Chocolate Orange Shake

I used to get those chocolate oranges for stocking stuffers at Christmas. You know the ones...you smack the bottom of the orange on the table and the segments come apart. Then you put one of the segments in your mouth and they're so creamy and delicious. How can they be so chocolatey and orangey at the same time? My first Christmas after my gastric bypass surgery, I wanted my chocolate orange...well, kind of. I wanted that flavor, but definitely not all that sugar and fat. The solution was so simple I can't believe it took me that long to think of it! Now I can have a chocolate orange whenever I want!

Chocolate Orange Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 scoop chocolate protein mix
1 tablespoon chocolate coffee creamer
1 tablespoon sugar free chocolate pudding mix
1 tablespoon no sugar added chocolate Nesquick
1 teaspoon sugar free cocoa
1 tablespoon sf chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon sf fudge topping
sweetener to taste (optional)
2 drops orange extract
4-6 ounces soy or almond milk

Place ice in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients, ending with the milk. Set blender to crush ice, then blend on lowest speed and building up to highest speed until shake is thick and frothy.

Great Northern Beans

Bob and I love beans. And being able to cook them quickly in the pressure cooker just adds to the appeal. Bob was raised eating pinto beans only, so that's what I cook most of the time. But every once in a while I throw in a ringer like great northerns, red beans, or black beans.

Great Northern Beans

1 cup great northern beans
5 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup frozen mixed peppers
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried marjoram leaves

Rinse and pick through beans. Soak in water for at least 4 hours. Drain and rinse. Add to pressure cooker. Add the 5 cups of water and the rest of the ingredients. Cover and lock lid in place. Heat on high until cooker is pressurized. Turn heat down to maintain pressure and cook for 30 minutes. When beans are cooked, take cooker off of heat and let de-pressurize naturally (about 15 minutes). Open cooker and salt the beans to taste.

Note: If you want to cook these beans in a Dutch Oven, follow my directions through putting all the ingredients in the pot. You will not need the vegetable oil if cooking in the Dutch Oven. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Boil for about a minute then lower heat to simmer. You may cover if you wish, but leave partially uncovered or the beans may boil over. Simmer until beans are soft. Salt the beans to taste.

Smothered Cabbage

This is my Mom's recipe. It's funny how my tastes have changed over the years. I remember walking into my house after school and smelling this cooking and dreading dinner. I took as tiny a serving as allowed and did my best to choke it down. Now I love it...it's one of my comfort foods! I hope my Mom is smiling when she looks down from Heaven and she sees me eating her smothered cabbage.

Smothered Cabbage

1/2 green cabbage, cut into wedges
1/4 cup onion, diced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
water

Rinse cabbage and place in Dutch oven. Add onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle cabbage and onions with oil. Pour about 1/2 inch of water into the bottom of the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to high simmer/low boil. Cook until cabbage is soft. Add water during cooking, if needed.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

I love soup. I love soup in the winter. I even love soup in the summer. It can be 100F outside and I might be inside eating soup. So you'll probably see a lot of soup recipes here! This Chicken Vegetable Soup is a new one. A few weeks ago I had just made some vegetable stock in my pressure cooker. I had strained it and was going to let it cool then freeze it for future use. It smelled so good it made me hungry for soup. So...I made this soup! It is very tasty and satisfying. Play with the seasonings and see how many ways you can make it (Mexican, Italian, Greek, etc.). You'll notice that there are no measurements for some of the ingredients. That's because this is your soup and you can make it with any vegetables in any amount that you want. Love asparagus with chicken?...throw some chopped fresh asparagus in there! Love broccoli?...go for it! Have fun!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 - 1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock

3-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 medium onion, diced

4 fresh carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
frozen corn
fresh or frozen green beans
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
various frozen or fresh vegetables, sliced, chopped, or diced
2 envelopes sodium free beef or chicken broth (I use Herb-Ox)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
seasonings of choice (try Mexican, Italian, Greek, etc.)

Pour vegetable broth in pressure cooker. Add chicken. (If you want to slightly brown the chicken first, your soup will have more flavor. If you do that, brown the chicken in the pressure cooker then add the stock). Add the rest of the vegetables and seasonings. Stir. Turn burner to high heat, cover and lock the lid. When pressure is reached, turn burner to heat sufficient to maintain pressure. (See my pc tip for electric ranges) Cook at pressure for 25 minutes then quick release the pressure. If you want to let the pressure release naturally, you can decrease the cooking time by several minutes. I always cook chicken for at least 15 minutes in the pressure cooker. When the cooker is de-pressurized, remove the lid and take the chicken out. Place on a cutting board and shred, chop, slice...however you feel like eating it. We have found that shredded is easier on our pouches. Put the chicken back in the cooker, stir, and serve up!

