Crab Cakes (no not the overly breaded kind!)

**Sorry about the bad pics, I had the camera on the wrong setting and PS isn't working for me at the moment**

INGREDIENTS:

• 2  6oz cans of crab meat
• 1 1/2 tbsp Old Bay
• 1 tsp honey mustard
• 1 tbsp light mayo
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1/4 cup crushed crackers or bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• ****you can add in 1/4 cup chopped scallions (I don't like them)****

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix all ingredients and allow to set for a few minutes.
2. Heat up a sprayed skillet or sprayed cast iron griddle.
3. Grab up crab meat in a ball shape and press onto skillet or griddle, smashing into patty shape
4. Cook until lightly browned and flip.
5. After both sides are browned...serve with veggies and a starch, see remoulade recipe below :o)

I like to add the crumbs last and fold them in to mixture

We had these pups with broccoli, rice, and a homemade remoulade.  

Quick remoulade

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup light mayo
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1/4 tsp hot sauce
• 1/2 tsp paprika

DIRECTIONS: mix well, best if made ahead by an hour

Baked Beans

INGREDIENTS:

• 15oz can Pinto Beans (or any bean), do not drain
• 1/4- 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1/4 cup Ideal brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste

**ANOTHER good idea** omit onion powder and saute 1/4 cup onion, 1/2 green bell pepper and add in, I did this last night and it was REALLY good ( I am just not a huge fan of onions but I chopped them so finely I didn't notice them)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dump all ingredients into medium saucepan.
1. if using sauteed onion & bell, do this first in the saucepan with 1/4 c water, saute for about 5 mins or until veggies are tender and water is gone, then add everything else
2. Simmer for 10 min

A rich, hearty comfort food side that goes great with grilled veggies, burgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, ANY potluck, cookout, or really just anytime you crave!!

Zucchini Lasagna

This was yummy and if you are watching your pasta consumption, this recipe is perfect!! I left out a step of salting and draining the zucchini, so mine wasn't perfect but the taste was superb and this is a keeper but I have posted the directions for lasagna that should turn out better and keep the same great taste.

INGREDIENTS:

• Spaghetti Sauce
• Zucchini sliced into long, thin strips
• 15 oz fat free ricotta
• fat free mozzarella
• parmesan cheese
• salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Make sauce, or if you are like me, you have some on hand in freezer and thaw day before.
3. Slice zucchini. 
1. something I did not do, and would recommend,  is to sprinkle salt on the zucchini and leave in a colander for about an hour to help drain out some of the water. If not, see my last pic, you have a bit of extra water in the finished product, we jokingly called it lasagna soup and it was good anyways. 
4. Mix ricotta with salt, pepper, and parmesan to taste.
5. Begin layering first with a small bit of sauce then zucchini to cover, ricotta mix, zucchini, sauce, zucchini, really whatever order you want. Let your last layer be sauce.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 35 mins. Take a fork and see if you can easily pierce through lasagna, if you feel resistance/toughness from the zucchini, let it continue to bake until it is soft.
7. Remove cover, add mozzarella, cover loosely, and bake for 10 mins.
8. Serve!!

Sliced zucchini (I used a mandolin slicer)

Ricotta, parmesan, salt & pepper mix

just cover it and it's ready to bake...oh so yummy!!

finished product, pardon the missing section at the bottom, bless my husband's little heart he was hungry!

Make sure you salt and drain your zucchini or you may have a bit of excess liquid as seen below, but even if you don't have time the recipe still turns out fantastic, I actually enjoyed the 'soup'

See a bit of the soupiness? I actually scooped it up and ate it, it was tastily thus the lasagna soup reference!

Mud Run Mania-I SURVIVED

Yesterday morning I participated in the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run.

It was fun, muddy, challenging, and rewarding.

I must say, they have it down to a fine art and the organization was spot on.

They had a bag check, shower station, changing tents, a Paul Mitchell hair care booth, and food. Not to mention normal race stuff like free swag,  finishing medals, prizes, etc...

I had a blast pretending to be tough and do military style obstacles and of course the infamous mud pits.  They had three of them and I had to run the last mile with squeaky shoes, not so great HA HA!  I loved how they had military people cheering us on and they even had a booth set up to promote Operation Gratitude and you could write a letter or notecard to our active military personnel. I thought that in and of itself was awesome.  I have elevated my respect for anyone who survives boot camp, let alone, selflessly serves our country and keeps us safe!!  I can't imagine how brutal basic training is!!!!

