I Made a Pie out of 3 Trader Joes Ingredients

Last night, I had one of those “OMG WHY HAVEN’T I BEEN DOING THIS  MY ENTIRE LIFE”… kind of moments.

At about 1pm yesterday I decided that I wanted, no needed, apple pie for dessert after dinner.  Of course, my new health kick doesn’t exactly call for a pie to the face nightly, so I knew I was going to have to compromise. Enter my genius roommate.  This past weekend she went to Trader Joe’s and picked up some apple sauce.  Now, this apple sauce is not your average apple mush.  This stuff is heaven. It is chunky with large slices of real apples in it, just like pie filling.

Mix a little bit of this:

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with a little bit of this:

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and just a smidgy of this:

 

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and you have the most amazing apple pie tasting indulgent dessert ever, with a healthy kick!

Now if only I hadn’t followed up that delicisouness with one of these babies… but oh well- sometimes ya just gotta dominate “pie” and a cookie in one night!

What is your favorite “healthified” version of a decadent dessert?

 

 

I Went Missing- Now I am Found!

Hi Friends!

Long time no talk! I know- I have been the absolute worst- you have full right to be upset with me.  BUT, hopefully this complete update will get me off your bad side and you will love me again! Ms Amy has been begging me to start blogging again for months now, so I decided to be a good friend and make her happy (as if she doesn’t already know what is going on in my life with the constant daily gchatting we do!).

Alright, updates here I come.

I am running a 10 Mile race on Sunday with two of my lovely gal friends, Sarah and Maddie.  Who would have thought when I started the Couch to 5K program that I would be here! I am scared as heck and about 2 minutes away from bailing on it, so I am deciding to write it here to hold myself accountable.  Please note, this Sunday 5/6, I will be running the Philly Broadstreet Run.  Hold me to it- ask me how it went Monday Morning, if I am alive.

Last weekend, I had an amazing and exciting vacation in San Fran with these lovely ladies.  Mads and I got to San Fran on Wednesday night to visit Antha and it was amazing.

We went and saw seals!

and went to the water:

Went and did a little wine tasting

And we got to enjoy a Giants Game!

Gorgeous stadium:

Amazing vacation- with amazing company.  Now I am back to the real world, loving life and taking names.

Now that I have filled you in on my happenings- whats going on with you guys?!

Peanut Butter Covered Kettle Corn

I have been in a SNACKY SNACKY SNACKY mood recently and lucky for me I stumbled upon this recipe for Peanut Butter Covered Popcorn and all my wishes were granted.

Not only is it the easiest and most delicious recipe in the world, it’s a great go to grab and go snack to throw in your bad for those days that you may be feeling just a smidge on the hungry side.

 

Ingredients:

1 bag Jolly Pop 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn (5 cups)

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Steps:

1) Pop Kettle Corn and place in a large bowl.

2) In a frying pan, combine sugar and honey and bring to a boil.

3) Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.

4)Pour peanut butter mixture over popcorn and stir to coat.

5) Spread coated Kettle Corn out on a cookie sheet to cool for a few minutes.

** Make sure you store somewhere airtight so that Kettle Corn does not go stale

Star Fabulous Rating: 10/10

Phenomenal Snack- to die for.

 

 

Light Apple Crisp- Courtesy of Tina

Recently my sweet tooth has been dangerously strong.  Like kick you in the pants, salt taste disgusting, where are the sour patch kids and chocolate kisses… kinda strong.  So when miss Tina blogged about her Apple Crisp Light, that only has 4 servings, I knew I had to give it a try.

My Gal Lane was coming over for din and a veg night on Friday so we decided to make pizza and while at the g-store, I realized I had everything I needed for the recipe, except for the apples.  3 apples and a full salty stomach of pizza later, this bomb Apple Crisp Light was made, courtsey of Tina’s recipe.

I made a couple slight changes to Tina’s recipe, just because I wanted to work with mostly what I had, and I am more of an apple CRISP girl.. than and APPLE crisp girl, so I wanted to tone down the appleness a smidge.

A couple of slight changes and this is what I made

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 medium gala apples (gala are my jam!)

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Topping:

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp light butter, softened (such as smart balance light)

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2) Cut apple as if you were making apples slices to eat with peanut butter

3) Combine all the ingredients in the “filling” section above in a large bowl; making sure that the apples are covered in cinnamon and sugar

4) Transfer this mixture to a baking dish

5) Combine all of the “topping” ingredients and mix well

6) Pour the “topping” ingredients on top of the cinnamon sugar apples and mix up so that the apples are covered in “topping”.

7) Bake for 40 minutes until apples are soft and topping looks a little crunchy

Enjoy!

