Healthy Egg Nog

Wowowow… I’m sooo behind on my blogging.  I’m sorry, I promise I’ll do better!

It’s been a very busy, but wonderful, Christmas.  I am very blessed with everything in my life and I hope you all feel the same.

So, I don’t know about you, but my past two weeks have consisted of stuffing food in my face and I think I’ve eaten enough to last a lifetime.  Which is what you’re supposed to do, I think, because it happens every year.  Did you know the average person gains 8 pounds in the months of November and December? 

If you’re one of the statistics, don’t worry, this egg nog is good for you.  Well, actually, I don’t know how good for you it is, but it’s not bad for you like regular egg nog.  I was really skeptical about making this because egg nog seems like a really distinct, irreplaceable taste to me, but there was no reason to be because it was delicious.  It tasted just like egg nog. 

I really don’t even like egg nog that much, but I still get excited to buy some every year because I “might like it now”.  Am I the only person that does that?  Anyway… try it!  It’s very easy.  And good.

 Put all the ingredients in the blender.

 Blend!

 Drink with these snickerdoodles.

Egg Nog
from:  Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
5 cups 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soymilk (or another light vanilla soymilk**)
1 small (4-serving) package Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding mix, Vanilla
6 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda)
1 tsp. rum extract or imitation rum extract
½ tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:
In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend on high until mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow it to thicken. Makes five 1-cup servings!

	Serving Size: 1 cup (1/5th of recipe) Calories: 88 Fat: 2g Sodium: 350mg Carbs: 11g Fiber: 0g Sugars: 5g Protein: 6g

Healthy Egg Nog

Wowowow… I’m sooo behind on my blogging.  I’m sorry, I promise I’ll do better!

It’s been a very busy, but wonderful, Christmas.  I am very blessed with everything in my life and I hope you all feel the same.

So, I don’t know about you, but my past two weeks have consisted of stuffing food in my face and I think I’ve eaten enough to last a lifetime.  Which is what you’re supposed to do, I think, because it happens every year.  Did you know the average person gains 8 pounds in the months of November and December? 

If you’re one of the statistics, don’t worry, this egg nog is good for you.  Well, actually, I don’t know how good for you it is, but it’s not bad for you like regular egg nog.  I was really skeptical about making this because egg nog seems like a really distinct, irreplaceable taste to me, but there was no reason to be because it was delicious.  It tasted just like egg nog. 

I really don’t even like egg nog that much, but I still get excited to buy some every year because I “might like it now”.  Am I the only person that does that?  Anyway… try it!  It’s very easy.  And good.

 Put all the ingredients in the blender.

 Blend!

 Drink with these snickerdoodles.

Egg Nog
from:  Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
5 cups 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soymilk (or another light vanilla soymilk**)
1 small (4-serving) package Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding mix, Vanilla
6 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda)
1 tsp. rum extract or imitation rum extract
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:
In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend on high until mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow it to thicken. Makes five 1-cup servings!

	Serving Size: 1 cup (1/5th of recipe) Calories: 88 Fat: 2g Sodium: 350mg Carbs: 11g Fiber: 0g Sugars: 5g Protein: 6g

Healthy Egg Nog

Wowowow… I’m sooo behind on my blogging.  I’m sorry, I promise I’ll do better!

It’s been a very busy, but wonderful, Christmas.  I am very blessed with everything in my life and I hope you all feel the same.

So, I don’t know about you, but my past two weeks have consisted of stuffing food in my face and I think I’ve eaten enough to last a lifetime.  Which is what you’re supposed to do, I think, because it happens every year.  Did you know the average person gains 8 pounds in the months of November and December? 

If you’re one of the statistics, don’t worry, this egg nog is good for you.  Well, actually, I don’t know how good for you it is, but it’s not bad for you like regular egg nog.  I was really skeptical about making this because egg nog seems like a really distinct, irreplaceable taste to me, but there was no reason to be because it was delicious.  It tasted just like egg nog. 

I really don’t even like egg nog that much, but I still get excited to buy some every year because I “might like it now”.  Am I the only person that does that?  Anyway… try it!  It’s very easy.  And good.

 Put all the ingredients in the blender.

 Blend!

 Drink with these snickerdoodles.

Egg Nog
from:  Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
5 cups 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soymilk (or another light vanilla soymilk**)
1 small (4-serving) package Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding mix, Vanilla
6 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda)
1 tsp. rum extract or imitation rum extract
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:
In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend on high until mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow it to thicken. Makes five 1-cup servings!

	Serving Size: 1 cup (1/5th of recipe) Calories: 88 Fat: 2g Sodium: 350mg Carbs: 11g Fiber: 0g Sugars: 5g Protein: 6g

Shrimp Linguine

So, I don’t always bake.

Sometimes I do other things. 

