New to Me: Single Serving Cold Brew Ice Tea Bags

I am a big fan of fresh brewed iced tea, and Lipton now makes cold brew tea bags in single serving sizes.

Fresh brewed iced tea does not have a long shelf life because bacteria starts to grow after 72 hours. These single serving tea bags allow you to brew a cup of iced tea whenever you want it.  All you do is pour 8 ounces of cold water over the tea bag, and in 3 minutes you have a delicious glass of tea!

I have been mixing mine with a tiny bit of raspberry xylitol syrup that I got at Nature's Flavors. 

If you have not been to Nature's Flavors website, I really recommend it.  They carry a whole line of sugar-free syrups and flavorings.  If you are avoiding fruit because of the high sugar content, their delicious fruit syrups can really help curb your cravings for fruit! 

New to Me: Arico Cassava Chips

Yum!

I found this alternative  to greasy potato chips at Whole Foods.  They are delicious!!  They are very light and not oily, have double the fiber that potato chips do, and even have less fat.

They taste just like potato chips too and come in really great flavors, including Ginger on Fire (the one I tried), BBQ, and Sea Salt.

A serving (of the ginger)  has about 23 chips has 150 calories, 6 grams of fat, 18 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of sugar.  The S/C Value would be 1/1 per serving.

Super Filling Chicken Soup

My sister gave me a recipe for "Extreme Diet Soup" that was in Women's World Magazine in February 2009.  A coworker gave it to her, and she made it to help lose some weight before my wedding last spring.

The Extreme Soup Diet is actually a more reasonable soup diet than the cabbage soup diet from back in the day. You basically eat two bowls of the soup and two mini meals that are just small healthy meals a day. 

Not being on any sort of soup diet, I decided to make the "Extreme Diet Soup" as a way to automate my lunches for the week.  I wanted an easy and delicious way to get some addition vegetables into my diet, and I always love a big bowl of soup in the winter!

The soup happens to be a great tasting soup regardless of whether you are on a soup diet or not.  I think even non-dieters would approve.  It is very filling and flavorful!

The recipe makes 7, two-cup servings.  Each serving has 270 calories, 27 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat, 20 grams of carbs, 6 grams of fiber, and 6 grams of sugar.  For those of you on the BFC, you could always leave out the carrots or reduce use one onion to lower the sugar amount.  As prepared below, the S/C Value would be 6/1 for a huge 2 cup serving.  I promise this will fill you up!

Extreme Diet Soup
7 servings

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions, very thinly sliced
1.5 lbs chicken breast, diced
1 large carrot, finely shredded
2 large cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno pepper with seeds, minced
2 tsp. fresh thyme or oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
8 c. fat free chicken broth
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
6 cups fresh spinach leaves, packed
1 large tomato, finely diced
salt and pepper, to taste
7 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.  Add onions, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.  Add chicken, stirring for 5 minutes more or until cooked through and onions are lightly browned.  Add carrot, garlic, jalapeno, and thyme.  Cook another 2 minutes.

Stir in broth and increase heat to high.  Bring the mixture to a boil.

Add beans, spinach, and tomato.  Bring back to boil, then turn off the heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle each serving with 1 Tbsp. of Parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy!

New to Me: Sugar Free Banana Nut Vitamix

The other night, I made these muffins and they are amazing.  All that you need to do to get 12 very satisfying banana muffins is blend the package of mix, water, and two egg whites.

The muffins are sweetened with maltitol and Erythritol.  The mix comes in plain banana flavor, but the instructions tell you that you can top the muffins with nuts or chocolate chips.  There are no nuts in the actual mix and is safe for people like me who are allergic.

They are sweet, filling, and delicious.  I have been eating a muffin for breakfast and have been satisfied until lunch. My husband has been eating his after dinner as a healthy dessert.

Each muffin has 90 calories, 19 grams of carbs, 5 grams of fiber, and no added sugar. One muffin would have an S/C Value of 0/1 on the Belly Fat Cure.

I really hope Vitamuffin comes out with some additional sugar free options!

Information on My Blog's New Format

As some people know, I originally started this blog when I was following Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure.  Reading Jorge's book and following the plan really changed my life.  I never realized the terrible effects that sugar has on your body and had never realized the insane amount of sugar that I consumed.  Even following a "diabetic diet", I was used to counting carbs but never paid attention to how many of those carbs came from added sugars, corn syrup, and other things that are very damaging to your body.

While following the Belly Fat Cure, I lost some weight, kept my blood sugar levels under control, and felt better than I ever have.  While on the BFC, I learned so much about how sugar and carbohydrates effect your body and realized that there are so many ways to modify or substitute new foods for the foods you love in order to make them better for you.

I love reading about nutrition and health, and I have made a transition to a eating plan that makes more sense for me.  I combined things that I have learned from Jorge with some other nutritional principles that I have read in Dr. Roizen's and Dr. Oz's book "You on a Diet".  I  have been avoiding all refined sugars, switched to xylitol and stevia (and other all natural sugar substitutes), and try to balance the amount of carbs, fruit, and milk products that I eat. 

From now on, I will post recipes that fit the eating plan that I explain above, but will continue to post the nutritional information and S/C Values (for the Belly Fat Cure) when possible.  On occasion when I have a meal that is excellent but not exactly healthy,  I will post it as a "Splurge Recipes" and suggest ways to modify the recipe to make it fit better into a lower carb, low sugar eating plan.

I hope you enjoy the new format, and thanks for reading!  I have had the opportunity to talk to so many other people on the same journey for health and it has been very inspiring!

Candice

Baked Potato Eggs

Since I do not really like eggs, I am always looking for breakfast recipes that incorporate them in different ways that make them more acceptable for me to eat.
I got an email from Real Simple magazine a few weeks ago that contained a recipe for Baked Potato Eggs.

 

I made a few modifications.  I used cheddar cheese and used less of the potato mixture in each potato shell.  I also chopped up some blanched brocolli and added it to the potato mixture before I put it back in the oven.

The S/C Value for a potato as prepared by the Real Simple Recipe is 2/1.  Be sure to use medium size potatoes for this S/C Value.  You can save some additional carbs and add additional fiber by using less of the potato in each shell and adding broccoli. 

The recipe was very filling and satisfying.  Be sure to remove the potatoes from the oven right when the egg is set!

New to Me: Trader Joe's In Shell Pumpkin Seeds

I have been sick for a little while and have not done much cooking.  However, I have to recommend a great BFC approved snack!

At Trader Joes's, you can find In Shell Roasted Pumpkin Seeds that actually taste like the pumpkin seeds that you make at Halloween after you carve your pumpkins.  They are not too salty and are still in the white shell.  They are delicious!

1/4 of a cup has only 4 grams of carbs and one gram of sugar! I am allergic to nuts, so they have really become a great substitute.