I talked about the wonders of Salba in the Salba Anytime Muffins posting, but some of that information begs to be repeated! This is good stuff!

Gram for gram, Salba® provides 8x more Omega 3s than salmon, 25% more fiber than flax, 6x more calcium than whole milk, 30% more antioxidants than blueberries, and much more. Salba® is all-natural, has no trans-fats, very few carbohydrates, and is certified Non-GMO, Vegan, Kosher, and Gluten-Free for those who suffer from celiac disease. (www.salba.com)

Salba® is quite easy to cook with, and can be used as an egg replacer, like flax, by mixing it up with water. It can also be used as a grain, and has a neutral taste that blends well with many foods.

In the spirit of finding new and exciting ways to include Salba® in my diet, I have been testing and modifying recipes, trying to include this exciting grain in order to further enhance the health benefit of my food items. This is the second muffin recipe my family and I have gotten really excited about! I imagine it would also work very well as banana bread, but to me, banana bread begs to be slathered with butter, and muffins do not. Plus, my kids LOVE these miniature muffins, and at 55 calories per muffin, they can have several!

Even at this very petite size, each muffin provides almost a third of my daily dosage of Salba® (1 tablespoon per person per day is recommended).

To make this a little more special, I added a nice, crispy streusel topping. It really adds a nice CRUNCH! The streusel recipe makes way more than you need, but the proportions are nice and easy to measure.

Worth noting: If you do not have Salba®, this recipe would still taste great and be very healthful with ground flax meal.

Salba® Banana Nut Mini-Muffins!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare 36-40 muffin pans with nonstick spray or muffin liners.

First, prepare your streusel mixture.

Crispy Rice Streusel:

In a large ziplock bag, mix then crush with a rolling pin:
1 1/2 cups puffed brown rice cereal
1 tablespoon almond slices
1 t cinnamon
1/8 cup all-purpose flour

In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt and then mix into a nice syrup:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 teaspoon water

Mix rice cereal mixture and syrup together until well blended.

This should make a bit over a cup of streusel. One tablespoon of this mixture is about 24 calories.

Next, mix together the dry ingredients.

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup ground Salba meal
1/4 cup organic sugar
6 single serve packets Truvia
(Truvia is a plant-based sweetener. Alternatively, you could use 1/4 cup of Splenda instead of the sugar, or a full half cup of sugar. I’m trying to steer away from Splenda as much as possible, because it’s made from chemicals.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Also Salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Set aside.

Now, throw the following into a food processor or blender:

1 tablespoon non-dairy egg replacer
3 tablespoons not-from-concentrate orange juice

(One could just use an egg or two egg whites here – but this way, you get to dump the cholesterol and fat of the egg yolks, get a delightful orange taste, and not significantly alter the wet/dry ingredient ratio.)

3 medium or 2 large bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tbsp nonfat yogurt or soygurt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce, organic or homemade if possible
(I made mine in the microwave; 3 apples, chopped, with 1/8 cup apple juice, cooked and put through the food processor)

Mix well.

Fold liquid/egg white mixture into dry ingredients, trying not to overbeat the batter.

Using an 1/8 cup or smaller scoop, drop a bit less than 1/8 cup of batter into prepared pan or muffin cups.

Sprinkle 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon streusel mixture across top of each mini-muffin.

Bake for 15 minutes (mini-muffins) or 18-20 minutes (regular sized muffins); or until tops are golden and they are firm to touch.

Betcha can’t eat just one…!

Making them with 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 tablespoons of batter each, the yield is approximately 40 mini-muffins, 55 calories each.

People on their way to Thinlandia should really learn to LOVE salads. Salads can be SO good for you with lots of fiber, roughage, and tons of nutrition. This is why so many people choose to “eat healthy” and grab a salad when they go to a restaurant. But unfortunately, restaurant salads are not always “diet-friendly!”

For example, let’s take a look at The Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad. Seems like a healthful option, right? Lettuce, tomatoes, beans? You tell me how “healthful” it is. Including the shell, it has 850 calories, 48 fat grams, and 80 carb grams. The Fiesta Taco Salad without shell has 500 calories, 26 fat grams, and 42 carb grams.

Taco Bell is not alone in packing salads full of high fat, high calorie items. This is why you see many folks on the road to Thinlandia packing a picnic lunch or eating at home!

