Raspberry Pear Shake

I love fresh pears. I often make a nice spiced pear dessert for Thanksgiving, but this is a great shake that lets me buy pears in season, and then splurge on the raspberries, since I don't need many of them. The pears really thicken this one, and it is almost like soft serve ice cream.

1 pear, quartered and cored. (I leave the skin on, but it does add a bit of extra texture.)

10 fresh raspberries (or 1/4 cup frozen.)

1 scoop vanilla powder

6 oz. water

6 - 10 ice cubes.

Add the raspberries and pears to water in the blender as it is running. When they are liquified, add vanilla shake powder. Add ice cubes until it is at a good consistency for you. This makes a nice tall shake.

Pear Caramel Shake

New crop of pears, new purchase of caramel syrup. New shake flavor for me. The pears really thicken this one up nicely.

1 pear, quartered and cored. (I leave the skin on, but it does add a bit of extra texture.)

1 - 2 tablespoons caramel flavoring (Da Vinci is my new brand.)

1 scoop vanilla powder

6 oz. water

6 - 10 ice cubes.

Add the caramel and pears to water in the blender as it is running. When the pears are liquified, add vanilla shake powder. Add ice cubes until it is at a good consistency for you. This makes a nice tall shake.

Cream of Broccoli Soup - Second Kind

This cream of broccoli soup has a secret ingredient - cauliflower. The immersion blender really helps make this a thick, hearty soup. I've also started using nonfat milk powder & chicken boullion granules instead of the HMR chicken soup for recipes. Cost is the big factor, here. If you want to keep it 'in the box' use the chicken soup mix.

1 stalk broccoli

1/4 head cauliflower

2 cups water

1 teaspoon dried diced onion

1 tablespoon chicken boullion  and 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup nonfat milk powder (or 1 pack of chicken soup mix instead.)

1/4 additional cup cold water


Wash and cut broccoli & cauliflower into small florets. Add the broccoli to the water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes. Gently remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon. Add cauliflower and onions to the water, and cook, covered, until very soft. (About 20 minutes.) Using your immersion blender, blend the cauliflower and onions to a smooth consistency. In a separate bowl or cup,
to 1/4 cup cold water, add the boullion and milk powder or pack of chicken soup mix. Whisk until blended. Temper this with a few tablespoons of hot mixture from the saucepan, stirring after each addition. Add the tempered soup mixture to the saucepan along with the cooked broccoli. Stir and heat through. Add hot water if it is too thick. This is very easy to double, and is good as a leftover.

Chocolate Cherry Shake

This is an easy shake to make. It is almost as simple as the basic shake. Although I prefer 'real' flavors, this is ok for a winter time occasional break from the ordinary.

2 tablespoons cherry snow cone flavoring syrup

4 oz. water

1 scoop or envelope of chocolate shake powder

8 - 10 ice cubes

Make this the same way you make a basic chocolate shake, except add the flavoring syrup right away with the water. Add shake powder and ice cubes as usual.

Root Beer Float Shake

The second snow cone flavor I found was sugar-free root beer flavor. This makes a reasonably tasty root beer float flavor with the vanilla shake powder. I added a generous amount of flavoring, and it really was a root beer float flavor. I wonder if a half a can of diet root beer instead of the water and flavoring would give me the same result. I'll check that out, too, when the opportunity presents itself, and get back on that one.

2 tablespoons root beer flavoring

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

4 oz. water

8 - 10 ice cubes

Make the shake as usual, except, add the root beer flavoring with the water right at the beginning of the process.

Cherry Cheesecake Shake

This is the result of a shopping trip through the 'end of season' aisle at Shopko. Along with the snow cone and ice cream makers were the syrups that are used for making those things. There were 2 different kinds of sugar free syrups, including cherry flavor. They were half priced on clearance, so I decided to experiment. These syrups are pretty good. They aren't as strong or intense in flavor as the higher priced coffee syrups, but they are just fine for this type of shake. I used 2 tablespoons of this, rather than the 1 tablespoon or less I use of the Italian syrups.

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

4 oz. water

8 - 10 ice cubes

2 teaspoons jello cheesecake flavored SF, FF pudding powder

2 tablespoons cherry snow cone syrup

Add water and flavoring syrup to blender container. Start blending and add vanilla shake powder. Add cheesecake powder. Add ice cubes a couple at a time, and continue blending until the shake is the consistency you want.

