This is a great cake that can be left rather plain or you can dress it up with a drizzle of heated apricot jam or some whipped cream. The apricot flavor is so sweet and the brown sugar is so homey – this is a perfect way to jazz up a box cake mix !
Apricot Cake
12 servings
285 calories per serving
1 moist white cake mix (240 calories per serving prepared as directed)
2 16 oz. cans apricot halves, drained
½ c Splenda brown sugar substitute
Pam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix with water, oil and eggs and prepare as directed. Pour into 2 8×8 squared or 8 inch round baking pans sprayed with Pam. Drop apricots on top rounded side up (they will sink). Sprinkle with Splenda and bake 35-40 minutes. Optionally, squirt with some canned whipped cream.
Sweet and citrusy, cold and refreshing – a great way to top off any summer meal.
Orange Sorbet
12 servings
93 calories per serving
2 1/2 c water
1 c sugar
Orange rind strips from 2 oranges
2 2/3 c fresh orange juice
1/3 c fresh lemon juice
Grated orange rind
Mix the water and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil Add the orange rinds and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the mix into a bowl and get rid of the solids. Let cool to room temperature then add the juices and stir well. Refrigerate for an hour or more. Pour into ice cream maker and follow your maker’s instructions. Then freeze for one hour. Garnish with orange zest.
These are a delightfully plain cookie – sometimes all I want is just the flavor of a simple vanilla baked good without any pomp and circumstance. This is it ! And at only 21 calories a cookie, I can have 5 without any guilt. Dip them in coffee, serve with some yogurt of some fat free, sugar free pudding – or just indulge in their simple elegance.
Vanilla Rounds
24 servings
21 calories per serving (1 cookie)
2 eggs, separated
½ t baking powder
¼ t salt
¼ c sugar
2 t vanilla
¼ t grated lemon zest
½ c flour
Confectioner’s sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Beat egg whites until foamy. Mix baking powder, salt, and sugar and slowly add to egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form. Mix yolks, vanilla and zest and beat with a fork the fold into egg white mix. Sift flour over egg mix and fold until smooth. Use about 2 t of batter to make each cookie and place 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes. Cool on sheets a few minutes and then move to racks. Cookies will crisp as they cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar once completely cool.
Sometimes it’s the simplest things – and that is the case of this ‘recipe’. By adding a dusting of powdered sugar to already sweet fruit, you get a super taste sensation that the kids will gobble up. Try serving with some yogurt for a great breakfast.
Cantaloupe and Strawberries
4 servings
92 calories per serving
2 c strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 T powdered sugar
1 cantaloupe, seeds removed and cut into chunks or made into balls
This is a great side to ham and other pork dishes. It’s sweet, but not too sweet and the grilling brings out all the great pineapple flavor – it’s pineapple to the 10th degree ! 🙂
Grilled Pineapple
4 servings (2 slices per serving)
123 calories per serving
1 small fresh pineapple, peeled and cored – about 8 slices
(most supermarkets have fresh pineapple already peeled and sliced available in the produce section near the fruit salads)
Cinnamon
Heat grill or a grill pan on medium. Spray with Pam. Heat pineapple in the grill until light brown, about 10-15 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with cinnamon so it ‘melts’ in.
Basil is in the mint family – don’t let its addition to a dessert throw you – but if you can’t get past it, then just substitute mint instead. But whatever you do, don’t skip this recipe – it is a FANTASTIC summer dessert.
Lime Basil Sorbet
8 servings
220 calories per serving
1 ½ c sugar
2 c lime juice (about 20 small limes)
½ c light corn syrup
¾ c basil leaves, chopped
2 c water
1 T grated lime zest
Mix sugar, 1 c juice and syrup and cook for 2 minutes to melt sugar then add the basil or mint and remove from heat. Pour into a metal bowl (mixture will cool quicker) and add rest of the juice, water and the zest. Cover and chill completely. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions then move to your freezer for an hour or so. If you don’t eat it right away, then defrost 10 minutes or so before eating.
There are lots of pudding pie recipes out there, but this one is my favorite because it has a bit of everything – bananas, chocolate, shipped topping, peanut butter, nuts – this is decadence at its best 🙂 High on the calories, but still under 400 and if it’s your only snack of the day along with other 400 calories meals, then definitely allowed !
