Facelift Number Thirteen - [vegan!] Marble Cake

I love Starbucks. Yes, I'm one of "those people" who order complicated-sounding drinks and, yes, I even have a Starbucks Gold Rewards Card. It's about time that I try one of their baked goods!

Now, as a warning, I completely forgot to take photos during the cooking process. I am SO sorry! It's a really simple 6-ingredient recipe, so I think you guys can handle it, but after this one I will be back on track with the photo-taking!

Anyway, onto the facelift, to show you can still have your cake and be vegan, too!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT



INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Nasoya Silken Creations Dark Chocolate
1/2 cup Nasoya Silken Creations Vanilla
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp + 2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
1.5 tsp + 1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup + 3/4 cup all-purpose unbleached enriched flour

LET'S COOK!

Basically, you're making two different cake batters, then layering them. Easy!

Chocolate batter = chocolate Nasoya + 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp apple sauce + 1.5 tsp baking powder + 3/4 cup flour

Vanilla batter = vanilla Nasoya + 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp apple sauce + 1.5 tsp baking powder + 3/4 cup flour

Pour in an greased 8x8 glass dish in any order you see fit (I put vanilla on the bottom and chocolate on top). Stick a knife in the batter and swirl around a bit to marble it -- the more you move it around, the more "marble-y" it'll look.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F. If you want to frost it, let it cool first!

FACELIFT RESULTS


238 fewer Calories (-68%)
13g less fat (-100%)
6g less saturated fat (-100%)
75mg less cholesterol (-100%)
28g less carbs (-53%)
4g less protein (-67%)
1g more fiber (from 0 to 1g!)
376mg less sodium (-74%)

Okay, again it seems I inadvertently reduced the protein. Despite this, if you were to eat 3 servings of the made-over marble cake, you'd get the same 6g of protein protein and still have less fat, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, and Calories!

Full recipe is HERE. Don't forget to keep sending e-mails and commenting... and now follow us on Twitter @FFFacelift!

Facelift Number Twelve - [vegan!] Calzone

As I said in my last post, I am challenging myself to eat a vegan diet (note: not a moral thing, just a dietary thing) so I've made over a huge-portioned dish from one of the largest pizza fast food chains: the P'Zone from Pizza Hut!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT



(click to view full-sized image)

And that's just half a calzone!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag Trader Joe's Whole Wheat PIzza Dough
2 oz Trader Joe's Soy Mozzarella Cheese
4 oz Gimme Lean Ground Sausage Style
3 cup Spinach
.5 cup Tomato Paste (so salt added variety)
1 cup Zucchini, sliced
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (more or less, to taste)
1 tsp olive oil
a bit of whole wheat flour (for dusting your work surface)








LET'S COOK!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.


Cook the spinach, zucchini, and Gimme Lean in a pan. (I cooked each separately, despite being shown together here.)


Lightly flour your working surface and flatten out half of the pizza dough into a circle, like a mini-pizza. Hopefully yours will be rounder than mine, haha.

Then top half of the round with half of each of the following ingredients...


garlic...


tomato paste & seasonings...


spinach...


zucchini...


Gimme Lean...


and cheese!


Fold the empty side of the dough over, roll the edges, and press with a fork to seal. Brush a little olive oil on top and repeat all of this with the other half of the ingredients.


Lightly flour a cookie sheet and put the calzones on it. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden. But... keep an eye on them! When I was baking them, about 10 minutes through I noticed they were browning really fast, so I put foil on top for the rest of the baking. I liked them when they looked nice and golden like this...


Of course, the best part is the inside...


Now, eat!!! This makes 4 servings (1/2 calzone per serving, just like Pizza Hut). Yum!

FACELIFT RESULTS

Though it varies on which P'Zone you compare it to, this vegan version has around half the Calories, 1/4 the fat, ZERO cholesterol, twice the fiber, and even though the sodium is much higher than I like to have even in two meals, it's still between 200 and 600mg less than Pizza Hut's P'Zone! There's a bit less protein, but when you're not eating a half-pound of Italian food, that should be a given! Think about it: ignoring the sodium, you could basically eat an entire vegan calzone (2 servings) and still be consuming less fat, Calories, cholesterol, and carbs as well as more than quadruple the fiber than Pizza Hut's!

You can find the full recipe HERE!

Enjoy, and continue sending me emails at FastFoodFacelift[at]gmail[dot]com and commenting in this blog!

Facelift Number Eleven - Sweet and Firey Tofu

Happy 2010, everyone! In celebration of a newer and healthier year for you all, I've answered a request I've gotten a few times from you guys: make a vegetarian version of a fast food dish.

I'm not much of a fan of Chinese food and never have been; however, it's hard to escape Panda Express when you go to a mall or airport. My boyfriend loves a lot of their food, so I decided to undertake their SunFire Chicken dish... but with a vegetarian twist.

BEFORE THE FACELIFT




INGREDIENTS

2/5 block Trader Joe's Extra Firm Organic Tofu
1 cup pineapple chunks in juice (not syrup), drained
1/4 medium red onion
1 tsp Trader Joe's Chili Pepper Sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 fl oz orange juice
1 tbsp pineapple juice
1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp honey









LET'S COOK!


I cut up the tofu into die-sized pieces and blotted the excess moisture from them on a paper towel.


Toss the tofu pieces in orange juice until coated.


Put the tofu in a bag with the panko bread crumbs until the pieces are coated.


