Busy Bees

This Sunday, Laura and I decided we needed to have another "FNF Meeting" to finalize some of our blog design and trip plans. We are planning a fun trip to Austin and San Antonio at the end of October for some great food and exercise for a good cause. We will fill y'all in a little more as it gets closer to time.

Anyway, back to our meeting. Of course we wanted to cook something while we were hanging out together. I had planned on going to the Farmer's Market to pick up our weekly fruits and veggies, so we thought we would pick up a few extra items to prepare at home.

Here are some fun shots of our shopping trip. I am in love with the beautiful colors of the oh so fresh vegetables!!!

Of course we took our prizes home in our Eat Right, American Dietetic Association bag.....Go ADA!

Our veggie sides started off with baked corn. I mixed Mrs. Dash with a little Garlic Gold, a la Kath, and brushed it all over the corn. I wrapped them with aluminum foil and baked them on a baking sheet @ 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Our second side was another Kath inspiration. We made Okra Fries! Again, I used a little Garlic Gold, salt and pepper, tossed the okra to coat, and baked the on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and then broiled for about 10-15 minutes. I think the broiling really helped give them a perfect texture. It also helped dry them out so they weren't quite as slimy.

Here is what we had for lunch...

Soy BBQ sandwiches (which were surprisingly delicious, but may have caused us both a little GI distress), roasted corn, okra fries, and a little mac and cheese by Ms. Laura Milton.

Everything was wonderful!!!! Except dessert :( We had found some beautiful plantains and thought they would make a neat dessert.

I cut them in half, coated them with a little Smart Balance and Splenda Brown Sugar and grilled them. The plantains never achieved the gorgeous caramelized brown and somewhat goopy texture we were hoping for. Instead, they tasted more like yellow baked potatoes. The only "sweetness" they had was really attributed to tiny amount of brown sugar.

Since dessert was a bust, I pulled out a back up. I forgot to take a picture, but we ate a few Wacky M's cookies that I found at Central Market on Friday. They were Ginger Orange, only 77 calories for three, and ohhhh so delicious. They don't sell them all over the country yet. He is a semi-local (Dallas) baker who has just started selling his product. You should check out his site. The different flavor combos are awesome!

Well, it is off to work for me, but come back this week for a few more great recipes and a few get to know us posts. Happy Monday!

Where The Magic Happens....No Really

There are so many topics that I wanted to cover today! Okay, so maybe they aren't really topics, as much as they are things that I would like to share with you as our readers. Right now my list includes telling my weight loss story, raving about Aggie football and posting some videos, or showing y'all where I make my goods :)

My kitchen pics won tonight simply because I don't have as much time to really write out my "this is my story" blog as I would like.

So here we go...

My husband and I have spent the past several years bouncing between apartments and cities during grad school. My main concern has always been the size of the kitchen. No matter how crummy the apartment may have been, I have always had a pretty decent sized kitchen. Having a larger kitchen certainly comes in handy after you are married. Once you get married, you typically accumulate lots of wonderful kitcheny gadgets that you love, but now you have to store. When we lived in apartments, I usually had one closet solely dedicated to those items. No matter how big the kitchen was, there was never quite enough space to hold all of my random gadgets or the china and crystal that I didn't really use in our temporary homes.

Here is a picture of not only part of my apartment kitchen in Irving, but of my favorite sous chef, Riley!

Our new kitchen has been quite an upgrade from apartment living. When we started searching for a home, I wanted one with a large open kitchen. I feel that so much socializing goes on in that area that I didn't want it to be blocked off from our living or dining room. Well I got my wish!

Here is the kitchen...

Lots of counter space that Laura and I have successfully trashed while doing our cooking experiments!

