Segmenting an Orange

I have tried eating oranges since my gastric bypass, but the membranes just wouldn't digest. And it was painful too. So I tried sectioning the orange and pulling off the membranes. Whew! Way too much trouble. So I resigned myself to not eating oranges...just too much trouble to make them edible. Then I saw this technique on my favorite channel, Food Network. Kind of messy but it's really easy and only takes a couple of minutes. And oh! I learned a fancy food word. The little segments are called 'supremes'. Ha! Fancy that!
Enjoy the video!

Pan Fried Shrimp

I know a lot of people can't eat shrimp after gastric bypass. Thankfully, I'm not one of them! But if you are, and I'm really sorry about that, feel free to skip reading this recipe. I like shrimp any way I can get it...boiled, broiled, sauteed, pan fried...hmmm I'm starting to sound like Bubba. LOL! Oh well! Today for lunch I wanted a nice salad. Then I decided to put some roasted veggies in it. Mmmm, starting to sound really good! Then I thought of the shrimp silently waiting for me in the freezer. That was it! That's just exactly what my salad needed. So I put some shrimp (I use cleaned, raw, tail-on shrimp) to defrost in a cup of water while I got my veggies ready and into the oven. On to my lovely shrimp!

Pan Fried Shrimp

fresh or defrosted shrimp (leave the tail on for now)
1-1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
salt and pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Pat the shrimp dry and place on a paper towel to season. (Why dirty a cutting board for 5 or 6 shrimp huh?) Sprinkle a little salt, pepper and garlic powder on both sides. Live a little and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese too! Heat the oil (medium heat) in a skillet until it is hot enough to add the shrimp. Add the shrimp and pan fry for about two minutes. Turn the shrimp and cook another two minutes. Remove from heat and place on a sheet of aluminum foil, folded in half (another dish saver!) and let the shrimp rest for 2-3 minutes.

At this point, if you're going to eat them as is, keep the tails on and you have a nice little handle. If you're adding it to a salad like I did today, pull the tails off, cut the shrimp if you like and place in the salad.

Now there's just one more thing to do...EAT!

Lemon Blueberry Shake

Two of my favorite things...lemons and blueberries! Together! In a milkshake! Need I say more?

Lemon Blueberry Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
2 drops lemon extract

1/8 piece lemon (juice only), optional

2 tablespoons sugar free lemon pudding mix

1 ounce fresh or frozen blueberries

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.

Avocado

Avocados are in season and that makes me happy. Happy...Happy...Happy! I didn't care for them before gastric bypass, but now I love them. They're great with a nice piece of pan-fried fish or chicken for lunch. Yes, they're high fat, but heart healthy fat. They are very good for you. Eat them! Enjoy them!

Avocado

1 ripe avocado (they are ripe when darker in color and give slightly when fingered)
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh lemon juice (can use bottled if that's all you have)

Here's a video on how to cut an avocado. Cut avocado from top to bottom and back around. Twist each side in opposing directions (like you used to twist an oreo cookie to get to the filling!) to open. Take your knife and carefully whack it into the seed. Twist slightly and pull seed out. Now you're ready to dice the avocado. Run the tip of your knife through the flesh to make diagonal cuts in both directions without cutting through the peel. Now you can take a tablespoon and just spoon out the chunks of avocado! Do the same thing on the other half. Yay! You have just diced your first avocado. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Stir and taste!

You're gonna want to dice your avocado just a few minutes before serving. They will turn brown, even with the lemon juice. It doesn't hurt the flavor though so eat on!

Peppermint Patty Shake

This shake is one of Bob's favorites. His grandfather used to keep After Eight mints around the house and Bob loved them so when I saw mint extract in the supermarket I knew just what to do with it! It's pretty easy too. Make a Death by Chocolate shake and add several drops of mint extract before blending. It's that easy! If you use peppermint extract it's more like a York Peppermint Patty. Gotta love it!

Roasted Vegetables

There are a lot of vegetables that I don't care for when they're cooked in the "traditional" way. You know what I mean...you think about asparagus and you automatically think "steamed". Yuck! But asparagus is delicious roasted. As are brussel sprouts, believe it or not. So next time you're in the supermarket and see some beautiful, fresh vegetables, think about roasting them. You can even defrost some frozen corn and roast that!

