The original Weight Watchers recipe my mom made is here.  Instead of using two light 6oz containers of yogurt, my mom always used three.  What bothers me about the yogurt my mom uses in the original recipe is that it contains aspartame, which I’ve read plenty of negative things about, including that it may cause birth defects.  So, light yogurts and products containing aspartame are definitely out for me!  Then there’s the light Lime Jell-O, also sweetened with aspartame.  The original version has so many more calories to make this a light dessert, that I didn’t want to go that route either…not to mention the artificial colors!  And reduced-fat or regular-fat graham cracker pie crust bought at the regular grocery store always is made with Partially Hydrogenated oils within the first few ingredients.  Lastly, the only other ingredient in there, is Cool Whip.  Oh goodness, where do I start with Cool Whip?  My husband loves the flavor, but I can’t stand buying it or feeding it to my son since it’s just a bunch of fake ingredients.  Here’s an article from Savvy Brown Blog entitled “Cool Whip Can Kill You” that made me smile.  In it, she fills you in on the ingredients and why it scares her.  Of the ingredients in Cool Whip, I don’t mind the water or xantham gum:)  Savvy Brown also gives you some alternative products you can buy, but the brand I bought, TruWhip, isn’t on that list.  I think it’s pretty doggone close and tasty, but my husband, the Cool Whip connoisseur, disagrees.  His taste buds don’t mind fake crap though!  Maybe if I didn’t tell him and put it on top of something, he would never know…  To the folks over at Cool Whip, if you ever happen upon this post, I’d be happy to buy your product if you make a natural version!

*** I normally hate Stevia since it tastes so bitter, I don’t use it.  According to the current research, it’s the most natural zero calorie sweetener and what you should be using.  Everyone says the least bitter brand is NuNaturals – but I bought their liquid drops and found them to be bitter as well.  Giving it one last shot, I bought their box of little powder packets and, at least in this recipe, do not detect any bitterness.  However, it’s a pretty slight ingredient in the pie.

First, a note on the Kefir… I originally bought So Delicious Strawberry Coconut Milk Kefir to give it a shot since, although I love kefir, sometimes the flavor can overwhelm other ingredients in my smoothies.  Also, kefir (milk and coconut milk) has probiotics which are great for your digestive health – and although many people that are lactose intolerant can eat yogurt and kefir with no problem- I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry for my husband – who has that intolerancy we think.  The flavor of this coconut kefir is far more mild with a fantastic hint of coconut.  I love this stuff!

Then there’s the coconut.  There seems to be, over the past several years, a huge new wave of coconut lovers and followers, plenty of coconut oil diets and loads of websites dedicated to the health benefits of coconut.  In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon talks about the health benefits saying, “It provides calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iodine and many trace minierals.”  She discusses the fact that 60% of the coconut is fat and of that fat, 92% is saturated – but not to avoid coconut products.  The main fatty acid in the coconut is lauric acid, a “medium-chain 12-carbon saturated fatty acid that has potent antiviral, antifungal and antimicrobial properties.”  The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut also strengthen the immune system.  For a few more sources to read on coconut (treating AIDs and candida!), check these out: Coconut Research Center, Weston A Price, Organic Facts and make sure to check out the articles in those sites about Thailand!  In Thailand, coconut is part of the staple diet and Sally Fallon says that according to the National Cancer Institute, of the 50 countries tested, Thailand has the lowest cancer rate.  Coincidence?

Yesterday, I’m looking in the fridge for a new dessert for our dinner menu.  Pineapple, leftover bread, pastry cream, caramel sauce.  Oh, and Puerto Rican Rum brought back from the island two weeks ago.  Usually, as soon as I see leftover bread, I’m already reaching for the milk, eggs, whisky and raisins for a classic warm, decadent bread pudding with whisky sauce.  However, with the pineapple eyeing me in the fridge, I’m also thinking of upside-down cake!

If I have a large skillet and the proper ingredients I am all about making a dessert that requires the very exciting exercise of flipping a cake on to a plate! An “upside down cake” is certainly not new – skillet cakes date back centuries.  Tart Tatin, New England Plate Cake, German Skillet Pancakes to name a few.  These desserts were created because of the mother of invention – home cooks had skillets and pots to cook, sometimes loaf pans or cake pans.  But if they could caramelize the sugar over the heat, add fruit, top it with a lid and bake it – their dessert was finished, all in one pan.  Flipping it on to the plate made for a pretty presentation rather than scooping it out like a cobbler.

But back to my fetish of bread pudding.  I grabbed the bread and started cutting it into cubes, prepping my mouth for the bliss of whisky-soaked raisins and buttery-silky whisky sauce.  All of a sudden, I had a crystal-clear picture of the pineapple rings and brown sugar sauce drizzling DOWN the bread pudding, blending with buttery-silky sauce.  So I continued on the road to Bread Pudding with a detour down Upside-Down Cake Lane.  Voile!  Fresh pineapple rings, pecans and brown sugar on the bottom, soaked bread cube-raisin mix on top of that and in the oven it went.

Photo Courtesy Jessica Raia-Long

For at least an hour, the aroma in the kitchen was fabulous.  (I’m singing that word!)  And once I thinned out some pastry cream with a bit of caramel sauce and drizzled in rum, the sauce was ready to serve.  I didn’t immediately flip the bread pudding on to a plate because the soufflé look is too good to just throw away with a flip of the wrist.  The puffy, golden dessert – I could dig right into it with a fork and like a fondue skewer, dunk into the sauce.  But I did have some sense of self-discipline and conceded to the original, unique idea.  The pudding was flipped and there was my Pineapple Upside-Down Bread Pudding with Caramel-Rum Sauce. 

And my regular, Annie, on her weekly volunteer trip from the local humane society, jumped on the chance to have another one of my passionate desserts.  I think she just likes to her my “how-to” story.

Here’s just another random hodgepodge of some more snack ideas for your toddler.  For my original list, check out Toddler Snack Ideas.  My son is now 2 1/2 and his palate is ever-changing.  I am a huge snacker and usually don’t eat very big meals, so of course I’ve inadvertently taught my son (who I’ll call O) my snacking habit.  I guess this is another reason why I don’t make big meals too often (poor husband), because my son and I snack so much that it’s hard to justify a big meal! 

• Rotisserie Chicken- I like to buy mine from Costco- it’s cheap, bit, moist and always has an excellent flavor (I don’t eat the skin so couldn’t tell you about that).  But when Whole Foods has them on sale, I do feel better about buying them there!  Right when I get home I just rip it all up into small bite-sized chunks and put it into a bowl.  O thinks it’s cool to get an adult sized fork out and go to town on the BIG bowl. I always serve this with fruit on the side and lots to drink- since unfortunately, rotisserie is so salty.  On the other hand, it makes me feel good to finally get some protein in my son since he generally avoids meat
• Pistachios – I used to have a candy bowl at home at all times, but when O got bigger, it just wasn’t worth having that temptation for him.  Depending on the candy, I could ignore it forever, but not my little guy!  So I switched to a healthier habit and put pistachios in the jar instead.  He loves sitting down, trying to open the pistachios and eating them – again, I like to serve it with fruit to counter balance the saltiness.  Pistachios are a softer nut so they are the first kind I felt comfortable with him eating.  Plus, opening them is a fun thing to do for little kids.  (Just make sure your kid is old enough not to eat the shells!)  Cashews are another good soft nut for smaller kids to be able to chew, though not as fun as pistachios and I get sick of them much quicker.
• Sugar Snap Peas- Edamame was on my last toddler snack post, so these are a similar fun snack for him to eat something green.  Plus, they have a natural sweetness that is more appetizing to kids.  The stringier dry ones are no good- look for the plumper kind in-season in the summer.  Sometimes, he has me open them and picks out the peas and sometimes he gnaws on the whole thing.
• Pomegranate Seeds- This is something he asks for all the time and unfortunately, they are not in season so I can’t find any right now.  He gets up on the coutertop and helps me de-seed them in water.  This is a fun activity for him, and then when we’re all done I give him a spoon and he eats the seeds by the spoonful -usually finishing one pom within a day or two!  Again, something I don’t know if a younger toddler is ready for yet.
• Yogurt, berries and chia/salba seeds.  I also use my Chia Goodness.  This snack works best when I make it for myself and he steals it from me.  It’s also a great breakfast of course. 
• Nutella out of the jar.  Yeah, not healthy but I justify it by limiting the amount he eats and the fact that it’s made of healthy hazelnuts and antioxidant chocolate -but of course…it’s not dark chocolate and there are added-ingredients.  Shhh, ignore that last part!  Hey, I understand this snack since half of my family is Italian.
• Orange slices with the peel.  O doesn’t like to eat orange slices unless I do my best to get rid of the insdie and outside skin – which is pretty tough but I do it out of love anyway for him sometimes- otherwise, he ends up spitting it out anyway.  Well, duh, I can just cut up the orange into 8-12 sections with the peel on and there’s a new fun way to eat an orange! 
• So Delicious coconut milk mini fudge bars.  70 calories, dairy free, 3 g fiber, 6g sugars and 1 g protein – a great occasional snack and he thinks he’s getting ice cream!  (He loves these but does prefer ice cream anyway, I love eating these as well!)
• Greens + Energy Bar – I’ve tried other brands and he wont’ eat them and I prefer this kind as well.  You’ve gotta love the ingredients!  You can check it out here.
• Bolthouse Farms Chocolate Soy Protein Drink- from my previous post actually!  It’s been a great snack for both of us.
• Cascadian Farm Fruitful O’s – okay, this is the natural answer to Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops, which I won’t let him try -due to all the artificial ingredients, added colorings, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and hydrogenated fats.  I do remember eating them out of the box in high school on road trips with girlfriends so the flavor and the thought of them makes me happy.  Now I can take a trip down memory lane myself and enjoy this cereal right along with him!  It has none of the bad artificial crap and it actually tastes really good rather than the slightly sweetened cardboard that some other brands have tried to fool us with!  I actually cannot stop eating them.  I feel like a big kid.  For breakfast, I usually eat an egg and some sort of whole grain toast for some protein and fiber, but I reserve these for an afternoon not-so-guilty pleasure.  These are new, so if you see them, buy them!  We don’t want Cascadian Farm to stop making these!
• Ian’s French Toast Sticks – Cinnamon and Honey - I think they did a darn good job of making the nutrition facts on these far better than your average restaurant french toast stick – and they are made with whole wheat flour.  Not really considered a “health food” in my opinion, but if you are in a hurry, they make a fun snack.  Five pieces have 250 calories, 9g fat, 6g fiber, 6g protein and 5g sugar.  I give him small bowl of real maple syrup – Grade B of course - and he usually eats 2-3 and then he’s finished.  I usually eat what he doesn’t.  Wait a second…as a mom you’re not supposed to do that.  Darn!  Ian’s also makes gluten free french toast sticks, but I have not tried that version yet.   

