Brittany's Kitchen Adventures- Clean Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few weeks ago, I made THESE delicious chocolate chip cookies. They had half the calories as regular chocolate chip cookies. They were heaven. I can almost taste them now...

To make them cleaner, I substituted half the flour with
whole wheat pastry flour, and the other half with
oat flour. Everything else stayed the same....My husband said they tasted like a dog biscuit with chocolate chips in it. And I agree. I can't believe how much changing the flour can change an entire cookie. What the heck dude?!

So the quest continues, to find a Deliciously Clean dessert.
(Thank you for your clean eating tips in my last post. I will definitely be checking them out.)

***
I didn't have the healthiest weekend ever. We were at a car dealership ALL day with nothing to eat. When we finally left (with my new car:), we were starving, and an Olive Garden was right across the street. So we went. And I enjoyed. Then Sunday I had leftovers. But today- today was good. And so will be tomorrow, and the next day. I'm doing this- I just got to find some clean desserts, to keep me motivated. A girl needs her chocolate.

Dessert failure, and the come back of "Brittany's Kitchen Adventures"!

I feel like I'm on a roll with this new clean eating/low glycemic plan of mine.

Except for one little thing: I need some sweets!
Since all of the Deliciously Healthy desserts I used to make have white flour in them, I have to find new, clean(er) desserts to make. Tonight I thought I'd try a little experiment- I made chewy coconut macaroons using oat flour, instead of all purpose flour.They tasted great, but didn't hold together at all.

I'm excited to try making my chocolate chip cookies without using white flour. I have a few ideas on what to substitute the white flour with. I really hope it works, because those would so hit the spot.

I WILL find deliciously clean desserts to bake. You watch :)
Seriously. Stop by every Monday to see me cook/bake new things, because
I'm bringing back "Brittany's Kitchen Adventures"! I took a couple months off, while I figured out my new game plan. Now I'm ready to get back to cooking/baking challenging new things that I've never attempted; and I will blog about all of it! The first few weeks will be on my attempts to bake deliciously clean desserts. There's bound to be some disasters (like tonight's cookies), but hopefully a lot of Deliciously Healthy successes!

Do you know of any Deliciously Clean desserts?

Remember to wear red this Friday, for Go Red For Women Day!

Brittany's Kitchen Adventures- Turkey Chili

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

Welcome to Brittany's Kitchen Adventures!
Before going on a "diet", I had practically never stepped foot inside the kitchen. I've had to teach myself how to cook/bake, but there's still a lot of things I've never tried, because they intimidate me. I'm a Deliciously Healthy cook/baker in training. Come on a journey with me as I conquer the kitchen! Every Monday, I pick something new and challenging to try in the kitchen! I blog about each kitchen adventure, whether it was a success or not. There's bound to be some disasters, but hopefully a lot of Deliciously Healthy successes!

I have a confession to make.
I. Brittany@Deliciously Healthy. Am afraid of crockpots.

Yup. It's true.
I finally bought one about 6 months ago, but I've used one excuse after another to not use it. Crockpots intimidate me. Why? I'm not sure. I guess it's because I went my whole childhood without even seeing one with my own eyes. From what I remember, the first time I saw a crockpot was when I was 14, at my aunts house. "You leave it on all day? Huh?"
And I've been intimidated ever since.

Another little fact about me: I LOVE chili. Mmmm. So good. But, I've always been too intimidated to make it. It's so good, it has to be out of my cooking league.

So for this weeks kitchen adventure, I'm tackling 2, yes TWO things that scare the chubbiness right out of me.

I used this recipe, because it had the word "quick" in it. And that made me feel better.

First up, I cooked the ground turkey in a skillet. I thought I was going to cook the turkey IN the crockpot. Apparently slow cooking meat was one of the things that intimidated me, because I was relieved when I saw that I just had to cook the turkey the way I've done a thousand times before. That, I can do.On a side note- You want a cheap Christmas decorating tip? Slap present bows on everything!

Next I chopped up some onion, and bell pepper.

Then I just threw the tomato soup, canned beans, veggies and seasonings in the crockpot.
And started to stir everything together. At this point I started talking out loud to myself. I was telling myself how easy this was. That it was absolutely silly of me to be afraid of the crockpot, and of making chili, and I should believe in myself more. And just then, I realized I forgot a step. I forgot to spray the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray. Whoops.

I finished up stirring, put on the lid, turned it on high, and walked away, giving myself a pat on the back. 30 minutes later I came back to check on it. "Hmm. I thought it would be doing something by now?" Then I realized I forgot to plug it in. Silly me.

4 hours later, we dug in!Mmm. The fact that I made it, makes it the best chili I've ever had. Seriously delish.

It's the perfect dish to eat while sitting in front of the Christmas tree, and listening to Christmas music.
I feel myself getting more and more courageous in the kitchen. I'm realizing how silly it is of me to be intimidated by things like this. It's actually pretty empowering. Before you know it, I'm going to be making things I can't even pronounce! Like in french and stuff. I can't wait!

Is there a kitchen appliance that intimidates you?
Have you put up your Christmas tree yet?

Brittany's Kitchen Adventures- Pumpkin Pie

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I thought it was time for me to learn how to make pumpkin pie. I have visions of me pulling my homemade pumpkin pie out of the oven every year. I used this recipe for the pie crust, and the pumpkin pie filling.

