Power Bar - Cindy Style!

So today my "Healthy Hero" friend, Cindy, gave me her homemade Power/Breakfast/Healthy treat Bars. As usual, I was a little suspicious of the ingredients since she wouldn't tell me what was in them until I had a bite. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste as well as the ingredient list.

As a breast cancer survivor, I have been instructed to stay away from soy. I know there are all different schools of thought on the subject, but I am listening to my oncologist and just steering clear of the stuff. Do you know how hard it is to find a breakfast bar without soy in it? I have fallen in love with the Lara Bar - and with their oodles of flavors I'm usually set. I am happy to have found this treat to give my taste buds a change and save a little change as well.

Make a batch and see if you don't love them as well!

Cindy's Healthy Breakfast Bar

1 1/4 cup flour (Cindy actually ground some oats for me in her Vita mixer. IMPRESSIVE!)
1 teaspoon non-alum baking powder
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup pitted dates, soaked in 1/4 cup hot water to soften
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

In a bowl, thoroughly whisk eggs. Add flour, baking powder and mix. Add dates and nuts. Pour into lightly greased 8 x8x2 pan. Bake at 250 for 40 minutes. Do not over cook. Should stay moist.

Bonus Ingredients:
Try adding dried orange or lemon peel, coconut, crushed pineapple, or chopped and dehydrated apricots.

Any grains work: Wheat, Buckwheat, oats, barley, spelt, quinoa, amaranth, rye.

Cindy's Masala Vegetable Stew

The other night, my "Healthy Hero" Cindy and I had an impromptu dinner with our families. We had been working all day for our good friend and thought it would be fun to kick back and enjoy some down time. As we each tried to figure out what we could contribute to the meal we realized it might be a little complicated since she is a vegetarian and I am a "Carb-a-tarian". I pulled out "Julie's Cinncanati Chili" from my freezer to go over a baked potato and Cindy whipped up this Masala Vegetable Stew. I was a little hesitant to try this exotic dish - since my body is more accustomed to Pringles and HoHo's - but wow was I blown away! I loved the sweet and spicy tastes and have put this on my list to make in the future. Try it - You'll like it!

Masala Vegetable Stew
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
4 medium potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1/2 medium head cauliflower, bite size pieces
2 cups frozen cut green beans
1 to 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
2 fresh mild chiles, seeded and minced
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1 (15 oz) can light coconut milk
salt to taste
1 cup frozen green peas
1/4 tsp. chopped cilantro (she used dried)
curry to taste
Raisins

Heat the oil in large soup pot over med. heat. Add onions and garlic, cook stirring often until golden. Add potatoes, carrots and 2 cups water. Bring to boil. Cover and cook gently until partially tender 10 to 15 minutes. Add cauliflower, green beans, ginger, chiles, garam masala, coriander, turmeric. Continue to cook gently covered until tender 20 minutes. Mash some potatoes against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon to thicken stew. Stir in coconut milk and season to taste with salt. If time allows let stew stand for 1 hour before serving. Just before serving, heat and stir in peas, raisins, and cilantro and cook until peas are just heated through. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Serves 6 to 8.



This is Cindy with her hubby Reagan! My "Healthy Hero" is working on me one meal at a time! Keep up the good work!

Onion Pie - A Perfect Side Dish!

Have you ever made a recipe - loved it - and then couldn't find it again? That is what happened to me with this delicious side dish. I made this 5 years ago - loved it - and then lost the recipe! Once in a while I would try to Google the recipe, but I knew that what I found was not the exact recipe. Well, over Christmas when I was looking for another recipe - this one fell out of a book. YEAH ME! Throw a salad on a plate with a slice of this pie - and you are set with one super supper!
This is adapted from a recipe in the Cooking Light Magazine -2001.



Onion Pie
1 cup low-fat baking mix (such as reduced fat Bisquick)
1/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
cooking spray
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 cups chopped sweet onions
1 (8oz) block 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup french fried onions
Dash of hot sauce




1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine baking mix and 1/3 cup milk. Lightly coat hands with cooking spray. Press dough into bottom and up sides of a 9 inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. As you can see by the pictures, I did not get the crust up the sides - and that is fine.



3. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cook 5 minutes or until tender - do not brown. Stir occasionally. Spoon onion into prepared crust.



4. Place cream cheese and egg in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add 1/2 cup milk, salt, and hot sauce. Pour cream cheese mixture over onion. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Yields 6 servings. (Half way through baking time I sprinkle french fried onions on top)



This is a great way to use up those onions sitting in your bin right now!

Roasted Snowman Noses - and other Vegetables!

This chilly weather outside has certainly made me want to warm my tummy inside. This is a lovely and simple dish that will warm your heart and cause snowmen all over the Northern states to become "Sinus Challenged"!



Basic Roasted Vagetables
Preheat oven to 425.
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup baby carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped (I omit because my gag reflex goes on overtime when I even hear the word Celery)
2 turnips, peeled and quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, peeled and quartered
1 white onion, peeled and quartered
1 red pepper, halved and sliced
1 bulb fennel, washed and quartered

In a medium size bowl, stir together the melted butter, the minced garlic and herbs. Lightly coat the vegetables and place them in a large baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy this warm hearty dish with your favorite Chicken or Beef dish!

As you can see - I substituted some different veggies - I just used whatever I had in my veggie bin. Clean out your veggie bin today!

Trust me - Your snowman will feel honored to donate his nose to this worthy dish!

WW Pan Bagnat

When I am faithfully doing Weight Watchers I make this recipe at least once a week. I usually pair this with Weight Watcher Black Bean soup (Next Wednesday's Post). This meal always fills me up - and it is only 8 points for the entire meal! I made this the other day and my girls wanted it in their lunch. They came home and said it was one of their favorite sandwiches. It helps that I purchased the tomatoes from the farmers market and they were out of this world!

Makes 4 servings.
2 very ripe tomatoes, peeled (I never peel them)
One 8 oz loaf day-old French or Italian bread, halved lengthwise
1/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped flat - leaf parsley (I think basil would be an amazing substitution)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons white-wine vinegar
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Halve each tomato horizontally; with a spoon, scoop out and discard the seeds and pulp. Dice the tomato shells.
2. Pull out the soft insides of the bread and tear into pea-size pieces. Transfer to a medium bowl; stir in the tomatoes, cheese, parsley, scallions, vinegar, oil and pepper.
3. Fill the bread loaf with the tomato mixture; close the bread and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight; just before serving cut into 4 sandwiches.

Per serving: 222 Calories, 6g Total fat, 6 mg Cholesterol, 404 mg Sodium, 34g Total Carbs, 3g Fiber, 8 g Protein, 122 mg Calcium.

4 Points per serving.