Vegetable Stock Tip

My Veggie Stock Bag!

I hate to waste food. I like to save bits and pieces of vegetables to make stock. You know the pieces I'm talking about...the stem end part of the tomato that you cut off and throw into the garbage disposal, the top leafy part and the bottom of the stalk of celery, the first layer of onion that you peel off because it cooks leathery, the top and bottom of the carrot and the peels too, whatever. I use every edible part of the vegetable! Don't throw them in the garbage or garbage disposal, or even the compost pile...put them in a gallon freezer ziplock bag and throw them in the freezer. When the bag is full or even half full (if you can't wait!), toss the veggies in a Dutch oven, or even better, a pressure cooker. Throw some bay leaves, a little seasoning, bring to a boil then simmer. When the stock is done, strain. Toss the veggies. You can now use the stock right away or let it cool, then save in the freezer until you need it for soup. If you're making it in a Dutch oven it will take you 2-3 hours. A pressure cooker will give you wonderful veggie stock in less than half an hour. Experiment with your seasonings...have fun!

Ready to Cook!

Butterscotch Shake

For some unknown reason, I bought a box of sugar free butterscotch pudding mix one day. I don't like butterscotch pudding so it had never even entered my mind to make a butterscotch shake. I choose to believe that it was God inspired. He must have known that at some point I would want a savory shake. Okay, I know butterscotch is sweet, not savory, but with my sweet tooth, it's about as savory as I'm going to get! I have butterscotch shakes mostly in the morning when I don't feel like eating breakfast. If I have a shake for breakfast, it's usually a Happy Accident Hazelnut Frappe or a Butterscotch Shake.

Butterscotch Shake

1 1/2 to 2 cups ice

1-2 tablespoons sf butterscotch pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla protein mix

1 pinch instant coffee

1 tablespoon Hershey's sf chocolate syrup

sweetener, to taste

4-6 ounces almond or soy milk

Place ice in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients, ending with the milk. Set blender to crush ice, then blend on lowest speed and building up to highest speed until shake is thick and frothy.

Spaghetti Sauce Tip

As with the cornbread, I'm not going to post a recipe for spaghetti sauce...my recipe is really simple...Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce! LOL! I just brown my ground beef with some salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano then add a can of diced tomatoes and the Hunts spaghetti sauce.

But here's my tip: Get a package of fresh baby portabella mushrooms, clean 'em up, slice 'em up and substitute 1/2 of the package of ground beef with the mushrooms. Add them when you add your sauce to the beef. Many vegetarians use portabella mushrooms as a substitute for meat and they are so delicious and nutritious. You've just saved money, fat, and calories. And you've just added some good, healthy carbs to your dinner. You can add any mushrooms you like; I use baby bellas because they are more meaty and we like the taste so much better than white buttons.

I know the gourmet chefs have a fancy little brush they "dust off" the mushrooms with and they say that you shouldn't use water to wash mushrooms. Well, they're going to get wet when I put them in my spaghetti sauce anyway, so what's the difference? And, oh by the way, mushrooms are grown in d.i.r.t.  I'm gonna wash those little suckers!

Those of us with gastric bypass surgery don't eat pasta so I've found that at my house, we like to have our spaghetti sauce over some cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan or even shredded cheddar or mozarella and nuke for about 15-30 seconds to melt the cheese and you have a wonderful, nutritious dinner!

Dreamsicle Shake

Okay, I started this blog to post tips and recipes. I never said the recipes were going to be difficult or time consuming, so just get that thought out of your head right now! This shake takes about two seconds to make and is...well...dreamy!

Dreamsicle Shake

1 1/2 - 2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 scoop vanilla protein mix

1 tube Crystal Light Classic Sunrise Orange

sweetener to taste (optional)

4-6 ounces almond milk (or soy milk)

Place ice in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients, ending with the milk. Set blender to crush ice, then blend on lowest speed and building up to highest speed until shake is thick and frothy.