Here's how it went:

First up, I needed to make the pie crust. This was definitely the most intimidating part for me. I figured making the filling would be a piece of cake. Or a piece if pie in the case. I've always heard people talk about what a hassle it is to make pie crust. So I just figured it was something I would never do. I was excited to face my fears, and try it as a part of my kitchen adventures!

First, I mixed the dry ingredientsEasy enough.

Then I slowly poured melted butter mixed with canola oil, into the dry ingredients, while mixing it with a fork. Then it said to mix in 3-4 tablespoons of ice water, until the dough was moist, and held together. Well, after 4 tablespoons, the dough was still pretty dry. This is what it looked like after the recommended amount of liquid:It could kinda hold together, but it would crumble easily: So, I added another 2 TBS of ice water.

Here's what the directions said after that: "Overlap 2 sheets of plastic wrap on a work surface, place the dough in the center and cover with 2 more overlapping sheets of plastic wrap. Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. Remove the top sheets and invert the dough into a 9-inch pie pan." That part just seemed a confusing, and a little pointless. Although now it totally makes sense to me. I skipped the plastic wrap business, and just formed the dough into a ball, and started working it from there. That proved to be hard. The dough wasn't very easy to work with (mind you I have RA). So I thought I'd give myself a little help, and roll it out. Which now I see that that's what the directions were trying to tell me to do in the first place. Silly me. I was hoping it would roll out to a perfect circle, and would fit perfectly inside. That didn't really happen. At this point, I almost wanted to give up. It just didn't look like it was going to work.
But, I didn't.
And soon this became this. And I was pretty proud of myself.
Looking back on it, it wasn't that hard to do. Especially if I would have paid more attention to the directions.

Then I moved on to the filling. Making the filling was very simple. I just had to mix the pumpkin, evaporated milk, spices, and eggs in a bowl, and pour it into the crust. Although I wasn't sure if it was supposed be this runny?Into the oven it went.
When it came out of the oven, it was still a little liquidity. I wasn't sure if that was normal, or not? I figured it would continue setting while it cooled down for 2 hours. But that never happened. I'm pretty sure I under cooked it.
Aside from being a little runny, it wasn't the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. I did like the whole wheat crust, but the filling wasn't all that great to me. I don't know if it was me, or the recipe? My husband liked it, but you know how that whole thing goes. I don't know if he really liked it, or if he was just trying to prevent me from crying over my first pumpkin pie.

I will definitely be trying it again though.
Practice makes perfect!

Have you ever made pumpkin pie?
Any tips?

Brittany's Kitchen Adventures- Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Welcome to Brittany's Kitchen Adventures!
Before going on a "diet", I had practically never stepped foot inside the kitchen. I've had to teach myself how to cook/bake, but there's still a lot of things I've never tried, because they intimidate me. I'm a Deliciously Healthy cook/baker in training. Come on a journey with me as I conquer the kitchen! Every Monday, I pick something new and challenging to try in the kitchen! I blog about each kitchen adventure, whether it was a success or not. There's bound to be some disasters, but hopefully a lot of Deliciously Healthy successes!

A while ago (like as in a very long time ago. Okay, okay, it was LAST thanksgiving:), I bought everything to make pumpkin cinnamon roll cupcakes. Sounds yummy right? I thought so too. Everyday, I thought about making them, and everyday, I chickened out. Soon, the pumpkin season was over. As it rolled around this year, these popped in my mind everyday, just like before. But I was still too intimidated to make them. Yeast? Rise? Kneading? Hmmm. That's a whole lot of scariness right there. I saw it very fitting to make these for my first Kitchen Adventure. These weekly adventures are all about me trying new things, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone, so I can one day conquer the kitchen!

I got out all the ingredients, took a deep breath, and got started.

I started with "activating" the yeast. That was pretty scary to me. I don't know why. Now I know that all it involves is pouring a packet of yeast into 1/4 cup of warm water. What's so hard about that? See, I'm already growing. Master yeast: CHECK!

Next I put the first 9 ingredients into a mixer to combine everything, then pulled out the dough to knead it. That part was intimidating, hard on my hands, and fun at the same time! 10 minutes later, the dough was kneaded, smooth, and my hands were dead!
I kneaded dough for the first time! Yay me!
(Oh yeah, I cut my hair:)
Then you're supposed to cover the dough, and store it in a warm place for 45 minutes to let it rise. ???. What counts as a warm place? A little bit of stress kicked in at this point. Where the heck do I put this thing? My house is 69 degrees. I don't think that counts as warm. So, I turned on the oven for a couple minutes, then turned it off, and set the bowl in there, for 45 min.
Is there a better way to do this? What do you do?
It seemed to do the trick. It said if it leaves indents when you poke it with your fingers, then it's done rising. Looks like indents to me!
From this point, I started to get a little more comfortable. I rolled it out into a rectangle sprinkled the cinnamon mix, and the pecans, over the dough rolled it up cut it, and put it into the muffin pan. Then I stood in front of the oven, and watched the heavenly goodness, rise out of the pan!
Hot out of the oven:
When they were done, I drizzled the glaze over the top of the cupcakes, with a pipping bag and viola! They were done!
I did it!

And they are pretty darn yummy! And only 219 calories!

And if I can do it, YOU can do it!! Go HERE for the recipe!
I added 3 TBS of pecans to the mix, and I made them into cupcakes. Cause cupcakes are just better :)
Come back every Monday, and watch me try something new!

I think next week I'm going to make pumpkin pie, for the first time! Cause we gotta get ready for Thanksgiving people :D