Pineapple Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Delicious!!! Moist, slightly sweet, and fruity cupcakes with smooth cream cheese frosting- hits every craving you might be having! Plus, this is a pretty low fat cupcake. No butter involved and only 5 WW+ points, if you're counting.

Pineapple Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from SkinnyTaste.com

Ingredients

3/4 c whole wheat flour

3/4 c white flour

1 c white sugar

1/2 c flaked coconut

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch of ground ginger (optional)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 whole eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 c grated zucchini (squeeze out extra moisture in a dish towel or in a mesh strainer)

20 oz can crushed pineapple, juice discarded (squeeze out extra moisture like above)

Frosting

1 c powdered sugar

8 oz low fat cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with paper liners (I ended up with 20 cupcakes).

In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, coconut, salt and spices. Mix to incorporate.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, vanilla and oil. Mix well. Fold in zucchini and pineapple.

Add wet ingredients to dry. Mixture will be dry, but continue to mix until everything is evenly incorporated. Use a cookie/ice cream scoop to scoop cupcake batter into liners (this will give you perfectly even cupcakes). Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool on a wire baking rack.

Combine frosting ingredients with a mixer until smooth. Frost cupcakes using your desired method (I like an offset spatula because I haven't mastered piping frosting, yet). Enjoy!!

Painted Lace Tile and Lamp Project

Back to being crafty...

In this month's Martha Stewart Living magazine, they had this project with lace, tile and spray paint. Coincidentally, I've been wanting to try a spray paint project (Really, I have. Is that weird?). And this one was a very pretty project. I did it and it came out awesome! Just like Martha said it would...

Supplies

4x4 white tile squares ($0.19 at Home Depot)

Spray paint (I used a Champagne color also from Home Depot)

Lace trim ($2.59 a yard at Joanne's Fabric Store)

Spray adhesive (any kind will do)

Cork or felt

Directions

Cover the area you will spray paint on with craft paper or newspaper. Lay out your tiles in four separate areas so you don't over-spray the paint. Cut a piece of lace just slightly bigger than the width of the tile and stick it to the tile with spray adhesive. Make sure it's straight and has no bumps or wrinkles. Spray the tile with your paint color in even strokes. Immediately remove lace from tile. Let dry for 1 hr or whatever your spray paint says. Repeat with your other tiles. Line the bottom of the tile with cork or felt to protect surfaces. Use as a trivet for hot pots or coasters for drinks!

Just to be an overachiever, I had an Ikea lamp shade that was pretty uninteresting, so I did the same thing with it! Lace, spray adhesive, lamp shade, spray paint... ta da!!!! Pretty cute, if I say so myself.

Banging Good Shrimp Salad

It's been hot here lately, so I've been making a lot of salads. Not having air conditioning, I've got to do everything I can to not add heat to the house, but turning on the oven for example. No way!! I'd roast!

This salad was very simple and the dressing it a fun new twist that's slightly spicy but creamy and kinda sweet too. *Note: I did not name this recipe.*

Banging Good Shrimp Salad

Adapted from SkinnyTaste.com

Ingredients for 4 servings (5 WW+ points per serving)

Sauce:

5 tbsp mayo

3 tbsp Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

1 tsp Siracha (to taste)

Shrimp:

1 lb shrimp, shelled, deveined, tails on

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp canola oil

Salad Stuff (lettuce, cucumber, onion, shrooms, asparagus, etc)

Directions

Mix sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Heat canola oil in a large pan til very hot. Mix the cornstarch and shrimp until evenly coated. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp and cook 2 minutes on each side.

Remove from pan and mix with sauce. Add shrimp to your salad and you're done! Enjoy!

Trip Coasters

I'm on a crafty kick lately. I've wanted to make these coasters for a long time (like I bought the cork a year ago). This was so easy and is such a neat way to remember a trip or give a gift to a special person.

Stuff you need:

Cork (you can buy it in a roll at the craft store)

Maps

Mod podge

Paint brush

Start by picking the size of the circle you want to make. I traced the bottom of a coffee mug onto my map over the cities I wanted to focus on. Cut those out and then cut the same number of cork circles in the same size.

Use mod podge glue to secure the map circles onto the cork. Make sure you get a good seal on all edges. When that's dry, use mod podge to form a barrier on the top of the coaster. I did two coats over the map, letting it dry in between each time. That's it!! How fun!

