Whole Wheat Pancakes

Who doesn't like pancakes? especially if they are whole grain/whole-wheat and heart healthy?? No excuses, there! Here's a quick and easy recipe for a yummy breakfast!

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - ¾ cup

Flaxseed meal - 2 tbsp

Rolled oats- 2 tbsp

Unsweetended apple sauce - ½ cup

Egg substitute - 1 cup

Baking soda - ½ tsp

Semi-sweet Chocolate chips – 2 tbsp

Brown sugar - 1 tbsp

Fat Free Milk - 1 cup

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in a big bowl and whisk until fully blended. Set aside for about 30 minutes

2. Heat a skillet on medium heat

3. Pour 1/4 cup of batter on to the skillet and cover with lid

4. After about 60-70 seconds, flip them and cook for another 30 seconds before taking them off the skillet.

5. Serve with maple syrup

Makes about 9 pancakes at 95 calories each!

I made my own syrup by heating about 5 tbsp of brown sugar with 1 cup water - simmer until thickened. Add vanilla extract or maple extract (as desired) and stir well. Be cautious while using the syrup as it can be pretty hefty in calories, depending on usage.

Grilled Vegetables

This is a really healthy lunch/dinner recipe. If you like veggies, but don't like them raw, this is a better way of cooking them instead of boiling (boiling loses nutrients in the process). You can use any vegetables in this recipe, I have used this combination of veggies to balance out the nutrients.

Ingredients:

Carrots: Vitamin A, K, Potassium, Niacin, Thiamin, Folate, fiber

Red Peppers: Vitamins A, B6, C, E, K, Folate, Niacin, Thiamin

Sweet Potatoes: Vitamins A, B6, C, Potassium, Fiber, Manganese

Potatoes: Carbs, Vitamins C, B6, Potassium

Zucchini: Vitamins C, A, protein and fiber

Olive Oil: 3 tbsp

Oregano: 1/4 tsp

Thyme: 1/4 tsp

Basil: 1/4 tsp

Rosemary: 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Cut all vegetables and put them in a large bowl.
3. Add the olive oil and spices and toss them well
4. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and scoop the veggies onto the sheet. Close the foil to form a pouch
5. Bake the veggies for about 20-30 minutes
6. After you remove the cookie sheet from the oven, cut a hole into the foil and let all the steam out. Be very careful as you can burn yourself with the steam.
7. Squeeze lemon juice on the veggies and serve.

Notes: I marinated the veggies for about 6 hours before I grilled them.

Hearty Vegetable Stew

Here's an all-weather recipe that's never boring!

Ingredients:

Zucchi

ni - 1/2 cup, diced

Cabbage - 1/4 cup, shredded

Carrots - 1/4 cup, diced small

Red Peppers - 1/4 cup, diced small

Spring Onion - 1 stalk, diced

Celery - 1/2 cup, diced small

Roma Tomatoes - 2, diced

Kidney Beans - 1 can, washed

V8 vegetable juice (low sodium) - 8 oz can

Garlic (minced) - 1/2 tsp

Oregano - 1/3 tsp

Thyme - 1/3 tsp

Basil - 1/3 tsp

Celery Salt - to taste

Black Pepper - to taste

Ground Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Water or Vegetable Stock - 4 cups

Method:

1. Heat a large saucepan and add a tablespoon of Olive oil.
2. Add spring onions and garlic and sautee. Once the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and V8 juice.
3. Add all spices, cover and simmer
4. After about 2 minutes, add the vegetables, stock or water and simmer for 20 minutes
5. Add kidney beans and more water, if necessary. Cover and cook for another 20-30 minutes.
6. Once vegetables are done, simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes.
7. Serve with bread or crostini

This is a fat-free stew, heart healthy and meant to be a meal by itself. This recipe should easily serve 2-3 people

Radiant Radish Juice

B & I recently turned to juicing to improve our overall health and lifestyle. It's going great, we are now up to 2 cups of juice every day now... We hope you will benefit from this wonderful lifestyle too!

Ingredients:

Radishes - 2 whole (include greens if you want)

Celery - 2 stalks

Apples - 2 (optional)

Grapes - 14 (optional)

Method:

1. Turn on juicer to high setting and add all vegetables until done.
2. You can either add apple juice or grape juice or cranberry juice, depending on your taste preference.

Juice is always best consumed fresh. This recipe serves 2 people

Healthy Cookies

As part of a recent celebration, I baked these cookies, with my usual substitutions, of course!

I used the same basic recipe, but changed the raisins and walnuts for chocolate chips to create some variety.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour: 3/4 cup

Rolled oats: 3/4 cup

Ground Flax meal: 2 tbsp

Baking soda: 1/2 tsp

Vanilla essence: 1 tsp

Egg substitute: 1/3 cup

Ground Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Applesauce (unsweetened): 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar: 1/2 cup

Olive Oil: 2 tbsp

Salt: A pinch

Raisins: 1/4 cup (for oatmeal raisin cookies)

Chopped walnuts: 1/4 cup (optional)

Semisweet Chocolate chips: 1/4 cup (for chocolate chip cookies)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line and spray a cookie sheet with oil
3. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, brown sugar and egg substitute and beat it till the sugar is dissolved
4. Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl and combine.
5. Combine with wet ingredients while making sure they are mixed thoroughly. Once you have a sticky paste, add the raisins and nuts (for oatmeal raisin) or the chocolate chips (for chocolate chip cookies) and make sure they are incorporated well
6. Spoon the dough onto the cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes

I baked about 10-12 cookies of each type. It was delicious - not much to look at, mind you, but tasted heavenly! AND, it is much healthier and low-fat than the regular ones!!

Happy Baking!