Tag Archives: low calorie

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Veronica

Saturday is the one day of the week when I have all the time I want to prepare breakfast, so I tend to make them a little more special. I created these pancakes to use up one of the quickly blackening bananas in my fruit basket, and they were just wonderful, especially with the addition of fresh banana slices on top. The bonus is that they’re so light that you can have a stack of two or three without busting your calorie budget, if you care about such things.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

¾ cup quick-cooking oats
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup buttermilk powder*
1 tablespoon Truvia, or sweetener of choice
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup water*
1 medium banana
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Measure oats, flour, buttermilk powder, Truvia, flax seeds, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Mash banana with a fork into a separate bowl and whisk in the egg. Add to dry mixture along with water and vanilla. Let rest for at least five minutes while you heat a skillet/griddle. Measure out batter using ¼ cup for each pancake and cook until dry around edges on first side before turning to finish cooking.

*You can use 1 cup regular buttermilk in place of the buttermilk powder and water.

Makes 12 pancakes. Per pancake: 71 calories; 1.3 g fat; 12.5 g carb; 2 g fiber; 3 g protein

Recipe by Veronica Miller

Don’t forget to check out Steph’s online bake sale today (January 31)! It’s running from 7AM-9PM EST and this is your big chance to get your paws on a batch of my Mocha Toffee Brownies. Good luck!

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Posted in Breakfast, Lighter Fare and tagged Breakfast, diet, flax, healthy, light, low calorie, low-fat, nutritious, oatmeal, oats, whole wheat banana pancakes recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Peppermint Pretzel Crisps

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Veronica

Although we don’t have a Trader Joe’s in Kansas (don’t you pity me?), I found out through a blog I happened to scroll through one day (I do not remember which one it was), that they sell a product (and I don’t even remember the name) that is basically pretzel crisps coated in white chocolate and sprinkled with pepperminty-looking things. (Pepperminty is a word because I say so.)

Well, just because we don’t have a Trader Joe’s doesn’t mean I can’t have make them myself, right? I mean, all I need are three ingredients:

Easy peasy, and this is one of the very few holiday treats that you can enjoy nearly guiltlessly. That is, unless you eat the entire batch. I calculated the calories and it’s 104 for every three crisps. That is about the equivalent of an ounce of fudge, but it much more satisfying because the serving is larger and it takes a while to eat since it’s crunchy.

The best part? They don’t taste diet-friendly. They aren’t imposters masquerading as the real thing like fat-free half-and-half (this is an oxymoron if I ever heard one!) or sugar free syrup (gag me!). They are the real deal, salty & sweet with a hit of peppermint. They rock my socks.

Do your poor friends on diets a favor and give these as gifts in lieu of that tub of fudge. Believe me, we have plenty holiday temptations to avoid without your help!

Peppermint Pretzel Crisps

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

4 squares vanilla almond bark candy coating
1 (7.2 0z) bag original pretzel crisps
1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips

Melt the almond bark according to package directions. Using a small silicone spatula, spread the top of a pretzel crisp with almond bark, lay on a sheet of waxed paper, and immediately sprinkle with peppermint baking chips; repeat with the remaining pretzel crisps. Once almond bark has set, package in an airtight container or in cellophane gift bags or tins.

*If you are unfamiliar with the Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips, read this post to find out more.

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Posted in Candy, Lighter Fare and tagged andes peppermint crunch baking chips, candy, christmas, diet, diet-friendly, easy, holiday, low calorie, pretzel crisps, recipe, simple. Bookmark the permalink.

Easy Lemon Cookies

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Veronica

5 reasons why you need to make these cookies ASAP:

5. They’re insanely easy to make.
4.They’re bright and pretty!
3. They have superb texture–firm on the outside, chewy on the inside.
2. They taste like sunshine.
1. You can have two whole cookies for just 102 calories!

What, you need more reasons? What are you waiting for?!

I like to really douse the cookies with powdered sugar so they take on the "crinkle" look.

Easy Lemon Cookies

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
grated zest from 1 lemon
powdered sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, lemon juice & lemon zest until well blended. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes, and up to overnight to make the dough easier to handle. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and then drop into a small bowl of powdered sugar. Roll around until lightly or heavily covered, depending on how much you want. Once sugared, place on an ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 6-9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Makes 60 cookies
Per cookie: 51 calories, 2 g fat, 7.8 g carbohydrate

This recipe is linked with GirliChef for BSI: Lemons!

14 Comments

Posted in Cookies, Lighter Fare and tagged cake mix, Cookies, diet-friendly, easy, lemon, low calorie, summer, sunshine. Bookmark the permalink.

Impossibly Easy Vegetable Pie

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Veronica

Maybe I’m not the best judge of the quality of meals since I’m on an endless diet and I tend to think anything edible is good, but I really do favor this quiche-type dish and I end up making it a lot b/c it’s satisfying and low in calories (about 200 calories per 1/6th of the whole recipe). Den likes it too and as far as I can remember, he enjoyed it when he wasn’t on a diet (he ate it w/o complaining, anyway), so it’s probably safe for dieters and non-dieters alike.

This is my original version (based on a Betty Crocker recipe off their website), but I came up with this one for our dinner tonight b/c I found some sad looking leeks in the fridge that needed to be used in a jiffy and we didn’t have any milk. Using chicken broth made the meal even more low-cal and worked great!

Broccoli-Leek Vegetable Pie

3 leeks, sliced (white part only)
2 cups brocolli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/4 of a red pepper, chopped (I’d use more for color but this is all I had left)
1-2 cups 2% shredded cheddar cheese
4 whole eggs
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup self-rising flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Mix the vegetables with the cheese and spread in baking dish in an even layer. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and pour over the vegetables. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until egg mixture is set in the middle and a knife comes out clean when inserted near the center.