S'mores Treats

S'mores treats you guys. Seriously!! These are so easy and so good! I couldn't stop eating them!! I love all things s'mores. What's not to love about the crunchy graham cracker, gooey marshmallow and yummy chocolate all rolled into one delicious snack?! I saw a post somewhere that had a recipe with quite a few ingredients in it. Why make something so simple so complicated? So, I decided to try my own hand at coming up with a new recipe. I'm pretty happy with it. What's even better? With the exception of the butter, you don't have to measure anything!! 

Here's the recipe:

S'MORES TREATS

Servings: 12

1/4 c. Butter

1 bag miniature marshmallows

handful of miniature chocolate chips

1 small box Golden Grahams cereal

Over medium/high heat, melt butter. Turn heat to low and add in all but a handful of marshmallows. Stir until marshmallows are melted. Pour in entire box of cereal. Stir until cereal is coated with marshmallow mixture. Press into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle chocolate chips and marshmallows on top. Allow to cool. Cut into 12 squares and ENJOY!

Seriously you guys. So easy. I'm definitely planning to keep these ingredients on hand all Summer so I can whip up a batch anytime we go camping. Who wants to mess with a campfire anyway?! 

So long for today...

Mini Blueberry Pies

Are you all looking forward to the 4th of July holiday weekend as much as I am?!

I've had a crazy last couple of weeks at work and I'm so ready for an extra long weekend. I'm not exactly sure what we will do, but the break from the craziness (of work) is definitely welcome!! I'm still going strong with my 10 day cleanse and am feeling fantastic! I noticed a difference the second day of the cleanse, but I'm even more excited that the results are starting to show on the outside, too! That always helps to give me some extra motivation to stick with it!

If you've been following me for any amount of time, you know that I love any kind of cupcake, whether sweet or savory. Even better is when something is so incredibly easy to make. I found myself looking for something sweet to make that was also easy. I had some blueberry pie filling that I had taken on one of our camping trips, but never ended up using. I bought some refrigerated pie crusts to use for this, but then remembered that I had some won ton wrappers in the fridge that I needed to use. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I figured it was worth a try. Well, I'm so glad that I did because these were a huge success! They were so good AND so easy, too. I call this winning!! Here's the recipe:

MINI BLUEBERRY PIES
Servings: 12

24 won ton wrappers
1 can light blueberry pie filling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Press one wrapper into each cup of the cupcake pan. Take a tablespoon of the pie filling and put into each cup. Repeat the layers of wonton wrapper and pie filling.

Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes, or until wrappers are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Top with a dollop of light whipped cream, if desired and ENJOY!!

See, I told you it was easy!!

What plans do you all have for the holiday weekend? Please share!

So long for today...

Heath Bar Dessert

Hey guys! So, I feel like I owe you all an apology. Yes, I do have a blog. Yes, I do post on said blog. But only once a week. Really?! I'm sure I've lost a lot of followers because I have totally let myself slide. But, I'm hoping to change that. Starting today!! Since I'm no longer doing WW (I officially cancelled my account a couple of months ago), I won't be able to include points values. Let me know if you'd like the macros (calories, etc) for it and I can include them for my recipes.

With the weather starting to get better here (and hopefully where you are, too) it definitely puts me in the frame of mains to samtart thinking about cookouts and picnics. One of my favorite desserts to bring is this Heath Bar Dessert. My mom might actually call it delight, but whatever. You can swap a couple of the ingredients to help to lighten it up, but you can only lighten this up so much. But I promise you, this is worth the splurge.

HEATH BAR DESSERT
Servings: 12

Source: My Mama

1 package graham crackers, crushed
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 T. sugar
1 T. cinnamon

2 small packages vanilla instant pudding
1 qt. butter pecan ice cream, softened
2 c. cold milk

Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar and cinnamon and press into bottom of 9 x13 inch pan. Next, combine the milk and pudding mix and beat for 5 minutes. Fold in the softened ice cream and spread over top of the crust, Add cool whip and spread over top of the pudding/ice cream mixture. Sprinkle with chopped heath bars (about 12 mini bars). Enjoy!