Overall an absolute blast and it reminded me just how much I need to keep training for the half marathon. If a 5K mud run seemed challenging, good night try adding more mileage!!  I will say the hardest part was pacing without my music I felt lost.

I ran in a decent time, placing 22nd out of 86 in my female age division at a time of a little over 33 minutes, overall I placed 267th out of 837.  Here are some pics of the event.  so overall I am proud of myself!! Hey-I survived HA HA!

I even almost won a pair of Merrells doing the most pull ups for a female...

Let me just say...I looked CLEAN compared to most people.  I heard if you put on lotion it helped the mud run off easier, guess it worked!

The final mud pit...it was dirty fun!

Pretty dirty mud art...love it

The slippery walls, complete with Dawn for extra slippage

Almost won a pair of kicks...so close!

WAHOO!!! 

Black Bean Dip

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 15 oz can black beans (not drained or rinsed)
• 8-10 oz salsa
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• cheese to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dump beans, seasonings, & salsa into sauce pot.
2. Reduce over medium-low heat until thick consistency (reduced by about 1/4).
3. Pour into bowl and add cheese on top.
4. Serve with chips or with tacos, burritos, whatever

This was super thick and just yummy when I added shredded cheese prior to serving.

BIG FAIL... no final pic...we just dove right in. 

Will be making again real soon!

Homemade Sloppy Joes & Cole Slaw

Who needs Manwhich when you can have fresh, healthy, homemade, super easy sloppy joes?  My husband said these are to definitely be a biweekly menu item...That means it is a top 10 recipe for him. These were smokey and had a non-heat spice that was just awesome.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb ground buffalo (or ground beef, turkey, chicken)
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 bell pepper, finely chopped (I used half of both red and green)
• 15 oz tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground red pepper
• 1/4 cup Ideal sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute onions until nearly transparency (about 3-4 mins).
2. Add in bell peppers and saute 1 more min
3. Add in remainder of ingredients, stirring well to ensure meat breaks up and everything is well incorporated.
4. Simmer for 20 mins on low heat, covered.
5. Stir and simmer for 5 more mins.
6. Serve it up on a bun of your choice!

I made a cilantro-lime cole slaw that was fab with the tangy spice of the sloppy joes, that recipe is below.

This is mixture after sauteing veggies and stirring all ingredients together.

Plated up...doesn't it look good?

Here is the cole slaw recipe

• 1/2 bag of coleslaw mix (preferably a blend of cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrots)
• 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tbsp ideal brown sugar
• 2 tsp dried cilantro or 1/4 cup fresh
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients and allow to marinate in fridge for about an hour before serving. (can marinate longer if needed)
2. Taste prior to serving to see if additional modifications are needed (salt, and pepper)

This was gone about 2.2 seconds later and completely devoured in a nanosecond by my sweet husband.

Lorelei's Birthday week...Scooby Doo

We had a week long birthday filled with family, love, and CAKE. It was a blast, but also very disheartening to be reminded how quickly our daughter is growing.  Here are some pics from the week!! We were somehow able to make a pink & purple Scooby Doo party, it wasn't easy considering no local party supply stores, or big box stores carried any Scooby stuff. Thank goodness for online shopping! We did paper plates so we could sift through and recycle along with recyclable plastic cups to eliminate on the waste and dish washing.

On her new swing

Her cake...I made it minus the fondant and the fondant decor that I bought from etsy.com

Cake Recipe Adjustment...to limit fat/calories

Take a box cake mix, add applesauce in equal measurement for the required oil and egg white substitute in equal amount for the eggs.  It worked great for our red velvet, chocolate, and our strawberry cupcakes.  I am still in search of a more healthy frosting.  Got one? Please share!!!! Thanks

Birthday girl and her cake with her fab four fingers to show her new age.

Modern take on a Velma costume

Baby Girl's Birthday

I guess you all know that I enjoy eating, living, and being healthy. I wish I could say I am my sole motivation but my desire to live a long, fruitful life is also due to my amazing husband and daughter. Today *sigh* my baby turns four....I will post pics and have a post next week with a reduced fat birthday cake recipe (still working on the icing)!! SO wherever you are, celebrate and enjoy with us!!!

