Birthday Muffuletta

When I was asked what I wanted for
my birthday dinner I new instantly "muffuletta"!!
We got online and found this great blog
which I've attached the link:

http://neworleanscuisine.blogspot.com/2005/03/muffuletta-recipe.html

Timm applying olive oil over the bread before loading it up with :

1/4 lb Genoa Salami

1/4 lb Hot Capicola

1/4 lb Mortadella

1/4 lb Havarti

1/4 lb Provolone

Mmmmmm....we loaded it up with so much

delicious meat and cheese!  It's really a simple recipe

-crusty round loaf, olive salad, meat and cheese of choice. 

 Pre-heat the oven to 400, remove some of the inside of

the bread to make room for all of the layers.  Next generously

 slather the oil from the olive salad on the bread and then layer

the meat and cheese.  Finish it off with as much olive salad as

 you want (we used a little more than half of the jar)

Once we had it all stacked up we put it in oven for 8 min

to toast the bread and get the cheese a little melted.  It was delicious!

Tim's Bacon Birthday Bash 2010

This whole fiasco started with a thought of making candied bacon!  I found one good recipe that I followed, but I tweaked it and want to pass on those tips to you!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32078869@N00/3115496119/

A lot of blogs recips say to start with thick cut bacon.  Over the course of this bacon bash I used both regular cut and thick cut and found that as far as taste and texture they were both equally tasty! 

Ingredients:
Bacon
Brown sugar

Equipment:
Jelly roll pan

Aluminum foil (it works better than the parchment paper as some suggest)

Preheat oven to 350, line the jelly roll pans or cookie sheets with aluminum foil.  I found that partially freezing (about 15min in freezer works) the bacon makes it easier to cut in half.  Place the bacon on the foil, it can be touching, but do not overlap the pieces.  Coat each piece with brown sugar, sprinkle it on and then pat it into the meat.
Bake for 12-15min, then take the pan out and swirl the bacon in the juices on the bottom of the pan and then flip each piece over and bake for another 12-15min.  I prefer my bacon to be crisp, where as others like it a little less crisp. 

Once its done place the bacon on cooling racks (over paper towels) until cool.  Then the fun can really begin!

I made Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies, the recipe is the basic Tollhouse Cookie recipe (found in the blog I posed above), and I used 1/2lb candied bacon, milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chunks. 

As an extra bonus to the festivities I made candied bacon dipped in chocoloate and some of them sprinkled with chopped toasted almonds. 

Also I made bacon wrapped dates and deviled eggs filled with bacon bits and cheddar cheese.


All in all everyone loved the candied bacon in its many forms! 

Homemade Bagels

Recipe: Bagels

(Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day via the kitchn)  I found this on the blog One Ordinary Day.
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/

I just followed this recipe except I took half of the dough after the first 3 minute kneading process and added 1tbs cinnamon and 1C raisins (rinsed with hot water and drained).

Dough

1 tablespoon barley malt syrup, honey, or rice syrup, or 1 teaspoon diastatic malt powder (I used honey)
1 teaspoon instant yeast (I only had active dry yeast and just used that with no problem.)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or 2 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water (about 95°F)
3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour* (I used 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour and 1 c. whole wheat flour)

Poaching Liquid
2 to 3 quarts water
1 1/2 tablespoons barley malt syrup or honey (optional) (I used honey)
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt, or 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

Day 1:

To make the dough, stir the malt syrup, yeast, and salt into the lukewarm water. Place the flour into a mixing bowl and pour in the malt syrup mixture. If using a mixer, use the dough hook and mix on the lowest speed for 3 minutes. If mixing by hand, use a large, sturdy spoon and stir for about 3 minutes, until well blended. (This is when I added the cinnamon and raisins) The dough should form a stiff, coarse ball, and the flour should be fully hydrated; if it isn’t, stir in a little more water. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.  Resume mixing with the dough hook on the lowest speed for another 3 minutes or transfer to a very lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for about 3 minutes to smooth out the dough and develop the gluten. The dough should be stiff yet supple, with a satiny, barely tacky feel. If the dough seems too soft or overly tacky, mix or knead in a little more flour.  Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 hour.

When you’re ready to shape the bagels, prepare a sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone mat, then misting it with spray oil or lightly coating it with oil. Divide the dough into 6 to 8 equal pieces. (A typical bagel is about 4 ounces or 113 grams before baking, but you can make them smaller. If you make more than 6 bagels, you may need to prepare 2 sheet pans.) Form each piece into a loose ball by rolling it on a clean, dry work surface with a cupped hand. (Don’t use any flour on the work surface. If the dough slides around and won’t ball up, wipe the surface with a damp paper towel and try again; the slight bit of moisture will provide enough traction for the dough to form into a ball.) There are two methods to shape the balls into bagels.

