Food Hell

I work in food hell. I must admit, it’s hell in other ways, too, but the food is definitely a problem. Yesterday, only the beginning of December, mind you, and it became Dante’s inferno. There was a sugar buffet of donuts, birthday cake and Topsy’s popcorn. In addition, in the conference room on the table are 3 bowls of candy, including Reese's peanut butter cups. However, no fat burning snickers bars. I managed not to eat anything, but HELLO PEEPS, it’s only December 1st – the madness will only escalate between now and January 1st, so I am taking a vow in front of you all to hold me accountable. I solemnly swear not to partake in any of the treats from hell. Okay, I feel much better now! Well, sort of . . . again, I say, if only Snickers could be a fat burner, I would be all set.

Now, it’s not just enough for me to promise, but I need a plan of action. Here’s where you come in. What do you do to keep from shoveling in a truckload of treats this time of year – or any time of year for that matter?

I’ve been brainstorming and here’s some of the things I came up with that could work:

1. Super glue my mouth shut – My DH probably likes this idea just because of the quiet. Probably not a good option, however, as I would rather keep my lips.

2. Annihilate the person responsible for bringing in the offensive food item – Hmmm, this has definite possibilities. If it were the right person, I could come out of this a hero!

3. Partake of the sugar buffet and offset the effects with 300,000 trips up and down the two flights of stairs to the office. Too bad I don’t have an extra 8 hours a day to make this option work!

4. Okay for something a little more sensible – develop recipes that would have the same stats appropriate for a snack and plan for several of those a week. This could actually work.

Here’s a recipe that I have developed for a brownie:

Fudge Brownie

1/4 c Southaven farm chocolate baking mix
Scant 1/4 cup Splenda
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 pkt of Splenda with fiber
1/2 single serve container of Great Value no sugar added applesauce
1 tbsp Hellmann’s lowfat mayo
1 tbsp nonfat dry milk
1 tbsp sugar free coffee syrup - vanilla, chocolate, cherry, or peanut butter flavors, optional
Add enough water to moisten

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees. Spray a single serve dish with cooking spray, such as two 7 oz ramekins or you could make enough to fill a 6-cup muffin tin.
Mix all ingredients together well and pour into 2 dishes. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until done. Let cool. Serves 2. Counts as a bar for S4L so you would have 2 days' worth of substitutes.

Couple of things to note:
Check out southavenfarms.com for the chocolate baking mix. You're going to want to buy a few of these as this brownie recipe is quite good. The mixes are whole grain, sugar free, and very healthy. There are some other great flavors too like cinnamon, mocha, and oat bran. Hint, hint - there could be some future recipes using some of the other flavors.

Another thing is if you don't have any sugar free coffee syrups, such as DaVinci or Torani, you can just moisten the mix with water and add a tsp of vanilla or chocolate extract and be done with it. That's the beauty of it, you are in the drivers' seat. But I highly recommend using the syrup. I made a batch over the weekend using German chocolate cake syrup that I had and it was fabulous! I imagine the peanut butter and cherry would be divine as well.

Now for the stats, comparing this brownie recipe to the supplement brownie bar offered by S4L. What's great about this brownie is that the stats are actually a little better than the bar -- the taste is better too.

Brownie, as prepared from above recipe
Calories 141
Fat 4g
Carbs 19g
Fiber 4g
Protein 16g

Brownie bar (S4L supplement)
Calories 170
Fat 4g
Carbs 24g
Fiber 4g
Protein 10g

Let me know when you try this and what you think about it. I have to confess that this is probably what I will do rather than super glue my lips together. DH will just have to get over it.

Until next time,

The Gourmet Goddess