Cornbread

I'm a proud Southerner. I know how to make good cornbread from scratch. Do I like to? Nope. Do I want to? Nope. Can I make great cornbread from a box? Yep! There are some things that are totally worth making from scratch. For me, cornbread is not one of them. We rarely have cornbread and when we do I make a very small amount that is not worth getting out the cornmeal, flour, eggs, etc. If my family didn't know I make cornbread from a box, they wouldn't be able to tell by eating it. I'm not going to bore you by repeating the directions already on the box. But I will give you a big tip...add about 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract to the mixture before baking. It makes a huge difference and adds a little sweetness. Oh so good!

Pressure Cooker Tip

I have a glass top electric range. I didn't use my pressure cooker very much for quite a few years because keeping the cooker at a regulated temperature can be difficult on an electric range. You put the burner on high temperature to get it pressurized then you turn down the burner to keep it "just pressurized". Right. Not so easy on an electric range. My first electric range was the coil type and you can turn on a burner to the proper temperature and just leave it there and transfer the cooker once it's pressurized. Not so on a glass top. You can't have a burner on without a pot on it. I can't believe I was stumped for so long! One day I just looked at my range and realized what I needed to do!

1. While you're getting your cooker ready on burner #1, put a pot of water on the burner that you will move the cooker to that will keep it pressurized (burner #2). Put burner #2 on the required heat to keep the cooker pressurized. On my range, it's part way between medium and medium-low.
2. Once you have everything you need in your cooker, cover, lock the lid, and turn that burner (burner #1) on high.
3. When the cooker is pressurized (I have a yellow button that pops up on mine when it's pressurized), move the pot of water off of burner #2 and transfer the cooker from burner #1 to burner #2.
4. Follow your recipe directions for timing and de-pressurizing.

Now...finally...we can enjoy our pressure cookers on glass top ranges!!!

Burner #2 on left and Burner #1 on right

Pinto Beans

Bob and I love beans...any kind of beans! We usually have at least one bean night per week. Sometimes it's canned black beans or chili beans but most of the time it's dried pinto or great northern beans. Bob was raised eating pinto beans only so I cook those most of the time. They are so easy to cook in the pressure cooker I only measure out 1 cup of dried beans and make a small amount.

Pinto Beans

1 cup pinto beans, rinsed and soaked for at least 4 hours (or use the quick method of boiling for 2 minutes and let sit, uncovered for 1 hour)

5 cups water

1 tablespoon canola oil

onions, chopped

mixed frozen sweet peppers

black pepper

garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons marjoram

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

Add all ingredients to pressure cooker and stir. Turn to high, cover and bring to pressure. Turn heat to just under medium and cook at pressure for 25 minutes. Take off heat and let cooker de-pressurize naturally. When lid will unlock, open and salt the beans before serving.

Happy Accident Hazelnut Frappe

For my shake one morning I wanted something savory rather than sweet so I decided to make a Hazelnut Frappe. Well I messed up and put too much instant coffee and too much hazelnut creamer and it just didn't taste right. So I improvised and came up with an even better hazelnut frappe. This shake was so good I couldn't put it down and sip every once in a while. I just held it and kept sipping until I was done!

Happy Accident Hazelnut Frappe

1 1/2-2 scoops ice
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee
3 heaping teaspoons sf hazelnut creamer
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
1 tablespoon sf vanilla pudding mix
2 drops vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sf chocolate syrup
1 dash salt
sweetener to taste

Place ice in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients, ending with the milk. Set blender to crush ice, then blend on lowest speed and building up to highest speed until shake is thick and frothy.

New England Fish Chowder

I had a medical procedure today and wanted soup when I got home this afternoon. I had been fasting for 1 1/2 days before the procedure so I was really hungry. I've mentioned before how much I love love love my pressure cooker. I recently bought Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass. She's got a blog and a website with recipes too. I highly recommend this cookbook if you have a pressure cooker. And if you don't have a pressure cooker, get one. It took me about 10 minutes to chop the veggies, it cooked under pressure for 4 minutes, then simmered for about 5 minutes. Voila! New England Fish Chowder! In a total of about 20 minutes! So delicious and satisfying too.

