Hats Off To You All...Recipes

Happy Friday Everyone!
 
First of all I want to Thank all of you that took time to play along with the Liebster Award!
It took me a while to do mine partly because I was pretty much copying Hannah's post (thank you Hannah) because I had no idea what I was doing and ended up answering the wrong set of questions.
And partly because I am a deep thinker so it took me a while to answer those questions.
Then to realize I had answered the wrong set of questions.
Ah...as my husband says...It's a Good Thing Your Pretty. LOL.

Second of all...I started following a few more blogs.
I try to keep up the best I can and I am still new at this.
If I don't get to you it is not on purpose, it is because I don't know what I am doing or have a routine down.
Please be patient with me and then come over and say HEY why didn't you answer me.
LOL.
I honestly do not know how all of you do it?
It takes me a while to write a blog.
I am a bit of a perfectionist with OCD.
Not a good combo.
You may notice that I have not been spell checking or proof-reading my posts...That's usually a big no-no for me.
How do you all find the time to blog, read other blogger's blogs, check your email and answer your email, reply to comments, post to blogs, go to work, take care of your kids, work out, run, cook dinner, prepare meals for the week or lunches, decide on what your next blog post will be, clean your house, take care of yourself (shower, sleep, eat, workout), check your pinterest, instagram, facebook, twitter...and so on.

HOW DO YOU ALL DO IT???

My hats off to you! LOL I am sure I will get into my routine and it will get easier. :)

I tried a few recipes this week and I'd like to share them with you.

HG's Chocolate on Chocolate Frosted Cake

 

 



This cake was very good for a "diet" type cake. It was very moist and full of chocolate flavor. I made it to celebrate my babysitting the kids for 1 year. The servings were very large and very filling. I would make this again!

 

I used a 8" round pan because that is what I had. I couldn't find cake boxes bigger than 16.25 oz so thank goodness HG gives us the measurements for the cake mix.

 

Icing:

1 sugar-free chocolate pudding snack with 60 calories or less (like the kind by Jell-O)
1/3 cup chocolate frosting
2 tbsp. light chocolate syrup

 

Cake:

2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Two 25-calorie packets hot cocoa mix (like Swiss Miss Diet or Nestlé Fat Free)
Half an 18.25-oz. box (about 1 3/4 cups) moist-style devil's food cake mix
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9" round cake pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a medium-large bowl, combine topping ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until thickened and cake is ready to be frosted.

To make the cake, place chocolate chips and the contents of both cocoa packets in a tall glass. Add 1/2 cup very hot water and stir to dissolve. Add 3/4 cup very cold water and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir well. Add chocolate-cocoa mixture and egg substitute. Whisk until completely blended.

Pour batter into the cake pan. Bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out mostly clean, about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.

Once cake has completely cooled, transfer to a plate. Evenly spread the topping over the top of the cake.

Refrigerate until topping has set, at least 15 minutes.

Evenly cut cake into 8 slices. Serve and enjoy! (Refrigerate leftovers.)

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1 slice (1/8th of recipe)
Calories: 217
Fat: 5.5g
Sodium: 476mg
Carbs: 40g
Fiber: 1.5g
Sugars: 24g
Protein: 4g

PointsPlus® value 6*

HG FYI: Some brands' cake mixes now come in smaller boxes... Make sure to grab an 18.25-oz. box for this recipe if you go by the half-box measurement.

 

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

 

 



This looked so good and I love the spinach and cheese ravioli's from The Old Spaghetti Factory in St. Louis, so I thought I'd give this recipe a try. When I was making the sauce it smelled so good. I am not sure what I did wrong, but it did not taste as good as I had hoped. ~ If you have any suggestions please let me know. TIA!

 

I did not use Chorizo. I used 2 cloves of garlic along with the small onion. I sauted them in the olive oil then added the crushed tomatoes, sugar,  and S&P. The sauce smelled amazing! Someone commented on the site that there was not enough sauce so I added 1 8oz can of tomato sauce. I chopped up 2 cups of fresh spinach and mixed it in with the other ingredients. It turned green (which I know spinach causes). I followed the directions the rest of the way. It smelled really good...but it tasted funny to me. Was it the garlic? I love garlic and I didn't think it would change the taste too much. Was it the extra tomato sauce? I think the ricotta/spinach filling needed something...maybe I used too much spinach? Any suggestions? :)

 

Makes: 4 servings

Prep 10 mins Cook 45 mins

 

Ingredients:

18 jumbo pasta shells (about 6 ounces)

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1/4 medium onion, finely chopped

4 ounces fresh chorizo, crumbled

1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes

3/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt plus additional for seasoning

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus additional for seasoning

Olive oil cooking spray

2 cups (about 2 ounces) baby spinach, finely chopped

1 cup low-fat ricotta

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

1 egg white, lightly beaten

 

Directions:

1. Cook shells according to package directions; rinse under cold water, drain and pat dry.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and chorizo and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Drain all but 1 1/2 teaspoons drippings and return pan to stove. Add tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste; simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and coat a 9-by-9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
4. Combine spinach, cheeses, egg white and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a large bowl. Spoon half the tomato sauce into prepared dish. Stuff each shell with 1 heaping tablespoon filling and arrange stuffed shells in baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells and cover with aluminum foil. Bake until pasta is cooked through and sauce begins to bubble, about 30 minutes. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

I am also planning to try HG's Pumpkin Pie tomorrow. I will post on that later.