Monday, November 21, 2011

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Brownies

Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup 100% pumpkin puree
* 1/3 cup Splenda brown sugar blend
* 1/4 cup egg substitute
* 2 large egg whites
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon cocoa
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips*

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine pumpkin, sugar blend, egg substitute, egg whites and oil in large mixer bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until blended.
3. Add flour, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon, allspice, salt and nutmeg. Beat on low until batter is smooth.
4. Stir in morsels.
5. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
6. Bake for 23-30 min or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Nutrition info:
Makes 16 brownies
68 calories each; 3 g fat; 0.5 g fiber; 1.9 g protein

Note: I made the recipe with 1/3 c white chocolate chips and 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, and it was divine. Obviously a bit more caloric than the original recipe, but still pretty healthy.

Pumpkin Cookies

From Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
Cookies:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing:
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1 tablespoon melted butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Non-fat Honey Mustard Dressing

(Goes well with Tasty Chicken Salad). Adapted from a Food Network recipe.

In a small bowl, combine:

10 tbsp honey
5 tbsp Grey Poupon spicy dijon mustard
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Whisk until smooth.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Noah's Best-Ever Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted for a QUEST "recipe makeover" class from the original Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Recipe. Makes about 3+ dozen cookies*

Ingredients:

2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter (4 Tbsp), softened (at room temperature)
3/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 large egg whites (or 1/2 c + 1 Tbsp "All Whites" or similar product)
12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Other stuff you'll need:

1 small/medium bowl
1 large bowl
electric mixer
fork
cookie sheet(s)
parchment paper
butter-flavored non-stick spray

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter, applesauce, sugars, vanilla, and egg whites on medium for about 3 minutes. The mix won't be smooth, but it shouldn't be lumpy.
3. Pour the flour mixture into the large bowl (add the dry ingredients to the wet) and mix with a fork until it is no longer lumpy. Note: for thick, chewy cookies, the batter should be dense enough to hold the fork upright before adding the chocolate chips.
4. Add the chocolate chips and stir with a fork until evenly distributed throughout the (now very thick) batter. Chill batter in refrigerator. (Cold batter cooks better.)
5. Preheat oven to 375. Place parchment paper on cookie sheets and spray paper with butter-flavored non-stick spray (aka Pam). (Alternatively, grease the cookie sheets directly, but using parchment paper makes the process less messy and keeps the cookies from burning.)
6. Drop by rounded tablespoons* onto a coated-parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Cook for 11-13 minutes, until golden. (While baking, keep remaining batter in the refrigerator.)
7. Let cool on pan for 2 minutes then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

*If you use smaller scoops, you'll have more cookies. Using rounded tablespoons, as we did, yields 3 dozen cookies.

Nutritional Information (for entire recipe, not per cookie - so you can divide by the number of cookies you make):

Original (Tollhouse) recipe:
6480 calories
372 grams fat

Noah's recipe:
4055 calories
147 grams fat

So, with a yield of 3 dozen cookies, each of Noah's cookies has 113 calories and 4 grams of fat; by contrast, the original Tollhouse recipe says you should get 5 dozen (clearly much smaller!) cookies that each have 108 calories and 6.2 grams of fat.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Turkey Kefta (Moroccan Meatballs)

Adapted from Cooking Light

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Sauce:
4 cups thinly vertically sliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout*
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Meatballs:
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout*
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey breast

Topping:
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

* Ras el Hanout:
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:
Combine "sauce" ingredients in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.

Combine "meatball" ingredients in a large bowl; shape mixture into 20 meatballs. Place meatballs on top of "sauce" mixture; cover and cook for 20 minutes or until done.

Sprinkle evenly with slivered almonds; serve with jasmine rice or couscous.

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 246
Fat: 5.2g
Protein: 27.6g
Fiber: 3.1g
Carbohydrate: 22g

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Raspberry-Pecan Bars

From BHG Fast-Fix One-Dish Meals

Ingredients:
1 c butter, softened (no substitutes)
1 c sugar
1 egg
2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 c chopped pecans
1 10-oz jar raspberry preserves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.
Add sugar; beat until combined. Add egg; beat until combined.
Beat in flour until crumbly. Stir in pecans.
Measure 1 1/2 c of mixture and set aside.
Press the remaining flour mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8 baking pan.
Spread the preserves evenly over the crust, leaving about 1/2" border around the sides.
Crumble reserved flour mixture over the top of the preserves.
Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the top is brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack, and cut into 16 bars.

Per bar:
308 cal, 17 g fat, 3 g protein, 1 g fiber

Thai Vegetable Curry

Adapted from Moosewood Lowfat Recipes

Note: very good as leftovers, once the flavors have blended and vegetables have softened.

Ingredients:
1 c chopped onions
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 c diced eggplant (1" cubes)
2 c diced sweet potatoes (1" cubes)
3 Tbsp Thai curry paste
1 1/2 c unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 c water
1/2 tsp salt
2 c small cauliflower florets
1 c cut green beans (1 1/2" pieces)
1 c chopped red bell peppers
1 tomato, diced
3 Tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice (or combo)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or basil
2 Tbsp peanut butter (creamy or chunky) or peanuts (optional)

Directions:
In a covered soup pot, saute the onions in the oil for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the eggplant, sweet potatoes, curry paste, pineapple juice, water, and salt.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the cauliflower and green beans and cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the peppers, tomatoes, lime/lemon juice, and cilantro/basil. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve on rice (white, jasmine, brown -- to taste).

Nutrition value (per 8 oz serving of stew, not including peanut/peanut butter or rice):
136 calories, 1.7 g protein, 2.3 g fat, 3.7 g dietary fiber