Weekends in the Kitchen

Today was muffin day:  Zucchini & Banana.  The apartment smells like the cinnamon goodness that’s in both muffins and now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to store them all…

Muffins for breakfast all week!

Chocolate chip meringues!

These were melt in your mouth delish.  The photo does them absolutely no justice!

Every once in a while I make something that ends up being a complete flop.  This was one of those times…

I tried (maybe a little too hard) to modify a recipe for a blueberry muffin into a healthier blueberry bread of sorts.  I changed the regular flour for whole wheat and made a bunch of other substitutions and the result was what I referred to as “Blueberry Flop Cake.”

The crumble on the top was yummy - it had brown sugar in it - so of course it was… but the cake itself was kinda gummy and not so lovely.

But… you can’t always be perfect!  The trash loved it.  ;-)

So, Bo happens to love strawberry cake with strawberry icing.  I’ve tried making it from scratch a time or two but try as I might - I just can’t seem to beat the box variety.  It pretty much flies against all my beliefs as a cook - but when you can’t beat the box you give into the box.  They’re still pretty… don’t you think?

So, I had a few ripe bananas and banana bread sounded good.  I made a few modifications to a recipe I found on the Food Network website and was able to make each slice of this loaf count as only 4 points!  I just had a piece and I must say, it was pretty darn good!  I wish you could smell how wonderful our apartment smelled as it baked in the oven…

And, per my boss Tom’s request, I made the pecan pie muffins.  There’s really no way to make these Weight Watcher friendly, so I’ll let Tom and the non-dieters at the office indulge in these.  They only require 5 ingredients but turn out tasting exactly like the filling in a pecan pie.  Ooey-gooey goodness!

My dear friend Courtney had a baby shower this weekend and since these cupcakes are her absolute favorite, I couldn’t resist whipping up a batch for her.  Someone at the shower asked if they were from “Cupcakes by Design” which I decided to take as a compliment.  Courtney - thanks for inviting me to the shower - it was so fun to see all the gifts for little baby Phoebe!  I can’t wait to meet her!

And, for those of you who are interested, I modified the recipe a touch so I’d be able to have one too!  I subbed 1 cup of whole wheat flour for all purpose and I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese in the frosting.  These modifications made it so I could enjoy one of these for 7 points.  A bit indulgent, for sure, but totally worth it!

Banana chocolate chip muffins!

This morning’s creation?  Whole wheat pancakes & turkey sausage!  Who knew eating healthy included such yummy things?  Bo & I firmly agree - these were some of the best pancakes we ever ate.  I don’t know how it’s possible but they were light, fluffy, and hardly tasted at all like wheat bread - which was what I expected.  I will definitely be making these again!  (Oh yeah, and for you WW wonderers - only 3 points per pancake!)

I’m on day 4 of my newly revised eating habits (courtesy of Weight Watchers) and I decided to whip up a batch of mini-cupcakes.  Bo & I watched an episode of “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” where Bobby challenged a guy in LA who bakes mini-cupcakes and instantly I was ready to jump in the kitchen and get baking!

The coolest thing about the current Weight Watchers program is that you can key in an entire recipe, enter in the number of servings that it makes, and it tells you how many points it is.  Genius!

So, these little gems are 3 points a piece.  SO worth it!

Here’s to healthy eating with the occasional treat!

A different kind of cupcake…

These are scrambled egg muffins that I loaded up with turkey sausage, low fat cheese, and all kinds of veggies.  Now, in the morning I can just pop ‘em in the micro and have a well rounded breckie.  They puffed up beautifully in the oven, now let’s just hope they’re as tasty as they look!