Showing posts with label Calorie Count. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calorie Count. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies


Last Thursday I mentioned that Daniel had requested a two-week moratorium on desserts at our house {we are both attempting to lost about 7% of our current body weight}. Anyways, I agreed and our house has been basically dessert free.

Last night this backfired on Daniel as he was craving something sweet – even if it was just a handful of chocolate chips. No dice. When I ran out of goodies, I didn't add them to the grocery list because of the moratorium. We even ran out of our frozen yogurt.

So after dinner, Daniel tried to make a bargain with me: Change a diaper or go to Walmart to pick up frozen yogurt {or even better drive the 20 minutes across town for DQ}. If we were going to do a family outing, I was fine with getting out, but I didn't really want to go out by myself. And since Daniel didn't want to get out, we were at a bit of an impasse.

Instead I went downstairs to see what was in our pantry and what recipe might work with the ingredients I happened to have on hand. We ended up with Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies for dessert. The perfect thing to satisfy our sweet tooth.

 Nutrition Information from CalorieCount

These cookies were a great excuse to use my new KitchenAid Stand Mixer {I have had it for a couple of months, but haven't had a chance to blog about it}. Daniel insisted I get the heavy duty one because the motor was a better quality {i.e. no plastic parts} and the bowl was much bigger {I guess he thinks I might need to be able to whip up batter for 48 cupcakes in one setting}. I do like it. My only complaint is that the crank to lift the bowl up to the mixer cranks opposite of what I would expect. But with time, I am sure that I will get used to it.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe Adapted from Smells Like Home

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter {I used natural}
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick-cooking oats

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir together with a fork to blend.  

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  

Blend in the egg and vanilla extract.  

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated.  

Stir in the oats until evenly blended.

Use a tablespoon to drop the dough on the cookie sheets, a couple inches apart.  

Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through.  

The cookies should be light golden brown and slightly puffed.  

Let cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cook completely. 

You should get about 2 dozen cookies from this recipe.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Six Week Challenge: Day 2

Workout(s):
7:00 AM: Got up to walk the dog - 1 mile on the Greenway.

5:30 PM:
60-minute workout was much better today. It made a huge difference that the temperature in the studio was cooler and they brought in 2 ginormous box fans. I increased my caloric intake and felt a lot better - no bonking today. During the day I did not experience soreness, but definitely had some stiffness in my legs. Have to wait to see how I feel tomorrow, but so far I am feeling really good.

Meals For Today:

Breakfast: Eggs Baked in Tomatoes and Red Peppers (from Eat, Cheat & Melt the Fat Away) and Coffee with Fat-Free Vanilla CoffeeMate
Snack: Bran Muffin (mom's recipe) and blueberries
Lunch: Craisin-Turkey-Walnut-Apple-Feta Salad (from the Abs Diet for Women)
Snack: Hickory-smoked tuna with 5 reduced-fat Ritz crackers, 6 baby carrots
Dinner: Spinach, Tomato and Sausage Pasta Toss
Snack: Pudding with Strawberries and low-fat Graham Crackers
Total Water: 120 oz
Total Calories According to Calorie Count: 1751

The trainer told me to try to eat approximately 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat. I am good on the carbs, but need to work on swapping my percentage of protein and fat intake.


I have been comparing three different nutrition/fitness sites to see which I like best. I have been using
Calorie Count for several years and I really like the ability to analyze my recipes and search for just about any type of food. Anything you can't find, you can add calorie information manually. Its overall functionality is good and I like the charts.

Back in November I checked out
SparkPeople to see if it was any better. I like how it organizes the Nutrition information and how it includes cholesterol intake (this is important to me because I have high cholesterol). The breakdown on charts for food is amazing on this site. Unfortunately, the food search option is nothing compared to Calorie Count.

Today I checked out
FitDay, the site recommended by the trainer. Its fitness charting is better than the other two sites. I love all of the charts on this site, however Calorie Count is far superior in its ability to search for/input foods you are eating and analyze recipes.

I wish there was a site that incorporated the food searching capabilities of Calorie Count, the cholesterol overview and nutrition graphing of SparkPeople and the fitness graphs and charts of FitDay. A girl can wish...

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