Weight Watchers Cake

I saw this recipe on youtube and had to try it! You can use any box mix. I used the one that was the cheapest (Pillsbury .94 - bargain!) in devil's food with pudding and Cherry Coke Zero.

Mix together and cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. I used a large springform pan. I could easily get more than 12 slices out of this but 1/12 of the cake is 3 points on Weight Watchers.

Later, I realized it's probably not a good idea cooking with aspartame so I think I'd look for some soda that has sucralose in it instead or heck, you could probably use real soda since it's only 2 points for an entire can.

The strawberries are organic to cancel out the effects of the chemicals in the cake. LOL

Topped with fat free Kroger brand cool whip (.79!) It was delicious and incredibly moist. Who knew soda could be used instead of oil, eggs and water?

Homemade Bread

Classic White Bread
Setting - Super Rapid

2 lb loaf

12 oz. warm milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tblsp. butter
2 Tblsp. sugar
4 c. bread flour
4 tsp. of breadmaker yeast

Did you know that a five pound bag of flour (which costs around $3 +/-) contains about 20 cups? You can make almost 5 loaves (10 lbs.!) of bread with one bag of flour! Yeast is a little pricey (about $4 or $5) . You can substitute dry milk (2 Tblsp.) and water to equal the milk for further savings!

This bread is good and makes great sandwiches. My daughters both love it and the older one isn't a fan of bread so that says something!

You can also substitute olive oil for butter - I've tried that and it works just fine and honey for the sugar.

Delicious and ready in just over an hour!

If you have a Goodwill near you, I've spotted a lot of breadmakers there recently. You're taking your chances of course on their reliability but for the savings it might be worth a shot!

A loaf of storebought bread here is over $2 now. I can't get over how the grocery prices are skyrocketing! Won't be long before we'll have to grow our own wheat and mill it ourselves. Ha!

Fiber Rich Muffins

I'm doing Weight Watchers now and thought I'd share some of the healthy new recipes I've discovered here along with the point values per serving. My kids eat this, too. :)

Using this:

The number on the box is the points value if you make this as cereal.

The recipe:

1 c. Hodgson Mill Multi Grain Cereal
1 c. Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ginger (I added some spices - recipe didn't call for these two)
1/2 t. cinnamon (could have used more I think)
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. shredded carrots (I used one large carrot)
1 c. apple chopped (I used one large Granny Smith apple shredded)
1/2 c. milk (I used 1%)
2 eggs (or 4 egg whites - I used whole eggs)
1/4 c. vegetable oil (I used oil but I wonder if you could use apple sauce instead)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped pecans (I left these out to reduce fat plus my girls don't like nuts)

Preheat oven to 400. I used a 24 mini muffin and a 6 count regular cupcake pan. Recipe says it makes 12 full size cupcakes. Blend together dry ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until blended. (I just used a spoon not a mixer.) Batter will be thick. Spoon into muffin pan(s) and bake 20-22 min or until golden brown. (My mini-muffins were done in 10 minutes. The cupcakes took about 15.)

I plan on freezing these so we have something quick to grab on days I don't feel like fixing breakfast.

Weight Watchers Points Value: 4 points for 4 mini muffins or 1 regular muffin

PW Ripoffs

I made her French Breakfast Puffs this morning with some fruit salad on the side. Yum!

The girls loved them but didn't finish a whole one. I think next time I might make them as mini-muffins. I ate one and was FULL. They were very good and my idea of the perfect breakfast.

Twice Baked Potatoes!

From scratch! (well, as "from scratch" as you get with potatoes) Ooohhh Ahhhh

Tonight's dinner was Quorn Chik'n Breasts, Green Beans and Twice Baked Potatoes. (From Scratch! OOohhhh AAAhhhhh)
















I kinda overdid the Chik'n but it was still yummy. I'm not sure if I talked about the Quorn products on here before so I will now. They rock. They aren't soy, they are some kind of mushroom protein thing. They really do freaking rock, and I'm in mourning that they don't carry the Quorn hotdogs in the USA anymore; because, they are the only vegetarian hotdog that doesn't taste like eating playdough and, as such, are the only vegetarian hotdog that doesn't make me gag.

Onto the potatoes....

Twice Baked Potatoes (From Scratch! Oooooh Aaahhhh)

You will need:
3-4 potatoes
sour cream
cream cheese
cheddar cheese shreds
milk
salt/pepper

The problem with this recipe is that I don't measure the ingredients so you'll have to play with it to find out how you enjoy it the best.

Now, you can be all 1950's about it and bake the potatoes at 400F for an hour like my mom does OR you can come up to speed and nuke them in the microwave for about 9-10minutes. Let them cool before you move on.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Slice the nuked (or baked) potates and scoop the insides into a bowl but leave about half an inch of insides there so that it doesn't lose structure. I always sacrifice one potato to be strictly for inside stuff, you might want to do that too.

In the same bowl, toss in about oh, I dunno, 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sour cream, a handful of cheese shreds and a splash of milk. Use a hand mixer to mix until creamy. Toss in a pinch of salt and pepper and mix again just to make sure there are no lumps.

Scoop the potato mixture back into the hollowed out potatoes, put on a cookie sheet that was lightly greased with olive oil... toss in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden-brown.

Serve and get all the "ooohs and aaahhs" that you did this by yourself instead of using some lame ass frozen version.

Meat Loaf (Veggie of course!)

I won't promise that I'll update more than once a week. I can't even seem to get myself motivated to update my regular blog more than about once a month; however, I'll do my best. I got really burnt out updating this every day so don't expect that.

So tonight we had Vegetarian Meatloaf, Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes.

















That's kind of a crappy picture... I should have used a smaller plate, so here's a "close-up" on the meat loaf.


















Vegetarian Meat Loaf

2 Eggs (or 2x Egg Replacer for the Vegans)
1 box firm silken tofu
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 packet onion soup mix
1 medium chopped onion
3 stalks celery chopped (chop them small)
8oz chopped baby portobello mushrooms
1.5 teaspoon of basil
1.5 teaspoon of oregano
0.5 teaspoon sage
1.5 cups plain bread crumbs

Preheat Oven to 350F

In food processor (or blender) mix eggs, tofu, soup mix, walnuts and blend until smooth.
In pan with a bit of olive oil, saute veggies until soft mix in the herbs and stir well.
In a bowl mix blended tofu mixture and sauted veggies. Add bread crumbs and mix well. Pour into a greased bread pan and bake at 350F for 1 hour 30 minutes. Let it sit on the counter and cool for about 15 minutes before slicing.

I supposed you could do the traditional ketchup on the top of the meatloaf but... ick.

Enjoy!

Trying This Again

So I'm still fixing my kids about the same quick and easy fare as I was five months ago but I've got a new camera.



So at least it looks a little prettier now, right?

Dinner tonight was Nathan's hot dogs (all beef), cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli, and sliced apples. One big change I've made is going more organic on many things and cutting out high fructose corn syrup from our diets.

My husband works long hours so we were dining alone and I didn't feel like fixing a big meal just for the three of us.