Apple Pumpkin Crisp

Heres a warm, yummy cinnamony dessert, that is easy to prepare, delicious to eat and healthy to boot. 
Ingredients:
1 can apple topping

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup pumpkin puree

For crumb topping
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
12 tablespoons cold butter

Mix first 5 ingredients and place in a 9inch pie pan that is 2 inch deep
in a seperate bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crumb topping and spread evenly over the apple combination.

What I love about this is the sweetness of the apple, the creamy smoothness of the pumkin puree and the crunch of the oats.  Pumpkin is low in saturated fats, low in cholesgterol, and sodium and a good source of vitamin E, fiber, vitamin A,C and K.  Also an excellent source of beta carotene which is high in antioxidents which keep bad cells out.  Combine this with the healthy goodness of oats which is extremely high in fiber and aids in keeping the digestive system moving, which in turn helps to prevent high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Banana Cherry Oatmeal Bars

I found this recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, www.skinnytaste.com, it looked amazing. The fresh bananas are probably amazing in the recipe, but I subbed with banana babyfood, and the banana flavor definitely came through.

This makes a great breakfast bar, afterschool snack, and dessert at night, perhaps jazzed up with some frozen yogurt. The bar is delicious and loaded with nutrients, from the oats to the banana, to the walnuts, and especially the cherries. It is unbelievable to think how many nutrients are in dried cherries. They are among the highest foods containing levels of desease fighting antioxidents. They also contain other important nutrients such as beta carotene(19x more then blueberries and strawberries). They are also loaded with vitamin C, pottasium, magnesium, iron and fiber.

preheaat oven to 375
1 container banana food .88
1/4 cup dried cherries 
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup honey .40
1 cup uncooked oats .23
1/4 cup chopped walnuts.65
1/2 tsp baking powder .05

3/4 tsp cinnamon .03
1 cup fat free milk .12
1 egg .15
1 tsp vanilla .12

combine banana babyfood, honey, milk and vanilla in a bowl
in a separate bowl combine oats, baking powder, cinnamon
mix dry ingredients with liquid ingredients
when completely mixed, add dried fruit and walnuts
pour into 9" inch baking dish and bake for 20 minutes

Oatmeal Egg Fruit and Nut Scramble $1.31

This recipe is loaded with so much goodness, it is mind boggling. protein, calcium, fiber, tons and tons of vitamins. I have made this for every different meal of the day, so it isnt just for breakfast. Also, I have varied the fruit and have even added dried cherries and raisins. This recipe is for one person, so adjust for as many are eating.

1 cup oats .23
1 egg .15
1/4 cottage cheese .25
pinch cinnamon .03
1/2 cup peaches .25
1-2 tablespoons nuts(walnuts, almonds or pecans).40

lightly spray and heat a non stick pan on medium
combine oats, egg, cottage cheese
add mixture to skillet, stir with spatula frequently
cook egg through til fluffy
stir in fruit, nuts and cinnamon
toss for 30 more seconds in skillet and serve

Banana Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies $6.99

Wow, I have to warn this cookie is amazing and addictive. I thought I was being super unique when I came up with this idea, and then I looked online and their were tons of banana oatmeal cookie recipes. I kind of created my own recipe, because I didn't see any that called for banana baby food, and also I used dark chocolate instead of the semisweet I saw in most recipes. So this cookie was pretty darn healthy with the oats, banana, walnuts and dark chocolate. I made two dozen and they were gone before I could put them in a tuperware. My son came home with 3 friends, and what can I say, 4 healthy, growing 13 year old boys devoured them .

Here it is:
1 1/2 cup flour .36
1 cup sugar .32
1 tsp salt.10
1/2 tsp cinnamon .02
1 cup banana baby food.88
1 3/4 cup oats .30
3/4 cup butter .96
1 egg .15
1 tsp baking powder .05
8 ounces dark chocolate chopped in small pieces $1.99


in a bowl cream together butter, egg, sugar, vanilla
in separate bowl combine dry ingredients

mix together, until a big ball is formed
add walnuts and chocolate

Convenience Store Cooking with Jillian Michaels

I love scanning famous chef and nutrition gurus cookbooks and finding recipes I can tweak to fit the Convenience Store Cooking lifestyle. Admitedly, it isnt always possible to recreate a recipe, particularly when a recipe calls for meat, chicken, fish, certain fresh vegetables. However, even some of those recipes I am able to adapt with canned tuna, salmon, canned vegetables.
Jillian Michaels of Biggest Loser is one of my favorite fitness experts, she has wonderful cookbooks with healthy, delicious looking and sounding recipes. However, her recipes arent too easy to work with when limited in ingredients and money. She is a big advocate of buying organic, and organic simply isnt available to millions of people or affordable. She also tends to use a lot of specialty herbs, and although those I can usually work around, its the funky vegetables that can make a recipe impossible. I have scanned through her cookbooks-30 Day Shred and Master Your Matabolism, and come up with a list of recipes I can adapt and make and will include some in this blog because she is clearly an amazing motivator and fitness personality who has helped countless people get healthy and lose weight.

