Recipe: 4-ingredient GF PB Cookies

You just need four ingredients to make these delicious, gluten-free peanut butter cookies!

INGREDIENTS
1 C creamy peanut butter
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325F. Combine all ingredients; let sit for 10 minutes. Drop spoonfuls on to ungreased baking sheet and press down with fork. Cook for 10 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Makes about 18 cookies.

Recipe: Pizza-Inspired Low-Carb Frittatina

I told you, we're pizza fanatics. So here's another way to enjoy my favorite meal while sticking to a low-carb diet (for me, South Beach). I made this after being a little disappointed in my choice of toppings for the summer squash crust I made. I wanted to just do it with tomato sauce and mozzarella, but I didn't want to shred another squash and go through all that, so I just decided to make the "crust" out of eggs. Kind of like a frittata, but super thin and covered with toppings. Pizza toppings. Hence my wonderful name "Pizza-inspired Frittatina."

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
1/2 t dried thyme
sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
1/4 C tomato sauce
1/4 C lowfat mozzarella
toppings (I used deli pepperoni and sliced olives)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat pie dish evenly with olive oil cooking spray.
2. In a bowl, beat eggs, thyme, and salt and pepper (base amounts on your preferences, I just used a little bit of each). Pour eggs into pie dish and bake for 5 minutes.
3. Prepare your toppings (I used 5 black olives, sliced, and 3 paper-thin slices of deli pepperoni). After 5 minutes, remove dish from oven. Spread tomato sauce on top and sprinkle with mozzarella. Add toppings and return to oven for 2 minutes.

Word of advice: orange is not the best color as a background for photographing pizza.

It's that easy! Nutrition facts will vary depending on what you use, but mine came out to 400 calories, 9 grams of carbs, 29 grams of protein, and 24 grams of fat. If I had planned ahead of time and gotten low-carb tomato sauce, it would have only had about 6 carbs total. But I just used what was open in the fridge. Also, I know turkey pepperoni would have been better for me and had fewer calories, but I decided to let myself indulge a little. It's a lot harder to stick to a diet when you feel deprived, so little indulgences are important for the overall picture!

Recipe: Low-Carb Summer Squash Pizza Crust

So Friday night, I made an amazing low-carb pizza with a cauliflower crust. Saturday night, my husband was in the mood for pizza again. We're kind of pizza fanatics. We have eaten entire large pizzas on more occasions than I can count or remember. (No wonder we've both gained so much weight since getting married!) Anyway, I didn't have more cauliflower, but even if I did, I wanted something that wasn't quite so time consuming. I found a bunch of recipes and decided to try to make a crust using a summer squash I had in the fridge. The crust turned out all right, but it was very soft and had to be eaten with a fork. Also, I tried to mimic the toppings I used on the cauliflower crust, but the flavors didn't work as well together. But I am going to try making this again using tomato sauce and mozzarella (instead of the cottage cheese sauce), and I think it will be really good then.

SUMMER SQUASH PIZZA CRUST

 INGREDIENTS
1 summer squash
2 eggs
oregano
thyme
salt
pepper
toppings

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Shred squash, lightly salt, and let sweat in a colander for 10 minutes. Place squash in a cotton kitchen towel and squeeze to remove excess moisture.

2. Combine squash with eggs and seasonings and pour into a greased pie pan. Bake 5-6 minutes, until eggs are set on top.
3. Add your toppings and return to oven for 5 minutes. Let stand 1 minute before cutting and serving.

Recipes: Cauliflower Pizza Crust and LC Ranch Chicken Pizza

Well, my friends and I had an epic girls' night in. Complete with homemade pizza. Only, normal pizza doesn't exactly fit into the South Beach diet. At least not Phase 1. And at least not if you want more than a couple bites. So I had my own special pizza. Okay, I'll be honest, when it was sitting next to the cheesy pepperoni pizza the other girls made, mine looked a little sad. But I actually loved the way it turned out and will definitely make it again! My whole 9" pizza, with toppings, had only 33 grams of net carbs! Also, I didn't check all the ingredients (particularly the cottage cheese and ranch mix), so I'm not 100% sure, but I think this could be a gluten free meal too.

Let's start with the crust. I looked around at different low-carb recipes and my favorite one was by Detoxinista. But since I'm also limiting my dairy, I didn't want to put cheese in my crust. So this is what I did.

