Pumpkin Mousse Shooters

Shooters, eh??

No no, this is non-alcoholic related {my apologies}

but I promise you just as fun and delicious!

I know the next thing you're thinking...another pumpkin recipe??

Really??

Yes I know.

But in my defense, pumpkin rocks, it's still Fall and I happened to STILL have 3 cans of pumpkin leftover from my massive hoarding adventure.

These little shooters are the most delicious little treats ever and, if you're better at layering the cups than I am {sigh}, turn out to be perfect desserts for holiday parties.  Lucky for you they're only 138 calories for the entire glass!

You can't beat that.

Plus they took little to no effort {shh just don't tell your guests} and these were super quick to make, no baking required!  I wasn't sure how I would like the combination of pumpkin and vanilla when I first read this recipe, but to be honest it was really great.  Next time I might play around with a pie using the same flavors.  Oh and if you don't like gingersnap cookies as topping, feel free to substitute with graham crackers.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

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Servings: 8

Serving Size: 6 oz. glass 

Calories: 138

Fat: 4 g

Carbs: 19 g

Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 3 g

Sodium: 249 mg

Old Points: 2.7 pts

Points+: 3 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from "3 Books in 1" cookbook

2 oz. fat-free cream cheese, softened

1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin

3/4 cup fat-free milk

1 package vanilla fat-free sugar-free instant pudding mix

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

3 cups thawed reduced-fat whipped topping, divided

4 gingersnap cookies, crushed

Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth.  Add pumpkin, milk, pudding mix, cinnamon, ginger and cloves and beat about 1 minute or until smooth.  Fold in 1 1/2 cups whipped topping.

Spoon 1/4 cup mousse into each of the eight 6 oz. dessert glasses.  Spoon 2 tablespoons whipped topping over mousse in each glass.  Top with 1/4 cup mousse.  Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

Just before serving, top each shooter with remaining whipped topping and gingersnap crushed cookie crumbs.  Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

 

  Annnnd because this is probably the last pumpkin recipe I'll be posting since winter is officially approaching, I wanted to take a look back at all my pumpkin dishes over the past season and share my favorites!  I didn't realize how many I actually I made.  Obsessed much??

Enjoy lovelies!

Pumpkin Butter

Spiced Pumpkin Martini

Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes

Pumpkin Dip

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Skinny Pumpkin Pie Cups
Pumpkin Mousse Shooters
  

Ok, ok so my pumpkin sugar cookies aren't really made with actual pumpkin, but they sure resemble little pumpkins!  I decided that counts.  This was the first year making Fall recipes for my blog and I've found some seriously delicious recipes this year.  Can't wait to see what recipes I find to share for this Christmas holiday!

Happy Turkey Day!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I sure did, it was so great to have my brother home from the Marines this year, my cousins are always a blast to hang out with and of course the food was AMAZING!

Unfortunately I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures of everything!  I mean seriously, who has a food blog but doesn't document their Thanksgiving feast???

Epic failure.

So instead I'll share some of the pictures I did take, enjoy!

My {eye-less} turkeys thanks to Bake at 350's super cute recipe!

Me and my brothers

My Christopher

Love my cousins!

Well there's a lil sneak peek into my day yesterday.  I love spending time with my family and am SO blessed for each and everyone of them.  Hope your turkey day was filled with laughs, family time and lots of yummy food!

...now the countdown to Christmas begins!

Old-Fashioned Cranberry Sauce

Oh I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving!

Not only does it begin the countdown to Christmas, but the holiday decorations start getting pulled out and the radio officially starts playing Christmas music 24/7. 

Ok.

So maybe I love Christmas, but turkey day is just as fun! 

Traditions have always been such a huge thing to me and one of our traditions {for any holiday} is making all the typical fixings for dinner when the family gets together.  I'm talking glazed turkey, honey baked ham, green bean casserole, heaping amounts of mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing and of course, cranberry sauce.  This year I decided to do up a new version that I found from my Cooking Light magazine and this was amazing!  I had never thought of adding orange zest or WINE to my sauce, but it came out wonderful.

This also jars really well and would make the perfect holiday gift OR bring it your next family gathering to share with everyone.  This sauce took hardly any time to make and smells incredible on the stove.

Here's us last year enjoying some seriously delicious food! 

Everyone is here except for my Aunt {whose taking the picture} and my brother who was in Afghanistan.

He'll be here this year though! 

Oh and board games are clearly a must. 

And so is wine.

This year should be even better now that my brother is home from Afghanistan, I know we're all happy to have him here!

Now about that recipe... 

