Cucumber Sandwiches

  These cucumber sandwiches are delightful. They remind me of the appetizers that were served at weddings when I was a child, and I love going to weddings. They're also a great way to enjoy the fresh cucumbers in abundance throughout the summer, and the leftover cream cheese spread can be used as a dip for other seasonal vegetables. Enjoy! 

Ingredients: 

1 8-oz. package 1/3 less fat neufchatel cream cheese

3-4 Tbsp. dried chives

1 medium cucumber

4-6 slices dense texture whole grain bread

Directions:

Mix the cream cheese and dried chives by hand in a small mixing bowl. Use 3-4 Tbsp. of dried chives, depending on your taste preference. 

Use a whole grain bread with a dense texture so it doesn't fall apart with all the cream cheese and cucumber slices on it. Bakery style breads work really well for these sandwiches. 

Cut the cucumber in half and then slice it longways. It can be peeled or unpeeled, depending on your preference. 

Spread some cream cheese mixture on 2 pieces of bread. Then place the cucumber slices. 

Sandwiches can be served whole or cut into halves or thirds. 

Save any leftover chive cream cheese to use as a dip for tomatoes, carrots, or any of your favorite seasonal vegetables.  

Tomato Pie

  Look at this pretty tomato pie! I decided to make this today because I had a yellow and a red tomato, and I thought it would look really pretty. It tastes amazing, too, and is low in saturated fat, with an oil pastry crust and vegetable oil topping. 

  Some of the ingredients are a little flexible. You can use your favorite oil for the topping or a few pats of butter. Remember, everything in moderation! An Italian seasoning blend can also be used in place of the dried basil. 

  Tomato Pie can be served alone or with soup or salad, similar to how you would serve a quiche.

Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust (I used the recipe for Oil Pastry from the Southern Living cookbook.)

2 large tomatoes

1 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil

1 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 cup shredded or 2 slices part-skim mozzarella cheese

I bought this cookbook in college for a food composition class, and it's now a staple in my kitchen. I use the Oil Pastry recipe on page 355 anytime I need a pie crust.

Directions:
Slice tomatoes and place in colander to drain. 

Prepare pie crust, but don't bake it yet.

Layer the sliced tomatoes, you should have 2 layers. 

Drizzle with oil. 

Sprinkle with basil and then with pepper. 

Top with cheese. 

Bake according to pie crust directions. (I did 450 F for 14 minutes.)

Serve immediately.

Breakfast Bread or Biscuits

   Homemade bread is wonderful, but yeast breads can be exhausting to make and bread machines are kind of expensive. I developed this recipe to be a quick bread with the taste and texture (soft inside, crunchy outside) of good homemade bread. It is ideal as a breakfast bread as it is a little too sweet and crumbly for sandwich bread. The consistency of the dough also makes it great for biscuits. Plus, it has a boost of healthy whole wheat flour.

Breakfast Bread

   I have baked with whole wheat flour in the past and had products that turned out bitter. I wasn't sure if it was just the taste of the flour or if there was something wrong with the bread, so I googled bitter whole wheat bread and found the answer. The top search results, including a post by Cooking Light magazine, said that whole wheat flour spoils faster than white flour because the oils in it go rancid quickly. The fact that grocery stores often don't sell as much whole wheat flour can also mean that it has been setting on the shelf longer. 

   There are a few things you can do to remedy this problem. First, always check the expiration dates on the flour. Don't buy anything that is close to its expiration date and throw away any flour you may have at home that has reached its date. Second, if you can, buy whole wheat flour from a store that keeps it in a cooler, and store it in the refrigerator once you get it home. These tips should ensure that you have fresh, good tasting flour to work with. 

   Another noteworthy thing about this dough is that it contains sorghum molasses. The main difference between sorghum and regular molasses is that sorghum is the delicious stuff that you buy from farmers at roadside stands. It’s viscous like honey. You can eat it on toast or use it in baking. Molasses is the runny, slightly bitter stuff that you buy in major chain grocery stores. If you can't find real sorghum molasses, honey is an acceptable substitute.

Sorghum Molasses

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups self-rising white flour (White Lily is the best)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup sorghum molasses

1 cup skim or 1% milk

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, leaving out 1 Tbsp. of vegetable oil to use to coat the pan. 

Knead dough until mixed well. 

-For bread, add 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil to a loaf pan. Shape the dough into a loaf shape, roll it in the oil in the pan, and bake for 20-30 minutes. 

-For biscuits, lightly coat a baking sheet with oil, drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

Links to Splenda.com

Here are some links to the Splenda website for tips on using their products in baking and cooking.

This one is for the sugar substitute for baking.
http://www.splenda.com/cooking-baking/granulated

This second link is for the sugar and Splenda blend. 
http://www.splenda.com/cooking-baking/sugar-blend

And this is the FAQ. 

http://www.splenda.com/faq/cooking-baking

Flexible Ice Cream recipe

  I'm calling this ice cream flexible for a few reasons. First, the ingredients are flexible. You can basically use any fatness of milk and cream because I've found that the egg yolks are really the key to a good texture. Of course, if you use whole milk and whipping cream, you will get the creamiest, dreamiest texture, but skim milk and half and half work just fine, too. I haven't tried to make this with soy milk, so I can't really say if that would work out well or not. The add-ins are also flexible-add melted chocolate (white, dark, or milk chocolate), fruit, caramel, etc. The vanilla ice cream is perfect on its own and ideal as a base for other flavors. 
  The preparation is also slightly flexible because, if you choose to use whipping cream, you can whip it and add to the mixture to make it even smoother and dreamier. 

This is the base recipe to start out with:

Ingredients: 

2 cups half and half

2 cups skim milk

2 cups store brand Splenda for baking

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

5 egg yolks

Directions: 

1. Add the half and half, milk, salt, vanilla, and 1/2 of the Splenda in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and bubbles form around the edge of the pan. 

2. In a mixing bowl, use a mixer with a whisk attachment and mix the egg yolks and the other 1/2 of the Splenda. Blend well. 

3. Gradually add the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk blend, whisking constantly with the mixer. Mix at low speed, then whisk on high until soft peaks form. 

4. Place the mixing bowl in the refrigerator for 2 hours to chill. 

5. Transfer to ice cream maker and mix about 20 minutes. 

Serving size: 1/2 cup

Cherry Ice Cream

Flexible option 1: Use any fatness of milk-skim, 1%, 2%, or whole. 

Flexible option 2: Use any fatness of cream-half and half, heavy cream, whipping cream, etc. 

Flexible option 3: Add in fruit, cherry pie filling (my favorite), melted white chocolate, dark or milk chocolate chunks, or swirled caramel to taste. 

Flexible option 4: If you are using whipping cream in the recipe, save it out for the very last. Whip it into soft peaks with a mixer, then fold into the ice cream before transferring to the ice cream maker.

Cherry pie filling is one of my favorites, and it's so good with ice cream.

7-1-12: Coconut would be really good in this recipe, too! Just thought of this today, wanted to share. :)

Grapefruit Jalapeno Fish

  This recipe was inspired by an article I read in the September 2011 issue of Vogue magazine. The author had traveled to Mexico and wrote about a chef that used grapefruit with chili peppers. A lot of spicy Mexican dishes use lime to balance the heat from the peppers, so grapefruit seemed like a nice change up on the usual citrus fruit. I kept this idea floating around in my mind for a few months trying to figure out the best base for the sauce. Then a Foodista fish recipe caught my attention. It was a more typical lime and pepper recipe, but it had mayonnaise as the base. Mayonnaise is used more frequently in actual Mexican cooking, as opposed to the Tex-Mex that most Americans are used to. The taste of this dish is phenomenal, even if I did make it!

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup lite mayo

1 Tablespoon lime juice

1/2 red grapefruit

1/4 cup sliced, pickled Jalapeno peppers with the juice

12 ounces of Pollock fillets

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 425F. 