Peach Melba, HMR Style

I am now moving into processed fruits and vegetable mode. Although I love fresh produce, I have to balance that with the cost to our family as well as the true cost of transporting fresh fruit and veggies from wherever it isn't snowing. I am using canned peaches and frozen raspberries for the fruit component of this Peach Melba dessert, and substituting the vanilla HMR shake for ice cream. This recipe makes two servings.

1 can of canned peaches in pear juice. Reserve 4 tablespoons of pear juice for making raspberry sauce

1/4 cup frozen raspberries (Fresh can also be used.)

1 teaspoon SF/FF raspberry jello mix. 

1 scoop vanilla HMR powder (I use the 120)

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

4 oz. cold water

10 - 12 ice cubes

2 teaspoons vanilla pudding powder, sugar & fat free (optional, for thicker texture)

Make the raspberry sauce first. Put the raspberries into a small saucepan, and crush them up. Add reserved juice from the canned peaches. Stir while heating. When they come to a light boil, add jello powder and stir to disolve.  Allow this mixture to cool while you make the rest of the dessert. Make the vanilla shake as usual, except add additional vanilla flavoring, and use less water and more ice cubes than usual. Add pudding mix if a thicker texture is preferred. Texture should be spoonable. Put about half of the vanilla shake into each small dessert bowl. Place 2 peach halves or 4 peach slices into the dessert bowl. Drizzle raspberry sauce over peaches and vanilla dessert, and eat immediately.

Legal Vegetable Soup

I really like soup. I especially like to find things that I think will go together well, and create my own homemade soup. In the past, that usually included doing things like sauteing onions in butter and adding cream, or oil or sausage. Well, I know I can't do THAT on this diet, so here's a cream, meat & butter free soup that is actually quite satisfying, but still fits into the guidelines of the 'at home' HMR diet. This makes a big pot of soup. I ate about two cups of soup, and figured out that it is between 120 & 140 calories for that size serving. It uses mostly canned and frozen ingredients, so it is fairly high in sodium, but that's not a terrible drawback for me, since my blood pressure is normal. I won't be eating this every day, and I think that's the balancing act everyone has to perform in healthy eating. If I had left out the garbanzo beans, it would have come in at about 100 calories per 2 cup serving, and if I'd eat the soup that way as an accompaniment to an entree, using 1 cup as my serving size, I could get it down to 45 - 50 calories. My family ate it with me, and even thought it was 'pretty good.'

1 Quart canned tomato juice (I thought about V8, but the tomato was on sale at the grocery store)

1 lb. frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup frozen seasoning mix vegetables (onions, peppers, parsley, celery)

1 tablespoon 'Better than Bullion' seasoning OR two cups worth of vegetable bullion

2 small or 1 large potato, cut into bite size cubes

Additional seasoning greens- parsley & basil were used, but dill, oregano, cilantro sage or whatever you like could be added or substituted

1 can drained garbanzo beans (black beans can be substituted for a dash of color if you prefer.)

1 - 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 to 2 cups additional water

Using a large soup pot, place the pot on medium high heat. Add and stir around the seasoning vegetables until they begin to brown, or until they begin to stick to the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients, stirring between each addition. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn down the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about an hour, or until potatoes are done.

Hot Chai, HMR Style

One of my favorite hot drinks is this vanilla chai. It's made quite simply with my Keurig brewer and the blender. It's also easy to make if you just wish to use a chai teabag, and hot water for the basic liquid. I use an 8 - 9 ounce cup of liquid for this and all of my hot drinks, since the ice cubes are not added to bring up the volume of liquid. I warm this for about 30 seconds in the microwave, but if you are using freshly brewed tea, it's not necessary unless you really like your tea piping hot.

1 cup (8 - 9 ounces) freshly brewed chai tea.

1 scoop vanilla HMR shake powder

Pour tea into blender. loosely cover, and run on low speed for a few seconds. Raise cover to add vanilla powder carefully. Add powder while still blending on low. Recover, and turn speed to medium or high. Pour into a tall mug and enjoy.

Success! Lemon Lime Shake

After several tries with jello and juice, I've finally gotten a good lemon lime shake. It's not yet a key lime pie flavor, but at least I'm past the curdled texture of previous attempts at citrus flavors.

1 or 2 envelopes of 'True Lime"

1 envelope of Truvia

1Tablespoon of lemon flavored pudding mix, sugar free & fat free

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

6 oz. water

8 - 10 ice cubes

Put water, Truvia and True Lime into blender. Stir on low speed. Add vanilla powder and lemon pudding mix. Add ice cubes one at a time until your desired consistency is reached. Since this has a pudding ingredient, it will thicken quite quickly. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy.

