Best Ever Breakfast Cookies for Under 100 Calories

Long time, no write. I've been doing this weird thing where I've been enjoying time with my family and friends (and quite honestly myself) and focusing on work, hence the not writing a lot. Plus, I'm in 1000 weddings this spring (ok, not really, it's only two but I love those two girls so much that it feels like 1000 importance-wise) which has taken up quite a bit of my free time and head space.

What this time away from blogging has given me is a chance to perfect some recipes. I don't like sharing something I've made once with you, dear readers, because as we all know, sometimes the second time around we screw something up that reminds us to never screw that same thing up again, or we figure out how to tweak the recipe a bit here and there to make the best possible version of the dish in question. So as I return to sharing recipes here, I'm bringing some more perfected (in my terms, of course, which means they taste better, are easier and quicker to make, use fewer ingredients, etc.) dishes your way.

Let's start with the Best Ever Breakfast Cookies. Cookies! For breakfast! With whole grains and no added sugar! What?!? Yes.

I've adapted this recipe from Lux Hippie to get more sweet, sweet cookie bang for your caloric buck

You'll need:

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
• 2 tbs vanilla extract
• 4 tbs 100% maple syrup
• 2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking power
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips/chunks

Recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies. Approx. 98 calories each.

Mash together the bananas, peanut butter, vanilla and maple syrup until they're creamy. Note that this needs to be real maple syrup, not that pancake syrup weird stuff. I do the mashing by hand because I like a chunkier texture where you bite into some whole bits of banana every once and a while, but if you want an even consistency, bust out your electric hand mixer for a couple of minutes. 

Stir in the oats, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until all is combined, then fold in the dark chocolate chips. I've taken to buying inexpensive 70% cocoa bars from Aldi and roughly smashing them into chunks with a meat tenderizer. I like the randomness of the chunks in muffins and cookies - sometimes you get just a little bit of chocolate and sometimes you get a big mac daddy piece melting in your mouth. Today, fancy ol' me actually had chocolate chips on hand, so that's what I went with.

Line baking trays with parchment paper and add heaping tablespoons of the dough in rows on the tray. Spray a fork lightly with Pam/olive oil spray and then make hatch marks across the top to flatten the cookies out. Pop in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes depending on if you like chewier cookies (like me, I did mine at 10 minutes) or crispier cookies (15-20 minutes would get you there). 

You can use this base recipe for all kinds of breakfast cookies. Substitute the bananas for apple sauce and add cinnamon for a sweet apple cider style cookie. Swap peanut butter for almond butter, add walnuts and really go nuts with it. Sorry, I had to. I'm terrible, I know.

These are so, so, so good and they're (a) 100% whole grain and whole wheat (b) made with no added processed sugar besides what's in the dark chocolate chips and natural peanut butter, which are both lower in sugar than their  regular counterparts and (c) easy to grab and go in the mornings. 

Chopped Chinese Chicken Salad - Under 250 Calories

I love a great, crisp flavorful salad. And I love cabbage. This gets me both in one heaping bowl. Also, because cabbage doesn't wilt but rather gets better as it soaks up dressing, it's great to make ahead on a Sunday afternoon and keep chilled in the fridge for work lunches all week long.

For the salad - you'll need:
- 1/3-1/2 a head of cabbage, chopped (or 6 cups of chopped cabbage total)
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
- 11 oz can of mandarin oranges
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup pulled or chopped cooked chicken
- Optional - 1/3 cup cooked, shelled edamame
- Optional - 2 sheets of wonton wrappers, "fried"

Note- in an ideal world this salad is really bright and colorful if you mix purple and green cabbage, but they didn't have purple cabbage at the store this time and I don't know what I would do with that much leftover cabbage, so unless you're trying to impress guests, feel free to pick one color and stick with it.

To keep the sugar low overall in this salad make sure to thoroughly rinse the mandarin oranges. I used some leftover chicken from a Slow Cooker Whole Chicken, and I'd recommend leftover rotisserie or roasted chicken in general, but poached or grilled chicken breasts would work fine too.

