Monday, May 23, 2011

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
  • 6 Medium-Large Sweet Potatoes
  • 1/4 Cup Skim Milk
  • 2 Tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 Package of Butterscotch FF/SF Pudding Mix
  • 1 Cup of toasted chopped pecans
Directions:
  • Preheat oven 375
  • Bake sweet potatoes for 1 hour or until soft
  • Slice off a top of the sweet potatoe skin and flesh out all potatoes into large bowl. Combine sweet potatoe flesh, milk, cinnamon and pudding mix. (Don't pay too much attention to the exact amount of ingredients.....mix & taste! I usually add some baking splenda, or other spices depending on how it tastes)
  • Bake for an additional 15 minutes and top with pecans. If you dont have toasted pecans, you can always use other nuts, marshmallows, raisins, etc. I even top mine with sugarfree syrup!
**This also makes a great sweet potatoe casserole. All of the taste without the guilt! Sweet potatoes have tons of nutrients and are very beneficial to your diet, much better than white potatoes.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Broccoli & Tomato Bake

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 small carrot, diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • salt and ground black pepper
  • 3/4 pound broccoli - cut into florets, stems peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes (No added sugar or no salt added)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped green olives
  • 2 teaspoons maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (strong cheeses are healthier for you)
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (Part skim milk)

Directions

  1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook and stir until aromatic, about 3 minutes. Stir in the carrots and celery, season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, place a steamer insert into a saucepan, and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Cover, and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the broccoli, recover, and steam until bright green, 4 minutes. Remove the broccoli from the steamer and place in a 8x8 inch baking dish; set aside.
  3. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  4. Pour the can of diced tomatoes and green olives into the skillet with the onion and carrot mixture. Stir and cook over medium-high heat until most of the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Mix in the maple syrup, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook and stir for 3 minutes.
  5. Pour the sauce over the broccoli in the 8x8 inch baking dish. Evenly distribute the goat cheese and Parmesan cheese over the broccoli and sauce.
  6. Bake in preheated oven until the cheese begins to brown, about 20 minutes.
 Broccoli and Tomato Bake Recipe
 

Friday, May 13, 2011

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds ground beef (the leaner the better, or lean ground turkey)
  • 3/4 cup Oats or ground oats
  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
  • 2 cups shredded fat free Cheddar cheese

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, combine the meat, oats, onion, eggs, salt and pepper, and mix well. 
  3. Place half of mixture into meatloaf pan, spread cheese on top of meat in the center. Cover with second half of meat, pressing down on sides to keep cheese from oozing out. 
  4. Bake in the preheated oven 1 hour, or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
You can play with this recipe to your preference. I usually add some Worstershire to the meat mix or whatever I have on hand. You can also fill the inside with fat free swiss cheese and mushrooms, Mmmm. Also try making a taco meatloaf by adding a few Taco Mix packets into your meat mix!

Cheeseburger Meatloaf  Recipe 

Chocolatey Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 package of sugar free Devil's Food cake mix (now sold at Kroger)
  • 2 small packages sf/ff instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
  • 1 cup fat free or low fat sour cream
  • 1 cup no sugar added apple sauce
  • 2 eggs and 4 egg whites (you can also use 4 eggs, or 8 egg whites)
  • 1/2 strong coffee
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (this is the max, you may use less)
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, apple sauce, beaten eggs and coffee. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan. (Yes, the batter is very gooey...don't worry..you didn't mess it up!)
  3. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn down oven to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate.
*This cake is so rich that it does not require an icing! I like mine heated with low fat vanilla frozen yogurt...Yumm! Enjoy!