One of my favorite things about this space is that while I cook or do dishes (which most of y'all should know...I am allergic to doing dishes) I can watch TV. This is usually a wonderful thing, but now it is football season and that is all we get to watch :(

While my sister-in-law Sara Jo lived with us we did a little rearranging. Her room used to be our office, so I had to find a new place to put our desk. Rusty and I thought about selling it but I loved it so much I had to find a place. The place is now right next to the entertainment center. I used to blog there but I felt like a little kid who was told to sit in the corner :(

Now I find myself blogging at my dining table. I have a great view of the TV...which for the next few months I don't really care about, but at least I have a view of everything going on.

I hope you have enjoyed a little mini tour of my home and where I cook. Over the next few months, Laura and I will be taking a day our two to either discuss a topic, blog about our foodies experiences, or simply talk a little bit about what is going on in our lives. If there is anything you would like to know about, be it about us or a nutrition topic, shoot us an email or simply leave it in a comment and we will do our best to answer!

Have a Happy Friday, oh and by the way....follow us on Twitter! Our name is FoodyNotFatty and I typically tweet what I eat :) or just talk about some funny things going on in my world!

Zucchini Cupcakes, Take II

Happy Thursday! We're that much closer to the weekend! Usually on Thursdays I start making up my grocery list so I can go first thing on Saturday and get it out of the way. Just in case my bloggy friends out there in the blogosphere are doing the same, I wanted to share a cupcake recipe you may want to try!

Remember our Coconut Day Celebration? Kat had picked up some coconut butter to help celebrate and she had mentioned that I was bringing some zucchini cupcakes. Well, I did and they were . . . okay. One of the girls we worked with said they didn't taste like cupcakes, they tasted like a sweet vegetable bread. That's not a bad thing, but I wanted this recipe to be one of those recipes that people love and then shock people when I tell them there's a vegetable in it!

Anyway, I got the recipe from Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals That You Can Make in Minutes, check it out below. I got this book last summer on a whim and actually liked a lot of what I made. The only thing I didn't really like was they list the calories, but nothing else (no fat, sodium, carbs, etc.) Last week I followed the recipe to a T last time. So today I tried a few adjustments to make them totally cravable.

Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in Minutes

I omitted the ground nuts and subbed out flour in hopes of lightening it up and tried Splenda Brown Sugar Blend instead of 100% regular sugar. I also didn't use the recipe for the frosting in the book, I used a reduced sugar vanilla frosting.

I combined the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients. Then I shredded the peeled zucchini and added it to the wet mixture. You can't really tell, but the grated zucchini is a pretty light green color and super watery.

Then I added the wet zucchini mixture to the dry mixture and mixed them all up.

Then I filled my little cupcake holders and let them do their thang in the oven for 28 minutes.

I let them cool (barely) and covered them with some frosting.

Final verdict: Much better! Still pretty dense, but this frosting was 10x better than coconut butter (and loads less in saturated fat!!). Looking back, I really think my cupcakes are so dense because I don't have an electric mixer and mix everything by hand with a whisk. And honestly, my forearm gets tired in, like, 30 seconds, so there's probably not enough air incorporated into them.

Any other suggestions to help lighten up these little guys??

Here's the nutritional info for 2 cupcake, topped with 1 tbsp reduced sugar frosting:

Nutritional Information

Servings Per Recipe: 12

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 153

Fat: 5 g

Sodium: 151 mg

Fiber: 1.3 g

And here's my recipe, adapted from Cook Yourself Thin:

Zucchini Cupcakes

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c oat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 c zucchini, finely grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, oat flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, brown sugar blend and vanilla until thick and lightly colored, about 4 minutes. Add the zucchini until incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue to beat until well mixed.

Pour ~1/3 c batter into 12 lined muffin tins and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Top with your favorite frosting (I like the reduced sugar vanilla with these cupcakes!)

Should've Been Sandwich Sunday...

Laura and I had a serious "business meeting" on Sunday. Not only did we start working on the specifics of our new .com, but we also cooked up some fancy granola bar recipes.

