Week 6: Zucchini Tater Tots

Hi all! This week I decided to make Zucchini Tater Tots, which I had seen in a video on Facebook. I thought they looked relatively easy to make and tasty. The healthy element of this recipe was the zucchini. Below are the ingredients I used:

- 1 zucchini

- 1/4 cup bread crumbs

- 1/8 cup green onions

- 1 clove garlic

- 1/4 tsp. onion powder

- 1/4 tsp. salt

- 1/4 tsp. pepper

- 1 egg

This recipe was probably the most complicated one I made out of the six. Keep in mind, though, that when I say complicated I'm not even close to being a chef. First, I had to shred the zucchini. However, you could eliminate this step by buying pre-shredded zucchini at the grocery store. This recipe also had more ingredients than usual. So, for starters, this recipe was harder to make. Taste-wise, these tater tots weren't very good. They had a very strong onion powder taste and still had the normal texture of a zucchini, which I don't particularly like. I don't think I would ever make this recipe again. 

Some of the ingredients

In the process of forming the tater tots

All in all, I'm glad I tried something new, but I wasn't pleased with these healthy tater tots. For ease of preparation, I would rate it a 5/10. For taste, I give it a 4.5/10. 

The final product

Thanks for reading!

- Emily 

Week 5: Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

Happy Saturday! I was scrolling through Facebook this week and stumbled upon a Tasty video called "4 Healthier Desserts." After watching it I knew I wanted to make the first recipe in the video, which was a healthier version of one of my favorite foods, ice cream. The healthy element in this ice cream is the banana. Here are the ingredients I used:

- 3 bananas
- 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
- Smuckers Magic Shell
- Mini Marshmallows

The frozen bananas right out of the freezer

This recipe was pretty straightforward. All I had to do was freeze the bananas, then blend them, add in the peanut butter and chocolate chips, refreeze and voila - recipe complete! So, a positive of this recipe is how easy is it to prepare. I didn't experience any setbacks when making this. As far as taste goes, it definitely didn't taste like ice cream. With that being said, it wasn't half bad. The main thing I dislike about bananas is the texture, and this recipe completely eliminated the soggy texture normal bananas have. I ended up putting some Magic Shell and mini marshmallows on it to help the taste.

Frozen bananas in blender

 

The picture to the left is the frozen bananas after being blended. The picture directly below is the blended frozen bananas with the chocolate chips and peanut butter mixed in.

I decided to do a different rating system. Instead of just having one number, I am going to have a rating for how easy the recipe was to make and another rating for how the recipe tasted. I would rate this an 8/10 for easiness to prepare. For taste, I would rate it 6/10. As I said, not bad, but definitely not ice cream!

The refrozen mixture

The ice cream with no added toppings

The result!

Have a great week!

- Emily

Week 4: Broccoli Burger

Hi everyone! This week I decided to make a broccoli burger. In the grocery store, I found pre- chopped broccoli, which I thought would make the perfect healthy ingredient, especially because broccoli is one of my least favorite foods. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with the broccoli. However, seeing as how yesterday, the day I made this recipe, was July 4th, I realized I had to make burgers with the broccoli! I didn't follow a recipe; instead, I just put the broccoli into the burger. Below are the ingredients I used:

- Lean ground meat
- 1/3 cup finely chopped broccoli
- Hamburger spices

I made 2 burgers: the traditional burger on a bun with cheese, featured above, (for me) and a burger that I put on a bed of lettuce (for my mom).

The pre-chopped broccoli

This recipe was a success! All I had to do was mix the broccoli bits into the meat and then cook the meat. It only took one extra step to make this burger healthier. Burgers, in general, aren't my favorite food, but we always eat them on occasions like the Fourth of July. If I'm going to eat a burger, I might as well add some broccoli! I genuinely couldn't even taste the broccoli in it, which made me so happy. I could smell the broccoli, but that was the only downside. It tasted just as good as a normal burger we would eat!

Based on how easy this was to make and the taste, I rate this burger a 7.5/10! I would definitely consider adding the broccoli in again the next time we have burgers. I would also consider adding chopped broccoli to other food items because it didn't affect the taste. Here are some pictures of the way it turned out.

My Mom's burger

My burger

The perfect Fourth of July dinner!

Hope you had a Happy 4th! See you guys next week!

- Emily

Week 3: Banana Chocolate Milkshake

The final product!!

