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You can use egg white powder made by Wilton, which is available at any Michael's or JoAnn's or WalMart, and at some grocery stores.

The egg whites in cartons in the dairy section: If the carton lists only egg whites on the ingredient list, you can use them. If they contain anything else--preservatives, citric acid, oil--they will not whip even if you beat them on high for three days. Don't waste your money.

I use meringue only on lemon, butterscotch and raisin pies. I use whipped cream on chocolate.

If you want a seriously good chocolate cream pie that's fairly cheap, very simple and makes tasters say, "Oh.My.Gosh," try this:

Bake a pie crust, either your own or store-bought frozen.
In a saucepan, combine 3/4 c. sugar, 1/3 c.cocoa powder and 3 Tbsp. cornstarch until well-blended. Stir in two eggs, blend well, then add 3 c. milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Stir in a pat of butter, 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and up to 4 oz. of any kind of solid chocolate (a handful of semisweet chocolate chips, a Hershey Special Dark bar or a little grated bittersweet chocolate). Cook for about a minute more. Pour into baked crust. Cover with plastic wrap laid directly on the surface of the pie and refrigerate. When cool, top with 1 cup heavy cream whipped with 2-3 Tbsp. powdered sugar. Garnish with grated or curled chocolate, a mont leaf, or fresh strawberries or raspberries.

OK for instant pudding you are not going to be able to put the pie in the oven to brown the meringue so I wouldn't put meringue on it. I would make the pudding with the milk. Then whip the cream and put THAT on top of the pie. Whipped cream - Yum!

btw, I live in a suburb of Atlanta - I don't buy my eggs from the farmer. I use grocery store eggs and a couple weeks ago I stopped in Walgreens for something and saw eggs there for .89 a dozen so I bought 3 dozen!

@beth1 - you're going to have very happy, spoiled doggies! the cottage cheese is a good idea, i'll have to remember that one....

My mom get this stuff from the local health food store and mixes it with ground turkey. http://www.happydogfood.com/

Probably not "super low-cal, high fiber" but here is my recipe for two 100 lb. labs. Lasts a couple months, so it is worth the time, I do it on a weekend.

10 lbs chicken on the bone (thighs are the easiest, only one bone) skin removed
1 lb carrots
few cloves of garlic
any sad veggies from the fridge

Cover with water plus a few inches, and simmer the hell out of it, until meat falls off bone. At least 2 hrs.

Remove food to cool, add 5 lb bag of rice and 2 lbs chicken livers to broth. Cook rice, while removing bones from chicken.

Mix the whole mess together and freeze in quart size bags.( I fill the sink with ice water and throw the bags in there to cool.)

I feed the dogs high quality dry food with a cup of heated rice mix.
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Some times I make extra broth for chicken noodle soup for the human part of the family. It smells so good cooking, the kids get jealous of the dogs!

Well, my dog does not have digestive issues, she is just a real spoiled bitch. I purchase food, open it, put it in her dish, microwave it, stir it, place it in front of her and she sniffs it and walks away. This is my life. Around day 2.5 of her hunger strike and my impending bankruptcy regarding the multitude of food purchases for her to disregard, one of 3 things happen.

1. I make her scrambled eggs and toast to mix in one of the disregarded cans of food and she eats it with happiness.

2. I make her a plate of whatever we are having for dinner and she eats it with happiness.

3. I do the most logical of the 3 and go to the store, buy a package of hearts/livers/gizzards and cook them low with chicken broth, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley and whatever other random broth veggie I have laying around. I add whole wheat couscous at the end and mix a cup full of this muck over a bowl of puppy chow (she is 14...she likes it, whatever) and she eats it with happiness.

Moral of the story? Im a fucking chump when it comes to this silly bitch dog and she knows it.

Here are some of my favorite dog cookbooks I highly suggest any dog owner use. They are full of dinner recipes and special treats. I would also suggest the book Food Pets Die For by Ann Martin if you want to know about commercial dog foods. http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-Shocking-Facts/dp/0939165562/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253575789&sr=1-1 I have one dog who needs to be on a low fat, high protein diet. My dogs both eat Innova EVO low fat dry dog food, and I am very pleased with Merrick wet foods. Thanks to EVO low fat, she's dropped weight, and her cholesterol level.

I'm certainly not passing judgement as our dogs get plenty of table scraps, but if the only food he's turned down are mcd's fries, take note of what extra snacks he gets, because to a 10-pound dog a few bites of hamburger means a lot more than than it does to a 100-pound person, their calories add up a lot faster.

http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Dog-Biscuit-Cookbook-Wagging-22/dp/1933662956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253575501&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-Dogs-Vet-Approved-Gastronome/dp/1580174248/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253575534&sr=1-12

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Dog-Bakery-Cookbook-All-Natural/dp/0836269195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253575593&sr=1-1

I also love dehydrating food for our girls if you have access to a dehydrator. They LOVE homemade jerky and sweet potato chips with no extra additives besides what I season them with. I find when I make my own treats it's a lot easier for me to reach for those than to be tempted to share unhealthy foods, and unhealthy commercial dog treats.

With some good homemade eats, and some exercise I'm sure your pooch will drop the pounds in no time. Good luck!

Have your dog attend one Christmas dinner at my mother-in-law's house. I'm not sure he would be willing to eat the food that she "cooks", even if he is starving to death, but if he hides under the table by my feet, maybe he can help me out.

Dunno about weight loss, but I've been making my dogs' food for years from this book - basically oatmeal, mackerel, carrots, garlic and "healthy powder" (recipe from the book), which gives the pups some extra nutrients. Excellent reviews from my vet (of my dogs, not specifically the book).

During the dog food crisis I took our dogs off their food and we switched to a ground turkey veggie rice mix. 1 pound of group turkey lasted about 2 days for our two. To this I added 1 cup of rice, 1 cup of frozen string beans small cut, and chicken broth about 1 cup. I browned the meat, and added the other things let it get room temp and kept it in the fridge. I did this every other day for months till I found a food I trusted.
I don't know if you know about the raw diet which is what some people with our breed feed their dogs. I don't like playing with raw chicken so I don't do it.
I use Natural Balance food Fish and Sweet Potato. The dogs love it and my oldest doesn't get her wheat allergy problem. They have lots of flavors for those with food sensitive allergies. Also a low calorie choice.

I have never in my whole life had leftovers from dim sum : )

cook4u. I know just the feeling of opening the jar and eating the pickles practically as soon as they're made! But I haven't made pepper pickles. I usually freeze my peppers for later use (just throw in the freeze in freezer bag), and use peppers in relish recipes, and throw the hot ones into cucumber pickles. I'll give the pepper pickles a try this year though. L.

Here is a suggestion, this is the way I learned to cook them from my dad.

Pound the chicken breasts thin, less then a 1/4 inch you should about double the size of the breasts, between two sheets of plastic wrap.

Lay pounded breasts flats and put your stuffing ingredients in the center, it can be anything not just cheese and ham.

Form the breasts into a ball or oval shape around the stuffing making sure to close all seams.

Roll in flour and shake off excess.

Roll in egg wash.

Roll and coat well with bread crumbs.

Freeze for several hours or overnight.

Deep fry in peanut oil, 350, until nice and golden then bake in a 350 oven for about 45 minutes till cooked through.

These will turn out with a great crust on the outside and very juicy on the inside since you seal everything in when frying.