Yummy Healthy Yogurt Cake

l white cake mix
l weight watchers yogurt, any flavor
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup water
3 egg whites

Mix following the directions on the back of the box.
Bake 350 degrees 25-30 minutes

Frosting

1 weight watcher's yogurt
1 8oz. tub fat free Cool Whip
Keep refrigerated
optional - top with berries

This cake is super delish and I've tried with fiber one yogurt, and light and fit as well, it just needs to be a 6 oz container. The last time I made it I used strawberry light and fit and I think it was my fav so far.

Banana Bread (Paula Deen)

I found this banana bread recipe here, and fell in love. This is definitely my new favorite banana bread recipe.

Banana Bread:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar; mix well. Add the salt, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder and bananas. Mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.

Thai Sweet Sticky Rice

YUMMY!!! If you have ever eaten ate a Thai restaurant I hope that you have taken a moment or two to enjoy Thai Sticky Rice, its more like a dessert rice served with mango, and my family loves it. We had it this last week for dinner, for lunch, after school snack...

Thai Sticky Rice
Basmati rice (cook according to package directions)
1 1/2 C. coconut milk
1 C. white sugar
1/2 t. salt

Mango's peeled and sliced

Make rice according to package directions. While the rice cooks, mix together 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; remove from heat and set aside. Stir the cooked rice into the coconut milk mixture; cover. Allow to cool for 1 hour.

Serve mangos over rice.

Some, probably most, make a sauce with more coconut milk and sugar, salt and tapioca starch to serve over the rice and mangos, but we find it plenty sweet with out it.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Chocolate chip-zucchini muffins

1 1/2 C. all purpose flour (I used 1/2 C. whole wheat flour and 1 C. all purpose flour)
3/4 C. sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1/4 C. milk
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 C. shredded zucchini
1/2 C. chocolate chips
1/4 C. chopped walnuts, optional

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.

Super Easy Chocolate Mint Truffles

We made these simple truffles for my daughters teacher as a end of year gift. They are super easy and she had fun helping to make these. You can always change up the flavoring, instead of using peppermint, you could use orange, raspberry or strawberry, etc. Go wild and have fun!

1 1/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 c. vanilla soy milk
1 tsp. pure peppermint extract (other flavors you may want to only use 1/2 tsp. so play around)
chocolate sprinkles

First you make your base ganache. Fill a medium saucepan half way with water, then bring the water to a simmer over med-low heat. Reduce the heat to low. Make a double boiler by placing a large metal or glass bowl over the saucepan but not touching the water. Add the chocolate chips and soy milk to the bowl and melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally,until the mixture is smooth and shinny. Remove it from heat. You then stir your flavoring into the warm ganache (you can omit flavoring for plain chocolate). Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until its firm enough to scoop.

Place sprinkles or other topping choice in a shallow bowl. Scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the chilled ganache and using your hands roll into a ball. Roll truffle in the coating and place in airtight storage container.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve or wrap. If you give the truffles as a gift, they can be kept at a cool room temperature for the day but should be refrigerated after that.

makes 24 truffles.

Other coating options include unsweetened cocoa powder, crushed cookies, crushed nuts, or minced sweetened flaked coconut.

Lotsa Fiber Brownies

So its hard to give credit to where I got this recipe because I got it from my aunt, whoo got it from a friend, whoo got it from a friend, whoo...

Anyways. I think these brownies taste fine, they taste different, heavier, but they taste fine. My husband HATES them. With that in mind I give you the healthier brownie, it sounds gross I know, but my parents, grandparents, etc. all think they are fine and make them. If you are following weight watchers the only points come from the package of brownie mix itself.

So here is the recipe for... BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

BLACK BEAN BROWNIES:

1 (15 0z) can black beans
1 pkg brownie mix

Drain and rinse the black beans and return them to their can. Then fill the can (with the drained beans in it) to the top with water. You then dump beans and water into blender and puree them. Once pureed mix the black bean mixture and brownie mix until well mixed. Dump into your baking pan and bake according to the directions on your brownie mix package.

NO OIL, NO EGGS=HEALTHIER BROWNIES.

And by request...Chocolate Zucchini Cake

My friend Sara gave me this recipe years ago and it quickly became a FAVORITE. It was Ava's first birthday cake and it has been Katrena's requested birthday cake for the last 3 years.

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
serves:12


1 C. vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
2 C. sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 C. milk (I use 1 %)
3 (1 oz) squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 C. grated zucchini


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9x13 baking pan.

In a large bowl combine oil, sugar and eggs.

In a separate bowl sift dry ingredients and add to first mixture.

Add milk and mix well.

Melt baking chocolate in the microwave for 20 seconds intervals until just melted.

Blend chocolate and vanilla into batter.

Stir in zucchini.

Pour into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Cool and frost.

weight watchers points: 11 per serving (points are based on canola oil and 1% milk)



Now this recipe tastes great with Chocolate Butter Frosting, but it makes so much and I hate to see it go to waste and we like just a thin layer of frosting so I usually just by chocolate butter frosting. But if you want to make the frosting here is that recipe too.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER FROSTING:
1/2 C. butter (I use blue bonnet stick butter)
1/3 C. milk (I use 1%)
2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened baking chocolate
3 1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan bring butter and milk to a boil.

Remove from heat.

Add melted chocolate, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and slightly thick.

weight watchers points if you decided to eat the whole thing of sweet delicious frosting is: 61 points. So you can divide by number of servings and how much you put on your cake as you please. And points are again based on the butter and milk that I use.

Applesauce cake

This recipe is for a cake I have made multiple times. I like that it doesn't have any egg in it and that it is flavorful enough that you don't need any icing. Its not as healthy as it looks though, if you cut this cake into 12 servings (without the nut and raisins) its 10 weight watchers points, but baby sometimes its just plain worth it!!!

Applesauce Cake:

2 C. brown sugar
2 C. applesauce
1 C. oil (I use canola)
3 C. flour (to make it a little healthier I do half wheat, half all-purpose)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 C. nuts (optional, I usually use walnuts)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. raisins (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together, and pour in greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.