Dee Mess (healthy version of Eton Mess) Core +1 pt

This is a deliciously healthy version of the Eton Mess classic which is cream, berries and meringue.
If you like pavalova, you must try this!

Photo coming when I get a glass serving dish :)

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Very Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of thick nonfat yoghurt, plain or flavoured
• 4 passionfruit
• 1 1/2 cup frozen berries
• Powdered Sweetener (like Splenda)
• cinnamon
• * 4 mini meringue nests (0.5-1pt each depending on brand).
  Alternatively, use meringue kisses.
• 1/2 punet of strawberries to decorate

Method:

Put about a cup of yoghurt in glass bowl, top with good handful of frozen berries, pulp of 2 passionfruit and some powdered sweetner to equivilent sweetness of a few TB, sprinkle with cinnamon.
Repeat yoghurt and fruit layer.
Cover and fridge for about 20-30 mins to let flavours develop and berries thaw.
Put a mini meringue shell in serving bowl and smash, top with spoonfuls of the yoghurt and fruit mix.
Top with a sliced strawberry.

On Core you'll need to count the meringue at 0.5-1 pt each depending on brand

CORE Frozen Fruit Salad

An excellent way of dealing with fruit which ripes quickly in the heat.

And very refresing on a hot day

Serves: 1+ depending on amount of fruit used

Difficulty: Very Easy, but needs some lead time

Fruit which is great frozen:

• ripe banana/s - peeled and cut into slices about 1.5cm thick
  
• ripe stone fruit, like nectarines (leave skin on) or peaches (peel) - chop into slices/pieces, no more than 1cm thick, sprinke with lemon juice
  
• seedless grapes - stalk removed
  
• oranges - cut into slices/wedges no more than 1-1.5cm thick

Method:
Lay fruit out flat on a tray and freeze. When frozen you can put into a dry tub in the freezer.

Arrange as many peices and types of fruit as needed on a plate and eat with your fingers

Notes -

• If your freezer makes icecream rock hard, I'd suggest letting it sit for a few minutes before eating, otherwise eat straight away
  
• For kids or for some pizazz, thread fruit on a skewer and freeze
  
• You can also stick pop sticks into banana to make creamy "ice cream"

CORE Mango Frozen Yoghurt

I made this last week when had a Core friend over and she licked the bowl (see bottom)

Serves: 2 large servings of around 1 cup

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe mangos, chopped - 1 in freezer, 1 in fridge
• 1 x 200g/175g tub mango (or vanilla) diet yoghurt, frozen

Note - you could try frozen mango and unfrozen yoghurt - all depends on blender power

18 November - I tried 2/3 cup frozen berries and unfrozen yoghurt - yummy too, but a slightly gritty texture

Method:

Take frozen bits out of freezer and leave on bench for about 10-20 mins to soften.
In blender, blend unfrozen mango with frozen mango, then with frozen yoghurt.
You may need to add a few TB of fluid to get it moving, depending on power of your blender.
The object is to end up with a semi solid liquid like soft gelato

The crowning touch
Not Core, but totally lifts this into *extraordinary* for only half a point

Top with 1 tsp of flaked almonds and 1 tsp of Tia Maria or Grand Marnier (coffee or orange liquer) and a sprinkle with teeny pinch of cocoa or drinking chocolate (for colour)

This easy dessert gets Dr Lisa's stamp of approval!

Not on Core? The total of this recipe is approx 4.5 points (without toppings)

Core Spiced Pears with Berries (+1.5pts)

Pictured served on Steel Cut Oats

This recipe is so simple and so tasty as a desert or breakfast.

It has 1 1/2 TB of sugar (1.5 pt) in the whole recipe, so nonCore Points are minimal per serve.

Serves: 4-6

Difficulty: Very Easy

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a 1kg jar of Pears in Cranberry Juice (Goulburn Valley), drained
• 1/2 - 1 cup frozen berries
• * 1 1/2 TB sugar (1.5 pts)
• mixed spice
• ground black pepper (yes I am serious), about 1/4 tsp

The sugar coats the fruit while it cooks, like a glaze. I do not recommend swapping for Splenda. Sugar is only 1.5 pts to share between 4-6 serves.

Method:
Arrange the pears in the bottom of a small casserole
Top with the berries (no need to defrost)
Sprinkle with the mixed spice, sugar and pepper
Cook covered with foil for 25 mins at 180*C.

Serve with a spoonful of the richly coloured juices

CORE Breakfast Mousse

This is similar to Oats and Yoghurt Slice but has been blended for a smooth consistency.

Serves: 2

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 packet diet apricot and peach jelly
• 1 200 g tub vanilla Nestle Diet yoghurt
• 1 snack pack size tub/can peaches in juice
• 100g quick oats
• 3 tsp Splenda
• Optional - chopped fruit to top

Method:
Dissolve jelly in 1 cup boiling water, mix with stab mixer.
Add peaches and oats and blend. Add yoghurt and Splenda and blend again.
Pour into 2 glasses and set in fridge overnight.

