WEEK THREE CHALLENGE RECIPES:
LINDSAY's CHEESY GORDITA CRUNCH
I love the Cheesy Gordita Crunch from Taco Bell, but it's so bad for you. Here's my recipe:
Use 2.5 oz (one pre-packed meat patty) Jennie-O Extra Lean ground turkey and chop it up in a pan with a spatula. Mix it with 1 tbsp. Lawry's Taco seasoning and a bit of water. Brown one hard taco shell. Sprinkle 1/4 cup Sargento low-fat Mexican cheese on one LaTortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Soft Wrap tortilla, and put it in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. Put the seasoned meat in the hard shell. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup more cheese, and 1/4 cup shredded lettuce. Wrap the cheese-covered soft tortilla around the hard shell taco, eat, and enjoy the whopping 41 grams of protein!
LINDSAY'S CHEESY GORDITA CRUNCH:
402 cal, 14 fiber, 32 carbs, 41 protein, 18 fat
TACO BELL'S CHEESY GORDITA CRUNCH:
560 cal, 6 fiber, 44 carbs, 21 protein, 33 fat
It's still a lot of calories for one "taco" but way lower fat grams and carbs, and higher fiber and protein. The healthy version. Mmm....
LAURA #1:
There's this burger restaurant that Tony and I used to eat at when we lived in San Diego called Islands. One of my favorites was the Kilauea. So I went on their web site and looked up the ingredients and nutritional information for that item... and I was blow away!
"Jalapeno and black pepper crusted burger with pepper jack cheese, chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato, and seasoned red onion strings (thin red onion rings)"
Calories: 1650
Carbs: 80
Fat: 115
Protein and Fiber were not listed.
So my version:
Take lean ground beef and put in a refridgerator storage bag. Add Worsteshire sauce, salt and pepper, chopped garlic, chopped jalapeno, and chipotle tobasco. Let it marinate for about 15 minutes. Then grill and create your burger. Layer onto the whole wheat bun 1 tbs mayo, shredded lettuce, beef patty, low-fat provalone cheese, 1 Tbs diced green chili, sliced tomato, and thinly sliced red onion.
Calories: 558
Carbs: 40
Fat: 27.5
Protein: 38
Fiber: 7
Couple of notes: I originally intended to create the same onion strings by breading the onions in italian bread crumbs and baking them instead of trying to make anything fried. When I went to the grocery store I forgot the bread crumbs. It's just as well... and I think that in the future instead of mixing the chopped jalapeno into the beef patty, I will layer it onto the burger. I love jalapenos and didn't really taste them when they were cooked into the beef. And I used the low-fat provalone with diced green chilis to mimic the pepper jack cheese. Also, I used regular mayo instead of low-fat. Another option would have been to mix the chipotle tobasco with the mayo to make the aioli.
STACEY's BLACK FOREST TRIFLE:
This yields 12 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
1 (16 ounce) angel food cake, cubed
1 (20 ounce) can no-sugar-added cherry pie filling
4 (3.5 ounce) cups fat free chocolate pudding (such as Jello Snack Pack)
1 (8 ounce) carton frozen fat free whipped topping, thawed
1/4 cup of chocolate curls
Place half of cake cubes in a 2 quart trifle bowl; spoon half of cherry pie filling over cake. Spread 2 pudding cups over cherry pie filling, and top with half of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Top with chocolate curls. Chill, if desired. ( I chilled this for about an hour before we left for the party, then it chilled for like another 2 hours during the party. So it was nice and cold and oh so good! )
Shortcut: Any 2 quart bowl will work. You don't need a trifle bowl to make this recipe.
PER SERVING
Calories 190
Carbohydrates 40.6 g
Fat 1.2 g (saturated 0.6g)
Fiber 1.5 g
Protein 3.2 g
Cholesterol 1mg
Sodium 352 mg
Calcium 84 mg
Iron 0.4g
The only thing I did not include were the chocolate curls.
Not a huge cherry fan, but I decided I was going to try something new and glad I did. Delicious!!
If anyone makes this recipe, I hope you enjoy it!! We all did.
SHERIE's ICE CREAM TREAT:
In response to eating Skinny Cow [ice cream treats]…I found a compromise for myself:
1c. Skim milk
1T. Cocoa
1 oz. Vanilla Soy protein
½ med. Banana
A Few Ice cubes
303 cal. 35 carbs, 3 fat, 39 protein, 0 fiber
I put everything in a tall plastic glass and mix with the immersion blender; it is the closest to a chocolate milk shake I have come up with.
I should find some tasteless fiber to up the fiber number, then it will perfect.
REGINA's LOW CALORIE CHEESECAKE TO LIVE FOR:
CRUST
1 1/2 cups of finely crushed lowfat vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 cup of no-calorie refrigerated butter spray (you may add a bit more or less to get a workable crust as temperature, humidity & altitude affect differently)
You can also opt to use a ready-made crust of your choice but be sure and count this calorie content as part of your recipe. If you use a ready-made crust, subtract 65 calories to delete the given crust, then add the calories of your ready-made crust and divide by 8 (8 servings).
FILLING
2(8 oz) packages of fat-free cream cheese, softened
Artificial sweetener (add as much or as little as you like - you control the sweetness)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 carton of Egg-Beaters (or 2 eggs)
Optional - you can experiment with additional lemon & lemon peel, strawberries, extracts such as almond, rum, brandy, mint. The possibilities are endless.
DIRECTIONS -
Mix crust ingredients and press into springform pan OR just use an ovenproof deep-dish pie plate. Next, mix filling, adding the eggs last until blended. Pour in your crust & bake for about 40 minutes (until the center is almost set). Refrigerate at least 3 hours before eating. Top with fruit, fat-free topping, drizzled jelly or a bit of toasted coconut. Serves 8.
CALORIES = about 125 per slice.
