Raspberry Soufflé with Chocolate Center (low calorie!)

First of all, each souffle only has about 75 calories. How is that possible?! Well, I guess it's basically just raspberries, egg whites, and sugar substitute. Oh, and a little bit delicious, melty dark chocolate.

Apparently now that I get and know how to make a soufflé, I'm going to be trying out other low calorie flavors too. If you haven't checked out the the amazing chocolate soufflés, you'll want to do that now probably.

Makes 3 soufflés

1/2 c fresh raspberries
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar substitute*
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp butter
1/2 oz dark chocolate, chopped


Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the center.

Wash and dry your raspberries - make sure they get pretty dry - you don't need the extra moisture. Puree the raspberries and press through a fine sieve to get all of the seeds out. I have a sieve like this that I use all. the. time. Mostly as a colander. Anyway, just dump the pureed raspberries into the sieve holding it over a bowl. I used a spoon and just kind of pressed it through until I just had seeds left in the sieve. Very easy!

Add 1 tbsp granulated sugar substitute and set aside. Beat egg whites (I use an electric hand mixer whisk) until thickened and start sprinkling the remaining sugar substitute (1.5 tbsp) into them until all of it has been added and you have stiff glossy peaks. If you need to watch a video about what "beating to stiff peaks" means like I did the first time I made souffles, click here.

Grease 3 small ramekins with butter. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the raspberry puree very gently. Once mixed, fold the raspberry puree mixture back into the remaining egg whites and fold again until there are no streaks of pink left. Gently scoop some souffle mixture into the ramekins until half full. Divide the chocolate between the ramekins and then fill to the top with souffle mixture. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet with at least a few inches between them and put on the center rack in the oven. Bake for 9-11 minutes until golden brown and puffed up. Serve immediately and ENJOY!!

Notes
* When the recipe calls for granulated sugar substitute it refers to one that measures cup for cup like sugar. If you are using a more concentrated sweetener, then use my measurement as though it were sugar and use whatever the equivalent is of your brand of sweetener. For example, if you are using Truvia, it would be 1.25 tsp per 1 TBL of sugar - so you would need 6.25 tsp for this recipe. You can find conversion charts for pretty much every sweetener out there online by going to your brand's website.

Original recipe found here.

Lighter Chocolate Soufflé

Never made souffles before! But these are easy, decadent, delicious, and a little bit lighter than your typical soufflé. A great treat! Apparently only 3 Weight Watchers points... I don't do WW, and I'm not sure of the exact calorie count, but I'll calculate the calories next time. Update - each souffle is only 130 calories!

cooking spray
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar, divided
3 tbsp low-fat chocolate milk
1 large egg white
½ tsp powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 6 oz. ramekins with cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, whisk together cocoa, flour and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar; set over medium heat. Add milk; cook until smooth, stirring constantly, approximately 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cool for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk egg white until soft peaks start to form. Slowly add remaining tablespoon of granulated sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Fold cooled chocolate mixture into egg whites, a little at a time, until no white streaks appear.

Pour batter into prepared ramekins; baked until set and tops look dry, about 16 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar; serve warm. 

* Do not open oven until the souffles are done. Cold air can cause them to sink. This recipe can easily be doubled or triples for larger gatherings.

Original recipe found here.

Easy Key Lime Pie

Whoa guys - this was my first real pie ever. I do have some lighter pie options on the dessert page that I made many years ago. In fact I need to make those again and take my own pictures of them. But I bought prepared graham crust and they just didn't seem like "real" pies.

ANYWAY, I made this pie for a friend's birthday at school, and it was so amazing. I looked at a million key lime pie recipes, and went with this one I found on allrecipes.com. I decided on this one because 1) it looked super easy, 2) the reviews were really great, and 3) only a few simple steps.

1 9-inch graham crust (you can buy prepared, or make your own. I made mine and followed this recipe)
3 c sweetened condensed milk (2 cans)
1/2 c light sour cream
3/4 c key lime juice (I did not juice limes, just bought the juice!)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes (I ended up baking mine for about 11-12 min), until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

Original recipe found here.

Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites

I think I have gained a solid 5 pounds alone just by eating these!! They are DELICIOUS! I rarely make desserts, but I gave the gingerbread cheesecake bites to my team, and I made the Reeses Bites (see the end of this post) for Christmas. I have eaten way too many of both! Operation Veggies happens tomorrow. ;)

1 (30 oz) package Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough (refrigerated section)
4 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll two teaspoons of cookie dough into a ball for each cookie. Place balls of dough into paper liners mini cupcake/muffin pan. Make a well/indentation into each ball of dough with a flour dipped mini rolling pin or the back of a measurement teaspoon. Bake for 9 min. The dough will rise a lot. I just pushed the indention back down and baked about 3 more min. Let cool a little bit while you make the frosting.

