wanted to make a banana bread that had nuts in it because nuts, when consumed in the right quantities, have many nutritional benefits.  They have an excellent source of protein, minerals, and good fats that have been proven to help strengthen the heart.  By eating 1.5 ounces per day of nuts, one can reduce the risk of heart disease.  According to my research, the six healthiest nuts include: walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, and Macadamia nuts.  Of all that were listed, cashews contain the least amount of fat.  By eating a variety of nuts, one can receive all of the benefits that nuts have to offer.  After researching for hours about the benefits of nuts, I realized that this high-calorie snack has many benefits, and by eating the right amount, it won't hinder my weight loss.

RANDOM FACT: Surprisingly, a peanut is not actually a nut.  It is a legume!

Back on Track

It has been quite a while since the last time I blogged! But, I am now back from spring break and had an amazing time.  I started off my break on a cruise with my 6 best friends.  We went to the Bahamas and the boat's private island.  Even though it was only a 3 day cruise, we had so much fun!  After we got off of the ship, I drove up to Jupiter, where my grandparents live.  My entire family from my mom's side flew down and we all celebrated my grandmother's 80th birthday together.  I enjoyed relaxing and being with my friends and family.  Even though it was spring break, I continued to exercise and eat healthy (for the most part).  But now, it's time to get back on track and continue thinking up new recipes to add to my final recipe book. 

This week, I decided to ease into the cooking again by making a healthy snack that can be eaten at any time throughout the day! One of my favorite foods to eat on the go or mix with yogurt for breakfast is granola; however, the store-bought granola is often high in calories and fat.  So, I did my research and found the perfect recipe that is less than 1/4th of the calories.  For this recipe, I needed old-fashioned oats, puffed rice cereal, puffed wheat cereal, sugar-free pancake syrup, and bite-sized freeze-dried apples.  After baking the mixture in the oven for about 30 minutes, I let it cool, and finally I was able to eat it.  It was one of the best granola's I have ever had.  The only thing I would do differently next time is add a dash of cinnamon.  Other than that, it was delicious!  This recipe has a mere 165 calories and 1 gram of fat for 1 cup, whereas regular granola has over 518 calories and 27 grams of fat in 1 cup.

This week I am going to explore different grains and nuts.  Stay posted to find out about my weekly research and two more new and exciting recipes!

RANDOM FACT: Many people think that eating late at night is what packs on the pounds...it doesnt! In fact, it is consuming too many calories during the day that will hinder your weight loss.  So just make sure that the amount of calories you consume is less than the amount you burn.

Cleaned Up American Classic

Spring break is finally here and I am going to be spending it on a cruise with 6 of my best friends! But, before I leave I had to cook my third and final recipe of the week.  I made an American classic dessert - apple pie.  This recreation of the normally fattening dessert is so delicious and even more convenient! They are pie-lets, making portion size much easier to control, and much easier to eat.  For this recipe I used Splenda, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract, salt, apples, and fat-free butter spray.  Also, for my crust, I used large square egg roll wrappers.  These are great because they are extremely low in calories and fat and taste just as good as pie crust!  This turned out to be my favorite dessert that I have made thus far in my WISE journey! It has only 103 calories in each pie!  Compare that to the average apple pie with 250 calories.  I recommend this recipe to everyone!

Reflecting on the week, I would say that it has been a successful week of tasting cultures around the world.  From the Mexican guacamole, to the Chinese sesame chicken, and ending up right at home with the American apple pie, everything tasted delicious! Also, the research that I have found will help me gain better insight and give me more motivation for making this cookbook the best and most useful it can be. 

As for now, I am going to go pack for my cruise!  In the next week although it is spring break, I am going to continue thinking of new recipes and of course my exercise and healthy eating will continue as well.  I will write more when I return from vacation!

RANDOM FACT: Whenever you can, order a children's meal at a restaurant to help you with portion control!

Too Chicken To Try It?

Today I cooked a Chinese-inspired dish: sesame chicken.  Every time I eat at a Chinese restaurant, I always order this for my dinner.  Little did I know this chicken dish has an average of 393 calories per serving!  The recipe that I cooked has only 288.  It cuts out more than 100 calories and 10 grams of fat.  In order to make this chicken, I used a boneless, skinless, lean chicken breast, salt and pepper, egg whites, whole-wheat flour, chicken broth, corn starch, syrup, vinegar, ketchup, sesame oil, garlic, and soy sauce.  This dish was relatively easy to put together, although it took me a few minutes to get the hang of it.  Once it was finished and I was able to try it, I was shocked at how good and authentic it tasted! The sesame chicken was definitely a success!