New England Fish Chowder by Lorna Sass
(used with permission)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or oil (I used butter)
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (I used new potatoes)
1 pound thick firm-fleshed white fish fillets, such as cod, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (I used tilapia and flounder)
2 cups fish broth or clam juice
1 cup water
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 to 1 1/2 cups milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream (I used 1 1/2 cups fat-free half and half)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (I used about 1 tablespoon dried parsley)
Salt and freshly ground white or black pepper
Garnish: additional unsalted butter, cut into pats (optional) (I didn't use this)

Heat the butter in the cooker. Saute the onions until soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Toss in the celery, carrot, and potatoes, and saute an additional minute. Add the fish chunks, broth (watch for sputtering oil), water, bay leaf, and thyme.

Lock the lid in place and over high heat bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 4 minutes. Reduce the pressure with a quick-release method. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape.

Stir in the milk, corn, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until the corn is cooked. Top individual servings with additional butter, if desired.

Saturday, September 18th
I had an idea last night as I was drifting off to sleep. I thought I'd better get it posted before I totally forget about it. Yeah...I'm old enough for that! I think next time I make this, I'm going to use cooked great northern beans instead of potatoes. I think it will actually be thicker, which is what I think of when you say chowder, and it will add a very different texture and taste to the original recipe. I guess it wouldn't actually be "chowder" then, but I think we'd like it better.

Purple Cow

Did you just say, "WHAT?" Let me explain! When I was a kid in Lake Charles, LA there was a small burger stand a few blocks from our house. Oh my gosh...they had the absolute best burgers in the entire world. Maybe that's why I couldn't get enough hamburgers pre-wls; I was trying to satisfy my burger hunger with the wrong burgers! Nah - I was just greedy! LOL! And they had a shake called the Purple Cow. They just mixed a vanilla shake with some grape soda. This was loooooong before Sonic thought about doing the same thing too. So when I started making my protein shakes, I thought about the Purple Cow. I made it with Wyler's grape kool-aid (in a single serving tube) and it was a beautiful shade of purple! Tasted yummy too. Well, I haven't been able to find the Wyler's for a while, but Kroger brand makes a grape so I use that. Sadly it's not purple. :( It just looks like a plain old vanilla shake. But it has that same crazy Purple Cow flavor!

Purple Cow

1 1/2 - 2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix
2 drops vanilla extract
1 tube sugar free grape kool-aid mix
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
4-6 ounces Almond Breeze almond milk (or any milk you like)
sweetener to taste (optional)

Place ice in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients, ending with the milk. Set blender to crush ice, then blend on lowest speed and building up to highest speed until shake is thick and frothy.

Strawberry Shake

Mmmmm...a good strawberry shake takes me back to when I was a kid. Long summers going to the beach, riding my bike everywhere, and stopping for a strawberry shake on the way home. I know that these protein shakes are good for my health, but that doesn't mean they can't taste yummy too! Huh, I've just made myself crave a strawberry shake. Maybe I'll have one as my bedtime shake. LOL! 

Strawberry Shake

1 1/2 to 2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

several drops strawberry extract

1 ounce (about 2-3) frozen strawberries (add more if fruit sugar is okay for you)
1 tablespoon Hershey's sf strawberry syrup (optional, I don't anymore)

2 teaspoons Smucker's sf strawberry topping
1 scoop vanilla protein mix

8 ounces almond milk (or whatever milk you like)

sweetener to taste (optional)

Pour liquids in blender and set to stir. Add dry ingredients and keep stirring. Add strawberries and ice.Set blender to crush the ice, then keep raising speeds
until it's blending at it's highest speed. Blend until thick and frothy. Pour into a big glass and enjoy!

This shake also makes a great ice cream!

Chicken Nachos

Okay, so this recipe can barely be called cooking. It's putting stuff together that was previously cooked or just needs to be dumped out of the can and heated up. What can be easier than that for a quick weeknight meal? I love to cook smothered chicken in my pressure cooker. I will post that recipe in a couple of days. But, listen, if you have had weight loss surgery and don't have a pressure cooker...get one. Any kind of meat comes out so tender and juicy and not stringy. I've had trouble with food out of the slow cooker for heaven's sake! Chicken breast in the slow cooker...forget it! Beef tips in the slow cooker...ha...double forget it! Everything I cook in the pressure cooker comes out flavorful and juicy and tender on tiny pouches.  Anyway, I always cook an extra chicken breast so we can have leftovers for this dish.

Chicken Nachos

1 can chili beans
1 leftover chicken breast
1 Flatout Wrap (or pita bread) (optional)

Place the Flatout Wrap or pita bread on a baking pan and heat in the oven at 400F until slightly browned. Heat up the chili beans. Place the chicken breast in a microwave safe dish and heat. Shred the chicken. For each serving place some chili beans, then some chicken on a plate. Break up the wrap into tortilla chip sized pieces and dip into the chicken and beans.

