One of my go-to snacks is yogurt with granola and fresh fruit. It’s the perfect size for a mid-day snack and it isn’t too unhealthy. I have shared two other granola recipes {you can see the original homemade granola HERE and the peanut butter granola HERE} and they have been such a hit, I thought I would experiment with different flavors. I had wanted to come up with a granola that would work well with vanilla yogurt and a granola that would not require incorporating fruit on top. After some brainstorming, I came up with this carrot cake granola that is not only delicious, but much healthier than the actual cake itself. And, as far as taste goes, it’s pretty close match to real carrot cake, too! Check out this easy, homemade granola recipe below.
Summer and key limes are the perfect warm weather combination. Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts, especially on a warm day. It’s cool, light and refreshing making it the ideal summer dessert. Although, making a key lime pie every hot day is a little unrealistic — mainly because I would probably eat the entire thing! — but this key lime chex mix is a great way to taste this summer flavor with a lot less calories…and portion control!Read More
Happy Tuesday, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. I could eat Mexican food everyday of the week. But like with so many of the recipes I share, I try to make favorite, not so healthy food a little healthier. For today’s post, I’m substituting sweet potatoes for tortilla chips for a healthier take on a Mexican favorite: nachos!
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Sweet Potato Nachos
by Rachel McCarthy May-30-2017
Ingredients
4sweet potatoes, sliced 1/4″ thick
1avocado, diced
2Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cupcotija cheese, or any other Mexican cheese
Instructions
Slice the sweet potatoes 1/4 inch thick. Fry in a deep fryer or bake in the oven. To bake in the oven: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the sweet potato slices in olive oil and spread onto baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with salt. Once the chips have cooled, transfer to serving dish and top with desired toppings. Serve and enjoy!
My love for comfort food {mac and cheese in particular} runs deep. Andas much as I love this “not so good for you food” and would be fine eating it most days of the week, that can’t actually happen in reality. Instead, I like to come up with ways to make comfort food not so guilty. I’ve tried cauliflower mac and cheese {recipe HERE} and zucchini mac and cheese {recipe HERE} so I figured it was time to try another vegetable: spaghetti squash.
With Memorial Day weekend less than two weeks away, I have had grilling, BBQ and all those delicious summer sides on my mind. One of my all-time favorite side dishes to have with burgers and other grilled dinners is potato salad. My mom has been making this recipe for years and it is always something to look forward to in the warmer months. I wanted to try a healthier spin on this recipe so I substituted the potatoes for cauliflower for a just as delicious spin on the classic.
I’m always cooking with cauliflower. It is one of my favorite foods and makes for a great alternative to potatoes, pasta and even rice. {You can see a few of my other cauliflower recipes HERE} Of all the cauliflower substitute recipes I have made, I think this recipe is probably most like the original. The cauliflower mac and cheese was pretty good, it tasted pretty similar to the original, but you still felt like you were eating cauliflower. I think the secret here is that the cauliflower is soaked in the Italian dressing so the cauliflower becomes super flavorful. Of course, the sour cream and mayo also don’t hurt with the flavor. You can use the low fat version of the sour cream, mayo and Italian dressing if you are looking for a super healthy alternative. Check out the recipe below!
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Cauliflower Potato Salad
by Rachel McCarthy May-16-2017
Ingredients
1 headcauliflower, cut into florets
1/3 cupItalian dressing
1/2 cupmayo
1/4 cupsour cream
4hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 teaspoonsalt
1 cupcelery, diced
1/3 cup green onions, sliced
1 teaspoondry mustard
1/2 teaspoonhorseradish
Instructions
Place cauliflower in a saucepan and cover by 1 inch of water. Bring the water to a boil and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes. Once cooked, pour the salad dressing over the warm cauliflower. Chill for 2 hours. Mix the remaining ingredients and fold into potato mixture. Serve and enjoy!
