***Have you entered my earring giveaway yet?…***

So if you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know that I was recently given samples of POMx™ Iced Coffee to taste and review.  While I really enjoyed the flavor of the iced coffees, I don’t think I’ll be rushing to replace my morning cup of black coffee with the POMx™ Iced Coffee anytime soon.  Sorry! They’re just a tad too sweet for me to have so early on in the day as my first consumption of caffeine.  Plus, I’m already sweet enough (*sarcasm*)!  So what did I do with the rest of my samples, you ask?  Did I throw them away?  Did I give them to someone else to finish (that would be a bit gross)?  Did I just drink them for the heck of it?  No.  No.  And no!  Since Healthy Chow isn’t one for wasting things, I decided to make good use of my free samples versus just letting them sit and and take up precious space in my fridge.

So, you wanna know what I made…?

Well, if I wasn’t going to be drinking these little ‘wonderfuls’ as part of my breakfast, I figured the next best thing was to cook with them!  Because I love the rich and decadent taste of each of the flavors, I imagined they would be the perfect component in my breakfast foods.  Now, I’m not right a lot of the times, but when I am, I hit the nail exactly on the head (she pats herself on the back)!

Are you ready to find out yet…?

Blueberry Cheesecake Oatmeal POM-erized
Serves 1

• 1/2 cup of dry oats (you can use quick oats or old-fashioned style)
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 TSP of chia seeds (I used Greens Plus brand)
• 2 TBSP of nonfat cottage cheese
• 1 TBSP of POMx™ Vanilla flavored Iced Coffee
• 1/2 TBSP of chopped raw almonds
• small handful of blueberries, fresh or frozen

1) In a small pot, bring water to a rolling boil.  Once boiling, add the oats and chia seeds.  Stir to make sure the chia seeds are well-blended with the oats.  Reduce the heat to medium/medium-low and let cook for another 3 minutes.

2) Add your cottage cheese and iced coffee.  Stir.

3) Remove oatmeal from heat and pour into a bowl.  Top with blueberries and chopped almonds.

4) Eat with a spoon, but you won’t be able to stop thinking that this is a piece of blueberry cheesecake!

Yum-to-the-O!  This was incredible! The cottage cheese made the oatmeal fluffy (and cheesy) while the chia seeds added to the thickness.  The vanilla iced coffee sweetened this whole little number and the chewiness from the almonds made me think I was eating a graham cracker crust.  And of course, the blueberries accentuated the entire recipe.  If this breakfast was a whole cake, there wouldn’t be a slice left!

POM-errific Chocolate Banana French Toast
Serves 1

• 2 or 3 slices of bread (I used Trader Joe’s Sprouted Flourless Whole Wheat Berry Bread – 2 slices and 1 end)
• 1/4 cup of POMx™ Chocolate flavored Iced Coffee
• 1/3 cup of liquid egg whites
• few shakes of pumpkin pie spice
• few shakes of cinnamon
• few shakes of nutmeg
• pinch of brown sugar
• 1/2 of banana, sliced
• sprinkling of organic dried coconut (I used Woodstock Farms brand)
• sprinkling of cocoa powder

1) Mix the iced coffee, egg whites, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar in a shallow bowl.

2) Dip each slice of bread in the iced coffee/egg white mixture.  Let each piece absorb the mixture for about 1 minute.

3) Spray your frying pan or griddler (or in my kitchen, the C.G.) with cooking spray.  Turn your heat to medium.

4) Place your dipped slices of bread on the frying pan/griddler.  Heat each side for about 2-3 minutes or until the edges start turning that nice golden brown color.

5) Flip each piece of bread and cook for another couple of minutes.

6) Serve with sliced bananas, cocoa powder and dried coconut sprinkles.  Devour!

This french toast recipe was so tasty! There was just enough chocolate flavoring from the iced coffee to give this dish a unique flavor without it being overly sweet.  Coupled with the smashed banana slices (the banana was previously frozen) and the dried coconut, this french toast didn’t even need maple syrup.  I wish I had made more than the the 2.5 pieces I inhaled!

Oatmeal POM-tein Pancakes
Serves 1

• 1/3 cup of dry oats (you can use quick oats or old-fashioned style)
• 1/4 cup of POMx™ Vanilla flavored Iced Coffee
• 1/4 cup of liquid egg whites
• 1/2 TSP of baking soda
• few shakes of cinnamon
• few shakes of nutmeg
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• maple syrup or agave nectar

1) In a small bowl, mix together the oats, iced coffee, egg whites, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2) Pour the mixture into your blender.  Add your sliced banana.  Blend until you get the consistency of a thin batter.

