Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Fat Free Brownie Mix

Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Brownie Mix - Fat Free sounds like a great idea, right?!
130 calories, 26g carbohydrate, even 3g of protein!
Even the option to make a single serving in the microwave?
Yes, yes, yes?!
Oh no, no, no.

First, try stirring and mixing one carton of yogurt (Kroger Lite Vanilla) into the mix - not funsies at all.  I think I must have inhaled a serving.   Bake and slice and look at the result.   Bravely taste.






 

Yeah, it didn't taste much better...

I'm sticking with baking from scratch or using Costco's Ghirardelli and/or Wegmans brownie mixes.

Quick Chocolate Cheesecake

This is a modified recipe from one of those church/fundraiser cookbooks I love so much - "Recipes From The Heart" cookbook Sacred Heart Catholic School in Rockport, Texas.

I didn't want nor need to make a full sized version, and I'm also watching my carbohydrates. With that in mind, I will post the original recipe and then my version.

QUICK CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Original --

1 pie crust

2 (3.9 ounce) packages chocolate pudding*

16 ounces cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

2 1/2 cups milk

Mine --

3 packages Oreo Thins 100 calorie plus 2 tablespoons melted butter

1 package sugar free and fat free instant chocolate pudding

8 ounces Neufchatel Reduced Fat cream cheese

1/2 cup light sour cream**

1 tablespoon Hersheys Special Dark Cocoa

1 cup skim milk

Original --

Combine cream cheese and sour cream in blender. Mix well. Add pudding mixes and stir. Add milk and blend for 1 1/2 minutes. Pour mixture in pie crust and let set in refrigerator for 4-6 hours.

Mine --

Crumb three packages of cookies in food processor. Mix in small bowl with two tablespoons melted butter until crumbly and slightly sticking together. Press along bottom and sides of 2 cup sized Chantal 6 3/4" pie plate. Admire the apple green and dark brown color combination. Set aside. (I blogged about this earlier - here's the link.)

Combine cream cheese and sour cream in medium sized bowl. **Realize too late I just dumped in the entire 8 ounce container of sour cream. Mix well anyways. Add pudding mix, hoping and it should be instant right, since this is a no-bake cheesecake? The original recipe didn't specify, hence the first *. Add milk and blend for 1 1/2 minutes. Give myself a pat on the back because I added only 1 cup of milk instead of 1 1/4, half the original amount. And maybe that will take away some of the volume from the extra sour cream. It looks a bit light, perhaps because of the extra sour cream. Decide to chocolate it up by adding a tablespoon of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa since that is darker than the regular Hershey Cocoa. And extra antioxidants can't hurt, either. Pour into pretty pie plate and sprinkle the extra cookie crumbs on top, feeling very Martha-y, and put in refrigerator.

Look at the remaining mixture in the bowl, which was a little more than a third left. (Wonder how that could that be and how much or many pies the original recipe could have filled, because aren't I only 1/4 cup over volume-wise? And maybe next time I will make and fill TWO pie pans/plates - I also bought the pretty Chantal red one at last year's outlet sale. With visions of making pies like this one.) and pour into six 1/2 cup ramkins. Shortcut and justify not making more crust by sticking a cookie on top. Somehow find enough remaining crumbs to Martha-fy this even more. Put those in refrigerator, too.

Don't they look pretty?!

Fast forward four hours to dinner and everyone's anticipated dessert! I put a squish of whipped cream on top of the flopped-over slice to hide the fact it didn't quite set up as firmly - maybe it needed those extra two hours. (Report from next day's leftovers: No. Time was not the problem. All fingers and indications pointing to empty sour cream container in outside garbage can. Back to our recipe now.) I think it tastes good and announce that to all in the room. Hubby makes a face and says, "it tastes a bit...sour?!" "I bet that must be the bonus sour cream. Let's add some more whipped cream!" I say cheerily.

Personally, I didn't think it tasted that bad. Next time I will be more careful and not be so sour cream slap happy.

My sincere apologies to Sara W., who submitted her recipe. I don't want to put her last name, in case she Googles herself and discovers this!

Cooking Light 5 Star Recipes - Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies

Today I'm going to try Cooking Light's Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies (page 407 from the Cooking Light 5 Star Recipes book). Back later with photos and results! If you would like to get a head start, click here for the recipe link.

The verdict? Three thumbs down. We don't like nor drink coffee, and it was really coffee-y. In the past, I have used instant coffee in a few recipes with good results; just not two tablespoonfuls! I liked the toffee chips idea and will use them again on another brownie recipe. I did bake it the extra 8 minutes other reviewers advised and the texture was good. Excuse me while I go brush my teeth! The aftertaste - Blech!

Hello (and Goodbye!) Dolly

Yuck! So sweet it makes your teeth hurt, providing you can get a piece out intact. This is from the December 2007 issue of Cooking Light. Click here for the recipe if you are feeling lucky. While I applaud their trying to reduce the fat content, the bit of butter and tablespoon of water was not enough to make the crust behave like a crust. The hopes that a can of condensed milk would somehow seep through to the bottom and bind the crumbs fails to take into consideration - 1) the 15 ounce can in the ingredients is now sold in 14 ounce cans... 2) if the can is close to the "best used by" date, it will be too thick to do nothing but just sit on the top.

Chilled Red Pepper Soup - Slow Cooking Thursday Crockpot Challenge

This was from the June 2008 issue of Family Circle magazine, page 202. Click here for the recipe.

