Veggies in Dessert - Eggplant Chocolate Chip Muffins

If you missed my segment on First Coast Living, you can watch me talk about Veggies in Desserts here: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/firstcoastliving/default.aspx. It's not easy to find; but go to the tab for Food (click the right arrow to see more tabs) and then scroll down until you find Wednesday September 26th UNF Nutrition.

I showcased three desserts during this segment: Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes (see blog post Sept 16th), Eggplant Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Black Bean Brownies. As I mentioned, none of these recipes were my creation and you can find them at these links:

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes: http://www.dominosugar.com/recipe/beet-red-velvet-cake-7560

Eggplant Chocolate Chip Muffins: http://sucheela.blogspot.com/2009/09/eggplant-chocolate-chip-muffins.html#!/2009/09/eggplant-chocolate-chip-muffins.html

Black Bean Brownies: http://www.pattycake.ca/node/370

The main points from my segment were:

1. Add vegetables to your day in any way you can!

Americans do not eat enough vegetables. The recommended amount for generally healthy adults is 2-3 cups per day and data shows we are eating 1.5-1.8 cups/day (2004 NHANES)! Sneaking vegetables into desserts can help us to baby-step our way towards the recommended daily amount - remember, it's still dessert so it won't get you all the way there!

2. Use vegetables to increase the nutitional content of your favorite desserts by reducing calories and fat, increasing fiber, and adding vitamins.

3. Methods (not covered in segment)

If using a puree, replace half of the fat with the puree. If it's a liquid fat (oil) use 3/4 the amount that you are replacing and if it's a solid fat (butter), use 1/2 the amount you are replacing. Reduce the oven temperature or check sooner than the recipe calls for or it might overbake.

If using chopped vegetables, some have a high water content so you may need to reduce the other liquids in the recipe.

Now, on to my favorite of the three recipes - the eggplant chocolate chip muffins!

Start by making sure you have all the ingredients you will need on hand. 

Next, figure out how to chop that eggplant! Here's a suggestion, start by cutting into smaller sections with straight edges so the vegetable will sit flat when you start chopping.

Now, peel the eggplant. Honestly, when I make my second batch of these muffins today (yes, they are that good!) I will not peel the eggplant and see how that goes... but the recipe called for peeling, so I did.

Finally, chop the section in half (again to give you a flat edge for safer chopping) and make smaller and smaller cuts. These pictures show going from the whole section, to half the section, to slices, to matchsticks, to a small chop.

Moving on to the other ingredients, you will end up with four bowls of goodies. Top left is the flour mixture, top right is the butter mixture, bottom left is the chocolate chips, and bottom right is the chopped eggplant.

The beautiful thing about making muffins is that it is so easy! Simply make a well in your flour mixture (dry ingredients) and add your liquid ingredients. Be careful how much mixing you do! Gluten develops quickly once liquid is added to flour so you want to mix as LITTLE as possible while still combining the ingredients so there are NO DRY SPOTS of flour. Then fold in the extras (chips and eggplant) and mix just enough to distribute those extras throughout the batter. The mixture should be lumpy!

This recipe yields 24 muffins. Here they are before going in the oven

And after! YUM!

Compared to store-bought chocolate chip muffins, these have 50 less calories, 4 grams less fat, double the fiber, and we've added vitamins A and C. 

Per muffin:

Calories	180
Carbohydrates (g)	26
Protein (g)	3
Fat (g)	8
Sat Fat (g)	3
Trans (g)	0
Cholesterol (mg)	30
Sodium (mg)	170
Fiber (g)	2.1
Vitamin A	3%
Vitamin C	7%
Calcium	2%
Iron	4%

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

Did you know it's "Fruits and Veggies - More Matters" month?

I'm doing a media spot this month and decided to focus on sneaking in more vegetables by using them to create desserts. My first adventure in the kitchen was red velvet cupcakes made with beets. I'm happy to report no red stains anywhere in my kitchen from the beets!

The recipe is from: http://www.dominosugar.com/recipe/beet-red-velvet-cake-7560 with no alterations. I did add store-bought cream cheese icing because making these cupcakes - which is more like making cake than muffins - was enough for one day.