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Servings: 12

Serving Size: 1/4 cup 

Calories: 112

Fat: 1.2 g

Carbs: 25.5 g

Fiber: 1.5 g

Protein: 0.2 g

Sodium: 1 mg

Old Points: 2 pts

Points+: 3 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup port wine (I used a sweet red wine)

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 (12 oz) package of fresh cranberries

2 tsp. grated orange ride 

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and saute for 4 minutes.  Add sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through cranberries) and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 8 minutes or until cranberries pop.  Remove from heat, and stir in orange rind.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.  Enjoy!  

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Can't wait to see what delicious meals everyone will make!

Three-Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups

So how are y'all liking the new changes to my blog??  I absolutely love makeovers {of all kinds} and have been wanting to give my bloggy a lil facelift for awhile now, so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

So many exciting things are going on this week, not just with my blog.  For one, this is a 3-day work week for me AND it's the final week in our current office.  My commute won't change too much, but I am getting a bigger office with a fresh new paint job hehe.  So we're spending the entire week moving stuff, which is less than thrilling, but at least that means less real work to do!

As for what we ate this weekend, these lasagna roll-ups are a MUST try!!!  I love this recipe because not only is it a great twist on classic lasagna, but you can serve them in perfect little portions so you don't over indulge.  These were so easy to make and tasted so good.  I especially loved the chunks of zucchini and fresh tomato it called for, yum!  I must admit though, the leftovers were definitely my favorite part!  They're also the perfect week night meal as you can make these ahead of time, freeze them and then just pop them in the oven when you're ready to eat.

Easy peeeeasy.

Hope y'all enjoy these as much as we did! 

Three-Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups

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Servings: 10

Serving Size: 2 roll-ups 

Calories: 385

Fat: 14 g

Carbs: 43 g

Fiber: 0 g

Protein: 24 g

Old Points: 8.9 pts

Points+: 10 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Good Housekeeping

 

1/2 package (16 oz) curly lasagna noodles (about 10 noodles)

2 cans (14 oz each) stewed tomatoes

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

3 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. coarsley ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

2 tsp. olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 small zucchini, diced

1 small tomato, diced

1 Tbsp capers, drained and chopped

Prepare lasagna noodles according to package.  Drain and rinse with cold running water.  Return noodles to sauce pot with cold water to cover.  Meanwhile, in a 3-quart glass or ceramic baking dish, combine stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce, breaking up tomatoes with the back of a spoon.  Prepare filling: In a large bowl, mix all cheeses, pepper and 3 tablespoons chopped basil. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Drain lasagna noodles on clean kitchen towels.  Spread rounded 1/4 cup filling on each lasagna noodle and roll up jelly-roll fashion.  Slice each noodle crosswise in half.  Arrange lasagna rolls, cut side down, in sauce in baking dish and cover loosely with foil.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until hot. 

Meanwhile, prepare topping: In a nonstick 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion, cook until tender and browned.  Stir in zucchini, cook until tender.  Stir in diced tomato, capers and remaining 1 tablespoon basil, heat through.  To serve, place sauce and lasagna rolls on plate and spoon topping over the rolls.  Enjoy!  

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

 

Hope everyone is having fun gearing up for Thanksgiving, I know I am!  I have so much baking to do tomorrow, excited to show y'all my festive turkey cookies :)

What are you making for this Thanksgiving??

{Secret Recipe Club} Lemon Pound Cake Lightened-Up

So it is officially that time again.  Time to share with you another delicious recipe from yet another amazing blog who secretly doesn't know what I've cooked up.  Yep you guessed it, Secret Recipe Club time!!  If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, this secret club is a fun group packed full of bloggers who are all assigned a new blog each month and choose a recipe to make in order to post on the same date.  Readers get a fabulous new recipe and YOU get to see who made yours!  Easy, right??

::Surprise!::

This month I had the pleasure of receiving the blog Keep It Sweet by the gorgeous Lauren from New York City!  Lauren is someone I can relate to completely as she is a 20-something blogger cooking and baking incredible things in her tiny little kitchen.  I feel ya on that sista!

Now lemme tell you.  It was SO hard trying to pick just one recipe to make from her blog!  {Truth be told I actually printed out a couple of recipes such as her homemade apple sauce and her yummy pumpkin raisin bread pudding.}  Delish.  I think I chose a pretty great recipe though that is low in fat and calories and tastes amazing!!

Friends I give you a lightened-up version of Lemon Pound Cake.  This cake was super easy to put together, you probably already have everything on hand, and the outcome was pure perfection!  The fresh lemon zest is what really ties everything together and the cake comes out sooo moist.  I enjoyed a slice of this with some fat-free vanilla ice cream {only 90 calories thank you} while watching some Real Housewives of Beverly Hills action.

