Healthy Mac and Cheese

People are always talking about comfort food.  And frankly, I feel like that’s all I eat.  I mean of course, I eat salads and fruit and yogurt and all that, but the majority of my “diet” is comfort food.  If it’s not delicious then why, oh why would I eat it?  No clue.

So here’s the deal.  This dish is super easy and super yum.  Start by browning some hamburger meat.  Yes, I said that.  We all need some iron.  Boil some noodles, whole wheat if you want to be healthy. And then here is the real kicker: skim mozzarella, cottage cheese and greek cheese yogurt.  I. know.  Sound odd right? No way. Delicious.  And I added some green peppers in here as well as butternut squash to make it extra good.  We loved this, and my husband who is an avid mac and cheese fan very much approved.  You get a little protein, a little carbs, a little dairy, and veggies. I mean hello. Everything you need, and for those of you that eat well on a regular basis, this is comfort food that wont cramp your style.

Healthy and Delicious Mac and Cheese


Cooked noodles (as many as you will need for your family or guests.  I did about 2 cups)
1 cup butternut squash puree
1/2 lb of hamburger meat (or turkey meat, or none)
1/2 cup of cheese greek yogurt (I got mine at Trader Joes)
1/2 cup of cottage cheese
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese (or any cheese you want)
1 whole green pepper (or, again, any veggie you want)
1 egg
Pepper to taste


In two separate pots, boil noodles until done, and brown meat until cooked all the way through.  While cooking, place all other ingredients into a large bowl and mix until just mixed. Fold in cooked and strained noodles, and then meat.  Place in casserole dish, adding a bit more cheese to the top for browning, and place in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Enjoy!

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Banana Sweet Potato Muffins with Chocolate Chips

I have a confession.  I love bread.  Not bread like French Bread, or bread like sandwich bread, but bread like pumpkin bread, banana bread, ginger bread.  Those types of breads.  The reason why this is a confession, and probably the confession of all confessions is because if these types of breads are around me, I will eat it all. Every crumb.  I’m like a tornado, ready to take everything that is in my path.  Yes, that’s me.  I made the Blueberry Sweet Potato Bread last week.  Did you make it?  Well I would offer to give you some of mine, but I ate the entire loaf in two days.  So here we are, a week later, and I found myself in the kitchen again, my body craving the usual delicious bread.  And do you know what happened this time?  I made 16 of these cute muffins, and I ate 11 within 24 hours.  I consumed 4 the first night, 3 the next morning and 4 later that day after lunch.

But, in my defense these have nothing but fruits and vegetables.  Ok, it has chocolate and maple syrup too.  Oh, and flour.  Ok fine.  I should not eat breads in bulk, but whatever, I run, I take spin classes, and I just took my first yoga class after my 11 muffins.  Let’s make this clear: I’m not confessing to you because I want change my ways.  I’m confessing because if I am addicted to one thing, I can not think of something better to be addicted to than delicious, moist, can’t-stop-eating breads. Amen.

P.S.
I did the math, and each of these muffins only has 93 calories.  Wish I would have known.  I would have eaten 5 more.

Banana Sweet Potato Bread


1 cup Sweet Potato Puree
3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup Maple Syrup Agave Blend (You can use brown sugar here, but just make sure that you change the amounts of course.  I would suggest a cup of brown sugar if you wanted to go that route.)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of butter
1 egg
chocolate chips for the tops
powdered sugar


Place all wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Slowly mix in the flour, making sure to scrape the sides  to get all of the flour mixed in.  Mix until just combined.  Place into greased muffin tins, and fill only about 1/4-1/2 full.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips, as many or as few as you would like. Place into a preheated 350 degree oven and cook for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from pan easily with the help of a utensil, on a cooling rack. Sprinkle powdered sugar on muffins when they are luke-warm.  Serve immediately.  For a bit of extra goodness, but the muffins in half and place a bit of butter on them.  Make sure to sprinkle powdered sugar only on the muffins that you will be eating.  The sugar will melt if left on too long, and look yellow in color which is not appetizing.  Enjoy!

