Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet and spread out croissants, pinching all perforated edges to make one big rectangle. Butter your croissant rectangle. Blend cinnamon and sugars and sprinkle over buttered croissant rectanle to cover butter (make sure you don’t have any big piles, because then it won’t roll back up). Roll rectangle back up and slice into 8 pieces. Place 8 pieces on cookie sheet and bake in oven for 7-9 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown.

My Fat Free Low Sugar Cherry Cobbler Cake Recipe will make you think that you’re eating 1,000 calories per slice, but I guarantee that if you serve this to your friends and family – they won’t have a clue that it’s actually good for them!

One of the challenges to losing weight is finding things that you love to eat that are actually good for you. If you happen to be diabetic, like so many of us are – that even throws an additional kink into the mix! I’ve created a recipe that actually tastes decadant, that the whole family will love – but you can eat it even if you’re counting calories on a diet or watching your blood sugar.

These are the ingredients you’ll need:

• 1 box low or reduced sugar cake mix
• 1 box sugar free instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups skim milk
• 2/3 cup eggbeaters or imitation eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 can no sugar added cherry pie filling

As you know the reason cakes are fattening are because of the eggs and oil that each recipe calls for. Many people believe that the only way to get a moist tasty cake is to have real eggs and oil, because that’s they’re function. But I CUT OUT the fat in this recipe by using imitation eggs, and I replace the oil by substituting a cup of unsweetened applesauce.

This recipe is as easy as beans and rice to make. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get a large mixing bowl and put in the cake mix. Get a medium bowl and add 2 cups of skim milk, then mix in the pudding mix – whisking briskly for 60 seconds (then set aside). In the large bowl add 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1 cup water, 2/3 cup eggbeaters – and mix well. Add 1 cup of pudding from the other bowl (and eat the rest!), mix well again. In a 9×12 sheet cake pan, spray with non-stick spray, and evenly spread the batter out. Open the no sugar added cherry pie filling and evenly dump over the top of the cake. Then, with a knife pull from one end of the pan to the other in 1″ swaths, first horizontally, then vertically. This pulls the cherry filling inside the cake leaving some on top (and a nice design!).

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a knife pulls out clean from the center. *Please note, stick the knife in the actual “cake” part – don’t expect it to come out clean by sticking it into a spot with pie filling! When you serve this, you can add a dollop of sugar free whipped topping if you like! This is great served warm! I challenge you to serve this to your family and not tell them it’s fat free and low sugar! Then come back to this page and comment letting know what they said…

Here’s a pic of the cake after it’s baked:

My Black Midnight Pudding Cake with Strawberries recipe will have everyone saying “oooohhh and ahhhhh…” after dinner!  It’s to die for, and has all the best flavors – chocolate cake, white chocolate pudding, and strawberries!  It makes a ton of dessert and you could take this to a dinner party, potluck, picnic, or just about any place you were required to bring a dish and be the life of the party!

Here are the ingredients you’ll be needing:

• 2 1/4 cup al purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 lb strawberries
• 4 boxes Jello instant white chocolate pudding
• 7 cups milk (to make the pudding)

This is a very, very easy recipe to make.  Get a large mixing bowl and mix everything except the last 3 ingredients.  Beat for about 3 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour a 9×14 glass baking dish or two round cake pans.  Bake the 9×14 pan 40-45 minutes or the two round cake pans 30-35 minutes.

While the cake bakes mix all the milk and boxes of instant pudding, beat for 3 minutes and place in fridge.  Then wash, and cut the tops off of and slice a pound of strawberries and place in fridge.  The cake is done when knife comes cleanly out of the center.  Let cake cool for 60 minutes.

Once cake has cooled get an extra large mixing bowl out (4 quart+), preferably glass so you can see the layers.  Cut the cake into brownie size squares, take 3-4 squares out and crumble in the bottom of the mixing bowl (enough to cover about 2″ high).  Spread a 2″ layer of pudding on top, then another 2″ layer of cake.  I usually get about 2 layers of cake and 2 layers of pudding.  The pudding should be your last layer on top and then you spread the sliced strawberries over the top it’s ready to serve!  I like to make this earlier in the day and then let it chill in the fridge until after dinner!  This dessert can easily serve 8-12 people, you could cut the recipe in half  for just your family at home (just make sure to bake the cake in a smaller 9×9 pan).

Enjoy!

For a low-fat dessert, you can’t beat the graham cracker crust! My grandma used to make homemade pie crusts all the time, and most of the time I just don’t have it in me to get out the old rolling pin to make a thin apple pie type crust. That and the fact that her secret was to used real butter and a bit of shortening in the mix.

No – there’s an easier way, and you can stay low-fat and make it quickly by just using this easy graham cracker crust recipe. There’s just a bit of sugar, and you can use margarine for the butter. Now, to make it even simpler what I usually do is get a Jello sugar free pudding to put in this once it’s done – and then I have a chocolate, banana creme, lemon, or other pie in just minutes! All you have to do is add the pudding once this comes out of the oven and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set!

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 Tbsp. butter (I use lite margarine)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and mix all ingredients. Press mixture into 9-inch pie pan and bake until crust is set about 7-8 minutes. For most pie recipes the crust must be cooled, so set on the stove until completely cooled (but that’s pretty darn quick usually).

pie
Emile Henry 5.5-in. Provencale Individual Pie Dish, Azur
Price: $16.95
The glazes in the Provencale collection are transparent, creating bright, vibrant colors for your kitchen. Made from Burgundy clay at one of the few French factories that still produces authentic claywares to traditional high standards, these 1-cup, 5.5-in. earthenware pie dishes provide gentle, even heat distribution to help create perfect, personal-sized pies. The dishes go effortlessly from freezer to oven to table. Dishwasher safe. Made in France. About Emile Henry In the Burgundy region of France is the legendary maker of fine French cookware named Emile Henry. There, potters still hand craft each piece from the local Burgundy Clay – one of the purest of clays, and finish each one with a process known as CERADON, which makes them extremely solid and durable. Containing no lead, the clay is one of the best materials for baking and serving.

OXO 10.5-in. Steel Pie Server
Price: $7.95
Dish up plenty of luscious desserts with this Steel Pie Server by Oxo. Part of the latest line of brushed metal utensils, the server is extra sturdy and also features the trademark rubber fins for an ergonomic grip that won’t slip when wet. Great for serving pie, quiche and more. Holds up to everyday use but looks nice enough for entertaining. Has a notched end for hanging. Dishwasher safe.

This Fiesta Bake Recipe is great because it can be meat or meatless if you have a vegetarian in the house (or just prefer no meat for a meal). I just can’t seem to get away from the great Tex-Mex flavors, and this recipe has a lot of things that I really, really love. It smells great when it’s baking in the oven and fills the whole house with tasty goodness. Don’t you just love the smell of cornbread baking?

Ingredients you’ll need:

2 lbs ground beef or beef substitute
Cumin and Chili Powder to taste
1/2 chopped Vidalia Onion
1/2 chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 diced Jalapeno pepper (if you like)
2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
3/4 cup Salsa
1 can cream corn
1/4 cup water
About 1/2 can sliced black olives
2 box or packet corn muffin mix (we use Jiffy)
1/2 pack shredded taco cheese

If you’re using ground beef, I like ground chuck the best. Cook your onion and peppers, with your meat or meat substitute. When your meat is cooked, drain, rinse, return to pan 1/4 cup of water and season with minced fresh garlic, chopped cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, and ground Cumin and chili powder to taste. Preheat your oven to 375. Cook on med heat for an additional 2-3 minutes. Add the cream corn and black olives, shredded cheese, mix well and turn out into a 9×14 glass baking pan (ungreased). Mix your corn muffin mix like it says on the box. Drizzle the salsa over the mixture in the pan and the corn muffin mix over that. Back for about 35 minutes in center of oven. When you serve this, adding a dollop of light sour cream is a great added touch!

I would like to introduce you to “Wilton Cookie Sheets”. I get a lot of questions through this blog and from friends and family about how I cook and what I use. I was just thinking the other day how well my Wilton cookie sheets have served me. I am cheap, and always looking for a bargain. And at Christmas a lot of times I’ll ask for things I needs as gifts rather than buy them myself.

One year I made a list of kitchen items like pepper grinder, cutting board, knives, cookie sheets, glass 2 quart measuring cup, and so on. I wanted to replace some older items. My sister purchased 2 Wilton cookie sheets for me that year, and I thought they cost a fortune because they were huge, heavy, and non-stick. They make cookies a hundred times better, because they pan in heavy the cookies brown and don’t burn like they used to on some of my cheaper cookie sheets.

