Health Snack Wednesdays: Snacks that Pop!

This week is full of snacking opportunities – snow days, Healthy Snack Wednesday, and the Superbowl! Part of the reason we started this series is that snacking can get boring. So this week’s post is dedicated to snacks that pop!

First, congratulations to the winner of two vouchers for Veggie Patch Products! The winner, as selected by Random.org is Jordi, who said” my favorite veggie is cucumbers or celery. i like to eat them raw with some italian dressing (on the cucumbers)”. I’ll be in touch to get your mailing address and the vouchers will be sent your way!

To celebrate this week’s popped up recipes, popchips™ has generously donated two one-month supplies of popchips! Two readers will each win one box full of popchips to snack (see if they last the month!). If you haven’t heard of popchips, they are popped potato snacks. Think potato chip crunchy without the greasiness of a regular chip or the cardboard taste of baked potato chips. They are made for snacking – and one bag of original flavor will set you back just 120 calories and 4 grams of fat (more nutrition info here). If you are a potato chip lover, than popchips are a healthier option to satisfy your craving. They even have a Snacker’s Credo!

Quick disclosure: popchips sent over a sampler pack of chips to use in this week’s healthy snack recipes and two boxes of chips for the giveaway. I was not obligated to use or review the products and I was not compensated financially. All opinions belong to me. Now on the fun!

This week I have two popping recipes for you to try out. I am admittedly not a potato chip lover – I usually go for tortilla chips if I have a chip choice. I wanted to come up with a creative way to use popchips in a healthy snack good for weekdays or maybe a Superbowl party. We’ve already made dips a few times and that really isn’t incorporating the popchips. I thought about potato chip cookies (saw them on a few blogs), but every recipe involved a lot of butter or shortening. After thinking about it for a few days, I decided on making mini-quiches with popchip crusts. It is similar to last week’s snack, but this is more party ready! You can pick your own combination of flavors for the crust, but I chose to mix original, salt and pepper, and cheddar for flavor that popped. I didn’t use any cookbooks or recipes for this, so while it could use some tweaking I had blast putting it together!

This is a fairly quick dish to put together. It can be served hot or cold and you could make them the day before and keep them in the refrigerator until party time. Just reheat  before serving. To have a crispier crust, make sure to coat the entire mini-muffin tin with the popchip mixture and only fill to the top of the crust (I got a little excited and overfilled mine). Only a few came out with crispy crusts due to the extra filling, but they tasted like little egg & hashbrown bites. I didn’t add any extra seasoning, because of the flavors in the popchips.

Poppin’ Mini-Quiches
Makes 24 mini-quiches

Crust
3 bags of popchips (I used 1 original, 1 salt & pepper, 1 cheddar)
3-4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (about 1 teaspoon)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
Lightly spray a mini-muffin tin with cooking spray
Add popchips to a food processor and pulse until they are the texture of panko breadcrumbs
Pour into a mixing bowl and mix the crumbs with butter, add a little oil if it is not moist enough
Spoon a little of the crust mixture into each muffin cup (you might have extra mixture)
Using a tart shaper, or your hand, press the crust mixture down firmly into the bottom and sides of the cups
Bake for 5-7 minutes, until slightly golden brown
Remove from oven to fill

Filling
4-5 large eggs
1 tablespoon milk
About 15 spinach leaves (I forgot to measure!)

Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender
Mix until frothy
Pour on top of prebaked crusts in muffin tin

Place tin back into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until puffed up and golden brown
Remove from the oven and serve immediately, or cool on rack and refrigerate
Serve with a dash of hot sauce, if desired!

Popping Snack #2
For my second snack, I popped up one of my favorite treats, popcorn! During the last snow day I played popcorn roulette, mixing up three different flavors and then spinning the bowls around. One bite could be lavender, the next za’atar, and the last green chili. I have an Cusinart Crazy popper and can control the amount of oil I use when I pop – and be sure that my popcorn isn’t loaded with oil, butter, and other funny chemicals. I wanted to make a sweet popcorn for this week. The hubby loves kettle corn and caramel corn, but the store bought versions are loaded with fat and sugar. I popped up a batch of red popcorn kernels from the farmers market and made a quick glaze to add on top. After the popcorn glaze dried, I packaged it into sandwich bags in appropriate serving sizes. It’s great to throw in your bag for the car, an afternoon snack, or a something to tide you over until dinner.

