Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Popcorners

January 28, 2013January 23, 2013 by KTgreen

Are you getting healthy this year!? I found yet another tidbit that helps me. ‘Popcorners’

Yes, the new crunchy diet snack d’jour are rice and popcorn based crisps or chips. I’ve been snacking on these for a few months now and thought I’d tell you about them. They make me feel like I’m eating real buttered popcorn. Even though all they have is sea salt on them. Now there’s the key word – REAL.

A few weeks ago there was a sale on the new Special K snacks that were potato crisps and popcorn chips. I like the Special K cereals so I picked them up for a taste test. I won’t be buying them again. I was disappointed in the super ‘fake’ taste of the stuff they sprayed on them. There was like 15 ingredients on the label and their popcorn chips were half the size of the ones I had been buying.

My favorite Popcorners chips are found in my Publix deli – I guess the company who makes them doesn’t have quite the market presence that The Big K has, so you may need to hunt them down. It’ll be worth it. They cost a little less, even at $3.00/bag, because the bag is bigger, and they’re all natural. They’re twice the size of the diet ones, making them big enough to top with a slice of cucumber and a dollop of dressing – or even a slice of cheese. Hmmm, they come with cheese flavor too….ooo, something new to try. And a what’s ‘serving size’?

Well, I was curious so I broke out the scale because you know how it goes, a serving is like 5 chips …wrong…this is 1oz of Popcorners. So, at 3g/fat per serving I could, conceivably, eat my way through an entire bag on a Playoff Weekend and not destroy my diet?? Really? I’m sooo there!

I’m giving the makers a ‘shout-out’ because I don’t want to see them disappear. I must not be the only one buying them because they disappear from the shelves at Whole Foods and Publix really fast!

Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Devilish Ham

January 23, 2013January 16, 2013 by KTgreen

Hey, who out there has leftover ham? You ate it?! No! Well, here I make a huge New Years ham with the southern Black-eyed Peas, etc. and we have a ton left. I freeze the bone and big chunks for later, but there’s a big ‘box’ of it for sandwiches, ham n’ eggs, and my hubby’s favorite PVCC Special sandwiches (Paradise Valley Country Club)-which will NEVER make it to the ‘Healthy Eating’ Blog because they are cheese and ham swimming in butter, all held together with an egg and mounded on buttered toast! O M G!!

But there comes a day that whatever’s left is either cooked for dinner or frozen. So, I made my version of Hoppin’John and I had enough left for something else small. Hmmm, Devilish Haaaaam! I love that stuff like Alabaman’s love pimento n’ cheese!

I thought I should check out some other recipes on the Net to see what other folks do. I was surprised that almost none of them were what I make. I like mine better, so they can have their ‘deviled ham’. Most rely on hot sauce, horseradish, vinegar and a very few would add a dab of pickle relish. Although, they all have mayo and some way too much of it, which wouldn’t make the Healthy Eating blog any sooner than Jonny’s PVCC gut buster! . So, I think I need to jump in with my 2 cents (or a buck n’ a half) to share MY version. So very baaaaaaad – and so very gooood.

Step 1: Gather your goodies and dust off that food processor.

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Devilish Ham

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Delish Ham

Step 2: Toss in the food processor and pulse it to the ‘Alpo’ stage – yeah, it ain’t pretty. Awwww, but you can’t smell it though…sorry, there’s no app for that. It’ll be on the iPhone 9.

Step 3: Pick your platform. They’re all good. Feeling fancy, try the Water Crackers. Feeling Festive then fill the tortilla cups. I was out of whole wheat saltines, so they didn’t make the photo. They’re my healthy go-to snack platform. Then there’s Pita – nothing is bad on a pita chip! Not that I’ve found, and I keep looking!

This makes about 2 1/2 cups, which is 6 – 1/4 cup servings. No, that 2 Tablespoon serving will never work here! Still, it’s 117 cal., 6.9g fat and that analyzer has no idea how much white stuff I picked off that ham.

Finale: There’s a close-up… spicy, hammy goodness. Remember, this is Devilish Ham so this ain’t no girly snack – the men will eat it. But probably only on a Frito, so much for healthy.

Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Impossible Cream Cheese Frosting

January 12, 2013January 9, 2013 by KTgreen

Hmmm, ‘No Carrots at Christmas’…that’s what Kathy said. I’m thinking my tight jeans may override that mantra next year. It’s a new year and I’ve got to shed those Holiday pounds! Last evening I made myself a batch of MY sugar cookies, and since I had some pumpkin left over from making pumpkin roll, I whipped up some lo-cal pumpkin cookies too. Now, Pumpkin Cookies WITH cream cheese frosting run a close second to our oh, beloved Pumpkin Roll. So, I worked up some cream cheese frosting that I can eat with my yummy little pumpkin jems. Mmmmmmmm – cream cheese frooooosting. Is there anything better? No, no – really, there are very few things that CC icing can’t improve on. (I heard that Donna!) Here we go…

That’s it! Whip it up – oh, so good. Yes, it has butter in it. That gives it the creaminess and keeps away the ‘I-am-a-diet-substitute’ taste.

Since you won’t be putting much on a cookie (very rich), I’m thinking 1 tsp each, the calorie count is only 12 calories per ‘serving’ (1tsp). You could lower it without the butter, and add in a bit of milk. Nah, maybe next time.

I listed this as “Impossible Cream Cheese Frosting”, because when I finished I had 3/4 Cup of frosting!?! What?! Where’d the sugar go? I’m no physics major (obviously), but when I add together a cup and a quarter of ingredients – mix it together and it reduces in size? No, no, no don’t explain it to me …. Just tell me that if I eat 1-1/4 cups of it that there’ll only be 3/4 cup of it to work off! (BTW, my recipe analyzer just exploded)

Michelle

Michelle and I both use Whey-Low in our baking–but it’s expensive and difficult to find. According to their website, it can be purchased at Whole Foods but that store is in “far far away land” for me plus Michelle tells me that it’s no longer at the Dale Mabry store in Tampa. So we both buy it online from www.wheylow.com. If you order $75 worth, you don’t have to pay for shipping, plus I receive emails with discounts from them. Brings the cost down a bit and one order lasts me forever since I don’t bake all that much. I feel the cost is worth the product since it does work just like sugar in the recipes and I love sweets but I also love fitting into my clothes!

Enjoy!