Then mix all the ingredients above into a large bowl that will be great for fridge storage. If you want to do the wonton wrappers for a crunch, spray a frying pan with some olive oil and "fry" them until they're brown and crisp over medium high heat. I only added them to the salad because I happened to have them in the fridge. Otherwise, the almonds bring enough crunch to balance the salad out.

That's all for part one, and now we're going to make our dressing.

For the dressing - you'll need:
- 3 tbs hoisin or plum sauce
- 3 tbs rice vinegar
- 1.5 tbs agave nectar
- 2 tsp Sriracha
- 1.5 tsp sesame oil
- 1.5 tsp dried ginger (or cinnamon in a pinch if you're like me and forgot to buy ginger)

Take everything above in a small bowl. Whisk it together. Pour it over the chopped salad ingredients and toss thoroughly. And you're done!

Serve chilled. Makes about 4 large servings.

Calories without the dressing, wontons or edamame: 165 cals a serving
Calories with the dressing (no wontons or edamame): 240 cals a serving

Simple, Elegant, & Easy Dinner for Two - Salmon with Capers, White Wine and Lemon, Grilled Asparagus and Roasted Potatoes

This dinner looks impressive, fills you up like something your parents cooked for you on a special occasion, and is all done in an hour with very little active work and even less clean up. It also only calls for 10 ingredients, including salt, pepper and olive oil.

Foil grilling fish is THE best. Take fish filet, add flavor, seal up, bake at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes, and you're done. In general, I line almost all my baking sheets with foil or parchment paper before cooking. Way less clean up afterwards... just strip off the foil, toss it in the trash, and put that baking sheet back in the cupboard.

But first, we'll need to start with the potatoes.

Classic Roasted Potatoes 
- 3/4 lb yukon gold potatoes
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic
- salt and pepper

No need to peel, just rough chop yukon gold potatoes into quarters or less. Drizzle on the olive oil, mince the garlic, add salt and pepper to taste and toss. Lay out on a tin foil lined sheet. Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, flipping them over half way so you can get them nice and brown all around.  That's it. These will make your house smell like a steakhouse and you're welcome.

Now, we'll prep the salmon and asparagus. A lot of people do them in one packet together, but I am not a fan of lemon with asparagus, so I do them in separate packets.

Simple Roasted Asparagus
- asparagus
- 1 clove garlic
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Seriously. That's all you need. Asparagus is nature's fanciest vegetable. Just let it be itself. These directions apply to whatever the size a bunch of asparagus you buy at the grocery store tends to be. Snap off the ends. They'll naturally snap at the tough bottom part you don't want to eat. Now drizzle olive oil on top, about 1 - 2 tbs., add a large clove of mixed garlic to the mix, then toss and add salt and pepper to taste. Am I repeating myself? Yes, because you can pretty much make everything delicious with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. If your salt and pepper aren't freshly ground, shame on you.

Now that they're prepped, wrap them up in tin foil like a Christmas present and stick them on the oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Same as you're going to do with the salmon. Keep scrollin'.

Salmon with Capers, Wine and Lemon 
- two 4-6 oz salmon filets
- 1.5 tbs olive oil
- 1.5 tbs white wine
- 2 tbs capers
- 2 cloves garlic, garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tbs juice of a lemon
- 2 slices of lemon

Here comes the most work you'll do all night, after trying not to burn your fingers while flipping those potatoes during their half time. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, white wine, lemon juice, capers, garlic, salt and pepper and stir.

Coat the salmon filets on both sides with the  mixture, dumping whatever it leftover over the top. Top each piece of fish with a slice of lemon, and wrap it up in a foil packet. Pop in the 400 degree oven you've already got going with the asparagus alongside. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your filets.

That's it. Throw away your foil, but the one bowl you got dirty in the dishwasher, and enjoy with a bottle of wine.

Oh you fancy, huh?

Pinterest Tested, Jackie Approved: Round-Up Edition

Oh Pinterest, how I love thee and the shiny images you put before me. Here's a roundup of recipes I've tried lately thanks to the powerful time suck that is Pinterest.

