Cookbook Giveaway | Lighten Up, America!

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Jennifer FIsher

Golly gee, I was just talking about my favorite healthy cookbooks in honor of National Cookbook Month and then a new one (plus a second copy to give away) shows up at my doorstep — Cooking Light Lighten Up, America! I can already tell this collection of regional American recipes is going to be well-worn in no time thanks to the quirky style and healthy spin author Allison Fishman Task puts on so many of my family’s favorite dishes – and new recipe ideas!

Filled with more than 150 recipes with easy-to-follow instructions, helpful healthy tips and beautiful photography that captures every drool-worthiness morsel, this cookbook also exudes the spirit of foodie adventure that can only come from road-tripping from one American food festival to the next. Keep reading on and find out how you can win my giveaway for a copy of Lighten Up, America!

But, here are the Amazon links if you can’t wait to win!

With so many recipes, I devised a simple plan to start my cooking plan of attack! In each of the chapters, I’ve picked one recipe that speaks to me in some way – whether childhood memories, a favorite flavor crave, or just because the photo looks so inviting.

Lighter American Breakfasts:

$tex mex migas$

Tex-Mex Migas are a breakfast staple in my hometown of Austin, Texas. Good for lunch too!

Lighter American Lunches:

Shrimp Po’Boys loaded with pan-sautéed gulf shrimp (rather than fried) make this New Orleans classic my new best friend.

Lighter American Main Dishes:

Another popular dish in Austin (and one more way to use my 75 lbs of Hatch Green Chile), these Chile Rellenos are actually quickly pan-fried for crunch and then baked in the oven – saving loads of fat and calories!

Lighter American Side Dishes:

Not a fan of this veggie until I tried them roasted! Add bacon and it’s better – am I right?!

Lighter American Desserts:

I’m totally making this Triple Chocolate Cake for my husband’s birthday.

To enter the giveaway to win a copy of Lighten Up, America! , just follow the simple Rafflecopter instructions below.
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How to Celebrate Family Health & Fitness Day!

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Jennifer FIsher

Stay active, even on vacation

Today is Family Health & Fitness Day USA and I’m blogging all about it at Living Litehouse. This national health and fitness initiative encourages family involvement in physical activity and eating right, primary goals of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health. Statistics show that most of us, especially children from 12 – 21 years of age, are getting not getting the exercise and healthy foods we need to perform our best. Here are some great ways to live healthy every day of the year:

Get the whole family involved in a fun run!

Devote one hour a day to being active. It doesn’t always have to be a hardcore workout; walking to school with your kids or raking leaves together are examples of how to easily fit it into a busy schedule. Making exercise all fun and games is also a way to sneak it in – play tag, hula hoop, jump rope or sign up for a family fun run.

Encourage extra-curricular sports. I’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to know if you like something until you try it, especially if there are pre-conceived notions involved. If your kid shows an aptitude combined with a passion a sport, let him go for it. Otherwise, don’t worry about trying to train a little Olympic prodigy, just let them enjoy the experience.

Make healthy eating fun. A balanced diet doesn’t have to be something to dread. Instead, pack your family’s plates and lunchboxes with creative and nutritious foods that are scaled back on fat, sugar, sodium and unneccesary preservatives and artificial stuff. The healthiest eaters focus on filling up with vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. Of course, just search around my recipes and you’ll find a ton of tasty mealtime inspiration.

Get kids involved in picking out colorful fruits and vegetables.

Don’t forget to visit Living Litehouse to learn more about this and find out other great ways to live well and eat well.

School is Hard, Cookies are Soft. #GF Quinoa Oat Almond Chocolate Chippers

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Jennifer FIsher

Wow, it has really been hard getting back into the school routine. And, I’m not even the one attending class! We hit the ground running last week for our family’s final year with three kids in three different schools – high school, middle school and elementary. Please, please don’t let there ever be another preschooler in my future. Been there, done that . . . and loved that! But, know we’re moving onto the hard stuff – hard in the sense that I hear my 11^th grader whispering to my 8^th grader, “Don’t ask mom to help with your homework.” Sigh.

