Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

This is one of my all time favorite cakes!  I made it tonight for the first time in a few years & forgot how much I love it!  I want to share the recipe, but I'm warning you--there's nothing healthy about it, but I don't even try to change it, it's too good just the way it is!

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25oz) white cake mix (the "super moist" kind, with pudding already in the mix if you can find it)
• 1 (3.9oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. vegetable oil
• 3/4 C. water
• 4 large eggs
• 1 (8oz) carton sour cream
• 1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• **Chocolate Glaze** (recipe below)

1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl & stir with a whisk to remove large lumps.
2. Add oil & next 3 ingredients, stirring till smooth.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into greased bundt pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
6. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan & let cool completely.
7. Pour chocolate glaze on top.

Chocolate Glaze ingredients:

• 1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 C. milk
• 1.5 C. powdered sugar

1. Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a heavy sauce pan over low heat.
2. Cook, whisking constantly for 5 minutes or until butter & chocolate melt.
3. Remove pan from heat & whisk in powdered sugar until smooth & of spreading consistency.
4. Pour over cooled cake.  

Bon appétit!  

Kale Chips

I've been curious about these for a while now & today I happened to see kale at the grocery & decided today was the day to try them!

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale
Olive oil (I use my Misto---LOVE IT!)
Seasoning of some sort (I used Julio's)

Directions:
Tear kale off the main stalks into bite size pieces.

Place pieces on baking sheet.

Mist with olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt (or whatever your preferred seasoning is).

Pre-baking

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Ready to eat!  

Yes they are super weird to eat--crunchy little leaves. But not bad. I'm not sure how to keep them yet. I feel like they might crumble if I put them in a ziplock bag.

Zero point snack. Worth trying! 

Warning: people might say you're eating rabbit food & you will not be able to argue. :)

Valentine's "Book Club" Skinny Appetizers

"Book Club" is code for "Bachelor Watching Party" :) and tonight we celebrated this day o' love by partaking in some of our favorite loves! Cheese and chocolate!

Erin made these super yummy Fillo Shells with Snickers in them from Hungry Girl via WW.  Two shells for 2 pts+!

She also made this AMAZING Chocolate Marshmallow Bark...melt chocolate chips, stir in mini-marshmallows, flatten out to the bets of your ability & put in the fridge till it hardens.  Then chop up....so good!  I think it was like 3 pts+ a serving...I can't find the recipe right now, let me know if you want it.

And I made these Skinny Baked Mozzarella Sticks from Skinny Taste--2 pts+ for 2!  Mine kind of melted, I should have watched them better....so good though!

Served them them with a veggie marinara...YUM!  

My two current favorite recipe websites are www.skinnytaste.com and www.eat-your-self-skinny.com.  Both include the WW pts+ with their recipes & all that I've tried so far have been delicious!  Bon Appetit!  

5 Point Personal Pan Pizza!

I just discovered single serving thin crust pizza dough at HEB! Not only do 3 come in a pack, but they are only 3 points each!  They're about the size of a tortilla & are super delicious!

I've eaten one for dinner the past two nights: load it up with veggies (portobello mushrooms, red onion, green bell pepper & artichoke) and topped it off with reduced fat mozzarella cheese. Voila! 5 point pizza!!  And let's be honest, who doesn't love pizza?  And for 5 points+, you can really LOVE IT!

J.Hud's Lasagna

Just made this no noodle veggie lasagna that Jennifer Hudson (or as I like to call her "J.Hud") made on the Dr. Oz show--ya'll--it's so good!  AND...5 pts+ per serving!  And they're good serving sizes...not weenie!  The recipe makes 12 servings.  I served it at "book club" tonight (aka The Bachelor viewing party!) & it was a HIT!

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant(s), trimmed, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-in thick slices   

2 large uncooked zucchini, trimmed, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-in thick slices   

1 large egg(s), beaten

3/4 pound(s) part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup(s) basil, fresh, cut into thin strips   

1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese (I used reduced fat)

4 cup(s) store-bought marinara sauce, divided        

1/2 pound(s) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided    

Directions

First roast the veggies--preheat oven to 400°F, coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Place eggplant on one prepared baking sheet and place zucchini on other prepared baking sheet; coat vegetables with cooking spray. Roast 8 minutes; turn over vegetables and roast for 7 to 10 minutes more (total roasting time should not exceed 20 minutes or the vegetables will get too mushy); remove from oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine egg, ricotta cheese, basil and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese & set aside.

When veggies are done, reduce oven temperature to 350°F. 

The recipe called for a 8x14" baking dish, I used a 9x13" though & it was fine--coat the baking dish with cooking spray. Spread a thin layer of sauce (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) on bottom of pan. Layer eggplant over sauce (use all the slices, even if you have to overlap them). Cover eggplant with half of marinara sauce and then spread half of ricotta mixture on top; sprinkle with half of mozzarella cheese. Top mozzarella cheese with zucchini and cover zucchini with remaining marinara sauce; spread with remaining ricotta mixture and then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Bake until the bottom starts to bubble, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove lasagna from oven and allow it to rest for about 15 to 20 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Notes

They recommended using a mandolin to slide the veggies & after having difficulty slicing the eggplant into such thin pieces I think I will invest in one for next time!  


I also think I'll add mushrooms & maybe some other veggies next time...just to make it even more delish!   

Here is the ONLY downside--I had a super hard time cutting it & having it look pretty--see my plate--

But it does show all the yumminess that's inside!  :)  Enjoy! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello!  I discovered these last spring & think I've even shared them before, but I wanted to re-share as I just made a batch & they are so good!  These are originally from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook  but I tweaked them a bit to make them 2 points plus each!

3/4 C. butter or margarine
1 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
2 eggs (I use egg whites)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 C. flour
2 C. oats
1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips (sometimes I use 1/2 C cinnamon chips & 1/2 C chocolate chips)*

Bake at 375 on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes.  Makes about 55 super delicious cookies.



*If you want to use the cinnamon chip/chocolate chip combo, add the nutmeg....so good!!

The Enchiladas that will "Blow Your Mind"

Get ready for your mind to be blown!  :)  Bonnie tweaked my account of the recipe I posted a few weeks ago to share with a WW group on Facebook.  Here is is:

Ingredients:
•20 corn tortillas (small)
•about 6 baby bellas
•1 yellow onion
•1 green bell pepper
•1 red bell pepper
•1 zucchini
•1 eggplant (small)
•~19 oz. red enchilada sauce
•2 cups reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
•olive oil
•salt, pepper, fajita seasoning, cumin, paprika, chili powder (whatever you like)

Prep:
Pre-heat oven to 350
1.chop all veggies to your preference (don’t forget to peel your eggplant)
2.put all veggies big mixing bowl
3.drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive on top of veggies
4.season w/ a little salt, pepper, fajita season (~1 T), cumin, paprika, chili powder, etc
5.mix w/ hands (or wooden spoon if you are afraid to get dirty)
6.sauté all veggies till super soft in a skillet over medium heat
7.heat up enchilada sauce on stove top
8.warm tortillas (oven or microwave will do)

Assemble:
In a warm corn tortilla, put the following:
•1-2 spoons of sauce
•heaping spoonful of veggies
•little cheese (1 cup of cheese should be rolled up in the tortillas)

Then:
•roll up & place in a 9x13 baking pan
•pour left over sauce over & in between rolled enchiladas and cover tortillas with the remaining cup of cheese
•cook 20-30 min or until they look good to eat.

Salsa Recipe

Once I came to terms with the fact that I can eat an entire carton of salsa in 24 hours I started making my own!  Since it's a zero point snack it's ok to eat the entire thing in 24 hours, but it's more budget friendly to make your own than to keep buying it!  :)

Here's my recipe (it's easy to customize to your own likings!):  (makes about 40 oz of salsa--fits in my 1.75qt. pyrex bowl perfectly!)

• 3 cans (drained) diced tomato* (sometimes I use plain, sometimes chipotle, sometimes green chili--depends on my mood at the grocery).  
• 1 T. dried cilantro (I don't love cilantro, feel free to add more or add fresh if you love it!)
• About 10 slices jalapeño* (I de-seed as much as possible)
• 1-2 minced garlic cloves*
• 1 onion (I like purple)
• 2+ tsp. lime juice (to taste) 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 green bell pepper

*I keep cans of diced tomato, jared sliced jalapeños & minced garlic in my pantry so I always am ready to make salsa!

Chop all ingredients as fine as possible & put in blender.  Blend/stir/puree until it looks like good salsa!  :)  Refrigerate for several hours (overnight is best) to let all the juices marinate.  Enjoy!

Skinny Recipes

I just discovered this website, www.skinnytaste.com & wanted to share it with my bloggy friends.  I'm making her Cranberry Pear Sauce & Sweet Potato Brûlée for Christmas tomorrow.  She must have done Weight Watchers at some point because she puts all the points plus (and old points) values on her recipes!

Our family had a freakout moment this morning when we thought the highly anticipated package from WW Corporate had arrived containing pictures & a DVD of our commercial.  It turned out to be a Christmas present.  You should have seen (and heard) the change in climate & volume when we discovered it was not what we thought.  Haha, so we are still waiting....maybe later today!   

Smoothies!

I have one of these everyday!  It's like a milkshake....it's half your recommended fruit intake for a day & it's only 3 points+!

In a blender mix:

• 1 C. fruit (my favorite is a frozen strawberry, mango & papaya blend from HEB)
• 1 C. skim milk 
• 3/4 tsp Truvia
• 1/2 T agave nectar
• 1/2 T vanilla

Put a straw in it & enjoy!!

Butternut Squash "Fries"

I got this idea from Hungry Girl & was pleasantly surprised by how good they were! And ZERO points! Zero point French fries? Sign me up!

Peel & de-seed a butternut squash. Cut like you'd cut up a potato to make fries. Cook at 425 for 40 minutes (turn half way thru). I seasoned with just salt & pepper because I wanted to see how they really tasted before seasoning too much. They were so good! Similar to sweet potato fries, but a little less dense. I'm a big fan! Please forgive the quality of the pic--I wanted to eat them so I didn't take too much care when I took it. :)  They were a great side to my veggie burger I had for dinner last night!  I will definitely make these again!