Maple-Sesame Popcorn
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 tablespoon canola oil
Pop popcorn in a popcorn popper (say that three times fast!)
Makes about 6 cups of popped popcorn

Maple-Sesame Glaze
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup maple syrup (I used Grade A Dark Amber)
1/2 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon butter

Add all ingredients, except sesame seeds, into a small sauce pan
Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until slightly thickened
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
Drizzle half the glaze over the popped corn in a large bowl
Add sesame seeds and mix
Add remaining glaze and toss to coat

Pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes until popcorn has dried
Try not to eat it all while putting into bags.

Now, on to the giveaway!

There will be two winners for the giveaway. Each winner will receive a box containing a one-month supply of popchips! I didn't count the bags, but you will be snacking for a while! There are a few ways to enter this week, please leave a separate comment on the blog for each action. You can do any or all of them for a chance to win!

• Like popchips on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall saying "@GoodCookDoris sent me! Thanks for the giveaway!". Come back and leave a comment below telling me you did so.

• Follow @popchips and/or @popchipsboston on Twitter and tweet, Just entered to win 1 month of @popchips from @goodcookdoris, you can too at http://bit.ly/f414b5.  Leave another comment below.

• Leave a comment below letting me know your all-time favorite snack food, no healthy answers needed.

• Follow @GoodCookDoris on twitter or Like Good Cook Doris on Facebook (leave a note saying hi!), and come back and comment that you did.

Popchips provided me with the boxes to give to the winner. If you are local in the Boston area we can meet up, or if you are somewhere else in the country I can ship them. (U.S. addresses only, sorry!)

Entries accepted through Tuesday, February 8. Winner to be announced on Wednesday, February 9. For an extra entry, head over to Renee's blog at Eat.Live.Blog. and be sure to check out her snacks that pop!

Happy Snacking!

Healthy Snack Wednesdays: More than Snack Time

Planning is essential for fitting healthy eating into a busy schedule. Most of us eat on the go and it can be hard to resist the urge to eat unhealthy fast foods. Today’s healthy eating post is dedicated to a healthy breakfast that could also be a great lunch or late snack. You can make it on Sunday and be ready for the week.

Before I talk about the new recipe, congratulations to the winner of the Chobani yogurt giveaway! Using Random.org, the winner is Nicole of I am a honey bee, who said...

“I tend to use a lot of sour cream so I would swap that out and use plain Chobani on things like baked potatoes.”

Thank you to everyone to stopping by to enter! I really enjoyed reading the creative uses for Chobani! They included:

• Yogurt in my baked potato soup
• I would mix it with Frank's Red Hot - my favorite hot sauce! And I'd probably add garlic too, because I love garlic.
• It's great on top of nachos, and in soups. I've made a wonderful spicy green tomato soup that needed a little cooling down so I mixed up some chopped cilantro and plain chobani and drizzled it over the soup
• I use it mixed with herbs as a swap for mayo on sandwiches too.
• Love mixing Greek yogurt and jam together...favorite snack and quick breakfast.
• I just recently tried it in my corn pudding recipe instead of sour cream and it was fantastic!
• It's great in a whole wheat pumpkin bread with cranberries
• I would love to use Chobani in place of cream when making a Thai Curry!

Check the bottom of this post for another great giveaway! This week’s giveaway is from Veggie Patch for some delicious vegetarian food. Now on to this week’s creation!

If you are like me, breakfast before work is an on-the-go type of meal. I eat in the car on the way to getting dropped off at the commuter rail station. With an hour commute, it isn’t reasonable to wait until I get to work to eat breakfast. Some of my regular breakfasts include low-fat waffles with almond butter, toast and peanut butter, and a microwave egg on toast. These can all be made in about 2 minutes before heading out the door. But you’ll notice something is missing from all of these – fruits and vegetables! I do try to eat a piece of fruit for a morning snack at work, but that doesn’t always happen.

On Sunday I decided to come up with a new idea for this week’s healthy breakfast. It needed to be in individual serving sizes and easy to reheat before work. I decided on mini-muffin omelets and turkey bacon. For the omelets I used eggs, broccoli, and a little Monterey jack cheese. I also baked turkey bacon while the muffins were cooking. Turkey bacon has less fat and calories than regular bacon and adds additional protein to power up your morning. The turkey bacon I buy has 35 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein per slice.

