Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes

Who doesn't love funfetti? I mean really, come on! One of my favorites is funfetti anything! I found a recipe that's weight watchers friendly! 2 points plus per cupcake-UHM YES PLEASE! Instead of using oil and eggs, you use sprite zero. No calories, no fat! And for the frosting you use fat free cool whip and sugar free instant vanilla pudding. I found that my topping was not as much as it was in the picture I saw, they only got a little amount and I added sprinkles, but oh well, it's still 2 points for a freaking cupcake! They are super moist from the Sprite, although you will not get as much as you would a heavy dense cupcake. These are super light and fluffy and fun! And did I mention yummy?

2 points plus baby!

original recipe found here-http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/08/skinny-funfetti-cupcakes-recipe.html

Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes

(makes 24 cupcakes, 110 calories per frosted cupcake, 2 Weight Watchers Points)

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix (just the powder, not the recipe on the box)
• 1 (12 ounce) can Sprite Zero 

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 (8 ounce) container Fat Free Cool Whip
• 1 (1.5 ounce) pkg. Fat Free Vanilla Jello Instant Pudding (just the powder, not the recipe on the box)

Cupcake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 24 cupcake tins with paper liners.  In a large bowl, combine cake mix and Sprite together.  Continue to mix until the batter is smooth without any lumps.  Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter into every cupcake wrapper.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Let cool before frosting. 

Frosting Directions:

In a mixing bowl, add Cool Whip and pudding.  Mix with a whisk by hand or an electric hand mixer until smooth.  I put mine into a ziplock bag and closed it, then squished it all down to one corner, cut a tiny piece of the corner, and then made a swirl design over the cooled cupcakes. Makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes.

Enjoy!!

Crock Pot Vegetarian Lasagna

We recently have been trying to incorporate more vegetarian dishes into our dinners. Here is a crock pot vegetarian lasagna. I have never had eggplant, so it was interesting for me! I am also not a big mushroom fan but I am trying sooo hard! If I could change the recipe I would prob add some spice to it!

original recipe found here-http://www.laaloosh.com/2011/11/02/slow-cooker-vegetarian-lasagna-recipe/

Crock Pot Vegetarian Lasagna

Ingredients

• 15 (12oz) whole-wheat lasagna noodles uncooked
• 1 15 oz container fat free ricotta
• 3 cups shredded reduced fat mozzarella
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 5-ounce package baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• 3 large portobello mushroom caps thinly sliced
• 1 small eggplant, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup liquid egg substitute
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine egg substitute, ricotta, salt, pepper, oregano, spinach, mushrooms and eggplant.
2. Mix both kinds of tomatoes and their juice, basil and garlic, in a medium bowl.
3. Coat a 6-quart or larger slow cooker with non-fat cooking spray.
4. Spread 1 1/2 cups of the tomato mixture in the slow cooker.
5. Arrange 5 noodles over the sauce, overlapping them slightly and breaking into pieces to cover as much of the sauce as possible.
6. Spread half of the ricotta-vegetable mixture over the noodles and firmly pat down, then spoon on 1 1/2 cups sauce and sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella.
7. Repeat the layering one more time, starting with noodles. Top with a third layer of noodles. Evenly spread the remaining tomato sauce over the noodles.
8. Set aside the remaining 1 cup mozzarella.
9. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on High for 2 hours or on Low for 4 hours.
10. Turn off the slow cooker, sprinkle the reserved mozzarella on the lasagna, cover and let stand for 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: 2-4 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

Entire recipe makes 8 servings
Serving size is 1/8th of lasagna
Each serving = 8 Points +

PER SERVING: 290 calories; 7 g fat; 38 g carbohydrates; 29 g protein; 8 g fiber

Tomato Basil Soup

Ok, a lot of people have been asking me to post this recipe on my blog! So I figured 3 months later is a good enough time to do so! Oops! So here it is! It is by far one of the best tomato soups I have ever tasted! And it makes it sooo much better since it is weight watchers!

Yum-O

Original source for the recipe-http://foodfeminismlife.blogspot.com/2012/05/creamy-tomato-soup.html

Tomato Basil Soup

Servings: 4 • Points Plus: 3
Servings Size: 1 1/2 cups
Calories: 150 • Fat: 4g • Carbs: 25g • Protein: 5g • Sugar: 14g • Fiber: 5g

Ingredients:

• 2  15oz cans of tomato sauce (only ingredients should be tomatoes & spices)
• 1/2 can of water
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, slightly pureed 
• 1/2 vidalia onion, chopped small
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1/2 cup of fat free half-and-half
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 TB sugar
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• OPTIONAL-tbsp of Franks Red Hot (if you want a little zing to your soup!)

