Ice Cream topped with Raspberry Mango Salsa in Cinnamon Sugar Bowls

Sometimes I think the naming part of recipes is the hardest part of all. I mean, what else can you possibly call this..? Compote, maybe, except that it wasn't cooked... whatever. This is yummy stuff so who cares about the name?

So for the the ending of our Get Fit Challenge BBQ bash tomorrow, I signed up to bring a dessert. And while the old me really wanted to bring a chocolate something in it's most sinful form, I thought it best to exercise some restraint, and bring something that only tasted sinful.

A few years ago I went to a Pampered Chef party, and a recipe, similar to this, was made to demonstrate how to use the catalog products. I've seen different variations of this all over the place, each one claiming it as their own. I really don't know who or where it originated from. All I can tell you is that it is delicious... refreshing... and not too unhealthy!

While I added my favorite fruits, I'm sure you could adapt it to whatever is available in your area. What I have done differently (from what I remember at the demonstration) is to add my homemade bourbon vanilla to the fruit, as well as some brown sugar, and to create flowered cinnamon sugar bowls rather than chips for the fruit. To make a little healthier, I also coated my tortilla's in PAM Baking Spray rather than butter, prior to dredging in cinnamon and sugar.







This is a really simple recipe that can be adapted to what is available, and casual or elegant, it's perfect for any summer occasion.

Ice Cream topped with Raspberry Mango Salsa in Cinnamon Sugar Bowls

1 small container raspberries
2 mango's, peeled and diced
2 kiwi's, peeled and diced
2 peaches, peeled and diced (canned ok if fresh not available)
Juice of 2 limes
2 tsp Bourbon Vanilla (regular ok)
2 Tbs packed brown sugar
1 dozen flour tortilla's
1 cup cinnamon sugar mixture to taste
PAM Baking spray
Vanilla ice cream

Fruit Salsa

In small bowl, mix together fruits, lime juice, vanilla, and brown sugar. Stir and set aside.

Cinnamon Sugar Bowls

Using a cookie cutter, cut desired shapes out of flour tortillas that are large enough to hold a scoop of ice cream later.


Once all tortillas are cut, spray each cut out shape on both sides with Pam Baking Spray. Pour 1 cup cinnamon sugar onto a dinner plate, and dredge both sides of cut tortilla into mixture.

Once all are coated they can be baked, in batches, on the bottom side of a PAM sprayed cupcake pan. I preferred this method rather than putting inside the cupcake tin, to get the shape that I preferred. Shape is entirely up to you though...

I baked them 7 minutes covered with a small pyrex bowl to shape, and 5 minutes uncovered to crisp, at 375 F degrees.


Once all are baked, cool completely. If not serving till later, bowls can be kept in a covered container or sealed Ziploc bag to keep crispy.

To serve, place one scoop of vanilla ice cream in center of tortilla bowl, add desired amount of fruit salsa on top, and enjoy!

It's that time again!

Yup, 3 months have passed already- it was weigh in time again for my Get Fit Challenge this Saturday! I was actually excited about this, because I knew that the scale was going to go down, rather than up, for a change.

Having the flu bug going through this house the past 2 weeks, though, derailed me just a bit. I actually did not work out for a whole week- that felt SO bizarre. Once you incorporate something into your daily life (that doesn't have a pastry bag attached) and make it part of your life... well, I felt aimless... lost... a wee bit schleppy... I know I had the flu (no, I didn't oink), but I still felt like a bad girl not getting out there and wheezing through a workout.


So once again, I donned my little black tank and sexy black shorts (a new a teeny swimsuit to be my prize once all my goal weight is lost)...

Blew out all the air bubbles I could possibly blow...

thought of all the goodies that brought me here to begin with...



then found more air bubbles in there to blow up to the surface...



So that this chiseled stud, who is perfecting his "I do not notice your scantily clad body" look...

could tell me that I've just lost a total of 21.7 lbs!! And even though I've been sick, and knew that I had lost 22, I was happy to see that I had only gained back about 8 oz while fighting this flu. Not bad!

Next Saturday is the big "Reveal" party ... the winner of our Get Fit Challenge will be announced. So I can't post here what my fat percentage lost is, as that is what truly determines who wins in our group, and we have to keep that part a secret. But it really doesn't matter to me whether I "win" the challenge or not. I feel so good at having accomplished what I have, working out with the most amazing group of gals, I feel like I've won so much already.

Orange, Radish, and Mint Salad

I have been so good about planning my meals ahead, and making sure I have ingredients on hand to make healthy dishes. I have found that if you do a little cookbook reading, and plan your meals ahead of time, you are less likely to eat poorly and/ or cheat, especially when trying to eat to live, rather than live to eat. Yesterday though, was one of those failure to plan days. A family illness has redefined our priorities and brought relatives from far away places. Thankfully, our family member will recover, and hopefully be able to sit at the table with the rest of us before all make the trip back home.

With circumstances like these, the "old me" would have reached for the nearest Costco Chicken Bake, blissfully ignorant to it's nutritional information.

The "new me" however, reads this stuff, and can't believe I considered that to be one out of three of my daily meals. With calorie and fat counts like those, that is not far now from what I allow myself for an entire day!