I tend to have better luck with her breakfast recipes. Jillian is a big advocate of oats, and this oatmeal recipe is quick and easy and packs tons of nutrition. I had to tweak the recipe a bit because to serve two people her recipe called for 3 cups of eggwhites and truly that is over a dozzen eggs, and that just was too much. I cut the recipe to 1 cup eggwhites and added a cup of lowfat milk to the recipe, which helped to replenish the protein. Also, her recipe called for brown sugar and brown sugar isnt always available, but honey usually is, so I replaced the sugar with honey.

1 cup eggwhites(about 6 eggs)
1 cup lowfat milk
1 cup oats
1 tsp canola oil
2 tsp honey

mix everything but oats in a bowl, place in microwave for 1 minute or until egg is fluffy, remove and stir in oats

Banana Oat Walnut Cupcakes $8.04

These cupcakes were gone almost before they were frosted. I think I gave he Cupcake Boss a run for his money. The cupcake was moist, rich, delicious and super healthy. If a cupcake can taste so good with oats in it, I will include oats everytime. Oats, are afterall my all around convenience store superfood.

1/2 cup butter softened .64

12 cupcakes

1/2 cup sugar .40
2 eggs .30
1 cup banana babyfood $1.20
3/4 cup honey $1.20
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour .36
1 cup oats .35
1/4 cup walnut pieces .60
1 tsp baking powder.05
1 teaspoon baking soda.05
$5.15
For Frosting
4 oz cream cheese softened .99
1/4 cup butter .64
1 cup sifted confectioners sugar .65
1/4 cup walnuts .61
in small bowl cream cream cheese and butter, when smooth, mix in sugar
mix well
$2.89


in mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, banana food and honey, mox well. Combine dry ingredients, stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Fill paper lined muffin cups until 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until cupcakes test done. cool before frosting

frost cupcakes and add a few walnuts to the top

serve

Salmon Oat Burger $3.69 for 4 Burgers

Another Dr Oz recipe!! Im not short on salmon recipes and I love combining oats which are bursting with fiber. The fiber in oats helps keep the digestive system moving, which inturn helps to prevent high cholesterol and high blood pressure, no to mention weight gain. Combining oats with salmon, provides so many great nutrients including protein and omega 3's. Omega 3's are instrumental in lowering cholesterol and blood preassure and also contains salmon bones which adds calcium to the diet. Although the recipe didnt include tomatoes, I included them because I thought it would give added need flavor, not to mention vitamin C, and beta carotene, and vitamin E, which are all powerful antioxidents. Awesome!!

ingredients:

15 ounce canned salmon $2.79
1 egg .15
3/4 cup oats .25
1/4 cup milk .05
1 tablespoon dried parsley .10
1 tablespoon dried onion .10
2 tsp garlic powder.10
2 tsp chili powder .10
1 tsp black pepper.05

mix all ingredients together, for into 4 burgers
free for 30-60 minutes

heat 2 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet
cook burgers 5 minutes on each side
serve

Pumpkin Apricot Oat Bread $4.28

preheat oven 350
Ingredients

2 cup flour .54
1 cup old fasioned oats .35
1 cup applesauce $1.28
3/4 cup orange juice .25
1 eggs.15
1/2 sugar .40
1/4 honey .40
2 tsp baking soda .10
1 tsp baking powder .05
2 tsp cinnamon .10
1/2 cup cut up diced apricots.60
1/2 cup cranberries.60
eggs, applesauce, pumpkin, sugar and honey in bowl
in separate bowl combine dry remaining ingredients
add fruit
pour into greased bread pan

