Vegan No Bake Cookies

I have officially attempted a vegan recipe (one of my new co-workers is vegan and I was taking treats for a birthday... I wanted to see if I could do it!). We'll have to see what they think about them tomorrow... Introducing no bake cookies to the summer series because... you don't have to turn on the oven to make them.

Anyway! I went searching and found this blog and recipe.

Frosty No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (80 cals each)
by Angela Liddon (from Oh She Glows)
Makes about 7 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips
1 large banana
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp buckwheat groats (optional)
1 tsp cocoa powder
Sweetener, if preferred

Instructions:
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips for about 60 seconds being careful not to burn. Remove from microwave and stir so the rest of the chips melt.

Roughly chop the banana and mash it into the melted chips with a fork.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients into the chocolate & banana and stir very well until all oats are coated with chocolate.

Line a plate with parchment and drop about 7 cookies onto it. Alternatively, you can use muffin liners. Freeze for about 1 hour or until firm. Cookies will firm up, but they won’t become solid and will remain chewy. Leave in the freezer for a quick chocolate fix any time of the day! Makes 7 small cookies.

 
***

I did not add buckwheat oats or sweetener. I saw later that it only made 7 small cookies, and had bought enough rolled oats to double the recipe, so I did... When I dropped the cookies, I ended up with 12 cookies... so I didn't do it quite right, but it's close enough. Below is the nutritional information provided on the blog.

Update: These are tasty cookies. However, if you do not like banana, you will most likely not like them. I could definitely taste the banana, but I think banana and chocolate are fabulous together! I kept them in the freezer at first, and then in the refrigerator. In my opinion, they're better out of the freezer as they are very soft and messy out of the refrigerator. Here's a picture I took of the cookies after they were hardened... the little bits of white you see are frost - they reacted like that when I took them outside (into the heat) to get some good light. Oh well!

***

Per Cookie (makes 7) 80 kcals 3 grams fat (1 gram sat) 10 grams carbs 2 grams fibre 5 grams sugar 2 grams protein

***

A note about Chia Seeds...

First of all, they are somewhat difficult to find... and then once I found them, I couldn't find a small container of them. There's 16oz (45 Tablespoons) in this container. Ugh. All I needed was a Tablespoon! Now I have a pound of these seeds... The good thing is that when I looked them up (before I went to buy them), I learned that they're great for your nutrition - great source of fiber, calcium, omega-3... And you can add them to pretty much anything. The funny part about it is that this container says that you can eat them right out of the container... When I read that to the man from the store who was trying to help me find a smaller container, he looked at me and said yeah... I don't think you'd want to do that... with a grossed out look on his face. I agreed.

Anyway, you should look up the nutritional information on these things, and be ready to spend $10-20 on a canister of the seeds if you want to buy them. I think they'll last a while, so it's probably not a ridiculous amount, I just didn't expect to spend that much when I went in. This canister was $5 less than the other same-sized canister of a different brand.

Grilled Marinated Shrimp

{Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook}

Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients
1/2t grated lime peel
1/4t ground cumin
1/4t dried oregano leaves
1/8t salt
2T olive or canola oil
2T lime juice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1lb uncooked deveined peeled large shrimp

Instructions
Heat gas or charcoal grill. In medium bowl, mix all ingredients except shrimp.

silly me, I forgot the garlic in the picture

 
Add shrimp; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes to marinate.

Remove shrimp from marinade; thread loosely onto 4 (12- to 14-inch) metal skewers. Reserve marinade.

Place skewered shrimp on grill over medium heat. Cover grill. Cook 3 to 7 minutes, turning once and brushing occasionally with reserved marinade, until shrimp turn pink. Discard any remaining marinade.

***

I do not have a grill... and I didn't have uncooked shrimp, I just have frozen pre-cooked shrimp. So, I improvised. I heated the shrimp in a saute pan. My shrimp was a little rubbery because it was overcooked... but the flavor was fantastic. I could definitely taste the lime, so if you aren't a fan of lime, you'll want to use less or try a different recipe.

***

3ww points
Calories: 110
Fat: 4.5g
Carbs: 0g
Fiber: 0g

Roasted Parmesan Asparagus

{from Pinterest and this blog}

Ingredients

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Toss the asparagus with 1 tbsp. olive oil, Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste.  Place the stalks in a baking dish and roast until they're al dente, 10-12 minutes.  serve warm.

{recipe courtesy men's health magazine, june 2010 issue.}

***

This recipe is very simple and very tasty. I did not measure the ingredients, I eyeballed and sprinkled... and it was really tasty!

