Monday Motivatonal Meal—Banana Macadamia Madeleines

 

Wondering what to do with those over ripe bananas besides put them in a smoothie? Try these @CookingLight madeleines that are oh-so beautiful and delectable...perfect for spring, especially when served up on Livliga's bursting-with-springtime Halsa pattern.

Get the recipe here.

 

Download Our Free eCookbook:
Delicious Healthy Baking Recipes

0

Monday Motivational Meal—Vanilla Shortbread

 

Shortbread is a holiday tradition in our house. I wanted to find a shortbread that used half the butter and had less calories than the classic version but didn't compromise on taste. I found one. The recipe replaces half the butter with canola oil which is rich in heart-healthy unsaturated fat. And to make it that much more wonderful, each serving is only 101 calories! You can't beat serving these treats up on Celebrate!

Click here for the recipe. 

0

Vanilla Bean Shortbread—Holiday Worthy!

 

I have always loved shortbread. So much of it is the memories associated with this delectable treat. When our children were growing up a friend would make her homemade shortbread and share it with us at Christmas. We so looked forward to it each year. It was so good!

Since the children have grown up and we moved away I have been in search of a good shortbread so we could again enjoy this favorite treat. Most shortbread is packed full of butter and therefore high in saturated fat and calories. I wanted a shortbread that used half the butter and had less calories but didn't compromise on taste. I found one. The recipe replaces half the butter with canola oil which is rich in heart-healthy unsaturated fat. And to make it that much more wonderful, each serving is only 101 calories! This recipe originally came from the Cooking Light Mix & Match Low-Calorie Cookbook.

This shortbread has the same flaky texture and lightness you look for in any good shortbread. The vanilla bean flavor adds a new dimension. I have never scraped out the seeds of a vanilla bean before. This technique provides a richness to the shortbread, and an aroma that is very appealing. They have been a hit with everyone I have shared them with. A definite repeat!

Vanilla Bean Shortbread

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Cooking Spray 

 
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Line bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray.
3. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Stir with a whisk
4. Place butter in a medium bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add oil then   beat again at medium speed until well blended.  Gradually add sugar, beating well. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean and add seeds to butter mixture. Discard bean.
5. Add flour mixture, beating a low speed just until blended.
6. Spoon dough into prepared pan. Place plastic wrap over dough. Then press dough to an even thickness. Discard the plastic wrap.
7. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut into 32 pieces. Carefully cool squares completely on a wire rack.
 
Nutritional Information
Servings: 32. Serving Size: 1 piece. Calories per piece: 101; Fat 6.4g; Protein .9g; Carb 10.1g; Fiber .2g; Sodium 39mg.

 

Download Our Free eCookbook:
Delicious Healthy Baking Recipes

0

Monday Motivational Meal

These Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies are designed with hiking in mind! Try this hardy cookie recipe that is filled with tastes and texture for your next outdoor adventure, picnics included. Make sure to right-size your portions with the help of Livliga! We served this treat up on our our Halsa side plate to keep us mindful!

Get this yummy recipe here!

0

Baking as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle

The smell of baking in your kitchen that wafts throughout your home makes people feel dreamy, brings a content smile to their faces and evokes happy memories. I love baking for my family and friends. The act of baking satisfies my need to nurture them. This is especially true over the holidays when we gather as family and with friends.

In the past what I baked for my family was not so healthy. It was filled with butter, sugar and more salt than humans should consume in a week or more. Increasingly, I have come to realize that my love of baking and my need to nurture was made even better by being mindful of the ingredients I use. To care about what I am baking is part of what makes up the nurturing I need to offer. Providing healthy baked goods is actually more in line with my need to nurture and nourish the ones I love than what I was producing previously.

Introducing new treats that have ingredients that promote health is a true act of love and nurturing. I have had so much fun experimenting with savory herbs in muffins, cookies and cakes. Adding more puréed fruits and alternative natural sweeteners to reduce the amount of refined sugar I use has allowed me to discover better ways of creating baked goods.

I think we have a false belief that healthier means less tasty and unattractive foods. This may have been the case at the beginning of the Whole Foods and organic movements but is hardly the case today. There are pastry chefs like Vanessa Musi who have opened our eyes to what is possible...and beautiful to our eye and palette. No more do we need to hang on to the old notion that healthy means crunchy granola.

Today when so many we know, including ourselves,  are struggling with weight and health issues we need to embrace doing things differently, including what we bake for the holidays. We give up nothing in doing this. Instead we add the gift of health to the love of nurturing. It is true, our baked goods can become a part of a healthy lifestyle.

