{38 Power Foods} My Favorite Weight Watchers Friendly Berry Recipes

Fresh Raspberries
Fresh Raspberries

Fresh Raspberries

This week our 38 Power Foods Group continues on it’s healthy eating exploration with berries: blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. (Every week a small group of bloggers is working its way hrough Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine. If you are interested in joining us, contact Mireya at My Healthy Eating Habits. We’d love to have you join us.)

If you are a berry fan, be sure to check out what these other participating bloggers have cooked up:

This was a fun post for me, since berries are one of my favorite foods. And though I feel like I love all berries equally, I discovered that they’re definitely NOT all equally represented here on Simple Nourished Living. (While strawberry recipes are abundant, recipes using blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are not, which is something I plan on working to change.)

Naturally low in calories and rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants,  berries rich beautiful jewel colors hold the secret to their many health benefits. (The same compounds that give blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries their rich colors provide the antioxidants believed to help counter the risks of cancer, heart diseas and brain deterioration due to aging.)

Instead of obsessing about which berries contain which phytonutrients, I think it’s easier to remember to eat from the rainbow, incorporating as many different colors into your diet as possible.

Here are a few of the ways I love to enjoy strawberries, blueberries and raspberries:

I love them for breakfast on top of cereal, or yogurt…

Fresh Raspberries and Yogurt

Fresh Raspberries and Yogurt

On toast with laughing cow cheese and honey

Toast with Raspberries, Laughing Cow Cheese, & Honey

Toast with Raspberries, Laughing Cow Cheese & Honey

Layered into a parfait

Strawberry Yogurt Granola Parfaits

Skinny Strawberry Yogurt Granola Parfaits

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Ellie Krieger’s Easy Light Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Berries

Light Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Berries
Light Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Berries

Light and Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake with Fresh Berries

This yummy looking easy light creamy ricotta cheesecake from Ellie Krieger immediately caught my attention when I came across it in her USA Weekend CookSmart column the Sunday before July 4th. She described it as “Luxuriously creamy and satisfying but with a fraction of the calories and saturated fat of a typical cheesecake, it’s the kind of dessert that lets you have it all.”

Using part-skim ricotta, reduced fat cream cheese, reduced fat sour cream and skipping a crumb crust all help to significantly lower the calories and fat.

Since I like being able to have it all, and a quick calculation of the nutritional information revealed that each generous slice has a respectable  8 Weight Watchers PointsPlus, I decided to make it to enjoy on the 4th in all it’s red, white and blue glory.

Light & Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake with Berries

Light and Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake with Berries

 

The verdict?  This creamy ricotta cheesecake with fresh berries was definitely easy to make. You just whizz everything together in a food processor, pour the mixture into a springform pan and bake for about an hour. Since it needs to chill for at least 3 hours, it’s best to make this cheesecake ahead. (I baked it on July 3 and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight before brushing with jam and topping with berries on the 4th.)

It’s light and creamy, but not as smooth as typical cheesecake, because the ricotta makes it slightly grainy, with the consistency of a sweet ricotta-filled cannoli.

My version turned out a bit runnier than expected.  I baked it for the full 55 minutes suggested and it seemed set, but it might have been better with another 5-10 minutes of oven time. I also used nonfat Greek yogurt instead of reduced-fat sour cream, which could have had an effect on the texture.

It still tasted really good, but it’s not going on my “make again” list.

I love Ellie but her recipes have been hit and miss for me, so the next time I want a lighter healthier cheesecake I’m going to stick with a recipe from one of my tried and true favorite light dessert books, Enlightened Cakes: More Than 100 Decadently Light Layer Cakes, Bundt Cakes, Cupcakes, Cheesecakes, and More, All with Less Fat and Fewer Calories by Camilla Saulsbury or Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs, All Under 300 Calories Per Generous Serving by Nick Malgieri. They never let me down.

Enjoy!

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Skinny Triple Berry Cobbler – 5 Points+

Skinny Triple Berry Cobbler

This delicious triple berry cobbler is a smaller, slimmed down version of The Pioneer’s Woman’s Blackberry Cobbler Recipe, which looks absolutely luscious, but is a little too indulgent when you’re trying to watch your weight.