3) Spray your frying pan or griddler (or C.G) with cooking spray.  Turn your heat to medium/medium-high.

4) Pour your batter onto your pan or griddler.  Let cook for 2-3 minutes.  Once the pancake can be moved without sticking, flip.  Cook the other side for another 2 minutes.

5) Serve with maple syrup or agave nectar.  Enjoy!

Ohemgee!  These protein-packed pancakes tasted more like banana bread than flapjacks.  They were so delicious and aromatic; I couldn’t believe this breakfast was actually healthy! The vanilla iced coffee and banana kept these pancakes moist and more than flavorful.  I’m glad no one was watching me eat these because I seriously was licking the plate clean.

POM-tastic Banana Coffee Soft Serve
Serves 1

• 1 frozen banana
• 2 TBSP of POMx Café au Lait flavored Iced Coffee

1) Place the  frozen banana and the iced coffee in your blender.  Blend until you get the consistency of soft serve.  You might need to stop the blender intermittently to scrape down the sides and then blend again.

2) Pour into a dish and savor your frosty treat!

Not only did I love this but Patrick seemed to be quite fond of it as well.  He kept asking me what was in his soft serve and couldn’t believe that it was just a frozen banana and a couple of splashes of iced coffee.  The coffee flavoring gave this frozen treat a more gourmet taste than the usual banana flavor.  While we ate this for dessert, it could definitely be a fun breakfast.  After all, it is just fruit and coffee!

When I first tried these iced coffee samples, my first reaction was that they were good.  They were a bit sweet for my liking, but they were definitely tasty.  However, after I began cooking with the iced coffees, I really fell in love.  I guess that goes to show that when life (or Blue) gives you slightly over sweet iced coffee, you need to make perfectly sweet breakfast!

Do you prefer cranberry sauce from the can (the kind where you can still see the indentations from the can) or do you prefer the homemade stuff?  Or are you like me and don’t like either?

***Don’t forget!  You still have until Friday, November 27th at 6pm ET to enter my jewelry giveaway.  After all, we could all use some sparkle in our lives…***

Namasté,
Nicole

Yup.  It’s really official now.  We’re on the downward spiral.  I know as a Bostonian, I should revel in the fact that the blustering cold will be here soon and the ice and snow will only be a hop, skip and a jump behind.  But, I don’t.  I don’t like winter and I really don’t like winter-esque weather.  This past weekend, we set the clocks back an hour and that means it will be dark at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.  OK, that’s a lie.  But that’s what it’s going to feel like!  Can you tell Healthy Chow isn’t really a fan of winter?

That said, in order to keep my heart and soul warm and my mind sane, I have to do things that remind me of the days of summer and that trick me into thinking it’s really not close to freezing outside.  Hot yoga is one way to keep warm but what else can I do?  I guess I could be a snowbird and fly south, but I can’t run away until April.  I could fake and bake and surround myself with heat lamps, but that’s really not my style.  And then I realized something.  I realized that as a healthy food blogger, it is my job to find ways to keep my body and mind well, in addition to finding ways for food to assist me in that mission.  Since I love food and I love the joy it brings me when I can make something healthy and delicious and then eat it, why not put these passions into warding off my disdain for the cold weather?

With that notion in mind, I began flipping through my bookmarked recipes (thanks Lauren!) and did a little searchin’ online.  Finally, I came up with an idea for a dinner that would not only warm my taste buds, but would also help me find that tropical island in the midst of a nor’easter.

Getting Tropical Coconut Chicken & Pineapple Orange Couscous
Inspired by SayWhatYouNeedToSayBlog.com and Cooks.com
Serves 4

For the coconut chicken:

• 1/3 cup of orange juice
• 1 TSP of salt
• 1/3 cup of egg whites
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 6 oz. each)
• 1 cup of whole wheat panko crumbs (I used Ian’s Whole Wheat Panko Breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup of organic shredded coconut (I used Woodstock Farms brand)
• 1 TSP of curry powder
• 1 TBSP of Smart Balance Light, melted
• few dashes dried thyme
• few dashes of crushed red pepper
• few dashes of paprika
• few dashes of salt

Egg wash/marinade for the chicken

The makings for something tropical…

1) In a large bowl or pan, mix the orange juice, salt and egg whites.  Add your chicken breasts and let it marinate for about 15-30 minutes in the fridge.