As we gather for Hanukkah and Christmas as well as look to the New Year here are some delectable and healthy cookie recipes to enjoy and share:

Rosemary Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thyme-infused Cardamom-Orange Oatmeal Cookies

Double-Ginger Ginger Snaps

Rosemary Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!



 
Healthy Lifestyle Tip: Looking for an easy way to measure in the kitchen and serve up right-sized portions at the table? Check out the award winning LivSpoons and make them part of your daily living.

0

Good Luck Cookies*—full of health and herbal magic

Good Luck Cookie on Vivente pattern (photo by LivligaHome).

As people we love the idea of “good luck”. Different cultures celebrate luck at certain times of year. For North Americans we “ring in the New Year” imagining a fresh start made all the more possible by eating certain “lucky foods” like black-eyed peas on the first day of the New Year. For the Chinese their Chinese New Year is a very auspicious time celebrated with many foods that are believed to bring prosperity and longevity. Then on St. Patrick’s Day the Irish and all their cousins believe it is a day filled with good luck potential. Wearing the green and eating corned beef and cabbage add to the possibility of having good health and becoming wealthy in life. 

To add to the fun and provide a healthy cookie option for auspicious celebrations I offer a new “Good Luck” cookie. The ingredients of the cookie include spices that are not only good for your health but are also believed to enhance your luck. Below are  the “magical herbs” I have included:

Basil- represents harmony, happiness, purity, serenity, luck, and good health.

Cardamom- is believed to bring about good luck in love and relationships.

Turmeric- the golden spice of the East brings beauty, good health and good luck .

Orange zest- is used for enhancing love, luck, money, a happy home and prosperity in business.

Here is the recipe to be used whenever you have a hankering for a bit of good health and good fortune:

Good Luck Cookie dough (photo by LivligaHome).

Good Luck Cookie *

Ingredients~

½ cup gluten free flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

1 ½ cups oat flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon cardamom

½ teaspoon dried basil

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup Truvia baking blend sweetener

½ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 teaspoon orange juice

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 egg white, lightly beaten

Cooking spray, Canola

Directions~
1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl (Flour through Kosher salt). Make a well.
2. In a separate bowl blend all other ingredients from the sugars through eggs.
3. Combine the sugar mixture into the flour mixture.
4. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop and place scoops of cookie dough onto the cookie sheets.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookie brown. Let cool before storing.

Makes 24 cookies. Serving size: 2 cookies. Calories per cookie: 76. Calories per serving: 152.

*gluten free recipe

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant! 


Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on The EpochTimes.com. 

0

Thyme-infused Cardamom-Orange Oatmeal Cookies

Thyme-infused Cardamom-Orange Oatmeal Cookies are packed full of delicious and nutritious ingredients to keep everyone happy and healthy for the holidays (photo by LivligaHome.com).

Our taste buds love to be tantalized. The more tantalizing the flavors are the more satisfying we find them. That is why I love experimenting with flavors and discover new combinations that I find delicious. This is particularly true of cookies and muffins. Treats and desserts tend to be more about the “sweet” than about being filling and tasty. It is a fun challenge to find ways to make them delicious, nutritious AND satisfying…with just one or two.

I have been experimenting with a new recipe to add to my fresh herb repertoire of cookies. It has been a big hit. A great treat with a latte or a hot cup of green tea. It can also be a cookie to bake and share with friends during the holidays. These cookies are packed full of nutritious ingredients to keep everyone happy and healthy.

Thyme-infused Cardamom-Orange Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Truvia sugar, baking blend
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon orange zest, finely chopped
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• ¾ cup rolled oats
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons orange juice
• Canola Oil Cooking Spray

Directions

1.  Place first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Blend them and cover the bowl. Let the thyme and orange zest infuse the sugars while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 30 minutes is ideal.
2. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Make sure all ingredients are well mixed.
3. Blend the butter with the sugar mixture. Add the egg. Also blend it well. Then add the orange juice.
4. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in 3 equal amounts. Blend well.
5. Spray Canola Oil cooking spray evenly on cookie sheets. Drop 1 tablespoon sized cookies evenly on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutritional Information
Makes 24 cookies. Serving size: 2 cookies. Calories: 136 (68 per cookie)



Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

Reposted from Sheila's Blog on The Epoch Times.

0

Hello Dollies- Lighter and Healthier--Dessert

Hello Dollie Recipe Makeover (photo by LivligaHome)

Every once in a while I have the urge to fix one of our "old favorites" for a holiday. Hello Dollies are a long time favorite of this family for the 4th of July. They are part of the classic picnic food we prepare. They are rich and gooey and go quite well with fireworks.

