Thin Crust Seafood Pizza (using carbalose flour)

This is a fabulous light and thin-crust pizza (dough). The dough is made in the bread machine (less hassle!), rolled out on a pastry board and baked on a preheated pizza stone. Enjoy!

Low-Carb Wholewheat Pizza dough (using bread machine):
3/4 c warm water
1 cp wholewheat flour
1 cp carbalose flour
1/2 scoop any whey protein powder
2 ts sugar
1 TB rapid rise yeast
1 TB sugar-free honey (walmart brand)
1 TB dried rosemary

Place in bread machine, water first, and then layer the remaining ingredients. Set to dough setting.

Season pizza stone (cornmeal or grease) and preheat for 20 min at 450F.

Divide pizza dough into 4 portions, and roll out a portion at a time on floured pastry board. Once rolled out thinly, cut the dough into 2 equal sized pieces, and place on the pizza stone (without toppings). Prebake for 3 min. Remove from oven and add toppings of your liking.

A 4th of the dough has 190 kcal (makes 2 pizza rectangles like in the photo).


Thin-crust Seafood Pizza

1/4 cp Emeril Roasted Red Pepper Pasta sauce (or any marinara sauce of your liking)
a few kalamata olives
a few cherry tomatoes, halved
preheated shrimp, calamari and/or octopus (preheat with some veggie stock to basically cook)
ff vegetarian mozzarella flavored cheese.

Heat until cheese is melted, and serve!

Chocolate Muffin

Another Starbucks creation. This time I am just going to eat it.....

Trail Mix Bread

This is a great variation of the carbalose bread. It is slight sweet, and has cranberries, nuts and cereal in it. Even great with ff ham or turkey breast.


Low-Carb Trailmix Bread:

1/3 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup warm water
Note: both milk/water about 110 degrees
3 TB egg beaters
1 cup Carbalose flour
1/2 cp wholewheat flour
2 tsp sugar (for the yeast)
1 TB bread-machine rapid rise yeast
1/4 POST trail vanilla cranberry breakfast cereal

Bread: Place ingredients in the bread machine, wet ingredients first, then flours, sugar, yeast, and trail mix. Set bread machine to french bread setting.

Makes about 10 well-sized slices; each slice is 67 kcal (compared to 80 kcal with only whole wheat flour).

Pasta Arrabiata

A great dish with a savory sauce, a tad on the sweet side, with red bell pepper, black olives, tomatoes and pine nuts. A flavorful everyday dish.


Pasta arrabiata

2 oz fiber gourmet rotini

1/3 onion, finely dish
1/2 garlic clove, grated or microplaned
1 ts extra virgin olive oil
1-2 anchovy filets or 1/2 ts anchovy paste (from a tube)
1 ts red pepper flakes1
1 ts oregano
salt, pepper to taste
2 TB dry red wine
1/2 cup passata di pomodorri (basically, strained tomatoes)
1/2 red bell pepper, washed and sliced into thin stripes
8-10 kalamata olives, sliced
1 TB pine nuts

Cook pasta according to instructions. Saute onion and garlic in the olive oil and anchovies/anchovy paste. Once translucent and fragrant and anchovies fallen apart, add red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir, and add remaining ingredients. Cook on low heat for 10 min. Serve over pasta.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins (using NS pancake mix)

Muffins:
1 NS pancake mix
1 TB brown Splenda
3 Tbsp eggbeaters
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cold coffee or instant coffee
1 TB FF milk
1 TB Ghiradelli ground sweet chocolate
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Filling:
2 oz FF cream cheese
1 TB eggbeaters
1/2 ts vanilla
1 ts pancake mix
1/2 ts fiberfit (or a 2 packets of splenda)

Topping:
4 small pieces of chocolate

Directions
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients for the muffin in a separate bowls. Then, add wet to dry ingredients and mix well. Line a muffin pan with liners, and fill with batter. Should make about 4 medium sized (regular) muffins (I used 2 larger ramekins). Pre-bake for 5 min at 400F.

In another bowl, whip the ingredients for the cream cheese filling. It might help to soften the cream cheese in the microwave for a 1/2 min. Divide the filling equally into the 1/2 baked muffins, and finish baking (overall ca. 15-20 min). For the last 2 min, place the chocolate pieces on top.

all 4 muffins: 1 breakfast + 1 protein

Note: the original starbucks muffin has 600kcals, and 43g of fat. And it does not even taste good.
This version has no fat, and about 180kcal (with 'old' pancake mix at 120kcal) and 210kcal with the new NS pancake mix.

Rye Rolls or Bread (using carbalose flour)

This bread is made with carbalose flour, which has lower carbs, calories and a higher fiber content. This recipe makes small crunchy rolls or a 1 pound loaf of a bread with great rye taste.

Low-Carb Rye Rolls or Rye Bread

1/3 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup warm water
Note: both milk/water about 110 degrees
3 TB egg beaters
1 1/2 cups Carbalose flour
1/4 cup rye flour
2 TB cumin seeds
1 tsp sugar (for the yeast)
1 TB bread-machine rapid rise yeast

Rolls: Place ingredients in the bread machine, wet ingredients first, then flours, seeds, and make a little dip for the sugar and the yeast. Set bread machine to dough setting. Once dough has risen, divide into 8 rolls, and place on baking sheet lined with a silpat, and let rise for another 45 min (they seem not to rise much anymore). Bake rolls in preheated oven at 400F for 10 min.

each rye roll: 70kcal

Bread: olace ingredients in the bread machine, wet ingredients first, then flours, seeds, and make a little dip for the sugar and the yeast. Set bread machine to french bread setting.

This makes a 1 pound loaf, and about 11 slices. Each slice is 55 kcal (compared to 75kcal using regular flour).

Mac'n'Cheese!

Mac'n'Cheese with Cherry Hot Pepper, Corn, Scallions and Ground Beef

1 serving Fiber Gourmet Mac'n'Cheese
1 cherry hot pepper, diced
1 scallion, sliced
2 TB frozen corn
1/4 cp Morningstar meal starters (ground beef)
chayenne pepper

Prepare mac and cheese according to instructions. In a separate skillet, saute the cherry hot pepper with the vegetarian beef. Add some beef stock to moisten the beef. Add corn and scallions and sautee for 5 min on medium heat. Add the mac'n'cheese back to the skillet, and mix. Serve with some extra cheddar cheese.



Mac'n'Cheese with Poblano and BBQ Chicken

1 serving Fiber Gourmet Mac'n'Cheese
1 poblano pepper, roasted, diced
1 serving chicken tenderloin
1/2 cp Kraft Low-Carb BBQ Sauce
1 TB brown splenda
1/2 ts cinnamon

BBQ chicken:
In a ziploc bag, mix bbq sauce with splenda and cinnamon. Place chicken tender in the bag, and marinated in the fridge for up to a day. Place marinated chicken into aluminum foil, fold like a tent, and bake for 25 min in toaster oven. Discard sauce, and cube the chicken.

Mac'n'cheese: prepare according to instructions. At the end of the cooking process, add the poblano pepper and the chicken, and some chayenne pepper.

Walnut Kalamata Scones (with Carbalose Flour)

1 cp carbalose flour (a low carb, high fiber flour)
1 TB brown splenda
1 TB regular splenda
2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/4 cp walnuts, chopped
12 kalamata olives, slice 6, preserve 6
2 wedges laughing cow cheese (French Garlic)
1 TB light butter
1/3 cp ff milk

Preheat oven to 425. Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl, and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Heat the wet ingredients for 1 min in the microwave, then pour into a food processor. Add in the dry ingredients, and mix until the dough forms a ball. Now, add in the walnuts and half of the kalamata olive, and mix. The dough will turn a grayish color, but the taste of the kalamata makes the scones sweet. Take out dough and knead in the remaining olives. Cut the dough into 4 even sized pieces, and use a sprayed scone pan. In the mini scone pan, 1/4 of the dough makes 2 larger mini scones, or 3 thin ones. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 425F or until lightly golden brown.

4 servings

210 cals per serving
11g protein
7g fiber

Thanks, Christina, for figuring out the basics of this recipe!

Whoopie Pie (using NS Microwaveable Chocolate Cake)

This is a dessert made with the NS Microwaveable Chocolate cake. The trick is to let the thawed raspberries soak into the bottom part of the pie for a few minutes to get a fruity, deep flavor.

1 NS Microwaveable Chocolate cake
1/2 TB brown splenda
1/4 ts baking powder
1/4 ts baking soda
1/2 TB poly D
1 TB Ghiradelli ground sweet chocolate
2 oz warm water, mixed with 1 ts of instant espresso (or leftover coffee or espresso)
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Filling:
2 TB ff cool whip
1 TB thawed frozen raspberries (or cherries)




Mix the dry ingredients, and then add in the wet ingredients; the dough is not to liquid (see picture). Divide the dough into two parts, and place them on a PAM-sprayed baking sheet. Bake in a preheated toaster over at 350F for 8-10 min. Let cool for 5 min.

Place one 'cookie' on the serving plate, shiny side down. Distribute the raspberries over the cake, and then add the coolwhip, and place the second 'cookie' on top.

1 dessert and free foods.

Spring Pasta

Spring is on my mind, but not here in Maine yet. But I can create it in the cooking pots. Spring pasta!

2 oz of Fiber gourmet rotini
2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves
1/3 pound fresh asparagus, washed and ends trimmed
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, grated
salt, pepper

Optionally: toasted walnuts, gorgonzola cheese

Steam asparagus for 5 min. At the same time, prepare pasta according to instructions.

In a skillet, sautee the shallot and garlic cloves in a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil. Once slightly browned, add the baby spinach, 2 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water, and wilt the spinach down. At that point, add the asparagus into the skillet (cut into long pieces), and the drained pasta. Add 1/4 cp of pasta cooking water, and mix well. Add salt, pepper, and fresh grated parmesan.

1 dinner (needs a protein) or 1 complete lunch entree
180 kcal.

Pasta with Meatballs

Back to basics, but a filling and skinny version. Pasta and meatballs!

2 oz Fiber Gourmet rotini (130Kcal)

1 shallot or small onion, finely diced
1/2 garlic clove, microplaned
1/2 cup passata di pomodorri (strained, deseeded, peeled tomatoes)
1/2 cup low-sodium, ff chicken broth
1/2 TB balsamic vinegar
1 ts rosemary
salt, pepper to taste
4 meatless meatballs (Trader joes, 80 kcal)

Cook pasta according to instructions. In a skillet, saute shallot and garlic cloves in some drops of olive oil. Add strained tomatoes, chicken broth and balsamic vinegar and herbs to taste. Stir and heat. Add meatballs (thawed or preheated in microwave for 2 min), Let simmer until pasta is cooked. Drain pasta and add to the sauce. Stir, and serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

1 dinner: 240 kcal.

Indonesian Shrimp Pasta

This is a shrimp dish made with leeks, roasted bell pepper and fresh, peeled shrimp and the indonesian peanut sauce from another post. Yum!

2 oz Fiber Gourmet Rotini
2 servings of the Indonesian sauce
1 leek (white and light green parts), thinly sliced
1 roasted bell pepper (jar), rinsed and sliced
1/4 cp low-sodium, ff chicken broth.

Cooked pasta according to instructions.

In a large skillet, heat the chicken stock and add the leeks and roasted bell pepper and heat up; sautee for 5 min. Add the peanut sauce, and the shrimp. Heat through until shrimp are pink and have a C shape (not O shape). Drain pasta, and mix with the indonesian shrimp sauce.

Very California Patty Melt

1 slice of seeded rye bread
1 boca burger (mushroom and mozzarella)
1 fresh poblano pepper
1 slice ff cheese (cheddar or pepper monterey jack).


Wash poblano pepper, and roast in toaster oven for 10-15min at 400F, until skin comes off slightly. Heat panini maker (or Foreman grill), and grill the boca burger. Meanwhile, cut the rye bread into equal halves, and spray one side each with PAM. Turn around, and on the non-sprayed side of the bread, layer the peeled and seeded poblano, the grilled burger and a slice of cheese and the second half of the bread, with sprayed side up. Press sandwich in the still hot panini maker until cheese is melted and bread is toasted (ca. 3-5 mins).

Banana Peanut Chocolate Cake

1 small very ripe banana, mashed (90kcal)
1 TB egg beaters
2 TB light soy vanilla milk
1/2 ts vanilla extract
3 TB heartsmart bisquik mix
1 TB poly D
1 TB Any whey
¼ ts baking powder
¼ ts cinnamon
1 TB PB2
1 TB mini chocolate chips

Mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Fill in spray single-serve spring form, sprinkle with a few mini chocolate chips and bake at 400F for 20 min.

If the banana is very ripe, there is no need for an added sweetener.

1 Breakfast entree + 1 protein + 1 fruit

Potatoe Pancakes (using NS Pancake Mix)

This is a lovely recipe, using the NS pancake mix and making it savory and into a lunch meal.

1 NS pancake mix
1/4 cp Betty Crocker Sweet potatoes (dry mix)
1/3 cp ff milk (the pancake required amount and a bit extra)
1-2 TB eggbeaters
fresh ground peppper
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 TB Oscar Meyer bacon bits
1 TB shredded veggie cheese, mozzarella flavor

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl to make a smooth mixture. Heat a non-stick skillet and spray with some PAM. Make three pancakes and brown on each sides for ca 4-5 min.

lunch entree, 230 kcal.

Getting all the water in

How to boost your metabolism (WebMD)

Drink More Water
The body needs water to process calories. If you are even mildly dehydrated, your metabolism may slow down. In one study, adults who drank eight or more glasses of water a day burned more calories than those who drank four. To stay hydrated, drink a glass of water or other unsweetened beverage before every meal and snack. In addition, try munching on fresh fruits and vegetables, which are full of fluid, rather than pretzels or chips.

Bottoms up!