Pink Lemonade Confetti Cupcakes (WW 3 points)

One of my favorite WW recipes site is Ginas' skinnytaste.com


I have tried many of her recipes - and I loved all of the ones I tried!


I think though, this is the fastest I have been to make one of her recipes! She posted this on Friday and I just had to make them today (even though it's a very very humid and hot day!)


They are too cute!!

pink-lemonade-confetti-cupcakes

Ginas' Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings 24

Old Points: 2 pts
Points +: 3 pts

Calories: 97.4

F

at: 2.3 g

1 18.25 oz box confetti cake mix, I used Duncan Hines (I used regular white cake and added some confettis) 
2 1/2 tsp powdered sugar-free pink lemonade mix
1 cup water
1 tbsp vegetable oil (used Canola oil)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
lemon zest from half of a lemon (added the zest of one whole lemon)
2 drops pink food coloring (optional)

• confetti sprinkles, optional
Preheat
the oven to 350 degrees F.  

Line

cupcake tins with 24 paper liners.

Stir

together the water and pink lemonade powder.

Combine

the cake mix, pink lemonade mixture, applesauce, lemon zest, food coloring and oil in a large bowl and with an electric mixer, mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Pour

the batter into the prepared cupcake pans.

Add

sprinkles if using and

bake

in the oven for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool

completely on wire racks before serving.

WW Chocolate Chip Biscotti

As you know, I love baking. I do not eat many of the sweets I bake - I share with my family and friends. I have one and share the rest.


Since I'm on WW, decided to try from time to time some sweet recipes that are low in points.


This was my second time making biscotti... and I forgot to cut the biscotti on an angle... so they don't really look like regular biscottis!! But they were good!  They were not too dry - just perfect!
Chocolate Chip Biscotti
from WW Website
20 servings - 3 Points Plus per serving

2 spray(s) cooking spray
2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
3 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt until combined; stir in chocolate chips.

Using an electric mixer, beat sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla until frothy, about 2 minutes. Make a well in center of dry ingredients and pour in egg mixture; stir just until moistened and dough forms.

Shape dough into a 13 X 3-inch log on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes and remove from oven. Reduce oven to 300°F.

Let biscotti to cool for 10 minutes. Then cut warm log crosswise, on a slight diagonal, into twenty 1/2-inch-thick slices. Stand slices, about an inch apart, on baking sheet and return to oven to cook for 12 minutes more. The centers will be soft but biscotti will crisp when cooled. Yields 1 per serving.

Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole (WW)

Haven't posted since Tuesday... guess I didn't have anything to say!! ;)

At least I can share this great recipe now.


Never had sicilian rice ball casserole before, so I can't compare - but we loved this!


Only changes I made was to use a spicy sausage and used canned tomato sauce (as I didn't have time to made from scratch).

I got this from skinnytaste - my favorite WW recipes I get from Gina!

Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole
Gina's Skinny Recipes
Servings: 8 • Serving Size: 1/8th • Old Points: 8 pts • Points+: 9 pts
Calories: 367.2 • Fat: 9.5 g • Carb: 46.8 g • Fiber: 2.0 g • Protein: 20.9 g

2 cups uncooked long grain rice
4 cups water
1 (2.5 oz) sweet Italian sausage link, casing removed (I used a hot Italian sausage)
10 oz (.65 lbs) 93% lean ground turkey (1/2 package)
1/4 cup onion, minced
salt and fresh pepper
5 oz frozen peas (used canned)
16 oz homemade tomato sauce (used Hunt)
1/3 cup egg beaters or egg whites
1/2 cup pecorino romano
cooking spray
4 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs, divided
1 1/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella

Cook rice in water according to package directions. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, sauté sausage meat; cook until brown breaking up into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add turkey and onions and cook until browned, breaking up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add peas and 8 oz tomato sauce and simmer on low, covered, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl combine rice, pecorino romano, eggs, and 3-4 oz tomato sauce and mix well. Rice should be a bit sticky.

Spray a 9 x 12 casserole dish with cooking spray, making sure to spray sides too. Add 2 tbsp breadcrumbs to the dish and roll around to coat the bottom and sides.

