Italian Farro Bake

Wow. If you’re reading this, you need to make this dish. Even if you’re not reading this, you still need to make this dish. It is that good. I absolutely loved these flavors together. The tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese made it taste rich but the lemon zest and herbs gave it a bright, fresh flavor as well. The perfect comfort food for Spring! I had never cooked with farro before, but it’s a very healthy grain with a texture reminiscent of barley and it’s a great source of both fiber and protein. This is a great vegetarian main dish, but it could also be a delicious, cheesy side dish. Either way, you won’t be disappointed!

Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Scones

Orange and dark chocolate is one of my absolute favorite taste combinations and these scones married the two flavors beautifully. My mom and I knew we wanted to make scones as part of our Easter brunch, and as she’d given up chocolate for Lent (I don’t understand it either…) she was pretty set on incorporating it into our menu. I think she was the one who came up with orange/dark chocolate in our brainstorming session and as soon as she did I was definitely sold. These scones turned out absolutely delicious. The orange flavor really shined, though it wasn’t overpowering and the dark chocolate chips complemented it perfectly. The texture of the scones was great and I think most of my family agreed that they were even better cooled to room temperature than they were warm out of the oven (though both ways were wonderful). These would be great to serve company and they were easy to make. Chocolate for breakfast? Yes, please.

Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Scones
Source: inspired by Skinnytaste Lemon Cranberry Scones
 
Ingredients:
2 T granulated sugar
2 T freshly squeezed orange juice (straight from an orange), divided
½ c low fat buttermilk
¼ c granulated sugar
1 T orange zest
2 t vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 c white all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
½ t salt
3 T chilled butter, chopped into small pieces (butter must be cold, the consistency of the scones depends on it)
½ c dark chocolate chips

Directions:
1.    Make sure one of your oven racks is in the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2.    In a small dish, combine the first 2 T sugar and 1 T of orange juice and stir to create a glaze. Set aside.
3.    In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, ¼ c sugar, remaining 1 T orange juice, orange zest, vanilla extract and egg until combined. Set aside
4.    In a large bowl, whisk together white flour, wheat flour, baking powder and salt until combined. Cut in the cold butter using two knives (or a pastry blender if you have one) until the butter is broken up very small within the mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Add the bowl of wet ingredients and stir until combined.
5.    Lightly flour a clean, flat surface and dust your hand with flour as well. Place the dough on the surface and knead four times. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and flatten it into an 8” circle, about 3/4” thick. Slicing only about halfway through, mark the dough into 10 wedges using a knife. Brush the orange glaze over the top of the scones using a pastry brush. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Yields 10 servings. Weight Watchers Points Plus: 6 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per serving from myfitnesspal.com: 215 calories, 33 g carbs, 8 g fat, 4 g protein, 3 g fiber

Mac & Cheese Muffins

Oh, how I love homemade macaroni & cheese. Unfortunately, I love it so much that I rarely make it for fear that I will lose all portion control abilities and end up eating far more than I planned. Enter the Mac & Cheese Muffin. These individual sized portions of creamy, cheesy pasta are the perfect solution to satiate your cravings without going overboard. I ate two of them for dinner with a side salad and was happily satisfied. I think one would also make a perfect side dish to chicken, beef or pork. There’s even spinach in these so you can feel good about getting in some veggies! I used real, full fat cheese in these (at still only 4 WW Points+ per muffin that seemed worth it to me) but if you want to lighten them up further you could use reduced fat cheeses. I chose sharp white cheddar and Gruyere but feel free to get creative and use any of your favorite cheeses instead!

Black Forest Cupcakes

No one will ever guess that these decadent chocolate cupcakes filled with gooey cherry filling and topped with thick chocolate frosting are light, and if you don’t want to tell them, your secret is safe with me! I love the combination of cherry and chocolate flavors and when I was brainstorming ideas for new cupcakes this was one I wanted to make right away. Filling the cupcakes was simpler than I thought it would be and using a grapefruit knife was a great way to easily remove a perfect cone from each cake. I’ve been on a bit of a cupcake kick ever since my Lemon-Lime Cupcakes turned out so well and I’m pretty proud of these ones. Enjoy!

CONTEST CLOSED - 500 Facebook Fans Vitalicious Giveaway!

This past week the Emily Bites Facebook Page reached 500 fans – woohoo! I feel so lucky to have captured your interest after less than four months of blogging. Thanks for reading! To help me celebrate, the fine folks at Vitalicious sent me big box full of goodies and have a second box ready to send to one of you! If you’re unfamiliar with Vitalicious, they make healthy and delicious 100-Calorie muffin tops, brownies, baking mixes and other tasty treats. Not only are their products delicious, but they are also fortified with vitamins and nutrients and produced using only all-natural products (no artificial additives or preservatives here). Each individually-wrapped serving includes whole grains, at least 5-6 g of fiber, 3-4 g of protein, 100 calories, 0.5-1.5 g of fat and 15 vitamins and minerals. These are tasty snacks you can feel good about!

Here’s what came in my Vitalicious Super Sampler:

4 - Deep & Velvety VitaBrownies
2 - Chocolate Mint VitaTops
2 - Banana Nut VitaTops
2 - Triple Chocolate Chunk VitaTops
2 - Deep Chocolate VitaTops
2 - Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip VitaTops
2 - Golden Corn VitaTops
2 - CranBran VitaTops
2 - Apple Crumb VitaTops
2 - RaisinBran VitaTops
2 - Pumpkin Spice

So far, I’ve tried three kinds:

Golden Corn VitaTop (I served it with some leftover Slow Cooked Barbecue Beef – see photo) – yummy and a little sweet like cornbread. This would also be good with chili!