Those women officially make me feel better about my life...sheesh.

I've never made homemade pound cake before so I didn't really make any changes to this other than using fat-free cream cheese, light butter and Splenda Sugar Blend.  Everything else I kept exactly the same...why fix what's not broken??

I'm so wise I know.

Next time I just won't fill my baking dish so high with batter, it rose a little bit more than expected so I had to bake it somewhat longer in order for the center to cook completely.  Oops. Any way, here's the recipe for those already drooling because I KNOW you'll want to make this.  Go ahead and click "print" ahead of time, you'll thank me later.

Lemon Pound Cake

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Servings: 12

Serving Size: 1 slice 

Calories: 162

Fat: 6.7 g

Carbs: 22.2 g 

Fiber: 0.6 g

Protein: 3.8 g

Old Points: 3.7 pts

Points+: 4 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Keep It Sweet

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 (8 oz) block of fat-free cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) of light butter, softened

1/2 cup fat-free plain greek yogurt

1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

1/2 cup Splenda Sugar Blend (or 1 cup sugar)

4 eggs brought to room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Whisk dry ingredients {flour, baking powder and salt} and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter on high speed for several minutes until mixture is light and creamy.  Use a microplane to lightly grate the skin of a lemon.

On high speed, beat the lemon zest and yogurt into butter and cream cheese mixture for about a minute.  Add sugar and beat on high speed until batter is smooth and creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, putting the mixer on high for about a minute or two between each.  Add in the vanilla on high speed for a minute; scrap the sides of the bowl and turn mixer on high again until well combined.

Reduce speed to low and gradually add in dry ingredients.  Before batter is fully combined, remove bowl from mixer and lightly fold batter to get all of the dry ingredients mixed in.

Pour batter into a 9x5 loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

Thanks again Lauren for this delicious recipe!  Make sure to check out her fabulous blog Keep It Sweet for more amazing dishes and entertaining blog posts. 

And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Secret Recipe Club!  It's super fun and you will meet some incredible bloggers.  Thanks for reading and hope you all have a great week!

Now I'm off to see who got my blog....hehe :)

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Notice anything different??

Umm do you love it???

Welcome to my new blog design!!  A HUGE thanks to Lulapalooza for this incredible layout!  I wanted something fun and girly, but a bit more classy than my other one and she totally delivered!  The lovely Lula, who is the genius behind this design, is also from DC {like me!} and she was a total sweetheart to work with.  Not to mention she was uber quick too!  I HIGHLY recommend her if you're looking to revamp your blog!

Anyway!  Just wanted to show off my new look and see what y'all think :)  Have a good night lovelies!

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

FINALLY here are the highly anticipated pumpkin sugar cookies I shared in this post that I promised I would share soon!  And what did I make these for??  Well for Whatever Dee Dee Wants Give Thanks Series of course!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, her Series is perfect for finding cute holiday ideas, delicious recipes and super festive decorating.  So when she asked me to join in on all the fun, I thought my pumpkin cookies would make the perfect addition!

 

I had so much fun making these lightened up sugar cookies and was really surprised at how simple they were.  To make them “skinnier”, I used egg whites and substituted the sugar with Splenda Sugar Blend which lowered the calories tremendously.  Since there is already a lot of sugar used to make the icing, Splenda works perfect for your cookies!  Oh and speaking of icing…if you’ve ever heard of piping and flooding Royal Icing then you know how gorgeous cookies turn out when using that method.  And you also know how daunting the task can be if you’ve never tried it.  Yikes.

I’ll admit this was my very first attempt at making {and using} Royal Icing, but truth be told I LOVED it!!  I, of course, went to the Queen of cookie decorating herself, Bridget from Bake at 350, for help and found some amazing tutorials!  This made the process so much easier and I’m happy to share that knowledge now with all of you.

The end result?

 

Super cute pumpkin cookies fit for any special gathering or holiday party.  They also make great gifts!  I brought mine to work for all my co-workers and everyone loved them.

So for this recipe and other tasty holiday treats, head on over to Dee Dee's Give Thanks Series and check them out!  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! 

Skinny Pumpkin Pie Cups

There is just something about Fall that makes me LOVE this season more than any other.  Maybe it’s the cute scarves and boots we get to get all bundled up in or the pretty foliage that starts to poke its way out once the summer heat has faded away, but either way my favorite part about Fall would have to be the abundance of pumpkin recipes!  Whether I’m starting my morning off with a pumpkin spiced latte from Starbucks or enjoying a delicious pumpkin muffin for breakfast, this Fall favorite can add flare to any old recipe.

 Since Erin, from the fabulous blog Dinners, Dishes and Desserts, asked me to guest post while she moves this weekend, I thought this would be the perfect recipe to share with everyone!

