Holiday Recipes - now with pictures of what I cooked

[phatgirl]

Was on a hunt around the internet for some holiday foods (low carb & low fat) & I found these recipes that I plan to make and thought I would share them with you all:

LOW CARB BROWNIES


[FONT=&quot]These are decadently dense, rich, and moist. And most importantly, they are low-carb.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]10 ounces (285 g) cream cheese, at room temperature[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]16 Tbsp (240 ml) unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]4 ounces (112 g) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]1/4 cup (60 ml) each Splenda and Canadian Sugar Twin or 1 cup (240 ml) Splenda[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]4 large eggs[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]2 tsp (10 ml) instant coffee granules[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]1-1/2 tsp (7.5 ml) pure vanilla extract[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]1-1/2 tsp (7.5 ml) pure chocolate extract (optional)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]1-1/2 cups (360 ml) almond meal (finely ground almonds)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]6 Tbsp (90 ml) Dutch-processed cocoa powder[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]1/4 tsp (1.2 ml) sea salt[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]1-1/2 tsp (7.5 ml) baking powder[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Preparation:[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 13 x 9-inch (32.5 x 22.5-cm) baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the chocolate and sweetener. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping the bowl well after each addition. Add the coffee and vanilla and chocolate extracts. Beat until combined.

In a medium bowl, mix the almond meal, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Add to the chocolate mixture and beat well. Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is firm. Cool on a wire rack before cutting. Store brownies covered, in the refrigerator.

Yield: 48 brownies

Per brownie. Effective carbohydrates: 1.5 g; Carbohydrates: 2.1 g; Fiber: 0.6 g; Protein: 2.1 g; Fat: 9.7 g; Calories: 99
Made with Splenda only: Add 0.3 g carbohydrates [/FONT]

 

[phatgirl]

[FONT=&quot]Holiday SUGAR FREE FUDGE!!!!

if you need a holiday treat try this recipe
for your fudge needs:

60 grams unsweetened chocolate
125 mils fat-free half & half
65 grams reduced-fat, all natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
100 mils artificial sugar (I like Splenda®)
65 grams dry roasted peanuts


In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate in fat-free
half & half.
Stir in peanut butter and stir until smooth, then remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla and artificial sweetner.
Fold in peanuts and spread onto non-stick 20cm×20cm pan or dish.
Refrigerate and cut into pieces.[/FONT]

 

[phatgirl]

[FONT=&quot]SUGAR FREE CRANBERRY RELISH [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ingredients:
1/2 cup cranberries
1 pkg sugar free jelly mix like Hartley’s ; in a berry flavour
water[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Directions:
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Rinse cranberries and cover with water. Simmer until soft and most of the liquid is cooked down. Stir and mash all cranberries to a pulp. It should have the consistency of mashed bananas. Add the package of jelly to the warm pulp and stir until dissolved. Add 190mils cold water, stir and refrigerate. When set, stir again to loosen the sauce.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This is very "sweet" so a little goes a long way.[/FONT]

 

[phatgirl]

[FONT=&quot]HEALTHY DEVILED EGGS
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Substituting yogurt for mayonnaise in classic deviled eggs brings this common buffet food to new heights. If you really want to get health-crazy, cook 18 eggs and replace six of the twelve yolks with six egg whites.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ingredients:
12 large eggs
125 mils plain fat-free yogurt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Dash of hot pepper sauce (Tabasco)
Pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon Paprika
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Chopped parsley for garnish[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]*optional: I add diced gerkins about 1tablespoon[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Directions:
Place eggs in a large saucepan and cover with water to 1” above the eggs. Bring water just to a boil. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 15 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold running water. Peel eggs and slice in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and place in a medium bowl. Discard 3 of the yolks. Set egg whites on a serving plate.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mash yolks with a fork. Stir in yogurt, mustard, hot pepper sauce and salt. Place 1 tablespoon yolk mixture in each egg white. Sprinkle with paprika, pepper and parsley. Chill for 1 hour.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]One-half of an egg is a serving: 38 calories, 1.8 grams fat, 3 grams protein and 1 gram carbohydrate. With that nutritional score I think a second serving is just fine.[/FONT]

 

[phatgirl]

[FONT=&quot]CRABMEAT CASSEROLE WITH ONIONS AND PARMESAN[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Oil cooking spray, 0.33 second spray, serving
1 tsp Margarine, 80% fat, unsalted
65 mils fresh chopped onion , finely
500 grams fresh crab meat , without shells and cartilage
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
4 egg whites , stiffly beaten (large)
2 tbsp Cheese, parmesan, fresh, grated [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Directions:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly spray a 22cm square casserole dish or baking pan with vegetable oil spray. In a small saucepan, melt the margarine over medium-high heat. Cook the onion 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the onion to a medium bowl. Stir in the crabmeat, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Slowly fold in the beaten egg whites. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish. Sprinkle the mixture with the cheese.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Bake for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cut into rectangles. Serve immediately.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5 Servings

Calories 127 Carbs 2.4g Tota[/FONT][FONT=&quot]l Fat 2.7g Protein 23.4g[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[phatgirl]

I tried roasted veg this weekend that I plan to serve for Christmas and it turned out lovely.

