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In Search of a Christmas Tradition: Ebelskivers!

By Christen on December 18, 2011 in Foods & Recipes, Indulgences

Have you heard of Ebelskivers? I had not, until just the other day.

I have wanted our family to have a Christmas morning breakfast tradition, but could never figure out what that should be.

When my sister-in-law gave me a Williams-Sonoma gift card for my birthday, I immediately went to their website to try to figure out what I wanted (most). I discovered something I had never even heard of before: an ebelskiver pan! {I, of course, went that day to the store to buy it since I’m such a patient person}

Apparently, ebelskivers {also spelled aebleskivers} originated in Denmark and traditionally were served before Christmas. They are small round-shaped pancakes that are light and fluffy. Oftentimes, they are filled with fruit, cream cheese, or other delicious fillings.

My first attempt at ebelskivers went fairly smoothly. I filled them with apricot preserves and sprinkled a little bit of powder sugar on top. Maple syrup completed them and they were delicious. I am in love!

I am now in search of the type of ebelskiver that I want to make on Christmas morning. I’ll post more flavors as I try them out this week!

{Sidenote: The ebelskivers pictured above are not anything especially healthy, but I am going to try out various types, including some made with whole wheat flour! I consider these more of a fun thing to do for special occasions…not an everyday breakfast.}

{Linking up to Tip Junkie, Today’s Creative Blog, 30 Handmade Days & Life Made Lovely}

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Chocolate Peanut Butter {a new twist}

By Christen on November 26, 2011 in Foods & Recipes, Indulgences

Chocolate peanut butter is delicious. Seriously.

So, why not find some fun new ways to make it even more tasty?

After you have made your chocolate peanut butter, turn it into pretzel peanut butter!

Make the chocolate peanut butter!

Break up some pretzel pieces and stir them into the peanut butter!

I spread this on my mother-in-law’s delicious homemade bread (thanks, Linda!) and it was delicious!

Mmmm.

I like pretzels, but they aren’t something I normally love.

But I loved this chocolate peanut butter variation and it was a fun little kid-friendly snack for the kiddos!

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

By Christen on November 9, 2011 in Foods & Recipes, Indulgences

In case you haven’t figured out by now, I love pumpkin. And I don’t just love it for the taste, I also love all of the Vitamin A that I sneak into my family’s diet!

Lately I’ve been making pumpkin butter, light and crustless pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins!

I found a wonderful recipe for them, but it wasn’t quite healthy enough for what I know will be the Little Buddy and Little Stinker’s breakfast some days. So, I did some tweaking until it was not only fairly healthy, but very tasty!

Here’s what you will need:

Dry ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur’s Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

1 egg

3 egg whites (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)

1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup canola oil

Mix in at the end:

1 cup chocolate chips

Get started making these delicious pumpkin chocolate chip muffins!!!

1. In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Oh, and a little lion came to take a peak!

2. Combine all of the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

3. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix only until moistened.

4. Stir in chocolate chips! Mmmm.

5. Fill greased muffin pan cups about 1/2 – 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-21 min. Be careful not to overbake!

This recipe yields about 24 muffins or 12 muffins and one small loaf.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 muffin

177 calories, 5 g fat, 21 g carbohydrates, 3 g protein

Enjoy!!!!

{Linked up to Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try & This Chick Cooks!}

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No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake {crustless and light}

By Christen on October 31, 2011 in Foods & Recipes, Indulgences

This no bake pumpkin cheesecake is perfect for anyone who:

LOVES pumpkin as much as I do.
Needs a little “desserty” type of thing every now and then.
Wants to keep it low-cal.

Here’s what you will need:

1 1/2 cups 100% pure pumpkin (canned)

4 Tbsp honey

3 Tbsp sugar

1 (8 oz) package of fat free cream cheese, softened at room temp

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup light whipped topping

Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips, to taste (optional)

Directions:

Mix together pumpkin and softened cream cheese. Add honey and sugar, then add pumpkin pie spice. Gently mix in the whipped topping.

Serve in individual dessert bowls and top with mini chocolate chips.

Tip: It’s best when served very cold!

{Linking up to Life Made Lovely!}

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Chocolate Zucchini Cake

By Christen on August 8, 2011 in Indulgences

This chocolate zucchini cake is much healthier than other cakes, but you would never even know it!

We all have those days (or maybe even weeks!) when we would give our right arm for something chocolate. I have some good news for you: there is a healthier chocolate cake that will satisfy your cravings while also providing some decent nutrition.

Trust me, even as a dietitian, I must.have.chocolate. And my kids? Well, they both love chocolate too, of course!

Continue Reading →

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Peach Bread Recipe

By Christen on July 28, 2011 in Indulgences

Even my picky eater loved it!

I’m a southern girl. Actually, I’m even a “Georgia Peach” technically (born and partially raised in Georgia), so summer must include a little bit of peaches. And what better place to find a peach recipe than Southern Living? A Spiced Peach Bread!

I will admit that this is not something you would want to have around the house every day. It’s one of those “special-little-treats-that-I-could-potentially-overeat-if-left-to-my-own-devices” kinds of food. The dietitian in me must encourage you to distribute evenly to everyone in the household to prevent weight gain!

Here’s the great thing, though. My oldest, W, is such.a.picky.eater. Ask anyone in our family (and probably most of our friends that have been around him at mealtime). We tried to force a peach down him one time with bribery and it didn’t work. Not even a brand spankin’ new Transformer did the trick.

But…he did LOVE this peach bread.

He even let the monkey share it.

This bread also has carrots in it, which he still doesn’t know to this day. This particular loaf was made without pecans, which does save some calories.

I plan to make this soon with some substitutions that would make it even healthier…hopefully will still taste good.

This is the perfect time of year to try this recipe while there are ripe peaches in the store!

C loved it too and fussed for more…just like I did when it was gone!

View the kid-friendly recipe here!

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In Search of a Christmas Tradition: Ebelskivers!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter {a new twist}

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here’s what you will need:

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No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake {crustless and light}

Here’s what you will need:

Directions:

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Chocolate Zucchini Cake

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Peach Bread Recipe

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