Posts tagged ‘Soy Milk’

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May 29, 2012

Peach Cobbler Protein Smoothie

I love smoothies. Add in warm weather and long jogs along the shoreline and you’ve got yourself the perfect summer combination, in my opinion. I was fighting some kind of cold (on top of allergies…) last week so sipping one or two smoothies a day  was necessary to sooth my sore throat, however my typical berry/banana concoction got old fast. Insert frozen peaches.

Ingredients
1 cup frozen peaches
1/2 frozen banana
1 serving of protein powder
8 oz. soy or almond milk
2 tablespoons chia seeds
Dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract
Ice and more milk (or water) depending on desired consistency
Toppings: flaxseed meal, rolled oats, chopped frozen fruit, nut butter, Greek yogurt, etc. 

This smoothie is savory, sweet but oh so healthy! The reason behind the “1 serving of protein powder” is simply because the schtuff I recently purchased at my local health food store (Naturade’s Soy-Free Veg Protein Booster) calls for 1/3 cup as a serving. More than I usually use but the nutrition facts are pretty great with 110 calories (20 from fat), 2g total carbohydrates, 0g sugar and 21g protein. It’s natural flavor blends in well without any chalkiness! Because my immune system has been down, I took a few days off last week with a few light workouts and yoga sessions sprinkled in. I got right back on track this weekend, though, with 6 miles on Saturday and 8 yesterday (I ran down to my town’s Memorial Day parade…phew it was hot!). Time to start kicking my mileage up a notch…I’m hoping to do another half in a few weeks but we’ll see. In other news,  I attended a spa-inspired bachelorette party, tried a new restaurant (post to come), ate a lot of grilled foods and soaked up quite a few rays, taking my first pool dip of the season!
How was your long weekend?

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Breakfast, Lunch, Reviews, Snack | 2 Comments »

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April 11, 2012

Hungry Hungry Hippo

I’ve been ravenous lately, eating everything and anything in sight…hungry hungry hippo-style. Well, that is if a hippo ate squirrel/bird food with the copious amount of nuts and seeds I’ve been consuming. I don’t know what has gotten into me, especially since this is the least strenuous week of training. Maybe it’s the fact that I subconsciously am loading up for my race at the end of the week? I’ve also been under a bit of stress with a lot of work due this week so maybe that’s the culprit.

Who knows and who cares. I’ve been listening to my body and powering through a hectic past 72 hours thanks to lots of healthy grub. Without further ado, let’s take a look at what was gobbled up yesterday. Warning: I forgot to capture quite a few things…don’t hate me!

I snoozed my 6:00 a.m. alarm yesterday morning for a full hour. I was not feeling an early start, apparently. After FINALLY dragging myself out of bed, I made a fruity smoothie to power me through a light cardio/ab workout. 8 oz. of Silk Light Original, a plain Chobani, 1/2 of a frozen banana, 2 tbsp hemp seed protein and a handful of strawberries was blended into a thick treat, which was then topped generously with flaxseed meal, chia and raspberries. So. Good. 44 people liked the picture above on Instagram, which naturally put a smile on my face!

I was on the go for lunch, working on two papers with Bre that were due today, so munched on an apple with soy nut butter and two hard boiled eggs at Starbucks, alongside too much caffeine. Baby carrots, red pepper slices alongside two or three servings of sunflower seeds were later consumed before a quick nap. Sleepy and hungry, what is my deal? Waking up rejuvenated, I tackled dinner and homework (while things were getting toasty and browned in the oven). How pretty is that bed of spinach? Roasted veggies and edamame topped a huge salad, which I then drizzled with balsamic vinegar, a little cayenne pepper and nooch. Super satisfying! Popcorn was shared with my roomie later on at the kitchen table, as we tackled the crazy amount of work we have left before graduation. Alrighty, I’m off to class! Running on coffee, as I’m sure you can tell…such a big week!
What’s your favorite smoothie ingredient? 

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

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October 16, 2011

Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal

I’m a big breakfast person but lately my favorite meal of the day has been routinely consisting of two scrambled eggs and a banana smeared with natural, chunky peanut butter. Although delicious and healthy, I needed a little extra umph the other morning before a tough exam. Enter Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal (inspired by this recipe on Family Fresh Cooking). Believe me, it tastes just as good as it sounds. If not better. Between the whole grains and protein-boost, I had the energy I needed to power through midterm’s week. This recipe is a keeper, perfect for a crisp autumn morning!

