Quick, easy & low calorie Cinnamon-Apple French Toast

Hello everyone!

I was away all through the weekend but I needed to take some serious time to study because this is my finals season and things are getting though... (see, even being a musician I need to study hard!)

This morning I didn't go to the gym because today I have a very important and hard exam in a couple of hours but I woke up early anyway, made myself a generous nutritious breakfast and spent the entire morning and afternoon studying.

That's right: I made myself Apple stuffed Cinnamon topped french toast (and it was my first attempt ever at french toast)!

I wasn't even planning on posting it on here but it was so simple, easy and fast I thought I had to share it with you guys so I grabbed my camera real quick and took some shots of the result.

All you need to make these is an apple, 2 slices of bread, cinnamon, one egg, a little milk, and some optional Stevia sweetener to sweeten the apples and powdered sugar to sprinkle on top.

Oh and a pan and some baking spray (or any other kind of grease), obviously.

They take just about 10 minutes prepare and make and are super filling and taste amazing, I became a fan of french toast and am now looking for more variations to try it (if you have any ideas please let me know!) :-)

Here goes the recipe and nutrition:

Ingredients:

- 2 slices of bread

- 2 Tbsp of milk

- 1 large egg

- 2 tbsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp powdered sugar

- 1 apple peeled and sliced

- 1 tsp of Stevia sweetener

How to make them:

- First start by heating your pan and greasing it and throwing in the apples and the sweetener and letting it simmer until the apple is soft and becoming brownish;

- Crack the egg into a deep dish and add in the milk and 1 tbsp cinnamon and whisk it all together;

- Drown both slices of bread into the egg mix very well until they are very soggy;

- Remove the apples from the pan to a dish and put the bread onto the re-greased pan;

- Cook the bread slices both sides until they are golden brown and remove to the dish;

- Place the apple in between the slices of bread, close the sandwich and sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon and the powdered sugar on top.

All done!

Macros (don't forget macros vary with brands and amounts!):

250kcal

33g Carbs

8g Fat

12g Protein

I like to enjoy them with a little skimmed milk and a lot of coffee to power up my studies but you can also try tea or just plain black coffee.

Hope you try them and enjoy them, let me know if you have any other french toast toppings and fillings ideas! 

Love,

Lu *

P.S.: Here's a preview of my next recipe.... Come back tomorrow!!

My personal (skinny and macro friendly) twist on Smore's brownies

Yes, I am currently suffering from massive brownie & baking addiction.

I am a raging food addict (anyone could've figured that out already) but lately & since I am on vacation (lies, I should be studying for my finals) I am having more time to bake and create and am loving it.

I am also addicted to chocolate but that's another story.

Anyway, today's recipe consists of my own personal twist (due to being in a country where Smore's aren't a thing) on Smore's brownies and even though they came out not even looking slightly like Smore's they sure are pretty damn tasty.

This recipe is, like my Oreo brownies, super simple and fast to make and turns out to be super rich and tasty (yes, it also has Mayo in it), the only difference is that you put crackers scattered inside instead of Oreos and drop some marshmallows on top and voilá, kind-of-Smore's-brownies on your plate!

Unfortunately when I made them the first time (in the pictures) I put my marshmallows in too early so they melted completely and the brownies ended up kind of ugly (but tasty anyway!) and I ended up having to dress them up for the pictures :-)

I thought about adding chocolate chunks and/or chocolate chips on top but the brownie batter itself is pretty darn chocolaty and I don't want these to become calorie monsters so I resisted the temptation.

Here goes the recipe all laid out for you:

110kcal Smore's brownies!

Makes 15 :-)

What you’ll need:

• 180g (1 & 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 15g (1 & 1/2 tbsp) baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 70g egg whites
• 80g (3/4 of a cup) cocoa powder
• 130g (1/2 a cup + 4 tbsp) Stevia sweetener
• 10g (1 tsp) vanilla paste or liquid extract
• 80ml (1/3 of a cup + 1 tbsp) skim milk
• 50g (4tbsp) fat free mayo
• 150ml (2/3 of a cup) room temperature water
• 15-20 plain cookies (I used a typical brand from my country because we don’t have graham crackers here but you can and should use graham crackers!)
• 15 Marshmallows

How to:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF and grease a rectangular baking pan;
2. In a stand mixer mix together the egg, the egg whites, the vanilla paste and the sweetener until fully mixed;
3. Add in the milk and then the mayo;
4. In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix well together;
5. Start mixing into the stand mixer the flour mixture and water one at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture;
6. Crack all the cookies roughly and unevenly and pour in the batter incorporating with a spatula;
7. Pour the batter in the prepared baking pan and put in the pre-heated oven for about 25/30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out crumbless and clean BUT in the final 5/10 minutes open the oven, drop the marshmallows (I cut each marshmallow in half to use less marshmallows and make them look like more) on top of the brownie, close the oven and finish cooking.

