Coco Vita Pure Coconut Water Giveaway + Recipe for Piña Colada Sorbet

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Diane Boyd

 

IMG_pinacoladasorbet5

Many individuals have been  enjoying the refreshing taste of coconut water, making it the fastest growing beverage in the United States and Coco Vita is the market leader.  One cup of unflavored coconut water contains zero grams of fat, only 45 calories, is good source of potassium  and a very good source of vitamin C.  But just until recently, did many of us realize it should  be, as Deanna from teaspoon of spice put it, “a  new pantry staple.”

Today I am using my new pantry staple in a recipe I developed this week for a piña colada sorbet. It’s fitting that my first sorbet of the 2013 summer season has a refreshing tropical taste. It makes a  great fat free substitute for ice cream and I especially like that it contains no gums or preservatives found in store bought versions of prepared frozen desserts and drinks.

If you’ve already been enjoying the great taste of Coco Vita pure coconut water or are interested in finding out what the excitement is all about, here’s a chance to win a free case!  A big thank you to Sarah Lewis and the rest of the Vita Coco team for making this possible! You can enter to win at the bottom of this post.

What’s your favorite frozen dessert or drink?

Piña Colada Sorbet

by Diane Boyd

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Coco Vita coconut water
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 -20 oz can crushed pineapple, packed in juice
  • 1 large mango, peeled and chopped

Instructions

1. Place coconut water and sugar in a medium sauce pan and heat until sugar is dissolved. Cool completely; either store in refrigerator overnight or chill over an ice bath for 30 minutes if you wish to make sorbet right away.

2. Add chopped mango and crushed pineapple + juice to a food mill to express juice from fruit.

3. Add juice to cooled sugar and coconut water mixture. Pour into a freezer bowl of an automatic frozen yogurt-ice cream & sorbet maker. Turn the machine on and let mix until mixture thickens, about 30 minutes.

4. If desired , transfer sorbet to an airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Variation: Add 1/4 cup shredded coconut during the last 5-10 minutes of freezing.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Disclosure: Coco Vita is providing me with samples and this opportunity to give away a case of Coco Vita Pure coconut water on my blog,  in appreciation for my participation in their recent recipe contest. 

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Strawberries and Mother’s Day | Strawberry Lemonade

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Diane Boyd

Let’s celebrate mother’s day with something strawberry!  It’s perfectly convenient that this fragrant edible berry is in season the same time we honor Mom.  Strawberries are not only a healthy and delicious stand alone snack but a versatile fruit that can be the  used in a myriad of recipes from strawberry pie to Thai pork kebabs with strawberry quinoa salad!

If you want to keep it real simple, (this always works for me) treat mom to a glass of homemade strawberry lemonade. My recipe below is a light version of a Martha Stewart recipe. Whether you’re planning a brunch or a backyard barbeque, this  light beverage is sure to fit in!

What are your favorite ways to enjoy strawberries?

Strawberry Lemonade

by Diane Boyd

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 2 1/4 cup slice fresh strawberries
  • 4 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
  • 6 + 1/2 packets Splenda
  • 8 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ice
  • sparkling water

Instructions

Puree strawberries and 1/2 packet Splenda and 1 teaspoon superfine sugar in a blender. Set out two glasses and add the following to each glass: 9 tablespoons strawberry puree, 2 tablespoons superfine sugar, 3 packets of Spelenda, and 4 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir to combine and add ice. Top off each glass with sparkling water.

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Seeking Comfort: Food vs Feelings + Mood Boosting Playlist

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Diane Boyd

Sometimes it’s more important to ask,

“What’s eating you?”

than

“What are you eating?”

I bring this up now because the events of these past weeks have been tragic.  Sad Sobering. And can leave anyone feeling numb.

How have you been coping?

Often we seek comfort from food, which is okay when you are hungry, but if you are feeling empty, lonely, unappreciated, there’s no amount of food that will fill that void.

What do you do?

If you are hungry, by all means, eat. But if you are faced with a feelings problem, find a feelings solution.

Today I am sharing my latest running playlist that was my solution to getting through a   week that left me overwhelmed. These uplifting tunes (and the endorphins released on my runs), were enough to give me a fresh outlook and renewed sense of motivation.  I call this my  ’mood boosting’ playlist; the songs all make me feel good, but  in different ways.  I like some of the songs for their lyrics, others their sounds, and still others just take me back to a time when I remember life was especially fun.

Good health and feeling good about yourself go hand-in hand. But it is also human to occasionally feel gloomy. Get in touch with your feelings and keep food and feelings separate. If you are not hungry, find something to do other than eating, i.e. talk to  a friend, read, write in a journal, play music. A healthy body knows when it’s hungry, tired or stressed. Remember to take care of yourself, everyday. You are worth it!

