Stylish Blogger Award

Recently I recieved a Stylish Blogger award from Dulce Dough. Thank you so much for reading and enjoying my little blog. If you haven't checked out Dulce Dough, you really must! Such fabulous recipes for sweets! I am so new to the food blogging world I didn't know this fun little award existed. How nice!

Following the rules of the award, I have to:

1. Thank them, make a post, and put a link back to the person/s who gave me this award.
2. Share 7 things about myself.
3. Pass the award to 10 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and personally tell them about the award.

Seven things about me:

1. I am 28 years old and have been married to the best guy I know for almost two years.
2. Currently, I am working on my PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Idaho
3. In the past, I taught theatre in public school for five years and want to go back!
3. I love teaching group fitness and TRX classes!
4.Next to being with family and friends, traveling is my favorite thing in the world!
5. I have three sisters, one brother, and one niece and one nephew who are adorable twins!
6. I have run two marathons and probably won't ever do a full one again.

7. My first theatrical role was playing "Miss Mexcio" in a small production put on by my second grade class.

Great blogs I follow and upon which I bestow a Stylinsh Blogger award:

I have many great blogs that I follow. I haven't been blogging for long, so I don't know who has recieved this fun little award before or not, so I will bestow it upon some lovely blogs that I follow and think are fabulous, or often make my day! Some of them are food blogs, some are just great blogs! I will list them below and contact them about their award accordingly. :)

Amy's Cooking Adventures

BriTunes2

Budget Gourmet Mom

Fight The Fat Foodie

Healthy Meals for Less

Jill's Blog

Knit Cookies Knits

Mother Rimmey's Cooking Light Done Right

Standing, Sitting, Lying Down

Sugar and Spice and Everything Juicy Couture

Whole Grain Gourmet

Coconut Lime Sweet Bread: Two Recipes

I made a TRUCK LOAD of this delicious coconut lime sweet bread for my friend April's baby shower this morning. It was super delicious and because I made so much, many people got to take it home to enjoy it. I adapted this recipe from Our Best Bites' Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze recipe and they adapted their recipe from Cooking Light. These are also great versions of this recipe. However, it is not a super healthy treat, so I did my best to make a light more Weight Watchers-friendly version along with it and the lighter version turned out really good as well! Here are both recipes:

Coconut Lime Sweet Bread

Ingredients

Bread Ingredients

2 c. Flour

1 c. Sugar
3/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

2 Eggs

1/4 c. Sour Cream
1/4 c. Melted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 c. Flaked Coconut
2 Tbsp. Lime Juice
1/2 c. Milk
An Extra 2 Tbsp Flaked Coconut

Lime Glaze Ingredients
1/4 c Lime Juice
1/2 c. Powdered Sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Thoroughly mix dry bread ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine wet bread ingredients, leaving out the extra two Tbsp of flaked coconut. Whisk thoroughly. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until you have a very thick batter. Pour into a greased 9X5 loaf pan. Sprinkle extra coconut on to the top. Cook bread for 60 minutes then check it by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it comes out dry, it's done! If it's wet, bake another 5 or 10 minutes until baked thoroughly.
Remove from oven and let cool.

While your bread is cooling, whisk lime juice and powdered sugar together into your glaze. Drizzel over the top of your slightly cooled bread. Slice and serve!

Notes
Makes 14 servings of with 6 WW Points Plus per serving.

Coconut Lime Sweet Bread: Lightened Up

Ingredients

Bread Ingredients
2 c. Whole Wheat
1 c. Splenda
3/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Egg Whites
1/4 c. Non-Fat Vanilla Yogurt
1/4 c. AppleSauce
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 c. Flaked Coconut
2 Tbsp. Lime Juice
1/2 c. Fat Free Milk
An Extra 2 Tbsp Flaked Coconut

Lime Glaze Ingredients
1/4 c Lime Juice
1/2 c. Powdered Sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Thoroughly mix dry bread ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine wet bread ingredients, leaving out the extra two Tbsp of flaked coconut. Whisk thoroughly. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until you have a very thick batter. Pour into a greased 9X5 loaf pan. Sprinkle extra coconut on to the top. Cook bread for 60 minutes then check it by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it comes out dry, it's done! If it's wet, bake another 5 or 10 minutes until baked thoroughly.
Remove from oven and let cool.

While your bread is cooling, whisk lime juice and powdered sugar together into your glaze. Drizzel over the top of your slightly cooled bread. Slice and serve!

Notes
Makes 14 servings of with 3 WW Points Plus per serving- half the points of the fatty bread!

Turkey Cranberry Meatloaf and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I acknowledge that it has been longer between posts than my New Year's resolution allows. March was quite the month for us with midterms, plays, and an emergency trip to Salt Lake. However, I'm making amends by sharing not only one, but two of my signature, all-time-favorite recipes. First, a healthy delicious turkey meatloaf then fat-free garlic mashed potatoes. They are fabulous together!

Turkey Cranberry Meatloaf

Ingredients

19 oz. (1 pkg.) lean ground turkey

2/3 c. whole rolled oats

1/2 c. dried cranberries

1/2 c. finely diced cellery

1/4 c. finely chopped green onion

2 egg whites

2 Tbsp. minced garlic (or garlic to taste)

2 Tbsp. dried parsley
2 tsp. oragano
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Form meat into a 9x9 glass baking pan coated with non-stick spray. If desired, shake an extra bit of garlic, parsley, and oats over the loaf for aesthetics. Bake loaf for 30-40 minutes or until cooked thoroughly.

Notes
One sixth of the loaf  (which is a very generous serving) is 5 WW Points Plus.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients
4 large ( or about 1 lb.) russett potatoes
1/2 c. fat-free sour cream (I recommend Tillamook)
1/2 c. skim milk
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp Garlic and Herb Mrs. Dash Seasoning (This is my secret ingredient, but italian seasoning will also do)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Peel or partially peel, cut, and boil potatoes in a large pot of water until soft and mashable. Drain water. Mash potatoes with a masher. Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Notes
One 1/2 c. serving (or one sixth of the recipe yield) is 4 WW Points Plus.

Turkey Black Bean Soup

It has been snowing, freezing, and miserable for two weeks straight here in Northern Idaho. To warm us up a bit, I asked Zac to make his amazing Turkey Black Bean Soup. He made this for me last year and I loved it! He got the recipe from his mother, so I give her the credit. I changed it just a bit by adding potatoes to make it a little more hearty, cut out some of the oil, and used ground turkey instead of cubed turkey breast ( just because it's easier) but basically it's a Curtis family recipe. It's delicious and keeping me warm right now.

Turkey Black Bean Soup

Ingredients
1 pkg (19 oz) of lean ground turkey breast
2 c. blackbeans or 1 can
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried oregano leaves, crumbled
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1 tsp finely grated lime zest
2 tbsp cumin
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water

Process:

1) In a skillet, brown ground turkey.
2) In a skillet, heat oil over medium for 30 seconds.  Add onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring until softened, about 7 minutes.  Add garlic, oregano, peppercorns, lime zest, and cumin, and cook, stirring, for one minute.  Add tomato paste and stir well.  Transfer to slow cooker.  Stir in chicken broth, water, and beans.  Season to taste with salt.
3) Add cooked turkey and stir well.  Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
4) Add in 2 tsp ancho chili powder, dissolved in 2 tbsp lime juice.  Add in 1 finely chopped jalapeno.
5) Cook on high for 20 minutes
6) Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Spicy Meatballs

We tried another recipe from the Weight Watchers website this weekend. Sweet and Sour Meatballs. It was really good. As usual, I modified it significanty. This time I added some more spice, used turkey instead of beef, and changed the size they called for the meatballs to be. We took them to a church party and they got eaten up right away. Yummy, healthy party food.

Ingredients

19 oz. uncooked lean ground turkey (with 7% fat)

3/4 c. rolled oats

2 large egg whites
1/2 c. scallions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried oregano
8 oz canned tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp mustard, spicy brown
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a large, rimmed cake pan or deep baking sheet with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine turkey, oats, egg whites, scallions, garlic, parsley and oregano; mix thoroughly. Shape beef mixture into thirty two1-inch balls; place on prepared baking sheet. Bake meatballs until cooked through, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. When meatballs are done pour sauce over meatballs and let heat about 10 minutes.combine meatballs and sauce into a slow cooker to serve and keep warm. 

Notes
Yields 3 meatballs per serving. There are 3 WW PointPlus per serving. The picture I used on this post is from the Weight Watchers website.

Caramel Popcorn Indulgence for Valentines Day: Two Recipes

I don't often make and post indulgent recipes, but this is one I must confess and also share. Zac is going on a road trip to a theatre conference for a week in Northern California over Valentines. He is roadtripping with some friends. So for a Valentines treat, I made him a tin of the best caramel popcorn I have ever had in my life. I got this recipe from a good friend, Chantelle Bender. She made this for me when we were in college together. I have never fogotten how amazing it is and have made it only a few times since. It is super sugary and fatty, so it's a very special occasion treat. However, it is SO AMAZING that I can't cut it out of my life completely.

Bender Family Soft Caramel Popcorn Recipe

Ingredients
1 very large bowl of popped popcorn (about16 cups)
2 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 cube of butter- softened
1 c. karo syrup
2 tsp. vanilla
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions

Combine brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and karo syrup into a pot. Heat on the stove over medium until boiling. Remove from heat. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix thoroughly. Pour over popcorn a bit at a time and mix well to ensure even coverage. If you are putting it into containers or bags, let cool for 10-15 mintues. Then indulge! YUM!!!

Notes
 It made me cringe to even figure out the points on this one. A one-cup serving is 9 WW PointsPlus. However, it's completely worth every point!


Zac's Valentine's Tin of Bender Family Soft Caramel Corn



Mindy's Vegan Caramel Popcorn Recipe

I also made a second batch with a vegan recipe I came up with on my own. I did this because one of the friends driving with Zac is vegan and I'm an equal opportunity treat distributor. This recipe is still completely full of fat and sugar, but it totally vegan friendly and still incredibly delicious! In fact, I had just as much temptation to snack on this recipe as the other.

Ingredients
1 very large bowl of popped popcorn (about 16 cups)
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. karo syrup
1/2 c. canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Combine brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and karo syrup into a pot. Heat on the stove over medium until boiling. Remove from heat. Pour over popcorn a bit at a time and mix well to ensure even coverage. Let cool if you are putting it into bags or tins. Enjoy all you vegans out there!

Notes
This is a vegan-recipe, but not low sugar or low fat. A one-cup serving is still 7 WW PointsPlus. Worth it though!


A bowl vegan-friendly caramel corn



Whole Wheat Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

I have been craving cinnamon rolls for about six months straight. The first time I made them, in October, I used a recipe full of butter and sugar. They were delicious, but were definiately not something I could treat myself with often. Since then I have been experimenting with healthier cinnamon roll recipes. Over superbowl weekend, I used my bread machine to mak these blueberry cinnamon rolls and, if I do say so myself, they were delightful. I took them to a girls night and the super bowl party we went to. They take a bit of time, but are totally worth it!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough:

1 1/4 c. water

4 egg whites

3 Tbsp. canola oil

1/3 c. sugar

2 1/2 c. whole wheat bread flour

1 1/2 c. white bread flour

3 tsp. dry active yeast

Filling:

3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce

3/4 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon

Icing:

1/2 c. light cream cheese

1 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. skim milk

Directions

To start dough, combine wet ingredients in bread machine. Add dry igredients. Make a well into the dry ingredients and add yeast, making sure it doesn't touch the wet ingredients. Run dough setting on the bread machine until your dough has completely risen (this usually takes about an hour and a half.) While your dough is in the bread machine, combine filling ingedients into a small bowl and mix completely.

Preheat oven to "warm" or the lowest setting (around 150 or 200 degrees). Clean and cover your counter in a thin layer of flour. When dough is complete in the bread machine, roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a large rectangle, approximately two feet long and one foot wide. Spread filling mixture thinly and evenly over your rectangle of dough.

Slowly and gently, roll dough up into a long tube. Spray two 9 x 13" cake pans with cooking spray.  Cut your tube of dough into 24 1-inch rolls.

Place your rolls into the cake pans, 12 rolls in each pan. Place your cake pans into the warm oven for about 20 to 30 minutes to allow your dough to rise a second time. Check your rolls every 10 minutes or so. They are ready when they are fluffy and touching eachother.

Once they have reached this point, turn the heat on the oven up to 350. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. While they are cooling, make icing by putting cream cheese into a small bowl and softening it in the microwave for 30 seconds on medium heat. Add milk and stir until combined thoroughly. Slowly mix in powdered sugar until you have a thin, yet consistent icing.

Drizzle icing over cinnamon rolls using a spoon or knife.  Serve and enjoy your work!

Notes

Best served warm. They can easily be frozen and reheated in the oven at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes. Each cinnamon roll is 4 WW PointsPlus.