Happy Father's Food Day

I meant to post this on Father's Day (hope all you dads had a good one), but I got caught up in cooking for my husband.  I decided, since my hubby is not much of a consumer (except for food), I would spend the day cooking all his favorite foods on Father's Day.  Breakfast started with banana bread pudding (made the night before) which was made healthier with the use of whole wheat bread mixed with slices of Punaluu sweet bread.  The sweetness was achieved with the inclusion of dried cherries, banana slices, bittersweet chocolate and a bit of Splenda.

It was easy to make a specialty pizza using Stonefree whole wheat naan bread as the crust.  Tomato paste, pepperoni, cheese, mushrooms and marinated artichoke hearts were the ingredients that made this pizza delicious. It only takes about 10 min. in a 400 F degree oven to get this cooked to a bubbly, crisp perfection.

My husband's favorite entree is crab black beans (his mom's recipe).  This meal is not as complicated as it looks because the crab is already cooked and just has to be cut up and added to the black bean sauce.  The side dishes for the meal are healthy brown rice and oyster sauce mustard cabbage with mushrooms. (Note: the beautiful plate is the work of Hilo ceramicist Paula Kay.)

What would Father's Day be without dessert?  My hubby loves shortbread cookies and ice cream but we're
both trying to lessen our sugar intake so I needed to figure out how to make a luscious looking dessert lower in sugar.  I made the cookies using whole wheat flour, macadamia nuts, coconut (his favorite flavor), almond flour, and Splenda Blend so they were much healthier than the original recipe but just as tasty. The ice cream is a triple chocolate Dryers Splenda version; it's yummy!  To fancy up the dessert with just a few calories, I topped off the dessert with half of a fresh apricot and a fresh cherry with the stem on.

I almost forgot to make a Father's Day card because of the thinking I was doing for the cooking, but I came up with a quickie that I think expresses what my boys and I think about my husband as a father. (The typewriter printed words were stamped using a Hero Arts alphabet set from Ben Franklin Crafts.)  The silver ink on the Superman shirt is barely readable in the photo, but it says, "You're Super DAD!". Over the years my husband has served as a dad for me, too and you just can't imagine all the energy he's had to exert taking care of all of us in his high-maintenance family. Thanks DAD!