HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Yum, oh, yum. There isn't much more to say about this healthified classics! Pumpkin adds flavor, fiber, and vitamins to these delicious cookies--just in time for autumn. My mother is the one who taught me that you don't have to buy cream of tarter just for this recipe; 2 tsp cream of tarter + 1 tsp baking soda = 1 T baking powder. Brilliant! If you wanted, you could double the pumpkin to replace the egg, in case of egg allergy. Also, these cookies are possibly even better the day after baked.

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Cream together:
3/4 c softened butter
1 1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c ground flax seed meal

Add:
1 egg
1/2 c canned pumpkin purree

Sift together, then add to previous ingredients:
2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Combine in a separate bowl:
2 T + 3/4 tsp white sugar
2 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Roll balls of dough in cinnamon sugar. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until just barely starting to brown on the edges. Let sit on cookie sheet at least until the cookies start to flatten but before they cool all the way.

HealthiFood Mashed Potatoes

The cauliflower added to this recipe gives you added vitamins without added calories. These are extremely low fat as well--you only add 1 Tablespoon!

HealthiFood Mashed Potatoes

Boil until soft:
2 c peeled and diced raw potato

Drain and return to pot. Mash and add:
1 T margarine or butter
1/4 c cauliflower puree
1/4 c nonfat milk
1/4 tsp salt

Makes a little over 2 cups.

HealthiFood Seven-Vegetable Lasagna

Lasagna is my most favorite dinner dish, which I guess I have in common with Garfield, and it was meant to be when my birthday is National Lasagna Day! This recipe is the result of a lot of different tries to come up with my favorite lasagna. Stoffer's scoot over!

HealthiFood Seven-Vegetable Lasagna

2 ½ c HealthiFood basic red pasta sauce (divided)

¼ c cauliflower puree

¾ c cooked and drained ground sausage

2 c nonfat cottage cheese

3 c chopped fresh baby spinach (divided)

4 c grated mozzarella cheese (divided)

10 dry, uncooked lasagna noodles

Mix together 1 ½ cups of the sauce (reserving 1 cup), the cauliflower puree, the sausage, and the cottage cheese in a bowl.

Spray a square glass pan (8x8 or 9x9) and spread half a cup of the sauce you reserved (not mixed in the cottage cheese mixture) on the bottom of the pan. Place a layer of noodles on top of the sauce.

Spread one-third of the cottage cheese mixture (about 1 ½ cups) over the noodles. Sprinkle on 1 cup of spinach followed by 1 cup of cheese. Add a layer of noodles on top of the cheese, then another third of the cottage cheese mixture (another 1 ½ cups), and another cup each of spinach and cheese. Start with noodles again for one more layer (noodles, cottage cheese sauce, spinach, and cheese), using the rest of the ingredients you have left except the last half cup of reserved red sauce, one cup of cheese, and enough noodles for the top layer. Place your final noodles and spread the reserved sauce on top. Sprinkle on the cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour (until nice and bubbly), removing the aluminum foil for the last 20 minutes of baking. (Hint: this makes a nice and full casserole that will most likely drip. You will want to either bake it on a foil-lined cooking sheet or place foil on the bottom of your oven.)

HealthiFood Canned Soup Saver

Fact: I have bags of vegetable puree in my freezer. This is convenient in many ways, but especially when we're going to eat canned soup.

Ever since I learned how to make my own creamy, delicious soups from scratch, I don't really like canned soup. But when I'm too sick to cook, it's a better choice than fast food, so sometimes we do it.

Adding vegetable purees makes canned soups a lot more healthy and delicious. I usually select something that will hide well or I know my family won't mind. For example, in a beef broth soup that's already brown, they probably won't notice some spinach puree that just makes the brown slightly darker and greener. They probably won't notice carrot puree added to a chicken broth or cauliflower puree added to a creamed soup.

The more vegetable puree you can add and the more variety, the better. This will bulk your canned soup with added vitamins and fiber and reduce the sodium content per serving. Grinding in a little black pepper is usually my final finishing touch, and then we've got a super quick meal that tastes just a little more homemade.

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are everyone's favorite, right? Mine combine the basic recipe of Todd Wilbur's Mrs. Fields copycat recipe with the principles of the Sneaky Chef and Jessica Seinfeld to create a healthified perfection! Plus, my recipe saves you 82 calories and 5.6 grams of fat per cookie and adds almost a gram of fiber. And who eats just one? 

You'll notice that my recipe has a lot of ingredients, so here are a couple of notes about why. Usually I use margarine and butter interchangeably, but with these cookies I discovered that a blend yields the best texture and flavor. Why two sugars? Brown sugar adds a rich taste that helps off-set the whole wheat flour, but white sugar allows for that crispy cookie edge we all love. Where in the world do you get oat flour? Just blend up some old-fashioned oats in your blender or food processor until it's like flour. And don't skip that ingredient; that's the secret to making these whole grain cookies super delicious!