Combine the first 4 ingredients to make the sauce. Be sure to remove the juicy grapefruit segments from the tough membranes. Also, there's no need to chop the peppers, the slices from the jar are perfect! 

Stir together the ingredients for the sauce, mashing grapefruit with the spoon.  

Place fillets in a glass baking dish. 

Cover with sauce. 

Bake 9 to 11 minutes.

  Here is a picture of the feast I served with the fish. Fresh corn on the cob with tub margarine, a scoop of fat-free vegetarian refried beans with shredded mozzarella cheese, a cucumber, tomato, and buttery red leaf lettuce salad, and some chips and salsa for good measure.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

  They've created a monster. The same day that I bought my manual ice machine, I also got an electric ice cream maker, which I've been wanting for at least a year. I got to play around with it this morning and tried out my idea for frozen yogurt, yum. This recipe is so good, it has some nice flavors from the strawberry jam and the vanilla, and also has that great yogurt flavor and bite to it from the plain yogurt. Of course, it's low in sugar and fat. Enjoy! 

 

Ingredients: 

3 cups plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup sucralose (Splenda) store brand sweetener

1/4 cup strawberry jam

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients and stir together with a spoon. 

Transfer the ingredients to an ice cream maker and mix for 15 minutes until thickened and frozen. 

Put the finished fro-yo in a container with a lid and and store in the freezer. 

My New Manual Ice Shaver

  With the warmer weather coming up, I had been thinking about all the frozen drinks I could make with finely crushed or shaved ice-iced coffees, teas, fruit punches, the list goes on and on. I finally went out and bought one. You can get a manual ice shaver for about $10. It was a little challenging to use with ice cubes, and you'll definitely use some muscle. If you have the extra money for an automatic ice shaver it might be worth it, but I haven't tried to use one.

  Today I made iced drinks with Diet Pepsi and with Wyler's Light raspberry drink mix. I can't wait to try iced juices and margaritas, too. Specialty drinks like iced coffees can be expensive at restaurants, so this is an economical way to enjoy some nice, cold drinks throughout the spring and summer. The drinks in the photos are just sample size, so I would recommend larger cups and either a straw or a spoon for an actual drink.

Iced Diet Pepsi

Iced Fruit Drink

Sauteed Baby Bella Mushrooms

  This recipe takes just a few minutes and only 4 ingredients. It can be served as an appetizer or a side dish. The portabella mushrooms have a meatier texture than regular mushrooms, and they hold flavors better and maintain a firmer texture when cooked.

 

Ingredients:

1 carton baby bella mushrooms

olive oil

garlic powder

dried basil

Directions:

Wash mushrooms thoroughly and drain to dry.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. 

Add whole mushrooms. Sprinkle with garlic powder and basil.

Saute mushrooms evenly on both sides. 

Serve immediately.

Soup Beans and Cornbread

  Whether you call them pinto beans or soup beans, beans really are a healthy food, especially when they're made without greasy fatback or loads of salt. This recipe uses plenty of flavor from lean ham and seasonings, and leaves out the hot mess of saturated fat and sodium in some traditional recipes. Enjoy this delicious fiber and protein rich food with Regular Cornbread or Hot Mexican Cornbread.

 

Ingredients: 

1/2 pound dried pinto beans

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1-1 1/4 pound ham, chopped

1 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Rinse beans well. Soak overnight. 

Drain water. 

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Add fresh water, adjusting the amount according to how soupy you want the beans to be. 

Bring to a boil, then cook over low-medium heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serving size should be 1/2 to 1 cup. 

I like to eat my beans with ketchup, but chow chow, sauerkraut, hot sauce, or jalapeno peppers would all taste wonderful. The sauerkraut, some varieties of chow chow, ketchup, and jalapenos will add sodium, so use them sparingly. Hot sauce is actually a low sodium seasoning!

Put a Ring on it White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

  This is a delicious lower calorie version of raspberry cheesecake that you would never known was lighter. The taste and texture are delightful. I used sugar substitute, traded the cream for 2% milk, reduced the amount of butter in the crust, and swapped some of the regular cream cheese for the lower fat variety.

