My Healthy Transformation

I was watching a show called The Little Couple. Jen was making a dessert she called dirt and mud. I made it low fat and it's great. I couldn't get an exact recipe so I did the best I could.

• 2 small boxes or one large box of fat free/sugar free chocolate pudding made with fat free milk
• 1 container of fat free cool whip
• low fat oreo-- about 1 row + a few
• gummy worms--optional
• large ziploc bag

Serves at least 5-6 depending on how big you want to make the servings. I used 2 serving spoon scoops per plastic coffee mug and there was room left in the cup.

• Mix up the pudding and let it set in the fridge
• Thaw the cool whip in the fridge
• Mix the two together
• Mix in the 1 row of crushed oreos
• Put some of the extra crushed oreos in between layers of the "mud" (pudding mixture)
• Add some crushed oreos to the top
• Put a few gummy worms in the middle of the cups of dirt and mud for effect
• Enjoy 

I was tired of paying $2.45 per serving for Perfect Oatmeal at Starbucks so for about $.64 a serving I made my own.

• Plain instant oatmeal
• dried cranberries, cherries, and white raisins
• hot water
• 1 TBS vanilla creamer

Ingredients

·         1 bag of mixed frozen berries (you won’t use all of them) 16 oz. (I found them at Wal-Mart)

·         ½ cup flavored water (water with mix-in flavor in it) or plain or fat free milk

·         1 fat free Yoplait yogurt 8oz

·         Blender or smoothie maker

·         Tall cup

Directions

·         If you have your water flavored already, measure out ½ cup, if not, mix in your favorite flavor of mix-in: Crystal Light, Weight Watchers, store brand, etc.) or measure milk or plain water

·         Put 3 big strawberries in the blender/smoothie maker and 2/3 cup of the other berries

·         Add the yogurt (I used strawberry, but vanilla seems like a good choice too)

·         Add the liquid.

·         Blend until smooth enough to drink

 

 

Other combinations

1) Blueberries, milk, & vanilla yogurt

2) Blueberries, raspberry water, and vanilla yogurt or blackberry yogurt

3) Peaches, vanilla yogurt, non-fat milk

 

Ingredients

• 20 oz cheese tortillini without sauce
• 2 medium chicken breasts cooked, and skinless
• 8 oz fat free italian salad dressing
• 2 cups cooked broccoli
• 2 oz shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 cups chopped snow peas
• 1/2-1 chopped belle pepper

Directions

• Cook the pasta
• Add the veggies and chopped chicken breasts (cooked)
• Add the dressing and parmesan
• Toss tothether
• If you're not serving it right away, add the parmesan just before serving.

Gazspacho (Ga-spach-o) (Cold Spanish soup)

• 6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (could use canned spicy if you want)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped (I like the English cucs)
• 1 sweet green bell pepper seeded and chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large can V-8 (16oz) (can use low sodium or spicy)
• Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

 

Combine all ingredients except the V-8 & refrigerate 1 hr.

Add V-8 and refrigerate over night

Served chilled

Goes great with Tyropitas.

I don't know how much it makes but it's a lot! I just know what pot to use when I make it. Great in the summer when I don't want to cook or eat something hot.

 

Tyropitas (ta-row-pit-a-ss) (Greek cheese pastry)

Tools/utensils

Small microwave safe bowl

Butter brush

Cookie sheet

Foil

Freezer Ziploc bags

Fork or electric mixer

Damp rag

Sharp knife

 

Ingredients

1 pound phyllo dough (found in freezer section)

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

15 oz fat free ricotta cheese

4 oz feta cheese

4 oz light butter

1 egg or equal amount of egg substitute

16 oz light cream cheese

 

Instructions

1) Blend cream cheese and ricotta

2) Add feta and egg and blend some more

3) Cut phyllo into 1/3 sections without removing paper covering

4) Cover 2/3 with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out

5) Melt butter in microwave safe bowl

6) On a clean surface, unroll 1/3 phyllo dough so a short end is in front of you.

7) Using 2 sheets at a time (it’s really, really thin) brush on butter (top side only)

8) Take a TBS of mixture and put it on the dough at then end closest to you towards the right corner.

9) Fold in a triangle shape. Fold corner with mixture at an angle towards the left edge.

Then straight towards the opposite end of the strip and then towards the right edge.  (like folding a flag or paper football)

10) When the cheese is inside, about 2nd or 3rd fold, brush the top with butter.

11) When all done, brush the top with butter.

12) Wrap in foil and freeze or bake on foil on a cookie sheet

13) Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 min

 

Yields: 15

Serving size: 2 pastries

Points: 6 for 2 of them

Goes great with Gazpacho

Must be baked, not microwaved

 

• 1 cup cooked onions, chop and sautee with turkey
• 1 package chili seasoning - Open it up and dump it into the crock pot
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes. Chopped is ok if you like chunks of tomato
• 2 cans black beans (watch sodium content) (drained)
• 2 cans kidney beans (drain)
• 2 cans chili beans in spicy sauce (don't drain)
• 1 pound ground turkey or lean (7%) beef. - Cook in 2 tsp olive oil. This is one package under plastic of the turkey or one "chub" of beef.

Instructions

Cook the turkey (or beef) and onion. Add it to all the other ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on low until it's tender. Stir occasionally

Serve with baked scoops chips

Topping suggestions:

• shredded cheese
• chopped onions
• salsa

This salad is a meal in itself!

Utensils/serving items

One large bowl

One knife

One fork

Cutting board

1 large Ziploc bag

 

Ingredients

Green, red, orange, and yellow peppers (one – all colors)

Cucumber

Carrots

Mixed greens

Dried cranberries

Sprinkle of shredded cheese

Roasted or grilled chicken (The chicken comes cut in strips in a box by the lunch meat)

Favorite low fat dressing * (see below for some of mine)

 

Optional:

Hard-boiled egg, chopped

Tomatoes

Onions

Olives

Bleu cheese (love it)

Turkey bacon crumbles

No chicken? Use sliced lunch meat to make it a chef’s salad.

Croutons if desired (Check bag or box for serving size. Usually it’s only about 8 croutons!)

Slivered almonds

Sunflower seeds

 

Directions

Slice and dice veggies (Use as much as you want. The peppers and cucumbers are 0 pt foods)

Put them in the bowl

Use the bowl to measure your salad mix (about ½ a bag is what I use in my big bowl)

Add about a ¼ cup dried cranberries

Add a sprinkle of the shredded cheese

Cut up about ½ the package of chicken and add it to the bowl.

Dump the contents of the bowl into the Ziploc and shake to mix.

 

Pick your favorite dressing or use a bottled version. Pour on desired amount (2 TBS = a serving) and shake the bag again. Pour salad back in the bowl. Enjoy. By mixing it in the bag, less dressing is needed because all of the salad gets some on it.

Fat free ranch

• Fat free ranch dip mix
• 16 oz fat free sour cream
• fat free milk.

Mix the powdered ranch mix into the tub of sour cream. Dump it into a plastic container with a lid (I found one with a large drink hole and attached cover at Fred Meyer in the water bottle/ice try section. Add enough ff milk to make it the consistancy you like. Shake it up.

Note: It's not fat free for an unlimited amount. A serving of the dip is 2 tbs. I think. Read the package. So if you have 2x that, double the nutrition info (calories basically) and calculate it. At some point it does cost points but not many.

Italian

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp parmesan from shaker
• squirt of lemon juice from plastic lemon
• 2.5 pts