Roasted Vegetables

various vegetables, cut into similar sizes

olive oil

salt and pepper

dried thyme

Preheat oven to 425F. Place your veggies on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, then mix to coat all your veggies. Spread them out into a thin layer and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, and dried thyme. (I like thyme the best, but you can experiment with your seasonings!) Bake for 20-25 minutes until nicely roasted.

Caramel Apples

Who doesn't think about caramel apples when the weather turns cool? Our state fair opened today and it made me think about caramel apples. Deep fried corn dogs too...but that's another story! I found some beautiful honey crisp apples today at the supermarket and decided that I deserved a treat so I bought one. After I washed it I cut it up into slices and dipped the slices into some sugar free caramel topping. I could only eat two slices of apple, but they were wonderful!

Pan Fried Tilapia

Lunch at my house is usually either fish (tilapia or tuna) or chicken tenderloins. And they're usually pan fried. Pan fried doesn't mean you have to cook with a lot of oil, even in a stainless steel skillet. Best tip of the week: Watch the free pan frying video lesson on Rouxbe Cooking School online. (I've been pan frying for years and learned a lot.) When you're done watching the video...pan fry some fish!

Pan Fried Tilapia

1 tilapia fillet (or another similar fish)
cooking oil
salt and pepper, to taste
Italian salad dressing dry mix (available at most supermarkets)

If your fish is frozen, defrost. Pat dry and sprinkle salt, pepper, and salad dressing mix. Pat seasonings into fish. Do this on both sides.

As explained in the video, heat your pan until hot enough to add oil. Heat oil until hot enough to add fish. Pan fry for a few minutes on each side until fish is cooked through and flaky. Since I'm cooking in oil, I like to place the fish on a paper towel to blot off the oil before serving.

Cherry Vanilla Shake

Cherry Vanilla ice cream was always one of my favorite ice creams. So of course I had to translate that into a protein shake. Which, by the way, also makes an awesome ice cream. Just chop up some defrosted cherries and mix into the ice cream when it comes out of the ice cream maker.

Cherry Vanilla Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tablespoon regular flavor coffee creamer
sweetener to taste (optional)
2 drops cherry extract
5 frozen cherries
4-6 ounces milk (I use 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.

Mexican Chocolate Shake

Did I just hear another "WHAT?" coming from you? Mexican chocolate has cinnamon in it. I didn't know that until after I started making this protein shake. I saw them talking about it on Food Network. I just called it my chocolate cinnamon shake, but Mexican Chocolate Shake sounds so much more exotic, don't you think? Mexican chocolate can have other spices in it like allspice, nutmeg, nuts and even chilies. So if you want to be authentic, go for it! I might try the spices and nuts, but I think I'll leave the chilies out of my protein shakes, thank you very much!

So what's the recipe? Well here's the easy part...make a Death by Chocolate Shake with three shakes of ground cinnamon in it! Ta-da! Easy huh? Hey! Maybe I should get an Easy Button!

Good Old Vanilla Shake

Is your vanilla shake everything it can be? Or is it just kind of blah? I'll bet you think that with all the stuff I add into my shakes, I never drink a plain old vanilla shake. Well...you're wrong! Ha! I love love love my vanilla shakes. Are they plain? Well, that depends on your definition of plain. LOL! I add stuff to my vanilla protein powder to enhance the flavor and give me the vanilla shake flavor I want. And that's not plain!

Good Old Vanilla Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1 tablespoon regular flavor coffee creamer
1 pinch instant coffee
2 drops vanilla extract
sweetener, to taste (optional)
4-6 ounces milk (I use 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.

Note...Get creative with your vanilla shake! I saw some french vanilla extract at Walmart today. Gonna try that soon. Get some french vanilla coffee creamer. Explore your vanilla!!!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Remember the recipe for Quick Barbecue Chicken? Well, I hope you cooked an extra piece of chicken...cause if you did, you can now make yourself a bbq chicken pizza! Woohoo!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 piece leftover bbq chicken with sauce

1 flatbread (I get mine at Publix near the deli)

1 slice onion, pulled apart
cheddar cheese, shredded
mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425F. Place flatbread on baking sheet and spread a couple of tablespoons leftover bbq sauce over the flatbread. Sprinkle some cheddar cheese over the sauce. Cut or pull the chicken apart and place on the flatbread. You can spoon a little more sauce on top of the chicken, if you like. Sprinkle a little more cheddar cheese over the chicken; top with onion pieces. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over top and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Slice into six pieces and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Nothing says Fall like pumpkins. You see them everywhere...carved for Halloween...pies for Thanksgiving. And now protein shakes! Best of all, you can have them any time of the year! This recipe was inspired by a shake recipe on BariatricEating, a wonderful online support group by Susan Maria Leach.

Pumpkin Pie Shake
(used with permission)

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

2 drops vanilla extract

1 teaspoon instant coffee

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon sugar free caramel topping
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
sweetener, to taste (optional)
4-6 ounces milk (I use 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.

UPDATE ALERT!  A wonderful variation is to substitute sugar free butterscotch pudding mix for the vanilla pudding mix! It really brings out the pumpkin and caramel flavors! Go ahead...ask me how I know!

Peanut Butter Cookie Shake

Peanut butter cookies are wonderful! The smell...the texture...the taste...the sweetness. Well, I don't do well with the sweetness anymore. Even the best peanut butter cookie in the world is not worth "dumping" on the sugar in it. And yes, I could get a special sugar substitute and make some sugar free cookies, but there are two big drawbacks to that. #1-All those cookies would call to me (actually they would yell at me). #2-I have always hated baking cookies. I don't mind baking cakes or pies, just please don't ask me to bake cookies. But I still want that flavor, so you know I had to come up with a protein shake that tastes like a peanut butter cookie! FYI...this makes incredible ice cream!

Peanut Butter Cookie Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1 tablespoon regular flavor coffee creamer
1 pinch instant coffee
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 drop LorAnn peanut butter candy oil (all flavors are sugar free)
1 tablespoon peanut butter (or PB2)
sweetener, to taste (you want this to be a sweet shake to emulate a cookie)
4-6 ounces milk (I use 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.

Note: LorAnn candy oils are very strong. You really only use 1 tiny drop per serving.

Quick Barbecued Chicken

Okay, I'm from the South. It's my job to eat barbecue. Really! It is! Would I lie to you? But I don't always want to go outside to cook it on the grill. Yes, sometimes I want that good, smokey flavor. But sometimes I just wish I could make really good barbecue in my kitchen. Well, leave it to Lorna Sass to come up with a pressure cooker recipe. This recipe is from her book, Cooking Under Pressure, which I highly recommend. See the sidebar of my favorite tools for my favorite pressure cooker. Makes my cooking life so much easier. Don't ask where's the picture. It smelled so good when it finished cooking that we just ate it up right away! I had a breast leftover, which I used a couple of days later for pizza. I'll post that recipe in a bit. Next time I make this (which won't be long) I'll take a photo...if I can wait to eat it long enough! LOL!

Quick Barbecued Chicken

2 tablespoons oil
3 to 4 pounds chicken parts, preferably thighs and drumsticks, skinned (I used boneless skinless breasts and some skin on drumsticks)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced (optional) (I used 1/2 half green and 1/2 red bell peppers)
2 cups prepared barbecue sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the cooker. Brown the chicken well on both sides in small batches, adding extra oil as needed. Set the browned chicken on a platter. Pour of or sop up leftover oil if needed.

Add the water, taking care to scrape up any browned bits (the fancy cooking term for this is suc) sticking to the bottom.

Place the onions and green pepper (if using) in the bottom of the cooker. Add the reserved browned chicken plus any juices that have collected on the platter. Pour the sauce on top. Do not stir.

Lock the lid in place and over high heat bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 9 minutes. (I cooked for 15 minutes since I had large pieces of breasts) Reduce the pressure with a quick-release method. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape.

Place the chicken on individual plates or a serving platter. If the sauce is too thin, tent the chicken with aluminum foil, and boil the sauce vigorously until reduced. Spoon the sauce on top of the chicken and serve.

Variation Note: There's no reason you can't do ribs this way. Just set your pressure cooker for the time recommended for ribs. Hmmm...this winter might be a big barbecue eatin' winter!!!

Ice Cream

I love ice cream! I don't care if it's winter and freezing outside...it's warm in my house and I love to eat ice cream! After weight loss surgery, we can get sick from eating sugary foods. And I don't know about you, but anything even remotely sugary sweet just gags me now. Even sugar free ice cream from the store is not the best thing for you. It's got a lot of sugar alcohols. So I don't get it often. But when I can make low fat, high protein ice cream at home in less than half an hour I can eat it any time I want to!

