FitSugar

Weekend Well-Being: Bake Something Healthy

FitSugar — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 09:00:00 PDT

I care a lot about what I put into my body, but I still crave sweet treats. The cookies, cakes, pies, and muffins you buy at the store can be loaded with fat and sugar. Most of them are made with white flour and refined sugars, which offer you no nutritional value whatsoever.

I love to bake my own treats, but never have time during my busy week. Plus for me, baking is a time I can relax, and have fun with my girls (it gives my husband a chance to hit the gym or watch sports). Plus it's a chance to teach them about healthy eating, and also learn some math skills like measuring.

I love to bake a big batch of something on Sunday so I can enjoy it for a few days that week. I can have it for breakfast, a late afternoon snack, or pack it in my kids' lunch (the girls love that).

Want to see one of my favorite recipes? Then

read more For 1 loaf of Banana Walnut Bread you'll need: 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 1 cup Sucanat 3 ripe bananas 1/2 cup apple sauce (instead of oil) 1 egg 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 cup chopped walnuts (save some for the top of the bread)

Preheat the oven to 350.
Unpeel and mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork.
Add the egg and apple sauce and stir well.
Mix in the flour, Sucanat, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in most of the walnuts, leaving 2 handfuls left.
Grease an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with canola oil spray. If you don't have the spray, just take a paper towel, pour a little canola oil on it and smear that on the pan.
Pour batter into the pan and top with the remaining walnuts.
Bake for 45 min to an hour, checking it with a knife or toothpick to make sure the inside is cooked.

Fit's Tips: For breakfast or an afternoon snack, try toasting a slice of Banana Walnut Bread for a minute, and then spread some almond butter on it. Delicious, satisfying, and between the walnuts and almonds, it's a great way to get some protein.

Sucanat: Pure Sugar Baby

FitSugar — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:00:00 PDT

We all know that white sugar is like the devil. It's got zero nutritional value and rots our teeth. It also makes us feel crappy when we eat it because it makes our blood sugar level spike up and then come crashing down.

Have you heard of Sucanat? It stands for Sugar Cane Natural. It's sugar in its most natural form - pure cane juice with only the water removed. This process preserves all the vitamin-filled molasses. It's organically grown with no added preservatives or additives.

Sucanut can be used in place of white sugar or brown sugar when baking, and adds a wonderful flavor due to the molasses. Unlike refined white sugar, Sucanat contains iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin B6, potassium and chromium.

Fit's Tips: Look for Sucanat in the baking aisle at your local health food store. It's a little bit more expensive than refined white sugar, but you're paying for the extra vitamins. Try it next time you bake some cookies or muffins. It can also be used to sweeten sauces and marinades.

A French Toast Strata Is a Savory-Sweet Morning Treat

Sara Yoo — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:02:28 PST

Weekend brunch is one meal that I typically prefer to eat out. Beyond the fact that I get my Bellini served to me in an actual champagne flute, it's also such a hassle to pull together something even mildly elegant when I roll out of bed late on a Sunday morning. A hassle, that is, until I met the breakfast strata.

The casserole of breakfast fare, the strata layers your favorite early-bird foods in one delightful dish. Normally, it includes eggs, bread, some kind of cured meat, and often a sautéed leafy green for a savory hangover fix. But this weekend, I also had a hankering for something sweet and came across this French toast strata recipe that calls upon soft challah bread, maple syrup, milk, and eggs, punctuated by surprise ingredient chicken sausage. It's a light, fluffy take on the breakfast sweet that's like no French toast I've ever tasted.

And the best part is that you can do all the prep work the night before, so all that's left to do when you stumble out of bed is preheat, bake, and eat. Which leaves ample time to pour your own Bellini. Read on for the recipe.

A Double Chocolate Soufflé Challenge

Camilla Salem — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:10:02 PST

I mentioned that I was going to attack one of my culinary fears head-on in the near future. Well, attack it I did and what's more, I came out alive, and covered in chocolate.

I found a recipe from Emeril that seemed straightforward and simple, bought the ingredients, and said a little prayer. Surprisingly, this recipe came together very quickly, and with almost no problems at all. The only hitch was that I wasn't sure how much the soufflé batter this would make, so the ramekins I used were far too large and the soufflé didn't puff up over the edges like I'd hoped it would. It would have been better to use four smaller ramekins or two large ones.

This recipe calls for Grand Marnier, which adds a nice bright orange flavor to the rich chocolate dessert. And when I say rich, I mean it. One spoon too many of this fluffy soufflé and you may find yourself with a chocolate headache - we've all been there.

Egg whites that have been whipped into air account for the soft texture of a soufflé, and must be folded in carefully to the chocolate batter so as not to deflate them.

Keep reading for much more, plus the recipe.

10 Apple-Inspired Snacks to Help Keep the Doctor Away

Jenny Sugar — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:04:30 PST

Eating an apple a day may not prevent you from ever having to see your doc, but they are full of nutritional goodness: one medium apple is 95 calories with 4.4 grams of fiber and 195 milligrams of potassium. The high fiber content keeps you full, which helps prevent weight gain, and also keeps you regular, which results in a healthier body. Crunching on an apple is good for your smile because the fruit acts like a toothbrush, cleaning your teeth as you chew.

Another bonus is that apples are supersweet, so they're a healthier way to satisfy your sugar cravings. Here are 10 delicious, good-for-you snack ideas, all made with the goodness of apples.

