Developing a sweet tooth
Here are some Family faves in my house... I call myself the queen of cheesecake now... I came up with another recipe this past weekend... but need to make a couple of changes before I post it...
Classic Almond Flour Pound Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened at room temperature
1/2 cup 1/3 less fat (fat free would be OK too)cream cheese
1 cup Splenda
5 eggs, at room temperature ( you could use the equivalent in egg beaters too)
2 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream butter, cream cheese and Splenda well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Mix almond flour with baking powder and add egg to mixture a little at a time while beating. Add lemon and vanilla extracts. Pour into greased 9"-10" Spring form pan, ring pan, (or 9" round cake pan) and bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes.
You can change flavors for this cake by using different extract flavors
I made mine in a loaf pan to make it look more like pound cake "traditionally" does.
Oatmeal Custard
Vegetable Cooking Spray
1 cup + 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats (or bulgar wheat!)
1/4 cup Splenda granular
2 tablespoons sugar free maple syrup
1 2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or other berries) optional!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole with cooking spray and set aside.
In a medium bowl stir together the oats, Splenda, maple syrup, milk, egg, vanilla, salt, and berries. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes.
I prefer the fresh berries served on top cold - not cooked
Dream/Creamscicle Pie
1 store bought graham cracker crust (or make your own)
1/4 cup boiling water
1 box orange jell-o
mix together and let cool on the counter about 5 minutes
Wisk in 1 container orange yogurt (I used Yoplait Light orange cream) and 1 small container (I think that it is 7oz Greek yogurt) and 1 container cool whip (I use the free). Pour into the pie shell and chill at least an hour
So yummy!!!
Shannon's To Die for Cheesecake
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Crust:
1 cup Murry sugar free short bread cookies
1 box of Sugar free Oreos- minus 5 cookies (lore ate them)
1/2 cup of splenda
1/2 cup of DiabetiSweet Original Sugar
7 tablespoons butter, melted
Crust:
In a medium size bowl, combine everything and mix well. Spray the pan with PAM, making sure you get th sides. Mix well and place in the bottom of an 8x8-inch pan. Make sure to press against the bottom of the pan. Place into oven and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Filling:
4 boxes of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 cup splenda
2 teaspoon vanilla extract -I used a dried vanilla powder
6 eggs (or 1.5 cup egg sub)
1 pinch of kosher salt
Filling:
Prepare the filling by beating cream cheese. Mix in splenda and vanilla while beating until well blended. Add in eggs one at a time and then add salt.THe mixture is runny. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight or if you want it faster- place in freezer for an hour and then add the chocolate topping and freeze again until set.
Chocolate Glaze:
1 stick of butter
2 50/50 milk chocolate bars (giant carries these)
2 cup splenda
1 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half)
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium-low heat. Add chocolate to the butter. Whisk in everything and whis****il combined. Cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes while whisking constantly.
WHen I made this I was also able to make 12 cupcake size mini cheesecakes besides the 8x8 cake. I didn't put the crust in the cupcake papers, just the cheesecake mixture. You can also add the chocolate mixture on these as well. I also put 2 tsp of sugar free strawberry jelly into these mini cheesecakes. They came out very yummy as well.
Yield: 20 pieces in the 8x8 pan and 12 cupcake minis
Shannon’s Citrus Cheesecake Surprise
2.5 pounds of cream cheese- 5 blocks- 1/3 fat reduced
2 - 6oz container of Lemon Dannon Light and Fit yogurt
1 – 8oz container of light sour cream
1 grapefruit- zested and juiced
3 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of Splenda
¾ cup of DS white sugar sub.
3 TBSP of all purpose flour
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
Purple food coloring
2 graham cracker crusts
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and smooth, about 1 minute. Combine flour and sugar in another bowl and then add to the beaten cream cheese. Mix well Scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the grated citrus zests. Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the batter is perfectly smooth.
Pour the batter into the graham cracker crusts, tapping the bottom on the counter 4 or 5 times to eliminate air pickets. Bake 1 hour, or until the center feels firm when pressed. Immediately remove the cake pan from the larger pan and set aside to cool on a rack. Refrigerate for a few hours.
