Strawberry Smoothie

Oh Love. Smoothies are just magical. They are like a milkshake but they are healthy. They remind me of summer and fun. What more can you ask for out of a drink. I mean really...you have to admit that a really good smoothie is amazing. This smoothie is great. Bananas, strawberries, yogurt, Splenda, water and ice. So easy and yet so delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 Bananas (frozen)
• 4 strawberries
• 6 oz Vanilla Yogurt
• 1/2 cup ice cold water
• 8 ice cubes
• 1 packet Splenda

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender.
2. Drink

This smoothie makes about 12 -15 oz. Calories per smoothie - 250

Oatmeal Pancakes

I love Monday's off. Just another excuse to make breakfast. I love breakfasts which is new for me. Normally I am not a breakfast person because I have so many other things to do in the morning and I am not a fan of Bisquick anything but growing up Bisquick was the go to breakfast so that is what I think of when I think of making breakfast. However, that is starting to change. As I make more breakfast foods for me I am starting to enjoy it more and more.

These pancakes are an adaptation from all recipes. I really liked the idea of adding oatmeal to my pancakes to make them healthier. With no oil, no sugar, the substitution of egg beaters, adding banana, raisins, and whole wheat flour these are actually pretty healthy. Next time I think I will add a little Splenda because these do taste a little on the healthy side rather than the yummy breakfast side. However, they were VERY filling. I also only blended half the batter and next time I will blend all of it because I want them to be less dense. Maybe more milk? The batter was nice and thick and they were pretty fluffy but I wanted a few more air pockets without adding more baking soda or baking powder. Hum...All in all I will be going back to this recipe again when I want a nice big breakfast. Recipe below reflects the changes I will make next time.Ingredients:

• 9 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 oz vanilla yogurt
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 cup egg beaters
• 3/4 banana
• 1/3 cup non-fat milk
• 1 tbsp Splenda

Mixins:

• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 1/2 box raisins (snack size box)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch all-spice

Directions:

1. Add all wet ingredients to the blender. Mix in the oats by hand and allow to soak for about 10 minutes.
2. Add all other ingredients except the mix-ins. Blend until smooth.
3. Heat griddle to low-med heat.
4. Split the batch in two portions, into one half mix the blueberries. Into the other half mix in the mix the raisins, cinnamon, and all spice. (Blueberry pancakes should have some spices as well, perhaps some cinnamon)
5. Pour about 1/4 cup servings onto the griddle and cook until brown on the sides. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes depending on the heat of the griddle. (I would cook these slower then your normal pancake)

Makes about 9 pancakes: Calories per pancake - 100

Foccacia with Bison Steak and Veggies

I have been in a major bread making mood. I love watching the bread rise, kneading the dough, and to be honest I love how much work some breads are to make. I love that I can work on the bread for hours as it helps meet my baking need. A meal that comes together in 5 minutes just doesn't speak to the baker in me anymore. Now I still love a quick meal but when I have the time to enjoy making food I really want to enjoy it.

This foccacia wasn't difficult to make but it sure was good and fun to make. I served it with bison steaks and fire roasted veggies from Trader Joes.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 teaspoons honey
• 1 cup warm water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1 tomato seeded and diced
• 1 clove garlic smashed
• Fresh basil
  
• 2-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour, or as needed
• 1-1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Dissolve honey in the warm water in a large bowl, then sprinkle yeast over the top. Let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to foam. Stir in salt, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, onions, and 2.5 cups of flour until the dough comes together. Knead on a well floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Add half of the tomatoes and enough flour so the dough is tacky but not sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 415 degrees F (215 degrees C).
3. Place dough onto oiled baking dish, and flatten to cover the whole dish evenly. Use the tips of your fingers to make indentations all over the dough spaced about 1 inch apart. Drizzle the focaccia with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, then sprinkle rosemary, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, and remaining tomatoes. Let rise for 10 minutes
4. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 6 large servings - calories per serving 225

Chicken Gyros

Annie's Eats is a huge inspiration for me. Yesterday I was looking for a lemon recipe for a friend so I typed "Lemon" into Annie's search function and while I was looking for a dessert one of the links that popped up was this recipe for chicken gyros. I knew at that moment I had figured out what I was going to make for dinner the next day.

