Craft,Grow,Cook

Alright, summer is just around the corner, time to count calories.  I made a nice Angel Food Cake the other day and now I’m moving on to bigger, better things.  I would also like to showcase my new favorite kitchen gadget.  It’s sort of like a spatula with a built-in knife.  It makes perfect squares!  Ok, time to enjoy this lovely 75 degree weather by mowing the lawn.  It’s been a great Spring Break.

Ingredients

• 1  (8-ounce) package low fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2  cup  butter or margarine, softened
• 1  cup  sun crystals (zero calorie sweetener)
• 2  large eggs
• 1/4  cup  1% milk
• 1/2  teaspoon  almond extract
• 1 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  cup  seedless raspberry low sugar preserves
• 3  tablespoons  powdered sugar

Preparation

Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla, beating until smooth.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to cream cheese mixture, beating at low speed until well blended. Spread batter into a greased and floured 13- x 9-inch pan. Dollop with preserves, and swirl with a knife.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until cake begins to leave sides of pan. Cool slightly, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares.

Found this one on Southern Living, of course I doctored it to be lower in calories.  It still tastes great!

I have a meeting tomorrow.  I figured we need all the luck we can get so I made some cut outs to go with the Starbucks.

Peace!

I am in love with fiesta ware, the look, the colors, it’s all great.  Here is a tiny bit of my collection.

A friend at work is having a birthday.  Due to some food restrictions I wanted to make something low in sugar and gluten-free.  Pamela’s brownie mix is gluten and wheat free and has 16 grams of sugar in the form of honey and molasses.  They turned out o.k. but they weren’t too fantastic.  The mixture is really hard to spread into the pan.  I made them in two little le Creuset pans and added a few chocolate chips, nothing thrilling.

Ever since I started making my own pizzas everything else just tastes…bad. I try not to eat much meat but my boyfriend is completely opposite. I stick with basil, roasted red peppers, sauce and cheese while on his I add pepperoni. I also made a cinnamon, brown sugar dessert pizza! Yum, and less than 30 minutes to make!