Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

I very RARELY make a homemade dressing. I have a huge selection of bottled dressings in the grocery aisle, so why bother? Well, special occasions may be a good reason to try a homemade dressing. After being assigned to bring a salad to my in-laws for Christmas I went in search of the perfect salad. After finding a recipe for Candied Walnut Salad on Our Best Bites, I followed their link to Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette. It seemed simple enough.

In the craziness of Christmas, my husband and I were frantically getting ready for a trip to his parents at 10 pm on Christmas Eve. I was candying the walnuts for the salad and my husband quickly was able to assemble the dressing ingredients. Now in our family, I am numero uno in the kitchen. My husband can pretty much make himself some chicken nuggets, but otherwise the kitchen is MY domain. So apparently putting together a homemade dressing isn't too difficult!

I didn't make any nutritional changes to this recipe. With dressings, unless you are eliminating or decreasing the amount of oil that is in the dressing, your best idea is just to limit the amount that you are using. I calculated the nutrition facts for a 2 Tablespoon serving, but I would estimate that I had actually half of that on my salad portion. I also substituted apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar (because that's what I had!) and I added a Tbsp of poppy seeds just to add a little pop on the salad.

Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1/2 cup honey
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp fresh coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil

In a blender combine vinegar, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Place lid on blender and blend on high. While blender is running, add oil in steady stream. Store in refrigerator for up to 2-3 weeks. Shake well before serving.

*** I also added 1 Tbsp poppy seeds although did not include that in the nutrition facts.

Per 2 Tbsp serving:
125 calories
9.1 g fat
194.6 mg sodium
12.5 g carbohydrate
0.1 g fiber
0.1 g protein

Christmas Foods

Here's a list of the foods I made for Christmas gatherings both at my parents house and my in-laws house:

Cinnamon-Sugar Pretzels

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Candied Walnut Salad

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Low-Fat Cheesy Potatoes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Quick Cheese Ball

Orange Pecan Baked French Toast

Puppy Chow

Recipes to follow for all those which don't already have recipes on here.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and are resting up for the New Year!

Puppy Chow

There are certain foods that with just the mere mention of their name causes my husband to drool. Hot dogs, wings, baked French toast, German chocolate cake, etc. Puppy Chow is definitely one of the top 5 drool-worthy snacks in my husband's book. When Crispix was on sale a few weeks ago, I decided to buy a couple boxes so I could make a large batch of Puppy Chow to give out with some Christmas gifts and to also take to our parents' houses for munchies.

Puppy Chow, the sweet, distant cousin of Chex Mix, is typically some combination of Crispix, chocolate, peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar. I used this recipe from allrecipes. Now I made the full fat, not good for your hips version. But as I was making it, I was thinking to myself. If I were going to make this healthier, what could I do? I came up with a few options for you to try.

• Use solely wheat Chex, instead of Crispix, for higher fiber content.

• Use half as much butter, or try none at all. It might take a little experimentation as you still want it to be able to coat the cereal.

• Try natural peanut butter or almond butter instead of regular old creamy Jif.

• Add in dried cherries or raisins for fiber, vitamins and minerals.

• Use half as much chocolate or try with dark chocolate chips for antioxidants.

• If worse comes to worse - portion out small portions of this delicious treat into snack size ziplock bags to prevent possibly inevitable over-eating.

Merry Christmas!

Homemade Crescent Rolls

Some packaged foods have become so main stream that you forget that there is probably a way to make them homemade. When Janae posted a recipe for Crescent Rolls on Hungry Runner Girl (recipe originally from allrecipes.com) I honestly thought to myself...huh - I never thought about making homemade crescent rolls! I wonder if future generations will not know that you can make things like biscuits or cookie dough homemade? I'm not sure if we're moving in a positive direction....

As posted in this recipe, each crescent roll provides:
195 calories
9.3 g fat
24.3 g carbohydrate
0.7 g fiber
3.3 g protein

One way to decrease the fat and calories of a recipe is to decrease the portion size. When I made these, I cut each circle into 12 rolls, instead of 10, yielding 24 instead of 20 rolls total from the recipe. I also used whole wheat flour for ALL of the all purpose flour. I liked them, if I thought of them as a wheat roll, and not necessarily a crescent roll. They were a little too "wheat-y" for my husband. You may sacrifice a little of the fiber and try half whole wheat, half all purpose flour. I also did not brush the tops with butter after coming out of the oven.

Overall, these changes saved almost 50 calories, 2 grams of fat and added 2 grams of fiber - PER ROLL.

Crescent Rolls - BETTER

2 (0.25 oz) pkgs active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups wheat flour (or 2 cups wheat + 2 cups all purpose)
1/4 cup butter, softened

Dissolve yeast in warm water.

Stir in sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups wheat flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour until smooth. Scrape dough from side of bowl. Knead dough, then cover it and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 1/2 hours).

