Category: Recipes

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Upside Down Pineapple cupcakes

Sometimes, you just want something sweet.  Luckily, there are so many options today with sugar free, low calorie, and low carb options.

I decided to do a healthier redux of my favorite dessert:  Pineapple Upside Down cake!  The upshot is each cupcake is only 2 Weight Watchers Smart points!  Say What?!

So here’s how to pull this off:

Kim’s WW Pineapple Upside Down cupcakes (Makes 18)

Ingredients:

  • Pillsbury sugar free yellow cake mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple in juice (no added sugar)
  • 9 T. Splenda brown sugar mix

Preheat oven to 325.  Spray the bottom of each cupcake pan with butter spray.  Add 1/2 tablespoon Splenda brown sugar mix to each cup.  Spread out over bottom evenly.  Divide pineapple (about 1 T. each cup).  Fill with cake batter to about 2/3rd full.

Cook at 325 until done.  (Toothpick test probably won’t work.  I usually push and see if it is bouncy.)

Sit for 1 minute then flip onto flat surface.

Enjoy!!   These babies are only 2 Smart points each.

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Bourbon Peach Basil Smash with beMIXED

  • 4 oz. Be Mixed Ginger Lime mixer 
  • 1.5 oz Bourbon (I used The Duke but also love Knob Creek and Angel’s Envy)
  • 1/2 peach diced
  • 4 leaves of basil

Muddle peach and basil with ginger lime mix, add bourbon and ice.  Shake and pour.  4 Weight Watchers Smart points.

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be MIXED

So if you know me at all, you know that I love to entertain and I love to do so with cocktails.  I don’t drink daily or weekly, so don’t worry, I don’t need that 12 step program.  Remember, my addiction is food.

But if you are modifying your lifestyle like me, you also know that the dreaded cocktail can add on tons of empty calories that aren’t friendly to your waist line.   And let’s be real, vodka sodas make me sad.

Well let me introduce you to be MIXED!  Jen and Cristina created be MIXED out of a love for spending time with friends and a love for indulging in the good stuff.   Jen is a Type 1 diabetic so she needed some better low calorie options for creating cocktails sans the vodka and soda option.

Be MIXED is all natural, zero calorie cocktail mixers that really add a pizazz to your rum punch.  They currently offer three flavors: cucumber mint, ginger lime, and margarita.  The really cool thing is that that they have a ton of recipes using all types of liquor as an option, so the “Skyy” really is not the limit.  Options exist such as cucumber watermelon cooler, kiwi margarita, spiked blackberry lemonade, pineapple smash, lavender lemonade, and peach basil smash to name a few.  Goodbye vodka soda!

For those of you on the Weight Watchers journey, most of these drinks can be made for 3 points each.  (Just the points for the alcohol).  Compare that to an Italian Margarita at Olive Garden (14 points)!  You can thank me later!

Where to buy you ask?  Online is the best option except for some locations.  They have a store finder on their website.  Good news, you can get it on Amazon Prime and with any luck they could add it to their Prime Now menu.  I highly recommend trying all three flavors to see what you like best.  Use the online recipe tool, choose your liquor of choice and your bartending expertise and Voila!

Cheers!

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Gigi’s Throw Together Salad

I love throwing together strange combinations of salads.  I like to mix different fruits and nuts together with the peppery taste of arugula. In the winter months I will use apples and walnuts instead with a Fuji apple vinaigrette.  If you come to my house to eat, don’t be surprised by my non-traditional salads!  I usually eat these with a piece of grilled meat.  Tonight it’s Filet Mignon.  Yum!

Serves 4

  • 2 cups arugula 
  • 1 small carton raspberries
  • 1 small carton blackberries
  • 1/2 cup almonds
  • Butter spray
  • 1 tsp. Chili olive oil
  • 1 tsp. honey
  • Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning
  • Maple Grove Farms Citrus Vinaigrette

Rinse arugula and berries, toss together in salad bowl.  Saute almonds in butter spray and chili oil until fragrant.  Add honey and cajun seasoning.  Let cool.  Toss with salad.  If you like, toss with citrus vinaigrette.

Smart points:  4 points per serving

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Tiki’s Seaside Grill Mojito (from Brasilito, Costa Rica)

  • 1.5 oz simple syrup
  • 1.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
  • 1.5 oz rum (they use Bacardi Carta Oro from Cuba)
  • Fresh mint leaves
  • Sugar cane stick for garnish

Muddle handful of mint and 3 ice cubes and 1.5 oz sugar water.  Add lime and rum, and shake.  Top off with a splash of soda and garnish with sugar cane.