Chocolate-zucchini cakes w/ nuts

So I can't remember now which magazine I pulled this recipe out of but I am very glad I did!! I think it was either Reader's Digest or Guidepost, but it is possible it is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, anyways I made these tonight and they are excellent so thought I would share. Plus, they are a great way to sneak some veggies into unsuspecting kids and hubbys :)

~1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
~1 C sugar
~1/2 tsp salt
~1 lg egg
~1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
~1 cup finely grated zucchini
~3 tbsp sour cream
~1 C all purpose flour
~1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
~1/2 C bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chocolate chips
~24 walnut halves

*Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, stir together butter, sugar, salt, and egg until combined. Add vanilla, zucchini, and sour cream and stir until incorporated. Sift flour and cocoa into bowl and stir until combined. Stir into wet mixture.
*Spray two mini muffin pans w/ cooking spray. Fill each cup w/ 2 tbsp batter and top w/ a walnut. bake 15-17 min. Cool on wire racks.

*I used pecans because it is what I had and prefer. Also, I got 34 cakes not 24...Hope you enjoy if you try it!

Super low sodium scampi

So, I tend to have swelling issues when I even slightly increase my salt intake, so I have found a great combo flavor wise that isn't pre-made so I can totally control the salt.



1/2 stick unsalted butter
3tbs chopped garlic
lemon juice
sm onion, chopped
lime juice
cracked black pepper
white wine
1 bag jumbo raw shrimp, thawed and peeled
1 bundle asparagus, washed and chopped into lg bite sized pieces

*In med/lg frying pan combine butter, 2 tbs garlic, and onion, let simmer covered til onions are translucent. Meanwhile toss shrimp w/ remaining garlic, pepper, and a few squeezes of lime juice and let rest. Once onions are translucent, add a few turns of the pan worth of wine and the asparagus and cover continue to simmer til asparagus turns bright green and slightly tender. Add marinated shrimp for pan and cook through. Serve w/ your choice of side. I have found that I really like it over jasmine rice for something different, however Robert likes pasta. I also had a farm fresh tomato tonight so I chopped it up to top the scampi tonight.

Tonight for dinner I used the left over scampi to make lettuce wraps and it was great like that too :)

Day Zero

So, a friend of mine is doing this project and I thought it would be fun to do myself. It is basically a "bucket list" for the next 1001 days. The goal is to set 101 things to do in 1001 days. It took me 3 days to finish my list but now that it is done it is time to start working on finishing it.
http://dayzeroproject.com/user/hway
I can't figure out how to get the link to post so you can just click on it to view my list the the project but if interested hopefully coping and pasting the above address will work. Like I said it is just a cool thing I came across :)

Chilly willy Wedsday

So it was chilly but we spent the morning at the park today. I planned to join a gym today, however I only have one local choice and when I called to get prices it is $50 a month! I don't know if that is reasonable, but for me it is not! This is a little gym and I can not see how it can possably be that expensive other than the fact they have no compition. So no gym joining for me :( Tonight was my last night of course two the the cake class I have been taking and my cake came out most excellent! I am loving these classes. Course 3 starts next Thurs, which will be tiered cakes and starting fondant I am soo excited to be getting into fondant. Other than that just the same ol' stuff.

Today's eats:
Breakfast:
1.5 mint brownies

Lunch:
2 mini cinnamon rasin bagels w/ butter

Dinner:
Baked ziti w/ hot itilian sausage(whole wheat pasta and turkey sausage)
2 slice texas toast garlic bread

Quick Tuesday eats

So I really didn't do much today other than pack a few boxes and play with the kids. But here are todays eats:

Breakfast:
Strawberry shortcake

Lunch:
7 m&ms
1 bowl chicken and gnocchi soup

Snack:
1 serving homemade strawberry ice cream

Dinner:
Bertolli Chicken florentine
2 pieces garlic bread

Snack:
2 mint brownies

Chicken and Gnocchi soup

So, I have had this recipe for awhile and finally made it last night. It was very good! My husband said it was excellent and is definitely a do again recipe :) Of course I altered it a little because like usual I thought I had everything and didn't check until it was time to start cooking. I am posting the recipe as I got it and then at the bottom what I changed.

3-4 chicken breast cooked and diced
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups half and half
1 stalk of diced celery
1 garlic clove chopped
1/2 carrot shredded
1/2 onion diced
1 cup fresh spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper
16 ounces of potato gnocchi

1. saute the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, in oil over med heat until onion is translucent
2. add chicken, chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme. Heat to boiling, then add gnocchi Gently boil for 5 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes
3. Add spinach and cook for another 2 minutes until spinach is wilted


Towards the end, I did add just a few additional seasonings (randomly whatever was in my cabinet) and I also sprinkled a little Bisquick into the soup to thicken it up a little.

**CHANGES I MADE**
~I had skin on bone in chicken breast so they still had the tenders and rib meat, so after taking the meat off of 2 I had plenty of chicken. I think it I was using bl/sl chicken breast it would probably need 3-4.
~before cooking the chicken I diced it up and tossed it with a little bit of poultry seasoning
~Of course I did not have half and half so instead of using that and adding the bisquick I made a quick bechamel sauce w/ butter, flour, and whole milk to help the soup thicken and it was the perfect thickness for us.
~Instead of fresh spinach I used a whole box of frozen chopped spinach, which is way more than the recipe calls for but it really helps boost the fiber and iron content and probably made it a little more filling.

Getting back in the swing of things

So its Monday, the beginning of a new week so I am trying to get back to eating better and excersing more again. First step is to start actually blogging and making myself accountable again.
The whole thing that made me start the blog was the weight loss challange I was doing with some friends. That ended a few weeks ago, but they had the awards ceremony last Tues. I was the only one from my group to win a prize, which I feel kinda bad about but it was still great to win something. My prize was a $50 visa card :) They are also having another weigh out in Sept, so that should help keep me motivated to maintain adn hopefully lose more over the summer.
In other news, we found a house!! If everything goes according to plan we should close at the beginning of June. We are very excited!

Eats so far today:

Breakfast:
strawberry shortcake :)
*I know this does not sound like a good diet breakfast, but it is actaully pretty low cal and took care of my sweet tooth for the morning. A serving of the little cakes is actually 2 (160 cal) but I only used one, strawberries can't be too high cal and it was light whipped cream(15 cal serving)

Snack:
1 deviled egg
1/2 orange

Lunch:
tortilla pepperoni pizza

*Dinner is going to be chicken and nouche soup w/ fresh baked bread. This is a new recipe a friend gave me, that is supposed to be very close to what they serve at Olive Garden. I'll share tomorrow if we like it!