This stuff is so good! I actually started this post a long time ago and it's been a while since I've had it. It's so good, that I might have to make it later this week (after my cleanse is over and before we head to Florida!)

I'll try to be a good blogger and get in another post for you this week!!

I hope you all have a great Monday!! TGIM!!

Strawberries & Cream Dessert Squares

It's strawberry season! Well, it's been strawberry season in SC for a while now and I have definitely had my fair share of them. We recently discovered a local farm that has U-Pick strawberries. They also sell already picked strawberries, as well as so many other fruits and vegetables. My mother and I both have made multiple trips out to their farm to buy strawberries. They're a little off the beaten path, but it's so worth it! I made a trip out there yesterday to replenish my supply and I had this dessert in mind when I was out there.

This is a combination of a couple of different recipes. It takes a little bit of time to make since you have the different layers, but it's worth the time and effort that you put into it. Addison had her end of school program this evening, so we just had some pizza for dinner and I wanted to have a dessert for everyone, too. I've been wanting to make this again for a little while and tonight was the perfect excuse for it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Here's the recipe:

STRAWBERRIES & CREAM DESSERT SQUARES
adapted from Betty Crocker
Servings: 16
Points+: 7



Crust:
1 pouch sugar cookie mix
1/2 c. light butter
1 egg

Filling:
1 container Fat-Free Cool Whip
8 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 T. Splenda

Topping:
4 c. sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. Splenda
2 T. cornstarch
1/3 c. water
10 - 12 drops food color, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 15x10x1- or 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

In medium bowl, combine Cool Whip, cream cheese and 2 T. Splenda. Blend until smooth. Spread over cooled cookie crust.

In small bowl, crush 1 cup of the strawberries. In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Stir in crushed strawberries and 1/3 cup water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in food color. Cool 10 minutes. Gently stir in remaining 3 cups strawberries. Spoon topping over filling. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set; serve within 4 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.



So I'm still not getting any exercise in these days. I'm just pooped by the end of the day and have been experiencing some swelling in my legs lately, so I've been trying to take it easy these days.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I think we are starting Operation Baby Eviction this weekend. We'll see how it goes! My dr. says that it really doesn't matter what you do, that baby will come when he's ready, but it can't hurt to try!

So long for today...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

This dip is so delicious! I let my husband try it and he even said how good it was. The secret to the dip is that it is made with chickpeas. That's right: Chick - Peas. But trust me when I tell you that you have no idea they're in there. It could be that I added a little bit of peanut butter, so that really adds additional flavor to the dip. I took it to the oyster roast on Saturday. TC told me not to tell anyone what's in it until after they try it. That's exactly what I did. Everyone that tried it really liked it. They were really surprised when I told them that it was made with chickpeas. There was some leftover that I brought home with me. I ate way too much of it and had to throw it away to stop myself from eating it. It's really not bad for you, but the reduced fat graham crackers and vanilla wafers that you eat with it can sure add up when you eat quite a few of them. Here's the recipe:

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH DIP
Servings: 6
Points+: 4

1 c. chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 T. oats, ground
2 T. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. baking soda
2 T. Splenda
1/3 c. chocolate chips

Add all ingredients, except chocolate chips, to a food processor and mix until smooth and creamy, then mix in chocolate chips. Serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, animal crackers, whatever you like.

EXERCISE
In order to make up for eating too much cookie dough dip, I wanted to do another workout last night, but I was so tired, I just went to bed. I figured with the time change, the extra sleep would do my body more good than the exercise, so that's what I did. I did get a 3 mile run in before the oyester roast. This morning, I got in a 4.09 mile run. It felt so great! I wished I would have had time to keep going, but we had some things to do this evening so I had to head in. I am planning to do some yoga before bed to help stretch my muscles and help me to wind down after a busy weekend.

