I thought it might be fun to share recipes for healthy alternatives to some of our favorite (and high calorie) foods. I am always looking for ways to cut fat and sugar, and would love to hear what some of you do to eat well, but stay healthy. So I'll start Who doesn't love Alfredo sauce? Rich and creamy and super bad for you.. BUT delish.. So I have a recipe for very low cal Alfredo.. and it's really pretty tasty and satisfying. Of course.. it's not the real deal, but when you see the numbers.. you will be amazed. 1 tbs olive oil 1 cup diced onion 6 cups of store bought fat free chicken stock 1 cut instant rice (you can use regular rice about 2/3 cups) 1 clove crushed garlic salt to taste Sautee onion and garlic in oil until slightly translucent.. do not brown add chicken stock and bring to boil add rice and simmer until very soft.. almost mush... (about 10-15 minutes) Put mixture in a blender and puree until velvety smooth.. Use as a base for any creamy sauce you choose. I added roasted red peppers to the puree for a red pepper sauce over chicken breasts. 1 cup serving 159 calories 3 grams fat 22 grams carbs 5 grams protein NOW compare to Classic Alfredo made with whipping cream and cheese. 1 cup serving 414 calories 42 grams fat 3 grams carbs 8 grams protein.
One of the easy low-carb desserts that I sometimes make is a no-bake cheesecake. Since it is low-carb, i don't use any kind of a crust; but you could always add one if you wanted to. You will need a pint of cottage cheese, 2 cups half-and-half, and a packet of sugar-free pudding mix, preferably the cheesecake flavor, but vanilla will also work, and lemon is interesting and different. It reminds me of the sour cream lemon pie that I love, and this is basically almost carb-free. Put the cottage cheese and cream in the blender and blend until there are no lumps of cottage cheese left. When you add the pudding mix, it is going to thicken up right away; so you can either add the pudding mix and blend for a few seconds, or you can pour the cheese mixture into a bowl and then stir in the pudding mix. If you do it in the blender, it takes some scraping to get it all back out again once it thickens up, but it sure blends everything nicely. This is an adaption from an old Atkins recipe which was made with cottage cheese, splenda, and (I think) a packet of plain gelatin. Since I am all for simplicity in the kitchen, I use the pudding mix instead.