Macros (remember, macros differ with brands and ingredients!):

110 kcal

18g carbs

2g fat

4g protein

(4g fiber)

(6g sugar)

Hope you try them out and let me know how they went!

Love,

Lu *

P.S.: And for tomorrow...

Juicy roasted chicken with herbs & spices (and a bit about my family!)

Another recipe, yet again... But this time it's not a dessert!

I'm not going to be able to keep up with this thing of posting 1 recipe a day so don't get used to it!

Anyways, today I am posting a simple well seasoned roasted chicken I made the other day and everyone loved it so I thought I'd share :-)

I should tell you a little more about me, just so you kind of understand why I am always in the kitchen and cook everything at home even though I live at my mom's.

I live with my mother and 2 older brothers (dat family selfie...):

And our puppy Kobe (he's such a cutie!):

AND our cat Chica (she's nice too but a bit bossy for my taste):

Anyway enough with the family photos...

Ever since I started flexible dieting and counting calories and macros I find it easier if I am the one cooking around the house so my mom is, obviously, super pleased about that (no more cooking and some weightloss yay!) and so are my brothers because I make foods and desserts they like and still call them "diet" foods.

Now on with the food!!

To make this recipe all you're going to need is: chicken (obviously), sal, garlic powder, garlic cloves, 1 lemon, butter, white pepper, thyme, rosemary & cayenne pepper (omit this last pepper if you don't like spiced up food)

It's fairly easy to make, you just have to pay attention to the cooking times if (like me) you aren't very experienced with or just can't figure out your oven.

All you have to do is mix all the spices together in a bowl and make a paste you will use to rub in the chicken and pop it in the oven - it's simple but tastes great and is extra juicy AND you won't even have trouble with dish-washing: you'll only need to wash one bowl and the baking tray.

I like to have this (and everything I eat actually) with green beans (I am addicted don't tell anyone) but you can also have it with plain rice or seasoned rice or in a wrap. I guess you can have it anyway 'cause it's SO tasty.

Here goes the recipe, hope you try it and love it as much as me and my family did!

What you'll need:

• Chicken as you like it (whole or parts - I used 5 leg quarters and one breast quarter);
• 1 lemons cut in quarters;
• 10 peeled garlic cloves;
• 2 tbsps of butter;
• 1 tbsp garlic powder;
• 1 tbsp white pepper;
• 2 tbsps thyme;
• 2 tbsps rosemary;
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper (omit if you don't want it hot);
• Salt (to taste - I used 1 tbsp);

How to:

1. In a bowl place all the seasons except for the garlic and butter and mix well;
2. Add in the butter and 3 finely chopped garlic cloves and microwave for about 15 seconds until the butter is softened and you can form a paste with the season mix;
3. Prep the chicken: place it in a baking tray (doesn't need to be greased) and under the skin place one garlic clove in each part (if using one whole chicken place several garlic cloves under the skin), place the lemon quarters anywhere close to the chicken in the tray and then with your hands rub the seasoning paste prepared earlier everywhere you can (be generous!);
4. Place in the pre-heated oven a 180ºC / 350ºF for about 1 and a half hours upping the temperature to 450ºF in the last 10 minutes for the skin to grill;

Macros:

Well it's chicken so...

Protein: OVER 9000!!!

Hope you try it and enjoy it, let me know if you do!

Love,

Lu *

P.S.: You know I wouldn't leave without leaving a preview of tomorrow's recipe...

A little intro to who I am and what I am doing here!

Hi and welcome to my blog, more specifically to my first post!

My name is Luísa Fonseca and I am the writer behind Cooking with Lu. I am a 21 year old musician and cooking & fitness enthusiast who lives in Lisbon, Portugal (in a tini tiny corner of Europe).

This is me (with a very large tray of chocolate covered strawberries I made for my mom's birthday dinner a while back):

I always cooked every now and then not very seriously and not following recipes nor anything, but recently started taking cooking more "seriously" (if that is even possible!).
I like making all kinds of dishes & deserts and I always try to make them a little healthier then they are because I do care about what I eat and about my fitness.

I am completely new to blogging and have actually no idea of how this works and of what to do, but will do my best to catch up quickly!

I hope you have fun following me and my culinary journeys and would love to hear feedback from you guys :)

With love,
Luisa *