Veggie Cream Cheese

I have a really easy recipe for you. But, I mean what else is new? I always give you guys easy recipes. That's because I care about you, k? Cool, let's do this!

We're making vegetable cream cheese. Remember when I showed you how to make your own cream cheese? Remember how easy and tasty it was? Well, this takes that up a notch. All you do is chop up your favorite vegetables and herbs, and you're done! You can use it on bagels or as a dip with some crackers. Here's how I made mine:

Cream Cheese

Homemade cream cheese is pretty amazing. It doesn't taste like store-bought at all. It's a little tangier which might take you a while to get used to, but I love it! It's also creamy and fresh-tasting. You can make cream cheese at home. I KNOW you can! It's a lot easier than it sounds, you just need a few key things for it to turn out perfect. I got this recipe from an awesome book called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter.

Hamburger Bun

I know a few people who have been waiting for this recipe. I recently made these and brought them to a cookout and they were a hit! The buns are soft, egg-y, a little sweet and DELICIOUS! This is also one of the easiest dough recipes I've ever made. Honestly, try them out!

BBQ Sauce

I got this great BBQ sauce recipe from Skinny Taste, it's an awesome blog! This sauce is thick, sweet and a little spicy. Perfect for pulled pork. Then, while you're at it why not make some coleslaw too? You can also put it on pizza dough and make BBQ chicken pizza. I just want you to eat really really well ok? That's what friends do. This sauce is really easy to make, let me show you.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Making mayo at home is not as crazy as it sounds. I feel like that's a pattern on this blog. Many things sound super complicated but when you actually found out how to make them, they're super easy. I decided to make my own because of the same reason I make everything else, I wanted real food. It's also really cool to see how it's made and it's a lot fresher. The taste of fresh mayo does not even compare to store-bought. This recipe is from Alton Brown, who is a culinary genius! If you cross Mythbusters with Food network, you get Alton. You don't need any unusual equipment to make mayo, all you need is a whisk and a bowl.

The only thing I will say about the homemade mayonnaise is, there is no way to make this "low-fat". Once you see what ingredients go in mayo, you will question just how they can sell it in a store and call it low- fat or even fat-free. There's gotta be some crazy science behind making mayo only 10 calories per tablespoon. So, I would suggest using the real thing, but just use less of it.

Back to Basics 24 - How to Cook Chickpeas

"Why would you cook chickpeas when you can buy canned?"-you ask
Well, #1 it's fresher. Who knows how long those chickpeas have been in that can? Plus the can might contain BPA which we don't like.
#2 it's cheaper! You can buy organic chickpeas, or any bean for that matter, and it will be cheaper than the organic canned beans or maybe even the conventional ones!
#3 you get to choose the consistency you want for your beans. You can cook them for longer, or add different spices and herbs to flavor them.

Plus it's really not that hard! You barely do any work. I'll show you.

Better Onion Bagels

Soooooo I've given you guys a recipe for onion bagels in the past (click here). This one is infinitely better. It's softer and chewier and it has the perfect amount of onions. It was taken from this awesome book called "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter", it teaches you how to make all this great stuff at home and answers the questions: is it worth it? Is it cheaper? So, give this a try! It's really not that hard to make!

Yellow Mustard

Today's recipe is a good one. It takes you about 10 minutes to do and everybody will think you're a chef when they learn you made this. The humble yellow mustard!

Whole Wheat English Muffins

I was looking online for a recipe for whole wheat English muffins that were mostly whole wheat flour without being too dense, and I'm pretty sure I found the perfect one. It uses 5 cups of whole wheat flour and only 1 of white all purpose flour. If you find that it's still too dense for you, you can always substitute all purpose for the whole wheat until you reach the perfect density. English muffins are surprisingly easy to make. Give'em a try!!

100% Whole Wheat Bread

I love making bread at home. It's just so fun and it makes your house smell like the most amazing bakery. It's also really really easy if you have a stand mixer, I use my Kitchenaid and it's the best appliance I own. Another reason, of course is that you know what's going in the bread. Most "whole wheat" breads you buy at the store are not 100% whole wheat. This one is aaaalll whole wheat. That might actually scare you because you think it'll be dense but as long as you know the secret trick, your bread will come out fluffy and easy to slice.

Onion Bagels

Update: I have a newer and better version of these guys here

Bagels. They're delicious. They're doughy. Fluffy. SO GOOD. Buuuut as for most carb-loaded foods, they're not so great for you. Especially if you eat store-bought ones, or the ones you get from your favorite coffee shop loaded with cream cheese. We can make them a little better though...
Deceptively Healthy is all about food that is good for your body and soul. It's health food that doesn't necessarily scream healthy. Bagels CAN be deceptively healthy, when you make your own.

How can they be better?
-First, you are making it yourself. This means you know what is in those bagels, there are no artificial ingredients or preservatives.
-Second, you can customize it. I've NEVER seen whole wheat onion bagels out there. Although these are not whole wheat I know that when I want to make them, I can. You can also add more or less salt, make whatever crazy topping for them that your big creative brain can think of.
-Third, if you eat these foods only when you make them yourself, it will be harder to overeat. It's so easy to go out and get a bag of french fries, or buy a pizza. But when you make it yourself, it's not so fast and easy to crank them out. You won't have it readily available if a crazy craving hits. This gives you more time to think about your decisions and it also makes you realize that maybe you don't need the supersized bag of french fries.
-It's also way cheaper, which is a big reason behind homemade food. A lot of people make food from scratch not because they're thinking of their health, but because they have a big family and need to cut back. My boyfriend loves onion bagels, they are his go-to breakfast if he's going to be sitting down and eating. Other than the Almond-Honey Power Bars that he can eat on the go. So buying them every week can add up. Thomas' Onion Bagels are about $.78 cents per bagel. If you make these, they'll cost about $.16 OR LESS for a bagel. You can't argue with facts. FACTS.
-Convenience. I know making your own bagels doesn't seem very convenient but they can be just as convenient as store-bought ones. Just slice your bagels once they're done, wrap them in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, then throw them in a freezer bag and pull them out whenever you need a bagel! You don't even need to wait for them to thaw, you can thaw them in your toaster or oven. Or toaster oven.

