WEIGHT WATCHER'S FRUIT SALAD

Today we had a Spring Easter Brunch with our Ward at the Church and I volunteered to bring fruit.  I have always loved this salad, it's tasty and low fat...

WEIGHT WATCHER'S FRUIT SALAD:
14 oz. pineapple - drain but save the juice
10 oz. mandarine oranges - drained
2 apples- diced
2 kiwi - cut up
2 bananas - sliced
1 c. grapes - halved
1 pkg. strawberry-kiwi jello
Mix all ingredients and sprinkle about 1/4 of the pkg of jello over top and stir, if too dry add some of the saved pineapple juice.  Chill till ready to serve. 
I like to add the bananas and kiwi right before serving because those seem to go mushy fast.  You can add as much jello as you like but it turns it pink:)

Another WW recipe I came across while googling this one (my mom couldn't find her recipe for awhile;) calls for about the same ingredients but uses pudding so I thought I would add it here too.  ENJOY!!

WEIGHT WATCHER'S SALAD:
1 c. sugar free fruit cocktail
1 c. pineapple tidbits
1 banana, sliced
1 apple, sliced or diced
1 box sugar free vanilla pudding, dry
Mix all ingredients together using juices of fruit cocktail and pineapple for liquifying pudding.

♣GREEN Velvet Cake Balls♣

I have been baking up a storm this past week:)

But I had to try the famous Red Velvet Cake Balls in GREEN!!

I used my homemade recipe that you can find HERE and used 1 bottle of GREEN food coloring instead of 2 red.  I cooled the cake, added about 1/2-3/4 of the homemade frosting and mixed it well with a spoon.

Rolled them into cute little balls...turning my hands a pretty shade of GREEN!!  Placed them  on a cookie sheet with wax paper and put them in the freezer for 1/2 hour.

Then it's time to dip!!  I mentioned telling you all about my new easy dipping method last fall and got horrible morning sickness and never got a chance to make them.  So here is my tutorial...

First - melt your chocolate according to package.

Then stick a ball on a toothpick (I stick toothpick into the flat end of the ball) and dip about 3/4 of ball in chocolate.

Second - place on a foam block to dry.

Third - take half dipped ball off the toothpick and redip just the bottom of the cake ball into the chocolate.

Fourth - place on clean wax paper to dry again.  Next I would drizzle with more chocolate or white almond bark, but I accidentally put holes in my bottles warming them up in the microwave:(  And you can't find baking stuff around here!!

The next thing of course would be to DEVOUR this scrumptious little treats...

But beware they may turn your mouth GREEN!♣

I definitely prefer the homemade recipe over the box mix any day!!!!

Of course I had little helpers that were dying to try some dipping of their own.  So I gave them toothpicks, let them dip away and we sprinkled them with yummy lemon, lime sprinkles:)

BROCCOLI SOUP

I also enjoy making fun festive GREEN meals for my family on St. Patrick's Day! 

So this year my husband requested Broccoli Soup in bread bowls:)

I remember seeing this recipe over on Cooking On Clover Lane and thougth I would give it a shot!  I never made broccoli soup before because I thought it would be hard, but believe me this was very easy!!:)

BROCCOLI SOUP:

1 box vegetable broth

1 c. water

1 sm. container half & half

4 oz. cheddar cheese (we added more cause we love cheese)

1/2 c. flour (I ended up adding about 1/4 more because it wasn't thickening up)

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper (or as my husband said "Honey grab the black powder" - Hahaha - sorry had to share)

4 c. fresh broccoli chopped

Bring to boil all ingredients except broccoli, reduce heat to low, add broccoli and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until broccoli is tender.  We served ours in bread bowls and sprinkled cheese over top:)

ENJOY!!

(Somewhere Over the RaInBoW)

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Day we made festive RAINBOW cupcakes!

YUMMY!!

I have been seeing them around on other blogs and have been dying to try them out myself.  Even though they are a very LoOoOoNg process I LOVED the way they turned out!  I found a wonderful recipe to make your cake box mix taste good too.  We topped them with a delicious marshmallow frosting which gave it a fun cloudy look:)  And they tasted DE•LI•CIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES:

1 white cake mix

1 sm. pkg instant pudding - vanilla

     (Tip -- you can use same recipe for any cake mix, just use chocolate pudding for chocolate cake)

8 oz. sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. oil

First mix together cake mix with pudding, then add remaining ingredients and beat well. 

Seperate batter evenly into 6 different bowls and add food coloring to get desired colors.  I just mixed till I got it bold enough....

Today I found this guideline or someone even suggested using gel dyes and it creates more vibrant colors ....

RAINBOW COLOR DROPS OF FOOD COLORING --
Purple 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue 12 drops
Green 12 drops
Yellow 12 drops
Orange 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red 18 drops

Than place about 1 tsp of each color batter into cupcake liners to fill 1/2 - 3/4 full.  I even saw someone do layers, which was just as cute:)  Bake 350* for 15 minutes.  Frost when cooled.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
1 lb. butter - softened
2 jars marshmallow creme
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat all ingredients till fluffy!  I then put the frosting in a ziploc baggy, cut the tip and swirled frosting onto the cupcakes.  I would have used my frosting bag but I don't have a tip big enough, but the baggie worked just as good!

Here is another frosting recipe if you don't prefer marshmallow:)

COOL WHIP FROSTING:
2 sticks butter (1 cup) - softened
3/4 bag powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and slowly add milk to get desired thickness.  She adds about TBL at a time.  Than fold in a tub of Cool Whip.  I haven't tried this one so let me know if you do and I need to tweak the recipe!

♣HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY♣

Another fun festive RAINBOW treat is fresh fruit served with YUMMY fruit dip --

My kids and husband devoured this creative snack and really thought it was fun.  Here is my fruit dip:

MARSHMALLOW FRUIT DIP:

1 8 oz. cream cheese - softened

1 jar marshmallow fluff

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat till creamy and fluffy.  Chill.  Serve with favorite fruit!

I came across this idea on another blog and she included fruit ideas and another version of fruit dip --

Red - Strawberries, apples, cherries, watermelon

Orange - Mandarin oranges, navel oranges, canteloupe

Yellow - Pineapple, banana, apples, pears, lemons

Green - Apples, pears, grapes, limes

Blue - Blueberries

Violet (Purple) - Plums, grapes, pears
Pot of Gold - Bananas
Clouds - Sm. Marshmallows

(I cut the apples and bananas over two hours before I served it and they weren't brown. How? Using a basting brush, spread lemon juice over the cut sides. EASY!!!)

FRUIT DIP:
8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened works best)

8 oz. Sour Cream

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix it all together. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve. And DEVOUR!!

~ReD VeLvEt CaKe~

I recently commented about my red velvet cake and frosting recipe on Bakerella's blog and realized I didn't have it written out very clear.  I copied it directly from a recipe card of my mom's that she has used since I was little.  So she probably wrote it out the way she would understand it:)  Well I decided to post it again since I got so many emails about it!!  I LOVE using this recipe for my cake pops, especially since it's so hard to find red velvet cake mix in a box around here.  I am thrilled to be making them next week for St. Patty's day and I am going to experiment making the batter green instead of red.  I will post after I am done!  Maybe I will attempt some shamrocks...we will see;)  Hope this recipe helps and PLEASE let me know if you have any more questions!!

Red Velvet Cake and Frosting Recipe:
1/2 c. Butter or 1 Stick
1 c. Granulated Sugar
Beat together till fluffy.
2 Eggs - add one at a time and beat well.
Make a paste of 2 TB. Cocoa and 2 oz. Red Food Coloring (2 bottles). Add to above mixture.
Add:
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Buttermilk
2 3/4 c. Flour (sifted)
Alternate the milk and flour.
Last add 1 TB. Vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp. Soda
Mix really well - Bake 300* for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting:
Cook together -
1 c. Milk
5 TB. Flour
Cook till thick, stirring constantly to avoid burning and then add 1 tsp. Vanilla.
Cool well before adding to butter/sugar mixture or it will melt butter and be runny.
Cream 1 cup of Butter or 2 sticks and 1 c. Granulated Sugar.
Mix together and beat with hand mixer till smooth and creamy - this takes quite a long time to fluff up.  The mixture will turn from a yellowish color to more of a white color.  Then frost the cake and...
Enjoy!!