Real Mint Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 quart fat-free half-and-half
• 2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup fat-free egg substitute
• pinch salt
• few drops green food coloring

Makes 10 Servings (1/2 cup per serving)

1. Combine half-and-half, mint, and sugar in a large saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Bring just to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove saucepan from heat; cover and let stand 10 minutes. Pour mint mixture through sieve set over large bowl, pressing hard on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.
2. Whisk together egg substitute and salt in medium bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of hot half-and-half mixture. Whisk into half-and-half mixture in saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking slowly and constantly, until custard is thickened and coats back of spoon, about 5 minutes (do not let boil).
3. Pour custard through fine-mesh sieve set over large bowl. Let cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
4. Pour custard mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer ice cream to freezer container and freeze until firm, about 3 hours. Ice cream is best served within 1 day.

WW POINTS VALUE: 3 pts.

 

Note: This recipe appears in the WW New Complete Cookbook. You can have you ice cream and eat it too when you're on you're healthy lifestyle. This homemade ice cream tastes better than the ice cream you would get at the local parlor or at the grocery store. If you don't have egg substitute, use real whole eggs and the ice cream will still be delicious. You can also use peppermint or any kind of mint in this recipe too. I also highly recommend adding a touch of pure vanilla to the ice cream for an extra touch of flavor and even add some dark chocolate chips for flavor and crunch.

Red Velvet Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 fl. oz red food coloring
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 1 cup cake flour
• 16 large egg whites, about 2 cups
• 2 tsp white vinegar

Makes 16 Servings

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine unsweetened cocoa, boiling water, vanilla and food coloring, whisk and set aside.
3. In another medium bowl, combine salt, 3/4 cup sugar and cake flour; mix well and set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, ina large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add vinegar; continue to beat until soft peaks form. With electric mixer running on  slow speed, gradually add remaining cup of sugar; increase to high speed and beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Remove a heaping cup of egg whites and add it to chocolate mixture; gently combine and set aside.
6. Sift flour mixture over egg whites, a little at a time, and fold after each addition to incorporate. Add chocolate mixture and gently fold into egg whites. When just combined, turn batter into a two-piece 10-inch angel food cake pan with feet; smooth top into an even layer. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Remove cake from oven and invert pan onto its feet so the inverted cake can cool properly (the cake will not fall out of the pan). If your pan does not have feet, invert it over the neck of a wine bottle or glass soda battle. When cake is completely cool to the touch, loosen edges with a sharp knife and remove cake from pan. Slice into 16 pieces and serve.

WW POINTS VALUE:  3 pts (1 piece per serving)

Note: This recipe appears on www.weightwatchers.com. I have always wanted to make red velvet cake and this looked too good to pass up. I thought I was doing well until I got the cake out of the oven, let in cool and took it out of the pan. Weight Watchers said this was a difficult recipe and they were right. Angel food cake usually rises to the top and is usually fluffy and moist. This cake was not fluffy and moist. I know I did something wrong somewhere along the preparation. The flavor was nice but the texture was a little rubbery for me. This cake mixture probably would have been better as a mini bundt cake. Making cakes from scratch is an art form and there is some special trick to it. I just haven't found  out what that trick is.