Punch down dough. Divide in half. Roll each half into a 12-inch circle. Spread with softened butter. Cut into 12 wedges. Roll the wedges starting with the wide end. Place rolls with point under on a greased baking sheet. (I used a sheet covered with parchment paper). Cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour).

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Per serving (24 servings):
146 calories
7.0 g fat
19.0 g carbohydrate
2.5 g fiber
3.3 g protein

About Me...

Kristy from Sweet Treats and More nominated me for a "Stylish Bloggers" award. I'm not sure if I really meet the criteria, but I thought it would be fun to share 7 random things about me.

1. There are two main categories of food that I HATE- Condiments (specifically ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise) and anything in a casing (like hot dogs or sausage links).

2. I became a recreational runner (i.e. NOT FAST) when I met my now husband, who is a college track & field coach. I've run mostly 5k's and higher mileage for exercise but have also run two 25k's. I had major foot reconstruction, with screws and all, a year ago and now I'm not really able to do long distance training anymore. My new goals are to improve my 10k time.

3. I've been married to my husband Paul for over three years and we had our first daughter, Finley, in August of 2010. We also have a dog named Moses. He is an extremely skinny, black lab mutt. We got him because we thought he'd be a good running dog, unfortunately he just prefers to lay on his mat all day.

4. I played field hockey and was a cheerleader in high school. Apparently I liked to do sports which required skirts. (Although I'm not saying cheerleading is a sport, at least for me it wasn't!)

5. I work as a Registered Dietitian for a corporate wellness consulting firm. Essentially I work with employees of corporations to help them eat healthfully, stay healthy and keep the company's insurance costs down. I've also worked in outpatient counseling and in a hospital setting previously.

6. When I was a freshman in college, a friend and I got trapped in a car in a flash flood. We had to be rescued and everything. We ended up sleeping at the house of the stranger who rescued us since all the roads around had been closed due to the flood. We were terrified we were going to be kidnapped but when we woke up, they were cleaning and repairing my friends car and making us a hot pancake breakfast! I'm still quite terrified of driving in the rain.

7. I love to travel and love watching baseball. My husband and I try to go on two vacations each year. One tropical and one to go to baseball games. We're trying to go to every stadium in the country.

Poppyseed Bread

I am a new mom with a now 4 month old. (Today is her 4 month birthday!). I went back to work full time at 8 weeks post partum. I get a lot of questions from people who sympathetically ask, "How's it going?", "Are you doing ok without your little girl?", "Is it hard to leave her at daycare?". I have to be honest with people. I like working. I love my job. I like the interaction with adults and the perks of my job.

BUT, none of this would be possible if I didn't have the most ideal daycare situation - but I do. I work early shifts a few days a week. On those days, my husband stays home with our daughter then goes into work for later in the afternoon for practice after I get out. Two days a week, however, I work later and we need someone else to watch her. When we built our house earlier this year, we specifically built on a cul-de-sac that has three other friends living on it. (Its like college dorms for grown ups!). Our next door neighbor are two of my husband's good friends from college. They had a baby in February and the wife decided to stay home from her job as an elementary school teacher to be with him. So two days a week, she watches her for us. We often joke that our daughter is going to learn more at the neighbor's house than she will at home.

I knew that she wouldn't accept any monetary gifts for Christmas, but we wanted to do something special for her. So I made up a basket of homemade apple butter, puppy chow, a gift for their son, and a loaf of poppyseed bread. I got the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

As posted in her original recipe, each serving (32 total) provide:
204 calories
9.2 g fat
28.6 g carbohydrate
0.4 g fiber
2.3 g protein

This looks absolutely delicious! I didn't want to put any whole wheat fiber in here and risk making it tough or too grainy. I did, however, feel like I could substitute unsweetened applesauce for the oil. I also made sure to use skim milk in the recipe. The end product was awesome! The recipe says it makes 2 large or 6 small pans. I used medium sized pans and created 4 loaves. We ate one, one will go to the sitter, one will go to my boss and one to a family that hosts my small group from church every other Sunday - PERFECT GIFTS!
Poppyseed Bread - BETTER

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/8 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp melted butter (or butter flavoring extract)

Mix all together. Pour into greased and floured baking pans. Makes 6 small loaves or 2 large loaves. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes for large pans and less for smaller pans. If you have a dark metal pan make sure to bake it for less time at a lower temperature.

Glaze:
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp melted butter (or butter flavor extract)

Pour all ingredients into a small saucepan and let cook on stove on medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove bread from pans and pour glaze over warm bread. Use knife or spatula to bring the glaze that has run off up and over the warm bread until it stays on.

Per serving (32 servings):
137 calories
1.2 g fat
29.7 g carbohydrate
0.5 g fiber
2.3 g protein

Pardon the interruption...

This post has nothing to do with food. I do, however, have a couple recent recipes that I need to calculate the nutrition facts for and plan to do so tomorrow. So be on the look out for a couple new posts on food tomorrow.

Instead, today I show you what healthy eating during your pregnancy produces.....

The cutest Santa's little helper you've ever seen!