Take half of the rice mixture (a little more if needed) and cover the bottom of the dish and up the sides; press to form the bottom layer.

Add the meat and peas.

Sprinkle mozzarella on top. Top with remaining rice and press until even. Top with remaining 4 oz of sauce, remaining 2 tbsp breadcrumbs, and remaining mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes. Cut into 8 pieces.

WW - Granola

After gaining 2 pounds during the 2 weeks of holidays, I am back on track!!  Went to my Weight Watchers' meeting yesterday and lost .6 pounds.  Have been drinking lots of water and have even been journaling what I eat 5 days a week (which is a big thing because I haven't journaled in a long time) for the last week.



No problem with the gym - have gone 4 times last week.


I love granola but I usually make it for Ben.  This time, I tried a WW recipe that I could have and count the points!!


It is delicious!
Will try it with apple juice next time and will add some almonds. Mmmmm!  Even Ben enjoyed it! ;)

Homemade Granola
(from Weight Watchers Website)
12 servings - 4 points per serving

3 cup(s) uncooked quick oats (used regular oats)

2 cup(s) ready-to-eat puffed rice cereal
6 Tbsp honey (used maple syrup)
1 tsp canola oil
1/4 cup(s) apple juice (used orange juice)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup(s) slivered almonds (used pecans)
1/4 cup(s) dried cranberries
1/4 cup(s) raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix uncooked oats and puffed rice cereal together and spread on a non-stick baking sheet with sides; bake for 10 minutes, stirring once.


Meanwhile, mix honey, oil, apple juice, spices and vanilla together in a cup. When oats and puffed rice are done, spoon into a large bowl; set pan aside. Add almonds to cereal mixture and stir to combine. Pour honey-spice mixture over cereal mixture and mix thoroughly to distribute and coat completely; spread mixture back over pan.

Return pan to oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, stirring every few minutes. Remove from oven and spoon back into bowl. (Note: Be careful that granola doesn't burn - especially cereal along sides of pan.)

Stir raisins and cranberries into mixture; let cool. Store in an airtight container. Yields about a half cup per serving.

WW - Zucchini soup

While I was cooking, I had a stalker - she kept moving though, so the photo is a bit blurry :)


Since one of my resolution is to eat healthy and try to lose those last 10 pounds, I tried a new recipe from Gina's.



 cream-of-zucchini-soup-1-ww-point.html - We enjoyed this soup - you have to enjoy zucchinis to love this soup!! :)  What I loved about it is that I get my veggies and it's low fat! ;)



Cream of Zucchini Soup

Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Size: 1 cup • Old Points: 1 pt • Points+: 2 pt
Calories: 65.3 • Fat: 1.0g • Protein: 3.5 g • Carb: 11 g • Fiber: 2.8 g


• 1/2 small onion, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 small zucchini skin on cut in large chunks
• 32 oz fat free chicken stock
• 2 tbsp reduced fat sour cream
• salt
• pepper

Combine chicken broth, onion, garlic and zucchini in a medium pot and cook on medium heat.

Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Purée: Add the sour cream. Using an immersion blender, purée till smooth.

Stir in remaining ingredients, and adjust seasonings to taste. Serve hot.

Optional: Top with 2 tsp parmesan cheese - 1 point extra

I didn't use the sour cream - and took out some of the bouillon so it would be thicker. Will try it with the sour cream next time or the parmesan cheese!

WW - 0 point soup

Finally had a good week at WW!!! Yeah!! Lost 1.6 pounds!!  It helped that I didn't have any Christmas parties to attend!  The big test will be the weeks to follow though! I want to enjoy the holidays but I don't want to go overboard!!



I have been on and off WW for about 4 years and one of the secret to my "success", are the WW 0 point soups.  I just love having a nice veggie soup before my meal.  It fills me up and there are some great ones out there!



My favorite one (and I have tried quite a few!), is this ww-0-point-favorite-vegetable-soup.  I always double this recipe and freeze a few in containers to have on hand when I run out!


0 Point Favorite Vegetable Soup
1 cup diced onion

6 chicken bouillon cubes or 3 -4 teaspoons broth, seasoning mix
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups thinly sliced zucchini
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon basil leaves
1 teaspoon Italian spices
salt & pepper (to taste)
Tabasco (a few drops to give it a kick!)