Baked Apples

There are lots of ways to eat apples. Here is one of the ways I like to make them so they can be part of a fancy meal. I have used Cortlands, Macintosh, Jonathans, and unidentified apples from a tree that a lady at church has. All are good. The Macs get a little mushy, but all of them taste great. Here's the recipe:

1 apple

1 tablespoon water

1/2 to 1 envelope Truvia

1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice (or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg & allspice that you like.)

5 - 6 raisins

Wash and core the apple, and place it in a small bowl. I use a little glass apple dumpling bowl that I got from my mother. Pour the water over it. Then sprinkle on the Truvia and apple pie spice. Finally, put the raisins in the cup. I like putting a couple on top of the apple, and the rest in the core area, so they get a little plump from the water. Microwave on high for a minute and a half. If you like a softer apple, cook longer; for a firmer apple, cook for a shorter time.

This is not the apple dumpling bowl. As far as I remember, it is a dip container 

from an old chip and dip combo set I received . It works great, though!

What Doesn't Work

I've been doing fine on phase 1 of the diet. I've been kind of busy lately, so I haven't had as much time to experiment. I use the recipes I have been used to, and even just drinking plain vanilla shakes.

In my graduate work, I remember a professor reminding us that, while it's important to share the ideas that DO work, it's also important to share the ideas that DON'T work. In that spirit, here are some of the things that didn't work out so well for me:

1. Dry gelatin mix. I tried cherry jello mix with cheese cake pudding mix to create what I thought would be a cherry cheesecake flavor. The flavor was great, but the gritty texture was really unpleasant. Then, since I'm either an optimist or a person who doesn't learn from my mistakes, I tried the same dry gelatin mix idea to try to make a 'Key Lime Pie' flavor. Still gritty.

2. Lemon juice or lime juice. Still determined to get that key lime pie, I used some bottled lime juice. I think I used too much, and got a very sour shake. When I set it aside to get some sweetener, the whole shake curdled. I believe that's the only time I just gave up and threw the whole shake away. It was just plain gross.

3. Mixing flavors of HMR entree meals. I know it's supposed to work, but I think I'll just stick with one meal at a time. I only eat two entrees a day, anyway. I'd rather spread them out between two meals.

There are the big three. I'm sure there are more that I could share, but I'll save those for another day when I am out of fresh inspiration for new ideas that DO work.

Hot Carmel Chocolate

This is really easy to whip up with a packet of the Chocolate HMR 500. Although I don't like the clean-up associated with using a blender, I do like the frothy, light texture that it gives to hot drinks. I use caramel sugar free flavoring with this, but I think any favorite flavor would work. Try it with almond, vanilla and hazelnut flavored sugar free flavorings. Those flavors are generally available in the coffee section of larger grocery stores, and additional flavors are available online through many vendors.

1 packet or scoop chocolate shake powder

8 oz. room temperature water

1 Tablespoon sugar free caramel coffee syrup

Add syrup to water in blender container. Cover, and turn blender to low speed. As blender runs, slightly open blender and add chocolate powder to the mixture. Recover blender, and run at medium speed until frothy. pour into tall mug, and warm in microwave for 30 seconds to a minute. (50 seconds is perfect for me) Your drink will overflow the cup if you allow it to get too hot. 

Pumpkin Creme - Another Great Hot Drink

I always think of the 'pumpkin juice' from the Harry Potter books when I make this. It is borrowed & then changed from one of the HMR recipe sites. On that site, this is a cold shake. In my remake of the classic, I drink it hot. I tried it without the sweetener and even though I usually get along fine with things that are less sweet, this drink can use the extra touch of Truvia. I'm also not particularly accurate on the measurements, so change it up as you like for your own taste.

7 - 8 oz cool water

2 heaping tablespoons of canned pumpkin

1/2 to 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 scoop vanilla powder

1/2 to 1 packet Truvia or other artificial sweetener

Put water into blender. Add pumpkin and spice. Blend on low speed until mixed. Add sweetener and vanilla powder. Blend on medium speed until frothy. Stop blender and pour drink into large mug. Heat in microwave until warm, about 50 seconds to a minute. Do not overheat.

Simple Salsa - Summer Memories

This is a great vegetable dish. No oils, sugars or dressings are needed beyond lime juice and salt, making it a low calorie accompaniment for anyone, particularly the HMR dieter.  I enjoy fresh vegetables in season. I probably won't make this again until next summer, but I can at least put the picture up to remind me of how tasty it is.

