Category Archives: Substitutions

Bariatric Friendly Hummingbird Bundt Cake

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I made my husband’s favorite cake this weekend – hummingbird cake. I found the idea to do it in a bundt pan from southern living, and decided that I’d adapt it so that I could eat it too without any guilt. I used my husband as a guinea pig. Didn’t tell him there were substitutions at first. He could tell there was in the icing a bit, but the cake was perfect. Made a couple of tweaks to the icing and here we are. I’m so excited to reveal it to you!

The best part about this cake is that it did not raise my blood sugar in the slightest. I did heavy testing with my glucose monitor when I had a piece, before, during and after, and it stayed within range (and I am not taking any blood sugar medication at the moment). And now without any further ado . . .

Cake:
5 ripe bananas
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 eggs, beaten slightly
1 8oz can crushed pineapple (partially drained)
1/2 cup monk fruit/splenda
1/2 cup swerve brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup oat flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup pecans

Preheat Oven to 350.

mash bananas well. If they aren’t ripe enough to mash into oblivion, broil them in the oven before mashing. Add applesauce, eggs, pineapple, sugars, and vanilla. Mix well then incorporate flours, spices, baking soda and salt. Mix until well combined and then fold in pecans.

Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool then turn out onto a plate.

Frosting:
4 0z (1/2 bar) reduced fat or fat free cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup swerve powdered sugar
1 pinch of salt
plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

Whip the cream cheese until fluffy(ish) then add in the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. beat well, using the Greek yogurt to thin out if needed. Frost the cake when it is completely cool. Optional, but delicious: garnish with chopped pecans.

** one note: I could not find anything other than a 20 oz pineapple in the store to save my life, so I did find individual 4 oz pineapple tidbit 4 packs. I opened two of those, kept juice intact, and smushed them up further and added it like that and it worked just fine.

The macros (without the pecan garnish):

Sixteen Servings
Calories: ~190
Protein: ~4.7 g
Carbohydrates: ~20 g
Fiber: ~3.4 g
Net Carbs: ~16–17 g
Fat: ~10.6 g

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie

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INGREDIENTS

For the Crust:
138 grams Carolina Crunch cinnamon square protein cereal (or similar crunchy style cereal)
6 tablespoons melted butter 1/4 cup Swerve brown sugar

For the filling:
1 cup PB2 powder, prepared with water to be like peanut butter
1 brick low fat cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup Swerve powdered sugar
1 tub of zero sugar Cool Whip

First, make the crust. In a food processor, grind the cereal into crumbs and add the brown sugar with a few final pulses. Drizzle in the butter and pulse the processor until it is evenly distributed. Spray a pie plate with avocado oil cooking spray and press the crust mixture evenly into the pie plate and freeze for 20 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter mixture and the cream cheese on medium speed until well combined. Beat in the powdered sugar, and then fold in the whipped topping until it is all mixed well.

Spoon 1/2 of the mixture into the pie crust. Take 1/3 cup of the preserves and swirl it into the peanut butter mixture, then repeat the process. Chill for at least four hours, but overnight is best.

MACROS
Calories: 251
Fat: 14.3g
Carbs: 21.75g
Fiber: 2.75g
Protein: 6.25g

I saw this recipe in a food magazine that was not exactly like this. It called for ritz crackers in the crust, and of course real peanut butter and full sugared and fat everything. I said you know what? I can make it better. This was the macros on the original recipe:

As you can see, your girl cooked. Except this was a no bake pie!

A Little Substituting Can Go A Long Way

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Change does not happen overnight. Sometimes making gradual changes by way of substitutions is a good start. It’s how I did, using things that the family would not easily discern, like mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes (I even fooled my dad on that one, one time!) or a carb friendly tortilla instead of a regular one. Using PB2 powder mixed with water takes a ton of fat and calories out of peanut butter!

I do not like the taste of greek yogurt on its own, but I have found that using it in recipes makes it tolerable for my taste buds. I use it mixed with low fat sour cream and add taco seasoning for Mexican dishes. I mix it with zero sugar cool whip and pudding mix for a fluff to curb my sweet tooth. Cottage cheese is the same! I hate it on its own, but blended or used as a cheese substitute when cooked makes the texture and taste change a bit. I used it in a calzone and it was much like ricotta instead of cottage cheese.

I have a zero sugar cake mix that I’m going to attempt to use greek yogurt to make a cake batter for protein cupcakes. That is my endeavor next weekend – we’ll see how it goes! What is your favorite way to substitute for healthy living?

Adventures in Veggie Burgers Gone Wrong

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A year ago, when I was really considering wanting to start this journey, the one thing that was holding me back was the thought of having to make two different dishes for every meal. I also had all those voices in my head telling me it’s a lot of work and probably wouldn’t even matter. When I tell you that doubt is the Devil, believe me. I was like “you know, you right. Why would I bother with all that fuss if it wasn’t going to help me?” Wrong, Kellz. Stop being wrong.

So flash forward to my commitment to not being a slob forever, and now I am looking at things SMRT-ly. What can I easily change that we can both eat, or what components can I do two alternate ones (like side dishes) to make it more palatable for Mr. Metabolism? I started doing things like using a meat blend (pork/turkey/beef) instead of straight up ground beef. Using pork panko instead of bread crumbs. Mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes. I tried focusing on things that my husband wouldn’t mind or notice. I also started to branch out and consider two different meals altogether. Like if they do take out, I do something from the meal prep stash. This weekend at the grocery store there was a special on wagyu burgers that I grabbed up, so I decided I’d make those for Father’s Day (he got his big meal the night before) and I’d attempt these veggie burgers I saw in the food network mag.

Well, let’s just say these things had potential but fell short. I have attempted veggie burgers in the past, and the problem I always had with them was that they were mush. Like fall apart mush, not a patty at all. This time I followed the recipe to the letter. The only difference is I substituted the barbecue sauce with lower sugar ketchup and replacing breadcrumbs with pork panko (but added a bit more). I even took video and photos along the way because I wanted it to be the first actual cooking thing I posted on this blog. I let them sit in the fridge for longer than expected while I cooked everything else – bacon, the Mister’s burgers, everything then I pulled them out to finish up. As soon as they hit the oiled pan they fell apart. They cooked up but it was just piles of mush. Did I still eat it? I did. I spread it over my bun halves loaded up with veggies and ate it like avocado toast. Later I had the rest of the mush on a lettuce boat and turned it into a little wrap. Would I do it again? Not without figuring out why this happens.

I was so disappointed! I wanted a great cooking experience. Tonight is air fried sausages and fixins, which probably isn’t going to be very exciting. C’est la vie.