A fun fact about broccoli - did you know that the peak season for broccoli is in the winter? It is available year round, but its peak season is between October and April. Broccoli is also a good source of iron and vitamins A and C.  The cheese adds some healthy dairy to the mix for a well-rounded breakfast!

This recipe makes 12 muffins, you could easily cut it in half to make 6. For a bite sized treat you could cook the muffins in a mini-muffin pan. If broccoli isn’t your favorite, throw in any leftover vegetables like diced peppers, chopped spinach, mushrooms, or tomatoes. To keep the muffins fresh for the week wrap 1-2 muffins in plastic wrap. If you plan to eat them the next day, place them in the fridge. If not, place them in the freezer. Take out a package the night before and put them in the refrigerator to thaw overnight.

To reheat, microwave for 45 seconds - 1 minute on high heat. You could also pack these for a light lunch or late afternoon snack if you are working late. If you want an easy way to make these even more portable, roll up a muffin and a piece of bacon in a tortilla for a breakfast burrito or between two slices of whole wheat bread!

I’ve noticed that this protein packed breakfast has kept me full until lunch this week. I throw a piece of fruit in my bag for a snack but often don’t eat it until the afternoon. I hope this inspires you to think about powering up your breakfast and starting the day right!

Weekday Mini-Omelets and Turkey Bacon
6 eggs
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used Monterey jack, you could use cheddar or Swiss)
Chopped veggies (I used 3-4 small pieces of broccoli per muffin tin)
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Spray a non-stick muffin tin with cooking spray, making sure to coat well
Whisk together eggs and milk
Mix in shredded cheese
Pour about 1/4 cup of eggs into each muffin tin
Add broccoli pieces or chopped vegetables into each tin
Bake for 20 minutes until cooked through
Remove from oven and carefully remove muffins from the tin (a mini spatula helps loosen the edges)
Cool completely before putting in the refrigerator or freezer

Easy Turkey Bacon
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Lay out the turkey bacon in a single layer
Bake in the oven along with the muffins
After 10 minutes carefully turn over the slices of bacon
When muffins are done (20 minutes), remove the bacon and cool on a paper towel
Wrap well in plastic wrap, then foil (you can either refrigerate or freeze)
To reheat, wrap in a paper towel and microwave for 30-45 seconds

Enjoy!!

Win 2 coupons for Veggie Patch Products!
This week the lovely folks over at Veggie Patch are giving one lucky winner 2 vouchers for Veggie Patch products of their choice. Veggie Patch makes a variety of vegetarian and soy products like broccoli and cheese bites, meatless meatballs, veggie dogs and falafel (just to name a few).

If you have a great recipe that sneaks vegetables into something delicious, check out the Veggie Patch Ultimate Sneak-Away Contest with best-selling author and culinary expert, Missy Chase Lapine—known as The Sneaky Chef—to give moms clever new tricks for sneaking real vegetables into some of America’s favorite foods. The Ultimate Sneak-Away Contest, hosted on Facebook invites you to share your “Sneak of the Week” – a favorite tip, trick or recipe designed to sneak veggies into a meal, snack or dessert. One lucky “Sneak of the Week” submission will win The Ultimate Sneak-Away grand prize, including an exclusive, in-person culinary consultation with Missy Chase Lapine, where she will share cooking tips and provide custom nutritional advice. In addition, Missy will prepare a delicious dinner for the family while you sneak out of the kitchen to enjoy a relaxing spa treatment. The contest will run through January 30 2011, with three recipes selected weekly by Veggie Patch and Missy Chase Lapine as the featured “Sneak of the Week.”

To enter to win 2 vouchers to try out their products, here’s what you have to do:

Required Entry: Comment below and let me know what your favorite vegetable is and how you like to eat it!

Bonus Entry #1: Follow GoodCookDoris on Facebook, subscribe to the RSS feed or add to Google Reader (see the Connect tab up top)

Bonus #2: Follow Veggie Patch on Facebook or Twitter

Please leave a separate comment for each action below. Entries will be accepted through 9:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 1, 2011. One winner will receive two vouchers for Veggie Patch products. The winner will be announced in next week’s healthy Wednesday post!  For an extra chance to win, and some more great healthy snack ideas, visit Renee over at Eat.Live.Blog!

Full Disclosure: Veggie Patch generously agreed to sponsor a giveaway as part of the Healthy Snack Wednesday series. Veggie Patch is responsible for fulfillment of the prize. I was not compensated for this post and do not have any personal tie-ins to the Sneak-Away contest, it just sounds like fun!

Happy snacking!

Healthy Snack Wednesdays: Endless Possibilities with Greek Yogurt

First, congratulations to the winners of last week’s Healthy Snack Giveaway! They are:

Case of pretzel crisps:  Jacki, one of the participants in the weight loss challenge
Tribe Hummus vouchers: Kathy of @KathyCanCook, and two new readers Kristy and Jeannine

                              

Please email your name and mailing address to lara [at] goodcookdoris [dot] com and I’ll make sure your prize gets out to you! Now on to this week’s healthy snacking.

If you’ve been grocery shopping lately, you’ve seen the explosion of choices in the yogurt section. There is regular, low fat, fat free, fruit-on-the bottom, lactose free, rice yogurt, coconut milk yogurt, probiotic, organic, Greek, and the list goes on.  Everyone has their favorite, but lately I’ve been sticking with Greek yogurt.

Greek yogurt is thick, creamy, a little tangy, and full of nutrition. For this week’s healthy recipes I used Chobani low-fat plain yogurt.  I won a case of Chobani in an online giveaway (hosted by Chobani) and decided to put it to use for Healthy Snack Wednesday.  Here’s the rundown on one 6-ounce container of the plain yogurt:  130 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, and 17 grams of protein. That is some nutritional power! I checked Chobani’s website for a few other nutritional details. The plain low-fat yogurt is gluten-free, vegetarian (gelatin-free), and kosher certified. Pretty powerful for a small container! You could also choose non-fat if you would like to reduce your fat intake. See the end of the post for how you can win some Chobani for yourself!

This week I have a variety of recipes to share. Some are snacks, some are meals, but all of them are easy and full of flavor. I’ll include all of the recipes at the end.  For even more ideas, visit Renee's blog at Eat.Live.Blog.

First up a colorful and healthy soup. I had leftover carrots, parsnips, and white beans in the refrigerator along with my yogurt.  Homemade soups are not as difficult as you might think. With about a half an hour and either an immersion blender or blender you can make a healthy homemade soup.  You control the ingredients and most importantly the flavor and saltiness. Swap in plain Greek yogurt instead of blending in heavy cream, milk, or sour cream and you boost the nutritional power of your soup.  You can use this basic recipe and swap in different vegetables, herbs, and spices to put together your own soup creation.

Greek yogurt also makes a great base for dips and spreads. You can take any recipe that calls for sour cream or mayonnaise and swap in an equal amount of yogurt. It’s thick consistency and tangy flavor stands up to bold flavors like spicy hot sauce, refreshingly cool cucumber, or even sweet cinnamon and pumpkin.  Inspired by a tweet I saw from L’Espalier about a spicy cocktail tasting (one w/ sriracha & lime) I mixed up yogurt, sriracha sauce, lime juice and salt.  The dip would be great as a vegetable or chip dip, but I used it to top off a big bowl of quinoa and vegetables.

Greek yogurt can be as a base for a variety of mix-ins.  Stock a few containers of yogurt in your refrigerator at work and you’ll always have the beginning of a healthy snack.  You can start with plain yogurt, but my favorite flavors are honey and pineapple.  Just measure the proper serving size for the mix-ins to manage the fat and calories.  Some fun & healthy mix-ins:

-Fresh or dried fruit
-Granola or cereal like Kashi Go Lean Crunch
-Grapenuts (great way to drown out a noisy office!)
-Chocolate chips
-Fruit preserves
-Canned pumpkin (a great dip!)
-Cinnamon
-Honey

