Sugar Free Marshmallows

A recipe from a dear friend of mine!

Basic Marshmallows by Freddie Summers
1/2 cup cold water
3 1/2 packets unflavored gelatin
2 cups Whey Low granular
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup maltitol syrup
4 teaspoons Just Whites
4 Tablespoons warm water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, soften the gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water.
In a 3 quart heavy bottom pot, mix Whey Low, hot water and maltitol syrup. Over medium heat, stir until sugar crystals dissolve and bring to a boil. When crystals are dissolved, cover with a lid for two minutes(to wash down any additional crystals that form.) Use a candy thermometer and boil mixture until it reaches 240 degrees.

Remove from heat and immediately pour over the softened gelatin. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Beat mixture on high (with electric mixer) for 15-minutes. While you are waiting, whip Just Whites and warm water (4 Tablespoons) in a medium bowl until stiff peaks form (copper works best.) Add vanilla extract and then add egg whites to marshmallow batter during last five minutes of the beating time. Mix well.

Quickly pour marshmallow batter into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Allow to set for 3 hours. Cut in desired shapes. These keep for several weeks. Store in fridge or Whey Low will recrystalize and make your fluffy marshmallows grainy.

By the way...these toast beautifully!

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

Recently, during my searches for anything to do with photography, I came across a truly remarkable blog…The Pioneer Woman. 

This woman does everything you can think of!  She is a homeschooling mom, who entertains and throws dinner parties you would not believe.  How do I know this?  Cause she post photos of the said events, hence photography! 

She post some of the most interesting and tantalizing recipes I have ever seen.  What does this mean to me?  That I must deconstruct the recipe and make it weight loss friendly if possible. 

I saw this one the other day and thought it would go perfect for a meeting I had at work.  I was right!  By the time I got to take a picture, there were only 2 left.

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

Muffins:

1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup Splenda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional!)
2 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 24 mini muffin tins.

Sift flour, Splenda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until all incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined. Pour into greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle generous amounts of cinnamon-sugar over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup softened I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
4 ounces fat free cream cheese
1/2 pound powdered sugar (I took Splenda and ran it through the blender to make my own!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy!

Store in fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

Strawberry Cream Freeze

Ingredients:
Low fat cream cheese, 8 ounces
Skim Milk, 1 cup
Kraft Jello-o Brand Fat Free Sugar Free Pudding, Vanilla, 1 box
Cool Whip Fat Free, 8oz container
Murray's Sugar Free Vanilla Wafers ,1 cup coursely chopped
Strawberries, fresh, 1 cup, sliced
Smuckers Sugar Free Strawberry Ice Cream Topping 1/2 cup

Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; beat 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP, wafers and berries. Swirl in ice cream topping.

You can serve this recipe one of three ways. In a pie shell, in waffle cones, or like I did. Place a spoon full in a mini cupcake paper and freeze. Doing it this way resulted in 36 mini desserts. A great way for portion control.

Here are the stats when serving it my way:
Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 36

Amount Per Serving Calories: 37.6

Total Fat: 1.5 g

Cholesterol: 5.0 mg

Sodium: 68.2 mg

Total Carbs: 5.3 g

Dietary Fiber: 0.2 g

Protein: 1.1 g

*Adapted from Kraft Foods

Omelet Bites - Denver Style

Omelet Bites - Denver Style

1 Yellow Onion, diced

2 Green Onions, diced

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, diced

2 slices of Ham, diced

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup Picante Sauce (or Salsa)

5 eggs

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

Salt and pepper to taste. Preheat oven to 350. Saute onions and peppers till golden. Add ham and saute 1 minute more. Set aside to cool. When cool mix all ingredients together. I bake them in mini-muffin pans

Chocolate Covered Cherry Brownies

One of my favorite Christmas candies is Chocolate Covered Cherries. For years, I always bought a box of Queen Anne Cherries, man, that just made my Christmas. The trouble was, I could not stop at one!