Skinny Triple Berry Cobbler

Skinny Triple Berry Cobbler

It caught my eye several month’s back when I saw her make it on The Food Network, because it was so easy and different from any other cobbler recipe I’d ever seen or tried. Just a simple batter of 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup self-rising flour and 1/2 cup melted butter stirred together, poured into a baking dish and topped with 2 cups blackberries and another 1/4 cup sugar and baked till golden.

I completely forgot about this luscious sounding dessert until the other day when I was thumbing through a little paperback community cookbook from my mom and came across a similar recipe – 1 can ready to use fruit topping, 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup self-rising flour and 1/4 cup butter – called Million Dollar Cobbler.

I decided to make my own healthy skinny version of berry cobbler for dessert last night, since I had everything I needed on hand and had a hankering for a comforting sweet treat.

I cut the recipe in half since there were only going to be three of us and the whole recipe serves 8. (Leftover dessert is a danger to be avoided as much as possible when you lack dietary willpower.)

To lighten the recipe, I substituted skim milk for whole milk and nonfat Greek yogurt for half the butter called for in the original recipe. I also used just 1/2 cup of sugar, dividing it between the batter and topping. And I used 1-1/3 cups of a frozen three berry combination that I had in the freezer (raspberries, blueberries and marionberries) to up the fruit-to-batter ratio a bit.

This cobbler is wonderful on it’s own or with a dollop of light whipped cream, ice cream or frozen yogurt. It also makes enough for 5 servings and has just 196 calories and 5 Weight Watchers PointsPlus value per serving.

We all enjoyed it. This recipe is definitely getting added to my “make again soon” file. I love easy simple recipes like this that can be modified in so many ways. I can imagine making this with chopped peaches or a combination of peaches and berries too.

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10 Healthy Blueberry Muffin Recipes

Photo by Art by Steve Johnson

Photo by Art by Steve Johnson

Do you have a weak spot for blueberry muffins? I have loved them for as long as I can remember but I don’t indulge in them very often.

Blueberries are healthy but the blueberry muffins found in today’s bakery cases are not! They are huge calorie and sugar bombs that my body really doesn’t appreciate. Sure, they taste good, but within an hour or two I’m shaky and ravenous. A feeling I try to avoid. Not to mention the calories…

Did you know that muffins sold today in coffee shops, grocery stores, and vending machines are more than twice as big as those sold back in the 1950s, and are more than three times the size of one standard portion?

Blueberry Muffins – The Nutritional Realities

A little online research revealed that the blueberry muffins sold at Starbucks pack 450 calories, 22 grams of fat, and 31 grams of sugar, while those at Dunkin Donuts are even worse!

That’s more than twice the calories of a glazed donut and more than the typical chocolate croissant.

That’s where healthy blueberry muffins come in. There are millions of blueberry muffin recipes. Healthy blueberry muffins recipe that also tastes great; not so many.

You can boost the nutrition of your blueberry muffins in lots of different ways – use wholewheat flour instead of white, decrease the sugar and fat, and add more blueberries – for starters. And by baking them in standard muffin tins, intend of the jumbo ones, you will have healthy blueberry muffins that are much closer to a realistic portion size.

Here is a great collection of healthy blueberry muffin recipes for you to try.


Healthy Blueberry Oat Muffins

This healthy delicious healthy blueberry muffin recipe is adapted from 750 Best Muffin Recipes: Everything from breakfast classics to gluten-free, vegan and coffeehouse favorites, a great book by one of my all time favorite food writers and recipe developers, Camilla Saulsbury

2.5 from 2 reviews

Skinny Healthy Blueberry Oat Muffins Recipe
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

A wonderful alternative to fattening coffee shop muffins your family will love. By making a few adjustments I was able to lower the fat and calories so they have only 5 WW PointsPlus Values.
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast, Bakery
Serves: 12

Ingredients
  • 1-3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1-1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
  • 1-1/2 cups blueberries

Instructions
  1. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan.
  2. In a food processor or blender, pulse the oats until they resemble coarse meal.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined and then set the bowl aside.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, oil, lemon zest, vanilla, and buttermilk until well blended.
  5. Add the sugar/egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just blended and then gently stir in the blueberries.
  6. Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups of the muffin pan.
  7. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 23 minutes.
  8. When they are done, remove pan from the oven and let muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer them out of the pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes
Nutritional estimates per serving (1 muffin): 173 calories, 5.3 g fat, 26.8 g carbs, 2.1 g fiber, 4.8 g protein and 5 Weight Watchers Point Plus Value.

