Category: Recipe

Skinny(ish) Apple Pie Recipe with Cinnamon Roll Crust

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

apple pie recipe with a cinnamon roll crust
For Thanksgiving I wanted to bring an apple pie for two reasons:

1) I LOVE apple pie
2) I have been wanting to try a recipe for a cinnamon roll crust that I had seen on Pinterest.

The recipe was everything I had dreamed of and then some.  Yummy!  Plus, it wasn’t hard to make and didn’t require me to make a crust from scratch because we all knew that wasn’t going to happen this past week.  No way.  Then I had added a tried-and-true apple filling recipe I had used years ago from Weight Watchers.  These two recipes combined made for apple yumminess magic.  I promise you it was like heaven in your mouth – you could taste the orchard.

*I would like to go ahead and apologize for the poor photo quality. I forgot my nice camera at the office and only had my cell to snap photos with

apple pie recipe with cinnamon roll crust II

Cinnamon Roll Crust Recipe:
(adapted from Pure Wow)
1 package of 2 pie crusts (the refrigerated kind)
4 Tbsp. butter, melted (I used Brummel & Brown with yogurt)
1/2 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg white (for the actual baking process – see below)

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the two crusts until they are each 1/2″ thick.

cinnamon spread
In a small bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and extract.  Spoon half of the sugar mixture onto each pie crust and spread evenly.

Roll up the crust, lengthwise.  Wrap in saran wrap and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes.  Take a serrated knife and cut the spiral into 1/2″ thick pieces.

cinnamon roll crust pieces
Take a rolling pin and flatten the spiraled pieces until they are about 1/4″ thick.

In the pie pan spread, lay out half of the flatten pieces so they overlap on the edges.  Press together.

You should be able to use all of your spiral pieces for the shell, however, if you have any remaining then you can make a pie topper.  Place Them together on top of the counter into a circle.  I didn’t have enough remaining pieces to make an entire shell to cover my pie, which I thought was fine!  Chill both pieces for about an hour before filling.

 

Lightened-Up Apple Pie Recipe
(adapted from Weight Watchers)

2 medium Fuji apples, cut into 1/4″ cubes
2 medium Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/4″ cubes
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbsp. apricot jam

In a bowl combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add apple mixture and cook until slightly softened.  You will need to stir every few minutes.  This should take about 10-12 minutes.

Remove the apple mixture from the heat and stir in the jam.  Set aside to cool.

apple pie recipe cooking
Once the pie crusts have chilled long enough, pour the apple filling into the bottom crust then top with the remaining cinnamon roll pie crust.  If your top covers the entire pie then cut 4-5 slits on top for it to breath.  Brush with egg white.

Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position and then place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Once the oven is heated, carefully place the pie on the hot baking sheet.  Reduce the temperature to 425 degrees.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Once the top is golden brown, turn the temperature down to 375 degrees and rotate the baking sheet.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown.
skinny ish apple pie with cinnamon roll crust

Slow Cooker Taco Meat Recipe

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

I found out you can make taco meat in the slow cooker… what?!?  I was shocked, excited, and couldn’t wait to try it out.  Then I learned it was super easy and then I decided to make it the very next day.

slow cooker taco meat

I used my own taco seasoning recipe to save on all of the sodium, plus it tastes better than the pre-packaged junk.  You can double this recipe then freeze the leftovers for another day.

crockpot taco meat

While it’s cooking the meat will look a bit watery, but that’s okay.  You’re going to strain it once it’s finished cooking.

crock pot taco meat

 

This is the finished product – looks pretty good for not taking too much effort to prepare.  You might have to break it up a bit, at least I did.

slow cooker taco meat

Ingredients for slow cooker taco meat:

1 lbs. lean ground beef
1 serving of taco seasoning (or 1 pre-packaged seasoning)
1 cup water
whatever toppings you like

Place your meat, seasoning, and water in the slow cooker.  (I used completely frozen hamburger meat.)  Turn to low and let cook for about 6 hours.  I came home on my lunch and started the meat then after 4 hours I switched it to medium for the last hour, but you don’t have to do this if you want it to cook for the full 6 hours.  Then strain the water and juices, break up the meat and create your tacos!

 

 

 

I’m linking up with Sweet Bella Roos, Katherines Corner, A Handful of Everything, and All Things With Purpose.

My Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

homemade taco seasoning recipe
If you want something easy to make for dinner then try this homemade taco seasoning recipe.

J and I love Mexican food.  He could probably eat it everyday for the rest of his life.  I couldn’t eat every day, but I do really love it.  I ran out the pre-packaged taco seasoning the other day and decided to try my hand at creating my own.  Of course I scanned Pinterest and found a few that looked pretty tasty.  I squished the recipes together and added my own flair to come up with a homemade taco seasoning recipe that can’t be beat.

Here’s what you need for this yummy, can’t get enough taco seasoning recipe:

½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. oregano
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. of both salt and black pepper

Mix the ingredients together in an airtight container to store any leftovers.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of this homemade taco seasoning along with ¾ cup of water to one pound of cooked ground meat (beef, turkey, or your choice).  Allow to simmer over medium heat, stirring until there is little liquid left.

