Cucs with a Zing

 

This super simple snack is so delicious, all you have to do is chop- and pop em in!

Chop a baby cucumber, add lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, a little chile powder and your golden!

It’s as easy as that… enjoy!

Berrylicious Microwave Muffin

Here is a good idea for breakfast or snack!

1/4 cup quick oats
1 egg (sub. 1/4 egg beaters for less calories)
small handful of blueberries
little bit of brown sugar/stevia (optional)
tbsp soymilk or regular milk(for added moistness!)

Mix it all up into a coffee mug!
Put it in the microwave for 1 minute, make sure it doesn’t overflow! Add an extra 30 sec if it needs to firm up.

Chocolate Banana Wontons

Ingredients

Makes 6 servings

2 servings butter-flavor cooking spray

1 large banana, diced

6 tbsp mini chocolate chips

24 wonton wrappers (half of 12 oz package)

1 tbsp powdered sugar

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

 

In a medium bowl, combine banana and chocolate chips, and mix gently.

 

Place wonton wrappers on flat surface. Drop teaspoonfuls of banana mixture onto center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of each wrapper with wet fingers, and fold over one corner to make a triangle and press sides together to seal. Transfer filled wrappers to prepared baking sheet.

 

Bake 10-12 minutes, until wontons are golden brown. Sift powdered sugar over wontons before serving. Yields 4 wontons per serving.

 

Weight Watchers PointsPlus™ Value:  5

© 2011 Weight Watchers International, Inc. © 2011 WeightWatchers.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WEIGHT WATCHERS and POINTS are registered trademarks of Weight Watchers International, Inc. and are used under license by WeightWatchers.com, Inc.

Slimmed Down Six Layer Dip

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons chili paste or your favorite hot sauce
• 1 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 ripe avocados, preferably Hass
• Kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 5 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt, preferably Greek
• 2 cups finely shredded romaine lettuce
• 3 ripe medium tomatoes, diced

Directions

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, beans and chili paste and heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Using a potato masher or fork, mash the beans. Remove from the heat, add 2 tablespoons water and mash until somewhat smooth. Spread in a 2-quart glass casserole dish.

Scatter the cheese over the beans. Halve and pit the avocados; scoop out the flesh into a bowl and mash with 1 teaspoon salt and the lemon juice. Spread the avocado over the cheese.

Reserve some scallions, cilantro and jalapeno for garnish. Pulse the yogurt with the remaining scallions, cilantro and jalapeno in a blender or food processor. Spread over the avocado. Top with the lettuce. Season the tomatoes with another teaspoon salt and scatter over the lettuce. Top with the reserved scallions, cilantro and jalapeno.

Per serving: Calories 290; Fat 15 (Saturated 5); Cholesterol 18 mg; Sodium 702 mg; Carbohydrate 25 g; Fiber 10 g; Protein 18 g

Broccoli & Orzo Pasta

Broccoli and Orzo
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 3/4 cup • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 174.1 • Fat: 4.3 • Carbs: 30.2 • Fiber: 3.8  • Protein: 6.0

Ingredients:

• 4.5 oz uncooked orzo pasta
• 2 cups of fresh broccoli florets only (no stems)
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
• 3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

Trim stems off broccoli, cut into small pieces and season with salt. Steam covered with a little water until cooked, careful not to overcook. When broccoli is cooked,remove from pan and chop into smaller pieces.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in medium pot of salted water as directed for al dente.Reserve about 1/2 cup liquid before draining. Drain orzo in a colander and add the oil to the pot. Saute garlic a few minutes until golden, add broccoli, season with salt and mix well. Add orzo and stir to combine all. Add a little reserved liquid as needed so pasta isn’t dry. Serve with freshly grated cheese if desired (optional).

Makes 3 cups.

From Skinnytaste.com

English Muffin Panini

• 1 Whole Wheat English Muffin or Sandwich Thin
• 1 tbsp pizza sauce (you could use tomato paste, just be sure to sprinkle with salt and spices)
• 1 Mini Babybel Light
• Your fav pizza topics, optional of course (pepperoni, baby spinach, diced peppers)

If you like a crunchier muffin, pre-toast. I tend to like mine soft so I kept it raw.

Smear the sauce on the muffin, top with any toping and then place the cheese in the center.

Press in the George Foreman or a panini press, about 4 minutes

 

185 Calories per serving (whole sandwich)

 

From GreenLiteBites

Sugar Free Protein Muffin

prep time – 5 minutes

bake time – about 30-33 minutes

serves – 1

ingredients:

• 1 scoop protein powder (we used Vega protein performance powder -neutral flavor)
• 1 duck egg*
• 2 tbsp cocoa or carob powder
• 1 tsp xylitol (optional for sweetness) or a few drops of stevia
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tsp maca powder (optional)
• 1/4 cup water

directions:

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. place all ingredients into a bowl and mix together.  scoop muffin batter into one large muffin pan or individual ramekin. (if you do not have a large muffin pan then use regular size muffin pan but put muffin batter into two muffin liners)

some might find this recipe to be a little dry, feel free to add in 1-2 tbsp of coconut oil or puree of some sort to help make it more moist. we liked it as is, especially using the duck egg. we found the texture to be perfect.

*we used 1 whole duck egg in this recipe but if you want to use chicken eggs do 1 whole egg + 1 egg white.  duck eggs are little bigger than chicken eggs.

Breakfast Cookies

Peanut Butter Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies ~ These cookies have the great flavor of peanut butter, are power packed because of adding protein powder and are egg & flour free and are sweetened with bananas & applesauce.  If you want to indulge, add some chocolate or carob chips & take the flavor up to the next level!

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed until smooth & creamy
• 1/3 cup peanut butter ~ creamy or chunky
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder ** (can be made without, cookie will just be lower in protein)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp butter flavor extract ** (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups quick oatmeal
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (peanut, walnut, or your favorite)
• 1/4 cup carob or chocolate chips (**optional)

Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix mashed banana & peanut butter until completely combined then add in the applesauce, vanilla protein powder & the extract(s) ~ mix again until all are completely combined.

Add in the oatmeal & nuts to the banana mixture & combine.  (** add the optional carob / chocolate chips at this time if you want them mixed throughout)

Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Drop cookie dough, by spoonfuls, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet & flatten cookies into rounds. (** if you just want the carob / chocolate chips on the top of the cookies, add now)

Bake cookies approx. 30 minutes, or until golden brown & done.  Remove from oven & let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.  (if you want the traditional fork tong marks on the cookies, use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to score the tops of the cookies while they’re still warm)

When cookies are completely cool, store in a covered container.  Enjoy!

Recipe from Watching What I Eat

Watermelon Nachos

Watermelon Nachos

12-16 1/2-inch thick watermelon triangles with 3-inch sides
2 cups (500 mL) Greek vanilla yogurt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla extract
Few drops almond extract
1 cup (250 mL) dried cranberries
1 cup (250 mL) white chocolate chips
1/2 cup (125 mL) sliced toasted almonds
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cinnamon

Arrange the watermelon triangles on a serving platter, set aside.

In a small bowl mix yogurt with extracts and drizzle mixture over the watermelon to give the appearance of nacho cheese sauce. Sprinkle dried cranberries, white chocolate chips and almonds over the yogurt and dust with cinnamon.

 

*Intended to be shared, for healthier version hold off on chocolate chips & less yogurt

Per serving: about 400 cal, 8 g pro, 11 g total fat (5 g sat. fat), 73 g carb, 4 g fibre, 10 mg chol, 65 mg sodium. %RDI: iron 10%, calcium 20%, vit A 70%, vit C 80%

 

Guilt Free Red Velvet Cake Batter

Guilt-free red velvet cake batter… is there even such a thing? This twist on a common favorite bakery treat will give those calories a run for their money. Try this healthy smoothie and see if it does the trick to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Red Velvet Cake Batter Green Drink

Ingredients:

1 C. non-dairy milk, or organic milk
1 small/medium beet: peeled, steamed, and chopped
1/3 C. frozen raspberries
1 frozen banana
4 TB. cocoa powder
4-pitted dates
1 TB chai seeds or ground flax seeds
1-2 TB. sweetener of choice (agave, maple syrup, or honey)
Ice

Recipe & Picture via http://thediva-dish.com/