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together:
1/4 c softened butter
1/4 c softened margarine
1/4 c white bean puree
1/2 c white sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar

Add:
1/4 c ground flax seed meal
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Sift together, then add to wet ingredients:
2 c whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c oat flour

Stir in:
1 c chocolate chips

Drop by tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 11 minutes or until the edges are just barely brown. Makes about 4 dozen cookies

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pancakes (or Waffles)

My husband is a breakfast man. He could eat waffles every day of his life if I didn't mind. Thanks to the principles in Deceptively Delicious, his pancakes or waffles have a richer flavor and are fortified with added fiber and vitamins from whole grains and vegetables. And compared to the basic recipe my husband grew up on, HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pancakes have 1.6 less grams of fat, 1.8 more grams of fiber, and 1 more gram of protein per serving.

HealthiFood Whole Wheat Pancakes (or Waffles)

Sift together:
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt 
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 T ground flax seed meal

Mix together in a separate bowl:
1 1/4 c nonfat milk soured with 1 T lemon juice
1 T canola oil (use 2 T for waffles)
1 egg
1/2 c sweet potato puree
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix wet and dry ingredient until just combined. Drop 1/4 c of batter onto greased 350 degree griddle or frying pan or cook according to waffle iron directions. Makes about 10-12 pancakes or about 8 waffles.

HealthiFood Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Praise the heavens when frozen strawberries went on sale at the grocery store for 99 cents a bag (!) and I came up with this delicious dessert. FYI, a serving of HealthiFood Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (half this recipe) has 75% less fat and 50% more protein than a 1/2 c serving of strawberry ice cream.

HealthiFood Strawberry Frozen Yogurt


6 oz frozen unsweetened strawberries
6 oz lowfat vanilla yogurt

Blend together and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Image from Microsoft clip art.

The olive oil and honey in this dough make a really nice flavor. One recipe makes 2 lbs. of dough, which is enough for two 14" pizzas. I like to use one half of the dough and freeze the other for a quick pizza later. I've written the instructions below to make it by hand, but the recipe is also bread machine ready (just follow your manufacture's directions) or you could mix and knead in a stand mixer. This recipe originates from Breadman, but my alterations save you 50 calories and 1 gram of fat and add 5.5 grams of fiber and 1.5 grams of protein per serving (or quarter of a pizza).

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Dissolve together:
1 1/2 c warm water
2 tsp honey
2 tsp yeast

Add:
2 tsp salt
1 T ground flax seed meal
1 T olive oil

Add and knead until smooth and elastic:
4 c whole wheat flour

If you're in a hurry, you can use this dough for pizza right away. However, the more you let it rise (up to two times before rolling out), the softer it will be. When ready, roll out dough and top with tomato sauce, cheese, and whatever else you like. Bake on the top rack of your oven for about 20 minutes (until cheese is slightly golden) at 400 degrees.

HealthiFood Basic Brown Rice

Soaking brown rice is one of my biggest cooking secrets! I couldn't get my husband to touch the stuff before I came up with this. Feel free to add as much vegetable puree as your family will allow and to season your rice however you want. I even use this basic rice (purees and all) to make fried rice. Why go brown? Think whole grain and 3.5 g fiber per cup!

Combine in a rice cooker or pot:
 1 c brown rice
2 c water

Soak together, covered, all day, over night, or at least a few hours. When ready, cook rice according to package directions (on the stove or in a cooker) until excess water is boiled off.

Add and thoroughly combine:
2 T cauliflower puree
1 T butternut squash puree


Serve with your entree and enjoy!

HealthiFood Basic Red Pasta Sauce

I've been developing this pasta sauce for many years. The added vegetable purees, based on the Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious programs, add richness, texture, and a lot of vitamins to your ordinary tomato sauce. The three tomato products (soup, sauce, and paste) are easily to substitute one for another if you happen to be out of one, but all three together create a fabulous creamy blend that is just right in flavor and consistency. The vegetables could be substituted one for another as well if you don't have them available, but the full blend gives you a good, healthy variety. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your taste as well. I like to add cooked and drained ground sausage for a quick spaghetti sauce. I compared my nutrition facts to Prego spaghetti sauce with these results: HealthiFood sauce has half the calories, 11% of the fat, 3 grams less sugar, and .3 grams more protein per half-cup serving compared to Prego. That's a success to me!



HealthiFood Basic Red Pasta Sauce
Makes a little more than 4 cups.

1/4 c butternut squash puree
1/4 c yam puree
1/4 c carrot puree
1/4 c zucchini puree (or cubes, if desired)
2 - 8 oz cans tomato sauce (no salt added, if possible)
1 - 10.75 oz can tomato soup (lowfat, if possible)
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper (freshly cracked, if possible)

Blend ingredients together. Store in the fridge for up to a week. Freezes well. Warm on stove and add water to desired final thickness before serving. Serve on pasta, pizza, lasagna, with bread sticks, etc.