skinny sweet treat: cake batter yogurt

Posted on February 1, 2013 by mommyinthemidwest

At work myself and a few other lovely ladies are using MyFitnessPal to stay on track with our goals for 2013 of living healthier. Some of them are doing Weight Watchers as well. One of the girls brought in this amazing “cake batter yogurt” today and allegedly, it has only 100 calories per 1/2 cup serving and 2.5 WW points. That sounds great, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that probably most ice cream has about 100 calories per 1/2 cup. Right? Just a thought, but a pointless one because it doesn’t matter. That 1/2 cup was the best, most decadent 100 calories I’ve had all week. So I bought the ingredients and made it at home for my family. HUGE HIT.

Without further ado, friends (get ready to PIN the sh*t out of this), I give you Cake Batter Yogurt.

1 box of Funfetti cake (or cookie – whoops) mix

2 cups of plain nonfat yogurt

1 cup of Cool Whip Lite

*I added gummy bears to the boys for funsies and cutesies*

Seriously. That’s all there is to it and it is soooo good. It’s almost too rich to eat with a spoon. It would be great as a dip (graham cracker sticks, maybe?).

But is it good? Proof is in the pudding, er, yogurt!

Does he look like a satisfied customer or not?

So rich. Must have milk.

And that’s cake batter yogurt!

xo,

~C~

Dexter’s circus-themed birthday party, Part 2

Posted on May 17, 2012 by mommyinthemidwest

Food!

I didn’t want to deal with watching a punch bowl so I kept it simple on the drinks by offering just water, orange Hawaiian punch, lemonade, and sweet tea. Yep, all store bought. One of my favorite things about this drink station? Did you know Solo makes smaller solo cups with lids and straws? Perfect for smaller hands and so cute. They come 15 in a pack. I was just disappointed that we didn’t have any left over!

You can see the crock pot there, next to the tea. That’s as close as I came to getting a picture of the meatballs. These balls are unbelievably easy, always delicious, and predictably crowd-pleasing!

Another simple crowd-pleaser, the traditional veggie tray with ranch/sour cream dip. I washed and cut the vegetables myself (besides the carrots) to save money. Well worth it.

Mini PB&Js on rye for little mouths and hands.(Pardon the spoons).

To tie into the circus/carnival theme, we had (store-bought, frozen) corn dogs. I thought the kids would like these. Uh? They were the first things to go. We had 80. Should have bought 120! Served with ketchup and mustard.

These are my favorite appetizers to make for a party of any kind! They are so good, so simple, and people love them. They’re called Tortilla Pinwheels. Served with mild salsa.

Ryan’s mom is super sweet and she’s great at making sweet treats. She agreed to make the cupcakes and smash cake for Dexter’s party. I gave her free reign and these are the adorable (and delicious) cakes she came up with.

Seemed like all of the food was a hit. Interested in seeing what Dexter did with that cute orange cake?

Part three coming up – the FUN!

xo-

the mommy of a 1 year old and a 2 year old

comfort food: 1984 style

Posted on March 5, 2012 by mommyinthemidwest

I’m always looking for recipes that make my life easier and make dinner taste better. I hate that so many of our dinners come from boxes and I don’t have control over the ingredients in what my kids are eating. Time is such an issue for us on the weeknights that I end up throwing something together last second. I need to take the time to plan ahead and shop accordingly.

Anyway, I’ve always been an “I only like my mom’s (and mother-in-law’s) meatloaf” kind of girl. I don’t order it in restaurants because it always sounds funky in the description. I’ve been buying the Stouffer’s frozen one for a couple of years, but it’s not my mama’s meatloaf. I tried making a meatloaf a few weeks ago…blech.

Somehow I came across the recipe I’m about to share with you a while ago and have been meaning to try it. It won a contest, so it has to be decent, right? And it’s a crock pot meal – which means it saves you time and effort. Right?

Is it just me, or does “crock pot meatloaf” give off a 1984 vibe? Yeah, thought so too.

I used 12 ounces of ground pork sausage and 1 pound of 85% lean ground beef.

Then you’ll need 2 beaten eggs, 3/4 cup milk (I used 1%), 2/3 cup bread crumbs (I used plain), 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground sage, and 2 tablespoons of grated onion (I left this out, as I hate them with a passion).

Combine everything above in a bowl.

I like to mix it up the old fashioned way. Sometimes hands work better than spoons. P.S. Don’t forget to take off your rings, if you wear them. Otherwise…ewwww.

Toss that big ol’ loaf in your crock pot, throw the lid on, and set that sucker on low heat.

It probably helps if your crock pot actually IS from 1984, like the one pictured here.

Go live your life for 5 or 6 hours. It helps to pass the time if you can find a couple of mess making, yet adorable, little boys to trash your entire home in the time it took you to get that loaf in the pot.

I let mine cook for 5 1/2 hours before starting the sauce. It’s just 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of dry mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

Mix it up and spread over the meatloaf. Turn the slow cooker up to high and set the timer for 15 minutes.

Here’s how I served it up:

Y’all. It may not be the prettiest (it’s always hard to get that first piece of meatloaf out of the middle, huh?) but it was deeee-lishus. My hunt for the perfect meatloaf ends here. It was very moist and full of flavor. The meat itself was tender and savory while the sauce was sweet and had a little kick. Not spicy, but packed with flavor. I loved it – and so did everyone else at the table, as evidenced by their requests for seconds.

I’ll be making it again. And again. YUM-O. Here’s the link to the recipe I followed (but my pictures are better).

Let me know if you try it and what you thought!

happy eating,

~C~