Love and Hearts revisited

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, but I wanted to share with you our Halliday Valentine's Day Love and Hearts Brunch and Dinner Extravaganza. While it's a few weeks late, I think you will still find the dishes inspiring, easy to make and healthy (ok maybe not the last one).

One of the best parts of this Valentine's Day Sunday was that all of us went to our respective gyms and worked out hard for a 1 hour class of sweating, cardio and heart-healthy strength and muscle building- what better love to give your real heart than the gift of exercise. I am so proud of my family- my husband recently joining a gym for the first time in his life and my teenage daughter for getting up at 7:30am on a Sunday morning to go to the gym and workout with me- this is truly the best love and hearts gift ever!

Here's the LOVE

.

Here's the HEARTS

For Valentine's Day Brunch I decided to make these delightful little heart-shaped French toast

All I did was use my heart-shaped cookie cutter on some Wonder White bread with Fibre and cut out the love shapes!  You ask, 'Chantal, what did you do with those crusts though, isn't that a waste?' Well, of course I wouldn't be so wasteful, I cut them up, seasoned them with spices and a bit of olive oil, baked them and made croutons with them!!!

Next, I thawed some frozen berries- those juicy and anti-oxidant filled plump jewels...

And then plated the heart-shaped French toast with some of those luscious berries on top. Gorgeous visually and good for you too!

So you might wonder what a woman who is on a healthy living journey might want for Valentine's day?  The finest of course-- Purdys!

As a commitment to my healthy living focus, I suggested to my dear husband that all I wanted was one piece of the best chocolate I have ever tasted. That is the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel that you see here. It was beautiful, dark, rich, chewy, sweet and salty and worth all of it's 53 calories (which by the way I already 'burned' of at the gym that morning)!

Now for our dinner I wanted to make one of my daughter's favourites - Thai Cold Rolls. A time consuming, but totally healthy and nutritious appetizer. (recipe posted before)

And for my husband, I decided to make one of his favourite- SHRIMP!

But this time, I tried a spicy Asian twist. This was my take on a spicy coconut shrimp curry.

I served it over rice and a side of bok choi. 

It was very flavourful and not too rich.... that would be saved for the 'over the top' decadent desert served later.

Coconut Curry Shrimp (adapted from jocooks.com)

INGREDIENTS

For Shrimp Marinade

• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/7 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 lb extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (5.5 oz) unsweetened coconut milk
• fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish
• cooked rice for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a small bowl toss the shrimp with the marinade ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2. While the shrimp is marinating, heat the oil in a medium size pot. To it add the onion, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the ginger, garlic, pepper, salt, coriander, turmeric and curry powder.
3. Continue to cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes with juices and all, stir well and cook for about a minute after which add the coconut milk, stir and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Add shrimp with the accumulated juices from the marinade and cook for another 5 minutes or until the shrimp is pink and cooked through.
4. Serve over hot rice and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Ok, so here it is....

This is what I prepared as our 'over the top' Valentine's Dinner treat.  Individual Peanut Butter Molten Dark Chocolate cakes.  My husband's favourite is peanut butter, mine is dark chocolate- marriage made in heaven right?

Well, I can't even tell you how rich this was. Although it was a small ramekin portion, I couldn't finish it all because it was so rich (a testament to my healthy eating transformation). It was a treat, it was incredibly decadent, it was great fun to make... but that's all folks. No sharing recipes of this little piece of heaven (but if you really want to see it, check out my Pinterest board).

After all this sharing, cooking, baking, working out, I want you to remember one thing: Focus on health, have the occasional treat and 'Keep Calm and Hug On'.

Raspberry Berret - or - Mixed Berry French Toast

Get it??? French Toast- is French and Berrets are French. And these are delighful Mixed Berry French Toast. By the way, did you know that French Toast in French is called 'Pain Dorée'. Which, translated means Golden Bread. Funny eh?

Here's how I 'Healthied' up my French Toast folks. I used fresh whole wheat bakery bread as my base.
To my liquid misture I add eggs, skim milk, vanilla and cinnamon.... always add cinnamon, it adds sweetness without any sugar or calories.

And instead of using maple syrup, I took some frozen mixed berries and melted them with a pit of maple syrup in the microwave. It adds tons of flavour and colour and antioxidents to your breakfasts. Vive les framboises!

Healthy Chocolate Chip Waffle and Berries

Ooooh la la! How fun it is to dig up your old wedding presents and impress your family with an easy to convert pancake recipe- enter my Waffle Maker!

I took my healthy pancake recipe http://simmerandglimmer.blogspot.ca/2011/11/whole-wheat-pancakes-and-turkey-bacon.html, added a few organic dark chocolate chips and voila!