Sunshine Soup ( you need a catchy name for a healthy recipe, right?)
Serves 4-6

4 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch coins
4-6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch coins
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Kosher salt to taste (a pinch to start)
1-2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups soaked white beans or 3-4 cans of white beans, drained (navy or cannellini beans)
4 cups stock (could be chicken, turkey, vegetable)
1 6-ounce cup of Chobani Plain low-fat Greek Yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil in a medium soup pan over medium heat
Add carrot and parsnip coins and toss to coat
Cook for 10-15 minutes until softened, but not mushy
Add minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn garlic
Add beans to pot and mix with vegetables
Add stock and stir to mix
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low
Cook for 10-15 minutes
Remove from heat
If you have an immersion blender: Blend carefully in pot
Blender: Transfer soup to blender and blend carefully. You may need to blend in batches
Once soup is blended to desired consistency, add yogurt and stir until smooth
Garnish with fresh herbs, salt, and pepper
Drizzle a little olive oil on top and serve

Summary:
Prep Time: 10 minutes chopping and assembling
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Cutting board, knife, soup pot, measuring cups and spoons, immersion blender/blender, spoon, ladle, serving dishes



Sriracha Lime Dip
Recipe for 1 container of yogurt
Add more hot sauce depending on your heat tolerance.  The amount below would be considered mild.

1 6-ounce container of plain Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon of Sriracha hot pepper sauce (or  your favorite hot sauce)
Juice from half of a lime
Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients well
Serve with vegetables, chips, or pretzel crisps
Or top vegetable stir-fry, rice, quinoa, or even grilled tofu or chicken

Summary:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Mixing bowl, measuring spoon, serving dish and spoon

Win a case of Chobani yogurt (12 6-oz containers) in your choice of flavor! You can enter up to three times. You can include all entries in one comment, just be sure to mention them all.  Entries due by midnight on Tuesday, January 25 and the winner will be chosen with Random.org and announced on Wednesday, January 25.

This contest is now closed. Thank you for stopping by to enter!

Full Disclosure: I won a case of Chobani yogurt through a Twitter giveaway. I was not asked to review or blog about the products. I did not receive any compensation for my post or recipe. I just love to create fun new dishes!  Chobani generously offered to provide a giveaway on the blog. Prize fulfillment is the responsibility of Chobani.

Healthy Snack Wednesdays: Heart Healthy Oatmeal

We made it through week one of our biggest loser style challenge! Renee and I didn't have a 'big number' on the scale at our second weigh-in, but we did have a successful first week. We stopped taking the elevator and walked up four flights of stairs instead. Lunch hour included healthy dishes and a 20 minute walk each day.  It's an 8-week challenge so what really counts is the long-term result.

Being at Boston University, there are a lot of resources available to faculty and staff. One great resource is access to the BU Nutrition and Fitness Center. They work hard to make healthy choices available on campus and to educate the University about healthier living.  One of their nutritionists came to give us a brief talk about healthy eating last week.  Inspired by their talk and some recipes they sent over, Renee and I decided to choose oats as our ingredient for this week's healthy snack.

Oats are a versatile, and healthy, ingredient! Part of the grains group on the food pyramid, they are heart healthy and rich in fiber. You can use them in every meal: oatmeal for breakfast, granola for snack, mixed into meatloaf for lunch and dinner, and as a topping for fruit crisps for dessert. There are many different choices for oats at the store. Be careful when selecting oatmeal - many of the flavored instant oatmeal packets have a lot of sugar.  Instead of getting the flavored packets you can pick up the original instant and make your own flavors. This allows you to control the amount of ingredients you add in.  A few of my favorite oatmeal mix-ins include:

-Brown sugar
-Maple syrup
-1 teaspoon of peanut butter
-Dried fruits like cranberries, cherries, or raisins
-Fruit preserves or jam
-Bananas and a few chocolate chips

For Healthy Snack Wednesday, I decided to try one of the oatmeal cookie recipes sent over from the women at Sargent Choice (at BU Nutrition and Fitness).  They are not no-calorie and no-fat cookies, but they are more nutritious and less-bad for you.  Unless of course you eat all 3-dozen at once!  The key to healthy eating is really moderation.  I find that I don't have to give up my favorite foods, I just need to eat the appropriate portion size.

These cookies have heart-healthy oats and flax seed. Flax seed adds a good dose of nutritional value to the cookies with omega-3 (good fat) and additional fiber.  I did add a little extra antioxidants to the original recipe with a few mini-dark chocolate chips. Using mini-chips gives you a little chocolate flavor in each cookie without adding too much additional sugar.  If you make 1 tablespoon sized cookies this recipe will yield 3-dozen heart healthy cookies to share with your family, friends, or co-workers.  Thanks again to Sargent Choice for the recipe and nutrition information. Please note, the nutrition information does not account for the mini-chocolate chips. I also swapped dried cherries for the raisins which might change the sugar content as well.