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Italian Bolognese and Spinach Braid

I love italian food. Love it. In fact a pasta attachment for my KitchenAid Mixer is on my Christmas list.  But seriously, what is better than Italian food?  Mexican? Maybe.  But it’s a close call. I wanted to make something italian, but I wanted to make a braid, and I didn’t want to make another loaf of bread for garlic bread.  So I made this. Was it any good you may ask?  I ate two pieces and my husband ate the rest. That night.

Start with some dough, flour, and…hearts? Love?  Isn’t Italy known as being romantic?  I have never been and frankly I want to go but I don’t. Cause I will eat so much Italian food that I will never be able to have American-Italian again and that could ruin me.  Or I guess I could go to school in Italy and learn to make good pasta. I digress.  Roll out the doug about 1/4-1/2 in wide.

Fresh Spinach makes all the difference.  Look how pretty it looks, all lined up there.

Cut 1 inch sections on the long sides of the dough, and then fold around the filling.

Bake until golden brown.  I added a bit of garlic powder on the top per my husband’s request. It added that bit of Italian flare.  Cut and enjoy!

P.S. Sugar Duchess gave me the idea, and the recipe is adapted from hers.  She used an apricot and cream cheese filling! If I was not so lazy, I would have made that one for dessert!

Italian Bolognese Spinach Braid

1/2 tablespoon of instant yeast {only so that it doesn’t have to rise twice}

1/4 cup of warm milk

1/8 cup of butter, softened

1 egg

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour

1 jar sauce of your choice

handful (or so) of mozzarella cheese

heaping 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the dour except only half of the flour.  Mix the rest of the flour in by hand.  The dough will be very sticky, so maybe put a little olive oil or butter on them before you mix in the flour.  Knead the dough until all the flour is mixed in.

Roll dough into rectangle, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Place on a greased cookie sheet. In the middle of the dough, place your filling in a long, thin line. Make sure to leave about 1 1/2 inches on each side.  Then cut 1 inch apart slits in the dough.  Starting at the ends, fold pieces over filling and allow them to criss-cross in the middle.  Pinch and fold the ends.  Cover and let rise for about 30-40 minutes.

Place braid into pre-heated 350 degree oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes.  And, enjoy!

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Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Blueberry Bread

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Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies and Chai Frozen Yogurt

A one-pump chai, one-pump gingerbread soy latte makes me a happy camper.  My father-in-law is a Chai fanatic.  He also loves ice cream.  And, since both families are making the trek to come to sunny so-cal this Christmas, I decided I needed to make a good Chai ice cream recipe so he could have it when they got here.  My parents are coming from Colorado and my husband’s parents are coming from Idaho.  Both families are leaving snow, fireplaces and skiing to meet sand, 60 degrees, and surfing.  The least we can do is offer them a cold treat and pretend that it’s winter.

I was going to go chocolate chip cookies because, well they are classic and I never make them.  But then my friend Julia suggested butterscotch and I was so excited.  Sometimes I forget butterscotch exists, and I am so glad that Julia is smarter than me because they were perfect with the Chai spices.

And the Chai. The only thing you have to think about here is make sure that the Chai you get is not already sweetened. This recipe used unsweetened Chai powder and then sweetened it until it tasted just right.  No joke.  You by-the-book people are going to hate this recipe cause it’s also of guessing and doing what tastes the best. But that is what baking is all about, so have fun with this one and think of other teas or drinks that would make a great ice cream.  Mint Hot Coco? Mexican Hot Coco?  Early Gray?  If you can drink it, then why not freeze it and eat it?