Strawberry and Oreo Parfaits

Eric was visiting recently and it was so hot outside, I didn't feel like cooking much. We had fajitas, which were delicious, but I needed a dessert that I didn't have to bake. I'd seen this idea used all over the magazines and websites I follow, but hadn't tried it myself.

I didn't have any graham crackers but had oreos that I'd crushed for another recipe and then frozen the leftovers. I sliced and macerated strawberries in a little sugar. A little heavy whip cream, Amaretto liqueur and powdered sugar made the perfect homemade whipped topping. Assemble in layers in a glass (I used stemless white wine glasses) and enjoy! They were a big hit and so easy!

DIY Wipe Off Board

Lately, I'm obsessed with Pinterest. It's a neat community where people can post all the cool stuff they find on the web or have done themselves and then you can browse all sorts of categories (DIY, food, crafts, wedding, style, home, etc). I have been spending a lot of time browsing and have picked up a few projects that I'm got on a long list of things to do... This was the first project I tried and I couldn't believe how easy it was! I just bought frames at Target on sale for $3 and then put scrap book paper instead of a photo, bought some cute erasable markers and ta-da! I gave one to Ash, CK, and a work friend Sasha. They thought they were super cute!

Mexican Cobb Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Cilantro LIme Dressing

A great low maintenance meal for when it's hot! It's been 90 degrees around here and my house is toasty (no AC). This was a perfect light meal and easy to prepare. Plus, the dressing is great and I can use it on something else, I'm sure!

Mexican Cobb Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Cilantro Lime Dressing

Adapted from SkinnyTaste

Ingredients

(makes 1 salad with extra shrimp and dressing)

Shrimp Marinade:

12 frozen, peeled, deveined shrimp

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 lime, juiced and zested

1 clove of garlic, minced

Salad

1 c spinach

1/4 c cucumber, diced

1/4 c avocado, diced

1/4 c canned black beans, rinsed

1/4 c corn, frozen and thawed

1 tbsp red onion, diced

Dressing

1/4 c low fat buttermilk

1 tbsp mayo

2 tbsp light sour cream

1/4 c cilantro

1 clove garlic

Salt

Pepper

Directions

Combine marinade ingredients and let the shrimp sit for 30 minutes.

Chop your veggies and prepare your salad.

Mix all dressing ingredients together in a blender and let whirl until its a smooth dressing.

Heat a grill pan to medium-high heat. Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes on each side.

Assemble your salad with half of the shrimp (or so) and 1 tbsp of dressing (or so). Enjoy immensely!

Coconut Chicken, Spinach Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

My sister turned me on to this awesome food blog, www.skinnytaste.com. It is excellent!!! Her recipes are easy and the photography makes me hungry every time! I highly suggest you check it out because I'm sure you're going to love it. (by the way, it's a Weight Watchers website and she does all the points for you!)

This was the first recipe I made from her and I was blown away by its simplicity and how delicious it was!!

Coconut Chicken, Spinach Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

Adapted from SkinnyTaste

Ingredients

6 chicken tenders

6 tbsp shredded coconut

1/2 c bread crumbs

1/3 c egg whites

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil spray

6 cups spinach

3/4 c carrots, sliced

3/4 c mushrooms, sliced

3/4 c cucumber, sliced

Vinaigrette

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp dijon mustard

Directions

Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients, set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine coconut, bread crumbs, and salt in a bowl. Put egg whites in a another bowl.

Lightly season chicken with salt and pepper. Dip the chicken in the egg, then in the coconut crumb mixture. Place chicken on the baking sheet. Lightly spray with cooking spray and bake for 30 minutes turning halfway, until chicken is cooked through.

Place 2 cups greens on each plate. Divide carrots, cucumber and mushrooms evenly between each plate. Slice chicken on the diagonal and place with the greens. Divide dressing between each salad, about 1 tbsp each.

Blueberry Brown Sugar Cookies

I've got a small obsession with blueberries lately! Mostly, I eat them by the handful, but I decided to bake with them and take them to my Aunt and Uncle's as a gift for watching Dixie Lou. I stole a couple before I wrapped them up and they were good!

Blueberry Brown Sugar Cookies

Adapted from TastyKitchen.com

Ingredients

1 stick butter, at room temperature

3/4 c brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp milk, more if needed

3/4 c fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer, until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon with the mixer on low speed. Mix until dough comes together. Add in milk. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tbsp at a time until it comes together. Fold in the blueberries gently with a spatula. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls or scoop with an ice cream scooper. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely.