Vegetable and Hamburger Pizza 

on a Wheat Crust

Look at the array of cheeses! Mmmm array of cheeses

PIZZA
yeah
So this is a vegetable and hamburger pizza (is there an actual name for that that I'm just not aware of? probably, but I'm not looking it up) on a homemade wheat crust.

For the crust:

recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl combine flour, wheat germ and salt. 

I added some oregano and garlic powder to my crust mixture too for extra flavor

Make a well in the middle  

and add honey and yeast mixture.

Stir well to combine. 

Cover and set in a warm place to rise for a few minutes.

Roll dough on a floured pizza pan 

and poke a few holes in it with a fork.

Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until desired crispiness is achieved.

Now for the Toppings!

Tomato sauce (we had some leftover tomato puree that we used)

Cooked hamburger meat

Tomatoes!

Onions!

Mushrooms! 

Red and green peppers!

Cheese! - we used mozzarella, cheddar, and feta

Eat up!

Grapefruit and Peach Salad

A cool, refreshing fruit salad for those typical hot summer days.

So if it isn't obvious yet......I LIKE SALAD. (And then putting that salad in the hollowed out skin of the fruit or vegetable apparently.)

Ingredients:

(makes 2 servings)

1 pink grapefruit

3 small peaches

about 3-4 mint leaves

2 tablespoons honey

Directions:

1. Over a small bowl to catch the juice, cut the grapefruit in half and then very carefully (and patiently) remove the grapefruit segments from the membrane. Place the grapefruit into a another bowl.

2. Once all the grapefruit is removed, squeeze the grapefruit halves over your small bowl to collect all the juice. (Depending on how much your squeeze the grapefruit halves, you're going to have more than enough juice.)

3. Next, remove the skin and pits from your peaches and slice them. Add them to your bowl of grapefruit.

4. Now cut your mint leaves (or just tear them into smaller pieces with your hands) and add them to the grapefruit and peach mixture. 

5. Add 2 tablespoons (or as much as you like) of honey to the grapefruit juice you collected in your small bowl and stir. Pour that mixture over you grapefruit, peaches, and mint. Stir.

6. Let the salad chill in the refrigerator to give the fruit time to absorb all the juices. (I let mine chill for about 15 minutes, or until I was finished watching Modern Family.)

7. And serve!

Frittata Florentine

From the TasteofHome Southern Comfort Diet Cookbook

Ingredients:

6 egg whites

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper

2 turkey bacon strips, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup fresh baby spinach

3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk the first six ingredients; set aside.

(Next you'll want to chop your onion, red pepper, bacon, and spinach because once you get cooking it really helps to have everything ready to just throw into your pan.)

In an 8-in. ovenproof skillet, saute onion, red pepper and bacon oil until tender.

It's magic!

Reduce heat; top with spinach.

2. Pour reserved egg mixture over spinach.

As eggs set, push cooked edges toward the center, letting uncooked portion flow underneath until eggs are nearly set. Sprinkle with basil and cheese. (I put the basil on after I take the frittata out of the oven so that it doesn't welt.)

3. Broil 3-4 in. from heat for 2-3 minutes or until eggs are completely set.

Let stand for 5 minutes. Cut frittata into four wedges.

Looks like pizza!

Mom wanted some pictures too

Nutritional Value: 1 wedge equals 176 calories, 11 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 174 mg cholesterol, 451 mg sodium, 4 carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 15g fiber

Sweet Potato and Avocado Salad

You don't have to eat it out of the hollowed avocado skin. I literally dumped this on my plate and added about 3 more spoonfuls. It's that good

Everyone seems to be riding the avocado and sweet potato wave and I'm not one to jump on the band wagon but I'm also not one to deny myself my favorite foods. Plus these vegetables are healthy for you! (just keep telling yourself that as you stuff this in your mouth) 

So I basically took this idea and attempted to concoct my own version.

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes

olive oil

salt

pepper

2 avocados

lime juice

1/4 of a white onion (or purple for that extra punch of color)

For the sweet potato:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Peel your potatoes and cut them into cubes.

3. Place the potatoes on a cookie sheet and coat them with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. (Get your hands dirty here! That's an order.)

4. Bake for about 28-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

5. Once cooked, remove from oven and let the potatoes cool while you work on the avocados.

For the avocados:

I was really looking forward to trying this supposedly AMAZING grilled avocado that everyone's been talking about, but......our grill wasn't working so I had to resort to searing them off in a pan on the stove. (It's still good! It's still good!) But really, didn't make much difference. I just still want to try them on the grill. 

1. Cut the avocados in half and take out the pits.

2. Brush some lime juice and olive oil on the avocado halves.

3. Place the avocados flesh side down on your pan over medium heat. 

4. Keep an eye on them! They won't need more than a couple of minutes.

5. When the flesh side has a nice brown on it, let the avocados cool and carefully spoon them out of their skins.

6. Cut the avocados into cubes just like the sweet potatoes (perhaps smaller though).

Now put it all together!

1. Put your cooked, cubed sweet potatoes and cubed avocado in a medium bowl.

2. Cut up about a quarter of medium-sized onion (white or purple. whatever floats your boat). Then add it to your sweet potato and avocado mixture. 

3. Add olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. (I put in about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and about 2-3 teaspoons of lime juice.)

4. Mix it all together and eat it! 

Ain't that just the prettiest salad you ever did see!

WARNING: THIS SALAD TASTES EVEN BETTER THE NEXT DAY. Also, try adding some mango to it too. I ate the leftovers the next day and my mom added some mango to it. Letting it sit the fridge over night really melds all the flavors together and makes it more of a traditional potato salad. SO GOOD.

Energizing Granola

I love granola

with yogurt

and fresh cut fruit.

But I also love it for a to-go snack.

So here's a recipe from the TasteofHome Comfort Food Diet Cookbook.....book

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower kernels
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flaked coconut (sweetened or unsweetened. I used sweetened.)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons molasses (I didn't have any molasses so I just doubled the amount of honey and used a little bit of maple syrup)
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried banana chips
( I also put in about 1/2 cup of dried cherries so feel free to put any kind of dried fruit you like or leave out any of these that you don't like)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients.

In a small saucepan, combine the water, honey, molasses, and oil. Heat for 3-4 minutes over medium heat until heated through.

Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Pour over the oat mixture; stir to coat.

3. Transfer to a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan (a big cookie sheet works just fine) coated with cooking spray (or perhaps just lined with parchment paper or foil because I feel like my granola got a weird taste from the cooking spray). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned (I ended up only baking mine for about 19 minutes), stirring every 10 minutes (This is very important. Some of my granola was very thin on the edges of the pan and it got slightly burned). Cool completely. Stir in dried fruit. Store in an air tight container (or ziplock bag).

LOOK AT IT.

Nutritional Value: 1/2 cup equals 260 calories, 12 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 110 mg sodium, 35 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 7 g protein