Photo from Shugary Sweets

Chipotle Inspired Crockpot Barbacoa Beef with Cilantro Lime Rice

Dudes, this was super deelish, super easy, and a super close copy cat for Chipotle.

Photo from Lux Hippie

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Made these bad boys for a secret Santa party with friends and they got gobbled up in double time. No refined sugar, no butter, no eggs, all whole grains, all good.

Photo from Celebrations.com

Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

I make this all the time in a single serving batch for a quick lunch or dinner. I'm not a fan of alfredo, so I'm not sure how close this satisfies the real thing, but it's creamy and light and fills you up. I usually just steam the broccoli to save time, add more broccoli than it calls for to up the veggie count, substitute almond milk for skim milk, and use whole wheat angel hair pasta.

Photo from Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans

No Cream Penne alla Vodka

Not truly a recipe, but even parts jarred marina + greek yogurt = a great creamy, vodka like pasta sauce without the extra calories and with some extra protein.

Photo from Fit Bottomed Girls

Biggest LoserSweet Potato "Skins"

These are quick, easy and make a surprisingly satisfying meal considering its a swap for a traditional sports bar appetizer. 

And there you have it. I give these my seal of approval. I could add a list here of recipes I tried that failed miserably and resulted in emergency pizza ordering or resigning myself to cheese and crackers for dinner, but I will leave the negativity in my kitchen. Let's just say the recipes above are pretty un-screw-up-able if I'm giving you the green light.

Whole Grain Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Hi guys! Yes, I know, it's been too long. But I have good excuses! I've spent most of my 2013 so far sick (thanks, influenza epidemic) and once I fought the virus, work picked up like crazy and my hours have been nuts. Simultaneously, I lost the battery charger for my good camera and my back up, hand me down, 7 year old camera is finally in resting almost literally in pieces just when I needed it most. Terrible timing, terrible for blogging, enjoy the recipe but please excuse my worse than usual iPhone photos.

As I'm still recovering from my my common cold gone mad, I'm just starting to get my appetite back and raw veggies have just not been working for me. I'm heavily into comfort foods right now (duh, it's been single digit temperatures in Chicago for the last few days), but I'm still trying to eat healthier all the same. So I took mac and cheese, left out all the white processed grains, and added green broccoli goodness in this quick and delicious baked pasta dish. Enjoy it as it warms you from the inside. 

You'll need:

• 2 cups whole wheat pasta, dry
• 6 oz frozen broccoli, thawed
• 1 tbs butter (grass fed if ya got it, my new love is Kerrygold)
• 1 tbs whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (free range preferred) 
• 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (regular or soy is fine, but your calorie count will go up)
• 1/2 to 1 tsp mustard
• 1/2 to 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups reduced fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Cabot is great)
• 1 1/2 tbs panko crumbs
• Cooking spray, preferably olive oil

Calories: 318 calories for 1/4 of the pan

Set your ovens to 375 degrees, speed racers!

Adapted from Skinny Taste

On one burner, get your water boiling and toss in the whole grain pasta. Penne or macaroni is best, but there's no reason you couldn't use plain old spaghetti if that's what's in your pantry. Thaw your broccoli in the microwave while this is going on. 

On another burner, get a pan going over medium, throw in the butter and then whisk in the whole wheat flour until it browns and glistens. This should take about 2-4 minutes. Then add the chicken broth and the almond milk and stir thoroughly so the flour and butter mixture is evenly dissipated in the liquid. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Once you get it boiling and bubbly, add in the garlic, onion and (secret ingredient alert!) mustard powder and leave it to simmer and make friends with each other for five minutes. 

The sauce should thicken at this point, which is one of the most frustrating terms in all of cooking for me. How thick? How does a liquid really even get thick? WHY IS THIS SO HARD? My best indication that the sauce is thickening is the sides of the pan start to almost solidify, like the skin on top of a pudding. That's when you're getting good and perfectly set for a creamy, cheesy sauce. You won't get super thick with the almond milk, but whatever, cheese is coming, doesn't matter. If you really don't get it thickened well, add a little extra flour in and let it cook for a few more minutes. I promise nothing, it just seems to work for me. 

