Our January cookbook club meeting was all about getting back to lighter eating after holiday excess as we sampled recipes from Skinnytaste Fast and Slow and The Skinnytaste Cookbook by Gina Homolka.
The cookbooks were liked by all in the group, which includes many experienced home cooks and a few professionals, as well as beginners. Skinnytaste Fast and Slow was the main selection, so I’m focusing on that one here, but Gina Homolka has newer cookbooks out with recipes for one-pot meals — including instant pots– and one specially for air fryers (two kitchen crazes I haven’t caught up with…yet).
As you could probably guess, Skinnytaste Fast and Slow is about half slow cooker recipes and half not. I tried one slow cooker recipe and one regular recipe for our cookbook club meeting last month.
For the fun of it, I made brownies in my Crock Pot, using the recipe for Slow Cooker Triple-Almond Flourless Brownies from Skinnytaste Fast and Slow. The recipe makes a very small batch (serves 6) in an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Made with almond flour and unsweetened cocoa powder and no oil or butter, they came out very moist in the Crock Pot, although I had to cook them longer than the recipe said before the toothpick in the center came out clean.
When I tried to cut the six large squares into 24 small squares, they crumbled. The cooled, larger squares held together OK, but stuck a bit to the parchment paper when I tried to cut them. I may try the recipe again and spray the parchment paper with a little more cooking spray.
I also made Pineapple Jicama Slaw, which was fantastic! I had never used jicama (pronounced hee-CAH-mah) before and had to go to three supermarkets before I could find it, but I’ve been using it like crazy ever since. It keeps its crunch in a wilted salad or slaw like nobody’s business.
We ate all the Pineapple Jicama Slaw the night of cookbook club, but I had enough jicama to make it again, so I made some Mason jar salads for my work lunches with pulled chicken and the slaw.
I bought more jicama after cookbook club and have used it in a few other recipes since, including this one: Weight Watchers (now called WW) Mexican Clementine and Jicama Slaw.
I looked up substitutions for jicama when it looked like I might not find it, and some possibilities are Granny Smith apples, radishes, and celery, if you can’t find jicama where you are.
The Skinnytaste recipes are health-conscious versions of old favorites mostly, so it was hard for me to find something that wasn’t something I’ve already made over the years, but the idea is that the ingredients are fairly easy to find and not so new or unfamiliar that family members will balk.
On my own, I made the Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup from Skinnytaste Fast and Slow, and yum! This recipe was delicious! You can find it online on the Skinnytaste site.
We ate it too fast to take a picture, but here’s one from Skinnytaste:
If you’re not familiar with the Skinnytaste Web site, check it out for lighter versions of family favorites! You can sign up for Gina’s weekly meal plans for weight loss or maintenance, and find tons of recipes. (But not, apparently, all of the ones in the cookbooks, including the Pineapple Jicama Slaw and Slow Cooker Triple-Almond Brownies. You have to buy or borrow the cookbooks for those!)
Happy Weekend Cooking!
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