Healthy Versions of Your Favorite Foods!

Eating healthy is not one of my top priorities. I love fast food and snacks. Knowing that this has to change, I began to search for some recipes that were both healthy and delicious. I also asked around to see if other people's unhealthy favorites could be replaced by healthier versions.
Pasta and desserts seemed to be the most desired healthy recipes among my friends and classmates, which is perfect because I love Italian food and I love chocolate!
On the Food Network's website, I found some of the best recipes for healthy comfort foods.
Here are two that I think will please most people:


Low-Cal Fettuccine Alfredo

Only 490 calories per serving!


Low-Fat Chocolate Pudding

228 calories and 3g fat per serving!

Here are some other healthy recipes that people might enjoy:

Light Chicken Pot Pie

19g fat per serving!

Sausage Lasagna

Only 350 calories and 12.5g fat per serving!

For more of these recipes, check out the Food Network's Healthy Food Makeovers.

Yogurt Vi in Clifton

So in search of finding a new restaurant or cafe type place in the Clifton area, I began to ask around to see if there was anything new and exciting around campus. I kept getting the same response among my friends and classmates: Yogurt Vi. Located on Calhoun Street along all the other restaurants underneath UPA, Yogurt Vi is a self-serve yogurt shop with lots of fruity and sweet toppings to choose from. When I walked in for the first time, I felt a little overwhelmed. I had no idea what I was doing. But the two girls behind the counter showed my friend and me how it all works: pick between two sized bowls, choose your yogurt (there were about 10 different flavors that day), then add your toppings. They had everything from fresh mango, to hot fudge, to gummy bears. I was in heaven. And I'm not even a huge yogurt fan! After you have completed your yogurt masterpiece, you take your bowl up to the counter and put it on a scale - instead of paying a flat price for your bowl, you pay by the ounce (mine came to $2.63). I went with the peanut butter yogurt, topped with brownie bites and cherries. Simple, but amazing. Yogurt Vi has changed the way I feel about yogurt - I love it!

Pizza!

Looking for the best pizza in the world? Well get your bags packed!
Yahoo.com recently listed the top six places in the world to find the most incredible pizzas.

#6 - Rome, Italy
#5 - Chicago
#4 - Osaka and Hiroshima, Japan
#3 - Sau Paulo, Brazil
#2 - NYC
#1 - Naples, Italy

I think I would very much enjoy making a trip around the world to try its most popular pizza.

World's Best Pizza

The Grilled Cheese Academy

I was just introduced to the best website ever: grilledcheeseacademy.com.
The Grilled Cheese Academy is a site that is dedicated to mouthwatering sandwiches, featuring about 30 different grilled cheese recipes. It also categorizes the different types of Wisconsin cheese used in each of the recipes. Visitors of the website are also able to submit their favorite grilled cheese recipe.

This is The Francesca. It has mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, olives and sun-dried tomatoes on rosemary foccacia. Yum!

The Grilled Cheese Academy

Easter Desserts

Easter is super late this year - April 24th. But this means that you'll have some extra time to decide which adorable Easter dessert to make! The Food Network has some great recipes to choose from, including the Chick and Egg Cupcake (below), the Little Lamp Cupcake, the Snow Bunny Cupcake, plus even more. Happy choosing!

Cute Easter Desserts

St. Patrick's Day Recipes

My family is extremely Irish and loves celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
I found some great recipes to help you have a memorable St. Patty's Day, ranging from meals, to drinks, to desserts.
Have fun!!

Here is an Irish-style lamb stew with potatoes and carrots. Yum!

Find more recipes here: AllRecipes.com

Mardi Gras Parties!

