Tag Archives: light

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

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Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

This recipe is modeled after the Hershey’s  ”Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake recipe with a just a few modifications. And I just winged it with the ganache! I hope you like this cake. It’s quite delicious and taste best warm.

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Stevia
3/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
2 eggs
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup of  unsweetened applesauce
1 cup of fresh brewed coffee

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9 inch round cake pans.

1. Stir together sugar, stevia,  flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

2. Add the eggs, milk, applesauce and vanilla to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in fresh brewed coffee (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

2. Bake 30 to 35 minutes and do the Toothpick Test.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache
2 TBS of butter
7 squares of the Baker’s Chocolate
1/4 cup of vanilla soy milk

1. In a medium saucepan, fill with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Sit an aluminum mixing bowl over the boiling water.
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2. Add the butter to the mixing bowl as it sits over the water. As it melts add the chocolate squares and the soy milk.  Keep stirring until smooth, about 3-5 minutes.

3. Get your cakes ready.  On one cake, add two spoonfuls of ganache and spread evenly. Keep the ganache warm and smooth by keeping the chocolate in the bowl and back into the saucepan while your spreading.  Add the second cake on top of the first cake. Pour the ganache over the cake spreading it along the top of the cake and letting it drip off the sides.

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Honey Lemon Drop Cookies

Honey Lemon Cookies
This recipe is from a cookbook titled, Cooking Light Comfort Food.  This cookbook is awesome. It’s full of great recipes made light. The only changes I made were using Stevia rather than regular sugar and whole-wheat flour in place of all-purpose flour.   This cookie is perfect because it’s not too sweet, and the lemon flavor gives it a balanced taste. This is a cookie that I would call an All-Occasion cookie, suitable for all occasions.

The Honey Lemon Drop Cookies were my chosen recipe for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.

2012 FB Cookie Swap - LogoThe way it works is, you sign up and are matched up with three food bloggers. You send them each 1 dozen of the same cookie, and you in turn receive 1 dozen cookies from three additional food bloggers. It’s cool! This is my second year participating.  Here goes the recipe.

Honey Lemon Drop Cookies

Ingredients 
1/2 cup STEVIA
7 tablespoons butter, softened
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
Cooking spray
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Beat first 3 ingredients with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add honey, extract, and egg; beat until well-blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
  3. Combine powdered sugar and juice in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Brush powdered sugar mixture evenly over hot cookies. Sprinkle evenly with 2 teaspoons rind. Remove cookies from pan; cool on wire racks.

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So back to The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I shipped out a dozen of these bad boys in a snowman treat baggie, then wrapped in tissue paper with ribbon, and off to the post office.  Here they are before they went into the boxes.

SAMSUNGI sent one dozen of these cookies to the following food bloggers:

In return I received one dozen cookies from:

Food Blogger Cookie Swap! Yay.  Thank you Love and Olive Oil and Little Kitchen for coordinating once again.
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White Bean and Turkey Chili

White Bean and Turkey Soup
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Ingredients
1 lb of ground turkey
1/2 TBS + 1/2 TBS of canola oil
3 cans of Great Northern Beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
32 ounces of low-fat chicken broth
1 tsp of red chili powder
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 large lime
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large pot, add 1/2 TBS of canola oil and set over medium-high heat.  Add the turkey and cook for 4-5 minutes until browned all over. Remove from the pot.

2. In the same pot, add the other 1/2 TBS of canola oil, and the onion and cook for 7-8 minutes until it it golden. Add the chili powder,  garlic, cumin and dried oregano. Mix around evenly.   Add two cans of the beans (drained). Stir around and add the chicken both.  Let it get to a boil and drop to a simmer. Add the turkey and diced tomatoes and let it sit simmer for 25 mins.

3. In a food processor, puree the last can of the beans. Add the puree’d beans to the pot and stir around. Squeeze the lime juice in and add 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper each, along with the chopped cilantro. Let it simmer for an additional 5 minutes before serving.

Ready to serve.  This would be great with a roll, or cheesy bread. I only had Saltine crackers and it was sufficient, but I think bread would be better.
Hope  you like it.