CAULIFLOWER PIZZA CRUST

INGREDIENTS
1 head cauliflower
1 egg, beaten
1 t oregano
a pinch of salt (I forgot to add it, but I won't next time!)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Cut florets off cauliflower and discard stem. In a food processor, "rice" the cauliflower (see link to original recipe for more detailed instructions).
2. Put 1" water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add cauliflower rice, cover, and boil for 5 minutes.
3. Strain cauliflower. Once cooled, place in a cotton kitchen towel and squeeze all the excess moisture out of it.
4. Combined squeezed cauliflower with remaining ingredients until you get mushy, but uniform dough.
5. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and press dough on to form pizza. (I made mine into a circle, even though I was baking it on a jelly roll pan.)
6. Bake 35-40 minutes until crust is firm and golden brown.

Okay, so the best part about this dough is that you can make it in advance. Which is what I did. You can freeze it, if you think that far ahead, but since mine was only done a day in advance, I just kept it in a dish. Anyway, the next part can be done immediately after cooking the crust, or whenever you feel like pizza and pull it out.

LOW-CARB RANCH CHICKEN PIZZA

INGREDIENTS
1 prepared low-carb pizza crust
1/2 C lowfat cottage cheese
1 T dry ranch mix
6 oz grilled chicken
mushrooms
olives
spinach

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Combine cottage cheese and ranch. Spread evenly over crust.
2. Slice toppings (I really liked the combination of all of these, but feel free to mix and match veggies according to your preferences) and put on pizza.
3. Bake 5-10 minutes so everything is hot.

It really was delicious. I ate 3/4 of it and felt full, but had the last piece a few hours later. The whole thing had about 600 calories, so a moderate-sized dinner. But it was pizza! And it was delicious! And it filled me up! So, all in all, I'd say that was a success.

Recipe: 2 Lasagna Recipes

I love lasagna. It is my favorite food in the whole world. This first recipe is the one I have made for years. It's the reason my husband fell in love with me (I don't think this is actually true, even though he always says it). The second recipe is for the lasagna I made in conjunction with my low-carb Almost Lasagna. It has a few changes, but I didn't eat any so I don't know how it compared to the other one. I'll have to ask my husband later.

Lasagna #1 (My internationally famous lasagna that has been loved for years)

INGREDIENTS
1 lb Italian sausage
1 can (28 oz) tomato/spaghetti sauce
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 tub (15-16oz) ricotta cheese
1 egg
basil
1 1/2 lbs mozzarella cheese, shredded
parmesan

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Brown sausage; drain fat.
3. Combine ricotta cheese, egg, and basil (I never measure, but probably use 1/2 Tbsp - 1 Tbsp).
4. In a 9"x13" baking dish, layer in order: enough sauce to barely cover the bottom, three uncooked noodles, 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 sausage, 1/3 mozzarella, 1/2 of remaining sauce, three uncooked noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, remaining sausage, 1/2 remaining mozzarella, three uncooked noodles, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle the top with parmesan and bake for 30 minutes.

Lasagna #2 (first time trying, a little more diet friendly, still yummy though not as rich)

INGREDIENTS
1 lb lean ground beef
seasonings: fennel seed, oregano, thyme, crushed red pepper, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper
1 can (28 oz) tomato/spaghetti sauce
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 C lowfat cottage cheese
1 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
basil
1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded (you can use 1 1/2 if you want it cheesier)
parmesan

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350-degress Fahrenheit.
2. In a large skillet and 1/2" water, brown beef with spices. The amounts totally depend on your preferences. The fennel seed make it taste a bit like Italian sausage, the crushed pepper gives it some kick.
3. Combine cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, egg, and basil (I used about a heaping 1/2 Tbsp worth).
4. In a 9"x13" baking dish, layer in order: enough sauce to barely cover the bottom, three uncooked noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese mixture, 1/2 beef, 1/3 mozzarella, 1/2 of remaining sauce, three uncooked noodles, remaining cottage cheese mixture, remaining beef, 1/2 remaining mozzarella, three uncooked noodles, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle the top with parmesan and bake for 30 minutes.