Note: You can add anything you want. I like mine simple and usually just have the beans and chicken. You can add melted cheese, sour cream, chili, jalapenos, etc. to make your nachos as elaborate as you want! This dish is very satisfying and filling.

Cheesecake Pie

A couple of weeks ago my husband, Bob wanted a piece of cheesecake but I didn't have any cream cheese in the house to make even a small cheesecake. Bob thought of using yogurt instead of cream cheese and it worked! It takes a while to set up so you'll need to make it in the morning so it will be good for dessert that night. It's more like a pudding pie than a cheesecake consistency and so very yummy!






Cheesecake Pie

1 Fifty-50 sugar free graham cracker crust
1-32 ounce container Dannon Plain Yogurt
2 small packages cheesecake pudding mix
1/8-1/4 cup Splenda Granular

Whip the yogurt, pudding mix and Splenda together. Be sure to taste for sweetness...you might like it more sweet than me. Pour into graham cracker crust, cover and place in refrigerator for several hours to set up. Serve with a dollop of Cool Whip.

Death by Chocolate Protein Shake

Like chocolate? This shake will satisfy any and all chocolate cravings you may have. It started out as a simple chocolate protein shake. Then I'd think of something else chocolate to add. And again. And again. LOL! This shake is so delicious and decadent you'll forget it's a protein shake that you're drinking for your health! I like to get it thick and frothy and increase the volume so I can use a tall 24 oz. Tervis Tumbler to drink it.

Death by Chocolate Protein Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sf chocolate fudge pudding mix

1 tablespoon Smucker's sf fudge topping

1 tablespoon Hershey's sf chocolate syrup

1 tablespoon chocolate coffee creamer

1 heaping teaspoon Hershey's Special Dark cocoa

1 tablespoon sf Nesquik

2 tablespoons Splenda Granulated
1 pinch instant coffee

2 drops vanilla extract

1 scoop chocolate protein mix

1 dash salt

4-6 ounces Almond Breeze original almond milk

Put ice in blender. Add all other ingredients (adding the milk last). Use the ice crushing button on your blender to crush the ice. Blend shake, starting at lowest speed and working up to fastest speed. Pour into tall glass and enjoy!

Waldorf Salad With a Twist

My daughter, Janet went to Pennsylvania for a few days this week. When I picked her up at the airport we decided we were hungry so we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays right outside of Charlotte. We both had soup and salad (my white bean chicken chili is better than their's and mine comes from a packet!). But what I really wanted to talk about was their Waldorf Salad. Wow! It was really good! I've had problems eating apples since my gastric bypass, but didn't have any trouble with this dish. Maybe a combination of the apples being chopped and also in a sauce so they were moist. I've never made a Waldorf Salad, so I looked on the Betty Crocker website. I mean, really, you know Betty Crocker knows how to make it! I had to change it...you already knew that! LOL! Here's the link to Betty's original recipe.

Waldorf Salad With a Twist

1/4 cup Kraft Light Miracle Whip
1/4 cup Dannon Plain Low Fat Yogurt (or non fat)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Almond Breeze almond milk
1 Granny Smith apple, coarsely chopped
1 Gala apple, coarsely chopped

2 medium celery stalks, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

1 small box Sun-Maid dried cranberries

Mix mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice and milk in a medium bowl. Stir in the apples, celery, nuts and cranberries. Serve over salad greens if you like. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Note: This recipe does not make a lot of sauce. If you like more sauce than "barely covered" just double the mayo, yogurt, milk and lemon juice.

These are the dried cranberries I use.

Ground Beef in Tomato Gravy

If I was a fancy cook I would, I'm sure, have a fancy name for this dish. But I'm not fancy and this recipe was handed down to me from my Mom (who was, of course, the best cook in the world). But actually, the name fits the dish. It's simple and tasty. We only have beef about once a week and this is one of our favorites.

Ground Beef in Tomato Gravy

1 1/2 pounds 97% lean ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup sliced frozen peppers (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans tomato sauce
2 tomato sauce cans water

Brown ground beef in a deep skillet. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add onions and peppers and finish browning. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil. Season with more salt, pepper and garlic powder. Lower heat and simmer until done.