These Pumpkin Pie Cups make perfect healthy alternatives to your typical slice of indulgent pumpkin pie just in time for Thanksgiving.  Best part is you can have one entire bowl for just 172 calories and ZERO grams of fat!

Yes I did in fact say zero.

Doesn’t get much better than that and I promise you they taste delicious.  I loved the slight crunch the cornflakes added to this dish and the combination of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg was amazing!  Make these for guests at your next dinner party or throw them together when you want to indulge in something sweet without having the unnecessary calories.  It’s so quick and easy!

Ummm note to self...next time strategically place spoons so you CAN'T see yourself taking pictures.
Fail.

For this delicious skinny recipe and more pictures, head on over to Erin's blog and don't forget to tell her I said hello!

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Also, the lovely Megan from Across the Pond is featuring me on her blog today as well!  {Remember she's the one who coined the amazing term "blate"}  Over there you'll find out a little more about why I started my blog and what I love most in life.

Which is Oliver of course.
Who just got a haircut for the holidays.
So handsome.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ok so I need to vent.  It is HORRIBLY frustrating with how dark it gets now that the time has changed, especially when you have a full-time job and don't get home until it's pitch dark out!  {Sigh}  So, since I can't cook and take pictures during the week like I used to, this past weekend I spent both Saturday and Sunday all day in the kitchen.  Sure it was a lot of work, but it definitely paid off as it gave me meals for the entire week, scheduled blog posts each day and I finally had time to hit the gym after work instead of 5:00 AM in the morning!

So. Worth. It.

So one of the things I made were these delicious Cinnamon Apple Muffins from my Taste of Home magazine.  I had most of the ingredients already on hand and they were perfect for brunch since our parents came over to visit.  Needless to say they were a hit and I had plenty left over to bring into work to share with my co-workers.

I lightened these muffins up a bit by using Splenda Sugar Blend, light butter and fat-free milk.  Unfortunately these still aren't super healthy for you, buuuut I suppose a little indulgence around the holidays never hurt anyone.  Next time I may try to substitute fat-free yogurt for the canola oil to see how they turn out, but regardless, they were still crazy delicious!!

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Servings: 12

Serving Size: 1 muffin 

Calories: 190

Fat: 7 g

Carbs: 28 g 

Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 3 g

Old Points: 4 pts

Points+: 5 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Splenda Sugar Blend (or 1/2 cup sugar)

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 egg

1/2 cup fat-free milk

3 Tbsp canola oil

3 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce

1 medium McIntosh apple, peeled and grated

Topping:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. cold butter

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, oil and applesauce.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in apple.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups half full.

For topping, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar and flour; cut in butter until crumbly.  Add oats.  Sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pain to a wire rack.  Enjoy!

 

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

 

Roasted-Potato and Sweet Corn Salad

Ok so I LOVE this recipe because not only is it a great spring/summer recipe for cookouts and grilling out, but it's also a great dish to pair with hearty Fall recipes!  This potato salad is actually a recipe by the one and only Sheryl Crow and who better to get a healthy recipe from than someone who looks like she does!  No...obviously I don't know her personally {I wish, right?} but I got this from my Cooking Light magazine and they featured her potato salad from her new best-selling cookbook If It Makes You Healthy.

Appropriate name for her cookbook, huh?

:::Begins humming If It Makes You Happy:::

I paired this potato salad with a delicious pork tenderloin {recipe coming soon!} and we absolutely loved it.  The sweet corn really completes this dish creating a fully balanced meal.  This potato salad is lightened up by swapping fatty mayo for olive oil and cider vinegar...yummm.  Throw in some fresh basil and the infusion of flavors is incredible!  I actually modified this recipe just a bit by using less oil than it called for.  I personally hate recipes that call for too much oil and thought this came out great.

Roasted-Potato and Sweet Corn Salad

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Servings: 8

Serving Size: 1 cup 

Calories: 273

Fat: 10 g

Carbs: 33 g 

Fiber: 4 g

Protein: 4 g

Old Points: 5.5 pts

Points+: 6 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from If It Makes You Healthy

2 1/2 lb. unpeeled red potatoes, diced into 1/2-inch cubes

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 1/2 cups sweet corn

1 cup diced celery

2 tsp. garlic powder

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Toss potatoes and onion with canola oil in a bowl; season with salt and pepper and spread evenly on baking sheet.  Bake until crispy yet fork-tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Cool to room temperature.  

Return to bowl, add corn, celery and garlic powder.  Whisk olive oil and vinegar in a bowl, drizzle over potatoes and onions; toss to coat well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours.  Stir in fresh basil before serving, enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe