Apple-Cinnamon Protein Muffins

You know what's hard? Living in a house with non-ops who have no qualms about eating stuff that would kill me.

Now granted, I love to bake so occasionally I'll bake them a cake or make some biscuits for breakfast but it's rare (a fact that is much complained about in my house...but when I say moderation, I mean moderation!).

But the game has changed, Foodies. Those kids that were so little when I started this blog are now teenagers. One has her own source of income. I believe in letting them make some decisions for themselves so while I can pout all I want to about junk they buy, so long as it's not all day, every day, I pretty much let it go (those with teenagers can attest that choosing one's battles at this point is essential!)

Why do I tell you this? Because I ramble a lot. Because their latest junk acquisition (in this instance huge blueberry muffins...with the large-granule sugar on top!) prompted me to take action. I can't eat that kind of stuff. Either I'll dump or I will have a bad blood sugar drop. It's taken nearly 7 years, but even my food addicted brain doesn't want either to happen so I try to avoid stuff like that.

Instead, I whipped out my copy of "The Bariatric Foodie Breakfast Book" and made these instead. Now this is a slight departure from the recipe in the book (I played with my food!), but the book has a bunch of protein muffin recipes. Way better choices than the sugar-topped muffins (or at least I'll keep telling myself that...).

Nik's Apple Cinnamon Protein Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 c. oat flour (I'll explain that in a minute)
• 1/2 c. soy flour (almond flour works too if you don't want to do soy but it will affect the protein count)
• 1/2 c. vanilla protein powder of your choosing (I used this)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients

• 1 very large apple (I used a Honeycrisp but any large, sweet baking apple will do), grated
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Sweetener of your choice equivalent to 1.25 c. sugar (I use Splenda which measures 1:1 with sugar, be sure to check your favorite sweetener! Btw, the Bariatric Foodie Breakfast Book also includes a complete conversion chart for all the major kinds of sugar substitutes.)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 c. milk 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

If you have oat flour on hand, great. If not, it's easy to make. Put a cup of quick oats in a blender and whiz until flour happens! Put that in a bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients and then whisk them together. 

In another bowl combine your grated apple with the rest of the wet ingredients and stir to combine. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix. It will seem as if there's not enough wet stuff there but just keep mixing. It will all coat, I promise!

After it's all coated, it should be pretty thick. Add the milk and then stir. That loosens it up a little bit (it'll be about the consistency of cooked oatmeal). 

Fill lined cupcake tins (fill them 3/4 of the way). This recipe yielded 16 regular sized muffins for me. You can also do mini-muffins. If you do, report back on how many you get! (Note: yes, they freeze beautifully, just wrap them tightly). 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a fork comes out clean (or in my case the fork came out with a crumb and not liquid). Allow to cool. You can top them with just about anything. I like either whipped Greek yogurt cream cheese on top or a smear of peanut butter. Nom, nom, nom!

As is the custom, here are the outtake photos of the muffins.

True Fact: I actually am pretty obsessed with the swirliness of things like peanut butter in photos!

This one was good...but I wasn't sure if I was going to present the muffins with the PB so...yeah.

I reduced the size of this one so you can't see, but the photo is not in focus. Plus the glass bowl was way too close to the muffin! #FoodBloggerNeuroses

Now a funny thing happened with these muffins. I set them to cool with four set aside with a note that they were to be photo'd for the blog (in food blogging households effective communication is essential!). The next morning, four of my 16 muffins were gone. The next morning another four. The next morning another four. How 'bout that?

Anyhoo...for more protein muffin recipes than you can shake a spatula at, check out The Bariatric Foodie Breakfast Book, available in hardcopy and Kindle on Amazon

Crustless Pizza Casserole

You know what's really empowering, Foodies?

Making something the way you like it, just because that's how you  like it. Not the way the kids like it or your spouse likes it, but just the way you want it.

I had an epiphany recently. I've spent a lot of my post-op career catering to everyone's preferences in my crusade to get my kids and family to eat healthier. In the process I did several things:

1. I stopped even thinking about what I like the best and why.
2. I put my children under the delusion that they live in a 24-hour diner, complete with a short-order cook.
3. I got a case of "food burn-out."