Chai Ice Cream

2 cups non-fat yogurt
1 cup milk {I used almond milk}
1/2 cup cream
4 oz organic cream cheese or to taste
4 heaping scoops unsweetened Chai mix
about 1/4 cup brown sugar or to taste

Mix all ingredients in blender or food processor until mixed well and smooth. Your tastebuds will be your best friend in this one.  Taste well.  Add Chai and sugar slowly and easily.  Above is what we lied but maybe you like it a bit spicier, or sweeter.  You choose! Place all ingredients into ice cream maker per manufacturer’s instructions.  Freeze immediately or enjoy immediately.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

I can’t lie to you hear.  I bought the package and followed the recipe as it says on the back.  Oh yeah, I added a cup of quick-cooking Oatmeal.  Here is the recipe as well.

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Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls

We had a finance meeting this weekend, my husband and I.  Do normal people do that?  They must.  Well, must to my surprise (not at all) we were way over on groceries every month.  I usually purchase all the groceries because like every other food lover, the grocery store can make you feel organize, relaxed, and creative all in one trip.  So, oops, at times I let my creative juices flow (no pun intended) and I get a bit carried away, and then just like that we are over budget.  Time to scale back.  What does that mean?  Stop baking?  No way! Start making boxed mac and cheese?  I don’t think so.  It means staring at your fridge until you see one or two ingredients that you don’t want to go bad and so you make something out of it.  Enter cranberries.  Exit delicious Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls.

These are whole wheat, not tons of sugar, and seriously look at that red.  Perfect for the holidays.

They are pretty easy too.  The sauce is not hard, and you get to hear the cranberries “pop.”  My mom says that this reminds her of her mom and when she was little she would wait to hear the cranberries pop. I digress. After you make the dough and let it rise, you spread the cranberry sauce on it like so, and then roll it up.

Let the rolls rise again, put ‘em in the over and done! The oranges?  Oh yes, I added a bit of orange juice to the cream cheese frosting.  I have no pictures of that frosting though, because I will tell you that these were so good that a bit of honey and butter will do the trick.  But also, we had oranges lying around and since I’m all about staying on budget, Ill throw whatever I can into a recipe.

Do you have any other saving money tricks or random thrown together recipes?  Please share. As this is a new stage and I need all the help I can get.

Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour {I used Whole Wheat}
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Mix 2 cups of flour and yeast, set aside.  In a sauce pan, heat and stir milk, granulated sugar, 1/3 cup butter, and the salt until just warm and butter almost melts.  Add to flour mixture along with the 2 eggs.  Beat on low for 30 seconds and then on high for 3 minutes.  Scrape the sides of the bowl frequently.  Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Place dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead in any remaining flour.  The dough should be moderately soft, and sort of elastic.  Shape dough into a ball, and place into a buttered bowl.  Turn dough over in bowl so the entire dough is touched with butter.  Cover and place in a warm place until dough is doubled in size. This will take about 1 hour, maybe 1.5 hours.

Once dough is double in size, punch the dough down and place on to a lightly floured surface.  Divide dough in half, cover and let rise for 10 minutes. Use this ten minutes to make your filling. (See below)

After ten minutes, roll each dough half into a 12×8 rectangle. {I just got it as close to a rectangle as possible. It took me some time}  Sprinkle filling over dough, leaving 1 inch along the sides of the dough.  Tightly roll up each rectangle long ways.  Once the dough is rolled up, pinch the ends, and cut into 12 equal pieces, or however big you want your rolls to be.  Place into greased  two 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 pans, cover, and let the dough rise another 30 minutes or until it is doubled in size.

Place in preheated 375 degree oven, and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Watch the tops for a golden brown color to test if they are cooked all the way.  Let cool for five minutes, put some butter and honey on top, and enjoy!

Cranberry Filling

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cups cranberries
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Heat and stir water and sugar into a medium saucepan until sugar dissolves.  Boil rapidly for 5 minutes.  Add cranberries and allow water to return to boiling, then reduce the heat.  Boil gently for about 3-4 minutes until cranberries “pop”. {I love this part!} Stir occasionally.  Remove from heat. Done and done.

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