So enough babbling, let's see how they're done.

Lighter Hummus

I love hummus. SO MUCH. It's good with pretty much anything. It makes vegetables taste better and crackers seem healthier. You can add it to a sandwich or eat it straight up. It's pretty magical.
I have another hummus recipe on the blog that is a sort of basic recipe that you can go to when you want hummus. This is exactly the same but made a little lighter. We use a little bit more olive oil so we get the health benefits from that but less tahini and we skip the liquid from the can, which has a little bit of sodium in it.

Chicken Broth VS. Chicken Stock

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between the 2? I have. Many times. I've googled it SO many times. Yet, I still forget. Gettin' old...
Well wonder no more!!

Chicken broth: Made more from the meaty parts. So when you toss in an entire bird along with your usual vegetables and spices, that's broth. I don't ever make this one because I just feel like using a full bird for broth and then throwing it out is a complete waste. Ina Garten has a recipe where she uses 3 roasting birds! That's 3 roasted chickens you just threw away Ina!! I love her but c'mon. I'm not rich.

Chicken Stock: This is when you mostly use bones. It's still chicken stock even if a little bit of the meat and skin are attached. This is my favorite of the 2 because you can make use of leftovers. And who doesn't want to make something new out of things you would throw out anyway? Chicken stock also has a lot richer flavor than chicken broth, due to the gelatin being released by the long hours simmering on the stove. Did I just gross you out? Get over it.

I have a recipe teaching you how to make chicken stock here. There's no ONE way to make it. You can throw in whatever veggies you want, whatever herbs and spices you want but this is a really good, basic recipe.

Back to Basics 16 - Almond-Honey Power Bar

I've got a really great breakfast/snack recipe for you! This, no surprise, is an EatingWell recipe. I got it from my Simple Art of EatingWell cookbook. I make a batch of these granola bars at the beginning of the week for my boyfriend Eric to take with him in the morning as his breakfast.

These bars are very complex, filling and just sweet enough. They have so many tasty and healthy things in them! They're seriously amazing. Everybody that has tried them looovvesss them and begs me to make more.

Yields 8 bars

Back to Basics 15 - Quick Applesauce

Make your own brown sugar!

Uh oh.... you're out of brown sugar. What do you do? It's easy, MAKE YOUR OWN!! Provided you keep molasses and white sugar in your pantry.

Why would I EVER make my own brown sugar? You must think I'm crazy. Well for starters, it's cheaper. You can also control the amount of molasses in your brown sugar. Sure, you can buy light or dark brown sugar but this way you can make it medium dark, extra extra dark, super light, whatever you want!

One thing that is different from almost all other homemade things is, making your brown sugar doesn't make it any healthier. You could add organic molasses and that's definitely better but sugar is sugar. It's a misconception that brown sugar is healthier for you than white. As you'll see it's really just white sugar mixed with molasses. Molasses is this really dark and syrupy by-product of refining sugar. So they take it out to make it white, then if they want brown sugar they add it back in. So neither of those things are necessarily GOOD for you but hey, sometimes you need a little sugar in your life.

Back to Basics 11 - Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Once you realize how easy it is to make your own pizza dough, you won't go back to delivery. Plus, like with anything you make at home, you know exactly what is in the dough. This recipe makes enough for one whole pizza/1 pound/5 servings (slices).

Calories: Without any toppings, 1/5 of this pizza is 196 calories.

How to make Almond Butter

This recipe came about because I had been buying this really expensive organic almond butter from the grocery store. I didn't even bother reading the label (which I always do, and you should too) because you know, "it's organic! must be totes healthy". Well, this almond butter had a few more ingredients in it that I didn't really want to be eating all the time. All I want in my almond butter is ALMONDS, and maybe a little salt.
So anyway, I decided to make my own. It's cheaper anyway! And like many of my recipes, extremely easy.

Back to Basics 10 - Homemade Chicken Stock

I use SO MUCH chicken stock. I throw it in everything from soups and sauces to quinoa and mashed potatoes, so it makes sense for me to make my own. Plus, store-bought stock SUCKS. It just has no flavor! Plus, with homemade you get even more benefits than just better flavor.

This stock couldn't be easier to make. Whenever I roast chicken, I keep the bones in a zip lock bag in the freezer for when I'm ready to use them. Or sometimes, if I'm a party or a dinner and I know the host well, I may or may not ask (aka annoy) them to give me the bones. Then you just gather up some kitchen staples and leave it cooking on the stove, the longer the better. SO EASY! Try to use as many organic ingredients as you can.

Don't worry if you don't have some of these ingredients, the point of stock is to throw in anything that's about to go bad. But please don't throw veggies in that are ALREADY bad. That would not make for a good chicken stock. You can also add any veggies you like! I made this chicken stock during the recent blizzard so I couldn't go out to the grocery store to get some of the missing ingredients. This is all about what you've got at home.
(Recipe for vegetable stock on the bottom)

Back to Basics 9 - Homemade Marinara

Why would you ever want to buy marinara sauce at the grocery store? Convenience? Well, this sauce could not be any easier to make. And it only has 7 ingredients:

Olive oil
1 onion
28oz whole peeled tomatoes (organic if you can)
1 garlic clove
Sugar
salt & pepper to taste