Yummy Comfort Food and Halloween Candy Patrol

So I am by no means a chef or cook of any kind. I can barely make cupcakes, out of the box, none the less frost them. So when I decide to make dinner, it's quite a feat for me. I wanted to share a few of my favorite, "lower calorie" meals that I love to fuel up on.

First is a Broccoli Chicken Mush. There is no other way to describe it, than a mush, I guess you can call it a bake, but it looks like a mushy pile of gooey goodness. Looks aren't everything though, especially down in the tum! It's super easy and quick to make too. After a run I usually throw the ingredients together, throw it in the oven and hop in the shower. When I get out, it's time to take it out! I know, I'm into multi-tasking. So here it is.

(that isn't my picture, but it looks like that!)
Broccoli Chicken Mush
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (thawed)
1 pound broccoli florets, cooked
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
1 cup brown rice

First preheat the oven to 350 degrees, put the rice on the bottom of a 3 quart baking dish, put the chicken on top of it and then pour in the soup and water. It looks like a ton of water, but the rice absorbs it, don't worry. Put the broccoli into the pan. You can add some cheese on top of it, but if you want to cut calories, skip the cheese and use the Campbell's 98% fat free Cream of Mushroom soup. It doesn't mess with the taste at all, and there are only 70 calories in it. Then put it in the oven for 25-35 minutes. I usually like my broccoli super well done, so I leave mine in for around 35-40 minutes. It's delicious!

I also made these the other day, and though mine didn't come out right, (mine were like little weird lumpy biscuts) I know if I wouldn't have used the wrong ingredients they would have been just delicious as well. These are my favorite cupcakes in the entire world!

(that isn't my picture)
Red Velvet Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 fluid ounce red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 12 cup muffin pans or line with 20 paper baking cups. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, red food coloring and vanilla. Stir in the baking soda and vinegar.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. When cool, arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter and frost with desired frosting.

Pretty basic but oh so delicious! :) Especially if you have never made or had red velvet cupcakes, you are missing out!

Also this is my new FAVORITE website, Fast Food Maven, it's mostly for the Orange County area, but a lot of chains are also talked about on this blog, and it's so helpful. This is where I found out about the Wendy's Halloween Deal! It's not talked about on their website at all, but Wendy’s has come up with a great alternative to handing out Halloween candy: a free Jr. Frosty.
Wendy's is selling booklets that contain a coupon good for one free Frosty Jr., which is six ounces and contains 150 calories. You can find it's nutritional info here. Each booklet cost $1 and contains 10 coupons, but some Wendy's are selling 5 coupons for a $1. Either way, what a fun, cheap treat, I think I'll just buy a book for myself :) A little reward during the work day!

Another perk is that for every booklet sold, Wendy’s donates money to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Since I was adopted, I totally believe in the cause! Yay for adoption! The coupons may be redeemed Nov. 1 through Feb. 1, 2009.

And for all you candy fiends like myself, I have been doing some research about Halloween Candy. I have this problem, that if candy is around, I mow through it, but if it's not around, I never eat it. So I've been poking through some resources to find the best candy out there, since I seem to indulge way too much. I found that Twizzlers, individually wrapped - 40 calories aren't too bad, but make sure they are individually wrapped vines because that is the KEY here! They are good too! For suckers, Caramel Apple Pops - 60 calories, and are INCREDIBLE. Dum Dum Pops - 25 calories, are tiny, but do last a while and are pretty tasty. A personal favorite, Blow Pops - 60 calories are good too, and the bubblegum in the middle is a little extra special treat, as long as it's flavor lasts which is about two minutes.

(that isn't my picture, but I love this aisle! I'm like a bug to the light...)
Also chocolate, if you have to keep it around, try to go for the minis. The fun sizes, are not fun once you have to work off all the extra calories. Milky Way Minis - 38 calories, per mini while 2 fun sizes are 154 calories. Musketeers Minis - 24 calories, while 2 fun-sized Musketeers is 120 calories. Tootsie Roll Midgees - 23 calories, which are a personal favorite! Yea, sorry for just ruining all your candy dreams right there. One fun sized package of Skittles is 83 calories alone!

The overall outcome has lead me to believe that the smaller, the better. I've also tried to select candy that offers sugar-free options. Another thing I learned was to avoid the candy corn - it stays in molars and causes dental havoc. I'm working on learning to like dark chocolate. It's healthy and has less sugar. Dove and Hershey offer small dark chocolates.

Also if any of you are on linked in, I recently joined the Orange County Running Professionals Group, and I want to encourage you to, if you are in my area, join the Group, or start up your own running professional club by you! :) It's always nice to interact with other runners around the community.

Remember to sign up for my giveaway! You can go to the link here! You can sign up until Sunday, November 2! The winner will be annouced Monday morning. Have a wonderful, delicious day, and as for me, I'm trying to keep my hands from the candy bowl.