Dessert for breakfast

Oats+Coconut+Pomegranate= Pure deliciousness.4 cups Old Fashioned Oats
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup canola oil
1 can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
6 ounce pkg dried pomegranate

Mix all of the ingredients except Pomegranate and spread on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees, for about 30 to 40 minutes, checking and stirring every 10 minutes or so. Cool completely. Add Pomegranate. Store in an airtight container.It goes perfectly with vanilla yogurt.It's like candy. For breakfast. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.

Brittany's Kitchen Adventures- Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Welcome to Brittany's Kitchen Adventures!
Before going on a "diet", I had practically never stepped foot inside the kitchen. I've had to teach myself how to cook/bake, but there's still a lot of things I've never tried, because they intimidate me. I'm a Deliciously Healthy cook/baker in training. Come on a journey with me as I conquer the kitchen! Every Monday, I pick something new and challenging to try in the kitchen! I blog about each kitchen adventure, whether it was a success or not. There's bound to be some disasters, but hopefully a lot of Deliciously Healthy successes!

A while ago (like as in a very long time ago. Okay, okay, it was LAST thanksgiving:), I bought everything to make pumpkin cinnamon roll cupcakes. Sounds yummy right? I thought so too. Everyday, I thought about making them, and everyday, I chickened out. Soon, the pumpkin season was over. As it rolled around this year, these popped in my mind everyday, just like before. But I was still too intimidated to make them. Yeast? Rise? Kneading? Hmmm. That's a whole lot of scariness right there. I saw it very fitting to make these for my first Kitchen Adventure. These weekly adventures are all about me trying new things, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone, so I can one day conquer the kitchen!

I got out all the ingredients, took a deep breath, and got started.

I started with "activating" the yeast. That was pretty scary to me. I don't know why. Now I know that all it involves is pouring a packet of yeast into 1/4 cup of warm water. What's so hard about that? See, I'm already growing. Master yeast: CHECK!

Next I put the first 9 ingredients into a mixer to combine everything, then pulled out the dough to knead it. That part was intimidating, hard on my hands, and fun at the same time! 10 minutes later, the dough was kneaded, smooth, and my hands were dead!
I kneaded dough for the first time! Yay me!
(Oh yeah, I cut my hair:)
Then you're supposed to cover the dough, and store it in a warm place for 45 minutes to let it rise. ???. What counts as a warm place? A little bit of stress kicked in at this point. Where the heck do I put this thing? My house is 69 degrees. I don't think that counts as warm. So, I turned on the oven for a couple minutes, then turned it off, and set the bowl in there, for 45 min.
Is there a better way to do this? What do you do?
It seemed to do the trick. It said if it leaves indents when you poke it with your fingers, then it's done rising. Looks like indents to me!
From this point, I started to get a little more comfortable. I rolled it out into a rectangle sprinkled the cinnamon mix, and the pecans, over the dough rolled it up cut it, and put it into the muffin pan. Then I stood in front of the oven, and watched the heavenly goodness, rise out of the pan!
Hot out of the oven:
When they were done, I drizzled the glaze over the top of the cupcakes, with a pipping bag and viola! They were done!
I did it!

And they are pretty darn yummy! And only 219 calories!

And if I can do it, YOU can do it!! Go HERE for the recipe!
I added 3 TBS of pecans to the mix, and I made them into cupcakes. Cause cupcakes are just better :)
Come back every Monday, and watch me try something new!

I think next week I'm going to make pumpkin pie, for the first time! Cause we gotta get ready for Thanksgiving people :D

Weekend Recap, and a Weigh In! Fun! ;)

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

I meant to do this post yesterday, but my husband had the day off, so it ended up being a long weekend! It was awesome! ;D

Over the weekend, I made 2 new Deliciously Healthy recipes, that I'm so excited to share with you!:

I woke up Saturday morning with the weirdest craving for french toast! So, I went into the kitchen to see if we had everything, without having to make a run to the store (the grocery store should be avoided at all costs on Sat.). Guess what? We did! Shocker! So, I made
Crunchy Cereal French Toast!! :It was crunchy, and yummy, and the perfect weekend breakfast!!
I wanted to use Cinnamon Life cereal, but we didn't have any, so I went with Strawberry Special K cereal. You can use any cereal you like! The strawberries on mine got a little burnt. I thought I would have to pick them off, but they didn't taste burnt at all, so I left them on. They added a sweet tartness to the french toast!

Here's What You Need:

~6 slices of whole wheat bread
~1 egg, and 2 egg whites
~1/2 a cup of low-fat milk
~1 1/2 cups of crushed cereal of your choice
~salt
~cinnamon

This is What You Do:

Crush in a plastic bag, a cereal of your choice. Pour cereal onto a plate. Beat together in a bowl 1 egg, 2 egg whites, milk, salt and cinnamon. Pour mixture into a deep plate. one by one, dip your bread into the egg mixture, coating both sides, then dip into the cereal mixture, coating both sides, and then into a hot pan. Cook on med/high until the egg has cooked. About 3 minutes, depending on how thick your bread is. You could also place the bread slices on a cookie sheet, and cook at 450 for 15 minutes. Add a topping of your choice, and dig in!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~6 servings
~Serving size: 1 slice of french toast
~About 200 calories per serving (it can range, depending on the kind of bread you use)
**I had 2 slices which put me at about 400 calories. A tiny bit of a splurge for breakfast, but I like to splurge on the weekends! ;D

On Sunday, my Husband and I were excited to watch the new series, LIFE, on the discovery channel! Did anyone else watch? It was so awesome! While we were watching it, my husband and I kept saying things like: "What?!" "Really!" "Dude!" "Cool!" "Whoa!" "Did you see that?" "Gasp!" "WOW!"
It was pretty funny!
It's amazing how beautiful our world is, but it's a shame how much we (I) take it for granted. The sunset is one of the most beautiful things, but do I ever take the time to look at it? Not really. And it's right in my backyard! Watching the show definitely helped me to remember how grateful I am to be living in this beautiful world! It was an 11 part event, so we recorded it, and every Sunday, we're going to watch a couple episodes together! I'm excited to watch the rest of the series!

We wanted something quick and simple for dinner Sunday night, so we could watch the show!

I remember as a kid, I loved making little pizzas out of English muffins! I thought I could easily make a Deliciously Healthy version, and it would be a fun, and simple Sunday dinner! Boy was it ever!! My husband and I both bought things we wanted on our individual pizzas, and it was a fun little activity to do together in the kitchen! This recipe is perfect for a fun, relaxing night at home!
Healthy English Muffin Mini Pizzas:
Here's What You Need:

**You can add any topping you like. Italian seasoned ground turkey, chicken, or any kind of veggie combo, would all be great on these mini pizzas. This is what I put on mine:

~1 package of whole wheat English muffins
~1 Jar of low sodium marinara, or pizza sauce
~1/2 an onion, chopped
~1 bell pepper, chopped
~1 cup chopped mushroom
~1 can of black olives, sliced
~1 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese

This is What You Do:

Preheat oven to 375. For each English muffin half, spread 1 tablespoon of the sauce over the top. Then, evenly spread out 1/4 cup of cheese, over 3 halves. Repeat for each trio. Then add the rest of your toppings. Place pizzas on a cookie sheet, and place in the oven for about 13 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the muffins are crispy. Enjoy!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~Servings: 4
~Serving size: 3 English muffin halves
~Calories: About 355 (If you use the toppings I did;)

****

Now for my weigh in:
My weigh-ins were on Tuesdays, but I thought I'd switch it to Monday. That way I could start out my week knowing where I stand, and so I could blog about it every Monday. I'm trying to have a little bit more a of a schedule on this little blog of mine ;). So, I switched it, and then I didn't blog about it yesterday! ;) Oh, silly me!
Okay, enough of the stalling. My weigh in had me at 181. (My clock is broken!;) Awesome. Again, I'm happy with it. I lost a pound and that's something to be proud of! I also have a few possible explanations rolling around in my head, that make me feel okay with the 1 pound loss:
1. I usually find that I'm down 2 pounds every Tuesday. Maybe I lose that last pound ON Tuesday? If that's the case it will show up in either my sneak peak weigh in, or next Monday's weigh in.
2. I think TOM might be thinking about showing up this month. I've been crossing my fingers all month, that my healthy eating will show, by having 2 periods in a row. Come on ovaries! You can do it! Last month I think I started around the 8th ( I ought to write that down;), so if it does show up, it's obviously late. But the phrase, "Better late then never", has never been so true, in this case! So, if it is going to make an appearance, I don't care if I don't lose weight...heck, I won't even care if I gain weight, if it means that Aunt flow payed me a visit 2 months in a row!

So, that's where I'm at this week. 181, happy, healthy, and anxious! ;D