Food - Valentine Guilt-free Chocolate Yoghurt feb 25
Plain Greek 0%fat YOGHURT wins !
With little or no sin against YOU afterward. Nearly half your daily protein need! Greek nofat plain yoghurt lets you flavor it to substitute for almost everything creamy in your diet:
With Fruit for breakfast
with salad at lunch
creamy meat sauces at dinner
dessert with a sweet liqueur on top
Once you get started exploring with it in your diet, you will wonder "where have you been all my life? " Here are a few that light up my dieter's menu :
My fun with it is to mix to taste, varying the proportions, flavorings and toppings - mix in tangerine segments or berries if guests arrive - doubles the volume AND the flavor fun. Drizzle a sweet liqueur you might think a good match. Even a failed experiment is fun. I used plain vanilla with cherries and drizzled with Cassis- ( at 80 calories/ounce, a tablespoon of the liqueur is fine for even a tough diet ) the currant berry liqueur -wow! Enjoy it for an hourrrrrr if you like - A really small spoon to savor the flavor...yum.
CHOCOLATE ORANGE YOGURT MOUSSE
The richness of Chocolate mousse at under 100 calories per serving. Prep time: ten minutes. Ingredients in bold.
0% fat Plain Greek Yogurt - one cup in a small mixing bowl
vanilla extract - one teaspoon - stir in first - this makes it thin for a moment
100% powdered cacao unsweetened chocolate - 3 or more Tablespoons
salt - just a dash
sweetener of your choice - Sweeten to taste - I do not recommend Stevia for it - it may bite. Gently blend ingredients. DONE -
I make mine at serving time, since it is nearly instant - turn into three or four dessert dishes and top with
fresh orange zest and serve cool or at room temp.
The blend of flavors is rich - serve with a small spoon to savor the flavor! So sweet and tangy - the cacao / yoghurt / zest sounds like it might be TOO tangy, but it is not, somehow , especially with a bit of sweetener - or a lot of sweetener, if you need it. IT is very exciting and tasty as dessert, with a bit of black coffee or tea alongside - like water for chocolate indeed. An elegant evening thing, I think - when it is time to relax and enjoy - alone or with friends, it creates a special moment. And even with sugar as a sweetener, not too many calories per serving! An "all of the fun - none of the guilt " item.
ABOUT SUBSTITUTIONS IN RECIPES - YES YES -
Ranch or other white creamy dressing for salads or things like cucumber - sweeten or salt it lightly, to take the edge off.
Instead of sour cream in almost everything that calls for sour cream - I stir it in last, at serving time , to avoid killing the cultures from heat/cold.
Instead of gluten-y flour or cornstarch to thicken a winter soup - again, stir it in last, at serving time, to minimize damage to cultures from heat/cold
I have not tried to make my own frozen yoghurt, but will - it's probably amazing in cakes etc., too...have not tried it , thinking it would kill the cultures.
The puddings are amazing! And the fun of the creating new combinations is an extra!
AND FINALLY: food for thought - I TRANSLATE favorite recipes with the yoghurt, for the way I eat to stay fit and feisty at "ahemm...upper midlife" :-D LIke this one.....
"PUMPKIN DUMP CAKE" FOR EXAMPLE THIS RECIPE FOR WILDLY TASTY AUTUMN FUN
Cookiesandcups.com shares this yummy version
But for me, it's too much guilt for not enough fun...so I do this:
to start I rename it from pumpkin dump cake to "Pumpkin Jump Cake" to put some rescue from the rocking chair into the title. You may need the comfort title but I do not.
Then: I substitute NOTHING for the pumpkin - Pumpkin is right, at any age.
but I trade off all the fattening ingredients for ones that are sugar, fat and gluten-free.....easy to do and works in most recipes.
Then, substitute the ice cream they serve on top, for a huge dollop of 0% fat , plain GREEK supercreamy yogurt , zero-calorie sweetener, and flavored with any thing you like, sugar free or not, because , with all that calorie and heart-smart stuff, you can afford to top it with Anything - the caramel sauce in the original recipe... ORRRRR....more likely it would be a heart-smart splash of orange zest and/or my favorite Liqueur, or vanilla or the pumpkin pie spice mixes. Yes, if you like liqueurs on things, there are caramel liqueurs...or plain kahlua? cranberry? currant, elderberry...
Wildly good treat - All of the fun / none of the guilt and five extra quality years for you, too.
ONE IMPORTANT - "SAFETY FIRST" note: Try your ideas alone, before serving them to family and friends.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT "SAFETY FIRST" note: Experimenting? I put a dollop of the greek yoghurt - fat free - along side things - repeat, ALONGSIDE things, so you can try it and see how it tastes FIRST before stirring into an entire recipe.
That's it for the yoghurt news - sharing my "find" simply because it made me that happy!
Other diet notes: once you get into a positive diet mind, it's like a lottery win, the health, weight loss AND tasty eating experiences , with the self-
HALF MEASURE FOR FULL MEASURE OF PLEASURE
This is not really a diet item, but an approach to making your diet WORK - Whatever it is, just halve the quantity of it - not till you can make it a happy thing - if your mind is not pleased with the idea it's too hard to stay with it.
Do not halve it all at once, but pick a starting point - right in front of you - and just start out cutting all you eat in half - if you normally eat two of a thing, eat one instead. And this includes sides and condiments - not just the main items and desserts. Example: at the 120 calories a tablespoon of butter or oil, use a teaspoon of it instead and WIN. If you usually have two burgers have one - with tasty beef as low fat as possible and stick to fresh veggies for toppings and watch the mayo - if you must have some, just use half of what you'd normally do. 0% FAT GREEK YOGURT works like crazy, for anything creamy - sweeten it or spice it , or turn it into a blancmange, but it works and is probiotic at 100calories a cup....a few tablespoons with chives or other herbs for your salad is almost calorie-free and yet realy tasty and supercreamy.
It's so easy - you can charm yourself into half the calories in this pleasurable way, you will lose weight and be able to keep it off. Of course a diet diary is smart, if you it works for you - it can make new dieters a bit crazy - a casual, but honest, mental tally might be easier at frst; make notes till you are into your stride in it about the food and the exercise:
NOTE: Increasing mobility is key and that way you feel better immediately and so are likely to stay with your plan.
HYDRATE FOR WEIGHT LOSS AND LOW PAIN
Keep water handy - plain, filtered, or add a squirt of lemon juice - just a bit so that when you taste it you do not want it sweetened. My carafe is old and hold exactly one quart, so I know what I have taken. A dieting body will lose some overeating urges with the waters, and it helps slough off the waste produced when we diet. Since you may be exercising more, the key to success is sipping a bit of water every few minutes.
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