The first method is to poke a hole through the center of the ball to create a donut shape. Holding the dough with both thumbs in the hole, rotate the dough with your hands, gradually stretching it to create a hole about 2 inches in diameter.

The second method, preferred by professional bagel makers, is to use both hands (and a fair amount of pressure) to roll the ball into a rope about 8 inches long on a clean, dry work surface. (Again, wipe the surface with a damp towel, if necessary, to create sufficient friction on the work surface.) Taper the rope slightly at each end and moisten the last inch or so of the ends. Place one end of the dough in the palm of your hand and wrap the rope around your hand to complete the circle, going between your thumb and forefinger and then all the way around. The ends should overlap by about 2 inches. Squeeze the overlapping ends together by closing your hand, then press the seam into the work surface, rolling it back and forth a few times to seal. Remove the dough from your hand, squeezing it to even out the thickness if need be and creating a hole of about 2 inches in diameter.

Place each shaped bagel on the prepared sheet pan, then mist with spray oil or brush with a light coating of oil. Cover the entire pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 days. (You can also proof the full piece of dough in the oiled bowl overnight and then shape the bagels on baking day, 60 to 90 minutes before boiling and baking them, or as soon as they pass the float test.)

Baking Day:
Remove the bagels from the refrigerator 60 to 90 minutes before you plan to bake them, and if you plan to top them with dried onion or garlic, rehydrate those ingredients*. Immediately check whether the bagels are ready for baking using the “float test”: Place one of the bagels in a small bowl of cold water. If it sinks and doesn’t float back to the surface, shake it off, return it to the pan, and wait for another 15 to 20 minutes, then test it again. When one bagel passes the float test, they’re all ready to be boiled. If they pass the float test before you are ready to boil and bake them, return them to the refrigerator so they don’t overproof. About 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500°F and gather and prepare your garnishes (seeds, onions, garlic, and so on).

To make the poaching liquid, fill a pot with 2 to 3 quarts of water, making sure the water is at least 4 inches deep. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain at a simmer. Stir in the malt syrup, baking soda, and salt.

Gently lower each bagel into the simmering poaching liquid, adding as many as will comfortably fit in the pot. They should all float to the surface within 15 seconds. After 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to turn each bagel over. Poach for another 30 to 60 seconds, then use the slotted spoon to transfer it back to the pan, domed side up. (It’s important that the parchment paper be lightly oiled, or the paper will glue itself to the dough as the bagels bake.) Sprinkle on a generous amount of whatever toppings you like as soon as the bagels come out of the water.

Transfer the pan of bagels to the oven, then lower the oven heat to 450°F.

Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pan and check the underside of the bagels. If they’re getting too dark, place another pan under the baking sheet. (Doubling the pan will insulate the first baking sheet.) Bake for another 8 to 12 minutes, until the bagels are a golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing or serving.

Variations:

*You can replace any amount of the bread flour with an equal amount of whole grain flour (by weight), such as wheat or rye. If you do so, increase the water in the dough by 1 tablespoon for every 2 ounces of whole grain flour you substitute.



Top your bagels with any combination of the following garnishes: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coarse salt, or rehydrated dried onions or garlic. (Soak dried onions or garlic in water to cover for at least 1 hour before applying.) The toppings will stick even better if you first brush the top of each bagel with an egg white wash made by whisking 1 egg white with 1 tablespoon of water. If using coarse salt as a garnish, remember that a little goes a long way.

Chocolate Devils Food Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

I'm following in my same trend of buttercreams!  These were for a friend of Timm's birthday.  I used a devils food cake mix and to it I added chopped up milk chocolate chunks and chopped up semi-sweet chips.  The little fine crumbles I saved for sprinkling on the cupcakes later.  Other than that I followed the directions on the box of the cake mix.  Once the cakes were cooled I made a peanut butter buttercream frosting.  I used all sorts of crazy designs for the frosting on these and then sprinkled some of them with the left over chocolate shavings.  Hope the birthday boy likes these!