In addition – we have teens in the house that use these (to my displeasure) for things like frozen pizza. For being 10 years old now, I have to say that there are very few scratches on them from the pizza cutter and knives! Wilton cookie sheets are very affordable and once you get a few you will want to throw out all your cheaper ones in the trash! Also, these make a GREAT gift for friends, family, newlyweds, you name it! Grab a couple for yourself and a few to put up for early X-mas presents!

Wilton 17×11-in. Nonstick Avanti Cookie Sheet
Price: $13.95
When using Wilton’s nonstick cookie sheet, your oatmeal-raisin, chocolate chip or sugar cookies slide right off, perfectly browned with no burned bottoms. Exceptional baking performance, superior construction and convenient design features make Avanti a pleasure to use. Commercial-weight construction helps prevent warping and will help distribute heat evenly. Wilton’s Everglide, metal-safe, nonstick surface resists scratching even from metal utensils. Oversized handles are designed for easier handling in and out of the oven even when wearing oven mitts. A lifetime limited warranty is included with your cookie sheet.

Making homemade tortilla chips is easy – and you can make them the traditional way, or baked for a healthy alternative! You can then actually make nachos even if you’re on a diet! If you are going to make them the traditional way – it’s pretty easy:

You just need the following to get started:

• 25 Corn Tortillas
• 2 ½ Cups Oil (if frying)

Cut tortilla chips up into quarters with a knife. You can usually cut several at once, one on top of the other. Place the oil in a large saucer and place on med-high or about 350 degress (if you’re using a fryer). Use canola or peanut oil for best results. Place your tortilla slices into the hot oil and remove when brown (don’t overcook). Place chips on a plate covered with paper towel to dab grease away. Salt and serve.

If you want to go health or you’re on a diet, just cut the tortillas into quarters, and then place on a baking tray on 400 degrees and check in 5 minutes to see if they are crunchy. If not, give them a few more minutes. Remove from oven, salt, and eat!!

Tip:
If you want to add salt, add it as soon as the chips come out of the oil so it will stick better!

Do you want to make homemade pizza dough from scratch with your favorite toppings? What about some garlic butter or butter parmesan crust just like at the pizza parlor? Worried that you won’t be able to make your own crust and have it taste as good as the restaurant? You can – and it won’t even take that long. This picture is the pizza we had for dinner tonight!

Making good food is trial and error, especially when you’re going to make something from scratch. I’ve made homemade pizza hundreds of times. I’ve made it using frozen pizza crust, boboli (pre-made and baked) pizza crust, and (dry mix) pizza crust in the box. I’ve even made homemade pizza crust with wheat, semolina, and white flour. This recipe is a combination of all I’ve learned over the last 25+ years of making pizza at home. This recipe makes 2 large pizzas.

What you’ll need:

• 4 packets/boxes of (dry) pizza crust mix (and brand)
• 2 cups warm water (about 115 degrees)
• 1 Jar pizza Sauce
• 3 packets Sargento’s Sun-dried tomato and basil mozzerella shredded cheese
• garlic powder
• Italian seasonings
• minced garlic
• Pizza toppings (pepperoni, canadian bacon, mushrooms, onion, green pepper, whatever you like!)
• 2 large pizza pans – preferably with small holes throughout for aeration.
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

When you buy store bought pizza crust what usually happens is you mix each dry mix crust with some hot water into a ball, and then let that stick mess rise, then you smash it onto a cookie sheet and bake it with sauce, toppings, and cheese for about 15 minutes. What you get is a more like a “bread pizza” because it’s so darn doughy. I’ve also made pizza crust from absolute scratch too – but that can take time. I’ve developed a hybrid of these two things that is still pretty quick, but yields a pizza crust that is just about as close as you can get to the pizza parlor as possible.

Get a large mixing bowl and put the 4 packets or boxes of dry mix pizza crust in. You can use any kind you like, Robin Hood or Jiffy are both great. Next add about 2 tbsp of garlic powder to the bowl (if you like garlic – we do!), and then add 2 tbsp of Italian seasonings. Mix up these dry ingredients, and then begin to add the 2 cups of water. The water can’t be more than 120 degrees or you’ll kill the yeast, but it shouldn’t be so lukewarm that it doesn’t grow fast enough. A good indicator is the water should be hot enough to be able to stick your finger in it – but just barely. Add the water bit by bit until it’s all added and the mix in the bowl is in a ball. Spill a cup of flour out onto the counter. Place the doughy mixture on top of that on the counter, and then spill the remaining cup of flour on top.

