Okay, I'll come clean...It's embarrassing, but I'll tell you...

The reason I'm late with today's post is because I watched a cheesy Lifetime movie last night. When it was over I was tired and went straight to bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I realized that I had completely forgotten to post!

Well the movie was bad...but this dish isn't (ooo, that was smooth). Nice flavors, good numbers, tasty warm and even cold right out of the frig as a snack. Add in the sugar snap peas and little carrots, and you've given yourself a serious boost towards a

The title of this post comes directly from the Super Smoothies recipe book. The writers, Mary Corpening-Barber and Sara Corpening-Whiteford, certainly knew what they were doing when they came up with this sweet, tart, and rich smoothie.

Low calories, low fat, and with a nice kick of vitamin C, this drink is fab in the morning or as a snack.

Ingredients

• Fresh strawberries, 1 cup (140 grams) -quartered
• Light vanilla soy milk, 1/2 cup (106 grams)
• Soft tofu, 1/3 cup (78 grams)
• Banana, 1 medium size (96 grams) -sliced and frozen
• Pineapple juice concentrate, 2 TB (30 grams)

Preparation

Slice banana before freezing it.

Combine strawberries, soy

The photo shows our lunch today; wasa crackers, thinly sliced roast beef, lettuce, and the prettiest pickled onions. It was such a nice change from the usual. These onions are also great on top of a salad. What will you eat them with?

Makes 11, 1 ounce servings.

Ingredients

• Purple onions, 1 lb (470 grams)
• White wine vinegar, 1 1/2 cup (344 grams)
• Bay leaf, 2
• Fresh thyme, 4 branches
• Dried red chiles, 2
• Sugar, 1 TB (15 mL)
• Black pepper, 1 tsp (5 mL)
• Salt, 1/4 tsp (1.25 mL)
• Water, 1 1/2 cup (350 grams)

Preparation

Bring a teakettle of water to a boil.

So, I was talking with my mother this evening and brought up the spicy black-eyed peas. I mentioned that this recipe had a lot more fat in it that her other black-eyed pea recipe, and I wondered why she made it. I mean, it's a really good recipe and we've eaten it often, but I don't remember it's fat and calories being so high. She told me this was The Black-Eyed Pea recipe. We talked and talked, each of us becoming confused and frustrated (we do that a lot). We finally decided to get out the recipe and her measurements

These are great, you're going to love them.

Mom reworked this already healthy recipe to be even more friendly towards your day by lessening the sugar by half, adding whole wheat flour, and using the walnuts as a garnish rather than a main ingredient.

The ingredient list is long, but look it over before you cross this recipe off your to-do list. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

Ingredients

• Canola oil, 1/3 cup (46 grams)
• Lowfat buttermilk, 1/3 cup (48 grams)
• Brown sugar, 1/2 cup (96 grams)
• Pineapple juice, 1/3 cup (58 grams) -drained from the can of crushed pineapple
• Egg, 1

This dish came about for the same reason a few of the others have - we continue to need more fiber in our diets.

So one more salad to add to your repertoire (and ours) is a good thing. As they say, variety is the spice of life. Who are "they" anyway?

Ingredients

• Barley, 1 cup (184 grams)
• Salt, 1/8 tsp (.6mL)
• Water, 3 cups (682 grams)
• Corn, 2 cups (246 grams) -fresh or frozen
• Scallions, 1/2 cup (30 grams) -chopped
• Jalepeno, 1 or 2, to your taste (50 grams) -minced
• Parsley, 1/4 cup (12 grams) -chopped

Dressing

• White wine vinegar, 3 TB (36 grams)
• Extra virgin olive oil,

With my post about the M.O.M Pantry being created, I inadvertently created a bit of confusion. So I thought I would take a moment to clear things up and then I decided to add a link to every recipe we've posted.

Holy cow, every recipe? Yes, because we like you.

