Healthy Grits

The 1st day of Summer is officially June 20th, but Memorial Day weekend is considered by most to be Summer’s kick-off. There are so many highlights of Summer – outdoor BBQs, weekends by the pool, fireworks, strawberries, big blockbuster movies, catching up on awesome books - but it also means (sadly) asparagus is no longer in season…and I love asparagus. I’ve been using it every chance I get lately, and wanted to share this veggie dip which would go nicely served on toasted whole-wheat baguette slices with a grilled veggie salad.

I’m heading to the store again to grab more aspragus for a new pizza recipe tonight (as they say in the south, gotta get while the gettin’s good).… continue

April’s showers bring May flowers….this sums up how I feel about last month’s featured cookbook,  Pam Anderson’s Meatless Meals. There were a couple of recipes I enjoyed enough to put into heavy rotation (like the adapted Brown Rice + Shrimp Pad Thai), but there were many I found to be not all that note blog worthy. All in all, the verdict’s still out – with a number of recipes that look promising I’m sure I’ll be revisiting ‘Meatless Meals’ in the future.  For now, I’m just excited to begin re-exploring May’s featured cookbook, The Family Chef by Jewels and Jill Elmore, sisters who have worked as ‘family’ chefs to some of Hollywood’s elite.… continue

(PS please disregard the reflection in the pic – me in my running cap and Collin’s closet!)

This weekend was pretty packed but our biggest accomplishment was putting up my new barre in our spare bedroom, a.k.a. the boy’s playroom. Collin did a phenomenal job bringing my vision to fruition. I have to brag though, it took me going to Home Depot with him and in true Amy fashion, not giving up until figuring out exactly how to make the image in my mind a reality. Me = brains, Collin = brawn (+ brains I’m just really picky and know exactly what I want and won’t give up until it happens).… continue

Phew – it has been one busy week prepping for finals and preparing to be off work next week (I’ll be in TN a few days for my cousin’s graduation). There is lots to catch up on, but I wanted to share this yummy recipe with you in case you’re still looking for something festive and healthy to serve this weekend! However, don’t just relegate this to a once year event – this is nutritious, filling dish you can enjoy year round! It’s super easy to whip up on short notice – I’ve actually made this three weeks in a row and each night I made it was a ‘got home late, get dinner on the table before its too late’ kind of evening.… continue

As if you needed another reason to be happy it’s Friday, here are 36 of them!

Making miniature sweets is one of my favorite ways to have my (cheese)cake and eat it too. It’s portion control without really trying, and so often all you want is just one bite anyway…and these are  tasty little bites!

Cheesecake Bites adapted from Clean Eating Magazine

Shortbread Crust:

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

2/3 cup organic unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup raw honey

2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Cheesecake Filling:

4 oz low-fat cream cheese, softened (2 oz fat-free and 2 oz 1/3 fat work well!)

4 oz fresh goat cheese, softened

2 tbsp raw honey

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Other:

6 tbsp all-natural, no-sugar-added fruit preserves of your choice

36 fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, quartered)

For Cheesecake Filling: Using a food processor, mix both cheeses, honey and vanilla, stopping to scrape sides of bowl, until smooth.… continue

After receiving a fun biscuit cutter from Santa Jacobson this Christmas, it was only a matter of time before the boys started getting homemade doggie treats. It’s a good thing they don’t have a concept of time or I’m certain they’d be upset I’ve been holding out on them the past 4 months.

As for these treats, I love knowing my parting gift to them every morning has been minimally processed and is full of healthy, all-natural or organic ingredients. If you’ve got a few extra minutes tonight, take about 15 minutes and whip these up for your pups…and be prepared for a big ol’ sloppy wet thank you kiss lick!… continue

This is a great warm weather pizza – best enjoyed on the patio with a glass of crisp white wine and close friends…or anytime you can score a fresh pint of cherry/grape tomatoes! So good it makes me wish for summer about as badly as I’m wishing for the weekend!

Hope you all have a great Friday!

Roasted Tomato Pizza

1 portion of  Almost Wheat-Free Pizza Dough or Original Wheat Dough

1 pint grape or cherry yellow and red  mixed tomatoes, halved

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, drained

1 tsp minced garlic

3-4 basil leaves, cut into slivers

3 oz light or part-skim cheddar or blend of several cheeses

3 oz light or part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

S+P

A couple weeks back we had planned to do 5 days of CLEAN (this was our goal at least after finishing it up in December), but I frankly wasn’t feeling it and wanted to focus all my efforts on keeping up with my workouts. Now I’m heading into my 4^th week of taking things to the next level and I’m pretty much on track with my 1lb a week goal (2lbs in the past three weeks). The first two weeks I upped my workouts a bit, getting back on track with working out 5-6 days a week, for 45-60 minutes, and paid careful attention to the extra bites or drinks here or there that seemed to be adding up to several hundred extra calories.… continue