Peanut Butter Buttercream

1 1/2 sticks sweet cream butter

3/4C peanut butter

1/3C 1% milk

1tsp vanilla

1/2tsp salt

4-5C powdered sugar

Beat the butter and peanut butter with vanilla until

smooth.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar with

the salt until you reach a stiff texture. Add milk and

 or more sugar until you reach the consistency you

desire. 

ps I always make about 8 mini cupcakes

so that I can taste test them before I serve them!

Also its nice to have some samll bites arounds.

Mixed Berry Cupcakes with Mixed Berry Buttercream

So...I am obsessed with homemade buttercream frosting!!  This time was for the Super Bowl party.  I started again with a cake mix, this was a strawberry flavored mix that I added real fruit to.  I had frozen mixed berries in the freezer so I thawed them out and added them to the mix along with the required ingredients (3 eggs, 1 1/4C water and 1/4C oil).  To make up the water I drained the berry juice and added water to reach 1 1/4C so the cakes would have extra berry flavor and not too much artificial strawberry flavor.  I reserved about 1C of the berries for the frosting.   After mixing the cake batter I gently folded in the thawed fruit so I didn't break up the berries too much.  I then scooped the batter into 24 prepared cupcake liners and baked for 20 min at 350.  Once they were done I let them cool completely before I made the frosting.

To make the frosting I thawed the remaining berries in the microwave for about 2 minutes.  I drained them and discarded the juice.  I placed the berries in a sieve over a small bowl and used a spatula to smash them through.  I wanted to get as much pulp from them as possible.  There were black berries and raspberries in my mix and I didn't want those giant seeds in my frosting.  Similar to my green tea frosting I creamed the berry puree and butter before adding in the powdered sugar. 

These turned out so pretty and yummy! 

I don't think I will ever buy canned frosting again-and I'm out cupcake liners!

Green Tea Cupcakes with Green Tea Buttercream

I wanted to make this recipe for a friends birthday and the idea just popped into my head. I found several recipes online, but I opted for the easier way out and didn't make the cupcakes from scratch. These were a hit with everyone, even the guys who tend to not like things they dont know about.

Cupcakes-makes 24 large cakes:

1 box of white cake mix and ingredients required on box (3 egg whites, 1 1/2C water and 1/4C oil)

3-4T Matcha green tea powder (instant mix, found in asian food stores and online here: http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/ ) I added 4T because I wanted the flavor to stand out more, for a more subtle flavor use less.

butter flavored cooking spray

24 cupcake liners

Preheat oven to 350, prepare cupcake pans with liners and I spray each one with a little butter spray.

I mixed the water with the tea powder and then combined the ingredients for the cakes and scooped them into the prepared pan and cooked for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Once the cakes are done, let them cool completely before frosting.

Green Tea Buttercream:

1 1/2 sticks softened butter

3T green tea powder

3T milk or water

5C powdered sugar

Mix the water and the green tea powder to make a paste. I used my stand mixer and put the butter and the green tea paste in and mixed them until combined. Gradually add 1C of sugar at a time until you read your preferred consistency. I wanted it stiff so I could pipe it out. Once it is all combined load it into a prepared piping bag with the type of tip you want.

I looked for advice online on how to frost cupcakes and found some tips to keep the frosting/piping bag still and move the cake in a circle starting on the outside and working your way in. I found for me it was easier to hold the cake and sort of twirl it around and move the frosting around the cake in an outside in fashion. I also wanted to use some cute decorator candies to embelish.

Also I have to say these turned out such a pretty green color. They may not show it in my pictures. I'm still working on my photography skills.

Coq a Vin

This is Alton Brown's recipe and it is pretty time intensive, but so worth it! We also increased it to 6 chicken thighs, because it was going to take so much time we wanted to make sure we had lots of left overs!


24 to 30 pearl onions (we used the frozen ones)
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock or broth
Directions
Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside.


Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.

Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.

Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.

* As another note we've made this before using bacon and it had the same taste and was much easier to work with than the salt pork. If you are using the salt pork it might be easier to freeze it lightly and be able to cut it into smaller pieces.

Again overall a great recipe that takes quite a bit of prep but the end result is amazing!

Pasta Slim Spinach Fettucine

Hey there!

I've found some great new pasta replacement noodles. They are called Pasta Slim, these are the spinach fettucine variety. You could use whatever vegetables you have on hand. The main thing to be concerned about with these noodles is to drain all of the fluid from the noodles and rinse them thoroughly and chop them up a little to make them easier to eat. The other thing that makes them better tasting is to pan fry them with a little olive oil spray for 5-10 min before adding them to the sauce.

