Skinny Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Finding fat-free desserts is hard to do. As I've talked about before, my dad had a heart-attack pretty recently so cooking for him can be a challenge, especially in the dessert area! This shortcake is easy, low cal, and most importantly-- fat & cholesterol free. I first attempted to make a strawberry shortcake recipe from one of my cookbooks, "Cook Yourself Thin Faster." The shortcakes were TINY and still contained fat-- very unsatisfying. I knew Angel food cake is inherently fat-free, so I decided to use that as my shortcake base. I re-worked the filling from that recipe, substituted angel food cake, and changed the topping completely. And the result was.. amazing! This recipe makes a lot-- 12 servings and they are a pretty generous serving size so you definitely won't be left hungry. At under 200 calories a serving, it's certainly the guilt-free dessert everyone can enjoy. Everyone in my family loved it-- which is rare! We make this pretty often now.

Ingredients:

• 1 Box Angel Food Cake Mix (We used Duncan Hines)
• 3 C. Non-fat Vanilla Yogurt
• Orange Zest to taste
• Lemon Zest to taste
• 6 tsp. Baking Splenda
• 3 lb. Strawberries
• 5 tsp. Orange Juice

For the Strawberry Topping:

1. Cut up strawberries into bite size pieces. 

2. Toss with 3 tsp. Splenda (add more or less depending on ripeness of your strawberries!)

3. Add 5 tsp. Orange Juice and toss. Cover and refrigerate.

For the Angel Food Cake:

1. Follow directions on box-- if high altitude, make adjustments listed. Cook until DARK golden brown and dry, do not undercook!

2. Turn upside down and cool completely.

3. Cut into 12 pieces.
Note: You can totally make angel food cake from scratch that's even better but I don't usually have that may egg whites just laying around. Also, you could use store-bought angel food cake but I hate it. Okay, thanks for listening.

For Filling:

1. Mix Yogurt, 3 tsp. Splenda, orange and lemon zest.
I first tried 3 tsp. lemon zest and it was WAY too lemon-y. Then I tried 1.5 lemon and 1.5 orange, which was still too lemon-y in my opinion but my mom loved. So adjust to your liking, start small and work up. Sometimes when I'm feeling wild, I beat in a little light cream cheese. But then it's not fat free anymore and everyone loses. 

Spoon yogurt mixture over cake and top with strawberry mixture. Enjoy!

Roasted Asparagus w/ Lemon Dipping Sauce

Almost everyone loves asparagus, especially when it's soaked in butter and smothered with hollandaise sauce. My brother always orders it when we go out for steak. Side note, has anyone seen those GIANT asparagus stalks? Are they on steroids or what's the deal with that?!  That pretty much ruins this side dish as a healthy vegetable. When I was making this dish for  lunch for my dad,  I knew I needed to omit the butter and fat as much as possible. This dish is tasty and the sauce is a much healthier substitute for hollandaise, but as always, don't drench your vegetables in the sauce! Just use it for dipping, okay? That is what sauce is for. Dipping.

Ingredients:

• Asparagus
• Olive Oil
• Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Paprika
• 1/4 C. Low-Fat Mayo made with Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar

To Make the Asparagus: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Remove the "tough ends" from asparagus by cutting off about an inch from the end.
2. Peel remaining bottom half of asparagus with a peeler.
3. Line asparagus up on a foil-lined baking sheet so that there is no overlap.
4. Brush with olive oil.
5. Sprinkle with salt (I used salt substitute since this was for my dad), garlic, black pepper, and paprika.
6. Bake until tender but still crispy. About 25-30 minutes.

To Make Lemon Dipping Sauce:
1. Mix mayo, lemon juice, white wine vinegar in a bowl.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste.