No-Guilt MICROWAVE! Chocolate Cake

That's right....chocolate cake in the microwave. When I first saw this recipe, I laughed and thought, "There's NO WAY that can taste good." But, now I'm a believer.

As I stated at the bottom of my last post, I started Weight Watchers. Yes, I'm trying to lose weight, but my main goal is to be healthier all around and feel better about myself. Of course, a few days into this lifestyle change, it hit....that "I NEED CHOCOLATE NOW!!" feeling gnawed at me and wouldn't go away. First, I tried a weight watchers recipe for brownie, but they were disgusting and just didn't do anything for me. Then, I remembered the microwave cake from a HEALTHY DESSERTS blog. Okay, when I think healthy desserts, all I can think of is fruit. What do you think of? Cake? Fudge? Cookies? No? Well, think again.

Recipe derived from Chocolate Covered Katie-Healthy Desserts Blog

She also has "special diet" recipes! Gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, etc. Check it out!

It looks really small in this picture (must be the angle?), but it's actually about 4 inches in diameter, 1/2 inch thick? Just guesstimating!  :-)

This is how I made what is shown in the picture above. Katie says this is a single-serve cake, but it's too much for me. So, I divided it into three. She also gives lots of other options for substituting ingredients.

No-Guilt Microwave Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
1 Tbsp PLUS 2 tsp cocoa powder

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

3 tsp unsweetened applesauce

3 Tbsp skim milk

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

**optional** Cool Whip, "Free" (fat free, only 1g sugar per serving)

**optional** Strawberries for garnish

Directions
(1) Mix all DRY ingredients in a regular size soup/cereal bowl. MIX WELL!!!

(2) Add liquid ingredients and mix.

(3) Divide mixture evenly between three ramekins or small soup cups.

(4) Microwave for 30-50 seconds, depending on microwave wattage. (I do mine for 50 seconds and still have a small runny spot in the middle of the cake, but that's fine with me!)

(5) Top each cake with a dollop of cool whip (2 Tbsp is a serving) and sliced strawberries, if desired.

****Points Plus Value: 2****

****Any variations to this recipe could change the points value!!****

A dessert worth ONLY 2 points and involving chocolate is monumental to me. I'm SUPER picky and this is more than good enough to satisfy that chocolate craving! Next time, I'll leave out the strawberry though, because I'm weird about mixing fruit and chocolate....unless it's Hershey's chocolate covered strawberries!!!

Next dessert attempt? Frozen gobs! Stay tuned.....

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Bites

I absolutely have to have breakfast in the mornings. I've exhausted my SmartOnes Breakfast Quesadillas plus they're expensive plus they don't hold me for very long, oatmeal is a good go-to but I have to be in the mood for it, and I have a great almond and banana smoothie that  lasts me until lunch so I don't have to snack around but sometimes I just need something to chew on. I wanted something QUICK and EASY (notice a theme with the recipes I post?) and not super expensive, so I threw some things together aaaaaand....yum!

Alexa has an aversion to anything with "green stuff!" in it (parsley, in this case), but I convinced her to try these and she LOVES them.

***This recipe is for a single serving, which is six "bites". Feel free to double, triple, etc. and store left-overs in the fridge for a quick-grab breakfast on those days you hit the snooze button too many times! Reheat 30-40 seconds in the microwave.***

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Bites

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 Tbsp real bacon pieces (at our Wal-Mart, they have bags of these in the salad dressing/crouton aisle)

1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp skim milk

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp dried parsley

Directions
(1) Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.

(2) Pour all ingredients into a regular soup/cereal bowl and whisk or beat with a fork until well blended.

(3) Scoop mixture into mini-muffin pan, until about 1/2 to 3/4 full. (I use the smallest Pampered Chef cookie scoop, but I'm sure a regular spoon would work just fine. MAKE SURE to scoop down into the bottom of your bowl because the bacon and cheese will settle to the bottom!!!)

(4) Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Before baking.

 These will puff up in the oven.

 This was taken as soon as I took them out of the oven...you can see they already started to deflate.

On a side note: I started Weight Watchers, so I'm going to start posting Points Plus values, just in case anyone else is doing the same. :-)

****Points Plus Value: 5****

****Any variations to this recipe could change the points value!!****

Other variations:

**A. I quadrupled this recipe so I could pull them out of the fridge and reheat as needed, but I also added spinach and mushrooms to sneak some veggies into my system. I used my Pampered Chef manual food processor to dice the spinach and mushrooms SEPARATELY so they would be fine enough to beat into the egg mixture. They were awesome! Play around with it....maybe crumbled sausage or finely diced ham instead of the bacon....crumbles of feta....finely diced onions and green or red bell peppers....be creative! (Just make sure everything is FINELY diced/crumbled since these are minis!)

Chicken Vegetable Pot Pie

Sorry about the delay for getting this posted. We had a MAJOR thunderstorm which knocked out our internet for a few days until they could FINALLY come and replace our internet modem which was fried by lighting. AND this is "dance recital week". Crazy, busy, STRESSFUL! *Ahem*.....

Who doesn't love comfort food? Seriously. I don't have a story for this one except that the crust recipe was a gift from my bridal shower and the rest I just kinda threw together and it worked. I love it. My husband and I have to do 'paper/rock/scissors' to decide who gets the leftovers.

Chicken Vegetable Pot Pie

CRUST:

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup butter flavored shortening (CHILLED!!!!!)

4-6 tbsp COLD water

FILLING:

16 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables (I use without potatoes, but feel free to use with...or add your own.)

1 cup of chicken gravy

2 cans of chunk chicken

DIRECTIONS:

(1) Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.

(2) Sift flour and salt together. (I don't have a sifter, so I just throw it in....which is probably why I have a hard time rolling the stuff out. lol) Cut in shortening using two knives, a pastry blender, or the dough hook on your mixer. Add small portions of water until the mixture holds together.

(3) Split dough about in half, allowing a slight bit extra for the bottom 'half'. Roll out on a floured surface to about a 10 inch circle and a 9 inch circle. Line your pan with the larger circle and set aside.

(4) In a large bowl, mix frozen veggies, gravy, and chicken. Pour into your crust lined pan and place the 'cover' crust on top. With fork or fingers, press to seal edges. Make sure to cut vents in the top!

(5) Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then *REDUCE* temperature to 350 degrees F and bake another 45-50 minutes.

A few notes on this....

1. I used regular shortening for the crust this time around, because I wasn't paying attention. I was in a hurry! The crust still tasted good, but I like the added butter flavor.

2. I lost some of my gravy down inside the burners on my stove as I was preparing it (from a packaged mix) because my daughter begged to help, so I assigned her the "gravy stirrer" position....and she got distracted by Big Time Rush. She's too young to start the boy band thing....

3. I didn't bake it long enough, which is why it looks a little watery in the pictures. Again, I was in a hurry.

4. I used my "Temp-tations" 9 inch deep round dish and doubled everything EXCEPT the crust recipe. That part still works out. That way, we get more veggies and chicken, not as much crust....because that's where the fat and calorie danger really lies....

5. I didn't take pictures throughout the process. Why? See above "hurry" excuse. Plus the gravy boiling over. I was frazzled. It was simply NOT my day....until I ate and was comforted. :-)