Month: December 2012

20121228-115954.jpg

These vegan snickerdoodles were a huge hit over the holidays with all my non vegan friends and family so I knew I had to share it with you! These light and crunchy, cinnamon sugar cookies are amazing all year round! Enjoy!

VEGAN SNICKERDOODLES

1 cup non hydrogenated margarine (softened)
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons non dairy milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar together for a couple minutes till its mixed well. Add your non dairy milk and vanilla and beat till that’s combined as well. Now sift in flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt and mix until a soft dough forms. Chill dough for atleast 30 minutes ( so its easier for you to work with). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and get out your cookie sheets. In a small shallow bowl or tray combine sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. Drop a tablespoon of dough in your cinnamon sugar mix and roll it into a ball. Place the balls on your cookie sheet and lightly sprinkle some cinnamon sugar both before and after it goes in the oven. Cookies should take 10-12 minutes to cook, they’ll get puffy in the oven but will deflate once you let them cool.

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

20121224-125611.jpg

Happy Holidays my sweet and skinny loves!! I hope your all done with your baking and cooking and have sometime to sit back and relax with your family for the next few days! This year I made nutella xmas trees, red velvet wreaths(pictured above) and vegan snickerdoodles! Since cookies are certainly on the naughty list I made them bite size so everybody can taste each different one with out busting their cookie calorie budget. I also made some pretty incredible wicked hot chocolate cupcakes which you can look forward to being posted about next week and some vegan strawberry shortcake cupcakes who’s recipe I’ll also divulge soon!

Alright, enough taunting you about yummy baked goods– here are some sweet and skinny tips for tonight and tomorrow! Enjoy!

Staying Slim during Santa Season:

Come prepared. I know it’s hard to remember to eat breakfast with all the excitement of the holidays and all the things on your to do list but a good healthy breakfast will be your best friend later in the day! Don’t arrive at a party ravenous or you’ll eat whatever they have out, when your not too hungry you have the advantage of being picky about what goes in your mouth!

Bring your own. This is my go to. When in doubt bring a delicious appetizer and/or dessert that’s healthy or low in fat. This way everyone wins, you look like a super sweet guest and you know for sure there will be something you really like that’s also healthy for you at the party!

Think like a bird. That’s right, take tiny portions of everything and only go back for seconds on things you absolutely love. You get to sample all the goodies and not over eat. An even better ideas is to allow yourself twenty minutes before you go back for seconds. This way you’ll know of your truly hungry enough for another!

Hope this helps! Drink lots of water and focus on catching up with your loved ones, not the buffet and you’ll sail through the holidays sweet and skinny style!

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

With only a few days left before Christmas, if your anything like me your stressed beyond belief! Between last minute shopping, christmas card writing, cookie (and cupcake) baking and trying to figure out my holiday wardrobe, exercise and yoga are a MUST DO! It’s my favorite way to stay balanced, focused and keep my head in the right place to juggle it all. Yet I find myself still looking for something else to add to my usual routine during these crazy pre-holiday times.

Luckily, a new study from Stanford University has found that drinking just three cups of chamomile tea a day can have a similar or perhaps even better (cause of it’s extra painkilling benefits) effect on my stress level this season! Just three little cups can help ease tension headaches and soothe a stress-related upset stomach. As an added bonus, the calming effect of this herb also helps reduce the production of the stress hormone cortisol which causes inflammation and can lead to weight gain. It’s no wonder Starbuck’s calls this tea “Calm”, I’m getting relaxed just thinking about the cup I’m about to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

Tis the season to indulge in a little comfort food, eh? Well one of my favorite splurges is an amazing penne a la vodka with shrimp from an italian restaurant by my apartment and this past sunday I decided to let myself have it! Now, in order to prevent myself from a mega carb binge, I also ordered a salad and made sure to eat a bit of that first so I wasn’t ravenous once I got to my pasta. Secondly, the size of the pasta dinner (as it is at most italian restaurants) was actually enough to feed me all week for dinner, so I had a average bowl sized amount and took the rest home. And now comes the good part- I recycled my penne a la vodka in to a delicious frittata that I’ll be able to eat all week long guilt-free because I loaded it up with protein and veggies!

PENNE ALA VODKA FRITTATA

The amount of eggs you use will depend on how large your pyrex dish is (mine took 8 eggs) but scramble enough eggs to fill your dish at least an inch or so and then add 3 tbsp of fat free greek yogurt and continue to scramble the mixture together.

Meanwhile, throw some baby spinach (three large handfuls), olive oil and garlic into a frying a pan on the stove and sauté that for a couple minutes. Pour the spinach and left over pasta in the pan and spread it out evenly. Now pour your eggs on top and feel free mix it up in the dish so that the eggs are mixed through out. Sprinkle a little reduced fat cheese on top (if you please) and stick that in the oven on 425 degrees for a about 20 minutes or till you see the top getting golden brown!

Enjoy! You can cut it into individual portions and eat it for breakfast all week! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

Sorry for the belated post – was having some technical issues with YouTube yesterday. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)

Picking the right gym for you is about as crucial to your physical fitness as picking the right partner is for your relationship! I would say that no one gym is neccesarily better than the next, they’re all just different and it really depends on your taste. Now, as you can guess, this article was inspired because I just joined a new gym! After moving a couple months ago, my old gym was no longer convenient and I needed to find something more local. There are about four gyms within walking distance of my apartment with quite a range in style and atmosphere. After visiting them all it became clear what was important to me in a gym and what gym I would REALLY want to go to day after day – and that’s the key to finding a place that helps you work out! Here are the ABC’s I would strongly advise you to consider when choosing the perfect gym to start shedding that holiday weight at..

ATMOSPHERE
Do you feel like your in someone’s basement? A mannequin on display at a store in a window front space? Now don’t misunderstand me, I don’t mean these negatively, if you like the rough and gruff appeal of a basement like gym with the barebones of decorations and tons of machines and weights because it makes you feel like your ready to pump some iron and work hard – then that’s the right gym for you! If you get so bored at cardio but absolutely love people watching, maybe a gym with a huge window front that you can stare at while working it on the elliptical is for you. If your like me, you’ll tend to go for the spa like gym with a sauna and jacuzzi because it makes you feel like your treating yourself to a workout each day. The key is just to recognize which one is going to get you into YOUR workout happy place!

BUDDIES
Nothing beats having a friend to meet at the gym, I promise nothing will make you look forward to it more. My friend Katelyn and I have been taking full advantage of belonging to the same gym, exploring classes together and gossiping on the treadmill before rewarding ourselves with a nice sauna or steam session. It doesn’t even feel like work if you have someone to join you and you’ll never miss a gym date when someones counting on you to be there!If you don’t know anyone in your neighborhood, it might also be a good idea to take some group classes and try to make a gym buddy out of someone you frequently see in your favorite classes.

CLASSES
Classes are SO important if your a group exercise person or just stuck in a rut. I’m not a huge fan of spinning but I absolutely love the spinning class at my gym because I know I will get a work out I wouldn’t get by myself. If your a yoga girl, you may want to ask around the gym about the different yoga instructors and who teaches the best class. NYC gyms are expensive enough as it is, you don’t want to join one and then have to go take your Zumba class somewhere else, so make sure you pick one with classes you could really see yourself going to!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)