Recipe for Veggie Enchiladas

My friend Jenny made my day today by asking me to share some of Bonnie's & my favorite recipes since doing Weight Watchers.  Coming from someone who once when we were in college made a pumpkin crunch cake & I proceeded to eat the.entire.thing, I am honored that she would ask!  The problem is that both my sister & I make things up & usually don't make the same thing twice.  But it's also a good thing--recipes can be easily tailored to your likes or dislikes.  We're both going to work on writing down some of our favorites.  I happen to have this one for veggie enchiladas on my computer already & since my success story on weightwatchers.com gives a shootout to it (though my sister totally made it up) I figured it's a good one to start with!  Now, I'm neither a photographer nor a pro chef (though I do watch so much Cooking Channel & Food Network that I feel like every time I make dinner it's a competition).  So don't expect too much...just some yummy food!


Veggie Enchiladas (makes about 20--each enchilada is 2 pointsplus)

Ingredients:

·      20 corn tortillas (small)

·      about 6 baby bellas

·      yellow onion

·      green bell pepper

·      red bell pepper

·      zucchini

·      ~19 oz. enchilada sauce (I like green chili)

·      2 cups reduced fat Mexican blend cheese

·      olive oil

·      salt, pepper, fajita seasoning, cumin, paprika, chili powder (whatever you like)

Prep:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. chop all veggies (really small—except for bellas, they can be bigger)
3. put all in big mixing bowl
4.  drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive or canola oil on top of veggies
5.  season w/ a little salt, pepper, fajita season (~1 T), cumin, paprika, chili powder, etc
6.  mix w/ hands
7.  sauté all veggies till super soft
8. heat up enchilada sauce
9. warm tortillas

Assemble:  In a warm corn tortilla, put the following:

1. 1-2 spoons of sauce
2.  heaping veggies
3.  little cheese
4. roll up & place in a 9x13 baking pan
5.  pour left over sauce over & in between rolled enchiladas, pour left over cheese on top
6. cook 20-30 min or until they look good to eat.

Enjoy!  I serve these with brown rice mixed with salsa--about 1 cup salsa for every 3ish cups of rice (not rocket science--whatever looks right)--just stir in the salsa when the rice is almost finished.  Once most of the liquid is absorbed it's ready!  And it's the same points plus value as brown rice!  :)  

Yo quiero delicioso!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo I want to share my new favorite recipe from the Pioneer Woman...

Migas!

You can click on the link on her name above for the original recipe.  I had them a few weeks ago & let me tell you they were delicious!  But when I looked at the recipe I was SHOCKED at how unhealthy it was (12 WW points!).  So I lightened it up & made them about a week later & let me tell you I didn't miss the fat!  Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 corn tortillas 
• 1 jalapeno (diced & seeds removed)
• 4 roma tomatoes (roughly chopped)
• 1 green bell pepper (roughly chopped)
• 1 red bell pepper (roughly chopped)
• 1 red onion (chopped)
• 6 large eggs*
• 1 1/2 cups egg whites*
• 1 cup reduced fat grated monterey jack cheese
• 1/4 cup skim milk

*The original recipe called for 12 large eggs.  I've tried it with 3 C. egg whites (3 points per serving) as well as 6 eggs & 1 1/2 C. egg whites (5 points per serving) & I like the later best (1/4 C. egg white = 1 egg). 

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, egg white & milk.  Salt & pepper eggs, then set aside.
2. In a small skillet "fry" tortillas (one at a time) until crisp.  I just sprayed the skillet with spray olive oil & got them crispy.  After they're all "fried" chop & set aside.
3. In a large skillet (over medium-high) cook onions, bell peppers, & jalapenos.   I seasoned these with fajita seasoning.
4. Once the peppers & onions are brown/black add tomatoes & tortilla pieces & stir.
5. Reduce heat to medium & add egg mixture to skillet.  Stir gently till they cook.
6. Add in grated cheese.  (Add chopped cilantro if you like it--I don't, so I don't!)

Makes 6+ servings.  I've made these twice in the last week & I love them!  Hope you disfrutar de them as much as I do!  :)  Ole!

My new fav cookie!

I needed two oatmeal boxes for a costume I was making & so have been looking for recipes to use up all the oatmeal I'd emptied out.  Well I found a good one!  These are my new favorite cookies & are half as much fat/calories as my other favorite chocolate chip cookies & I don't feel like I'm missing anything!!  And if you're counting your points, they're 2 each!  :)  Best non-weenie cookies I've found with such a low point value!

They're from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook but I'll share the recipe incase you don't have it (it's a good one, I highly recommend it!).

3/4 C. butter or margarine
1 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 C. flour
2 C. oats
1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake at 375 on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes.  Makes about 55 super delicious cookies.

I've made them twice this week--once for a meeting & tonight's batch for travel snacks for my family's trip to South Korea for my cousin Adam's wedding!  We leave Saturday morning & I am SUPER excited!  Stay tuned for more on that!  :)  Happy baking!