As usual, if you have any more ideas, please comment below, and I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say!  I will also continue on as O gets older with new snack/mini-meal ideas!

I added oats to bulk up the cookie and make it a little hearty.  The coconut flakes give it little nuttniess.  Coconut can be considered a tree-nut, but most people with tree-nut allergies are not allergic to coconut.  If you are, just omit it.  To read more about tree nut allergies, check this out.  The pumpkin seeds give the cookies a great crunch along with extra nutrients, and the hemp seeds give it a nice kick of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.  The raisins add some extra sweetness and chewyness.  All in all, I love the texture of the cookie- a little crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside! 

If you don’t know much about where they come from and only see propoganda videos, it’s pretty interesting to see what most people don’t get to see.  Anyway, details on that another day and back to the egg salad!  Currently, I love how egg yolks contain choline, which is important for everyone but especially pregnant women and nursing mothers.  It helps to reduce the risk of brain and spinal cord defects in the baby.  And you pregnant women thought only folic acid and omega 3′s were extra important!

I lightened up this egg salad  with Greek yogurt.  If you like that idea, check out my Sonoma Chicken Salad!  I still like to add a little bit of mayo for flavor, though I use the organic olive oil version – tastes spectacular.  No, I do not make my own and I don’t think I use it enough to be interested…yet!  To lighten it up even more, you could toss some of the yolks, but I kept them in for the nutrients.  Also, some people chop up a ton of onions for their egg salad, and to me that ruins it.  Too many crunchy onions and after I’m done eating- I still eat far more than I would have just to get rid of the onion taste in my mouth.  It sticks around forever!  However, a hint of the onion is nice so I slice up the green part of green onions and put a little in there for balance.  Personally, I don’t use the stalky white part of the green onion because it gives more of the onion crunch that sticks with me all day.

I was in the mood for a nice and classic egg salad.  Nothing fancy, but a great classic done my way.  Easter is coming up… what are you going to do with your leftover eggs?

I was going to town on this after making it by dipping cucumber slices in the bowl.

Hey!  You may be here to see who the allbarstools.com Le Creuset giveaway winner is!  Random.org picked #35…congratulations Christine!!!

I’ve been craving pancakes lately – in a pinch, I love the Stonewall Kitchen pancake mix.  Everyone loves it and it works out consistently every time.  But I can’t keep eating white flour pancakes!  Yikes!  I’m pregnant and it give no nutrition to the baby and just perpetuates uh….other pregnancy related problems.  Long story short, some nourishing, higher fiber pancakes should be much better for me!  I’ve already made a yummy gluten free pancake and my brother took the best picture ever of it!

My Oat and Almond Flour Pancakes were delicious and I made them over and over for awhile there.  I took a little hiatus, made them again from my same recipe, and they were dry!  I think I didn’t used to pack the almond flour and now I do; but I promise to get back to those soon and make a note of what to do so they are not dry.  If you choose to make those in the meantime, please make sure the batter doesn’t seem dry before you put them on the griddle if it is, just add more coconut water and then go for it!  This time around, I really wanted to make something with coconut flour and buckwheat flour and was surprised at how great they turned out.  Moist and super-fluffy!

What's this? Look below!

Anytime I’m either in Italy or at an authentic Italian restaurant with meat and gravy over polenta (either roast or rabbit), my mouth instantly waters and I want to order it!  Luckily, either my Dad or husband always orders it, so I can try something else equally delicious and we can all share.  During our Vegas trip last month – one restaurant has a fantastic appetizer portion of rabbit and gravy over polenta and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Because I have a freezer in our garage full of cow, I decided to go ahead and throw this together.  I’m sooo glad that I did since we loved it and I know what I will be doing with a few more of those roasts in the freezer!  As a kid, I didn’t like the traditional American style roast with potatos and carrots.  I like it now but still prefer the Italian style most days.  I made it with extra liquids on purpose for some leftover gravy to share over more fresh polenta!

If you’ve read this post, Easy Purple Polenta Meal , then you’ll know my son finds purple foods intriguing and will eat it.  I would’ve made this with purple polenta but unfortunately, I couldn’t find the Bob’s Red Mill blue cornmeal this time!  That resulted in my son not eating this when I know he would have had the polenta been purple!  Urggghhhh!  Next time I see it, I’m buying a few of them.

Ingredients:

• 3 shallots, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 TB butter
• 5 lbs bone-in chuck roast (or whatever roast you have on hand)
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth (less if you want less gravy)
• 1 cup dry red wine (I used a Chianti)
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 16 oz mushrooms
• cornstarch for gravy (or whatever method you prefer) -about 2 TBs dissolved in about 1/4 cup of water
• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal (I used roughly ground cornmeal which takes longer, but you can use the fine ground stuff as well)
• 4 cups chicken broth + 2 cups water, more or less
• parmesan or pecorino romano

Method:

• Set crockpot to low (8 or 10 hours)
• Add olive oil to bottom of crockpot and then add garlic and shallots
• Add broth, red wine, herbs and tomato paste, stir
• Heat butter on stovetop pan and sear all sides of roast, (salt and pepper roast)
• Add roast to the crockpot
• Mid-day, if you are able to come home, add mushrooms – I did this about 4 1/2 hours into cooking so that the mushrooms didn’t get too tiny, omit this step if you can’t come home and just add the mushrooms
• For the thick-cut cornmeal, about an hour and a half prior to serving, I like to soak fora half hour, it seems to make cooking time go by faster without having to stand around and stir for quite as long.  Then, one hour prior to serving, set heat to medium and stir with whisk.  When bubbles start to form, turn down heat until the bubbles are minimal- continue stirring with a wooden spoon almost constantly.  When the mixture becomes tough- keep adding little bits of water at a time.  Continue cooking and stirring until coarseness of the grain goes away and it starts to pull in from the pan.  I think the thicker-cut cornmeal has a better texture, but you have to cook it long enough so that it’s not grainy!
• For the finer-cut cornmeal, similar instructions but it should only take 30-40 minutes
• Season polenta with grated parm or romano or both, and invert onto a plate (or do it like I do, just serve out of the pot so I don’t have to do another dish!)
• When meat is done, remove from the crock pot and put on a plate
• Slowly stir in cornstarch mixture with a whisk or spoon until desired thickness of gravy is formed.  I’m lucky, my mom was over this day and makes the best gravy ever, she did this part for me!  When done, return meat to crockpot.
• Serve the meat and red wine mushroom gravy over the polenta, top with more grated cheese if you wish!

By the way…excuse my picture- I meant to take a beautiful shot of how the meat fell off the bone and demonstrate how tender it was…but then our stomachs got the better of us and we ate all the good stuff in no time.  This picture is the last we could salvage of the meat!  It still smelled divine though…

Here’s just a quickie- you may remember my Take on Runza Casserole from awhile back.  I entered it into a Pepperidge Farm’s Puff Pastry contest with Foodbuzzand am now a finalist!  I’m a little late on this post- since they posted their finalists Tuesday and I only figured it out yesterday (Friday).  Of course, I haven’t been on the computer as much lately since my stomach is still a little queasy due to the little baby in there and so didn’t check my twitter until yesterday to see the Foodbuzz announcement tweets!  Darn!  I could use some helpful votes! 

I promise – the casserole is delicious and I’ve had lots of emails from people who have made it that loved it!  Click on VOTE and select Main Dishes then find the Runza Casserole, select Vote and in the lower-right “Submit My Vote” and you’re done!  They don’t ask for any personal information so it’s fast and simple.  Thank you for helping!  And once again, I promise to get cooking soon- I’m 12 weeks along right now so feeling better, but still not quite there yet.  My last pregnancy I felt magically fantastic the day I hit 13 weeks!  Not sure if it’ll happen quite the same way but hopefully, a little fantastic would be nice.

UPDATE!  Feb 6,  Thank you so much to everyone who voted and supported me on this:)  We find out winners April 15th!  I’ll be checking but for now, I’m just happy to have made it that far!  (I’d have updated this sooner but my computer wasn’t working for a week)