Lab coat, check. Hair back, check. Hands washed, check. All ingredients on hand and measured, check. And we are ready to go!

Step 1: Cream sugar and butter. Note that a husband with strong hands is helpful for this step!



Step 2: Add eggs

Other bowls of goodness ready. Note that if you don't have a sifter, you can use a wire mesh strainer. I did this and it sifted beautifully. Top left: flour mixture. Top right: sugar, butter, eggs mixture. Bottom left: buttermilk mixture. Bottom right: pureed beets - pretty!

Once mixed together = big bowl of batter and a wooden spoon that will probably always be slightly reddish...

The recipe does indeed make 24 cupcakes

These have a nice moistness and grain but are not as red as conventional red velvet cake (even with sneaking a few drops of red food coloring in the batter...shhh!)

And the final product with the icing, which I will be bringing into work tomorrow to share!

These are husband-approved so you know they must be good.

Nutritional analysis has not yet been done; but I will update this post once I've run the numbers. I don't think these will be low-calorie cupcakes... but they do sneak in a vegetable that many people dislike in it's pure form. Simply by making the vegetable into a puree, you can add beets to your diet!

One Day in Food Pictures

I decided this morning to document my foods today with photographs. One because I need the practice and two because I though it would be kind of fun to show how much color and variety can make up a day's worth of yummy food.

Breakfast: Egg white omelet with red onion, mushrooms, roma tomato, spinach, and reduced fat pepperjack cheese served with one slice whole wheat bread with olive oil based butter spread. Two cups coffee with splenda and almond milk.

Snack: Celery and carrots. Mmmmmmm.

Lunch: Flatout Wrap with pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, quinoa, and jalepeno mustard.

Snack #2: Almonds in a wonderful little tin from the Almond people. One of the benefits of being a registered dietitian is food schwag!

Snack #3: Starbucks tall non-fat latte (not pictured) because my brain was fuzzy and I needed caffeine. I realized after I got my coffee on that I was low on calories for the day and with the run, I just needed more energy (calories) and not really the caffeine. But it was still quite enjoyable.

Dinner: Tilapia sauteed in white wine with green onions, garlic, and tomatoes; sweet potato with cinnamon. Not shown are a green salad with olive oil & balsamic (plus oregano and black pepper) and a nice glass (which is about to be two nice glasses) of gervertraminer (which is probably not how you spell that nice white wine's name).

Thoughts on Dieting and a Quinoa Recipe

I believe we should all eat when we are hungry.

I interned and now work part-time with a private practice that specializes in eating disorders. We all have that voice inside our heads that sends us positive and negative messages about our bodies, our food intake, our ability to control these things. Eating disorders, like any psychological illnesses, are normal thought patterns taken to the extreme. Those with eating disorders battle with that voice in their heads and that voice begins to win.

I have also worked briefly at a bariatric surgeon's office who specialized in lapband surgery. I had ethical issues with his post-surgery diet so it wasn't a good fit. In the time I worked there, however, I saw another form of disordered eating in both the pre- and post-surgery patients.

Both of these populations had lost touch with or flat out ignored their body's hunger and satiety cues and I, in no way, endorse this. 

If you are hungry, eat. If you are not hungry, don't eat. 

Yes, that is simplistic and  much easier said than done; but that's the premise for a healthy relationship with food.

I also do not believe in "dieting" per se. The research shows time and time again that dieting does not work. No matter the method (low carb, low fat, high protein, shakes, meal plans, or simple calorie restriction), the weight comes off (duh), the dieting stops, and the weight comes back on. The diet mentality is not effective.

One can go "off" a diet and therein lies the problem.

I'll step off my soapbox now to share a recipe and picture. I'm working on my food photography skills. Here is a version of a recipe I found in Clean Eating Magazine.

Quinoa Bowl: 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup rinsed black beans, 7 grape tomatoes halved, chopped red onion to taste, 1/4 avocado chopped, red wine vinegar to taste, lime juice, and cilantro. YUM! Nutrition Info: 335 kcal, 56g CHO, 9 g fat, 13g protein.