Ok, now you got your allegedly perfectly thick sauce base. NOW ADD CHEESE! Stir it in until it's nice and melty, add some salt and pepper to taste, and you're done!

Now I gotta have extra sharp cheddar with mac and cheese, but the recipe up to now will give you a great base for any cheese sauce. Gruyere? Why not? Pepper jack for some nachos? You go, Glen Coco! Four cheese sauces for you, Glen Coco! (Are Glen Coco jokes still funny? I'm closer to 30 than 20 now, which I don't think is old or anything, but I'll admit to my limitations as to knowing the pulse of the current funny zeitgeist). 

Also now - a note on dairy. You'll be seeing a lot of stuff like free range and grass fed on the blog now. It's part of me trying to put the best stuff in my body whenever I get the chance. And I'm not going to lie, it's pricey, but with my risk factors, it's important to me. Kerrygold is a commonly found brand that is 100% grass fed, and Cabot is even more ubiquitous and while they can't guarantee that all their co-op members feed their dairy cows with grass, they do have high standards over all and life is too short to question delicious cheddar cheese any further. 

Alright, where were we? Are you sitting there with cooked pasta and a hot cheese sauce cursing me for going on to long about effing grass fed free range hippie bull mularkey? Sorry. I'll buy you a beer later, promise. Plus, all you have to do now is grab your 8 x 8 casserole dish, throw in the pasta, broccoli and cheese sauce and stir. Sprinkle the panko crumbs on top and spray them lightly with olive oil. 

Pop that sucker in the over for about 15-20 minutes and you're good. If it's worth the extra step to you, turn the broiler on towards the end and get the panko crumbs nice and browned. Up to you... I did it this time but it didn't rock my world. Probably won't bother again. You do you. 

And now you're done. You get to have your mac and cheese but still feed your body veggies, whole grains, and dairy chock full of CLA - a fat that might fight cancer. Yes, again, a fat from animals that MIGHT PREVENT DISEASE. Get ya grilled cheeses ready, kids, just make sure that bread is whole grain. 

Living with Lynch - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love my cancer gene

Tomorrow we welcome in 2013, and while 2012 had a lot of good that came with it, I couldn't be more excited to start a new chapter. No gimmicky resolutions for me... no 15 pounds to lose or bad habit to kick... I'm just making a vow to take my health fully into my own hands in a way I haven't before. Mostly because now I have to. I never wanted to make this blog that personal, but my decision to focus on my health will be greatly changing the way I cook, and much like when I started the blog to encourage myself to cook more and try new recipes, I feel that writing this all down makes it a real commitment.

In November of 2011 my mom, already a breast cancer ass-kicker (a much better title than survivor, if you ask me), was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had surgery to remove the cancer and through samples taken during that surgery, they discovered she also had ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is scary. Period. It's virtually asymptomatic until later stages, and it can be quick to spread. They caught it in my mom at stage one. I think of my mom's uterine cancer as the world's shittiest miracle, because had she not had the easily detectable in early stage uterine cancer, they may have not found the ovarian cancer until later, where survival rates are low and things are just all around suckier. She went through chemo, lost her hair, kept her sense of humor and strength, and has been in remission since September 2012.

My mom turned 50 this December. As you can guess, when a healthy woman under 50 gets three types  of cancer over less than five years, the oncologists start looking into "why?" This lead to my mom being tested for various cancerous genes, including Lynch syndrome (also known as hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer). 

The average person has a 2% chance of ever having colon cancer, a 1.5% chance of developing uterine cancer, and a roughly 1% chance of being diagnosed with uterine cancer in their lifetime. People with a Lynch syndrome gene have an 80% probability of getting colon cancer in their lifetime, an 80% probability for endometrial or uterine cancer, and 10% probability for ovarian cancer. 