Like try to cook…the thing I prefer about cooking over baking is that it’s so easy to fine-tune a recipe.  You don’t put something together and then pop it in the oven hoping for the best.  You can add a pinch of this or a dash of that throughout the entire process until it’s exactly how you like it. You can’t exactly add another egg or more sugar to a cupcake after it’s been baked. However, the downside to cooking (for me at least) is that I end up with a completely different recipe than I started with and I don’t remember what I added a pinch or a dash of to change it….

This recipe is the perfect example of adjusting a food until you get it how you want it.  The recipe below is the baseline I used to make my shrimp linguine with.  It was really good and I am not a cook so if I can do it, anyone can. Add your own pinches and dashes to your liking and enjoy! :o)

Shrimp Linguine
AllRecipes

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package linguine pasta
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons diced onion
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 40 small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley
• 4 slices lemon, for garnish

Directions

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente; drain.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add shrimp; saute over high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens.
3. Place pasta in a serving dish, and cover with shrimp sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

Shrimp Linguine

So, I don’t always bake.

Sometimes I do other things. 

Like try to cook…the thing I prefer about cooking over baking is that it’s so easy to fine-tune a recipe.  You don’t put something together and then pop it in the oven hoping for the best.  You can add a pinch of this or a dash of that throughout the entire process until it’s exactly how you like it. You can’t exactly add another egg or more sugar to a cupcake after it’s been baked. However, the downside to cooking (for me at least) is that I end up with a completely different recipe than I started with and I don’t remember what I added a pinch or a dash of to change it….

This recipe is the perfect example of adjusting a food until you get it how you want it.  The recipe below is the baseline I used to make my shrimp linguine with.  It was really good and I am not a cook so if I can do it, anyone can. Add your own pinches and dashes to your liking and enjoy! :o)

Shrimp Linguine
AllRecipes

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package linguine pasta
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons diced onion
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 40 small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley
• 4 slices lemon, for garnish

Directions

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente; drain.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add shrimp; saute over high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens.
3. Place pasta in a serving dish, and cover with shrimp sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

Shrimp Linguine

So, I don’t always bake.

Sometimes I do other things. 

Like try to cook…the thing I prefer about cooking over baking is that it’s so easy to fine-tune a recipe.  You don’t put something together and then pop it in the oven hoping for the best.  You can add a pinch of this or a dash of that throughout the entire process until it’s exactly how you like it. You can’t exactly add another egg or more sugar to a cupcake after it’s been baked. However, the downside to cooking (for me at least) is that I end up with a completely different recipe than I started with and I don’t remember what I added a pinch or a dash of to change it….

This recipe is the perfect example of adjusting a food until you get it how you want it.  The recipe below is the baseline I used to make my shrimp linguine with.  It was really good and I am not a cook so if I can do it, anyone can. Add your own pinches and dashes to your liking and enjoy! :o)

Shrimp Linguine
AllRecipes

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package linguine pasta
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons diced onion
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 40 small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley
• 4 slices lemon, for garnish

Directions

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente; drain.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add shrimp; saute over high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens.
3. Place pasta in a serving dish, and cover with shrimp sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

Pancake Cookies

When dessert = breakfast, the world is right.

When these are around, even this stupid cold weather can’t get me down.

I’m thankful that it’s taken so long for it to start getting cold, but the getting cold part had to come and that’s stupid.  And it came without snow, which is even stupid…er.  More stupid.

Luckily, cold weather means Christmas, and who doesn’t love Christmas?  Probably a lot of people.  I’m not one of them, though.

Christmas can be pretty expensive, right? So you should bake for people!  Start freezing things now and you’ll have plenty of stuff by Christmas.  Start with these cookies!  I’m pretty proud of these.  I had to bring food to class for one of my finals, and I couldn’t decide between breakfast food or dessert.  Always a hard choice, so why not combine the two… which would make it completely acceptable to eat dessert for breakfast… because it’s not even dessert, it’s breakfast.  They are in the form of cookies (light, fluffy, delicious cookies), but they taste like pancakes.  And the frosting tastes like butter and maple syrup. Perfect!!


Pancake Cookies

 This is what the dough…batter.. whatever… looks like.

 Put on baking sheet and add topping of choice.

 This is what they look like baked.

 And this is how they look iced.. yummm!

Ingredients

 Cookie:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk
• ½ cup butter, room temp (8 tablespoons or 1 stick)
• ½ cup frozen blueberries, thawed or chocolate chips

Icing:

• ½ cup butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• ¼ cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl, beat together sugar and butter. Stir into flour mixture. Beat together the egg and milk and add to the mixture.  Fold in the blueberries or chocolate chips. (Or you can just wait until you put them on the baking sheet and put a few on top like I did)
3. Scoop by tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden, but still fluffy to the touch. Let cool.
4. In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla, confectioners’ sugar (to your liking…may not use it all), milk, and syrup. Beat well. 
5. Once the cookies are cool, drizzle icing over cooled cookies. 

