Creamy Rice Pudding

Skill Level: Easy
Sticker Shock: $$$$
Taste: ★★★★

Rice pudding is one of my comfort foods. The weather has been a bit more chilly the past couple of days, so comfort food sounded really good. I am so glad I decided to try this out because I really think it will become a standard in my family.

I have pretty much avoided rice pudding, except on the rare occasion I decide to splurge a bit, since my diabetes diagnosis. We all know rice isn't exactly low carb, and once you add a bunch of other sugary things to it to make a good rice pudding, it's definitely off limits under most circumstances (unless you limit yourself to about a thimble-sized serving). This recipe eliminates most of the super sugary stuff, and it still tastes great to boot!

Ingredients:

2 small boxes vanilla, sugar-free pudding (do not make as directed on box)

3 1/2 cups fat free milk

4 oz frozen low fat whipped topping , thawed

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup seedless raisins

2 cups white rice, cooked

Directions:

In a medium to large bowl, use a whisk and briskly stir together dry pudding mixes and skim milk for 2 minutes.

Stir in whipped topping, almond extract, raisins, and rice. Keep stirring until well mixed.

Serve as is or keep chilled until ready to eat.

If desired, sprinkle top lightly with ground cinnamon before serving.

Nutrition information: Servings Per Recipe: 14 (1/2 cup each) Amount Per Serving: Calories: 98.3, Total Fat: 0.2g, Sodium: 41.1mg, Total Carbs: 20.3g, Dietary Fiber: 0.7g, Protein: 3.2g

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Skill Level: Easy
Sticker Shock: $$$$
Taste: ★★★★

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, and we had her over for dinner. She loves oatmeal raisin cookies, so I thought I'd find a low-carb recipe and try them out. I don't get into cookies that much, and oatmeal raisin is not my favorite, but these were good. We all enjoyed them. Jeff, my husband, said he actually thought they were a little too sweet for his taste, which says a lot for a low-carb/diabetic-friendly cookie recipe I'd say! These also have much fewer ingredients than a lot of cookie recipes I've seen, so it was easy to make these without a trip to the store first.

Ingredients:

3 medium bananas mashed (overripe bananas have a higher carb content, so be sure to choose fresh bananas)
2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/3 cup margarine, melted
1/4 cup fat free milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and let stand for 5 minutes so that the oats will absorb excess moisture.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Let cool for 1 minute on baking sheets and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition information: Servings Per Recipe: 36; Amount Per Serving: Calories: 51.5, Total Fat: 2.1g, Sodium: 20.9mg, Total Carbs: 7.7g, Dietary Fiber: 0.9g, Protein: 0.9g

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies

Skill Level: Easy
Sticker Shock: $$$$
Taste: ★★★★

I thought these turned out quite yummy! My husband, kids, and parents-in-law seemed to enjoy them, too. I used fat-free cream cheese because it's what I had on hand, and I did 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup Splenda. They still turned out great. The nutrition information provided is for the recipe as written below. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

cooking spray
8 oz low fat cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 cup light sour cream
1/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Spray an 8 inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and line with a 12 inch piece of parchment paper. Spray paper with nonstick cooking spray; place a second sheet of 12 inch parchment in the opposite direction so they lay crisscrossed. Spray second sheet with cooking spray; set aside.

Place cream cheese and sour cream in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add in the cocoa powder, cornstarch, sugar, and eggs, blending until smooth, scraping the sides of container at least once.

Pour into baking dish and evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips. Bake on middle rack until just set, about 35-40 minutes.

Place on cooling rack for 20-30 minutes, then in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Lift brownies out of pan using the parchment paper as handles, cut into 9 even squares.

Nutrition information: Servings Per Recipe: 9; Amount Per Serving: Calories: 140, Total Fat: 4.6g, Sodium: 44.4mg, Total Carbs: 20.8g, Dietary Fiber: 0.6g, Protein: 4.2g

Angel Food Cookies

Skill Level: Incredibly Easy
Sticker Shock: $$$$
Taste: ★★★★

These are the easiest cookies I have ever made, maybe even easier than the break apart dough cookies you can buy at the store! They are also very tasty. My husband didn't care much for them, but he likes extra stuff in his cookies (he's not fond of shortbread or sugar cookies, either). Oh well...They are also versatile—you could really use any fruity flavor of diet carbonated beverage. We just happened to have some peach on hand. These are also decent-sized cookies, so if you have to limit yourself to just one, you can still feel like you have satisfied your sweet tooth (without a lot of calories and fat, even!).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup diet carbonated beverage
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 angel food cake mix, 14.5oz package
cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with the cooking spray.

Put the carbonated beverage, almond extract, and angel food mix in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat at a medium pace until it becomes smooth. Set 28 equal spoonfuls of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 9 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet using a spatula and let cool before serving.

Nutrition information: Servings Per Recipe: 28; Amount Per Serving: Calories: 54.9, Total Fat: 0.1g, Sodium: 108.7mg, Total Carbs: 12.5g, Dietary Fiber: 0g, Protein:1.3g