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Recipe: Yogurt Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Both Bobby and I have a major weakness for really good oatmeal raisin cookies. I also happen to have a jar of homemade yogurt in my fridge from my dad’s girlfriend (she makes it from raw milk they buy in PA!) that I wanted to do something with aside from yogurt breakfast bowls.

So I set out to experiment with a yogurt based oatmeal raisin cookie. It came out GREAT. I will warn you – these are not very sweet (on purpose) and could probably be eaten for breakfast or a healthy/hearty snack – but in my mind they are also the perfect dessert.

I haven’t gotten Kurt into these yet (to be honest, he doesn’t like ANY sweets, and thank goodness – have you ever met a 20 month old boy who doesn’t want candy? That’s my son) but that’s ok… more for us.

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Here’s the simple recipe:

Yogurt Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2.5 cups whole oats
  • heaping 1/3 cup raisins
  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Mix together the yogurt, sugar, egg, vanilla.
  3. Separately, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  4. Add the flour mix into the wet mix; mix well.
  5. Add the oats, raisins, and coconut – mix well.
  6. Make large (1/3 cup or so) scoops of the dough into round cookie shapes and bake for 13-15 minutes on a baking pan sprayed with Pam.

This made 8 very large cookies. If you prefer smaller ones, reduce the cooking time by about 2 minutes to accommodate that!

Hope you get a chance to enjoy these yummy healthy yogurty oatmeal raisin cookies!

And Happy New Year if I don’t check in before then!

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Walking For Health & Walking As Exercise

Happy Labor Day! In honor of this great relaxing day off, I’m going to talk about one of my favorite things: walking. This weekend I got to walk a lot with Coco (and Star, her hubby). There are 2 reasons I walk (in addition to the fact that I just like it)…

Walking As Exercise

When I’m walking as exercise, I like to do a few different things:

  • Listen to music or podcasts
  • Read a book
  • Walk with my husband, or a good friend
  • Chat on the phone with my parents

And sometimes I just walk in silence. Walking in silence is sometimes just as good as (or even better than) yoga for clearing the mind. Walking is almost like meditation.

I use an iPod Nano for my podcasts. I am actually looking for new podcast recommendations so please let me know if you have any in the comments below! I like nutrition, yoga, linguistics, languages, and psychology, but I’m always open to other topics as well.

As for books, I tend to read books that don’t take too much concentration when I’m walking as exercise. I have tried to read more advanced books while I’m walking, but it’s too easy to lose focus because I do have to look up every so often so I don’t run into things/people/cabs. The Emily Giffin books were perfect for long walks.

I read that book 2 years ago – I searched my blog for her name and found this old post. Cool for me to see how I (and my blog) have evolved over the years.

Walking For Health

Okay, so walking as exercise is great, but walking is good for overall health as well. I have read so many articles lately about how being happy and leading a stress free life are actually more important than the foods you eat. That sounds a little bit crazy and unconventional, but I’m temped to believe it.

For one thing, walking is great for weight loss/maintenance. I don’t really do much other than walk these days, and I’m maintaining my weight easily. This weekend I did walk a lot (5-6 miles each day) but normally I only walk 2-4 miles a day. Walking for health = easy to stick to. I don’t really have any trouble fitting in my miles each day and I don’t dread them (unlike some other workouts).

Walking is also a way to take a break from whatever happened to you during the day/week. I like to walk home from work (it’s about 1.5 miles) when it’s not too hot and not too cold. Sometimes I window shop, sometimes I really shop (I got Bobby the jacket below the other day), and I always make sure that I stop thinking about anything stressful – humans need a way to get rid of stress. Stress is horrible for us – worse than cheeseburgers and fast food, for sure.

I think I am getting off topic! Back to walking for health 😉 Walking = relaxing stress-reliever. Walking = good cardio. Walking = kind to your joints. Walking = low-impact. Walking = doesn’t feel like exercise. Walking = awesome.

So instead of sitting here posting, I am going to go out for a walk with my hubby because we haven’t left the house yet today. We had delicious steel cut oats for breakfast/brunch (mine with butter and a touch of honey; his with a bit more honey and 2 pieces of fake bacon; this picture is not from today – it’s from another delicious blogger meetup day almost a year ago in San Francisco).

