Recipe Alert: Coconut Apple Cake

Hey hey Peeps!

The other day I wanted to have cake for breakfast. Of course if I'm going to have cake for breakfast, a few conditions have to be met. For example: high fiber, low glycemic, nutritious and low sugar. You may ask...." But Kanwal.. How are you going to find a cake like this"? Well, first of all, I may not be able to find this cake BUT I will be able to make this cake and it will be quick!

This is exactly what I did. I made a healthy, nutritious, low glycemic/sugar apple coconut cake and it was extremely easy. So easy, that I feel bad taking credit for it :-p

I had this whole cake for breakfast and it was delicious. It was also so easy to make. I think next time I'm just going to make a big batch of this and make muffins out of them. I seriously suggest you try this recipe out. There is no added sugar and it has 10 grams of fiber!

Here are the deets:

Coconut Apple Cake
Ingredients:
1/2c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 egg whites
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4c coconut flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1 small apple, diced

Preparation
Combine all ingredients except for apple. Lightly grease a small round baking pan (I used my Pyrex dish). Pour batter into dish, add apples on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Serving: 1

Jersey City Restaurant Review: Rajbhog Sweets

The other night we decided to go out for Indian food. It had been a while and we were both craving it. If you're in Jersey City, the place to go for Indian food is Newark Avenue, near the Journal Square Path Station. On Newark Avenue you will find all things Indian. Indian grocery stores and Indian restaurants. I've been going to Newark Avenue for the past 10 years. There are about 15 restaurants on Newark Avenue. Out of the 15 probably 5 have remained the same. I feel like every year a new restaurant opens but then closes with in a year.

One of these restaurants is called Rajbhog Sweets. Their sweets are AMAZING. I have never gotten a sweet I didn't like from here. Rajbhog Sweets also serves savory food plates. For $8 you get a huge thali(selection of indian food on a plate) of Indian food. This includes an appetizer AND DESSERT. The thali also comes with two rotis, two vegetarian dishes, rice and dhal. When you have this with the apps and dessert, it's a pretty big meal!

We decided to try Rajbhog and get the thali. My thali came with a samosa appetizer and a fried eggplant pattie. I also got a paneer(cheese) dish and channa(chickpeas) masala as my vegetarian dish. There was rice, dhal(lentils) and yogurt as well. Also, lets not forget... dessert was a gulab jammun (fried dough soaked in a sugar syrup). So, how was it? I loved the samosa, roti, channa and gulab jammun. I felt the panned was over cooked and was just to oily. The dhal...I've never had dhal that looked milky and tasted slightly sweet. I'm more used to Punjabi dhal which is a bit salty and has spice. Like I said the channa was delicious. The chickpeas were cooked perfectly and had a bit of spice to them. There are options to get smaller thali's and if I do eat here again I would get the thali with one vegetarian option.

The dessert was phenomenal! I love gulab jammun and these guys did a great job with that. I've gotten a few of their sweets in the past and have never been disappointed.

The verdict: Stick to Rajbhog Sweets for their sweets. The savory food can be hit or miss.

Rajbhog Sweets:
812 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ

Workouts, Parisian Night and Then Some....

Good Morning!

I hope you guys had a great Monday. I had a great weekend filled with at least one workout, a fun filled Parisian night and Indian food!

I knew Saturday night there would be a lot of food and I wanted to try a little bit of everything, soooo I went to the gym Saturday morning and worked out extra hard. Oh yes, I spent 45 minutes on the stair master working to burn at least 500 calories. So worth it and I felt so good! I immediately came out and devoured a stack of healthy coconut flour pancakes :-)

So, Saturday night I threw a little Parisian party. Our friends from CT were in town and we made plans to meet up. I started the night off with a simple cheese platter. I had Brie, goat and port cheese along with some grapes and rosemary Melba toast. This kept people noshing until the main course was ready to be brought out.

The main course was roasted rosemary chicken and lentils in a balsamic Dijon sauce. To be quite honest, I thought the lentils were so much more flavorful and delicious. The lentils were an Ina recipe. Of course they would be good :-) On the side, I had French bread, white asparagus, roasted potatoes and sautéed green beans. I have to say... everything turned out pretty good.

Dessert was none the less... CREPES!! Seriously, how could you not have crepes on a Parisian night!!! Sadly, I did not get a picture of the crepes. I made the crepes from scratch and had fun fillings such as Nutella, bananas, strawberries, pudding and whip cream. Crepes = Success.

So that was our very fun Parisian night in a nutshell. Sunday we decided to take it easy. We had a lovely breakfast with my sister, brother in law and the little one. What did we have.. Crepes of course :-p
The rest of Sunday was spent shopping and roller skating, and dinner at an Indian restaurant. Review coming up.