2 tomatoes

2 bell peppers

1 or 2 banana peppers (optional)

1 small onion

1/2 bunch cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice (I use bottled unless limes are really cheap)

1/2 can corn kernels, drained

1/2 can black beans, drained

salt

Chop all fresh vegetables to pieces the size of your little fingernail into a large bowl. Chop cilantro leaves into very small bits with a kitchen shears. Add to bowl. Add drained corn and black beans. Add salt to taste. If I am making it to last for a few meals, I wait to add the salt until just before eating. This keeps the vegetables from getting soft while it sits in the fridge. This recipe is very easy to double, and has hundreds of variations. Different kinds of tomatoes or peppers or additional garden vegetables will change the flavor.

Time for Hot Drinks! "Almond Joy" Cocoa Cream

While drinking my evening shake a couple of nights ago, I decided that a nice, warm drink before bedtime would be a welcome change at this time of the year. I looked up 'Hot Beverages' in my HMR Recipe Booklet, and found some good choices. I have, of course, done some variations that are quite tasty. I started out mixing my hot drinks with a fork, but found that the blenderizing makes a frothier drink, with fewer clumps of unmixed powder. (of course) I also like it better if I blend first, then gently heat in the microwave just to drinking temperature. Here's a variation that's similar to the candy bar shake of this summer:

7 to 8 oz. cool water

1 scoop vanilla 120 powder

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Put water and extracts  in blender. Run blender on low speed, adding vanilla powder and cocoa to the blender as it runs. Turn speed up to medium, blending until frothy. Pour drink into tall mug, and heat in microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute. (My drink is perfect for me at 50 seconds.)

I personally find the chocolate powder too overpowering, and prefer the vanilla/cocoa combination. Chocoholics, however, may find the chocolate powder exactly what they crave. I also like the less sweet, faintly bitter flavor of this recipe, but my daughter thinks it tastes better with a half of a packet of Truvia. Obviously, do what you like to get it just right for your personal tastes.

Creamy Carrot Soup

Here is a recipe for carrot soup that has a few variations. This particular soup can be made a couple of ways, depending upon if you have the HMR chicken soup available or nonfat dry milk powder. I make this in tandem with the orange shake recipe, then put the finished soup in the fridge so I have it available to microwave for lunch. In the olden days, I used to make this with lots of butter and real half & half. The variation here is not quite as creamy, but using the immersion blender gives it a nice, smooth consistency, and I can live with that.

1 lb bag of baby carrots

1 small potato

1 onion, diced

6 to 10 basil leaves

2 tsp. "Better Than Bullion" vegetable stock

1 package HMR chilcken soup mix OR 2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk mix

1 small green pepper and parsley (both optional)

Peel and cut potato into 1 inch chunks. Add baby carrots and potatoes to 2 cups of water in a soup pan. Bring to a boil, then simmer until carrots are soft. Remove 6 -8 carrots, slice into rounds, and set aside. (At this point, I remove 6 additional carrots and 3/4 cup liquid for an orange shake if I want it.) Add onion and basil leaves. I have also added green pepper from the garden at this point, but that's optional. After all of the vegetables are very soft, remove a few pepper bits and larger onion pieces. Using the immersion blender, blend the remaining vegetables smooth. Add either the soup mix or nonfat dry milk to 1/2 cup of cool water, blending until smooth. Add this mixture and the vegetable stock to the soup, and heat, stirring well. You may wish to blend again after this step if you like your soup super smooth. Add reserved vegetables to the mix, and serve, or pack into a container for rewarming. Garnish with parsley.

Apple Pie & Ice Cream Shake

One of my favorite Fall flavors is apple. Since I may have any kind of fruit on this diet, I am sampling several apple varieties that are new to me. Incorporating apples into a shake, however, was a trickier business. The secret ingredient for this concoction is coconut extract. It gives a smooth, buttery flavor which gives the illusion of pie crust without the calories. I tried a couple of ways to make this using fresh apples, but I've fallen back on natural applesauce without sugar as the apple ingredient. Here's the recipe:

1 single serving natural applesauce (mine had apples and water as the only two ingredients)

1/4 teaspoon coconut flavoring

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 - 10 ice cubes

Add water, applesauce, cinnamon & coconut flavoring to blender container. Mix on low speed until ingredients are combined. Add vanilla shake powder and continue blending on medium speed. Add ice cubes, a couple at a time, until shake is the volume & consistency you like. Pour & serve.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I like soup, and I'm trying to stay within the boundaries of my HMR Phase 1 plan. That's 2 entrees, 3 shakes (or soup or hot cereal), and at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. I have gotten to kind of enjoy the chicken soup available on the plan, but I also wanted to use that soup as a base, and then see how I could change it up a bit. Here is my first attempt:

