I had this soup for lunch AND dinner. It has a surprise ingredient that isn't too bad :). But it is a little high calorie, and I'm going to make some changes from the original recipe that I found on Pinterest. The original recipe is from The Comfort of Cooking along with the link to the recipe. Before we get started, this is a mildly time consuming soup. There's a lot of simmering. But other than that, not too hard and a delicious outcome! Enjoy. 

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup
Adapted from The Comfort of Cooking's recipe
Marietta May


1-2 tbsp butter (optional-package deal with onion)
1/2 medium chopped yellow onion (optional)
1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
2-2.5 c half and half (healthier version: 1.5 c milk, 1 c half and half)
3-4 cups chicken stock
1/2-1 lb. broccoli florets
1 c matchstick carrots, chopped (personally I would leave them out)
cracked black peppercorn
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1-1.5 c grated cheddar cheese


1) With the first set of butter, sauté the onions on medium-high heat until lightly brown.
2) Add next set of butter and flour and whisk for a couple minutes (creates a roux).
3) Stir in the liquid ingredients and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4) Chop up the florets and carrots (I suggest leaving out the carrots) relatively fine. Add to the pot along with the nutmeg and pepper. 
5) Turn up to low for 25-30 mins. 
6) Turn off the heat and use a hand blender to get rid of the chunks.
7) Serve!

There are plenty of ways that this delicious wrap could be healthier, but these are just things that I had on hand. You could use a whole wheat tortilla or a lower fat dressing. Anyway, this recipe makes about 1-2 wraps, but I only wanted one so I had a bit left over. What's in it, you ask? Brown rice, avocados, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, corn, cheddar cheese, mayo, and mustard. So, very simple….let's get started.


Healthy Wrap–No meat
 Marietta May


1/2 cup brown rice
1 handful cooked corn
1 handful orange bell peppers, chopped
1 small handful matchstick carrots
1 small handful shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp mayo
Cracked black peppercorn
1 flour tortilla


1) Cook brown rice
2) Mix together the corn, peppers, carrots, cheese, and avocados.
3) When the rice is done, add it to the veggie and cheese mixture. Mix all together.
4) Add mustard and mayo and pepper.
5) Spoon the whole mixture onto a flour tortilla.


See? Very simple. So simple, in fact, that I almost didn't include directions, haha. The mustard and mayo can be substituted for your favorite kind of dressing or sauce.

I've been wanting to make these donuts for a while… I saw them on Pinterest via The Skinny Fork but those are Vanilla Bean. I didn't have Vanilla Bean Paste so I just swapped that with vanilla extract. I'm guessing they taste very different from each other, but these donuts with extract are still pretty good and are worth sharing. I also didn't have Whole Wheat White Flour so I used All-Purpose flour… so it's probably a little less skinny. Ok I should probably say that I didn't use a Donut Pan either, because I don't have one…. so as you can see, this recipe is pretty flexible depending on what materials you have. If you have the bolded ingredients above, maybe you should check out the original recipe for the Vanilla Bean donuts! Because those are about 120 calories, and mine are most likely not as low calorie, but still skinnier than regular donuts. Anyway, let's get started!!! 

Skinny Vanilla Donuts
Inspired by The Skinny Fork recipe
Marietta May

Donuts:
1 c. All-purpose flour
1/8 c. sugar
1/8 c. honey or sweetener
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/4 c. plain fat free greek yogurt
2 tbsp. skim milk
1.5 tbsp. softened unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Vanilla Glaze: 
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. skim milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 325º F and grease a cookie sheet or donut pan.
2) Mix all of the dry ingredients in one bowl.
3) Mix the rest of the ingredients (all the wet ingredients) in a separate bowl, then add to the dry ingredients.
4) Gather the dough in the bottom of a ziplock bag (or piping bag) and cut off a corner. 
5) Pipe out some dough in whatever donut shape you want on the cookie sheet or pan. 
6) Bake for 10-15 minutes.
7) Mix all the glaze ingredients together while donuts are baking.
8) Take the donuts out, let cool, then dip one side in the glaze to coat. Let the donuts sit untouched for the glaze to harden.


Scroll down to see pictures! 

Hello everyone! I browsed through multiple different sources to find the simplest cherry pie that I could find. It came right out of the Joy of Cooking cookbook by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. Warning: lots of dishes were used in the making of this pie…and it is kind of time consuming! But what good dessert isn't time consuming!? I was lucky enough to get some leftover dough so I made easy Cherry turnovers!! But let's focus on the pie :) I hope you find this recipe useful!


Note: I also doubled the recipe used in the cookbook because I like more cherries in my pie… but it was a little too much so I changed the recipe to be about perfect.


Cherry Pie
Adapted from the recipe in Joy of Cooking
Marietta May

9-inch pie pan
Butter dough: homemade or store bought (and enough for a top and bottom)
5-6 cups fresh sour cherries
2-3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4-1/3 c. water or fruit juice
1 c. sugar
A couple drops of almond extract
1-2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp sugar

*Prebake the pie crust! This is crucial* Maybe 325º for 20-30 mins?
1) Preheat the oven to 450º F.
2) Roll out two balls of dough (one will be the bottom, another the top) with flour on a hard surface and let sit while you work on the filling.
3) Wash and pit all of the cherries. If you don't want whole cherries in the filling, cut all the cherries into small pieces.
4) Combine the cornstarch and liquid (water or fruit juice) in a separate bowl, mixing until smooth. Add sugar and almond extract; mix. 
5) Pour the mixture into the bowl of cherries and let sit for 10-20 minutes. If you don't want a lot of juice in the pie, you can drain the cherries a bit. Or if you like it with lots of juice, leave it in the filling.
6) Take one circle of dough and place it into the pie pan. You may want to poke a few holes in the bottom with a fork, just to be safe :) 
7) Place the liquid mixture with cherries into the pie pan. Flatten them down as much as possible.
8) Dot the filling with the butter
9) Place second circle of dough (with some fork holes) or lattice on top of cherries and close the edges down.
10) Make an egg wash with the egg (beat it in a small bowl) and brush it on the top of the pie. Sprinkle the sugar over the top.
11) Put the pie in the oven on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and leave the pie in for about 40 more minutes or until golden brown. 



What I would do differently: I used about 8 cups of cherries, and I thought it was slightly too much. I doubled the liquid mixture too, which oozed out of the pan the whole time it was in the oven. So I would do less of that (the recipe seems to use roughly the correct amount for the amount of cherries). I used whole cherries, and even though it was pretty, I wish I had cut the cherries into smaller pieces.




Scroll down to see pictures!