ROASTED VEG

Ingredients - use your own judgement on quantity for your family.

Veg - any veg you like but here is what I used:
Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped
Potaotes, left peel on & chopped
Carrots, peeled and chopped
Parsnips, peeled and chopped
Swede, peeled and chopped
Shallots, peeled and roughly chopped, still chunky

Seasoning:
Parsley, fresh & chopped fine
Coarse salt
Black Pepper
Thyme, dried

Fry oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees. Par boil all veg except shallots. Drain well and run cold water over them. Line a large baking tray with foil. Spray the foil with the fry oil. Put veg & shallots in the pan, and spray lightly with fry oil. Mix seasoning together and sprinkle 1/2 mixture over the veg. Bake for 1/2 an hour, stir the veg, spray on more fry oil, use last of seasoning mixture. Cook for 20-30 more mintutes or until tips of veg look crisp.

I made my serving of about 1/2 cup with only a small amount of potatoes. Was really lovely and I cad no problem with the crispy bits. The veg came out very light & soft.

 

[phatgirl]

Does anyone have a holiday fav they have adapted to be more wls friendly? Please post them here if you do, I am always looking to try something new.

 

[phatgirl]

Just posted this elsewhere but thought it belonged here also. And I wanted to check in with everyone, does anyone have a holiday recipe to add?

I stole this one from the internet, not tried it myself but it sounds good.

Fat & Sugar Free Fruit Cake

12 oz Mixed dried fruit (i vary this depending on whats in the cupboard)
1 mug of hot strong black tea

Put the fruit in a bowl, pour over the hot tea & leave for a few hours or overnight.

to the fruit mixture add

1 large egg
1 teasp Bicarbonate of soda
8 oz SR flour
1 oz Candarel powdered sweetener

fold these into the fruit, pour into a greased & lined loaf tin. Cook for 45-60 mins at 180, or until a skewer comes out clean.

I as an RNYer can eat this, so does my Dad who's Diabetic, it uses candarel or the equivalent shops own powdered sweetener.

It is really nice, sort of an adaptation of a Bara Brith Recipe, it was trial & error, but the same cake with sugar uses 8 oz of soft light brown sugar.

It is honestly impossible to tell it is sugar & fat (apart from the egg & butter to grease tin) free!!

i have given this recipe to several diabetic friends who regularly make it.

Enjoy!!

ps, really nice with butter on it but that kinda defeats the point!!

 

[phatgirl]

Here is another one I 'stole' but it looks soooo good!

[FONT=&quot]Baked Apple Dumplings[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
One 240g can Sara Lee® refrigerated croissants
500 mils Splenda granulated
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and halved
250 mils butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 20 by 25 cm baking dish or use a shallow foil pan. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Unroll croissants without pulling apart the triangles, flatten slightly with a rolling pin and cut into 8 rectangles.

Blend 125 mils Splenda and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a small dish.

Place 1 teaspoon of this mixture on a dough piece; top with an apple half and wrap the dough around the apple pinching the seams to enclose.

Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Neatness does [FONT=&quot]not[/FONT] count.

Combine the remaining Splenda, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla with 250 mils of water in a small saucepan and heat on medium high until butter melts and a thin smooth syrup forms. Pour the syrup over the dumplings.

Bake uncovered at 175° for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 8 dumplings Per serving: calories 165, fat 6g, carbs 13g, protein 2g[/FONT]

 

[phatgirl]

Found this recipe & I think I will make them, seems more like Christmas with fresh baked cookies**************
Cream Cheese Cookies
The dough is tender and flaky and the sweet tart filling is perfect. Don’t let the short ingredient list throw you; they taste out of this world.

4 ounces cream cheese
113g butter
128g of flour, plus additional for rolling
1/4 teaspoon salt
Weight Watcher’s Jam (I bought black currant at Tesco’s)

Blend the cream cheese and butter.

Add flour and salt then blend until flour is completely incorporated.

Gather dough into a smooth ball, cover with plastic wrap and chill 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees.

Lightly dust counter with flour and roll out 1/2 of the dough to 1/8 inch thickness and carefully cut into 2-inch squares, saving scraps to re-roll.

Blend jar of preserves with a spoon so it is a smooth consistency.

Place a 1/4 teaspoon dab of preserves in the center of each square. Fold over two opposite corners of square to the middle, overlapping slightly and pressing so they stick together and jam squishes out a bit. After folding each cookie, transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.

Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are barely golden brown. Gently press any overlapped corners down that have opened while baking.

Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.

When cookies are cool, place an additional small dab of apricot preserves on each side of the folded cookie.
Makes about 30 cookies.