Directions:

1)  Puree the grape tomatoes with either a food chopper or the small bowl of your food processor. Don't have either? Toss them into the regular food processor & it will do just fine. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium soup pan & saute the garlic & onion until the onions are soft. Once soft, add the tomatoes & their juices.


2) Add all of the spices to the tomato mixture & toss. Add the two cans of tomato sauce & a half can of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to medium heat, & add the half-and-half. Simmer for about 15 minutes, taste for seasoning, and serve.

Enjoy everyone! Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, etc, you know all those holidays I have missed! Bad blogger! Hoping to get back into blogging more this year! 

0 point strawberry banana slushy

This is amazing! I found this at a blog called www.stilettostolegos.com It is zero points! I made it today and I am in heaven! It is scrumdidlyumptious! I didn't follow her recipe exactly because it doesn't matter how you do it, it will still be 0 points. I used frozen strawberries, one banana, ice, and a little more than half a can of diet 7 up. I could drink this alllll day long! She has some other recipes on there that I am sure I will be posting at some point! Here is her recipe:

Ingredients:
-1 cup of ice cubes
-1 cup of chopped strawberries
-2 bananas
-1/2 can of diet 7 up or whatever diet soda you would like

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a blender and mix till it's a consistency you like!

I didn't use a blender, I used our cuisine art bullet type machine. That way it was just a single serving for me and less mess!

Weight Watchers Success!

Over the past year, my husband and I have tried various diets and weight loss schemes. After working my butt off and finding out I had a low thyroid that was causing me to gain weight, I became very discouraged. I finally had my thyroid stuff evened out and I tried calorie counting to lose weight. After two weeks I had only lost 1.6 lbs. Which was pretty disappointing after the amount of work I had put in. So I was starting to become discouraged and then my husband mentioned weight watchers.

I thought there is no way I am going in to weigh in every week and spill my soul to random strangers. Hi, my name is Lyndsey and I had a cookie this week. Ya know you make crap up in your head. So when he mentioned the online way, I became interested. It was nothing I had ever done before and thought well let's try it for 3 months and see where it takes us. It really went against my every way of thinking to lose weight. Especially the exact opposite of calorie counting. And they don't want you to work out to eat, which was all I knew. So it took me the first few weeks to wrap my head around what they do. But I am not going to contest it seeing as of monday I was down 7.7 lbs! Today we started our 5th week. My husband has lost 11. So far it is working and it is molding our minds to think of a healthy lifestyle versus a diet.

There are still days and times I struggle because old habits are hard to break, and sometimes I want more than just my portion! Especially Doritos, they are my nemesus! 14 chips are just not enough! So it's going to take time to change these habits, especially when you are hungry and you want to eat everything! It's very easy to mess up when you are hungry! Which is why I try to always have some sort of snack in my purse in case I do get hungry! So I figured of course I would use my blog to try and give out some recipes I have found for weight watchers!

This comes from www.hungrygirl.com
Too-EZ Mac'n Cheese
PER SERVING (1 heaping cup): 222 calories, 5.5g fat, 772mg sodium, 35g carbs, 6g fiber, 6g sugars, 8.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 6*

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

-4 1/2 oz. (about 2 cups) uncooked whole-wheat-blend or high-fiber rotini pasta (like the kind by Ronzoni)
-24 oz. (about 6 cups) frozen Green Giant Broccoli & Cheese Sauce 
-3 wedges The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese 
-Optional: salt and black pepper

Directions

In a large pot, prepare pasta according to the instructions on the package; drain well and set aside. While pasta is cooking, place contents of the broccoli & sauce package in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave until sauce has melted and broccoli is hot, 10 - 12 minutes.

Once the bowl is cool enough to handle, remove it from the microwave and add cooked pasta. Unwrap cheese wedges and add those as well.

Mix thoroughly, ensuring that the cheese wedges are evenly distributed and the pasta and broccoli are coated in cheese sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if you like, and then enjoy! 

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

This recipe is SUPER DUPER easy... seriously for a cooking recipe, it can't get much easier! And it is super delicious! This would be great for kids so they eat their veggies! This will be on the repeat list for sure! I could eat pasta everyyy day! I ended up tripling the recipe so we had lots!

Any one else done weight watchers? What do you think of it? 

Hope you had a great Halloween!!