Here is a sneak peek:

We ended up being so busy, that I forgot to post my sandwich Sunday recipe. Obviously this month's weekend topic will be all about sandwiches. I know I typically think about my husband's daily turkey sandwiches for lunch, but those are certainly not FNF worthy. Instead, I wanted to start things off with an INCREDIBLE breakfast sandwich.

Breakfast on the road often call for Whataburger Taquitos (yummo!!!!) or if we are really being bad, a McGriddle from McDonalds. On CalorieKing.com, a McGriddle has 560 calories and 32 grams of fat (12 of which are saturated)! Well, in honor of one of my favorite unhealthy breakfasts....I revamped it!

It all started with Paula's Breakfast Sandwich Recipe. The only thing I didn't like is that the "innards" of the sandwich were loose. I prefer that my egg and sausage be in a neat little shape...also part of my OCDism :)

I started out by browning my turkey sausage. Paula recommended using precooked sausage, but I found that the uncooked version was actually a little healthier. After browning the sausage, I measured out about 2 oz. When I filled my round cookie cutter with Egg Beaters I sprinkled in the 2 oz of sausage.

While the eggs cooked, I made my pancakes. Again, being pretty crazy about organization, I chose the round cookie cutter one size larger than my egg mold. This made for a perfect little sandwich.

When all was said and done, it was delicious!!!!! Who doesn't love sweet and savory? Oh, that's right..Laura!! Laura and I love debating our food faves. One of mine is using my breakfast bacon as a syrup spoon :) The best part is the mixture of salt and sweet, just like chocolate covered pretzels. Laura on the other hand is somewhat disgusted with my breakfast habit. Oh well, I am sure I will find something to pick on Laura about :)

Even though I got a little side tracked by my soapbox, I must admit a mistake I made with this recipe. I forgot to add the oil!!!! I wondered if it was just the whole wheat flour that made my pancakes so dense, but in fact it was the omission of the oil! I apologize to all of the boys who had to eat my chewy pancakes (Rusty had some lucky taste testers over for his fantasy football draft).

The breakdown:

1 Sandwich
Calories: 360
Fat: 10
Sodium: 408
Fiber: 3.3

Incredible Pancake Sandwich!!!
Pancakes (makes ~ 14, 3-4” pancakes):
1 ¼ cups white flour
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
2 cups skim milk
½ cup egg substitute
2 tbsp Canola oil
2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
Canola oil spray

Each Egg/Sausage Patty:
¼ cup Egg Substitute
2 oz ground turkey sausage, browned

Condiments for Each Sandwich:
2% American cheese slice
1 tsp Smart Balance Light
1 tbsp sugar free syrup


Mix together ingredients for pancakes. Spray hot skillet with oil. Pour ~3 tbsp of batter onto skillet (can use round mold for uniform shape). Flip pancake when bubble appear in the center. Cook until browned on each side. Keep warm.

In another skillet, pour egg beaters and turkey serving into each mold, slightly smaller than the pancakes. Cook on both sides.

To complete the sandwich layer as follows: Pancake, cheese slice, egg/turkey patty, pancake, tsp SBL, syrup. ENJOY!!!!!

Sesame Chicken

This Monday, I decided to make Paula's Sesame Chicken Strip recipe. I thought it would be something pretty easy to put together while I was waiting for my hubby to return from South Texas. I wasn't wrong about the recipe being pretty easy, I just don't know how delicious it really was.

Meet my sous chef!

It all starts out with a "marinade" of sorts. You basically mix together the sour cream and other seasonings, stirring in the chicken strips (see bowl on right).

I assumed that a lot of the sour cream mixture would be left in the bowl for me to wash out when the chicken had finished marinating. I was wrong!!! The marinade had almost completely soaked into the chicken! At least I knew that the meat would be moist :)

After my chicken soaked while I was hard at work, mind you it was Labor Day :(, I rolled the little strips in my Panko-Pita-Sesame mixture. Paula's recipe calls for simple bread crumbs. When I think of sesame chicken, I think of a more Asian flare. Though I have never used Panko bread crumbs, I have always wanted an excuse to give them a try. This was the perfect recipe!

