Diet Books--Peanut Butter Dream Bars

So I have a whole bunch of cookbooks in my collection that promise to help you cook yourself skinny, and since I'm always looking for healthy recipes so I can keep my girlish figure I wanted to give some a try. This dessert sounded delicious and easy, and perfect to pack for work to have as an afternoon snack. I love the combo of peanut butter and chocolate, so I thought this would be perfect. What I didn't scrutinize was the amounts of each ingredient the recipe called for to reach the enviable amount of 150 some odd calories per bar. Let's say to create something like what was pictured took a few more ingredients than was listed.

Ingredients:
1/2 c 100 calorie Oreo Thins
1/2 c Old-fashioned Rolled Oats
1/3 c confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs whipped light butter melted then chilled
1/4 c creamy natural reduced sodium peanut butter
1 1/2 oz greek yogurt cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbs semi sweet chocolate chips (this is doubled from the original)

I actually bought a loaf pan--for this and for the bread I've started to make, and for this dish it is lined with wax paper.

So the recipe says low calorie thin chocolate wafers--not sure what they were thinking of, and the only low calorie option I saw were these 100 calorie packs. So I used 3 packages--ground them fine in the blender. Then combined the resulting powder with the oats, the powdered sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Once that was mixed, I added the melted butter and stirred it to make sure all of the dry ingredients were moistened, then mixed in a tablespoon of peanut butter.

That went into the wax paper prepared pan, and is spread thin across the bottom to make a crust. It is a pretty thin layer in the loaf pan I had, and was a struggle to get it across the whole pan. Once that was down, the pan went into the fridge to chill for about 10 minutes.

While that chilled, the cream cheese was supposed to be beat with an electric mixer. That is the approximately two tablespoons of cream cheese are supposed to be whipped with a beater--only it is such a small amount that it mostly just spread it around a lot. Not really helpful or useful. It is supposed to get smooth and fluffy--only there is so little I abandoned the beater and mixed it with my spoon. Once it was smooth, I added the rest of the peanut butter, vanilla, and salt and tried to get it smooth and fluffy with the beater--but it still wasn't much for the beater to work with, so I used the spoon. It was supposed to double in size, but didn't really work so well. By the time I'd finished this, the first layer was chilled enough to spread the peanut butter on top. It actually was the layer that covered the best--the only one that there was actually enough to cover the whole pan bottom. That went into the freezer for 10 minutes to get firm

Once that was out, I went to spread the melted chocolate chips on top. Unfortunately it didn't cover even half of the pan, and I ended up melting more to cover the whole thing. Partially this was because the frozen layer made the chocolate freeze up, but mostly it was because there just wasn't enough chocolate. This is a re-occurring theme in this recipe. In order to get the calorie count down low they didn't add enough of each ingredients to cover the whole pan. This is sort of ironic because the portion size is really big--I'd rather have more of each item in each bite, then a ton of sad bites.

Once the chocolate was spread, it went in the fridge until it was all set. Then I cut it into 8 slices--as the recipe suggested. The chocolate shattered, and didn't stick well to the layer below it. Once I saw how big the slices were I cut them in half again, to make 16 portions. With the peanut butter and butter, it is plenty rich in the half sized bite.



The Verdict: The flavor combination is great, but the texture was off. I think if I were to make this again, I'd not grind the wafers as small and not freeze it in between the peanut butter layer and the chocolate layer. As it is the top is crunchy chocolate and the bottom is chewy and soft--where it should be more crunchy. Still it is a peanut buttery dream flavor--like a little candy treat!

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

So this weekend I piled all the cookbooks on the ground that I have yet to bake from and picked one off the top. I couldn't believe I've yet to make one from the Hungry Girl cookbook. I love her recipes--though I must admit that lately I've been moving away from using as many pre-packaged foods and mixes. I figure when you are trying to learn to cook you need to practice the long ways and not the shortcuts. That said, this was a pretty awesome shortcut to delicious and low calorie yumminess!

I have been craving chocolate since I finished off the last of my chewy chocolate cookies--I loved the carrot cake, but it had no chocolate in it! So this recipe hit the spot. I even had half a cake mix sitting on the shelf waiting to be used!

Ingredients:
2 cups moist style chocolate cake mix
2 diet chocolate hot chocolate mix packets
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 tbs semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1 tbs stevia baking mix
1/8 tsp salt

So this is a pretty simple cake--but I swear I was all butterfingers the whole time, so it didn't turn out perfect. Step one is to boil about a cup and a half of water (12 oz) and pour that over the chocolate chips and cocoa mix. That is stirred until the chocolate is melted and dissolved, then that is put in the freezer. Sadly at that point I tripped and spilled part of it all over the wall and fridge. Yeah, so I didn't pour all of it everywhere, just about a half cup. So I added some more drink mix, more chocolate, and more boiling water and added it to the mix. The proportions might have been a little off--and the calorie count went up because I added more chocolate. Still yum!

Anyways, chocolate in the freezer. I headed over to play with my sister's dog I'm dogsitting. I borrowed a handful of hazelnuts from her (she told me to make myself at home!), and after my pups and her dog were tired of the rain, I headed back. The cake mix, salt, and sugar substitute were whisked together. I toasted the hazelnuts and chopped them finely and tossed them in the dry ingredients.

By this time the cocoa had cooled and could be added with the egg substitute to the dry ingredients. This was whisked with my beater for at least 2 minutes. The recipe warns this is a very thin batter, and they were not lying. It was VERY thin---probably because I messed up the proportions after I spilled the cocoa. I poured it into a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. It was supposed to make 12, but I had enough batter for 14.






They go into a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. The directions warn they will be glossy on top when done--and they will--but they are so runny you have to watch to make sure they are set. I saw them deflate a little when I opened the oven to check on them at 15 minutes. They came out puffy and do deflate a little bit as they cool.




The Verdict: This is an incredible moist drenched cake--with a sodden texture and a deep chocolate taste. I think the hazelnuts are really good because they offer a much needed contrast to the intense chocolately moistness. I really enjoyed this nice and warm out of the oven, and I suspect it would be incredible topped with some vanilla ice cream or even some caramel or peanut butter. This is definitely one for chocolate lovers and those looking for a quick and relatively healthy treat.

Breakfast Bowls

Since I changed my diet last year, I have tried to eat real breakfast foods in the morning. I know that nutritionally it doesn't matter what you eat when, and that cake in the morning is just as healthy as cake in the evening. But I think eating a proper meal in the morning gets things off on the right foot for the rest of the day. I rotate between cheerios and yogurt, cheerios and fruit and rice milk, and an egg mug of some sort with a multi grain thinwich.

During the summer, I ate a lot of fruit--strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries--in my cheerios, and I still get veggies in my egg bowls. Sometimes I use leftover veggies from the night before in my eggs in the morning, but lately it has been harder to get my fruit and veggies in my morning meal. I miss fresh berries, but I'm not willing to pay 6 dollars for a small thing of berries that will not last few mornings.

This morning I was out of bread and had nothing to eat my cheerios with, so I found another bowl meal and gave it a whirl. It is sort of a dish in between the eggs and cereal and should be easy to experiment with different variations. This recipe comes from the author of the Make Your Someday Today blog, though I couldn't find the recipe there--he posted it on the lose-it forum. So go read Trevor's blog, this isn't the first yummy thing I've made from him--his zucchini pancakes are a favorite of mine!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rolled oatmeal (not instant)
1/4 cup berries (any type, fresh or frozen0
1 tablespoon milk
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Cinnamon



Just like with an egg mug, you really need to start by spraying your soup bowl or mug with cooking spray. Otherwise it will stick and be hard to clean up later--unless you let your dog lick the bowl. Which never happens. Never. Like I let her do anything.

Mix together all the ingredients--you could also add peanut butter, or chocolate. I substitute honey for the brown sugar when my brown sugar was too hard.Once it is combined, it goes in the microwave for between 90 seconds to 2 minutes--or until it is set and not liquidy. I've found adding too many berries can make it more liquid, and if they break can give it a grey cast--but that is easily disguised with some whipped cream. You can eat it in the bowl, or turn it over on a plate and top it with goodies.

It comes out like a very soft pudding cake--less mushy than regular oatmeal, which I hate the texture off, and more like a proper breakfast. I think it would be good with some fresh fruit on the side as well!

The Verdict: A nice hearty breakfast that is lower in calorie, while still providing protein, whole grains, and some fruit as well. It really hits the spot--though I just calculated this as under 200 calories per serving, so I may increase the quantities so I'm fuller longer. This will be joining my other breakfast bowls in the morning rotation!