1 packet of chicken soup

1/2 cup tiny fresh broccoli florets, washed

1 teaspoon dehydrated onions, chopped

1/4 teaspoon chicken bullion granules (don't use if you're on a low sodium diet.)

pepper to taste

1 cup water, room temperature or warmer

Put the cup of warm water in a soup bowl. Add onions, and allow to sit for about five minutes. Add the tiny broccoli florets and microwave, lightly covered with waxed paper or a plate, for 3 to 4 minutes. Check broccoli for doneness. Continue to microwave in 1 minute intervals until broccoli is tender, and onions are rehydrated. Add water if it seems to be below 3/4 cup of water (or if you like a thinner consistency soup.) Add chicken bullion granules, stir to dissolve. Add chicken soup powder, and whisk until completely mixed. This is good to have with an entree when you feel like a special dinner. I like it as a first course, then lasagne and spinach or green beans, then a serving of fresh fruit salad or frozen berries with Truvia and a cup of decaf. Lots of variety, enough food to feel full, and no reason to feel like a food martyr.

Candy Bar Shake

This is a little like an Almond Joy bar. It's got lots of 'flavorings' in it, as opposed to natural foods, but sometimes that's what you've got to do. I decided to put a little chocolate pudding powder in, just to give it a thicker consistency that held together til the bottom of the glass, but it's not really absolutely necessary to get a tasty shake.

3/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon sugar free caramel syrup

1/2 teaspoon each almond extract and coconut flavoring

1 teaspoon chocolate pudding powder

1 scoop chocolate shake mix

8 - 10 ice cubes

Put water, caramel syrup and almond & coconut flavorings in the container of your blender. Blend on low speed. While blending, quickly add shake powder, then pudding powder to the mix. Turn blender speed to medium. Add ice cubes, one at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Pour into a large glass, and serve.

Blueberry Scones from Sarah

My daughter Sarah loves baking and experimenting. Here is a recipe that she thinks will be great for when I start introducing additional foods into my maintenance plan. Yes, I tried one for afternoon 'tea' last weekend, and it was wonderful. The texture is like a soft, thick pancake, and the blueberries added just the right amount of juiciness. She made this using whole grain flour, ground flax seed (we grind it in our coffee grinder to get a fine flour,) and substituting applesauce for oil. She found a recipe analyzer online, and according to that, this recipe makes 30 scones at 43 calories each.

1 tblsp ground flax seed
1 cup flour, All Purpose
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Truvia
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries
2 tsp blackberry jam

Combine dry ingredients. Add applesauce, egg, milk vanilla and blackberry jam. Stir. Fold in blueberries. Drop by heaping tablespoons on parchment paper lined baking sheet (mixture will spread, leave plenty of room between them.) Bake in a 375 degree oven for 13 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with coffee, tea or a glass of milk.

Blueberry Cheesecake Shake

At the farmer's market last Saturday, one of the sellers was selling blueberries. I didn't know blueberries were a September fruit, but apparently different varieties ripen at different times, and I'm getting the end of season blueberries just before cranberry harvest time. These berries are juicy, but rather tart, so after my daughter used some berries in her scones, I used a half a cup of berries in a shake. The cheesecake pudding mix in the shake is a good balance for the tartness of the berries, and really makes a delicious shake as a meal replacement, or as a dessert shake after a meal. This shake doesn't mix up totally smooth. The skins and tiny little seeds float around in the shake. (It doesn't bother me, but I know some people are sensitive about texture.) Here are the instructions:

1/2 cup washed, fresh blueberries

1 teaspoon sugar free, fat free instant cheesecake pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 - 10 ice cubes

With water in blender container, turn blender to low. Add blueberries and process until berries are liquified. Add vanilla shake powder and cheesecake pudding powder. Turn to medium speed, and add ice cubes one at a time until shake is desired thickness. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Mint Shake

A couple of posts ago, I introduced my Vanilla Mint Shake. Well, here's a different way to make a chocolate mint shake. It takes a bit more prep, but has a smoother, less 'wild' flavor. I'm using a mixture of spearmint and peppermint leaves for this, and lots of them, because this is really a kind of tisane, or herbal tea, which is then chilled and mixed into the chocolate shake. I don't think a lot of people can do this inexpensively, unless, like me, you're up to your eyeballs in mint, and you want to do something with it, besides rip it out of your garden. Here's the first part:

Tear or cut mint leaves from stems. (This is a good job to do while watching TV, or talking on the phone.) Gently rinse mint leaves, then stuff into a glass jar that has a screw-on lid. (Like a pickle jar or mason jar) Fill the jar full, and pack the leaves in as tightly as you can. In the meantime, boil water in a kettle. Add the boiling water to the mint leaves until the water level reaches 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Loosely set the cover on top of the jar, and let steep for an hour or so. Then, screw on the lid, shake it up, and refrigerate overnight. Within a day, you should have a greenish brown liquid and the leaves should be brownish colored. Drain and save the liquid, throw the leaves out. Refrigerate the mint liquid for up to 3 days. (Maybe more, but I haven't tried it.) This unsweetened mint tea can then be used to make a chocolate mint shake. Here's the recipe:

1 cup mint tea

1 scoop chocolate shake powder

8 to 10 ice cubes

Add the liquid to the blender container. While running on low, quickly add the chocolate powder. Turn power to medium, and add the ice cubes one at a time, until the shake is your desired consistency. Pour and enjoy.

Zucchini, Onions & Mushrooms

End of season for zucchini is sometimes a good thing. Still, I did like this dish, and I'll probably make it with store-bought zucchini as the winter approaches. I do it both with tomatoes and without tomatoes, so try it both ways to see which you like better.

2 - 3 small zucchini (or one big zuc with seeds and tough skin removed.) sliced in rounds

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1small can sliced mushrooms, undrained

2 or 3 roma tomatoes or 1 or 2 garden variety tomatoes (optional), cut into pieces, save juice

non-stick spray

1 tablespoon "Better Than Bullion" Vegetable Stock

Coat bottom of skillet with cooking spray. Turning heat to medium high, lay onion slices in a single layer into the pan. Cook until transparent, and push to the side. Lay zucchini slices in pan in single layer, and cook until soft. Onions should be starting to brown. Stir and cook until zucchini starts to brown. Add tomatoes (if using) with juice, vegetable stock and mushrooms. Cook on medium high, stirring often, until mushrooms are cooked through and liquid cooks down. Add pepper to taste. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

Vanilla Mint Shake

This is a shake that actually looks kind of odd, sort of like a grass milkshake would look, if you decided to try that. It is, however, very tasty, and if you're a fan of mint, it's great. I have huge spearmint plants overwhelming my herb garden right now, and I'm trying to use that mint without my usual quotient of sugar. This shake has a bit more 'bite' than, say, a shamrock shake, and a bit more complex mint taste - it's hard to describe. One thing to do when you prepare your mint leaves, is to use the smaller leaves, and to be sure that you've removed all stems. Also be sure to wash well in running cool water. I use a colander under the tap. I used almost a cup of mint leaves. It was a little overpowering. Next time, I'll use between 1/2 and 3/4 of a cup of fresh leaves. I don't know about the nutrient values of fresh mint, but it must have some health benefits, right? Anyway, here's the recipe.

1/2 to 1 cup fresh small mint leaves

3/4 cup water

1 scoop vanilla shake mix

8 to 10 ice cubes

Pour water into blender container. Add mint and process on low, then medium power until mint is liquified (I had to scrape down the sides a couple of times.) While running the blender on low, add vanilla powder. Turn blender to medium, and add ice cubes one at a time until desired volume and consistency is reached.

Mocha Supreme

I looked up the word "Mocha" online, and I discovered that it is actually a type of coffee bean from Africa. I love learning new stuff. Here I was, thinking that mocha was a blend of chocolate and coffee flavors. I guess a lot of other people think that too, including people at Starbucks and McDonald's. Here's a mocha flavored shake in the 'chocolate plus coffee' sense. I have a French press and a Keurig brewer. I think the French press will brew coffee stronger, so it is better for this shake, keeping the chocolate flavor of the shake mix from overwhelming the coffee flavor. It's a great single beverage, instead of bringing both a mug of coffee (for the caffeine) and a shake (for the nutrition) with you when you're running late to work. I brew a full 2 cup carafe of French press coffee in the morning on a weekend, pour a cup, let the press stand for an extra 10 minutes, or so, and then put the extra cup in the fridge, covered, to use on Monday morning in my shake. Here's the recipe:

1 cup coffee, cold

1 scoop chocolate shake mix

8 to 10 ice cubes

Put the cold coffee in the blender, set to stir. While blender is stirring, quickly add chocolate powder. Set blender to 'mix' (medium) and add ice cubes. 

Variations:

add a half teaspoon of almond extract OR cinnamon (not together, please) when you add the powder, or use your favorite flavored coffee.

Caramel Coffee Shake

This shake uses a great caramel flavoring that I originally bought for a coffee flavoring, but it translates really well to this shake. I've made this with both chocolate and vanilla flavor shake powders, and I prefer the vanilla flavor, but I can certainly enjoy either one. The flavoring syrup was purchased online, from a company called 'Coffee A.M.' over a year ago. They carry a different brand now. I've seen the Dolce online in other places, but I'll let you do the investigating yourself. Google 'dolce syrup' and you should be able to find it available at several online shops. A plain, strong coffee works well for this, and it works better if the coffee is chilled. The recipe as written calls for a tablespoon of caramel flavoring, but I have admittedly used more at times.  Here's the recipe:

1 cup cooled coffee

1 tablespoon sugar-free caramel flavoring

1 scoop either vanilla or chocolate shake powder.

8 - 10 ice cubes

Add the coffee to the blender container. Begin stirring at low power. Add the caramel flavoring and the shake powder. increase power to medium speed. Add ice cubes one at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Pour and enjoy.

Vanilla Chai Shake

I really like Chai. I have made my own spice mix for chai, and even have made it by using the time consuming method of heating whole milk and steeping the black tea and spices in a muslin bag in the milk, and adding copious amounts of sugar to the mix. Yum! This recipe admittedly doesn't have quite the heady aroma and fabulous flavor of authentic chai, but it's a good substitute when whole milk and cane sugar are not on the dietary list. This is a 'make ahead' recipe. If you can make the chai a couple of hours or even the night before, and then put it in the fridge to chill, your shake will be thicker, since cold ingredients whip up fluffier than hot ones. I make chai for this purpose in a couple of ways. Either using my Keurig brewer with a spiced chai pod, or a teabag of Bigelow Vanilla Chai in a cup of hot water work just fine. I don't add sugar, since the vanilla shake powder is sweet enough for me, but if you want, Truvia is a good sweetener with no calories. Here's the recipe:

1 cup prepared chai, preferably chilled

Vanilla HMR powder

8 - 10 ice cubes

Add the chai to the blender and begin blending on low speed. Add the vanilla powder, then increase the power to medium. Add the ice cubes one at a time, until your shake is the desired consistency.

End of Summer Chopped Salad

This is not a shake. This is a chopped salad that uses vegetables that are plentiful at the end of summer in Wisconsin. If you don't have your own tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley in abundance, they are fairly inexpensive at the farmer's market right now, or even at the grocery store. Make this about a half hour in advance of eating, so flavors can meld, and so that you get a bit of juice from the tomatoes and cucumbers. I like to make a couple of servings at a time, so I have it for lunch at work the next day. If you try to keep it more than 24 hours, it gets a little mushy, so make only enough for one or two meals at a time. Here's the recipe:

2 or 3 ripe tomatoes

2 slicing size cucumbers

4 to 8 stems of parsley (I prefer curled parsley to flat leaf parsley)

1/2 small onion

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste

7 or 8 medium mint leaves, well washed (optional)

Cut all vegetables directly into your serving bowl. Cut out top of tomatoes, and cut into quarters, then quarters into 3 or 4 pieces each.  Chop cucumbers into similar sized pieces, discarding large seeds if necessary. Using a kitchen shears, chop parsley leaves into bowl, discarding thick stems. Stack mint leaves, and cut into thin slivers into bowl. Finally, chop onion into bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice over all, add a few shakes of salt, and a couple of pepper, and stir well. Allow to marinade for a half hour before eating. This recipe is two meals worth for me, but as an accompaniment salad, it's probably about 4 servings.

Orange Delight

This one took a couple of tries to get right. Usually I drink it up anyway, because I'm cheap, and the HMR powder isn't. I think I have a good mix here, though - not too sweet, lots of flavor. My husband said it reminded him of an 'Orange Julius' shake from back about 25 years ago. My initial experiment was a little overzealous in the addition of both sweet potato AND carrots, along with the freshly peeled orange. It was just too heavy, and the sweet potato flavor was overwhelming. I also discovered that cooking carrots first makes them much easier to blend into the shake without burning out the blender motor, and still getting hard little carrot bits in your teeth. Cook up carrots the night before, peel and zest the orange, too. Then it's an easy morning shake before work. So, here's the recipe:

1/2 cup cooked baby carrots (either use some you've made for a previous meal, or cook them up in a bit of water in the microwave. If you cook them, then chill them IN THE COOKING WATER, I suspect there's higher nutritional value. Then, you can use the cooking water as part of the liquid.)