Ingredients:

1 1/3C Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles

2 bags Pasta Slim-drained, rinsed, chopped and sauteed

2 small zucchini sliced

4 large mushrooms sliced

1 medium green pepper chopped

1/2 medium onion chopped

3 C spinach rinsed and torn

1 shallot chopped finely

3 cloves garlic chopped finely

olive oil cooking spray

1 larg can tomato sauce

1 can Red Gold Tomatoes with garlic and basil

2 wedges of Laughing Cow cheese garlic and herb flavor

salt, red pepper flakes, dried basil and pepper to taste

Spray a large non-stick pan and begin sauteeing the garlic, shallots, and onions. Salt them and stir a few times before adding the can of tomaotes, including the juice and bring to a boil to soften the vegetables. Add red pepper flakes and basil if desired. Take half of the tomato sauce and add to simmering pan, at this time you can add the prepared noodles and recipe crumbles to the sauce mixture. Take the remaining sauce and, I use my Magic Bullet, to blend up the 2 wedges of cheese with the rest of the sauce and set aside.

Heat another large pan and coat with cooking spray-to this add all of the remaining vegetables and sautee until they reach desired tenderness. Once they are done add in the spinach and give it a few stirs to wilt it down.

At this point add all of the vegetables to the sauce and noodle mixture add the remaining sauce and cheese mix and stir to mix completely. Bring to a boil and simmer 5-10minutes or until sauce has thickened.

This makes 3 servings each is about 3C of pasta and vegetables. The recipe clocks in at 5 WW points per serving.

Hungry-Girl Very VERY Veggie Stew and Polenta Stuffed Green Peppers

For the veggie stew visit Hungry-Girl website-for Thursday 2-05-09. The recipe for the polenta stuffed peppers is as follows-

-2 medium green peppers cut in half lengthwise

-2 cups of spinach roughly chopped

-2 cloves of garlic-chopped

-1 teaspoon olive oil,

-1/2C frozen corn kernels

- 1/2C chopped onions

-2-3tsp salt or to taste

-3/4C un-cooked polenta (instant or regular)

-4tsp grated parmesan

-Pre-heat oven to 375

-Spray a 9x13in pan with non-stick spray and place peppers in it.

Heat oil over medium heat-add garlic and onions and sautee until soft, add spinach until it starts wilting add corn and reduce heat-stir occasionally. Meanwhile boil water for polenta, add polenta and salt and cook according to package directions. Once polenta is cooked add in spinach and corn mixture and 2tsp of the parmesan cheese. Working while the mixture is still warm fill peppers with polenta mixture-top each pepper with 1/2tsp cheese, cover peppers with foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 10minutes or until peppers appear done and cheese is browned.

Enjoy with a side of the HG veggie stew. I topped mine with a T of light sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Homemade soft pretzels!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Yummy!! This treat was copied from a similar dish we had at a friends cook out a few weeks ago. The base is cream cheese (actually neufchatel) with onion powder and garlic salt mixed in. I used 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts that I sauteed on the stove with a little red onion. Once it cooled I chopped it into small dice and coated it with Franks Buffalo Wing sauce. Then I covered it with diced tomatoes and green onions. It was amazing with celery and crackers.

9th Birthday Double Cheeseburger Cake!!

This cake was a major under taking, especially considering it was over 90 degrees that day! I used yellow cake for the bottom and top bun, two brownie mixes for the burgers-frosting the egdes and sticking crushed up oreo type cookies around the edges to give a meaty burger effect. The cheese is made of fondant-as are the lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and mound of ketchup. The ketchup and mustard on the burger are colored frosting. The fries were simple and made from sugar cookie dough (from a tube) and just cut into strips before cooking. There are actual real sesame seeds on top to finish off the effect!

Hungry Girl Fluffy Lemon Squares

This is such a great swap for fattening lemon bars! The flavor is great and really lemony. When taking the picture I remembered some of the pointers I'd read about shooting food pictures. I used low light and contrasting colors, found that adorable pink lemon plate at Target last year. I just threw in the 200 under 200 book as a cute backdrop. Let me know what you think.

Chocolate Covered Pretzel-Fest

Meg's and I created an amazing array of chocolate covered pretzels....dark chocolate, peanut butter, sprinkles, white chocolate, colored sugar, peanut butter chips and pecans!! It was a great night of dipping and decorating.

Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 Book Signing

I met Lisa Lillien, the Hungry Girl herself, again! Yay she signed my book, and we got tons of free swag.