Changes you can make:
Use turkey breast rather than ground turkey,
Use a whole fresh tomato
Cook your own beans
Make your own broth

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Chicken and Quinoa Salad

Chicken and Quinoa Salad

Chicken and Quinoa Salad

2 boneless skin less chicken breasts
1/2  cup of quinoa
1 cup of baby spinach
1 cup of red leaf lettuce
1 cup of kale
1 carrot, shredded
4 TBS of crumbled blue cheese
4 TBS of dried cranberries
4 TBS of sliced almonds
honey
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Serves 4

Prep:
Grill chicken evenly on both sides. Set aside to cool.  Cut up chicken into  1/2 inch pieces. Divide to create 4 servings

In small sauce pan, heat 1 cup of water and add quinoa. Once boiling, set to a simmer, cover and cook for 15-20 mins. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with a fork. Set aside  to cool.

Mix all the greens and the shredded carrot in a large bowl.

Gather 4 plates. Add greens to each plate. Top with 1/4 cup of the cooked quinoa,  a serving of chicken, 1 TBS each of cranberries, almonds and blue cheese.

In a small dish add 4 TBS of olive oil and 1 TBS of honey. Blend with a fork. Then add 2 TBS of balsamic vinegar.  Stir it lightly.

Pour the dressing evenly on each salad.

Ready to serve and eat.

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Chicken Over a Mango-Lime Couscous

Chicken Over a Mango-Lime Couscous

Ingredients
1/2 cup of couscous
1 Mango
1 Lime
2  Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Garlic Salt
Garlic Pepper
1 tablespoon of Olive Olive

Prep:
In small sauce pan add 1 cup of water and heat on High. In a sauce pan add the olive oil and set to a medium high heat.  Cut lime in fourths and remove the skin from the mango and cut it up.

Directions:
1. Sprinkle garlic salt and garlic pepper and both sides of the chicken breasts and add to the saute pan.

2. When the water in the sauce pan begins to boil add the couscous, drop the heat to medium, stir and let cook.

3. Allow the chicken to cook on each side for 3-4 minutes depending on the thickness of each breasts. The couscous should begin soak up the water, use a fork to fluff it up. Squeeze the lime into the couscous, add the mango, add some garlic salt,  stir and let sit on low heat for 2-4 minutes.

Serve the chicken over the couscous.

Tuna Celery Cucumber Salad

This salad is light, fresh and crispy. I love having this for lunch or after a workout.  This recipe is not my own, I came across it or something very similar a while back, and I’ve been making it every since. I forget the source, so I truly apologize. Enjoy the salad.

Tuna Celery Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
1 English Cucumber
2-3 Celery Stalks 
1 can of white tuna, drained
3 TBS of Olive Oil
3 TBS of Rice Wine Vinegar
1 TBS of Sugar
Sesame Seeds
Pepper (optional)


Directions
1. In small bowl, add the olive oil, rice wine vinegar and sugar. Mix. Set a aide.

2. Chop up the celery, and slice the cucumber in half-moon shapes.  English cucumbers are okay to leave the skin/peel on.  Put them in a bowl. Drain the tuna and add to the bowl of celery and cucumbers.

3. Give the oil and vinegar mixture one last mix, and drizzle over the celery and cucumbers. Mix.  Serve and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Its ready to eat.

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My notes:
This salad doesn’t hold over the next day as much as I would like it to. If I make this for dinner, it’s fine to eat for lunch the next day, but definitely not any longer. It’s best when you have it right away.

Also – I love having this after a work out.
I would incorporate something else into the meal if this is your dinner.

Mandarin Chicken Over Brown Rice

Mandarin Chicken over Brown Rice

Ingredients
1.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 red bell peppers
3/4 cup of sliced white onion
2 TBS of Sesame Oil
3 TBS of hoisoin sauce
2 cans of mandarin oranges in light syrup
1-2 cups of brown rice

Directions

1. Begin cooking the rice according to the instructions. Cook it stove top or in a rice cooker. Cut the chicken into 1 inches cubes, and cut up the bell peppers, onion and green onion.  Drain the mandarin oranges and put them to the side.

 2. Heat the pan to medium high heat and add the sesame oil. Stir the chicken into the pan. Season with salt n pepper, and stir. Cook for 4 minutes until browned.

3. Add half of the onions to the chicken in the pan. Stir. Add the hoisoin sauce. Stir. Add the mandarin oranges and stir it around.  Let cook for 3 minutes, then add the red bell pepper and the rest of the onion.  Stir it around and let it come to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and put a lid on it.  Let cook for 15-20 minutes.

Serve over brown rice and top with green onions.

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This recipe is also shared on Amee’s Savory Dish blog for Fit & Fabulous Fridays #20.  Visit her blog for additional healthy recipes