"Is butter a carb?"

Oh Regina, you aren't the only confused one here...

From the questions asked and the answers I've received, a lot of people tend to think that carbohydrates are mainly breads, candies, and sugary desserts.
*wags finger vigorously*
No, there is a larger list of foods! Some people may be surprised to learn that fruits as well as some vegetables contain carbohydrates.
Today's quick and easy lesson will answer the question "What foods contain carbs?"

To put it simply, there are 5 main food groups high in carbohydrates:

• Grains - ex. bread, rice, oats, pasta, etc.
• Fruits - ex. fresh and dried fruits
• Dairy - ex. milk, yogurt
• Starchy vegetables - ex. peas, corn, potatoes, beans/legumes
• Sweets - ex. candy, sugar-sweetened beverages, etc.

As you can see, carbohydrates are found in almost everything we eat. The meat/protein, fats/oils, and non-starchy vegetables are food groups low in carbohydrates.

For a more in-depth look about the different types of carbohydrates, you can visit the American Diabetes Association website! The Food & Fitness section has really great material to better understand carbohydrates. 

And just in case you were wondering... no, butter is not a carb. :)

Super healthy granola bars

I usually buy granola bars for on-the-go convenience, but sometimes they are way too sweet and have a lot of extra fat and additives in them. >_< In general, granola bars are extremely easy to make at home, so why haven't I made them more often? I DON'T KNOW. I think I shall be making my own from now on actually. :) Plus I really like the idea of getting to play around with the ingredients.

Flaxseed --> fiber, protein, and omega-3 :)

Used a coffee grinder to grind up my flaxseed

Rolled oats, wheat germ, flaxseed, cinnamon, salt... and I only used 6 tablespoons of honey for the whole batch! More can be added, but I like them subtly sweet. 

Ginormous jar of organic extra virgin coconut oil

(Note: ok, so I know it's pretty debatable whether coconut oil is truly healthy or not... I'm currently working on a research paper that analyzes how coconut oil affects the lipid profile of adults...yes, very fun and informative stuff. ;) So far it appears safe, but there's still a lot of research that needs to be done with human subjects.

I personally like using coconut oil, BUT if you are cooking/baking with it, be sure to choose the unrefined/virgin kind!)

Yummeh!!! I added in coconut, dark chocolate chips, and dried cranberries

I baked these in an 8x8 pan and cut them into 10 bars. :)

I'm still tweaking around with the recipe, but these were really healthy and delicious. 

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (aka "Nutella")

It was World Nutella Day on February 5th. So in honor of one of the most popular chocolately spreads, I decided to make my own version. Even better than buying it from the store! Easy easy easy and delicious. :)

End product. Chocolately and yummy.

No doubt,  Nutella is pretty addictive. According to their website, it is a "combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa." However, looking at the ingredients list, the first couple of ingredients listed are sugar and palm oil. Ehhh... no bueno. I went on a lengthy recipe search for homemade nutella and finally settled on David Lebovitz's version as a basis. I like his version because it uses real chocolate, has no added sugar (except for some honey), and it was the least complicated out of all the recipes I searched. I did make a lot of my own changes to make it even more simple.

Notes: I used a mixture of Ghiradelli's bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao) and Hershey's special dark chocolate chips (45% cacao). A higher percentage of cacao generally means less sugar and a more intense chocolate flavor. My end product was a little too sweet, so next time I will try using chocolate that has at least 60% cacao.

A lot of recipes had instructions to remove the hazelnut skins, but I left them on for texture and to save time.

Also, I used skim milk because that was what I had on hand. I originally used 1 cup of skim milk--it turned out too liquidy, so I had to heat it in a pot to condense the mixture further. (With whole milk, you may need a little more since it is less watery than skim.)

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread 
Ingredients:
1 cup hazelnuts
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup powdered milk
1.5 Tbsp honey
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (you can use different ratios of semi-sweet, dark, milk chocolate etc. depending on how sweet you want the spread to be)

Ingredients

Directions:
1. Spread the hazelnuts evenly on a baking sheet. Toast them for about 8-10 minutes in a 300°F oven, stirring them every 2 minutes until lightly brown. (I first toasted them at 350°F, but they burned too easily! Had to throw out the first batch)

2. Over medium heat, warm the milk, powdered milk, and honey in a small pot. When it begins to boil, remove from heat. Strain the milk mixture to remove any lumps.

3. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate a minute at a time on 50% power, stirring after each minute until smooth.

4. Time to blend! In a food processor (I used a Vitamix), blend the hazelnuts until it's at a very fine, almost paste-like consistency. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all the hazelnuts get blended. 

5. Add in the melted chocolate and continue to blend. Finally, add in the warm milk mixture and blend until smooth and creamy. You can strain the mixture if you want it to be extra smooth, but I like how the hazelnuts add texture.

6. Transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate! 

Additional note: Don't worry if the spread seems liquidy; it will firm up once it's chilled. :) IF it remains liquidy even after refrigeration, you can reheat it in a pot like I did to evaporate some of the moisture.

Pre-toasted hazelnuts

I broke up the Ghiradelli bar into little pieces so they would melt evenly with the chocolate chips

Melted chocolate, strained milk mixture, toasted hazelnuts. Ready for blending!

