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.

(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!!