Oopsie Rolls for Medifast

Oops, I did it again!

First, a history lesson.  Way back in 1972, Dr. Atkins created a bread substitute recipe called Revolution Rolls that combined eggs and cottage cheese to make a bun.  Low-carb dieters have tweaked this recipe over the years by substituting mayo or cream cheese.  In 2009, Jamie VanEaton created the Oopsie Roll by happy accident, when she inadvertently doubled the amount of cream cheese in the recipe.  Check out her blog for tips and an oopsie roll tutorial.

On the Medifast 5 and 1 plan, 1 tbsp of low-fat cream cheese counts as a condiment.  Although all condiment servings contain about 1 gram of carbohydrate, not all condiments are created equal.  Some, like cream cheese or almond milk, add significantly more calories and fat to your daily intake than others, like garlic or other spices.  I try to avoid the higher calorie and fat condiments as much as possible, because it's a great way to take yourself out of the optimal fat-burning zone even though you are still technically on plan. 

The good news is that lowfat cottage cheese works well in most dishes as a cream cheese substitute, and cottage cheese counts as part of your lean portion.  So I tried using cottage cheese in the oopsie roll recipe, and the results were amazing!  I was skeptical at first, so I avoided trying this recipe.  But the resulting product is very much like bread in texture and taste.  So if you're craving a burger or a sammich, give these a try!

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
6 tbsp 1% fat cottage cheese, drained and blended smooth

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Separate the eggs.  Whip whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.  In separate bowl, combine yolks and cottage cheese.  Using a spatula, gently fold the yolk mixture into the whites, being very careful not to break down the whites.  Scoop out six mounds of batter onto parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake 30 minutes, until golden brown on top.  Allow to cool completely before serving.

Makes 3 servings
Per serving, 2/5 lean
89 calories, 4.9 grams fat, 177 mg sodium, 1.5 grams carbohydrates, 9.4 grams protein


Sandy's Kitchen has another Medifast-friendly recipe for Revolution Rolls.  Here is the nutrition breakdown for that recipe

Makes 3 servings
Per serving, 1/3 lean and 1 1/3 condiments
99 calories, 7.4 grams fat, 117 mg sodium, 0.9 grams carbohydrates, 6.6 grams protein

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan

Monday Night Adventures

Chicken parmesan used to be a favorite supper at our house once upon a time.  I was looking for something different to make in my new slow cooker, and decided to see if this recipe from Mom on Timeout could be tweaked to be on-plan for a Medifast Lean and Green meal.  The resulting dish definitely lacks the crispiness of the breaded chicken in traditional chicken parmesan, but is tasty and easy to prepare. 

The original recipe calls for spaghetti sauce from a jar, but most have added sugar and/or too many carbs to work on the 5 and 1 plan.  However, it's simple enough to create your own sauce using canned diced tomatoes.  I don't like chunky sauce, so I blended the tomatoes in the Magic Bullet to make the sauce smoother.  This recipe contains 10 green servings.  To make a complete Lean and Green, you could serve each portion with a serving of shirataki noodles, or you could add 5 total servings of on-plan vegetables of your choice (mushrooms, peppers, for example) to the sauce. 

Note:  do not use dried basil for this recipe.  You can find prechopped fresh basil in tubes in the produce department of the grocery store.

Ingredients

30 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4 leans)
28 oz diced tomatoes (7 greens)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (1 1/2 condiments)
1 1/2 tsp onion powder (3 condiments)
1 tsp Italian seasoning (2 condiments)
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (3/32 condiment)
1 cup reduced fat mozzarella, shredded (1 lean)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan (8 condiments)
3 cups fresh spinach, chopped (3 greens)

Instructions

Combine tomatoes, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning and spinach in slow cooker.  Cut chicken breasts into strips or chunks and brown in nonstick skillet.  Add chicken to slow cooker, making sure all pieces are covered by the sauce.  Cook on low 5 hours, until chicken is done.  Stir in fresh basil.

The original recipe says to top chicken and sauce mixture with parmesan and mozzarella and cook in the slow cooker with the lid off until cheese is melted.  I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table, so I put the chicken and sauce mixture into a casserole dish, topped it with parmesan first, then mozzarella, and broiled it until cheese was melted and browned.

5 servings
Per serving, 1 lean, 2 greens,  3 condiments
306 calories, 9.1 grams fat, 402 mg sodium, 8.5 grams carbohydrates, 2.4 grams fiber, 54.0 grams protein
Nutrition values may vary a bit depending on which brands of chicken and reduced fat mozzarella cheese you use.  Since this recipe has less than 10 grams of fat with my ingredients, I could use a tsp of olive oil to brown the chicken for a healthy fat.  I used Goldn Plump All Natural chicken, which has most of the fat trimmed off.  Other brands of chicken have more fat.  Calculate the recipe's nutrition values with the brands that you are using; you may find that you do not need a healthy fat.