Bacon and Cinnamon Waffles

This was one of the occasions when reading the Sunday morning paper and watching FoodTV on brought about a great idea for breakfast: waffles with the unusual combination of bacon and cinnamon. In the originial recipe, Giada Di Laurentiis uses pancetta, but this is a skinny version of the waffle that leaves you little to wish for with regard to taste, texture and a perfect Sunday morning breakfast.

1/4 cp Big trail buttermilk pancake mix (or other pancake mix)

1/2 TB brown splenda

1/2 ts ground cinnamon

1 TB walnuts, chopped

1 ts bacon bits

3.5 TB ff buttermilk (or 1/3 cup for the NS pancake mix)

1 TB eggbeaters

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl; the batter should be on the liquid, pourable side. Pour batter in the middle of pre-heated waffle iron, and bake for 3-5 min. For extra special waffle, roast the walnuts first. Serve with sf maple syrup!

Chocolate Muffin

Another Starbucks creation. This time I am just going to eat it.....

Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins (using NS pancake mix)

Muffins:
1 NS pancake mix
1 TB brown Splenda
3 Tbsp eggbeaters
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cold coffee or instant coffee
1 TB FF milk
1 TB Ghiradelli ground sweet chocolate
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Filling:
2 oz FF cream cheese
1 TB eggbeaters
1/2 ts vanilla
1 ts pancake mix
1/2 ts fiberfit (or a 2 packets of splenda)

Topping:
4 small pieces of chocolate

Directions
Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients for the muffin in a separate bowls. Then, add wet to dry ingredients and mix well. Line a muffin pan with liners, and fill with batter. Should make about 4 medium sized (regular) muffins (I used 2 larger ramekins). Pre-bake for 5 min at 400F.

In another bowl, whip the ingredients for the cream cheese filling. It might help to soften the cream cheese in the microwave for a 1/2 min. Divide the filling equally into the 1/2 baked muffins, and finish baking (overall ca. 15-20 min). For the last 2 min, place the chocolate pieces on top.

all 4 muffins: 1 breakfast + 1 protein

Note: the original starbucks muffin has 600kcals, and 43g of fat. And it does not even taste good.
This version has no fat, and about 180kcal (with 'old' pancake mix at 120kcal) and 210kcal with the new NS pancake mix.

Healthy Cookies

For a christmas tea, I was looking for something that is not necessarily low-cal, but at least very healthy, and very tasty, of course. These cookies are flour-less, egg-less, butter-less and almost sugar-less, thus, vegan and low-glycemic, but they taste like out of this world.

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a food processor, ground the almonds to a fine, sand-like consistency. In a little sauce pan, melt the coconut oil to a liquid consistency (don't really heat, just melt). Add to the food processor. Also, peel the bananas, break into pieces and add to the food processor. Add vanilla, shredded coconut, cinnamon, and salt. First pulse, then mix the ingredients to a mousse-like consistency.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, and baking powder. Add the wet ingredients from the food processor and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, that's ok. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 1 tablespoon in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or silicon mat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 14 - 16 minutes. I baked them until I could see some light brown coloring on the oats.

makes about 60 cookies a 50 kcal.

Peach Oatmeal Cookies

1 NS maple sugar oatmeal
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c Fiber One bran (pulsed in food processor)
1 ts brown splenda
2 dried peach halves, diced
2 TB egg beaters
1 ts Parkay spreadable butter
1 TB (real) maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix all dry ingredients in small bowl, then add in wet ingredients and combine well. Scoop cookies on to sprayed baking sheet; it made six reasonably sized cookies for me. Bake cookies until lightly browned and slightly crispy (ca 12 min).

1 breakfast entree + 1 fruit



Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

1 NS maple sugar oatmeal
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c Fiber One bran (pulsed in food processor)
1 ts brown splenda
1 TB dried cranberries
2 TB egg beaters
1 ts Parkay spreadable butter

Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix all dry ingredients in small bowl, then add in wet ingredients and combine well. Scoop cookies on to sprayed baking sheet; it made six reasonably sized cookies for me. Bake cookies until lightly browned and slightly crispy (ca 12 min).

1 breakfast entree + 1 fruit

Semi-Homemade Swedish Rye Bread

I picked up a package of the swedish rye bread mix at IKEA. Wholegrain rye bread is one of my favorite breads, and here was a chance to make it at home. It's simple, just add warm water, shake vigorously, let rise and bake for 60 min. Instead of one big loaf, I made 3 small ones, which make perfect little slices. The taste is wonderful!



The rye bread mix can also be purchased online at Marina market (similar price to IKEA).

Cherry Danish with Vanilla Pudding

I tried something new for a cream cheese danish. I used a little container of the Jell-o sf/ff vanilla pudding instead of cream cheese, and sf cherry pie filling. It's quick to make and it tastes great! Hope, you enjoy it!

1/3 cup pancake mix
some stevia
1/3 cup almond milk
1/4 ts baking powder

1/2 cp sf fat-free vanilla pudding Jello cup
1 Tbs. egg substitute
2 TB sugar-free cherry pie filling

Mix pancake mix with 1/3 cup almond milk. Add stevia, and 1/4 ts baking powder. Spray a small baking dish with butter spray. Pour or mixture into baking dish.

Mix pudding with 1 TB pancake mix, and 1 TB egg substitute ain a small bowl until really smooth. Distribute pudding mixture onto top of pancake mixture in the middle of the bowl. Add cherries op top. Bake in a 400-degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until pancake mixture is set.