Apple Oatmeal Crisp Dessert

In the spirit of staying naturally sweet, I decided to try a fruit dessert recipe I found on Healthy Aperture tonight. It was awesome and very easy to make (like guy-proof easy, maybe even dorm room easy if you have a toaster oven) so I'm going to show you how I did it.

This recipe from a blog titled "Two Saucy Sisters" (cute name!) was the one I followed. Only 7 ingredients are required (including water), 6 of which I had on hand and 1 I didn't want anyway. I'm just not a raisin fan.

Here goes...

Core and cut one apple into cubes and toss in a microwave AND oven safe bowl/ramekin with 1tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp nutmeg.
*Add your raisins or dried fruit if you so choose

Add 1tsp of water and microwave for 1 minute. While the apples steam, combine 1/3cup oats and 2Tbsp maple syrup in another bowl and mix until combined.












 

Once the apples are done, top with the oatmeal mixture and microwave for another 2.5-3 minutes.



Pop this into the oven under the broiler for about 2 minutes or until the oats turn golden brown. Be very careful not to burn it!
*Original recipe suggested chopped walnuts before going under the broiler, I didn't have any so I made do!

  

Split the apple crisp into two bowls (portions people!). Top with some ice cream or lowfat frozen yogurt like I did and enjoy a wonderful, fast, and healthy dessert!









As I was eating this I was even thinking that this would be a great breakfast with a little more  oatmeal and some milk poured over the top...ideas, ideas!

Enjoy!

As sweet as sugar....600 times over!

Nothing tastes better to me than my morning coffee with a little bit of milk and my favorite sweetener: Splenda. Yes I know, as a nutrition geek you would think I wouldn't go near the stuff but I won't lie to you, I love it. I started using it years ago in my coffee and even as new sweeteners have appeared claiming to be more "natural" and better for you, I still clung to my little yellow packets of gold.

Recently, I started using two packets in my coffee because one just wasn't enough anymore. I needed more sweetness. Things started to get a little out of hand when I started having INTENSE sweet cravings that no reasonable sweet treat could live up to. These cravings were so bad that they would often result in me baking a whole batch of cookies just to satisfy this manic craving. Something was up and I was tired of losing my evenings to the inevitable hunt for sickly sweet foods. There could only be one culprit: Splenda.

Some little known things about alternative sweeteners: some are lower or even no calorie, but they all lead to the perception that you are eating sugar or something sweet. That's the whole idea right? Well that's great for your waistline and blood sugar, but not so great on your brain. You perceive taste with your brain so every time you add a packet of Splenda to your coffee, you're sending sweet signals to your brain that are 600 times sweeter than regular sugar. 600 TIMES!

No wonder I was having sweet cravings that couldn't be touched! My brain was telling me that I needed something 600 times sweeter than my sweet treat for the night. It was time to cut back and ween myself off of the little yellow packet. I started cutting down to one packet in my morning coffee and avoiding foods that read "sucralose" on the ingredients label to prevent accidentally ruining my plan. I'll tell you, I feel a lot better and I'm starting to respond better to naturally sweet foods like fruit again. I tried stevia as another step-down process to help my poor addicted brain, but both SF and I made faces at the aftertaste (which I had never noticed before in my 2 Splenda packet taste coma).

So I guess the only thing to do is to ween myself off of the Splenda little by little until it's all gone. As much as I love being able to have my super sweet coffee and not have any caloric impact from sugar, it's just not natural and it was driving me to actually eat MORE sugar through my cravings. I'd rather get used to the taste of unsweetened coffee and be able to control what kind of sweet foods I eat instead of feeling powerless to my cravings.

Take a second to think about your sweetener usage. Is it possible to cut back a little? If it is, give it a try and see how much more in control you can be of your food choices. In the mean time, check out some info from Mayo Clinic about sweeteners so you can better decide what works for you!
Artificial Sweeteners and Other Sugar Substitutes

Easy, fast, meatless meal!

Tonight, dinner was a success. This is not always the case due to the small amount of time I have to make dinner between class and SF going to work, but tonight I made it work. Here's how:

I decided to make an all vegetable version of the classic spaghetti and meatballs using spaghetti squash, some marinara I had in the fridge, mushrooms, and some frozen veggie meatballs. Thinking back now, I wish I had taken pictures of the process as I went along, but I only had about 30 minutes to make dinner and get it on the table so I'm lucky I got a picture of the final product.

Spaghetti Squash and Meat(less)balls with Mushroom Marinara:

 Makes 2 servings:
Large spaghetti squash
Cooking spray
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Frozen veggie meatballs
1 clove garlic, minced
4 or 5 medium/large baby bella mushrooms, sliced
About 1/2 cup of marinara or whatever red sauce you have on hand
Parmesan cheese
Herbs for garnish (I didn't have any but it would have looked nice!)

1. Cut a large spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the seeds
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Drizzle the squash halves with olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper. Place halves FACE DOWN on baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until inside flesh is tender.
3. Cook frozen meat(less)balls according to directions on package. Mine suggested using the oven so I just adjusted the oven temp when it was time to cook the meat(less)balls and timed accordingly with the squash.
4. While squash and meat(less)balls are cooking, heat a small pan with a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat and sautee the mushrooms and garlic until golden brown and soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add marinara to the same pan with the mushrooms and turn on low to let the sauce warm up and pick up the mushroom flavor.
6. Once squash and meat(less)balls are done, turn squash halves over and scrape out inner flesh with a fork. It will come out looking like spaghetti noodles (hence the name!). Scoop the "noodles" into a bowl and top with the mushroom marinara mixture. Add desired number of meat(less)balls and top with Parmesan cheese.
7. Add fresh herbs for garnish if you have them or if you are really trying to impress!

My food photography skills need some work, but don't let the picture deceive you, this meal was delish! I felt so satisfied and even forgot that I was eating a "fake" version of spaghetti and meatballs! This would make a great "meatless Monday" meal or any night when you need a veggie boost.

Happy cooking!

Weekends are for the dogs!

This weekend has been a little crazy between work and schoolwork, but my favorite thing about the weekends is finding fun ways to be active despite the chores and such. The weather has been amazing and we recently joined a HUGE 42 acre dog park (more like camp ground), so my new favorite exercise involves nothing but PLAY. A lot of people just walk their dogs around the neighborhood and that is a great way to exercise the whole family, but I think the dog park is more fun. Dogwood Park here in Jax is really a gem and caters to puppy parents just as much as the dogs themselves. We run around in the fields, throw the ball by the lake, and go hiking in the enclosed wooded area...all with our beautiful dogs in tow! You forget you're getting such a work out until the next day when your legs are killing you from jumping around. For all those dog lovers out there, think about taking your furry friend to a nearby park one of these weekends and get your workout by playing!


Here are our pups chasing by the lake at our home away from home:

And here is SF running with them in the field:

The Lunchtime Dilemma

So it's day 2 of my blog and I'm still trying to figure out some of the basic functions, but I know I'll get there soon. Until I get the aesthetic down a little more I'm just going to focus on some of the food related issues I seem to run into most frequently and how I am sometimes able to solve them.

Today my issue is lunch. I always dream about being that person who easily whips up the most delish vegetable panini or a salad worthy of a picture, but of course that rarely happens. Lunchtime is the hardest meal for me to actually take time and make. I just can't get excited about lunch.

How can we make lunch at home or on the go more exciting AND keep it healthy? Lunch out is never a drag, especially if you don't pay attention to how much money you spend on lunches out every week! And for those snackers out there (guilty!), how do we put together an appetizing meal that will actually power us through the afternoon and not just until the next snack break? Let's save ourselves from the cost, extra calories, and boredom that the mid-day meal brings and add some pizazz. Take another look at the pantry and see all the healthy additions you already have. Dried fruit doesn't have to go on a cold salad, throw it in some rice or quinoa (hot or cold) with some chopped nuts. Try some hummus or pesto on your sandwich instead of mayo. There are so many possibilities if you get creative. Whatever you can add to health up your lunch and get you excited about it again is worth the effort.

What are some ways you make your lunch exciting?

My Introduction to the Blogging World

I recently read a quote that said "If you don't exist in the media, for all practical purposes you don't exist". Pretty harsh right? I mean, how many of us really have our names out there in the media? Well, the more I learn about being a professional or even just getting out there and making a difference the more I have realized how true that statement is.  So here I am, inspired to take the plunge into the world of blogging and maybe, just maybe, make a difference.

So here is my story, may it lead to my eventual "existence":

I have always had a hard time with my health. Migraines, acid reflux, joint injuries, vision issues, allergic reactions, fainting spells...and that's just the beginning. I like to say that I have everything that won't kill you. With all those conditions comes a lot of doctors and a lot of medications with a lot of side effects. Anyone who has had a chronic condition knows what I mean. One of the more joyful side effects that I experienced was weight gain. My senior year of high school I gained about 20lbs which I thought was the worst thing that could ever happen to me and at 17, it probably was. Then I went to college and gained some more weight, hated the school I went to, didn't enjoy my major, gained some more weight, and eventually ended up in a state of what I know now to be depression.

After a few too many days in bed watching tv (Kardashians of course) and ignoring my friends phone calls, I decided to get out of bed and do something with my day. I went to the park down the road and decided to go for a walk. That was it, just a walk and then back to my bed to watch more Kardashians. Then the next day, I went for a walk again. Blame it on the beautiful fall weather in Florida, maybe I just needed some vitamin D...who knows but I started to pull myself out of my rut. Every day I would walk a little more until I was walking about 5 miles a day, then jogging some of the way, then eventually I started running for the first time in my life. I started eating better out of necessity as I was finding that I couldn't sustain any activity if I wasn't eating at least somewhat balanced meals. Through the process, I found that I really liked cooking healthy food and if I did it right it actually tasted great!

Nothing drastic, nothing dangerous, no quick fixes. I just started to eat better food and exercise more and I lost more than 30lbs in 5 months. The best part about it was that I had found a new passion in life at a time when I needed it most. I transferred to the University of North Florida to study nutrition and dietetics and haven't looked back since.

So why am I here? I'm just interested in sharing my health tips and nutrition knowledge in the hopes that maybe I can pull someone out of their rut before they watch all 7 seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. It's not about weight loss, it's not even about weight. It's about being a real person with a real schedule who can be really healthy too. Real Life Real Health.

-Victoria