Ahhh SO good!! So I was talking with one of the members of my running club who couldnt make it to vegas on wednesday, and what do runners talk about besides running? FOOD! The Palm Restaurant came up, its inside ceasars palace, pretty close to Niketown where we all met up. I had walked past it twice and nearly slipped in my own drool on the second passing. The food looked fantastic! My friend mentioned he had a cookbook from there! And voila here is his version of Linguini and Clam Sauce. I made it tonight, thinking Id probably be the only one eating it but even my three year old asked for more! My two year old was too tired to eat and kept falling asleep in his highchair so his opinion hasnt been weighed, but my picky husband even said I could make this again! The *only* change I made was I used a generous spraying of olive oil on my non-stick pan instead of the teaspoon of olive oil. Not because I dont have olive oil in the house….I actually have about 3 gallons (yes gallons) but its all for my soap making buisness, so I just improvised. Oh I also used reduced fat parmesan cheese. It turned out SO well, there is enough left over for lunch for me tomorrow. Im not sure how Ill fight off my 3 year old, I might have to suck it up and share.
Since my kids had had some noodles and veggies for lunch I figured they should have some veggies with dinner too so I warmed up some corn, Im getting low on fresh, frozen and canned veggies, we have been going through them like crazy! I also made some warm garlic bread, I just cut the bread, shake on some butter buds and garlic powder and wrap in foil and stick it in the oven to warm and it turns out pretty good! And definatly low fat! This I think has been one of my best, if not my best low fat dishes so far. It tastes like its restaurant quality! My mom and step Dad are flying in from Canada in a couple of weeks, I am definatly making this for them!
O.M.G.! This is so so so good!! Ive been craving chocolate and cherry pie filling like crazy (yes PMS, the joys….) so I thought how can I make chocolate CAKE low fat? Brilliant…
this is what you will need:
1 devils food chocolate cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling (if you are concerned with sugar go for the ‘lite’ version)
2 egg whites
1 container of fat free whipped topping/ whipped cream
Thats totally it!
Preheat your oven to 350- spray an 8X8 baking pan with a cooking spray, just a little will do. Then dust the pan with some of the dry cake mix. Set aside.
Gently fold the eggs and filling into the dry cake mix. If you are too rough youll squish the cherries and you wont get the full effect of its awesomeness.
Once its pretty much combined, it will be very thick and look kind of like brownies, stick it in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Because it is low fat it actgually bakes up nice and light and fluffy. Once its cooled top with the fat free whipped topping. This cake is AWESOME when its cold straight out of the fridge, its really good warm too. This is just SO good…words cant even describe it! Next month I have to make a bridal shower cake, one of the teirs will be this! Its hard to believe this is a low fat dessert, it tastes so sinful but its guilt free!
Ive seen these little packages of beans by the rice at the market and I always thought “Hmmmm…looks…’healthy’ (GAG)” But in a moment of temporary insanity I grabbed one of these packages of 15 bean soup. Its low fat after all, might as well give it a whirl, eh?
The prep was pretty easy, Ive made split pea and ham soup before, this wasnt much different. I washed and went through the beans and left them to soak overnight. There was this tiny packaet of ’seasonings’ which was just MSG, dextrose, sugar and smoke flavor. There was also a basic recipe on the back of the package which I pretty much followed.
So I rinsed the beans this afternoon and stuck them in a pot with a quart of water, a can of diced tomatoes a chopped onion and I chucked in a few spices just because its a compulsive thing for me. Since my husband is a meet and potatoe kind of guy I put some ham in it in as well. I trimmed the ham carefully and used the leanest parts I could find, and chucked the rest in a frying pan for him to add to his bowl later. It turned out actually pretty decent. My kids didnt nap today so they were both totally cranky but they actually ate it, my 3 year old cleaned his bowl. This made a LOT, so Im freezing half of the left overs.
So quick ingredient list:
15 bean soup mix with spice packet
1 onion chopped
1 15oz can of diced tomatoes
some chopped ham (totally optional)
salt, 1 bullion cube, pepper, garlic and onion powder to taste
Yep that easy!
The bean mix says its 180 calories per serving .5g of fat which is only 2% calories from fat. The onion and tomatoes are pretty much fat free! Just watch the ham its 35-40% calories from fat.
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1tbs prune puree (gerber prune babyfood works great)
3/4c molasses
1/3c apple juice
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4c sugar (for coating)
Beat brown sugar, prune and molasses until smooth. Add juice and combine. Add dry ingredients and beat until mixed well. Cover and refrigerage. Over night is best, but a minimum of 3 hrs will do. Preheat over to 350 and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll chilled dough into balls, roll in sugar and flatten on the cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes- a little underdone is best, and since there are no eggs its safe to eat these a little raw.
These are a nice spicey chewy gingerbread cookie- They are irrisistable with a simple fat free icing drizzled over top.Just put some icing sugar in a bowl and add a tiny bit of water and vanilla, stir and drizzle overtop. Yummy!! These are an awesome fat free comfort food.
Low fat Chocolatey Raspberry Thimbull cookies
This is the same basic recipe as my chewy low fat chocolate cookies but with one tweek.
4T Fat free cream cheese
2oz Prune Puree- one small baby food container is 2.5oz. just eyeball it, you may find you need the whole thing later
1/4c sugar
1/4c splenda
(or half a cup of ‘Splenda for baking’ in substitution for the sugar and splenda measures)
1/2c dark brown sugar firmly packed (if you like a sweeter cookie add a bit more)
1tsp vanilla extract
1c all purpose flour
1/2c cocoa
1/3 tsp salt
Raspberry Jam (or any berry Jam you like)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper so no oil or cooking spray needs to be used.
Cream together the cream cheese, prune puree, sugar/splenda and brown sugar. Beat in vanilla. In a second bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture. If you find the mixture is really dry and crumbley you can add in the last of the prune puree to help moisten it up.
Roll into small balls and flatten with your hand slightly then press your thum in the centre to make a little valley, plop in a small amount of the jelly. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool on the pan for a minute before moving to a rack.
My notes for the low fat chewy cookies are pretty much the same here, try not to over fill the little tumbprint with jelly a little goes a long way.