Recipe: Almost Lasagna

I made lasagna for the family, but had to make some alterations so it would be South Beach friendly. (See the regular lasagna recipes.) I've made it in the past by substituting roasted squash slices for the noodles, but I couldn't find any squash at the store. Same thing with eggplant (which I actually really like as a lasagna noodle substitute). So I came up with this lasagna-inspired mini casserole. I put it into two of these personal baking dishes and had one for dinner tonight. I now have dinner for tomorrow too! (FYI, each serving had about 200 calories). I ate it with a big side salad with a little bleu cheese dressing.

INGREDIENTS

MEAT

1/4 lb lean ground beef

fennel seed

crushed red pepper

thyme

oregano

sea salt

fresh cracked pepper

SAUCE

1 large slicing tomato

1 T dried minced onion

1 T onion powder

2 T garlic powder

1/2 packet Stevia

thyme

oregano

sea salt

fresh cracked pepper

CHEESE FILLING

1/4 C lowfat cottage cheese

1/4 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt

basil

LAYERS

1 C thinly sliced mushrooms

1 C baby spinach leaves

1/4 C lowfat mozzarella

DIRECTIONS

1. In a skillet with 1/2" water, brown meat with seasonings. I didn't measure how much I put, I just went by the aroma it was giving off. The fennel seed makes it almost taste like Italian sausage, and the crushed peppers give it a bit of heat.

2. Chop up tomato and add seasonings to taste. The Stevia helps to balance out the acidity of the tomato. It's totally optional, but most tomato sauces you buy have some sugar in them. It should look kind of like pico de gallo.

 3. Combine ingredients for cheese filling (again, to taste).

4. In each dish, layer 1/6 of sauce, 1/4 of spinach, 1/4 of mushrooms, 1/4 of meat, 1/4 of cheese filling, 1/4 of remaining sauce, 1/2 of remaining spinach, 1/2 of remaining mushrooms, 1/2 of remaining meat, 1/2 of remaining cheese filling, 1/2 of remaining sauce. Top each dish with 1/8 C mozzarella.

5. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

Recipe: Taco Salad

So my big challenge this week is finding meals that are easily adapted to fit Phase 1 of South Beach (without having to make my husband suffer with me). So here's a super easy fix: taco salad. While hubby had three carb-loaded tacos (20g carbs and 120 calories in each tortilla), I made a giant taco salad. You can't really tell from the picture, but that bowl is 9 inches across. This is what I put in there:

5 cups lettuce (mixture of red leaf and green leaf)
1/2 pound lean ground beef, browned and seasoned with taco seasoning
2 T salsa
1/8 C Greek yogurt
5 black olives
guacamole made from 1/6 avocado with lemon juice and garlic salt

I stirred it all up (about 100x less photographic at that point) and had one of the most filling dinners I've had in a while. I honestly think it would be fine with half the meat, but I've been counting calories (even though you don't have to on South Beach) and was worried that I was eating too little, so I added the extra meat.

Recipe: Turkey-Avocado Lettuce Wraps

Here's another South Beach Phase 1 meal I came up with. I had it for lunch today. It was quick, easy, and super yummy!

INGREDIENTS
2 large leaves lettuce (I used red leaf)
1/2 T mayonnaise
2 slices lowfat turkey
1/6 medium avocado
fresh cracked pepper

DIRECTIONS
Spread 1/4T of mayo on each lettuce leaf and top with 1 slice of turkey. Split the avocado equally between both wraps, top with some fresh pepper. Roll and enjoy!

Recipe: Turkey-Spinach-Mushroom Omelet

Okay, first of all, I can't make omelets. They always fall apart. So this is actually a picture of a scramble. Not as pretty, but still delicious! Anyway, I started the South Beach diet on Monday. That means severely limited carbs for the first two weeks. It's a lifestyle change, but I am managing to find delicious ways to satisfy my hunger while sticking to the diet. This is what I had for breakfast (Phase 1 friendly), and it was super filling too!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 C mushroom slices
2 slices lowfat turkey, chopped
crushed red pepper (optional)
2 cups (loosely packed) spinach
3 medium eggs
1/4 C lowfat mozzarella cheese
fresh cracked pepper (optional)

DIRECTIONS
In a dry, nonstick skillet, heat mushroom and turkey until mushrooms start to soften, stirring frequently. Season with crushed red pepper (I added about 1/4 tsp) and add spinach. Continue to stir and cook until spinach wilts. Remove to plate. Add 3 eggs to pan (if you're like me, just scramble them, otherwise make them into an omelet). When eggs are almost cooked, add turkey and vegetables back in. Serve on a plate, top with cheese and pepper.

