I am definitely not one to call myself a “good cook,” or even a “cook” at that; however, in the past couple of months, I’ve learned (finally) to cook some “dishes” to survive at my place in Berkeley. Anyhow, that’s not the point. The point is, in the past few weeks, my sister and I have tried making some things from recipes. Normally when I cook at school I kind of just do whatever..but these days, I’ve been trying to follow recipes. I figured I might as well share some of things I’ve made. Too bad I didn’t take pictures. Guess you’ll just have to use your imagination!

First off — my sister, a friend, and I made banana muffins, although they actually taste more like banana bread instead. Either way, they came out DELICIOUS! I made these twice. Here is the recipe, courtesy of CC:

Makes 12 servings
Low calorie, low fat muffins from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together banana, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in the applesauce and vanilla. Stir banana mixture into flour until just combined. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool before serving. For best flavor, place in an airtight container or bag overnight.

Notes: Instead of using plain sugar, we used brown sugar.

Next up, my sister and I made Veggie Burger Patties. The recipe (also courtesy of CC) –

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 potato, peeled and grated
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/4 cup onion, grated
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 2 egg whites

Directions

1. Combine ingredients, mix well.
2. Pour 1/2 cup batter on hot griddle.
3. Fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

These were..quite interesting. I’m not sure I’d make it again, but they turned out similar to those “potato pancakes” I see in the grocery stores that I always want to buy but never do. The inside of the patties didn’t seem to get fried; only the outside did, but maybe it’s supposed to be that way? My sister and I ate them with ketchup and mustard. If we didn’t, the patties really didn’t have much taste.

Two nights ago, my sister and I made “Stuffed Shells with Red Sauce,” a recipe from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. This recipe was basically pasta shells, home-made red sauce, and “Tofu ‘Ricotta’”. We put a bit too much garlic in it though (this seems to be a problem for me..I always do this) so it came out a bit too salty but it was very delicious nonetheless. The coolest part of this recipe was the Tofu “Ricotta” — it was: extra firm tofu, garlic, oregano, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a food processor/blender to blend it all together that actually did taste like ricotta cheese!! It’s craaaazy! I would definitely make that again, although it kind of took us forever.

My most recent endeavor with cooking was tonight, when I tried to make mashed potatoes and failed miserably. I attempted to make “healthy” mashed potatoes (see recipe here)  but it definitely did NOT turn out yummy. I think it’s most likely because I didn’t use butter as you’re supposed to in actual mashed potatoes..instead I just used chicken stock (?!). Maybe I don’t cook enough to know the actual recipe of mashed potatoes or whatnot, but anyhow, my mashed potatoes turned out too dry and again, I put too much garlic. Dammit!!! I think I was probably supposed to add more chicken stock to make the consistency better but by then I gave up since we ate KFC and had mashed potatoes anyway. Mission failed!!

Alright, well there are my most recent cooking adventures (if you could call them that). At least they all mostly succeeded!

I added a new page, “Healthy Dessert Alternatives,” so I figured I’ll post the content as a blog entry, too!

So, as part of my new eating plan, my sister and I have created healthy alternatives to dessert we used to like.

Fruit Parfait

Instead of eating parfaits from restaurants that are normally 300-400 calories (for example, the Fresh Berry Parfait from Corner Bakery Cafe) filled with too much granola or too much yogurt (although yummy), you can make your own at home. You don’t have to spend that extra money, and you’ll be eating healthier, and have parfaits whenever you want!

You need the Dannon Light ‘n Fit Vanilla Yogurt (60 calories for the whole thing), strawberry (1 cup, halves; 50 calories), Cascadian Farm’s Cinnamon Raisin Granola (about 1/6 of a cup; 55 calories).

So what I do is I take a small plate/bowl (or one of those dishes in-between), and I use half of the yogurt. Then I put as many strawberries as I want. I usually cut a strawberry into many pieces; I cut it in half, and then half, then another half again. I use around 2-3 strawberries. Then take the Cinnamon Raisin Granola, a very small handful (not even a handful…just enough so that you can hold it in between your fingers), and sprinkle it on top of your parfait. It is very delicious and satisfying, and is more than half times less calories than what you’d get otherwise (30+50+55=135)!

Chocolate Fondue Replacement

I really love chocolate fondue, especially chocolate fondue coming out of a chocolate fountain. But first off, I know I never get to eat fondue unless on special occasions, but when I do, I always want a LOT of it. So, I came up with a healthy alternative to fondue.

You’ll need: Jell-O Chocolate Sugar-Free Pudding, strawberries, and bananas.

Cut the strawberry leaf parts off of the strawberries, and then peel a banana and cut it into small slices. I just put half of the pudding into a bowl, and dip my strawberries and bananas in, hands-on.

Caloric-wise, you get about: 30 (for half of the jell-o), 45 (1 cup, whole strawberries), 45 (for 1/2 of a small banana). Total: 120 calories.