Here’s a question I received about Calorie Counting.

"One thing I always wonder about calorie counting:
how do you account for cooked foods or whole meals?
For example, an apple is easy: it's so & so calories.

However if... (like we did today for dinner)... your meal consists of
a) potato salad b) cucumber salad and c) cheese pie

How would you go about counting all that?
Would you have to input all recipes & divide by helpings
to know what you've eaten?"

And Here’s my Answer to that Question.

DietPower, the software food journal I use,
has a simple function that allows me
to input label info from new foods into its food dictionary.
It also has a simple function that allows me to input new recipes,
using foods that are in its food dictionary.

I would use the search function in its food dictionary,
and find potato salad,
then input how much I ate (1/2 cup?)
Same thing with cucmber salad and cheese pie.
Each of the 3 specialized foods could be as easy for me to input as an apple.

During the past six and a half years,
the DietPower program has been extremely helpful to me.
After I've input a food or a recipe once,
it becomes part of the program and is forever in my software dictionary.

As part of the process of entering a recipe the first time,
I have to determine how many servings are in it.
The program then immediately responds
with correct nutritional values, including calories.

When I first started using the program,
I'd put in one of my favorite recipes
and divide it so that one serving was the amount I usually ate.

SURPRISE... sometimes I found my chosen serving
was TWO or THREE times more than the calories I thought I was eating....
so then... (during the initial input process)... I adjusted the recipe
to a more reasonable number of servings
such as 12 servings, not 6 servings.
This taught me how much I should be eating,
and served as a Forever reminder as to just what size
my serving of that particular food should be.

When I log my food for each day, I just use DietPower's search function
Up comes my food or recipe,

I put the amount I ate...1 serving, or 1/2 serving or whatever,
and instantly I have all the nutritional values of what I ate...
or what I PLAN to eat... because sometimes,
when I see the total calories in advance, I alter my plan.

I've now been using DietPower a very long time
so most of my standard recipes are now in its Dictionary.
When I cook a new recipe, I just add it in.
I also enter as a Recipe,
frequent combinations of foods I eat,
such as a particular Sandwich or even a complete standard meal.
That way I am able to log an entire meal as easily as I could log an apple.

If I am going to eat in a restaurant,
I plan approximately what I will eat in advance.
I Look online and find that item or a similiar item,
and put the restaurant nutritional info for that food item into DietPower.
Then, after my meal, I make minor changes to reflect what I actually ate.

Anytime I eat something I haven't prepared, I can always find
something similiar in the DietPower food dictionary, 
or find the nutritional values of a similiar food somewhere online.
Once I put that food into the DietPower dictionary, it is there for future use.

Most people eat about the same foods month after month,
so once the initial work is done, tracking food is very easy,
and takes only a few minutes each day.

I find doing this a very enjoyable and extremely valuable HABIT.
Any Skill or Habit takes work to estabish in the beginning,
but the payoff can be remarkable.

       This video gives information on how to store leftover cake. 

Dr. Collins of www.DietHobby.com shares Diet Cooking Tips & Tricks.

PART ONE

PART TWO

 Makes 15 servings

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/3 cup chopped Walnuts
1/4 cup prune puree
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1 egg
3 egg-whites
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 cups of granulated Splenda
1 cup crushed Pineapple in its own juice
1 1/2 cups of shredded raw carrots

Frosting:
8 ounce tub of light cream cheese
4 ounces fat-free cream cheese
8 ounce container of Cool Whip
1/4 cup granulated Splenda

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat  9 x 12 inch baking pan with non-stick coating.

Shred raw carrots, set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, spices,
and chopped nuts.  Stir to blend.

In a large bowl, place prune puree, oil, vanilla, eggs, and egg-whites. 
Whisk or beat together.
Add buttermilk and Splenda.  Whisk or beat together.
Stir in the pineapple, including juice, and carrots.

Add the flour mixture.  Stir to form batter.
Transfer the batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick
inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Let cake cool in pan.

Soften block of  fat-free cream cheese to room temperature.
After cake has cooled,
in small mixing bowl, beat both cream cheeses together with an electric mixer
until smooth.  Add 1/4 cup Splenda and beat for one minute longer.
On slow speed, beat in the whipped topping (cool whip)
and mix frosting briefly until smooth.
Frost cooled cake.
Refrigerate frosted cake.

1/15 = 1 serving.
1 serving:

Calories: 209
Carbs: 24.7 grams
Protein: 7.6 grams

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

3 pound chuck roast
2 sliced onions
3 stalks sliced celery
12 oz canned tomato juice (salted)
2 Tablespoons granulated Beef Bouillon
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste (optional)
2 Tablespoons Thickener - like Corn-Starch or Xanthan Gum

Directions:

Slice onion and celery
Place onion in slow cooker
Place beef on top of onion.

In a bowl, stir the bouillon into the tomato juice.
add garlic powder and salt and pepper if desired.
Pour the mixture over the beef,
Scatter the sliced celery on top.

Cover slow cooker, set it to low and cook 8 to 10 hours,
OR, set it to high and cook for 6 hours.

After cooking, remove meat from crockpot,
mix  thickener with enough water to dissolve it,
then add to tomato sauce mixture, stir together,
and cook until sauce thickens.

Makes twelve  servings (approx 3 oz meat)

1  serving (approx 3 oz meat)

Calories: 356
Carbs: 5.5 grams
Protein: 34 grams

Wrap - Makes 1 serving

Sandwich - Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

WRAP:
1/3 of the recipe for Tuna Salad (see Tuna Salad recipe)
1 small La Tortilla Factory low-carb tortilla

SANDWICH:
1/3 of the recipe for Tuna Salad (see Tuna Salad recipe)
1 small slice of whole wheat bread
 

Directions:

WRAP:
Place tuna salad on tortilla,
and wrap it up.
Cut in half and place toothpick on each half.

SANDWICH - Openface:
Place tuna salad on slice of bread.
Cut in 4 pieces.
Makes 3 servings.  1/3 = 1 serving

WRAP  has:

Calories: 166
Carbs: 13 grams
Protein: 19.3 grams

SANDWICH -Openface  has:

Calories: 206
Carbs: 18 grams
Protein: 17.3 grams