Remember our secret ingredient flourless brownies that were such a big hit? The surprising addition of black beans inspired lots of readers to share their favorite secret ingredients. Amy posted a comment with her tip for hiding healthy pumpkin in brownies. With Halloween right around the corner, the time is certainly right for baking up a pumpkin treat. We decided to try a variation on Amy’s idea and created a simple Pumpkin Chocolate Cake.

This cake is perfect unfrosted or with a light dusting of powdered sugar if you prefer. Serve with a hot cup of tea, coffee or cocoa. It would be fun to serve small bites at a Halloween party too! Check out the full recipe here.

Here’s the scoop on our healthy updates:

• Using whole wheat pastry flour in place of white flour increases the fiber, magnesium and manganese in this cake.
• Adding pumpkin bumps up the vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, fiber, manganese, folate, thiamin, copper, vitamin B5, vitamin B6 and niacin.
• Chocolate and cocoa contain phytochemicals (plant compounds) called flavonoids that that help protect against free radical damage that can lead to disease in the body. Cocoa powder ranks the highest of the chocolate products to contain these antioxidants, followed by dark and milk chocolate. Cocoa powder is also lower in fat and sugar than most other chocolate products (especially milk chocolate).

We love baking with pumpkin! In addition to our new favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Cake, here are a few more baked goods we love that feature one of our favorite fall ingredients:

Honey and Walnut Pumpkin Bread

Mini Pumpkin Gingerbread Cupcakes

Pumpkin and Millet Muffins

What are some of your favorite ways to cook and bake with pumpkin?

Got a recipe that needs a natural makeover? Post it in the comments section below! If we select your recipe for a healthy makeover and publish the improved version on our website, we’ll send you a $25 Whole Foods Market gift card.

Happy Halloween!

Now that fall is in the air, many of us are turning to heartier dishes. Eric, one of our readers, wrote in to tell us that one of his all-time favorite comfort foods is Beef Stroganoff, strips of beef in a creamy mushroom sauce over pasta or rice. But since Eric is no longer an omnivore, he wanted to know if we could create a vegan recipe: Stroganoff without the beef.

We think our recipe for Tempeh and Mushroom Stroganoff fits the bill.

Here are a few notes about the recipe:

• We subbed tempeh (fermented soybeans) in place of beef. With hearty flavor and texture, tempeh adds protein, fiber and very little saturated fat.
• Portobello mushrooms add a deeper, more savory flavor than other varieties.
• To keep this recipe quick to assemble per Eric’s request, we relied on vegetarian gravy mix (look for this near the soups and broths). You could certainly make it from scratch.
• We suggest serving the tempeh and mushrooms over brown rice for soaking up the flavorful sauce. For ease and convenience, we used frozen brown rice in this recipe, but it would be just as delicious over noodles. Try it over udon noodles, soba noodles, brown rice noodles or whole wheat or spelt pasta.

Want to adjust some of your favorite recipes to meet a new diet? Here are a few general tips for making great vegan and vegetarian recipes:

• For creaminess, use coconut milk, nut milk or silken tofu in place of dairy products.
• Use rich vegetable stock, shallots, garlic, leeks and other aromatic vegetables to create a flavorful base. Fresh herbs are wonderful additions as well.
• Other ingredients to consider for adding robust flavor are chipotles (smoked jalapenos available canned), sun dried tomatoes, olives, caramelized onions and wild mushrooms.

Do you have some tips for vegetarian and vegan cooking to share? We’d love to hear! Please post them in the comments below.

Check out our selection of vegan recipes. We have almost 500, so there’s something for everyone!

Post your idea for a recipe makeover. If we pick your idea, we’ll send you a $25 gift card and publish it our blog and our website!

Along with cooler weather, fall brings a yearning for comfort foods. Sometimes those old favorites can use a fresh makeover! Jennifer wrote asking for help in making her family’s favorite chicken tetrazzini a more healthful, lower sodium recipe. We made this beloved casserole healthier by cutting back on the cheese, using whole grain pasta, and making a sauce from scratch rather than using canned cream of chicken soup. The results are delicious!

Check out the full recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini with Green Peas and Chives and let us know what you think. Read the rest of this entry »

These quick and easy-to-make cookies more than satisfied our nutritionists, along with the sweet tooths of our tasters. Something for everyone! Elena sent us her recipe to test, saying that she loves to make healthy food for her family and bakes these cookies for her son, who loves them! Her recipe was right on the mark; we added a bit of cinnamon and everything else stayed the same.

Check out the full recipe for Cinnamon-Walnut Oatmeal Cookies.