Pancake Cookies

When dessert = breakfast, the world is right.

When these are around, even this stupid cold weather can’t get me down.

I’m thankful that it’s taken so long for it to start getting cold, but the getting cold part had to come and that’s stupid.  And it came without snow, which is even stupid…er.  More stupid.

Luckily, cold weather means Christmas, and who doesn’t love Christmas?  Probably a lot of people.  I’m not one of them, though.

Christmas can be pretty expensive, right? So you should bake for people!  Start freezing things now and you’ll have plenty of stuff by Christmas.  Start with these cookies!  I’m pretty proud of these.  I had to bring food to class for one of my finals, and I couldn’t decide between breakfast food or dessert.  Always a hard choice, so why not combine the two… which would make it completely acceptable to eat dessert for breakfast… because it’s not even dessert, it’s breakfast.  They are in the form of cookies (light, fluffy, delicious cookies), but they taste like pancakes.  And the frosting tastes like butter and maple syrup. Perfect!!


Pancake Cookies

 This is what the dough…batter.. whatever… looks like.

 Put on baking sheet and add topping of choice.

 This is what they look like baked.

 And this is how they look iced.. yummm!

Ingredients

 Cookie:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp (8 tablespoons or 1 stick)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed or chocolate chips

Icing:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl, beat together sugar and butter. Stir into flour mixture. Beat together the egg and milk and add to the mixture.  Fold in the blueberries or chocolate chips. (Or you can just wait until you put them on the baking sheet and put a few on top like I did)
3. Scoop by tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden, but still fluffy to the touch. Let cool.
4. In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla, confectioners’ sugar (to your liking…may not use it all), milk, and syrup. Beat well. 
5. Once the cookies are cool, drizzle icing over cooled cookies. 

Pancake Cookies

When dessert = breakfast, the world is right.

When these are around, even this stupid cold weather can’t get me down.

I’m thankful that it’s taken so long for it to start getting cold, but the getting cold part had to come and that’s stupid.  And it came without snow, which is even stupid…er.  More stupid.

Luckily, cold weather means Christmas, and who doesn’t love Christmas?  Probably a lot of people.  I’m not one of them, though.

Christmas can be pretty expensive, right? So you should bake for people!  Start freezing things now and you’ll have plenty of stuff by Christmas.  Start with these cookies!  I’m pretty proud of these.  I had to bring food to class for one of my finals, and I couldn’t decide between breakfast food or dessert.  Always a hard choice, so why not combine the two… which would make it completely acceptable to eat dessert for breakfast… because it’s not even dessert, it’s breakfast.  They are in the form of cookies (light, fluffy, delicious cookies), but they taste like pancakes.  And the frosting tastes like butter and maple syrup. Perfect!!


Pancake Cookies

 This is what the dough…batter.. whatever… looks like.

 Put on baking sheet and add topping of choice.

 This is what they look like baked.

 And this is how they look iced.. yummm!

Ingredients

 Cookie:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp (8 tablespoons or 1 stick)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed or chocolate chips

Icing:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl, beat together sugar and butter. Stir into flour mixture. Beat together the egg and milk and add to the mixture.  Fold in the blueberries or chocolate chips. (Or you can just wait until you put them on the baking sheet and put a few on top like I did)
3. Scoop by tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden, but still fluffy to the touch. Let cool.
4. In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla, confectioners’ sugar (to your liking…may not use it all), milk, and syrup. Beat well. 
5. Once the cookies are cool, drizzle icing over cooled cookies. 

Coconut Macaroons

 
Sometimes I get random cravings.

This time, coconut was my victim.

Poor coconut.  It already has identity issues.  Is it a nut or a fruit?  And what is it’s real use?  Bikinis?  As a bowl?  Is it a drink…and if it is, is it juice or milk?  Or oil? Or food?  Fuel?  Who knows.

Coconut really isn’t one of my favorite flavors, but for some reason, I had to have some.  Fast.  I didn’t even look up a recipe.  I just grabbed the coconut bag and looked at the back, knowing one of the recipes would suffice.  I’m glad I did that because usually I don’t like “bag recipes”, but this one is worth trying.  They’re done in about 20 minutes.  Super fast!!

 Mix the ingredients.

Before the oven.

After the oven.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 ½ cups grated coconut
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Ingredients:

• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• ¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Stir together egg white, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and a pinch of salt until combined, then stir in coconut. Drop dough by tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until tops are pale golden in spots, 10 to 15 minutes, then carefully lift cookies from baking sheet and transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 15 minutes.

*Optional: Dip in melted chocolate chips.