100 Calorie Filling Vita Top Chocolate Muffins!

A little on the pricey side, but so worth it! I went grocery shopping late last night and couldn't resist grabbing a pack of Vita Tops Deep Chocolate muffins. They taste amazing, and are good for you too! They're packed with vitamins - hence the name. I don't even understand how they pack it with  fiber, only add 1.5 grams of fat, and manage to make it still taste so good! I usually eat one of these for breakfast, along with some fruit, which still leaves me under 200 calories for breakfast. Hello big dinner! They also offer tons of flavors, but I've only seen a few in stores. I'm still on the hunt to find more flavors since they all sound amazing!

Nutrition Facts for 1 Deep Chocolate Vita Top Muffin:
Calories - 100
Fat - 1.5
Sodium - 140
Carbs - 26
Fiber - 9
Protein - 4

Archer Farms Sesame Teriyaki Lunch Bowl

So I decided to make a "suggestions" tab for foods that you don't have to make, an easy quick and go type of thing. I've been so overwhelmed with working 50 hours a week and summer classes, that's lets be honest, I don't have the time to cook as much as I did before. So I just tried this Sesame Teriyaki lunch bowl that I bought at Target (Archer Farms) and it was way better than I expected. It only has 250 calories and 2 grams of fat. Score! It only cost around $2 if I remember correctly. It was really tasty and really filling. I wouldn't recommended eating them every day since they're high in sodium (900 mg) but they're good every now and then. They had a ton of other flavors so I'm excited to try them out!

Open Faced Omelet

So I'm sick of having the same boring egg white omelet every morning. Since I love cheese, I usually end up not eating the top half since the cheese melted to the bottom part. So I decided to make an open faced one so I would it it all, and to my surprise I did! 

Ingredients:

-1/4 of liquid egg whites (I used egg scramblers)

- 1 slice of deli cheese (I used land o lakes white american)

- Mushrooms and onions

Directions:

Chop up the mushrooms and onions. In a small sized frying pan, begin to stir fry the vegetables. Once the vegetables are done cooking, set them aside and spray the pan with PAM. Pour in 1/4 cup of the eggs. Let it cook until the top has only a little liquid on it. Flip it like a pancake. Place the cheese on the egg, followed by the vegetables. I served mine with ketchup yummm!

Nutrition Facts for 1 Open Faced Omelet

Calories - 160

Carbs - 17

Fat - 7

Protein - 9

Sodium - 365

Fiber - 1

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Here comes another dessert! Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie...yum! I found this recipe on the calorie logging website I belong to (myfitnesspal) from the user polar5554. The picture is what sold it for me. Feel free to mix up the ingredients to create new flavors!

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp of light butter (I used Smart Balance Light)
- Dry envelope of Jell-o Chocolate pudding mix
- 2 cups of fat free cool whip
- 7 tbsp of natural reduced fat peanut butter (I used smuckers)
- 7 reduced fat graham crackers
- 1 cup of skim or fat free milk (I used silk soy low fat vanilla milk)
- 12 cupcake liners

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Crush up the graham crackers. Melt the butter. Mix the butter and graham crackers. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners. Fill the bottoms of the cupcake liners with the filling. Place in the oven for about 5 minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and milk. Beat on low for about a minute. Once it has a smooth consistency, add the pudding mix. Beat on low again for another minute. Fold in the fat free cool whip. Spoon in the mixture to the cupcake liners.

Once all of the cupcake liners are filled with the mixture, place in the freezer for about 3 hours and serve! Be sure to top with fat free cool whip as an icing.