In a large nonstick saucepan, combine onion, broth mix and garlic; cook stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent.

Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine; cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil. reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes.

Using slotted spoon, remove about 2 cups of vegetables from saucepan and set aside.

In blender, in a few batches, puree remaining soup, return pureed mixture to saucepan, add reserved vegetables and heat.

 

WW - Granola and Birthday

Today is a special day.  It's my big brother's birthday.  Happy birthday Gil!! xoxo


We celebrated last Saturday by going out to a nice restaurant.  One of my gifts was homemade granola.  Even though he has no problem with his weight (lucky guy!!), I decided to make this WW granola again!


Granola is so easy to make - and so much cheaper than buying it in the store!! And so yummy too!


Bought a nice big container - and filled it up with the yummy granola.  Gues my brother enjoyed... he asked me for the recipe!! :)


I had saved the recipe on food.com. Made a few changes - never make it the same way - depending on my mood! 



WW Down To Earth Granola

4 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup sliced almonds  (didn't use this time)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup honey (used maple syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups raisins or 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (I used dried blueberries this time)

In a bowl, mix oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. In a sauce pan, warm the oil and honey. Whisk or stir in the vanilla. Carefully pour liquid over the oat mixture. Stir gently with wooden spoon, finish mixing by hand.

Preheat oven to 300°F Spread granola in a 15x10x1? pan. Bake 40 minutes, stirring carefully every 10 minutes.

Transfer granola-filled pan to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

Stir in raisins or dried cranberries. Seal granola in an air-tight container or self sealing plastic bags.

Store at room temperature for 1 week or the freezer for 3 months.

WW - Grilled Grapefruit

Can't even call this a recipe... two ingredients:

1 grapefruit split in half
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Broil in the oven for a couple of minutes.  That's it - how easy is this!! And so tasty with a nice pink grapefruit!!




Just looking at these pictures make me crave this again!! :)


On the WW front - not a great week - gained another half pound... but all my fault.  Will do better next week (after two Christmas parties - hopefully I'll lose some calories on the dance floor!).

WW - Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

Not a great weigh-in this week.  I went away for a long weekend last weekend and I thought my food choices had been not too bad (except for the burger and fries on Friday night).  I still went to the gym 4 times but I guess my food intake was more than usual.  I will do better this weekend!!


As a treat for the office, I made two treats - the cranberry lemon muffins (see yesterday's post) and these light chocolate chip banana muffins.




Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
from Rose Reisman

3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1-1/2 medium bananas)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt or 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (added a few on top of each muffins)
 
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together bananas, sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla until well mixed. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and baking soda; stir flour mixture into banana mixture.

Stir in yogurt.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Divide among prepared muffin cups.

Bake in centre of oven for 20 minutes or until a tester inserted in centre of muffins comes out clean.

WW - Apple Cranberry Streusel Cake (5 points)

Had lots of apples and some cranberries in the freezer that I wanted to use up.  Wanted something light and fruity.



Was scared the cake wouldn't look nice as the cake mix was pretty thick.  But after baking 55 minutes...


It filled up the pan very nicely!

Brought it to the office with some chocolate muffins and, to my surprise, this cake was gone before the chocolate muffins!! :)




Apple Cranberry Streusel Cake
From Anne Lindsay's New Light Cooking

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar (used a little less)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Grated rind from 1 medium lemon
2/3 cup 2% plain yogurt (used low-fat vanilla yogurt)
1 cup cranberries (fresh, frozen or dried) (used frozen)
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

Streusel:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. In large bowl, using electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and lemon rind, beat into egg mixture alternately with yogurt, making three additions of flour mixture and two of yogurt.

3. Spread half of the batter into greased and floured 10-inch springform pan. Arrange cranberries on top.

4. Streusel: combine brown sugar with cinnamon; sprinkle half over cranberries. Spread remaining batter over top; arrange apple slices in slightly overlapping circles over top. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

5. Bake in 350F oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool on rack for 20 minutes before removing side of pan.

Makes 12 servings (5 WW points). 

Per serving:
222 calories
Total fat: 6 g
Fiber 1 g