Tag: Recipe

Recipes

Baked Cinnamon Apples

Nicole

This recipe is awesome!! It reminds me of Chili’s baked cinnamon apples, or even baked apple pie without the piecrust. I am not one who likes piecrust, so for me this recipe is wonderful. It would be excellent with vanilla ice cream. The smell in your house while this is baking makes it really hard not to sample it before the timer goes off. It’s simple and has a very nice end result. 5 Stars all the way!! This would be really great during the holidays.
Apple Filling:
  • 6 cups apples, peeled and sliced
  • 1/2 cup sugar (you could cut the sugar down to 1/4 if you don’t care for extra sweet)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (you could cut the sugar down to 1/4 if you don’t care for extra sweet)
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon butter melted
Directions:
  1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
  2. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish by lining it with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray. This will be helpful when it comes to clean up.
  3. With a peeler peel each apple, and core the apples
  4. Cut apples into 1/4’s then cut each 1/4 in half, then cut the cut those pieces into 1/3’s
  5. In a large zip bag place 1 tbsp. flour then add the apples, zip the bag up, and shake until the apples are covered in flour. It will be so light you won’t see the flour on the apples
  6. Add both sugars to the bag, then zip the bag up and shake well
  7. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg zip and shake well
  8. Add the lemon juice and melted butter, then zip and shake well
  9. In your prepared baking pan pour in the apple mixture from the zip bag, and spread out on the pan.
  10. Place in the 450 degree oven
  11. Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes to insure the apples don’t dry out and cook evenly.
  12. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. Serving warm is best.

Recipes

Yes Virginia, There Really is a Good Meatloaf

Nicole

Let’s get the facts straight right from the beginning … I HATE MEATLOAF! Well, until now! My family loves meat loaf, but never gets it, because I hate it! I finally decided to be nice and make it because I found a recipe that had such great reviews. 

This recipe was so easy to put together. I actually sat at the kitchen table with all of my ingredients and had it together in minutes. It comes out of the oven so juicy, and simply yummy. I have only had meatloaf a few times in the past, and it’s always very dry. You won’t have to worry about that with this recipe! 

One piece of information I will give you is that when you initally put it all together it seems very wet, but this is what keeps  it moist while it’s baking. This got rave reviews in my house … even from me! Original recipe
Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef 
  • 1 slice bread (broken or chopped finely)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 small vidalia onion or type sweet onion, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1/2-2/3 cup whole milk or half-and-half
Sauce:
  • 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2-4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (I used 3 tablespoons I will only use 1 1/2 – 2 next time)
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
Directions:
  1. Meatloaf: Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a loaf baking dish.
  2. Smooth out top.
  3. Sauce: Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meatloaf.
  4. Bake at 350°F about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until done

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Recipes

Taco Salad Redux (287 Calories)

Nicole

I love taco salad, but it’s easy to see that if I want to keep the calorie count down I have to make a few simple swaps then I can have a large filling salad for less than 300 calories.
Obviously it’s all in what you are willing to sacrifice, but one thing I am starting to realize is I am a creature of habit. I have put my taco salad together the same way each time I have made it, simply put because that’s just the way I have always done it. 
After leaving the items out that drive up the calorie count and making a few substitutes I realized I didn’t even miss the missing items! I enjoyed the taco salad without the high calorie content! I left out the tortilla chips I would normally line the bottom of my taco salad with, and substituted extra lettuce for a true salad. I don’t eat sour cream so I left that out but used fat free sour cream for my husband. I also used fat free cheese verses regular cheese! Talk about saving a ton of calories! I also doubled up on the vegetables to make the salad more filling!
My taco salad would have normally been many calories now it’s calories! That’s a huge redux!
Original Taco Salad:
  • 1/2 cup of taco meat 150 calories
  • 1 cups of Taylor organic greens 3.5 calories
  • 1/2 medium Roma tomato 17.5 calories
  • ¼ Kraft Cheddar Shredded cheese 110 Calories
  • 2Tbs Sour Cream 60 Calories
  • 3 Jumbo Black Olives Sliced 25 Calories
  • 10 Mission Tortilla Chip Yellow Rounds 140 Calories

Total Calories: 506


Taco Salad Redux:
  • 1/2 cup of taco meat 150 calories
  • 2 cups of Taylor organic greens 7 calories
  • 1 medium Roma tomato 35 calories
  • 2Tbs Fat Free Sour Cream 25 Calories
  • 3 Jumbo Black Olives Sliced 25 Calories
  • ¼ Kraft Fat Free Shredded Cheddar cheese 45 Calories

Total Calories: 287


The moral of the recipe redux is a total calorie savings of 219 calories! That’s equivalent to an extra meal or a great snack in calories! Take a look at the recipes you normally cook and you just might be surprised how many calories you can shave off your meal by just making a few substitutes that you won’t even notice!

Recipes

Vanilla Thrilla! Frappuccino Blended Coffee Drink (100 Calories) #coffee

Nicole

I was having a very bad craving for Starbucks last night, but unfortunately my diet calorie count will not allow for the Starbucks drinks I love. I rarely have an extra 350 plus calories to use on a coffee drink. I started looking around the net to find a drink I could have that would give me the same effect, but without all of the calories.


I came across this Hungry Girl Recipe and I had pretty much everything I needed and only had to do a few modifications. I flipped out over this recipe because it’s less than 100 calories and something I can have as a treat whenever I want! I don’t have to feel guilty for spending all of those calories much less spending all of the money.  This is a great recipe and it’s awesome knowing that it cost me pocket change to make verses what I would have normally spent at Starbucks! Thank you Hungry Girl!!


Ingredients: 
  • 5 oz. light vanilla soymilk (I used fat free milk)
  • 3 tsp. Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee-mate powder,  dissolved in 1 oz. warm water 
  • 1 flat tsp. instant coffee 
  • 1 oz. Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup
  • 3 packets Splenda (next time I will only use 2)
  • 1 cup ice; crushed 
  • 2 tbsp. Fat Free Reddi-wip (I used Cool whip free)


Directions: 

  1. Place all of the ingredients in blender, except for the Reddi-wip. 

  2. Blend on high speed until well blended. 
  3. Pour into a tall glass, and finish off with whipped topping. A vanilla dream!

Original Recipe

Recipes

Berry’s and Cream (64 Calorie)

Nicole

I have been occasionally consuming a 100 calorie pre packed snack pack here and there throughout my diet the last 2+ weeks. My cousin aptly pointed out to me that there are many other snacks out there that you can have that are 100 calories or less and also a lot more satisfying and better for you. 

With that being said I took her advice and conjured up this little ditty tonight to have with our dinner, and I must say, although it’s nothing fancy or special, it was really good, low in calories, and easy to make!
Ingredients:
  • 45 grams Fresh Strawberry’s sliced (14 calories)
  • 47 grams Fresh Blueberries (27 calories)
  • Cool Whip Fat Free 3 Tbsp. (23 calories)

Directions:

Place your fruit and cool whip in a bowl and fold those fruit into the cool whip. You can allow the berry’s and cream to sit in the refrigerator a bite to allow the flavors to mingle or you can eat immediately. Simple, Sweet, Cheap, and Low Calorie!

Calories Calculated on www.myfitnesspal.com