Reduced Guilt Brownies

I know I should be thinking skinny and bathing suits, but I have had the worst sweet tooth lately. Cooking Light offers some great lite desserts that are some of my favorite desserts of all time.

Recently, there was a contest to see what was the best fat substitute in brownies to reduce the guilt. The three alternatives were: canned pumpkin, apple sauce and refried black beans. And believe it or not the black beans were the winner. This tasteless substitute keeps the richness of the dark chocolate without adding any funky after taste like pumpkin. I replaced half the fat in a regular brownie recipe with refried black beans and added a little flavor.

Reduced Guilt Brownies

1 box dark chocolate brownie mix

2 eggs

1/4 filtered water

1/4 vegetable oil

1/4 refried black beans (unseasoned)

1/3 cup no sugar added preserves, such as cherry or raspberry

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

I have made brownies from scratch and I will be honest, they taste the same as from the box. Luckily you can still doctor up what comes from the box. There are a lot of brownie options out there and a lot of different opinions about what is best. My only suggestion is look at the ingredients. Make sure you can pronounce at least the first three ingredients. Do not look at nutritional information since there are dozens of ways to avoid certain factors being included on that list. Ingredients will be your best indicator of a good box.

Unseasoned refried beans are a pill to find. I have found some at Trader Joes, but if you are one of the poor blokes without a Trader Joes, then you can make your own. It is easier to find unseasoned black beans. Boil the beans in a skillet until soft. Use the back of a spatula to mash the bean. If you want the beans finer, use a chopper or blender. You only need a quarter cup so save the rest for a bean dip or tasty Mexican meal.

I recommend using a hand blender for this dish. It takes seconds to mix all ingredients and fill a 9x9 pan. Bake according to package instructions. These brownies are rich and flaky and fudgy. Even for reduced-fat, you only need one to satisfy a chocolate craving. Enjoy!

Sacred Heart Soup detox

I have tried fasting in the past, but I tend to eat too much coming off a fasting or eat too much in the evening and it doesn't really help the "detox" part of fasting. I heard about this soup from a friend whose family had great success. I am anti-diet fads, but detoxing is a great way to flush out the impurities of eating even the least bit of processed food.

This detox does take away my favorite ingredients and that is cheese, but cheese is an over-processed and fat-heavy reason I need to detox. For the most part, the detox is vegetarian and since I don't eat steak anyway I have adjusted the detox for non-meat eaters.

I have also included ingredients that I like, but you can view the entire list of acceptable ingredients at the website Sacred Heart Soup. After the first day's attempt, I needed to cut back on salt. This soup is surprisingly tasty.

Sacred Heart Soup

2 cans Hunt's roasted tomato soup (no seasoning)

1 can whole cut green beans, reduced sodium or salt-free

3 green onions, sliced

2-3 cups vegetable or beef broth (fat free and/or low sodium)

Nestle chicken noodle soup mix, extra noodles

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 carrot sticks, sliced

3 cups chopped kale or Japanese cabbage

1 tbsp soy sauce

black pepper

2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Spray soup pot with a little PAM. Saute green onions, celery and carrots. Cover with two cups broth. Beef broth offers more flavor to this soup, but I like it with vegetable broth as well. Add soup mix, cover pot and let simmer until vegetables are tender - 10 minutes. Add two cans tomatoes, with juice. Drain and rinse green beans - they tend to be canned with more salt. Add to soup. Add Worcestershire and soy sauce and black pepper and stir. Taste test for saltiness.

Add more broth if needed. Stir in kale or cabbage and parsley. TMI section: if you have never detoxed, it is not a pleasant week. You will detox from every place in your body, including your pores. I don't like cabbage anyway and I fear the consequences of using it in a detox soup. Kale is more nutritious and few side effects. Kale is very cheap and available this time of year.

This will make about six bowls of soup. I eat one for lunch and two at night, which takes out the soup in a day for two people. You can incorporate other foods during the week, but the schedule is strict. I have not been completely on target with the schedule, but this is what I do.

Day One: soup and fruit salad

Fruit Salad: tropical fruits are the mos nutritious and will provide the most beneficial calories

• fresh cut pineapple
• naval oranges
• kiwi
• mango
• strawberries

Day Two: soup and vegetable salad and baked potato

Salad:

• bibb lettuce
• shredded carrot
• sliced cucumber
• sliced radishes
• chopped tomato
• one tsp olive oil and vinegar

Baked potato

• 2 russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp dry ranch
• 1 head broccoli

Microwave potatoes for six minutes to soften. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Mix ranch and yogurt and refrigerate. Meanwhile boil broccoli for 3-5 minutes or until bright green. Once potatoes are cool, cut and remove stuffing. Mix potato with yogurt ranch. I KNOW I am cheating by adding ranch, but I am not adding any cheese and yogurt is high in protein. Use a potato masher to mix. Stir in broccoli. Bake again for 10 minutes.

Day Three: soup and salad

Day Four: soup and bananas (at least three) and skim milk

For some reason I am not good about eating bananas raw. For a "dessert" I will slice two bananas and heat them in a skillet for a few minutes until soft but not gooey. Pour into a bowl and had a pinch of coarse salt. They are goooooood.

Day Five: This is the tough day because you are supposed to eat at least three steaks. I do not like steak. If you don't eat steak, then disregard this addition. If you do eat meat, here is what I suggest: beef tips from a reputable butcher. I don't recommend ground beef unless you ground your own because you don't know is going into it. I buy organic beef from a local farmer. I add the beef tips to my soup recipe on day five as well as an additional can of tomatoes. Double the amount of tomatoes on your salad also.

Eat fruit to fight off dessert cravings. Cherries are also a great way to detox this week.

Day Six: soup, salad and beef

Day Seven: add wild rice to soup mix or add cooked vegetables to brown or wild rice.

I lost four pounds, which isn't bad, even for Biggest Loser standards. It's not a noticeable difference for other people, but it taught me a good lesson - I don't need nearly as much food as I think I do. Other people I know have done this diet with great success. You can lose 10-17 pounds in one week depending on how strict you are to the schedule and how much you have to lose in the first place.

Shop of the perimeter of the grocery store. Travel down the aisles only for canned vegetables, juice and spices. The fewer processed foods you consume, the easier your body can handle them. I gulp down my food and don't pay attention to when I get full. I have since been more conscious of when I am full and stop eating immediately. It is just as wasteful to eat food your body doesn't need than it is to throw out food you don't eat.

Good luck and please post success stories if you have them. You will get tired of the soup by day five but if you can make it to day seven you will feel a great sense of accomplishment.

Vegetable Enchiladas

This is sort of a cheater's recipe, but I learned a new trick: red sauce. Remember when I was complaining that my tortilla pie was good but it didn't serve a lot of people? I figured out that I can use the same ingredients to make vegetable enchiladas, which go further with guests and leftovers.

I do make chicken enchiladas with a green sauce, but I knew that would not go well with this new dish. So I finally tried my hand at Mexican red enchilada sauce. This recipe was completely improvised but was a surprising success! To be fair, I do not use any chilies in my enchilada sauce to tame the heat, so it's not exactly authentic. I do not recommend store-bought sauce because it contains a lot of needless salt and preservatives. However, enchilada sauce can be made with a lot of kitchen staples.

Red Enchilada Sauce

2 tbsp butter

1/2 minced onion

2 tbsp flour

2 cups vegetable or beef broth

1 can tomato paste (6 oz)

2 tbsp chili powder

cumin

oregano

garlic powder

salt

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Saute minced onion in butter in a large frying pan. You can use any kind of onion for this recipe. I buy yellow onions because they are so versatile but red onion is also very Mexican and will go well. Once butter is melted, add flour. Slowly pour broth and whisk well. Flour should dissolve and the mixture will become thick. Season with cumin, oregano, garlic and salt - 1/2 to 1 tsp each. You can also include fresh garlic in this recipe - add with onions. Mix tomato paste with water or more broth - about half a cup - and stir into sauce. If you like a thinner enchilada sauce, substitute plain tomato sauce for paste. Be sure to note if the tomato sauce is seasoned with Italian spices - that will not make for a tasty sauce.

Mix cocoa with 1/4 cup water and whisk into sauce. Some people shy away from cocoa in red sauce but it honestly didn't taste like enchilada sauce without this key ingredient. Cocoa does not equate to chocolate. Have you ever tasted unsweetened cocoa? It's not sweet or chocolaty. The cocoa also improves the color. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools so add broth or water to get preferred consistency.

Vegetable Enchiladas

As I mentioned before, this recipe is a copy cat to my tortilla pie recipe:

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
small can corn, rinsed and drained
bag baby spinach, slightly chopped
1 cup salsa
1/2 medium onion, red or white
1 jalapeño, chopped (optional)
fresh cilantro (optional)
1.5 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

10-12 corn tortillas

8 oz pepper jack or Mexican blend cheeses, shredded

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Saute onion and pepper in minced garlic, cumin, salt and red pepper. Once pepper and onion are soft, add beans. Add 1/4 cup water to beans and cook until beans start to break. Slightly mash beans to speed up the process. The mixture should be "refried" with some whole beans still in tact.

Stir in corn and spinach leaves. Stir until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in salsa. Trader Joes has a fantastic Double Roasted salsa that goes with about any dish I prepare. I highly recommend this salsa for cooking because it is flavorful and chunky. If you are using salsa with a lot of cilantro, than adding fresh cilantro is unnecessary. Otherwise, add cilantro now.

Heat your tortillas in a damp, clean dish rag for about one minute. Spread about 1/2 cup of sauce into a 13x9 baking dish. Fill each tortilla with 2-3 tbsp filling - depending on the number of guests you plan to feed (I like mine FULL). Top filling with 1 tbsp cheese and lay seem-side down in pan. Make sure tortillas are warm, otherwise the corn tortillas tend to fall apart. Top prepared enchiladas with red sauce and more cheese.

Bake enchiladas 20 minutes. If cheese is not brown, turn on broiler for 1-2 minutes. Serve enchiladas with salad - it goes together surprisingly well. I mix chopped spinach with a lite dressing and top with Mexican cheese and pepitas.

Vegetarian Tortilla Pie

Any of you who know me personally know that my weakness is Mexican food. Something about tortillas, cheese and beans that I can't get enough. But it is rough on my cholesterol and waistline. One option I have been able to use is vegetarian tortilla pie. This recipe is an Amy original. It calls for a ton of vegetables, high protein beans and light on cheese (so sad). It doesn't go very far though and usually only makes 2-4 servings. It is perfect for kicking a Mexican food craving though.

When you go to a Mexican food restaurant and order "refried beans" you are usually getting a lot of lard-fried beans. They taste so good, but honestly making beans at home is the best way to get the good nutrition without the unnecessary fats. Pinto beans are actually one of the MOST nutritious beans you can eat, just behind soybeans, with their fiber, folic acid and iron content. Black beans are also high in fiber and folic acid. Beans are also one of the healthiest foods for you that you can get for cheap. Canned beans run about $1 per can and have a lasting shelf life. I stock up any time they are on sale. If you can, buy organic or preferably low-sodium. You should rinse and drain your beans to ensure all preservatives and added salt are washed away.

Lastly, beans are great for vegetarians because they provide high levels of protein with no dependence on meat. Beware my friendly vegetarians, tofu is not as potent with protein levels as beans and also fails to provide adequate levels of fiber for a daily diet. Tofu and other processed soy products lose a lot of nutrition of natural soy beans because of the heavy processing it undergoes. For more about the awesome-ness of beans, catch Cooking Light's September 2010 issue.

Vegetarian Tortilla Pie

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

small can corn, rinsed and drained

bag baby spinach

1 cup salsa

6-9 corn tortillas

1/2 medium onion, red or white

1 jalapeño, chopped

fresh cilantro

8 oz pepper jack or Mexican blend cheeses, shredded

1.5 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Saute onion and pepper in minced garlic, cumin and red pepper. Once pepper and onion are soft, add beans. Add 1/4 cup water to beans and cook until beans start to break. Slightly mash beans to speed up the process. The mixture should be "refried" with some whole beans still in tact.

Stir in corn and spinach leaves. Stir until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in salsa. Trader Joes has a fantastic Double Roasted salsa that goes with about any dish I prepare. I highly recommend this salsa for cooking because it is flavorful and chunky. If you are using salsa with a lot of cilantro, than adding fresh cilantro is unnecessary. Otherwise, add cilantro now.

Oil a 1 quart round casserole dish (small and tall if you have one). Layer two tortillas on the bottom of the dish, trying to cover as much space as possible. Top tortillas with half bean mixture and 1/3 cup of cheese. Repeat once more. Top cheese with two more tortillas and remaining cheese.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Heat oven to broil for a few minutes to brown top cheese. Cut into fourths and serve with more salsa and sour cream.