What's food burn-out? You all have experienced it, I'm sure. It's when you just get tired of thinking about, prepping, and cooking food. So you don't. Instead you eat things that are convenient (and sometimes not healthy). Or worse, you fall back on take-out a lot.

As for me, I fell back on my default foods (stuff I could eat anytime like cottage cheese and Greek yogurt) and let the kids go crazy with take-out. Bad mom!

What I've learned from this is that even when it comes to cooking my needs are important too. So I vow to make more meals the way I like them!

Which is what brings us to this pizza casserole. There are several reasons why my daughters probably won't touch it. For Diva, the Elder, it contains three vegetables that are on her "no fly" list (I've tried to get her to embrace more veggies...she's 16 so at this point trickery doesn't work anymore!). For Diva, the Younger,  (13) she  now eats a pescetarian diet and so the ground meat is no-go. But me? I love it! So here goes.

Nik's Pizza Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 c. whatever veggies you like, diced (I used onions, yellow bell peppers, and zucchini)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. already minced garlic)
• 1 lb. Italian-style ground meat (I used turkey)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1.5 c. your favorite pizza or spaghetti sauce
• 1.5 c. shredded pizza blend or Italian-blend cheese (or mozzarella if you like to keep it simple)
• Toppings: I used one serving of turkey pepperoni (17 slices) and 1/4 c. sliced olives, but add anything you like on top of pizza!

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Set a skillet over medium-high heat and let it get hot (2-3 minutes) before adding nonstick cooking spray (or 1 tbsp. of oil if you like that better). Add veggies and saute for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add garlic and saute an additional minute or so.

Add the ground meat, breaking it up with a spatula and mixing in the vegetables. Cook until meat is done through. Drain meat of any excess fluid with a colander.

Turn stove heat to medium-low and add sauce, stirring to fully combine. Simmer about 5-7 minutes or until sauce turns a deeper shade of red. Your mixture should be saucy but not soupy. Ultimately the veggies will continue releasing water as they cook so you don't want your sauce to have too much liquid. If there seems to be a lot, drain some of it off before doing the next step.

Transfer mixture to a casserole dish (this is an 8 x 8) and spread to make sure it's an even layer. Now comes the fun part. Toppings! I love pepperoni and black olives on pizza so that's what I topped mine with, along with the shredded cheese.

I baked mine for about 20 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt, brown just a bit and for the pepperonis to become slightly crispy. Technically it's ready when the cheese is melted so let it go as long as you want until it's the way you like it!

No need to let this casserole cool. The ooey-gooey factor is part of the joy of it!

This will be my lunches for the week. Meanwhile the kids are eating...something...(shrugs).

Easy Breakfast: Spinach & Eggs

I think I've said before, I'm a visual eater. And unlike when I first started this blog, I'm sort of a lazy cook now. These days I LOVE meals that don't take long to make. This is a quick throw-together IF you are the sort of person who preps veggies weekly (I am!).

Spinach & Eggs (and a few other things)

Ingredients:

• Red pepper strips (I cut up peppers each week and stow them away for easy access)
• Sliced onion (I used a regular yellow onion)
• Sliced mushrooms
• Spinach (I used about 1.5 c. since it cooks down but go with your instinct on the amount)
• 1 small clove garlic, minced (or 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. already minced garlic)
• Nonstick cooking spray (or olive oil, about a teaspoon is enough)
• salt, pepper, Paremesan cheese
• 1 egg (I used a large, again go with what's right for you!)

Directions:

Spray a pan down with nonstick cooking spray and set it over medium heat. If you're using olive oil put the pan on the heat and let it get hot before adding oil. 

Add peppers and onions and sautee 2-ish minutes or until they are softened. Add mushrooms and sautee an additional minute followed by the spinach and any seasonings you are using.

I like to just toss the spinach with a pair of tongs until it's soft, but not completely limp. Transfer to a plate.

In the same pan, cook an egg any way you like it (obviously I like mine sunny-side up!). Place egg atop veggie mixture and sprinkle with Paremesan cheese. NOM!