Apple Oatmeal Fritata $2.22

Another "anticancer" recipe, brought to us by Dr OZ. I never thought of combining oatmeal and egg until recently when I made a recipe of Jillian Michaels that involved the two super foods, and now I am finding lots of other creative ways to combine the two ingredients. This recipe actually calls for dried apples, but since I am snowbound at my house, I only have dried cherries to work with, so I am going to have to vary the recipe this time, but Im thinking it is going to still be good, and i will just have to make the apple version another day..
You know the gig, this meal is loaded with antioxidents from the oats, and ofcourse fiber, which can play a big role in keeping us heart healthy and controlling diabetes. From the eggs, we obtain protein, iron and Vitamin A which nourishes our skin and helps our vision and vitamin E, which serves as an antioxident. Cherries are an added bonus to give the recipe a sweet, tart contrast and provide more antioxidents.
This recipe is easy to assemble and be microwaved or cooked in a skillet like a pancake
serves 2
ingredients:
4 egg whites .40
2 cups rolled oats .45
1/3 cup cranberries .33
1 tbsp cinnamon .20
2 tsp apple sauce .64

in microwave bowl combine all ingredients except for apple sauce
place in microwave for 2-3 minutes on medium
remove and serve with apple sauce

in skillet combine all ingredients except for apple sauce and pour in skillet on medium with 2 tsp canola oil
cook 2-3 minutes until egg is cooked and pancake is crispy.

Dr Oz's Anti Cancer Chilled Apple Oatmeal $2.66

Anyone who is a follower of Dr Oz, knows he is a big on weightloss, because for obvious reasons being overweight causes many other health problems-heart disease, high blood preasure, diabetes and even cancer. He also is big believer that certain foods in our diet can help to prevent Cancer. Ifact, he has been quoted as saying, that some cancers are 70% preventable. I, too, am a big believer in prevention, unfortunately, because of my family experience and history, Im not such a believer in curing cancer-esp internal organ cancers in a later stage, but I have to believe in prevention. My father passed away from a cancer that is highly hereditary, and a cancer with a litterally a 0% survival rate, so after reading those statistics, I really got on the prevention bandwagon. I dont want to hear about survival rate with/after treatment. So, I drink 3-4 cups of green tea everyday, I eat oats and other forms of fiber everyday, get vitamin C, E, tons of water.
Dr Oz has lots of "anticancer" recipes on his website, that are convenience store friendly. This oatmeal recipe is a snap to make and is packed with antioxidents, and with all the nutrients in oats and calcium in milk, it can help prevent some forms of cancer. Combining the meal with green tea adds a boost of "catachins" which reduce growth of blood vessels needed for tumor growth.

serves 2
1/2 cup oats .15
1/2 cup 1% milk.10
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt $1.59(or whatever is available)
1/4 cup applesauce .32
1 tsp ground up almond.20
1 tsp sunflowerseeds .15
1/8 tsp cinnamon.05
1 tsp honey.10

Banana Oatmeal Walnut Bread $5.66

Combing the aisles of my local convenience store, I discovered yet another plethera of possibilities. Baby Food!! First spied pureed banana, and instantly though of a banana smoothy, but put that on hold, when I realized I wanted to make something with oatmeal this week, because fiber is on my mind. Went home and looked on internet, and didnt find any recipes with banana baby food, but found some recipes for carrot cake, with pureed carrot baby food, so that will be for another day. Ill just wing it with this banana bread recipe. Im just going to take a recipe and replace some flour with oats and any liquid fat with pureed banana, Im thinking slam dunk!! To make my Michael happy, I may add some dark chocolate chips along with walnuts. Im so excited.

What you need
Ingredients:
1 cup banana baby food $1.29
2 cup flour .36
1 cup oats .20
3/4 cup sugar .22
1/4 cup honey .40
1/4 cup canola oil .40
1 cup applesauce $1.28
2 tsp baking soda .10
1/2 cup chopped walnuts$1.21
1 tsp vanilla.10
2 tsp cinnamon.10
dark chocolate optional

mix ingredients: banana, sugar, honey, applesauce, vanilla in one bowl
in seperate bowl combing flour, oats, sugar and cinnamon
mix both bowls together
add walnuts and chocolate

bake at 350 for 50 minutes

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls $3.80

Ive been making these and digging these for years and the best thing about them is aside from being healthy, they are completely flexible in every way. Must have 4 main ingredients, but then the rest is preference, or whats available in the house, or in our case now, the convenience store. They have lots of fiber with the oats and protein with the peanut butter, omega 3's with the canola oil and then what ever fruit/nut/seeds etc...you choose to add. The recipe is simple and quick
yields 24 bitesize balls
Ingredients
1/4 cup honey .40
2 tbsp peanut butter .15
1/4 cup canola oil .20

2 1/2 cups oats $1.00
1/3 cups chopped almonds, walnuts, pecans(or a combo of all) $1.10
1/3 cup dried raisins, cranberries, blueberries(or a combo of all).35
1/3 cup dark chocolate(dk choc bar broken into small peices).60

combine first 3 ingredients
combine dry ingredients and mix with wet. With your hand form balls and place in freezer to harden balls
ready to serve in 10 minutes
store in airtight container or keep refrigerator

Fruity Granola $3.08

Ive been eating a bowl of oatmeal everyday this week, and im already feeling the difference in my body. January is generally a blah month for me. Post holiday blues,and a bit of holiday weight gain. The form of exercise I enjoy(well, not really enjoy, but tollerate) is running, and I cant run outside in cold freezing Chicago weather. When I was younger, I could tollerate it, but now over 40, my body wont bend on the topic. I generally find myself waiting to get to spring to get "in shape", and that makes for a long winter...so Im not going that route this year. I have a pilates tape I do atleast 3 or 4 times a week and I ride a kinda crappy exercise bike atleast 30 minutes a day. Oh, and the oatmeal has helped a lot. I used to skip breakfast, and now I dont. I eat my bowl of oatmeal(usually with some dried fruit like cranberries and or raisins) and a cup of greentea(I love antioxidents) and my day starts out brighter. Try it!!
Ive been playing around with some granola recipes trying to lighten the sugar and fat, and came up with a recipe I can live with, and enjoy. Ive gotten good feedback, so here it is(lots of same nutrients as my breakfast)
8 1/2 servings
4 cups or 1 lb oats $1.50(oats on sale at Walgreens for 2 1b containers $3.00)
1/2 cup canola oil .30
1/2 cup green tea(1 cup water boiled with 2 tea green tea bags).08
1/4 cup honey .40
1/4 cup raisins .40
1/4 cranberries .40
1/4 cup almonds, walnuts, or pecans (all optional)

in a bowl combine oil, tea and honey and mix well
in a baking pan, pour in oats
pour in liquid and toss until all the oats are covered with liquid mixture
bake in oven at 350 for 1 hour
toss with large spoon every 15 minutes so no oat mixture is sticking to sides or bottom of pan
remove from oven transfer to another pan to completely cool
when cool, toss in fruit and nuts
store in an airtight container

Oatmeal with Dried Fruit .62 per serving

Its Sunday Morning and I just scanned the Walgreens Ads and there are lots of great foodso buys this week, and so it will be a fun, easy and healthy week, cooking and eating from a convenience store! Atleast once a month oats are on sale, and I ALWAYS stock up. Oats are another food that many nutritionist deam as a super food, if not top 10, top 20. A study published in the archives of internal medicine confirms eating high fiber foods, such as oats, helps prevent heart disease. I think the "heart smart" on the label is the first indication when looking at the packaging. Oats are packed with fiber, and fiber keeps our digestive system moving and that inturn is good for our cardiovascular system. Eating 3 grams of oats a day, can significantly lower cholesteral in bodies by 8-24%. This helps to reduce heart issues and strokes. In the website www.whfoods.com, many benefits of oats are discussed along with controlling heart disease, consuming oats is benificial in controlling type II diabetes, controlling weight gain, it is also an antioxident, known to help prevent breast cancer when consumed along side fruit.
Oatmeal is an easy, nourishing way to start anyday, and along with the calcium and vitmin provided with milk and the vitamins provided with dried fruit, almost all the good groups are consumed in this meal. Oatmeal can be eaten anytime of the day however, it doesnt have to be just for breakfast.
ingredients and directions

serves 4
3 1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups oats $1.10
1 cup milk.20
1/2 cup cranberries .50
1/2 cup raisins .50
1 tablespoon honey .15

total $2.45 .62 per serving



boil water, add oats when water comes to a rolling boil, lower heat to medium and stir constantly until water is completely disolved and the oats are cooked and creamy
remove from heat and portion into 4 servings
devode milk and honey in each, add dried fruit
if more milk is desired, add to your liking
cinnamon optional, or dried cherries, blueberries, nuts

Oatmeal Smoothie .78

I love getting my nutrients through beverages, and thats why I love this Oatmeal shake. It packs tons of fiber and protein and a great way to start the day. It is recomended to have oats in our diet everyday, and truly I always feel better when I start my day with oats. This shake is surprisingly refreshing, and a complete surprise to me that I would like it as much as I do.
Oats contain a fiber called betaglucan and this fiber can aid in lowering blood sugar levels when consumed and therefore consuming oats every morning can lower diabetes levels.
This fiber also aids in lowering cholesterol which can prevent heart disease.
serves 1
1/2 cup quick oats .28
2 cups water
1 cup fat free milk .20
1 cup ice
3 tbsp sugar .20
1-2 tsp cinnamon .10
boil the two cups of water and cook oats for a few minutes stirring constantly until oats are thick and bubbly
remove from heat and cool
mix oats, milk, ice, sugar and cinnamon
serve