Not on Core? The total of this recipe is approx 7 points or 3.5 points per serve

Alternatives: Mix up your flavours.
I used peach and apricot because that's what I had.
Try raspberry jelly and strawberry yoghurt, melon jelly and vanilla yoghurt, port wine and vanilla yoghurt, orange-mango jelly with mango yoghurt, lemon jelly and vanilla yoghurt (it's "almost" a lemon cheesecake)
I don't recommend lime - bright green food is so wrong if you are out of junior primary school!

CORE Fruit Crumble

Pictures is plum crumble

Make in individual oven proof dishes, or make a big one and share. Recipe is for one

Serves: 1

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1/2 - 3/4 cup fruit - stewed or drained canned fruit (Chop canned fruit to 1cm pieces)
• 1 tsp spoon for spoon sweetner
• sprinkle all spice or cinnamon
• 1 weetbix
• oil spray

Method:
Put 1/2 to 3/4 cup fruit per person into individual ramekins or oven proof dish.
Sprinkle with the splenda and spice
Top with a crushed weetbix.
Spray with oil spray.
Bake at 180*C until golden (15 or 20 mins)
Let sit for 5 mins - fruit is very hot and can burn!

Note - non dieters, use a sprinkle of sugar.

Not on Core? The total for this recipe is approx 2 points

CORE Brekkie Trifle

Looks best in glass bowls or large glasses (400ml type) to show off the layers.

For dessert, use smaller juice glasses.

Easy variety - make 3 different flavours
Pictured is (L-R): 3/4 c frozen mixed berries, 100g tub drained pears in juice, 3/4 c stewed plums

Serves: 3 for brekkie (or 6 for dessert)

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup of fruit - canned, stewed or frozen
• 6 weetbix
• 1 pack diet raspberry or port wine diet jelly
• 200g tub vanilla flavoured diet yoghurt
• 3 tsp of spoon for spoon sweetener

Method:
Add 3/4 cup of fruit into bottom of 3 bowls or glasses.
Crush 2 weetbix into each bowl and gently press down, then top with 1 tsp sweetner.
Add 1/2 cup boiling water to jelly crystals, stir to dissolve, then add 1 cup cold water.
Add 1/3 jelly mix into each bowl.
Top with yoghurt.
Cover and fridge overnight

Not on Core? The total for each serve is approx 2.5 points (1.5pt for dessert)

CORE French Fried Banana

Bananas are fried in French toast batter. Shown served with French Toast and diet caramel topping

Serves: batter will coat at least 6 to 8 bananas

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 3 TB skim milk powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essense
• 1 tsp mixed spice (or cinnamon)
• bananas (1 per person), not too ripe
• 3 tsp olive oil
• Cottees Diet Caramel Topping to serve

Method:
Mix egg, milk powder, spice, and vanilla and pour into a flat bread and butter type plate.
Meanwhile heat a non-stick saucepan up with the olive oil. The pan needs to be quite hot to start, so suggest setting 8 from 10 or equivalent.
Get the first banana and coat with batter, then straight into the hot pan.
Turn pan down to medium now.
Roll the bananas in the egg mix and put in pan.
Turn bananas over when lovely and golden.
When cooked on both sides, serve french banana with 2 TB of Diet Caramel Topping (0 pts).

CORE Pineapple Fritters

Serves: 6 pineapple rings
suggest serving 2 rings each for dessert, more if for breakfast

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essense
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice (or cinnamon)
• 1 can of pineapple rings in juice, drained
• 3 tsp olive oil

Method:
Heat a non-stick saucepan up with the olive oil. The pan needs to be quite hot to start, so suggest setting 8 from 10 or equivalent.
Mix all except pineapple.
Dip pienapple in egg mixture, then straight into the hot pan. Turn pan down to medium now.
Cook until golden (at leaset 4 mins), turn over.
Serve hot

I like these served with diet ice-cream (1-2 pts, depends brand), 2 TB diet caramel topping (0 pts) and 2 tsp flaked almonds (0.5 pts)

CORE French Toast & Banana with Caramel

Serves: 2 (1 serve = 2 french toasts and 1 french banana)

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 3 TB skim milk powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essense
• 1 tsp mixed spice (or cinnamon)
• 4 slices multigrain bread (see note)
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 2 bananas
• Cottees Diet Caramel Topping

Note re bread - this is sooooo much nicer using bakery bread with firm crusts than supermarket breads with soft crusts. I used Leckorbrot grain with sesame seeds on the outside.

Method:
Mix egg, milk powder, spice, and vanilla and pour into a flat bread and butter type plate.
Meanwhile heat a non-stick saucepan up with the olive oil. The pan needs to be quite hot to start, so suggest setting 8 from 10 or equivalent.
Get the first slice of bread and sit in the egg mixture.
Count to 5, flip bread over, count to 5, then straight into the hot pan.
Turn pan down to medium now.
Repeat with another piece of bread.
Roll the bananas in the egg mix and put in pan.
A large pan probably only cooks 2 or 3 pieces of bread at a time, so probably need to cook in batches
Turn bread and bananas over when lovely and golden.
When cooked on both sides, serve french toast and french banana with 2 TB of Diet Caramel Topping (0 pts).
Repeat with remaining bread.