Ingredients
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 scoop vanilla soy protein powder
1 cup soy milk (I used Silk Vanilla)
1 egg
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Dash of baking powder, salt and all spice
Sweetener of your choice (i.e. stevia, agave nectar, honey)
Optional toppings: bran cereal flakes, mashed ripe banana, pumpkin seeds, dried fruit, nut butter, etc.

To start, preheat the oven to 350°F and coat a small (8×8) baking pan with cooking spray. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients (including the spices and sweetener of your choice).

In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (whisk the egg before adding) before slowly folding in the oat blend.

Pop in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the oats are fully cooked. I sprinkled bran flakes on top for some more healthy carbs. Beware, the lovely aroma wafting from your oven is almost as amazing as my autumn must-have candle scent, Yankee Candle’s Frosted Pumpkin. Mmmm…

Spoon into a bowl and add in toppings of your choice. I garnished my oatmeal with an extra spoonful of pumpkin puree and some pumpkin seeds, as well as a mashed, ripe banana. Holy cow this was so delish. I can’t wait to make it again!
What’s your favorite pumpkin dish? 

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

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September 16, 2011

If You Like Piña Coladas…

I had a little incident with a particularly sharp bread knife last Friday, resulting in a mighty kitchen battle wound. Three stitches later, the knuckle of my left pointer finger is on its way to recovery but preparing food and typing have been difficult, alongside showering, upper body weight training, etc., but I digress. This morning, after a nice 4-mile run, I decided to end my blogging funk by making a protein smoothie. With fall quickly encroaching on the last few days of nice weather, I decided to whip up (more like “blend” up) a concoction reminiscent of bikini tan lines, warm beaches and, my favorite piña coladas

Ingredients
8 oz. vanilla soy milk
2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
Heaping 1/2 cup of frozen pineapple
Handful of frozen blueberries
Flaxseed meal (optional)

Simply blend together the milk and protein powder before slowly adding in the frozen fruit. I added a sprinkle of flaxseed meal to thicken it up a bit. Too thick or sweet for your liking? Add in a little water!

This tropical beverage was the perfect breakfast and recovery drink. My Hamilton Beach Single-Serve Blender made it convenient for on-the-go sipping as I headed to my 9:30 class! Isn’t it just the cutest!? 

What is your favorite smoothie add-in?  

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Breakfast, Lunch, Snack | 1 Comment »

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May 13, 2011

Epic Failure Turnaround

The other day I was psyched to make my own spin-off of Family Fresh Cooking’s Telluride Trail Bars. Granola bars have been on my “to-make” list for some time now and when my mom put me on grocery shopping duty, I couldn’t resist picking up the ingredients. My excitement took a turn for the worse, though, quickly spiraling into disappointment and utter frustration when they didn’t turn out as planned. Flaky, dry mess. Wahhhh! I blame it on Stop & Shop’s not-ripe-enough bananas…and the fact that I forgot to add the agave nectar prior to cooking. Oops. Although they didn’t stick together into crunchy bars, what I thought was a flop recipe turned into a great granola.

Ingredients
2 cups toasted Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/2 cup chopped and toasted peanuts
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 bananas
1/2 cup chopped whole wheat pretzels
2 tablespoons coconut oil
Cinnamon, flaxseeds and shredded coconut to top
Agave nectar (or maple syrup/natural sweetener to taste) 

To start, preheat the oven to 350˚F. On a baking sheet, place chopped peanuts and rolled oats in a thin layer. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. 


Like I did in my Nutty Nanner Overnight Oats, slice up the bananas and cook in a small sauce pan until lightly browned. Mash it all up and add in the PB so it softens. While those are getting ooey gooey on the stove, chop up your pretzels. 

Time for the fun part, adding it all together and mixing it up. NOTE: This is where you should add the sweetener of your choice.

Line a 9×13″ pan with wax paper and add the granola mixture. Press/shape evenly. Sprinkle cinnamon, flaxseeds and shredded coconut on top. Drizzle some more agave nectar on top before poppin’ it in the oven. 

So…like I said, these did not turn out as I had hoped in bar form BUT the recipe still tasted great. I broke it up into small clusters and took my Go Lean Kashi cereal and Silk Light Vanilla soy milk breakfast up a nutty notch by topping it with my recipe faux pas. Moral of the story? As the saying goes, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”

Gotta love Kashi, although this concoction of mine also goes wonderfully with oatmeal or overnight oats! SOOooo what will I change next time I attempt to make granola bars (which I will be doing soon because I’m headstrong and a perfectionist)? My recipe alterations include the following: 1) Use 4 very ripe, speckled brown bananas, the kind, ya know, good for banana bread! 2) Cut out the pretzels because it just added to the dryness. 3) You may have noticed that I added coconut oil, which I had hoped would help in the moisture department. Fail. I will play around with this ingredient and get back to you on my verdict! 4) Add dried fruit. Welp, ya win some and ya lose some…lucky for me this “loss” ended up having quite the turnaround in the granola department. Yay!

Have you made your own granola or granola bars? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Breakfast, Food for Thought, Snack | 1 Comment »

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January 18, 2011

Butternut Squash Soup

One of my favorite gifts from Santa this year was my cute Mini Cuisinart Food Processor. I have been dying to use it and finally had the opportunity to do so with this easy Butternut Squash Soup recipe my roommate, Allie, and I made up through a little bit of trial and not so much error. Let’s just say we are still raving, days later, about this masterpiece of ours and will be making it on a weekly basis this winter. It is easier than easy, healthy and warms you right up!

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped fine
1 large butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise (remove seeds)
1/4 cup water (more or less depending on desired thickness)
1/4 cup chicken broth (more or less depending on desired thickness)
1/2 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
Pinch of nutmeg

Unlike a lot of recipes I’ve seen, we started by baking the squash at 400°F for an hour (or until slightly browned/tender). Combine butter, water, chicken broth and shallot in small sauce pan over medium heat. Simmer until shallots turn clear and strain them out. Put aside while you wait for the squash.

Allow squash to cool before peeling. Add to the food processor in batches. Slowly pour some of the soy milk and reserved water/chicken broth liquid to help smoothly purée.

Transfer to a large pot and add in the rest of the liquid to desired consistency. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and nutmeg to taste (a little goes a long way!)

That’s it! Ladle into a bowl and enjoy. We served the soup alongside a huge side salad with the wide variety of vegetables in our fridge. So colorful and healthy!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Dinner, Lunch | 6 Comments »

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December 12, 2010

Guilt-Free Christmas Cookies

In light of the holiday season, I baked Christmas cookies. Just because the holidays are right around the corner does not mean you have to loosen your belt! These Dark Chocolate Florentines (Eating Well) are the best of both worlds: delish and only 108 calories. They are not tedious like other cookie recipes, which is another plus! Bring these healthy alternative treats to this year’s Christmas parties and I promise you won’t be disappointed, nor will your fellow party-goers.

Ingredients
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted walnuts (or almonds) finely chopped
1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup apricot preserves

Start by preheating your oven to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan and remove from the heat. Add in oats, sugar, oil, flour…

soy milk, salt, nuts…

and vanilla.

Mix it all up! Next, form into level teaspoons of dough and place onto the baking sheet. Press each cooking into a thin, 2-inch circle with a fork.

Bake for 5-7 minutes and let cool completely before removing from the foil. Once the cookies are cool, melt chocolate chips!

Spread the melted chocolate on the flat side of half of the cookies.

On the other half of the cookies, spread a little apricot jam.

Press the chocolate and apricot halves together into sandwich cookies! ENJOY!


Treat yourself to one of these divine desserts and don’t feel bad about it. They are light, gooey and have the perfect amount of sweetness. Again, 108 calories, 6 g. fat, 14 g. carbohydrates, 2 g. protein, 1 g. fiber, 5 mg. cholesterol, 19 mg. sodium, and 14 mg. potassium per cookie! Deck the halls and indulge.

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

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November 16, 2010

Healthy Alternative to Swiss Miss

Nothing hits the spot better after a long, chilly day than a hot cup of cocoa. I usually am lazy and throw a packet of Swiss Miss into a microwaved mug of water, yet last night I decided to distract myself from my huge presentation I have today (hence why I’m blogging right now rather than practicing…oops?) to look into homemade hot chocolate. What did I learn? Hot Chocolate from scratch is quick, easy and a whole lot healthier. You don’t get the stomach ache after from the mass amounts of sugar (16 g. per Swiss Miss packet without the fun little marshmallows, mind you) yet it curves that decant, chocolate craving and warms you up from the inside out!


Sprinkled with Love’s Homemade Hot Cocoa
(ditch the cal’s and sugar!)
1 cup of Silk Soy Milk (Light Vanilla for the creamy taste without the calories)
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp cocoa powder
¼ tsp. vanilla or almond extract
Dash of salt and Splenda (to taste…I don’t like things too sweet)
Pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice for a festive flair!