The problem is they are packed full of calories and no-so-good-for-you ingredients. This year I decided it was time to try and do a "recipe makeover" for our beloved Hello Dollies.
The goal was to make them lighter, healthier and with fewer calories but without giving up the rich and gooey taste.

Here is what I came up with-

Healthier Hello Dollies

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats (Old Fashioned Quaker Oats), ground
⅔ cup oat bran
2 tablespoons Truvia sugar, baking blend
1 stick butter, light and unsalted
1 cup coconut
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 can condensed milk, fat free (Eagle Brand)
Cooking Spray

Using Healthier and Lighter Ingredients for Hello Dollies (photo by LivligaHome)

Directions
1. Place oats in food processor and process until the oats become flour-like.
2. Combine ground oats, oat bran with Truvia sugar in small mixing bowl.
3. Melt butter on low heat in a small saucepan. Pour melted butter over oat mixture. Mix well.
4. Spray bottom and sides of a 7x11 inch Pyrex dish. Spread the oat mixture over the bottom of the dish.
5. Next add a layer of coconut, then the chocolate chips and top with pecans.
6. Pour the condensed milk evenly across the top of the dish, saturating the pecans.
7. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes or until top is browned.
Makes 24 squares. Serving size: 1 square. Calories: 146

The oats and oat bran are so much healthier than graham crackers. By using the lighter versions of sugar, salt and condensed milk I was able to reduce the calories per bar as well. In reality, just reducing the size of the Hello Dolly bar helps with the calories which is something I have done in general. Using quality dark chocolate chips and coconut also enhances the healthiness of the dessert.

By my calculations if you make 24 bars out of the recipe, which makes a decent sized dessert, you end up with 146 calories per bar. The "old" way there would have only been 20 bars for 193 calories per bar...a reduction of 47 calories per bar. If you compare the calories for the same sized bar the calorie savings are 15 calories per serving. My philosophy is every little bit helps just so long as you don't give up quality, flavor and overall satisfaction.

The finished Hello Dollies looking yummy! (photo by LivligaHome)

These Hello Dollie bars fit the bill. They are healthier, lighter and reduced in calories while still being rich and gooey.

Wishing you a happy...healthier...and fun 4th of July!

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

0

Healthy Valentine's Treats for Loved Ones

Healthy Valentine's Day Treat for Loved Ones (photo by LivligaHome)

It is hard sometimes to give up longtime habits, particularly when it comes to sweets. Then there are the holidays that push us over the top of resistance and we give in snatching every decadent morsel we can get our hands on. Valentine's Day, much like Halloween, is a day that has been set up for us to fail when it comes to eating healthy and not over consuming.

My ongoing goal in life is to beat the habit. This means creating new traditions and engaging others in having fun in a different way on these holidays that trigger us to eat....and eat....and eat. Valentine's Day is all about giving sweets and chocolate candies, right?

Well I decide to avoid the chocolate and bake healthy, tasty cookies....to give away. I figured I am satisfying my need to celebrate, give to others and create something healthy for the people I care about. I also like cleaning out the kitchen, so I found a recipe from a Cooking Light Cookbook Low-Fat Ways to Cook for the Holidays that I adapted. I picked it because I wanted to use some really ripe bananas I had on hand. The recipe also calls for low-fat granola for which I substituted Kashi's Go Lean Crunch because it was in the pantry left over from when the kids were home for the Christmas holidays. It fit the bill.

Really Ripe Bananas add great flavor to bread and cookie recipes (photo by LivligaHome)

Go Lean Crunch my Subsititute for Low-Fat Granola (photo by LivligaHome)

Decadently Delectable Banana Treats

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup stick light butter, softenend
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup egg substitute (or 1 egg)
• ¼ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 ¼ cup unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 ½ cup low-fat granola (no raisins)
• Cooking Spray

Directions

1. Beat sugar and margarine at medium speed in a stand mixer (KitchenAid) until fluffy.
2. Add banana, vanilla and egg. Beat well.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and nutmeg. Add to banana mixture.
4. Fold in granola.
5. Drop dough by level tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute. Then remove cookies from baking sheet and let cool on wax paper or wire racks.

Makes 3 dozen. Calories per cookie 92.

Enjoy! May you have a Healthy and Heartfelt Valentine's Day!

0

Rosemary Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies--ALL TIME BEST!

 

For more of my Livliga recipes that are easy to use and print go to livligahome.com.

Live Vibrant!

0

Banana Macadamia Madeleines—elegant & easy!

Banana Macadamia Madeleines Served Up on Livliga's Halsa Healthy Lifestyle Side Plate!

Sometimes it is nice to have over ripe bananas or other extras in your kitchen you want to use up before the item spoils. That happened to me last weekend. I had too many bananas and thought it would be fun to find a recipe to use them. I came across a Cooking Light recipe for Banana Macadamia Madeleines. I have always loved Madeleines but honestly, it is a sweet I have never made myself. It seemed like a time to try, especially since we had house guests to help eat them! The only challenge was that I did not have a Madeleine mold I have since purchased one which you can see in the photos). But I did have a cast iron corn-stick mold (used for cornbread)! The cookies ended up being twice the size of what was called for in the recipe. Instead of 1 tablespoon in each mold, I had to put 2 tablespoons. 

     Banana Macadamia Madeleines made with the cornstick mold!

Madeleines by design are light and airy. Adding banana and macadamia nuts added complexity and much more flavor. It made for a great summer treat. They were easy to make, looked pretty and were a satisfying taste and texture. For a non-chocolate cookie they are a definite addition to the recipe book.

 

Madeleines made with a traditional mold

 

I have since invested in a Madeleine mold and baked up other batches of this delectable treat. See my newer photos of these homemade Madeleines served up on Livliga!

0

Healthy Recipes Made With Orange Marmalade

Orange Beef Sitr-Fry made with Marmalade and Served Up on Healthy Halsa Dinnerware

With all our jars of marmalade, it is nice to find a variety of recipes that use it as part of the ingredients. Honestly, there are only so many peanut butter & jelly sandwiches you can make or pieces of bread you can toast and put marmalade on top of...it just doesn't make that much of a dent in a yearly harvest. So I have tried out a number of healthy recipes that use marmalade. Below is a list of some of our favorites:

Broiled Salmon with Marmalade-Dijon Glaze
Herb-Orange Pork Tenderloin
Sesame Shrimp Salad
Orange Beef Stir-Fry
Orange-Glazed Carrots and Onions
Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints (use marmalade as the "jelly")

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies Made with Orange Marmalade and Served Up on Halsa dishware

Enjoy!

0

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie- tasty and only 88 calories!

We have had some Duke grad students staying with us over the weekend. They were here for an energy competition. With all their hard work, I thought it would be nice to provide a treat. Treats are dangerous for me to have in the house because I am usually the one who snacks on them throughout the day. Bad habit. So when I make snacks now, I want them to be healthy and also not packed full of calories.

Chocolate Chip cookies are an all around favorite, like vanilla ice cream. Chances are everyone will like them. But how to make a "healthy" chocolate chip cookie that meets the expectation of this classic cookie? I found one in a Cooking Light cookbook! They look and taste like the cookie we know and love AND they are ONLY 88 calories a piece! I found the recipe on line so I encourage everyone to try it out!

One of the added benefits of this recipe is that cookies actually coming out looking uniform and wonderfully round. This is because you measure them out as a level tablespoon. I have shared a picture so you can see how nice they look on the cookie sheet before baking.

They were a big hit!

0

Healthy Gluten-Free Cookies

I have a friend that needs to eat gluten-free. This makes cooking treats a little more challenging. This is partly due to not automatically having the right ingredients on hand when the moment seizes you to bake. There is also the challenge of finding recipes that are tasty and reasonably doable. For those watching portions and calories, inevitably the recipes do not have those included.

We went to our friend's house on Saturday night so I thought this was a great time to research a cookie I could bake, with my daughter's help, that would be tasty, easy and one I could figure out calories for per cookie. What I found was Nikki's Healthy Cookie Recipe on 101cookbooks.com.  This is actually a vegan recipe too because it uses no egg. Instead you use 3 ripe bananas. It has other yummy ingredients like shredded coconut, rolled oats, dark chocolate chips and a little almond meal. It calls for coconut oil but I used the olive oil alternative which worked just fine.

They were easy to assemble and as luck would have it I had all ingredients on hand. Once baked, my husband, daughter and I all had a cookie and each of us thought they were delicious. Definitely a repeat. They are not a good cookie to hike with or mail as they are a little on the delicate side.

We were able to make 44 cookies from the batter. With that amount of cookies we figured each cookie was 64 calories. Not bad for all the delicious ingredients included in the recipe. Now instead of the standard wine we take to their house, we are taking fresh baked cookies!

0

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies and ONLY 88 Calories!