Nutrition facts for one pie:

Calories - 152
Carbs - 22
Fat - 5
Protein - 3
Sodium - 212
Fiber - 1

240 Calorie Veggie Lasagna

So who doesn't love Italian food? I absolutely love it! The only issue yet again is the high fat and calories! Olive Garden's lasagna has 850 calories and 47 grams of fat. Shame on you Olive Garden! By taking out the hamburg and replacing it with filling vegetables, switching out white noodles for whole wheat, and using a lower fat cheese, I was able to get the nutrition facts for my veggie lasagna down to 243 calories and 4 grams of fat for one huge serving. I made this lasagna 1/2 with hamburg and real cheese for my parents and the other half for me with low fat cheese and no hamburg which is why the pictures may look  half and half.

Ingredients:

- 1 jar of marinara sauce (I used Bertolli Olive Oil and Garlic)
- 1 Zuchinni sliced thin
- 1 large white onion diced
- 1 cup of mushrooms diced
- 1 medium sized egg
- 1/2 cup of fat free shredded mozzarella cheese (I used kraft)
- 2 cups of fat free cottage cheese
- 1/2 tbsp italian seasoning
- 4 oz of whole wheat lasagna noodles. (You will need 6 for this recipe, I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Wheat Lasagna Noodles)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice up the onion and mushrooms and cook in a frying pan. Slice the zuchinni with a potato peeler lengthwise like this...

In a mixing bowl, combine the sauce, cottage cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning. Mix well. In a casserole dish, spray it with PAM. Lay down around a cup of the mixture, top it off with the onion and mushroom mixture, and lay the zuchinni slices on top. Lay 3 lasagna noodles on top and repeat for one more layer.

 Once you finish the second layer, top it off with the remaining sauce mixture and sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Place in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked. Allow it to cool and settle  for 10 minutes.

Nutrition Facts for 1 slice of Veggie Lasagna (This recipe makes 6 slices)

Calories - 240
Carbs - 37
Fat - 4
Protein - 18
Sodium - 873
Fiber - 6

Cheesy Sweet Potato Pancake Crisps

I found a recipe similar to this one online and i had to modify it (to be healthy of course) This recipe works great as an appetizer, breakfast, side, or snack - it's that great!

Ingredients:

- 1 sweet potato

- 1/4 cup of liquid egg whites

- 1/2 cup of shredded romano cheese

- pinch of salt and pepper

- pinch of garlic salt

- a few shakes of mccormick perfect pinch parmesan herb seasoning (you don't have to use this but it tastes so good!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Take a sweet potato and peel it. Begin to grate the sweet potato using a cheese grater. Once it is all grated (it may take a while since the potato will be hard), mix it with all of the ingredients and mix. It should look something like....

Take a table spoon and shape the mixture into little balls and flatten them out (roll it like you would with cookie dough.) Take a paper towel and squeeze some of the juices out. Place on a PAM sprayed cookie sheet, and repeat for the rest of the mixture. It should make about 12 per batch. It should look like this...

Spray the tops of the pancakes with PAM. Bake for around 20 minutes, being sure to flip them to evenly brown. They're done when they're crispy. I served mine with fat free ranch... yum!  Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts for 1 pancake (this recipe should make 12 servings)

Calories - 28

Carbs - 2

Fat - 1

Protein - 2

Sodium - 88

Fiber - 0

Southwestern Salsa

I think it's time for some salsa to go with that under 100 calorie margarita! This is a really easy recipe since all you need to do is chop and mix.

Ingredients:

- 1 onion
- 4 plum tomatoes
- 1/2 green pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 cup of canned corn (Rinsed)
- 1/2 cup of black beans (Rinsed)
- 1 lime
- Splash of vinegar

Directions:

Chop up the onion, pepper, garlic, and tomatoes to your desired size (if you want chunky salsa, cut them  large) Combine the onion, pepper, garlic, and tomatoes with the rinsed corn and beans. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juices into the mixture. Splash the mixture with vinegar. Take a potato masher and lightly press down on the mixture causing some of the juices to come out. How easy was that?!

Nutrition Facts for 1/4 cup - this recipe should make around 8 servings.

Calories - 23
Carbs - 4
Fat - 0
Protein - 1
Sodium - 42
Fiber - 1