Egg White Breakfast Muffins

This is becoming my favorite breakfast.  I package them in sets of 4 in containers to take to work.  These would also work to freeze for later.

Nutrition info is at the bottom of the page.

Ingredients:

Liquid egg whites (3 tbsp per cup) 

Cherry tomatoes (1 per cup)

Spinach (a few leaves per cup)

Reduced fat feta cheese (1 tbsp per cup)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Spray a muffin tin with non stick cooking spray.

3. In each cup, place spinach leaves and tomato.

4. Place 3 tbsp liquid egg white in each cup (about 3/4 full).

5. Place 1 tbsp feta in each cup.

6. Bake 20-30 minutes.

Close up view

Plated

Nutrition Information:
Calories: 55
Fat: 1.1 g
Carbs: 2.3 g
Protein: 8.6 g

Fudgy Avocado Brownies

All right, Facebook and Pinterest tempted me over and over again and I had to try and make avocado brownies.

They came out very fudgy, which I loved.  My husband prefers them cake like, so he was not as excited.  He also thought it should be sweeter.  Meanwhile, my son thought it was too sweet.  I thought it was just right.  So you will just have to try to make it and see what happens!

Pro tip: don't tell anyone that you put an avocado in your brownies - chances are, they will not be willing to eat them.  After the fact, I did reveal my secret ingredient to my husband.  At least he was surprised, and even commented that he could not taste the avocado at all.  However, I don't think he is going to let me experiment on him again.  Oh well, next time I guess I will just have to keep all the brownies to myself...darn... :)

Another pro tip: don't substitute out the coconut flour.  It is designed to absorb and other flours won't perform the same function.  You will be very, very sad.  You should be able to find coconut flour at your local health foods store.  It is quickly becoming my favorite flour ever.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Nutrition info is at the bottom of this page - you save a ton of calories by not using butter or oil!

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado, small 

3 eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 to 1/2 cup cocoa (I used 1/4 cup due to the very rich cocoa I had)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray an 8X8 pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Combine the avocado, applesauce, syrup, and vanilla in either a food processor or blender.  Blend until smooth.  Make sure there are no chunks of avocado in there.  

3. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.  Pour contents of the mixture from #2 into the bowl.

4. Mix it all together and pour in to the 8X8 pan.

5. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

After baking, I let them cool before eating and I stored them in the fridge.  I found them even tastier when cooled.  They also tasted even better the days after baking.  

Before baking.
I used a very rich cocoa that I got.
Yours may look lighter.

Just for reference - here is what it looks like with a lighter cocoa!

Back to the dark cocoa.
Here is the finished product.

Another angle.

Fork view.

Nutrition Information (9 servings, info per serving using 1/4 cup cocoa):
Calories: 123
Fat: 4.2g
Carbs: 18.1g
Protein: 3.7g

Rice Cake Snacks

Recently, we have discovered an awesome snack.  I never thought that I would be a fan of rice cakes, but...I now totally am.

Here was the scenario: kids are on their way home from school, and I know they will be coming in hangry.  What's a mom to do?  I scavaged the cupboards and found a pack of rice cakes.  1 rice cake is 40 calories, but only 1 gram of protein.  I searched Pinterest and found some awesome ways to jazz these bad boys up to get some great protein staying power and created a variety plate for the kids.  

Let me tell you, the plate got demolished and I had to make 5 more rice cake snacks!

The possibilities truly are endless, but here are the varieties that I made, with calorie counts based on what I used - recall that I quoted 40 calories per rice cake, which factors in to the totals below:

1. Skinny Elvis: spread 2 tbsp organic peanut butter (200 calories) and slice half of a banana (50 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 290 calories.

2. Pizza party: a big favorite - spread 1/4 cup of pizza sauce (30 calories) with 1/4 cup of mozzarella (70 calories) and pop in the toaster oven until cheese is melty.  TOTAL: 140 calories

3. Nana: spread 2 tbsp nutella (200 calories) and slice half of a banana (50 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 290 calories.

4. Chunky monkey: spread 2 tbsp organic peanut butter (200 calories) and sprinkle 1/2 tbsp mini chocolate chips (35 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 275 calories.

5. Porky: spread a light cheese wedge (25 calories) and place two slices of ham (30 calories) on top.  TOTAL: 95 calories.

Super easy!  I would recommend the rice cakes that just contain whole grain brown rice.  A pack of 14 cakes should only run you about $2 so it is a pretty sweet deal.  In the future I would like to try spreading hummus and topping with cucumber and peppers.

The entire sampler platter.
This was gone within 10 minutes of placement on the table.

The Skinny Elvis.

My daughter tends to be picky about bread.
But she had no problem eating these!

White Whole Wheat One Bowl Quick Bread

I spent some of my holiday vacation experimenting with bread recipes.  I wanted to find something that would allow me to use white whole wheat flour, only require one bowl, be quick to make, and...taste good.

Yay, this meets the bill!

Ingredients:

4 cups white whole wheat flour

2 tsp active rise yeast

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp honey

1 egg

2 cups warm water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9" loaf pan.

2. Stir all ingredients together in a bowl.  Cover and let mixture sit for 30 minutes.

3. Pour mixture into pan.  Bake 45-60 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven.
Who doesn't love warm bread?

Enjoy!

Tastes great the next day too.