Crab Spread-Modified Weight Watchers Recipe

So today instead of trying to stay within my calorie limits, I decided to follow the carb advice of one of my favorite people: Mark Sisson from www.marksdailyapple.com. According to his website, if you stick to 50-100 carbs a day you'll lose 1-2 lbs per week and still enjoy satisfying Primal meals. He calls the 50-100 carbs a day the Weight Loss Sweet Spot. If you are looking to maintain your weight, Mark believes a healthy 100-150 carbs a day should help you with Effortless Weight Maintence.  Let's be real here. On any given day apart from some momentary diet I probably eat WAY more than 150 carbs per day. According to Mark, 150 -300 carbs per day equals Insidious Weight Gain and 300+ leads to the Danger Zone of insulin production.  I wonder how many days I was in or near the Danger Zone? 

Knowing that my dear daughter, who hates seafood, was going to her boyfriend's house for dinner, I decided to make an old favorite Weight Watchers Recipe. It's meant to be an appetizer, but it works well as a snack or in our case dinner. Serve this hot crab spread with crackers, tortilla chips, or pretzels.

CRAB SPREAD

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups cottage cheese

3 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (opps...I used the whole thing)

1 pound cooked lump crabmeat (I used imitation because that was all that was available) 

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 scallions, chopped (I omitted these because I was not about to pay 2.00 $ for a billion scallions when I only needed TWO)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3-4 drops hot pepper sauce (I didn't include this)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 1-quart baking dish with nonstick spray.

2. Beat the cottage cheese and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until smooth and creamy.

3. Stir in the crab, cheddar cheese, scallions, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and hot pepper sauce. Transfer to baking dish.

4. Bake, uncovered, until bubbly, about 25 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

Serving Size: 1/4 cup

Makes 14 Servings

If you make the full-fat version like I did it's 119 cal, 7 fat, and 6 carbs per 1/4 cup.

If you make it with fat-free cottage cheese, fat-free cream cheese, and reduced-fat cheddar cheese then it's only 78 cal, 3 fat, and 2 carbs per 1/4 cup. 

Yum Yum! Can't wait to have this for a snack tomorrow too!