A recent pic of the Birthday girl and me

She may have just turned 4, but she is #1...love this kid!

Strawberry Cheesecake Pops

I set out to find what in my pantry would help me create the most 'cheesecake' like taste when making a strawberry cheesecake popsicle....below you can see some of the things I tried

Vanilla wafers, Cupcake Goldfish, Cinnamon Squares cereal, Graham Crackers

Add sugar to your berries, especially if your strawberries are tart 

You can use a blender, I just used a small screen in my food mill to process the sugared strawberries

It made this lovely little juicy substance (perfect for jam if you wanted!!)

I separated each thing I wanted to try and notice the cream cheese on the bottom right corner

I labeled my popsicle containers so I would know which was which

If you don't have clever little popsicle mold, reuse pudding cups with popsicle sticks

Some of the finished product

I must say, these were great on these hot days we have had

INGREDIENTS:

• Strawberries (I used one container which is about 16 oz)
• Ideal sugar (as needed with strawberries)

Cheesecake

• 4 oz Fat Free cream cheese
• 3 oz crumbled cookie (graham crackers or vanilla goldfish or cinnamon squared cereal or Vanilla wafers, etc...) **adjust amount as desired-I used only 3 oz to keep calories and processed food use to a minimum in this recipe**
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup Ideal sugar

**We preferred the cinnamon squares popsicles but the grahams tasted most cheesecake like**

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix strawberries and sugar then blend or process in a food mill until a thick but pourable mixture is achieved.
2. Mix cream cheese, yogurt, and sugar until well combined then fold in cookie crumbles.
3. Layer cheesecake followed by strawberry in whatever combination you want, for best layers freeze for 5 mins or so between layering (I did not do this and found they came out ok without but they would probably be cleaner)
4. Freeze and enjoy

What have I gotten myself into?

 Ok so I lost my mind, but in my 'logic' I decided I needed to up the anty on my half marathon training. How, you ask? By running in the  Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run Series here in Richmond.

I am kind of siked and realize I haven't exactly been training for something like this and really don't have long to prepare.  To be honest, besides the knowledge of getting extremely dirty, which is why I am trying to find my old, delapadated trail running shoes to wear, I really don't know what to expect!!

I know there will be trail running and a cargo climb, a mud crawl, but really that is it.  Should I know more? Do I want to know more? Neither of which am I too sure about.  Perhaps going in somewhat blinded will be to my favor.

Have any of you done one? I know I need to bring additional clothing/shoes to change into, but what other pertinent (non-scary) info can you give me?

Thanks for your support...I, at the moment, am siked and off to run and weight lift today.

Reduced fat/calorie, but DELISH Zucchini Bread

This low fat, reduced calorie recipe will leave you satisfied and only craving more and best of all why not, after all it is good for you. This recipe makes 2 regular 9" loafs.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups All Purpose Unbleached Flour
• 2 cups Ideal Sugar (or Splenda)
• 1 cup Applesauce
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 3 Egg Whites or a little over 1/3 cup of pre-separated egg whites
•  3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of Salt

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 325*
• Shred zucchini using a grater. Measure out all ingredients. Spray/Grease and flour two 9" loaf pans.
• Mix all dry and wet ingredients (NOT ZUCCHINI) in stand mixer on medium low setting for 5 mins or hand mixer on medium for 5 mins.
• Hand mix in/fold the zucchini into the batter and pour into prepared loaf pans.
• Bake approximately 40-60 mins or until browned on top and toothpick or test stick comes out clean.

Here is the ingredients measured out by dry, applesauce/vanilla/cinnamon, egg whites, and shredded zucchini.

I didn't photograph the mixing process, I figured you could 'get' that. Please note I mechanically mixed everything first then hand mixed in the zucchini.

As you can see, my sweet husband couldn't wait for me to even take a picture before diving in. The recipe is that good.

A close up of the un-cut loaf (I lost my bread tester and had to use a butter knife *thus the gaping hole in the middle*)

Another shot of the sweet perfection

This bread is fabulous alone, but divine with a smidge of light butter or with a bit of applesauce or cream cheese. We never seem to be patient enough to let it cool before slicing and no issues have arisen yet with cutting right out of the oven, just be sure to use a sharp, serrated knife (like a steak knife or bread knife)

I hope you enjoy it. Also this is a great freezer bread too, I wouldn't recommend freezing it for longer than 1-2 months.