Thank goodness I have been keeping healthy ingredients and fresh produce on hand. On my table I had placed a huge bowl of clementines, and in my fridge was an enormous bag of radishes. So I googled the two and found this recipe from Ellie Krieger. While the recipe calls for oranges, I substituted the clementines, and found this to be a delicious, satisfying, and refreshing dish. I was also able to use a gift, from my cousin, Steve, in the recipe- a touch of Pasolivo Olive oil. A perfect touch in this recipe. Thanks, Steve!


I'm at a 9.5 lb loss my friends, and feeling really, really, good.


Orange, Radish, and Mint Salad

4 navel oranges
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
8 radishes, cut in half, then thinly sliced into half-moons
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the top and bottom off each orange. Stand the orange on one end on a cutting board and, following the curve of the fruit, cut away the skin and woolly white pith of the orange. Cut each orange section away from the membrane.

In a medium bowl, toss together the orange sections, onion, radishes, and mint. Drizzle with the oil and season with salt and pepper. This salad will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about a day.

Makes 4 servings
Serving size: 1 cup


Per Serving:
Calories 145; Total fat 7g (Sat fat 1g, Mono fat 5g, Poly fat 0.5g); Protein 2g; Carb 20g; Fiber 3g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium155 mg

Wow, 100th post today! Giveaway, too!

Wow, I can't believe it- my 100th post. I look back to my first one and just laugh. I had no direction and just a stock blogger template. Now, a custom blog design, and everything I see has the potential to be a post, so I snap pictures of everything these days.

I am also amazed, no, stunned, that I actually lost 4 lbs this past week! There is truth to diet AND exercise, and it seems when you find the right plan of action, it doesn't feel like diet and exercise. It just feels good. I have energy. I'm not hungry. I eat at least 1000 less calories a day than what I was prior to beginning my journey, but now, eating the right foods, feel like I am cheating every day. This feels good.

I've relied a great deal on the recipes from the Hungry Girl cookbook. It is not gourmet by any means. It is, however, simple everyday fare that leaves you content, and not feeling like you have been gypped- you know- when you buy a box where the dessert looks like this
and what you really end up with is this


That is just wrong. Purely sale-intended evil in a box.

Hungry Girl, however, delivers. When you see a photo in the book that looks like this:

You can feel confident that yours will look like this:

and this:

and this:



At only 108 calories and 2g of fat per cupcake, that's pretty sweet (pun intended).

Caramel Pumpkin Pudding Cupcakes

• 2 cups moist-style yellow cake mix (1/2 of an 18.25-ounce box)
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
• 1/3 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
• 2 tablespoons sugar-free maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for topping

• 3 cubes (about 1 ounce) chewy caramel
• 2 teaspoons light vanilla soymilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all cupcake ingredients in a mixing bowl with 1/3 cup of water. Whip with a whisk or fork for 2 minutes until well blended.

Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with baking cups. Evenly spoon batter into muffin cups.

Place pan in the oven and cook for about 12 minutes (until cupcakes have puffed up but still appear a little gooey on top- I actually cooked mine for 20 minutes).

Once cupcakes are cool enough to handle, arrange them closely on a plate so that the edges are touching. Place caramel and soymilk in a tall microwave-safe glass or dish (mixture will bubble and rise when heated).

Microwave at medium power for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir mixture vigorously until smooth and thoroughly blended. (Return to microwave for 30 seconds at medium heat if caramel has not fully melted.) Immediately drizzle caramel sauce over cupcakes.

** Be VERY careful with caramel topping in microwave- I burned my first batch! I'd do 30 second increments until thin and pourable!

ENJOY!

Oh yeah, I forgot, there is a giveaway! One lucky winner will receive their very own HungryGirl cookbook!

Just leave a comment with your favorite diet tip or trick. Remember to LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS! You have until Wednesday, the 18th of February, 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, to win! Good Luck!

Winners will be chosen using Random Integer Generator

I, am gi-nourmous...

Well, today was D-day. Weigh in day. And not just any weigh in. It was a "You ain't hiding none of yo fat baby" kind of weigh in. It was under water. You can't lie. You can't fudge. You are FA-reakin' fat baby! You can try to hide it, but believe me, they find all of it. Insult to injury: I paid to be told that. Ouch. But it was time... I can't hide it anymore. I felt like a wet cat when it was over.

So for the next 3 months I am committed to working my butt off, every day. I am committed to eating right, every day. I am part of an incredible group of gals that work out with Stroller Strides, an amazing group of moms who work out with their kiddo's in the stroller. In our local group, 9 moms signed up for the nationwide Get Fit Challenge . My challenge: to obliterate almost half the 40.5% body fat that I have accumulated over time, to get to an ideal 22%.

I can do this...

Stroller Strides

This is the best workout! Three times a week, with a bunch of mom's who completely understand where you are coming from!This is the local Phoenix link, however, if you are out of state you can access the national one through her site.

http://classes.strollerstrides.net/peoria/location/index.aspx

It's a great way to meet other moms and find play friends for your little ones!