Brownies

Okay, Lynn, here's a brownie recipe from BariatricEating.com. I haven't made them (they're not safe in my house!), but all of Susan Maria Leach's recipes are wonderful.

Brownies - Splenda version

This simple brownie recipe uses easy to find ingredients and tastes delicious. Give it a try. I often bake this recipe in a loaf pan for thicker brownies.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder (Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa is the best and available in many supermarkets)
2 large eggs
1 cup Splenda Granular
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans - optional

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Melt butter and cocoa in a small saucepan over low heat stirring until smooth - remove from heat to cool. Beat eggs in a medium bowl until thick and smooth, add Splenda, vanilla, and salt - stir in cooled chocolate mixture. Fold in flour and walnuts.

Pour into an 8 inch square pan that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until firm but still slightly soft near center. Brownies are best when slightly under-baked. Cool before cutting into 2 inch squares.

Turtles Candy!

I love turtles candy, but the sugar free I can buy in the store has so many sugar alcohols they just tear me up. Can't even eat one! So this morning I was thinking about the ingredients in turtles and realized that I could probably make a pretty decent copy...not the same, but good enough to satisfy me. Note that there are no amounts listed in the ingredients. This is, so far, a "by gosh and by golly" recipe. I'm sure there are other turtle fans out there and wanted to get the recipe posted as soon as possible. So, for now, you'll just have to make it by remembering the texture and thickness and gooeyness of a real turtle.

Turtles

Smucker's sugar free caramel syrup
Almond flour
Instant oatmeal
Dry roasted (with sea salt) peanuts
Dry roasted (with sea salt) almonds
raisins
Smucker's sugar free chocolate fudge topping

Mix some almond flour with the caramel syrup until somewhat thickened. Add some oatmeal until it's pretty thick (almost as if you were going to roll it into balls). Add the peanuts, almonds and raisins (hey! some coconut would be good in there too!) and mix until well mixed and nice and thick. Add more flour or oatmeal to thicken more if you want to roll into balls.

Spray an ice cube tray with Pam and drizzle some fudge topping into the bottom of the compartments. Spoon some of the caramel mixture on top then smudge (technical word!) some more fudge topping. Put the ice cube tray in the freezer until solid enough to pick up and eat.

Mine are in the freezer now and you know I will eat my share as soon as they are ready. If they come out good, I think I'll get some mini cupcake paper cups and put them on a tray to freeze in the paper cups.

I actually cheated "just a little" and left a taste in the mixing bowl...Hey! that's the cook's prerogative, right! I gotta tell ya, even if they don't harden correctly, they taste awfully good! I'll update as soon as I taste the final result!

Update: Hmmm...I didn't know that ice cream fudge topping wouldn't freeze? Duh! Have another idea that won't add a bunch of sugar alcohols and will try that soon. Meanwhile if anyone else has an idea, let me know!!!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!