Pineapple rings in the batter is also very nice.

CORE Fruit Salad Pudding

This dessert (or brekkie) separates into layers - a base of rice topped with fruit and custard.

Serves: 6

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 820g can of fruit salad in juice
• 175-200g tub diet yoghurt (I used Yoplait ForMe apricot)
• artificial sweetner, equiv of 12tsp sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 3/4 cup nonfat milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
Drain juice from fruit into a large mixing bowl. Add egg and beat until fluffy.
Add rest apart from fruit and rice and beat.
Stir through fruit and rice and pour into a large casserole dish
Sprinkle with some more mixed spice and bake at 180*C for 60 minutes.
It's done when you wiggle the dish and it doesn't wiggle back.
Allow to sit for 5 mins before serving.

Not on Core? The total for this recipe is 18 points

CORE Spiced Fruit Cup Jelly

Pictured without banana, will update when latest batch sets
3 June - I ate it without checking the picture quality - they were too dark to use. So meanwhile, imagine some banana floating on the top :)

A lovely jelly for snack or dessert

Jelly with fruit always reminds me of my nanna. She was diabetic and made jelly with bananas every time we came to visit.

Serves: 2-3

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 sachet diet raspberry jelly
  
• 12 grapes
  
• 1 small banana
• 3TB frozen berries
  
• allspice or cinnamon
  
• 1 tea bag, English Breakfast
  

Method:
Pour 1 cup boiling water into jug or bowl. Jiggle tea bag 4 - 6 times and remove.
Dissolve jelly in tea.
Add a pinch of all spice or cinnamon.
Top up with 200 ml water.
Get out 2 or 3 small tubs or glass bowls.
Cut grapes into halves, removing seeds if necessary and add to bowls.
Slice banana into bowls
Add 1 TB frozen berries to each bowl.
Pour in jelly, stir and set.

Not on Core? The total for this recipe is 1.5 points, or 1/2 point per serve

Note 1 - because of the banana, this should be eaten in 1-2 days

Note 2 - No fresh fruit? Add 2 TB of drained tinned fruit to each bowl.
If using tinned fruit, cut water down a little more to 400ml total or it may not set very firm

CORE Berry Pancake

Serves: 1 for breakfast
This is a very filling breakfast, the equivalent of a big bowl of porrige for brekkie

You could make in egg rings as a dessert and serve with low fat ice cream (points)
NB - Cereal is limited to once per day. If you've already eaten cereal, you'll need to count the oats

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• rolled oats or quick oats - 1 x 34g sachet or 1/3 cup
• 1/2 cup diet berry fizzy (I use DietRite Cranberry Boysenberry) or 100ml diet lemonade and 25ml diet cordial (maybe a splash of the diet Ribena?)
• 1/3 cup frozen berries
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1tsp olive oil
• 100g Yoplait Forme Vanilla to serve

Method:

Mix egg, soft drink, baking powder and oats with a stab mixer.
Add the berries, still frozen, reserving a spoonful or 2.
Mix with Spoon - do not blend the berries!
Put pancake mixture in fridge overnight, same for remaining berries.

In the morning:
Heat a small nonstick skillet to medium high, add the oil and turn back to medium.
(I use a skillet about the size of my hand with the fingers spread)
Stir the pancake mixture and pour in
NB - these are moist pancakes (not stodgy) and take longer to cook than normal pancakes. The batter is also "heavier", so turning them too early will break them.
It's time to turn when there is a 2cm "ring" around the outside, and when you tilt the pan, the batter moves very little. (You'll see what I mean)
Use a wide egg flip, slide it gently under to make sure it's not caught, then flip quickly and cook the other side. It will not take as much time as the first which cooks about 75%. Second side will also not be as brown.
Serve onto a plate, add the reserved berries (including the berry juice), 1/2 tub vanilla yoghurt.

Optional - sprinkle with artificial sweetener (1 tsp equivalent) to tone down the tartness of the berries

Feedback from Almost Hubby:
"Mmmmm.....doesn't taste like diet food. You could feed this to my nephew [9 years old] and he'd love it."

Not on Core? The total Points for this is 5

This recipe is based on a lemonade pancake recipe posted by MTHERESEN

CORE Sweet Breakfast Couscous

Serves: 3-4

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry couscous
• 1 cup hot really strong diet cordial (double strength)
• fruit
• nonfat yoghurt

Method:

Mix, water and couscous and cover for 5 mins.
Optional - add sweetener and/or cinnamon
Serve with fresh, canned or stewed fruit and 100g - 200g yoghurt

You can get some great combinations. Some of my faves:

• Diet pine/lime cordial, vanilla yoghurt and tinned pineapple
• Berries cordial, cherry or berry yoghurt and frozen berries or stewed plums
• Fruit cup cordial, peach/mango yoghurt and oranges

Not on Core? The couscous in diet cordial is 9 points (all of it), plus your yoghurt and fruit.
eg 1/4 of the couscous mix PLUS 100g YoplaitForMe AND a small banana is 4 points