  I also used a glass baking pan because I'm terrible with a spring-form pan. If you're more skilled with the spring-form pan, though, feel free to use one and just increase the oven temperature to 325F. 

Ingredients: 

  Crust: 

      1 cup graham cracker crumbs

      5 Tbsp. butter

      1/4 cup store-brand Splenda for recipes

Cheesecake filling: 

      12 ounce bag frozen raspberries

      2 Tbsp. and 1/2 cup store-brand Splenda for recipes, divided

      2 tsp. cornstarch

      1/2 cup water

      1-11.5 ounce bag white chocolate chips

      1/2 cup 2% milk

      2-8 ounce blocks 1/3 less fat cream cheese

      1-8 ounce block regular cream cheese

      3 eggs

      1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

-Preheat oven to 300F. 

-Melt butter and combine with graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup sweetener in a 9 inch glass baking dish. Mix well and press into a crust on the bottom and sides of the pan.

-In a medium saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 Tbsp. sweetener, cornstarch, and water. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring frequently to prevent mixture from sticking to bottom of pan. 

-In a double boiler, melt white chocolate chips and 2% milk, stirring occasionally. 

-In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sweetener, eggs, and vanilla. Mix at low speed. Add melted white chocolate and gradually increase mixer speed. Mix well until smooth. 

-Pour half of the cheesecake mixture into the crust. 

-Then pour half of the raspberry mixture over that, swirling it around slightly with a utensil.

-Next, pour the remaining cheesecake mixture, then top with the rest of the raspberries, swirling them around to create a marbled effect. 

-Bake for 1 hour. 

-Chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours before serving for the best texture.

Broccoli Salad

  This is a really good broccoli salad recipe from the store brand broccoli mix. It's easy to make, and the slaw mix was super cheap.

I  

Ingredients: 

10 slices bacon or 1 package pre-cooked bacon pieces

1 - 12 oz. package FS Broccoli Slaw

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/2 cup raisins

3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. white sugar

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sunflower seeds, shelled

(Note: I prefer to make it without the raisins, but it's just a personal preference.)

Directions:

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, combine the broccoli slaw, onion, and raisins. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, and mayonnaise. Pour over broccoli slaw mixture, and toss until well mixed. 

Refrigerate for at least two hours. 

Before serving, toss salad with crumbled bacon and sunflower seeds. 

Refrigerate any leftovers. 

How Color Affects Appetite

  According to shape.com, allwomenstalk.com, and colormatters.com, color does affect appetite and emotions.

• Blue is appetite suppressing because it is not usually found in nature. Most foods would have to be molded or spoiled in some manner to be blue. Blue is also a calming color.

• Red and yellow stimulate appetite. This is why so many restaurant signs and logos are red or yellow. Red makes us think of ripe, delicious foods like fruits and meat. Red can, however, increase energy. Yellow symbolizes happiness.

• Orange also helps to boost energy, and may also stimulate appetite.

• Green helps to stabilize appetite, and reminds us of healthy vegetables.

• Purple is calming and can help you fall asleep.

  So, it looks like I need to paint my kitchen blue and green, my treadmill room orange, and my bedroom a lovely shade of purple.

Pretzel Chicken

  These yummy pretzel breaded chicken tenders are so good they can be eaten alone or dipped in honey mustard. Since the pretzels are used as a coating, this recipe is really not too high in sodium. I also baked them instead of frying, which I prefer because it is not as messy, but you still get good flavor from the healthy oil used to coat the pan. 

Ingredients:

3 handfuls pretzels

3 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

1 pound chicken tenderloins

2 eggs

Honey mustard dressing

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Put pretzels in a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin. 

Add oil to a baking dish. 

Beat the eggs. Dredge chicken in eggs first, then in the crushed pretzels, coating thoroughly. Place in oiled baking dish. 

Bake for 30 minutes, turning halfway through. 

Serve with honey mustard dressing, if desired.