J likes things spicy and I don’t.  So if you like your tacos abit on the spicy side just add more red paper flakes and chili powder.  For a real kick you could always add a little hot sauce to the ground meat.  But I’m not that brave!

Later this week I will be showing off how you can make your taco meat in your slow cooker… what?!?! I know, I was so happily surprised by this revelation that I cannot wait to share it!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Sugar Mini Muffins

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Sugar MuffinsSometimes you just have to have something sweet.  I’ve been doing so good eating clean and healthy lately that I didn’t really want to blow it on a sweet bite.  I found a recipe for a cinnamon sugar donut hole and thought to myself that I could easily adapt this to make it into a sweet dessert that wouldn’t blow my whole day.  The wheels started turning and next thing I knew, I was in the kitchen baking away.

Here’s what you need:

1 ½ c. whole wheat flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
¾ cup of nonfat Vanilla Greek Yogurt (plain would work, too)
2 tablespoon canola oil
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 ½ tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon almond milk
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt in a medium-sized bowl.  Blend in the yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, egg, brown sugar, milk until well combined.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Sugar Mini Muffins
Grease a mini muffin pan and divide the dough equally.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Sugar Mini Muffins
Allow the muffins to cool for about 2 minutes.  While they are cooling combine the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.  Use a pastry brush (I couldn’t find my pastry brush, so I used a BBQ brush – it worked!) to apply the butter then dip into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Sugar Mini Muffins
That’s it.  These cinnamon sugar mini muffins are super easy and super tasty.  They hit the nail on the head of my sweet tooth craving.  I think these would even be good for part of a breakfast.  I might try that tomorrow morning!

Honey Lime Shrimp and Noodles

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

honey lime shrimp

Honey lime shrimp and noodles.  So simple, so easy and absolutely delicious!

Towards the end of the week we start running out of groceries around here.  For the past few months J and I haven’t even been home for the weekend, so we haven’t needed to buy too many groceries.  This past weekend we stayed in – all day Saturday, which means we had to cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  That’s a lot of cooking in my household in only one day.

By dinnertime my cabinets were looking a bit sparse and I struggled to come up with something to cook.  I had some frozen cooked shrimp and some Roman noodles… we were really running dry!

I thought about it, looked up a few recipes and then decided to create a combination of about 5 recipes.  It couldn’t have turned out better!  It was perfect for just the two of us!

Here’s what you need:

18-20 medium size shrimp
¼ c. canola oil
⅛ c. light soy sauce
⅛ c. honey
juice of 2 limes
1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 pack Roman noodles

I used the already cooked shrimp because that’s what I had on hand.

honey lime shrimp
Marinade your shrimp in the oil, soy sauce, garlic powder, honey and lime juice above for about 30 minutes in the fridge.  Cook the Roman noodles per the directions, except do not add the flavor packet.  Drain the water from the noodles and set aside.  Heat shrimp over medium heat in a skillet until cooked through. Reserve about ¼ cup of the marinade.  Add the shrimp and the reserved marinade to the noodles.

honey lime shrimp
Delicious!  I think this honey lime shrimp and noodles is a perfect summer dinner.  Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Fries

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

buffalo chicken fries
J has been asking for some buffalo wings for awhile now.  I’m not a big wing fan, so I wanted to do something a little different.  I found a recipe for some buffalo chicken fries that looked amazing then I adapted it to J’s liking, which basically means it lost some of its healthiness.  Oh well.  Maybe next time!

What you need:
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
½ cup buffalo sauce
2 potatoes, cut into slices
cooking spray
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Optional ingredients:
sour cream
feta cheese
chives
hot sauce

buffalo chicken fries - potatoes
Set your oven to 450 degrees.  Slice your potatoes into thin slices or wedges, place on a foil-lined baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Make sure the potatoes are in one layer, not overlapping one another.  Spray the top with cooking spray and evenly sprinkle on the garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Place in oven for 15 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown.  Once the fries are done, remove from oven and turn the oven down to 350 degrees.

Place the cooked chicken into a shallow bowl with the buffalo sauce.  If you want a little more heat you can add a few drops of hot sauce.  I don’t like my food too spicy so I skipped the hot sauce.  Stir to cover the chicken evenly with the sauce.

Cover the fries with the chicken mixture and top with cheese.  Place back in the oven for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

You can top with feta cheese, sour cream and chives, if you wish.

buffalo chicken fries
These buffalo chicken fries were a huge hit!  My husband loves any food covered in buffalo sauce.  He probably would eat buffalo-wing flavored cookies!  Seriously, he would!  They were super easy to prepare and took less than 30 minutes from start to finish, including cooking the chicken.  I had one accident though – I let my dogs distract me while I was pulling the fries out of the oven the first time and accidentally burnt my arm with the very hot pan.  So please be careful out there!

adapted from Dashing Dish

Protein Pancakes Recipe

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

protein pancakes
Sometimes I get a craving for pancakes.  Like an overwhelming need for pancakes.  You just can’t ignore that feeling, right?  Instead of blowing my healthy eats I found some healthy recipes over on Pinterest and created some protein pancakes that are so tasty you don’t realize how not-bad for you they are.

