Archive for June, 2009

That Doesn't Taste Like a Diet Drink

Here is a mouth-watering chocolate milkshake recipe supplied by our friends at South Beach Living. It's low-carb, low-calorie and low-fat. Since I have been making this I have managed to avoid countless calories from the carbs I would have consumed had I not been completely satisfied with this particluar substitution. I used Nature Sweet as my sugar substitute but otherwise followed their recipe. (the secret ingredient here is; a touch of vanilla extract). I have made the same shake using other flavors too: cherry, peppermint, almond and rasberry but I keep coming back to the one with vanilla.

Have this one for desert and savor it like you would a fine brandy or as a snack to ward off the sugar-monster. It's a guilt-free way of satisfying your cravings for sweets and it works for me. I have already lost over 120 pounds while enjoying recipes like this. The key to my weight loss success has been substitution – find a way to replace the bad with the good and if it don't taste good – forget about it!

Here is the actual recipe:

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons granular sugar substitute

Pinch salt

3 cups cold 1% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ice cubes

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, stir together cocoa powder, sugar substitute, and salt. Slowly pour in 1 cup of the milk. Whisk until smooth, and then whisk in remaining 2 cups milk and vanilla.Fill 4 (8-ounce) glasses with ice. Pour Chilly Chocolate over ice and serve.

The bottom line: Per ¾-cup serving: 90 calories, 2.5 g fat (1.5 g sat), 12 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 95 mg sodium

For more mouth-watering recipes like this visit our friends at South Beach Living  

This story about a Caribbean cruise adventure, A taste of Europe while cruising the Caribbean is an article by Ken Brooks, well-known big-city radio personality, now Mr. Small Town himself found on (KMOG-1420/AM Payson) and a sometimes contributor to the Payson Roundup Newspaper. A newspaper serving a readership in and amongst the communities of Payson, Pine and Strawberry, Arizona, referred often to as "Rim Country," due to it's proximity to the Mogollon Rim. And now my new home town.

Retirement is a strange concept for me but I couldn't have picked a better place. Visiting here from Scottsdale, Arizona, (a mere hour and a half away) for past 25 years to camp, hike, fish, or just to sit on my Mother's deck enjoying cool mountain breezes and pine scented air (she moved here from MO in 2003).

To me, it seemed the day would never come. Over the years my wife and I would sit at a table in the Payson Airport restaurant (Crosswinds) with a gorgeous view of the rim, real estate brochures spread out among the remnants of biscuits and gravy. I always hoped I would be fortunate enough to actually live here someday. Well, here I am!

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