Pear, Carrot, & Ginger Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup Egg Substitute or 4 Whole Large Eggs
1 cup Non-fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt(or plain)
1/3 cup Coconut Oil or Canola Oil
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbl. Gourmet Garden Ginger(or jarred)
1 Tbl. Vanilla

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups All-Purpose Unbleached Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Kosher Salt

3 medium size Pears, finely diced
2 cups Grated Carrot

Preheat oven to 350' and line 2 12 count cupcake pans with paper liners, or spray generously with non-stick spray.  Combine wet ingredients(first 6) in a medium bowl with wire whisk, set aside.  Combine dry ingredients(next 6) in a large bowl with another wire whisk.  Create a well in the center and add wet ingredients with large rubber spatula, just until mixed.  Add pears and carrots and combine gently.  Divide into 24 muffin liners and bake 18-23 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Serve warm with maple butter.

I love baking quick breads and muffins using the egg substitutes because they bake up higher and fluffier.  And the added benefits of being low or fat free and a much healthier choice.

Easy Refrigerator Pickles

12-15 small pickling cucumbers
2 cups cold water
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbl. sugar
1 Tbl. kosher salt
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
about 10 twists of fresh ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, sliced

Scrub and rinse cucumbers.  Put cleaned cucumbers in a large ice bath(lots of ice) and let set for at least half an hour.  In a measuring cup add remaining ingredients except garlic and stir often to dissolve sugar and salt.  Remove cucumbers from ice bath, cut ends off and quarter lengthwise.  Put pickles in large gallon size ziploc type bag.  Add garlic and cold pickling mixture to bag.  Add fresh dill, jalapeno, citrus peels, or other flavor enhancers if you like. Refrigerate for 2 days before eating.  Will keep for 1 week after pickling is done.

I'm not a pickle fan, but I saw someone make some on t.v. and thought these looked easy enough and worth a try.  I'm SO glad I did!  What I did learn is that the ice bath is crucial to keeping the pickles snap crisp.  And they are!  I picked up these organic pickling cucumbers at our local farmers market.  

Restaurant Style Salsa

Rough chop and puree in food processor the following:

8 roma tomatoes
1/2 purple onion
2 scallions
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1/2 bunch of cilantro
a large jalapeno pepper(only de-seeded one half)
salt, black pepper, & white pepper to taste,
tsp. or so of sriracha sauce
a splash of lime juice
a splash of golden balsamic vinegar

Hungry Girl Death by Chocolate Cupcakes....

Not mine, but definately worth passing on the low point delicious treat!

Here's the LINK

Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting(WW=2pts)

Updated 2/28/11:  I have not updated the points to see what they are for the PointsPlus program.  I'm going to play with this recipe anyways.  I'm not very fond of the artificial sweetener after taste since I've cut way back on them.  But please feel free to post your own findings!

 

Don't be intimidated by the surprise ingredient, I promise, you won't taste them! Red Kidney Beans. Yep, beans. I have made black bean brownies before, the first time was nasty, but like with a lot of substitution cooking, you need to play around. These not only looked pretty, but they tasted wonderful, even frozen. Makes 32 2pt. brownies.

1 can dark red kidney beans(3)
1 1lb. 2.3oz. box Brownie Mix(61)
2 Tbl. Cocoa Powder
1 1oz. bottle red food dye
water

Preheat oven to 350'. Spray bottom only of a 9x13" pan. Rinse and drain beans well. Rinse can. Return rinsed beans to can, fill can with water to within 1/2 inch of top of can. Pour into blender and blend WELL, and then blend again, really well! You shouldn't see any grains or skins. Blend dye in with bean mixture. Poor brownie mix and cocoa into large bowl and add bean and dye mixture and mix well. Poor baking pan and bake on bottom rack of oven for 24-26 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then flip onto a cutting board and freeze for about an hour. They will be flat, but shouldn't be dry. You can also substitute the beans and water for a can of pumpkin(2pts.). It won't change the point value but pumpkin tends to make fluffier brownies than the beans. You can also use a lower fat box of brownie mix and probably cut each brownie point down to 1.

Cream Cheese Frosting(0)

1 tub of fat free whipped cream(such as Cool-Whip)(7.5)
1 small 9oz. tub of fat free cream cheese(4.5)
1 small package sugar-free fat-free vanilla or cheesecake flavored pudding mix(2)
1 tsp. vanilla(0)
1/4 cup Splenda Granular(.5)
Beat the frosting ingredients well, until smooth consistency. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Entire recipe points value 15. Only use HALF of this to spread brownie bars with. Makes 64 servings, at 0 points each!

Spread HALF of the Cream Cheese Frosting mixture on brownies. Slice into 32 servings. 2 points each.

Pesto

Did someone say pesto? If I could have one food to take with me to a deserted island, it would be pesto. I thought my last born must have been switched at birth because she won't touch the stuff, turns out, she just won't eat store bought pesto. Trust me, I've made her try them all. I wanted to make some homemade to go on top of salmon(my favorite way to cook fish) and so I came up with this. Less oily too.

1 bunch of basil washed, stems removed, and spun through salad spinner.
1 generous tsp. crushed garlic(from a jar is fine)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pinenuts
a few pinches of salt & pepper
1 packet of "True Lemon"
Olive Oil
Water

In a food processor, pulse basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, pinenuts, salt & pepper, and True Lemon until finely chopped. Turn processor on continuous and drizzle olive oil down shoot until it becomes more pasty, I use approx. 1/8-1/4 cup. Add water to thin down too until desired consistency. Stores in refrigerator for several days.

I added about a Tbl. of this to Hungry Girl's Fettucine Girlfredo instead of the parmesan her recipe calls for. Oh, this is my FAVORITE Mommy Favorite and Figure Friendly lunch. Add 2 tsp. of reduced fat bacon bits, and it's pure heaven.

Fresh Herb Sauce(WW-0pts.)

1 bunch(es) watercress, tough stems removed, coarsely chopped or torn (about 2 cups)
3 tbsp parsley, fresh, leaves
1 medium scallion(s), chopped (about 2 Tbsp)
3 tbsp basil, fresh, leaves
1/2 cup(s) plain fat-free yogurt, Greek-style
1/2 tsp table salt

In bowl of a blender or food processor, place all ingredients and pulse until well combined. Pour into a bowl or plastic container and refrigerate until ready to use. Yields about 1/4 cup of sauce per serving.
Notes
This sauce will keep for up to 3 days, covered, in the refrigerator.

You can substitute any fresh herb for either the parsley or the basil. And consider swapping spinach for the watercress for a milder flavor. Or for a peppery flavor, use arugula instead of the watercress.

Ranch Style Dressing Mix

2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard
2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
3 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

Combine ingredients; blend well. Store in an airtight container. Give in decorative jars with directions below for dressing and dip. Makes 1/2 cup of mix, or 8 portions for dressing or dip.
Dressing:
In a bowl or jar combine 1 cup of mayonnaise and 1 cup buttermilk. Add 1 tablespoon mix and blend well.

Dip:
In a small bowl blend 1 tablespoon mix with 1 cup sour cream. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Dana's Apple Brickle Dip

We have served this several times, it makes a lot and memorable. I stretched it by adding a tub of cool-whip to the cream cheese, and we still ran out. Imagine 13 girls surrounding this stuff playing Curses. We went through 3 boxes of graham crackers and 5lbs. of granny smith apples sliced very thin. The chips and dip were never touched.

1 pkg.(8 oz.) Softened Cream Cheese (I've also used fat free, tastes great)
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1/4 C. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 pkg. Almond Brickle Chips (7 1/2-10oz.)
Tart Apples, cut into chunks for dipping.

Mix first 4 ingredients, fold in brickle. Serve with apple chunks, makes 2 cups. Great on graham crackers too!

Knox Blox, No Melt Jello Squares (WW=0pts)

I would label them No-Melt Jello Squares, but for my Arizona family and friends, know that everything melts in Arizona. These really are great snacks and I can't remember them ever melting on the Central Coast growing up. Yum!

4 env. Knox Unflavored Gelatin
3 3-oz. env. Sugar Free Flavored Gelatin
4 c. boiling water

Pour boiling water over gelatin and stir until thoroughly disolved. Spray 9x13 in. pan with non-stick spray. Pour mixture in and leave on counter until room temp, then cover and refrigerate. Cut into bite size pieces. You don't have to worry about these melting.