I have found that being able to use a liberal amount of lovely-tasting salad dressing is very instrumental in how much I enjoy my salad. No matter how “healthy” it is, squirting a plain lemon over my salad and calling it a day is not enough for me. I need more taste! Texture! Personality! Volume, especially. I CAN dip my fork tines in the dressing if necessary, but I’d rather pour at least a quarter of a cup of flavorful dressing over the whole thing!

This Not-just-for-Dieters Honey Mustard Dressing is a great example of taste, simplicity, and complexity, and at 25-30 calories per tablespoon, you can afford to have more than just a taste! It has the added benefit of being very easy to make. It is especially easy to make if you opt for store-bought mayonnaise. Personally, I make my own mayonnaise to put into the dressing, because the sad fact is, the lower amount of fat and calories a company Kraft or Hellman’s put into their mayonnaise, the higher the sodium level! Consider the following nutritional information per tablespoon:

Kraft Fat Free – 10 calories,
Sodium 120 mg.
Kraft Reduced Fat Olive Oil -
45 calories, 4 fat grams, 95 mg sodium.
Kraft Real Mayo – 90 calories,
10 fat grams, 70 mg sodium.

Because of this unfortunate fact, I decided to start making my own mayonnaise especially for use in salad dressings. That recipe, which was originally published in the Eating Well Magazine, is at the end of this page. Try it – it’s not hard at all, and it tastes pretty good!

Although there are variations of Honey Mustard Dressing recipes all over the web, I slightly modified one I found at a popular recipe board. Thanks, Shirl!

Not-just-for-Dieters Honey Mustard Dressing
(made with Eating Well Mayonnaise)

1 recipe (approximately 1 cup) Eating Well Mayonnaise
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard
(I just use French’s, the bright yellow kind)
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 – 1/4 cup water (or no water
at all if you want a much thicker dressing)
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Mix ingredients together.

Eat and enjoy!

Note: To make a VERY yummy and EXTREMELY magical dip for pretzels, use just the first three ingredients. Mix together, sit back, and watch it disappear!

Contains approximately 25-30 calories per tablespoon of dressing, depending on how much water you put in it.

Eating Well Mayonnaise*
(*with a couple of Thinlandic adjustments to decrease the sodium, etc.)
According to Eating Well, it makes about 1 cup
(I found it to be closer to the 7/8 cup, so the calories are a little closer to 24/tablespoon)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon dry mustard (up to 1 1/2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Also Salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
3/4 cup buttermilk, divided
1 large egg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon light olive oil

1. Whisk together cornstarch, mustard, sugar, salt and cayenne in a medium saucepan. Add 1/4 cup of the buttermilk and whisk until you have a smooth paste. Add egg and the remaining 1/2 cup buttermilk and whisk until smooth.
2. Set the pan over medium-low heat and cook, whisking, until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Continue to whisk for 15 seconds, then remove the pan from the heat.
3. Whisk in lemon juice and oil.
Transfer the mayonnaise to a small bowl. (If you have trouble with a ‘skin’ forming on the top, you may press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.)
4. Let cool.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per tablespoon: 21 calories; 1 g fat (0 g sat, 1 g mono); 14 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 0 g fiber; 45 mg sodium; 24 mg potassium.
0 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 1/2 fat

Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days. Stir before using.

I am now seriously on a cookie kick. Might I add a sweet baked desserts kick, as I also made some amazing chocolate brownies today? I’ve never eaten so well as since I’ve been blogging here at Thinlandia, trying out new recipes, and doing whatever I can to make yummy foods that will easily fit into a sensible diet plan!

Yesterday’s Thinlandia Snack Mix inspired “Cookies For The Trail” completely inspired me, as I got such rave reviews from my kids and Beau. So, I had some extra time, the oven was hot from making the brownies, and it seemed like a good idea to whip up a peanut version. I figured this variation would have a few more calories and a little more fat, as that is the nature of nuts. Still, variety is the spice of life! There is something magical and childlike about peanut-butter cookies, and I wanted to experience it again!

This recipe made two dozen smallish cookies. I like to make them small so I have a lot of “serving size” options, but I’m sure they would work out just as well if you doubled the amount of batter for a larger cookie.

Peanut Butter Cookies for the Trail!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Brown Sugar Blend Splenda
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) softened butter
1/4 cup applesauce (I used Cinnamon Applesauce)
1/8 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg white
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Also Salt
2 tablespoons all natural no sodium added peanut butter
2 cups Cheerios
1/4 cup Nestle Dark Chocolate Raisinets
1/4 cup peanuts; dry roasted or honey roasted would each be fine

Directions:

Cream sugar, butter, applesauce, water, vanilla and egg white together. Add flour, oatmeal, baking soda, Also Salt, and peanut butter to butter mixture and then add Cheerios and peanuts. Drop by tablespoon onto a cookie sheet that has been prepared with Butter-flavored Pam Spray. Bake at about 375 degrees for 10 or 11 minutes.