I didn't do too terribly eating this weekend, but I definitely could have done better. I'm drinking plenty of water to help flush my system and trying to get in my exercise. I only have one day left to make a difference on the scale. I did buy some local honey and bee pollen to help with my allergies, so I will be adding that to something I eat or drink everyday. I'm really curious to see if it makes a difference. I will report back with any results.

So long for today...

Pineapple Mandarin Orange Cupcakes

It was raining when I woke up this morning. It's still raining now. I was pretty bummed because I really wanted to get a run in today. But, when I saw that it hadn't been raining for a while, I decided to go ahead and try to get my run in. So I ran. About halfway through my run, it started to sprinkle. Since I was already headed home, I didn't think it would be a big deal. In all honesty, I thought I was a pretty die hard runner out there running in the rain. But as the rain picked up, I realized I was no longer die hard. Now I just looked ridiculous running in the rain. Luckily, I didn't have to run in the rain for long since I took a different route today. When I got home and checked my iPod, I had only run for a little over 23 minutes. Really? But I had run 2.52 miles, which comes out to be about a 9:14 mile pace. Not too bad, of course that could have been so good because I was trying to hurry home after it started raining again.

So we went to the circus this afternoon. It was Addison's first time to the circus. I was so excited. She was, too...for a little while. She got tired of sitting and didn't enjoy the second half no matter what we did to try to entertain her. Her favorite part was the elephants. She kept wanting them to come back out. I kept telling her they were tired and were sleeping. Oh well, you live and you learn.

I made some delicious cupcakes for dessert tonight. I modified a recipe that I have for a cake similar to this, but didn't add the eggs or oil. They turned out pretty good, too! The frosting, not so much. But I can make it better. And when I do, I will share that with you! Here's the recipe:

PINEAPPLE MANDARIN ORANGE CUPCAKES
Servings: 24
Points+: 4

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 15-oz can mandarin oranges, undrained
1/2 c. crushed pinapple

Frosting:
1 16-oz. container FF Cool Whip, softened
8 oz. FF cream cheese, softened
1 c. crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c. marshmallow cream

Mix all of the cake ingredients and fill 24 cupcake pans filled with liners. Bake for 22 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mix all frosting ingredients together until well blended. Place in refrigerator to set up a bit.

After cupcakes have cooled, frost cupcakes. Enjoy!

The frosting was pretty runny, but it still tasted good! My niece really liked it! I think maybe adding some SF pudding mix might help to set this up a little bit. I will play around with it, perfect it, and report back to you. The cupcakes are delicious without the frosting, too. This way, they are only 3 pts.+.

So long for today...

Chocolate Cool Whip Cookies

Do they have a cure for spring fever? I might need to Google it to find out. Today was another abnormally warm day in South Carolina. The sun was shining bright all day. It's a really good thing that today was my Friday off, because I'm not sure I would have been able to get much work done today, especially because I know the weather is supposed to go downhill tomorrow...FAST! So I'm glad I was able to enjoy it while I could.

After my migraine last night, I was glad that it had dulled down this morning. I thought that maybe an easy run and some fresh air might help, too. So after I was sure I was awake this morning, I headed out for a run. Well, it didn't take me long to realize that this was not the best idea. My head started pounding again. Luckily, my papparazzi of TC and Addison were beside me on the golf cart and I was able to hitch a ride back to the house. I came home, ate some breakfast, popped a Relpax, took a shower and headed down to see Jimmy for a touch up and trim. I'm happy to report that the only remnant of my migraine is some tension at the base of my neck. Biggest Loser Yoga helped a little bit with that and I think a good night's sleep will help even more.

On our way home today, we did stop at our local fresh meat market to replenish our supply of hamburgers. Usually, I like to get a couple of fresh steaks to grill for dinner when I go here, too. So I got a couple for us and my parents and we had them down for dinner tonight. I even tried a variation of my Cool Whip Cookie recipe using chocolate cake mix. They were DEEE-licious! Here's the recipe:

CHOCOLATE COOL WHIP COOKIES
Servings: 40 - 50
Points+: 1 (per cookie)

1 box milk chocolate cake mix
1 16-oz. container FF Cool Whip
2 eggs
1/2 c. powdered sugar

Combine cake mix, Cool Whip and eggs in bowl and mix until well combined. Batter will be very sticky. Place in refrigerator and chill for at least one hour. You can leave in refrigerator overnight if you want to make the batter ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls into powdered sugar and roll to coat. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 14 minutes. After removing from oven, allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

These were so good! They tasted just like a brownie. But they were so much better because I know they were only one point per cookie. How great is that?

