Lower Cholesterol Diet: Chicken Salad Healthy Style

In preparation for my dietetic internship beginning in late August I was given a set of assignments to complete in order to asses my current knowledge and get me ready for the intense 10-month track to becoming a dietitian. Since two of my goals this summer are to do an excellent job on all my homework assignments and keep up with blogging I decided to combine the two tasks and blog about my assignments. Don't worry I will try and make it interesting and I'll of course include food!

The frist assignment was on the topic of lower cholesterol diets.

The question:

"Your patient tells you they have tried fat-free mayo and reduced fat mayo and complains that both taste awful. What alternatives would you suggest for them to use in making tuna salad that is low in fat and cholesterol"

Here are my substitutions:

1. Non- Fat Greek Yogurt
2. Olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes

Time for a test run! Greek yogurt was the first thing that came to mind since it's creamy like mayo but without the fat and cholesterol. PLUS it's got a ton of protein. Since I know I'll be having tuna steak for dinner I decided to create a chicken salad recipe using greek yogurt! It was awesome so I'm definitely adding it to my recipe index!

Sweet and Creamy Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 oz canned chicken
• 2.5 oz non-fat Chobani Greek Yogurt 
• 1 celery stick 
• 10 g raisins 
• 1tsp honey 
• 1 shake cinnamon 

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for one hour!

Simple Protein Packed Breakfast

Protein in the morning helps you get through your day because it increases satiety and reduces hunger . It is the building block of all cells in the body so it is especially important on those mornings when you wake up sore from a hard work out the night before because it repairs your damaged tissues to help rebuild muscles. Which was exactly my motivation for making this protein packed deliciousness this morning! Last night I went to an intense boot camp class which consisted of ALOT of push ups, power jacks, and some unidentifiable exercises. This morning my entire body ached so I decided on creating a high protein breakfast:

• 8 oz Chobani plain greek yogurt 
• 1/2 oz pecans 
• 1/2 Tbsp honey 
• 4 large strawberries 
• cinnamon to taste

The Nutrition: 

Strawberries - Raw, 6 large (1-3/8" dia)	35	8	0	1	2	1
Clever Country Honey - Raw Clover Honey, 0.5 tbsp	30	9	0	0	0	0
Chobani - Greek Yogurt - Plain, Fat Free, 8 ounces	140	9	0	23	0	105
Archer Farms - Raw Pecans, 0.5 oz, (about 1/4 cup)	100	2	10	2	2	0
	324	30	10	28	4	135

5 of My Favorite Spring Things

I think Spring might just be my new favorite time of year. When I was younger it was definitely summer because summer meant no school, my birthday and beach time. While I still LOVE summer for those reasons, recently so many things about spring time just make me so happy that it's kind of winning my heart so I thought I'd share my favorite things about spring...

1. Running outside + Taking a walk
 Over the winter I do most my running on the treadmill but when the weather starts to warm up I hit the streets. I think I fell in love with running because when I was younger I spent so much time playing outside smelling the morning air, seeing the beautiful flowers, and watching the birds, rabbits, ducks, and other animals but as I got older I stopped paying so much attention to the little things. But running allows me to take time and enjoy the little parts of nature I loved so much as a child.

 2. Plant something or visit a famers market and support thoes that do!
I am not a gardner BUT my dad is and I just saw Dr Suess's the Lorax with my baby cousins (that aren't such babies anymore) If your not familiar with that movie the take home message is that it's up to each and everyone of us to take care of the environment. There is just something very beautiful and pure about plants growing. Plants purify the air and it just feel good to put something in the ground and watch it grow. If your like me and don't have the greenest of thumbs hit the farmers market or try a window plant!

 3. Make a Smoothie 
I have seen smoothies popping up around the blog world but couldn't get my self to try one. UNTIL I this morning whenI got back from my morning 6 mile run dripping in sweat I decided there was nothing more I wanted then a cool creamy smoothie bowl Recipe below.

 4. Cooking out
If there's one thing in common with all the boys in my life it's that they love to grill. AND I love to take advantage their love for the grill by coming up with healthy new  things to put on the grill! For example the other night I had my dad grill a vegetable melody marinated in a little olive oil and lemon.
 5. Outdoor dates 
Instead of the movies or something traditional plan dates to your local park, mountain, or orchard where you can spend more time with your friends / date talking and enjoying each other + the weather. My friends and I love to go to sugar loaf mountain near my house climb to our favorite spot and sit and talk about life:) Sometimes just being outside seeing how beautiful things are makes whatever troubles you may have seem not so important.

My Green Monster Smoothie Bowl:

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1Tbsp Peanut butter
1 Handful spinach
1/2 banana
3/4 cup almond milk
4 large ice cups

Topping
1/4 cup Kashi Go lean cereal
a sprinkle of sliced almonds

Banana Nut Topped Yogurt

My early morning class cancelled!  You got to love when you get an added break in the day! I used my time to go on a longer than usual morning run for a Wednesday (6 miles outside)...and put together a new breakfast creation!

 The ingredients: 
 1 cup dannon plain non-fat plain yogurt
 1 Gnu Banana Walnut bar (amazing)
 1 Tbsp peanut butter
 1 pinch chia seeds
 1/2 banana sliced

yum. yum.yum :) 

 The Nutrition facts: 

 Calories: 366

 Carbs: 63 g

 Fat: 10 g

 Protein: 19

 Fiber: 15

 Sodium: 238

When I want to find the nutrition facts for the meals I make I use myfittnesspal It's easy to search products, create recipes, and save meals! As a nutrition student in class we use diet analysis software which is great because it draws up various nutrient reports and comparisons but the food data base is smaller since its not constantly being updated the way an online program is! Do you use any other programs to track your meals or recipes?!? Also, if you check out right of my blog I am now using RECIPAGE! its an awesome new recipe system where you can easily look up all the recipes I add to my blog! If you go to http://www.recipage.com you can create your own account even if you don't blog and keep track of all your favorite recipes! 

Well...time to get my learn on! Happy hump day  

Love,
 Amy 

Carrot Cake BULGUR Wheat...My New Discovery

I did it again...The nutrition nerd in me just keeps popping out. I celebrated the another long productive week with a trip to an organic market I hadn't been to before. This time I chose Roots Market in Olney, MD close to my parents home.

This market was slightly bigger than MOMs and conveniently separated their dairy based products from their soy based products I'm not vegan but if I was it'd be very convenient ;)

I wandered around the store for a bit trying their free samples of freshly ground nut butters and I had a cup of warm lavender tea (see how this can be relaxing?!). Finally,  I found the whole grain bins. (wish I had a picture but felt kinda funny taking it with all the people around).  I usually like to try something new when I have these kind of adventures, usually I chose something fun like dark chocolate or fresh ground cashew butter but this time I grabbed about 1 lbs of bulgur. (Not the bulgurs "unfun" for a nutrition nerd like me BUT I'm not quite sure what my motivation was). 

I spent the whole way home trying to figure out what I was going to do with 1 lbs of bulgur. 

The first thing I did was research it!

Bulgur, I found out... is a whole wheat grain that has been cleaned and pre-cooked so it's a quick easy side dish or meal. The gain is found a lot in middle eastern cuisine and can be served with dinner  or as a hot breakfast cereal. According to Livestrong.com 1 serving of Bulgur (1 cup cooked) is ~150 calories, 5.6 g protein, 8.2 g of fiber, and less than 1 g of sugar! Basically a superfood in my book! 

Now that I knew what bulgur was...It was time to decide what to do with it! I found many salad and dinner dishes that incorporated the grain that looked delish. BUT if you haven't noticed a theme in the blog already I'm a breakfast person so I obviously opted for hot cereal. I've been wanting to make a carrot cake flavored dish so here's what I came up with: 

AMAZING! 

Carrot-Cake Bulgur Wheat

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup uncooked bulgur

1/2 cup water 

1/4 cup shredded carrot 

1Tbsp raisins 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 packet splenda 

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Toppings:  

1 Tbsp cottage cheese 

1Tbsp peanut butter 

1 pinch flax seed

And a drizzle of honey. 

The buglur cooks quickly, I brought the  1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup bulgar to a boil and then turned the stove burner on low. I kept a close eye on the grains stirring constantly to avoid burning them! I added in my ingredients, threw on my toppings and breakfast was served in about 8 minutes :) 

Breakfast Cookie..a Great Pre-Workout Meal

Peanut-Butter-Banana Breakfast Cookie!

A Breakfast Cookie...(yes cookie) is yet another reason that motivates me to wake up early and enjoy the morning...

 They also happend to be convenient for those of you that chose to hit snooze until you absolutely have to get up. The cookie is a high protein, high fiber, and very filling breakfast. The best part it it is made the night so you have more time to do whatever it is you do in the morning :)

My cookie the night before! 

My Ingredients: 

• 1/3 cup old fashion oats 
• 1Tbsp peanut butter 
• 1/2 scoop protein powder
• 1/8 cup chocolate almond milk
• 1/2 banana for the cookie, 1/2 for topping 
• 1 tsp agave nectar (optional) 

All you have to do is combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Once they are all mixed place them on a small plate or tub-aware and put it in the fridge over night!

Tadaaaaa! My cookie was AMAZING!... I put it in he freezer before I went for my morning run.  I recommend this because the freezer made my cookie the perfect consistency with a cool freshness to it which was exactly what I needed after my 5 mile run!

The Nutrition Facts:
                                   

Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium

360

51

11

18

8

131

One Great Morning Mix

This morning I popped right out of bed 5 minutes before my alaram, made myself a warm cup of coffee with some creamy chocolate almond milk and headed down the gym in my apartment buiding where I rocked a 5K and 5 minute cool down for a total 30 minute run! Then feeling strong I did some ab work and psuh ups! Next headed back to my room for a warm shower and made my self these babies:

Vanilla Oat Protein Pancakes with a topping of peanut butter and a said of strawberries!

Yum. Yum.Yum. 

I haven't exactly figured out the ingredients that lead to such a great morning but If I had to guess I'd say lots of sleep and the country music playing on my pandora were definitely part of the mix! BUT this mornings running motivation was no mystery to me! I am very happy to announce I OFFICIALLY registered for my first 1/2 marathon of the season: The Alexandria Running Festival 1/2 Marathon on May 27 2012! ...I know its a long way away and knowing myself I'll probably spontaneously run many races between now and then but having something to train motivates me :) Not to mention this one will be extra fun since I'm signing up with my sisters new Boo Eric!

My goal for this race will be to destroy Eric (just kidding) no my real goal will be to beat my best 1/2 marathon time: 1:38:36 !

Cupcake Exceptions! Happy 23rd Charlene!!

Ok..were heading into March and the holiday season is long gone.  I've definitely shifted my cooking focus from baking Christmas cookies and cupcakes to healthy running/nutrition inspired meals particularly breakfast because its my favorite (if you can't tell).


BUT... there are few very special exceptions throughout the year when it is necessary to make some Good Ole butter, flour, and egg cupcakes from rich recipes that I haven't tweaked (much) with my health conscious obsession.

The occasion: My amazing friend Charlene's 23rd birthday !!

Charlene and I on halloween 

Charlene and I went to both high school and college together. We grew really close in college at NC State (we were minority "outer staters" and were each other' pieces of home) We loved NC State but we had our homesick moments. So every year on Char's birthday I took it upon myself to go all out to make sure it was a good time! Now were back home, I'm at UMD in my final year and Char (very on top of her game) graduated college in 3 years and is living and working in D.C.! While we are fortunate to have all our girls (minus Crista) back in the area to celebrate I still feel the need to something special for her because...she's amazing and I love her and stuff ;)


SOOO the cupcake of choice:  Cinnamon Sugar! 


I took the recipe from Annie, who's Annie?? Oh just my favorite cupcake blogger EVER! She makes tons of other great recipes but I LOVE her cupcakes! In fact my sister's have been joking with me that since the holidays are over and I haven't baked much (AT ALL)  that Annie and I must be fighting lol yes this conversation happened. But I can assure you were not :)...well were not at least not today ;)

Annie's Eat's  (recipe linked) Cinnamon  Cupcakes 

Her verison

 Annie's cupcake's CHARLENE style! The only change I made was using skim milk instead of whole milk and reduced fat cream cheese for the frosting instead of regular (mainly because I those were the products I had on hand).

 Oh...ya and I had to add a little spunk into the final product! 

TAADAAA!!

Thanks Annie!! Time to surprise Char and the girls :) 

Chocolate-Blueberry-Banana Protein Pancakes. YUM.

Good morning! I need some motivation to work on saturdays AND....my vanilla protein pancakes were SO good... I decided to make the again. Chocolate style!

Ingredients:

1 banana
1/8 cup blueberries (but add as many as you want :))
1 Tbsp chocolate almond milk
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1/4 cup egg beaters
1Tbsp flax seed

Just mix all the ingredients in bowl so you form a batter (chose a ripe banana and your life will be easier)

 Pop it on the stove! Pay attention (mine burnt some)

BUT they were very delicious! I topped it with agave nectar, more blueberries and added a side of grapefruit and peaches

Nutrition break down (just the pancakes): 

280 calories 

28 grams protein 

30 grams carbs

6 grams of fiber

3 grams fat 

Bring on the Day!

There's nothing you can't do when you start your day with blueberry oatmeal and a women's empowerment mug of coffee! It's just what I need today as I tackle finishing the final tid bits of my application for the Dietetic Internship!

How I make my oats: 

1/2 cup old fashion oats (only today I was stuck with the instant brand) 

1/4 cup blueberries 

3/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1Tbsp peanut butter 

1Tbsp oat bran 

1 tsp honey 

Nutrition: 

340 calories 

45 grams carbs 

9 grams fiber 

12 grams of protein 

...Time to get my focus on!

 I'm looking forward to spending the night with my little sister, Molly, whose coming home from ECU (East Carolina University) for the weekend to pick out bridesmaids dresses for our cousins wedding WHAWHO! (love her)

Raspberry Banana & Vanilla Cream Protein Pancakes

Good morning!


Ready for breakfast? ...I am! I've been dying to try my hand at flour-less pancakes since I found a couple recipes on a blog i've been following http://blogilates.com/. I don't know why it's taken me so long because they are DELISH!! They are also very easy to make!


Here it goes: 

1 Banana
1 1/4 cup Raspberries
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used pureprotein vanilla cream)
1 Tbsp ground Flaxseed
1 Tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup egg beaters (you can use an egg)
1 Tbsp Peanut butter (optional topping :))

I mashed the banana in a bowl with the protein powder, flaxseed, almond milk, eggs, and a couple raspberries until combined. 

Then I threw the mixture on the stove!! 

In no time I had a these babies! I added a Tbsp of peanut butter ...because well I love peanut butter and I tossed on the rest of the raspberries! YUM! 

Now off to  work on my RD Internship applications before work at Rebecca Bitzer and Associates

The Nutrition: 

432 calories (with the peanut butter) 

46 grams of carbs

10 grams of fiber 

39 grams of protein

Raspberry Peach Over Night Oats (Round 1)

I LOVE oats. I like them hot, cold, in my yogurt, in my muffins, in bread, you name it! Lately, I have been desperately searching blogs and the web for perfect over night oats ! 

Basically, overnight oats are just oats you let soak in some combination of liquid, yogurt, and spices (optional) overnight and then enjoy in the morning! I couldn’t find the perfect combination of ingredents for myself online so I decided to experiment and document my first trial!

The result: 

Over Night Cinnamon Raspberry and  Peach Oats

Ingredients:

·      ½ cup plain non-fat dannon yogurt

·      ½ cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk

·      ½ cup old fashion oats

·      1 tsp cinnamon

·      3 slices frozen peaches

·      handful of raspberries

·      ½ oz of almonds

 Nutrition:

Calories: 401 

Carbs: 50 g

Fat: 16 g 

Protein: 18 g 

Fiber: 11 g

the night before I combined to oats, yogurt, almond milk, some peaches, and cinnamon in a bowl:

Next I mixed the ingredient together:

Then I covered them with foil and placed them in the fridge to soak over night!

In the morning I added the almonds and raspberries and Whalaa:

Often people add more liquid in the morning but I didn’t need to because I was happy with the consistency! Overall I was very pleased with my first attempt at over night oats! 

Banana Walnut Bread

This Morning I woke up in the mood to get my bake on! I decided on creating a whole wheat banana walnut bread. Here’s the recipe: 

• 2 cups whole wheat flour 
• 2 mashed bananas 
• 1/2 cup honey 
• 4 egg whites beaten until fluffy 
• 1/2 low fat butter milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cinnamon 
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup walnuts

I mixed all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Then combined the the butter, milk, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract in another bowl. I put the egg whites in a 3rd bowl and beat until they were nice and fluffy. Then folded the eggs and the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and waaaahhhh laaaa!! 

By the way I adapted the recipee from an awesome nutrition blog: http://sarabconsulting.blogspot.com/2010/03/banana-applesauce-bread.html

…The flavor is great the consistency…not perfect I’ll post again when I’ve perfected the recipe!

My HIgh Protein Breakfast

Breakfast is without a doubt my favorite meal of the day! I wasn’t always a breakfast eater. When I started college nutrition got put on the back burner and my day would start with a single cup of coffee (UGH). I am amazed how I made it through my days back then! Now, as I start my final semester of college I couldn’t imagine skipping breakfast! I am happy to acknowledge if there’s anything my five years of studies taught me it is the importance of breakfast. I am a better student, athlete, and person when I start my day out right! Here is one of my go-to breakfasts:  Veggie Egg White Omelet & Peanut Butter Toast!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup egg beaters
• 1 reduced fat cheese stick
• As many veggies as desired
• Deli style 100% whole wheat sandwich thins
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter
• a sprinkle of cinnamon

My ingredients of choice: 

The Nutrition Facts: 

317 calories

28 grams protein

13 grams of fat

30 grams of carbs

Putting It all together: 

Whala!!