As most of you responded, it seems like almost everyone will be spending spring break in Cincinnati. And if you're anything like me, planning a trip to New Orleans is financially out of the question. I'm going to have to settle with celebrating Mardi Gras from the exciting city of Cincinnati. But I'm looking on the bright side - I can still enjoy the amazing Mardi Gras recipes!
I found this link to 30 Southern Living recipes for fun Mardi Gras food and drinks.
Here are a few of recipes that look absolutely delicious to me:

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Bananas Foster

Sazerac

Check out the rest of these Southern Living recipes for Mardi Gras fun here: Southern Living Recipes

Wes v. Food

One of my favorite shows to watch is the Travel Channel's Man v. Food. Adam Richman is an experienced food lover and travels around to different restaurants, trying the most outrageous things on the menu and will usually take on some crazy food challenge.
Adam just retweeted this hilarious YouTube clip on Twitter that a seven-year-old boy, Wesley, from Kansas City, MO sent him. It's a Man v. Food parody where Wes takes on a Super Bowl Sunday pizza challenge. As Adam tweeted, "Wes v. Food is awesome."

Chicago Gyros- Clifton Style

FINALLY made it to a recommended restaurant in the Clifton area - Chicago Gyros. And I must say, I was highly impressed. I decided to eat at Chicago Gyros because I had never tried a gyro before, and it's just one of those restaurants that I pass almost everyday and have always wanted stop in.
I did not know, however, that gyros were filled with lamb meet. When I found this out, I was scared. When I went there though, I was excited to see that there was a chicken gyro on the menu.
I decided on the chicken gyro, but minus the onions. It had grilled chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and I substituted the Tzaziki sauce for ranch dressing (I'm not a fan of sour cream or cucumbers, so I had to go with ranch). My friend and I split an order of fries and I found that they were the best fries I have ever tasted! I'm not sure what kind of seasoning they used, but I will definitely be ordering my own basket next time I go.
But with the gyro, a drink and splitting the basket of fries, it only cost me $7.44 (plus tip). I think it's safe to say I will be stopping in at Chicago Gyros in Clifton more often.
Check out their website here: Chicago Gyros

Dinner in Clifton

So my friend and I wanted to go out to dinner in Clifton the other night, but we wanted to try something different. We always end up going to Dewey's for their amazing peppercorn ranch salads and filling calzones, but we were feeling daring. My friend had mentioned going to Uno's, and I hadn't been there since high school, so we gave it a shot. Except when we got there, we couldn't find it. We walked around Ludlow for about 15 minutes until my friend finally decided to call and ask for directions. When she dialed though, all she got was a busy signal. Apparently the Uno's on Ludlow no longer exists! We had no idea. So instead, we headed over to Dewey's where I enjoyed my cheese and tomato calzone.
I was really bummed that we weren't able to try something new for dinner in Clifton. What are some of your favorite places to eat around Clifton? Anything interesting that not a lot of people know about? Or is there somewhere that you know of that college students can enjoy without spending a lot of money?

Oatmeal for College Kids

My pantry is practically empty. I have rice, noodles, soup and oatmeal. So for the past week, my meals have been pretty boring. But I have discovered that I love oatmeal. Like seriously...LOVE it. I can't stop eating it. It's so easy and so fast to make, and it's a lot better than the frozen dinners and pizzas I usually buy at the grocery. Plus, it's super cheap, so as a college student, I can buy a few boxes at a time and not worry about my debit card being declined when I'm checking out. Oatmeal is kind of 'blah' though. But no worries...I have found lots of fun recipes to make an exciting bowl of oatmeal!
I tried the Best-Ever Maple-Cinnamon Oatmeal (after borrowing syrup, butter and cinnamon from my roommate), and it was amazing.
It's probably super lame that I'm getting this excited over oatmeal recipes, but I've been trying to stay away from fast food and junk food. Since there are a ton of recipes on this website, I'm hoping I can keep going with these healthier eating habits.

Here's the link to all the recipes: Healthy Oatmeal

Let's Dig In!

Welcome to my new blog for my journalism seminar class! I'm really excited because I decided to write about all kinds of fun foods, recipes and restaurants. While I'm a super picky eater and could live off of mac and cheese for the rest of my life, I love to try new things. I can't wait to get started! :)