Lactation Cookies

One of the struggles that many mamas find at the beginning is milk production.  I'm not too proud to say I struggled with that too.  So, our lactation consultant recommended several things to help up my supply.  First oatmeal twice a day, as well as eating flaxseed.  Another good thing that helped was lactation cookies.  My mom and I experimented with several recipes when she was here to help us after Little Miss was born.  Here are a couple of different recipes to try.  Enjoy!

Lactation cookies

Major Milk Makin' cookies

Lactation cookies

Egg Drop Noodle Soup

Egg Drop Noodle Soup

• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 3 package(s) ramen noodles, flavor packets discarded
• 10 1/2 cup(s) (84 ounces) chicken broth
• 1 piece(s) (2 1/2-inch-long) ginger, lightly smashed
• 3 clove(s) garlic
• 1 tablespoon(s) soy sauce
• 6 small scallions, thinly sliced
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon(s) sesame oil

---

Directions

1. In a large pot over high heat, bring 6 cups salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Drain noodles and set aside. Rinse pot.
2. In the same pot over medium-high heat, bring chicken broth, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce to a simmer. Add carrots and all but 2 tablespoons scallions, and cook until vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove ginger and garlic.
3. In a medium bowl, lightly beat together eggs, sesame oil, and salt. Gently stir broth, then pour seasoned eggs into pot. Let sit undisturbed until eggs are cooked, 40 to 60 seconds. Stir with a wooden spoon to break up eggs. Return noodles to pot and cook for 1 minute. Divide soup among 6 bowls and garnish with remaining scallions. Serve immediately

Coconut Lime Chicken Soup

Since winter is seeming that it is going to last a gazillion years, I thought I would post some of our favorite soup recipes from this past winter! 
First off, from one of my favorite blogs (Sixsisterstuff.com), Coconut Lime Chicken Soup.  I am a huge coconut fanatic, so right off the bat, I was intrigued.  B...well...not so much.  However, he is a true believer after trying it and you will be too!

Coconut Lime Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
1 to 2 lbs rotisserie chicken
2 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup lime juice (2 medium limes)
3 medium carrots, thinly-sliced diagonally (about 1-1/2 cups)
1/4 cup of sweetened, shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon of soy sauce
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
3 Tablespoons of fresh cilantro
Lime wedges (optional)

Directions: 
Remove and discard skin and bones from chicken. Shred chicken. In large saucepan combine shredded chicken with coconut, broth, lime juice, sliced carrots, soy sauce, the 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, garlic salt, salt, and fresh cilantro.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 8 minutes or until carrots are crisp-tender.
To serve, sprinkle bowls of soup with additional Italian seasoning, cilantro, and lime wedges.

What's For Dinner?

I could not wait to post these two recipes!  All throughout November, I have been trying out different/healthy recipes to see what we like and don't like.   I've had about 85% success.  A few tweeks to the recipes here and there and we've got a nice stash of new recipes!
Here is what we had for dinner last nice and it was delicious!  I am a big fan of coconut and broccoli, but B not so much.  We were surprised how much he liked both of these recipes!  We haven't done much with fish before, besides salmon and tuna, but it's nice to branch out.  **We didn't have Tilapia, but had Flounder, so that is what we used.  Enjoy!!

Coconut Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients: 6 Pieces of Tilapia, thawed
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Whole Wheat Ritz Crackers, crushed
1/3 cup egg whites
olive oil spray
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place foil on a cookie sheet and spray with non stick spray.
Combine coconut flakes, Italian crumbs, and crackers in a bowl. Put egg whites in another bowl.
Dip the Tilapia in the egg, then in the coconut crumb mixture. Then place them on a cookie sheet lined with foil.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until Tilapia is done. (Check Tilapia at about 15 minutes and watch it so it won't burn)


Roasted Parmesan Broccoli

Ingredients:
2 cups broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/3 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Dump the broccoli into a large bowl and drizzle oil on top. Toss broccoli to coat with oil. Sprinkle garlic salt on top and mix to incorporate.
Spread broccoli on a large baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and bake for about 15 minutes, until it starts to turn golden brown (you want it to caramelize, but not burn!).
Dump the broccoli back in a bowl as soon as you pull it out of the oven and mix with cheese. Serve immediately.
Serves 2-4.

Calling all Chocoholics!

http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=337455170

If you are like me, sometimes you just need a little chocolate pick me up.  As I've gotten older, I've really come to realize that I am a chocoholic.  I really am.  Is that a good or a bad thing?  I don't really know :)

Well, so at a teacher meeting this fall, a teacher was talking about these delicious cookies she had made.  They were fairly low calorie and super easy to make.  Me, being kind of snoopy, listened in and went home and looked up a recipe that I thought was similar.  The ingredients are very simple, cake mix, pumpkin puree, chocolate chips.  Seriously!