Happy Tuesday! I know, two dessert recipes in a row! {I made Churro Cupcakes last Tuesday if you missed the post!} I apologize for all the sugar in last week’s and this week’s recipes, but with Mother’s Day on Sunday, I wanted to share this coconut cream pie recipe that my mom has been making for years. And since it’s her very favorite, it seemed only right to share it for Mother’s Day!
This coconut cream pie has appeared at countless holidays, birthdays and other celebrations over the years in my family. With the creamy filling and the flaked coconut on top, one piece never seems to be enough. The flavor and texture of this dessert will make you forget all the calories you consumed because it’s that good. And since we typically only splurge on this pie for special occasions, it’s perfectly acceptable to have more than one piece, right?! 😉
Check out the recipe below. This is one of our favorite, go-to pies that makes for a light and fluffy spring and summertime dessert. Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.
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Coconut Cream Pie
by Rachel McCarthy May-8-2017
Ingredients
3/4 cupsugar
1/3 cupflour
1/4 teaspoonsalt
2 cupsmilk
3slightly beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoonsbutter
1 teaspoonvanilla
1 9-inch store-bought pastry shell
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut, divided
3 egg whites (for meringue)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt; gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium high heat until bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir a moderate amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolks; immediately return to hot mixture; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Add the butter and vanilla. Stir in 1 cup of the flaked coconut. Pour into pastry shell. Spread meringue on top of the pie and sprinkle 1/3 cup coconut on top. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool and serve. (Whipped cream can be substituted for the meringue, if desired.)
Who else can’t believe it’s May and Cinco de Mayo is on Friday?! This year is flying by! To celebrate, I thought I would share a spin on a favorite Mexican dessert: churro cupcakes.
Long before A Blonde’s Moment existed, cupcakes were my hobby. I loved trying out different combinations and flooded my office with all sorts of cupcake creations nearly once a week. I even had dreams of opening a cupcakery but, with all the cupcake shops around DC, I was a little behind the “cupcake movement.” Although I don’t make them nearly as much, I still like to experiment with different flavors and toppings so these churro cupcakes were the perfect excuse to do so!
When I was planning out food posts a few weeks ago, I knew I wanted to share a Mexican-inspired recipe for Cinco de Mayo. I originally had something else planned — a healthy dish, actually — but these churro cupcakes came to me in the middle of the night and I knew I had to make them. Don’t worry, I still made the healthy Mexican dish and will be sharing it in a few weeks 🙂
Churros are one of my favorite Mexican desserts so it was an easy choice to recreate this dessert in the form of a cupcake. I didn’t get too crazy with the batter, I just used a cake mix box and added some cinnamon to give it that churro flavor. I did, however, make my favorite buttercream frosting and added even more cinnamon. This buttercream is my go-to when it comes to frosting and good news, it makes more than enough for the cupcakes and will leave you with a little extra to eat by itself, with a spoon, if you are like me that is 😉 I finished each cupcake with a bite-sized churro for the topping and used festive cupcake wrappers to give the cupcake that Cinco de Mayo feel! Check out the easy recipe below.
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Churro Cupcakes
by Rachel McCarthy May-2-2017
Ingredients
1 boxgolden vanilla cake mix (plus cake ingredients on box)
1 ½ teaspooncinnamon
4 cupspowdered sugar
1 cupbutter, softened
2 teaspoonvanilla extract
1 tablespoonmilk (I used almond milk)
1 teaspooncinnamon
24 bite-sized churros, topping if desired
Instructions
Prepare and bake cupcakes according to cake mix instructions, adding 1 ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. For the buttercream: Mix the powdered sugar and butter together in a mixer on low speed. Once combined, gradually add the vanilla, milk and cinnamon; mix until completely incorporated. Frost the cinnamon cupcakes with the cinnamon buttercream and top each cupcake with a bite-sized churro, if desired. Enjoy!
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Thanks for stopping by, friends! Happy Cinco de Mayo cooking!
