Adding Flavor and Excitement to a Decent Weight Loss Program

I'm working on losing some weight through the HMR program. I like the clear way this is set up, and the limitations and ease of use on this diet, but sometimes I DO want to spend a little more time on my food prep, so I can try some new flavors. I'm keeping track of these recipes that I use on the 2 + 3 + 5 diet plan. I'm allowed up to 15 calories of additional ingredient per serving. I've been experimenting over the summer, and I'm starting to post these, so I don't forget some of the successes and failures. Mostly, these will be shake recipes, but I have a few vegetable and fruit serving ideas as well. I decided to post them as a blog, so others can share these ideas, and maybe post a few new ideas as well.
Showing posts with label maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maintenance. Show all posts

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Rhubarb Strawberry Dessert

I'm adding some long overdue recipes to this blog. First off, I'm busy baking a rhubarb strawberry dessert. It's like a cobbler or crumble, except the amount of topping has been cut way down from the original recipe. Here it is, with the nutrition information alongside it.



Preheat over to 375 and spray a 10 by 5 glass baking dish with cooking spray.
Combine cut up rhubarb, quartered strawberries, flour and Truvia baking blend in a bowl. Stir to combine well. Turn into greased baking dish. Combine brown sugar, rolled oats (that's regular oatmeal) and whole wheat flour in a small bowl. Mix well. (I use clean fingers to get it combined and to break up the brown sugar.) Drizzle in the vegetable oil and combine thoroughly. Sprinkle the oat combination evenly on the fruit. Bake at 375 for 30 - 40 minutes. Let cool. (This will thicken as it cools.) Cut in six pieces and serve with a really thick vanilla shake instead of ice cream or whipped topping.


The original recipe I modified this from had 305 calories per serving. The biggest changes were:

1. Doubling the amount of strawberries, thus bulking up on fruit to make up for less topping.

2. Using 1/2 cup Truvia baking blend instead of 1 cup sugar in the fruit portion.

3. Cutting the amount of topping by 1/3. Changing the ratio of sugar to oats from equal portions of each to 3 oats to 1 sugar proportions.

4. Taking out 1/4 cup butter and using 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil instead in the topping.

5. Serving this with a thick vanilla shake instead of ice cream is also a really good modification.

I have had to make a change so it thickens up better. Put 2 tablespoons of flour in the fruit and sugar mixture. Then, leave flour out of the topping.  This keeps the calorie count the same, but the dessert can be eaten while it's still warm, and will be thicker.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

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.