Along with cooking this week, I have also begun new research for my own knowledge.  Because my project deals with eating healthy and losing weight, I thought it would be interesting for me to research different eating disorders.  Many people feel that in order to lose weight they have to starve themselves, work out excessively, or regurgitate the food that they consume.  These describe the two major and most-common eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulemia nervosa.  Eating disorders disrupt normal body functions and daily activities.  According to my research, the main causes of eating disorders are as follows: culture, personal characteristics, emotional disorders, stressful events or life changes, biology, and family.  These disorders are serious and should be treated by professionals. 

The goal of my project is to provide healthy alternatives to foods that are generally restricted on a diet.  It is also to allow people to enjoy food that they wouldn't normally consider so that they don't have to resort to the horrors of eating disorders. 

RANDOM FACT: Add spices to your food to keep it flavorful and to keep you satisfied!

Tastes of the World

Another weekend has come and gone so quickly, and it is time to get started again with my cooking.  For this week, I have chosen to create specific dishes that represent different regions of the world.  For my appetizer, I looked to Mexico for a Hispanic dip: guacamole.  For my main dish, I am going to cook a healthy sesame chicken, an indigenous food to China.  And finally, for dessert I am going to stay right at home and bake a classic apple pie.  I chose to try recipes from different parts of the world because it increases the variety of the foods in my cookbook.  I also enjoy traveling, and while I am home and in school, this is the closest thing to traveling I am going to do. 

Today I started out with the guacamole and chips.  This recipe was extremely simple, and is a much healthier alternative to any other guac and chips that you will find.  The average serving contains about 350 calories and 21 grams of fat.  This recipe, however, has only 160 calories and 4 grams of fat.  For the dip, I used corn, peas, avocado, fat-free Greek yogurt, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper, tomatoes, cumin, chili pepper, and onion.  And for the chips I used corn tortillas and salt.  Although the recipe calls for a lot of ingredients, it is extremely simple to make.  This Mexican dip proved to be a real hit!

For the rest of the week I am going to continue cooking tastes from around the world.  I am also going to continue exercise as well as research more on weight loss.  Stay posted to see the sesame chicken dish!

RANDOM FACT: Before eating, consider whether or not you are truly hungry.

All You Need Is Lava...

After watching the Food Network Channel everyday, I finally found a recipe that I had to make healthier: chocolate lava cake!  Although this hot and gooey cake tastes incredible when you order it at a restaurant, it tastes even better at home.  This is because it has about one-fourth of the calories, and all the taste.  For this recipe, I used moist-style cake mix, diet hot chocolate mix, egg whites, semi-sweet chocolate chips, Splenda, salt, fat-free chocolate pudding, fat-free creamer, and light whipped butter.  The recipe made four individual lava cakes, each containing only 182 calories and 4.5 grams of fat! Compare that to the average lava cake that has 437 calories and 23 grams of fat.  Luckily, now eating this cake doesn't mean sacrificing your diet. 

As part of my research this week, I interviewed one of my closes friends, Karli.  I chose to interview her because recently she has lost several pounds simply by dieting and exercising.  She cooks dinner most nights with her parents, and through her weight loss journey has learned important tips for cooking healthy meals and ordering slimming dishes from restaurants.  As Karli shows by her daily eating habits, losing weight does not mean eating less.  Karli consumes about 240 calories every three hours to keep her metabolism working at a rapid pace, and to keep her from getting too hungry throughout the day.  She also emphasizes her belief that everything is okay to eat as long as you do so in moderation.  The major foods among teens that Karli feels are directly related to weight gain are alcohol and fast foods.  Karli was able to give me a perspective on losing weight from someone my own age, giving me more direction when researching weight loss and chosing what foods to cook.

This weekend I am going to continue cooking and researching as always.  I also plan on continuing my workout routine of running and going to the gym.  But for now, I am going to go enjoy my hot and gooey chocolate lava cake!

RANDOM FACT: When using various spreads, such as honey, it is best to use a runny spread so you will be able to spread it more thinly, and therefore keep your calories to a minimum.