Yummy Fish Tacos

YEA! I got my cholesterol results back and I am finally under 200. My good cholesterol rose two points, and I dropped from 162 to 107 in bad cholesterol without prescription pills! Thank you yummy vegetarian meals.

If any of you are vegans, you are probably not going to appreciate my "vegetarian" fish tacos. But these little tacos have so much filling, you don't need the fish to enjoy. I also recently found a friend's "pure vegetarian" blog for those of you who are hard-core veggies.

Fish tacos was a foreign concept to me five years ago. And when I say "foreign" I mean Californian, where I had my first taste at seafood Mexican. Since then I have been very attracted to this dish. Cheesecake Factory (several locations), Black Cat Burrito (Boone) and Cafe Capistrano (Raleigh) are the best restaurant fish tacos I have had to date. But these tender tacos are easy enough to make at home.

I first made fish tacos from Martha's Stewart's recipe. I have since made a few adjustments based on the other taco experiences I have had.

Fish Tacos

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 small red cabbage, thinly shredded
1 lb tilapia or other firm fish (I find tilapia on better sales than most other fish)

1 jalapeno, cut in half

2 tsp olive oil

1 can refried beans or homemade beans

1 box Spanish rice (optional)

6 inch corn or whole wheat toritillas

favorite salsa (tropical varieties taste best e.g. peach or pineapple)

Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Mix sour cream, lime juice and spices together and let sit. Slowly add sour cream mix to cabbage until you have a consistency you like, but don't drown your food. Cut tilapia in half long ways. Heat refried beans in a small pot with 1/4 cup of water or make your own. Make boxed rice according to package instructions. Add oil to hot pan and add jap pepper. Push pepper around to get pan flavored with the spice. Add fish to pan and sear, turning once, until fish is done. Depending on the thickness of the fish, this will not take very long.

Steam tortillas in a damp hand towl for one minute. Layer tortilla with beans, fish, rice (if using) and slaw. Top with salsa and pepitas. You might learn now that 6 inch tortilla is not going to hold a lot of these fillers, so be sparing.

This taco recipe also goes well with cut pork chops and shredded chicken.

Stuffed Pablano Peppers (Cheap Meal)

Yeah! We get to collect our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) starting today. To celebrate, I am giving you a great recipe that is made cheap with cabinet staples and local produce.

Chiles Rellenos Recipe - Every Day with Rachael Ray

The only stuffed pepper recipe I made was my mother's, which is stuffed with habaneros, meat and goat cheese. It is very rich and set-your-mouth-on-fire. So this "lighter" version was a pleasant surprise.

Stuffed Pablano Peppers

4 pablano peppers

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 white onion, chopped

1 pint button mushrooms, sliced

1 can roasted tomatoes, drained

1 box prepared rice e.g. wild rice, Mexican rice or dirty rice

3 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded

salt/pepper

1 can refried beans or homemade beans

Prepare rice according to package instructions. Set oven to broil. Spray each side of the peppers with oil. Broil peppers 10 minutes and turning after 5 minutes. Be careful not to leave the kitchen while peppers are broiling. The skin should be slightly charred and blistered. Let peppers cool completely. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees.

Heat a non-stick, large frying pan on medium. Add garlic and chopped onion. You may not have to add any oil depending on the quality of your pan. If needed, add no more than one tsp oil. Once onion has browned, add mushrooms. Once mushrooms have sautéed, add canned tomatoes. I used Hunt's roasted tomatoes and you can really tell they're roasted. Using canned items also helps to keep this dish cheap and convenient. Once the rice is done, stir in adequate amount of rice to pan.

The original recipe does not include rice, but I felt rice was a good way to make the meal more filling and stuff the peppers full. A healthy option was Uncle Ben's wild rice. However, the last time I made these I used a dirty rice mix, sans meat, and it was delicious! Zatarain's actually has a fat free dirt rice, but the salt content is outrageous. Be sure to check your rice nutrition list to alter your salt or fat additions. You also don't need to use the entire box of rice; I used about 3/4 of a prepared box. Have a good mixture of vegetables and rice, and likely you will have leftover stuffing for breakfast burritos or some other dish.

Stir in shredded cheese until mixture is warm and cheese melts. This is a great recipe if you are needing to use that little bit of cheese sitting in your fridge. You don't necessarily need to use the pepper jack since the peppers are hot as they are. So any type of Mexican cheese mix will do. The last time I made these I definitely went overboard with the cheese and it is truly not as appetizing, so be sparing.