Hazelnuts in the Vitamix

Adding in the chocolate--you can see how well the hazelnuts are blended

Reheating the mixture until thick and creamy (again, I had originally added 1 cup of skim milk, which was too much)

Enjoying it on some toasted bread with granola on top =]

Flourless Gluten-free Pizza

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this recipe on Blogilates for a flourless vegetarian pizza! I was intrigued and wanted to try it out immediately; plus I love Cassey & her video made it look so delicious. ^_^

The finished pizzas

Not bad huh? I made 2 little personal pizzas. So, if you watched the video or read the recipe, you'll see that a food processor is necessary. We didn't have a food processor and tried using a blender instead. Ummmm yeah, it didn't work out too well. I ended up cutting/mashing up the cauliflower with a knife and fork. In the end, the pizzas turned out pretty tasty, but the "crust" didn't turn out so great, texture-wise (kind of thick and mushy). I need to make this recipe again with a food processor! Oh yeah, and our pizzas weren't vegetarian--I added chicken to them ;)

In other happenings...

I held a parakeet! I used to have parakeets as a child, but now I'm just scared of all animals. Look at the fear on my face hahaha

We match color-wise! :D

I also did the Run For Your Lives zombie 5k. This is probably my favorite run so far!! The boy and I were transformed into zombies, and we got to snatch life flags off of people. We also had registered to participate as runners afterwards. ^__^

Zombiefied

Muddy, bloody, and sweaty. SO AWESOME.

Gluten-free Tiramisu Cupcakes

    Earlier this week my clinical nutrition class had to plan and make a gluten-free meal for our food service management class. The food theme we chose was Italian, and I was in charge of the dessert. I decided to make tiramisu-->in the form of a delicious cupcake! I tweaked around with some recipes and came up with a basic vanilla almond cupcake, a coffee-soaked layer, and a mascarpone filling/topping. Did had a couple of trial runs and in the end, a successful cupcake was born! These are fairly easy to make, and they taste delicious (FOR GLUTEN-FREE. lol) :)

Mmmm

Gluten-free Tiramisu Cupcakes

I recommend using this brand of gluten-free flour!

Cupcakes (makes about 32)

Ingredients

·        4 cups gluten free all-purpose flour blend

·        4 tsp baking powder

·        2 tsp baking soda

·        1 tsp salt

·        2 sticks of unsalted butter

·        1 cup granulated sugar

·        1 cup brown sugar

·        4 eggs

·        4 tsp vanilla

·        2 tsp almond extract

·        1 cup almond milk

·        4 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions

1.  In a small bowl, mix the almond milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2.  In another bowl, mix together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract. Stir in half of the dry ingredients to the mixture, then the almond milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients (stirring well after each addition). Mix until smooth.

4.  Line cupcake tins with aluminum baking cups. Bake in preheated 350 F oven for about 20 minutes.

Liquid Coffee Layer

Ingredients

·        1 ½ cups water, boiling

·        ½ cup brown sugar

·        2 Tbsp instant coffee (or 2 Tbsp coffee liqueur)

Directions: Mix boiling water, brown sugar, and instant coffee all together. Use fork to poke holes in baked cupcakes; spoon 1 tbsp of syrup evenly into each cupcake.

After the coffee layer is added (yes, it looks kind of ugly haha)

Filling/topping

Ingredients

·        1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese

·        8 oz. cream cheese

·        1/2 cup softened butter

·        3 cups confectioners' sugar

·        1 Tbsp vanilla

Directions: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer set on low speed, cream the mascarpone, cream cheese, and butter. Gradually add in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla; whip on high until thoroughly mixed. Pipe into cupcakes and/or frost on top.

Frosting ingredients (it made too much the first time, so I halved it for this recipe)

Note on the filling/topping: It was really soft when I made it, so I put it in the fridge for about an hour to firm up. Still soft, so don't expect it to whip up super fluffy. You can try cutting down on the cream cheese or mascarpone and increasing the powdered sugar if you want something more whipped and fluffy.

Tada! Finished cupcakes dusted w/cocoa powder

AWESOME dessert team!!! <3

Lighter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello, world! I have transitioned from my old blog (which is now private) to this brand new one. :)

I decided to bake “healthier” chocolate chip cookies for my first official baking post. I made a number of changes to a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe: I reduced the butter by more than half(!), reduced the sugar by 1/3, reduced the amount of chocolate chips, and subbed in some almond flour for the all-purpose flour. I also added some almond milk at the end because I thought the batter looked a bit dry.

Don't they look good?

Izzy’s Lighter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Ingredients:

·         1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)

·         ½ cup almond flour

·         1 tsp baking soda

·         1 tsp salt

·         1 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)

·         6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

·         1 cup dark brown sugar

·         1 large egg

·         2 tsp vanilla

·         1 Tbsp water

·         ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk

·         ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350°F and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2.       In a small bowl, sift (or whisk) together the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, salt, and instant coffee powder.

3.       In another bowl, blend together the softened butter with the brown sugar. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, water, and almond milk and mix until smooth. Mix in the dry ingredients and stir in chocolate chips.

4.       Drop by tablespoons on prepared baking sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes.  Makes 24 cookies.

Dry ingredients + butter & brown sugar; ready to be popped into the oven!

I even calculated the nutrition facts with this really helpful website: www.nutritiondata.com

Each cookie has about 138 calories. As you can see, it’s not necessarily healthy, but definitely lighter in calories, fat, and sugar than a traditional chocolate chip cookie! (Next time I’d probably incorporate whole wheat flour as well).