Banana Mousse

Light cute dessert for only 90 calories.  Plus 2 more variations.

Source 

Here and there, mostly improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 2/3 banana (70 cal)

- 1/2 cup low fat milk (65 cal)

- 1/4 cup heavy cream (205 cal)

- 1 tbsp brown sugar, packed (20 cal) 

- 1 tsp gelatin

- 2 tbsp water (1 tbsp room temperature, 1 tbsp boiling)

Total 360 cal, 4 servings, 90 cal/serving

Instructions

1. Whip the cream with the sugar and place in the refrigerator. 

2. Puree the milk and the banana in a blender. Pour into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. 

3. While the banana milk cooks, dissolve gelatin in 1 tbsp of cool water. Then, stirring, add 1 tbsp of boiling water. When all the gelatin has dissolved, add the banana milk and mix well. Let the mixture cool.

4. Fold the whipped cream into the banana mixture and pour into molds. 

5. Refrigerate the molds for 2-3 hours until the mousse sets.

Variation 1

Use orange-flavored Jell-O instead of Knox (this is the more orange-colored mousse in the picture). You probably need more of Jell-O than of Knox. I used the same proportions, and it was a little too liquid. So I had to freeze it, and it became a sorbet :-)

Variation 2

Blend 1/3 banana with 1 tsp brown sugar and 2 tbsp cottage cheese and you get a very nice soft mousse. Taste-wise, it’s my favorite, but you cannot mold it. So I used it as a sauce to decorate the plate. 

Afterthoughts

I am planning to make some mousse experiments this week and this was the first one. So far so good. 

I hope by the end of my Knox pack and my whipped cream quart I will know much more :-).

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Semolina Bread

One more amazing, no knead Artisan bread.

Source 

Adapted from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. 

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients and Instructions

Follow the Master recipe, only instead of 100% all purpose flour use 1/2 semolina, 1/2 all purpose flour.

Afterthoughts

Semolina makes the crumb a little denser, moister and more chewy than in the white flour Master recipe. And it seems that the crust is a little crispier.

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Apple Scones

Perfect light, fluffy apple - cranberry scones made with yogurt, for only 320 calories.  

Adapted from Baking by James Peterson

Taste 5 (out of 5)


Difficulty 1 (out of 5) 

Ingredients

- 3 cups all purpose flour (1365 cal)

- 1/2 cup sugar (390 cal)

- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 50 g cold, thinly sliced butter (360 cal)

- 1 cup non-fat yogurt (140 cal)

- 1/2 cups low fat milk + up to 1/4 cup if needed (90 cal)

- 1/2 cup chopped Granny Smith apple (25 cal)

- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, then drained  (200 cal)

Total 2570 cal, 8 scones, 320 cal/scone

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Arrange the butter on top, so the slices don’t overlap and cut through the mixture with a pastry cutter until the butter is about the size of peas. Add 1/2 cup of milk and the yogurt and stir until all the liquids are absorbed. If you still have loose flour, add more milk. 

3. Sprinkle the cranberries and the apple on top and stir the dough for about 1 minutes until the fruit is evenly incorporated. Don’t overwork the dough. 

4. Dump the dough on a work surface, form a circle of about 9 inches in diameter and with a wet (to prevent sticking) dough cutter, cut the dough into 8 wedges. 

5. Place the scones on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a scone comes out dry. The scones should be pale brown. 

Afterthoughts

- The original recipe called for 1 cup of butter, 1 1/4 cups of milk or cream and no yogurt at all. Recently I simply dread putting so much butter into one dish. So I use non-fat yogurt “instead”, it saves almost 1500 calories per cup, but often the end result is too soggy, especial in cookies. In this case, however, the substitution worked: the scones are light, fluffy and they even taste like scones :-).

- I also liked the Granny Smith apples. I was searching for scone recipes with fresh apples and could not find any, but I decided to try anyway. I don’t understand why no one is making them - it gives a really nice taste and texture. 

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St Patrick's Salad

Colorful, crunchy salad 

Source

Improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5) 

Ingredients

Green radish, jicama and carrots

Instructions

Slice and serve with your favorite dressing

Afterthoughts

- A simple crunchy salad perfect for spring, and with some design, for St. Patrick’s day.

- It’s the first time I bought the green radish, in fact I had no idea what it was when I picked it up in the grocery store. It actually has a much milder flavor than the traditional radish. And it looks surprising :-) 

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St Patrick’s Bread

It’s greenish and it’s shaped like shamrock, so I guess it counts... 

Source 

Inspired by the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. 

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

Green peas bread dough

Instructions

Shape as a shamrock and bake following the instructions of the Green peas bread. 

Afterthoughts

The main problem with this Artisan bread is that it browns on the outside, so even when the dough is green all the color is inside, kind of like a hidden jade :-)

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Prickly Pear Dressing

Prickly pear is basically a fruit of a cactus (aka cactus figs, Indian fig or tuna). It makes a simple wonderful festive dressing and even though it’s sweet, it’s good for your blood sugar and only has 25 calories.

