Healthy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

 These are my husband's FAVORITE potatoes! They have tons of flavor without all the fat. In the past I made them with sour cream, but I decided to try and lighten them up a bit by using Greek yogurt instead. You couldn't even tell! They were delicious!

Healthy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 medium size red potatoes

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 3/4 teaspoons McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

garlic salt to taste

Directions:

Cut the potatoes in quarters and place in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and return potatoes to the saucepan on low heat.

Sprinkle potatoes with Parmesan cheese and seasonings. Mash potatoes with a potato masher and gradually add milk (depending on how creamy or chunky you want the potatoes you can had more or less milk), Greek yogurt, and butter. Mash until desired consistency. Garlic salt to taste and more steak seasoning if needed.

Potatoes usually have a bad rep but did you know red potatoes phenolic content rivals that of broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts, and includes flavonoids with protective activity against cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and certain cancers?!

Read more health benefits of potatoes (there are more):

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=48

Baked SWEET Potato Fries

I love french fries but I've never been a huge fan of sweet potato fries! However, I absolutely love sweet potato casserole, probably because it is loaded with brown sugar and butter! So I was inspired to make SWEET potato fries that are actually sweet! I can now say I am a fan of sweet potato fries!

These fries are healthy, delicious, crispy, and contain NO OIL!

Baked SWEET Potato Fries 
Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes or yams
1 egg white
1 tablespoon sucanat or brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For Dipping Sauce
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt (plain yogurt with 7 drops of vanilla stevia)

a couple dashes of cinnamon

Directions

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into strips or wedges with even thickness. Soak in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes to allow all starch to be removed and to help the potatoes to have a crispy texture. Drain and pat completely dry.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, add egg white and beat until slightly foamy. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Spread potato slices onto baking sheet and make sure they do not overlap and are not crowded or touching. Combine the sucanat, salt, and cinnamon and sprinkle on the potatoes.
Bake for 15 minutes. Take out and flip the fries over and return to oven for another 15 minutes or until cooked through. The thinner the fry, the shorter the time, so keep an eye on them! Reduce heat to 200F and let the fries dry for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy with yogurt dipping sauce

*If you do not have a convection oven, occasionally vent the oven the allow the steam to escape. This will help crisp up the fries more.

 Health Benefit of Sweet Potatoes

One difficulty in describing the health benefits of sweet potatoes is knowing where to begin. There are a surprising number of nutrient categories responsible for the health benefits of this underappreciated tuber. Among these categories are antioxidants, anti-inflammatory nutrients, and blood sugar-regulating nutrients.

Read more:http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64

Recipe Adapted from Natural Noshing

Low-Fat Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe was posted by my sister in law Erin! 
Macaroni and cheese is one of my husband's, and subsequently my children's,  favorite meals! When we first got married I got his mom's recipe so that I could make it just the way he liked it! Only problem, is that we couldn't have it too often (in good conscious) because of how much fat there was in it. A few years ago I was watching a Rachel Ray episode and she made a healthier version of macaroni and cheese from her Yum-o cookbook. That is what inspired this recipe!

Low-Fat Macaroni & Cheese

2 tablespoons coconut oil (can sub butter or other oil)

2 tablespoons flour (wheat, white, or oat)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 cup medium-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

6-8 cups of your favorite (wheat!!) noodle, cooked

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut oil, flour, salt, and pepper, blending well and creating a rue, over medium-low heat. When rue starts to bubble add chicken broth. Stirring frequently, turn your heat up to medium, stir until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Remove from heat and add your cheeses. Stir until all cheese is melted and incorporated. Pour over your prepared noodles and stir until all noodles are coated with cheese. Enjoy!

This recipe has so much flavor to it! Using the coconut oil gives it a little bit of a nutty flavor, and then with the chicken broth and different cheeses, it makes it SO good! Be creative with this recipe too! Add your favorite cheese blend and make it your own! I've always dreamed of using havarti and making it really gourmet, but alas, my family doesn't go for "different".  Either way, there is so much less guilt when giving your kids something they love, and you know its not contributing to their chances of childhood obesity!! Win-Win!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

* A little cheese tip: When you have a sharper cheese, there is more flavor, reducing the amount of cheese you need to use, which in turn reduces fat and calories! 

Best Coleslaw Ever!

This is my all time favorite coleslaw and the recipe comes from my mother in law!! It is sooo good!

Every time I take this coleslaw to a potluck or party, it never fails to get compliments and I ALWAYS have someone ask if they can have the recipe.

Coleslaw

Ingredients:

Coleslaw mixture:

6 cups cabbage, shredded

1 1/2 cup carrots, shredded

1/3 cup red onions, chopped

3/4 cup craisins

1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted

2 apples, chopped

sauce:

3/4 cup butter milk

3/4 cup light mayonnaise (I have also used half light mayo and half Greek plain yogurt)

4-5 tablespoons sweetener of choice (evaporated cane juice, stevia, sugar, etc)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Combine sauce ingredients together in a bowl; mix well. Mix all other ingredients (coleslaw mixture) together in a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the coleslaw mixture.

ENJOY!

Did you know cabbage helps prevent cancer?!

Cancer prevention tops all other areas of health research with regard to cabbage and its outstanding benefits. More than 475 studies have examined the role of this cruciferous vegetable in cancer prevention (and in some cases, cancer treatment). The uniqueness of cabbage in cancer prevention is due to the three different types of nutrient richness found in this widely enjoyed food. The three types are (1) antioxidant richness, (2) anti-inflammatory richness, and (3) richness in glucosinolates.

Source: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?dbid=19&tname=foodspice