The other day, I was craving those same cherries. Unfortunatly, I knew they would make me so sick! So, I did a little research, and came up with an appropriate alternative...

Chocolate Covered Cherry Brownies!

INGREDIENTS:
BROWNIES
2 cups Splenda sugar substitute
1 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

CHERRY FILLING
1 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese
¼ cup Splenda sugar substitute
Sugar Free Cherry Preserves
Maraschino Cherries with stems

Mix Brownies ingredients together in one bowl.
Mix cream cheese, ¼ cup splenda, and 1 tablesoon of sugar free cherry preserves in another bowl.

Using a pastry bags, fill one with brownie mixture, the other with cherry filling mixture.

Squeeze a small amount of brownie mixture into the bottom of mini muffin tins. Once you have finished with 1/2 the brownie mixture, do the same with all the cream cheese mixture.

Place 1 cherry into the middle of each of the mini muffin containers, these will become your cherry center. At this point, cover all the cherries with the remaining brownie mix.

Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, depending upon your oven. This makes 48 mini brownies.

Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Jelly Roll~Sugar Free of course!

It's January, well it used to be. That means one thing, a Chocolate Jelly Roll.

My father-in-law request this cake every year on his birthday. Sometimes several times through out the year also. So, to keep peace in the family, why else would I do it? Here ya go

Ingredients

5 eggs separated

1 cup + 1 Teaspoon Splenda

4 Tablespoons Cocoa

1 Tub Sugar Free Cool Whip

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a jelly roll pan and line with parchment paper or waxed paper, then grease the paper too. You will need 2 bowls for mixing.

Beat the yolks until frothy, then add 1 cup Splenda and the cocoa powder, beating until well mixed. This will be a thick mixture, but don't worry.

Using a clean beater and bowl, whip the egg whites until nice peaks form, but not to dry.

Fold in the chocolate mixture into the egg whites. I tried this and ended up using the mixer to make sure everything was combined.

Spread cake batter into jelly roll pan and smooth out.

Bake at 20 minutes, keeping a careful eye as not to over bake.

When cake is done, remove from oven and carefully flip cake onto a clean towel. Peel the wax paper off and dust the cake with powdered Splenda (grind a 1/4 cup of Splenda in a blender/magic bullet). Cover with a clean/damp towel and cool.

Remove cool towel, spread Sugar Free Cool Whip on top of cake, but no to close to the edges.

Lifting off the other towel edge, roll the cake into a jelly-roll shape, edging the towel a bit more each time to help guide the cake without breaking.

Ice with Sugar Free Icing , and place in freezer to help firm up. Remove from freezer a couple of hours before and enjoy. This cake can also be served with fresh strawberries or raspberries as a garnish.

Happy Birthday Bob!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
from Phe/MOM/menon (who got it from Brittany at The Sisters' Cafe via Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe, and then I got it from Good Eats'n Sweet Treats)

6 tablespoons honey (I used sugar free honey from wal Mart)
5 tablespoons lime juice (approx. 1 large lime)
1 tablespoon chili powder (use a little less for a milder version)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (approx. 2 large chicken breasts) (I poached my chicken. Save time by using a store bought rotisserie chicken. If you like a lot of filling in your enchiladas, I would recommend doubling this.)
8-10 flour tortillas (I made 6 enchiladas with Low Carb Tortillas)
1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded (I used a Fiesta blend of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Queso Quesadilla and Asadero Cheese)
16 ounces green enchilada sauce (I used red since that's all I had)
1 cup heavy cream (I would recommend going with 1/2 cup, as it was a bit too heavy/rich)

To poach your chicken, put the chicken breast halves in a large saucepan and add lightly salted water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. You can do this with frozen chicken breasts, too.

Mix the honey (tip: spray your measuring spoon with cooking spray before measuring out the honey), lime juice, chili powder and garlic together and toss with the shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (or toss together in a ziploc bag and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours).

Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken (approx. 1/4 cup) and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

Serve with sour cream, rice and black beans.