Why do you walk? Or do you like other forms of exercise better?

P.S. Got a bunch of good questions yesterday! Will answer them tomorrow I think. If not tomorrow, Thursday.

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Healthy Eating In Miami

We are on day 2 of our Miami trip (we got here Tuesday night; we are in town for Bobby’s sister’s high school graduation). So far eats have been fantastic, but unfortunately I have a cold. I’m recovering, I think!

Wednesday…

  • Breakfast: blueberry yogurt with blueberries, strawberries, and wheat germ
  • Snack: fresh papaya
  • Lunch: Japanese bento box from Matsuri – this was ordered off the special Japanese menu, thanks to my future MIL. She knows I love hijiki so she suggested it. It came with grilled saba (mackerel), hijiki salad, salad, miso soup, sukimono (pickled vegetables – in this case cucumber). (Picture source.)
  • Dinner: papaya salad (papaya, tomato, shrimp, calamari, mussels) and Thai basil chicken from Lan (with friends). (old pictures)
  • Dessert: a cookie that I made with my friend (chocolate chip and pecan! recipe coming soon maybe…) + a bite of the bagels we made (cinnamon raisin)
  • Late night snack: fresh fruit (grapes, cherries, papaya)

Today has been great so far too. We are headed off now, but I had oatmeal with blueberries, wheat germ, and honey for breakfast (Bobby’s mom had oatmeal too) and then we snacked on papaya.

We are having such an amazing time here. It’s so good to be with Bobby’s family (my family now too), who we don’t get to see very often.

How often do you see your family?

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Operation Wedding

**UPDATE**

My wedding was on July 24th, 2010. When I moved to New York in November 2009 from California, I took a new job, I started eating out more, and got a little bit lax about exercise and fitness. I wanted to shape up a little bit for the wedding, so these are the exercises that I found most effective:

Yoga

  • Tom Morley’s Buns and Thighs Yoga (~25 minutes)
  • YogaDownload’s Yoga Sculpt (~25 minutes)
  • YogaDownload’s Weight Loss Yoga (~25 minutes)

Strength Training

Cardio

  • Walking. I try to walk at least 2 miles every day. On my better days I will walk upwards of 4 miles. Walking is great for your bones, your legs, and toning in general. It is an exercise that you can do whether you are in shape or just starting to get fit. You can walk no matter where you live, no matter what the weather is like outside. Walking in snow just makes it better exercise 😉 Walking is my exercise of choice because it’s just so easy to fit in. I walk with my husband and we chat about our days. I walk alone and listen to music or podcasts. I think about things to blog about. I cannot get enough!

My Results

I lost about 5 pounds and I gained back a lot of tone. I was really pleased with the results of “Operation Wedding”. Here are some wedding pictures (I am a little bit wedding-obsessed now, so bear with me! For more pictures visit My Photographer’s site -> Featured Events -> Maggie & Robert):

**END UPDATE**

—Original post below—

I have just over 2.5 months until my wedding to look toned. I’m going to try to do either Jillian’s 30-day shred *or* a 20-minute yogadownload routine every day. This morning I did the 30-day shred level 1 routine. Great before-work workout.

What will I eat? Probably the same stuff I usually do. I just want some nice long lean muscles for the wedding. I’ve lost my toned-ness since moving to New York because I haven’t been doing much yoga (or any kind of strength training at all).

Yesterday I mentioned that I saw a celebrity at Souen – it was Lisa Edelstein, aka Dr. Cuddy from House. I adore House. Such a good show. Cuddy was absolutely drop dead gorgeous in person. That show does not do her justice. Apparently she is vegan and practices Ashtanga yoga. I may copy her if I will look that good when I’m 44.

I also mentioned that I converted Bobby and Julia (sister) into oatmeal lovers. This was our Sunday brunch:

Mine is on the left (oats, butter, honey). Julia’s in on top (oats, cinnamon, sliced apples, peanut butter). Bobby’s is on the lower right (oats, honey, apples).

The trick is to use Scottish style oats or steel cut oats. They are chewy and have a completely different texture from instant oats or even regular oats. If you think you don’t like oatmeal, think again. You will love these. (Make sure to add a dash of salt for each serving while cooking – that’s another reason that people don’t like oats. They’re awful without the salt.)

