Recipes – Jaclyn Grace

Mini Eggplant Pizzas

I was starving by the time I got home from the library last night. Every finals week I always am tempted to just run out and grab something quick for dinner, but I have been trying to refrain. Instead I used up the rest of the ingredients in my refrigerator by making mini pizzas with baked eggplant as the crust.

12341586_10208004844307806_5646022693951113692_n

They were delicious and could be made so many different ways. I chose to top mine with sautéed spinach, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese. I was trying to include chopped artichoke hearts on them, but I could not get the jar open to save my life (Lol). I bet that these would be great topped with sausage and ricotta as well.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
Cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch disks
Place on a cookie sheet (I put parchment paper down to make clean up a bit easier) and lightly coat with olive oil
Bake for 10 minutes or until you can pierce the eggplant easily with a fork
Remove from oven and flip over pieces, coat the other side evenly with parmesan cheese. I also added garlic, black pepper, and oregano.
Return to oven for 5 minutes (or until parmesan cheese melts).
Remove from oven and place a dollop of marinara sauce and any other toppings that you would like on each piece of eggplant. Sprinkle the tops with mozzarella cheese.
Place back in the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Remove and enjoy 🙂

xo,

Jaclyn

Samoa Steel Cut Oats

I love waking up early in the morning and having time to sit down with my breakfast and coffee before heading out for the day. Unfortunately, a lot of times my sleepiness gets the best of me and I end up rushing to get ready and out the door to my classes.

On the days that I am able to get myself out of bed a few hours before I have to leave, my favorite breakfast to make is oatmeal. It is so simple and can be prepared so many ways. In the summer, I love to load my oatmeal with fresh berries and cinnamon. This winter, I have been on a chocolate peanut butter kick. It is the perfect comfort food and cozy breakfast for those cold winter mornings.

Over the last few weeks, I have made this samoa inspired oatmeal every time I had the chance. I absolutely love it and it satisfies my sweet-tooth for the entire day. Nothing wrong with a little dessert-like treat for breakfast 🙂

Instructions:

1. Heat 3/4 cups of water on the stove-top until it comes to a boil.

2. Add 1/3 cup of steel cut oats and turn down to medium-heat. Stir occasionally.

3. While the oats are cooking, measure out your peanut butter and coconut in a regular serving bowl.

4. After ~5 minutes, or when the water is mostly evaporated by the oatmeal, add in the salt and cinnamon and mix thoroughly.

5. When the oats have reached your desired consistency, transfer them to the serving bowl and top with chocolate chips.

6. Stir up the oatmeal so that the peanut butter, chocolate, and coconut are evenly distributed and enjoy!

This breakfast goes along with my belief that everything is okay in moderation! For me, I enjoy having a little treat for breakfast and keeping the remainder of my meals mostly clean. This works because I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of anything and I don’t end up craving sweets for the rest of the day.

Enjoy!

xo,

Jaclyn

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Today was a very lazy day for me! I wrote an essay, read an entire book, baked cookies, took a nap, and watched the new Footloose movie with my college dance team.

I wanted to pop in quickly to share a delicious recipe that I tried out today for our movie night – Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies. I chose this recipe because it included all ingredients that I had on hand, and it took me less than 30 minutes to make 36 cookies! What more could you ask for? It took even less time than that for all of my teammates to devour them. 🙂

If you love peanut butter and you love easy recipes like I do – then this is definitely for you!

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Combine all of the listed ingredients in a large bowl and mix well until a dough forms. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Press down on each ball with a fork in order to create the criss-cross design – you could also just flatten the cookies with your hand if preferred. Bake for approximately 7 minutes before removing from the oven and allowing to cool. These take a bit longer than regular cookies to completely cool, so wait a few extra minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

While these may not be the prettiest looking cookies, they are definitely delicious.

Enjoy!

xo,

Jaclyn

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Before I start on today’s post, I want to take a minute to mention an inspirational, beautiful, and kind woman who passed away earlier this week – my great grandmother. While we no longer have her here with us on earth, I know that my family has gained another guardian angel.

On another note – we got bombarded with THREE FEET of snow today! If you know me at all – you know that I will always prefer the warmth of summer to the cold and miserable New England Winter. There is something to be said, however, for the first snow day of the year! I love nothing more than cuddling up on the couch with a big cup of coffee and watching movies all day.

Cozy, cozy, cozy 🙂

Another thing I love to do when snowed in is bake. Today I attempted coconut oil based coconut and chocolate chip cookies. They came out alright, but I am going to continue perfecting the recipe before I share it. Instead, I am going to share one of my favorite cookies of all time – Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Every year at Christmas time my mom, brother, and I bake tons of cookies. We make enough to give to family members, bring to parties, and of course eat ourselves. We all choose one type of cookie that we want to make for that year and are in charge of that one. This year, these were the cookies I chose to make!

I love how festive these cookies are for Christmas, but they are still delicious year round! I hope you love them as much as I do.

Preparation:

1. Combine butter, brown sugar, and granular sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

2. Stir the egg and vanilla extract.

3. Finally, stir in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt until a dough is formed.

4. Next, fold cranberries and white chocolate chips into the dough using your hands.

5. Wrap the dough in saran wrap and refrigerate for a MINIMUM of ONE HOUR. This will create the light and fluffy cookie texture that we all love.

6. After an hour, pre-heat the oven to 350 F and roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls. Place them approximately 1.5″ apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes before removing from the oven. The cookies might appear to be undercooked, but they are not! Let them sit on the cookie sheet for about ten minutes before moving them to a wire cooling rack.

8. Enjoy!

xo, Jaclyn

PB Roasted Bananas

Last night after dinner I was craving something sweet. Conor suggested we go get Fro-yo, but I just didn’t feel like driving 30 minutes to have to sit outside and eat my fro-yo on a bench. I wasn’t having the best night and I just wanted something delicious that I could eat from the comfort of my own couch.

I started brainstorming and eventually came up with a quick and healthy dessert made up of things that I had at home. It was delicious and we felt much better than we would have after a heaping bowl of frozen yogurt. 🙂

PB Roasted Bananas

Ingredients: Makes Two Servings

2 bananas
1 cup vanilla greek yogurt
2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
cinnamon
honey
optional: handful of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Slice the bananas down the middle, lengthwise, and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown and soft.
While the bananas are baking, whip together the yogurt and peanut butter until completely combined. Place in refrigerator to thicken.
Coat the bananas lightly with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Remove yogurt/PB mixture from the refrigerator and scoop half onto each banana.

We topped ours with a handful of chocolate chips, but you could use pretty much any topping. I think walnuts would have been a delicious addition. 🙂

Enjoy!

xo,

Jaclyn

Q. What’s your favorite healthy dessert to make?