If I had an espresso machine I’d totally throw a shot in there to get some caffeine, but I made do with what I had. A lot of recipes I saw sprinkled brown sugar or chocolate chips (even drizzled chocolate sauce) in there…although that doesn’t really follow my almost-no-sugar policy, add it in there if you see fit! Cocoa is really good for you actually, some articles I read said it has more antioxidants (almost 3x) than green tea! Check this link out for more fun facts and information on cocoa’s health benefits (fights cancer, heart disease and aging? Who would have thought!?) Cocoa is a natural appetite-suppressant and contains “beauty” minerals that promote healthy, glowing skin, strong nails and hair, among other things…so, moral of the story, drink up!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Food for Thought, Random, Snack | 6 Comments »

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November 4, 2010

Eggless Frittata…Fail.

I recently purchased Silken Tofu with high hopes of creating a fabulous smoothie (Banana Cocoa Soy Smoothie.) Yet when I went to create this wonderful concoction today, I learned the hard way that my blender is broken…I don’t want to talk about. I guess using my blender instead of my non-existant food processor was a bad idea? UGH! Anyway, I ended up trying out a “Mac & Veg Tofu Frittata” and although it tasted great, the instructions were off a bit. Let’s just say it was one of those cases you don’t “judge a book by its cover.”

Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked whole wheat pasta
1 cup vegetables of your choice (I used red peppers, grated carrots and broccoli)
1 and 1/2 cup silken tofu
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt & Pepper
Oil to grease the muffin pan

Cook the pasta and grate the vegetables.

Once the pasta is done, combine it with the veggies and add the chili powder.

Blend the tofu and milk (OR in my blenderless case, whisk) until smooth.

Grease the muffin pan with oil, preheat the oven for 350 F.

The recipe said to scoop the pasta/vegetable mixture half way up the muffin tin then top with the tofu yet this was one of the steps that proved itself unsuccessful in my trial. I would suggest you mix everything together PRIOR to putting them in the muffin tin. Definitely add other spices of your choice to liven these babies up a bit because, trust me, they were a bit bland. A little salt and pepper goes a long way…

Place them in the oven for 25-30 minutes (I ended up leaving them in there for almost 40 so they got crispy on the outside.) They may look jiggly still but once they are cooled they SHOULD easily pop out of the tray after running a knife around the individual tins. Keyword: should. Mine did not cooperate. So, again, mix everything together before putting them in the muffin tins. I guarantee they will be better off if you do so.

These seem like a great idea and if successfully prepared, would be perfect to create with leftover pasta for a mid-afternoon snack. These eggless frittatas had a lot of potential but just didn’t pull through for me.

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Breakfast | 2 Comments »

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November 2, 2010

Marvelous Martha Meatballs

Ever since I ended my vegetarianism freshman year, I have been obsessed with turkey meatballs. I was in the mood for a hearty spaghetti and meatball dinner last night to conclude the crazy Halloweekend festivities. I decided to give Martha Stewart’s Light Turkey Meatballs a try, which I altered a bit, and cut down on the carbs by making some spaghetti squash!

Ingredients
3 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread
1/4 cup milk/soy milk
1 package of ground turkey (I use Shady Brook Farms’ 99% Fat Free)
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 large egg
Coarse salt and ground pepper
**I added in 1/2 cup grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese (I took my Lactaid pill before I ate…) and 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil**

To start, place bread (I used Arnold’s Flax & Fiber 100% Whole Wheat, so healthy and tasty) in a food processor, or in my unprofessional/broke college kid case…a blender. Put the fine crumbs into a bowl, with the milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. (Big Y didn’t have any scallions, UGH thanks for nothing! I swear, the closest Big Y to UConn’scampus has an awful array of food. Come on, step it up. I highly suggest you use them though.)

Mix together with a fork and slowly add in the breadcrumb mixture.

Now for the fun part! Roll each ball using about 2 tablespoons of the mixture. Place them onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes (or when no longer pink in the middle) at 350°F.

If you like them brown/crispy on the outside, drizzle with olive oil. I placed them in the oven along with my spaghetti squash!

While you heat up your sauce on the stove (no I didn’t make homemade spaghetti sauce this time…sorry to disappoint) you can place the finished meatballs in to simmer for a bit and soak up the tomatoey goodness! Super simple recipe. Light and healthy, especially if you swap out the pasta for spaghetti squash.

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Posted in Dinner | 1 Comment »

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