Throwback Thursday: Nik Takes the Hunger Challenge

So...three years ago this summer I decided to do something a little radical. Now to understand why I did this you have to know a few things about me:

1. By day I work as a writer for a non-profit that deals with global hunger (among other things).
2. My mother had just died.
3. My kids live with their father during the summer and so I was all alone (this was before I acquired my Bassett Hound, who now ensures I never truly feel alone!)

I decided to take the Hunger Challenge. That link gives you an example of a Hunger Challenge but the basic gist is that I spent five days eating on $1.25/day, which is about the amount of money people living in extreme poverty around the world have to feed their entire families, not just theirselves.

It was an interesting exercise to say the least. I was 4 years post-op at the time so I wasn't that concerned about physical implications (that is to say, don't try this at home, kids!) and I learned a lot about what hunger really is.

If you want you can peruse my daily videos as I went through the challenge. Some of them are long-ish, but all of them share the insight from what I was actually going through at the time. 

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five (sorta...)

Single Serve Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower

Yesterday I posted the above picture on Facebook of my beautiful little lunch: about 2.5 oz. grilled salmon, along with a spear of brocolli (both leftover from a trip to TGI Friday's) along with a side of cheesy mashed cauliflower I made that morning.

Since I only wanted it that day, I made a single serving. I know some of you either live alone or have family who won't touch veggies with a ten-foot pole, so I though this recipe might be useful to you as well.

Nik's Single Serve Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower
Makes about 1/2 c. (ish) of mashed cauliflower. Divide that into as many portions as you see fit!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 frozen cauliflower florets 
• 1/4 c. (ish) of water
• 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light spreadable cheese (any flavor you like - I use Garlic & Herb)
• 1 tbsp. shredded cheese of your choice
• 1 heaping tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place florets and water in a bowl. Microwave on high for about 2 minutes. This should leave your florets pretty soft. If not, keep microwaving in 15 second increments until they are!

Drain the water and mash the florets (this can be done with a sturdy fork although for me any excuse to use my potato masher is a good one!).

While the florets are still hot, mix in your cheeses (Laughing Cow, shredded and parmesan), along with your salt and pepper. Mix in well.

I personally like to add parsely to the top (I'm a visual eater) but that's not necessary. If it's not hot enough for you, pop it back in the microwave about 30 seconds to reheat it through. 

Enjoy!

The 2014 Bariatric Foodie "Play With My Food" Recipe Contest Cookbook (Free Download!)

So...yesterday we say what happens when Nik gets "trigger finger." For those of you who follow BF on Facebook and Twitter, this cookbook was the "surprise" I'd been alluding to since last weekend. (So there will be no surprise tomorrow...sorry!) I really and truly did not mean to publish it until tomorrow, but hey...stuff happens.

In the end I'm glad I did because it gave me a glimpse into how easy/hard it is for you all to download things from various sources! I think I've got the bugs worked out (think being the operative word here). We shall see!

Anyhoo...let's try this again, shall we?  I'm happy to present the 2014 recipe contest cookbook, which looks WORLD'S better than the 2013 cookbook (shout out to my chief branding consultant, Pam Tremble).

What the heck is the "Play With My Food" recipe contest?

So background: Each fall I do a recipe contest called the Bariatric Foodie "Play With My Food" recipe contest. Why? Because you all cook awesome stuff and you should share it! So I pick a theme and invite folks to submit a recipe. Fellow Foodies serve as judges. This year's theme was "Play With Your Food - All Day Long!" Foodies were invited to submit recipes in one of five categories:

1. Breakfast
2. Lunch
3. Dinner
4. Dessert
5. Snacks

Download the cookbook!

Each of the categories above had a winning recipe and all winners received a prize, but all recipes are published in this FREE e-book (did I mention that it's free?).

Download the Free Cookbook

IMPORTANT: I decided to ditch my shopping cart. It was giving too many folks problems. The above link is to a version of the cookbook housed on my Google Drive. You should be able to both view and download it from there. To download it, you'd go to the icon of the downward arrow with a line underneath that looks like this:

You'll also see an icon that looks like three dots in a vertical line. If you click that, "Download" is one of the options. From my both my iPhone and my Android-based tablet, this let me open the document and from there I had some options on saving it (for example, on Apple products you can save it to iBooks).  Your mileage may vary, which is why you should keep reading if you're using a mobile device!