Per cookie calories 35 , fat 3g, carbs 2g

 

[phatgirl]

I lifted this from another thread I posted on but thought I would add it here just if you missed it:

It is just me & my husband for christmas so I am doing a non-traditional dinner. We do ours at night & have appetizers during the day. I will cook all of this on Christmas Eve & we will eat it through Boxing Day. Mind you my portions will be very tiny.

Appetizers:
Shrimp with mustard dip
Healthy deviled eggs
Raw veg with spicy yogurt dip
Sausage balls (my one indulgence that I plan, store bought and all)

Dinner:
Marinated pork loin w/creamy sauce
Roasted winter veg
Spiced whipped sweet potatoes w/toasted pecans
Sugar-free cranberry sauce

Sweets:
Cream Cheese Cookies
Fresh Fruit Parfait or
Sugar-free Apple dumplings (haven't decided)
Might make some sugar-free fudge, we'll see

SOME MORE RECIPES:
_________________________________
Marinated Pork Loin

Ingredients:

• 1360 g lean pork tenderloin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red onion, minced
• 15 g finely chopped fresh parsley
• 45 ml Dijon mustard
• 80 ml dry white wine
• 60 ml plain yogurt low-fat or fat free
• 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 g salt
• 2 g freshly ground black pepper
• 2 g crushed red pepper flakes
• 0.8 g dried oregano
• 0.4 g dried basil
• 0.7 g dried thyme
• 1.5 cubes chicken bouillon, crushed
• 45 ml fresh lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
2. Place the pork tenderloin in a deep baking dish. Mix together the garlic, onion, parsley, mustard, wine, yogurt, olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, thyme, bouillon, and lemon juice in a bowl; pour over the pork. Cover the entire dish with aluminum foil.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until internal temperature has reached 70 degrees C, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
4. Remove the tenderloin from the dish and cover with aluminum foil on a cutting board. Allow to rest for 20 minutes before slicing. Reserve the sauce from the dish and serve on the side. You can make it more of a proper sauce by adding a little more yogurt.

_______________________________________
This is a simple recipe that can be made in minutes and adjusted to your fav spice:

Simple Spicy Yogurt Dip

2 tsp chopped chipotle chillies (without seeds unless you want your eyes to water!)
200ml/7fl oz non-fat yogurt (fage greek style) Squeeze of lemon or lime juice
¼ red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Cajun spice seasoning (very hot), or Indian seasoning (medium hot) or Caribbean seasoning (mildly hot)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chill for 1 hour before serving.

 

[phatgirl]

Here is some food 'porn' from christmas dinner:

Salami & low-fat cream cheese roll-ups
(top left you can see the spicy mustard dip I made for the prawns)

Here is my Spicy Yogurt dip w/veggies

The main event (right side me & left Mr.PG)

Roast pork tenderloin with creamy wine & dijon sauce, roasted veg & candied sweet potatos with pecans
(I was able to manage less than half of this serving and I was stuffed!!!)

 

[phatgirl]

Here is the afters:

Cream Cheese Cookies made with WW Blackcurrant Jam

Fruit parfaits made with summer berries & Cheesecake flavored custard

 

[shelbell]

Looks lovely Nic

 

[phatgirl]

Thanks Shel, I really enjoyed cooking it all and was proud of my 'healthy options' for the holidays. I was worried that I would not love cooking like I used to once I had the surgery but that really isn't the case. I put the pictures up becuase I wanted to show people how 'normal' the healthy options could look and you really can't tell!

 

[waynetta]

Yummmmmmy! It all looks really nice....my mouth is watering. x

 

[phatgirl]

Low-carb Gingerbread Men

Low-carb Gingerbread Men

Cook time: 15 minutes

Makes: 12 gingerbread men
Prep time: 15 minutes plus chilling time



Ingredients
• 75g (2 ¾ oz) polyunsaturated margarine
• 75g (2 ¾ oz) SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend
• 1 egg, beaten
• 200g (7 oz) spelt wheat flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1tbsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground allspice



Method
1. Place the maragrine and SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg.
2. Sift together the remaining ingredients and add to the bowl. Mix to a stiff dough, cover and chill for 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / fan over 160°C and line 2 baking sheets with non-stick parchment. Roll out the dough to approx 5mm (1/4 in) and mark out shapes with a cutter. Transfer to the baking sheets and cook for 15-20 minutes until beginning to brown around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes on the trays and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.



*optional, press in sultanas as eyes and buttons or decorate with a low-fat cream cheese and splenda icing, you can add food color to the icing to make it festive.

 

[rybens]

Thanks for the gingerbread men recipe nic , my kids love em and the wanted to make gingerbread christmas trees this week so ill give that a go x

 

[Fashionably Late]

All of these recipes look so wonderful! I will definitely have to give them a try.

 

[Mark01/05/2009]

Fantastic thread Nic! x