Healthy Chocolate Chip Blueberry Pancakes

This recipe is from the Sneaky Chef cookbook. These taste so fabulous that it's hard to believe they are 100% healthy. Our whole family loves them.

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour *
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup blanched, slivered almonds, finely ground in food processor (optional, adds protein)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or grated fresh apple
1/4 cup plain yogurt **
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons milk
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons honey or pure maple syrup
1/4 cup chocolate chips and/or 1/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

* If you don't have whole wheat pastry flour, use plain whole wheat flour, but substitute half of it with all-purpose flour.
** I use fat-free yogurt.

1. Mix together flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, and ground almonds. Set aside.
   
2. In another bowl, whisk together applesauce, yogurt, vanilla, milk, egg, and honey or maple syrup.
   
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir just till blended. If batter seems too thick, add a bit more milk.
   
4. Add the chocolate chips and/or blueberries and mix lightly. If using frozen berries, don't thaw them.
5. Butter or spray a large skillet over medium heat. Drop small ladles of batter onto the hot skillet and cook until bottom of pancakes are golden, then flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. (You'll have to peek underneath. This batter is really thick, and it doesn't make bubbles on top to let you know it's ready to flip.)

These freeze very well, and I always make a double batch so we can have pancakes for breakfast all week. Let them cool completely and then freeze them in sandwich bags. To serve, thaw 30 seconds in microwave on defrost setting (30% power), and then toast for one cycle.
--Sarah

Breakfast Cookies

This one is a slightly modified version of the Breakfast Cookies recipe in "The Sneaky Chef" cookbook. If you get 20 cookies out of the recipe (which I do with a medium cookie scoop) then there are just over 100 calories in each.

3 C whole grain cereal flakes (I use Total)
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C wheat germ
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C canola oil
2 t pure vanilla extract
3/4 C lowfat ricotta cheese
3/8 C cinnamon mini-chips (optional)
cinnamon sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Gently crush the cereal -- use a rolling pin with the cereal in a zip-top bag, or a few pulses in the food processor, or (my favorite) a whisk in a 2-cup glass measuring cup In any event you should have about 1 1/2 C coarsely crushed cereal.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, cereal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
4. In another bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, oil, vanilla and ricotta.
5. Combine wet and dry ingredients. mixing just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Stir in the cinnamon chips, if using.
6. Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop (or something else to get that much dough) drop onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between cookies.
7. Flatten cookies with the back of a fork (I find a plastic one works best -- the dough is sticky). Sprinkle tops generously with cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake 12-13 minutes, until lightly browned.
9. Cool. Cookies should remain slightly soft. Great in lunchboxes or as a snack too!

Too-Easy Lasagna

I'd always made lasagna "the long way" until I found this recipe in Food & Family magazine, Winter 2008. While not quite as authentically Italian, perhaps, as my old recipe, this one is so much faster...takes so many fewer pans...and is eaten just as enthusiastically by the whole family!

1 pound ground beef
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 C shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided
1 15-oz container part-skim ricotta
1/2 C grated or shredded parmesan, divided
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
1 26-oz jar spaghetti sauce (I like Newman's Own marinara)
1 1/4 C water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked (regular noodles, not the "no-boil" kind...whole grain works fine!)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray lasagna pan with non-stick spray.
2. Brown meat over medium-high heat; drain.Add spaghetti sauce to meat; put water in jar, cover and shake well. Add water to pan. Stir well.
3. Mix egg, 1 1/4 C mozzarella, ricotta, 1/4 C parmesan and parsley until well blended.
4. Spread 1 C of sauce in bottom of pan. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture and 1 C of sauce. Repeat two more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and then parmesan cheeses. Cover pan with greased foil.
5. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil; bake another 15 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Makes 12 servings.

Aunt Lizzy's Chicken Delight

My son's aunt Elizabeth gave me this recipe and it is DE-LICIOUS! This is a throw it together and forget about it recipe. Hope you enjoy it. This will feed about 2-3 people, so throw in more chicken breasts and another can of soup as you see fit if you need to feed more people...and don't forget to add more bacon! YUM!