Happy Tuesday! Gearing up for a crazy week at my 9-5 job so I thought this quick, weeknight dinner would be a good recipe to share this week. I’m always trying to come up with quick and healthy dinners for the work week and as I have mentioned before, the crockpot is my best friend when it comes to this. I made this a few weeks ago for dinner and we just loved it: only four ingredients for a complete meal, quick and easy and the chicken came out super tender. I’m not the biggest fan of chicken, but it’s tolerable for me in the crockpot. This chicken was delicious and I ate every bite! Totally unusual for me, so this weeknight dinner is highly approved!
Happy Tuesday, friends! With these warm temperatures, it really has me dreaming of summer. One of my favorite summer morning treats — let’s be honest, it’s my favorite year round, but the fresh blueberries make them that much better — are blueberry muffins. My mom has been making them since I was little and the other weekend we decided to swap some of the ingredients to create a healthier morning muffin.
There is just something about these muffins. My mom will make these muffins most weekends I visit because they have always been my favorite. You should know, it’s pretty much impossible to just eat one of these. And if they are hot out of the oven, look. out. haha!
A few weekends ago, I was talking to my mom about these delicious blueberry muffins and thinking of ways we could substitute the original ingredients for some healthier ones. There is always a chance when substituting ingredients that the recipe won’t turn out as well and bake times could be different, but I think we have found pretty good alternatives! Check out the recipe below! These muffins are just as good as the original…and with the healthier recipe, it’s ok to have more than one 🙂
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Healthy Blueberry Muffins
by Rachel McCarthy April-18-2017
Ingredients
1 3/4 cupflour
2/3 cupsugar
1 tablespoonsbaking powder
6 tablespoonsmargarine
3 tablespoonsegg whites
1/2 cupalmond milk
1 teaspoonlemon zest
1 teaspoonvanilla
1 cupblueberries
3/4 teaspoonsalt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the muffin pan with wrappers. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium-size bowl. Cut in the margarine until cumbly. Beat the egg whites, milk, lemon zest and vanilla in a second, medium-sized bowl. Stir in the flour mixture until moist. Stir in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!
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Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!
Today I’m back with another take to work lunch idea. I know I say this each time I share one of these recipes, but the struggle is real when it comes to packing a lunch for work. For me, I get sick of the same thing everyday (more power to you if you don’t — my husband could eat the same thing everyday of the week!) and coming up with new and packable lunches is tough! Pepperoni rolls have always been a favorite of mine, so I decided to do a vegetarian spin on the classic roll up lunch.
I’ve been eating pepperoni rolls for as long as I can remember. The combination of pepperoni, mozzarella, sauce and banana peppers (the best part!) will always be a favorite. But, in an effort to make a healthier recipe, I took out the pepperoni and replaced it with sun-dried tomatoes, I swapped the marinara sauce for a basil pesto and I kept the mozzarella and banana peppers. The combination was seriously delicious and pretty filling. I had these a few weeks ago in my lunch and decided to make them again this week.
As for the filling, you could really add any ingredients you would like: from vegetables, to different sauces to meats, it’s totally customizable. They are also perfect for kid lunches, too! Check out the recipe below.
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Vegetable Rolls
by Rachel McCarthy April-11-2017
Ingredients
2 frozen bread loaves, thawed
1 cuppesto
2 cupssun-dried tomatoes, drained if packed in oil
2 cups banana peppers, drained
4 cups grated Mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano Mix
1egg, beaten
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide the bread loaf into fourths to make a total of 8 roll ups. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. For each roll up, spread about 2 tablespoons pesto, sprinkle ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes and ¼ cup banana peppers. Top with ½ cup cheese. Roll the dough around the filling and pinch the ends closed. Brush each roll with egg wash and bake for 30 minutes. Once rolls are cool, wrap in foil. Heat when ready to eat. Enjoy!
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Thanks for stopping by, friends! I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!
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