I really enjoy bubbly cold drinks; my favorite is Dr. Pepper, but I had this new goal of less than 15 grams of sugar and no high fructose corn syrups. I also don’t like the write-ups on the diet sweeteners that I’ve seen so… how to solve this dilemma in a way that I won’t cheat often!
10 oz glass of Arrowhead Springs Sparkling Water with lime
1 TB of Black Cherry Concentrate
Pour in just a bit of the Sparkling Water, add the Black Cherry Concentrate, and then add the remainder of the Sparkling Water. It will bubble and foam so make sure there is room in your glass.
The sparkling water ingredients should read water and CO2 in case you need to choose a different brand. Torino’s flavored syrups are made with cane sugar, not HFCS, so you could also play around with these flavors a bit to add to the fruit concentrate until you find a few you like. An 1/8th teaspoon of your favorite unsweetened drink mix, and 1/4 tsp powdered stevia works also if you need to nix the sugar entirely. Different brands of stevia have different levels of sweetness…if there is a bitter aftertaste you probably have too much – a little goes a long way!
One of my favorite quotes is,
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
Recently things around here changed…all of a sudden I needed to figure out how to cook meals that still tasted good, were filling, and provided that mental comfort we all get from a meal truly enjoyed without several pantry items that were previously frequent, easy favorites. I’ve played a bit with this and that over the past couple of months and have, “Come a long ways, baby.” LOL, so the recipes following this post will show the progression we have made to a new way of eating. The following ingredients are no longer in our pantry: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Potatoes, Soybeans/soy in any form, Corn in any form, White Rice in any form, and MSG/autolyzed yeast or anything hydrolyzed. Sugar, including sugar from fruit, has a new limit of 15 grams a day per person. Wheat/Whey was limited to rare and if any, not much per serving. Meat needed to be antibiotic-free and preferably grain-fed as well as limited to a few oz. at a time. By the way, my grocery budget is not unlimited so we needed to do this without breaking the bank! We have made the transition with quite a few success stories and just a few…”never try that agains!” I gained so much help from other bloggers who posted their journeys online that I thought it would be helpful to share ours here in case it might help someone else who found themselves wanting or needing to make a change. What caused this sudden change? We had someone who was trying to gain ground against advanced bone cancer and diabetes. With limited budget and limited time for cooking as I work crazy hours each week; I just could not manage two different menus all the time so we just all made the transition. Those of us who don’t have significant health challenges “cheat” sometimes, but after discussing it as a family we decided that it would be better for all of us if we just changed to a more healthy way of living. Our guest was making progress using this food protocol as well as a few supplements – they had well-researched reasons behind each choice and their progress was being documented by blood tests that showed falling PSA levels and stabilizing blood sugar. As part of their research, they had also identified a few foods they wanted to include frequent servings of: asparagus, beets, avocados, tomatoes, garlic, oats, and pecans/walnuts/almonds. We find ourselves off on a grand adventure; so far our guest is doing well, I have lost weight, and we have actually found/modified many recipes that are quite flavorful and easy to fix.
I encourage you to experiment with these recipes even if you don’t “have” to. They are healthy, easy, and full-flavored.
We love macaroni & cheese, but I really don’t like all the trouble of boiling and draining the noodles…yet most recipes that use the uncooked noodles have bits and pieces of noodle that are still a quite dry. I found a few tricks around the web, tried a little of this and a dash of that, and ended up with a great dish that will be made often at our table!
Easiest Baked Macaroni & Cheese
1 1/2 cup uncooked macaroni elbows
3 TBS melted butter
1/4 cup cheese powder
3 cups of grated cheddar cheese
1/8 tsp of Watkins ground sea salt
1/8 tsp of Watkins Black Pepper
3 1/4 cup of milk
1 egg
Melt the butter in the bottom of an 8 x 8 glass pan. Add the macaroni to the pan and coat the noodles well with the melted butter. Add the grated cheese, cheese powder, salt, and pepper to the pan and stir into the noodles. In a separate bowl whisk the egg and milk together then pour over the cheese and noodle mixture. Carefully press down any noodles that are sticking above the liquid, cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees while you read a book or work on some other portion of dinner.
Enjoy the time you gained!!
In a pinch, you can start with a box of Kraft original macaroni and cheese…you will have the noodles and the cheese powder…then all you have to do is dress it up in style:)
I’ll let you know how it goes! So far, so good:)
We make this in a round deep dish glass pie plate, but other similar sized pans will work fine. The deep dish is important as it fills the dish to the top!
It’s easy to whip this up for those snowy evenings as we sit and watch the snow fall and serve it hot with ice cream or chill it to serve it at a picnic during the warmer summer months…wait I should have said weeks – summer is gone in a flash here, but it’s gorgeous while it lasts!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt 1/2 cup of butter into the bottom of the pie dish and set aside for a moment.