Ok, off to bed to sleep of the tension in my neck. Tomorrow, we're taking Addison to the circus, then I think it's dinner at my sister's house.

So long for today...

Pink Lemonade Confetti Cupcakes

Today was a rainy South Carolina day. Normally, I would complain, but we definitely needed it. The only bad thing is that I didn't get my run in. Hope it doesn't set me back too much. Since TC was helping his cousin move again today, I did get to spend a lazy day with Addison which is always a good thing. While she was napping I got to make these confetti cupcakes for dessert at my sister's house this evening.  I love the tartness that the pink lemonade gives them. I did add some buttercream icing to the cupcakes for anyone who wasn't watching their weight, which was pretty much everyone but me. Here's the recipe:

PINK LEMONADE CONFETTI CUPCAKES
adapted from Skinnytaste
Servings: 24
Points+: 3

1 box confetti cake mix
2 1/2 t. sugar free pink lemonade mix
1 c. water
1 T. oil
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
Confetti Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 24 liners in muffin pans. Mix water with lemonade mix and mix until dissolved. Combine cake mix, lemonade, oil & applesauce and mix with electric mixer until blended. Distribute evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle with confetti if using. Bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

These are a sweet treat that everyone seemed to enjoy this evening. I think these would be so good in the summer with a cream cheese frosting. I think that's an idea for this coming summer.

So long for today...

Cool Whip Cookies

Ah! Another flex Friday. I love having every other Friday off of work. What makes them even better is that TC has every Friday off of work so we get a bonus family day together. Sometimes we have definite plans and other times, we just relax and see what happens. Today was a day that I had a definite plan, but the rest of the family didn't. First, I wanted to get a run in, which I did. I also needed to run some errands to get the documents that I needed to renew my passport with my married name. Even though we got married 5 years ago, I hadn't changed my name on my passport. I figured that, until I had to, I wasn't going to. Well, since my passport expires in March and we're going on our cruise in April, that time has come. Since you never know how long it will take this Federal Agency to work, I wanted to get this taken care of well in advance. Apparently, that is today. So I needed to take care of getting my passport photos taken and getting a certified copy of our marriage license, both of which I did. It's a good feeling to know that I got everything accomplished today that I wanted to.

Some good friends from Pennsylvania came in last night and are staying at my parents house. Since Addison was talking about seeing "Bucky" all day, we decided to head up there for the evening. Not wanting to go empty handed, I made a batch of Alabama Firecrackers and Cool Whip cookies. I've been playing around with the different cake mixes that I've used when making these cookies. I've already tried lemon and strawberry. So far, lemon have been my favorite. When I looked in the pantry, I saw a French Vanilla cake mix, so I decided to try that one today, assuming they would taste similar to a sugar cookie. While I did like these ones, they're still not as good as the Lemon Cool Whip Cookies. Here's the recipe:

COOL WHIP COOKIES
adapted from Slender Kitchen
Servings: about 48
Points+: 1 per cookie

1 cake mix, any flavor
2 eggs
1 medium container fat free Cool Whip
1/2 c. powdered sugar

Combine cake mix, eggs and cool whip and mix until well combined. Mixture will be pretty thick and sticky. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture has thickened a bit more. Drop tablespoons of mixture into powedered sugar and roll until coated. Place on cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 14 - 16 minutes, or until edges are slightly browned. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

You can also make these the day ahead of time and chill the batter in the fridge overnight. I've made these quite a few times since I found this recipe. Most everytime I make them I get compliments on them. People are really surprised when I tell them that they're WW-friendly. I would definitely recommend taking these to your next get together. All your friends will thank you!

So long for today...