Easter Dinner's Coming Up

[Maine-iac]

The topic of Easter dinner has popped up in a different thread, so I thought I'd copy that bit into a general thread for people to add suggestions for menu items, strategies to not overdo, and general support:

Easter dinner is the day before weigh-in, but I'm the cook, so I control the menu, which helps. I bought a nice little prime rib, figuring that a good cut of meat can be satisfying in smaller quantities. For dessert, I'm going to do parfaits with sugar-free jello and fat-free cool-whip. It looks festive, but is still lo-cal. Since Mr. M is also trying to slim down, and my brother, though not officially dieting, also wouldn't mind trimming a bit, there's no one who will really feel cheated by the lack of a traditional sugary dessert.

I need to give some thought to the side dishes such that they are a treat, but still healthy.


I have the Easter family dinner hurdle coming up as well, but without the controls in place that you do. The sugar-free jello is a good call, maybe I'll put that recommendation in.


Another idea for anyone who just has to have pie for dessert at holiday gatherings :wave: is a pie made w/ a reduced fat graham cracker crust and either fat free/sugar free pudding and fat free cool whip, or (my favorite) sugar free jello and fruit.

For the jello pie you cook up ¾ cup of sugar – but I use splenda – with 1 ½ cups of water and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch until thick and clear. Stir in a small box of sugar free jello until disolved. Pour over 4 cups of fresh berries (strawberries or raspberries) in pie crust. Serve with fat free cool whip. I believe this is about 120 calories a slice (based on an 8-slice pie), assuming you use splenda and sugar free jello. (Plus whatever you add in cool whip.)

[Frenchie]

For sides, you can stick to old-fashioned veggies. Filling, yet not bad on the diet!

[Gal Friday]

I'm not too worried about Easter dinner this year b/c we're having it with my extremely health-conscious parents, so it will probably be lower in fat and sugar than I would even make myself. But I am looking for a light recipe for some sort of bread or rolls to serve at my house for breakfast Easter morning. Our tradition has always been hard boiled eggs (the ones we decorated for Easter) and thicky gooey homemade cinnamon pecan rolls for Easter breakfast, but I'm looking for a lighter alternative to the fattening rolls this year.

[Maine-iac]

The back of the Splenda box has a blueberry muffin recipie with a crumb cake variation. I've tried both and the cinnamon crumb cakes (in muffin tins) were very well received. The recipe says 10 muffins at 180 cals each, but I made 12 muffins out of the batter with no problem, getting them down to 150.

If you're interested, I'll look it up tonight.

[Gal Friday]

Sure, that would be great. I'm pretty sure the recipes on the bag are apple pie and cheesecake, neither of which are quite what I'm looking for for Easter breakfast!

[Maine-iac]

Blueberry Muffins

http://www.splenda.com/images/s.gifhttp://www.splenda.com/images/s.gifMakes: 10 servings Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Baking and Cooling Time: 40 minutes


http://www.splenda.com/images/splenda/recipes/hdingredients.gifhttp://www.splenda.com/images/s.gif2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) light margarine, softened
1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granular
1/4 cup honey
2 whole large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

http://www.splenda.com/images/splenda/recipes/hddirections.gifhttp://www.splenda.com/images/s.gif
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Line 10 muffin cups with paper liners.
SIFT together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
BEAT together margarine, SPLENDA® Granular, and honey with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Alternately stir in flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in berries.
SPOON batter into paper lined muffin cups, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.----------------------

Streusel Coffee Cake Variation -
Preheat oven to 350. Coat 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. (I used muffin tins instead.) Follow preparation directions for Blueberry muffins, omitting the blueberries. Spoon batter into the prepared baking dish and bake until golden brown, about 55-60 minutes. (25 - 30 for the muffins).

Streusel topping:
2 tbsps. quick oats
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. Splenda
2 tbsps. light brown sugar (I used the Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, 1 tbsp. + 1 extra tbsp. regular Splenda)
1 tbsp. light margarine
1/8 cup sliced almonds or chopped pecans (optional)

Combine ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins or coffee cake prior to baking.

[Frenchie]

MM's friend's mom invited us to Easter lunch/dinner with her family today. Should be okay cause I can't eat pork or beef b/c of more tests this week. I made a punchbowl cake to take. Kind of naturally it's turned out to be a somewhat healthy version. Since I don't keep real eggs, I used egg beaters and the pudding is fat free and sugar free. I've heard it's a good cake, but it has mandarin oranges and crushed pineapples in it, so I don't eat it. Last time I made it a coworker nearly ate the whole thing herself over the course of a week! She LOVED it. (And she's skinny as a rail!) Feels good to make a dish that people love even though you've never tasted it yourself. :D Let's hope it's a hit at the party today. Wish me luck on making good food choices!

[Loner]

Dinner is at 1 pm so i figure I'll have all afternoon to work off the extra calories. Nothing like a nice long stroll in the park with my flashcards to freak out the local populace...;)

[LoneGirl]

I did pretty well with Easter dinner. We had ham, which I don't like so I ate only a couple bites (my mom said she felt bad because she didn't realize I don't like ham - apparently she hasn't realized that in my entire 28 year existence, I never eat ham!) and my aunt made potato salad that was really horrible so I only ate a couple bites of that. For dessert we had an angel food cake with a cool whip and pineapple topping, so that couldn't have been too bad. Now for the downside.....my mom decided to give all of us Easter baskets this year. She hinted that I was getting "a" peanut butter egg - it was actually a "BAG" of peanut butter eggs! That is dangerous!!!