Beat room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla. Place filling into a piping bag, cut off edge of bag. Place one teaspoon or so of filling into each area of cookie dough. Then I placed mine in the fridge to help harden the cream cheese.

Original recipe found here.

This recipe inspired me to try something similar! I used peanut butter cookie dough and Reeses cups instead of gingerbread & cream cheese. You make them the exact same way, just with peanut butter dough and Reeses! Very tasty.

Chocolate Swirled Angel Food Cake

First of all, YUM! Mom's bday cake. Isn't it beautiful? The original recipe called for dark cocoa. I couldn't find that so I used regular cocoa. It was so good!

Also, I used a box mix for the angel food cake. No reason to reinvent the wheel. But if you're feeling ambitious and want to make it from scratch, the original recipe has directions.

1 box angel food cake mix
sliced strawberries

Glaze: 
1 1/2 c powdered sugar 
2 tbsp tub light cream cheese, softened 
1 tbsp 1% low-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract 
3/4 tsp unsweetened cocoa

Make your angel food cake according to box directions. When ready to pour into ungreased tube pan, pour half the batter first. Break up air pockets by running a knife through the batter. Then, add 2 tbsp cocoa to the batter and mix. Pour that on top, breaking up air pockets with knife. Bake according to box directions. Mine took about 45 minutes. The box also said to move the oven rack to the lowest setting to bake.

Make sure to invert the pan onto a bottle to let it cool. Don't try to remove the cake from the pan until it has completely cooled. Run a knife around the edges, then invert it onto a cake pan. Mine took forever to come out!! It eventually did though.

To prepare glaze, place powdered sugar, cream cheese, milk, and 1 tsp vanilla in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Drizzle half of glaze over cake. Add 3/4 teaspoon cocoa to remaining glaze; stir well to combine. Drizzle cocoa glaze over cake. Refrigerate 5 minutes or until glaze is set. Garnish with strawberries, if desired.

Original recipe found here.

Healthy Pineapple Whip

This is just like a TCBY Sorbet. So simple and a great sweet treat for summer.

1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and chopped (and frozen)
1 c unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp honey

* I halved this recipe and it was enough for Will and I to both have a good amount. (1/2 fresh pineapple, 1/2 c almond milk, 1/2 tbsp honey)

In your blender or food processor (I used my Ninja) pulverize all ingredients until super smooth. Spoon into a bowl and serve immediately!

Original recipe found here.

No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Dessert

I can barely put the words together to describe how much I love this dessert. It is absolutely the perfect summer dessert - cold, light (no I don't necessarily mean calories), easy, and amazing. You CANNOT go wrong with chocolate, graham crackers, vanilla pudding, and cool whip. You just can't.

The chocolate is SO good - it's kind of hard, and by that I mean it's not just icing, and it's not a hard chocolate candy shell. It is perfect, and delicious, and just yummy. Make sure you refrigerate this overnight so the graham crackers have time to soften. It's only 9 am, but after typing this I feel like I need to go have a leftover piece of this amazing dessert. 

Filling:

2 (3.5 oz.) boxes vanilla instant pudding (sugar free/fat free)

3 c milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

1 (12 oz.) container Cool Whip Lite

Graham crackers

Topping:

1/3 c cocoa

1 c sugar

1/4 c milk (unsweetened almond milk)

1 stick (1/2 c) butter

1 tsp vanilla

For the filling: 

Combine pudding mix and milk; beat. Stir in Cool Whip. 

Place a layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a 9x13" dish. Spread 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers. Repeat with another layer of graham crackers and pudding; then top with a final layer of graham crackers.

For the topping: 

Bring cocoa, milk, and sugar to a full rolling boil; boil about 1 minute, stirring very frequently. Remove from heat and cool one minute. Add butter and vanilla; stir until butter is melted. 

Pour chocolate topping over the top layer of graham crackers. Refrigerate overnight.

Original recipe found here.

Almond Joy Cookies

Nothing healthy about these, but they sure are good!

1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c sweetened shredded coconut
1 c chocolate chips
1 c sliced or slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and beat until creamy.

Meanwhile mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt) in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until you have a thick cookie dough. Add the coconut, chocolate chips and almonds and mix until well combined.

Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared pans, and bake for about 10-12 minutes. (When you take the cookies out of the oven they should still be a bit doughy looking in the middle—they will stiffen up). This recipe makes about 24-30 cookies.

Original recipe found here. 

Amazing Rainbow Cake

First of all, this is the most beautiful cake ever! I saw the rainbow cake on Pinterest (of course!) and I knew I had to give it a try. I made it for my mom's birthday and everyone was impressed! I do think you should read all the tips several times before making the cake though. I think I read through the original recipe tips/comments/etc probably 5 times prior to making this cake. I really didn't want to mess it up! I'm listing the most important ones below.

