DIET RECIPES ONLY

not everyone can afford to cook with olive oil, ounce for ounce it's about 5x as much as other oils here.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp

 

Thanks for the links. I knew Canola oil wasn't as healthy as Olive Oil, yet I didn't know it was toxic.
As DonnA said, Olive Oil is pretty expensive. Vegetable oil should work.

 

Unlike almost all other oils, olive oil is actually good for you. Use it whenever you can.

Forget deep fat frying stuff and oil use will go WAY down! We use a little in some cooking and with our homemade salad dressings, and that's about it. Oh, a little for some baking. I have quit using other oils completely. We make our own butter, so that's fun; I use parchment paper and silicon sheets for most baking; and we've learned to render fat for the little bit of lard we need occasionally. A few ounces lasts us for months.

I will spend about $17 for a quart of cold pressed EVOO, but, then, it lasts us for months, too! And since we grow most of our own vegetables, the actual grocery blls aren't bad at all.

For us, it's a matter of priorities after some research.

 

Priority has nothing to do with it when your trying to feed your family, either use expensive ingredients, or buy food, not a real choice there. Buy food, leave off expensive ingredients. I'm glad others can afford it. But don't make it sound like my priorities are out of wack if I do not have that kind of money.

 

I'm not attacking you, Donna. I'm explaining our choices. Yours are different, that's all. I mentioned that because we grow so much of our own food that we can and do buy cold-pressed EVOO. I also mentioned that a little goes a long way for us. These are our choices, that's all.

Now, in keeping with the thread, here is a recipe that others might enjoy who are trying to keep the calories and/or carbs down:

"Instant Pickles"
We have a lot of cucumbers this year and I learned you can freeze them if you do the following, which is really good!

Slice your cucumbers
Add slices of bell peppers and onions
Marinate in a vinegar-sugar mix (ratio of about 1.5 sugar to 1 vinegar) with salt, mustard seed, and celery seed). Put in ziploc bags and freeze. Though winter, just defrost, add to lettuce and tomato and it makes a terrific winter salad. Add to canned beans for bean salad.

Zucchini-tomato bake
We had a lot of both of these as well and the following has become a big favorite:

Slice fresh zucchini and layer in bottom of baking pan
Sprinkle your favorite seasoning salt on top
Slice fresh tomatoes and layer over zucchini
Sprinkle with fresh or dried basil.
Generously sprinkle grated cheese (your choice) over top.
Bake at about 375 (toaster oven works well for a small amount) until cheese is starting to brown on top.

This kind of a dish can be added to with all kinds of things like bell peppers, bacon bits or shrimp, etc. Just make sure you put the cheese over everything as the last ingredient.

Chicken with pesto sauce

A girlfriend makes the BEST pesto sauce I have ever tasted. Worked well with the following:

Saute onion in a little olive oil.
Add bell pepper pieces if desired
Add mushroom slices if desired
Add chicken pieces (inch or so cubed chicken meat)
Add a little fresh garlic if desired
Spoon in some pesto sauce toward the end and heat thoroughly.

Serve over noodles or plain.

Because our lives are so busy, I really prefer dishes that don't require a lot of preparation time but still have lots of taste and don't depend on instant foods. Since Barry and I both love curries, I have learned that curry really spices up a tuna casserole and can be a great way to serve leftover meats. Add a handful of raisins if you want to sweeten it up, or serve with grated coconut on top (not good for the tuna casserole, however!)

 

Ingredients:
3 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar, divided
2 Tbsp low-fat margarine suitable for baking, room temp.
1 Tbsp grated lemon peel
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Set a spray-coated souffle dish or other straight-sided baking dish in a larger baking pan that is at least 2-inches deep; set aside.
In a deep bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Gradually beat in 1/4 cup of the sugar; continue to beat until whites hold short, distinct peaks. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine butter, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, lemon peel and egg yolks. Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Stir in buttermilk, lemon juice and flour.
Add about 1/4 of the egg whites to batter; stir to mix well. Gently, but thoroughly, fold in remaining whites.
Pour batter into prepared souffle dish. Set dish in baking pan on middle rack of oven. Pour boiling water into baking pan up to the level of the batter. Bake about 1 hour, until the top of the pudding is a rich brown and center feels firm when lightly pressed,.
Serve pudding hot or cool, spooning portions up from bottom of dish to get the lemon sauce that has formed beneath the pudding. Yield: 6 Servings.

Nutritional Information:
Per Serving: 187 Cal; 5 g Total Fat (1 g Sat Fat); 32 g Carb; 108 mg Cholesterol; 100 mg Sodium; 5 g Protein.
Dietary Exchanges: 2 Starch (Other Carb); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Fat.

 

Maple Pumpkin Pie
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 cup sugar substitute (recommended: Splenda)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 whole egg
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
1 Light Pie Shell, recipe follows

Preheat oven with pizza stone to 350 degrees F. (The pizza stone will help get a crisp pie crust.)
In a large bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar substitute, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla extract, salt, egg whites, egg and pumpkin until thoroughly blended and the mixture is smooth.
Pour the pumpkin mixture into the Light Pie Shell.
Bake pie for 1 hour or until a knife comes out cleanly. Cool on wire rack for about 1 hour. Carefully cut pie into 8 servings.

 

Hey Donna, does this receipe have a name? It appears it's pudding with a pancake around it. Looks tasty ! This is our dessert tonight or tomorrow night, we'll see. I will use butter instead of margarine though.

 

Helen, the Zucchini-Tomato Bake sounds really good! I'll definately try it!

 

Sorry, missed the name, it's
sugar free Lemon Pudding Cake
How did it turn out, I'm thinking of making this for the holidays.

 

Well, I did it a little different. I used butter in place of margarine, and added about 1tbsp of butter at the bottom of a glass pan so it wouldn't stick and put it in the oven. It tasted wonderful! Great lemon flavor! It didn't rise a whole lot, but enough. It might not be best for the holidays, or maybe my way isn't best. It's kinda mushy. I kept opening up the oven door because I was hungry so it probably didn't cook as well.

Thanks for the name, Lemon Pudding Cake. It has sugar in it so I'll leave the other part out. Blessings, Joe

 

Helen, the Zucchini-Tomato Bake is in the oven. I'm sure we'll love it!

Here's a Sugar-Free Balsamic Vinegarette Dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup splenda
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp italian herb seasoning
1/2 tsp minced garlic
dash of salt and pepper

Whisk the vinegar into the oil. Whisk in the splenda, then the other ingredients. Store in fridge.

I serve this dressing with leftover roasted chicken (chopped), and put on spinach leaves with a few strawberries and grapes. Sprinkle a few nuts on top and drizzle with the dressing. One of my faves!

 

Just to let you all know, the Zucchini-Tomato Bake was a huge success! We loved it--thanks, Helen!!

 

Tasty chicken breasts! I was at a loss for trying to cook something a little different, so I tried this and everyone thought it was awesome!

I took chicken breasts, seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a bit of paprika.
I put a LITTLE bit of olive oil in a frying pan and browned them quickly on relatively high heat.

Then I drizzled just a BIT of BBQ sauce over the top and wrapped each piece INDIVIDUALLY in aluminum foil. When I say a little, I really mean that. I put a line about the width of a pencil and as long as the chicken piece on the tin foil, put the chicken on, and did it again on the top side of the chicken.

Then I wrapped the pieces tightly, put them on a cookie sheet, and put them in the oven at 320 for about an hour, then turned it up to 360 for about 20 minutes? Something like that!

Anyhow, they turned out beautiful. Wrapping it like that marinates it and seals in the flavor. You don't lose any flavor in the baking, you gain it, which is why I emphasized that you don't need much BBQ sauce. It's a way to have that flavor without all the calories of it being smothered in sauce.

When I served it, I left it in the foil and put it on plates. It adds interest to the meal, and I was really surprised that both the adults and the kids liked it so much. I have a new recipe, and it's a healthy one! Yay!

 

I saw this on food network last week and we had it tonight, it was really good, and to us a really great low fat not fried fried chicken.
everything in red is my addition, this is how I did the recipes for our 2 breasts, you may need more or less of something depending on how many breasts you cook.

Panko crusted chicken
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I cut mine in half, guess that makes them strips)
1/2 c. panko crumbs (japaneese bread crumbs, lighter then regular bread crumbs, they are not interchangeable)
3T flour
1 egg beaten
salt and papper
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, spray the baking sheet.
Pu the egg, flour and panko crumbs in seperate dishes, salt and pepper the breasts, dip first in flour, then egg, and coat well with panko crumbs. Place on the baking sheet, I lightly sprayed the tops with cooking spray.
bake untill done, depends on how many and how thick, so you be the judge.

A dipping sauce might be good, but then it may not be diet, depending on what you dip it in.