The one pain in the boot about this recipe is the stuffing. You want to lightly cut the pepper so that you don't cut all the way through like I did with two of them. Make sure the peppers are cool so that you don't tear them as easily and you don't scold yourself. Getting the seeds out was definitely the most difficult part. I don't have much of a suggestion: cut the "bulb" of the seeds and get as many out as you can. I did a poor job of removing the seeds. I didn't think it would make much of a difference with so much stuffing and rice. But they lit me up! And I am pretty good with hot stuff. When stuffing, hold the pepper in your palm and spoon stuffing into one side and try to open the other side and fold over. The more you get in the pepper, the easier it gets.

And you definitely want to make the beans as a side dish. It made a huge difference to the combination of peppers, vegetables, and rice. And it's a good source of protein for this dish. You can buy canned refried beans (makes a cheaper meal if you do), but of course it is always better to make them yourself. If using canned, I add the beans to a small sauce pan and stir in vegetable broth over low heat. You want the beans creamy when you top your hot peppers.

Refried Beans

1 can pinto beans

1-2 garlic cloves, crushed

1.5 tbsp olive oil, separated

1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped

1 shallot, chopped (or 1/4 red onion)

cumin

chili powder

salt/pepper

Rinse beans and add to small pot of boiling water. Boil for about 10-15 minutes or until beans are soft. You can add a cube of chicken broth or beef broth if you are okay with that, just to add some more flavor. Meanwhile, sauté onion and pepper in garlic and 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Season with cumin and chili powder. Drain beans, reserving some liquid. Process beans in food processor. Slowly pour in remaining tbsp oil. Add pepper/onion and process; add some reserved liquid if mixture becomes too thick. Season with coarse salt and pepper.

We got all our vegetables from the farmer's market and had the canned goods already at home. This can be a very cheap meal if you stock up on canned goods when they go on sale at your grocer. This was a big hit in my house, so I hope you enjoy.

Vegetarian Burritos ala Ross

Yea, an original recipe for once! This is my mother's vegetarian burritos recipe. This meal will convert any meatatarian, even for one night.

Vegetarian Burritos

1 box Uncle Ben’s wild rice, original recipe (not the quick cooking kind)
1 can black beans, preferably organic
1 small white onion, chopped
2 jalapeños, chopped and seeded to liking
Cumin
Chili powder
Garlic, freshly crushed or minced
Velveta cheese slices (I know! but it’s not the same without this wonderful cheese food)
6’ or 8’ tortillas, preferably whole wheat or low carb
Burrito toppings: low fat sour cream/2% Greek yogurt, favorite salsa, cilantro, guacamole (preferably homemade)

Cook rice according to box instructions. Drain and rinse black beans. Sauté chopped onion and pepper in oil and garlic until soft. Season with salt/pepper and cumin and chili powder. I like it hot, so keep the seeds if you prefer. The rice in the burritos will mild the spiciness.

Once the rice is done, stir in the black beans and vegetables. Steam tortillas according to Amy’s instructions (see Tupelos). Layer tortilla with one (1) slice of velveta. The velveta slices come in normal and super thickness. It actually tastes better with the thinner slices. Top the cheese with the bean and rice mixture. Let sit until cheese melts. Fold and lay seam-side down.

Top burritos with your favs. I prefer sour cream, salsa and cilantro (see why cilantro is kickbutt in blog post). My husband prefers salsa and guac. I have learned to interchange Greek yogurt and sour cream, especially the 2% kind. You get a much better bang of protein with Greek yogurt and less fat. The creaminess is about the same with low fat sour cream and 2% yogurt. Beware, this is not a universal exchange – some recipes require sour cream.

Trader Joes offers a can’t-beat double roasted salsa, which might be a number one staple in our home. It is not a chunky salsa, like I prefer, but the taste is unbeatable. TJs also has a homemade guacamole kit for when avocados are in season. It’s easy and floors all other prepackaged guac.

I know that velveta is a no-no in the healthy world, but I’ve tried other low-fat Mexican cheese blends, and they are just not the same. If you have leftover cheese, use it, but I like this recipe if I have leftover cheese dip or queso from a party and “have” to get rid of it. Better than fried chips right? The velveta slices are only 60 calories per slice, so you can just skip the cookies for dessert.

This recipe is a great staple because it uses so many cabinet items. If you don’t have fresh jalapenos, you can use jarred just to keep from going to the store.