Bake at 425 degrees F until golden. Now, for the veggies and sauce...


Chop up onion into large pieces and put in a pan with the pineapple. Cook on medium heat until pineapple browns a bit and the onions are cooked yet still crunchy.


Mix the remaining ingredients together until combined. A little goes a long way!


Combine all of the components together until coated in sauce. Enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

217 fewer Calories (-50.7%)
5g less fat (-72.2%)
4g less saturated fat (-100%)
0mg cholesterol (-100%)
22g less carbs (-41.3%)
5g less protein (-27.6%)
no difference in fiber
349mg less sodium (-94.4%)

I definitely didn't mean to decrease the protein, but if you add another 1/5 block per serving to this recipe, you'll only increase 100 Calories (per 1/5 block of tofu) while increasing the protein like crazy! Or, serve this on some quinoa for a great carb with tons of protein!

Full recipe HERE. Keep commenting and sending me e-mails as well!

Have a happy and healthy new year!

Facelift Number Ten - Easy Peasy Mocha Frappe

I guess I owe you all another apology since I did not post the facelift I had done last week until, well... now. So, I'm very sorry for waiting so long to do this!

If you are like me and millions of others around the world, coffee from Starbucks is quite the addiction, especially their frozen concoctions. Here is one of my old favorites, re-done for your enjoyment!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT




Note: Just for fun, I made this exactly how I'd order it -- Grande with no whipped cream.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup coffee
1/2 cup Edy's Fat Free Yogurt Blends, Vanilla
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 packet Truvia sweetener (optional)
ice cubes











LET'S COOK!

As the subject of this blog post says, this is very very easy!


Put all ingredients in a blender. (My blender is a really amazing single-serving one by Fit-N-Fresh. I own a lot of their products and they're awesome!) I started with 2 ice cubes, as I wasn't sure how the consistency would be with more.


Blend until smooth! If you like you're thicker, add more ice cubes and blend until it's to your liking.

See? I told you it was easy!

FACELIFT RESULTS

137 fewer Calories (-52.7%)
2g less fat (-54.3%)
1g less saturated fat (-55%)
23g less carbs (-43.1%)
no change in protein
5g more fiber (from 0 to 5!)
177mg less sodium (-77.1%)

This was a really delicious and extremely quick treat to make! You can always make it to your own liking. If you want to make it minty, add some peppermint extract. If you want it even more chocolatey, use chocolate frozen yogurt instead of vanilla. The nutrition change will be negligible!

Full recipe is HERE. As usual, shoot me an e-mail or leave me a comment (or two!) with suggestions, comments, ideas, etc.

I will not be posting another facelift until sometime in mid-January 2010 (wow, how time flies!) so I wish you all the happiest of holidays. Be safe and enjoy the time with family and friends!

Facelift Number Nine - Chili's Southwestern Egg Rolls

Thank you all so much for your patience! As I explained in my last blog post, last weekend was my birthday and Halloween so it was busy!

I've done a previous facelift for a Chili's dish, but until today I haven't attempted my favorite appetizer of theirs: Southwestern Egg Rolls. My boyfriend and I would split this as an appetizer nearly every time we'd go to Chili's in college. It's so yummy, but as you'll soon see, it's so easy to make at home!

BEFORE THE FACELIFT





INGREDIENTS

For wontons:
16 wonton wrappers
.5 cup canned corn (no salt added variety)
.5 cup black beans (low sodium variety)
1 cup baby spinach
1 tsp minced garlic
1/8 haas avocado
1/2 tsp Trader Joe's Chili Pepper Hot Sauce
1 tbsp cilantro

For sauce:
2 tbsp nonfat greek yogurt
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
juice from 1/4 of a lime

Ready? You better be!

LET'S COOK!


Cook the spinach with the garlic until wilted.


Rinse the beans under cold water for 1 minute and dry on a paper towel.


Put spinach, corn, beans, hot sauce, and cilantro in a food processor and...


...blend until combined and beans are broken down a bit.


Dice 1/8 of the avocado.


Put a teaspoon full of the mixture in one wonton and top with a couple of pieces of avocado.


Lightly moisten two edges of the wonton and fold in half, pressing down lightly so it's sealed. (I keep a small bowl of water next to me so I can just dunk my finger in it to use for the wontons.)


Moisten one of the corners of the wonton and pinch it to the other corner.


Arrange on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes at 400 degrees F...


...until golden brown!


For the sauce, mix the yogurt, Mrs. Dash, and lime juice until combined.


Makes 2 servings of 8 wontons each and half of the sauce for each serving. Enjoy!

FACELIFT RESULTS
Remember this is for one 8 wonton serving!

635 fewer Calories (-69.8%)
55g less fat (-96.1%)
14g less saturated fat (-100%)
14g less carbs (-18.8%)
15g less protein (-53.7%)
1g less fiber (-17.1%)
1499mg less sodium (-76.5%)

If you were to eat all 16 of these wontons and all of the sauce, you'd still have consumed less than half of the original's Calories, sodium, fat, and saturated fat!

Similar to other facelifts of mine, protein and fiber decreased, which was not intentional. You could counteract this by adding some kind of meat substitute (just watch out for the sodium!) but you can just pair this with brown rice for some more fiber, or quinoa for fiber and protein.

Full recipe HERE and, as usual, please leave a comment here or on SparkPeople or e-mail me at FastFoodFacelift@gmail.com with your ideas, suggestions, critiques, etc.