90 Calorie Fudgy Brownies

I was faced with an interesting challenge this weekend:  make a holiday dinner for my family- one that they can enjoy and so can I- without everything tasting like crazy “health” food.  I succeeded by using lots of vegetables, baked chicken, and being a little more generous with the butter than I would if I were cooking purely for myself, but my favorite thing I made?

90 calorie brownies.

And I didn’t tell anyone what they were until after they’d taken a few bites, because you’d seriously never know.  Here’s the recipe: http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2012/04/diet-coke-brownies.html

Here's what you need:

12 oz Diet Coke

1 Package Pilsbury Sugar Free Brownie Mix

Makes 12 servings

Yes, for real, you just need a can of diet coke and some brownie mix.  The original recipe is 115 calories per brownie, but by using the sugar free mix, I was able to cut it down to 90 calories! 

My Domestically Impaired Requisite Cooking Goof-Up this time was using a special brownie pan that has a lift-out sleeve for cooling once the brownies are done baking.  Don’t use those for this recipe, folks.  The mix is going to be more liquidy than usual, and it will leak.  And your kitchen will smell like burnt stuff.  And it’ll take you three rounds of soaking your oven with 409 and scraping with a spatula to remove the burnt gunk.  But your brownies are still going to taste amazing!

On to the instructions….

Just mix the diet coke with the brownie mix, pour it into a (non-leaking) pan, and bake according to the instructions.  It might take a little longer than the package says for them to bake if you don’t like your brownies as gooey as I do.  Either way, the result is going to be a rich, fudgy wonder akin to the flavor of a flourless chocolate torte. They're still not particularly nutritious (yeah, check out that carb content), but they're a pretty awesome alternative to your average calorie packed brownie!

Nutrition Facts:

Calories- 90

Fat- 2.5g

Carbs- 23.1

Protein- 1

Fiber- 3g

3 Ingredient Banana Pancakes!

I've had this recipe saved on Pinterest for a while:  http://www.recipebyphoto.com/3-ingredient-pancakes/

Looks too simple to be true, right?  I was skeptical, too, but over the weekend I found I really needed to do something with the blackened banana in my kitchen, so it felt like the right time to give this a try.

And OMG....it was SO much better than expected!

146 calories per pancake!

Even as I was mixing up the ingredients and pouring them into the pan, I was still skeptical.  I was skeptical up to the moment I cut a piece off and stuck it in my mouth.  They taste like delicious, moist banana crepes!  I only had some atrociously unhealthy uber-butter flavored pancake syrup around the house from my pre-diet days, so I was worried about having nothing to douse it in, but it turns out these really don't need anything extra.  I put two teaspoons of blueberry jelly on the top of mine for the sake of trying it out, but it would have been just as yummy alone.

Here's what you need:

1 very ripe banana

2 eggs

a smidge of cinnamon (like, 1/2 a tsp perhaps)

Makes 2 pancakes

Cut the banana up, add the egg and cinnamon, mash it all up with a potato masher (or an assortment of ineffective kitchen utensils if you've forgotten you own a potato masher, as I did). Let the mixture sit for about 3-4 minutes to get a fluffier pancake than the one in the picture (I figured this out on the second go-round). Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with a sliver of butter, add half of the banana goo mixture, and watch the magic begin.  Just cook it and flip it like you would a normal pancake.

Nutrition facts:

Calories:  146 without toppings (I did figure in 1/4 a tsp of butter per serving with this- if you use an alternative you could adjust accordingly)

Fat: 5.7g

Carbs: 16.5

Protein: 6.8g

Fiber: 2.4g

Sugar: 6.8g

....and just one is pretty darn filling!

In the true spirit of my cooking style, I did, of course, burn the second one.  Because I didn't add more butter to the pan.  My dear boyfriend still ate it like a champ and turns out they still taste pretty awesome even burnt!

It's an abstract piece, ok?