So the next day rolled around and sure enough I made these gyros. They were fantastic. I even made the homemade pita also from Annie's blog. I was a little disappointed that Annie's pitas have nice browning and mine did not but I know that Annie is a far better cook than I am so I am just going to have to accept this.
I chose not to make the tzatziki sauce as I don't own cheese cloth and there is a great store bought option available to me at the local grocery store. The rest of the text below is all taken from Annie's blog I just adapted it slightly based on the changes I made.

Ingredients:
For the tzatziki sauce:
16 oz. plain yogurt (not nonfat, if possible)
1/2 hothouse cucumber or 1 regular cucumber, peeled and seeded
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press (or finely minced)
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken:
4 cloves garlic, smashed
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping tbsp. plain yogurt
1 tbsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 lbs. chicken pieces (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

To assemble:
Pita bread
Fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
Red onion, sliced thin

Directions:
To make the tzatziki sauce, strain the yogurt using cheesecloth over a bowl. Let strain for several hours or overnight, if possible, to remove as much moisture as possible.

Shred the cucumber. Wrap in a towel a squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

To prepare the chicken, combine the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, yogurt, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Whisk together until mixed well. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Cook the chicken as desired. (I grilled mine on a stove top grill) Once the chicken is completely cooked through, transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut into strips.

Heat pitas . Top with chicken, tzatziki sauce, diced tomatoes and sliced onions. Serve immediately. (I cut my pita in half and filled the inside with the chicken, veggies, etc.)

Makes 8-10 pitas. I cut the recipe in half and made 6 pitas - calories per pita (without extras) - 120

Mini Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok...so the raisin cookies yesterday didn't meet the peanut butter craving I have been having so even with tons of cookies in the house I just had to make these cookies. I love peanut butter but the last cookies I made were pretty dry so I needed something different. These cookies were no drier than I would expect from a peanut butter cookie but they were made with Splenda and light butter which I think normally leads to drier baked goods.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1.5 tbsp apple sauce
• 1/2 c peanut butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs Splenda
• 2 tbs egg beater
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the Splenda and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.
   
4. Use a teaspoon to measure out dough and roll into balls. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 8 minutes.

Makes 38 mini cookies - calories per cookie - 30

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I have done so much baking recently. I just love the smell of sweet things cooking in my oven. These cookies were the result of a bad day that I was hoping to make better with a little something sweet and homemade. These cookies fit the bill. Besides, while I really wanted peanut butter, Miles much prefers these cookies.

Ingredients:

• 8 tbsp light butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 3/4 cup Spenda
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Soak raisins in warm water for 10 minutes.
   
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, butter flavored shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.
   

Makes 38 mini cookies: calories per cookie - 32

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

I have had a craving for peanut butter cookies for a long time. I haven't had peanut butter since I started losing weight 10 months ago. I love peanut butter but it has so many calories and while it is good fat it is still fat. Trust me, I get enough fat in my diet without peanut butter.

Earlier today I made little raspberry cookies for miles that had only 20 calories a cookie. I figured I could tinker this recipe a little to make it peanut butter chocolate instead of raspberry chocolate. It took a lot more tinkering than I imagined and this cookies have 10 more calories a cookie than the raspberry but when we are talking about 30 calories total that is a lot more. In the end they were totally worth it as they met my craving and now I can move on...maybe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
  
• 3 tbsp Splenda
• 6 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1.5 tbsp light butter melted
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 2-3 tbsp water
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sift dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix adding more water if needed to get a crumbly but manageable dough. Dough will be very dry.
3. Smash into small flat disks. Bake for 7-8 minutes.
   

Makes 18 cookies - calories per cookie - 32

Everything Spaghetti Squash Pasta

I have been wanting to use spaghetti squash for awhile now but I wasn't brave enough to make it the base of a whole meal. With lots of leftovers in the fridge I decided to make a variation of a pasta Miles and I love because it is very filling while being about 550 calories a serving. This variation is lower in calories, has twice as much meat and makes even more food than the previous version.