Deep Chocolate VitaTop (I served it with frozen berries, microwaved to a warm and saucy consistency and some Fat free Reddi Whip) – this was a delicious combination and the warm and chocolately VitaTop was like guilt-free chocolate cake!

Deep & Velvety VitaBrownie (see photo above) – tasty and I liked the nuts on top!

I’m really excited to try the Chocolate Mint and Fudgy Peanut Butter ones on their own because those are two of my favorite flavor combinations.

UPDATE:  I've now tried the Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip and the Apple Crumb and they were both amazing! I actually think the Apple Crumb might be my favorite so far. Yum.

Which Vitalicious treat will be your favorite? To enter to win your very own Vitalicious Super Sampler:

Entry: Leave a comment below to tell me which Vitalicious product you are most excited to try. 
Bonus Entry: Become a fan of Emily Bites on Facebook and leave a second comment below (here, not on Facebook) letting me know you did! If you are already a fan, you can say that instead!
Extra Bonus Entry: Become a fan of Vitalicious on facebook and leave a third comment below (here, not on Facebook) letting me know you did.

Note: Please make sure you enter your name and email address (or use a blogger account) when commenting so I will have a way to contact you if you win!

That’s three potential chances for each of you to win! One winner will be selected by random.org on Wednesday night at 9 PM. Enter below and it could be you! Thanks so much to all of you for reading my blog and following my page on Facebook – you’re the best!

Congratulations to the winner, Erin, chosen by random.org, who commented "I love Vitalicious! I eat the Blubran VitaTops for breakfast every morning and can't wait to try the Deep Chocolate VitaTop." Enjoy your Vitalicious Super Sampler and thanks for reading!  

Slow Cooked Barbecue Beef

I created a poll on the Emily Bites Facebook Page this week asking my readers what you’d like to see more of on the blog and “crock pot recipes” was the runaway winner. Your wish is my command! Slow cooker recipes are great because most have minimal “hand’s on” cooking time and often they can cook all day and be nearly ready when you get home from work! This hearty, tangy, tasty Barbecue Beef recipe came from my mom, who got it from her mom. Not only is this recipe easy and delicious, it’s also very versatile. I stayed traditional by serving the beef on a bun, but feel free to be creative! This Barbecue Beef would taste great atop a baked sweet potato, wrapped in a corn tortilla like a taco or featured on a nice crisp bed of salad. The possibilities are endless!

Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps

Do not let their humble appearance fool you, these wraps are downright delicious and taste like a guilty pleasure without the guilt! I am a big fan of the Asian-flavored lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang’s and when I was brainstorming ways to use the leftover burger-seasoned ground beef from my Cheeseburger Pizza, this is what I came up with. I recommend storing any leftover meat mixture in the fridge immediately because otherwise you will be tempted to eat it out of the bowl with a spoon! Trust me. These may not be the prettiest or fanciest things I’ve made but they’re a great way to get all the yummy flavors of a juicy, cheesy burger in a low carb, low point way.

Baked Clams Oreganata

After my trip to Florida last week I was in the mood for seafood and I immediately thought of this dish. My mom made this appetizer fairly frequently on holidays when I was growing up. She always served it with crackers (you can spread it) but it tastes just as good on its own. I served it in custard cups but for a fun twist you can also bake it on clam shells. I’m just starting to be more adventurous with seafood, but even when I thought I didn’t like it I still always loved this dish. The bread crumbs and spices and Parmesan topping all blend together with the minced clams to create sort of a clam stuffing. It’s downright delicious. Great for cocktail parties, the first course of a dinner party or just a tasty snack for yourself!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

If you are reading this and thinking “What the heck are Hummingbird Cupcakes?” then you are not alone. I had never heard of hummingbird cake, though apparently it’s quite popular in the south. The tropical fruits in this recipe make for a thick, dense cupcake and I love the flavor combination of the fruits and cinnamon in the cupcake with the cream cheese frosting. I substituted unsweetened applesauce in this recipe for some of the butter in the original and I overhauled the cream cheese frosting and replaced it with a much lighter version.  Most recipes for hummingbird cake seem to include nuts of some kind (pecans or walnuts), though I chose to omit them. If you’d like to include them, fold 2/3 cup of chopped nuts into the batter along with the pineapple and coconut (will change the P+ value).

I was really excited to make these, partially because they sounded delicious and partially because I couldn’t wait to use my new Wilton Dessert Decorator Plus! After requesting frosting design help in my post for Lemon-Lime Cupcakes (my favorite cupcakes ever), my high school friend Erin told me about the wondrous gadget that is the frosting gun. I ran out and picked one up at Michael’s (it was regularly $14.99 but I got it for even less with a coupon) and it is one of the best kitchen tools I’ve purchased in a while. It is easy to use, has detailed instructions on how to use it to make several different designs and it made me feel like a pro! Pastry bags can be so messy and awkward, but this was clean and simple and didn’t waste any frosting. I especially love the results – my frosting looks great (in my humble opinion)!

Eggplant Parmesan

This delicious main dish is so low in WW P+ and calories that you won’t feel the least bit guilty pairing it with a healthy side of pasta or a tasty dessert! Unlike in restaurants where eggplant parmesan is generally covered in bread crumbs and fried in oil, this one is coated in a blend of whole wheat panko crumbs, seasonings and freshly grated Parmesan cheese and baked in the oven until the inside is juicy and the outside is perfectly crisp. This is a great way to satisfy a craving for saucy, cheesy Italian flavors without expanding your waistline!