Here’s what you need:

1/2 c. oats
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
dash of cinnamon
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
mix-ins (chocolate chips, raspberries, blueberries, etc.)

I had a chocolate craving so I cracked and added a tablespoon of mini chocolate chips.  Grease a skillet heated over medium heat and cook thoroughly.  Top with a few berries, chocolate chips and there you have it.  So good!  My recipe made 3 pancakes, but I was stuffed about half-way through.
protein pancakes protein pancakes

These protein pancakes will be staple for breakfast now.  Yummy!

Apple Cinnamon Smoothie

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Confession Time.  I have become obsessed with smoothies lately.  I blame it on the bullet I bought for a hella good deal at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I mean it’s the blenders fault for making it so gosh-darn easy to mix up some veggies, fruit and whatever I have laying around that sounds good.
apple cinnamon smoothieI create another one the other day.  I found a smoothie (this one) that used cinnamon and a light bulb went off.  I had to create my own version.  I just had to.

Here’s what you need:

1 small apple, peeled and diced
½ banana
¼ c. of pineapple
¼ c. unsweetened almond milk
3 oz. Greek yogurt
1 T. chia seeds
1 handful of spinach
¼ t. of cinnamon

Put all of the ingredients into your blender or bullet.  Mix until well combined.
If you want a cold smoothie that has a thicker texture just add 3-4 ice cubes and mix again until combined.  I like my smoothies cold so I always add 4 ice cubes once it’s all blended together and then mix again.
apple cinnamon smoothieFor full disclosure – the smoothie pictured above doesn’t have spinach in it.  It is my normal go-to ingredient, but I was out the day I took the pictures.  

Here’s the thought behind each ingredient:

apple – The soluble fibre found in apples binds with fats, which helps lower cholesterol levels.  Red apples contain an antioxidant called quercetin, which can help boost your immune system

banana – they promote good digestion and help promote healthier blood pressure.  They are also full of vitamin B6 and magnesium.

pineapple – These are loaded with vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin C, and minerals including calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. Pineapple contains manganese, which contributes to building bones and connective tissues.  Plus they have anti-inflammatory qualities.

almond milk – it contains calcium and Vitamin D, which helps improve immunity and cell function.  Almond milk has iron, which helps muscles absorb and use protein for energy.

Greek yogurt – excellent source of calcium, potassium, protein, zinc, and vitamins B6 and B12.  Plus it contains probiotic cultures and and has two times the protein than regular yogurts

chia seeds – these little guys are a great source of protein, calcium, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids. Plus they swell to 10-15 times their size, which is perfect for weight loss.

spinach – a great super food that helps boost your immune system and provides antioxidants.  Plus spinach is full of calcium, vitamin A, vitamin K, iron, magnesium, zinc, and folate

cinnamon – it helps lower blood sugar, fights bacteria, and can reduce inflammation

Creamy Peanut Butter Yogurt Fruit Dip Recipe

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

peanut butter yogurt fruit dipCreamy Peanut Butter Yogurt Fruit Dip Recipe – it’s a mouthful to say, but man does it make your mouth happy!

Sometimes you just need something sweet to go with your apples. Am I right? I thought so. I whipped this creamy peanut butter yogurt dip up in less than 2 minutes and it is so tasty! Plus, this dip doesn’t defeat the purpose of eating an apple like some of the store bought fruit dips can do.

Creamy Peanut Butter Yogurt Fruit Dip Recipe

5 ounces of Greek yogurt in vanilla (I used Chobani)
2 Tablespoons powdered peanut butter (I used PB2)
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
peanut butter yogurt fruit dipMix together and enjoy! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

A single serving is about 1 ounce. Calories: 43. Carbs: 7. Fat: 0. Protein: 4.

Healthy Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

strawberry breakfast smoothieI start most mornings off with a healthy breakfast smoothie made in my new found love – the magic bullet.  Man can this puppy whip up a smoothie in no time!  Plus I play a game of how much good stuff I can cram into the cup.

Healthy Breakfast Smoothie

6 frozen strawberries
4 frozen raspberries
4 frozen blueberries
1/4 c. Pineapple
1/2 banana
1/4 c. almond milk
1/2 scoop protein powder
breakfast smoothieBlend until smooth and at a consistency you want.

 This smoothie is amazing and is perfect for a busy morning. The frozen berries are perfect to make your smoothie thicker, almost like a milkshake. You can also add a handful of spinach or kale for extra nutrients, the berries hide the spinach and most won’t even know it is in there. Also, another good addition is a tablespoon of chia seeds, which are a great source of fiber.
breakfast smoothieStarting the day off right is a great feeling and kind of sets the mood for your whole day.  So by starting off with a healthy breakfast smoothie then you are sure to not blow the whole day.  Smoothies are so easy to customize, so it’s easy to find fruits that you like and become a mad scientist each morning.