Instead of pouring melted butter on my coated strips, I used Smart Balance. I think the lack of "real" fat had something to do with the lack of crispness. I really wanted these strips to be somewhat crunchy on the outside. Even though I broiled the strips at the end, they still weren't brown and crispy. I think next time I will spray them with Canola oil and broil them a little bit longer.

As far as taste, they weren't too bad. I think I was so disappointed with the crust that the flavor was already doomed in my mind. I had them reheated for lunch, and re-evaluated the taste. I was a little more pleased with my second test.

With a little "un-fried rice"...

Here are the stats:

I left Paula's the way she had it set. If she used 6 chicken breasts you would get about 3 oz of meat for 8 servings. That is the same amount of meat you would get for my recipe for three servings....which I am now realizing I put 2...it should be three, but the same nutrition info...oops!

Sesame Chicken
2 large skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
¼ cup light sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp garlic pepper
4 tbsp Panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp whole wheat pita crumbs
2 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 tbsp Smart Balance, melted

Mix chicken with sour cream, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and garlic pepper in a medium bowl. Cover and let soak for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a baking sheet with canola spray.

In a shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs with sesame seeds. Roll each chicken strip in the breading mixture and place on the baking sheet. Repeat until all strips are coated. Evenly pour the melted Smart Balance over the breaded strips. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, broil the chicken for at least 5 minutes, or until they are slightly browned. Enjoy!

***By the way, come back after lunch for an INCREDIBLE breakfast sandwich recipe!!!!!

Top Ten...I mean 5 Tuesday

This month we are dedicating Tuesday to our Top 5 _____. This Tuesday I am writing about my 5 favorite things as a dietitian.

5)Exercise
I am putting this at number 5 simply because I have a love/hate relationship with exercise. I don't love the feeling I have in the pit of my stomach when I get ready to head to the gym. Typically I am having a conversation in my head that goes a little like this: "Hmm I mean I am really tired" or "I can't find a shirt that goes with my running shorts (yes I like to color coordinate)" or "I am sure I can just do this tomorrow" or "didn't my walking at work count as exercise?" The list could go on and on. The redeeming factor of exercise is how it makes me feel. Even if I have had a cruddy day or if I absolutely went to the gym kicking and screaming, I always feel awesome when I leave. Not only are there health benefits like burning fat and building muscle but you release endorphins....enter Legally Blonde line here :)

4) Water
Good old H20! I know there are all kinds of "super power" drinks out there, but I feel like nothing beats water. I actually CRAVE water...maybe not all day, but the first thing I do before I hit the floor to see my patients, is drink almost 32 oz of yummy, delicious, refreshing water. If you haven't had a great glass or bottle of water lately, I urge you to put down your $5 bottle of fancy flavored promises and have a date with your old friend water!

3) Fruit
Notice I didn't say fruit and vegetables. I don't really love vegetables. I don;t hate them, I just don't absolutely love them. I think part of that dilemma is that I am not that creative or good at cooking them. I find myself simply steaming, baking or boiling them. I think I need to channel my inner Kath or Caitlin to actually come up with unique veggie dishes....now on to my favorite FRUIT!!! I have a ridiculous sweet tooth. I would love to blame this on my grandmother, who when I was a wee child, would sneak us into the kitchen for late night mini sundaes :) Unfortunately I think it is simply just part of my being that I struggle with everyday. This is why I LOVE fruit. Laura knows I have fruit with every lunch and dinner, and sometimes even as a snack. It is a great way to fill that sweet craving without really overindulging.