Here's a close up shot for you. Of course, to boost up the nutrition, I added some fresh berries on top. This is definitively a deliciously filling brunch meal. It amazed my daughter who had never seen the waffle maker in use. A crowd pleaser for sure... hey, maybe I'll have to have a brunch party one day real soon.



Double Chocolate Brownie Batter Pancakes and Raspberry Coulis

Hello folks, here is the double chocolate brownie batter pancake I promised to give you the recipe for. I have been following a fun blog called 'Chocolate Covered Katie' and she is a vegan who makes everything healthy and good for you and guess what... all out of chocolate. So I adapted her recipe a little bit and added dark chocolate chips and prepared a raspberry coulis to drizzle over them. It was a HIT!

Double Chocolate Brownie Batter Pancakes

 adapted from (http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/08/09/double-chocolate-brownie-batter-pancakes/)

(Makes 6-8 silver-dollar pancakes)

1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 T Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa or dutch cocoa

1 T plus 1 tsp sugar

1/16 tsp salt

1 and 1/2 T applesauce or oil (Personally, I use 1 T oil and 1/2 T applesauce. But I don’t like fat-free pancakes.)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

5 and 1/2 T milk of choice

Mix dry ingredients very well, then add wet. Make pancakes!

There are only 130 calories in this entire recipe. If you want a more substantial breakfast, feel free to make a bigger serving and/or go crazy with the toppings!!

Calories: 130, Fiber: 5.5 grams , Protein: 5 grams , Fat: 1 gram

Here they are being created in my non-stick pan! They really did smell like brownies cooking in there.

Here is the final product with the raspberry coulis and berries on top. It's such a delicious picture, I had to show it to you again!  Try making these, you will make friends for sure!

Light Raspberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes

Now, here's the recipe I promised you- my 'Ode to Canada' mini cheesecake cupcakes... lightened up and filled with a raspberry coulis. You saw how much they didn't really look like maple leafs, but I thought I would show you the best one out of the bunch. I saw this recipe on Pinterest and I thought I could alter it to make it look 'Canadian'.

 

This is by far the best mini cheesecake recipe I have made. It was light and delicious and with the zing of the raspberries and the perfect graham cracker crust!

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes

 Adapted from (http://annies-eats.com/2010/08/06/raspberry-swirl-cheesecake-cupcakes/#print)

Yield: 12 cupcakes-

Ingredients:

For the crust:

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp. sugar

For the raspberry swirl:

3 oz. fresh raspberries (but I used frozen ones and microwaved them to thaw them)

1 tbsp. sugar

For the filling:

1 lb light cream cheese, at room temperature

¾ cup sugar,

Pinch of salt,

1 tsp. vanilla extract,

2 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar.  Stir together with a fork until well blended and all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  (I like to use a small drinking glass to easily and evenly press the crumbs down.  Bake until just set, 5 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the raspberry puree, combine the raspberries and sugar (since I used frozen berries, I put it a pyrex measuring cup and microwaved it and then stuck my hand blender in). 

Process until smooth, then pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.

Here's the final product- A lovely raspberry coulis that just punches you in the taste buds... and since I was making another recipe for Canada Day that required a coulis, I just doubled it up.

To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy.  Blend in the sugar until smooth.  Mix in the salt and vanilla.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

To assemble, spoon 3 tablespoons of the cheesecake batter over the crust in each cupcake liner.  Dot a ½ teaspoon of the raspberry puree in a few dots over the cheesecake filling.  Use a toothpick or a wooden skewer to lightly swirl and create a marbled effect. (as you can I got creative with my dancing maple leaf/scarecrow designs).

Bake until the filling is set, about 22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.  (They will look quite puffed initially but will return to normal quickly.)  Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.  Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Nutritional Information:

194 calories

29g carbs

7g fat

4g protein

20g sugar

Here you have the baked little delights. The swirls look even funnier, they look like a murder scene. But heck, let me tell you, they are tasty! I had enough to bring to my parents pool party the next day!

Breakfast of Champions... with my Champions

Not too long ago I took my family to a nice little breakfast place not too far from our home called the Daylight Grill in Clarkson. This place could have been a disaster.... food choice wise- I could have had a traditional old-fashioned greasy breakfast, but no...

...with my Champions- Brent and Melanie

...my cup of coffee in hand...

I made a wise, healthier choice. A belgian waffle with fresh fruit. It was delicious, and with the fruit you don't need to put too much maple syrup on. A restaurant waffle has about 300 calories and, 10g of fat and 5g of protein... so it's not a bad meal at all. You just might be hungrier sooner after your breakfast because there is not that much protein... but I had a few bites of Melanie's scrambled eggs. Thanks for sharing cutie!