Carrots and Cake by Tina Haupert and a Recipe for Zucchini and Mushroom Burgers

Carrots ‘N Cake is Tina Haupert’s book listing her journey to transform her life into a healthier one, and has over 50 recipes and many healthy eating tips.

The cookbook based on her blog of the same name, Carrots ‘N Cake, is Tina Haupert’s journey to transform her life into a healthier one through better eating and exercise. She shares her tips on staying fit and eating healthy, and emphasizes that having fun is her key to being her own boss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Amazon: Carrots ‘N’ Cake: Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time

For those who are familiar with Tina Haupert, you know that fun and great tasting healthy foods will be involved. She is the creator of the blog Carrots ‘N Cake and writes for Trading Up Downtown, a blog for the nutritional rating company NuVal. Her column on Health.com is a weekly feature where she incorporates healthy eating tips and recipes for maintaining a healthy weight.

Carrots ‘N Cake: Blog to Book

Tina’s book, Carrots ‘N Cake: Healthy Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time, chronicles things she learned over time while writing her blog and lists easy-to-recreate recipes, many being low-calorie or high-fiber. Her blog carrotsncake.com was a hobby in the beginning and began as a countdown to her wedding day where she wrote her daily eating and workout routines. It ended up being an inspiration to others with features such as fitness, food, and balanced eating: essentials to a healthier lifestyle. The book is an extension of that, with her hits and misses along the way.

Recommended for Those Looking to Adopt a Healthier Lifestyle

For those wanting to take the plunge to a healthier lifestyle and are unsure of where to start, Haupert does a great job of taking the reader from her beginnings of unhealthy eating in college to eating healthy today as an adult. Her tips for simple changes for healthier eating include choosing high quality ingredients for recipes and eating enough fresh vegetables throughout the day. I identified with her when she realized when she filled up on wholesome foods during mealtime, her cravings for food later in the day went away.

Tina’s recipe for Zucchini and Mushroom Burgers is an example of making smart choices in healthy cooking. It also shows that using quality ingredients in the right proportions and combinations can truly create memorable meals – and ones that don’t break the caloric bank.

Recipe: Zucchini and Mushroom Burgers

This recipe makes four veggie burgers. Serve with a whole wheat bun and your favorite toppings.

Ingredients:

• 1 small zucchini, shredded
• 1 small yellow squash, shredded
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, crushed through a press
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 3/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning mix
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded skim-milk mozzarella cheese (optional)

Procedure:

1. Combine the zucchini, yellow squash, and soy sauce in a large bowl, and toss to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes; then pour the zucchini mixture into a colander and squeeze out most of the liquid. Blot up the rest with paper towels.
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Sauté the onion and garlic until softened and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the zucchini, bread crumbs, seasoning mix, egg, and mozzarella (if using). Stir to mix, and form into 4 patties.
3. Preheat the broiler. Place the burgers on an aluminum foil–lined baking sheet, and broil, turning once, until browned on both sides and the internal temperature registers 160°F, about 10 minutes.
4. Serve.

Book Information

• Carrots ‘N Cake: Healthier Living One Carrot and Cupcake at a Time; by Tina Haupert
• Sterling Epicure, 2011
• ISBN13: 9781402778247
• Paperback book, 224 pages

Recipe reprinted with permission from Carrots ‘N’ Cake © 2011 by Tina Haupert, Sterling Epicure an imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own.

Enjoy,
Renee Shelton
The Cookbook Papers
🙂