Tag Archives: almond

Almond Cupcakes with Orange Glaze

Posted on December 15, 2011 | 2 comments

How about a tasty somewhat naughty festive treat? I was making cupcakes for a potluck that my yoga teacher training group decided to put on. I made these vegan friendly and oh my, they were tasty! The recipe below is the healthier way I would make them but I will include the recipe variation to make them vegan friendly too. They were originally going to be gluten free and vegan friendly but that challenge is going to be saved for another day. These were so tasty even my meatatarien husband has been enjoying them. For those who are curious I’m an omnomnomivore. Food is tasty.

  • 2 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 12 tbl low fat cooking margarine
  • 1 1/2 cup splenda
  • 10 tbl egg substitute (like egg beaters)
  • 1 cup almond milk, unsweetened original
  • 2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 tbl orange zest, grated fine
  • Juice of 1 orange (usually about 2 ounces)
  • 2 1/2 cup icing sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. In a bowl cream together the margarine, egg, almond extract and splenda.
  3. In another bowl combine the baking powder and flour. (yes, sometimes I’m lazy and skip this step too…it’s o.k.)
  4. Slowly alternate between adding the flour and the almond milk while beating the creamed mixture on low. Continue until all combined.
  5. Spoon batter into cup pan and bake for 20 minutes. You can tell they are done when they spring back when you touch them and are golden.
  6. While the cupcakes bake, combine the zest and icing sugar in a bowl.
  7. Slowly add the orange juice to the sugar mixture while beating on low. Once it is all combined at the desired consistency (you do not have to use all of the juice) beat for 2 minutes on high. Chill the glaze for 1 hour.
  8. Glaze the cupcakes when they have cooled.

Makes 16 cupcakes, each cupcake with glaze contains approximately 176 calories, 2.4 grams fat, 39 grams carbs, .9 gram fiber, and 2.2 grams protein.

To make this vegan friendly I used powdered egg substitute ( a local brand from the health store), vegan butter (earth balance buttery spread), and brown sugar instead of splenda. The nutritional info for this version is much higher of course. To make the cupcakes you just add the extra step before you cream of adding the required amount of water to the powdered egg substitute and stir. Other than that it is straight forward and the baking time is the same.

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, Dessert, Snack

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Lentil Sliders

Posted on August 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago my husband and I went out to a vegetarian style restaurant with some gaming buddies of ours called Rebar. You may have heard of them, they have a cookbook that many people swear by. I ended up ordering their almond burger. It was quite tasty and did not disappoint….especially with it’s topping of aioli and alfalfa sprouts. I love alfalfa sprouts…my dad used to call them frog hairs…which made me love them more…I was a very strange little girl. I remain a very strange girl ofcourse. I had been toying with the idea of a lentil slider for some time and this burger inspired me to add almonds. I loved the texture that the almonds in their burger gave. It definitely was that last missing touch to the slider I’ve been aiming for. So, thank you Rebar for the inspiration! Remember, it is good for yourself and the environment if you have atleast one meat free meal a day.

  • 1/2 cup dry red lentils
  • 3 tbl dry couscous
  • 5 crimini mushrooms
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 green onion
  • 3 carrots, grated
  • 4 tbl sliced almonds
  1. Cook the lentils according to the directions on the package. This is usually 1 1/2 cup of water and lentils simmering for 12 minutes or so.
  2. Using a blender, combine the garlic, mushrooms and half of the still hot lentils.
  3. Pour into a bowl. Add the sliced green onions, dry cous cous, carrots, almonds, and remaining lentils. Stir until well combined. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
  4. Form the mixture into 10 slider patties. Freeze for atleast 4 hours.
  5. Grill or pan fry, usually about 2 minutes per side.

Makes 10 lentil sliders. Each contain (without bun or toppings) 48 calories, 1.3 grams fat, 7.2 grams carbs, 1.8 grams fibre, and 2.2 grams protein. Great served as an open face slider topped with a bit of light mayo mixed with sriracha sauce. Num! In fact these are so nice and light why not serve them as a lovely trio outside?

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Posted in Dinner, Lunch

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Hardcore Hobbit: Marinated Chicken Cutlet

Posted on July 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

With all the craziness that has been going on here it is so nice to be making a hardcore hobbit recipe again. This time I made a nice simple ingredient level recipe. The marinated chicken cutlet in the game is made from green onion, fine seasonings, and chicken. So easy! I find if I see something that contains green onion I tend to go asian. This time I challenged myself to resist that temptation. The end result was delicious and oh so juicy. Once again I marvel at the pretty grill marks that my husband achieved on the grill.

  • 1 green onion
  • 1 long peppercorn
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tbl white wine
  • 1 tsp extra virgin avocado oil
  • 2 garlic scapes or 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tbl slivered or sliced almonds
  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  1. Combine the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
  2. Pour over the raw chicken breasts. Refrigerate overnight.
  3. Cook using desired method. We went with grilling, definitely a recommended choice.