Tip: Since there are so many extra “add-ins” in these cookies and not a lot of the actual binding ingredients, I found it helpful to use a very small ice cream scoop to sort of compact the ingredients into a little ball as I was getting them onto the pan. Otherwise, they were VERY prone to fall apart before I got them situated. I then sprayed the bottom of a glass with butter-flavored Pam and smashed each cookie down a bit, as they do not really spread while baking.

Makes two dozen.

Nutritional Information per cookie:

Calories: 74
Fat: 3 gm
Protein: 1 gm
Carbohydrate: 10 gm
Sodium: 50.3 mg
Cholesterol: 2.9 mg

These treasures are also low sodium, low calorie, low fat, and gluten free! About this time you’re wondering WHAT on earth is in them? We’ll get to that in a minute!

You might have deduced by now that I have a bit of a sweet tooth. A chocoholic sweet tooth is generally not compatible with a low calorie diet because as you know, most really yummy desserts have a correspondingly high calorie and fat gram count to match. So one finds oneself starting to stare at these ridiculous little snack cakes at the store. One might even catch oneself saying, “Hey, I can eat one of these tiny chocolate cupcakes full of preservatives and trans fats for 150 calories! I need chocolate. HAND IT OVER!!!” And our desparation continues to drive us to eat items that have no business even being called food, much less being part of a weight loss diet!

I have to admit, I have a total weekness for chocolate, and sometimes I long for chocolate cake so badly I dream about it. I’ve tried the expensive, processed little instant microwave Betty Crocker jobbies, which have decent taste, so-so texture, and they’re gone in about two bites. I’ve tried making chocolate flavored sponge cake which is mildly chocolatey, but have not been able to get it filled to the brim with dark chocolatey goodness. In sad desparation, I had pretty much resigned myself to “Well, I’ll have deep, rich chocolate brownies again – AFTER I am to my goal weight.”

All that changed today.

Seriously, look at these beauties! You can just see the lovely fudgey goodness just waiting for you to sink your fork into it!

But these aren’t ordinary brownies. Oh, no. You see, they have a VERY special ingredient in them that makes no conceivable sense but for some odd reason that I am incredibly thankful for, works, and not only that – it makes them actually healthful.

Are you sitting down? You should be. Drum roll, please… Wait for it… Here it is!

Your eyes are not deceiving you. The magic, amazing, chock-ful of healthy goodness secret ingredient is BLACK BEANS! Seriously!

I know this sounds bizarre; I thought it was so bizarre I had to check it out for myself. I am SO glad that I did. There are quite a few different recipes out there for Black Bean Brownies. I modified a highly-rated version of the recipe I found at allrecipes.com to make it a little more healthful. Try it out for yourself, and rejoice that we can have rich chocolate brownies in Thinlandia!

Amazingly Rich Flourless Dark Chocolate Brownies

1 15 ounce can low sodium black beans
1 egg
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons applesauce (I used Cinnamon Applesauce. Cinnamon always goes well with chocolate.)
1 tablespoon butter or light olive oil (I used a mixture of both)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) regular cocoa powder
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon Butter-flavored Also Salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (if you increase this measurement it makes the brownies more cake-like)
3/8 cup Splenda white sugar blend
1 teaspoon instant coffee (I used Folger’s Decaffeinated. Having a bit of coffee in there somehow really helps enhance the chocolate taste, and doesn’t make the brownies taste like coffee in the slightest.)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly spray an 8×8 square baking dish with butter-flavored Pam.

2. Rinse the black beans well in a colander, then blend them within an inch of their life in a food processor or blender, to get them as liquid as possible. This is important so no “skins” are detected in the brownies.

3. Combine all of the ingredients except the walnuts in a blender and blend until smooth.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle the walnuts over the top of the mixture.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry; it starts showing little cracks; and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan; about 30 minutes.

Unlike regular brownies, these actually taste better cold and not straight out of the oven. They should also be stored in the refrigerator (if they last that long!).

I blended a bit of cocoa powder and a little stevia sweetener in some Fat Free Cool Whip, and made a chocolate whipped topping to go on these decadent delights. It is not necessary, but is a lovely option!

Makes 16 smaller brownies, 12 medium-sized, or 9 larger ones.