Sunday, July 8, 2012

Lemon-Lime Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Look at what I found at Trader Joes!



Yummo!  I had to rip open the box as soon as I got to the car to try one of these little yummy cookies.  I love Meyer Lemons!  They were just light and crispy and you could have 2 and not feel guilty at all.  Then I got to thinking.  



I have so much of that lime sherbet left over from my Watermelon Push-up Pops, Ooohhh, AND I have vanilla ice cream too!  I could make Ice Cream Sandwiches!

Okay, so lets set them up and get a piping bag ready.


Then my BFF said, I could swirl the two.  Okay, I can do that.


Alright, so it is not as easy as it sounds.  You have to work FAST, only do a few at a time, and get them in the freezer after a few, then keep going.


These were my first ones, I made the next batch fatter with more ice cream using no tip on my piping bag.

This is what happens when the ice cream starts to melt because your hand is warm at the top and the ice cream is still hard at the bottom.  Basically as you try and squish the ice cream out, some of the melted ice cream squirts and makes a mess.  Not sure I have any pointers for you, just go FAST! If you don't go FAST you get a soggy cookie and it sticks to your paper.  



If you don't go fast the worst that happens is you have to eat the messy frozen glob of cookie and ice cream that did not turn out cute.  (Rough I know.  I had 2 kids sacrifice themselves by eating some of the messy globs.  Selfless and courageous, yup, I am lucky to have such kids.) 




Well, even after the mess I still came up with cute sandwiches and they were a big hit with my family that came for a visit from Chicago.  :) Not only are these delish, they were also low cal.  A nice cool summer treat.  

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Random Yummies!

I started a little project. (Okay, not so little.)  I went through all of my cookbooks and scanned things I wanted out of over 30 books. (That is another project - to have them in some order on my computer.)  Then I printed them out, and separated them into two books (ones I have tried and love and ones I want to try.) by category, then I got rid of all of those cookbooks.  We still have like 50 or so, but it felt good to make some space and to purge.  I love getting rid of things we don't use.  Having 2 or 5 recipes in one cookbook that I like or want to try is a total waste (to me).

I have also been trying to add more vegetarian meals into our family diet.  (My skin-and-bones-without-a-lick-of-fat-super-active-is-an-understatement son has high cholesterol and has had it since he was 3.)  I also have been counting calories for over a year now (lost 42 pounds and have kept all off but 3).  So, I take a LOT of time weighing and measuring and counting everything I cook or bake and try to make sure we are getting pretty healthy stuff in our bodies that still taste good.  Oh, and I LOVE cookies so, I have to make a cookie that is less than 70 calories and have one almost every day.  Yup, I do that by using all of the same 'normal' ingredients, I just make them smaller.  It works for me.  I do not deny myself a thing and I am healthier.

All of that being said, I am always on line or digging in my binders for something new to try. So, here are a couple of yummy things we have played with.

Vegetarian Quiche. 

Okay, I am not going to write out the recipe, but I can tell you I got it from a cookbook from a Bed and Breakfast I stayed at back in January of 2011.  The place was called Apples B&B.  Okay, this place was pretty stinking cute.  The breakfasts were amazing.  This is a great place to go if you need a Lumber Jack type breakfast that is jam packed with enough calories for that whole day as well as a bit of the next.  She will blow you away with tastes, flavors and presentation.  That being said, it is really hard on a low calorie (because I don't work off a ton of calories Mom) life style change diet. So, I got the cookbook and took her Vegetarian Quiche and remade it.


Okay, here it is.  I have been tinkering with this quiche.  How can I make it lower in fat, how can I lower the calories, oops I made a mistake and totally forgot the cheese one time kind of playing.  

What I need to try - how to make a yummy crust that is not so calorically dense, should I try it without a crust, and so on.  My kids groan when I make quiche, but I know they like it.  They just get moody on me.  They would gobble it up and ask for more and more, but I think I may have tried playing with it too many times.

Here are the basic ingredients:  Eggs (one or two yolks, mostly whites), swiss cheese, zucchini, roma tomatoes and green onions.  Add crust or not, and play.  I have played with the cook time, everything, I have liked every one of them, not sure which is my favorite.  It is a work in progress.  One of these days when I think it is perfect, I will post it.

Here is another quick one.

Pistachio Bread!

I have been craving nuts with my new workout routine, and needing protein and carbs to keep me moving through the day, so I have been playing with recipes with nuts in them. This is the recipe I used.   I think I did it exactly like it was written (probably less salt).  Now, this was my first yeast bread I have made since I can remember.  It took forever, but was totally work it.  I only took 2 pictures. 



Before - this was my first try at this, so I know the seam isn't pretty.


After - the seam and inside may not have been pretty but it sure did taste good!

The newest thing I just created was a Push-Up Pop.  
I stumbled upon this book by reading (once again) Bakerella's site.  She cited it some time ago and well, I looked it up, fell in love and decided I had to have it.  Since my kids are finally out of school, I thought why not make a little something to celebrate Summer?  

I only made one.  



One lonely Push-Up Pop.  I split it with my hubby.  
I will be making more, I just wanted to see how it turned out.  I need to practice more, lots more. I need to work on pushing the stuff down and I think I'd like to find a different Strawberry Sorbet, one that is a little darker to resemble more of a watermelon.  I have to say though, this was delicious!

I am obsessed with Push-Up Pops, so you'll be seeing more of these.  :)  
At least that is my hope.  
I need to not eat them all before I get a chance to take a picture of them.
Oh, and calories for this baby = 81!  (Don't ask about the sugar.)






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