Isn’t that green bright? It reminds me of spring. Love it. Serves 2. Each serving contains 137 calories, 1.8 grams fat, .3 gram fibre, .7 carb, and 27.5 grams protein. This assumes you leave only a bit of the marinade on during the cooking process.

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Posted in Dinner, The Hardcore Hobbit

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Chocolate Banana Pudding Pie

Posted on January 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

My dessert pie for national pie day. I was inspired a bit by Develyndeskyes response to my twitter. She had suggested a chocolate silk pie…so while I was thinking about chocolate silk in my kitchen some bananas caught my eye. Ha! Get some fruit in there make it tasty and healthy. This is a gooey pie simply because that is what I wanted, a pudding pie. If you want a firmer pie you can always fold in some fat free cool whip or something. It does hold shape somewhat but not much. Just messy good times.

  • 1 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 1 pkg fat free chocolate pudding
  • 2 bananas
  • 8 almond cookies, crushed
  • 1 tbl margarine melted
  1. Combine the cookies and margarine. Press into the bottom of a pie plate to cover the bottom.
  2. Whisk together chocolate pudding mix and 1 cup of skim milk until it begins to thicken usually about 3 minutes.
  3. Puree 1 banana and 1/2 cup of milk. Add the puree to the pudding.
  4. Cut the remaining banana into slices, break apart the slices where the banana naturally segments. Usually into three pieces per slice.
  5. Stir the banana chunks into the pudding carefully.
  6. Pour the pudding mixture over the pie crust and refrigerate atleast 4 hours or overnight.

Serves 8. Each serving contains 124 calories, 1.6 grams of fat and 1.2 grams of fibre. This tasty pie sure didn’t last long in our fridge!

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Posted in Dessert

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Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on October 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

I know, I know, the picture is awful. I had to snap a quick pic with my phone while at the dungeons and dragons game before they were all gone. So no spiffy camera action today. My DnD group has an interesting conflict of dietary needs. On one side we have a vegetarian, which to me is easy to cook for. On the other side we have its evil nemesis the atkins dieter. Boo! (hehe) To be honest I don’t pay attention much to carbs so this is a bit of a challenge, to make something not uber in carbs but not filled with meat or sneaky meat additives (jello, you know who you are.)…and most of all something tasty. I like to bake for gaming groups I belong to so this required much thinking. This has been my first success. It’s really just a jazzed up old kraft peanut butter cookie recipe. Both vegetarian and atkinarian (oh yeah, I made up a word, deal) were able to snack on these and live happily ever after while we got smacked around by the stuff a really annoying vampire summoned up. Jerk.

  • 1 cup almond butter
  • 1 cup splenda (or sugar but that changes the carbs and info)
  • 2 tbl mini semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 egg
  1. Combine almond butter, splenda and egg until well mixed.
  2. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  3. Form the dough into 26 little balls, flatten with a fork slightly.
  4. Bake at 325F for 15 minutes.

This makes 26 cookies. Each cookie contains 61 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 1.2 grams of fibre. For those curious on those carbs they ended up being 1.5 carbs each. Considering these are a super rich cookie a couple will do you. I love how you don’t have to eat a ton of these to feel like you had dessert. If you want to lower the fat I do the same recipe with light peanut butter and they turn out soooo good. I couldn’t use my light peanut butter for the atkins dieter because for some reason light has more carbs than full fat almond butter…go figure.

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Posted in Craving Buster, Dessert, Snack

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Chocolate Almond Crepe

Posted on February 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

Mmmmm, crepes for breakfast. My grandmother used to make crepes for me. I would drop some jam in them, roll them up, and eat them with my hands. I know, I’m such a savage! I have never had much skill in getting that crepe batter to spread properly. Lo! Then I married a man who can! No, no…I didn’t just marry him for crepe making ability. It’s definitely a big winner though. I did marry a man who is a foodie too though…and simple jam just won’t do all the time. The results can be a lot of fun. Expect to see a good deal of crepes here. Especially since my husband has found a low fat and low calorie batter he likes, the secret? Egg whites…no yolks in this batter and he cut down the flour needed. I can’t even tell they are missing! Can you?

They are stuffed with a light chocolate mousse, just a mix from Dr. Oetker that we added sugarfree almond rocca torani syrup to. Then topped with a dollop of fat free cool whip and slices of lightly toasted slivered almonds. Each one of these fluffy delights was only 102 calories. So simple to make, so pretty and tasty! Total for the breakfast before you is 306 calories. Can I get a wahoo? It certainly eats the heart out of those little 100 calorie snackie cake things I’ve seen in the supermarkets. At the end of breakfast I was one full girl! I actually found this carried me right into lunch, no need for a morning snack. Breakfast definitely was the most important meal that day!

And really, who doesn’t love the idea of chocolate for breakfast?

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Posted in Breakfast

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