3-2-1 Cake

A member shared a great new recipe at my Weight Watchers Meeting.  It’s called 3-2-1 Cake. It’s so simple and super low in points.  I couldn’t wait to come home and try it.  And get this, it actually tastes good.

Ingredients:

1 Box Angel Food Cake Mix

1 Box of Your favorite Cake mix

Water

Crème Brule Ceramic Cup or Coffee Mug

Steps:

1) Add both boxes of cake mix in a zip lock bag. Mix together well.

2) Add 3 tablespoons of cake mix to the cup/bowl

3) Stir in 2 tablespoons of water and mix well

4) Microwave for 1 minute

5) Top with whip cream or cake icing or fruit

Makes 33 servings, Weight Watcher Points Plus = 3

* It’s called  3 2 1 Cake because you use 3 tablespoons of mix, 2 tablespoons of water and 1 minute in the microwave. I learned the “hard” way that sometimes one minute might actually be too long. The first mini cake I made was so hard and crunchy that I had to cut it with a knife.  I realized it was over cooked.  It finally turned out just right after the 3^rd time around with about 40 seconds.

Mexican Chili – Carli’s Way

Here is a recipe for delicious Mexican Chili I made last night before I went to the gym.

Ingredients
- 1 Pound of Lean Ground Beef or Ground Turkey
-1 Chili Seasoning Packet
-1 Squirt of Ranch Salad Dressing (My Secret Ingredient)
-1/3 cup Guacamole
-1 Small Can of Bush’s Baked Beans (I use vegetarian, since I don’t eat pork)
-1 Can of Corn or Frozen corn
-1 Can of Pinto Beans OR Black Beans OR Chili Beans (whatever kind you like)
-1 Can of Diced Tomatoes (Made for Chili)
- A Crock pot (Optional)

Cooking Directions
1) Cook ground beef in skillet until brown, season meat with chili seasoning packet.
2) Add a squirt of ranch salad dressing to the cooked seasoned ground beef and stir (trust me!)
3) You can use a Crock Pot or a regular pot to combine remaining ingredients.
4) Add the cooked Ground Beef, Guacamole, Can of Bush’s Baked Beans, Corn, Can of your favorite Bean, and Can of Diced tomatoes into pot and heat to desired temperature.

This amazingly flavorful dish is High in protein and fiber and very filling.

Green Spinach Smoothie

It seems that you guys liked my post about the Zucchini Fries.  I often try to prepare new foods, so I wanted to share my Spinach Smoothie recipe.  It’s green, delicious and nutritious! Don’t be afraid to try it.

Ingredients:  You Need a Blender

A Handful of Fresh Spinach Leaves

6 oz Yogurt OR a Cup of Vanilla Almond Milk

Banana (Optional)

Blueberries (Optional)

Strawberries (Optional)

100% Maple Syrup (Optional Sweetener)

and Ice

Zucchini Fries

At my Weight Watcher’s meeting last week, my leader encouraged us to try new vegetables and prepare our old veggies in a different way.  She suggested that we try Jicama.  I had some jicama when I went to Mexico back in April.  I’m not really a fan of it.  It tastes sort of like a cross between an apple and a potato.  So, I opted to try the Zucchini Fries.  I’m glad I did, they were delicious! However, I must admit that “fries” is a bit of a stretch.  A better name would be “Oven-Fried Zucchini.” 

Here’s the Weight Watcher receipe for Zucchini Fries:

4 Servings (8 Fries); 3 WW Points Plus
4 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray   
1 tsp Italian seasoning    
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour   
3/4 tsp table salt    (I added garlic powder and pepper too)
3/4 cup(s) dried bread crumbs, (panko-variety suggested)    (I used regular Italian bread crumbs)
2 medium zucchini, about 7-inches each, cut into 4 chunks, then each chunk halved   
2 large egg white(s), whipped until frothy (almost soft peaks)   

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together Italian seasoning, flour and salt. Place bread crumbs in another small bowl.

• Dredge a zucchini fry in flour mixture and then dip into egg whites; dredge in bread crumbs. Place coated zucchini on prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining ingredients; liberally coat with cooking spray.
• 
• Roast, turning once, until desired crispness, about 12 minutes. Yields about 8 fries per serving.
• 

Notes

• Clearly I cut the zucchini wrong.  I saw great pics of the proper way to cut it Here.  (But mine still tasted great!)
• Dip in Pizza Sauce or Light Ranch (But don’t forget to count the extra points!)
• Use this technique with any summer squash or eggplant. It also works great with thick-cut onion rings or even green tomatoes. For extra crispy fries, increase the oven temperature to 500ºF and knock 2 minutes off the cooking time (Mine are dark, because I wanted them crispier)

Working it At Work

So my girlfriend at work it still helping me stay on plan. We take turns cooking lunch and bring enough to share. And then we workout for the second half of our lunch break. We’ve done it for about 5 days now. It’s so nice to have somebody at work helping me stay focused and encouraged. At get this, I was able to button those pants today!!!! I was so excited. My home scale even shows I’m down a couple of pounds, in just these few short days of eating better and writing down my food. Today, she made ground turkey, spinach and stewed tomatoes over rice. It was raining outside, so we hit the stairs. I brought my extra deodorant, so I was good to go. We walked down 9 flights. Caught the elevator up the 12th floor, walked back down to the 1st floor, and then climbed all the way back up to the 9th floor. We had a great workout. We were sweating for real. I had to go to the bathroom and get a cool towel to wipe my sweat. I felt such a sense of accomplishment.
I went to the grocery store after work since tomorrow is my day to bring lunch. I decided to make whole wheat pasta mixed with green beans and stewed tomatoes. You put the tomatoes, green beans and a cup of chicken broth in a pot to simmer, while the noodles are cooking. I added garlic, pepper and seasoned salt for a little flavor, oh and Italian seasoning. People laugh because I put Italian seasoning on everything…. Then you add a cup of fat-free ricotta cheese to the tomato mixture and warm it together. Then you stir in the tomato ricotta mixture with the noodles. This was my first time making this dish. It’s a recipe I got from this site, that has tons of recipes with the weight watcher points included. The recipe actually called for spinach, which I forgot to get at the grocery store, so I just used the green beans I had at home.  Mr. Man said it tasted good, and gave it a thumbs up. But, I almost forgot, to tell y’all when I got home from the grocery store, I still went on my Wednesday walk in the park with my best friend. Then came home and cooked. All and all I can say, good job Carli and pat myself on the back.
What Did Carli Eat Today?
B- Turkey sausage on eng muffin & an orange
L- My co-worker’s Turkey, spinach, tomato and rice stuff (It was really good too, and filing)
S- She also made “dessert” …Graham crackers filled with cool whip like an ice cream sandwich and put in the freezer. They were also very tasty.
D- Chicken and green beans, oh yeah, a biscut managed to somehow sneak in too.