My Favorite Pudding Pie
10 servings
357 calories per serving
1 Nilla Pie Crust (pre-prepared pie crust made with Nilla wafers – much like a graham crust)
1 1/2 squares Bakers semi sweet chocolate
1/2 c peanut butter
2 bananas, cut lengthwise in half, then make long thin slices
1 3.4 oz. pack of sugar free vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 c skim milk
2 c Lite Cool Whip
2 T salted peanuts, chopped
Take half of one chocolate square and grate it with a coarse cheese grater to make chocolate flakes for the top of the pie. Take the rest of the chocolate and microwave 1 minute then add the peanut butter and microwave for another minute, until completely melted. Put banana pieces in the crust and add the chocolate mix. Whisk pudding and milk for 2 minutes and then fold in 1 c of the Cool Whip and spread over the bananas. Spread the rest of the Cool Whip on top and then garnish with peanuts and chocolate flakes.
You can’t imagine my pleasure at biting into a ‘healthy’ cookie and being so blown away by the flavor and texture ! These cookies are incredibly good. And with no added fat or salt, no preservatives, and no cholesterol, you just can’t find a reason to say ‘no’. Believe me, that’s a good thing.
Almondina
The first thing you notice when you bite into these great cookies is the perfect texture. Not so hard like a traditional biscotti that you break your teeth if you don’t dunk them, yet not soft or crumbly. These are perfect. They are much like a thin cross section piece of a traditional biscotti. But I believe the texture and the flavor are superior.
These thin, light, crunchy cookies come in many flavors – one is better than the next. They are great for entertaining. But there is no reason to not ‘indulge’ (and I put that in quotes because you can barely consider this an indulgence considering there is no guilt!) all the time – no cholesterol, all natural and ONLY 99 CALORIES for 3 cookies (original and bran).
Almondina
Like all the best recipes, this one was Grandma’s secret recipe until the end of her life. We are so glad Zaliouk has made them available for us all. Try all the great flavors – original, sesame, cinnaroma, bran treats, gingerspice, pumpkin spice, choconut and chocolate cherry. Each is packed with nuts and full of flavor. I think my favorite is chocolate cherry, though the original keep calling me back to the package 🙂
Get your ALMONDINA biscuits (named after Grandma Dina) now ! You can order online or they are available locally in most areas (I’ll be getting mine at Whole Foods and Trader Joes). Head on over to almondina.com for more information.
I recently got a Zoku Quick Pop Maker. BEST THING EVER ! I love making pops but hate the wait time. Now I have ‘em in 7-9 minutes 🙂 This is one of the recipes I pulled from the Zoku book – of course, I’ve tweaked many of the recipes to suit my own tastes, bring down calories, and to get creative with the pops, but some are in their original goodness.
The maker gets sooo cold that sometimes the first batch come out with a crackling motif on them – looks kinda cool !
You can make any of these recipes in traditional pop makers – each pop here is 2 oz. so adjust accordingly. And if you love pops like me, then do yourself a favor and get a Zoku 🙂
Butter Pecan Ice Pops
6 servings
178 calories per serving
¾ c pecan halves
½ T salted butter
1 T brown sugar
¾ c water
2 ½ oz. butterscotch morsels
½ c half and half
½ t vanilla extract
Toast the pecans in a skillet with the butter and sugar. Cook about 3 minutes stirring often. Let nuts cool completely.
In a saucepan over low heat whisk water and butterscotch morsels and cook until melted, but don’t boil. Cool 10 minutes then stir in the half and half and vanilla and then refrigerate until completely cool, about 20 minutes. Whisk occasionally so that a skin does not form on top of the mixture.
Working in 2 batches – place approximately 6 pecan halves in each mold and then pour in the butterscotch mixture up to the fill line. In 7-9 minutes you’ll have rich, flavorful pops that rival the experience of butter pecan ice cream 🙂
If you are using traditional molds, freeze 6 hours.
Sweet, chewy, yummy Butterscotch Bars that the whole family will love !
Butterscotch Bars
36 servings
148 calories per serving
1 c packed brown sugar
5 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten
9 oz. flour
2 1/2 c quick oats
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
Pam
3/4 c fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 c butterscotch morsels
1/2 c finely chopped walnuts, toasted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar and butter with a mixer until light colored and then stir in egg and vanilla. Mix flour, oats, salt and baking soda then add this mix to the sugar mix stirring with a fork until combined. Spray a 13×9 baking dish with Pam and then take 3 c of the oat mix and press it into the pan making a crust. Heat morsels and condensed milk until morsels are all melted and then stir in nuts. Spread this mix over the crust and then sprinkle with the rest of the oat mix. Bake ½ hour or until golden brown. When it comes out of the oven, loosen the edges with a knife and then let cool completely before cutting into bars.
