To Die For "Diet" Chocolate Cake

Okay, so a cake MUST be "to die for" if it is so good by itself it doesn't even need frosting, right?  Right!  I took my favorite chocolate cake recipe and slimmed it way down.  You wouldn't even know it was "diet" unless someone told you, that is for sure.  It is a very moist and dense cake full of chocolate flavor with a hint of almond.  (Almond not your thing?... just sub in vanilla extract.)  If you are looking for a healthy chocolate cake recipe, look no further!

To Die For "Diet" Chocolate Cake

Servings: 16 • Calories: 213 • Fat: 6g • Carbs: 34g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points:5

  Ingredients

• 1 box Devil's Food Cake
• 1 (3 oz) box sugar free instant chocolate fudge pudding (Jello)
• 2 cup fat free sour cream (16 oz tub)
• 1 1/4 cup Egg Beaters egg substitute
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter melted
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding, sour cream, egg substitute, almond extract, butter,and applesauce. Using a hand mixer, beat on medium until well blended. Heads up, the mixture will be very thick.

Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a bundt pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Smooth out cake batter taking care to not get any on the sides of the pan.  Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes.  Using a butter knife, gently make sure none of the cake is stuck to the pan.  Place your serving dish on top of the cake pan.  Holding the plate to the pan tightly, flip over and remove the cake from the pan onto the plate.

Allow to cool completely.  To finish it off, dust with powdered sugar.  Makes 16 yummy servings.

Easy Peasy Creamy Marinara Rotini

This dish is deceivingly delicious.  It is just so darn easy it really should not be so good!  Now let's take a minute here and discuss mascarpone cheese.  This stuff is heavenly.  It is very creamy and decadent.  Luckily a little goes a long way here.  For those of you who aren't sure what it is... well, it is a key ingredient in tiramsu.  If you are still lost, it is almost like a buttery cream cheese.  It is good stuff, but it can be a bit hard to find.  I usually find it in the deli by the specialty cheeses.  (I usually can not find it by the cream cheese and packaged cheeses.)  Trust me, it is worth the hunt!

Easy Peasy Creamy Marinara Rotini

Servings: 8 • Calories: 323 • Fat: 8g • Carbs: 52g • Fiber: 4g • WW Points: 6

  Ingredients

• 1lb box of rotini pasta
• 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 4 oz mascarpone cheese (half the tub)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• fresh basil
• low fat parmesan cheese topping (ex. Kraft)
• garlic salt (ex. Lawry's)

Cook the box of noodles as directed. In a large pan spray some non-stick spray (or use some olive oil for additional calories / points) and cook onions at medium until almost translucent.  Add the garlic and cook another couple of minutes.  Pour in both cans of tomatoes and let simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Add the mascarpone cheese to the tomato, onion, and garlic simmering in the pan.  This will melt like butter making the tomato sauce a pretty orangey pink.  Continue stirring until all the cheese has been melted. 

Dump in the cooked rotini noodles and stir well.  Turn off the burner and get ready to plate it up! That's it, you are already finished.  It doesn't get much easier than this in my opinion.

I feel it is the finishing touches that really make this dish.  Top each plate with low fat parmesan topping, garlic salt to taste, and fresh chopped basil.  My two picky eaters love this recipe as well.  Although I must admit, they do go sans basil.

Crock-Pot Root Beer Pulled Chicken

I love crock-pot recipes, don't you?  I mean it is almost as good as when someone else does the cooking in my book!  The root beer in this recipe gives a bit of depth to the final flavor and the crock-pot makes the chicken super duper moist and easy to pull apart.  This an easy "go to" healthy meal.  Don't be intimidated by the amount of servings this creates.  I just dish out the left overs into serving size containers and freeze them.

 

Crock-Pot Root Beer Pulled Chicken

Servings: 12 • Calories: 199 • Fat: 1g • Carbs: 25g • Fiber: 0g • WW Points:4

  Ingredients

• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
• 16 oz root beer
• 1 18 oz bottle barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
  
  

Place the chicken breast in the crock-pot.  Pour the root beer over the chicken.  Place the lid on the crock-pot.  Let the chicken cook for 6-8 hours on low.  I would guess you could also do 3-4 hours on high, but I have not tried this.

Remove chicken breast from crock-pot.  Remove and save liquid from crock-pot.  Shred the chicken breast using two forks.  Place the shredded chicken back into the crock-pot. 

Squeeze the entire bottle of barbecue sauce on top of the chicken.  Add 1/2 cup of the reserved liquid back into the chicken.  Stir the shredded chicken mixture.  Add additional reserved liquid until desired consistency is achieved.  Replace lid on the crock-pot and let cook another hour or so.  Serve on your choice of buns for additional calories / points.

Guiltless Grilled Portabella Pizza

The birth of this recipe happened while reading my daily "Hungry Girl" newsletter email.  I was checking out her "Pizza-Bellas" recipe when I looked up and saw a TV chef personality grilling a pizza.  That's when the light bulb went off!  The marriage of those two ideas, plus my choice of ingredients have created an extremely satisfying low calorie, almost gourmet side dish or light meal.  It is fabulous eaten by itself, but I picture it being extremely delish on a bun as a sandwich as well.  You can really get creative with the toppings.  Every time I make it, I tell myself this, and every time I make it, I can't bring myself to stray away from the recipe.  I guess it is kind of like ordering the same thing every time from a restaurant.  :)

Guiltless Grilled Portabella Pizza

Servings: 1 • Calories: 105 • Fat: 4.5g • Carbs: 9g • Fiber: 3g • WW Points: 2

  Ingredients

• 1 large Portabella mushroom cap
• 1 Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss wedge
• 2 Tbsp diced tomatoes, canned (drained well)
• 2 Tbsp fresh baby spinach
• 1 Tbsp shredded mozzarella (low fat / part skim)
• 1 tsp reduced fat Parmesan cheese topping
• olive oil spray (or extra virgin olive oil)
• garlic salt (to taste)

Using a damp cloth or paper towel, wipe down mushroom cap.  If there is a stem, carefully remove and discard.  Spray both sides of the mushroom cap with oil (or lightly brush with evoo).  Preheat grill to medium heat.  Cook on grill gill side down for 5 minutes with the lid open.  Flip and cook another 5 minutes.  Remove and bring back to the kitchen.

Sprinkle cap with a little bit of garlic salt, and get ready to top your Portabella!  (This is not an exact science and will vary based on the size of mushroom caps you were able to find.)  Add drained tomato, ripped spinach leaves, chopped up laughing cow cheese, and mozzarella cheese.  As you are building your "pizza" try to evenly mix the ingredients on top of the mushroom.  (See picture above.)  Top with parmesan and garlic salt.

Carefully place the "pizza" back on the grill.  Cook with the lid closed for about 10-15 minutes.  (Again ,this will vary depending on the size of your final masterpiece.)

Enjoy your finished product while planning when you are going to run out to the store to get the ingredients to make more!  Now proceed to kick yourself for not trying this recipe sooner! :-p

Love To Love Ya Lasagna

I started to call this recipe "skinny lasagna" or "light lasagna", but it just didn't seem appropriate.  Yes, it is  true, this is a "slimmed down" lasagna, but really, that is not at all what it tastes like! It is just my lasagna I make.  Over the years I have tried out different ways to make lasagna, one of my favorite dishes, lighter.  I guess it all started by using turkey instead of beef.  Most of the time people wouldn't notice until I said something so I just stuck with it.  So here it is... my lasagna!  Enjoy! :-D

 

Love To Love Ya Lasagna

Servings: 12 • Calories: 356 • Fat: 7g • Carbs: 34g • Fiber: 3g • WW Points:7

        Ingredients

• 2 jars Barilla roasted garlic pasta sauce
• 1 box Barilla no boil flat lasagna noodles
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 16 oz fat free cottage cheese
• 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup reduced fat parmesan cheese
• 2 - 8 oz bags of fat free mozzarella cheese
• 8 oz bag of low fat mozzarella cheese
• 1lb lean ground turkey breast (99% fat free)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp garlic salt (ex.Lawry's)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat oil in a large pan. Add onions, 1 tsp of garlic salt, and 1 tsp of oregano and saute over medium high heat (6-7 on my stove's dial) for 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute or two being careful not to burn the garlic.

Add the turkey and mash into the onion and garlic mixture.  The idea here is to fully incorporate the onion mixture into the turkey before it is cooked.

Using a spoon safe at high heats, break apart the turkey into tiny pieces while it cooks.  Continue to cook the turkey and onion mixture until the turkey is no longer pink. 

Turn off the stove burner and pour in both jars of pasta sauce.  I like to add a tiny bit of water to each jar, put the caps back on, and give 'em a good shake.  Pour the remaining sauce into the pan.  Stir the sauce and meat mixture and set aside.  This is your sauce.

In a large bowl, mix ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, 8 oz fat free mozzarella cheese, 1/8 cup of parmesan cheese, egg whites, 1 tsp of oregano, and 1 tsp of garlic salt.  This is your cheese mixture.

Now it is time to put together the lasagna.  You will need a nice deep lasagna pan or dish.  This can be glass or metal.  (I used glass. You may need to adjust your cooking time for metal.  Just a thought.)  Don't stress too much about putting the lasagna together.  Just layer it.  I start with a tiny bit of sauce, lay the uncooked noodles down, add some cheese, and start all over.  You just want to make sure the noodles are covered good with some type of liquid.  What this means is you want to shoot for ending up with sauce on the top layer. 

Evenly scatter 8 oz fat free mozzarella over the top, then the low fat mozzarella   Finish by distributing the remaining 1/8 cup parmesan cheese.  I like to sprinkle a teeny bit of oregano over the top.

Cover the lasagna with tin foil (I like to use the non-stick kind with the nonstick facing down.).  Place in 350 degree oven for 55 minutes.  Remove tin foil and continue cooking 5 minutes.  Allow about ten minutes to cool.

Skinny Banana Bread

Who doesn't love banana bread?  Okay, maybe I feel that everyone does because I myself love it.  There is something so comforting about fresh out the oven banana bread.  (With the typical recipe calling for a stick of butter and a whole cup of sugar, no wonder it is comforting!)  So I took my favorite banana bread recipe and revamped it using only a quarter of the butter and sugar.  Unsweetened apple sauce really deserves all the credit here.  I still don't quite understand how you can substitute apples for butter, but it works and it is DELISH!  It is still SO moist and just as comforting in my opinion.  Honestly, I can't really find a good reason to go back to making it the original way. :-D

Skinny Banana Bread

Servings: 10 • Calories: 129 • Fat: 3g • Carbs: 23g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points: 3

        Ingredients

• 3 medium bananas, mashed (best if over ripe)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• cinnamon (couple dashes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with your choice of non stick spray.  (I like to use a butter flavored one.)

Mash bananas to desired consistency.  I like chunks in my bread, so I left it pretty lumpy.  Add Splenda and mix. Set the banana mash aside.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, butter, and egg on medium.  Add apple sauce and vanilla extract to bowl and mix.  

Sift in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix on medium a minute or two until well incorporated.  Pour in bananas and mix on low or by hand, careful to not over mix banana chunks. 

Scrape all the batter into the pan, taking care to not get any on the sides to prevent from burning.  Once in the pan, I like to give the pan a quick tap or two to make any bubbles come out and help the batter distribute evenly in the pan.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.  This can vary greatly depending on your oven.

With all that butter cut out from the original recipe, you have room for just a pat of whipped butter. YUM!

Mason's Chocolate Chips Cookies

I have a little one, who I swear is allergic to just about everything you can image.  It always breaks my heart when we are out at dinner or a birthday party and he can't have the cake or dessert everyone else is enjoying.  I came up with this recipe originally as an egg and peanut free chocolate chip cookie he can enjoy.  What really happened was I found an easy, delicious, and guilt-free chocolate chip cookie the whole family scarfs down.

Mason's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Servings: 24 • Calories: 120 • Fat: 4g • Carbs: 23g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points: 3

        Ingredients

• 1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Butter Cake Mix
• 2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl combine cake mix and apple sauce. Mix until you achieve a cookie dough like consistency. It will be crumbly at first, keep mixing... don't add more apple sauce.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Drop cookie dough (roughly golf ball sized ) onto lightly greased cookie sheets. 

Bake in oven for 14 minutes.  (Note: these cookies stay a bit lighter in color than you may be expecting.  Keep an eye on the bottom of the cookies.)

Skinny Strawberry Bread

So moist and full of strawberry flavor, you would never think its been slimmed down.  I love to bake banana bread.  I am not sure which is better, the smell that takes over the house for hours while and after it cooks, or savoring that fresh out the oven melt in your mouth first piece.  Any who, I have been working on a skinny banana bread recipe when today I thought to myself why can't I just use over ripe strawberries and make strawberry bread!  Omagosh! I have to say that I like strawberry bread just as much as and maybe even more than banana bread.  I used some overly ripe strawberries I had in the fridge, but I think frozen strawberries (thawed) would work as well.

 Skinny Strawberry Bread

Servings: 10 • Calories: 107 • Fat: 3g • Carbs: 19g • Fiber: 1g • WW Points: 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups over ripe strawberries, halved
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sugar  
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with your choice of non stick spray.  (I like to use a butter flavored one.)

Mash strawberries to desired consistency.  I like chunks in my bread, so I left it pretty lumpy.  The 2 cups of halved strawberries turned into just over a cup of mashed chunky strawberry liquidy goodness.  Add splenda and mix. Set aside strawberries.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, butter, and egg on medium.  Add apple sauce and almond extract to bowl and mix.  

Sift in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix on medium a minute or two until well incorporated.  Pour in strawberries and mix on low or by hand, careful to not over mix strawberry chunks. 

                                                       

Scrape all the batter into the pan, taking care to not get any on the sides to prevent from burning.  Once in the pan, I like to give the pan a quick tap or two to make any bubbles come out and help the batter distribute evenly in the pan.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.  This can vary greatly depending on your oven.  (When I make banana bread, it usually takes about 55 minutes in my oven if that helps any.)

Resist the urge to cut into it right out the oven!  (Your house is definitely smelling good right now by the way.) Oh and if you are not the only one in the house, tell them to get out the kitchen... it needs to cool for 10 minutes. :)

Using a butter knife, gently make sure none of the edges are stuck to the pan.  Flip bread onto your hand and then flip the bread onto a plate. Voila! As my four year old would say the "strawberry cake is done"!  Let me know what you think of it.  My whole family just loves this stuff!