How was your weekend?

Finally Friday...

Good Morning & Happy Friday!!!

Ah, yes we've waited all week for this day! I've had a pretty good week with healthy eats and working out. I'm still pushing myself to complete a 5K on the elliptical in under 30 minutes. The closest I've come to is 2.87!! So close, yet so far! I've been working at it on a 10/10 level. Slowly but surely I will get there!

I've also been working extra hard to make sure I'm eating healthy. This means getting my prep work done for meals and snacks is essential. Hard boiled eggs hell ward off hunger before the gym and are still light enough for me to push myself during my workout. Carrot and celery sticks are a great way to satisfy crunch and some mixed nuts hold me over till dinner.

I have to say... Trader Joes has really been helping me out with quick and easy dinners. I will do a separate post on this, but their pre-seasoned meats are great. Lately, I've been getting the chicken, fish and sometimes lamb already pre-seasoned. I just come home and cook it up! This plus a side of veggies is awesome. Of course, left overs from the night is lunch the next day :-)

I hope you guys have a great weekend! Be sure to follow me on twitter to get my #onetweetrecipes. I now leave you with some food and exercise high lights from the week.

Recipe Alert: Quick Mocha Almond Iced Coffee

Every Saturday I try to wake up as early as I can and haul my butt over to the gym. I feel it's just better and easier to get my workout out of the way as early as possible. Not to mention, there's a grocery store right next to the gym and it always helps getting my grocery shopping out of the way when there are no lines or crowds.
Anywho, since I don't have time to wait for a pot of coffee to brew up, and heaven forbid I start my day without coffee, I make a super quick iced mocha almond coffee and take it to go with me. This is so delicious and gives me a good pick me up for my workout! I literally make this in less than a minute.

Here are the deets:

Ingredients:
1c unsweetened almond milk
1.5TB instant coffee
1TB coco powder
Optional: splash of almond extract

Preparation:
Throw all ingredients in a magic bullet or blended and whiz away. Pour over ice and enjoy!

I suggest you try this out ASAP!

My heart aches for Boston and those affected. My thoughts and prayers are with Boston. Please pray for them.

Viva Mexico

Happy Monday! Remember, the sooner we get this day started, the sooner it's over :-p Anywho, I thought I'd start this post off with a review from a Mexican restaurant I went to on Friday night.

Friday night was a fun filled night with friends in Jersey City. We decided to check out a new restaurant that opened in the Paulus Hook area of JC. The name of the restaurant is Viva Mexico.

Viva Mexico is a small restaurant with a lot of food options. The atmosphere was bustling with positive energy. A great vibe to start off your weekend. They had everything from salads to Mexican sandwiches. The service was also very friendly. While we waited for our main entrees we were served with endless amounts of fresh chips and salsa. We ordered drinks first which came out right away. I had the Horchata. Now, I'm no Horchata expert but I felt this was a bit too sweet. It was still delicious but the sweetness could have been toned down. For my main entree I ordered the steak enchiladas. I got a plate of three enchiladas wrapped in corn tortilla served with a green sauce and a side of rice and beans. My enchiladas were DELICIOUS!! First off, the portions are huge. I got through two enchiladas and some rice and beans. The green sauce on the side had a bit of a kick and paired perfectly with the steak. For dessert, we ordered a flan for the table. I have to say... I was disappointed with the flan. It tasted and looked like it was just defrosted from the freezer. Not a big fan of the flan. Other than the dessert, I felt like Viva Mexico is a great place to go to for dinner!

If you're in the JC area, go ahead and try it out!

Viva Mexico
133 Morris St.
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Coconut Flour Pancakes...

Happy Friday!!! Yay... We all made it!!

Lately, I've been experimenting with coconut flour. I like coconut flour because its packed with fiber and has a low glycemic index. I also love the sweet coconut flavor it adds to foods. Naturally, I started experimenting with a pancake recipe and I think I nailed it. I've made these pancakes a few times already and have not been disappointed.

Here are the deets:

Ingredients:
1/2c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4c coconut flour
2 egg whites
Splash of vanilla extract
1/2tsp baking powder

Preparation:
In a bowl, combine ingredients well. Place a pan on low heat and lightly oil. Once pan is hot place a big spoonful into pan. Spread out with the back of the spoon. Cook each side on low medium heat for 4 minutes or until pancake is browned.

Servings: 1

These pancakes are less than 200 calories. I love them with sliced banana and a dollop of almond butter.

I hope you guys enjoy these delicious pancakes!

Happy Thursday...

