I was at the grocery store and saw on one of the display table a wierd plastic contraption. I looked to see what it was. It turned out to be a Breakfast Sandwich Maker made by a company called Progressive. It is designed to be used in a microwave, and will cook 1 or 2 eggs, and some bacon. I bought it.
When I got it home, I washed it, decided to give it a shot. Instead of using eggs, I used Egg Beaters, and instead of regular bacon, I used turkey bacon. I also used fat free cheese.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Egg Beaters
1 strip turkey bacon
1 slice fat free american chees
1 hamburger bun
Directions:
Pour the 1/4 cup Egg Beaters into the egg part of the Breakfast Sandwich Maker. Cut the bacon into two shorter parts and place in the bacon area of the Breakfast Sandwich Maker. Put the lid in place. Microwave on high for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Place the cooked egg on the bottom half of the bun. Cover with the slice of fat free american cheese. Lay the bacon on top of the cheese, and place the top half of the bun on top. Eat. Be careful as the egg gets very hot.
I was in the mood for a BLT sandwich last night, and decided to see if I could make a low fat BLT sandwich.
Ingredients:
low fat Turkey bacon
Reduced Fat Hellman’s Mayonaise
Bread
Lettuce
Tomato
Directions:
Slice a couple strips of the turkey bacon in to 4 shorter strips. In a non-stick skillet, fry the turkey bacon over medium heat (don’t use any grease or oil). Toast a couple slices of bread. When the bread is done toasting, spread a thin layer of the Reduced Fat Hellman’s Mayo on each slice of bread. Lay the strips of bacon on one slice of bread. Cover with some lettuce, and a couple thin slices of tomato. Place the other slice of bread on top, and eat.
Very simple, and very good. Much lower fat than a regular BLT!
I picked up a new cook book last week title The Busy People’s Low-Fat Cookbook. The recipes look pretty simple. I decided to try one of the simplest of the recipes in the book. I bought four 1/4 inch thick slices of 97% fat-free ham at the grocery store last night, and also some apple butter. I figured the apple butter would be in the section with the jellies and jams. I was right, but it still took a while to find.
I laid three of the ham steaks on my Jennair grill, and while they were grilling, I slathered to top of the steaks with a teaspoon apple buter each. After they had grilled for a bit, I flipped the steaks, and then coated the other side with the apple butter. After they had grilled on then side for a bit, I flipped them again to carmelize the apple butter that I had just put on. Then I served them.
They were pretty good, and easy to make. They didn’t take hardly anytime at all, and they were pretty low fat. One drawback is that the apple butter left my Jennair grill and total mess. They can also be grilled in a skillet with some non-stick spray.
I will have to try some of the other reciped in the book. Most of them are more involved than this one, but still only take 10-15 mintues.
My wife and I both love good clam chowder. On our vacation driving through New England, and then back to Seattle, we had many different clam chowders. Some were great, and some were just okay. But I decided to see if I could make a low fat clam chowder. I didn’t even know if it was possible since generally clam chowder has a lot of cream, and butter and stuff. But when I searched, I found a recipe that sounded promising. It was okay as is, but I thought it could be better. So I began tweaking it. I actually combined it with another recipe I had for clam chowder. The result was a very good clam chowder while retaining it’s low fat quality. Give it a shot. If you like clam chowder, I think you will like it.
Ingredients:
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup onions, finely diced
1 cup celery, finely diced
1/2 cup flour
4 cans chopped clams (6 1/2 oz)
2 (8-oz) bottles clam juice
1 oz turkey bacon, diced
1 cup of 2% milk
1 tsp salt
1 dash pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp lemon juice
Directions:
Place diced potatoes in large sauce pan and cover with cold water. Bring potatoes to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.
Once the potatoes are simmering, place butter in another saucepan, and heat over medium heat. Add the celery and onions, and stir; sauté until tender, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Stir in the flour. Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
In the large saucepan that had the potatoes, add the bottled calm juice, and the clam juice from the canned clams. Add in the diced bacon, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute. Gradually whisk the clam juice/bacon into the vegetable/flour mixture until smooth. Heat over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, milk, and salt, pepper, thyme, sugar, lemon juice. Stir often, until heated through. Stir in clams and heat for about 1 minute.
Serve.
If a have good quality salmon, my prefered method of cooking is baking it with a little butter (or buttery spray) and lemon juice. I don’t like adding much that will cover/change the salmon taste. But I while back I bought a bag of frozen salmon filets that just weren’t as good as fresh salmon. So I would use them with other recipes. This is one of the recipes I liked:
Sour Cream Dill Sauce:
1/2 Cup fat-free sour cream
1 tsp. dried dill
1 Ttsp. lemon juice
1/4 shallot, minced
dash cayenne pepper
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.
Pan Seared Salmon:
1/2 lb. salmon filet or steak per person
Extra virgin olive oil spray
Spray not-stick skillet with olive oil. Heat skillet over medium heat. Cook salmon steaks, skin side down, in pan for 5 minutes. Using spatula, turn steaks over and cook for another 3 minutes. If salmon not cooked through, turn again, and cook till done. Place cooked salmon on a plate. Top with Sour Cream Dill Sauce.