You’re going to knead the dough with the balls of your hands, push, flip, push, flip, working in the loose flour until it’s all gone. It usually takes about 5 minutes to knead the flour in, and then continute to knead an additional 3-5 minutes and the dough with be a bit elastic like play-doh. Sprinkle extra virgin olive oil around the large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and roll over and over until coated. Wrap the bowl in saran wrap and then place a kitchen towel over the top. I usually pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees and place the bowl on top for 30 minutes, rotate 180 degrees, and then leave another 30 minutes. In that 60 minutes the dough will double in size.

When it’s ready, remove the towel and saran wrap – and punch down the dough one time in the middle of the towel. Cut the dough in half with a sharp knife. Take one half of the dough and begin to stretch it in your hands from the middle out to the edges as you slowly rotate it bit by bit 360 degrees over and over. Be careful to do it evenly and not stretch any way to thin as to make holes. Once you have it stretched to about 3/4 the size of the pizza pan, place it on the pan. Then, lifting up the edge, pull outward and stretch it towards the edge of the pan while rotating the pan around until the crust covers the entire pizza pan. Make sure that it’s even all throughout the pan, and then empty 1/2 of the pizza sauce jar onto the crust, and thin it out covering the pizza with the back of a tablespoon. Use the other half of the dough and do the same with the other pizza crust and the remaining sauce.

Pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees. Prepare your pizza toppings (cut your onion and green pepper if necessary, canadian bacon, etc). Use 1 and 1/2 of the packets of cheese on both of the pizzas. I like the Sargento cheese that’s already seasoned with basil and sun-dried tomatoes – it gives the pizza a great flavor! Add your toppings, and then the remaining cheese on top.

Cook in the oven 10 minutes, then check. If the cheese is not all the way melted it may need an additional 2-3 minutes. Be careful – 500 degrees is very hot and required to get a crust like the restaurant, but just a minute or two too long and you can burn it!

Once the pizzas come out of the oven – we melt 3 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp minced garlic in the microwave for 45 seconds, and drizzle over the crust. You can do grated parmesan instead of the garlic if you like! If you make this pizza, come back and let me know how you do! Questions or something to add? Comment now!

When she was alive my Grandma was a big baker. Cookies and pies were always readily available. But the things that most everyone remembers are the “Enga Buns” (homemade loaves of bread split into rolls). What are Enga buns? My grandother’s name was “Enga” and she made homemade multi-grain rolls for more years than I was alive (probably 50 or more) – that were known throughout the town. Over the years I’m sure she gave away more than the family actually ate, and not only were they on the table for every single holiday meal – but she gave them to every church member, friend, relative, and neighbor that she ever knew. There was probably not a single thing requested more in her life than those buns (even though her Raggedy Ann dolls probably came in a close second).

This recipe is a family secret (well not anymore)….a family “tradition”. You rarely find anyone anymore who takes the time required to make any kind of homemade bread because of the time involved. I would only attempt this on a weekend or holiday when I would be in the house the bulk of the day (like I was today). The taste of these homemade rolls is not only something that money can’t buy – but the smell of fresh bread rising and baking in your house for hours is something that you’ll not soon forget. Even though this recipe is time consuming – I encourage you to try it one Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Especially if you try it with other family members or your kids. So many of spend hours and hours in front of the televsion – it’s rare to spend time with others learning to do something new. Baking bread is almost a lost art – you should try it and pass this recipe down throughout your generations.

This is what you’ll need:
1 cup lukewarm (slightly higher than room temperature) water
2 packages Fleishman’s Yeast (nothing but packets, not yeast cakes, not jar yeast)
1 stick margarine at room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pre-creamed shorting (preferably Crisco in the can)
1 heaping cup Kellog’s All Bran
1 cup of 115 degree water
2 eggs
8 – 9 cups of flour
5 – 1.5 lb bread loaf pans (greased with Crisco)

Heat your tap water to slightly above room temperature – you want about 115 degrees (if you have a food thermometer). It’s important that you do not exceed 120 degrees in water temperature because kill the yeast and it won’t grow and rise. Place 1 cup of water in a small bowl, and stir in the 2 packets of yeast until well mixed and set aside. You’re going to need an extra large mixing bowl – the largest one you have. I believe the one I use is either 5 or 6 quart.