But first about the M.O.M Pantry. The pantry is a category on the Food Log page. It allows you to log any M.O.M recipe you've made into your day -it doesn't give you the recipe. Recipes must be found by going through the M.O.M journal archive.

Alright, here's the list...click away.

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In a recent issue of Everyday Food, Emeril shared his "lightened up" recipe for classic bolognese. He substituted turkey for the standard pork and beef; however he decided to leave in the half-and-half and use turkey bacon (which is really bad if you're watching your sodium -as we pointed out in our last post). So m.o.m took a look at it and decided we could do better.

Here is our take on the rich meat sauce.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil, 2 TB (18 grams)
• Onion, 1 large (204 grams) -finely chopped
• Carrots, 3 (98 grams) -finely chopped
• Celery, 2 stalks (136

One word for you...BACON!

Yep, this recipe has bacon in it (not to worry, it's only 1 strip) and you are going to be so happy. We did the research (made the recipe both ways) and can report that using low-sodium real bacon is much better than using turkey bacon. Have you looked at how much sodium is in turkey bacon? Holy mackerel, the amount of sodium completely negates any good you thought you were doing by eating the turkey bacon. This is one of those instances where eating the real thing, albeit low-sodium is much better than the "healthy"

My mother calls this her basic pinto bean recipe. The ingredients are easy to get, and the flavors are familiar. We are however in Southern California, so for us the familiar is Mexican flavors. If jalapenos and cilantro aren't your thing don't sweat it. Beans are so simple because they are essentially a blank slate, add the flavors you're familiar with and you're sure to have a winning dish.

Ingredients

• Pinto beans, 2 cups sorted and soaked (334 grams)
• Onion, 1 halved and peeled (240 grams)
• Garlic, 4 cloves minced (16 grams)
• Canned tomatoes, 15 ounces peeled, no salt (411

Yes there are eggs, butter, and olive oil in a frittata, but don't freak out on us. Everyone is at a different place on the road towards a goal and some people can "afford" a frittata. For those of you that can't afford it just now, hold on to the recipe for a later date.

Frittata's are great for using leftovers; they can be eaten hot, room temp and even cold. And they are perfect at every meal - we especially like it at dinner with a nice salad.

A homemade meal made with fresh, unprocessed ingredients, and enjoyed leisurely at the

This is an interesting little recipe. We were uncertain as to how people would respond as it has a very intense taste due to the raisins and cocoa powder. We were pleasantly surprised because everyone liked it; even the 7 year-old girl that popped one in her mouth before I could tell her about the flavor. I quickly told her she could spit it out if she didn't like it, but she just smiled big and said, "Yum! can I have another?"

These No Bake Brownie Bites are a cinch to make and the ingredients are simple as well. The only

We used whole wheat spaghetti in this dish, to get more fiber and roasted the asparagus for added flavor (tip: roast more asparagus than necessary and use in a salad, frittata, or as a snack on its own). In place of pine nuts we used sunflower seeds because they don’t cost as much and their kinda fun.

Ingredients

• Asparagus, 1 bunch (240 grams)
• Extra virgin olive oil,1 TB + 1 tsp (10 grams)
• Salt, pinch
• Pepper freshly ground, pinch
• Sunflower seeds, raw, unsalted, 4 TB (34 grams)
• Scallions, 1 bunch (52 grams)
• Spaghetti, whole wheat, 8 ounces (226 grams)
• Lemon zest, 2 1/2 tsp
• Thyme, fresh, chopped, 1

We are definitely on a salad kick. And have you noticed there hasn’t been a lettuce leaf in sight? Kinda neat that there are so many other ingredients to play with. Hopefully the recipes and ideas we’ve been posting are helping out. We know that as you use nutrimirror and are shown the nutrients your body needs you’ll want to expand your cooking skills and the ingredients you use. With that in mind, here is another quinoa salad, this time with shrimp.

Ingredients

• Shrimp, about 8 oz. (210 grams)
• Soy sauce, low-sodium, 4 tsp (40 grams)
• Canola oil, 4 TB (30