Broiled Grapefruit

This morning, I made the mistake of going on a walk and getting coffee with a friend... (that's not the part that was the mistake) ... and when I drink coffee I feel full ... so I forgot to eat breakfast (the mistake). Around 9:00, I started deciding what I was going to make for lunch... at 9:00. As I go through Pinterest, trying to find the perfect easy recipe to try... for lunch. Then I looked at the clock and realized - THIS IS MADNESS! I realized that I forgot to eat and that I should probably take care of that before I started eating everything in sight.

Then, I remembered this idea I pinned a while ago on Pinterest (yes, I actually do try the things I pin!) and decided to try it. The recipe comes from this blog. I followed the recipe as is, but I'll make a  {few notes} as we go.

Ingredients
1 grapefruit, cut in half and segmented with a serrated knife
1T butter, melted
2T brown sugar
cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc {I only used cinnamon... because I'm in love with cinnamon}

Instructions
Turn on your broiler and position the rack in the top shelf, as close to the broiler as you can get it

Halve and segment your grapefruit. You might need to take a little slice off the bottoms so that they don’t roll around. {since it's just me, I saved half for later - and, as you can see, I sliced a bit off the bottom as recommended}

Mix butter, brown sugar, and desired spices until they form a thick paste. {I kept half of it off to the side to use on the other half later}

Place grapefruit halves in a broiler-safe pan and smear the butter/sugar paste on top. {I tried to make an easy cleanup by putting down some foil... it didn't work. There was some juice... it moved around a bit and did not follow my directions to stay on the foil}

Broil grapefruit halves for 4-6 minutes, keeping an eye on them and rotating if necessary. {I did 5 min}

see that run-off over there...

Remove from oven and serve warm. Yum! {It is yummy! Still just a tiny bit tart, but with that sweet goodness... it's tender and oh so tasty! Did someone say dessert for breakfast?}

2-Ingredient, 2 pt Cake

 Ok, so I forgot to take pictures when I was cooking this (I had a friend over, and I always get to talking and forget to take pictures). But the after-version of what I baked didn't look so hot, so you're in luck - you don't have to look at it!

This is a cake that I was told about first by a friend who is a dedicated Weight Watchers friend. She loves finding healthy recipes - especially those that don't taste so healthy (don't we all!). Then recently, on Pinterest, I found the same recipe and decided to finally try it. All you need is one box of Angel Food Cake and one 20-22oz can of fruit pie filling. Mix the cake mix (dry) with the pie filling then bake in an ungreased 9x13 pan  at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes.

Now here's the sad part... I baked mine for somewhere between 30 and 35 minutes because it just wouldn't pass the poke test (my knife wouldn't come out clean). But I didn't want to over-bake it and since I've never made it before, I thought, "maybe the other people know what they're talking about, and this just comes out a little less dry that some other cakes... it will probably be fine..." It came out very puffed up and a little browned on top (I also didn't want it to burn), but within minutes, it started to sink... and it seriously sunk. Within 30 minutes of taking it out, my friend and I decided to try it... it was pretty good (and it still tastes wonderful), and the outsides are baked pretty well, but the inner part of the cake is pretty heavy and moist.

Next time, I'll let it bake a little longer and wait for the cake to separate a bit from the pan (or something... I'm not sure). I will try it again. It is tasty and only 2 WW points per serving!  Good luck!

edit -- {24 servings = 2pts // 12 servings = 5pts} --

Source: thefrugalgirls.com via Emily on Pinterest

Naturally Flavored Water {citrus-flavored water}

I must first tell you that I found this idea on Pinterest, and that it comes from this website. This is not my idea or recipe, but I'm excited about it! Today, I made the citrus version... Here's what I did:

Cut up an orange, a lemon, and a lime or two.

Put the slices into your container.

This was supposed to be done with a wooden spoon or muddler... I had neither (sad, I know!). Lightly muddle, press, and twist the fruit.

Add ice (to the top of the container).

Fill with cold water and refrigerate. They say that letting it sit overnight improves the flavor (which makes sense).

The website above has several options for this fruit-infused water. I plan to try some more, but if you're curious before I get to it, just click on the link above!

***

I have to say that I did not love this water... I left if overnight before I tried it (I didn't even try a sip of it the day I made it - I probably would have liked it better fresh). It was quite citrus-y... but bitter and tart. The kind of stuff that makes your mouth dry and makes you pucker. I didn't even drink the whole glass of water I poured. I'm still going to try some of the other versions, but if I do this again, I will make it just for the day that I'm going to drink it, and probably not put quite as much fruit in it. I think it could be very refreshing, I just wasn't a fan of the flavor when left overnight.