Mobile Phone & Tablet Users

You can download this e-book to your mobile phone or tablet the same way but keep in mind that your phone or tablet may or may not have the appropriate app to actually open it. If that's the case you should get a message (either from Google or your phone) asking you how you'd like to open the document. Here's the important part to note:

What happens after you click that button, I have no control over! 

If you have trouble, leave a blog comment and I can try to help but I'm not a mobile tech expert (I'm not an any tech expert!) so I may not be much help.

Bottom line...and I say this with love...if you are tech challenged (like me!) wait until you can open this from a laptop or desktop computer and save it there. 

I hope you enjoy this cookbook! It was written by Foodies, for Foodies, so feel free to share the download link far and wide!

Low-Carb Ramekin Shepherd's Pie

So...St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow. And some of you already have your corned beef and cabbage cooking. Yum!

Here's another idea to throw onto the heap. I love cooking with ramekins. It's so fun! You can make a perfect portion (by purchasing the ramekin size that suits you), it's easy to ditch starches (like pie crust in this instance) and they are just darn cute, don't you agree? (TIP: For another St. Patrick's Day ramekin idea, check out my Reuben Ramekins!) 

I love Shepherd's Pie. And I even love it without any modifications! In moderation I have absolutely no problem eating the full fledged version. But since I also want to enjoy a piece of Soda Bread with this meal, I gotta make a swap somewhere. (Why? Because Nik's blood sugar will sink like an anvil if I have more than one source of starch at a sitting!) This swap I can live with as a weeknight meal. I'm more inclined to use a more traditional recipe for weekends.

Here's how it goes.

Nik's (Version of) Lil Baby Shepherd's Pies

(Makes about 4 six ounce ramekins)

***For Shepherd's Pie purists, please read the recipe notes!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of a yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 lb. lean ground meat (I used turkey)
• 8 oz. can peas and carrots, drained
• 1/2 bag frozen cauliflower florets (or about 2 c. fresh ones)
• 4 oz. (or approximately half a can) low-fat, low-sodium Cream of Mushroom soup
• 2-3 Laughing Cow style cheese wedges (any flavor)
• 1/3 c. shredded cheese for topping
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put a small pot of water on to boil.

Set a skillet over medium heat and let it get hot. Spray it with nonstick cooking spray and add onions. Sautee about 2 minutes.

Add ground meat, browning and mixing in the onions until meat is fully cooked. Drain if necessary. Your pot of water should be boiling so drop cauliflower florets into it.

Add peas and carrots and stir. Then add soup and stir. If soup doesn't sufficiently coat the meat mixture, add about 1/4 c. milk. Allow the mixture to warm through then set aside.

When cauliflower florets are tender (about 4-5 minutes after returning them to a boil), drain and mash them (I use a basic potato masher). Add the Laughing Cow wedges while the florets are still hot. Mix with spoon until mixture becomes a mash (won't look exactly like mashed potatoes but will bond together and won't look like grated cauliflower anymore either).

Place your ramekins on a baking sheet. Ladle in about 1/4 c. meat/veggie mixture. Top with about 1/4 c. of the cauliflower mixture and top with a sprinkle of shredded cheese.

Bake ramekins for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and, if you like, browned.

A few notes:

• If you are a Shepherd's Pie purist perhaps the soup shortcut just won't do. That's fine! Use whatever you like to make the gravy for the pie. Play with your food! (And if you come up with something good, let us know!)
• If you are a Shepherd's Pie purist you might also prefer a potato topping. Don't let me stand in your way!
• Every time I use canned soup in a recipe I seem to get scoffs from folks. I will say this. I have low blood pressure and therefore have been advised against a low-sodium diet. I know that's not the case for many of you. Use your best discretion with regards to canned soups. There are great low-sodium varieties out there!
• Finally, if a 6 oz. ramekin is too much for you, feel free to make them smaller! They freeze beautifully when you wrap them properly and are a great, comforting meal to reheat!

Here are a few other photos of this delicious dish!

The addition of parsely in food pictures can make a real difference to the visual appeal in my honest opinion. Check out this dish before I added parsely. Doesn't it look more appealing with it?