NC WLS Support Group Holiday Party in Raleigh Sat 12/18

We are getting together to share and celebrate Saturday, December 18. If you would like to join us, please go to www.meetup.com/nc-wls for details and to RSVP.

We will be bringing a WLS friendly snack to share and we'll be doing a white elephant gift exchange, limited to $5.00, if you want to participate. 

I hope to see you there!

 I actually think I will be able to make it. I am looking forward to meeting you.

Audra

Hi Audra,

I really hope you do make it. I'd love to meet you as well.

See you soon,

Great to see everyone today! Thanks so much for coming out and sharing... I cannot tell you all how much I appreciate your support today and throughout the year! 

Lemon Bars Recipe

Base Ingredients:
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup confectioner sugar (whey low or splenda, either will work equally well but if you want to cut a few calories, go with splenda)
• 1 stick light butter, melted

Lemon Filling:
• 4 eggs
• 1 ½ cup sugar (whey low or splenda, whey low granular works best in this step *)
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon extract (more less to taste)
• Powered sugar for dusting tops of bars (Highly recommend either whey low or ideal confectionary sugar **)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 2 cups flour and confectioners' sugar. Blend in the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the lemon juice and lemon extract. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until bars are set. If bars are not set at the end of baking time, reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
5. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.
6. Dust with powdered sugar.
The bars if cut into 32 bars, will average around 64 calories per bar if using all whey low sweetener. Using splenda where indicated will reduce calories by approximately 15 calories per bar.

* Whey Low white or gold can be found locally at Whole Foods. The powdered version is not in stores yet and must be ordered from the website at www.wheylow.com.

** Ideal Confectionary sugar is a blend of erythritol and corn starch. It is higher in carbs and calories because of the cornstarch but it works great as a powdered sugar. The erythitol by itself has no calories. It can be found near splenda in Food Lion.

Dalton,

I'm so glad that you are recovering well after your episode last month. You look great! I hope you feel as well as you look very soon. 

Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. I can't tell you how much I love lemon bars, but have steered clear of them until now. With this recipe, I can see an occasional lemon bar in my future. 

Have a healthy, happy holiday and we'll see ya'll in the new year. 

Love,

Protein Pudding Trifle (Makes at least 12 Servings but "your mileage may vary")  

2 boxes vanilla Sugar Free Instant Pudding
2 scoops Protein Powder
4 cups 1% Milk
4 cups sliced strawberries (sweetened with Spenda)
1 Large container Cool Whip (FF or SF)
2 small Murray Sugar Free Oatmeal cookies (crushed into crumbs)   Mix dry pudding with 2 scoops Protein Powder
Prepare pudding as directed with 4 cups 1% milk
Layer in clear Glass bowl
                ½ the strawberries
                ½ the protein pudding
                ½ the cookie crumbs
                ½ the Cool Whip
                Rest of the strawberries
                Rest of the protein pudding
                Rest of the cookie crumbs
                Rest of the Cool Whip
                Garnish with strawberries on top.  

Nutrition Info per serving
Calories -- 144
Carbohydrates -- 23g
                Fiber -- 1 g
                Sugar – 10 g
Protein – 7 g

Syd,

It was great to see you again and I can't tell you how much we enjoyed your strawberry trifle; it was absolutely heavenly. Please thank your dear wife for us. 

I look forward to seeing you in the new year. 

Warmly,

 It was wonderful to see everyone and to meet some new people. Thanks Barbara for all the work you do for us to have this group. I was glad to finally hug your neck.

The Sugar Free Pumpkin Mousse

1 can pure pumpkin
1 8oz sugar free cool whip
1/4 cup skim milk
1 sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp cinamon

Mix and refrigerate over night. Serve with apples or cinamon graham crackers

Enjoy
Audra

Audra,

It was wonderful to finally get to meet you in person too and I look forward to seeing you often in the new year. Thank you for bringing that delectable pumpkin mousse! I use a very similar recipe and love, love, love it! It's great to be able to have your mousse and eat it without guilt or concern. Num, num... 

See you soon,