 Hi all! Since I didn't love the past 2 recipes which were from the same cookbook, I decided to try to come up with my own recipe for a banana chocolate milkshake. On foodnetwork.com, I found a recipe for a basic milkshake (ice cream to milk ratio) and tried to put a healthier spin on it. Chocolate milkshakes are one of my all time favorite foods, so I tried to mix a milkshake with mashed bananas to see how I would like it! This is the second time I tried using banana as my healthy element. Below are the ingredients I used:

- 2 cups chocolate ice cream
- 1/4 cup of salted caramel ice cream
- 1/4 cup skim milk
- 3/4 of a banana

Turkey Hill All Natural is the BEST ice cream brand!

The chocolate ice cream I used (from Aldi)

Mashed up banana

As I mentioned before, I found a basic milkshake recipe online, and from there experimented a little in order to get my milkshake tasting the best it could. After first blending it and then tasting it, the banana flavor was way too strong. In my opinion, it tasted like medicine. To try to eliminate some of the banana taste, I added some more chocolate ice cream. However, the chocolate ice cream I used was a generic brand and wasn't the best. The chocolate taste wasn't strong enough. So, I ended up adding some Turkey Hill All Natural Salted Caramel ice cream to take away from the overpowering banana taste. It was better after that, but the final result was still so-so. However, I still think it's the best recipe I've made on this blog to date and my mom would agree. Another plus to this milkshake is that making it wasn't too difficult and didn't take very long.

The blending process

All in all, I would rate it 6.5/10. Would I make it again? Probably not, but I'm still glad I'm trying to eat outside of my comfort zone! Pictures of the final result below. 

See you next week!
- Emily

Week 2: Sweet Potato Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

This week I decided to make a classic: grilled cheese sandwiches. This recipe is from the same book as last week, which is "Deceptively Delicious." The healthy ingredient that I dislike in this recipe is sweet potato. I don't like the flavor or taste of sweet potato, but I made this recipe in hopes of turning it into one of my favorites! Here are the ingredients I used:

- 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
- 4 slices whole-wheat bread (Note: I used a different brand of whole-wheat bread this week because the bread last week had too strong of a taste)
- 1 tablespoon trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread

The sweet potato puree mixed with the cheese

The bread I used this time

The ingredients that make this recipe healthy are the sweet potato and the whole-wheat bread. Sweet potatoes can help stabilize blood sugar levels and are good for skin and vision because of their high levels of beta carotene.

The puree mix on the bread 

This recipe was another success in terms of how easy it was to make. It took about 15 minutes to make and wasn't difficult at all. However, just like last week, I didn't love how it tasted. While I didn't taste the sweet potato, I also didn't taste the cheese. The puree mixture was flavorless and goopy. The whole-wheat bread I used this week was much better, though. It didn't taste bad, but I just didn't love how it tasted. My mom liked it and actually ate quite a lot. I would rate it 6/10. Definitely not bad! Pictures of the final result are below.

See you next week!

- Emily

Week 1: Banana French Toast

Welcome to Surprisingly Nutritious! Each week for my summer course I will be trying a new recipe and then telling you all about how it went. I am an extremely picker eater and I don't like most fruits and vegetables. So, each week I will take a fruit or vegetable that I don't like and incorporate it into a recipe I've found that will hopefully taste delicious, while still being somewhat healthy!

For the first week, I decided to make a banana french toast from the recipe book "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld. There are a few healthy elements in this recipe, but the one that I don't like by itself is banana. Here are the ingredients I used:

- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons banana
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 slices whole-wheat bread
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Confectioners' sugar
- Flaxseed meal

The egg, banana puree, cinnamon and flaxseed mixture

The ingredients that make this healthy are the banana, the flaxseed and the whole-wheat bread. Bananas contain more potassium than most fruits and also have vitamin B6, which helps the brain. Flaxseed is a high-fiber super food. Whole-wheat bread is much healthier than white bread.

The bread I used

During the cooking process

I consider the recipe a success based off of the fact that it was edible and didn't taste bad. There have been times in the past where I've made recipes and I can barely stomach them. Another positive is that the recipe was not difficult to make and only took about 10 minutes. The negative, however, is that it didn't taste great. French toast, in my opinion, is just so-so, which is how this one tasted. This one was worse than the average french toast because the taste of the whole-wheat bread was overwhelming. I didn't mind the banana though. I had some of my family members try it and my mom liked it, however my grandfather had one bite and didn't want any more. If I were to make it again I would use whole grain bread instead of 100% whole wheat. All in all, I would rate it 5.5/10. Below are some pictures of the final result!

See you next week!
- Emily