Apple Snack Cake

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup honey
½ cup oil
1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 ½ cups shredded unpeeled apple (or zucchini)
½ cup finely diced banana

Spray a 9×13 inch pan with Pam for Baking. Stir together flour, baking powder and soda, salt and spices; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat eggs until light, then beat in the honey and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the oil.
Mix in the flour mixture at low speed, alternating additions with yogurt. Stir in the zucchini and banana. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

I like this cake best unadorned, but you can also dress it up with a light cream cheese glaze and toasted walnuts. Honey-Cream Cheese Icing: Mix together 5 oz. softened cream cheese, 1 ½ teaspoons orange juice and 3 to 4 tablespoons honey (adjust for desired sweetness). Spread over the cooled cake and cover with 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts.

And once zucchini is back in season, try this recipe with shredded zucchini. It’s equally delicious, and I love the little green flecks!

Make them small to fit little hands and to decrease calories for bigger kids like us! These and oatmeal raisin cookies are popular sweet treats at my house…

Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

1¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 oz. (1 stick) butter
8 oz. (1 stick) margarine
½ cup sugar
1¼ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups oats, regular or quick cooking
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix flour, soda and salt together and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugars, butter and margarine until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beat well, then mix in milk and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture until well combined. Sir in oats and chocolate chips by hand, then use a tablespoon scoop to drop the dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 7 to 9 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 4 ½ dozen.

Cookie monsters at your house? Remind them that cookies are a “sometimes food”, so freeze extras in small batches for a sweet treat another day…

This simple apple tart is attractive to serve, but also easy and healthy. It has only about 170 calories per serving…so move over, apple pie!

The tart comes together with only five ingredients that are easy to keep on hand. Use sweet but firm apples, like Fuji or Gala. Granny Smith apples also have a wonderful taste and texture for baking, but you will need to add more sugar because they are so tart.  Be sure to slice the apples as thinly as possible so they will cook quickly…

Simple Apple Tart

dough for one 9 inch pie crust, purchased or homemade*
3 or 4 large apples, peeled, cored, halved and sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons peach or apricot jam, heated

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With the dough at room temperature, unroll into a 10 inch tart pan. Arrange the apple slices on the cutting board, then transfer by sections to the unbaked crust. Sprinkle the apples with sugar and dot with butter. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the apples are soft and bubbling. Remove the tart from the oven. While still warm, brush the apples with the jam to add sweetness and a shiny golden color. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 8.

Delicious!

Most kids love fruit anyway, so enlist them to help choose a rainbow combination of their favorite fruits.  The more variety, the better the presentation and nutrition. And to make this dessert extra kid-friendly be sure the presentation rocks!

What could be simpler? Choose at least three or more fresh fruits to combine. Mix together bite-sized pieces of strawberries, watermelon, blueberries, cantaloupe, kiwi, pineapple and mango and mix together. No dressing necessary; the natural fruit juices combine for just the right amount of light syrup.

Serve the fruit salad from a large platter or glass bowl and ladle into sherbet cups. Make it fancy by adding a small dollop of low-fat whipped cream.

Pretty and delicious!

Expand your repertoire of recipes so every dish will be new and different. This is a savory version of green beans that is big on fresh taste. This recipe is simple, but be careful not to cook too long…overcooked green beans will be mushy and bland.

Green Beans with Shallots and Tomatoes is also a “recipe duet”…one recipe makes either a warm side dish or a cold green bean salad…

Green Beans with Shallots and Tomatoes

1 lb. green beans, about 2 cups
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ripe but firm tomato, about ½ cup seeded and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional for warm version)
Capers for garnish

Sauté the shallots in olive oil until translucent. Add the green beans and sauté until bright green in color and just tender. Add diced tomatoes and cook just 1 or 2 minutes more, until the beans are cooked but still crunchy. Serve warm as side dish.

For a cold green bean salad, steam the green beans until cooked but crisp. Rinse in cold water and set aside. Heat the olive oil and sauté the shallots; add the diced tomatoes off the heat and mix to blend the flavors. Chill. When ready to serve, arrange the beans on a platter with the tomato-shallot topping and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Makes 4 servings.

Enjoy!

Try to enlist the kids in at least the picking and washing of the veggie crop…and if they are too picky to even taste them, well take heart, we know all about picky kids!

Many kids just haven’t acquired the taste yet for complex, savory flavors. So when in doubt, keep it simple. The fresh taste of steamed green beans, even plain, is hard to beat. Try to be creative with the presentation; for example, serve chilled green beans standing upright in a short glass, like French fries just waiting to be dipped into Ranch dressing (instead of catsup). Finger foods are fun!

These are not your ordinary supermarket green beans, so pick them skinny and tender, only about ¼ inch in diameter. Steam for about 4 minutes, and remove from the heat quickly. Serve a kid-friendly version plain, or with just a dot of margarine or butter. Kids of all ages may enjoy them at room temperature or even cold the next day.

Nobody has to know that green beans are loaded with vitamins and minerals, even anti-oxidants. They are also low in calories for those of us who care about such things, only 43 calories per cup.