1 orange, peeled and sectioned - check for and discard seeds

optional 1/4 teaspoon of orange zest

3/4 cup liquid (baby carrot cooking water with additional water to make 3/4 cup)

1 scoop vanilla HMR shake powder

8 - 10 ice cubes

Start with the water. Add to the blender, and set to 'stir' (low power) add baby carrots and then orange sections a couple at a time.  Add orange zest, if you're using it. Add vanilla powder and increase blender speed to medium. Once the mixture is smooth, add the ice cubes one at a time, until desired consistency.

This is a great morning shake. I've done a breakfast of Orange Delight shake and a serving of the HMR multi-grain cereal to help me resist temptation at breakfast meetings. Then, I just drink a plain coffee at the meeting so I feel like I have something in front of me, but I can honestly say that I'm just too full to be very interested in doughnuts or pastries.

Black Cherry Cheesecake Shake

This is one of my favorite flavors. I'm kind of 'squeaking by' on the 15 calorie additions, here, and I had to go through a bit of nutrition fact gymnastics to figure this out, BUT, a teaspoon of the Jello SF,FF cheesecake pudding has about 17 calories in it. A single package of this dessert mix has the ability to make 6 shakes taste like delicious, creamy cheesecake. It will also change the consistency of a shake to something more like soft serve ice cream. THIS is how I manage to stay on a diet. (Now if only there was a magic bullet for getting me to continue to improve on my exercise minutes.) I also love black cherries. I tried to use SF, FF jello cherry gelatin for a straight 'cherry cheesecake' flavor, but there is a grainy texture when using gelatin powder that is a bit strange to me. I'm thinking of getting some of that sugar free cherry flavoring for snow cones to try for the cherry flavor. (It's on sale at the end of the summer.) Stay tuned for that. On to the recipe:

12 to 15 black cherries, washed, halved and pitted

1 teaspoon Jello SF, FF cheesecake flavored pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla HMR Shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 - 10 ice cubes, or a cup of crushed ice

Put the water and cherries into the blender, and mix until cherries are almost liquified. While still mixing, add vanilla shake powder. Then add cheesecake powder. Add ice cubes one at a time, or crushed ice slowly. With the pudding powder, the consistency gets very thick very quickly, so be aware that it becomes more difficult to mix. I turn my blender to high and use crushed ice to ensure that all of the ice gets crunched up. Use a rubber scraper to get all of the shake out of your blender. I use a spoon to eat mine, but it does melt a bit if left to stand at room temperature.

Tropical Breezes Shake

This is a mix of three tropical flavors that I enjoy: banana, pineapple and coconut. It is easy to make this shake year-round, because fresh bananas are available any time of the year. You'll need:

1/2 to 1 cup of pinapple (I use either a single serving container or take some from a can of pineapple packed in its own juice) either tidbits or crushed.

1/2 teaspoon of coconut flavoring (find this in a little bottle in the extracts and flavorings section of the baking/spices aisle of your grocery store.)

1 small or 1/2 large banana (broken into chunks)

1 scoop vanilla powder

3/4 cup cold water

8 to 10 ice cubes

I put the pineapple, juice and all, in the blender container with the water and the coconut flavoring, and process on 'mix' (medium speed) until the pineapple is almost liquified. Then, add the vanilla powder and

banana chunks. Continue mixing, until creamy consistency. While continuing to mix, add ice cubes one at a time. You may wish to increase the blender speed to insure that all ice is crushed. Pour into a glass, and enjoy!

(The photo shows pineapple in heavy syrup - PLEASE, use the kind 'in its own juice' instead - I purchased the wrong kind to replace my previous can.)

Peaches and Cream Shake

For this recipe I use:

1 ripe peach, cut into 4 to 8 pieces, skin on

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 to 10 ice cubes

Add water to the blender, and start at slow speed. Add the vanilla powder, then add the chunks of peaches, one at a time. Set the blender at a higher speed, and then add the ice cubes one at a time. I usually add at least 8 ice cubes, sometimes more. Pour and drink. This one often fills more than a 20 oz. glass, especially if you add lots of ice.

No picture for this one, yet. I'll have to start photographing my food before I eat it so those photos can be posted here.