Aunt Lizzy's Chicken Delight

2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 8oz pkg of Cream Cheese
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts wrapped in 2-3 pieces of bacon each
1 cup (or so) of milk
1-2 spoonful's of flour if needed
Mashed Potatoes (your own recipe)

In a crock pot, place soup then cream cheese (no need to mix the two, just make sure the soup covers the bottom of your crock pot) and place wrapped chicken breasts on top. Cook on low with lid on for 8-10 hours. After cooking, cream cheese will melt and bacon will become nice and crispy, allowing the bacon grease to soak into the chicken (this is not a recipe for the dieters...). When ready to serve, stir up chicken, cream cheese and soup with a fork. This will shred the chicken. Do not be alarmed if the sauce burns to the sides of the crock pot a bit. Before serving, add a cup or so of milk to make more "gravy-like". If the mixture is too watery, just add a spoonful or two of flour to thicken it up. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

"Bran muffins" may not sound appealing, but just wait until you taste these! Our whole family loves them and there are endless variations and combinations of add-ins. Best of all, this batter keeps in the refrigerator up to two weeks, so you can always have freshly baked muffins in a flash. This recipe came from Relish magazine (a newspaper insert) and is just one of several excellent recipes I've found there.

Ingredients:

• 2 C All-Bran cereal
• 2/3 C wheat bran
• 1 1/3 C boiling water
• 2 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1 T baking soda
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t grated or ground nutmeg
• vegetable cooking spray
• 2 C lowfat buttermilk
• 1/2 C pasteurized egg substitute (I always substitute whole eggs here and lightly beat enough to make 1/2 cup)
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla extract
• optional add-ins: shredded carrot, raisins, dried cranberries, pineapple, shredded zucchini, chopped dried apricots, blueberries, bananas, nuts...

1. Mix cereal and wheat bran in a large bowl (I use the large covered batter bowl from Pampered Chef so I can store batter in this container). Add boiling water; stir well and set aside for 1 hour.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 375F. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray.
4. Add 1 C buttermilk to bran mixture; stir well with a whisk. Add remaining buttermilk, egg, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil and vanilla, stirring until smooth.
5. Add flour mixture; stir until a thick batter forms.
6. If baking just a portion of the batter, measure out what you're using and set aside. Cover remaining batter and refrigerate.
7. Stir in optional fruits, vegetables, or nuts (I use about 1-1.5 cups per dozen muffins) and scoop into prepared pan, filling each muffin about 2/3 full.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned. Entire recipe makes 24-30 muffins depending on amount of add-ins.

Favorite combinations for us include shredded carrots with some crushed pineapple (shred your own carrots for this combo--pre-shredded ones turn green for some reason and it's icky)...and shredded zucchini with golden raisins. Fun to play with!

Weeknight Baby Back Ribs

We've always avoided cooking ribs unless we had a lot of time. Well, no more! This recipe--if you can actually call it a recipe!--came in a recent issue of Kraft's Food & Family magazine. They are so fast, easy and delicious that we make them frequently.

Ingredients:

• Pork baby back ribs (as many as you need to feed your group)
• Bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce

1. Cut the ribs into two-rib portions.
2. Place in a large pan or stock pot and add water to cover by 1 inch (the pot needs to be large enough to leave 2-3 inches of space at the top).
3. Bring the pot to a boil. Turn down heat slightly and boil for 20 minutes.
4. Place the ribs on a preheated grill and brush generously and frequently with the barbecue sauce, 10-15 minutes.
5. Cut the ribs apart and serve!

Sweet Potato Fries

This is a delicious alternative to actual french fries. And they are FANTASTIC! Give them a try and I'm sure you'll agree!

1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (preferably the easy release kind).

Peal the sweet potatoes. Cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide on each side.

Place the sweet potatoes into a resealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.

Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until slightly browned. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.

Breakfast Ice Cream

This is a great way to get your kids to eat bananas and plain yogurt, and a relatively guilt-free treat for you as well. It has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, and it tastes great. It's also the perfect way to use up very brown bananas. Be sure to cut them in chunks before freezing.

1 frozen banana, cut in pieces
2 tablespoons plain fat-free yogurt
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of wheat germ (optional)*

*Find wheat germ in jars in the cereal aisle, near the oatmeal.

1. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and wheat germ. Stir until well blended.
2. Put frozen banana in food processor and pour the yogurt mixture over the top.
   
3. Puree on high until the mixture is very smooth. (Hold on tight for the first few seconds; the processor will shake violently.)

Serve drizzled with chocolate syrup, if desired.

Note: Convert to a smoothie by adding 1/2 cup of milk and mixing in the blender instead of the food processor. Don't try making the ice cream in the blender without the extra milk, or you might break your blender.



You can find this recipe and many other kid-friendly recipes in The Sneaky Chef cookbook, by Missy Chase Lapine.