Recipe: Chocolate Nutella Cookies

I'm nuts for Nutella. Here’s what I love about it:

Just two tablespoons per serving size is four grams of saturated fat and 12 grams of fat total. Plus pretty simple ingredients as long as you or your little CFer doesn't have a nut allergy.

110% of credit for this recipe has to go to my friend Sarah over at Simply Social. She is a million times more creative than this mom.

Chocolate Nutella Cookies

1 1/4 cup flour (can sub in half whole-wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 cup skim millk (could sub in whole milk for CFers)

Preheat oven to 325F. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together.

Beat together the butter (room temp), sugar, and brown sugar with mixer. Add vanilla and Nutella and mix until at medium speed until smooth.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add milk. Then add remaining flour mixture and mix completely. Wrap dough in clear wrap refrigerate the dough for an hour.

When you are ready to bake, line pan with non-stick baking mat or parchment, scoop and roll dough into 1 inch balls and press down with the bottom of a glass to make cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. Cookies are done when they start to crack on top. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Sarah actually used this recipe to make football whoopie pies in honor of the 2013 Super Bowl. If you’re ambitious enough, follow this link to her recipe for the marshmallow creme filling.  

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins are a staple in our house, I can't keep them in stock. They don't make exceptionally large sized muffins - they are more the size of a cupcake. Perfect for toddlers. Easy to add calories by using full fat sour cream and whole milk.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes about 16 muffins - sometimes I can squeeze in 17 if I'm lucky!

1 and 3/4 cup flour (I use half white, half wheat)
3/4 cup sugar (I used half white half brown)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whole milk
3 large overripe bananas (you want about one cup mushed bananas in the end)
1/2 to 3/4 semisweet chocolate chips - when I use the mini chocolate chips I use about a 1/2 cup but if I only have the regular size, I increase to 3/4 cup.

Instructions:
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl.
Combine wet ingredients (except the bananas) in another bowl.
Fold wet into dry ingredients until just folded.
Then fold in the bananas, then fold in the chocolate chips
Fill muffin pan with paper holders, then fill each holder two-thirds of the way full with batter.

For regular sized muffins, bake 22-25 minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit until brown on top. Cool 5 minutes on rack. Makes about 16 muffins.

For mini muffins, bake for 18 minutes at 350 degrees Farenheit until just brown on top. Cool on rack. Makes about 55-60 mini muffins.

For banana bread, just use a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for a little more than 1 hour or until fork comes out clean in center.

Notes:
I will often toss our uneaten overripe bananas in the freezer whole, then thaw them out in the microwave for a few minutes (or on the counter for an hour) and use them in this recipe. These muffins freeze nicely in a ziploc freezer bag. When I make the mini sized ones, I pop frozen ones in the kids' lunch bag in the morning and they are thawed out by snack time. I use half white flour/half whole wheat flour to include some fiber. This dries out the muffins a little bit and makes them tastes a little like bran muffins. But the kids still eat them!

Q: Who likes yogurt?

A: Unfortunately not Lil Guy. Which really stinks because after much searching I just finally found a great full fat yogurt.

Yoplait Simplait is marketed as "Made with only six natural ingredients, each cup of Yoplait Simplait delivers a spectacular taste experience."

Shh...don't tell anyone but it also delivers a nice chunk of fat with it - 7 grams and 200 calories. That's almost as much fat as in the Stonyfield Farms whole fat yogurt - which, incidentally, I can never find in our supermarket. And nearly twice as much fat as the YoBaby baby yogurt.

Recipe: Chicken Divan

Credit for this recipe goes to Parade magazine (August 5, 2012) issue. If you're looking for an even quicker and easier version, check out Chef Jeff's recipe here.
  
Chicken Divan
2 whole boneless, skinless chicken bBrreasts (about a 1 1/2 lb total), cooked and sliced thin
1 large bunch of broccoli, trimmed and cut into 4-inch long spears
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 stick unsalted butter, diced
5 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp medium-dry sherry*
fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
 
* A dry white wine can be substituted for sherry, or check out these great subbing tips. You can also pick up an affordable bottle of cooking sherry at Trader Joe's.
 
Serves 6 and nutrition per serving is as follows: 370 calories, 13g carbs, 32g protein, 20g fat, 120mg cholesterol, 560mg sodium, 3g fiber

1. Cook the chicken as you like it - bake it, grill it, etc. Then cook the broccoli in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 6 to 8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside covered.
 
2. In another saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook on low, stirring for 10 minutes or until thick.
 
3. In a mixing bowl, beat cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form, then add to the flour mixture. Next add the sherry and lemon juice to taste. Season with salt and pepper.
 
4. Arrange broccoli on a flameproof platter, a 2-quart gratin dish, or another shallow casserole dish. Top with half the sauce. Then stir 1/4 cup Parmesan into the other half of the sauce. Arrange chicken on broccoli and pour the remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan.
 
5. Broil about 6 inches from heat for 1 minute or until sauce is golden and bubbling.
 
I really like this recipe because it's lower-carb and easy to create a high fat version for CFers and a low fat version for the rest of the family. This would involve just making two separate sauces - one with regular sodium chicken broth and cream for the CFer and one with low-sodium chicken broth and low fat milk for the rest of the family. Serve with whole wheat pasta or brown rice for a heartier meal.

Stuff I like for toddlers

As a parent of a CFer, you soon realize the entire baby food aisle is USELESS. I've never seen so many non-fat options in my life.

How to get extra calories into a toddler? Here are some items I like for older babies and toddlers with CF. What are your favorites?

Happy Bellies Oatmeal
It's a measley one gram of fat but we really like this oatmeal for its consistency. Instead of mixing it with water or milk, we combine it with a whole jar of baby food fruit and add some butter and salt to the mix. Yum - one of Lil Guy's favorites.

Earth's Best Baby Food
Earth's Best has some good options for baby food meats, which are important for the vitamins needed for little CFers. Their Seasonal Harvest Variety Pack doesn't have a lot of fat in it but again we just added butter and salt. Lil Guy loved these combos much better than straight baby food meat (ick). You'll fare a bit better in fat content withe the Gourmet Meals Variety Pack - the beef one has a whopping 7g of fat in it!

Annie's Cheddar Bunnies
With 7g of fat per serving, the bunnies appear to be a slightly better option than Pepperidge Farm goldfish.

High Fat French Fries
You don't need to run to McDonalds every time you you want high fat fries. Found these in the frozen food section - just read the labels to find the right ones. Condiments may take a while - Lil Guy didn't like ketchup until he was about a year and a half. He also didn't like dip for chips until about that time. And he still doesn't like ranch sauce. Of course he loves the sugary sweet and sour sauce!

Plum Organics Banana Pumpkin
We always make one stop in the baby food aisle and that is for Plum Organics Banana Pumpkin squeeze bags. There are other flavors but the Banana Pumpkin packs 100 calories into We love it for quick fixes at clinic - no need for enzymes because there isn't any fat in it.

Sunmaid Yogurt Raisins
I'm on the fence about these. The tiny box says 20% daily value of saturated fat - score! But when I look at the ingredients I still see a lot of sugar. Both kids love them so I can't keep them in stock.