Read the rest of this entry »

With kids heading back to school this month, school activities and fundraisers will start filling up the calendar. J. Leone wrote us with a request for a gluten-free recipe for brownies, always a crowd pleaser at school fundraisers.

I love a good food challenge. In addition to making a gluten-free brownie, I wanted to create a version with good protein, healthy carbohydrates and fiber – and, of course, it had to taste delicious!. With many gluten-free baked goods, you’ll find starches and flours in the ingredients that have virtually no fiber or protein, so I didn’t want to go that route. I needed a secret ingredient instead. Read the rest of this entry »

You can’t go wrong with macaroni and cheese-just about everyone loves it! While there are plenty of convenient boxed options out there, making mac and cheese from scratch lets you use natural ingredients, including freshly grated cheese, and you get to control the amount of salt and fat. This means a healthier version with no artificial colors or flavors and it’s not hard to make – you can even get the kids to help!

We thought back-to-school time was the perfect opportunity to satisfy all those requests we’ve received for a healthier but family friendly version of stovetop macaroni and cheese.

Check out the recipe we developed for Stovetop Whole Wheat Macaroni and Cheese.

Here’s an overview of the steps we took to improve the nutritional profile of mac and cheese: Read the rest of this entry »

Ice cream, ice cream, we all scream for ice cream! One of our favorite things about summer is enjoying frozen treats and it’s really hard to beat a scoop of homemade ice cream. Barbara, one of our Whole Story readers, has ice cream on her mind, too, and wrote us with a request for a casein- and gluten-free ice cream recipe. Her original recipe was for a thick and creamy custard-based ice cream that relied on instant pudding and pie filling mix, whole milk and heavy whipping cream. To meet Barbara’s request, we used a combination of light and regular coconut milk along with egg yolks for thickening instead of dairy milk and cream.

Check out the resulting recipe for Coconut Milk Ice Cream.

If you want a lighter version (or vegan one), simply eliminate the egg yolks and proceed with the rest of the recipe.
We’ve found that coconut milk makes a great substitute for dairy milk in many recipes. Here are some simple tips to keep in mind when making this substitution: Read the rest of this entry »

Summer zucchini season inspired Jill, one of our Whole Story readers, to request a healthier version of her mom’s zucchini bread recipe, since mom’s version used loads of vegetable oil.

Thanks for the opportunity to play around with this! We love zucchini bread too – one of summer’s best treats and an excellent way to use up an abundance of summer squash. Typical recipes do call for a lot of oil (a cup of oil in batter? Yuck!), so we cut back on that and made a few other improvements as well. Check out our Healthier Zucchini Bread recipe. Read the rest of this entry »

Just about everyone loves those kid-classic chewy, gooey rice treats, right? Well, one thing you may not love about them is the nutritional profile of the ingredients- margarine or butter, marshmallows and conventional white rice cereal. Jennifer, a Whole Story reader, sent us a request to make a more nutritious rice treat. With summertime upon us and kids out of school, it’s a great time to tackle a new version of this recipe.

In short, we replaced some of the usual suspects with healthier versions like almond butter, brown rice crisps and raisins. Check out our improved Crispy Rice Treats and head to the kitchen with your kids…but leave the guilt at the door!

Want to know how we did it and why? Here’s a quick rundown:

• We substituted brown rice crisps for conventional white rice cereal. Since whole grains are naturally higher in B vitamins, fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamin E and iron than processed grains, this was a simple but very effective fix. One cup of brown rice cereal has about 2 grams more of fiber, 25 mg magnesium and 45 mg potassium when compared with a cup of the white stuff.
• We used almond butter instead of butter or margarine for added nutrition as well as great flavor. Almond butter adds protein, fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.
• We included raisins in this traditionally raisin-free recipe to add protein, fiber, phosphorus,potassium and iron. Raisins are also a great natural source of sugar.

Incorporating healthier ingredients into this recipe brings greater complexity in flavor and improved nutritional value. Get the full new recipe here.

Got a recipe that needs a natural makeover? Post it in the comments section below! If we select your recipe for a healthy makeover and publish the improved version on our website, we’ll send you a $25 Whole Foods Market gift card.

Melissa, a Whole Story reader, sent us a request to make over the classic summertime dessert, ice cream pie. Yum! Her version included conventional sandwich cookies, frozen whipped topping and jarred chocolate sauce. Not so yum. Our version features better-quality ingredients: 365 Everyday Value Sandwich Cremes, all-natural frozen whipped topping and dark chocolate chunks. Moderation alert: Even though we remade this dessert with natural ingredients, it’s still an indulgent treat. Don’t go fooling yourself into eating a ton of it!

Click through to our recipe for Ice Cream Sundae Pie and make sure to rate it, add comments or add it to your recipe box. Read the rest of this entry »