I couldn't taste the mozzarella as well as I'd hoped. I really think swiss would offer a much better taste. But I didn't have any lowfat swiss on hand (cheeses have to be lowfat during Phase 1 of South Beach).

Recipe: Edible Play Dough

We have never purchased Play Dough for our kids. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, and I think it's super fun to make things. But then the colors get mixed, or it drops on the ground and picks up hair and lint, or (heaven forbid) your child decides to eat some. So when we needed to bring some to my daughter's toddler school activity for the lesson, I wanted to make edible play dough instead. She had great fun playing with it, and then continued to snack on it for the next few days until it was gone. And now I don't have to worry about storing all those containers either! It's super easy to make, but it does have some common allergens as the main ingredients, so be careful if you will be sharing this or using it around any kids that may be sensitive.

The little frog I sculpted.

To see the letter activity, visit my post about it.

INGREDIENTS:
1 C powderedsugar
1/2 C creamy peanut butter
1/4 C honey

DIRECTIONS
Put all ingredients in a bowl (or container with an airtight lid), and mix until well combined. If it's too soft, add more sugar. Store in an airtight container. That's it!

Recipe: Salisbury Bean Steak

This is a great meatless recipe which can also be made entirely from food storage items!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cans beans (I used 1 can black beans and 1 can kidney beans)
1/8 C water
1/2 C Bisquick
1/8 C dried minced onion
salt and pepper
2T olive oil
2 C brown gravy, prepared from mix

DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse and drain the beans. Use a food processor or blender to cut up the beans (add the water first). I like to stop while there are still some larger pieces, to give it a bit more texture.
2. Transfer beans to a large bowl and mix in Bisquick and onion. Season to taste. Shape mixture into 6 oval patties. Wrap each individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet pan over medium heat. Coat each chilled bean patty in a thin layer of Bisquick. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Pour brown gravy over patties, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans (we used dehydrated mashed potatoes and canned green beans, which we heated up while the patties were simmering).


We liked the texture of the patties (the first time I tried, they completely fell apart), but thought we should season the beans more. I'll have to update this when we figure out a better spice blend.

Recipe: Nilagang Manok

So, I decided it was time for me to fully embrace my heritage and learn how to cook some Filipino food. Every time I have ever visited my grandparents, I have had this chicken-cabbage soup. I never even knew what it was called until I decided to try to make it! Well, I looked at several different recipes and made some adjustments to get it as close to Grandma's as I could. It turned out to be a huge success, and now I can help pass along some culture to my quarter-Filipino children!



INGREDIENTS
2 T olive oil
1/2 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C ginger root, minced
8 C water
1 stalk celery, broken in three pieces
1 bay leaf (or 1t chopped bay leaves)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast meat, cut up
3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken leg meat, cut up
3 C cabbage, sliced
1/2 bunch green onion, cut into 2" pieces
salt and pepper, to taste
patis, to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook 2-3 minutes or until onion begins to look translucent.
2. Add water, celery, bay leaf, and chicken. Bring to rolling boil; reduce heat to low and cook 30 more minutes.
3. Remove celery. Add cabbage and green onion. Season with salt, pepper, and patis, to taste. Cook an additional 15 minutes, or until cabbage and green onions are soft.
4. Serve on rice with patis.

--------------------
I used sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Growing up, I always had it with white rice, but I made brown rice because I'm trying to be healthier.

Recipe: Gluten Free Coconut Snickerdoodles

 INGREDIENTS

2 C sweet rice flour
1/2 C cornstarch
1 1/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
3/4 C unsalted butter
1 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 T ground cinnamon
1/4 C shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS
1. In small mixing bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 C sugar. Add eggs one at a time; blend thoroughly between each addition. Add vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and blend until dough forms. Cover dough and chill for two hours (or over night).
4. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and 1/4 C sugar. Have coconut accessible in another small bowl.
5. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten each ball into a circle that is 3/8" thick. Dip both sides in cinnamon-sugar then place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle a pinch of coconut and another pinch of cinnamon-sugar over the top side of the cookie; pat coconut and cinnamon-sugar down into cookie.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.

(This recipe is based off of these Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles, with the changes that I made.)

Recipe: Best Cheesecake Ever

I'm going to be making this on Sunday, and it took me forever to find the recipe so I decided I'd post it on here so it won't be so hard to find it next time. Anyway, I originally got it off the Raskas cream cheese box (so no, I am not claiming any involvement in the creation of this magnificent recipe, though I changed a few things and am giving you my version here). The original recipe calls for double the amounts, which is perfect for a 10" springform pan, or two regular 9" pie pans (like the disposable kind that comes with the graham cracker crust already made for you!). Since I'm going to cheat and buy the crust, and since I don't think we need to be eating so many calories, I'm just going to make one 9" cake using the following recipe.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1 t vanilla
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare pan with crust (sometimes I make a graham cracker crust, but I usually cheat and buy one that comes in the tin).
2. Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla; set aside.
3. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Blend in egg mixture and sour cream.
4. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Turn oven off and leave cake in oven with door ajar for one more hour. Cool 1 hour at room temperature; chill.

Recipe: Eggless Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

So I wanted to make dessert today and needed to figure out what I could make with what I had on hand. I had three bananas* in the freezer (which kept falling out every other time I opened it), so I decided to make banana bread. But everything is better with chocolate, especially bananas (my roommate and I used to make banana-chocolate chip pancakes in college all the time, but I haven't had them in such a long time because of Jeffrey's strange and unfortunate aversion to bananas -- except in banana bread, because he doesn't think it tastes like bananas). Anyway, I found a recipe for chocolate chip banana bread and started making it before I realized I didn't have any eggs. So I used unsweetened applesauce as a substitute. I also used whole wheat flour for a third of the flour called for. Anyway, it came out so moist and delicious! In fact, by the end of the day there were only two slices left (and we would have probably eaten all of it if we hadn't eaten so very much for dinner).

*Note: I let the bananas thaw a bit, peeled them, chopped them up, then let them continue thawing. Some of the liquid separates when you have frozen the bananas, and I know a lot of people drain it, but I just mash it all up with the liquid because I figure it came from the banana and getting rid of it might affect the taste and texture.

Here is the recipe I based it on.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C white sugar

1/4 C unsweetened applesauce

1 T mayonnaise (I actually used the Kraft mayo with olive oil, because that's what we had on hand)

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 C all purpose flour

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/4 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the applesauce, mayonnaise, and bananas. In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 75 minutes. Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe: Ranch Chicken

Forgot to take a picture... but we'll be making it again soon because it was so yummy! The chicken was moist and flavorful, and the breading was the perfect combination of flavor and crispiness. This was a combined effort, with Jeffrey's great idea and my know-how in the kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:
4 chicken breasts (4-6oz each)
1/3 C ranch dressing
1 egg
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1/4 C parmesan
3/4 C bisquick

PREPARATION:
1. Place chicken breast in good-sealing ziplock (or between two pieces of plastic wrap) and pound to 1/2-inch thickness. Repeat for each piece of chicken. Marinate chicken in ranch dressing for a couple hours.
2. Preheat oven to 425F. Line a 9"x13" baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray. In a shallow dish, beat egg. In another shallow dish, combine ranch mix, parmesan, and bisquick.
3. Coat chicken in bisquick mix, dip in egg, then coat in biscquick mix again; place in baking dish. Repeat for remaining chicken. Bake 20 minutes; turn and return to oven for 10 minutes.

*Note: This technically serves 4 people (we had mashed potatoes and salad with it), but if you're cooking for someone like my husband, you might want to make extra. He was so disappointed that he only got one piece!

Recipe: Lemon-Apricot Chicken

Not sure why the picture got turned, but here it is. I used this recipe, but just used normal Bisquick and an egg instead of the water/egg white combination. It came out sooo good!

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken:
1 egg
1/2 C Bisquick
1 1/2 t grated lemon peel
1/8 t garlic powder
1/2 lb chicken breast

Sauce:
1/3 C apricot preserves
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t soy sauce
1/8 t ground ginger

PREPARATION:
1. Heat oven to 425°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In shallow dish, beat egg product and water slightly. In another shallow dish, stir together Bisquick® mix, lemon peel and garlic powder. Flatten chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper to 1/2-inch thickness.


2. Dip chicken into egg mixture, then coat with Bisquick mixture. Place in pan. Spray chicken with cooking spray.


3. Bake uncovered 20 minutes. Turn; bake 10 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center.


4. In small microwavable bowl, stir together all Lemon-Apricot Sauce ingredients. Microwave on High 1 minute; stir. Cut chicken crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Pour sauce over chicken. Garnish with lemon slices.

Recipe: Guilt-Free, Machineless Homemade Icecream

 
Ingredients:
1 C skim milk
1/4 C Splenda (or other 0-calorie sweetener)
1 t vanilla OR 1 t cocoa powder
1 tray of icecubes
salt
fresh fruit or other toppings (optional)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a sandwich-size ziplock bag (if it doesn't have a great seal, double bag it); make sure to remove as much air as possible. In a larger ziplock bag* (the gallon size is perfect for two little bags of ice cream and two trays of ice), place the ice cubes, about 1/4 C of salt, and the sealed bag of ice cream ingredients. Seal the large bag well, then shake vigorously for 5-10 minutes (you'll want to use a kitchen towel, or something to keep your hands from freezing). Quickly rinse off the outside of the ice cream bag with cold water. Being careful not to allow any of the salty water into your ice cream, open the bag and spoon your ice cream into a bowl. I like to chop up a strawberry or two and add it on top.

And there you have it -- a bowl of ice cream for under 100 calories!

*Note: We were going through plastic bags like crazy, so we discovered that you could also use a large bowl with a good lid in place of the large ziplock bag.

One more thing. If you have someone like my husband, who is offended by the idea of low-calorie, low-fat ice cream, you can make this just as easily with whole milk and granulated sugar. That's how hubby likes it, but it comes out to about 330 calories, pre-toppings.

Recipe: Personal Stuffed Meatloaves

So I combined ideas from several recipes with my own idea to make individual portions (so that we wouldn't overeat, as we tend to do). That being the case, some of the measurements are kind of weird. They don't have to be exact, but you'll see what I mean. You can do any sort of filling you want. I did a spinach-mushroom one for me, and a cheese one for Jeffrey. You can be creative with vegetables and cheeses, but I'll let you know how I made ours. Anyway, this makes two individual-sized loaves. Also, I made this a few hours ahead (while my daughter  was napping) and just kept it in the fridge until I was ready to start cooking it.

INGREDIENTS:

Loaf:
1/2 lb ground beef
1 t soy sauce
dried sage
ground mustard
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 slice bread, torn in pieces

Filling (suggestions):
1/4 C grated cheese
1 C chopped mushrooms
1 C shredded spinach
1/2 t olive oil

PREPARATION:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line small baking pan or loaf pan with foil.
2. Prepare fillings. I just grated up some cheddar (the only kind we had at the time). For the vegetables, I sauteed them in 1/2 t of olive oil with a dash of garlic salt.
3. In small container, combine spices -- Fill 1/4 t measuring spoon a third of the way with dried sage, fill remainder of spoon with ground mustard; add to container. Fill 1/4 t measuring spoon a third of the way with pepper, fill remainder of spoon with salt; add to container. Add a dash of garlic powder and combine spices.
4. In medium bowl, add soy sauce, spice blend, and bread to ground beef. Stir well to combine. Separate meat mixture into two halves.
5. On a square of foil, spoon half of the meat mixture. Spread into a rectangle about 4"x7". Spoon filling onto meat mixture and spread. Roll up meat, starting with narrow end; pinch ends so filling does not spill out. Place seam-side down on prepared baking pan. Repeat for remaining meat.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly. Once cooked, allow excess grease to drain off for a few moments before serving.

Recipe: Honey-Peanut Butter Cookies

So I signed up to bring a treat to a church activity tonight. But then I realized that I didn't have any white sugar. Or butter. And Jeffrey took the car to school today. So I was looking through my cupboards and scouring the internet for something I could make with what I had on hand and I found this recipe for Honey-Peanut Butter Cookies. I replaced the white sugar with brown sugar (one of the comments said someone had tried it and it worked great) and added a splash of vanilla. Other than that, I just followed this recipe. These cookies are so good!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup honey
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, mix shortening, peanut butter and honey. Add eggs; mix well. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to peanut butter mixture and mix well.
2. Roll into 1- to 1-1/2-in. balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork dipped in flour. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.