Soakin’ it up…

2) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Once your chicken is done soaking up all the goodness, remove the chicken (place onto a plate) but reserve the marinade.

3) Mix the panko breadcrumbs, coconut, dried thyme, crushed red pepper, paprika and curry together in a shallow dish.

Look at all those colors!

All mixed up!

4) Take each piece of chicken and dredge it into the breadcrumb mixture, being sure to press the breadcrumbs mixture into each piece of chicken.

5) Place the breadcrumb coated chicken onto a foil-lined baking pan coated with cooking spray.

Ready for the oven!

6) Mix your melted butter with your reserved marinade and then pour this entire mixture over your chicken.

7) Cover the chicken with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Then, uncover the chicken and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes.

For the dipping sauces:

• a few TBSP of Trader Joe’s Peanut Satay Sauce mixed with a little water (enough to loosen it up)
• a few TBSP of dijon mustard mixed with honey (to taste)

Dippity, dippity, do!

For the pineapple orange couscous:

• 1 cup of whole wheat couscous, dry (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
• 1/2 cup of pineapple juice (from the canned pineapple)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 TSP of Smart Balance Light
• 1/3 cup of orange juice (plus another few splashes, if needed)
• 4 pineapple rings, chopped (8 oz. can)
• 1 TSP of cumin
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro, just the leaves
• juice of half of a lime
• s&p

1) Combine the water with the pineapple juice in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil.

2) When water/pineapple mixture comes to a boil, pour in the couscous.  Stir the couscous and drop a lid on the pot.  Remove the pot from the heat.  Let the couscous sit covered for 5 minutes.

3) Once the couscous is cooked, add the Smart Balance.  Give the couscous a stir to melt the Smart Balance and then add the orange juice to loosen. Give the couscous another stir.

4) Add the pineapple, cumin and cilantro.  Keep stirring until well-blended and add more orange juice if still dry.

5) Add the lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.

If you look real close, you can see the pineapple chunks! I swear!

There you have it!  While the wind chill factor outside is dropping faster than the pounds on The Biggest Loser, you can have the taste of the tropics in your home.  Because the chicken has been baked in panko breadcrumbs and dried coconut, it tastes as if it’s been deep fried.  There’s just enough crispiness from the breading to add a nice texture to the chicken without making it taste too heavy.  I was quite impressed with Ian’s breadcrumbs.  It was the first time I had ever tried (and bought) one of their products and I was pleased with the results.  The ingredient list in the breadcrumbs is pretty short and recognizable.  Another plus!  The reserved marinade along with the melted Smart Balance helped to keep the chicken moist and lock in the citrus flavor.  And combining the citrus with the coconut really emphasized the ‘island-y’ feel to this dish.  I kinda wished I made myself a fruity umbrella drink to accompany this meal!

Nothing crumby about these!

The ingredients…

And what more can I say about couscous? Couscous takes about a hot minute to cook and soaks up the flavor of whatever you cook it in so well.  I love it’s versatility and the convenience of it.  While I boiled the dry couscous in pineapple juice, the pineapple taste wasn’t overwhelming when cooked.  Plus, the pineapple chunks and orange juice gave the recipe a subtly sweet flavor.  And having fresh cilantro in the couscous was a definite plus. Since cilantro is often used in dishes originating from warmer climate countries, it accentuated the ‘anywhere-but-the-Northeastern-US’ feel. The cumin complemented the cilantro by bringing some much needed warmth to the couscous.  It’s like having heat in a bottle!

So perhaps cooking this dish in the dead of winter or at the very end of fall won’t make the snow on your doorstep or the frost on the windshield of your car disappear, but it certainly will bring a little sunshine to your stomach and mind.  And just maybe for a few moments while you’re eating this meal, you’ll be able to feel the sand between your toes, versus your thick wool socks.  Now the only thing missing is a cabana boy…

Getting Tropical Coconut chicken

Pineapple Orange Couscous

Side of steamed broccoli

All together now…

What do you think of my plate?

Now there’s some Chow!

How do you cope with the winter blues?  Or, do you love the ‘colder’ months?

Namasté,
Nicole

Last week when I said, “I love food,” I really meant it.  I love trying new foods, eating food people cook for me, savoring comfort foods, looking forward to my favorites, enjoying a healthy, fresh salad, dining out at restaurants – five star or complete dive – and most recently, cooking my own food for myself and others to try and hopefully, like.  I’ll admit, while I enjoy the actual preparation or cooking of the food, I think I like finding out whether it’s a ‘hit or miss’ the best.  I get so anxious waiting for my dish as it finishes cooking in the oven or as it’s setting in the fridge.  I guess I just can’t wait to find out if all my hardwork has paid off.  Or, maybe I just can’t wait to finally eat!