Good Morning and HAPPY THURSDAY!!!

Yes, just one more day and we are into the weekend :-) The weather has been so wonderful lately. I really hope it stays. I haven't blogged in the past couple of days because things have been pretty low key. I'm still on a smoothie kick so my breakfasts haven't changed. I am trying to get more protein in my diet. I noticed around 3:00pm I start to get hit by hunger pangs. Yesterday, I had two hard boiled eggs to combat that. This successfully handled the hunger till about 7:30.

I've also managed to get to the gym a couple times this week. I plan on going today, tomorrow and Friday as well. With the weather being so nice I'm wondering if I should do a circuit workout outside.

My focus lately has been just eating healthy, watching portion sizes and exercising. I can't really restrict myself from anything. For example going low carb will only want me to eat bad carbs even more. Now, I'm just trying to focus on eating well. If I am trying to limit anything, it is processes sugar. I really do think sugar is the devil and does more harm than any good.

So, that's what's going on now. How have you guys been?

Sunday Prep Day...

Good Morning! Looks like its going to be a beautiful day today! Finally, warmer weather is moving in. I can't wait for summer weather :-)

So, here we are again, back to Monday. You know what I say, the sooner we get this started the sooner it's over.

Yesterday I did a lot of quick prepping for my week. I have realized prepping ahead ensures I eat healthy snacks and meals during the week. This is especially helpful when I need a quick snack to grab and go.

I hard boiled 10 eggs to have as a quick snack throughout the week. I also cut up fruits and veggies for a grab and go snack. I did a lot of prepping for meat for the week. Marinated some chicken and roasted some veggies. Last night I also prepped for my breakfast this morning. Yes, I filled my tervis with a chopped pear, half a banana, non fat Greek yogurt and a little almond milk to get things moving along. This morning at work, I blended this all up with some spinach and flax meal. A deliciously quick and filling breakfast :-)

Do you guys do any prep for the week?

My Food Bag Today

It's Smoothie Time

Breakfast was a delicious smoothie! Don't let the spinach or color freak you out...the bananas and strawberries in this smoothie made it sweet and delicious!

Green Smoothie:
1 ripe banana
5 large strawberries
6oz. non fat Greek yogurt
2TB of flax meal
2 cups of spinach
A little bit of unsweetened vanilla almond milk to get things moving

Preparation:
Blend away!

Something Good...Something Bad...

Good Morning!

Yay, it's Thursday!!! One more day till the weekend. My week has been filled with lots of healthy food and a little bit of not so healthy food. On the plus side, I've been doing really well with cardio workouts.

I wish the weather would warm up already. Seriously, we are in April now! Come on Mother Nature... get your act together! One of the things I'm looking forward to us holding outdoor group workouts in Jersey City. I did a few last year and its really nice working out outside along the river front or in the park.

Today I'm going to try to post pics of all my meals. I really would like to make more of an effort to keep most of my meals healthy and only indulge once or twice a week. Same thing for going out. I like to cook a lot of my meals at home and go out less. First of all, I like to view going out as a pleasure and not an every day kind of thing. Once it becomes an every day kind of thing I feel I enjoy going out less as an indulgence. Also, when I do cook at home I know exactly what is going in my food!

How do you guys feel about going out to eat? Do you prefer to cook your meals at home?

I now leave you with some healthy food pics and some not so healthy food eats :-)

And We Are Back...

Good Morning, Everyone!!!

How have you all been? I had a wonderful time in Paris. This is a city that is so beautiful and has so much history. It also has AMAZING food. There's so much flavor in all the food I ate. I'm not talking about food full of flavor from spices, I'm talking about food full of flavor from the main ingredients. The quality of food in Paris was unbelievable!

Well, I'm now back to healthy eats and exercising :-). I'm still on my smoothie kick. I even bought myself a nice 24 oz. Tervis to drink my smoothies out of. Every morning I have a smoothie which consists of yogurt, fruit, unsweetened almond milk, flax seeds and two cups of spinach. Trust me, the smoothie may turn green but you don't taste the spinach.

My lunches have been a lean protein (thank you, Trader Joe's) and veggies. Lately, I've been buying marinated meat from Trader Joe's and it has been delicious, convenient and healthy! More in this in another post.

Dinner again has been a lean protein and veggies. FYI... My lunches are usually left over dinner from the night before.

As far as the gym goes, I'm on a cardio kick. I try to do a 5K on the elliptical a few times a week. Also, thanks to my awesome brother in law, we now have a pull up bar. Every night the hubs and I TRY to do pull ups. I'm still in the "well, at least I can hold on" phase :-p

So, how have you guys been? I now leave you with some of my healthy eats :-)