Filed under: College Cooking, Dessert, Freshman Fit-Teen | Tags: devil's food cake, frosting, guiltless, halloween, healthy halloween, healthy treat, pumpkin, pumpkin cake, splurge, vanilla
This week I have a bake sale for my Nutrition Task Force Club at Cornell’s Farmer’s Market. Like any other college student, the idea of buying a box of Entenmann’s or Little Debbie’s and throwing them on a plate to look homemade crossed my mind.
Motivating factors why I did not go with this plan:
One. the bake sale IS for a nutrition club.
Two. I forgot how therapeutic creative baking was
Three. I had a can of pumpkin that had to be used in my fridge
Fourth Bonus: Our apartment smelled significantly like chocolate afterwards.
Thinking back to my Hungry Girl roots, I grabbed a box of cake mix on the walk home. Two ideas ran through my head: can of diet soda + cake mix (I tried this freshman year and didn’t love it. I could not get the after taste out of my mouth); next, can of pumpkin + cake mix. Golden. I had made it with brownie mix once before, but remember it being super super dense. To fix this, I added a few spoonfuls of Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt to the batter below. (another guiltless splurge recipe to try in the future: cake mix + 1 cup greek yogurt –> light/fluffy/moist cake)
(more pictures to come when i’m actually allowed to cut into the cake more)
Not Your Average Devilish Food Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the contents of the cake mix with the pumpkin puree. The batter will be very dense. Add a few spoonfuls of yogurt to make the mixing easier. Transfer the batter into a sprayed nonstick pan. Place in the oven for ~ 25 minutes or according to package directions on the cake mix box.
keep in mind I probably would have cut this cake into AT LEAST 24 nice size squares:
PER SERVING (1 generous piece, 1/12th of cake): 183 calories, 3.5g fat, 301mg sodium, 37g carbs, 1.25g fiber, 20.5g sugars, 2g protein — PointsPlus® value 5*
Break Down:
Cake Variations
- Diet Soda + Cake Mix –> interesting flavor
- diet root beer + spice cake mix
- diet 7 up/sprite + any flavor
- diet coke/cherry + chocolate cake mix
- diet orange + white cake mix
- Canned Pumpkin + Cake Mix –> dense
- spiced cake mix + pumpkin
- devils food cake + pumpkin
- Yogurt + Cake Mix –> light/moist
- devils food cake + yogurt
- yellow cake + yogurt
Filed under: Admire & Inspire, breakfast, College Cooking, Entres, Freshman Fit-Teen | Tags: almond butter, almond milk, banana, blueberries, breakfast, cereal, chia seeds, cinnammon, coconut, crunchy, dark chocolate, fast, frozen fruit, granola, guiltless, healthy, kefir, milk, peanut butter, seeds, soy milk, splurge, sweet, to-go, unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, vanilla, vanilla soy milk, vegetarian, walnuts
Bowl. Cereal. Milk. Spoon. Eat. Repeat.
When did one of the greatest food combinations become some boring? Yes, I consider cereal as one of THEE greatest food combinations out there. Think about it:
The blend of textures – crunchy, softened, chewy, absorbed.
The blend of flavors: sweet, savory, dulcified, mellow.
The contrast in colors: deep, golden, pale, vibrant, pastel.
The meal time possibilities: breakfast, brunch, lunch, late night snack.
I can go on and on about the wonders of cereal in which often go unnoticed because of its staple in the American diet. Bowl. Cereal. Milk. Pour. Repeat.
What I am about to describe is not the average American’s cereal, but why shouldn’t we revamp the typical “cereal” combination.
BASE: Let’s start by replacing milk with more flavorful options: unsweetened vanilla almond breeze is a personal favorite. Too adventurous? Try original soy milk (silk). Like it sweet? Vanilla Soy Milk. Even if you’re not a foodie, vegetarian, vegan, etc. give your cereal a better bath to soak up in. Yogurt. Kefir. Soy Milk. Almond Milk.
CONTENTS:
Frozen Fruit. Frozen blueberries & frozen bananas are the best when they just start to thaw. This requires a taste for the oozing blueberries or the mashed banana texture. Once ripe, try putting bananas in the freezer. After completely frozen, throw them in the microwave for a few seconds. You can’t believe it’s the same fruit that went into the freezer. Once microwaved, it releases a banana flambe flavor thats richly sweet and savory at the same time. Great with oatmeal, cereal, yogurt, toasts, peanut butter.
Crunch Factor. Put down the rice krispies, cheerios, or special K. Go Wild. Try new granolas. I combine more plain cereals, such as Rice Chex, with more flavorful granolas and cereals, such as Kashi or Special K varieties. The Rice Chex makes it look more full, while the granola gives it more taste.
Health Factor. Those black specs are Chia Seeds. They’re rich with omega-3’s [the good fat]. Other than fish, avocado, and nuts, most people don’t eat many sources of omega-3 . . . let alone eat them at breakfast! But chia seeds are fascinating. They have an absorptive property that thickens whatever you add them too. (you can add 1 tbsp of chia seeds + water in place of eggs when baking). They’re also great in oatmeal because they double the size of your oatmeal. Who doesn’t want twice the amount?
Personalization. Nuts. Seeds. Toasted Coconut. Melted Peanut Butter. Almond Butter. Sun Butter. Yogurt. Fruit. Cinnamon. Cayenne. Brown Sugar. Bananas. Blueberries. Pineapple. Dark Chocolate. Almond Milk. Soy Milk. Kefir. Peaches. Apricots.
In a rush? Pack the dry ingredients in a plastic baggie, most cafe’s have milk don’t they?
Cerously, what’s in that bowl?
Frozen Blueberries
Thawed Frozen Bananas
Kefir
Kind Maple Walnut Granola
Rice Chex
Toasted Coconut
Chia Seeds
Prep Time: 5 Minutes.
Filed under: College Cooking, Dessert, Freshman Fit-Teen | Tags: arctic, arctic zero, ben & jerry's, ben and jerry's, cheap, chocolate, coffee, cookies and cream, fat free, frozen yogurt, guiltless, healthy, ice cream, low sugar, maple, mint chocolate chip, peanut butter, splurge, vanilla, zero
STORY: About a year ago I came across a product called “Arctic Zero.” It’s an ice cream brand that is sold in pints (and now in bars). Each pint only has 150 calories! Too good to be true? I ordered it off Amazon. . . at the time locations to purchase it were limited. However, after waiting over a month I realized my order was never coming.
PRICE: A few days ago I revisited the website and found there was a location that sold it around the corner. I bought the Vanilla Maple for $4.95. At first I realized it was quite expensive. But remembered that a few nights ago I purchased a kids size ice cream from Tasti-D Lite and it was $4.35 and Ben & Jerry’s pints are at a similar price.
FLAVORS: Vanilla Maple, Chocolate, Coffee, Cookies & Cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Mint Chocolate Chip.
Taste: I tried the Vanilla Maple. The first few bites were impressive but after a few you realize it is more of a yogurt and is not the rich Ben & Jerrys flavor. However, on the plus side, it wasn’t as over-filling as Ben & Jerrys. The hint of Maple was a unique touch. I think it would have been better with some toppings or a crunch addition. It would be good for smoothies and milkshakes as a base flavor.
CALORIES: After a few spoonfuls (right out of the pint container) I realized i needed to put it down. Then I realized, 1/4 of the container is ~ 37 calories with only 5 grams of sugar. Needless to say, I took a few more bites.
1/2 cup (4 servings per container) = 45 calories, 0 fat calories, 7 carbs, 2 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 4 grams of protein.
http://www.myarcticzero.com/pints.php
Guiltless Splurge 