We are trying to live a healthy life style, so these cookies fit right in.  Enjoy!

Chicken Gyros

**You will have a lot of leftover tzatziki sauce if you follow the recipe as written, but I like to have it on hand as a dip for baby carrots and pita triangles, so I make the full amount!




What you'll need:
For serving:
4 pitas or flatbreads, warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave between damp paper towels
Diced tomatoes
Diced red onion
Dried parsley

For the chicken:
2 teaspoons garlic, minced (about 4 cloves)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping tablespoons non-fat greek yogurt (I recommend Fage)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
A few shakes of salt and pepper
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves

Combine all of the above ingredients except for the chicken in a dish, and whisk together to make a marinade. Add in chicken, and turn to coat. Cover, and place in the fridge for 1 hour to marinate.

Meanwhile, make the tzatziki sauce:
16 ounces non-fat Greek yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and very finely diced
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice to taste

Using a thick stack of paper towels, squeeze the diced cucumbers to remove as much water as possible. Repeat if necessary. In a medium bowl, combine cucumbers with all of the above ingredients. Cover, and place in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

After the chicken is done marinating, place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until it is cooked thoroughly and juices run clear. 99% of the time that I make chicken I use these. They are relatively small, cook evenly, and are done in 20 minutes flat. The ginormous breasts (heheh) that I often see at the store might need even longer. Make sure they're cooked to 165 degrees to be safe. (Can you tell I'm kind of neurotic about cooking chicken?)

After your chicken is thoroughly cooked, allow it to rest for a few minutes, and then slice it into strips.

Assemble gyros with chicken, tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, onions, and dried parsley, wrap in foil for ease of eating, and enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie

    

Pie Crust

Line a 9 inch pie plate with pastry for a single crust pie, using the recipe for (Nearly) Foolproof Pie Dough, your own favorite recipe or a prepared pie crust of your choice.

 

-Prebake the pie crust - first prick it all over, bottom and sides, with a fork, then 

place it in a preheated oven at 475 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes,
or until lightly browned.
-Remove the pie shell from the oven and allow it to cool.

-Prepare the pie filling.

Lemon Pie Filling
(adapted from “Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-By-Step Cookbook”)

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons flour
dash of salt
1½ cups water
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
½ cup lemon juice

-Mix sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt in a medium saucepan, stirring well so that ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add water gradually stirring until all ingredients are well mixed.

-Cook mixture over medium high heat until thick and bubbling across the entire surface, stirring constantly, then cook and stir for another 2 minutes.

-Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks. Gradually pour 1 cup of the cooked mixture into the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Immediately pour the yolk mixture back into the cooked mixture remaining in the saucepan and cook for two more minutes, stirring constantly.

-Add butter and gradually stir in lemon juice until well combined.

-Turn filling into prepared pie shell.

-Top the warm filling with Meringue That Won't Weep.**

-Bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees or until the top of the meringue is a golden color.

-Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Note: This pie is best served several hours after cooking, when the filling has had time to cool and set but before putting it in the refrigerator. In fact the pie tastes delicious served warm, but while it is still warm the filling will run.



**Meringue That Won't Weep
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons sugar
½ cup water

3 egg whites (preferably at room temperature)
6 Tablespoons sugar

-Place cornstarch, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium low heat until clear. Set aside.
-Beat egg whites until foamy and beginning to peak. Add cooled cornstarch mixture.
-Continue beating the egg whites while gradually adding 6 Tablespoons of sugar. Beat until very creamy.
-Pile meringue on pie spreading it to touch the edge of the crust all around.
-Bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees, or until the top is kissed with a golden brown color.

Serve with confidence and enjoy!

Homeade Pita Chips and Avocado Hummus

T and I got together recently for our latest installation of our "unofficial cooking quest."  We decided to tackle hummus and pita chips as well as sweet and spicy pepita clusters (next post).
Everything was relatively easy and delicious.  However, here's a little disclaimer about the hummus.  With the avocado, it ended up tasting more like guacamole and less like hummus.  Still good none the less.