The picture above was taken this last weekend after I baked these delicious chocolate chip cookies! I found this wonderful new recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Mix & Match Low Calorie Cookbook from Cooking Light I recently purchased. There is nothing better than a tasty home made chocolate chip cookie. They are much like vanilla ice cream...a favorite for many. They inevitably bring back sweet memories of our childhood. The amazing thing about these cookies is that they end up being only 88 calories for a boat-load of flavor in a reasonably sized cookie. It is so good, I wanted to share it with you. I actually found it on line which makes it even easier to share. You can find it at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookies. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

0

Flavorful Double-Ginger Ginger Snaps

Double-Ginger Ginger Snap Cookies (by LivligaHome)

I have found another great cookie to bake. It is packed full of ginger. It is called a Double-Ginger Ginger Snap cookie. It uses both ground ginger and crystallized ginger.  

Each cookie has 70 calories. These fresh baked cookies are chewy and moist. I think the chopped up crystallized ginger helps with the chewy texture and provides a burst of additional flavor. The cookies are nice sized and have a satisfying quality due both to the intense ginger flavor and also to the mix of whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose flour called for in the recipe. Here is the recipe:

Double-Ginger Ginger Snaps

Ingredients-

1 cup unbleached flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ginger, ground

½ teaspoon cinnamon, ground

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ cup molasses

⅓ cup light butter

1 egg or equivalent egg substitute

Cooking Spray

Directions-

1. Combine the flours and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl mix together the sugar with the next 3 ingredients.

3. Add the sugar mixture with the flour mixture until fully combined. The mixture might be stiff so feel free to mix with your hands if you do not have an electric mixer.

4. Roll the dough into tablespoon-size balls. To measure exactly use a tablespoon-size cookie scoop. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Then flatten them with the bottom of a drinking glass. If the dough sticks to the glass spray the bottom with cooking spray and then dip it into some brown sugar, then flatten the cookie dough.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until browned.

Serve up your cookies on right-sized, beautifully designed dishware. Livliga and Kidliga make great holiday gifts! Check out our blog and Facebook for special holiday savings!

0

Cookies Packed with Goodies: Tasty & Healthy and Ideal for a Hiking Treat

Cookies Packed with Goodies Served Up on Halsa!

These Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies are ones I used in designing my hiking menus. They are very tasty and were a big hit with the family. They are a hardy cookie filled with tastes and texture. How can you beat a cookie with oatmeal, cranberrys AND chocolate chips in them?! These cookies have brown sugar and honey in them--no refined sugar. I even took it a step further and substituted agave nectar for the honey. They were satisfying to eat and didn't trigger my need to eat more, as cookies with refined sugar seem to do. Since they are a hardy cookie, they travel well in a back pack for hikes. These cookies were inspired by a recipe in the 400 Calorie Fix cookbook by Liz Vaccariello. Each cookie has 55 calories.

Good Hiking Cookies with Oatmeal, Cranberry, and Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup dried, low sugar cranberries
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Combine the oats, flours, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl.
3. Combine the brown sugar, oil, honey, egg, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl.
4. Add the brown sugar mixture to the oat mixture and mix until well blended. The dough will be firm and sticky.
5. Fold in the dried cranberries and chocolate chips.
6. Drop teaspoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Press down with damp fingers
7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. 

Nutritional information

Serving size: 2 cookies. Calories: 110. Fat 4g; Sodium 90mg; Carbohydrates 18g; Dietary Fiber 1g; Protein 2g.

0

New Favorite Sweet--PBJ Cookies

Sweets have always been a big trigger for me. It is hard for me to stop at one...and if two...why not three? I think I have finally figured out what causes this compulsion...refined sugar...it messes with my glycemic level. I seem to be very sensitive to this...like lots of other folk. Not only does it compel me to eat many more sweets than I want to, but no matter how many I eat, I am never satisfied. What is with that, anyway?!

Chef Rocco Dispirito appears to be very aware of the refined sugar trigger. He has replaced it with natural ingredients like Stevia and Agave nectar which are sweeteners that don't mess with your glycemic level. He also adds beans, believe it or not, to sweets so they are more filling and "stick to you ribs" longer. Eating just one then becomes enough.

My new favorite sweet is the PBJ Cookie I found in Now Eat This! Diet by Rocco Dispirito on page 254. One cookie has just 55 calories. Ingredients of the cookie include dried cranberries, unsweetened cocoa powder, cannellini beans, reduced fat peanut butter, agave nectar, stevia, puffed millet cereal and peanut butter chips. Interesting combination, right? It is very tasty and has great texture and complexity of flavor. I can eat just one!

2