My mom tested positive for a Lynch syndrome gene known as MSH6, again another shitty miracle. The MSH6 markers are the soft rock option in the Lynch family of genes. Only 7-10% of those diagnosed with Lynch syndrome have this marker, and it's probable rates of cancer are 10 - 20% for colon cancer in women, 26 - 44% for endometrial, and overall a 40 - 65% chance of getting any Lynch related cancer (ovarian, stomach, bowel, kidney.) 

The range is wide because studies are still working the numbers for specific gene mutations, but overall they're much better for us MSH6 folk. If a parent has a Lynch syndrome gene, there's a 50/50 chance their children will inherit the gene. So I say "us MSH6 folk" because I was tested in early December and found out I was positive two weeks later. My life has completely changed, but genuinely for the better. I feel empowered about my health for the first time and I've received a wake up call to take better care of myself much earlier in my life than most people do. I really see this all as a lucky thing...

One reason they think the numbers are so much better folks like me is because the MSH6 gene has a "helper protein" that helps pick up the slack for the messed up gene and slows the growth of cancer cells that is usually sped up so quickly in other Lynch syndrome genes. Essentially that's what is happening in my body compared to they average persons - We all have a gene that is supposed to be repairing and cleaning up our cells and slowing the growth of cancer cells in our guts, and mine just doesn't. It can't help it. It was born this way. It's doing it's best. And for what it can't do, it's got a protein buddy to help it out. Which is really my life philosophy any way. I am who I am. I've got what I've got. I do my best to do well in this life and try to surround myself with people like my family, husband and friends who make me better than best collectively. Instead of one helper protein, I've got dozens. I'm lucky. 

What this means for my health overall, is I've got to be in tip top fighting shape so my body can do it's best to fight the growth of cancerous cells over time. This means big changes in my diet that I'm resolved to adopt in 2013 and beyond.

• Cutting out white flour and refined sugars as much as possible because the glucose they produce is like a Big Mac and milkshake for cancer cells... they'll just make them bigger and badder. It's whole grains, sour doughs and basmati rice for this girl. 
• Reducing my intake of alcohol to less than seven units a week and always having food with drinks, again to avoid an insulin spike that cancer cells just love and to allow cleansing organs like my liver to focus on cancer fighting instead of beer filtering. 
• Completely eliminating, as much as possible, processed foods and fast foods. My body does not need chemicals and stuff it doesn't know how to digest. I don't need to confuse that poor MSH6 gene any further or give more work to its already frazzled protein buddy. Taco Bell, I loved you, but we're through. 
• After 10 years together, Diet Coke and I are now divorced. It wasn't amicable. It was really hard. I don't want to talk about it. 
• Increasing my intake of vegetables, fruits, vegetable proteins like beans and lentils, and omega-3 rich foods like fish and nuts. I'll be taking a fish oil supplement as well, but nothing beats the nutrition of the real thing. 
• Switching to organics and grass fed, free range products as much as possible. It might hurt my wallet a little now, but I think it will be worth not being able to buy as many new dresses a year to get an extra 10-20 years of healthy life. 
• Reducing my intake of red meat  to 12 oz or less a week and overall eliminating processed and smoked meats except for special occasions. RIP, Slim Jims.

I've also got a full team of awesome experts at UIC, and I'll be getting annual colonoscopies and all kinds of fun extra testing that is well worth it to know where I stand. I am not someone who is skeptical of Western medicine. I firmly believe in screening and prevention, in chemo and radiation, in pills and elixirs, but I also think ignoring your diet and environment and just hoping medicine alone will keep you healthy is not the way to go. An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure, etc.

I'm currently reading Dr. David Servan-Schreiber's Anticancer: A New Way of Life and Jessica Black's The Anti-Inflammatory Diet to learn more about the links between cancer and diet, and I've read countless papers on Lynch syndrome families and their diagnosis patterns. My DNA is now on file in a study so they can learn more about MSH6 cancer patterns in the future. I might have to get a voluntary hysterectomy in my 30's after I've popped out some kiddos. I might not. Who knows? But what I do know is I that I will do everything I can to give myself the best life I can with the tools we currently have.

