Category: Low Fat

Healthy Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

The Sunshine Inn Blog1 Comment

Healthy Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

  • Servings: 24 small cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies that don’t contain any flour, butter, eggs or refined sugar. The dough takes about 5 minutes to prepare. What more could you ask for?

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 cups of quick oats
  • 1/2 cup of mini dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet.
  3. In a large bowl, mix applesauce and oats. Mix with a spoon until evenly combined and all oats are moistened.
  4. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
  5. I used a cookie scoop and made 24 small balls.
  6. Use a spoon or a fork to flatten to approximately 1/2 inch. These cookies will not spread or change shape as they bake.
  7. Bake for 13-15 minutes depending on thickness. (To know if your cookie is cooked, try to lift the cookie with a spatula. If it lifts easily, they are ready)

Nutrition Per Serving with Splenda

  • Calories 50
  • Fat 3.5 g
  • Sugar 3 g
  • Carbohydrates 5.5 g
  • Protein 1.2 g
  • Fibre 0.9 g

I used chocolate chips as this recipe is not very sweet. You could use just about anything as a fill in. Dried fruit works well, raisins, depending on your nutritional needs or restrictions. A traditional serving would be two cookies. Even with chocolate chips, they are still a good option even for diabetics. Think of how you could change them for Halloween or Christmas. Just have fun with these and make them your own.

Healthy Pineapple Carrot Cake

The Sunshine Inn Blog2 Comments

Healthy Pineapple Carrot Cake

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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This healthy carrot cake is a lighter version of the original. It is moist, easy to make and is lower in sugar and has no butter or oil.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
  • 1 tsp of baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup of granulated sugar (I used splenda 1:1)
  • 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple
  • 3/4 cup of finely grated carrots (about 2 large)
  • Pam vegetable spray

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Spray Pam on 8×8 ceramic cake pan.
  3. In a small bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, mix together egg and applesauce.
  5. Add vanilla, sugar and crushed pineapple. Stir until combined.
  6. Pour dry ingredients into wet and gently mix with a spatula until completely combined.
  7. Stir in carrots until evenly distributed.
  8. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  9. Bake for 25-35 min until pick comes out clean from centre.
  10. Cut into 12 squares.

Nutrition Per Serving with Splenda


– Calories 55
– Fat 0.55 g
– Sugar 2.8 g
– Carbohydrates 10.1 g
– Protein 2.0 g
– Fibre 1.0 g

Nutrition Per Serving with Sugar


– Calories 94
– Fat 0.55 g
– Sugar 11.3 g
– Carbohydrates 18.6 g
– Protein 2.0 g
– Fibre 1.0 g

This cake is easy to make. The longest part is grating the carrots and making sure that there is no extra protein (the skin off your fingers) as I so often scrape my fingers on the grater.

I’ve given the two versions of nutritional facts with sugar and with Splenda. Even using sugar, a diabetic can have this as the carbs are low and so is the sugar. You can ice it with a cream cheese frosting (let me know if you want the recipe) but it doesn’t even need it. You can sprinkle a little icing sugar for extra sweetness but that is up to you. There are so many possibilities including chocolate chips, or raisins, or even dates that there is no reason you can’t have fun and make it your own.

Applesauce Cake

The Sunshine Inn Blog2 Comments

Applesauce Cake

  • Servings: 9
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Applesauce is often something I have in the house. I’ve learned to buy the little cups as many recipes ask for it but in small quantities. I hate opening a jar and then have half go bad. Here is a recipe that calls for just one of those prepackaged cups of unsweetened applesauce. I’ve given you a couple of options on the fat or sugar content below.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 3 tbsp of vegetable oil or applesauce (if you have extra, my nutritional value below is based on oil)
  • 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp of white or cider vinegar
  • 1-1/2 cups of white, spelt or oat flour (I used white unbleached flour)
  • 1/3 cup of sugar or sugar substitute (my nutritional value is based on sugar, if using substitute sugar value is 0 g)
  • 3/4 tsp of salt
  • 3/4 tsp of baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp of baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp of allspice (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Whisk liquid ingredients in a large bowl.
  3. Add remaining dry ingredients to form a batter.
  4. Smooth into a greased 8” square pan.
  5. Bake for 18 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
  6. Cool, then frost if desired.
  7. Cut into 9 squares.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 130
  • Fat 4.4 g
  • Sugar 7.2 g
  • Carbohydrates 21.6 g
  • Protein 2.8 g
  • Fibre 2.6 g

So as you can see this was really easy. Just because it is low in fat and sugar doesn’t mean it can’t taste good. I made mine with oil but without the sugar. I used splenda 1:1 and it was fine. This also brought the calories down to 102 cal per piece. If you change the oil to applesauce it goes down to 66 and only 0.4 g of fat. You can add raisins, chopped walnuts, even chocolate chips without making it go crazy on calories or sugar. Depends what you are after. You could even ice it, if you really wanted to. I thought it was great plain but now it’s your recipe and have fun and make it your own.

Egg Cups

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Egg Cups

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 250 ml of egg whites (8 ounces)
  • 1 tbsp of milk
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup cooked turkey or chicken chopped
  • 1 cup chopped raw spinach
  • 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk 3 eggs, egg whites and milk along with the salt and pepper. In another bowl mix your other ingredients. Your turkey with cilantro and sundried tomatoes. (or variation you like).
  3. Spray muffin tin with non stick cooking spray (I used silicon muffin inserts and he used a silicon muffin pan).
  4. Arrange your ingredients at the bottom of each muffin tin.
  5. Using a soup ladle, put your egg mixture into each tin on top of the other ingredients.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops of the egg cups get big and fluffy and slightly golden brown on top.
  7. Let cool for a few minutes before popping them out of the muffin tin.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 90
  • Fat 4.9 g
  • Sugar 0.8 g
  • Carbohydrates 2.4 g
  • Protein 6.6 g
  • Fibre 1.2 g

A young chef came to me with this. What he loved about this was the versatility. He has done this at home over a dozen times and each time he uses what he has in the fridge. When he asked if we could do this together he reminded me that depending what I used, this was low in fat, low in cholesterol, with high protein. They can be used as part of breakfast, a protein snack, or as an hors d’oevres.

The prep time includes cooking your chicken or turkey or saussage. The versatility is fun. He has one version he calls Tex-Mex which is 1 avocado diced, 1 diced bell pepper, a little jalapeño and a little cilantro. I tried mine with hot italian sausage. I will say, careful what you use. Mine made this a little oily. If you use something that is fatty, make sure you remove as much of the fat as possible. You can have so much fun with this and make them your own.