Source

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1 prickly pear (40 cal)

- 1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar

- 1/2 tsp agave nectar (10 cal)

Total 50 cal, 2 servings, 25 cal/ serving

Instructions

1. Peel the prickly pear and process in a blender until smooth. Put through strainer. 

2. Add the agave nectar and the balsamic vinegar to the prickly pear juice and mix well. 

3. Serve with green (or any other) salad.

Afterthoughts

- Rich red color and sweet tangy taste. Looks and taste very festive. 

- And it’s good for you, especially if you are worried about blood sugar, because both agave nectar and prickly pears have very low glycemic indexes.

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Slow Lamb Chops

Very simple slow cooked lamb chops in tomato sauce - all cooked in one pot. 10 minutes prep, 3 hours cooking, 315 calories eating.

Source 

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 2 lamb chops - about 4 oz each including bone (400 cal)

- 1 tbsp canola oil (120 cal)

- 1/2 onion (30 cal)

- 1 garlic clove (5 cal)

- 2 cups chicken broth (20 cal)

- 1/4 cup white wine (35 cal)

- 2 tbsp tomato sauce (20 cal)

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- bay leaf, sage leaf, thyme

- salt and pepper to taste

Total 630 cal, 2 servings, 315 cal/serving

Instructions

1. Preheat a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Pour a tablespoon of oil and when it’s warm (about half a minute) add the chops. Braise them on each side for about 3 minutes. 

2. In the meantime, process the onion with the garlic in a blender until a smooth paste forms. Mix the paste with the rest of the ingredients. Add this mixture to the saucepan with the lamb, reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and let cook for 2-3 hours, until the lamb is very tender. 

3. Periodically stir and check that the sauce is still liquid. Add water if need be. At the end the sauce should be relatively thick, so don’t pour too much liquid. 

4. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes (in the picture).

Afterthoughts

- This is a really simple recipe: no marinading the lamb, everything is cooked in one pot, the sauce is prepared together with the meat... And it turned out pretty good, and very soft. 

- In the beginning I could feel a very strong bitter smell of onions, and I started regretting that I had not sauteed them first before pureeing, but there was no trace of this smell in the final product. 

- Most of the recipes ask to place the meat in the oven, but whenever I did that my meat turned out too dry. Stovetop worked much better for me so far. If you know secret tips on using the oven, I would certainly appreciate them :-)

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Colorful Veggies

Just playing with colorful veggies. 

Source 

Improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- Sauteed leeks, corn, red bell peppers and red cabbage, spiced with dried basil and black pepper. 

- Pureed turnips and purple yams. 

- A little canola oil and chicken or veggie broth for the saute veggies. 

Instructions

Arrange your veggies on a plate in your favorite disorder :-) Enjoy!

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Eggplant Quiche in Potato Shells

A quiche does not have to have a flour base. Try this potato-shells version - an original combination of your favorite comfort foods.

Source 

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1 huge potato (120 cal - using the shell only)

- 1/2 large eggplant (55 cal)

- 1/4 medium onion (15 cal)

- 1 tbsp canola oil (120 cal)

- 3 tbsp low fat cottage cheese (40 cal)

- 1 egg (70 cal)

- 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro + more for decoration

- 1 oz/ 30 g coarsely shredded gruyere cheese (120 cal)

- salt and pepper to taste

Total 540 cal, 2 servings, 270 cal / serving

Instructions

1. Wash the potato, do not peel. Place it whole in a medium sized saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 40-50 minutes until the potato is fully cooked. Remove the potato from water, let cool to room temperature, cut into half and using a large spoon scoop out most of the flash, leaving only a thin layer of potato close to the skin. 

2. Peel and chop the onion and the eggplant. Saute with 1 tbsp of oil on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. You can add water or broth if the eggplant starts to stick to the pan (if you don’t want to add more oil). When the onions are caramelized and the eggplant softens remove from the fire and let cool to room temperature. 

3. Add the cottage cheese, the egg and the spices to the onion-eggplant mixture and blend in food processor until smooth. Scoop the resulting quiche filling into the potato shells

4. Preheat oven to 375F and bake for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the shredded parmesan over the quiche mix and bake for 5 more minutes.  

Afterthoughts

- A very nice dish.

- Especially good when you feel like a quiche, but don’t want a flour-based shell.  And the skin is the healthiest part of the potato, anyway :-).

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Cream of Yam Soup

A simple happy soup 

Source
Improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 200 g/ 3 medium sized yams (235  cal)

- 2 cups water

- 1 cup low fat milk (130 cal)

- salt and paprika to taste

Total 365 cal, 4 servings, 90 cal / serving

Instructions

1. Pell and slice the yams into 1 inch thick slices. Cook with 2 cups of water on medium heat until soft (about 20 minutes). 

2. Add the milk and puree with an immersion blender or a food processor. 

3. Season with paprika and salt and continue cooking for another 5 minutes on low heat. 

4. Serve with sour cream.

Afterthoughts

A nice sweetish, creamy soup of a very happy color. 

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