Fridge Cookies

Like Terri used to make, only Splendid.
Har, har, har...

1 cup Splenda
1/4 cup margarine (I used smart balance)
2 tbs. unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup natural peanut butter

Combine in pot over medium heat. Stir until everything is melty and mixed together. Then add:

1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional, but I added pecans and walnuts. Very good!)
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats

Drop in spoonfuls on to waxed paper and chill in fridge for about 2 hours, if you can stand to wait that long. I lasted 45 minutes.

Next time I make these I'll add the oats a little at a time. I didn't like the final oat to melty mixture ratio. It needed less oats. Mine didn't hold together very well as I was shoving four of them in my face.

Chile Rellenos Bake

I made this last night for dinner and I could have eaten the whole pan. Can't go wrong with green chile and cheese. Mark liked it too. Sarah, I don't know if you have roasted green chile but you can use canned green chile.

Enough roasted, peeled and seeded green chile to make two layers in a 13x9 cooking dish
4 cups grated cheese ( I used 2 cups mexican and 2 cups sharp both were 2%)
5 eggs ( I used Egglands Best Cage Free)
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 tsp. chile powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Heat oven to 375.

Lightly coat baking dish with olive oil. Line bottom of dish with a single layer of opened green chiles. Top with two cups of cheese. REPEAT with chile and cheese.

In a small bowl beat eggs, then add milk, chile powder and cumin to eggs and mix well. Evenly distribute over chile and cheese.

Bake covered with foil for 15 minutes then bake additional 30 minutes uncovered until nice and brown. I liked mine good and toasty on top.

Eat it piping hot with some sour cream or salsa or maybe a toasted whole grain tortilla.

Option: you could add thinly sliced onion to one of the layers if you like.

Delicioso!

Breakfast of Champions

I had to hurry and blog this one! So good! Warning: This is a Phase 2 breakfast treat.

Wholesome Oat Muffins

3/4 cup + 2 tbs. oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup brown sugar substitute
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 425.

In a small bowl combine the 3/4 cup of oats and the buttermilk. Let soak while you prepare the following.

In a medium bowl combing the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, sugar substitute and walnuts. Make a well in the center and add the oil, beaten egg, and vanilla. Combine with dry ingredients until a batter forms. (It's really more dough like.)

Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbs. of oats over the muffins. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes. Eat while warm with fake butter!

I forgot the oats on top so mine got a little too brown. I also didn't have brown sugar substitute and just used regular Splenda. Matt liked them so much he didn't believe they were on the diet!

Housewifery

So, for whatever reason, I can't make comments on previous posts today. Can y'all? Anyway, I'll make them here real quick.

Tracy, I wasn't sure if you were doing South Beach, but I thought you had before and might have tricks to share here on the blog. Are you doing it again?! Our family is seriously too much alike! I need to find a picture off all three of us together for over there. --->

Mom, (who is both Mom and Aunt here now!) thanks for the shrimp shell tip! Too bad I already bought the pre-shelled kind. I'm making "Big Easy Shrimp" tonight! You know... we're not supposed to have cocktail sauce. :\ But there's a recipe for a South Beach version. Maybe I'll make that tonight too and blog the results. Anyway...

Peanut Butter Stew

I can't find the recipe on the South Beach website, because I'm not a member, but some lady posted it here. Please ignore her awful spelling: http://www.bigoven.com/169219-Peanut-Butter-Stew-recipe.html

I wish I had made much, much more of this. It was soooo good! Like everything else, I didn't really follow the recipe. I forgot that I was saving my tomato paste for this soup and used it instead in the Indian Tomato Soup. So with none of that reserved, I decided to just add the ITS leftovers to the browned steak, onion, peanut butter, bay leaf and water.

I could eat my quickly waning weight in this stuff! I love that natural peanut butter. Btw, when you're buying nat nut butter, make sure to read the label. I found three that had sugar in them to keep them from separating. Sneaky.

Dinner after work again...

Put a big pot of water on the stove with some Zatarain's crab boil. Kick off your shoes, put on your warm cozies. Make a salad. When the water comes to a boil dump in 2 pounds of frozen or thawed shrimp WITH THE SHELLS ON. That is very important because the preshelled shrimp have no flavor. The shell helps to trap the herbs around the shrimp. Slice some lemons. Put some hot and spicy cocktail sauce in little bowls. When the shrimp turn pink they are done. Drain them in a colander. I made the little cheese crackers last night but I burned them. We have shrimp and salad left over for tonight. I'm going to pan fry two little tenderloin steaks in an iron skillet to go with. Or should I say I'm going to FLAT IRON some steaks. :)

I've been bringing our lunch to work. I hate packing up leftovers and toting them to work and then washing the containers and hauling them back home. I was buying frozen dinners to bring to work. It's very difficult to find a frozen dinner with no potatoes, rice, or pasta! Also, they have very little meat. Mostly chopped up beyond recognition veggies. Pretty yucky.

This week I discovered refrigerated roasts and chicken. So far I've tried Hormel pork roast in au jus (not gravy) and turkey roast in au jus (all white) meat. I added vegetable steamers as a side. I've tried the sugar snap peas and green peas. I must say it's pretty darn good! I can microwave it right in my office. I feel like Jane Jetson! No mess to clean up or tote back home, either!

Isn't it funny how we all decided to go on the South Beach diet without talking to each other about it. There should be more family weddings to encourage us to stay healthy!

Spicy Nut Mix

Here is my first contribution for a sweet, salty, a little spicy, and crunchy treat. I modified it slightly from the Southbeach.com. I needed something to snack on during the day.

2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 large egg whites
1 cup unsalted soy nuts
1 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup walnut halves
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 granulated splenda

1. Preheat oven to 225. Mix first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Whisk in spice mixture. Add nuts and splenda and toss to coat.
2. Spread mixture evenly on two nonstick cookie sheets (I used a large cookie sheet that wasn't nonstick and it worked just fine). Bake 1 hour until nuts are dry and toasted stirring every 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet.

Serving size is a 1/4 cup (20 servings)
You can substitute any cup of nuts for what ever you like.

South Beach Crackers

I thought I'd share a South Beach trick that's been pretty helpful...

On nights that I don't want to cook, Matt makes tuna or egg salad. It grosses me out to eat it all by itself and we can't have crackers, so what's a girl to do? I'm pretty sure I read this in the book, but if you slice up cucumber and sprinkle on some salt, instant fake crackers. It's the salt and the crunchy noise that does it for me, so make sure to cut them thick!

I'm still looking for a substitute for tortilla chips. I don't think salsa on cucumber crackers would be that good! As for tortillas themselves, then you get into Phase 2, Mission has a whole grain tortilla that is actually pretty tasty!

Easy Pork Chops After Long Day

Buy boneless pork chop filets that are about 1 inch thich with very little fat on the edges.
Heat an iron skillet over a medium flame.
Throw the pork chops in the skillet and cover with a lid.
Turn every few minutes (I usually do it during a commercial break) so you can cook them a long time, all the way through, without burning.
Cook em till they are crispy brown.
Heat up a can of green beans.
Serve with a salad (I make salad and keep it in a large covered container so it lasts all week) and raspberry dressing. Make SURE you get the dressing on your pork chop cuz it's DELISH!
That's my contribution for today! :)
Maybe I'll be more creative tonight. Hmmm... I forgot to get anything out of the freezer!
Guess I'll make boiled shrimp and salad tonight. No garlic bread, of course.
I loaned my South Beach book to Sue. Guess I'll depend on your posts for my recipes! Or, the internet.

Sorbitol Cookies! Hooray!

These Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies are not good. First of all there's WAY too much fake sugar in such a small portion. Also they crumble too easily and will leave a rather large raspberry colored spot on your rug.

I'm not even sure if they are allowed in Phase 2, but I made them anyway. I wish I could get those 140 calories back. I would spend them on something more enjoyable. I would also like the natural peanut butter back. That shit's expensive!

And finally, I'm pretty sure this picture was taken before the cookies were baked. Mine were as pretty and perfect as these pre-baking. Post-baking was quite different!

These definately go on the "do not bake" list.

The Politically Correct Indian, Indian Soup

So, I guess we missed out on archiving our Rachel Ray recipes! The only one that has survived in my house is the cheese-burger-bell-pepper-meatloaf thing. I change that recipe every time I make it, but basically, line pie plate with roasted bell pepper then fill it full of a hamburger/cheese/salsa/cracker crumb mixture. Bake at 350. It needs some work.

Anyway, so now that the whole family is successfully doing South Beach (and now that I'm down to such a weight that my wedding dress falls off of me) I figure it's time to start blogging again...

From the South Beach Cookbook I bring you Indian Tomato Soup severely altered:

In a soup sized pan heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add minced garlic; one medium onion, finely chopped; three or four roasted red chilies; and three or four chipotle chilies with some of the adobo sauce. Brown or sauté or whatever.

Add a can of fat-free chicken broth, two cans of tomato paste and one can of stewed tomatoes (with juice). Add another couple three cans of water until it looks soup like.

Add two teaspoons of curry powder. See the Indian? Salt and pepper liberally.

Pour eight ounces of white wine in a fancy wine glass. Pile up on the couch. Simmer until the husband gets home. (The soup, not you.) Try not to think about garlic bread.

South Beach Survival Note: Sugar free candy in the diabetic section of Wal-Greens is pretty dang good! A lot more appetizing than that ricotta cream crap they suggest in the book. (Not that they're a trade off, but I can't seem to give up chocolate.)