A few things:

- The original recipe uses cake mix with Sprite Zero instead of oil, water, and eggs. I'm sure that would still taste delicious, but I went for regular cake with all the normal ingredients. So if you want to use Sprite Zero with your cake mix, look at the original recipe.

- This is why in my pictures (compared to the original recipe) the batter is much thinner. The Sprite Zero gives you a thicker, lumpier batter.

- Make sure to buy the Betty Crocker Gel Food Coloring. The gel is more vibrant, and you don't have to use as much! In my Kroger, it wasn't with the other food coloring. They had it with the cupcake liners, candles, cookie frosting, etc. It comes with red, blue, green, and yellow. I just mixed colors to make the purple and orange.

- The original recipe used a frosting made from Cool Whip and pudding. I just bought Betty Crocker Whipped White Frosting (2 containers).

- I recommend checking out the original recipe for excellent step-by-step pictures! Also, the girl is hilarious, and you'll probably get a kick out of reading her post/directions.

You'll Need:
2 boxes white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker White Super Moist)
6 eggs, 2 1/2 c water, 1/2 c oil (unless you're using Sprite Zero)
Gel food coloring
frosting (you can use whatever kind you want!)

Directions:
1) First, make your cake mix according to the package directions. Then, spoon about 1 1/2 cups of batter into 6 different bowls and add your food coloring, blending well.

2) Now, spray your cake pans well. I used two 9" round pans. In the first pan, you're going to put red, orange, then yellow. But it's important that you use about 2/3 of the total batter for the first color in the pan - in this case, red. Otherwise, your last color you put on top will dominate the cake.

3) So get your red, and pour about 2/3 of the total batter into your pan. Make sure you pour it in the middle. You should just start to get pretty geometric circles of batter. Then get your orange, and pour that right into the middle of the big red circle. Pour about a cup of the orange, but I just estimated. Then, get your yellow and pour about another cup of that right into the middle of the orange circle.

4) Now, you're going to switch to your second pan to use the other 3 colors. According to the original recipe, this is so your two cakes end up being the same size. So now, just like you did with the red, pour about 2/3 of the total purple batter into the second pan. Then get your blue, and pour about a cup of that into the middle of the purple circle. Next comes green, which should be poured (about a cup of it) into the middle of the blue circle. Now your two pans look very pretty... but they're about to get even prettier!

5) Ok, now go back to your pan with the red, orange, and yellow - you're going to finish it up. Pour your green into the middle of the yellow circle. I did end up with a little batter left over in each of my 6 bowls... just because I was being careful. Then, pour your blue into the middle of the green circle, and then your purple in the middle of the green circle. Done with that pan! It will look beautiful.

6) Next pan! Finish it up by pouring your yellow into the middle of the green, then orange into the middle of the yellow, and last your red into the middle of the orange circle. Look at how awesome they will look!

7) Amazing!! Time to bake them now. Bake according to your package directions. I think mine was 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Of course they're done when you insert a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean. Let them cool a while in the pans. Then, carefully remove the cakes and let them cool on a wire rack.

8) Once completely cool, go ahead and assemble and frost your cake. It will be VERY hard waiting to cut into it... but definitely worth the wait! Everyone will be amazed. Enjoy your super awesome cake.

Original recipe found here.

Italian Cream Bundt Cake

I bought a bundt pan back in December so I could make sticky buns Christmas morning. So, when I saw a recipe for Italian Cream cake (which I love) in a bundt pan... I knew it was time to pull out the bundt pan for the second time. Glad I did. This is wonderful!

1 stick of butter
2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
1/2 c olive oil
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 c low fat buttermilk
1/2 c shredded coconut
1 c finely-chopped walnuts
5 egg whites (beat until stiff peaks)

For the icing:
1 block red-fat cream cheese
1 stick butter
2 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, cream together sugar and butter, then add vanilla extract. Then, add the 5 separated egg yolks and olive oil, and mix and beat until fluffy. In a separate bowl, prepare the dry ingredients-  the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk - add about 1/4 c at a time. Next, mix in the walnuts and coconut.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they have stiff peaks - I had no clue what that meant so I googled it. :) Then, with a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter using the figure 8 pattern. Spoon the batter into a greased bundt pan as evenly as possible. Bake for about 1 hour.

To make the icing: Beat together all the ingredients, then drizzle over cake. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Original recipe found here.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these for St. Patrick's day... because they're green. But I would definitely make these anytime of year because they are delicious. I sent some with Will & the band on their trip to Shreveport and they really liked them too.