Memorial day treats

For Memorial Day I wanted a special appetizer to bring to a friends house and had a ton of these cute little peppers left over...they turned out great. I went with a mexican flare as everyone usually likes it, but you could use any combination of herbs and spices that you wanted.

Ingredients:

2 packages mini sweet peppers, yellow, red and orange

8oz fat free cream cheese

4oz neufchatel

1 small can diced green chillies (drained of liquid) 1/3C chopped cilantro plus extra for garnish

1 large tortilla

To taste:

garlic powder

onion powder

chipotle chili powder

salt

(could use packaged taco seasoning)

The night before the event is best to prepare the filling so that the flavors have time to meld. Set cream cheese out to soften for at least an hour. Place in bowl of stand mixer or large bowl. Begin beating the cheeses together and add in the chilies and all other ingredients. Mix until completely smooth, making sure to taste it as you go so that you get the desired spicy flavor. Put cheese mixture into a plastic container and store in the fridge.

I wanted to grill these to make them healthier and to have that great grilled flavor. First heat a stove top grill pan to medium heat. While its getting hot get the peppers ready. To prepare the peppers wash and dry them and remove a narrow diamond shaped strip that extends from just below the stem to just above the bottom. Using your knife or fingers remove any seeds or pith (these peppers dont have much of either and are generally not hot so you can handle the insides without fear). Coat the grill pan with non-stick spray (or oil) and lay the peppers cut side down and grill just until light char marks form. Flip and grill until char lines form there. The point is not to cook them fully so they dont become too wilted and shapeless. Let peppers cool before covering and storing until you are ready to prepare.

A few hours before the event take out the cheese mixture to allow it to soften slightly. At this point I scooped the cheese into a pastry bag to have a nice presentation, but a small spoon would work great too! Take your serving tray/plate and set the tortilla on it, sprinkle with some cilantro. Fill each pepper with cheese and place on plate in a pretty design. When they are all filled sprinkle the top with remaining cilantro. Makes as many servings as you have peppers...could be lots of smaller ones or fewer large ones. Any left over filling can be used as a dip for tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Hungry-Girl

I just went to the Hungry-Girl cook book signing last night! What fun, Lisa talked to us a bit about the origins of Hungry-Girl, did some Q&A, and gave away great prizes. We got free mini bags of Fiber One, Fiber-One bars, and Krinkle Sticks! I was also on the "Hungry-Girl Cam" one of the H-G staffers was walking around and asked if anyone wanted to do and of course I did! So I told her I had tried a few recipes...and what I thought of them, that I loved HG and then she asked if I had any questions for Lisa or any tips and I did. I talked about how if you cook the Shirataki Tofu noodles in 1tsp olive or other oil it takes away the less than appealing taste/texture they can have. She said it was a "great idea" so I'm hoping they will mention it in an upcoming post. And when I had my picture taken with Lisa, she noticed I had the tote bag. Yay!

Fun with Cake Mixes: Chocolate Covered Cherry Brownies

So I know its less "gourmet" to use cake mixes but using them allows for easy calorie control! The recipe I'm posting uses the reduced sugar Pillsbury Chocolate cake mix.
Other ingredients include no sugar added cherry pie filling, 2 egg whites, and 3T mini chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350 and sprau a 9 x 13 pan with butter flavored spray, set aside...lightly beat egg whites for easier incorporation into the mix. Add the cake mix to the whites, gently mix in the whole can of pie filling. When combined stir in the chips. Spread the mixture evenly into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for about 32min, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Cut into 24 pieces...they come out to 2pts each.

Nobody I gave them to had a clue they were low fat! They are so tasty and such an easy treat.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

As a St. Paddy's day tradition I will be making green treats! My choice is my all time favorite homemade cake: Grasshopper cake. Ingredients:

1 white cake mix
2T creme de minthe
3 egg whites
1/4C applesause or oil (following cake directions)
water

Preheat oven to 350 and preare a 9x13in pan or a 24 cup mini muffin pan lined and sprayed with butter spray.

Mix ingredients as suggested on back of box, and pour into pan or tins. Should be a lovely green color.

Topping, once cakes have cooled completely top with one jar of Hershey's chocolate fudge, but not melted, just spread it on like frosting. the second layer of topping is a container of cool whip mixed with 2T (or to taste) of creme de minthe. Keep these refridgerated at the cool whip will melt.

Am thinking of trying them with cool whip and pudding frosting instead of just cool whip. Like the white chocolate pudding with 1 C milk instead of 2 and then combine with the cool whip and creme de minthe. Will post pics soon!