Shanny’s Sunny Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
1 stick of butter- room temp
4oz of reduce fat cream cheese- room temp
1.25 cups of Splenda
2 eggs- large
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1.4 cup of strawberry sugar free syrup
1.5 ripe banana- half mashed, the rest diced
1 cup of sugar free strawberry jam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In your mixing bowl place butter and cream cheese and beat until smooth. Then add Splenda and beat until creamed together. Then add one egg at a time to the creamed mixture. Then slowly add flour, vanilla, baking soda, and salt- beat until everything is incorporated. Then add the mashed banana and the strawberry syrup. The mixture will turn a light pink color. Then fold in the strawberry jam and the diced banana. It is ok to have chunks of jam in the mixture.
In a lined muffin tin fill the cups 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 25 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
If you want to add something different to the batter you can sub out the strawberries for blueberries and use vanilla syrup and half a lemon zested. You can also add walnuts to the batter to add more protein to your muffins.
Sugar free Chocolate sauce
Ingredients
2/3 cup dry unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/2 cup Splenda
Instructions
In a heavy saucepan, combine cocoa, cinnamon and milk; stir or whis****il there are no dry lumps of cocoa. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat; boil gently, stirring often for 5 minutes or until mixture is thick and smooth. Cool slightly. Stir in vanilla and Splenda. Pour into a small enameled fondue pot or heat-proof ceramic bowl. Dip a couple of strawberries and enjoy!
Yield: 8 servings (1/4 cup each)
Sugar Free Rice Krispies Treats
1 cup crushed Rice Krispies
1 cup Splenda
1 egg
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies (not crushed)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar free chocolate chips (if you want them)
2-3 tbsps water, if necessary if it gets too sticky
1 tsp baking powder
Beat softened butter, egg, vanilla and Splenda together until fluffy.
Combine crushed cereal, baking powder, salt, and flour, until blended.
Add to above mixture, adding water if necessary.
Add rest of cereal, and chocolate chips. Keep adding water if too dry.
Roll into balls, flatten, and place on cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart. Or you can cook a whole pan full of them, and cut into pieces.
Bake in 375° degree oven for 10 minutes. Enjoy !
You're talking "craving" and that makes red flags go up for me - at this stage, you're likely still going through withdrawal from your trigger foods, and your body is trying to trick you into feeding those old addictions. My advice is to be careful, because you've done all this great hard work to get here and you don't want to sabotage yourself by starting to feed the addictions (which may be sugar, fat, carbs, or something else). Giving in to the craving CAN set up more cravings which gets you right back into the vicious cycle.
So proceed with caution when it comes to sweet stuff,. would be my advice. Some SF pudding or fruit, your protein shakes, etc., may be enough if what you're craving is truly sweet tastes ... but the things you listed are all high-carb density items, so you may actually be having carb withdrawal (breads, pastas, cakes, etc.)... I know that Barix nuts don't have a recommended carb level, but I also know that I could get myself in major trouble REALLY quickly by not paying attention to carbs as part of the overall balance of what I'm eating. I could easily gain weight while staying within my protein and fat goals, just by going way overboard on my carbs.
Anyway - sorry - long answer to a short question. Hope it provides some insight.
Karen
You actually have a good point that it may be carbs I'm craving and not sweets at all. The only carbs I've had since surgery is maybe 2 tablespoons of instant mashed potatoes (over the entire two months) and a couple of saltines about 2 weeks ago. I've been sticking really well to the protein/veggie side of things and rarely have any room for carbs. So maybe that's exactly what the problem is.
Thanks so much for the warning, I've definitely taken it to heart.
Janet
Liz's recipies are great - but I also agree with Kathy and Nicole. You are only a few months out...and should definately try to keep to a very "basic" diet including protein, fruits, and veggies. The sf dessert thing can derail you as much as the real stuff is concerned. If you eat a serving of a sf dessert, for example, instead of a greek yogurt - you are missing out on protein and setting yourself up for a harder struggle down the road.
But these recipies are good to have on hand for a special treat - birthdays, parties, etc.
Pam