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 3 oz angel hair pasta
• 6 oz pesto chicken (from trader joes)
• 3-4 slices frozen turkey bacon
• 1 onion
• 2-3 handfuls cherry tomatoes
• 1/4-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 4 tbsp Alfredo sauce
• 1 cup frozen green beans
• Salt, pepper, and garlic to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut squash in half and place cut side down on a baking sheet. Cook for 30-35 minutes or until a fork an be inserted easily. Allow to cool while following the next steps.
3. Place cherry tomatoes on the pan used to cook the squash. Add salt and pepper and cook until the skins burst.
4. Cut onion into slivers. Caramelize the onions in a large saute pan.
5. Grill chicken and cut into small pieces. Set aside.
6. Add green beans, salt, pepper, garlic, and turkey bacon to the saute pan. Toss in chicken and tomatoes. Cook pasta per the instructions on the box. When cooked drain and add to the saute pan.
7. Using a fork, scrape the inside of the squash to remove the flesh. Put the flesh of the squash into the saute pan with the rest of the ingredients (parm and alfredo). Mix well and serve.

Makes 2 servings - calories per serving - 500

Raspberry Chocolate Cookies

These little gems are adapted from 17 and baking - my new favorite teenage blogger. This girl is amazing. Not only is she from Seattle, my long last city, but she is in school, a teenager, and has a beautiful blog. She is very talented.

At only 20 calories a cookie these might be my new favorite cookie to make. Of course they had to give me some problems at first but I think I worked out the kinks. You should know that cooking with apple sauce and splenda as substitutes will result in much drier cookies. Next time I will use 1 tbsp light butter in place of some of the apple sauce to make these even better.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp raspberry jelly
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• 1.5 tbsp apple sauce (next time I will use 1 tbsp butter and possibly make up the difference with a little extra jelly)
  
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 6 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, Splenda, salt, and baking soda. Add jelly, apple sauce, and both extracts.
3. Mix until combined and move into the freezer to cool for 10 minutes. This step was not in the original recipe but it made the dough much more manageable.
4. Remove from freezer and roll into tiny, slightly larger than a marble, sized balls. Sprinkle with sugar. Sugar the bottom of a glass and flatten the cookies.
5. Bake for 8 minutes.

Makes 18 cookies - calories per cookie - 20

Cinnamon Bread - French Toast

This blog is really turning into a breakfast blog. I am not sure why I enjoy blogging about breakfast more than any other meal but I think it is partially because the pictures turn out so much better when taken in the light of day. Breakfast is really the only meal where most of what I make is made from scratch. Dinner often involves a pre-made sauce or pasta, or it involves a piece of meat that is seasoned and grilled. There just isn't that much that goes into dinner and meals that involve more difficulty are made so often that I don't really find them blog worthy. Trust me, I keep you from a lot of bad or boring meals.

So anyway, this post is about french toast but it is also about the bread I made to make the french toast from. I have been longing to have french toast. On the rare occasion that we go out for breakfast I ALWAYS order french toast. Of course when we do go out the french toast I order is always made from really interesting and wonderful bread. I didn't want to make my own french toast using regular wheat bread and then be disappointed but at the same time I have been looking for a bread recipe that isn't very high in calories, and that I could add yummy things to, for weeks without any luck. Well today I found something I figured I could alter.This recipe from Blissfully Delicious wasn't intended to be made into french toast but it looked so wonderful that I figured I would give it a try. I used light butter and substituted some apple sauce for some of the butter. I also used a combination bread flour and all purpose flour, egg whites only, and I used maple syrup instead of honey as that's that I had on hand. Oh, and I didn't wash it with an egg glaze. I guess with all these changes it isn't even really the same bread but the idea started with Blissfully Delicious so that's where the credit goes.

Ingredients for the bread:

• 6 tbsp warm water
• 3/4 tbsp granulated yeast
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 6 tbsp egg whites lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp apple sauce
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp Splenda
• 4 tbsp light butter melted
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cups + 6 tbsp bread flour
• Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Mix water and yeast and allow to sit while you combine the next ingredients.
2. Combine egg whites, apple sauce, salt, maple syrup, butter, and Splenda in a large bowl. Whisk for about 1 minute to combine the ingredients and make the egg whites nice and fluffy.
3. Add the yeast and water mixture to the other wet ingredients. Then add the flour and mix with the whisk until combined. Do not over mix.
4. Cover and place in a warm location for 2 hours. The dough should double in size while sitting.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Lightly flour your working surface and move the dough to the work area. Add more flour if needed to make your dough manageable. Roll the dough into a large square.
7. Sprinkle cinnamon over the dough to your taste preference. Roll the dough into a log an place an a baking tray wrapping the sides of the log around until they touch on one side of the log.
8. Bake for 35 minutes checking after 30 minutes so as to not over cook.

Makes 12 servings - 100 calories per slice

Ingredients for French Toast:

• Bread from above recipe
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3/4 cup non-fat milk
• 3/4 cup egg beaters
• Cinnamon and nutmeg

Directions:

1. Measure flour into a large mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk in the eggs. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Whisk to combine all ingredients.
   
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat.
3. Soak bread slices in mixture until saturated. Cook bread on each side until golden brown. Serve hot.

Makes 12 servings - calories per serving - 125

Squash Gnocchi

Never having made my own pasta and not having a pasta maker I decided to try this gnocchi recipe from the Food Network. This recipe was very easy to follow but as I don't have a ricer I had to kind of fudge that step of the directions. My squash also took over an hour to cook instead of the 30-35 minutes I thought it would take.

I was very nervous about this creation but Miles gave it a big thumbs up so I guess it will be something I will have the opportunity to perfect. These didn't really taste like squash and as I enjoy squash I will probably make them with butternut squash rather than acorn squash next time. I also thought my gnocchi were to large so I will cut a smaller hole in the bag and pipe them more slowly into the boiling water next time I try this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pound acorn squash
• 1 1/2 cups flour (I actually ended up using more like 1 3/4 cup of flour to get a firmer consistency to my gnocchi)
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut the squash in half or thirds and place on aluminum foil in the oven. Bake until tender when stabbed with a fork, usually 30 to 35 minutes. - Mine took over an hour but I only cut it in half - Remove from the oven and, when it is cool enough to handle, scoop out and discard the seeds and membrane. Scoop the flesh into a strainer placed over a large bowl. Place in the refrigerator so that the squash cools and the liquid drains away. Leave for at least 6 hours or overnight. - very little water drained from my squash so I absorbed a little extra water using a paper towel -
   
3. Add the eggs and salt. Stir well and add the flour, a little at a time, stirring to amalgamate all the ingredients. Using a hand mixer make sure the ingredients are well combined. The result should be soft but not runny.
4. Put the gnocchi into a zip-lock bag or a piping bag. Bring a large pot of cold water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and allow the water to return to a boil. Cut a hole in the corner of the bag so you can pipe the gnocchi batter into the boiling water. Pipe a small amount of the gnocchi into the water cutting off the dough every cm or so cooking the gnocchi in batches.
   
5. Cook the gnocchi in the boiling water and cook until they rise to the top of the pot. Remove gnocchi and also to drain while cooking the next batch.\

Makes 4 servings - calories per serving -265

Apple Cinnamon and Blueberry Muffins

I made the blue berry muffins from my blog again this morning but instead of making just blueberry I split the batter in half and mixed half with blueberries as before and half with apples and cinnamon. Last time I made these I used Splenda packets in combination with real sugar but last time I was shopping I picked up some granulated Splenda so I decided to try just using the Splenda this time.

These were excellent. Miles loves blueberry but he actually enjoyed the apple cinnamon muffins over the blueberry. The topping was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I only made 4 muffins this time and we scarfed them down. You can actually see the steam coming off the inside of the blueberry muffins.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 6 tbsp Spenda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp apple sauce
• 2 tbsp egg whites
• 1/4 cup non-fat milk
• 3 tbs frozen blueberries
• 1/4 apple
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  

Topping:

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tbsp butter - light version
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. I used my Silicon bake-ware so I did not need to grease the muffin cups.
   
2. Combine flour, Splenda, salt and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. Place apple sauce into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg whites and enough milk to fill to 1/2 cup. Mix this with flour mixture.
   
3. Split the mixture putting half into the measuring cup. Into the measuring cup add blueberries and fold in gently. Put mixture into two of the muffin tins.
4. To the other half of the batter add 1/4 of an apple, peeled and cubed. Add the cinnamon and mix together. Split into 2 muffin tins. You should now have two blueberry muffins and two apple muffins. The tins should be between halfway and two thirds of the way full.
   
5. Mix topping ingredients with a fork in a small bowl until grainy and sprinkle muffins with crumb topping mixture. Sprinkle the cinnamon muffins with a little extra cinnamon.
   
6. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Makes 4 muffins: calories per muffin - 145

Crustless Spinach Quiche

This morning I could not decide on what to make for breakfast. I wanted banana waffles with banana glaze, a smoothie with strawberry, banana, and blueberries, yogurt with blueberries, and(or) I wanted eggs with toast. I finally settled on having quiche...something that I hadn't even considered while I was still in bed making my list of breakfast possibilities. This might be the first quiche I have ever made. It was very tasty and very easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp egg white substitutes
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp fat free feta
• 1 slice nonfat sharp american cheese
• 1/4 cup nonfat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup onions diced
• 3 handfuls spinach
• salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Saute onions until nice and brown. Add the spinach until wilted.
3. In a small bowl beat eggs, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add cheeses, onions, and spinach to the egg mix.
4. Spray 2 ramekins with a zero calorie non-stick spray such as Pam.
5. Pour the quiche mixture into the the two ramekins, distributing evenly.
6. Cook for approximately 25 minutes or until the eggs have firmed up and the top of the quiche is bubbling.

Serves 2: calories per serving - 150

Happy Fake Patty's Day

In honor of Hoboken Fake Patty's Day I decided to make Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. Hoboken celebrates St. Patrick's Day the Saturday before the actual St. Patrick's day the rest of the world celebrates. This day is CRAZY as people come from all over the city to wait in lines that start forming at 7am outside the many Irish bars that line Washington Street. As I live right on the main drive I get to sit back on my fire escape and watch not only the drunken stumbling of thousands of 20 somethings, but the parade as well. It proves to be quite entertaining.
But back to the cupcakes. I scoped out this recipe from Smitten Kitchen weeks ago and I have just been waiting, none too patiently, for this day to roll around. While I haven't actually eaten one of these in its complete form I can honestly tell you that all of the components are fantastic. This is Irish love at first taste.

Please follow the link for the recipe and instructions.
Edited to Add: Now that I have actually eaten one of these I can say...yummy. The chocolate cake isn't too sweet and the icing is strongly flavored of Bailey's (I did add a little extra). They compliment each other nicely. There is only a hint of Jameson in the filling.

I followed the instructions on the website and made a double serving of the filling as suggested but in the end I didn't use all of it. I probably only used half. I think I didn't cut out as much of the cake as other people did. This was fine with me.

My recipe made 20 mini cupcakes and 9 large cupcakes. This recipe would have made about 18 large cupcakes for me as my cupcake pans are larger than average. I am estimating the calories in these as I didn't use all the filling, or the icing, and I made large and small cupcakes...but I *think* there are about 425 calories in each of the large cupcakes.

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

While watching 5 Ingredient Fix two weekends ago I saw Claire Robinson make a super indulgent mudslide milkshake. With over 750 calories per serving Claire's milkshake, while I am sure it is amazing, is not exactly something I am willing to eat on a Wednesday evening. However, I have been thinking about this milkshake for a week and a half. I wanted one. Bad. So I made my own. No alcohol, no ice cream, and three times as much banana make my version healthier but still very good if I do say so myself. So good that there almost were pictures of this concoction.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 bananas chopped and frozen
• 1/4 cup non-fat milk
• 6 oz fat free vanilla yogurt (I used Dannon light and fit)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder - unsweetened

Directions:

1. Blend everything together adding extra milk if you like your milkshakes to be easier to drink. I prefer mine to almost need a spoon to consume.

Makes one 10-12 oz serving: Calories 250