In a small mixing bowl stir together:
1 1/3 cup of Bisquick
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
1 tsp of Watkins Double-Strength Vanilla
1 tsp of Watkins Cinnamon
Pour the Bisquick mixture on top of the melted butter in the pie dish; expect the batter to be pretty thin and push the butter up around the edges a bit when you pour.
Place 4 cups of sliced frozen/fresh peaches in a single layer letting them settle right down into the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes, let sit for just a moment while you dish out the ice cream and enjoy!
This is a winter staple that we like to make at least once a month. These portions will fill the large 7-quart Crock-pot. It’s easy to make and then freeze the remainder for later meals in portion sized servings. Each person in our house has a favorite soup which I cook about once a month in the large crock. This allows us to later have an evening when we can enjoy an easy quick family meal while all of us have our very favorite soup in our own dish. Part of the fun in eating out is getting to choose what you want to eat, but I refuse to become a short order cook every evening at home! This has been an easy, inexpensive way to expand the menu options in our home every now and then.
2 lbs southern style hash brown potatoes (diced potatoes)
2 cups frozen crinkle cut carrots
2 cups frozen english peas
2 cups frozen cut corn
2 lbs browned cubed stew meat
4 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup diced onion (or 1/4 cup of Watkins Onion soup base)
4 stalks cubed celery
4 quarts of beef broth (Watkins beef soup base)
dash of hickory smoke seasoning
1 tbs Watkins Meat Magic
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp Watkins Black Pepper
In a skillet, brown the meat adding the meat magic, hickory smoke seasoning, black pepper, and onion to the skillet. Layer all ingredients including the browned meat mixture into the Crock Pot and add enough water if necessary to have the mixture just covered. Cook on high for two hours and then turn to low until ready to serve. This stew pairs well with crackers, crescent rolls, or garlic bread on those chilly autumn evenings.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp Watkins Baking Powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp Watkins Clear Vanilla Extract
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the liquid ingredients first and then sift together the dry ingredients before slowly adding them to batter. Use a melon baller to drop cookie dough unto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before sliding into a preheated 350 degree oven for 11-13 minutes.
We had fun making these – and hope you will also:)
An inexpensive and quick meal that is easy on the budget, warm on a chilly night, and quick to fix. You can used canned chicken, leftover cubed chicken, or rotisserie chicken picked up on the way home. You’ll have a quick, easy, and healthy meal on the table in just a few minutes.
1 can (12 oz.) chunk chicken breast, drained
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon Watkins Chicken Soup base
1/8 tsp Watkins Organic Paprika
Bring the above ingredients to a slow simmer
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3/4 cup Watkins Country Gourmet Gravy Mix
3/4 cup cold water
Whisk together and add to the simmering ingredients
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Bring back to a slow simmer then continue to stir for about a minute until it thickens into a gravy.
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Serve over warm biscuits and enjoy!
If you are ever tempted by those thick slices of Starbucks Pumpkin Bread – then I suggest you give this a try:) No, it is not identical, but it has far fewer calories and is just as satisfying! Best of all, it’s easy. Mix it up while you start the coffee, go get ready, it will be warm and ready for breakfast…perhaps, its a perfect Sunday morning treat. Taking a few leftover slices and treating them to French Toast treatment is a good idea as well…get creative and have fun in the kitchen!
½ cup Watkins Grapeseed oil or melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 can of pumpkin puree (15 oz.)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 ½ tsp. Watkins Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tsp Watkins Caramel Extract
1 tsp Watkins Original Double-Strength Vanilla
¾ cup mini chocolate chip morsels
Watkins Cooking Spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray & sugar one 9x5x3 loaf pan and set aside. Mix sugar with oil, eggs, and pumpkin in one bowl. Combine flour, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Add to the creamed mixture and stir well. Add extracts and chocolate chips then stir well before pouring into the prepared loaf pan. Test for doneness after 45-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, serve, and enjoy!
Other options – sugaring the loaf pan is an extra step and does add about 15 calories; however, it also makes it nearly fool-proof when it is time to flip it out onto the wire rack to cool.
Watkins has so many extracts – have fun with them! Try Watkins Vanilla Nut or give it a twist with pineapple.
Happy Cooking!
I love Watkins Original Grapeseed Oil for a variety of reasons. When cooking, it is an excellent oil for salad dressing and baking. It has a smoke point of 420 degrees which works well while stir-frying or cooking fondue style. The Watkins Citrus & Cilantro Grapeseed Oil is a perfect oil for a fajitas recipe, while the Garlic & Parsley Grapeseed Oil is great for an Italian style dipping oil. Watkins also has developed two grapeseed oil liquid spices – Chipotle & Garlic – these are a lot of fun to play with in the kitchen. I encourage you to try one of them…there is a super easy recipe below!
Healthy Butter Spread…easy on the budget and great tasting as well.
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 cup Watkins Grapeseed Oil
Whip together in the blender for 60 seconds, pour into a tub or other container and chill. This makes a wonderful healthy spread for toast or biscuits. Try it with the Watkins Garlic and Parsley Grapeseed Oil to make a garlic toast spread.