[Maine-iac]

Stay strong, Stay strong! :D

My dinner wasn't bad at all, I don't think. 1 slice prime rib (~250 calories), a cup or so of asparagus, which is my favorite veggie, a whole pot of Canadian tea, and a sugar-free Jello parfait at 60 cals.

Plus a glass of wine this evening. Could have been much worse.

[Frenchie]

I did pretty well with Easter dinner. We had ham, which I don't like so I ate only a couple bites (my mom said she felt bad because she didn't realize I don't like ham - apparently she hasn't realized that in my entire 28 year existence, I never eat ham!) and my aunt made potato salad that was really horrible so I only ate a couple bites of that. For dessert we had an angel food cake with a cool whip and pineapple topping, so that couldn't have been too bad. Now for the downside.....my mom decided to give all of us Easter baskets this year. She hinted that I was getting "a" peanut butter egg - it was actually a "BAG" of peanut butter eggs! That is dangerous!!!

My address is.... ;)

I think I did okay. I don't eat ham too much, and the sister and her husband are Jewish, so they also had salmon and haddock. I had a veggie plate with a piece of salmon. I had half of one of those thick sugar cookies with the icing (I took off the icing). I also tried my cake, but I didn't have the filling since I'm not a fan of fruit in my food. We ate just after 1, so I did eat again later that evening. But I was good, I had a South Beach Diet pizza. Those are yummy!

[Maine-iac]

Especially the chicken and veggie one. (That's what I had for lunch yesterday. :) )

[Gal Friday]

I was so proud of myself all day, eating in moderation, then yesterday evening I sampled my daughter's Jolly Rancher jelly beans and it started me on a downward spiral. I ended up nibbling on Easter candy and nuts for snacks yesterday evening. I guess jelly beans are just sugar (no fat), so it could have been worse, but I sampled some chocolate too. And some of the nuts (a cashew, almond, and macadamia nut mix) my hubby got from the Easter bunny (which have a South Beach Diet logo on the label, by the way). I know it's "good" fat, but they're so high in calories I usually try to avoid nuts. I figure I probably consumed north of 2500 calories yesterday (I haven't done a final estimate yet). :-o (Compared to my usual 1900-ish calories!) But I ate light the day before, and ran an extra half mile this morning, and will eat light again today. I stepped on the scale this morning after my workout and am still where I was after my workout Friday, so that's good. I keep telling myself I'm in maintenance mode now, it's ok to splurge one day. I'm just so paranoid that if I lose my discipline for one day I'll go hog wild from then on out and gain all the weight back.

By the way LoneGirl, that angel food cake dessert sounds exactly like what my mom made. It was an angel food cake sliced into 3 layers, with a mixture of fat free/sugar free vanilla pudding mix, crushed pineapple (with juice) and 1 cup fat free Cool Whip spread on each layer. She served each slice with an extra dollop of Cool Whip and a sliced strawberry on top. I thought it was really good. Tasted a lot like pineapple upside down cake, which I love, but much lighter. I saw the recipe and it said 140 calories a serving.

[Maine-iac]

I saw that recipe yesterday under the top label for the fat free Cool Whip I used in the parfaits and I was thinking I'd have to try it out sometime. With all the recommendations, maybe I'll make it for Memorial day. Might substitute blueberries for the pinapple. Pineapple is a particularly sugary fruit.

In theory, the reason (according to South Beach) why the nuts would be better than the jelly beans if you wanted to go grazing through the Easter baskets, is that the jelly beans will give you a blood sugar spike and trigger a binge. The nuts would satisfy you and you could stop with just a few.

Works for me, but I know to some folks, "just a few" nuts is an impossibility! (I feel that way about chocolates, myself.)

[Gal Friday]

Ah ha! So it was starting with the jelly beans that did me in! Triggered my binge!!! :wink: The nuts were really tasty, especially when I put some in a little custard cup and added a few M&M's. :oops: I'm a sucker for a sweet(chocolate, in particular)/salty combo. Oh well, it was a moment of weakness, but I think as long as I make it through the day today w/out any secondary binges, I'll be fine. And I think it was an ok portion size. Not like I ate the whole tin of nuts and the whole bag of M&M's. The scale tells me I didn't do any lasting damage, I think right now I'm just worried a little taste of what I've been missing since last summer will lead me off the straight and narrow! Just have to make sure the Easter treats are stashed out of sight when I get home tonight!!

[LoneGirl]

By the way LoneGirl, that angel food cake dessert sounds exactly like what my mom made. It was an angel food cake sliced into 3 layers, with a mixture of fat free/sugar free vanilla pudding mix, crushed pineapple (with juice) and 1 cup fat free Cool Whip spread on each layer. She served each slice with an extra dollop of Cool Whip and a sliced strawberry on top. I thought it was really good. Tasted a lot like pineapple upside down cake, which I love, but much lighter. I saw the recipe and it said 140 calories a serving.

I think she got the recipe from a magazine. "Real Simple" maybe? Anyway, sounds like lots of people read the same magazine!

[Gal Friday]

I think she got the recipe from a magazine. "Real Simple" maybe? Anyway, sounds like lots of people read the same magazine!

Yeah, it's a magazine Kraft puts out full of recipes. You can sign up free online. Some of the recipes are "light", some not-so-much, but just flipping through it I saw a lot of things you could modify to lighten up the heavier recipes. I think they only had nutritional info on the "light" recipes.

[Gal Friday]

Ok I looked it up and the magazine is called Food & Family. The recipe is called "Angel Lush" and here's a link:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&recipe_id=51103

[LoneGirl]

Ok I looked it up and the magazine is called Food & Family. The recipe is called "Angel Lush" and here's a link:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&recipe_id=51103

Yep, that's exactly the dessert we had (minus the strawberries)! It's very good!