 

8 More Healthy Blueberry Muffin Recipes from around the web

Whole Wheat Blueberry MuffinsThis is the ne plus ultra of blueberry muffins, the imaginary blue ribbon winner at the state fair, the top of the blueberry muffin heap with 202 calories, 7.1 g fat, 31 g carbs and 5 WW PointsPlus. Recipe from King Arthur Flour.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins – This past week, I picked up a 1/2 pint of organic blueberries from my local CO-OP just to bake muffins. My family absolutely loves blueberry muffins, so I wanted to spoil them just a bit. Instead of baking regular size muffins, I got out my fun mini-muffin pan and made a load of muffins. It made it so much easier to snack on them through out the day and we had just enough for breakfast the next morning. Recipe found at Simple Daily Recipes.

Healthier Blueberry Muffins – I think that sometimes muffins can be so sweet that they’re almost like a cupcake. To me, that’s fine for a snack, but I don’t usually like to eat an overly sweet breakfast. These muffins are just slightly sweetened, which really lets the flavor of the blueberries come through. Found at Sara’s Kitchen.

Lowfat Blueberry Bran Muffins – These muffins are just as delicious and moist as regular muffins! They’ll be gone before they have time to cool. Low-fat, healthy and yummy, imagine that.” Found at Allrecipes.

Blueberry Oat Bran Muffins- Cue in this blueberry oat bran muffin, which hits all four bases and, despite its good-for-you bran content, doesn’t taste like a punishment devised by some misguided flower-child baker. (But then I really like oat bran.) Recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini.

The Biggest Loser’s Mini Blueberry Bran Muffins – Yes, you can still have a muffin for breakfast — but it won’t be the size of a grapefruit!  Savor blueberries healthy benefits in moist, delicious mini-muffins.  They are loaded with fiber and freeze well too! Found at Fabulous Foods.

Vegan Blueberry Muffins – Here comes another amazing vegan recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I’m pretty sure that this is the best eggless/vegan blueberry muffin one can bake. Found at Eggless Cooking.

Whole Wheat Low Fat Blueberry Muffins – with whole wheat pastry flour and applesauce and only 4 Weight Watchers PointsPlus found at SkinnyTaste.

10 Health Nut Blueberry Muffins – an awesome good-for-you blueberry muffin filled with whole wheat flour, oat bran, wheat germ and walnuts with 196 calories, 5.8 g fat, 33.4 g carbs and 5 Weight Watchers PointsPlus Values. Found at AllRecipes

And heres a great video demonstrating how to make healthy blueberry muffins from the folks at Chobani yogurt…

More Healthy Muffin Recipes

Healthy Muffin Making Tips
Healthy Apple Pecan Muffins – with whole wheat flour, applesauce, apples and cinnamon
Healthy Muffin Recipes – several recipes along with muffin making ingredient suggestions and baking tips.
Healthy Company Muffins - full of wholesome ingredients including oats, apples and carrots
Whole Wheat Muffins – whole wheat banana and whole wheat pumpkin chocolate chip
Skinny Banana Oatmeal Muffin & Quick Breads – a delicious way to enjoy bananas and oatmeal for breakfast

Muffin Recipes Cookbook

750 Best Muffin Recipes Book Review

Easy Cheesecake – Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

When you want an easy cheesecake, then take an easy recipe for homemade cheesecake bars and embellish it with a jar of blueberry jam and fresh blueberries and what do you get?

A great blueberry cheesecake easy dessert recipe, that’s what!

I’m currently in Florida visiting my Mom and Dad. Flipping through one of Mom’s many cooking magazines a recipe for blueberry cheesecake bars caught my eye.

A quick check of the kitchen confirmed that we had everything we needed make them.

I love cheesecake but sometimes a whole cheesecake is more than we want or need.

That’s where homemade cheesecake bars come in. You get all the great flavor of cheesecake but in a more manageable amount. I lightened the recipe by using a thinner layer of graham cracker crumbs and using a combination of fat free and reduced fat cream cheese.

Cheesecake bars are easier too since they don’t need to be baked in a water bath.

I whipped up a batch of these lovely creamy blueberry cheesecake bars and everyone loved them.

Next time I want to try them with strawberry fruit spread and a cup of chopped fresh strawberries or raspberries and raspberry fruit spread!

Enjoy!

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