Category Archives: treats

recipe, treats

Healthy No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe

, Leave a comment

I woke up this morning wondering, “what would happen if I combined Greek yogurt with sugar-free cheesecake pudding mix?” Curious, and willing to throw away the mess if it didn’t turn out well, I whipped it up in the stand mixer:

20121018-132358.jpg

Ummm… Yeah, how could I NOT turn that into a cheesecake?? So here’s how it went:

for the crust:
1c old fashioned oats, ground up in magic bullet
1c almond meal (Trader Joe’s)
1/4c almond milk
1-2 tbs coconut oil (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Form a crust out of the mixture in a cake pan.

2. Bake for 10-15 mins, until fragrant and golden.

3. Cool for at least 15 mins before filling.

for the filling:
3 cups plain fat free Greek yogurt
1 small package sugar free cheesecake pudding mix
1-2 packets stevia
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat all ingredients in a stand mixer until well combined. Refrigerate until crust is ready.

2. Fill the crust with the Greek yogurt mixture. Refrigerate for at least 10 mins. Serve with blueberry sauce or choice of topping.

20121018-133113.jpg

Wow! Healthy enough to have for breakfast! Makes 12 servings. See the comparison between Maggiano’s New York Cheesecake and this delightful creamy version:

before

20121018-133241.jpg

after

20121018-133331.jpg

recipe, treats

Amazing Protein Cheesecake Recipe

, Leave a comment

Today at RAW fitness I was challenged to create a healthy, high protein dessert. I came home knowing exactly what I wanted to create- cheesecake!!

I browsed Pinterest for inspiration and found this blog post as a good base! BUT… Wheat gives me an upset stomach so I didn’t want to use graham crackers. And I was too lazy to go shopping for cream cheese and cottage cheese. Instead, I decided to make a European-style fluffy cheesecake with what I had on hand. European cheesecakes are a little different from New York cheesecakes because they are fluffy and light rather than dense and creamy.

Here’s what you need:

For the crust:
1/2 c old fashioned oats, ground in a blender
1/2 c almond meal (Trader Joe’s)
1 packet stevia (or 8 drops liquid stevia)
About 3 tbs almond milk

For the filling:
1c fat free ricotta cheese
2/3 c fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 tbs unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
6 tbs liquid egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 packets stevia (or liquid stevia)
1 scoop vanilla whey protein isolate
1tsp xanthan gum (to thicken batter- may substitute corn starch)

do this:

1. Preheat oven to 325 deg. Make crust by combining all ingredients until crumbly. Disperse evenly among 12-14 muffin tin spots. I used 1 muffin pan and 2 ramekins. Bake for 10 mins.

2. While crusts are baking, make the filling in a stand mixer by adding one ingredient at a time on low speed. At the end, crank up the speed to make the batter light and airy.

3. Remove crusts from the oven. Divide the batter evenly almond the muffin tins.

4. Lower the temp to 300 deg and bake the cheesecakes for 30 mins. Watch them expectantly :)

5. While they are baking, whip up an easy blueberry topping by microwaving 1 c frozen blueberries with a bit of stevia and lemon juice. You can thicken it with a pinch or two of cornstarch.

6. Remove cheesecakes from the oven and transfer to a plate. Allow the cheesecakes to cool for 15 mins before placing in the fridge to cool for several hours. If you’re impatient like me, serve them lukewarm with blueberry topping immediately! YUM!!

nutrition:
4 cheesecakes (without toppings):
304 calories
28.6g protein
20 g carbs
3 g fiber
11 g fat

Can’t wait to try a lemon version of these! Hope you enjoy and share!

20121017-224744.jpg

recipe, treats

Chickpea chocolate chip cookies

, , , 1 Comment

These are too good to keep to myself!

Ingredients:
-1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-1/2 cup almond butter (or cashew butter)
-1/2 cup light brown sugar
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Purée chickpeas in a blender (magic bullet) until smooth. Add all ingredients (except chocolate chips) and stir to thoroughly combine. **i used the blender to combine everything, but it gets very sticky and the blades struggle with it.
3. Drop cookie batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper by the spoonful. Stick some chocolate chips in ’em.
4. Bake for 15-20 mins until chocolate chips start to melt and the cookies are golden.
5. Allow to cool, then prepare to be amazed!

These are REALLY tasty! Try them, you won’t regret it!

20120709-223450.jpg

Recipe adapted from here

recipe, snacks, treats

Pumpkin Protein Bars

, Leave a comment

Happy Saturday! It’s a beautiful day here in Vegas. Colby is working on his first editorial law review assignment. For once, he doesn’t need to be on the computer, so I’m taking this rare opportunity to use our laptop. It’s a great day to be blogging outside!

Photo1

I wanted to share my latest food obsession with you today. Pumpkin protein bars are not what I expected. When I heard about the recipe from my fitness instructor, I was expecting something dense and rubbery like a power bar. Instead, these bars are light and fluffy like pumpkin spice cake! They are very low in calories and fairly high in protein.

photo(4)

I have made them several different ways. The recipe calls for whey protein, but soy protein and hemp protein have worked well too. Instead of buying oat flour, I just grind up quick cooking oats in the blender until they turn into a powder. I haven’t tried substituting the baby food apples for regular applesauce, but I’m sure that would work just as well. Here’s the breakdown:

Pumpkin Protein Bars (adapted from Jamie Eason’s recipe)

Ingredients:
½ C Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
1- 4 oz. jar baby food applesauce
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground clove
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large egg whites
1- 15 oz. can of raw pumpkin
2 C oat flour
2 scoops vanilla whey protein
½ cup almond milk
½ C chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.
Spray a 9 X 13 Pyrex dish with non-stick spray.
Combine first 11 ingredients and mix well.
Add the final 3 ingredients (4, if adding walnuts), and mix until incorporated.
Spread batter into the Pyrex dish and bake for 40 minutes.
Makes 24 squares.

Nutrition (without walnuts): 1 square = 47 calories, .7 g fat, 8 g carbs, 3.7 g protein
Nutrition (with walnuts): 1 square = 63 calories, 2.3 g fat, 8 g carbs, 4 g protein

photo(6)

These are almost too good to be true! I’ve been having two squares with my mid-morning coffee at work for the past week. They have just the right amount of sweetness and pack lots of satisfying pumpkin flavor. Enjoy!

PS- I just started blogging about a month ago, but I’m excited to start on a big project to celebrate National Nutrition Month with Healthy Aperture, Swanky Dietitian, and Carlene’s Figments. I’ll keep you posted!