Shredded apple mixed into plain yogurt
Warm apple toast made with whole-wheat bread, peanut butter, and sliced apples
Apple slices drizzled with honey and sprinkled with sliced almonds
Applesauce mixed in cottage cheese and sprinkled with Craisins
Baked apple filled with raisins, walnuts, and a little maple syrup
Diced apples sprinkled with cinnamon and warmed in the microwave
Apple, peanut butter, and pumpkin stacks
A piece of homemade apple cinnamon cake
Slices of apple paired with slices of Cheddar cheese
Apple chips made with apples, cinnamon, and sugar (using this recipe)

Sweet Success: 10 Tips For Baking the Perfect Macaron

Sara Yoo — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:06:19 PST

With their vibrant colors and lacy frills, dainty, crisp-crusted French macarons are the perfect Valentine's Day baking project. But these lovely little delicacies are temperamental enough to stump even the most accomplished chefs. Even if you follow a detailed recipe down to the letter, a batch of macarons can go very wrong very quickly. Thanks to humidity, an unreliable oven temperature gauge, or an overly enthusiastic stirring hand, you may find yourself facing macaron-ageddon rather than baking bliss. But before you throw in the tea towel, we've assembled a few tips to solve your sugary conundrums.

How to Throw a Moneyball-Themed Oscar Party

Shannon Vestal — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:30:21 PST

It may not be baseball season quite yet, but you can get that feeling if you throw an Oscar viewing party and let best picture nominee Moneyball be your inspiration. The film might even make for a better theme than Midnight in Paris or The Artist, depending on your crowd. Here's how to score a home run at your Oscar gathering (and don't forget to fill out a ballot for a chance to win an iPad.)

How to decorate: Bring out baseballs, bats, gloves, and any other sports memorabilia you may have. String up streamers in green and yellow (the Oakland A's colors), and nod to the movie's financial theme by decorating with fake dollar bills. If you really want to tie in the film, get a life-size Brad Pitt cutout (which wouldn't be a bad thing to have around, anyway).
How to dress: Wear the shirt of your baseball team of choice, but to really mirror the film, rock Oakland A's gear, or at least their colors.
What to serve: Traditional ballpark fare like hot dogs, beer, cotton candy, and peanuts in the shell, of course. Bake cookies or cake pops and frost them to look like baseballs.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

A Reader Recipe: Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Fit Community — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:27:50 PST

If you've got a cookie craving, you're in luck: FitSugar readers Pure2raw recently shared this gluten-free chocolate chip cookie cake with us in our Healthy Recipe group.

Everyone loves cookie cake, right? We have a chocolate chip cookie cake that is not only gluten-free but egg- and dairy-free, too. It is full of flavor with a great soft, cakelike texture. Plus the three-ingredient coconut frosting is too good not to try.

Get the recipe after the break!

Cozy Up to New Orleans Baked Oysters

Nancy Einhart — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:25:43 PST

I'll never turn down a raw oyster, but when it comes to wooing someone with a cozy, baked version of the supposed aphrodisiac, this creole recipe is absolutely seductive. These oysters often get me invited back to parties (as long as I bring the oysters) and succeed in winning over oyster haters.

Shuck your own oysters and serve them on the half shell, or buy a couple pints preshucked and bake them in ramekins or a casserole dish. Once the shucking is out of the way, this dish is incredibly easy, somewhat sultry, and just a little bit rich. Try it as a side dish or even as a main course. Here's how to bake up some oysters.

Sisters of DC Cupcakes Share Valentine's Day Baking Tips and Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Rebecca M Gruber — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:16:28 PST

What's sugar and spice and everything nice? Cupcakes! And no one knows more about our obsession with the lil confections than Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, co-owners of Georgetown Cupcake and stars of TLC's DC Cupcakes. The sisters, who learned their kitchen skills from their grandmother ("We followed her around the kitchen and always begged to help"), have been known to bake up to 10,000 lil cakes a day, much to the delight of the patrons who line the block of their Washington DC store. The duo - who just opened their first outpost in New York City - gave me a few minutes of their time to discuss their tasty desserts.

LilSugar: Cupcakes have moved from kiddie birthday party staple to a favorite of adults and kids alike. But kids aren't always willing to try new flavors. Which are most popular with kids?
Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis: Our Vanilla Birthday (vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and rainbow bobbles), Chocolate Birthday (chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream and rainbow bobbles), and Milk Chocolate Birthday (vanilla cupcake with milk chocolate buttercream and rainbow bobbles) are the most popular with kids. We think it's the color rainbow bobbles!

LS: Moms are busy; what shortcuts can you recommend to making delicious, beautiful cupcakes without spending the whole day baking and decorating them?
SL and KK: Try to keep a stash of baking staples - butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, all purpose flour, baking soda/powder, salt, and cocoa powder/chocolate on hand in your kitchen at all times and you can make almost any flavor! Our recipes are very simple - we don’t use cake flour or pastry flour - just all purpose - we find that works best. Also, we're big fans of chocolate ganache icing. It's so easy - just two ingredients - chocolate chips and heavy cream. You just melt them down (two cups of chips to one cup of cream), and dip your cupcakes in and you've got a super fast and unbelievably delicious frosting.

LS: Do you ever make "healthy" cupcakes for those who want to skip some of the sugar? If so, what goes into it?
SL and KK: We have a carrot cake cupcake, which has fresh carrots and fresh apples grated in it. We skip the walnuts, to save on calories, and it's a light and delicious cupcake!

The new season of DC Cupcakes begins on Feb. 25, but if you're looking to create their Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes for Valentine's Day,