Place the stick of margarine in the bottom of the and chop if up with a spoon into about 10 pieces. Add the Crisco, sugar, salt, and All Bran to the bowl – don’t mix yet. Do not substitute anything for the All Bran at all – that’s an integral part of the recipe. Scramble 2 large eggs in a bowl and set aside. Get another cup of hot tap water and place in the microwave for 45 seconds on high. The water should not be boiling or hotter than you can stick your finger in. Pour the water in the large mixing bowl and stir the butter, crisco, sugar, All Bran, and salt mixture until the butter and crisco are about as melted as you can get them. Add the egg and yeast mixtures in the large mixing bowl, and mix well again.

Add 1 cup of flour (a little at a time), then a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th the same way. Once you get to the 5th cup it will start to get sticky and harder to stir – keep mixing until the flour is completely mixed in. The mixture should still be sticking to the side of the bowl, but just barely. Get one last cup of flour – and mix in a little at a time, but stop once the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Clear a large 2×3 area from the counter, and dump 1 cup of flour in a about a 6″x6″ circle. Dump your mixture from the mixing bowl onto the counter on top of the flour.

Pre-heat your oven to about 150 degrees. Toss another 1/2 cup of flour on top of your mixture. Your going to begin to knead the mixture (a 10-15 minutes process), which consists of pushing down with the base of both your palms, and then from the back flipping frontward. Knead, flip, knead, flip – and as you do this the flour will begin to become more and more spread out, so as you flip you’ll need to sweep more flour underneath every couple times. Do not let the mixture get sticky and stick to your or the counter – just keep adding flour. Once the flour on the counter is about used up, add another 1/2 cup on top of the mixture and knead in again. You may end up adding an additional 2-3 cups this way. You’re not going to stop until you notice while you’re kneading that the mixture no longer starts to become “sticky” (needing more flours) and has a consistency like play-doh. Once this happens, knead an additional 2-3 minutes well.

Wash out the extra large mixing bowl you originally used, dry, and then grease liberally with Crisco. Place the ball of dough in the bowl, and flip a few times greasing it up from the sides of the bowl. Cover the top with saran wrap, and then a large kitchen towel on that. What I usually do is place the oven on about 150 degrees, just enough to make the stove top warm and have some warm air come out of the vent towards the back. I place the covered bowl towards the front of the stove top and leave for 45 minutes, when I turn the bowl around for another 45 minutes – just to make sure that one side of the bowl didn’t rise more than the other. Total rise time is about 90 minutes, long enough for the dough to double in size mounding above the top of the bowl. You’ll know when it’s done because it will mound and push out the towel upwards appearing to be a like a very large basketball.

Once your dough is ready remove the bowl from stove, remove the towel and saran wrap – and literally “punch” the middle down one time. Get give 1.5lb loaf pans and grease liberally with Crisco. You’re going to pince of pieces of dough and roll them in the palm of your hand to make 2 1/2″ size balls. Each loaf pan will have 8 balls in the bottom of each that should touch each other and they will be a litle less than halfway up the side of the pan. Fill all 5 loaf pans the same way and you should even have a little bit left over – about enough to make 2-3 more balls. You can cook these smaller pan, make a big ball and flatten (making a bun on a small cookie sheet), or just toss out. Your 5 pans will make 40 rolls in all. Cover all 5 pans with saran wrap and place pans at the front 1/2 of your stovetop. Let rise for 45 minutes, turn all pans around 180 degrees and let rise for 45 more minutes (90 minutes total). Your rolls should have risen to about 1/4 – 1/2″ above the top of the pan. Turn your oven up to 350 and wait about 5 minutes before putting the loaf pans in the oven. Try to put them all on the same rack if you can.

Bake the rolls for 25 minutes, and then check them. You will think they are done at this point – but they probably aren’t. You will see the tops begin to turn brown and some will look darker than others. Watch those pans – and the ones that are darker are probably in a hotter spot in your oven. The rolls aren’t done until the tops are a deep golden brown all over and they make a distinct “thump” when you flick your finger on the top. After the initial 25 minutes, I put the timer back on for 5 minutes twice (checking each time) – so my total cook time was 35 minutes.

When they’re done, take them out and immediately turn the rolls out of the pans onto cooling racks. We recommend eating some right away! When they cool in 20-30 minutes place in large ziplock (or tie) bags – keep out what you need for the week and freeze the rest for a holiday or a later date.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we have over the years! If you have a question or a favorite bread recipe of your own – comment now!