Heart Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
Yields 3 dozen cookies


1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups Quick oats (NOT instant or regular)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick salted butter (equal to 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup ground flax seeds
1 cup dried cherries (or raisins)
1/4 cup mini-chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper
Add butter, oil, vanilla, granulated sugar and brown sugar to your mixer bowl (or large bowl)
Cream butter and sugars with a mixer until butter is smooth
Add eggs and mix until smooth
Add flour and baking soda and mix until incorporated
Add ground flax seed and mix until incorporated
Stir in oats, adding 1 cup at a time until combined
Stir in dried cherries and mini-chocolate chips

Using a greased tablespoon, drop cookie dough 2" apart onto parchment-lined baking sheet
Using your hand or the back of the spoon, press the balls of dough down, flattening them slightly
Bake for 8-11 minutes, until golden brown and the look slightly under-done
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire cooling rack, the cookies will harden after cooling

Notes:
The dough will be dry and somewhat crumbly
Do not overcook the cookies. It is important to take them out of the oven when the center still seems slightly undercooked
You can also use unsalted butter and add in salt separately (I have not tried this yet for results)
The addition of orange zest would give the cookies a nice zing (Planning to try this for the next batch)
The cookies tasted better after they had cooled (and even better the second day)

Flax seeds might be something you have never bought before.  At Whole Foods you can find whole flax seeds in the bulk foods aisle.  You can also find them in the baking aisle near the flours.  Bob's Red Mill brand offers flax seed meal.  At the regular grocery store, you can look for them in the organic/natural foods aisle.  If you can only find whole flax seeds, you can grind them using your coffee grinder. The whole and ground seeds look like the photo below:

Cookie Nutrition:

How is your healthy snacking and eating going? Any tips or tricks that you use to be successful?

Now for some healthy snacking fun! Tribe Hummus and Pretzel Crisps have generously offered to giveaway healthy snacks to some lucky readers. Winners will be chosen at random using random.org. One winner will win a case (12 packs) of Pretzel Crisps in the flavor(s) of their choice. Three additional winners will win 2 vouchers for their choice of Tribe Origins Hummus. Entries due by midnight on Tuesday, January 18. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, January 19, 2011. 

You can enter up to three times (you can do any combination of the entries below):

Entry 1: Visit both of these snacks’ websites, and comment below on which flavor Pretzel Crisps and which flavor Tribe Origins Hummus you would like to try.

Entry 2: Become a fan of Pretzel Crisps and Tribe Hummus on Facebook, and leave me a comment below.

Entry 3: Tweet about the contest or mention on Facebook and leave a comment below (be sure to include @goodcookdoris, @pretzelcrisps and @tribehummus in your tweet)

Bonus entry: Leave a comment letting me know if you subscribe to the blog. If you would like to add the blog to your reader or subscribe, leave a note letting me know you did!

Full disclosure: Tribe Hummus and Pretzel Crisps are responsible for fulfillment of the contest prizes. I was not compensated for promoting this contest, except for a sample of crisps and hummus delivered by Pretzel Crisps (see last Wednesday's post for details).

Healthy Snack Wednesdays: White Bean Dip and Mac & Cheese+

Happy New Year! 'Tis the season for resolutions, diet overhauls, and lofty fitness goals.  After indulging over the holiday season, it's time to get back to healthy, nutritious, and of course delicious eating.  For my new healthy lifestyle plan I'm participating in a biggest loser style competition at work.  Our first weigh-in was this week and we'll keep tabs on our total percentage of body weight lost until February 28.  The biggest loser can take home a pretty good payout (and second place isn't bad either). The idea is to motivate each other to eat healthier and be more active during the work day.  We're planning lunchtime walks, afternoon stair climbs, and maybe even some pilates and a visit from a nutritionist.

Starting with this post, I'll be featuring healthy snack recipes every Wednesday.  Renee (Eat.Live.Blog) and I volunteered to help in the healthy recipes department.  One of the challenges of sitting at your desk all day is coming up with snacks for the 3:00 p.m. sugar low. We'll both be posting every Wednesday with a new idea.