I would definitely give this a star fabulous rating of 8/10.  It is delicious and definitely hits the spot but it is no Gramma’s Apple Crisp and definitely tastes on the lighter side (as the name suggests!)  Thanks for sharing Tina!

Star Fabulous Rating: 8/10

My Holiday Break.. Via Photos!

My Break was filled with lots of love from these lovely ladies:

A wonderful Xmas Eve with this crew:

Xmas Day with this Fabulous Gal:

And then a lovely Vaca with this crew..

 

Filled with Pizza Making:

Fantastic Dinners:

Bundling Up and Staying Warm:

And Occasionally fighting each other for awesome hats:

Finding Fabulous Quotes:

And… of course.. jumping off of things!

Chocolate Holiday Bark

** This recipe courtesy of the Rabena Fam!**

This time last year I was introduced to what can only be described as the most addictive food in the planet. My old colleague brougth some of this into the office for the Holiday Bake Off and it was to die for. If there was any nutritional value to this creation, I would throw all other food groups out the window and live off of this. However, **sigh** there is about as much nutrients in this treat as there is in my childhood Easy Bake Oven Plastic Cupcake.  Nonetheless, nutrition did not stop me from making those cupcakes and it sure did not stop me from making this recipe this weekend… twice.

You see, the first time I made it on Friday night (yes, I am that cool, judge me for baking on a Friday night, I don’t care, I was sick), I was sure that it would be plenty for myself, BF, Roommate and Roomates BF for the whole weekend and that I would also have enough to bring to the office on Monday.  I texted my colleague a picture of it after it was made on Friday night and got this response…

” Yummy! Please bring some in Monday or I am coming to your apt to get some!”

As much as I love company, I knew that bringing some to the office was essential.  So, imagine my surprise Sunday afterno0n when I open the tin and there are only 2 pieces left (and yes, most of it was consumed by me). O well, NBD… I just whipped up another batch of this 4 ingredient, easy-as-can-be recipe and was good to go!

 

Okay, okay, I will stop teasing you and finally let you in on the secret of what this recipe is (but be warned, once you start eating this, there is no turning back)- Chocolate Holiday Bark 

 

Ingredients:

35 Saltines

1 Cup Unsalted Butter

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar

1 Bag Semi-Sweetened Chocolate Chips

 

Steps:

1) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F

2) Line a baking sheet with un-pam-ed tin foil and then spread about 35 Saltines over the tinfoil (make sure a little bit of the tinfoil hangs over the edge in order to allow step #9 to be a smidge easier)

3) In a sauce pan melt butter and brown sugar, stiring constantly until completely melted

4) Evenly spread over the Saltines on the baking sheet

5) Put in the oven for 3-5 mins (until brown sugar mixture begins to bubble)

6) Remove from oven and dump the entire bag of chocolate chips evenly over the hot Saltine brown sugar creation.

7) With a spatula, spread the chocolate out evenly

8) Put entire baking sheet into the refridgerator to cool for at least 2 hours (the longer the better- overnight is perfect)

9) Once cool, break into small pieces and enjoy!

Star Fabulous Rating: a solid and DANGEROUS 10/10- for sure!

 

Carrot Cake For Megan’s Birthday

Yesterday was my roommates birthday so OF COURSE something HAD to be baked and OF COURSE, roommate got to choose! She immediately went for Carrot Cake! I was immediately terrified. I have never made a Carrot Cake and it sounded complex and confusing.  Nevertheless, a Carrot Cake was to be made and I was to make it!

I did a lot of research and finally stumbled upon a recipe that looked easy enough, didn’t seem to take a bajillion hours and had great reviews (SCORE!). I adapted this recipe and it turned out so well!

Ingredients:

Cake:

Cooking spray

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup light packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

2 cups finely shredded carrot (I bought pre-shredded)

 

Frosting:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar

 

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350°.

2) Pam a 13 x 9-inch baking pan

3) Place 9 tablespoons butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until well blended.

4) Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until pale and fluffy. Beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

5) Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to sugar mixture

6) Add in half of buttermilk, mix completely, add remaining buttermilk

7) Mix in carrot with electric mixer (allows them to be chopped up a little more

8) Spoon batter into prepared pan.

9) Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

10) Let cool completely before frosting.

11) To prepare frosting, place the cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer until well combined.

12) Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until smooth (do not overbeat).

13) Spread frosting over top of cake.

14) ENJOY!

 

Mego enjoyed it, and Dana… and Lane.. and Me!

Great Birthday Celebration all around- Happy Birthday Megan!

This got some awesome reviews. The only thing I might change would be the amount of cinnamon, it was a little bit on the strong side- but hey, I am not a strong cinnamon lover.

Star Fabulous Rating: 8/10