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 egg
green food coloring
1 c Andes baking chips (couldn't find these, so I just bought Andes mints and broke them up)
1 c dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together cookie mix, butter, extract, egg, and green food color until a soft dough forms. Stir in the mint chips and dark chocolate chips. Drop about 1 tbsp dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 min or until set. Cool and then move to wire rack. Makes about 32-36 cookies.

Original recipe found here.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Oh man - DELICIOUS! I had to cut the loaf for the picture, so of course I ate that piece immediately afterward.

1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c peanut butter
1 egg
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients until well-mixed. Create a well in the center and pour in remaining ingredients - oil, peanut butter, mashed bananas, egg, and extract. Stir until just mixed, then stir in chocolate chips. Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour. Let cool in pan for about 10 min after.

Triple Chocolate Cookie Balls

I found this recipe on  kraft.com and it looked pretty easy so I had to give it a try. I've never made anything like these before and they are really, really good!

1 pkg instant chocolate pudding (3.9 oz size)
1/2 c cold milk
1 pkg Oreo cookies (36 cookies), finely crushed
1 1/2 pkgs Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate (12 squares), melted
2 squares Baker's White Chocolate, melted

Beat pudding mix and milk in a medium bowl with whisk for 2 min. Add cookie crumbs and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls and put on wax paper on a cookie sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes. Melt chocolate and dip balls in chocolate. I melted the chocolate in a shallow bowl and rolled the cookie balls around in it. Put pack on wax paper on cookie sheet and refrigerate 20 minutes. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the cookie balls. Refrigerate 10 minutes or until firm.

Citrus Squares

This is a Shape Magazine recipe I found. I baked these this morning and couldn't wait until tonight to try them. Really tasty and only about 150 cal per square.

For the shortbread:
1/2 c slivered almonds
1/2 c flour
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 chunks

For the filling:
1 c sugar
1/4 c flour
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated lime zest
1/4 c each lemon and lime juice
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease square 8x8 cooking pan. To make the shortbread, put the almonds in a food processor and process for 30 seconds or until coarsly ground. Add flour, powdered sugar, and salt and pulse 5 times until mixed. Add butter and process for 10-15 seconds or until no large chunks remain and the mixture is loose and sandy. Press into the bottom of cooking pan and bake for 22-24 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

While the crust is baking, make the filling. Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl. Add lemon and lime zest, as well as lemon and lime juice. Add eggs and whisk mixture until smooth. Pour filling over crust and return to the oven and bake an additional 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Sift powdered sugar over squares and garnish with lime before serving. You can also keep refrigerated for up to a day before serving.

Jello Poke Cake

This is delicious and a great summertime dessert because you use Cool Whip for the icing and it's refrigerated. This is really easy to do and a fun idea. You can even change the cake mix and jello for different times of the year or holidays.

1 pkg white cake mix (eggs, oil, etc)
2 pkg strawberry jello (4.5 serving size each)
2 c boiling water
1 tub Cool Whip Lite

Make cake mix according to package directions. Pour evenly into two 9" round cake pans. Bake according to the cake package. After cake layers have cooled completely, put them back in clean 9" cake pans. Poke holes with a large fork at half inch intervals all over each layer. Mix 2 pkg jello with 2 c boiling water. Stir at least 3 minutes. Using a ladle or something like that, carefully pour jello evenly over each cake layer. Refrigerate 3 hours.

Carefully unmold 1 cake layer by dipping the bottom of the pan in warm water for 15 seconds. Unmold onto plate, and spread with about 1 cup of Cool Whip. Unmold other cake layer the same way, and stack it on top of the iced layer. Frost the top and side of the cake with remaining Cool Whip. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, and store in fridge.

If you have Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate squares, you can melt the chocolate, put it in a ziploc bag and cut a tiny hole on the corner. Make designs or whatever you want on wax paper. Put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes to set the chocolate, and carefully peel for cake decorations. I made the word "Mom" and did some swirl things and a heart. :)

Light Banana Pudding Squares

Um... YUM. Second picture is mine!

About 35 Vanilla Wafers - Reduced fat, finely crushed
1/4  c margarine, melted
1 pkg Neufchatel cheese, softened
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tub Cool Whip Free
3 bananas, sliced
2 pkg Vanilla pudding - fat free, sugar free, instant
3 c cold skim milk
1/2 square Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, grated

Finely crush vanilla wafers and mix with margarine. Press into bottom of dish (I used a 9x9"). Beat cheese and sugar in a bowl with wisk until well-mixed. Stir in 1 1/2 c Cool Whip and spread a thin layer of mixture over vanilla wafers. Slice 3 bananas. Lay bananas over the cheese/cool whip layer.


Then, beat pudding mixes and milk with a wisk for 2 min. and spread over bananas. Top with the rest of the Cool Whip and grated chocolate.