While pre-calculus and physics might be hard, I am happy to report that cookies are soft. They are soft and chewy and gooey with chocolate chips. That’s the way we like to do cookies in my house. I’ve been trying to make healthier treats for my kids, so the recipe for Quinoa Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies in the September 2013 issue of Cooking Light caught my eye. The Salted Pistachio Chocolate Cookies (PaIeo) I created a while back were a huge hit. However, I love the fact that these chocolate chip cookies are made with quinoa flour. I hadn’t ever baked with it before and was excited to give it a try. Quinoa is high in protein, calcium and iron and the same holds true when it is ground down into flour. Baking experts say you can substitute quinoa flour for half of the all-purpose flour in many recipes or completely replace wheat flour in cakes and cookie recipes.

Does summer vacation really have to be over?

Since we have a few gluten intolerant friends that like to hang around after school, I thought I’d tweak the recipe to suit a GF diet. I calling my version Gluten-Free Quinoa-Oat-Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies and, I think it turned out pretty well. What I did to make them gluten-free was substitute the one cup of all-purpose flour that accompanied the quinoa flour with ½ cup almond meal and ½ cup ground oats. What I found out about oats and a GF diet is that oats are gluten-free; however there is a risk for contamination in the field or in the factory – that’s why it’s best to buy specifically labeled gluten-free oats. Also, another thing to be aware of, especially when serving to gluten intolerant guests – a very small percentage of people who are sensitive to gluten also have an allergy to oats.

Gluten-Free Quinoa-Oat-Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, ground
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups gluten-free granola
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate mini-chips

In a medium bowl, combine quinoa flour, almond meal, ground oats, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugars, oil, and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Add vanilla and egg; beat until well blended. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in granola and chocolate chips. Cover and chill dough 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Divide dough into 24 equal portions (about 4 teaspoons each). Roll portions into small balls; arrange balls 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Flatten balls slightly. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until bottoms of cookies just begin to brown.

The Cooking Light Quinoa Granola Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I was inspired by is also an excellent healthy option for those of you who don’t need to worry about dietary restrictions. Mmmm, here it is below. Also, check out their collection of portable, healthy snacks — all perfect to pack in backpacks!

Egg-celent School Morning Idea! Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker Giveaway

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Jennifer FIsher

I have a keen sense of smell and an uncanny ability to track down delicious food being made anywhere, anytime. I’ll run faster than you to get there, elbow you out of the way to nab the last piece; all while smiling politely, of course. Survival of fittest, right? This past June at BlogHerFood, my food sample seeking senses were in major overdrive. In the expo hall, every nook and corner of this epic epicurean event was filled with all the latest food products and gadgets on the market. I kept making the rounds over to the Hamilton Beach booth, hoping that they wouldn’t recognized my variety of disguises – like the greedy trick-or-treater kids swapping Halloween masks in the bushes by your front door.

Hamilton Beach was cooking up breakfast sandwiches in a really nifty looking machine. Take a look. Take a good look because I am giving one away! You’ll need to keep reading down to the bottom of the post to enter.

What I loved about this little breakfast sandwich machine is that it wasn’t just another use-once-and-then-stick-in-the-cabinet gizmo. It was a lean, mean breakfast sandwich-making machine that I knew I could train my ‘tween and teenage boys to use. I feel it’s important to start off the day with a good breakfast, especially one that is packed with protein – about 20 -25 grams of lean protein is the best way to start the day. Last year I met Dr. Heather Leidy, an expert in nutrition and exercise physiology from the University of Missouri, and learned about her recent research that shows how eating enough protein at breakfast can prevent unhealthy snacking in the evening and thus help control weight.

That’s why I like to get my brood of breakfast eaters off to school with something of more substance in their stomachs than Lucky Charms or a Pop Tart. Eggs are always a favorite, and I’ve tried my hand at making breakfast sandwiches by making an egg patty in a custard cup in the microwave and then putting it on an English muffin. Actually, that technique works pretty well, but then the remaining steps to get the sandwich finished up can be a chore. Enter the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker. In one fell swoop, this gadget toasts your bread product of choice, melts cheese and warms veggies and meats – all while cooking up your egg scrambled or sunny-side up!