A challenge for snack time is to have something nutritious, filling, and satisfying. It can't just be a few crackers or a piece of chocolate, you need something that will keep you going.  My first recipe is an old standby that is perfect for snack time, cocktail parties, game nights, or really anything.  White bean dip lends itself to endless variations.  You can change the herbs & spices, add different citrus juice, and make your own creation.  And you can dip veggies, crackers, pretzels, baked potato chips or spread it on a piece of toast.

In honor of the first healthy snack Wednesday, I also wanted to give you a quick and easy dinner recipe.  My husband loves Annie's shells & white cheddar.  By itself, a bowl isn't bad for you but there's not much to it.  To add some nutritional kick I mixed in winter squash puree and a handful of chopped spinach. The squash makes turns it the traditional orange mac n' cheese color and the spinach looks like confetti!  Now you probably couldn't trick any kids into eating this but it was pretty tasty.

One of my favorite things to do is to cook a few things on Sunday to have on hand for the week. This week I roasted a red kuri squash (winter squash) while we were hanging out and watching football. I pureed the squash and put it into the fridge for the week. By itself it is a perfect side dish, but it can also be mixed into sauce for pasta (like I did tonight) or even pancake batter for breakfast.

What do you bring to work for snack time? Do you have a favorite healthy dinner trick? I'd love to hear them!!

White Bean Dip
Enough for a few days of snacks
Serving size 1/4 cup

Dip Base
2 cans beans (cannellini beans, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, or great northern beans), drained, rinsed, and patted dry
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix-ins and options - I usually pick one in each category
Herbs: Fresh parsley, basil, cilantro, chives, dill
Spices: Hot sauce, red pepper flakes, seasoned salt
Flavorings: Roasted garlic, chopped garlic, ginger, flavored mustard (dijon, horseradish, etc.), horseradish, wasabi
Citrus: Lemon juice, lime juice

Some of my favorite combinations:

• 2 cloves roasted garlic, 1-2 tablespoons fresh basil,and  lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, a sprinkle each of chili powder and cumin, and lime juice
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon fresh dill, 1-2 cloves of garlic

The easiest way to make this dip is in a food processor.

Add beans and any herbs and spices to the food processor
Pulse a few times to mix together
Add juice from 1/4 of a lemon and olive oil
Pulse until smooth and well-mixed
Taste and add extra citrus or oil if desired
Season with salt and pepper
Serve with crackers, pretzels, or chopped vegetables
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days

Summary:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook/Mixing time: 5 minutes
Food processor, measuring cups, bowl, spoon


Not Your Usual Annie's Shells & Cheddar
Box serving size is equal to 2.5 servings. Pair with a salad for three total servings


1 purple box of Annie's Shells and white cheddar macaroni and cheese
1/2 cup squash puree (you could also use canned pumpkin or squash)
1/2 cup low-fat milk
Handful of chopped spinach leaves

Prepare pasta according to the box directions
In a small bowl whisk together the powdered cheese and milk
Add in squash puree and whisk until somewhat smooth
When pasta is done cooking, drain and return to the hot pot
Add spinach and toss
Add cheese sauce and mix well
Enjoy!

Summary: 
Prep time: 5 minutes (while pasta cooks)
Cook time: 8-10 minutes
Pasta pot, colander, slotted spoon, cutting board & knife, whisk, bowl, serving bowls


As an added bonus to our healthy snack series kickoff, today Renee and I got a visit from Jacqueline and the Pretzel Crisp Car (@pretzelcrisps). She had seen Renee's tweet about healthy snacks and offered to drop by with some crisps for us to sample. Jacqueline even threw in a few tubs of Tribe Origins hummus. Did you know Tribe is a local company? They are just south in Taunton!  Pretzel Crisps are low fat and come in a variety of flavors from buffalo to cinnamon toast. The buffalo had a good kick, but wasn't too spicy. I don't love blue cheese, but they did have a fun recipe on the bag for a buffalo crisp topped with crumbled blue cheese and a celery slice. Sounds much healthier than a basket of wings.  We haven't tried all of the flavors yet, but are looking forward to sampling them during our 3:00 p.m. snack breaks.

Full disclosure: We were not asked to write about the snacks and we were not compensated in any way other than each receiving a goody bag full of pretzel crisps to share with our coworkers. Any opinions about the crisps belong to me.

Happy snacking!