Here's the delicious recipe:

Ingredients

Pita Chips:

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chili or dried chipotle powder
• Zest of 2 large limes, optional
• 2 whole wheat or plain pita breads, split in half horizontally
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Hummus:

• One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large or 2 small avocados, seeded, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 packed cup arugula
• 1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

For the pita chips: Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, chili powder and lime zest if using. Brush the mixture on both sides of the bread halves using a pastry brush. Sprinkle the breads with the salt and pepper. Cut each bread half into 8 wedges and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until crisp and golden, 15 to 18 minutes.
For the hummus: Combine the beans, avocado, arugula, parsley, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Gradually add the olive oil until the mixture is creamy. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the hummus into a serving bowl and serve the pita chips alongside.

Lime Shortbread Cookies

Delicious cookies.  This was part of our cooking adventure earlier this summer.  These cookies are perfect on a hot and humid summer day :)

Chocolate Melting Cups

Spinach Salad and Dressing Recipe

From my good friend, Tracie.

New Year's Fiesta!

This year for New Year's Eve, we kept it pretty low key.  That was just fine, because it sure has seemed like such a busy year! We celebrated the evening with our good friends Tracie and Luke and ate some delicious food.
On the menu was: lobster tails, champagne, quinoa, spinach salad and chocolate melting cups.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!!
To make it simpler for you all, here are the recipes we followed.
- Lobster tails, here.

(To make this one more cost effective, we did not steam the tails in champagne, but substituted the champagne for beer.  We researched it and was just as delicious!)

To come....spinach salad recipe and chocolate melting pots recipe :)

Homeade Peanut Butter Patties

Before:

Once a year I have a student or two come up to me and ask if I want to buy Girl Scout cookies from them.  I always buy one or two boxes to support the organization and simply we just like the cookies! 
I've discovered that B's favorite is Peanut Butter Patties.  Well, we all know that the price of the cookies has gone up as the size of the boxes has gone down.  My mom normally makes this recipe during Christmas time, but I thought that I would make them as a surprise for B!  Super easy and quick to make.  The amount you can make is flexible...all depending on how many cookies you feel like enjoying :)  If you are like us, that will be quite a few!

Here's what you'll need:
Ingredients
-Ritz crackers
-Chocolate almond bark
-Creamy peanut butter
1) Start melting the almond bark in a double boiler and get that going first, while stirring the chocolate frequently. 
While that melts, you'll make little sandwiches out of the peanut butter and Ritz crackers.  It depends on how peanut buttery you would like your cookies to be, as to how much peanut butter you spread on. 
2) Once the chocolate melts, dip in the cracker sandwiches in the chocolate and fully coat the crackers with it.  I think it is easier to maneuver with two forks....see picture above.
3) Once they are fully coated, place on wax paper and let them dry.

Yummy after!

4) Then, ENJOY!

Tofu Parmigiana

Yes, folks, you better believe that I got my husband to eat TOFU!  Here's a great recipe called Tofu Parmigiana.  The leftovers seems to be even better than when you eat it the first time!  Enjoy!

Homeade Granola Bars

   Here is another great recipe.http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homemade-chewy-granola-bars-without-corn-syrup 

This time it's homemade granola bars without all the extra stuff that you find in some store bought bars.  ***As a side note, we found that if you want only chocolate chips in your granola bars, you need to let the mix cool otherwise they will turn into chocolate granola bars.  We added flax seeds, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, coconut (for the topping), and chocolate chips.  We chose to wrap our bars in parchment paper, but you can also leave them in the pan as you would for normal bars.  Here

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This is a delicious pie recipe we tried out this summer.  It was the first pie I had ever made.  I don't have the crust recipe we used, we combined two different recipes from our moms, so I'll let you decide how you want to do your own crust.  Doesn't it just make your mouth water a little bit by just looking at it??

You can find the recipe through the link below.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Rhubarb-Pie/Detail.aspx

Yum, Chocolate Muffins!

Healthy Choc Mini Muffins

(sorry no pictures this time)

2 Eggs
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup broccoli finely grated
1/2 cup zucchini finely grated
1/2 cup white self raising flour
1/2 cup wholemeal SR flour
3Tbsp Cocoa powder 1 teasp baking powder
1 Tblsp low fat milk.

Whisk eggs, oil and sugar together in large bowl. 

Add vegetables, flours, cocoa, baking powder and milk and mix well.
Spoon into greased (or paper lined) mini muffin trays and bake in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes.

Basil Strawberries w/ Ricotta

This a great summer recipe!  An easy way to get the core out of the strawberries is to stick a straw through the center and then pull the straw back out.  If all goes well, the core should be in the straw, you can see the picture below. 

Black Bean and Corn Salad

sorry, I can't get this to rotate!   Also, if you like spicier recipes, add some jalepenos for some added kick!

Skinny Scones

First up are these delicious skinny scones.  We used chocolate chips and currants, but basically you can add anything you want to the dough.  The recipe can be found here.