I have also been eating yummy lunches at work. Last week I sauteed up some cabbage in a whole lot of butter and ate it with half of a frozen eggplant parm from Trader Joe’s.

Mmm butter. I could be a vegan aside from the butter and the cheese. Oops. I would be a bad vegan.

Though this new breakfast is completely vegan and awesomely delicious (and fatty!) on a hot day:

Yes, that is a smoothie in a bowl. It’s just…

  • 1 cup coconut milk kefir
  • 1.5 cups frozen fruit (this is strawberries, but today’s was raspberries and blueberries)
  • 1 tablespoon honey

Blend it in a food processor, blender, or magic bullet. I used my mini food processor.

It was great after my morning workout. I may have another one tomorrow. I love having fats in the morning.

Have you made a new breakfast recently? I rarely waver from either eggs or oats, so this was a nice change.

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Review: Slice Perfect Pizza in New York

If you haven’t checked it out already, Foodbuzz just launched a new Healthbuzz section. I’m one of the Contributing Health Editors, along with a few of my favorites – there are too many to list so go check them out yourself.

I mentioned yesterday that my sister came to visit me for the weekend. So…

Bobby and I have been meaning to go to this organic pizza place – Slice – on the upper east side for a while now. I’d heard of it through my Cornell listserve (the owners are fellow Cornellians) and apparently Bobby’s business partner is actually friends with them. We decided to take Julia there for her first night in the city (Friday).

Slice also offers gluten-free pies, and actually pies for people with all different allergies – dairy, wheat, gluten, nuts, casein, etc… Everything is made to order and fresh (no pre-made pizza that gets reheated). The slices come sliced into bite-size pieces – about 5 per slice, I think. Apparently they are the only pizzeria in the country that uses 100% organic mozzarella cheese.

We shared the bruschetta to start ($5.50 I think). I left my camera at home so these pictures are taken from Yelp. This picture shows the bruschetta on little crackers, but it was actually served with fresh toasted pita bread – which was delicious. I think the “pita” was actually the same dough they make their (thin-) crust pizza with.

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Julia got the “intermediate” slice ($5). It was a honey whole wheat crust with marinara, arugula, and goat cheese. It was amazing. Their menu is set up like a school – appetizers are “additional learning”, drinks are “extracurriculars”, and so on.

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Bobby got 2 slices – one was “Taste of India” ($4.50) (honey whole wheat crust, channa masala, and part-skim mozzarella). You had to eat this with a fork it was so thick and chickpea-covered. I’m going to be honest and say I didn’t like this one at all… but I don’t like Indian food; maybe an Indian food lover would enjoy it. Bobby and Julia didn’t like it that much either.

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His other slice was called “the master” ($5.50), which was my favorite. I don’t have a picture. It was a thin-crust honey whole wheat pizza topped with marinara sauce, organic part-skim mozzarella, and crumbled free-range organic herbed chicken sausage. Oh my goodness, so delicious. It was light but meaty and the flavors were perfect.

I got this amazing salad, ($7) and I shared some of the pizzas and of course the bruschetta. (Greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, goat cheese.) I got this with the carrot ginger dressing – I dumped all 3 containers of dressing on the salad and wished they had given me more.

Source.

Next time I think I will get “the intermediate” (Julia’s pick) and steal some of Bobby’s “the master” (the organic chicken sausage one).

Slice was great – organic and reasonably priced. We left feeling pretty full – could definitely do without the appetizer next time. We’ll probably be back one night this week.

I broke out my camera yesterday and took pictures of several things I ate. It was nice. It felt odd after keeping the camera away for so long. The pictures include yummy oatmeal that converted Bobby and Julia into oatmeal lovers. That makes me happy. Bobby has been a willing weekend oatmeal participant for the last few weeks, ever since he found out about steel cut oats.

Do you like pizza? What’s your favorite kind? I like vegan or vegetarian pies with lots of veggies.

P.S. I saw a celebrity at Souen at Saturday brunch. She was gorgeous and her role in one of my favorite TV shows does not do her any justice at all. The women is 44 but she looks about 25. I want to be her. If I’m a vegan too will I look like that? If I practice yoga daily will I look like that? Guess who!