Here's the flip side to this coin - stress. I'm also vowing not to obsess over this "cancer free" way of life. After smoking and poor diets, a leading environmental cause of cancer is stress. If I obsess over every morsel I put in my mouth, if I'm crying in the corner at a party because I can't have champagne or cake, if I told myself I could never have real pizza again, I'll be a withered basket case who never had any fun. That's not good either. I'm not going to turn into a food nun. I'm just going to get a better balance going. Simply put, I've had to accept that my moderation is different from other people's moderation, and that's okay. 

The biggest way to do this life change in a positive way for me is going to be trying new recipes, experimenting with foods I've never cooked with before like bulgar or stevia. It's going to be out of something I find joy in that I can share with other people. You're going to see a renewed emphasis on health over calories on the blog. You're going to hopefully see a lot of newness in general. 

My dad was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in October 2012. We had one whole month of cancer-free-ness is my family this year. My dad started chemo in early December and I've gotten to go home twice since then. He's going through it in much of the same way my mom did, with a stiff upper lip and a strong sense of humor. 

When I first came to visit them in Nashville the entire kitchen was stuffed to the ceilings with gift baskets and baked goods. This is the best part of cancer - the people who come of the woodwork to send their love and support, people that maybe you've forgotten to call for a few months or who you thought moved on and forgot about you. And sometimes even if the sugar in those cookies your neighbor brought over or the nitrates in that bacon in the casserole your co-worker sent you home with aren't the best for you, it doesn't matter. It's good for your heart and soul in a completely different way.

Food is as much about love and breaking bread together as it is about fuel, and I will never forget that. So my dad finishes his chemo with ice cream. So my parents keep reminding me through their living example of how important love is and what it really means to love someone unconditionally through the good and the bad. And sometimes the good includes some decadence like a two week trip to Italy where you eat a metric ton of white flour pasta and fresh cheese, much like my parents took before my dad started chemo. Through it all, my family just keeps pressing on, hoping for the best and laughing and hugging each other along the way, because that's all we know how to do. 

Bring it, 2013. I've got people I love and a crapload of kale to help me face whatever you're ready to throw at me. 

Spaghetti Squash Marina Casserole

This spaghetti squash marina casserole swaps out the carbs while still satisfying your craving for lasagna, baked spaghetti, and pizza. Okay, maybe it's not quite as good as pizza and lasagna, but if you want to be good while keeping that gooey, cheesey goodness, this is your best bet.

You'll need:
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/2 tbs dried oregano
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1/2 cup 2% skim milk/reduced fat mozzarella
- 1 6.5 oz can of sliced mushrooms
- 12 slices of turkey pepperoni

Calories: 170 calories for 1/6 of the casserole

The mushrooms and the pepperoni are optional. The mushrooms help bulk up the casserole while keeping calories low. You could also add black olives or steamed spinach. And who doesn't love a little turkey pepperoni? If you're a sausage person, crumbled chicken sausage would be great here as well. And as usual, if you're not feeling lazy you can make your own marinara. I used a jar of organic classic spaghetti sauce and it was still delicious.

Heat the oven to 475. Cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove the guts and seeds.

Drizzle the olive oil over the halved spaghetti squash and sprinkle the oregano on top. Add cracked sea salt and pepper as you see fit. Place on a tin foil lined baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes.

When the spaghetti squash is done use a fork to shred the roasted squash into their familiar spaghetti like texture. If you can't do this easily, you need to cook it a little longer. This may go without saying, but give it a couple minutes to cool off and use an oven mit to hold the squash steady as you shred. Let's not deal with second degree burns today, kids.

Place the shredded spaghetti squash in a casserole dish and pour the marinara on top. Add in the canned mushrooms and stir until the squash is evenly coated in sauce.

Sprinkle the mozzarella on top and place the turkey pepperoni slices over the cheese.

Reduce the oven to 375 and bake for about 25 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the mixture is bubbly. Then you're ready to serve! Beyond dinner, this is great to make ahead on Sunday and reheat for lunches all week long.