So I finally tried putting soft or dessert tofu into a tradtional cake mix INSTEAD of oil and eggs. The result was DELISH!! Wow. My Guy was totally surprised and ‘couldn’t tell the difference’ he said. It cuts fat, calories and cholestrol to next to nothing! I added tofu and enough water to moisten to consistency of regular cake batter, while mixing with an electric mixer. I’m really excited about this.

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LOW FAT BANANA BREAD (*Everything but the Kitchen Sink Muffins Below)

1 2/3 cup flour (personally I do half WW and half all purpose)

2/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup applesauce

2 eggs or equivalent of Energ-G Egg Replacer to be FAT FREE

1 cup mashed bananas

1/4 cup H20 (I didn’t use this)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

Dash of nutmeg and a more generous dash of cinnamon, bit of vanilla (I don’t measure these things)

- PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 F

- Mix sugar, applesauce till smooth. Beat in eggs (or replacer), H2O if using (hold back cause you may not need it!) bananas and vanilla

- Seperate bowl do the dry stuff (and spices) and add to the wet until just moistened. If you need that H2O now would be the time to add- sparingly.

- Don’t overmix or you may get the dreaded ‘ peaks and tunnels’! Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

“EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK” MUFFINS (the amazing Bran Muffin recipe below this one!)

1 cup grated zucchini or a mix of carrot and zucchini (I opted for the mix)

1/2 cup Applesauce

1/4 cup raisins

1 14 oz tin of mandarin oranges, drained and cut finely (I had none, so used pineapple tidbits!)

1 cup of a flaked cereal (author used Special K, I used bran flakes)

1/4 cup oil (I chose NOT to use this, subbed applesauce instead for all but 2 tbsp and that I did use oil for)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup sugar (*UPDATE: Just had a 2nd one and very sweet. I would say you don’t need a full 1/3 cup. I’m just sayin’…)

3/4 cup WW flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

dash nutmeg

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 chopped walnuts (I didn’t have any so I used pecans instead)

1/4 soy milk or regular milk (I didn’t even need this!)

3 tbsp coconut for topping (I didn’t have any so used pumpkin seeds!)

- PREHEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES F

-I used 12 regular sized muffin cups, or could use 6 large if you had them. Will need to be greased or non-stick paper liners used.

-In large bowl mix zucchini (and carrot), raisins, oranges, applesauce and cereal. Set aside.

-Stir in oil if using and vanilla

-In separate bowl add dry: flours, sugar, spices, BP, BS and salt

-Add dry to the wet and fold in nuts. This would be when you would add in the milk if the batter is not moist enough but I found I didn’t need it.

-Divide evenly into muffin cups and top with coconut (or pumpkin seeds in my case)

-Bake 20 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. I had to do 30 minutes…oh and just because I always need a little chocolate a threw in a few chocolate chips too!

LOW FAT (AND MOIST) BRAN MUFFINS. YES, BRAN!

I have been playing around with a bran muffin recipe I found awhile back and have now got it where I want it. Since applesauce is used in place of fat (butter, oil etc) these muffins are practically fat free! The recipe calls for whole wheat flour and yes, some white flour but I’ve found with ALL whole wheat, the muffins just don’t rise enough and are too dense. I throw in whatever I’ve got in my house; fruit, nuts, coconut, raisins, cranberries and/or chocolate chips (for a little bit of indulgence). I hope you like them as much as me!

1 1/2 cups bran (I’ve found works equally well with oat or wheat bran)

1 cup milk

1/2 cups applesauce (prefer unsweetened)

1 egg

2/3 packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup whole wheat flour,  1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix the bran and milk together in a small bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the applesauce, egg, brown sugar and vanilla in a seperate bowl. Stir in the bran mixture until smooth.

In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients.

Stir in the wet bran mixture into the dry, careful not to over mix here.

Fold in whatever goodies you want to add and spoon into lightly oiled muffin tins. I found they stick to paper muffin liners so I spray my tins with Lite Pam.

Cook for 15-20 minutes…I check mine at 16 minutes!