First, you should really like red peppers, and you may not be as fond of them for awhile after trying this. And you better have a strainer ready. It sounded promising, but it looks like ultimately what's left over will go down the drain, hopefully not clogging it.

Despite the Kitchen Aid immersion blender, there were still sticks of rolled pepper skin found hidden the next day. Ick. It is supposed to be served chilled overnight. Do that, as warm it tastes awful - awful!. I strained it and will try a little again later today...third time's the charm, right? But I'm not optimistic and I won't be adding this to my recipe notebook.

Kraft Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe is from the recent Summer 2008 Food & Family Kraft Foods magazine, page 29. For a free subscription (and coupons, too!) go to their website www.kraftfoods.com

Our family rating - "Um, it's OK" (deciphered - we're hungry and we'll eat this, what's for dessert?)

I liked the cream cheese, but subbed the 1/3 less fat version. I thought it was a little heavy on the cumin, I would cut it back to 1/2 teaspoon. To my horror when stirring it all together, it started to resemble tuna fish and looked so unappetizing. Too white, too deconstructed. And also too dry. I popped open a can of chicken broth and tried to smooth it out a little, but it only looked worse! Without a backup plan other than PBJ, I valiantly carried on. Then I used the Heart Healthy/Low Fat tortillas, and while better for you, cardboard is more flexible. So I doused those with some chicken broth, and then before popping into the oven, poured more over them, topped with cheese and covered the pan with foil, hoping heat and steam would fix it all.

If I make it again, I would use longer pieces of chicken, perhaps even more dark meat, cut back on the cumin, use thinner and smaller tortillas and keep that can of chicken broth handy.

Crockpot Challenge: Gone All Day Casserole

I've renamed it "Gone For Good" casserole!

This is another crockpot recipe from the 2000 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes book. Link to the recipe on the Taste of Home site.

What did I do differently? 1) Skipped the rice. If indeed I was "gone all day," I would have tried it. But I find that cooking the rice separately insures the rice is soft and not hard. 2) Reduced the water to 2 cups instead of 3. If I was crocking the rice, perhaps I would keep the water the same, maybe. I find sometimes all the veggies and meat add to the liquid volume and the crockpot basically "boils" the meat. 3) Skipped all that salt (2 1/2 teaspoons!) and just used a sprinkle, along with a bit of pepper. 4) Used a rounded teaspoon of Penzeys Beef Soup Base and mixed with the 2 cups of water instead of 3 beef boullion cubes. 5) Tried just a small handful of sliced almonds...not sure how it would go over with the others and this way, not as much to pick out. 6) Used only one can of sliced mushrooms instead of two. It looked like enough with one and L doesn't like mushrooms.

Grade: D-/Won't make this mistake again!

What happened? Way too watery! Maybe with the rice it would have been thicker and looked better. I served it with mashed potatoes instead, thinking I would get a nice gravy - not! The meat turned out very tender, though. Hopefully I can recycle the meat and veggies into something else!

Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies

This morning I tried the Better Homes and Gardens' Heart Healthy magazine recipe for Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies. Here's the link if you want to, too.
While an admirable attempt to make a healthy treat - no eggs, no butter! - and a breakfast on the run - I thought there were too many flavors competing -- Bananas, crunchy peanut butter, honey, oatmeal, craisins/raisins/other dried fruit, cinnamon (2 teaspoonfuls! That probably did it right there)... They looked good, but tasted awful - warm and cold. I had to brush my teeth afterwards, my mouth felt funky. I'll leave them out on the kitchen table today and see if anyone else bites. My grade: F/I threw the recipe away.

Sometimes being virtuous isn't much fun

or tasty! Yuck to the Vegetable Lentil Soup... Before I clog my disposal, I'll give it another try for lunch in case it got better overnight. (and it serves 4?! Gosh, it made a bucketful!)

Everyday Food #48 - Turkey Cutlet with Cauliflower Saute'

It was OKaaaay and seemed to be a lot of work and a little pricey for a cooking for one dinner. I tripled it for us. The veggies limped on the plate but tasted better than they looked. But it turns out I like good-for-you power cauliflower! Everyday Food - December 2007 issue #48, page 60

Marbled Chocolate Treats

From the Kraft Food & Family Holiday 2007 freebie magazine, page 22

They looked good...but kind of went over so-so with the family. First, a little pricey to make with the Baker's chocolate squares, especially when I scorched the vanilla ones (note they heat and melt faster than the chocolate squares) and ended up using that entire box. Ka-ching, there goes $2.19. And I think you can cut back 1 square of the semi-sweet chocolate, there was a lot of chocolate, almost too thick. The peanut butter combined with the chocolate wasn't that great either, it all just tasted "off".

But here's the recipe in case you'd like to fiddle with it or have better luck than we did.

8 1/2 Honey Maid graham crackers, broken in half (17 squares)

6 squares Baker's Chocolate - Semi-Sweet

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3 squares Baker's Chocolate - Premium White

Line 13"x9" pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Arrange grahams on bottom of pan, cutting as needed to completely cover bottom of pan, set aside. Microwave semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter in medium microwaveable bowl on high 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted when stirred, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir until well-blended. Pour over grahams; spread with spatula to cover completely. Repeat microwave melting steps with the white chocolate. Drop spoonfuls of the white chocolate over chocolate-covered grahams. Immediately cut through the chocolate mixtures with knife several times for tiger-strip effect. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Use foil handles to remove from pan. Peel off foil, cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Makes 1 1/2 dozen or 18 servings.