My grown-up version is savory, so stay tuned for Green Beans with Shallots and Tomato…

That’s the bad news. The good news is that a few simple precautions can keep most of us clear of staph infections, even MRSA. Staph is actually relatively harmless to normal, healthy skin. But a cut, scrape, bug bite, or even dry, cracked skin can let bacteria penetrate to start an infection.

Waterless hand cleansers can be very effective at killing bacteria, but most are so drying to hands that it’s not practical to use them frequently throughout the day. Noodle and Boo’s Instant Hand Sanitizer is different. I use it several times a day and I cannot believe how smooth and moisturized this product leaves my hands. But does it really kill germs? Yes, 99.99% of them, even MRSA.

Here are some simple steps to help protect you and your family from serious skin infections:

• Practice good skin care and wash hands frequently. Use Noodle and Boo’s Instant Hand Sanitizer whenever soap and water are not readily available.

• Don’t share towels and personal items (like razors). Bring your own clippers to the salon for manicures and pedicures.

• Keep wounds covered until they are healed to protect the open skin from bacteria, and also to prevent the spread of any infection.

• Have your doctor check any open wound or sore that is getting worse or not healing promptly.

Remember, your best defense against any type of skin infection is normal, healthy skin…by Noodle and Boo.

Read more by Dr. Pat in Healthy Lifestyles…

This is an unbelievable, over-the-top chocolate cake that packs 2 full cups of shredded zucchini to keep the cake more moist with less fat.

This cake is so good I like to skip the frosting and serve with just a dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of ice cream frozen yogurt!

Choco-chini Cake

2 ¼ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup sugar
½ cup canola oil and ½ cup applesauce
2 large eggs and 1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup low fat buttermilk
2 cups shredded zucchini*, dried well
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan (or a 9 x 13 inch pan) with Pam for Baking. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat sugar, oil and applesauce together in a large bowl until well mixed. Add the eggs and egg white individually, beating well after each is added. Add vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients by alternating with the buttermilk until all is well blended. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 55 minutes, or 40 minutes convection. (Tester should be moist; do not overbake.) Serves 16.

*The prep of the zucchini is important. Slice a medium zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out all the seeds. Then shred the zucchini and dry very well on paper towels. (If the zucchini is wet, the batter will be watery and the cake will come out dry. Trust me on this!)

What will the kids say, you ask? Don’t tell…and once they taste this luscious cake they won’t care that they are eating zucchini! But if they are really, really picky, then peel the zucchini before shredding or they will be quizzing you about the little green specks!

Read more by Dr. Pat…or email comments, questions and requests…

If you love blueberries too, buy plenty to freeze when they are in season. Just wash and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet (lined with wax paper) to freeze. Transfer the frozen berries to small containers and they will be ready to use all year long. Toss them straight from the freezer into your favorite pancake batter, or use them in recipes, like this fabulous blueberry muffin recipe!

Dr. Pat’s Blueberry Crunch Muffins

1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (but not thawed)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (375 degrees convection) and prepare a muffin pan with Pam for Baking (not paper muffin liners; they will stick).

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In another large bowl whisk the egg, oil and buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon batter into the muffin cups.

Bake until lightly browned, about 16 minutes in a regular oven or 12 minutes convection. Cool for 2 minutes in the pan, then transfer promptly to a cooling rack. Serve warm.
Makes 12 muffins.

Did I mention healthy? These muffins have the nutrition of blueberries (with their vitamins and antioxidants) in a low fat, low calorie package, only about 100 calories per muffin! Yum!

Still hungry? Browse more by Dr. Pat…

This is absolutely, positively the most succulent chicken you will ever prepare on a grill! The beer bastes the chicken from the inside, and because the chicken is roasted vertically, all the fat just drips away.

What about the kids? The alcohol in the beer fully evaporates of course, leaving just wonderfully moist and flavorful chicken…without any drunken children!

Beer Can Chicken

1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 lb.
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons dry spice rub* or prepared grill seasoning
1 tablespoon oil or cooking spray
1 can beer (16 oz.)

Remove the neck and giblets from the chicken cavity and set aside. Remove any excess fat, then rinse the chicken and dry inside and out with paper towels. Coat the chicken with oil, then rub on the salt and spice mix, covering the inside, outside, and in between the skin and breast meat.

Open a can of beer and pour half into a glass (for later consumption!). Place the chicken over the beer can and transfer to the grill, positioning the can and legs like a tripod to support the chicken upright. Cook on indirect medium for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer placed between the thigh and breast registers 165 degrees. Remove the chicken from the grill and place in a shallow pan to rest for 10 minutes. Lift the chicken from the can and cut into serving pieces. (Reserve the carcass for another use, like next week’s recipe!)

*A simple mix: 2 tablespoons each paprika and brown sugar, 1 tablespoon ground black pepper.

Try different dry rubs for variety; just look for more recipes in your favorite grilling book. If you have extra rub, pour a tablespoonful into the beer before cooking for even more flavor. And for the faint-hearted, you can even buy a stand to support the beer can if you don’t mind one more piece of equipment in the kitchen!

While the chicken cools, grill the corn on the cob and take the Zucchini, Apple and Raisin Slaw out of the refrigerator. Dinner is served!

Find more of Dr. Pat’s recipes in Healthy Lifestyle…