no-sugar meringues

ingredients:
3 egg whites
3 packets of splenda
vanilla extract
cinnamon

preheat oven to 350 degrees.
separate 3 egg whites into mixing bowl.  add a tiny bit of vanilla extract, 3 packets of splenda, and a big dash of cinnamon.
whip with electric mixer until fluffy and and peaks form.
mist an oven tray with cooking spray.
spoon egg whites onto tray into little blobs.
bake for 10 minutes .

a variation:
instead of cinnamon, whip the eggs first, then sift a bit of cocoa powder onto the whites.  then spoon onto trays and bake.

Almond Jello

so, er, the picture's not great. i'm kind of a shit photographer. and impatient, so i didn't wait for the little bits of agar to truly dissolve. hence the rather speckled quality. also, it's grey because the jello contains, yes, a little bit of coffee in it. hooray for grey jello!

1 cup Almond Milk
(I use blue diamond unsweetened vanilla, because it's only 40 calories per cup)
about 6 inches of agar-agar
(if you don't know what this is, click here:
http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_2.cfm?wordid=2345)
1 cup water
8 Equal packets, or other sweetener
three tablespoons of coffee
1/2 tsp chocolate extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

combine milk, water, equal, coffee, and extracts in a pot. Stir over low heat. put in agar-agar, and stir until dissolved. do not let boil.

The whole pot will yield 40 calories of jello, which isn't much when you split it up and dole it out into portions.

multi grain no-knead bread

we all love that no-knead bread. because of its annoying name, its crunch, its condescension to those of us lazy bread lovers.
(i could live on bread alone. and i will!)
anyway, this is my second time making it. i've added a few more ingredients, like oatmeal, whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds, and flax. because i like roughage. i doubled the amount of yeast because someone recommended doing that when departing from just normal bread flour, because of the density of whole grains.

adapted from jim lahey, sullivan street bakery
2 TBs flaxmeal
1/2 cup instant rolled oats
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, plus 2 TBs
1 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
3 TBs sunflower seeds
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, sunflower seeds, and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Lentil Bake

Lentil Bake

2/3 cup lentils, soaked overnight in 3 cups of water, then boiled and simmered for at least 3 hrs, or however long it takes to make them mushy, tender, soft, whatever. Add more water if necessary

½ cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ to ½ cup spaghetti sauce
1 pack Equal
1 tbsp rice vinegar, or cider vinegar
a bay leaf
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tsp stone ground mustard
cinnamon, black pepper, salt


Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Heat up a pan with soy sauce and chicken broth, let reduce until it is dark colored and thick.

“Saute” the onions and garlic in this for 2 minutes, adding more water/chicken broth if it burns.

Mix onions and garlic with the beans in a casserole dish. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Cover and bake 3 hours in preheated oven, stirring frequently, adding water or chicken brother if necessary. Remove cover, continue baking 30 minutes.
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I can't say that lentils are the prettiest of beans. They're certainly nowhere as cute as the rotund garbanzos, or as elegant as navy beans, but hey, i like their taste.

I took a typical recipe for baked beans, made it lower in calories by eliminating fat and sugar, but tried to keep in the flavor with the soy sauce reduction and the various mustards. I liked it, and I hope someone else might as well. Although who knows. I'm just puttering around the kitchen and having fun making things REALLY really healthy.