Whole Grain Coffee Cake

"Sweet, moist cake, topped with a crunchy nut crust..."

... melts in your mouth. The kitchen is dark, house quiet, and outside the light of dawn is cresting the horizon. The reassuring sound of freshly percolating coffee is met by its delicious aroma. Its time to wake up! Be grateful for a new day, the beauty of it, the preciousness of each life in your family. Pour yourself a cup of hot coffee, give the Lord your thanks, and take a deep breath to settle your heart before the hustle-bustle begins.

Draw your hibernating bears out of their dens with the aroma of freshly made coffee cake wafting through the house. If you're going to treat your family and your self to a sweet breakfast, you might as well be getting some wholesome nutrition. They don't have to be empty calories- make them count! So often I have been lured into having a piece of that coffee cake that looks so beautiful and light, and then immediately disappointed when it winds up tasting like an overly dry, puffed up, pasty, pointless thing. Not so with this! Meet the day with a smile (and moist crumbs) on your face.

Coffee Cake

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup splenda (1/2 cup brown sugar)

1/4 cup egg, or 1 egg

1/2 cup skim milk

1 large apple, cored, sliced

Pecan Crust

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup cane sugar, or brown sugar

1 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp oats

2 Tbsp heart healthy butter spread

1/2 cup pecans

preheat oven to 350, lightly coat baking pan of choice

*this makes two beautiful mini cakes, or one nice bundt

1. Start with pecan crust: Combine cinnamon, sugar, 1 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp oats, butter spread and nuts in blender or food processor and pulse until chunky. Pour into bottom of pan.

2. Rinse blender. Set aside to dry slightly.

3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

4. In blender/food processor, add egg white, milk, and apple, and sugar. Puree until apple chunks are gone or close to it. (nobody will mind an apple chunk here and there)

5. Combine wet apple mixture to dry flour. Stir to incorporate. Pour cake batter over top of nut mixture.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake springs back to touch.

7. Let cool, and invert over platter. Nuts will be on top...

Makes 16 small servings, or 8 wedges. Enjoy!

*For the above recipe, 1/16 of cake: 77 calories, 1/8 of cake: 152 calories

** For a more decadent cake, double the pecan topping.

For that cake: 1/16 cake is 110 calories, 1/8 cake is 220 calories

Fruit and Granola Parfaits

Thick, creamy sweet yogurt with fruit and crunchy granola...

I didn't reinvent the wheel here- parfaits are not a novel idea. And for good reason! As Donkey says on Shrek, "ain't nobody who doesn't like parfait!" I'm glad fast food joints are trying to provide healthy alternatives. But most commercially sold parfaits, like Starbucks, McDonalds (page 6), Einstein Brothers (page3), and Chick Fil-A versions, have whopping amounts of calories and as much sugar as a soda in them- pretty frustrating when you're thinking your eating healthy on the go. And, the numbers on their nutrition information may not reflect what's actually being given to you- numbers are per serving. Yikes.

The culprit is the addition of sugars and sweeteners in the yogurt, fruit, and granola. Yogurt's claim to fame nutritionally is calcium, protein, and probiotics. But sweetened yogurts, which is what is in most pre-made parfaits, are loaded with sugar or sugary byproducts. Granola has this health halo, when many versions are far less innocent their appealing organic looking packaging claims, thanks to added oil and (you guessed it) sugar. In spite of this, there's no reason why you can't have your parfait and eat it too. Swap out a few ingredients, and your in the honey hole. I reclaim parfait for health food!

Fruit & Granola Parfaits

Ingredients:

0% Fage plain greek yogurt

Fruit(s) of choice, fresh or frozen

splash of vanilla

honey, agave, stevia, or Splenda

healthy granola, such as Nature's Path, Bear Naked fit, or Bob's Red Mill. Kashi GoLean also has a nice crunch.

1. Make your yogurt flavor.

• flavor ideas:
• vanilla yogurt (splash of vanilla+ stevia+ yogurt)
• strawberry (microwave frozen strawberries, smash + stevia+ yogurt)
• blueberry (microwave frozen blueberries, smash + stevia + yogurt)
• honey (honey + yogurt)
• lemon (lemon zest and juice + stevia/honey+ yogurt
• peach, pineapple, etc...

2. Add your fruit

• fresh or frozen berries- any kind

3. Sprinkle with granola

• don't go overboard here, be aware of your serving size

When you heat fruit, especially frozen, the natural juices run out, which flavor and color your yogurt base. Layer your yogurt, fruit, and granola in a pretty glass, and feel like your being spoiled!

The cup pictured above has about 4 oz yogurt, 2 tbs blueberry pomegranate juice, 1/2 cup blueberries, and 1/4 cup granola

207 cal, 4 g fat (3.5 unsaturated), 28.5 g carbs, 3.5 g fiber, 17.5 g sugar, 15.5 g protein

high inVitamin C and Calcium, good source of Vitamin K and Iron