It’s the perfect little machine for streamlining the back-to-school morning chaos. It only takes 5 minutes to make a sandwich and an on-off indicator light lets you know when everything is done. Then, with a pull of the lever, your egg is released between the bread and other fixings – ready to eat! The non-stick finish makes everything easy to clean up.

To make sure we had a handle on this machine before school started (goodness knows I didn’t want to decipher an instruction book on the first-day-of-school morning), we tried it out at our last hurrah of summer at the beach. With six hungry boys in the condo, I had no trouble selling these sammies – here’s my cute nephew giving it the thumbs up.

There really isn’t a recipe to follow for this machine; you just add the ingredients you like. We used whole-grain sandwich thins (those skinny buns), bagels, sourdough bread cut to shape with the top of a glass, and even waffles. Inside, I offered up a selection of cheese and meats ranging from bacon to deli-style turkey. And, don’t forget the egg – it is recommended to use real eggs, not those from a carton (especially with egg whites). You can see my personal Turkey, Spinach, Tomato and Egg Breakfast Sandwich creation in the first photo of the post. Hamilton Beach has some official breakfast sandwich ideas, if you are interested.

I’m excited to be giving away a Breakfast Sandwich Maker to simplify one of my reader’s morning routines. Trust me; you’ll appreciate not being tempted to hit a greasy fast-food drive-thru. Follow the simple Rafflecopter instructions below to enter.

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What Salad Dressing Says About You + Litehouse Foods Giveaway

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Jennifer FIsher

So many of our daily habits, things you or I would never think twice about, offer greater insight into our personalities than we realize. For example, consider how you install your toilet paper on the roller. The science of toilet paper orientation says that if you put the roll in so it pulls “over,” you are a logical, rational traditionalist who likes order. If you put the roll so it pulls “under,” you are more of a spontaneous, carefree and enthusiastic person. And, if you can’t be bothered with putting the roll on at all, then . . . shame on you!

This post really isn’t about toilet paper. Keep reading on to find out about salad dressing and your personality and don’t miss the Litehouse Foods coupon giveaway.

The way you use salad dressing also provides insight into your inner being. In a recent blog I wrote for Living Litehouse, called Pour on Personality, explains the differences in disposition between “toppers,” “mixers,” and “dippers.” So, how do YOU use salad dressing? Maybe you have your own unique style – a “spritzer,” “forker” or maybe you use salad dressing as a condiment on other foods. Lately, I’ve been on a kick of combining ranch dressing and salsa together and then mixing it into my salad. But, then again, sometimes I just use it on the side to dunk my chunks of veggies into. Oh no – I have multiple personalities!

Don’t miss reading the entire post on Pour on Personality at the Living Lighthouse blog for Litehouse Foods.

Speaking of Litehouse Foods, I just love their products – that’s why I blog for them. Many of the healthy, fit foods I make at home are inspired by their fresh products. Litehouse Foods makes so many tasty things, from artisanal cheeses and fresh salad dressings (found in the produce section) vegetable and fruit dips . They also have a really unique product line of freeze-dried herbs, called Instantly Fresh Herbs, which taste amazing, rehydrate quickly within a recipe, and can be kept conveniently on-hand in the pantry. No more tossing away expensive fresh herbs that wilt away by the end of the week.

A few of the Instantly Fresh Herbs

To share the love, I’d like to give away three (3) free coupons for any Litehouse Foods products the winner selects. To enter, just follow the simple Rafflecopter instructions below.

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thefitfork.com

The Fit Fork

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cookbook Giveaway | Lighten Up, America!

How to Celebrate Family Health & Fitness Day!

School is Hard, Cookies are Soft. #GF Quinoa Oat Almond Chocolate Chippers

Egg-celent School Morning Idea! Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker Giveaway

What Salad Dressing Says About You + Litehouse Foods Giveaway