The other day, my anxiousness was eating up (lame pun intended) at me so badly, I wanted to scream.  Instead of waiting the usually hour or so for my dish to bake in the oven, I had to wait a whole night and then some.  Le horror! I’ve been seeing the breakfast cookie everywhere on the food blogosphere (thanks Brandi and Gina!) and I figured I should give it a try.  But, Healthy Chow is always up for a challenge, so she decided to give the breakfast cookie her own little twist.  This is where the anxiety comes in.  Because I had no idea what a breakfast cookie even tasted like, let alone what it was going to be like in this ‘twisted’ version, I was dreaming about the result of this recipe in my sleep.  And, I’m happy to report that it was a success.  Alas, Healthy Chow can rest!

So without further ado, this is what was making Healthy Chow sleepless in Seattle (or Boston):

Easy No-Bake Fruit Tart

For the no-bake crust:

• 1 1/2 cup of oatmeal (I used the quick cooking oats, not instant)
• 2 TBSP of smooth Barney Butter ( I used the samples from my HLS swag bag – you can use any nut butter you see fit)
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened, natural applesauce
• 1/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• 2 TSP of ground flaxseeds (I used Trader Joe’s whole golden roasted flaxseeds that I ground)
• few shakes of cinnamon
• pinch of sea salt

For the filling (I like to call it, Lemony Coconut Ricotta Cream):

• 1 cup of nonfat ricotta cheese
• 2 TSP of organic golden honey (I used Nature’s Promise brand)
• 1 TBSP of organic shredded coconut ( I used Woodstock Farms brand)
• 1 TBSP of lemon juice
• dark chocolate shavings (I used Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa bar)
• 16 oz. of organic strawberries, hulled and sliced thin (Trader Joe’s – again!)

1) In a mixing bowl, mix your oatmeal, barney butter and applesauce.  Once that gets well blended, add in your almond milk (Almond Breeze).  You might need to add in a splash more, to loosen the mixture.  Mix again.  Then, add your shakes of cinnamon and pinch of sea salt.

2) Once your oatmeal mixture is well blended, spread onto a pie plate with the back of a spoon.  Make sure to spread the mixture evenly, and get the sides as well.  Then, add a few dashes of cinnamon to top it off.

3) Now here comes the waiting part…Place your tart ‘crust’ in the fridge overnight (I actually left mine in there for close to 24 hours).  You want to give your tart crust time to set.  The moisture from the almond milk and applesauce will soften the oatmeal, so don’t worry about having dry oats.  However, as the always helpful and ever so clever, Brandi, mentioned to me, the oatmeal is going to be ‘thick and chewy’ and not hard and crunchy.  I actually love the chewiness of the crust.  It reminded me of a cross between an oatmeal cookie and a granola bar.  Hello?…YUM!

4) Now, it’s time to make your filling.  My good friend, Laura, gave me the idea of puréeing the ricotta in a food processor (I used a blender) to give the ricotta a creamier texture.  Thanks Laura!  So, in a blender or food processor, add your ricotta cheese, coconut, honey and lemon juice.  Purée until you get a nice and creamy texture (it won’t take much).  You might need to scrape down the sides and stir a little between each blend in the blender/food processor.  Another tip here, my sister, Michelle (hi Michelle!), said an immersion blender would have been best in this sitch.  (Thanks Michelle – Christmas is coming up – hint, hint)

5) Set your ricotta cream aside.  Take out your tart crust from the fridge and start layering your fruit.  I used strawberries, but feel free to use any fresh fruit you’d like.  A combination of fresh fruit would have been great here – I’m thinking kiwi and blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, peaches and strawberries…you catch my drift…

6) Once your fruit has been layered ever so carefully on your crust, it’s time to start spreadin’ the new…. Just kidding!  Start spreading your ricotta cream over your fruit layer.  I left the outer edge of my strawberry layer uncovered to make it a bit more aesthetically pleasing…me thinks it worked!

7) Using a veggie peeler, start shaving some chocolate onto your tart.  I only used a light dusting of chocolate – but feel free to make the chocolate shavings as thick as you’d like.  Some dark chocolate chips would be fun here, too!  Or, instead of the chocolate, you could sprinkle some more of the coconut.