When life rears its ugly head, whats your coping plan? Please feel free to share one of your own mood boosting songs.  Have a great week!

Mood Boosting Playlist 

Shower the People , James Taylor

Walking on Sunshine, Katrina & the Wave

Need You Now (How Many Times), Plumb

How Great Thou Art, Carrie Underwood withVince Gill

I Believe I can Fly, R Kelly

Angel, Sarah McLachlan

All Your Life, The Band Perry

I Can Only Imagine, Mercy Me

Keep Me in Mind, Zac Brown Band

We Owned the Night, Lady Antebellum

Escape (aka The Pina Colada Song), Rupert Holmes

Bad Day, Daniel Powter

Time of My Life, Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes

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Recipe Redux: Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cupcakes with Orange Zest

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Diane Boyd

After hearing  this month’s Recipe redux theme, my husband’s response was,

‘You mean we get to make cupcakes?!  ’

I immediately knew which camp I was in. April’s theme was posed as a cupcake conundrum: Are you over the cupcake trend or do you think cupcakes never go out of style? Our challenge was to either  show our most delicious ‘Re-Duxed’ mini-cake creation or share a favorite hand held dessert destined to be the next big trend. I personally think cupcakes will never go out of style, but the hand held dessert my family usually requests isn’t cupcakes, but whoopie pies. So I resolved to combine the two and bring you the whoppie pie cupcake!

 Before I started baking, I thought this challenge was going to be a piece of cake! I started with a traditional family recipe for whoopie pies, decided on my ingredient substitutions, baked the cupcakes  and I was cruisin’ along. But things got tricky when I went to ice the cupcakes with a healthy frosting. Yeah, that’s what I thought, it’s an oxymoron, right? The first batch of frosting I made was too runny and I was unable to pipe it onto the cupcakes as I had originally envisioned. The second batch was too sweet, even for the taste testers claiming to have a sweet tooth! Finally, on my third attempt at a crowning achievement  for my two dozen cupcakes, I was on to something! The result was a fat free icing that was not as creamy as a rich butter cream frosting, but in my opinion, the light taste and nutrition profile more than made up for this shortcoming.

And so there you have it, the whoopie pie cupcake. It’s both cute and  tasty, and here’s the icing on the cake:  each cupcake is only 149 calories, and contains 3 grams fat, 0 grams of trans fat, and 15 mg cholesterol.

Nutritional profile Traditional Whoopie Pie (1 whoopie pie) 236 calories, 10 grams fat, 5 grams saturated fat, 1 gram trans fat, 24 mg cholesterol, 34 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein

Nutritional profile Redux Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cupcake: 149 calories, 3 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 28 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein

Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of this post for  my colleages’ answers to this fun challenge!

What’s your favorite hand held dessert?

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Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cupcakes with Orange Zest (makes 2 dozen)

by Diane Boyd

Ingredients 

for the cupcakes

  • 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 T low fat Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup buttermilk

for the frosting

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 5 teaspoons cornstarch
  • salt, dash
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions

for the cupcakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar; add vanilla, Greek yogurt, buttermilk and mix to combine. Pour wet mixture into dry; whisk until just combined. Fill cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter. Bake 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Let cool.

for the frosting

In a 1 1/2 quart saucepan combine 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add skim milk, and 4 well beaten egg whites all at once. Cook and stir mixture until it is thick and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in orange zest. Cover and refrigerate until cool. Pipe frosting on cupcakes in a plain swirl using a pastry bag without tip.

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Green Jacket Tradition: Pimento Cheese

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Diane Boyd

I am so predictable. It’s the second week in April and I’m enjoying one of my favorite rites of spring: watching the Masters. This golf tournament is rich in history, from the green jacket presentation to the champions dinner picked by the year’s previous winner (I personally love this tradition.) But here’s one maybe you haven’t heard of (unless you’ve been a patron at Augusta National), the pimento cheese sandwich. I hear they are packaged and sold in green plastic wrap. Yes, the galleries at the Masters are chowing down on this classic Southern lunchbox sandwich. So I thought it would be fun to take my Master’s watching experience to the next level and do a take off on this Southern indulgence by making  a lighter version  and enjoying it with fresh veggies.  My recipe was inspired by  Southern Living.

Nutrition Profile Traditional Pimento Cheese (per tablespoon) : 88 calories, 9 g fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 2 grams protein

Nutritional Profile Lite Pimento Cheese (per Tablespoon):  62 calories, 5 g fat, 3 grams saturated fat,  4 grams protein

What’s your favorite Master’s memory?

Pimento Cheese

by Diane Boyd

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup pimento pepper, drained and chopped
  • 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • Dash of tabasco sauce
  • 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated

Instructions

In a large bowl, stir together the first six ingredients. Add cheese and mix to combine. Serve with raw vegetables,  on top of crackers or bread, or make a sandwich.

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