I have been fooling around with recipe conversions in baking for as long as I can remember, substituting applesauce for oil, experimenting with sugar substitutes, adding pumpkin or other fruits or vegetables to recipes, using egg whites, etc.
My paternal grandmother was the quintessential home baker, and I always wanted to be her, except at a healthy weight. Granted, I bake mostly very simple things like bars, and crisps. Grandma Kate baked the most beautiful challahs, cookies, and coffee cakes. Her kitchen was like a little baking factory. I have experienced many successes as well as failures with my baking experiments, but today was a grand success and I wanted to share it with you. I know Grandma Kate is proud.
As you can see by my photo, I used peanut butter powder in place of creamy peanut butter, slashing the fat and calories (and WW points). I also used a low sugar fruit spread in place of regular jelly. I did also use Splenda brown sugar instead of regular brown sugar. I used the same measurements as called for in the recipe. I am blown away at how delicious and creamy and peanut buttery my blondies are. Please give this a try.
I want to call out another recent baking success – another recipe for you to try. No substitutes needed. This brownie recipe is written perfectly: https://www.skinnykitchen.com/recipes/tag/skinny-brownies/. These are delicious, and came out perfectly both times I made them in recent months.
This weekend I was invited to a rare event. One of my very best friends, whom I met in the 8th grade, graciously hosted a reunion party at his home last night. The guest list included people I had literally known since the first grade. Some of these girls were in my Brownie troop! I was both excited and nervous, but it turned out to be a love filled hug fest. I need to tip my cap to Facebook for this. FB gets a lot of guff these days, but for people like us, who have spread all over California, in this case, it really is a blessing. It brought us together so that we could reconnect in this phase of our lives.
I knew I needed a game plan with regard to the food situation. The host was bringing in Bar B Q from a well known restaurant in LA. I also knew that several guests were contributing vegetarian dishes, such as salads, Tabbouleh, homemade Hummus https://draxe.com/what-is-hummus/, and Baba Ganoush. Eggplant Parmesan and minestrone soup were also brought in by others.
I started the day with a healthy, hearty breakfast with my WW tribe after our 7:30 am workshop. Early afternoon I had a small lunch, but at about 3, I had another snack of low fat cottage cheese and apricots (protein & healthy carbs). I actually felt too full after that, but I did not want to go to that party hungry. In between, I went to the pool to water jog for about an hour. Besides the workout, it helped calm my nerves about seeing all of these people after so many years.
My game plan worked! I wasn’t starving by the time dinner was served, but I was ready to eat. I served myself small portions of the various vegetarian selections, and dodged the BBQ, as tempting as it was. I also indulged in a couple glasses of wine, and a small serving of a homemade cake for dessert, which was definitely worth it. I felt light, and on my toes the entire evening.
Pumpkin is not just for fall, you know. It’s a delicious low calorie fruit filled with fiber, minerals, and anti oxidant vitamins, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Canned pure pumpkin puree is available year round in super markets everywhere.
Cottage Cheese Muffins with Pumpkin (ingredients not shown: baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon)
First of all, since this was a test, I decided to just make half of the original recipe. Instead of a casserole, I thought that muffins would be more practical for me. I did a little arithmetic, and came up with the right ratio of cottage cheese to pumpkin. Here is my recipe:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Makes 6 muffins.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup cultured low fat cottage cheese (you can use the cottage cheese of your choice)
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tbsp gluten free baking flour (you can use any type of flour you like)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
about a 1/2 tsp each of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt to season.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Check them with a toothpick. Insert it, and if it comes out dry, they are ready. Remove from oven, and let cool so that they are easily removed from your muffin tin.
Notes: I did not use a sweetener. After tasting the final product, I feel that I would heat these up a little, and maybe drizzle a little low sugar or sugar free fruit jam to this before eating. I would also add a little vanilla to the recipe next time. I am going to eat these with breakfast or as a snack. They come out dry, like any muffin, so are easy to pack if you are on the go.
Thank you for stopping by. Your comments, critiques, and questions are always welcome.
Wishing you a great couple of weeks. I’m taking next week off, as I will be celebrating my birthday with friends and family next weekend! And when you hear from me again, I will be back meal prepping for the office. I’m going back to work!
Confessions of a Baby Boomer Mermaid 