2) Carb and Protein Snacks!
I always stress to my patients, if you have a meal or snack, ALWAYS add protein. Lately this has become one of my favorite things! I have started packing a variety of snacks. My absolute favorite has been a medium banana with 1-2 tablespoons of Smart Balance Peanut Butter....or maybe now Justin's Chocolate Peanut Butter. I have also enjoyed having light cheese and crackers, or low fat vanilla wafers and PB! Not only to I love putting these combos together but I simply love having a little something to nibble on every 4 hours. I love to eat, so snack time keeps me sane....and a little bit thinner :)

1) Food Journaling
This is absolutely my #1 favorite thing! Food journaling is definitely not for everyone, but does work for a lot of people. For me, it is a way to keep myself accountable. Thanks to genetics and my upbringing, food has always been a struggle for me. It has never been a struggle to love delicious or even healthy foods, it has just been a matter of how much I would eat. What helps keep me on track everyday is writing down what I eat. Everything I put in my mouth goes on paper (or now my iPhone). I am able to assess what I have eaten and typically try to make changes accordingly. It may be a little OCD for some of you, but for anybody who is stuck in a rut I highly recommend giving it a try!

Hope you have enjoyed finding out a little bit about what I am about. There will be lots of great recipes to try out this week as well. Join us next Tuesday for Laura's edition of Top 5 Tuesday!

Chicken Salad Makes an Unexpected Appearance

Hello, my friends! I feel like it's been so long since I've posted anything! It's good to be back. I know we were MIA for the last two days, but Kat and I have been cooking up some super exciting FNF stuff that we hope to roll out in the future and it took more (wo)man hours than we thought. We'll keep you updated!

On to the food! I tried to remake Paula Deen's Chicken Divan into a lighter dish this weekend. I've never had this dish, but it looked very casserole-y and I like casseroles so I was ready to go!

I used some chicken breasts that I had already cooked and chopped. I used light mayo instead of regular, swapped nonfat Greek Yogurt for sour cream, used reduced fat cheddar and used the lower sodium version of cream of mushroom soup. I omitted the curry because I just don't like curry and used chicken broth in place of white wine because I didn't have any on hand.

I mixed up all my goodies and put them in my dish and covered it with grated parm and Panko bread crumbs. I've never cooked with them and wanted to test them out. They really maintained their crispiness. I'll have to remember this stuff the next time I make some Fried Ravioli!

What have you made with Panko Breadcrumbs??

The dish on it's way in . . .

. . . looks a lot like how it looked on it's way out.

It was pretty goopy. Must be all that mayo (Paula's "favo," according to Kat)!


It reminded me of the Hot Mess Chicken Salad I did last month, except with broccoli. It wasn't bad, but I'm a little tired of so many chicken salads! I think this is my fifth run with chicken salad.

Nutritionally, it looks bad, even the lightened version. But I think it all has to do with the listed serving sizes (I know Kat and I have both had tirades about that before). The original recipe says it serves 6 to 8, so I entered in my ingredients and based it on making 6 servings. I cut the recipe in half and made it in an 8 inch square pan and could easily get 6 servings from it. Go figure.

Nutritional Information (OLD)	Nutritional Information (NEW)
Servings Per Recipe: 6	Servings Per Recipe: 6
Amount Per Serving	Amount Per Serving
Calories: 848	Calories: 531
Fat: 59 g	Fat: 24 g
Sodium: 1315 mg	Sodium: 1244 mg
Fiber: 3.4 g	Fiber: 4 g

I probably won't try this recipe again, only because I think I've had my fill of chicken salad for the year. But if you like it, I'd recommend cutting the mayo and yogurt sauce down by at least a third.

Sneaky Chicken Salad
2 (10 oz) packages frozen broccoli, chopped
6 c shredded chicken from boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 (10 3/4 oz) cans Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 c light mayo
1 c fat free plain Greek Yogurt
1 c reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c Panko bread crumbs
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thaw the broccoli and put into a casserole dish. Add the shredded chicken

In a separate bowl, combine the soup, light mayo, Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese, lemon juice, and chicken broth. Whisk together and pour over the broccoli and chicken.

Sprinkle the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese over the top and lightly spray with cooking spray.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.