To make ice cream you need an ice cream maker. I use the kind that you freeze the bowl. I just keep mine in my deep freezer (in a large freezer ziplock bag). Then when I want to make ice cream, I just pull it out and get it going.

The next step is to make a protein shake. Whatever flavor you want. Plain or fancy. Just make it thick and frothy. When it's done, start the ice cream maker and slowly pour in the shake through the top of the ice cream maker. Set a timer for 20 minutes (If you have the same ice cream maker as I do. If you don't, follow your manufacturer's directions.) and go find something to do until your ice cream is ready! Here's a tip: my ice cream maker has a hole in the top so I put a small piece of aluminum foil over it to keep the cold in.

When your ice cream is done, spoon it out into a large bowl. At this point, fold in any mix-ins that you have. For instance, if you want to make Rocky Road, get a small sugar free chocolate bar, partially freeze it, chop it up, and fold it in to your ice cream. I've even made Moose Tracks ice cream this way! Just think about what kind of ice cream you want and figure out the mix-ins you need! Easy peasy! I like mine as soft serve so we eat ours now. If you like it more like store-bought, you can pack it into a smaller container and freeze for half an hour or more. Now there's only one more thing to do...EAT YOUR ICE CREAM!!! Just remember that this is a protein shake. It will be filling, so it's not a dessert to be eaten right after dinner! Don't even bother asking me how I know this. LOL!

Lemon Chiffon Pie Shake

By now you've noticed that I name most of my protein shakes after candy or desserts. I used to have a huge sweet tooth before my weight loss surgery. If I could have figured out a way to justify dessert for breakfast, I would have! If I had a bad day at work, I'd call my husband and tell him I'd had a Baby Ruth day or a Snickers day, or whatever. He'd stop at the store and get me a king sized candy bar to eat when I got home. That was my attempt at control...to have him stop at the store. If I stopped I'd have bought more than one candy bar!

Lemon Chiffon Pie Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 pinch instant coffee
2 tablespoons sugar free lemon pudding mix
1 drop lemon 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.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Shake

Who does not like chocolate covered cherries? Raise your hand. All of you that raised you hand...you're lying! LOL! Everybody likes chocolate covered cherries! This is one of my favorite shakes and one of the first ones I invented.

 

Chocolate Covered Cherry 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 drop cherry extract

1 scoop chocolate protein mix

4 frozen cherries

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!

Milk Dud Shake

Bob spotted some sugar free caramel topping in the store the other day. He thought maybe I could find a shake or dessert to use it in. Who me?!? LOL!!! Of course I can find a way to use it! So this afternoon when he wanted a Death by Chocolate shake, I thought I'd give the caramel topping a try. Then I remembered I had some butter extract from some awful recipe I tried a while back so I put a couple of drops of that too. It came out tasting like those wonderful, delicious, incredible Milk Duds that I used to eat by the handful! Who do you think was excited!

Milk Dud Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sf chocolate fudge pudding mix

1 tablespoon Hershey's sf chocolate syrup

1 tablespoon chocolate coffee creamer

1 heaping teaspoon Hershey's Special Dark cocoa

1 tablespoon sf Nesquik

1 scoop chocolate protein mix

2 tablespoons Splenda Granulated
1 pinch instant coffee

2 drops vanilla extract
2 drops butter extract
1 tablespoon Smucker's sf caramel topping

1 dash salt

4-6 ounces Almond Breeze original 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.

Apple Cider Shake

I don't normally like apple flavored things. Sour apple gum is horrible! Apple candy (when I used to eat candy) is awful! But I always did like apple cider. So when a friend at my local support group gave me a packet of sugar free apple cider I got excited. Of course you can make it according to the directions, but why not make an apple cider protein shake! I have only made it cold but there's no reason you can't make it hot during the winter. I'll post that recipe after I make it. Of course it's going to have to get colder than 70F for a hot apple cider shake!

I find this at Walmart

Apple Cider Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1 envelope sugar free apple cider mix

2 drops vanilla extract

1 good pinch instant coffee

sweetener, to taste (optional)

4-6 ounces 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.