8 ) I’m sorry to have to say this, but you’ll want to place your tart back in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so or long enough until everything is well chilled again.  Once your tart has been chilled, cut and serve!

Serves 6

I really liked how this tart came out.  The fresh strawberries (which were sweet enough on their own) were a great complement to the lemony and coconutty taste of the ricotta.  The texture of the chewy oatmeal crust was a pleasant twist and gave the tart an interesting depth.  While this recipe got its start from the breakfast cookie, I can easily see this being eaten for dessert, a snack or perhaps even dinner (if that’s the way you like to roll).  The crust is hearty and filling while the ricotta gives the recipe a kick of protein.  Plus, each slice of this tart was less than 200 calories.  Not bad!  With this breakfast, dessert, snack or whichever you want to call it (seems like this is starting to become a trend – hi Lauren!), you can be good and healthy even if it feels like you’re being a little tart…

What’s your favorite way to incorporate fruit into your dessert/breakfast?

Namasté,
Nicole

People always ask me what it’s like to have a twin sister.  They want to know if I like being a twin.  My answer has never been simple.  I actually don’t know what to say since my twin sister is the only sibling that I have and thus, it’s all that I know.  When people used to ask me this question when I was a little kid, my answer would depend on how I was feeling about my sister at the moment.  Being that we were our parents’ only children, shared a room and did every activity together, we had a tendency to fight with each other.  They were never serious arguments.  Just your usual, “shut your mouth”, “you’re dumb”, “I hate you”, and “stop looking at me”.  It was all silly kid stuff.  We were each other’s best friend but also each other’s worst enemy.

Now that Michelle and I are mature adults (ok, that one can be debated), we no longer bicker (as much).  Because I no longer live with my sister and see her on a daily basis, I look forward to the time we spend together.  She’s really the only person that knows exactly what I’m thinking before I can even utter a word.  And I know what her mood is going to be just by listening to her walk.  We can spend hours chatting over coffee about absolutely nothing.  No matter if I saw her an hour ago or a month ago, we still manage to talk to one another as if we were just reunited after a 50 year hiatus.

So when it was our birthday earlier this week, we decided obviously to spend it together.  We didn’t have any particularly special plans or elaborate reservations made.  We just wanted to spend the day together – the only way we know how to be and the only way we, as twins, know how to celebrate our special day.

At noon, Michelle and I met to get pedicures at a local nail salon.  We both were overdue for a good soak, scrub, cut and paint so this was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.  Because it was midday on a Tuesday, the salon was empty so the nail technicians were eager to wait on us and have something to do.  After studying the many wheels of Essie and OPI nail polish, I finally selected Marabou.  I wanted something light and feminine and not too ‘pink’ so this was the perfect shade.  Michelle opted for a light shade as well but wanted something a little more purple.  She chose Violin.  We both giggled at the names and giggled even harder when they scraped the bottoms of our feet (goodness, that is such a weird and ticklish feeling at the same time…TWSS)!

After our pedis, we were famished and decided on Thai for our birthday lunch.  Tantawan in Watertown is a cute little spot that has great prices with friendly and quick service.  We were immediately served glasses of iced water as we studied the menu.  We finally decided to split two lunch entrées: the yellow curry with chicken and the pad-si-ew with beef.  As a complimentary appetizer, we were both served a small cup of vegetable broth soup that had bits of string bean, carrot and baby corn.  It was a good way to settle my growling stomach.  Our entrées were pretty tasty and did the trick.  I wouldn’t say it’s exceptional Thai cuisine but it suited our taste buds just fine.

Free soup

Birthday lunch

Yellow curry with chicken, onion, pineapple, potato, green pepper and carrot – creamy & coconutty!

Pad-si-ew with beef, wide noodles, broccoli, carrot, celery & bits of egg

Healthy Chow’s healthy portion…she was hungry!

After lunch, we headed over to the mall and did a little bit of shopping.  Michelle bought a few summer tops while I opted for a new handbag.  The Chow sisters like to eat but they LOVE to shop!  By this point in the afternoon, we both need a little boost so we decided that iced coffees were a necessity.  They were refreshing and the perfect way to end our birthday afternoon together.  It was a simple, fun and relaxing day.  I’m so glad that Michelle was able to take the day off from work and spend the day with me.  We really do enjoy each other’s company and it’s the best birthday gift I could ask for – any year of my life.

It’s like looking in a mirror…

hugs

Thank you, Michelle!  Thank you for always being there for me.  I love being your twin.

What’s your fondest memory of your sibling?

Namasté,
Nicole